That night at Jack's Bibblery
"hi can I talk to Jackson please" asks Officer Marissa politely
"what about" asks Lucy
"the girl that was here last night that Wendy called a thief, it turns out the cops kept smacking her with their guns, they lost their jobs as a result, they chose to believe her over the girl in question" says Marissa
"OHH that girl, she dropped her cash, Jackson kept her cart full, didn't restock it as he normally would, Wendy had attacked many people last night, mostly girls, we were very busy, Jackson was preparing her order but because we were busy it took longer than usual, we don't usually let her stay in the building that long, she likes a specific number of Bibble in each bag, if the number of Bibble is wrong she loses it on him, he only banned her from the store because the cops had asked him to, that girl looked cold, like she was freezing" says Lucy
"she had brain cancer, lost her ability to regulate her body temperature, which is why her cart was stuffed full, she couldn't afford to lose the body heat every day walking from her house to here, her girlfriends dropped her off so she could stock up for the month, she has a special vest that would keep her warm but I'd assume it died quickly arguing with Wendy, yelling uses up more body heat and her body can't make more if the assistive vest ran out of power" says Marissa
"I'll go talk to him" says Lucy as she heads to the back room where Jackson is
5 minutes later as Jackson rolls out Cat's cart
"so Wendy lied huh, doesn't surprise me, her doctor has me mix up her a special batch with her meds laced into the candy, something about her not taking it without candy, I've been doing this for several weeks, she's not normally that violent" says Jackson
"then why was Wendy violent" asks Marissa
"because I was closed the day before, each bag is a two day dose, I was closed because Miley and Lilly had almost been hit by a car, Miley may be my sister but if I let her stay at home alone with only Lilly also in pain they would be in danger, I have to protect them when they're hurt" says Jackson
"why do you have to protect them, they're not kids anymore Jackson" asks Marissa
"because Miley's pain meds slow her reaction time, Lilly's period is offset to Miley's by four days, Miley takes the pain meds for her period but it can be used for severe pain to avoid a hospital visit if there is no bleeding issues, if it's just muscles she won't go to the hospital, anyway my point is they took the pain meds, it puts them in a vulnerable situation, normally only one of them is taking the medicine at a time, they were almost raped the last time it happened, I wasn't there but Cassandra was, the attempted rapist was pushed away by Cassandra's alt Jackie, Cassandra wasn't here this time to keep them safe, so I had to close the store for the day, consider Cat's bill paid, give her the money back" says Jackson
"your profit margins aren't big enough to just give away that much Bibble Jackson" says Marissa
"maybe not but I'm not in this business for the money, I'm in it for the smiles on my customers faces, I worked a food shack back in Malibu, the pay was awful but I met lots of great people, made lots of people smile, if I were living on my own maybe I'd worry more about the money, living with my sister and her fiancé isn't easy but they help pay for my bills, Lilly helps out when we're busy, Money may be important to some people Officer Valentine, it mattered to me too back in Malibu, Miley made me promise to help anyone out that I could, with what Cat went through as you told Lucy she did, Miley wouldn't forgive me if I didn't give it to Cat free of charge, Miley considers making someone pay for something they had every intention of buying after being kept from doing so then being beat that way, Miley sees it as a crime, also if she comes in again tell Cat to cover her hair if Wendy is here" says Jackson
"why cover her hair" asks Marissa
"Red hair triggers Wendy, especially when it's that vibrantly red, she normally helps out people who are short, she'd have helped Cat if she'd covered her hair in some way, like I said Wendy isn't usually that bad, why the cops took Wendy's side as opposed to Cat's is unknown to me, next time have her call ahead of time, we can have it delivered, if you make an official request I can unban her from the store" says Jackson
"ok and here's cash for the Bibble, I appreciate what you're trying to do but Cat used to bulk buy pads and tampons and would hands them to the homeless and to food shelters in LA, people assume she's doing it to build favors like sex but that's not who she is, the problem is she now assumes that any business owned by a man who give her discounts is looking for sex with her, she's smart, she won't say that outright but she's an easy read, when she was telling me what happened I could tell she was terrified, she will never walk in here again as long as Wendy keeps coming here, as for why the cops agreed with Wendy they said she offered her body to them, she was going to let them tie her up and have sex with her but only if they made Cat terrified of this place, I hate to say it but they definitely did terrify her of this place" says Marissa
"I have a loyalty program, started it last month, every two purchases leads to five percent off, you hand it in with ten hole punches and you get one big bag or a stuffie half off, the idea has boosted business, the loyalty card would be like a contract for her I think, it wouldn't be me just offering her a discount" says Jackson
"that might work, she just got past a legal issue regarding her trip relationship, the NCA put up a red flag because of the fact that Cat is a year younger than Jade and Tori, it's as a result of the relatively new minor in age law that went into place, she may be seventeen but along with her height and her rather obvious readability they wanted to make sure she wasn't being pressured into a relationship between her and Jade and Tori" says Marissa
"come on anyone that talks to her knows she's not the type to feel pressured into love, she's like Lilly, Lilly could see Miley was watching her in bikinis at the beach back in Malibu, just because Miley is an open book doesn't mean Lilly could just call her out on it, Lilly did the right thing by throwing hints, Cat's the same way, she had been throwing hints for years, I heard about how Jade supposedly injected herself into Cat and Tori's date vacation last summer, the thing is if Cat really didn't want Jade there there is no way she'd have caved, trust me I saw how Cat responded to Wendy, Cat almost killed Wendy, Wendy grabbed Cat's hair and before Wendy could do anything more she was on the floor with Cat's foot on her neck, Cat would walk away then Wendy would try again only to be shut down again, if Cat can do that to strong Schizophrenic Wendy then she could have easily done the same to Jade, Cat chose not to, see the difference" says Jackson
