Chapter 6
Serenity Sea
(Serenity_Sea@yahoo.com)
* ~ * ~ * ~ *
Around sixth period, after lunch, Sage found a blue slip in her locker. It was a request to go to the Guidance department. Apparently, she mused as she walked to the counseling offices, that was their way of doing things. You didn't get called over the PA; they just left a little piece of paper in your locker.
The office was empty when the door automatically closed behind her and she got the strangest sense of being in a prison. There was a small woman with big hair sitting at a desk in the middle of nowhere and she walked up to her.
"Excuse me? I've got an appointment."
The woman looked up with shrewd brown eyes. "Don't we all. What's your name, dearie?"
She grimaced. She wasn't this lady's dearie, or anyone else's for that matter. 'Not even Jesse's?' Ignoring the route the voice in her head had taken, she brushed a few twists back and answered, "Sage Raines. I was told to come this period."
"Right then. Your counselor is Ms. Ward. She'll be out in just a second. Why don't you have a seat?"
Not that she wanted to, but Sage recognized an order when it was issued. The magazines were the usual crap, mostly about collage and various eating disorders. Just what you wanted to read before you spilled your guts to someone who really didn't care. It was either that, or play mind games. She usually settled for the games.
At the sound of a throat clearing, she looked up to see a pretty young blonde woman. "Hello. You must be Sage. I'm Sarah Ward."
For some strange reason, the woman's appearance set off warning bells. 'It's probably because every woman I meet from now until the end of time with that name is going to set me off.' She coughed. "You wanted to see me?"
The blonde's smile became a bit more strained. "Why don't you step into my office?"
Oh she loved this. Little rooms that weren't fit for a normal sized bathroom somehow housed every collage magazine and bit of collage memorabilia known to man, along with the schedules and background of several hundred students. Long Beach High being as large as it was, she estimated about a six or seven hundred student load, and suddenly felt much better. Mind games or not, this woman was going to be way too busy to keep tabs on her.
She bestowed a rare smile on her as her counselor closed the door. "So what's up?" This was probably just your run-of-the-mill 'how are you adjusting to the school' sort of thing. She'd done it a million times and betted that she could do it in her sleep.
"I just wanted to see how you were adjusting. This is a new school for you, and Reno was much smaller than our school is."
Sage covered her smirk with a hand. "Um, yeah, it's big. But, you know, nothing I haven't done before."
She nodded. "Right." Suddenly a piercing look came into her eyes and she all but pinned Sage with her gaze. "How's your father?"
* * *
Only when she was leaning against the wall outside of Guidance was she free to exhale. For a few moments there… she wasn't sure she was going to make it out of there alive.
"Tough day, Raines?"
Eyes still closed, she responded, "Castleback… stop."
Naturally, this made him want to tease her more. There was nothing better than teasing her out of one of her 'moods.' Sage was somewhat of a drama queen, though if you ever told her that, she'd kick your teeth in. It was something her male-centric family indulged her in, and always had. But he'd seen it on the very first day and vowed to break her of the habit.
He grabbed her arm and started to drag her into the throng of high schoolers all trying to get to their classes. She trusted him, but not that much. Her eyes flew open. "Where are we going?"
They stopped at her locker and he waited as she sluggishly began her combination. On the third try, he groaned and batted her hand away with an expectant look.
"Combination?" She gave it to him, still looking like she'd been hit by a sack of bricks. "Come on, Raines, what'd Ward say to you in there? You're like a zombie." The locker door popped open and a white card fluttered to the floor. She bent to pick it up.
"It's from Ms. Nichols. She wants me to know that my dad's scheduled to come in next week, but that she hasn't been able to get a hold of him." She thunked her head on the neighboring locker. "God. My family is so dysfunctional. This is seriously not even worth it anymore."
And now he was officially worried. "Come on."
Her eyes jumped up to his and he wondered why they were looking particularly silver. "Where?"
Jesse roughly grabbed the books out of her arms and plucked her bag off the hook. "Anywhere we have to so I can get that look off your face."
"What look?"
He physically grabbed her by the chin and forced her to look in the small locker mirror. Her eyes were taking up her entire face, her skin was paler than usual and she felt clammy.
"Oh. That look."
"Yeah," he shut the locker, and guided her to the student parking lot, then to a red BMW 3 series, which he unlocked at once. "That one."
Once inside and a couple of miles away from school, she put a hand on the steering wheel. "Not to be totally original, but where are we going?"
He shrugged, and a bit of the tough guy façade fell away. "I don't really know. I just knew that I had to get you out of there. Sage, you seriously looked like you were going to lose it." When she didn't answer, he pressed, "Sage? You feel sick or something?"
