I was gonna wait to post this to allow more people to review, but I can't help myself. (Sorry other people.)
Review Responses:
JustVildaPotter: MEDDAAAAAA! Really? I thought the last chapter was mediocre, myself. But hey, if you say it's on your list that most certainly doesn't have an unnecessarily long name, then it's on the list! Yay! Hmm... I can't tell you why you found it interesting, but I'm glad you did. Thanks for reviewing!
AndrewKeenanBolgerFan: WOOHOO! TWO CHAPTERS IN THE SAME DAY! How do I write so fast? I AM A GODDESS. Just kidding, I did this story for NaNoWriMo, so I have 30 chapters typed on a Google Doc right now. Updating is just a matter of copying, pasting, and proofreading. If I seriously wrote that fast... I would have to be magic. I am not. Thanks for reviewing!
Katrina Miller: (Chapter 11) Huzzah, the Blush! I'm not gonna focus on it very much, but it is going to be there, in the background, so yeah. I'll have to check that story out. I'm excited to write the Christmas stories! HOLY SMOKES, thank you! Seriously, thank you so much, and thanks for reviewing!
Okay gang, it's Medda time. (By which I mean, Medda appears in this chapter.) Let's go.
Chapter 13- Davey
Wednesday, September 15, 1999, 3:05 p.m.
Jack Kelly had an abundance of friends. While Davey's experience in the journalism class earlier had taught him this fact, he still managed to be surprised by the sheer size of the boy's friend group. How did he know all these people so well? Half of them seemed to be Jack's best friend. Davey knew some people had multiple best friends, but having more than two or three seemed a bit excessive. The only reason Davey was bringing this subject up with himself was because his time to exit the school was being hampered by all of Jack's friends. Davey would have left of his own accord if Jack hadn't asked him to wait. Due to a motive Davey himself wasn't yet sure of, he liked hanging around the boy who was a grade above him.
And besides, he didn't have anywhere other than home to be. A few hours spent away from Les and Sarah would be refreshing. That was to say, it would have been refreshing if Davey wasn't forced to stand off to the side while Jack conversed with his various companions. Honestly, that boy was worse than those mothers who strike up conversations with friends in the middle of the frozen food aisle at the grocery store, when it's the middle of winter and their kids would like to move to a warmer part of the store. But the mothers won't stop talking. Davey had been in that situation far too often as a child, and now it was happening again, in a way.
Sighing, Davey pulled his backpack onto his shoulders and turned to leave. There was no use waiting for Jack any longer. He took one step forward, then collided with another person. Who had declared today school-wide run into David Jacobs day?
"Oof!" exclaimed the person, and Davey realized it was Katherine, the student teacher from the journalism class.
"Sorry," he apologized.
"Don't worry about it, Davey," said Katherine. She cast a glance over at the crowd surrounding Jack. "They don't bite, you know."
"Pardon?"
"If you're waiting around, you might as well join the conversation."
"Thanks, I'm good."
"Come on, Dave," groaned Sarah, appearing behind Katherine. "You can't go the whole day without making any friends."
Davey rolled his eyes. Did Sarah always spend her time following Katherine around? "I did make friends."
"Friend, singular," Sarah followed Davey's gaze toward Jack. "And as it's you, he's more of an acquaintance. A well-known associate, one might say."
"That's not a thing."
"It is now," Katherine put an arm around Davey's shoulders and steered him near the group. "What's up, guys?"
Smalls spoke up as Davey shoved Katherine's arm off his shoulder. "You see da article today?"
"The mystery one?" Sarah wanted to know. Smalls nodded to confirm. "I did. Interesting, as usual. I wonder who wrote it."
"So do I," added Katherine. Both she and Sarah looked directly at Jack.
He shrugged. "It's a mystery."
"Yes," agreed Davey, completely serious. "It is."
"Actually-" Race started, but Jack cut him off.
"So anyway Kath, as Smalls was gonna say, Pulitzer happened ta see this particular article an' it's gotten 'im all riled up about his daughter, fer some reason."
Davey saw surprise flicker in Katherine's eyes for a second as she asked, "His daughter?"
"Yeah. Accordin' ta Romeo, he called a meetin' of da whole school board."
"Wow," remarked Sarah, "nepotism much?"
"I didn't know he even had a daughter."
"Well, you wouldn't," said Katherine, her voice sounding overly even. "Though now that I think of it, I wasn't aware of this either. My guess is she works at another school."
