Chapter 7
Crawling through the early morning traffic in downtown Harmony with a fussy three-month old strapped into the backseat in a carseat, Sheridan came to a realization.
Convertibles, even sporty red convertibles like hers, weren't exactly made for parents.
Not that she WAS a parent.
It was just a fleeting thought, and she mentally reminded herself to check on a more family friendly car when the opportunity presented itself again.
The Mansion loomed high on the hill, and Sheridan had to wonder if it were mere coincidence that Brandy's discontented wails increased triple-fold the closer the car crept.
"SHERIDAN! SHERIDAN, GUESS WHAT?!" Theresa descended on them exuberantly. "I'M GOING TO COLLEGE!!!"
Mystery solved, Sheridan thought, biting her lip at Pilar's frazzled expression at such an early hour. She unbuckled her screaming niece and cradled her restless, chubby body close, humming a lullaby she remembered vaguely from her own childhood to soothe her.
Brandy hiccuped, flailing her little arms and latching her plump little fingers onto the gold hoops in Sheridan's ears as she rubbed her tear- streaked little face against Sheridan's cheek and gave her gummy baby kisses. Sheridan winced at the slight pain caused by Brandy's tugging fists but smiled at the kisses, despite the guarantee her make-up was pretty much ruined.
Pilar gently disentangled the baby girl's fingers and took her from Sheridan's arms with a motherly smile. "I hope she wasn't too much trouble, Mija," she said, smoothing a hand over the peach fuzz covering the Brandy's head. "Mrs. Crane is inside. She wants you to personally see Mr. Adrian to school."
"No trouble at all, Pilar," Sheridan gave her mother-in-law/surrogate mother a fond smile. Is Adrian actually out of bed this early?"
"Sheridan," Theresa tugged insistently on Sheridan's arm. "What about me? What about my news? Mr. and Mrs. Crane told me they'd send me to any college I wanted. Free. Isn't that wonderful, Sheridan? It'd be so neat to go to the same college Ethan did," Theresa sighed dreamily.
"Harvard?" Sheridan coughed, covering up the strangled laugh of disbelief that threatened to burst forth from her aching lungs. It was almost too much to keep it in.
"Hair!" Theresa exclaimed. "I love doing hair. See?" Theresa bubbled, inclining her head to the side to show off the wacky little braids woven through her thick dark tresses. "And I'm good at it, too. Whitney says I should be an expert on hair with as much time as I like to spend in front of the mirror."
Sometimes, a little bit of Theresa's special brand of tunnel vision wouldn't be all that bad, Sheridan decided with a small smile. The girl never heard any disparaging words. Not because there weren't any, but because she literally took and twisted everything said to her as a compliment. "Theresa, if you want to be a hair dresser, you can take classes here in Harmony."
"Nonsense, Dear Sister," Julian gave the empty brandy tumbler in his hand one last wistful glance before setting it down. "Part of the appeal of college is the novelty of being AWAY from home, preferably FAR AWAY."
"Say good morning to your daughter, Mr. Crane," Pilar said, thrusting the squirming baby into Julian's arms without warning. Ivy and Julian had nothing on her with their mansion of a thousand rooms. If she could survive 18 years in much closer quarters with her daughter.
"I can't leave you and Mrs. Crane by yourselves," Theresa cried, latching onto Julian's free arm and refusing to let go. "Can I hold her, Mr. Crane? Can I, can I?" Theresa looked up at Julian with enormous doe eyes. "Come to Aunt Theresa, Brandy. Come on," Theresa clapped her hands excitedly.
The corners of Brandy's mouth turned downward, and panicked tears puddled in her big blue-green eyes. When Julian held his daughter out to relinquish her to Theresa, she released a single, high-pitched scream.
Some long-buried paternal instinct told Julian to hold his daughter close, and Sheridan watched her brother awkwardly pat her niece's tiny back in amazement.
"Aww, poor wittle baby," Theresa cooed, stretching her arms out once more.
