Chapter 3: During the Night
by HA
"So, you planning to donate blood tomorrow?" Kendra heard a grade twelve boy ask a grade twelve girl as she passed by the lockers.
"No way!" the girl said with a shudder. "I hate needles."
Kendra rolled her eyes back. "Wimp," she muttered as she continued on her way.
For Kendra, the rest of the school day proved uneventful. After hours of hearing teachers drone on about stuff she really didn't care about and listening to people talk about the upcoming blood drive being held in the gym, she left Degrassi with a load of homework. She frowned at the weight she carried as she exited through the glass doors.
"Man, we're going to have fun tonight," Oliver said dryly as he staggered under the weight of his backpack.
"Loads of it," Nadia said as she rolled down the access ramp with her backpack slung on the back of her wheelchair.
"At least you don't have to carry it," Oliver quipped as they reached the bottom of the stairs. "Right, Kendra?" He saw Kendra standing at the top of the steps looking at something. "Kendra?"
Kendra watched as Toby left the campus. From the way he walked, he seemed to be burdened with homework as well. He continued on his way home by himself.
"Hello! Earth to Kendra!" Oliver yelled.
Kendra hopped a little in place and faced her friend. "What?"
Oliver watched as Toby disappeared from his sight. "Oh never mind. Say," he said, adjusting his backpack, "wanna get together and study tonight at my place?"
Kendra stared at him. "Huh?"
Oliver gulped. "Er, um..." He grinned as he rubbed the back of his head. "Heh heh." He took a deep breath. "Do you wanna...?"
"Hey, Henrietta," Kendra said as the frizzy-haired girl exited the school.
Henrietta walked to the others with her own load of homework in her bag. "Hello."
"Hey, Henrietta," Oliver said. "Seen any monsters lately?"
Kendra's fist quickly made contact with Oliver's arm. The boy hopped back.
"Ow," he said, wincing as he rubbed the hit spot.
"No, as a matter of fact," Henrietta stated. "Everything all right?"
"Oh, everything's normal," Nadia said with a grin while looking at Kendra and Oliver.
"Ah. Well, I must be going," Henrietta said as she spotted a blue car pulling up in front of the school. "Take care of yourselves," she said, and she leaned closer to Kendra. "Watch out for the darkness," she whispered before heading for the car.
As the car drove off, Oliver walked up to Kendra. "So?"
"So what?" Kendra said.
"You wanna come to my place to study?" Oliver asked as his knees shook.
Kendra looked over her friend. "Are you all right? You seem to be shaking."
Oliver tried to straighten up. "Who, me?" he said, pointing to himself.
"Anyway, I can't go out tonight," Kendra said. "Got way too much to do," she added as she patted her heavy backpack.
"Oh, okay," Oliver said as he hunched his shoulders.
"Well, I'll see you guys later," Kendra said before walking off.
"Yeah, see ya," Oliver said under his breath as he watched Kendra leave. He sighed loudly.
Nadia shook her head and smiled. "You've got it bad."
Oliver turned around to face her with reddened cheeks. "Got what bad?"
Nadia covered her mouth with her hand and laughed a little. His face still red, Oliver frowned at her.
Bending over the living room table as she held her pencil over the final blank space on her worksheet, Kendra double-checked her open textbook. "All right," she said before scribbling the answer in the spot, and with a sigh of relief, she placed the worksheet inside her book and slammed it shut. "Finally done," she said as she placed the book on top of her other homework. "Now, to more important stuff," she said as she grabbed the TV remote and clicked the TV on. Soon, images of an armored heroine with pink hair smashing her way through a horde of monsters flashed before her eyes. "Made it in time," she said with a grin as she settled into the couch.
"Aw, not this big-eyed cartoon junk again," a voice said from behind her.
Kendra frowned. "Finally awake, Spinner?"
Stepping out, Spinner yawned and stretched. "Yeah. Had a rough day at work. Needed the rest. Glad I didn't have to stay longer," he said as he plopped next to his sister on the couch. "How was your day?"
"Same old, same old," Kendra said, keeping her attention to the TV. "Lots of talk, and lots of homework."
"I can tell," Spinner said as he looked at the pile of books and papers on the coffee table. "Better move those or you'll break the table."