"wait she assaulted Wendy" asks Marissa
"twice but it was purely out of self defense, it looked like it exhausted her to do so but Wendy was aggressive, calling Cat names, threatening to kill her if she didn't leave 'her' store, Cat absorbed those hits, she only fought back when Wendy grabbed her hair, Cat understanded that if she hit first she'd be at fault, like I said she only retaliated when Wendy laid an uninvited hand on her shoulder or grabbed her ponytail, trust me it was self defense" says Jackson rolling the cart in Marissa's direction
"ok so I'm giving a direction for you then, you must get Wendy's special Bibble delivered to her house, I'm no longer allowing you to have her in your business, this neighborhood is filled with kids with Red hair, especially after Hannah dyed her hair red in solidarity with the prime minister after he was diagnosed with cancer just before Christmas" says Marissa
"as an officer of the law you need to provide me with an official letter of denial of entry like the cops did for Catarina, until then I am legally required to let Wendy into this building" says Jackson
"I have proof those cops didn't serve you with a denial of entry warrant for Cat till this morning, Wendy is a direct risk to this community, I demand you deny her entrance into this business" says Marissa
"all due respect Officer Valentine, Wendy's insurance company pays me to grind her meds into a powder and put it into the candy coating of Wendy's Bibble, they could sue me for willingly putting Wendy's life in danger by denying her her medication, they already screamed at me once for the single day I was closed for business so I could protect my sister and her fiancé, I'd rather go to jail than be sued out of existence by Wendy's insurance company, please don't make me close up shop, I love working in this neighborhood" says Jackson handing Marissa the change
"you're not a doctor, legally you having possession of her meds is illegal, if her insurance is making you keep her meds on your property they're at fault so you could sue them, you should sue them for that, anyway I should get this Bibble to Cat, I'll get that slip for you" says Marissa as she leaves
At home 45 minutes later
"how'd you get all that, I'm banned from the store, I'm not allowed to have that" asks Cat as Jade hugs her
"she bribed them with her body, what's worse is they accepted it, they lost their jobs, that ban doesn't hold up to scrutiny, even though she's schizophrenic then accepting her clearly sexual offer is illegal, her insane plan was to terrify you of that place so you'd never go back, here's a loyalty card Jackson gave me, every two purchases gets you five percent and one hole punched in the card, ten holes punched on the card gets you fifty percent off either a big bag of Bibble or half off a stuffie" says Marissa
"it's Jackson Stewart isn't it…. The owner" asks Cat
"he tried to give you all the information you you had in your cart for free" says Marissa
"he wants to see me naked doesn't he" asks Cat
"I doubt it, Miley made him promise to help others when he can, besides he told me that he isn't in it for the money, that he's in it for the smiles, his margins are slim but Miley and Lilly basically pay his rent on the building he's running that Bibblery out of, Miley has a thing about making sure people are taken care of before profits, the loyalty program he just rolled out last month is purely to promote repeat customers, he said its boosted sales" says Marissa
"so it's not about me being tiny and kidnappable" asks Cat
"he's been open for a year next month, if anything he's protected victims, in September a little girl was almost kidnapped outside his business, he brought her in and gave her a bag of Bibble to calm her down while the cops talked to her to get information, as a result he's found that certain flavors help with anxiety more than others, his business has become more like a sanctuary to victims, girls will walk in all nervous, especially if they're recently freed from their traumatic situations, Lucy, the front store runner and Cashier will bring them behind the counter and listen to their stories if they're not busy, not everyone has a Miley or Cassandra in their family, sometimes just having someone listen to your traumatic experience story is enough to calm them down, usually an ambulance or cop is called to get them home safely after" says Marissa
"so he moved here before Miley and Lilly" asks Cat
"yes by a few months, Jackson was having problems trying to set up that Bibblery, Lilly and Miley needed to escape the nosey Paparazzi in California so they moved here to help him" says Marissa
"Malibu is just so far away, why did he come here of all places" asks Cat playing with her hair
"a girl, she got him to buy a plane ticket to here with the last of his money then when he got here she'd promised him a romantic date then ghosted him, or at least that's what he believes, personally I think she was forced to ghost him by her parents" says Marissa
"what's her name" asks Jade
"Isabelle, the presidents daughter" says Marissa
"Uhh she didn't ghost him, she was sent to Hollywood arts back in LA, she's got severe burns, I think that's one of the reasons Cassandra went, to bring anyone who wants to come here to bring them back with her" says Cat
"why does she have bad burns" asks Marissa
"stupid science teacher worried her and I would get hurt because of our size and the fact that Isabelle is disabled, as a result he messed up the chemicals, me being eager to prove my worth I mixed what I thought was supposed to be a small safe reaction, turned into an explosion and massive fire, I barely made it out alive, which to be honest I was hoping I wouldn't, anyway ten people died and the rest of the class had severe burns, Beck and Andre among them…" says Cat as she starts seizing
"why did she suddenly start having a seizure" asks Marissa as Tori puts a heating vest on Cat
"this happens every day, Cassandra had called for a Central air repair person but they wont fit it unless she's here, something about contract rules, anyway the temperature just dropped five degrees, her body's in shock, as you no doubt noticed Tori just put a heating vest on Cat, she will be fine, thank you, you might be the only cop Cat isn't afraid of, after what happened that night we can barely get her to leave the house" says Jade
"if you ever need anything feel free to call in and ask for me, I'm the Sheriff's second in command, basically I can fire anyone who I feel crossed a line" says Marissa as she leaves