Chapter 4:

-

"Hey, Caleb," Pogue called at the doorway of Nicky's, interrupting Caleb and Sarah's fifth dance in a row. "It's getting late. Kate and I are heading back."

Caleb waved them on.

"I'll see you back at the dorms," he replied, then went back to dancing. He stared at the lovely blond as he held her close in a slow song, wondering how in the world he had gotten so lucky. All the thoughts on marriage tonight had gotten him thinking of their future together. Would she wait for him once he left for college?

Her loving smile back was all the assurance he needed.

"God, you're beautiful," he said, holding her head against himself.

"You're not so bad yourself," she replied. "Are you happy for Pogue and Kate?"

"It's strange to think of Pogue as a married man," he admitted. "I always thought that I'd be the first of us to strap on the ol' ball and chain."

Sarah lifted her head to look at him threateningly.

"Figuratively speaking," he added quickly. "I'll just have to settle for a close second, I suppose."

"Nice recovery," she said appreciatively, her smile returning. She stared over his shoulder and out the window, and spotted Reid leaning on the railing outside.

"Is Reid okay?" she asked Caleb with concern. Caleb looked out the window too.

"He's Reid," he replied as if regrettably. "He's never okay."

"Shouldn't you go talk to him?"

"Nah," Caleb said. "I know him. Tyler just worked him up and he just needs to blow off some steam. It'd be best if we leave him alone. He likes it that way."

-

Reid leaned out over the railing at the front porch of Nicky's bar and diner, staring out into the night. His eyes were glued to Tyler's hummer, wondering how mad Tyler would be if he tore it in half with his magic. Pretty mad, he knew, but it was still pretty damn tempting.

He looked down at his hands on the steel railing, gripping the bar until his knuckles went white. He let his rage flow through him, his frustration for the entire endeavor that was Elle Bishop.

He sighed and relaxed a little when he remembered her lovely face. It made him think, as to why this all got to him so deeply. He had let it go soon enough when it came to Sarah and Caleb. What was it about Elle? A few years back he never even would have given her a second thought, in fact, he went out of his way to make her life miserable back then. It was no wonder she hated him. It was too late to get her to go out with him now that—

"I'm hot," said a voice behind him. He looked over his shoulder, and there was Elle in the doorway, her hand on her hip and an intrepid look on her face. Reid looked to her, his harsh expression immediately falling smooth and suave, as was his reflex around beautiful girls.

"Sorry?" he said with confusion.

"It's blazing in there," she explained. "Why are you out here?"

"Just needed some air," he replied, staring out at that stupid silver hummer again.

"You're a lair," she accused, trying to force through a level of timidity. Again, he looked to her with confusion.

"What?"

She sashayed over to him with an over-exaggerated hip swing.

"You're jealous. That's why you're out here stewing over it. Am I right?"

"What's it to ya?" he responded with flirting eyes.

Suddenly her expression became vicious, and she slapped him on the face.

"Ow…?" Reid said with confusion, holding his stinging cheek.

"You only noticed me now that I squeezed into a few tight skirts, lost a couple pounds and slapped on a little make-up. How superficial is that, you jackass?"

Reid's eyebrows shot up at the name, and opened his mouth to speak, but she wasn't through just yet.

"Freshman year, the only attention you gave me was to make fun of my frizzy hair, or my frumpy clothes, or the way I talked through my braces. Now I'm back, I'm beautiful, you want me, and now you are so NOT getting this."

"Did you come out here to make me feel better?" Reid retorted with a glare. "Because you're failing miserably."

"No, I came out here to make you understand how it feels to want something you will never ever have, no matter how badly you want it… no matter how much you would give just to have one little taste…"

Her confidence began to falter when she said these words, losing her fervor when she looked at Reid's familiar gaze. Reid stared back into her pale sea green eyes seriously, looking nowhere else, as he stepped up close to her. She appeared uncomfortable immediately at his distance, her boldness subsiding. She shook her head, not knowing what to do or say.

