OK folks - so it continues...thanks for the reviews. I will do my best to get the next chapter out tomorrow but I wouldn't rule out Tuesday...depends how fast I can write the subsequent ones.
I would love to know what you think of the reveal and Kasey's doings in this chapter...
Michelle sucked back nervously. What if this was a trick? She must know about what happened with Brandon...she looked genuine though.
"Look we can talk here if you want. I'm just worried about him. We had another blazing argument yesterday afternoon and now he's not talking to me. I can't handle that so I figure the only way I can fix it is to try and fix this." She pleaded with her with her eyes.
Michelle stroked the side of the door. Kasey hadn't spoken to him since yesterday afternoon - she had no idea what happened last night... Brandon hadn't told her. She needed to get back in the house this weekend...this may be one of the only ways to do it. She had run out of other options.
She stepped back signalling she come in with her head.
The two girls sat down just as Michelle's phone rang. She studied it and hung up angrily as a withheld number flashed up and threw it down on the table as Kasey handed her a beer before grabbing one of her own. Kasey then slipped her phone into her pocket.
Michelle twisted off the screw cap and began to drink it quickly. Had she been more sober already she probably would have been more suspicious but by this point she was losing all grasp. The stress of the last week had worn her down and even drinking with Kasey was better than facing her own mind right now.
"So you haven't spoken to Brandon since yesterday?" she asked through a swig.
Kasey shook her head. "Nope. We had a fight and he stormed off round to yours. I was asleep by the time he came back and he's been blanking me all day. I just...I can't take this any more Michelle. I've lost Evan and I cant lose Brandon over it too. Plus..."
Michelle furrowed her brow.
"I was thinking hard and I remembered...well...I can't believe I'm telling you this. But it isn't the first time Evan's tried something like this."
Michelle was stunned. She urged Kasey on with her eyes.
"He probably doesn't even remember it - the idiot gets wasted so much. But you're not the first girl I've pulled him off. It just...it reminded me so much of it which is probably why I took it out on you. It was easier than taking it out on him. I'm sorry for turning you into the villain."
Michelle gulped down. She couldn't believe Kasey was coming out with these words. She wasn't sure if she was more shocked that Evan had done that or that Kasey was admitting it, but it made that now so familiar guilt creep back again. It fought with the slight relief that this was a genuine apology.
"I just...I also realise how tough this must have been for you." Kasey sighed looking at Michelle with genuine pity. Michelle took another nervous swig. She wasn't sure how to react to this.
"I realise that Brandon has been a huge support to you. He told me all about your dad - I mean how he is with you. That can't be easy."
Michelle squinted in disgust. How dare Brandon be talking about her behind her back! Seeing her reaction Kasey put her hand up apologetically.
"I'm sorry - that was out of line. I never know...I mean. It's no secret I didn't have the beat relationship with your dad..."
Michelle softened slightly.
"I know what it's like you know. Having a dad who drinks."
Michelle gulped back. Why was she saying all this? It made her angry - but strangely safe. Kasey had inherited her Moms' warm demeanours and it was a side Michelle had never seen. Somehow she felt she wanted to open up - it was the last person in the world she ever thought she would feel she wanted to confide in - she had always been jealous of Kasey though. Maybe it was because of these very qualities. She also reminded her of Brandon - her one rock. The rock she didn't deserve. Her mind once again rallied between wanting to succumb and wanting to rebel. She blinked back tears. She couldn't let Kasey see her cry.
"I uhm...sorry, I'll be back in a minute." she wanted to throw up. She walked out of the room as calmly as she could towards the bathroom to cool herself off.
It was exactly how Kasey had planned. Her Mom had always chastised her for eavesdropping but tonight she couldn't care less - especially as Stef was going to keep it from her. Although she only heard the end of the conversation, the thing she had heard was not something she could ignore and she was determined to get to the core, whatever her Mom had said. Tonight she was going to take some of her Mom's other advice. The words she spoke that day before Porter and Michelle were coming to dinner. "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer". Kasey was getting as close as she could - she was getting inside her head. She had called Michelle from a withheld number to make her produce her phone and as she hoped startling her had led to her abandoning it.
As soon as Michelle departed Kasey grabbed it and began her raid. It had been used recently enough to not have the lock - it was easy enough to navigate.
She flicked through the calls. Unknown, Unknown, Private, Unknown. She flicked through the messages. The sent box was Brandon, Brandon, Brandon. She had been begging him to get in touch. She was desperate to see him. Slipped in between however was ones to an unsaved number. "Brandon isn't talking to me." and "I guess." She stormed to the inbox keeping an eye on the door.
The same unmarked number.
"Final bits in. Tomorrow am bar, tomorrow pm get grisly" was first, followed by "break up then and get it while you're there."
