LAST REWIND
PLAY
FRIDAY MORNING -COURTNEY'S TRAILER
"That's right this man is very dangerous and unstable. We ask all viewers to call the police with any information of his whereabouts to 1-800-PLD-STOP immediately." The red-haired female newscast lady says.
"And remember that this man is wanted in three countries with charges murder, treason, theft and rape. He is regarded as extremely violent and was last seen in the Greensboro and Winston-Salem area. We advice all residents in the Triad to watch out for this man."
The good-natured anchor says.
The TV screen goes black. Courtney Wright presses the off button. Her TV is so messed up it just goes off like that when it overheats. Sometimes if she punched it strong enough the image comes back for a couple more minutes before going off again, sometimes it doesn't work and she has to turn it off for about ten minutes until it has cooled off.
Right now it doesn't matter. She has to get to school anyways and if she doesn't hurry, the bus might leave her.
After a quick meal of peanut butter banana (a banana smeared with peanut butter.) Courtney flings her old book bag over one shoulder patting her stomach. She is hungry for more, but knows she has to leave the rest of the food for dinner.
Going to school on an empty stomach is always hard because even when she is lost in the magical world of Shakespeare for a couple of minutes during first period, the hunger in her stomach would always be there to remind Courtney of the life that waited for her once she got home.
A couple of years ago, she had always gone to school on an entirely empty stomach. There had been bananas and penut butter available for her to eat, but she preferred to leave them so that her little brother Jimmy could have them as a snack during snack time in his elementary.
He always complained that the other kids had something to eat while he had to ask them for food. Feeling bad for him, Courtney fixed it so that he could at least have a banana at snack time.
Jimmy was always telling Courtney how hungry he was, so she quit breakfast so that he could eat her portion of bananas. That was before Jimmy died.
Two years ago year, Jimmy had become ill. Aunt Anne, Courtney and Jimmy's legal guardian, refused to take him to the hospital afraid it'd cost too much. She didn't have enough money to care for Jimmy, but enough to get wasted almost every night.
Most of the nights, Courtney was getting calls from some bar downtown telling her to pick up her drunk Aunt.
Last night had been one of those nights. Courtney took a bus to Carry's Mount Bar to pick up her drunk aunt and then back on the bus. It was almost midnight by when she got home and wasn't even done with her homework.
Courtney had to pull an alnighter in order to finish. By two o'clock she was done, set the alarm clock and fell asleep dressed.
It was morning time now and Courtney walked down the dirt path toward the bus stop praying the bus would be a bit late today. She thinks of her aunt back at the tiny trailer they share. She is probably still asleep and will be late for work -if she even shows up at all- she'd probably get fired again and Courtney would have to spend hours finding her a new job.
Courtney arrives at the bus stop just in time. She gets on the bus and slumps onto the nearest empty seat. Though her eyelids are heavy and her mind's fuzzy from the lack of sleep, she takes out a French textbook and goes over the vocabulary words for today's test fighting back the urges to sleep.
FRIDAY NOON - SCHOOL CAFETERIA
It's lunchtime now and Courtney sits staring at her tray of food. A cold, hard pizza sits next to a round dome of mashed potatoes and a carton of lowfat chocolate milk. The food is utterly unappealing yet Courtney knows that it's the only meal she might have today so she shoves it into her mouth trying to chew without letting the food touch her tongue and gulping down milk to wash away the acrid taste of old pizza.
When the lunch bell rings, Courtney's stomach feels full and she can't get rid of the bad taste in her mouth even after rinsing it off at the water fountain.
She walks back to her room. Whiffs of other girl's perfume and guy's expensive cologne play around her nose as she squishes through them trying to get to class. She wonders how can she live in a world where kids pay hundreds of dollars for the luxury of a tiny bottle of perfume when she doesn't even have enough money to eat, or even to save her little brother's life.
Courtney sits through third period listening to her French teacher leturing them on how they'll be juniors next year and should start to be more responsible.
Courtney's not listening though, her mind's far away. She remembers the day her aunt finally decided to take Jimmy to the hospital.
Jimmy had been sick for weeks. He was weak and pale, the only reason why aunt Anne took him to the hospital was because he had passed out during dinner.
The ER doctor had said Jimmy was badly undernourished. It took a lot of begging, but he finally gave in and let Courtney see him in his hospital room.
Little Jimmy lay in a white hospital bed. His eyes closed, tubes and cables attached to his arms and body. He woke up to talk to Courtney a little before falling asleep again.
After hearing that Jimmy's problem was he didn't eat enough, Courtney thought if she brought him food he'd be okay.
The next day she went to school and packed her lunch in a plastic container so that she could take it to Jimmy. Right after school, she took the burger and jell-o to the Hospital. When she entered Jimmy's room she found it empty.
