Chapter 5: Two Sides to Every Coin

While her twin brother laughed, Lillian DeVille frowned in disapproval. It wasn't funny. It wasn't funny at all.

"You should've seen her face," he gasped through his tears. "It was priceless, Lillian."

"It was blackmail, Philip," Lil complained.

"Well, yeah." Over on the other bed, which belonged to Lil's roommate, Phil rolled over on his stomach so that he could look at his sister. "But it was funny blackmail."

She groaned. Finally curiosity pricked at her, and she asked, "What was the big secret anyway?"

"I dunno. Tom wouldn't tell us."

Really. That was … interesting. It must've been good blackmail.

"This is a lot of trouble over a stupid party," she observed.

He glared. "Easy for you to say! Just give the frat boys a smile, and they'll let you in whether you're on the guest list or not. It's not quite that simple for us guys."

"Details, details." She grinned.

He scowled in return. But they both knew he didn't mean it.

When Phil ended up leaving for his own dorm room, about an hour later, Lil immediately went to the phone. The other end rang three times before he picked up.

"Hello?" He sounded groggy.

"Your roommate says that you've been blackmailing relatives lately."

He groaned. "Hi, Lillian."

"Well?"

He must have been able to hear the edge in her voice, because he said, "It was all a bluff, Lil. I wasn't going to tell. I just wanted Angie to think I was."

Lil allowed herself a small smile. "So … there is an actual secret, then."

There was a pause on the other end, as Tom realized his mistake.

"What I don't understand," she continued, deciding to let Tom off the hook for the time being, "is why this party's so important. I mean, for Phil, sure. He's Phil. But why does Tom Pickles care about a stupid frat party?"

He responded quickly, "I don't. It's not about me."

"Oh?"

"It's for Chuck, okay?" He sighed. "He needs to get out more. He never really made friends last year, when we were still in high school, and now he's moved off-campus. He's self-isolating. It's not healthy."

She considered. That sounded like Chuck, sure enough. But … "But a frat party is healthy? Come on, Tom."

"It's a start. It's something." He fell silent. When he spoke again, his voice sounded hopeful. "So, you still mad at me?"

Almost against her will a smile formed on her face. She wasn't. She couldn't be. Especially not after learning his motivation for this whole fiasco. But she also couldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing he'd won.

"Good-night, Tom." And with that, she placed the phone receiver gently back in its cradle.

---

Author's Notes: Last chapter wasn't meant to be an endorsement of smoking—I'm an ex-smoker, myself, and giving up the cigs was one of my best decisions ever—but for some reason, I just saw Angelica and Chuckie growing up to become smokers. Maybe because they're both a little high-strung.