Sheridan and Pilar braced themselves as Julian carefully handed Brandy over, and the infant did not disappoint.
Brandy's screams reverberated through every room in the Mansion, bringing Ivy running and Adrian strolling out of the kitchen with a smirk on his undeniably Crane face.
"So this is the surprise the stork left on our door step," Adrian grinned, giving his baby sister's angrily bunched up fist a quick squeeze as he stood behind Theresa. "I can tell we're going to get along just fine. I'm ready when you are, Aunt Sheridan. You look tired. Married life wearing you out?"
"Adrian!" Ivy scolded, grimacing in disgust when Brandy decided to give more than just voice to her displeasure and emptied the contents of her breakfast all over Theresa's face, neck, and the SpongeBob SquarePants pajamas she still wore.
"Mama!" Theresa shrieked in horror, passing Brandy off like a football to Ivy as she ran to her own mother for help. "She.she.this is ssssssssssooooooo gross, Mama. Get it off. Get it off!" her voice rose frantically with each syllable.
Adrian lowered his head, snickering as Pilar took Theresa's arm and led her away with a heavy sigh.
"Dear God," Julian shuddered as his infant daughter continued to wail in Ivy's arms. "Cosmetology classes in Harmony, Dear Sister? I think NOT," he huffed, dismissing himself stiffly from their company.
"Thank you for watching her, Sheridan," Ivy smiled gratefully, looking harried as she searched for Pilar out of the corner of her eyes when nothing she did seemed to calm her daughter's tears. "Shhh, Darling. Aunt Theresa."
Brandy started shrieking again, much to Ivy's horror.
"Mother," Adrian hissed slyly. "Don't say the T-word. You're scaring my little sister."
Sheridan's blue eyes danced as she shook her head at her nephew.
What did you get when you mixed one infant with a volatile temper, a girl playing the ultimate game of house with her beloved, slow-witted nephew Ethan, her recovering alcoholic brother and his 'loving' wife with one teenager boy with a devil-may-care attitude?
All the ingredients for a disaster that could very well obliterate the entire Eastern seaboard.
Ivy readily surrendered Brandy to Sheridan's open arms, dropping to an exhausted heap at the foot of the winding staircase. "Adrian," she said, her tone incredulous, as she got her first good look at her son. "What on earth are you wearing? You look like a vagrant."
"What do you think, Teach?" Adrian interrupted his mother, not passing up the opportunity to tease his aunt at the same time. "Am I in accordance with the Harmony High dress code?"
Sheridan's blue eyes took in the pair of low-slung jeans that had always been Adrian's uniform away from boarding school and the un-tucked, rumpled gray tee-shirt that looked like it'd seen better days. He looked like her average student, except his jeans were designer and that tee-shirt.high- dollar as tee-shirts went. "He looks fine, Ivy," Sheridan reassured her sister-in-law as she rubbed Brandy's tummy and hummed softly against the crown of her downy head. She smiled when she felt the baby droop sleepily against her.
"We have maids to iron our clothes, Adrian," Ivy's lips twisted in distaste, even as the words died in her throat. Obviously, her son wasn't listening. She looked up to Sheridan, shocked to find her cradling her now- dozing daughter in her arms. "Sheridan.how?"
"She liked it when Luis rubbed her stomach so I didn't think there was much harm in trying. It puts her to sleep when she's tired or cranky almost every time," Sheridan whispered, transferring her precious cargo to Ivy's arms.
"Are you sure you can't take her to school with you?" Ivy asked hopefully.
"Where's a nanny when you need one? Right, Mother?" Adrian rolled his eyes at his own mother's uncertainty with how to deal with a baby. Her own baby. He softened the blow of his off-hand comment with a reluctant kiss to her cheek. "Goodbye, Mother. Sorry I can't stay and enjoy the family fun," he said, giving her one last smirk as he sauntered out the front door.
Sheridan laughed when she realized he'd somehow pick-pocketed her car keys. "Adrian," she muttered, waving goodbye as she hurriedly backed out the front door after him. "Adrian, no," she shook her head as she saw him behind the wheel of her car, her favorite car.