Confused, Courtney walked to a nurse and asked where the little boy called Jimmy was. The nurse frowned and called a doctor. The doctor directed her to his office and told her to have a sit. Courtney sat uneasily not able to stand the idea of being in a closed room alone with a man, but she let it go for Jimmy.
"I'm sorry to tell you this miss Wright, but you brother died. We tried everything we could, but we couldn't save him. If he had only come to us earlier… Blah, blah, blah."
Courtney broke down right there in front of him. The doctor said everything he could to console her, but nothing worked.
At last, he called the hospital's psych ward and they sent down Dr. Flint.
Dr. Flint took Courtney in her arms and asked if there was any family she could call.
Courtney shook her head knowing it was her Aunt's poker night and she'd probably be somewhere getting extremely drunk.
Dr. Flint felt sorry for Courtney and took her home. After seeing what Courtney was going through, Dr. Flint threatened to call child services, but Courtney begged her not to.
Afraid for Courtney's mental health, Dr. Flint didn't. Nevertheless, she had made a deal with Courtney. As long as Courtney kept up weekly appointments with Dr. Flint, Dr. Flint would not contact child services.
Which brings her to today, Courtney has an appointment with Dr. Flint today after school. She has to take two buses and walk almost a mile to get to her office, but it was well-worth the effort.
Dr. Flint is nice and not as noisy as you'd expect her to be. She listens and gives occasional advice without acting like she knows everything. Besides, going keeps Courtney out of foster care.
FRIDAY AFTERNOON -IN THE BUS
Courtney sits on the bus, her backpack on her lap and a transfer in her hand. The bus smells of cheap cologne and disinfectant.
A bum drools on his hand as he sleeps in the seat in front of Courtney. Courtney's mind wanders away to the last weeks visit to Dr. Flint.
"I guess you just never got a chance to say goodbye." Dr. Flint reasons.
"Well, Aunt Anne didn't let me go to the funeral. Because I had school. Can you believe that? What a bitch." Courtney says.
"Your brother was cremated, right?"
Courtney nods visualing the yellow jar where Jimmy's ashes are. It's placed over a mantle in a table in the living room of Courtney's aunt's trailer.
While drunk, Aunt Anne kept confusing Jimmy's ashes with a cookie jar. Tired of seeing her stupid Aunt dig her gnarled hands in her brother's rests, Courtney sealed the jar with duck tape.
"Ever thought of releasing his ashes?"
"How so?"
Dr. Flint leans back on her chair. "Well, sometimes when someone dies. Family members scatter the person's ashes in the deceased's favorite place. You know, like at the sea or the backyard or the woods…"
Courtney tilts her head to one side considering the idea. "I hadn't thought of that, but it's an interesting idea."
Dr. Flints smiles pleased at Courtney's interest. "Do you know of a place where Jimmy was happy? A place he specially liked?" she asks gazing into Courtney's eyes. Courtney's got a far away look on her face. Dr. Flint gives her time to reminisce.
Courtney's goes back five years in her life when she was eleven and Jimmy was four. They both lived with their parents and were in a camping trip at Hightrails Mountain park.
Mom and Dad were talking and acting all lovey so Courtney and Jimmy wandered off to the woods. They walked to the Bridge Lake river.
Jimmy smiled proud of their discovery and went back to show their parents what he had found.
Mom and Dad came hurriedly. Jimmy's excitement was contagious.
They dipped their feet in the water, swam in the lake-like pooled water upstream and ate berries. That was the best day ever.
Courtney felt tears sting her eyes. About a week after they got back home from that trip, Dad was shot at work. "Drunk teen shoots and kills police officer." The newspaper said the next day.
The drunk teen walked away unhurt while Courtney's father died. The boy was so rich, his parents paid his way out of jail and it didn't even stick to his record. To him, it was as if it had never happened, to Courtney it was the beginning of the end of her world.
After that her mom became too sad to take care of herself and was taken away to a mental facility. With no other family member to take care of them, Courtney and Jimmy were placed in Aunt Anne's house. Three years later, Jimmy died.
"Courtney?"
"The Bridge Lake river," Courtney says.
"Excuse me?"
"Jimmy's favorite place was the Bridge Lake river. That's where I saw him the happiest."
"Why don't you go up there? Scatter his ashes? It's time you say goodbye Courtney. Close that chapter of your life and start a new one. You can't expect to be happy otherwise."
Courtney chuckles sarcastically. "Yeah right, I'll just go up there in the weekend. Oh and I can take my jeep or my hummer."
Dr. Flint smiles tilting her head to one side. "If you could go, Courtney…" She leans forward on her desk. "Would you go?"
Courtney shrugs. "I guess, but I mean, it's not gonna happen. You know how it is for me."
Dr. Flint smiles and sits back. "If I arrange everything, will you promise to do it?"
"Do what?"
