Leohart:I hope you find simular wisdom here in this chapter my friend.
Leohart2: slowburn is the best romance in my opinion in books, especially when the people are thinkers.
Leohart3: Those are good points on wher Connie falls short and fails.
guest: Oh Connie diffnatly won't forget that nickname, it's here to stay.
Riariabookworm: I'm so glad you love Wendy and my style. It means the world! And I had some technical difficulties that made me post twice. Sorry bout that.
lulusgardenfli: Your praise and review are honestly the best! you put so much thought into them! Thank you!
bookgirl18 : More Johnny and Wendy coming up!
Chapter XVI
S*S
A long, long, time, was apparently the answer. Thankful, something Randy must've said (err, well yelled) had Jack turning it down to a slightly more bearable level. Well, at least to the point where Wendy could get through the day without him hanging off her dead leach. Which meant that she could go home without worrying if her sister was going to feed her a poisoned apple or smother her in her sleep.
Huh, she could see her own obituary now: Wendy Marie Allen, dead at fifteen. Cause of death, Sister's uncontrollable envy. She will be missed.
Still that didn't mean things were suddenly alright or back to normal. Oh no, of course, it didn't. The day Cherry invited her over to her house for some girl time put that hope into an early grave.
They were seated before Cherry's canopy bed, sorting through nail polish until Cherry chose a pale pink and Wendy picked a magenta shade of blue.
It was nice, and Wendy was enjoying herself when in the middle of Cherry painting her nails, the redhead bit her lips and shuffled, before taking a breath and looking up briskly.
"Say...Wendy..." she said like she was gonna pull a tooth. "That um...English partner you got...Johnny Cade right?"
It was the first time Cherry had ever said Johnny's name. And she said it...not exactly rudely...but like she was trying to be polite enough not to insult him in front of Wendy, but also place distance between him and them by using his full name.
Wendy's brow furrowed.
"Yeah...?" she said slowly, trying not to let any bite creeping up in her blood spread itself in her voice. Really now, Cherry didn't know Johnny, she wasn't his friend. It stood to reason that she'd talk about a bit more formally, with some distance. But something about this was starting to twist in that primordial place in her gut again.
"Ya...would ya say ya'll were just partners...or friends?" Cherry hedged, still sitting pin-straight, and playing with her hair once she was done with Wendy's hand. Wendy pulled it back, and fanned it slowly to dry it.
"...We probably wouldn't be friends if we hadn't become partners," she answered back. "But yes...I think he's my friend. And I know I'm his."
Cherry winced. "I was afraid of that."
Wendy started, and stared hard at her outright. Aside from checking to make sure Wendy was alright that first day of school, Cherry had been hands-off in regards to Wendy's relationship with Johnny. And why wouldn't she be? Cherry was Wendy friend, not her mother.
"Why?" Wendy asked out loud, wanting some sense. "What difference does it make? Why would that bother you?"
Cherry jumped a little, and her eyes flashed, though the older girl reined it in. "I'm not the one who bothered Wen. Tell me, have ya gone to the Library together?"
"...Yeah? Why?"
Cherry gaped at her, honest to goodness speechless. "Glory Wendy, are ya tryin' to get that boy killed?!"
Warning bells that had started ringing in Wendy's head were roaring like sirens now, and she stared while her hands clenched.
"Cherry," she said slowly. "...What. Do. You. Mean?"
"I mean that Beth Mays saw ya in the library together and couldn't keep her fat mouth shut. Well done Wendy. Well. Done," Cherry snapped.
The library...shoving aside the horrible feeling of having her skin turned inside out, Wendy narrowed her eyes. "You pulling my leg. Why on earth would Beth Mays come within five miles of a Library? Does she even know how to read?"
"She drove her sister to renew the kid's books,"Cherry huffed. "But that's not the problem."
"What is the problem?" Wendy reiterated.
"I told ya! Beth say ya, and but since she knew ya were partners, she didn't find it interesting eough to say nothin'. But now with this new mess with Jack..." Cherry thinned her lips. "Well, she was always sweet on him -God knows they deserved each other- so I think she was tryin' to win some brownie points when she tossed that little tidbit to Bob and Jack. And course, they did the logical thing of thinkin' that the boy's messin' with ya, and that's why ya not interested in Jack."
