Sorry the chapter took so long to get up, I've been super super busy! Things are (hopefully) calming down and I'll have time to write again.
Thank you to everyone who voted in the short story poll. The winner is "Why Do I Want Him Still?" I got a ton of votes and the second place winner "You Don't Have to be His Girl" will replace "Why Do I Want Him Still?".
And now on with the show…er chapter!
Ch. 59 Kids Emphasize with their Fists
(SPINNER)
"You okay?" I yawn as Paige gets back in bed.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she replies kissing my cheek, "just couldn't sleep. I had something on my mind and I need to tell you something."
"Are you pregnant?"
"No, it's not exactly good news. That would be good new wouldn't it?"
I roll over propping up on one elbow and gently brushing my fingers through her long honey locks. "You being pregnant and having our baby would be wonderful news," I tell her before placing my lips on hers briefly. "So, what's the news?"
"I saw Dean today," she confesses. Hearing Dean's name I instantly tense up and hold her closer.
"Where? When? Why didn't you tell me?"
"I was eating lunch, sat in the patio since it was a nice day and he sat down across from me. I felt like I was 14 again, back in that room with him at the party. He said I looked good and stroked my cheek. I got angry, told him to stay away from me, tossed my salad on him and ran almost all the way back to the office."
"I'm sorry you had to see him, that you had to feel like that all over again. I'm proud of you for standing up to him, that took a lot of courage," I tell her calmly before kissing her gently. I'm calm on the outside only for Paige's sake, inside I'm fuming and thinking of what I'd like to do to Dean.
"Thanks, I was too angry and frightened to appreciate it, I was just going on instinct. Drew thought it was pretty funny though."
"Drew? You told Drew?"
"He couldn't sleep either, he's the one that convinced me to tell you. I didn't want to worry you. Drew's really smart you know."
"Yeah, I know he's just not good at school. Things are not explained well, he's not interested and it doesn't stick. Same problem I had, Clare and Adam got all the book smarts in the family."
"They did, but Drew is smarter than people think. He's really matured in the last couple years too."
"Yeah, he has. Especially since Bianca moved in. I used to be worried about him. Worried about when he did finally graduate and move out, if he ever did. Recently though, watching him take care of Bianca, the younger sibs and everything I'm not worried anymore," I smile to myself. I feel quite proud thinking of the strides Drew has made in the last few months. Even as boiling with anger as I am at Dean right now I feel myself heavy with sleep. "Do you think you can get back to sleep?"
"Yeah, I think so," Paige yawns.
She nuzzles into me a bit more, I kiss her forehead and feel Paige's body get heavy, her breaths deep and regular. I fall asleep a few minutes later, I don't sleep very deeply though and when my alarm goes off I don't feel like I got any rest. It's going to be a long day. I kiss Paige and get out of bed, getting ready for work, leaving quietly before the rest of the house is awake. First thing I do when I get to work is start the coffee, and have a cup when it's done.
It is a long and tiring day, even being a relatively slow day. The good thing about opening though is that I'm done very early. The first thing I do when I'm off is go to the garage to see Sean and Jay. I walk around to the garage part, grabbing goggles and getting Jay's attention. He gets Sean's attention and they come over to me.
"What's up? Who's in trouble?" Jay asks.
"Dean, he approached Paige yesterday, and he needs to die now."
"She okay?" Sean questions.
"Yeah, she was angry and scared but threw her salad on him and ran. He touched her though, just her cheek, still in my view he needs to die."
"Yeah, he needs to die. We're off at six, and Lucas doesn't work tonight we'll meet up for dinner," Jay comments.
"Cool, I'm going home to take a nap. Text me when you're off."
They go back to work, I get in my car and go home, straight back to my bed and falling asleep almost as soon as I'm on my bed. I don't have too long, anyone without an after school activity or work will be home soon. I get a couple hours before I'm woken up by the stampede coming in the front door.
"SPIN, WE'RE HOME," Adam yells into the house.
I yawn, get out of bed and pull on some jeans before going out to the living room. As always there's several people at the house; Clare, Adam, Anya, Jenna and Eli are here.
