Chapter 5:

Help from the family

(4:10pm)

Soon Carrie and Jack finished their "date" and were now in Rita's minivan on their way to drop Carrie home. Jack and Carrie were sitting in the back as Rita drove up front and listened to them talking. She even took the odd glance into the rear-view mirror to have a quick peak at them before she turned her attention back to the road before her.

"I'm very pleased that you had a good time today, Carrie. Maybe we could do it again sometime in the near future?" asked Jack, as Carrie smiled, and her cheeks became tinted with a light red.

"Thanks, I'd really like to do that." she said, as Jack also smiled.

"Great! I hope we'll get the chance to go to the mall nearby. The apartment I'm currently staying in is literally just across the street from there." Jack said.

"Yes, I'd love to do there. I don't do there as often as I should, so I'll take any excuse to go there." Carrie smiled.

Behind the wheel, Rita Desjardin couldn't keep the smile off her face. To her, it seemed likely Jack had succeeded in helping Carrie out of the shell she'd been stuck in for so long where others had failed. Taking another brief glance into the rear-view mirror, it seemed to her that very thought was correct.

"They're so smitten together. Just an adorable pair, I think." she thought to herself, as they came to a stop along the kerbside in front of Carrie's house, which was empty as Margaret was still at work in the laundry and dry cleaners within the older part of Chamberlain.

"Okay you two, and here we are. Now best say goodbye to each other; remember that it's a school night tonight." Rita said, as she turned her head to look at the two students sitting behind her.

"Okay…" Jack said before turning to Carrie, "I really enjoyed our time today, Carrie, really I did. I'll see you in school tomorrow and we'll have lunch again." he said.

"I also really enjoyed today as well Jack, and thanks for doing this for me. I'll see you in the morning." Carrie said, with a small but happy smile as she got out of the car.

"And goodnight and farewell, m'lady." Jack said with a smile and a wink as Carrie closed the door. Carrie, upon hearing that, couldn't help but giggle madly. It was a sound that took Jack's breath away as he listened. And after a final goodbye, Rita drove off, with Carrie's laughter still resonating in her and Jack's ears.

Taking another glance in her rear-view mirror, Rita saw Jack staring out the window with a grin on his face, no doubt thinking about Carrie.

Deciding to tease him a little, Rita said, "Well, you're quite the smooth type, aren't you? You know if I were a little younger, I'd definitely be VERY interested with that little performance you gave. If anyone can make a girl laugh like you did, they'd certainly have an "A" in my book." And Jack snapped out of his trance and looked to his gym teacher with an embarrassed look.

"Hey…I'm just teasing you; no need to be embarrassed. Anyhow, I don't know if you'd have been able to handle me when I was younger lady; you know what they say about us redheads after all." she said, with a sly grin on her face as she wiggled her eyebrows up and down at him. Jack was embarrassed; her teasing was almost as bad as his three sisters could be at times!

Deciding that she'd teased Jack enough, she apologised as they approached and then pulled into the parking lot of the apartment complex where Jack was staying.

After she parked, she and Jack stepped out of the car.

"Jack, let me say this; I just want to say thanks to you for what you've done for Carrie today. I really appreciate that in just one outing, you've managed to help Carrie out from her shell and earn her trust. It's obvious that you're going to be a major part of her life now, so let me repeat what I said earlier; if you need any help at all, I'll help in any way I can, no matter what it is." she said with a smile.

"Thanks, Ms Desjardin." Jack said.

"Oh and, eh…when we're out of school, just call me Rita. It's much easier calling me by my full name that all the other students call me."

"Of course, eh…Rita. But is it okay if I still call you Ms Desjardin when we're in a classroom setting?" Jack asked.

"Oh of course, I don't mind if you do, or if you still want to call me by my first name; anyway, I'd best be getting myself home, so goodnight and I'll see you here bright and early in the morning. 7:30 sharp." Rita said.

"Okay, Rita. Good night then, I'll see you first thing in the morning." Jack said, as he gave her a smile and a nod. And with that, Rita climbed back into her car, started the engine and, heading out of the parking lot, drove on home, as Jack turned round and went into the building.

After going up in the elevator and stepping off at the sixth floor, going down the corridor, entering his apartment and changing into more comfortable attire, as well as taking off his shoes and putting on a comfortable pair of slippers, he set up his laptop on the kitchen table ready to have a Skype call with his family back home in Ireland. He looked at his watch; it was 4:17pm here, which meant it would be 9:17pm back at home. Getting comfortable, he called Catherine, whom he knew would be on her laptop at about this time as she usually was. After two rings, her face suddenly appeared on the screen.