"What?!"
"Uh-huh. That's what I said when I heard it." Disgusted, Cherry ran a hand over her forehead, smoothing her hair back. "Wendy...do ya understand how bad this could've been? Bob doesn't know Johnny Cade from Adam, but he was talkin' 'bout jumping him."
By now, the cords connecting Wendy's brain to her speech were going haywire. "Jump him?"
Cherry lean forward, eyes very fierce, her word very slow. "They were gonna catch him off guard and beat him up. For talkin' to ya."
That primordial knot had turned into a noose at this point. Wendy didn't say anything. She couldn't. And whatever was in her face made Cherry softened, and reach over to grasp Wendy's hand.
"But its okay Wen," she said decorously. "Marcia, Randy, and I talked 'em down...well...Randy did. Ya should've heard 'im. I swear he's the only one of the lot that thinks things through ever. He mentioned that you would've told somebody if he were botherin' ya. And that if they landed him in the hospital, your grade could suffer and that wouldn't win any points with ya."
Then the redhead paused and shuffled again. "But all he said to work 'em rounds borders on you not givin' a thought to Johnny Cade outside the classroom. I don't mean to tell ya what to do but...if I were ya...I'd avoid the library, and find some other place to work on ya stuff...and Wen? If it were me...I'd tell him what a thin line he's walkin'. Ya...ya know?"
...When she could, Wendy nodded.
"Ya...I know."
For a while they were silent and let it hang between them. Then Wendy blinked as she realized something.
"Wait a minute," she said eyes darting with thought. "Beth likes Jack. Jack likes me for now. Beth hates me...so...she...tries to help Jack get with me?"
Cherry blinked as well. "Hadn't thought 'bout that but...yeah, that's pretty much it...dang Wen, ya right, she is another level of dumb."
S*S
That was why next English class, Wendy was careful not to catch Johnny's eye as she slid into her seat. Or Beth Mays for that matter, but for a very different reason. It would hardly be fair to Mr. Syme if she got blood all over his classroom. But Johnny wasn't stupid, and the embers in his eyes churned quietly as he tried to catch her eye and ferret out what going on. It was awful unfair, and she finally allowed their gazes to meet while passing up the day's work, and she mouthed 'meet after class.' And he nodded one, acknowledging.
The class couldn't end soon enough -but at the same time, with every tick of the clock she dreaded it. What on God's good earth was she going to say to him? 'O, your one of the nicest people I've ever meet, but you might want to doublethink being friends with me, cause it might get you killed.'
She winced. Somehow, she couldn't imagine that sounding better outside her head than inside it.
She couldn't even believe she was even thinking it, Wendy fumed. Mama had sometimes told stories like this, from back in the old country...of the gypsy incarnation of a 'jumping' that her brothers had conducted, to teach a fresh young man how to talk to their sister. But Jack and Bob were not her brothers. And their motives were anything but selfless. And honestly, she didn't tell Cherry, but Bob was worse. Jack had a reason...a stupid reason, but a reason...but Bob had no skin in this. He just wanted to hurt someone.
This was stuff a girl like Connie or Lilian should be dealing with, not her. For G-d's sake, she wasn't Audrey Hepburn or Liz Taylor...she was only Wendy. Just Wendy.
And soon enough, the bell rang and their classmates were running free, and as she packed up her bag, Wendy saw Johnny motioning for Steve Randle to go on ahead. Which he did...after waiting to give Wendy a scowl that was half warning, and half plain-ol'-nasty.
Johnny rolled his eyes as his friend finally scooted.
"Sorry, 'bout him," he drawled with a half-smile. "If the Queen of England showed up and offered 'im a box of gold, he'd give her the same look."
When she said nothing, his head tilted, and frowned uncertainty.
"...Wen?" he asked, rasp coming a little stronger. "Hey...ya okay?"
"Um...yeah," she forced out, a bit louder than she meant to. "I just..."
She trailed off, kicking herself. Johnny shuffled, then rolled a shoulder towards her.
"So...you want to head to the library an' -"
"No," she blurted, with what coherent thoughts she could muster, though she winced again when Johnny blinked at the volume of the word. Taking a breath, she forked up a smile to let him know that of all things in this world, he was the last on list of what was causing her mood.