"Right. Sure," Kendra said, still keeping her eyes on the TV.
Spinner continued to stare at Kendra's school things. "Say, I still have my books."
"Good for you," Kendra answered without looking at him.
"So," Spinner said, clearing his throat, "anything happening at school?"
"The usual," Kendra said, still watching her show. "There's a blood drive at school tomorrow, but why should you care?" She turned off the TV and tossed the remote onto the table. "You know what? I've seen this episode already," she said as she picked up her schoolbooks and papers. "I'll be in my room."
Before Spinner could say another word, Kendra marched off towards her room. Seconds later, he heard a loud slam. He stared at where his sister once sat, where her books and papers once were, and at the TV remote. He reached for it and rubbed his thumb against the power button while staring at the blank screen. Finally, he let out a sigh and placed the remote on the table. Leaning back into the couch, he recalled when he would have friends over. He remembered when friends let him stay over. Heck, he remembered when he had friends.
Ever since the incident at Craig's party, no one has talked to him or tried to see him. He was a...a...Spinner slapped his head. He had heard the word in English class and it started with a "p." He slapped his head again, and the answer came to him. Pariah. Yes, that was the word. He was a pariah. All because he pranked the guy who had put his friend in the hospital. All because the nutcase came back to school with a gun and shot Jimmy in the back. Now they blamed him for everything, especially for Jimmy being stuck in a wheelchair for who knows how long. As for Jimmy, no matter how much he begged for his forgiveness, he never gave it.
It was bad enough he lost his friends. Then it got worse. He confessed to Mrs. Hatzilakos about his part in the prank, and he got expelled. Not suspended, but expelled. She said the school had zero tolerance for bullying. Normally, he would've been glad about not going to school, but his parents didn't see it that way. No, they weren't happy one bit. The principal had called them about the expulsion, and they didn't take it well. Although Mrs. Mason hadn't said a word about it, Mr. Mason shouted his disappointment to his son and stressed he'd better not lounge around the house all the day doing nothing. Spinner found himself working at the Dot during school hours and trying to study with his textbooks afterwards. He even wrote up exams based on the material in them.
Also, Kendra barely spoke to him anymore. Although they never hung out in school, they did talk at home. At least, they used to. Now she never talks to him at dinner. She does her best to ignore him. Every time he asks her how her day was, she would pick up her stuff and go to her room.
Standing up, he walked to Kendra's room and knocked on the door. "Kendra?"
"Go away!" she shouted from behind the door.
"We need to talk," he said.
"No we don't!" she answered.
He turned the handle. The door didn't open, and he banged his fist repeatedly on it. "Kendra, open up!"
"No!" she shouted back.
He took a series of deep breaths before speaking again. "I'm your big brother. You gotta tell me what's wrong with you."
He heard the door lock click, and the door opened slightly. Kendra glared at her brother. "You wanna know what's wrong? You really wanna know what's wrong?"
"Yeah." Spinner stood before his sister. "Yeah, I do."
"Let's see..." As Kendra spoke, she counted off on her fingers. "You pulled a prank on a kid you liked to bully, he brought a gun to school and shot Jimmy, and almost everyone hates me because of what you did." She narrowed her eyes at him. "That good enough for you?"
"But..." Spinner was about to talk about Rick and how he hurt Terri, but Kendra had held up her finger for silence.
"Your best friend is in a wheelchair because of you," she continued. "He might be paralyzed for the rest of his life, and it's all your fault!"
"I didn't shoot him!" Spinner said.
"But you drove the shooter to do it," Kendra said. "That's what they're saying about you. You're the big bully who drove Rick Murray to pick up a gun and try to recreate Columbine."
"I wasn't alone. Jay..."
"You could've left him alone. You didn't have to bully him."
"He hurt Terri! He's the reason she had to leave Degrassi. He was a freak!"
"So he deserved what he got? He deserved to die?"
Spinner's mouth stayed open. He closed it as Kendra continued to speak.
"You know what? He may have hurt Terri, but you didn't have to drive him crazy. You didn't have to dump that paint and junk on him in front of all those people." Kendra's glare intensified. "Now your friends hate you, you've been expelled, and I'm guilty by association." She frowned at her brother. "Thanks a lot, Spin."