"But she'd hafta work here, right?" Smalls pointed out, "I mean, if he's so worried 'bout an article that came from dis school."
"Oh. I guess you're right."
"I wonder who his daughter is," said Sarah.
"How does Romeo know about the meeting anyway?" Katherine inquired. Something about her behavior felt off to Davey. She appeared torn between avoiding the subject and investigating it further.
"He overheard Medda on the phone," replied Race. "Why? Ya wanna look inta this? Go all 'elementary, my dear Watson' and solve the case?"
"Sherlock Holmes," Davey clarified for Race's benefit, though the other boy did not appreciate the correction.
"No, I just..." Katherine's eyes fell on Jack for a second, but she didn't seem able to maintain eye contact and looked over his shoulder instead. "Just wondered. Maybe Romeo misheard, you know, since none of us have ever known anything about Mr. Pulitzer having a daughter."
"Romeo ain't here anymore. Ya could ask 'im tomorrow." Jack smiled at Katherine. "I don' know about you, but I'd like ta figure out who Pulitzer's daughter is. I could certainly use the help of a beautiful reporter such as yerself."
"Katherine's helping me take pictures for the yearbook," bragged Sarah. She beamed when Jack looked disappointed.
"Actually, I've just remembered this thing I have to do. For a class. In college. It's very urgent." Katherine turned around and speed-walked out of the auditorium.
"Thanks a million, Jack," accused Sarah, stalking out after the student teacher.
Jack collapsed onto the row of seat behind him, sighing in exasperation.
"We'd love ta help ya with yer romance problems, Captain, but we've gotta get ta Jacobi's," Smalls said in response to Jack's dramatic fall. "Ya know how he gets when we're late ta work."
Jack waved her and Race away. "Someone else can cover my shift. I don' care who."
"If only we knew some poor teenagers who needed jobs." Sarcasm heavy in his sentence, Race left alongside Smalls, placing a cigarette between his teeth while walking out.
Davey slipped into a seat beside the three Jack was laying across. "If you need to solve a mystery, maybe you could look into whoever writes those mystery articles."
Jack looked at him, bewildered expression clear on his face, despite it being upside down given where Davey was positioned. "Ya mean ya don' know?"
Now it was Davey's turn to look bewildered. "No one does," he stated, certain that this was true.
"Uh, Dave, the thing is..." Jack hesitated. "I'm the one behind it."
"What."
"You're s'posed to be the smart one, Dave!" A young boy's voice shouted from a few rows away.
Davey whipped around to see Les standing in a different section of the auditorium. At this sight, he jumped up and marched over to his little brother. "What the heck are you doing here?"
Les sighed. "Watching you act like an idiot."
"Who's this?" Jack had walked over to stand next to Davey.
"I'm Les," said Les. He pointed to his brother. "This idiot is my brother, David."
"Where did you come from?" An astounded Davey needed to know.
Les began, as if he were the older sibling, "When a man and a woman love each other very much-"
"What are you doing at my school?"
"Ya mean he don' go here?" Jack looked impressed, which greatly annoyed Davey. "Could a' fooled me."
"Really?" Les was pleased. "Thanks."
"Don't encourage him!" Davey snapped. "How long have you been here?"
Les pondered this. "Little over an hour, I think." He smiled, then proceeded to answer his brother's next question before it was asked. "I ran away from school and some guys let me in here."
"You what?"
"Damn, kid." Jack continued to be impressed. "Wanna be my little brother?"
Davey put a stop to this. "He doesn't need more bad influence."
Jack nodded. "You're right. I don't."
"Not you!" Davey hissed. "Les, who told you to come here?"
"No one," replied his brother. "I got bored and came here on my own. End of story."
"You- what- I-" Davey couldn't figure out what he wanted to say.
"Okay there, Dave?" Jack asked.
Les whispered, "I think we broke him."
Davey sunk into a chair. "I can't believe you did that. How am I going to explain this to Mom? Or your school?"
"It's not like they'll blame you."
"It's exactly like that! I'm the older brother! You came here to see me! How could it not be my fault?"
"It could be Sarah's fault," suggested Jack.
Davey groaned. It slowly turned into a frustrated yell.
"Hey, no screaming kids in my theater!" Miss Larkin called from the stage, where she was supervising the dance team practice.
"Not even me, Miss Medda?" Jack shot her a winning smile.
