Chapter Twelve
"Did you ever think," said Marissa, laying her head on Ryan's chest, "that we would end up this way? Together I mean?"
Ryan shook his head. "I depends when you asked. Six years ago, yes. Five years ago…maybe? From then on, no. Why? Because I never expected to see you again."
"Are you happy to be this way…together?" Marissa looked up at him and their eyes met.
Ryan kissed her softly on the lips. "Does that answer you question?"
Marissa smiled, stroking his chest gently with her hand.
It was nearly a week later, and they were still together. It was, not sarcastically speaking here, one of their longest times together. And Marissa was loving it.
But then she got a phone call from Gary.
Kaitlyn grabbed her backpack and purse, slinging the backpack over her shoulder and adjusting the headphones for her iPod. Damn. It was the first day of school. In Newport. Which, the two together, would probably equal the WORST day of her whole life. She ran a hand through her hair, which she had just spent two and a half hours straightening. She looked over at her father, who was just finishing up his breakfast and thought, dear GOD old man, hurry the FUCK up.
They had just moved into a three million dollar mansion near the Cohen household. They had barely finished unpacking by the time school started. Kaitlyn looked down at the schedule she held in her hand.
First Period: Calculus
Second Period: English V
Third Period: Chemistry
Fourth Period: Government
Kaitlyn sighed as her dad opened the door and let her leave first. He climbed into the driver's side of the car (he refused to let her drive until she was nineteen!) and she climbed into the passenger's side. Jimmy revved the engine and began to reverse out of the driveway.
Kirstin sat at the café drinking her latte. She was flipping through her copy of Vogue when she felt someone tapping her on the shoulder. Kirstin turned around, and saw that Carter was behind her. "Oh my God, Carter…what are you doing here?"
Carter grinned. "I was passing by and I saw you here, so I thought that I would stop by and say hello." Carter sat down in the seat across from Kirstin. "So, what has been up lately?"
"Nothing much," said Kirstin, taking a sip from her latte.
Carter didn't mention Sandy. He knew that she didn't want to talk about it, probably not for a while. So he avoided the subject. "How has work been?"
"I've retired," said Kirstin. "Julie's running the business full time from her station in Hawaii."
"Hawaii? Wow…"
"Yeah, but she and Jimmy recently moved back here, so I guess that the business will move back also." Kirstin stirred her drink slowly. "What about you? What's been up lately?"
"Nothing really. I was married for about a year, but my wife and I couldn't really work things out. So we broke it off. My daughter, Elise, is going to harbor now."
"Really?" said Kirstin, surprised. "What's she like?"
"Get her!" cried Elise, pointing at Kaitlyn.
Kaitlyn began to run, flying down the hall as fast as she could. She didn't mean to spill the coke on Elise's new blouse. She barely knew the girl. But apparently, that didn't matter to Elise. So she sent her "girls" after Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn turned the corner, running down the steps two at a time. She made it to the bottom and ran towards the large fountain in the center of the courtyard. Taking a left, she darted towards the tennis court, then she made a right and ran back into the school. She found an empty janitor's closet (except for the janitorial supplies), jerked the door open, ran inside, pulled it closed, and ducked low in the corner.
She heard the girls running by, screaming and shouting, stomping their feet. She heard them asking people whether they had seen Kaitlyn running by or not. That was when, out of nowhere, the door to the janitor's closet was jerked open. Kaitlyn squinted her eyes closed, ready to be pounded in the head by one of the girls, but when she looked up, she saw and elderly looking gentlemen standing there in a blue jumpsuit and a blue hat. Kaitlyn held a finger up to her lip, motioning for the janitor to keep his mouth shut, and he obeyed. He sat the broom down beside her, turned, and shut the door behind him.
Kaitlyn stayed there for a while, and then looked at her watch and saw that the bell for classes was about to ring. So she got to her feet, brushing herself off, and stumbled out of the closet, looking both ways to make sure none of the girls were in eyeshot, and then darted across the hall to the corner of the hall where it was darkest. She stayed there until she was sure that she was safe, and then began to creep along the hall, making sure that she was keeping close to the wall, in the shadows.
That was when she saw a door near the end of the hall open, and three of the "girls" come out. Kaitlyn cried out in horror, then turned and began to run towards the exit, but not before they saw her.
"Get her!" they cried. The three girls began to run after her, followed by even more girls who had heard their cries. Kaitlyn nearly made it to the fountain before they caught her. The girls carried her to the back of the school where there was a large green dumpster. They threw her inside, then found an old chair left for the dump truck to take away, and broke off one of the legs. The stuck the leg through the handle of the top of the dumpster, so that Kaitlyn couldn't escape from the inside.
And that was where Kaitlyn stayed until a janitor found her later that day.
And for the whole next week she smelled like tuna.