When Jake and Bella were arriving at the hospital, Grace was on the verge of leaving. She'd been on the verge for a quarter of an hour, but they weren't to know that. "I've got to go now" Grace said reluctantly (repeating herself), but she lingered.
"All right." Ryder took that calmly. "Hand me down something to read."
There was a pile of paperbacks beyond his reach on the foot of the bed, battered books from the flashman series on top, a hardback of short stories, and at the bottom like a guilty secret, Jingo by Terry Pratchett. Grace picked up the hardback. "Sarky? What's that?" She laughed.
"Saki. Edwardian short story writer."
"That's cool."
A smile flickered on his face, not a mean one. "Not really."
"But you like him." The magazines all said, show an interest in the boy, but it was more than that. Ryder was so different, she wanted to know everything about him. He never tried to impress her. He never needed to try.
He was about to say something, but then his face changed entirely. "Pratt."
"Ryder."
There was a lot more hostility between those two than Grace had realised. Ryder was sneering, Pratt was - Grace looked again. She had never seen him angry before. She looked from one to the other of them. It was like a bad Western before the shooting started.
Ryder drawled "To what do I owe the pleasure-?"
Bella showed up behind Jake's shoulder. "Why did you say Hamilton put you in here?" she demanded, angry and direct.
Oh. Ryder vaguely remembered. Finn and the Dean had been in the room, asking him questions. He had just wanted to close his eyes. Finn said something about Hamilton. (Or had that happened? It might have been a dream, but what a disappointingly boring one) Oh. He remembered. He'd just wanted them to go away so he could close his eyes. So he said yes and they went and he conked out. Actually, he felt a bit bad about that. "Actually, I feel a bit bad about that" he said frankly.
Jake drilled him with a look.
He was getting no kudos for sincerity, then. "But, I mean.. it's Fleming."
She folded her arms and glared some more.
He appreciated that Pratt wouldn't see Fleming as the ideal victim, he wasn't stupid or anything, but come on - "He's the Dean's son. I mean - " A look of scientific curiosity crossed his face. "How far would he have to go to get expelled?"
"I don't know. He's never tested it" Jake said dryly. "How about you get yourself expelled?" she invited Ryder cordially.
Ryder just laughed. "No imagination - ow." His side hurt when he laughed.
"Who did this to you?" Grace asked. He hadn't wanted to talk about it so she'd let him distract her earlier. She wanted to know.
"I'd like to know." His mouth was a tense line.
Grace shivered. She wouldn't like to have him angry with her.
"That's funny. So would we." Jake bit the words off crisply.
"We could get together. Work it out" Grace suggested eagerly. Anything to get that frightening, distant look off Greg's face. He hated being the victim. She could tell that much about him.
Ryder was not happy that two people he didn't want to see made it to his bedside. He wasn't afraid of Pratt and that townie blonde, but, alone, after they'd taken Grace, he did wonder who else might just wander in.
Apparently, Krudsky and Calhoun might. Worse than that, Krudsky saw him flinch when he saw them. "Nervous?"
"Alert" Ryder said shortly.
"Alert is good" said Calhoun. Ryder ignored him. He was just Sidekick Boy.
"I have friends in town -" began Will.
"How touching."
"I wouldn't expect you to know what it feels like to have friends anywhere."
Too verbose, Ryder thought. "If you'd got it down to a soundbite, that might've stung."
As expected, English Major passed on his advice. "I've heard things about you."
Ryder supposed he was intended to bleat Things! What Things? and reveal all his mucky little secrets. "What can I say? I'm the centre of attention wherever I go. Charismatic, me." He looked longingly out the window at the final glow of a magnificent sunset. God, he was dying for a smoke.
"You owe Joe money."
"Everyone owes Joe money" Ryder said wearily.
"Did Joe do it?"
Not personally. Ryder would have recognised him, and he hadn't known these thugs. "Why" he said "-do you think Joe hired Hamilton?" He achieved a wide eyed look; he knew that annoyed Krudsky.
Judging from Scout's blank expression, it was taking a minute for the penny to drop that he was persisting with the blame-Ham line. When Scout worked it out, he whined "Why'd you blame Ham?"