"Come on, Aunt Sheridan," Adrian grinned as he put on his shades. "We're late. What harm will one turn behind the wheel of this beauty do? Where's the trust?"
They WERE too late to argue so Sheridan pulled the passenger side door open and yanked her seat belt tight over her hips and shoulder. Where was the trust? Back there with her stomach and common sense, she thought, clenching her eyes shut tight against the wind as the convertible whizzed down the hill and lurched onto the street to traffic ticket hell.
This was her one good Samaritan act of the day.
What harm, her ass.
Chapter 8
"Open your eyes, Aunt Sheridan, so you can see the view!" Adrian shouted over the dull roar of the wind as the convertible sped down Coast Road.
Sheridan peeked one blue eye open and quickly re-shut it, clenching the dashboard with white-knuckled hands and attempting to put her head between her knees. "The only thing I see is my entire life.flashing before my eyes," she choked out, snapping her head up as the car swerved sharply to the left. "Adrian, sslllooo.Oh my God, you nearly hit those kids crossing the street!"
"What's that Pilar was always telling us? Always look both ways before you cross the street?" Adrian smirked at his deathly pale aunt, racing beneath the traffic light just seconds before it turned red.
"I mean it, Adrian," Sheridan tried to muster up her most threatening voice. "Slow down before you get us killed or."
She groaned as the wails of a police siren reached her ears and slid further down into her seat. "Pull over. Just pull over before you make it worse," she hissed, hiding her face in the crook of her arm as the car finally, mercifully, slowed to a stop.
Adrian pulled his sunglasses down the bridge of his nose, watching the approach of one very pissed-looking Harmony police officer in the reflection of the rear-view mirror. His hand slammed down on the horn when he heard the man's voice directly in his ear and his aunt Sheridan's answering moan. "What do you know? They weren't lying. Objects in mirror ARE closer than they appear."
"Adrian!" Sheridan snapped. Her nephew was such a smartass. She hid her face behind her hand and turned her body toward the door, unable to meet Luis's piercing dark eyes. Of the entire Harmony police force, why oh why did her own husband have to pull them over?
"Adrian? Sheridan, is this your." Luis trailed off, tucking his ticket pad in his back pocket and extending a hand to the young man so gleefully enjoying his wife's mortification. "I'm Luis. Your aunt's."
"Uncle Luis!" Adrian grinned, giving Luis's hand a firm shake and marveling at the nice pink-purple flush that adorned his aunt's cheeks. "Crane. Adrian Crane. I've heard so much about you."
Luis pulled his pad back out of his pocket, his pen poised above it. "Adrian, did you realize you were going 70 miles per hour in a 35 mile per hour zone?"
Adrian slid his sunglasses back up his nose to hide the devilish twinkle in his blue-green eyes. "You're kidding, right? I thought I was going 90. Aunt Sheridan, I think there's something wrong with your speedometer."
A muscle in Luis's jaw twitched as he scribbled a few notes on paper. "And you don't have your driver's license."
"No, Sir," Adrian admitted. Aunt Sheridan's Luis bore a striking resemblance to Robocop at that moment. "It got revoked months ago. But don't worry, Uncle Luis," Adrian placated, tongue firmly in cheek. "That wasn't my fault. I can handle a car. Aunt Sheridan taught me everything she knows. Right, Aunt Sheridan? Aunt Sheridan? Are you sure you're okay? You're looking a little."
Sheridan pushed the passenger door open, scrambling outside and leaning forward, hands on knees.
Hello, Damsel in Distress. Here comes your Knight in Shining Armor, Adrian thought, rolling his eyes when Robocop forgot everything else to rush to her side.
Love was sickeningly sweet.
Or just plain sickening, Adrian amended, grimacing as he watched his aunt lose her breakfast all over her husband's shoes.
Now they were never going to make it to homeroom.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Late on the 2nd day? This is a new record for you, Katherine," Principal Reid mused dryly, giving her appearance a brief second glance.