"Go up to the mountain and scatter Jimmy's ashes."
Courtney shrugs, "I guess,"
"Courtney would you?"
"Well Yeah,"
"You're really going to have to do it though. Don't promise now and then lie about it later."
"I never break a promise." Courtney growls.
Dr. Flint nods. "Okay then leave the details to me. You just be up it when it does happen."
Courtney sees the 'hey, I'm working here' billoboard sign in the side of the street and knows her stop's up next. She pulls at the yellow cord in the cealing and a female robotic voice says:
"Stop requested." The stop requested light blinks in front of the bus as it comes to a halt.
Courtney flings her backpack over one shoulder and walks out the bus. A brown leaf falls on her dark hair and she plucks it off.
The bus leaves and she's left alone in the deserted sidewalk.
Courtney waits till the little green cross-street stick figure blinks on the other side of the street. Once it does, she crosses it in a half trot. On the other side she walks a straight line nervously fingering the knife in her pocket.
Every time a man goes past her, shivers go up Courtney's spine. Ever since a guy raped her in a bathroom at the fast food joint where she worked, Courtney felt very uncomfortable around guys.
The twenty-something year old man pressed a knife to Courtney's neck and told her he'd kill her if she screamed or told.
That day, Courtney walked home feeling dirty. For a week after that, she puked in the bathroom everyday. Aunt Anne, afraid Courtney might die the way Jimmy had, sent Courtney to a hospital where Courtney was told she was pregnant. It had only been a week since Jimmy's death when Courtney had that abortion.
Aunt Anne went crazy. Her current boyfriend, Zed, beat Courtney unconscious and then Aunt Anne forced Courtney to have an abortion.
Zed and Aunt Anne broke up a little after that incident (They got together again year later.), but Aunt Anne never forgot how Courtney's news disgusted Zed and so she never ever allowed Courtney to get a job again.
Courtney told Dr. Flint about some of it. She didn't tell she had had an abortion though, she just told Dr. Flint a guy had tried to rape her.
Courtney smiled when she remembered how she slashed the guy's leg with his own knife. She didn't actually break his leg, but some rumors said she had. All she actually did was slash his leg with his knife and run for it (Courtney didn't like to admit it, not even to herself, but she knew the guy would have killed her otherwise.)
After that, Courtney seemed to have pushed the male side of the world under the monster-in-the-closet classification. She even shoved a tray full of mashed potatoes at a boy in her school's lunch line. The boy, Chris Halliwell had barely touched her but she somehow panicked and made him pay for it.
Though Courtney had felt sorry about it, she never apologized to Chris. It taugh him and other boys a lesson. Not that Courtney was a lesbian or anything, but for now, she wanted to keep them away.
A pigeon flies past Courtney almost making her jump. She sees the bulding where Dr. Flint works and walks toward it. The path clear as water (clean water) in her mind. Courtney's walked this streets countless times, and yet, every time always feels like the first. Wrong, scary, disorientantly confusing…
FRIDAY 5:00PM -DR. FLINT'S WAITING ROOM
Courtney arrives at the waiting room half an hour early. She sits on one of the pink chairs and flips through a magazine. She sees all the pretty girls in the magazine and wonders if they're as shallow as they look.
Yeah, they're thin and pretty and rich, but are they smart and healthy and intellectual as well? After all, they don't even pick their own clothes to wear.
Time flies by and before Courtney knows it, it's five thirty. She hears shuffle and movement inside Dr. Flint's office.
The door opens and Courtney looks up from her magazine. Walking out the door is wimpy Adrian Finch looking surprised to see Courtney there.
Courtney stares right into his eyes. For some reason, Adrian doesn't make her feel jumpy and unsafe like other guys do. She knows he's silently asking her with his glare not to tell anybody he was here.
Courtney looks for the right words to tell him his secret's safe with her, but he beats her to it.
"I won't tell if you don't." Adrian says.
"My lips are sealed." Courtney says getting up and walking to Dr. Flint's door leaving Adrian behind and willing to act as if she never saw him, not here at least.
FRIDAY LATE EVENING -AUNT ANNE'S TRAILER
"Where have you been you little brat?" Aunt Anne screams as soon as Courtney walks through the door of their trailer.
"School, Dr. Flint's,"
"You still going to that shrink?"
"Obviously,"
"Don't get all smart with me young lady." Aunt Anne says in a warning voice.
"Did you go to work today?"
"None of ya business!" Aunt Anne screams throwing a cup across the trailer and aiming it at Courtney.
Courtney expertly dodges the cup which falls to the floor and shatters. Courtney considers getting some newpaper and wrapping the broken pieces,but what for? Better wait till Aunt Anne's done destroying the trailer and then clean up.
"I'll get you a new job tomorrow. I have homework today." Courtney says walking wearily to the couch/ dinning table where she sleeps.