"'S funny." Ryder planned to stick to that explanation. It sounded less wet than - Finn said it and I'd've agreed to anything right then. Jack the Ripper? Me. Causing the Falklands War? Yup. The Princes in the Tower? It's a fair cop, guv. The terrible acting of that Kreuk girl on Smallville? Sorry 'bout that. -
"Funny" Will said with utter contempt.
That boy really had no sense of humour, Ryder reflected.
"Now we have to find out who did it, to clear Ham." Scout was still whiny.
Ryder grinned. "Funny" he said again. In fact, hilarious. That lot would have the investigative skills of Enid Blyton children. "Hardy Boys." He remembered Bella, who was presumably part of this. "Meets Nancy Drew."
"How'd you run up the debt with Joe?"
Wonderingly, Ryder eyed Will. Comedy Bypass Boy was too permanently skint to have bought a tape recorder on which to incriminate him. On the other hand, Scout could get such a thing with his pocket change, and his wallet was Krudsky's wallet, so to speak.
"Was it gambling?" Will asked.
Ryder eyed him some more. Of course, it was gambling. Equally of course, he wasn't going to talk to this prissy knob about it. Shouldn't he be fending off searching questions from more official parties? "Where's the Dean?"
"Calming down Mrs Fleming" Scout said. "It turns out she has gay issues."
"Wait'll she finds out about Hammie-boy" Ryder said with malice. The quality of the silence got to him "..somebody's told her?" And he'd missed this, damn. Cautiously, he pulled himself further upright in the bed. "Who told her?"
"Hamilton told" Will said.
"Honesty is a beautiful thing." Ryder was torn between a desire to laugh and a concern for how much it would hurt if he let go. So, Fleming had upstaged him. He was second priority, even though he was on death's door. Ryder indulged in a bit of self pity. "I have to get back there" he muttered to himself.
"You do?" He'd lost Scout.
"The Fleming family needs our support" Ryder said unctuously. His opinions on the hospital's open door policy to visitors, he left unspoken. "Think I'll check myself out tomorrow morning." He indicated the door. "G'night ladies."
It took a full two minutes of eyes closed, look-I'm-asleep-bog-off-now body language before they huffed out. Ryder's eyes popped open. He watched the door.
Listening to Finn drone on about Whitman in the classroom the following day, Ryder had second thoughts about returning to Rawley. He could've been elsewhere, reading something altogether less exclamatory.
"-Ryder?" Finn must have noticed his inattention.
That surprised him; he had thought Finn was engrossed in auditioning for the remake of Dead Poet Society. "Yeah, yeah. Mighty Yawp, yeah."
Finn drew breath to blast him but then the bell went. Chairs scraped and the class noisily gathered bags and books. While the mob rushed out, Ryder went and scooped some pens from the stationery cupboard. His own were on the floor - it was too much hassle to retrieve them. He felt like a baby chucking teddies out of the pram. He couldn't bend, he couldn't twist, he couldn't reach. Screened by the cupboard door, he saw one of the girls from across the lake approaching Pratt. She had her tummy sucked in and a shy smile on her face. - it's not going to do you any good, luv - thought Ryder.
"Hey Jake."
"Hey Lena."
Ryder rolled his eyes. Scintillating. Oscar Wilde lived and died in vain, as far as these two were concerned.
"I, uh, haven't seen you since this whole thing blew up."
Jake was shoving textbooks into her backpack with excessive force. "It's not news to you. It's not news to anyone. I thought everyone knew except the Dean."
"Kind-of knowing isn't the same as knowing." Lena pointed out. "Are you okay?"
There was a thump as Jake rested her backpack on the desk. "Yeah. We're all right." Through the crack between door and cupboard, Ryder saw her look up at Lena and smile. "Thanks."
The sound of someone bursting in. "Jake - why weren't you in the lab? We have Physics next.. oh. Lena." Said with all the enthusiasm you'd show a decomposing sandwich at the back of your locker.
Ryder choked. This was more fun than Whitman.
"We've got to get to class" Hamilton said determinedly, seizing Jake's backpack.
"We'll see you at the thing" Jake said. "You're going, right? Sean said he'd asked you.."
"Yeah."
"Sean's cute, right?"
"Jake-" Hamilton sounded hurt.
"Ja-ake-" Lena sounded exasperated.
"Okay, okay." Jake fell back a step, both hands in the air. "No more matchmaking. See ya."
Ham hustled Jake out the door. "Sean is not cute-" His voice faded.