"Spin, you remember Eli," Clare remarks nodding to the dark haired boy with green eyes.
"Yeah, sure," I nod shaking his hand, "how you doin' Eli?"
"Good, thanks."
"Eli and I have to write, produce, act in and film a five minute scene for drama class. We're going to work in my room where it's quiet," Clare tells me.
"Okay, Paige should be home a little after five. I'm meeting Sean, Jay and Lucas at six, so I won't be home for dinner," I inform my youngest sibs.
"Why? What happened?" Clare and Adam ask in unison, in exactly the same way with even the same expression on their face. I've known them their whole lives and it's still creepy sometimes.
"I'm just meeting friends for dinner, don't worry about it," I try to tell them. They're too smart for that.
"We'll ask Paige later," Adam says.
Clare nods in agreement and I shake my head walking back to my room. I hear Clare and Eli go back to her room and the door closing. I stay in my room, but leave before Paige gets home, only because she'll stop me from meeting with them, she'll know why we are meeting and what we're planning and will try to stop it. I say goodbye to everyone at the house and start driving toward Jay's place, pretty sure that's where we're meeting. In fact, when I get there I receive a text from Sean to meet at Jay's. I figured we'd meet here since Lucas has a pregnant Mia at his place, and Sean has Fitz and Emma at his place. And well, any number of people are at my place at any given time, any of them would want to join us or stop us. Far as I'm concerned this needs to happen, and four against one is enough, if we get too may of us it's just a massacre.
I let myself into Jay's place, we all know where the spare key is or which door is always unlocked at all of our places. I order a couple of pizzas and open a beer while waiting for the others. Lucas arrives first, I tell him I ordered a pizza as he opens a beer. Sean and Jay get here at the same time, which makes sense as they probably left work at the same time. I fill Lucas in while we wait for the pizza. Everyone agrees that Dean needs to die, our first obstacle though is finding him. We know he still lives in or near Toronto because he pops up every so often, a football game, the mall, the movies. There's usually some little confrontation with him and then he disappears and we don't see or hear from him for months. Up until yesterday he hadn't talked to or gotten anywhere near Paige in years. Obstacle number two; killing Dean out of public view. We have to get him somewhere that there won't be witnesses, if he knows people can back him up that we attacked him he'll press charges. He's too much of a coward to press charges if there's no witnesses.
We gotta be smart about this, it's going to take some time. May not be tomorrow or next week, or next month even, but we will find Dean, we'll get him alone and then he's a dead man!
(ADAM)
"Clare," I call to my twin as I open her bedroom door, "Jeff and Anya will be here in a few minutes. How are you still not dressed?"
"I can't decide what to wear," she replies and I look over at the pile of clothes on her bed.
"Does it matter what you wear? You and Jeff will probably disappear upstairs and your clothes will come off ten minutes into the party anyway," I tease her and she tosses a dress at me.
"It's Jeff's birthday, I want to look nice for him," she replies.
"I'm pretty sure it's not going to matter that much what you wear, Jeff will think you look beautiful. Just don't dress too sexy, you will be in a house with a lot of teenage guys, and there will probably be alcohol."
"Good point," she sighs searching through the pile of clothes on her bed. She pulls out a navy blue dress, it goes to her knees, has thick strap sleeves and buttons all the way up. "I'll wear this and my white ankle boots."
She gets dressed, but has yet to do her hair and she's still in the washroom when Jeff and Anya come in. They know just to walk in and not bother knocking at this point.
It's Saturday night, it is actually Jeff's birthday today, he spent most of it with his family. J.T.'s birthday is in a few days and both Ice Hounds are having a party at Miles' house tonight. Spinner is working, so is Drew, Bianca will be at the party she's picking up Jenna, Paige went to Emma's house for girl's night. Owen will be there of course and bringing Vanessa. Even if Lucas wasn't working tonight I don't think he'd come. Sean and Jay are shooting pool tonight, Jane flew home to California last Sunday as her spring break was over. She spent most of her time here with Jay and not Lucas, Mia or even her mom. Johnny and Sam are going to a party at a frat house tonight Anya tells me, and Sam celebrated with Jeff earlier. Our house is surprisingly empty tonight, and if it wasn't Jeff's birthday and his party we were all going to tonight I'm sure my sister would be taking advantage of that fact.