"Erm, no," she said softly, readjusting her bag strap. "Actually, I was hoping we could go someplace else today..."
Johnny grew more alert at that. And more curious.
"Where too?"
"You'll know when we get there," she assured him. And it was a sign of how much he trusted her that so little information was enough for him, as Johnny scooped up his supplies and inclined his head towards the door.
"Lead on," he said.
S*S
She lead him the other end of the school, out the cafeteria for two reasons, one, less chance of being seen. Two...it was easier to enter into the woods that way. During the summer, when she and the twins explored many of the old and faded paths through the woods, they had discovered a surprising secret roadway across Tulsa.
One such roadway started behind a boarded-up store that had yet to be torn down. It was no difficulty to meander around back, slip through the broken fence and walk the start of the Green Mile, as the twins had named it. Though now with the coming of autumn it was the Red-Gold-Brown Mile. Not quiet as catchy.
Now those tall hemlock-sheaves were bent and withered, and above linen leaves were falling, one by one, with the faintest whispering of 'goodbye' to their friends, who still clung to the branches, while they cascaded down to their mortal destination, the dying embers in a fire-pit.
Some clung to Johnny's hair as he cracked his neck looking back and forth, looking around.
"Glory, I've lived in Tulsa all m' life, but I've never seen nothin' of this," he remarked softly, catching a branch in hand, tugging it along before letting it go.
"Sometimes I wonder if you've gone through life ya eyes shut, Johnny Cade," Wendy teased with a faint smile, hugging her bag closer.
Johnny considered. Maybe he had, a little. It was a trick you learned on the east side, for when you saw things you didn't want to. Awful things. But...apparently blocking the bad stuff meant you also didn't see the good. Lousy trade-off.
"It's beautiful," he said instead, glad that because Wendy was leading, she couldn't see his eyes were on her as much as the foliage.
"It is isn't it?" she said. "We're almost there."
Soon enough, they rounded a bend and came into a clear right out of Pony's folklore books, and if the ruined house on the other side of the pond was still standing, the image would've been perfect. But as it were, it was still tuff-looking. And without thought to it, his feet were pulled towards it, like copper to flint.
"So...Johnny," Wendy muttered, twisting her fingers. "There...something..."
But he was distracted, fire lighting in his mind as he snapped his fingers.
"I think I know what this place is, Wen," he said, pointing. "This is the old Hellens House."
His friend jumped, and those eyes of her grew wide as twin moons. "What?"
"The Hellens House," he repeated, rolling his shoulder. "It's a local legend 'round here. Kinda a sad one too."
Wendy looked from him, to the house they were approaching, and back to him. "Sad...why?"
"Well, story goes that when Old Man Hellens's oldest son, Anthony, got back from the Great War, he was...what do they call it? Shell shock? Anyways, he'd have horrible fits at night. See things that weren't there. One fit was so bad, he knocked a light over and started a fire. Burning the whole dang place down...and his parents and siblings with it." he cocked his head and clicked his cheek. "But Anthony got out, and got arrested, tried, and hung from the yardarm for arson and kin-killin'."
By now they had reached the house, and Johnny had placed his hand on what remained of the window shutter, peering inside curiously. From what remained of the front parlor, it had been a nice place.
"But...why?" Wendy faltered. "He didn't do it on purpose..."
"Must've had a shit-lawyer," Johnny said without thinking, then winced when he realized he'd sworn in front of her. His hand pulled at his hair. "Uh, sorry Wen. But also...don't think they really understood things like shell shock back then. Hell, there are guys who're comin' back from 'Nam now who got somthin' like it, and doctors can't fix 'em."
"Still...that's awful..." Wendy breathed softly. And he nodded in agreement but finished the story.
"Legend said that Anthony Hellens' ghost shows up when ya about to have a death in the family. Plenty of folks have said they seen 'im."
Wendy paled before biting her lip and stepping over to him. "Come on, let getaway-"
But Johnny had frozen and shushed her. "Did ya hear that?"
But Wendy didn't get a chance to answer. Her weight, combined with his own, was enough that the thin wooden door they were mistakenly standing on shattered under their feet, and sent them a good seven feet below into the dark.
