Chapter 17
Eddie sat at his kitchen table, unconsciously eating all of the cookies in the bag he had in his hands, thinking about how messed up things had gotten. Raven was so broken-hearted that she couldn't function. Eddie felt so bad for her, but he didn't know what he could do to fix it.
Fighting with Chelsea had depressed him. Eddie almost never fought with Chelsea. But he was so angry with the way she was handling things that he couldn't help but fight with her. When he thought about the situation later, and thought about how insecure Chelsea really was, he could sort of understand her decision.
But that didn't make it right.
So, they were all separated, and Eddie was all alone. Chantel was out of town visiting some relatives, so the only company Eddie had was his cookies, and they were disappearing very quickly.
When the phone suddenly rang, Eddie contemplated just letting the machine get it, but if it was Chantel, she would be mad. So he got up and grabbed the phone, letting out a big sigh and saying, "Hello?"
"Eddie, uh, hey, it's Ben."
"Who?"
"Ben Hartman." There was a second of silence, followed by, "From school?"
"Oh! Sorry man, I didn't realize you had my number." And then it dawned on Eddie. Ben didn't have his number. Why would he give his home phone number out to Chelsea's ex-boyfriend? "How did you get my number?"
"That's kind of why I'm calling. Chelsea gave it to me. She's here right now. See, she needs our help, but she knew you wouldn't talk to her."
"Okay. So she knows I won't talk to her, but she thinks I'm gonna help her?"
"I don't know. All I know is that she needs our help. Your help more than mine."
"Why would I want to help her?"
"Because she's your best friend. And she wants to make things right with Raven. She's upset with herself for breaking it off and she wants to take it back."
"Yo, man…I think it's too late for that."
"I don't think so. It's never too late to undo something you did wrong."
Eddie thought it over. "Does she really want to make things right with Rae?"
"You know, why don't you just meet us by Chelsea's house and you two can talk about it there?"
"I need to know. If Chels really wants this, she's gotta say it now."
Ben sighed. "All right. Hold on."
Eddie held on while Ben asked Chelsea to take the phone and say she wanted to fix everything. After a few moments of silence, Chelsea said, "Yes."
"Yes what?"
"I…want to fix everything. I mean it."
"You sure now?"
"Yes." Chelsea didn't hesitate for a second, and Eddie knew she meant it.
"Okay. I'll meet you at your house in a few."
"Okay. Thanks."
Eddie hung up and grabbed h is keys. Whatever Chelsea had planned, it better be good.
Eddie arrived at Chelsea's house in minutes, meeting both Chelsea and Ben at the doorstep.
"Hey." He said uncomfortably, putting his hands in his pockets.
"Hey." Chelsea said back, playing with a few strands of her hair.
They stood there, feeling all of the awkwardness between them. Then, Chelsea spoke up. "I'm sorry."
"For what?" Eddie said flatly.
"For arguing with you. You were right. I was selfish. I was only thinking about myself and my fears and I didn't realize Raven was going through the same thing. But I'm different now, and I want to fix it. I want to try again, start over. I want to get Rae back."
"Why? Why should I believe you and why should I help you?"
"Because you're her best friend, and you're my best friend…and you know how much I really love her."
"Do you?"
"Yes." Chelsea exhaled, her voice breaking with emotion, "I really, really do."
Eddie looked at Chelsea and then at Ben, who nodded. He sighed, and then pulled Chelsea into a hug. Chelsea grabbed on tightly, beginning to cry in relief. Eddie squeezed tight, and Chelsea buried her face in his shoulder. "Thank you." She whispered through her tears.
"It's all good." Eddie replied, squeezing just a little tighter. It felt good to hug Chelsea. It felt good to have his best friend back. At least, one best friend.
As they parted, Eddie said, "So, what's the plan?" Chelsea sniffled a little and wiped her eyes.
Ben stood up as Chelsea said, "I'll tell you all about it inside."
Eddie nodded as they all went inside the house.
Rocky crouched by the fence in his backyard, gulping down the last few drops of his beer. He crushed the can and threw it at a passing bird. It missed the bird by centimeters and Rocky cursed. His aim was off.
It was because of all the crap that was going on right now. Getting suspended because of two stupid Lesbos. They were nothing but a waste of space for him now. Much more trouble than they were worth.
And they needed to be taught a big lesson about messing with him. Nobody messes with Rocky Collera. Not even a couple of dykes like them.
He stood up just as Deckland and Tyrone exited the shed. They walked over to him.
"Hey Rock. We got it all spick and span in there for ya." Deckland joked, pointing to the shed.
Rocky pulled out a cigarette, put it to his lips, lit it and muffled, "Thanks"
"Whatchya doin?"
Rocky took a long drag of his cigarette. "I was just thinking about those two bitches." He rasped lowly, expelling all of the smoke from his mouth and nose.
"What about em?"
"They gotta pay. Fucking getting us all in trouble and we didn't even do nothing to them."
"Yeah, it's all der fecking fault. And Lawler's a dick."
"Who the fuck does he think he is, siding with those dykes? He ain't got no proof that we painted that, and he suspended us anyway because I was having a little fun with them a few days ago?"
"But we did paint it Rock." Deckland said, getting confused.
"But he doesn't know that you moron." Rocky hissed, turning to Deckland sharply. "It was just because me and Mikey were playin with them that one time."
"Ya both got two weeks detention over dat."
"And now we can't even go to the school."
"Who says?" Deckland smiled.
"My old man. I can't get arrested again. Not over something stupid like trespassing."
Deckland exhaled, bringing out his own cigarette to smoke. Rocky took another drag of his cigarette, kicking around some loose dirt. "Those bitches gotta pay."
"Feck em Rock. Dey ain't wort it."
"No they ain't. But they still gotta pay."
"Whaddaya gonna do Rock?"
He turned to Deckland, his whole face becoming demonically dark. "I'm gonna wait. I'm gonna be patient. I won't go within one hundred feet of that hellhole. And when the two weeks is up, I'm going back. And those bitches aren't gonna know what hit 'em."
Deckland and Tyrone exchanged evil glances, smiling maliciously.