"Hey, Clare will be ready soon. I hope," I say the last part just slightly under my breath. I turn down the hall to call for Clare. "THEY'RE HERE."
"BE OUT IN A MINUTE," she calls back.
"That means five," I reply and Jeff chuckles. "I heard you had a good celebration with the fam today," I comment to Jeff.
"Yeah, my parents came up and we all went to lunch. My family pretty much gave me cash for my birthday."
"Cash is always good," I grin just as I hear the washroom door opening.
"Just grabbing my purse," Clare calls as she goes into her room and comes out again. "Happy birthday," she grins at Jeff before pulling him down to kiss her.
"Make out later, let's get him to his party now," I remark pulling at my sister's waist.
Clare breaks the kiss, grabs him by the jacket and grabs her keys on the way out the door. Anya and I follow, I lock the front door since we've all left, of course the backdoor is still unlocked if anyone drops by. Jeff unlocks his car and opens the passenger door for Clare. I hold the backdoor open for Anya and she slides in. After I buckle up Anya takes my hand, interlacing our fingers. I smile, leaning over and kissing her lips softly as Jeff begins driving.
The Hollingsworth's have a long horseshoe driveway, but by the time we arrive it's nearly full. Just like Toby's party it's all in the backyard, some people are even in the pool and there's alcohol at the party. As we walk in a lot of people say happy birthday to Jeff. At the bottom of the stairs a bunch of Ice Hounds have gathered with their girlfriends or puck bunnies. Jeff stays to talk to them, Clare stays with him, though Jeff does put his arm around her waist to keep her there. Anya and I leave them, we head for the food, finding Owen and Vanessa here as well. We talk to them for a few minutes before getting food and punch. There's really only one table out here, but Anya and I find a place to sit inside one of the two cabanas.
"Tickets for prom go on sale soon," Anya comments as we begin eating.
"Yeah, I'm only a sophomore though, but I'll give you the money to buy them."
"Actually, Jeff said that he'd buy tickets for the four of us to junior prom. He figured you'd want to go with Clare, plus Owen, your brother and Bianca, and Fitz if he's going, will be going to junior prom."
"You sure you don't mind missing your senior prom? It's the only one you'll have."
"Nah, I went last year and I'll be happy just being with you," Anya grins. I smile, leaning over to kiss Anya gently. "I'm going to use the washroom and get another drink, you want anything?" Anya asks. I shake my head, she gets up and leaves the cabana.
I lean back a little, wearing a huge grin thinking about Anya and how lucky I am. I'm absentmindedly eating chips from my plate and thinking of Anya. I hear other voices approaching I'm not really paying attention as I'm still thinking about Anya, but I still hear what they're saying. It's a few of the Ice Hounds I don't know except by sight and name.
"You're full of shit Danny, you've never even seen a pussy," Craig teases.
"Yeah, I've barely seen you with a girl. I don't think you'd know what to do with one," Kelly chides.
"Fuck you both, I've gone all the way. More than once, had me a sweet little piece of blonde ass," Danny shoots back.
"What do you mean had? She leave you because you couldn't make her cum?" Craig taunts.
"No, it was that chick that offed herself, guess I was too much for her," Danny says and he sounds proud. While I was inattentively listening to the conversation before this none of it had really settled in my mind. Sort of like hearing the TV from the other room, you hear the words, you know what is being said yet you aren't really paying attention. However, this last statement from Danny stabs into me. I sit up so fast I knock my plate to the ground, I run out of the cabana and around the corner.
"YOU KILLED HER!" I yell surprising Danny with a punch. I knock him to the ground and get on top of him. "YOU KILLED HER!" I'm punching Danny in the face over and over, I'm so enraged it doesn't even register. Suddenly I'm yanked off of him, Craig and Kelly each holding me by an arm.