"Hey Jack! How are things over where you are?!" she asked excitedly.

"Oh, I'm fine, everything's going grand over where I am at the moment. I've settled into school life over here quite well and things have settled down into a routine for me." Jack said, noticing Catherine was in her room upstairs at home.

"Yeah Grace, Louise and I envy you being over there while we're here stuck in our old routine and having to do exams before school ends for the summer, while the work you're doing there is continuous assessment which will go directly towards your Leaving Cert." Catherine said, as she smiled.

"Yeah well, that's just the way things sometime work. Speaking of the others, where are they? I'd like to speak to them too." Jack said.

"They're all downstairs at the moment; dad's currently in the sitting room watching the evening news on R.T.E.1, while Grace and Louise are with mom down in the kitchen. Earlier on, they were helping mom with one of her new recipes for her bakery business; her own and brand-new form of a chocolate lava pudding with a crunchy biscuit base and a caramelised top." Catherine said.

"Now THAT sounds nice, but can I talk to them please?" Jack asked.

"Okay, but dad bought some things that'll allow us to connect Skype to the TV so we can all talk to you without us all crowding round a small laptop screen. So, I'll temporarily end the call for the moment, and once we're connected up to the TV, we'll all be able to talk to you." Catherine said.

"Okay then, I'll wait." Jack said, as a few seconds later the call ended.

For the next two or three minutes, Jack sat at the table and waited for Catherine to call him back. While he waited, he started looking through his new book Ridgway Duels for Korea, about how General Matthew B Ridgway took over the US/UN forces in Korea at the end of 1950 and how he turned them around and led them to triumph over the North Koreans and Chinese Communist forces in the fierce battles that took place within the middle of the Korean Peninsula during the difficult year of 1951.

He was flicking through the pages and had just arrived at the chapter where units of the U.S. Eighth Army crossed over the Han River and retook South Korea's capital, Seoul, when he suddenly heard the sound of an incoming call on Skype. Seeing the name of the user in the top left corner, he put his book aside and pressed the "Accept" icon and, after a second, he saw his parents and sisters, all three of whom were in their pyjamas and dressing gowns, inside the living room of their house.

"Good evening, everyone." Jack said.

"Good evening, son...or shall I say "Good afternoon" instead?" asked his mother.

"Hey son, how are things over there?" his father asked.

"Everything's fine over here, dad; no major troubles to report, I'm pleased to say." Jack said.

"Hey, big bro!" the Louise and Grace said.

"I miss you so much, son, even though it's only been a very short time that you've been gone." his mother said, as she leaned forwards on the couch.

"It's great to see you all again too." Jack said.

"So, son, first of all tell me...how have the Americans been treating you so far?" his father asked.

"Oh, they're treating me quite all right, dad. In that respect, I've got no problems to report at all. The only thing that I can report with regard to that is when I arrived at Ewen High yesterday and first stepped into the building, I did attract quite a few stares from almost all of the other students who were already there. But I suppose that was to be expected, considering the fact that I was the new kid on the block." Jack said.

"I see, and how are you doing over there so far?" his mother asked.

"I'm having a great time over here. In fact, just across the street from where I'm staying right now is the biggest mall in the whole of the United States. After I arrived on Monday afternoon and got myself settled into my apartment, I went over to the mall to have a look at it...and let me tell you what a place it is…" and then for a short while, Jack told them of how he'd been round the mall for a while on the very afternoon he arrived in Chamberlain and was awe-struck by how large it was and what it had within its walls and floors. He mentioned the bowling alleys, the amusement park as well as the aquarium and some of the different shops and restaurants it had.

His three sisters were very impressed by what the mall Jack was describing was like and they all wished that they could go over there to visit it, but his parents didn't appear as keen on that as the triplets were.

"Well Jack…that's all well and good, but I hope you're spending time on your studies rather than being in that place all the time." his mother said.

"I AM focusing on my work in class each day and back here each evening; however, I may go to the mall again on Saturday and spend the day there, as there's just so much to keep someone occupied there." Jack said. He then went into how he enjoyed English, Geography and History but hated maths, something they all knew of, as well as the time he'd so far had at Ewen High School and what some of the teachers were like.

"Anyway, setting all that aside, have you made any friends over there?" Grace asked.