Half hidden in a stand of trees near the dorm, Ryder lifted his face to the moon and smoked. Last night he had been in a ward. Tonight he felt completely alone. Sudden noises breaking the quiet made him startle, but he was going to have to get over that. If a rattle of leaves or a glimpse of movement out of the corner of his eye made him run for cover then he was doubly a victim. He reasoned with himself in this way until he got bored. Boredom came quickly. His cigarette had gone out.
That rustling in the bushes was too loud to be natural. Ryder tensed again. Then he recognised the voice. It was Scout. Not a threat.
"Where's Hamilton? It's not fair making Bella wait."
"Shut up Calhoun." That was Pratt.
"He'll be here." That was Krudsky making the peace. "He has time. The truck hasn't arrived yet."
It was like a radio play; he could hear them but not see them.
Calhoun again: "If he isn't here when the truck comes, you'll bring him on your bike, right?"
Pratt sighed. "I really feel like getting wasted tonight."
"Oh Pinnochio. You're becoming a real boy."
Ryder didn't expect Jake's snort of laughter. What was Krudsky's secret? He never got that easy a response, and his jokes about Pratt's masculinity were much wittier.
"Hello ladies. Shouldn't you be tucked up in your dorms?" It was fun scaring them. Scout literally jumped.
Hamilton loomed out of the trees. "What's he doing here?" He jerked a thumb toward Ryder.
Ryder objected to being referred to in the third person. "I was thinking of going to a party." Yes, thought Ryder. Crowds, light, beer. Much better than brooding.
The others looked at him in horror. "You're not going with us-" Scout was telling him when headlights swept over all of them. Bella's truck had just pulled up. Will watched the dorms to see if any of the windows had lit up.
"Greg" Grace squealed. "You're coming too!"
"News to me" Bella muttered. Will irritably reminded Grace to keep her voice down.
Grace ignored Will, addressing Bella "Why would Sean tell you all about his party? He doesn't see you much. Since you dumped him for a rich kid."
"Hello Grace" Scout said evenly.
"Room in the back for me?" Ryder was already scrambling onto the truck, grinning at his girl Grace.
Soon they were off, Ryder in the flat back of the truck, Grace next to him. He was trying not to look to his right, where Jake and Hamilton were cuddling. Aligning his cigarette and lighter was taking all his concentration. The driveway was bumpier than he'd ever realised. Did Bella's truck have any suspension? At all? he wondered. "Er. Do you?" Belatedly, he offered the pack to Grace.
She rolled her eyes. "Of course I don't. I live with big tanks of flammable liquid. Do I look suicidal?"
"Big tanks. And here I thought she was called Bella." He drew on his cigarette. "I hadn't thought of that. Now, burning down Rawley wouldn't be a bad thing for me."
"But you don't live in Rawley. You live in England."
To his right Jake giggled like a girl. Ryder shifted his seat so his back was to Jake and Hamilton. "Uh, yeah." He surprised himself by admitting "I miss it."
Grace surprised him by saying "That's obvious."
Jake slid down a little and let herself relax against Hamilton. They'd made the turn out of Rawley drive and the public highway was smoother. "This time tomorrow it will all be over" she muttered to herself.
"What?"
"Lunch. Your parentals."
"It's a meal in a restaurant, dude." Hamilton didn't see why Jake was stressing. "Fanny's do great lobster rolls."
"I hate seafood." Jake refused to be drawn out of her gloom.
"What is it, really?" He couldn't read Jake's expression from this angle.
"It's a family thing. I don't know-" Jake wasn't sure of the word "-the rules. And you guys are like, the Waltons, or something-"
"Hey. There are no rules. And-" Hamilton recalled all the parent/child issues he'd come across among the boys at Rawley. "Well. I don't think anybody is the Waltons."
"I used to love that programme. And the Cosby show."
"And the Partridge Family."
"Wait, I made you watch that once. Are you still mad at me?"
"Oh yeah. Forever."
Ryder thought he would shed the others when they got to Sean's place, but no, Grace stayed with him. "You're not comfortable with the Jake/Ham thing?" she guessed.
Ryder looked down his nose at her. It would be young and dumb to be shockable. It would be gauche. That wasn't him.
"It's worse for me" she pointed out.