S*S
Wendy whined when she first hit the bottom, curling instinctively into the fetal position and then stretching out, making sure she had no broken bones. Aside from the ache in her...everything...she thought she was good. Doubly so when Johnny groaned, then cursed, then forced himself up to scramble over to her. Making it perfectly plain that he was alright as well. That's when she started breathing again.
"Christ Wendy, ya okay?" Johnny asked, hand on her arm, pulling her up. She nodded.
"Yeah...lucky for us, the landing was soft," she remarked, offering a little smile. Johnny snorted softly and leaned back on his heels.
"Speak for ya-self," he half joked, before looking around them, brow furrowed. Wendy did the same. It was a square-shaped hole, and the broken bits of the door that lay around them, and still hung on the hinges, told that it was purposely dug.
"Where are we?"
"Storm cellar, from the looks o' it," Johnny answered, standing up cautiously, to run his hands over the walls.
"Storm cellar?" Wendy questioned.
"For twisters," Johnny explained, and Wendy thought of the Wizard of Oz. "Ah."
Then a more serious matter occurred to her, and she stood as well. "Johnny, how are we gonna get out of here?"
The walls were too steep to climb, with no roots or handhelds available to help out. And the remains of an old ladder, which might of been the Hellens' family way of getting in and out was far too rotted for any earthly use.
Johnny hissed out a breath and yanked his hair as he puzzled it, 'fore heaving a sigh and turning to her.
"You think if you got on my back, ya could reach the top?"
Wendy considered, judging the distance above them, and shook her head. "I'm too small. Besides, even if I could, what would I grab to pull myself over the edge? There nothing there to hold."
Johnny cursed again, quietly. And went back to thinking. After a moment he sighed. "Then I'm open for suggestions."
Wendy considered, and flinched at the thought of people noticing them missing. Oh, this was not good...not good at all -
But just before she could fully wallow in self-pity, two out of three familiar voices began to pipe up, unseen.
"You know Wendy wouldn't like it if she knew we came home through the Green Mile..."
"Wendy doesn't have to know, plus this way, Bonnie doesn't need a bus pass."
"Yep," a little girl voice -one that made Johnny's jaw drop- giggled. "And it so pretty!"
"Glad you like it -"
"Sam! Eric!" Wendy shrieked out, whether out of relief that they were here or irritation that they were breaking her rules she couldn't tell. "Boys, get over here!"
The sounds of walking stop, and she could just imagine the looks on the kids' faces. "Wendy? Where are you?"
"By the house near the pond. I'm stuck here with a friend."
It first time she'd said that out-loud for another person to hear...not counting Cherry. The sound of rushing feet started up again, and soon the twins and a gray eye little girl with a Minnie Mouse hair bow were peering down at them, gaping.
"Johnny! What are you doin' at the bottom of a well?" she exclaimed.
"It's not a well, Bon, its..." then he blinked. "Ah, forget it. Look, Bonnie, ya know the Curtis House number?"
"I would hope I did," Bonnie Matthews said. Johnny nodded.
"Then get to a phone and tell Mr. C or Superman that we're stuck here and need a rope to get out," he instructed. "Can ya do that?"
Bonnie jumped up, and raised her hand in an army salute that the twins copied. "Consider it done Sargent. We'll have you out not time."
With that, she and Eric took off. Sam started too, but then he paused to look back down at them.
"We're fine Sam," Wendy encouraged. "Go on."
But Sam didn't, and raised an eyebrow instead. "What was that rule about not play near the ruined house again?"
Oh brother. Little brothers. Wendy pinched her nose. "Sam. Go."
Sniggering, he did. And Wendy heaved a sigh. "Kids."
At the moment there sounded like no worse word in the world.
"Tell me 'bout it," Johnny muttered, and from the look on his face, he wasn't just thinking of Bonnie. A sudden breeze from above blew more leaves like embers into their pit, and there was nothing to do but wait.
Reviews make me happy, so I hope you tell me what you think.
Okay, so more drama at school and a hint of events that ended up leading to Johnny's jumping. And some more ghost stories! I think I've been reading to much Stephan King books and watching his movies...what do you think? Plus I think Johnny handled himself really well in their situation, like he did with Pony in the book. Keeping it together, keeping it cool.