Kasey threw it back down angrily. What was she getting from their house? And whose was the number? Whatever it was it wasn't going to happen until tomorrow afternoon. She had the SATs tomorrow - damn SATs. Damn SATSs that her Mom was using as an excuse to lie to her. As if they were more important than this? Regardless, she would have to finish and get home. She swapped her barely sipped at beer for an empty she had brought to keep Michelle ahead.
She heard Michelle returning and whipped her own phone out making note of the messages in case she forgot. She didn't know where this bar was but maybe she could get Michelle to give more away.
They talked for an hour more about various things. Michelle tried to change the subject a lot but as the drink flowed freer she went on to talking more and more about her dad.
"You must have other family though no?" Kasey queried opening another beer for her. Michelle was slurring quite badly now and tiredness crippled her words. She was playing into her hands. "Some friends from way back when I used to dishwash at a bar a couple years ago."
Kasey's heart stuttered a little. A bar...
"Huh." she commented trying to be inconspicuous. "Anywhere I'd know?"
"Bron..."Michelle glided the first syllable off get tongue before snapping to attention and coughing. She furrowed her brow. What the hell was she doing? Her face drained white as her last dregs of sobriety tightened her tongue.
"I...Kasey I'm sorry I'm suddenly not feeling so well." She twitched her hand nervously around the lip of the beer.
Kasey bit her lip. So damn close.
"Do you mind leaving me to it?" she asked sheepishly as Kasey squinted trying not to show her frustration.
"Of course." she squeezed the neck of her bottle tightly as she forced a smile.
"I'm really glad we had this chat." Kasey gulped down. She collected her things and made her way to the door and out into the night breeze. She checked her watch. It was approaching half 11. She had to be back home within a half hour or her Mom would come looking for her. She shook her head angrily. She was so angry. That bitch had been using her family, lying to Brandon, possibly had something to do with that weed that was in their house - that weed that Evan had! What did this have to do with Evan? She wanted to storm round there and demand answers but she couldn't face him. How dare him and Stef be trying to keep her out of the loop - they knew how important this was to her. This had nearly destroyed her - it had brought her to her knees and they were all lying to her. More so though she needed to protect Brandon. It was becoming abundantly clear that he was going to be the victim in this tomorrow. She had to get more information about Michelle and the only person who knew about that was him. She took a deep sigh and angrily discarded the bottles into a nearby trashcan.
Kasey paced the living room floor. It was 9am and she had been awake for hours trying to piece things together but had been going round in circles. She couldn't figure out what this had to do with Evan or what the messages could mean. Lena had left earlier to prepare at the school. Kasey had done no studying at all and didn't intend to - it was too late now. She was hardly going to be able to focus anyway. She had been trying to think of a way to approach Brandon. What was she going to say?
"Kasey, did you hear me?" her Mom repeated leaning against the wall as Kasey swung round. She hadn't even heard her arrive. She couldn't help but scowl as she did. She was still so angry she could be standing there as if nothing was wrong.
"No. What did you say?" she pushed her anger below the surface but still sounded slightly brash.
"Do you want a lift to the school? I'm going out."
Kasey stuttered. Of course Stef wanted to drive her. She probably wanted to chain her to the desk. Kasey blinked away her resentment - it was a harmless enough offer.
"I'll walk. It'll help me clear my head." she finally responded coolly.
"OK." Stef approached her cautiously. She was dismissing the coldness as nerves. She cupped Kasey's cheeks and kissed her head. "Good luck sweets...just do your best."
"Right. As long as its better than last time, right?" Kasey retorted resentfully.
Stef moved her hands away slightly taken aback.
"You know we'll be proud of you either way. We just wanna give you as much of a chance as we can." Kasey licked her bottom lip and looked away from Stef. Anyway I better get ready." She wandered off leaving Stef even more confused.
"Are you mad at me for something?" Stef asked folding her arms.
Kasey shrugged. "Why would I be? I'll see you later."
"Love you, baby." Stef spoke after her as she left to no response.
Stef was unsettled. Could Kasey possibly know about what was going on? Had she heard them? She seemed fine last night though. She worried for a moment that maybe Callie had said something. No - she was just being paranoid. Kasey was probably just nervous about the test and taking it out on her for making her do it. She looked at her watch. She wanted to speak to Evan as soon as the hour was reasonable - she would worry about Kasey later.
Kasey took a deep breath as she lingered around Brandon's door. She heard the front door close. Her Moms were both gone now and everyone else was asleep. She wanted to talk to Brandon before the test but if she had any hope of getting to it on time, regardless of her lack of preparation, she had to do it now. She couldn't put it off any longer.
She knocked on the door and quietly pushed it open. Brandon was lying awake in bed.
He looked at her slightly shocked.
"Kasey? Is everything OK?" He sat up in his bed. He had clearly been awake for a while as he sounded completely conscious.
Kasey sat down on the bed with an affectionate smile. She really felt awful for him. She had been so angry with him recently but now she saw him as nothing more but the victim. She knew this would crush him.