"You don't go to school with them." He wasn't homophobic, he told himself for the hundredth time. It was the P.D.A.s How could anyone look across a - an English class, with that much naked emotion. You'd think at least Finn would be an anaphrodisiac.
"Yes, but I was flirting. With Jake. For weeks."
Ryder burst out laughing, and Grace joined him.
"God, I was embarrassed."
"His loss" Ryder said with a grin. "Where do they keep the booze around here?"
On the porch, Sean jerked a thumb toward the stranger. "Who's he?" he asked Will.
"Ryder. Grace invited him."
"You know all those prejudices you have against Rawley guys?" Ham raised his eyebrows. "Well, with Ryder, those are all true."
The townies near them looked thoughtful. "We'll keep an eye on him" said one.
"Just an eye." Bella didn't like where this was going. "He got out of hospital this morning."
"He's that one." Sean had heard rumours. "So, Ham, man-"
"NO. I didn't beat Ryder up."
"I heard it was Joe" Sean said, surprised. He'd been about to tease Ham about coming out of the closet. He didn't know Jake well enough to tease her about it.
"Joe? Who said that?" Will put his soda down on the rail. He never drank beer.
Sean frowned, trying to remember. "Wasn't really paying attention."
"If you do hear anything, or remember-" Scout said earnestly.
Jake rolled her eyes. "Scout wants us to detect this."
"Don't get mixed up with Joe." The townie - the one who'd said he'd watch out for Ryder -wasn't smiling.
Jake thought he was Mike or Marc. Ham would know. He'd played basketball a lot with these guys last summer. "Joe's a friend of Will's. Right?"
"Ex friend. Ex."
"We all used to hang out" Mike/Marc explained. "It's kind of a there but for the grace of God thing."
"And speaking of Grace-" Bella's sister bounced up, looking cheerful. "Hey, Sean. This is Ryder."
"Yeah." Sean and his friends curled their lips in Ryder's direction.
Ryder looked wry. He could imagine the previews he'd got. Grace moved on to catch up with him after very little small talk. "It's not personal. They hate all Rawley guys."
Ryder looked back at Will and his friends on the porch, all very cosy. "Yeah."
Grace was right about one thing. There weren't many Rawley school people here. Only the group he had come with, and the girl coming out of the kitchen and manoevering through the crowds with a messy looking tortilla sandwich, half eaten, in her hands.
"Lena."
She nodded to Grace and eyed Ryder suspiciously.
"I wondered why Bella didn't give you a lift."
"I came over this afternoon to help Sean set up." She took a bite. Refried beans tried to escape.
"You're coming back in the truck?"
She nodded again, chewing, and backed away into Hamilton. He was staring at the sandwich. Then he fixed his last-puppy-in-the-shop eyes on Lena. Silently, she pointed to the kitchen door.
"Hey Lena" said Jake, amused, as Ham moved off fast.
"Hey."
Jake was looking over her shoulder. "Huh. Ryder is teaching Grace how to take beer caps off with a lighter. And they say romance is dead."
"Are they together now?" Lena didn't know much about Grace, but she detested Ryder. A sister of Bella's surely deserved better.
"That would be, like, the Demon Couple of Rawley." Jake caught Lena's surprise. "Haven't you heard Bella vent about Grace?"
"Not really." Lena had only got to know Bella and Scout and Will recently. "It's probably just normal sibling fighting" she ventured.
Jake shrugged. "I'm an only child. I totally don't get family issues." She knew she was going to say the wrong thing when she was with the Flemings. She sighed. "Can I get you a drink?"
There was a crush of people around the bottles. "Why don't you talk to Bella" Jake suggested. "I'll get it."
Bella was people watching from near a window.
"Jake said he's getting us drinks" Lena said.
"I hope he remembers which brand I hate."
"He'll remember. Jake's so smooth."
"Uh, yeah."
They watched Ham intercept Jake on her way over to them. He relieved her of a six-pack, and she said something that made him laugh.
"I still think it's a waste they're gay," Lena said a bit defiantly, watching them.
"They're good for each other." Bella was not particularly sympathetic. "Sean being single, now that's a waste."
"Subtle, Bella, very subtle." But Lena wasn't upset.
Jake and Hamilton came over.
"I got food." Ham proudly waved a huge packet of crisps as he arrived.
Jake hitched herself up to perch on the window sill. "That might soak up some of the alcohol." Jake looked critically at Bella.
