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For Love or Power
Ch.2
Disclaimer: Not our show!
RING RING RING!
"Joey, could you get that sweet heart?" Mike Potter called from his office. Joey popped herself off the couch from her oh so intriguing movie and shuffled over to the receiver. She picked it up and punched the talk button "Hello, Potter residence," came out in a very condescending manner. On the other end a muffled noise with what sounded like coughs came out.
"Oh, um, hi. Is Mike there?"
Whoever this person is sounded desperate on the other line. Joey was trying to figure out who would be calling her dad. He only worked at a restaurant and they never got calls at home. She slowly moved to her father's office. With each step the confusion grew. She cracked the door open and Mike looked up from his desk and removed his glasses and took in the sight of his daughter holding out the phone to him.
"Um, it's for you Daddy." He gave her a look and grabbed the phone.
"Hello?" A very curious Mike Potter inquired. A muffled voice that Joey couldn't quite understand came through. Mike looked wide-eyed and quickly shoved Joey out of the room. Whatever it was she was not meant to hear it.
"I told you NEVER to call me at home!" Joey pressed her ear to the door. She knew it was eavesdropping but she couldn't help herself. She was too curious not to. She heard more muffles. Something that sounded like "sorry" came out from the line but that was all she heard.
"SORRY? Sorry isn't gonna cut it! My children live in this house. Are you really that hooked you can't wait twenty-four hours until another fix?" Joey's blood stopped in that sentence. What was going on? Her dad wasn't dealing drugs. He couldn't be. That was impossible. Right? He was an honest man. A good man. How could he?
Joey got knocked out of her thoughts when she heard more muffles. She decided to shove her tears away and listen to everything. She had to know. She heard her father sigh and begin to talk again. "Fine, fine." "No--no I don't want to lose you as a customer. But come on man! Never again okay?" "Good." "I'll be over in twenty." "Bye." Joey ran as fast as her feet could carry her back to her resting spot on the couch so he wouldn't think she heard. She held back her tears well when Mike came back into the room, put the phone back in its cradle and gave her a soft kiss on her head.
"I'll be back in a bit," Mike said as he grabbed his coat from the closet. Joey tried so hard not to let her tears come spilling out. She quavered a bit.
"Where are you going?" Mike's eyes bulged a bit but he recovered quickly.
"I have some business to take care of. Enjoy your movie," he whispered to her and without any last thought he was out the door and gone.
Joey looked around her home hopelessly… she knew there was some reason they were living here. All the other restaurant owners lived on the West side and they made more money than their little place ever could. She finally realized that the only way they could afford this house was by him dealing. Her chest started to heave… she couldn't breathe. This was all a nightmare… it had to be. She couldn't tell anyone because that would not only result in the breakup of the family but also put them in the West.
Everyone knew her on the West side. And they hated her. If they found out they would torment and tease her to no end. She would die of embarrassment. Dawson would never speak to her again and all of her East side friends would NEVER associate themselves with a West side-er, especially after her dad gets busted for selling drugs. This was an impossible predicament. For now she would just have to keep this terrible secret between herself and her alone. If anyone knew it would be the end of her life as she knew it.
Joey couldn't be in that house for another second. She quickly turned the TV off, scribbled a note out to her father so he wouldn't worry about her whereabouts, grabbed her coat, and was out the door.
Joey didn't know where to go. Jen would probably be off somewhere with Henry, and Dawson… well, Dawson would just pester Joey into watching a movie, or going out somewhere with all of his friends, or just make her feel terrible about being in a bad mood at all. So Joey began her walk to the only happy place she could think of, the Oak tree.
Pacey and Jack were relaxing in Jack's backyard. They were both in deep thought, thinking about how to finally beat the East side when Jack's head sprung up with an idea.
"I am a genius!" Jack exclaimed, causing Pacey to jump.
"You got an idea then?" Pacey asked, amused at Jack's actions.
"I've got the best idea I've ever had in my entire life! So, we want to beat the East side, right?"
"Yes Jack, I'm glad you've grasped that much of it," Pacey joked.
"Shut up; come on man, you wanna know or not?" Jack asked, totally serious.
"Fine, go ahead," Pacey answered.
"Who is the leader of the East side?"
"Dawson."
"And if Dawson crumbles…," Jack trailed off, wanting Pacey to pick up the pieces.
"… the whole East side will crumble?" Pacey finished in a question.
"Exactly; what will they do without their leader? And what would we do to Dawson to totally break him down?"
"OK, now I'm lost," Pacey said.
"Come on, think! What would we go after to totally crush Dawson? What's the most important thing in the world to him?"
"His girl?" Pacey asked with a smile on his face.
"Hell yes, man! We go after his girl!" Jack said, quite proud of his plan.
"Wait, you don't wanna hurt the Potter girl, do you?" Pacey asked. He may be his father's son, but unlike his dad, Pacey took no pleasure in hitting girls.
"No man that would only cause Dawson a minimal amount of pain and anguish. We're gonna make her fall for you."
"Now that I like the sound of. Give me all the details, oh wise one." Pacey smirked devilishly, loving their new plan to finally bring those pompous East side-ers down.
Joey sat quietly under the tree, thinking about everything she'd ever thought about her life when she heard a rustling sound come from the other side of the tree.
"This is equal territory you know," came Pacey's voice. He'd taken a walk to think about Jack's plan, and had just ended up at the tree.
"What's your point?" Joey asked as he stopped in front of her and sat down.
"It's just not safe is all. Anything can happen in equal territory."
"I don't need you to worry about me," Joey sneered, looking into his eyes for the first time and seeing just how blue they were.
"I wasn't worrying about you, Potter, so don't get all high and mighty on me. I was simply stating a fact."
"Well, fact stated, so you can go now," Joey said quietly.
"I don't have to go anywhere. Equal territory, remember?"
"If people see me hanging around with you-," Joey began, but Pacey cut her off.
"They'll what? Talk about you behind your back? You know, you East side-ers are all the same. You worry about such useless shit. You have no idea what goes down in the West side."
"Maybe that shit is useless to you, but maybe it's all I have. Did you ever think that my life could be so confusing right now that I wouldn't even know where to begin to explain it to anyone?"
"Not even to your boyfriend?" Pacey asked quietly.
"Especially not to him," Joey replied, standing up and walking away from the tree and Pacey.
"Later Potter," Pacey called behind her.
"Much later I hope," Joey replied, turning to face him, but then walking on her way again.
Pacey sighed and let his head fall back on the tree. This is not gonna be easy. He thought to himself before standing up and walking back to the West side, contemplating how to get the Potter girl to fall for him… but also making sure he didn't fall for her in the process.
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