Before Spinner could say anything, Kendra slammed her door in his face. He hung his head as he heard her lock it.
After dinner, Toby went to his room and skimmed through a volume of manga. When the black-and-white drawings of warriors fighting monsters failed to cheer him up, he shut the book and put it away. He wanted to call someone, but who? Emma? More likely busy with her family. Manny? Too busy doing something. J.T.? Too busy with Liberty more likely.
Kendra came to mind, but Toby threw that idea away. Sure, their talk earlier was nice, but it didn't mean he could call her up anytime he wanted. He and Spinner had never exactly gotten along while he was dating Kendra, but being Rick's friend made the situation worse.
"I hate being alone," Toby said with a sigh as he laid down on the bottom bunk of his bed.
As soon as Spinner was back in his room, Kendra left hers and warmed a TV dinner in the microwave. As she bit into her Salisbury steak, the phone rang. Putting her fork down, she got up and answered it. "Hello?"
"Kendra?" the voice on the other line asked.
"Oliver?" Kendra said.
"Yeah, it's me," Oliver said. "Just wanted to see how you're doing."
"I'm doing fine, thanks," Kendra said as she drank from her water glass. "Just eating dinner right now."
"Oh, okay," Oliver said. "We're about to have ours."
Kendra heard a woman on Oliver's side call out to him. "Looks like you'd better go eat."
"Yeah, I'd better," Oliver said. "See you tomorrow?"
"Yeah, see you then. Bye." Kendra paused. "Wait, Oliver."
"Huh?"
"Why did you call me anyway? Did you need something?"
"Oh...um...no, not really. Just wanted to check up on you."
"Ah, okay. Bye then."
"Bye." Oliver's side went click. As he lifted his hand off the receiver, Oliver shook his head and hit himself in the head with a sofa cushion before heeding his mom's call to dinner.
Kendra hung up the phone and continued eating dinner. Minutes later, she heard footsteps coming from Spinner's room as she was throwing the plastic tray away. When she turned around from the trash can, she found Spinner standing before her.
"We talked already," Kendra said.
"I know, but..." Spinner searched for the right words. "Okay, what I did was wrong, but..."
"But nothing. Rick's dead, and Jimmy's in a wheelchair."
"I know." Spinner sighed. "I know, but I can't change anything. Look, I'm sorry that everyone hates you because of what I did."
"'Sorry'?" Kendra crossed her arms. "That's all you can say? 'Sorry'? Did you tell Jimmy 'sorry' after you told him what you did?"
"Yes." Spinner closed his eyes and bowed his head. "I wish it never happened." He sniffed. "I wish everything was back to normal..."
Kendra watched as a tear dropped to the floor. She heard her brother sob loudly.
"I want to go back to school. I want my friends back. I want everything back to normal, Kendra."
Kendra watched as more tears fell to the floor. Spinner raised his head so she could see the tear streaks on his face. He sniffled as he wiped his eyes.
"I'm pathetic, ain't I?" he said.
She smiled. "A little."
"Maybe after work tomorrow I can talk to Mrs. Hatzilakos about going back to school," he said.
"What makes you so sure she'll let you back in?" she asked.
He sighed. "I'm not, but I've got to try at least." He looked at her. "I just want to move on, Kendra. I just want everything back to normal."
For the first time since the shooting, Kendra looked at her brother without hatred.
The beaten-up van arrived in Toronto at exactly 11 PM. It drove around the city and navigated the various streets and buildings until it found what its driver was looking for. With care, the van parked in front of Degrassi Community School.
The driver's door opened, and a girl in a blue jacket stepped out. She ran her hand through her short dark brown hair as he looked at the building in front of her. Despite the sunglasses sitting on her nose, she could make out the school clearly in the barely illuminated night, a skill she found most important. Besides, she knew true darkness.
"This is it, huh?" she said while slightly adjusting her sunglasses. "Nothing out of the ordinary, but..."
She stood there staring at the now empty building. Her hand moved around in her pants pocket as she felt the slightly sharp angled object there. After a few minutes, she stepped back into the van and turned the key in the ignition, awakening the mechanical beast of burden, which responded with a few loud roars.
"I wonder..." she said as she started driving away from the school. "Where are you?"
The van exited into the night, leaving the school to await its anticipated crowds for the next day.