"I have; you remember Rita Desjardin, the gym teacher who drove me from the airport into Chamberlain when I arrived on Monday? Well, I've begun to see her as a friend; no, as an older sister in fact. She told me a while ago that when we're outside school, I should just call her by her first name." The triplets gazed suspiciously at him but didn't say anything and carried on listening. Jack then told them of how he'd made friends with Freddy Holt and how they paired up in gym class earlier that day. He also mentioned Ewen High's Senior Class President Norma Watson and how friendly she appeared when she handed him his schoolbooks in the library the previous day.

"And have…any other girls in the school or in your class caught your attention?" his father asked Jack, as his mother looked a little unsure about that; she didn't really want some American girl, however good her intentions may be, messing with her only son's heart. Jack looked nervously at his family for a moment or two before he cleared his throat and spoke out.

"Well, yes one has…I met her in the cafeteria yesterday. Her name's Carrie White, and she's quite shy and has no friends, but is one of the most beautiful girls I've ever met in my life. She had beautiful strawberry blonde hair which frames her face perfectly. A little earlier today, after school finished up, we went into Chamberlain, and she showed me round the part of town near the school and afterward we went to one of the coffee shops and had a bite to eat." And from that, Jack talked about what Carrie was like, how they met and how her green eyes seemed to hypnotise him every time he looked into them. And when he described her laugh, to which he admitted he only heard twice, he didn't realise his voice was getting a little lighter and getting filled with affection and adoration, and his smile got a little bigger, for the girl which he said had captured his heart.

When he looked back at his laptop screen, he saw his parents and sisters were all leaning forward as they listened to him about the girl he was describing. Clearly, he'd never spoken about anyone that way before so this Carrie White must be a special person.

The jaws of Catherine, Grace and Louise were dropped as they listened to their brother; they'd never heard him speak about someone in that way before, while the parents were looking at their son with unreadable expressions. Seeing the looks on the faces of his parents especially made Jack more than a little nervous.

"Well son, I've never heard you speak about someone so highly before, especially with such feelings like that; you're smitten by this girl…aren't you?" his father asked, as a smile came across his face.

"Ah…yes…I-I am dad." Jack said, as he nervously rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, that's my boy! It's obvious you've feelings for this girl, by the way you're speaking so highly of her." his father said, very proud of his son. Jack's mother also smiled for her son; she remembered how her husband asked her if he could sit beside her during lunch the first time they met in secondary school when they were in their teens, which was very similar to how Jack met Carrie White.

"And just remember, son; don't be afraid to tell the girl how you feel about her should the chance arise." his mother said, very proud for her son.

"Thanks, but the thing is…the situation with Carrie is a tad delicate one and I feel that one wrong move could ruin things, so I need to tread very carefully." Jack said. His parents and three sisters looked at him with some confusion and looks that all seemed to say, "What do you mean?". Jack took a deep breath and explained how Carrie was a target for bullying from almost every student in the school, and even the English teacher Mr Ullmann, something he'd witnessed first-hand the previous day. He explained to his family the incident with the jocks the day before, which included the graffiti on the locker doors, and how the jocks tripped her up and no one helped her up. His family looked shocked and angry with what they were being told; How could such a sweet girl be treated in such a horrid way?

Yet they were also proud when Jack said intervened and stood up to the jocks, and how he delayed them leaving just long enough for them to admit they painted the graffiti on the locker doors when Principal Morton was behind the three jocks. Jack said the three got sent to the office and received detention for the rest of the week, as well as having to help the janitor scrub the graffiti off the locker doors.

Jack then went onto explain to them how he asked Rita to explain to him why Carrie was being treated so badly, and that's when he told them about the Ultras and how their leader, Chris Hargensen, the Queen Bee of Ewen High School, seemed to have made it her personal mission to make Carrie's life a living hell to the best of her ability. The triplets glanced at each other and from the looks on their faces, they all knew they were thinking the exact same thing. "That bitch best not come anywhere near us three in a dark alleyway; we'll make sure that the body is never found!"

If there was one thing that Catherine, Grace and Louise had in common with each other and with their brother, it was that they hated bullies, especially school Queen Bees, in any shape or form, and hearing what this particular Queen Bee was doing to their brother's love interest made them frown big time.

"There's more that you all need to know..." Jack said, as they glanced at him. Sighing heavily, he explained. "Hargensen did something really horrible to Carrie last week…and she recorded it on her phone." Jack said, as he showed them the video of Carrie, barely covered by a towel, having her period in the locker room and the cries of "Plug it up!", as well as the screams and cries of Carrie in panic at having her period for her first time filled his ears again, and those of his family.