"Calm the fuck down Mason kid," Craig says.
I'm so incensed and riled up that it doesn't even dawn on me that they had nothing to do with any of it. The only thing that really gets through to me at the moment is that they are trying to keep me from killing Danny, and all I want to do is kill him.
"LET ME GO, HE KILLED HER!" I scream yanking my arms free. I hit Craig in the stomach, kick Kelly in the knee and lunge for Danny again.
Whatever damage I did to Danny he's recovered and gets up lunging for me. We collide, both swinging punches, he must be dizzy or the blood from his nose is making his vision blurry because his fist barely gets me. He does manage to duck my punch though. I decide to aim lower and hit him in the stomach, he doubles over and just as I'm about to get him my arm is stopped.
"Whoa Adam, what's going on?" Owen asks. He's holding my arm, not very strongly though. The only reason he managed to stop me is that he's one of my best friends and I don't want to hurt him.
"He killed her, the baby was his," I tell Owen getting out of his grasp. It's all I need to tell him, Owen knows what I'm talking about. "I'm going to kill him," I growl.
"Adam stop," Clare says from somewhere behind Owen.
"You killed her!" I growl at Danny, but I'm not yelling. Barely able to restrain myself and only for my sister's sake.
"She killed herself, if you'd been enough man for her she wouldn't have come to me," Danny replies in a supercilious tone as he snarls at me.
I growl and start to advance, but someone grabs me. Since they won't let me kill Danny I pull myself from their grasp and take off running.
"ADAM," Clare calls after me. I don't stop, I know she'll find me whether I stop or not, so I keep running.
I run through the house, out the door, down the block and I keep going. Running till I find some greenspace behind a house. I think it's part of the ravine that runs throughout most of the city. I run down the slight slope and pick up a piece of discarded lumber, smashing it against a tree. It doesn't help, I'm still fuming with rage. I just don't know who I'm more enraged with; Danny, Maya or myself. I'm about to punch the tree when my sister runs down and grabs my arm.
"Adam stop! You'll break your hand again," she scolds. She's a little out of breath though and pulls at me to sit down. I oblige, and sit on the grass next to her, knees up, ankles crossed and my arms around my knees.
"Adam what happened?" Anya asks sitting down next to me. I didn't know she followed me and I wish she wasn't here just now.
"Danny was the one Maya cheated with? He was the baby's father," Clare comments. I only nod slightly to indicate that she's right. "I'm sorry Adam," Clare says linking her arm through mine and putting her head on my shoulder.
"He's right you know," I remark in a low voice. Of course, the girls are on either side of me and can hear what I'm saying.
"Who?" Anya questions.
"No he wasn't Adam," Clare states knowing what I'm talking about.
"Who? What?" Anya inquires confused.
"Adam, Danny wasn't right. You are a man, Maya cheating must have been more than that," Clare says.
"Then why did she cheat?" I question.
"I don't know Adam, clearly Maya had some issues none of us were aware of or she wouldn't have committed suicide. I don't know what was going on in her head, apparently none of us knew her as well as we thought. She didn't leave a note for anyone else Adam, she only said goodbye to you. Something went wrong, something snapped, I don't know, but more was going on with Maya and you can't blame yourself Adam," Clare insists.
"Clare's right Adam. I don't know what Danny said, but if he's the one Maya cheated with, and he knew she had a boyfriend, he was probably trying to defend his actions," Anya states.
"She's right, Danny was trying to defend what he did and put the blame on you to clear his conscious," Clare agrees.
"He was boasting about it, he was proud that he'd slept with her," I comment sadly.
"He was…" Clare starts but her phone rings cutting her off. She pulls it from her pocket and sees that it's Jeff, so she answers. "Hi, we're okay…yeah, at the ravine or something…hang on I'll tell him," she says into the phone and then moves it from her mouth to talk to me. "Danny was kicked out of the party, Jeff and Owen say he breached the code of conduct and they'll be talking to the coach on Monday. Jeff says Danny won't be allowed back in if you want to come back to the party."
