Derek
"Jeannie, call me back, god damnit," Derek said to the disembodied voice of Jeanette's answering machine. This was the fifth message he had left in two days. It wasn't like his sister not to return his calls. Something was up, but he'd be the last to know what it was, as usual. Someone down the hall was blasting Green Day, primal strains that thumped and rattled in the walls like a war drum calling for battle. Derek stopped to listen for a moment.
Their dad had gotten another loan from Jeanette, but that was only a band-aid covering the real problem. Dad was circling the drain, and needed an intervention. In another couple weeks his old man would be out on the streets, or worse. Even Angela had agreed. Derek had called everyone who cared, circling the wagons so they could ambush his father and get him into a treatment program.
No amount of money from the Wallis family had been able to repair the damage done to his family. The Wallis family and fucking Jamie Henson, who was long overdue for a beatdown. That day was coming soon. Jamie had never been repaid for punching Jeanette in the face and siding with Kate Wallis against her, along with the rest of the country. It had been dad who had stood by Jeanette, and in return his life had been destroyed, his marriage, his business, his standing in the community. Derek had been too preoccupied with landing a scholarship and frat life to really be there for his father, but he was trying now, before it was too late and there was nothing left to salvage.
His mother would be back in town tomorrow. She might be the only one who could get through to his dad, to pull him back from the edge.
Derek crammed a couple books into his backpack, He had to get to class. He had spent most of the morning waiting for Jeanette's call back and had no more time to wait.
He was reaching for the doorknob when someone on the other side knocked. Probably Adam needing another favor. Derek flung the door open with an exasperated grunt.
"Ashley? What the fuck are you doing here?"