When Jack pulled the phone away from his laptop and looked at his family, he saw they were all in silent horror at what they'd seen, their eyes wide open in shock. His sisters and mother had their hands over their mouths, and his father had the look of a man contemplating murder. But Jack couldn't blame his father in the slightest for that; after all, he had though the same thing after he first saw the video.

"Holy Christ…" his mother said quietly after a moment, while his father had a shocked, speechless look on his face.

"To hell with school tomorrow, girls! Let's all go over there and murder a few bullies!" Catherine said, as she stood up and thrust her fist in the air.

"Yeah! Let's get going!" Grace and Louise cried, as they stood up too.

"Girls! Now calm down please." their father said, as he encouraged his three daughters to stay calm. As the three did so, their father turned back to face his son.

"Now, all threats of murder and so on aside, Jack…what we just saw was beyond cruel…really it was." he said, not really sure of what else to say, as Jack sighed and nodded.

"Well, look everyone; it's not just Carrie that Chris Hargensen's been bullying; it's been other outcasts, school misfits and people just like Carrie as well. There was one notable incident that Rita knows of..." Jack said, and he told them about the incident two years before where Chris put a firecracker in the shoe of a girl with a cleft lip. His family were shocked to hear something that, but Jack assured them the girl survived just fine, as the firecracker had been a fairly small one, and her foot and toes had survived, though she had her foot in bandages for a while.

"What kind of a shitty person would do something like that?!" Grace said angrily.

"Now Grace…" her mother said.

"Sorry mother, but when you hear something that horrible happening to another person by another, what else can you say?" Grace said apologetically, as her mother nodded in understanding.

"Did Chris Hargensen get detention or a suspension for what she did to that girl by putting the firecracker in her show, or for what she did to Carrie last Friday?" Louise asked.

"Yes, she did; for planting a firecracker in that girl's shoe she was suspended for a full week. And for doing what she did to Carrie last Friday, she was suspended for another week…two of a dozen suspensions she's received for various reasons in the last four years...after she skipped the detention that she and most of the other girls were given for that incident...and that detention was one of 74 detentions she's received for various reasons in the last four years." Jack said, which astonished his family.

"Whoa, whoa, hold it a second! Seventy-four detentions?! Are you sure?" Catherine said in disbelief, as the jaws of Grace and Louise also dropped in surprise as they leaned forwards in disbelief.

"Yes, I'm sure about that and I'm just as astonished as all of you as to why Chris Hargensen is still in Ewen High School with such a questionable record as that one." Jack said, with a sigh.

"Jack…I want to know what you're going to do about this. I also want to let you know that we're there to help if you need it, anything at all…name it, you'll have it." his father said, and his wife and three daughters agreed at once.

"Thanks, I'm determined to do anything that's necessary to get Carrie justice, but at the same time not doing anything that may get me into the U.S. prison system. I'm glad that you're willing to help me achieve this, but I've a plan that'll make Carrie's bullies pay dearly for their stupidity." and he explained his plan on how to get revenge on the bullies. When he explained it, they all gave their consent to get justice for Carrie.

Then Jack checked his watch and saw the time was 4:59pm.

"Well, you know I think I'd better end the call now. I need to get myself dinner now and get my homework done." Jack said.

"Okay son, we'll be in touch with you, and we'll let you know if we have anything on those bullies." his father said.

"Very well; and Catherine, Grace, Louise; I'll send you each an email with the names of the bullies as soon as I possibly can, and I want you to dig up any dirt about them you can find. And I mean ANYTHING and EVERYTHING that you can find. I've already uncovered quite a bit about them, however, I…just need more." Jack said.

"You got it, big bro. We'll do whatever we can at our end." Grace said.

"I'm ready to take down any bullies anytime and anywhere should any such chance present itself." Catherine said.

"And big bro... we'll do everything that we can do here to make sure we can get the dirt you need to take those bullies down." Louise said.

"Thanks, I appreciate that." Jack said.

"And son, we're very proud of you for what you're doing for this girl; it really shows you're becoming a man." his mother said.

"Thanks…anyway, I'd best get dinner ready. I'll speak to you as soon as I can." and with a final goodbye, Jack hung up. After closing his laptop, he stood up from the coffee table and walked to the kitchen and began preparing dinner; tonight, it was duck breast with mashed potato and asparagus.

"Chris Hargensen…" Jack said quietly, as he started on preparing dinner, "…you and your Ultras had better watch out. Your time at the top is coming to an end and I'm gonna make sure you never bother Carrie again. You just wait."