The woman's face softened. "Jack Kelly! I barely got to talk to you today. Come up here and give me a hug!"
Jack wholeheartedly obliged, waving a hand to instruct Les and Davey to follow him as he jogged onto the stage. As Davey watched, Miss Larkin hugged Jack in a motherly fashion. During her class, it had been made clear that she and Jack had a relationship that went beyond what you would expect from a teacher and a student, so Davey was only a tad appalled.
Jack gestured toward his friend as he pulled away from Miss Larkin, "You've met Davey, obviously."
She nodded. "How're you liking Roosevelt High, David?"
"Uh..." Davey tried to focus his attention on anywhere other than Les, who hadn't yet been noticed by Miss Larkin. "It's... different. But good. It's good."
"Mhm," she placed a hand on her hip. "And who's the little munchkin that's got you so distracted?"
Davey's cheeks paled in horror at the prospect of having to explain. He was about to make up a less than clever excuse, claim to have never seen Les in his life, but Jack jumped in with the truth before Davey could even begin to lie.
"So you're telling me," said Miss Larkin in a thoughtful way after Jack had finished, "that this kid has been hiding in my theater for over an hour without my knowledge?"
"...Correct," Davey responded, fearing the punishment that was surely coming next.
To his disbelief, all Miss Larkin did was shrug. "It wouldn't be the first time."
Davey quirked an eyebrow in confusion. From the floor where he was stretching, one of the boys on the dance team, a redhead- named Albert if Davey was remembering correctly- spoke up.
"Hasn't Jack told you about his escapades yet? How he an' Race escaped from da Re-"
Albert was interrupted by a sudden gasp from Les, who was ogling the female members of the team. The two girls in question had stood up, and the abundance of uncovered skin showcased by their leotards was particularly noticeable. "They got no clothes on!" Les yelled as the girls giggled.
"That's their costume," explained Davey, averting his eyes in contrast to the other young men in the room, most of whom wouldn't stop staring at the girls.
"But I can see her legs!" Les made this out to be the most amazing event in his young life. The girl he was pointing to beamed, enjoying the admiration, and smoothed the creases out of her leotard as she showed off her exposed legs. The second one did the same. Les looked back and forth between the two like he was watching a tennis match.
"You've seen a girl's legs before, Les. This isn't the eighteen hundreds."
"But never like this!"
Another boy- Davey was pretty sure he was called 'Sparrow' or something else bird-related- motioned a hand for him to move out of his younger brother's view. "Let him look, it's educational."
"Edu- no..." Davey reluctantly stepped out of the way.
Sparrow boy's best friend, a tall girl with an even stranger nickname Davey had already forgotten, quietly encouraged Les as the two random dancer girls continued to show off. "Nice view, ain't it?" Though she pretended to be indifferent, she was eyeing the girls in the same way all the other boys were. All except one.
"Y'know," said Specs nonchalantly, "if ya stay on this subject too long, you're gonna get Medda ta start talkin' about her thing wit the governor."
"He was a descendant of Teddy Roosevelt," declared Miss Larkin, who was standing a few feet away.
Davey looked at Jack, and the other boy's eyes clarified everything he needed to know on the subject. His own eyes went wide with shock.
To avoid discussing that topic any longer, all students present occupied themselves with separate conversations. Miss Larkin returned her attention to Jack and Davey. "I'll have to get you to paint more backdrops for me before you leave for college, Jack," she said, and waved an arm towards the painting that covered the entire back of the stage. It depicted a forest and a sort of lake, with numerous shades of green and blue. If he hadn't been surrounded by walls, Davey would have thought it was a real life outdoor scene.
He turned to Jack. "You painted that?"
Jack shrugged. "It's nothin'."
"You're really good," praised Davey, continuing to stare at the painting. "You should do that professionally."
"This boy's got natural aptitude," said Miss Larkin, clapping Jack on the shoulder. "I'd hire him if it wouldn't keep him from college."
At this second mention of college, something flickered across Jack's face. It looked like doubt, or maybe fear, but it was only there for a second before Jack forced a smile.
"Take it easy, it's a bunch a' trees."
"Those trees, Jack, are gonna get you to Santa Fe."
The sincerity returned to Jack's grin. "Any day now."
Have I talked about how much I love Medda and Jack's relationship? Because I do. I love it so much.
And Les is a weird child. We love him for that.
That's really all I have to say; as usual, please review with comments or questions!
Thanks for reading!