"Kay," Kay gritted out between clenched teeth as she patted down her wild dark hair and scowled at the brand new hole in her jeans. "It's Kay, and I was nearly killed this morning, Principal Reid, by a maniac in a red convertible. Do you really think I'd leave my house looking like this?"
"I wasn't born yesterday, Katherine. Excessive tardies will land you in detention. I suggest you go to bed earlier instead of keeping hours like a vampire. Hurry along before you're late for 1st period too," Principal Reid suggested, lumbering back toward his office.
"Vampire hours? Excessive tardies? Detention," Kay muttered as she hobbled out of the office and into the hall. "Hey! Are you blind? Watch where you're going," she grumbled, not even looking up from her unexcused tardy slip. "This town is full of psychos and half-wit idiots. This wouldn't have happened if Mom hadn't spent all my car money on Pollyanna and the Bobbing Head."
"If my brother's wife's friends live within a 100-mile radius, it doesn't bode well for this town's collective intelligence level," Adrian mused.
"You," Kay groaned, rolling her dark eyes as she tried to hobble forward at a faster speed and put some distance between them.
"You have such a lovely disposition," Adrian smirked, easily catching up with her. "I don't suppose you'd care to help me out. Aunt Sheridan was supposed to show me where her homeroom is, but she's otherwise engaged." Praying to the porcelain god, Adrian thought with a chuckle, remembering the completely horrified expression on Luis's face just moments after.this morning's incident.
"No, you're not.does nobody up there like me?" Kay whined, raising her eyes to the heavens. "Anybody?"
"Thanks for your help," Adrian gave her an overly-friendly slap on the back, deciding to follow his instincts and the racket further down the hall. "I think I can manage it on my own."
Kay crumpled up the tardy slip in her hand and tossed it at the trash can. Missing by a mile, of course. Great. Principal Reid could add littering school property to her list of offenses. "How can I be late if she's not even in there?"
Sometimes life just, well.sucked.
Crawling through the early morning traffic in downtown Harmony with a fussy three-month old strapped into the backseat in a carseat, Sheridan came to a realization.
Convertibles, even sporty red convertibles like hers, weren't exactly made for parents.
Not that she WAS a parent.
It was just a fleeting thought, and she mentally reminded herself to check on a more family friendly car when the opportunity presented itself again.
The Mansion loomed high on the hill, and Sheridan had to wonder if it were mere coincidence that Brandy's discontented wails increased triple-fold the closer the car crept.
"SHERIDAN! SHERIDAN, GUESS WHAT?!" Theresa descended on them exuberantly. "I'M GOING TO COLLEGE!!!"
Mystery solved, Sheridan thought, biting her lip at Pilar's frazzled expression at such an early hour. She unbuckled her screaming niece and cradled her restless, chubby body close, humming a lullaby she remembered vaguely from her own childhood to soothe her.
Brandy hiccuped, flailing her little arms and latching her plump little fingers onto the gold hoops in Sheridan's ears as she rubbed her tear- streaked little face against Sheridan's cheek and gave her gummy baby kisses. Sheridan winced at the slight pain caused by Brandy's tugging fists but smiled at the kisses, despite the guarantee her make-up was pretty much ruined.
Pilar gently disentangled the baby girl's fingers and took her from Sheridan's arms with a motherly smile. "I hope she wasn't too much trouble, Mija," she said, smoothing a hand over the peach fuzz covering the Brandy's head. "Mrs. Crane is inside. She wants you to personally see Mr. Adrian to school."
"No trouble at all, Pilar," Sheridan gave her mother-in-law/surrogate mother a fond smile. Is Adrian actually out of bed this early?"
"Sheridan," Theresa tugged insistently on Sheridan's arm. "What about me? What about my news? Mr. and Mrs. Crane told me they'd send me to any college I wanted. Free. Isn't that wonderful, Sheridan? It'd be so neat to go to the same college Ethan did," Theresa sighed dreamily.