"No, I don't feel much like a party now and I don't want to ruin Jeff's birthday. I'll get someone to pick me up, you girls go back and enjoy the party."
"I'm staying with you, Jeff will understand and I celebrated with him earlier," Anya asserts.
"I'm…" Clare begins.
"No," I cut her off knowing she was about to say she's staying with me too. "No, you go back to the party and celebrate with your boyfriend. Anya and I will get one of the others to take us home. We can tell Anya's parents they're sleeping over, but that Jeff is sleeping in my room and Anya in yours."
Clare sighs and moves the phone back to her mouth to speak. "Adam and Anya will go back to our house, one of the others will pick them up. You can come get me." She hangs up and looks at me. While she was talking I sent a text to Fitz asking if he could come get me and Anya. I took a chance that he wasn't doing anything tonight, I know he wasn't at the party. He said sure, and I told him where we are after checking the GPS on my phone.
"We're fine, Fitz is on his way, he'll be here a few minutes after Jeff," I assure my twin.
"Keep him out of trouble," Clare says looking past me to Anya.
"I will," she nods and kisses my cheek.
We get up and walk back the road, so our respective rides can find us. Jeff arrives first of course, Clare hugs me before getting in the car. Jeff waves and they drive off. Anya takes my hand, I interlace our fingers and kiss her gently.
"I'm sorry for ruining your good time," I apologize to my girlfriend.
"You didn't ruin anything Adam. I came to be with you, I already celebrated with Jeff and being around a bunch of drunk jocks has never been my idea of a good time."
I smile and kiss her again, leaning against a telephone pole while we wait for Fitz. It takes about ten minutes and when he pulls up I open the passenger door for Anya. When she's in I close the door, open the rear door and slide in.
"So, what happened?" Fitz asks as he begins driving.
"Danny. He's the one Maya cheated on me with, he was the father of her baby, and he was boasting about it. I was going to kill him, some of the other Ice hounds stopped me."
"They shoulda let you kill him," Fitz replies.
I just nod. I can't stop thinking about Maya now, so many thoughts rushing through my mind, so many feelings swirling inside. It doesn't help that the three of us are silent all the way to my house.
"You want to come in, hang out for a bit?" I ask Fitz. "Drew should be home before long, I don't think he planned to go to the party after work."
"Yeah, sure."
The three of us get out and go around to the back of the house and the unlocked door. Fitz makes himself comfortable on the sofa and turns on the TV. I go into my room, lying on my bed, I don't even take off my shoes. Anya takes her shoes off and lies next to me, her head on my chest and I put my arm around her.
"Maya used to do this when I was sad," I comment and then instantly feel guilty. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be thinking about her so much."
"Adam, after what happened tonight I'd be surprised if you weren't thinking about her. Do you want me to lie another way?"
"No, it's fine, It probably won't be the first time it happens, she was my only girlfriend, she was pretty much my first everything. Sometimes I hate her because she gave up, and sometimes I miss her so much it hurts."
"I know Adam, I'm sorry," Anya says and kisses my chest softly. "Is there anything I can do?"
"Just be with me."
"All night," she replies moving up to place a tender kiss on my lips.
(CLARE)
"Adam and Anya get to your place okay?" Owen asks when Jeff and I walk back into the party.
"Fitz was picking them up, they should be home soon. Where's Danny now?"
"Jimmy took him to the ER, Adam broke his nose at least, he got Danny real good. We'll call the coaches tomorrow and tell them what Danny did," Owen assures me.
"What about Adam? Will he get in trouble for fighting with Danny?"
"I don't think so, you know we'll do all we can to protect Adam," Owen says putting a reassuring hand on my shoulder. I nod, I know Owen and everyone else in our gang would never let anything happen to Adam if they can help it. "Good, now come on let's enjoy the rest of the party," Owen comments.