She snapped to attention. "What? Oh. No. I would tell you. Wouldn't want to wreck your pretty car, after all." I'm just trying to get over the fact that you called me by my first name and I was okay with it. More than okay with it.
Jesse's lips twisted in a smirk. "My father bought it for me. I would have preferred an old Camaro or something, but he's got a thing for Beemers." He cleared his throat uncertainly. "So. Do you have somewhere in particular you wanted to go, or should we just wing it?"
"Win—Wait. Turn here." He did and she began to smile. "I've got an idea."
* * *
When Otto heard a car pull into the lot, he was intrigued. He'd ventured up to the loft after Sage left, and found her note. If Kip was to be trusted in his normal drunken stupor, then it was probably her outside now. But she didn't drive yet, school wasn't out, and after last night, he had a hard time believing that Memphis was going to bring her here.
The best thing to do would be to just wait.
Spoiling the peace and quiet was a loud belch from the back room. He grumbled and followed the sound of laughter to investigate. It would appear that he was going to have to trust Sage on her choice of transportation on this one.
As if cued in a movie, the big front door slid back and Sage squeezed through, pulling Jesse in behind her. While he stood there in awe, she easily made her way around tools and car parts to the loft stairs. "Coming?"
He looked like a kid in a toy store. "Do I have to?"
She grinned, shaking her head. Wouldn't it be just her luck to fall for a guy who loved cars as much as she did. At least her dad would like him. Her bag was resting jauntily where she'd left it and a quick peek inside revealed that nothing had been moved. At least, that's what she hoped.
When she looked back out over the railing, he was gone.
"Jesse?" She hesitantly called, hoping she wasn't taking it too far by using his first name when they had clearly been on a last-name basis.
There was a noise and then lots of cursing. She followed the string of profanities to a cherry red Camaro, circa 1983. "I should have known."
He crawled from under the vintage car and tried to play it cool. "What?"
Sage smirked. "That you'd been under the car of your dreams. My, my, but you move fast."
His father hadn't raised him a fool and he knew an innuendo when he heard one. "My reputation precedes me."
"No," she replied, shaking her head slowly, and the twists he'd so admired earlier that morning swung back and forth. Her eyes were sparkling as she leaned forward, "I just know a car lover when I see one." Seconds later, her thumb touched his cheek and rubbed back and forth slowly.
Jesse's eyebrows rose. "If I had known this was what you wanted all along… I knew a few other places we could be right now than an old garage."
Even as her eyes flashed at his calling her new haven 'an old garage,' she laughed softly and flipped her thumb up, revealing black smudge marks. "Down, boy. I was just doing you a favor."
"Sure you were," he mocked, and motioned for her to lead the way out.
She gave him a curious look and cocked her head to one side. "You ready? Or did you want to spend some more time with her?"
"I," he said, as they headed back for his car, "would rather spend time with someone else entirely."
Sage grinned and tossed her bag in the backseat. "Sure you would."
* * *
"Mr. Raines?"
Memphis looked up to see the bright features of his secretary. "What is it, Colleen?" She was absurdly happy and he hated it.
She stepped into the office. "You have another call from Ms. Nichols." She handed him a pink message slip. It said that she'd called more than several times this week. He gave her an impatient look. Her smile faltered. "Oh, and your brother and Mr. Tummel have not checked in for work today."
"Great," he sighed. "Thanks."
Colleen took that as her cue to go and Memphis allowed himself the liberty of leaning back into his chair enough to close his eyes. It wasn't that he'd expected Kip to show today, because he'd seen the look in his eyes last night, but with Sage and her new hairstyle, and the neediness of this English teacher…
He sat up abruptly and reached for his coffee. Aside from a few more papers to go over, he was done with work. And other than her strange behavior yesterday, he still had a car to get for his daughter. Some inquiries had been made and there was a cranberry colored VW Bug waiting at the nearest dealer. It had already been paid for and though he didn't like the idea of Sage's first car being brand new, he wasn't exactly the man to deprive her of the latest model.
Memphis figured if he left now, he had enough time to pick up the car and go place the stuffed animal in the passenger's seat. She'd be happy to see it, even if she tried to be embarrassed, and maybe they could even do something father-daughtery after, like driving it around town. He missed her, missed the easy love she'd given him when she was little and if he had to get it back by purchasing things for her – at least enough to get her foot in the door – then he would do it.
* * *
"No," Sage sucked on her straw nosily. "I still say the girl was the best character. She kicked their butts!"
Jesse took his eyes off the road and gave her a 'come on, get real' look. "Sage. Her boobs were digitally enhanced for every shot. And no woman can do the things she did with her body."