"Harvard?" Sheridan coughed, covering up the strangled laugh of disbelief that threatened to burst forth from her aching lungs. It was almost too much to keep it in.
"Hair!" Theresa exclaimed. "I love doing hair. See?" Theresa bubbled, inclining her head to the side to show off the wacky little braids woven through her thick dark tresses. "And I'm good at it, too. Whitney says I should be an expert on hair with as much time as I like to spend in front of the mirror."
Sometimes, a little bit of Theresa's special brand of tunnel vision wouldn't be all that bad, Sheridan decided with a small smile. The girl never heard any disparaging words. Not because there weren't any, but because she literally took and twisted everything said to her as a compliment. "Theresa, if you want to be a hair dresser, you can take classes here in Harmony."
"Nonsense, Dear Sister," Julian gave the empty brandy tumbler in his hand one last wistful glance before setting it down. "Part of the appeal of college is the novelty of being AWAY from home, preferably FAR AWAY."
"Say good morning to your daughter, Mr. Crane," Pilar said, thrusting the squirming baby into Julian's arms without warning. Ivy and Julian had nothing on her with their mansion of a thousand rooms. If she could survive 18 years in much closer quarters with her daughter.
"I can't leave you and Mrs. Crane by yourselves," Theresa cried, latching onto Julian's free arm and refusing to let go. "Can I hold her, Mr. Crane? Can I, can I?" Theresa looked up at Julian with enormous doe eyes. "Come to Aunt Theresa, Brandy. Come on," Theresa clapped her hands excitedly.
The corners of Brandy's mouth turned downward, and panicked tears puddled in her big blue-green eyes. When Julian held his daughter out to relinquish her to Theresa, she released a single, high-pitched scream.
Some long-buried paternal instinct told Julian to hold his daughter close, and Sheridan watched her brother awkwardly pat her niece's tiny back in amazement.
"Aww, poor wittle baby," Theresa cooed, stretching her arms out once more.
Sheridan and Pilar braced themselves as Julian carefully handed Brandy over, and the infant did not disappoint.
Brandy's screams reverberated through every room in the Mansion, bringing Ivy running and Adrian strolling out of the kitchen with a smirk on his undeniably Crane face.
"So this is the surprise the stork left on our door step," Adrian grinned, giving his baby sister's angrily bunched up fist a quick squeeze as he stood behind Theresa. "I can tell we're going to get along just fine. I'm ready when you are, Aunt Sheridan. You look tired. Married life wearing you out?"
"Adrian!" Ivy scolded, grimacing in disgust when Brandy decided to give more than just voice to her displeasure and emptied the contents of her breakfast all over Theresa's face, neck, and the SpongeBob SquarePants pajamas she still wore.
"Mama!" Theresa shrieked in horror, passing Brandy off like a football to Ivy as she ran to her own mother for help. "She.she.this is ssssssssssooooooo gross, Mama. Get it off. Get it off!" her voice rose frantically with each syllable.
Adrian lowered his head, snickering as Pilar took Theresa's arm and led her away with a heavy sigh.
"Dear God," Julian shuddered as his infant daughter continued to wail in Ivy's arms. "Cosmetology classes in Harmony, Dear Sister? I think NOT," he huffed, dismissing himself stiffly from their company.
"Thank you for watching her, Sheridan," Ivy smiled gratefully, looking harried as she searched for Pilar out of the corner of her eyes when nothing she did seemed to calm her daughter's tears. "Shhh, Darling. Aunt Theresa."
Brandy started shrieking again, much to Ivy's horror.
"Mother," Adrian hissed slyly. "Don't say the T-word. You're scaring my little sister."
Sheridan's blue eyes danced as she shook her head at her nephew.
What did you get when you mixed one infant with a volatile temper, a girl playing the ultimate game of house with her beloved, slow-witted nephew Ethan, her recovering alcoholic brother and his 'loving' wife with one teenager boy with a devil-may-care attitude?