Suddenly her anger returned, and glared at him like he had said something utterly repulsive. She stepped away from as if bewildered while trying to maintain her defiance.

"Eat your heart out, Garwin," she told him gallantly, stalking off with sassy strides. Then she threw open the door to Nicky's and escaped inside.

Reid watched the door close after her in shock, staring at it with wide eyes for several moments. What the hell had just happened?

Anger swelled over him, and he yelled out to the sky, letting his temper get the better of him. He threw his beer bottle fiercely at Tyler's hummer, broadly cracking it's windshield, then proceeded to kick in the bumper and knock out the taillights, calling out in fury all the while. Before he even realized he had come outside, Caleb was grabbing a hold of him to stop him.

"Reid, what are you doing?" he demanded.

Reid violently shoved off his friend's hold on him.

"What?" he laughed sadistically. "It's not like he has to pay for the repairs."

Reid, deciding the conversation was over, began to storm off into the night streets alone.

"Where are you going?" Caleb called after him. "How are you going to get home?"

"I'll walk," Reid growled back.

"Reid, com'on," Caleb shouted, but knew it was no use.

"Caleb!" Sarah shouted worriedly, rushing out quickly with Tyler at her heels. "Kate just called… We have to go."

-

"What happened?" Caleb said, racing up with Sarah and Tyler just behind him. The red and blue lights from the police cars pierced through the windows of the school, and cops were all around questioning a few kids and even taking one to an ambulance.

Pogue was sitting on a nearby bench, as a cop was speaking to him. Kate was standing nearby, her face streaked with tears and her raven hair a cowlicked mess.

"What happened?" Caleb asked again, grabbing at Kate's arm.

"It's Pogue…" she sniffed. "He…"

Caleb realized that the cop was reciting rights to Pogue. His eyes fell to Pogue's wrists.

"Why is Pogue in handcuffs?" Caleb said, panic beginning to sweep through him like a wave.

"Shoot, man," Tyler said to his longhaired, leather-jacketed comrade as he glanced over to the boy laying on a stretcher, being carefully placed into the ambulance. "What did you do?"

"This drunk asshole was messing on Kate," Pogue replied in a low voice. "I only meant to scare him… I lost control…"

"You mind stepping away, son?" the cop said, scooting Tyler aside. "You can visit him downtown after we bring him in."

"What do we say he did, sir?" a younger cop asked with confusion, holding up a clipboard and anxiously awaiting the older cop's answer. "The kid has no inflicted wounds, besides those from the explosion."

"Well, he did something to the kid," the plump man replied. "Put him down as aggravated assault with an explosive weapon, and we'll settle the specifics later."

Kate began to cry freely now into Caleb's shoulder, and he patted her back to console her.

"You should have seen it, Caleb," Kate said. "One minute, he was using it fine, the next, he was yelling in pain, saying that his head hurt… Then, boom."

"Boom?" Tyler repeated with confusion.

"Look for yourself. It was in the girl's bathroom."

The two boys, along with Sarah, peered around the corner, past the yellow police tape and into the girl's restroom curiously as Kate had directed. Beyond the doors, the sinks were spewing water like fountains onto the floor, half the stalls were knocked over, bent and broken, and there was a gaping crater in the black and white tile floor like a meteor had crashed. It was even still smoking.

"Pogue did all that?" Caleb asked her, just to make sure.

"Yeah, I saw him," Kate said. "He had to have lost control, Caleb, he had to… he wouldn't risk hurting me like that, would he?"

"No," Caleb assured her, as Sarah comforted Kate by hugging her around the shoulders. "Something must've gone wrong."

"What could've gone wrong, Caleb?" Tyler asked him. "None of us have ever lost control like this before. We've never even lost control at all."

"I don't know," Caleb confessed. "But I will soon. For now, let's concentrate on getting Pogue out of jail."

-


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Signed,
--RedRogue