"It wasn't about her body, you dork!" She slammed the big cup down playfully. "It was about her relationship with her father, and that just when she had a chance to get him back, she had to let him go for the safety of the planet!"
He smiled slightly and took a right off the freeway. "Where do I go from here?"
"Um, right down the next two streets. It's the third house down." Then she caught sight of his smile. "Hey. Why are you smiling like that?"
"No reason." Her eyebrow rose. She looked adorable. The twists had sort of unraveled somewhere between the car ride from the old garage and the movies and were resting in slight waves on her shoulders, while her eyes were shining as she waited for his answer. He gave in. "It's just that," he took the turn as she gestured, "Out of all the things to appeal to you in the movie – the car, the motorcycle, the ancient prophecy – you picked up on the father-daughter relationship."
"So?"
There was a bright maroon Bug resting at the curb outside the house she'd claimed was hers. Judging from the look her on face as she stared at him, she hadn't seen it. They got closer and he saw a big bow around the car. "Maybe little miss tough girl isn't as tough as she'd like everyone to believe." He suggested gently.
Her eyes flashed as she looked out the windshield to gather her thoughts before glance back at him. "I am not—" Sage stopped speaking as he pulled up to the new car. "Oh my god."
He unlocked the doors and turned the car off as she hopped out and ran her hand over the hood. Then she suddenly dove over the driver's side door and he couldn't see her anymore. "Sage?"
When his voice was echoed by another's he turned to look back at the house. A tall man with dark hair and dark eyes were coming down the driveway. So this is the man she hates so much…
She popped up on the other side, clutching something to her tightly. "Dad!" Her eyes widened and she turned back to Jesse, who was leaning against his car with that amused grin he always seemed to be wearing. She climbed out of the car and headed for the trunk, tossing the stuffed car in. When she'd seen it before, the first thought was that of mortal embarrassment. The last thing she needed was for Jesse to go telling the entire football team that she had a stuffed animal. And then, like a mirage, her dad had appeared.
Instinct forced her back towards Jesse. "Don't speak too much and you'll get out of this one alive," she mumbled out of the side of her mouth.
Memphis made his way over to them, seeing how his daughter stood defiantly next to the dark-skinned young man. There was something familiar about him…
"Sage? Aren't you going to introduce me?"
She gave him an unimpressed look. "Dad, this is Jesse. Jesse; my dad."
Ever the perfect gentleman, Jesse reached forward and shook his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, sir."
Memphis took in the strong grip
and looked directly into his eyes. "Same here, Mr…?"
"Castleback."
He dropped the hand suddenly. Jesse cast Sage a wary look and she shrugged. "Sage, let's go. We need to discuss a few things about the use of your new car."
Sage glared at her father. "I'll be right in."
Memphis realized he'd make more of a faux pas if he stayed, so he turned on his heel and went back into the house.
"Sorry about that," Sage said, looking up at him. "I have no idea what's gotten into him."
He did. But it wasn't his place to say anything just yet. Besides. It could all just be some 'You're not good enough for my daughter' thing. "I'm sure he's just tired from work."
She looked bewildered. "Yeah. Something like that."
Jesse stuck his hands in his pockets. "So, you don't seem too excited for someone who just got a new car."
She looked past him, down the street, and sighed. "I am. It's just that—"
"—What?"
"This is probably going to make me sound spoiled, but I always imagined my first car being… different."
He read between the lines and inferred, "You mean faster."
Her lips curved up into a full smile. "You spend a day with someone and suddenly they know everything about you."
More like you spend a day with Sage and find out that her number one passion in life was cars, preferably fast ones. The way she'd been pushing him all day had nearly gotten him a speeding ticket; but it had been fun as hell and well worth seeing the smile on her face.
She closed her eyes briefly and then looked back at the house. "I guess I should go in and see what his problem is."
Jesse nodded slowly. "What time should I pick you up for school tomorrow?"
Abruptly, her gaze swung back to his. "Who said I needed a ride?" He sent her a mild look. She relented and he saw a bit of her shell fade away. "You don't have to—"
He held up a hand. "Time?"
She grumbled. "I guess 6:45 is okay."
He grinned widely and kissed her on forehead. "Make sure you're awake."
While she stood there, speechless, he got back into his car and revved the engine. "And Sage?" She glanced at him. "You can drive this car all you want."
She shook her head and laughed all the way inside.
* * *
Memphis studied his daughter as she entered the house. She was smiling. She looked happy. And while he would like to think it was because of the car, he knew better. The Castleback boy had done it to her. He now knew why the boy had seemed so familiar.