All the ingredients for a disaster that could very well obliterate the entire Eastern seaboard.
Ivy readily surrendered Brandy to Sheridan's open arms, dropping to an exhausted heap at the foot of the winding staircase. "Adrian," she said, her tone incredulous, as she got her first good look at her son. "What on earth are you wearing? You look like a vagrant."
"What do you think, Teach?" Adrian interrupted his mother, not passing up the opportunity to tease his aunt at the same time. "Am I in accordance with the Harmony High dress code?"
Sheridan's blue eyes took in the pair of low-slung jeans that had always been Adrian's uniform away from boarding school and the un-tucked, rumpled gray tee-shirt that looked like it'd seen better days. He looked like her average student, except his jeans were designer and that tee-shirt.high- dollar as tee-shirts went. "He looks fine, Ivy," Sheridan reassured her sister-in-law as she rubbed Brandy's tummy and hummed softly against the crown of her downy head. She smiled when she felt the baby droop sleepily against her.
"We have maids to iron our clothes, Adrian," Ivy's lips twisted in distaste, even as the words died in her throat. Obviously, her son wasn't listening. She looked up to Sheridan, shocked to find her cradling her now- dozing daughter in her arms. "Sheridan.how?"
"She liked it when Luis rubbed her stomach so I didn't think there was much harm in trying. It puts her to sleep when she's tired or cranky almost every time," Sheridan whispered, transferring her precious cargo to Ivy's arms.
"Are you sure you can't take her to school with you?" Ivy asked hopefully.
"Where's a nanny when you need one? Right, Mother?" Adrian rolled his eyes at his own mother's uncertainty with how to deal with a baby. Her own baby. He softened the blow of his off-hand comment with a reluctant kiss to her cheek. "Goodbye, Mother. Sorry I can't stay and enjoy the family fun," he said, giving her one last smirk as he sauntered out the front door.
Sheridan laughed when she realized he'd somehow pick-pocketed her car keys. "Adrian," she muttered, waving goodbye as she hurriedly backed out the front door after him. "Adrian, no," she shook her head as she saw him behind the wheel of her car, her favorite car.
"Come on, Aunt Sheridan," Adrian grinned as he put on his shades. "We're late. What harm will one turn behind the wheel of this beauty do? Where's the trust?"
They WERE too late to argue so Sheridan pulled the passenger side door open and yanked her seat belt tight over her hips and shoulder. Where was the trust? Back there with her stomach and common sense, she thought, clenching her eyes shut tight against the wind as the convertible whizzed down the hill and lurched onto the street to traffic ticket hell.
This was her one good Samaritan act of the day.
What harm, her ass.
Chapter 8
"Open your eyes, Aunt Sheridan, so you can see the view!" Adrian shouted over the dull roar of the wind as the convertible sped down Coast Road.
Sheridan peeked one blue eye open and quickly re-shut it, clenching the dashboard with white-knuckled hands and attempting to put her head between her knees. "The only thing I see is my entire life.flashing before my eyes," she choked out, snapping her head up as the car swerved sharply to the left. "Adrian, sslllooo.Oh my God, you nearly hit those kids crossing the street!"
"What's that Pilar was always telling us? Always look both ways before you cross the street?" Adrian smirked at his deathly pale aunt, racing beneath the traffic light just seconds before it turned red.
"I mean it, Adrian," Sheridan tried to muster up her most threatening voice. "Slow down before you get us killed or."
She groaned as the wails of a police siren reached her ears and slid further down into her seat. "Pull over. Just pull over before you make it worse," she hissed, hiding her face in the crook of her arm as the car finally, mercifully, slowed to a stop.
Adrian pulled his sunglasses down the bridge of his nose, watching the approach of one very pissed-looking Harmony police officer in the reflection of the rear-view mirror. His hand slammed down on the horn when he heard the man's voice directly in his ear and his aunt Sheridan's answering moan. "What do you know? They weren't lying. Objects in mirror ARE closer than they appear."