"Brandon - I...I need to talk to you about something - and please hear me out. I'm on your side here."
He furrowed his brow concerned.
"You had a fight with Michelle the other night, right? I mean - you saw her with another guy or something?"
Brandon's head dropped down and he sucked his tongue around the inside of his mouth. "You here to tell me you were right all along?" He asked with a slight hint of resentment.
Kasey let it slide. She wasn't here for an argument.
"No. Look - there's no easy way to say this...and it's not a conspiracy - I swear - but Michelle is up to some dodgy stuff. I know you won't believe me but I overheard Mom and Callie talking last night and they think she had something to do with those drugs that Evan had."
Brandon put a hand to his forehead. "Kasey, what are you on about? You trying to tell me you think Michelle is a drug dealer but this isn't a conspiracy?" His voice grew more agitated with each word. Kasey put her palm forward and tried to remain calm.
"Brandon - listen to me. You don't have to believe me but just listen. I was suspicious and so I did some investigating."
Brandon's eyes flared open but Kasey kept speaking before he could respond.
"I had a talk with her to say I was wanting to patch things up - we had a drink or two and when she was in the bathroom I checked through her phone."
Brandon leapt off the bed and swung round.
"You did what? How could you do that to someone? Invade their privacy like that?"
"Brandon you didn't hear them talking - and even if it was wrong - the end justified the means! She's been exchanging messages with some unknown number talking about taking something from our house. Be mad at me all you want for doing it but you can't pretend I'm lying - you know that I'm not!"
Brandon scrutinised her expression. It's true - he knew Kasey better than that. She wouldn't make something like this up.
"Are you sure you didn't misunderstand?"
"These were the messages - I copied them into mine."
She showed him the phone and he read them angrily huffing as he did. he then threw the phone down next to her on the bed.
"This can't be happening. I don't understand what's happening!" he slapped the wall with his palm.
"What do they even mean?" Brandon pressed his palms against the wall supporting his thinking body. He had a sinking in his stomach. He still was trying to process everything that had happened the other night. The kiss, the baby. He had been avoiding all contact from Michelle and now this is the first he hears.
Kasey shrugged and read them over again. "I've been trying to figure them out but I just can't. I mean clearly she's meeting some guy...it could be..."
"I know." He responded harshly, the words leaving a bitter taste.
"Is there anything you have which may be of interest to her? Anything she's asked a lot of questions about or anything?"
Brandon shook his head and swung round. "Kasey - I'm not in the mood for a friggin' CSI interrogation.
Kasey stood up and put her hand on his back. He shook slightly as she did.
"I'm sorry - I'm just trying to help you figure this out. You're not alone Brandon."
He looked round to her with a small smile before dropping it again.
"How could I not see something was going on. You were all screaming it at me. For God's sake!" He angrily kicked the bear that they had won that day at the fair. It flew down across the floor as Kasey picked it up and placed it on the bed. She guided Brandon over to sit next to her.
"Maybe it was us all screaming that was the problem." She resigned. She realised that they had practically forced Brandon to defend her. He was never going to do anything but that and it probably clouded his judgement.
Brandon began to play with the bear with one hand, picking at its fur.
"I know she had issues Kasey - but she was...I dunno. I thought we had something. That I could help her. She was so alone." He ruffled his hair harshly with his other hand before slapping it down on his knee.
Kasey put her hand on his and squeezed it gently. She didn't know what to say. She too began to pick lightly at the bear hoping it might give her some inspiration. She remembered that day at the fair when she saw them turn up with it. She had always hated it - purely because it reminded her of Michelle. She wasn't massively keen on the size of it either. Anything that could fit a small person inside had always creeped...
She ripped the bear off Brandon and threw it onto another part of the bed, examining every crease of it.
"Kasey, what are you doing?"
"Grisly. It's the friggin' bear Brandon!
She located a small thread which looked like home stitching. The whole thing had always looked a bit shoddy but then it was from a travelling carnival. She ran over to Brandon's desk as he gawped in confusion. She took some scissors and scored down the seem ripping the fur apart.
There was padding - lots of padding - and lots of debris flew up from the stuffing. Only at the edges though, inside the firmly padded edges it was full.
Full of battered green notes.
So - anyone suspect the bear being a money bear? Sometimes the simplest plans become the most complex when other factors get thrown in. More will be revealed in the coming episode about the whys.
Hope you enjoyed anyhow!
Chapter 48 Preview: Brandon has some persuading to do and Stef calls in on Evan.
Evan opened the door with slight confusion. Very few people knew where he was at the motel. He was even more surprised to see Stef there. As soon as he had opened the door she barged in and swung round.
"Why don't you come in." He joked closing the door. "Missing me that much?" His sleepiness was overriding his inherent fear of Stef.
"Don't get smart with me Evan - you're in too much trouble and I want some answers." She stared at him sternly as he gulped. What had she found out?