"Will is driving us home. Anyway, you're the one who kept saying you meant to get wasted."
Jake groaned. "Sunday lunch. Don't remind me."
They hung around and talked for a bit. Jake's foot beat time to the music. "You wanna dance?" she asked her boyfriend.
He choked on his beer. "With you?" Seeing her face turn sarcastic, he stammered "I mean-"
"You're out" Lena reminded him.
"In Rawley. This is Edmund High."
"You're out in Edmund High" Bella said flatly.
Hamilton scanned the room. "Everybody here knows?"
"Yeah."
Hamilton looked floored.
"Look." Bella pushed away from the wall she was leaning on. "This is Sean's place. If he says you're cool, you're cool. People kind of listen to him at school." She glanced sideways to see if Lena had registered the last bit.
"He's a smart guy" Lena agreed.
"And Sean's your friend, and most of these guys know you from basketball last summer, and it's Not A Problem" Jake said, impatient. "So, let's dance." She towed Hamilton away.
It was late now and a lot of the crowd had thinned. Sean detached himself from the edge of a group post morteming the reputations of the departed "-and she admitted that?!" "And I was, like, oh, no, no-" and wandered over to Hamilton who was sprawled on a sofa on his own. Ham looked slightly smashed and very tranquil.
"Hey. Jake wear you out?"
"For dancing yeah." Hamilton wasn't too keen on dancing. "She's with Lena now."
Sean knew that. He'd had half an eye on who Lena was dancing with or talking to for most of the evening. A good part of time, he'd spent with her himself. He and Ham sat for a bit in a comfortable silence. Marc came over and joined them. "Marc's worried you have a problem with him." Okay, maybe Sean had drunk a bit too.
"Whuh? No problem." Ham thought about it. "Why would I have a problem?"
"Well you were on the team, and Marc was substitute. But now-"
"I can hardly ever make it" Ham said calmly. "You're worried about that, man?"
"You're cool?" said Marc.
"Yeah no problem."
Sean thought back to the time Will got tossed off the team for over committing.
Ham said "That reminds me. Those pictures I took of the game."
"You developed them?"
"Yeah, I brought copies. I mean. If you want."
"Yeah cool. You may have the only record ever of 'Berto getting a basket" Marc joked.
"He can't help it that he's, like, three foot tall."
Ham shrugged. "I needed more action shots in my portfolio." Where had he left the pictures? He scanned the room. "Can you see Jake's bag? It's a red backpack."
"Is that it on the floor near Baz?"
Baz? Who?
"Bodybuilder type. Sitting alone."
Ham looked round wildly and Sean took pity on him.
"Over where the nachos were earlier." He knew Ham would know where the food was.
Marc gave Ham a sly look. "Baz works for Joe. Will can tell you about him."
"OK, fine." Hamilton heaved himself out of the sofa. The other two stayed right where they were.
"We don't want to talk to Baz" Sean said without inflection.
Ham was confused. Sean had been circulating all evening. "You invited-"
Marc interrupted. "Where does an 800lb gorilla sit?"
"Wherever it wants to, but, oh. He crashed?" Ham would have expected Sean to throw crashers out. He made a note to ask Will about this.
Ryder and Grace sat on the step of the porch outside. Grace was getting cold.
"Look at the stars."
"Seen 'em. Give me your jacket." Shivering and looking girlishly wistful hadn't worked, but Grace knew it didn't work outside of TV.
Ryder looked blank. "But then I'll be cold."
"It was your choice to come out here."
"I like the sky."
"And this has nothing to do with Baz" she said sceptically.
Ryder didn't answer.
"Big guy? Looks like a shaved gorilla? Sitting-" Grace glanced back at the window "-where the nachos were?"
He was in Grace's line of sight? Ryder got up and started walking.
Grace stayed with him. Exercise might warm her up. "You went out the door the minute he came in."
"I must be afraid of him."
Grace measured him. "He could throw a heavier punch than you."
Doubtless, this was townie expertise talking. "I don't hit people."
"No?"
"No. I prefer to use my tongue."
"That's good in a man."
Ryder dropped his cigarette, rattled.
Grace expertly ground it out. "I mean, brain wins over muscle, any day. Look at Joe. He's not a big guy."
"You were born to be a gangster's moll."
"Don't patronize me."