We walk down the stairs with Owen, he goes off to find Vanessa while Jeff and I talk with Bianca and Jenna at the bottom of the steps. K.C. was working tonight, so he didn't come, which is probably a good thing or he would have known what had happened and tried killing Danny too. I tell Bianca and Jenna everything Adam told me, Jenna says she'll tell K.C. tomorrow, maybe tonight if he doesn't seem totally exhausted when he gets home. I do try to enjoy the rest of the party, but the back of my mind is thinking about Adam, Maya and Danny. I worry that Danny won't get punished or anything, the season is over and even though the Ice Hounds are still a team I'm not sure what talking to the coaches is really going to do. I also know Adam is home safe with Anya, it doesn't help, but I put on the dutiful girlfriend face and get through the rest of the party. I stay with Jeff, but he does almost all the talking, I pretty much just smile when someone looks at me.
"You're coming back to our house, you and Anya are staying the night. Anya must have contacted them already. We were just going to tell them Anya was sleeping in my room, and you were sleeping in Adam's," I tell Jeff as we leave the party finally. It's a little after one in the morning when the party finally does break up and I am very ready to go home.
"Cool, uh I am sleeping with you right?"
"Yes, Anya's already in bed with Adam."
"How did you…never mind. Should I be expecting a lot of people at your house?"
"Not sure, Spin will be home from work and Paige will be home. Drew too, and Bianca since she left a couple hours ago to get Jenna home. I doubt Owen is coming tonight, but he might. Any of the others could be sleeping over, though Lucas has stopped doing that since moving in with Mia. Johnny doesn't sleep over when he's with Sam, unless they weren't meeting up tonight."
"No, Sam said they going to a college party tonight. You think Adam will be okay?"
"I think so, with time and with Anya. It was a lot for Adam, in some ways it impacted him more than it did K.C. and Lisa. He's had to change his thinking about his relationship with Maya a lot recently. He's got a lot on his mind," I sigh looking out the window.
The rest of the drive to my house is silent, aside from the music Jeff has playing. My house is surprisingly quiet and dark for a Saturday night. Jeff parks at the front and we go through the front door, Fitz is asleep on the sofa, so we tiptoe past him to my room. We hardly get ready for bed, Jeff just strips down to boxers and gets in my bed. I change into a nightie before climbing in next to him. Jeff puts his arm around me and I use his chest as a pillow. Jeff falls asleep pretty quickly, but I have trouble sleeping. So does Adam, so much on our minds we just can't sleep.
While Jeff is still sleeping deeply early the next morning I slip out of his arm and out of the bed. Adam and I opening our bedroom doors concurrently. Fitz is still asleep on the sofa, but Spinner and Paige are in the kitchen and coffee is on.
"Did you two get any sleep?" Spinner asks handing us mugs.
Adam and I look at each other before shaking our heads. Spin gives us both concerned looks, but doesn't say anything. Adam and I get coffee, sitting at the table and sipping the coffee slowly. Fitz is the first to wake up, probably because the four of us are making noises in the kitchen. He gets coffee and sits down too. Paige and Spin begin making pancakes, Fitz eats four, Adam and I barely eat one each. Drew, Bianca, Jeff and Anya all begin getting up as they smell the pancakes.
It's a slow and quiet morning. Johnny and Sam come over a little after eleven, by which time we've all gotten dressed and eaten. Fitz stays with us and Emma comes over just before twelve, she helps Paige make some lunch. In the early afternoon Owen walks in with Dallas behind him.
"We just came from a meeting with the coaches," Owen informs us. "Danny's actions went against the code of conduct we all had to sign. The season is over, but everyone signed knowing the code of conduct was for the year. The coaches met with Danny and his billet family. Danny tried to defend his actions, wouldn't accept his responsibility and the coaches booted him from the team. Off the team means out of DeGrassi and not being on the team next year. He's packing up today and will be going back to Saskatoon Monday. The coaches are speaking with Simpson now."
"Good," Adam says quietly.
It doesn't really fix anything, but at least Danny won't be at the school. Now it's up to my brother to come to terms with Maya's suicide, her actions, and their relationship.
Update soon will likely jump ahead a few days to Jay's birthday, and will include junior prom.