"Adrian!" Sheridan snapped. Her nephew was such a smartass. She hid her face behind her hand and turned her body toward the door, unable to meet Luis's piercing dark eyes. Of the entire Harmony police force, why oh why did her own husband have to pull them over?
"Adrian? Sheridan, is this your." Luis trailed off, tucking his ticket pad in his back pocket and extending a hand to the young man so gleefully enjoying his wife's mortification. "I'm Luis. Your aunt's."
"Uncle Luis!" Adrian grinned, giving Luis's hand a firm shake and marveling at the nice pink-purple flush that adorned his aunt's cheeks. "Crane. Adrian Crane. I've heard so much about you."
Luis pulled his pad back out of his pocket, his pen poised above it. "Adrian, did you realize you were going 70 miles per hour in a 35 mile per hour zone?"
Adrian slid his sunglasses back up his nose to hide the devilish twinkle in his blue-green eyes. "You're kidding, right? I thought I was going 90. Aunt Sheridan, I think there's something wrong with your speedometer."
A muscle in Luis's jaw twitched as he scribbled a few notes on paper. "And you don't have your driver's license."
"No, Sir," Adrian admitted. Aunt Sheridan's Luis bore a striking resemblance to Robocop at that moment. "It got revoked months ago. But don't worry, Uncle Luis," Adrian placated, tongue firmly in cheek. "That wasn't my fault. I can handle a car. Aunt Sheridan taught me everything she knows. Right, Aunt Sheridan? Aunt Sheridan? Are you sure you're okay? You're looking a little."
Sheridan pushed the passenger door open, scrambling outside and leaning forward, hands on knees.
Hello, Damsel in Distress. Here comes your Knight in Shining Armor, Adrian thought, rolling his eyes when Robocop forgot everything else to rush to her side.
Love was sickeningly sweet.
Or just plain sickening, Adrian amended, grimacing as he watched his aunt lose her breakfast all over her husband's shoes.
Now they were never going to make it to homeroom.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Late on the 2nd day? This is a new record for you, Katherine," Principal Reid mused dryly, giving her appearance a brief second glance.
"Kay," Kay gritted out between clenched teeth as she patted down her wild dark hair and scowled at the brand new hole in her jeans. "It's Kay, and I was nearly killed this morning, Principal Reid, by a maniac in a red convertible. Do you really think I'd leave my house looking like this?"
"I wasn't born yesterday, Katherine. Excessive tardies will land you in detention. I suggest you go to bed earlier instead of keeping hours like a vampire. Hurry along before you're late for 1st period too," Principal Reid suggested, lumbering back toward his office.
"Vampire hours? Excessive tardies? Detention," Kay muttered as she hobbled out of the office and into the hall. "Hey! Are you blind? Watch where you're going," she grumbled, not even looking up from her unexcused tardy slip. "This town is full of psychos and half-wit idiots. This wouldn't have happened if Mom hadn't spent all my car money on Pollyanna and the Bobbing Head."
"If my brother's wife's friends live within a 100-mile radius, it doesn't bode well for this town's collective intelligence level," Adrian mused.
"You," Kay groaned, rolling her dark eyes as she tried to hobble forward at a faster speed and put some distance between them.
"You have such a lovely disposition," Adrian smirked, easily catching up with her. "I don't suppose you'd care to help me out. Aunt Sheridan was supposed to show me where her homeroom is, but she's otherwise engaged." Praying to the porcelain god, Adrian thought with a chuckle, remembering the completely horrified expression on Luis's face just moments after.this morning's incident.
"No, you're not.does nobody up there like me?" Kay whined, raising her eyes to the heavens. "Anybody?"
"Thanks for your help," Adrian gave her an overly-friendly slap on the back, deciding to follow his instincts and the racket further down the hall. "I think I can manage it on my own."
Kay crumpled up the tardy slip in her hand and tossed it at the trash can. Missing by a mile, of course. Great. Principal Reid could add littering school property to her list of offenses. "How can I be late if she's not even in there?"
Sometimes life just, well.sucked.