Sage got the last trace of laughter out of her system and regarded her father coolly. "I've got a history test tomorrow, so I was about to head up…" she remembered Jesse's knowing look while they were discussing the movie and decided it was worth a shot. "But if you wanted to go for a spin in my spankin' new car, I could probably swing it."
He looked up at her, gauging her reaction. It seemed genuine enough. "Sure," he got up from the table and placed his cup in the sink. "Let's go."
She scooped up the keys resting on the counter and paused at the door. "And Dad?" He looked at her. "He's off-limits for discussion."
Memphis inwardly groaned but dutifully nodded and braced himself for the ride of his life.
* * *
Kip stared into his mug. The one thing that coffee had going for it was that you couldn't see your reflection in the liquid when you looked down into it. Well, unless Mirror made it, and then you were dead anyway, so who cared if you were hallucinating because he'd spilled some gasoline into it.
But this coffee was black, and strong, just the way Sphinx liked it. It was now Sphinx's rotation on Operation 'Clean-Up-the-Older-(but not wiser)-'New School',' and Kip found himself looking forward to the next few hours, as it meant coffee that would sober him up in a heartbeat.
He was alone in the small kitchenette – Tumbler having stumbled in for a glass of water and leaving just as awkwardly seconds later – which he appreciated, as it gave him time to think things over. The main question on everyone's mind right now was whether or not he and Tumbler were going to leave Memphis and Sage to come back to the garage. Otto had let them know that they were more than welcome to, and judging by the keg party they'd had last night, there weren't any personality complaints.
Oh sure, Toby still snored when he slept on his back, and Mirror talked in his sleep, but it was a small price to pay for the kinship they felt at being reunited. The crick in his back from the sleeping back on the hard concrete floor however, wasn't. He arched forward and listened to the cracks appreciatively, sipping his coffee once more.
Tumbler wanted to stay. He saw it in his best friend's eyes. He knew home when he saw it, and even though he'd been more than family with the Raines – and it could quite possibly be a last name/sharing the same DNA thing – there were times when he didn't fit in with the other three. Here, Tumbler fit in just fine, and it was all too easy to fall back into their younger patterns.
But 17 years had come and gone since they'd last been all together like this. And there were 17 years of possible differences between them. Kip wasn't sure if he was going to stay, but he suspected that Tumbler had already made plans to move his stuff in the spare room until he could find an apartment to rent. The other three guys would be all too happy to stay with him, providing they could find a four-bedroom condo or house of some sort.
The other concern, of course, was Sage.
Kip never thought he could put someone else's needs before his own until she'd come into his life. And while he'd resented it in the beginning, thinking of how his actions would affect her was now second nature to him. She might view his leaving as abandonment. He wasn't a psychologist, but he knew her pretty well, and she had abandonment issues. Her mother had left her, her father barely spoke two words to her; he and Tumbler were all she had, and if they left, she'd be pretty much on her own. She might even run away, because there was no one to play buffer in her relationship with Memphis.
Naturally, this was not what Kip wanted to be dwelling on at seven o'clock in the evening, while nursing a particularly awful hangover. But it was on his mind and he very rarely had time to let his thoughts run rampant. It was a concern of his and one that he'd been nursing for some time, as the thought of breaking apart from his brother had been tossed around back in Manhattan.
The real question on Kip's mind was just who, exactly, had driven his niece to this very same garage today. It would have to be someone who'd earned her trust, because it certainly wouldn't have been Memphis, and he couldn't remember her talking about anyone in the past week or two.
Her bag was gone, and no note had been left in its place.
Which didn't make for a murder case, but he had a bad feeling about it.
In fact, to channel Han Solo – the greatest action figure of all time – he had "a very bad feeling about this."
It was like something in the air had changed.
That, and last night he dreamed that Sage had been boosting the cars for Long Beach's most wanted.
Kip sighed, shoved the image out of his head, and rinsed his empty mug at the sink. It was getting dark out. Time for bed. He could always push off the decisions and mind-numbing thoughts for another day.
That was, after all, what he usually did.
* * *
Well. That's chapter 6. These chapters seem to be getting longer and longer, don't they? While the chapter was sort of filler, it was necessary to the plot. You start to see Memphis making an effort to know daughter, Kip deals with the should-I-stay-or-should-I-go-now dilemma, and of course, there's the lovely Sage-Jesse interaction.
The only downer to the real chapter was the Ward counselor. What *exactly* did she ask Sage? And why? Hmmm. The plot thickens.
REVIEW AND MAKE THIS STORY WORTH WRITING!!!
And I realize Kip was a little strange in this chapter, but I always thought he could be a really smart person, and just assumed that he was brain-fried in the movie. The traveling has been good for him, okay?!