"I don't need you to get me a job. I can do it myself." Aunt Anne says filling a cup with rum and gobbling it down.
"Yeah right, you sound crazy even in a phone. Nobody in their right mind would hire you." Courtney says.
"Don't talk to me like that young lady. I am the one who took you and your snot-faced brother when nobody wanted you."
"Yeah and then you killed Jimmy."
"That's it! I'm don't have to deal with no misfit youths if I don't want to. Get out! Get out of my house you rude bitch!"
Courtney picks up her backpack and walks out the trailer. She can walk to the corner street lamp and do homework under it. Aunt Anne will probably pass out drunk in the couch and Courtney'll sneak back in when she does.
Courtney kicks a rock which results to be a frog and it jumps away scared. She screams surprised. Then, feeling stupid, she laughs loudly.
"Aunt Anne kick you out again, huh?" The neightbor, Mrs. Silas says sympathetically. Mrs. Silas is a retired teacher. She's very old and nice and makes wonderful chocolate chip cookies. Every once in a while, her daughter Joanne comes to visit.
Joanne's married to a lawyer named John. They're both nice people and sometimes invite Courtney to shopping trips. John usually wanders off to a hardware store eventually, but he does start the trip with them.
Despite Joanna's money, Mrs. Silas stays at the trailer park because that's the only home she's ever known and the one where her beloved husband died. She says there's something left of him there and it consoles her to be near him in that way.
Honestly, Courtney feels sorry for Joanna and John. They would be wonderful parents, but for some reason Joanna's just not able to conceive a baby.
Courtney shrugs. "She lost another job, I think."
Mrs. Silas laughs. "That's some Aunt you got there." she says shaking her head.
"Yeah well,"
"Wanna come in, I just made a fresh batch of cookies."
"I'd love to," Courtney walks to Mrs. Silas's trailer. Her trailer is the best one in the lot, it's big and pink personally decorated by Joanne. A homey scent of lavender and freshly baked cookies floats on the air making Courtney smiles and feel at home somehow.
Mrs. Silas is like Courtney's grandmother. She's there, she's cool, she's nice and she makes the best cookies ever.
MONDAY MORNING
Courtney walks to first period. Her black shoes clicking. The door to Mr. Whitaker's room is open as always. Kids hang around the door like bees to a spoon of honey.
She walks past them and enters the cool, crisp room. Immediately, Courtney knows they're going to have a substitute today. Mr. Whitaker likes to keep his room warm, honestly Courtney wonders how he survives North Carolina's long cold winter.
During the cold months of the year, Mr. Whitaker shows up at school looking like a Inuit with a red face and numb ears.
Courtney slumps on her seat as always and stares at the whiteboard. A couple of minutes later, Chris Halliwell is standing over her. He takes out a green sheet of paper and says.
"Mr. Whitaker asked me to give you this."
Courtney glares at Chris wondering if it's a joke of some kind. She notices Chris's glistening forehead, he's sweating so nervously it can't possibly be a prank. She takes the green sheet from his sweaty hand and reads it.
Hightrails Mountain park fieldtrip
That's just about enough for Courtney to know what this is. Apparently, Dr. Flint has pulled some strings. A fieldtrip to Hightrails in the next thing to perfect.
She'd ask Chris what he knows about this, but his confused expression tells her everything.
"Yeah, so…there you go." Chris says walking away.
"Halliwell," Courtney calls making Chris turn around.
"Yes," he says slowly.
Courtney looks at him through icy brown eyes, "Thanks." she says.
Chris's mouth drops like he's never heard a nice word come out of her mouth. Why does everybody think I'm gonna kill them? Courtney wonders. She sees Chris close his mouth.
"Sure," he mumbles and walks back to his seat.
Courtney smiles, Chris looks like a wrestler of some sort and yet he seemed to be afraid of her. Cute she thinks. If Chris wasn't a spoiled loser he wouldn't be so bad.
MONDAY LATE AFTERNOON -TRAILER PARK
Courtney sits on her trailer's steps eying the green permission slip Jerry gave her this morning. It's a warm Monday evening in October, Courtney can hear moms calling their children in for dinner all around her, the air smells musty from stanched water under the trailer.
The fieldtrip to Hightrails Mountain park is scheduled for this weekend. Next weekend will be a long one for Halloween. The trip will go from Saturday the 28th to Halloween on Monday. No trick-or-treating this year (not that there ever was one for Courtney or anybody she knew anymore.)
Aunt Anne, of course, wouldn't sign the form. Not that Courtney even bothered showing it to her. Instead, she scrabled a fake signature wondering how many more kids were doing just that.
After putting the green permission slip away, Courtney walks to Mrs. Silas's trailer and knocks on the door.
"Yes, yes coming." Mrs. Silas says opening the door.
"Can I use your phone?"
"Sure, sure child go on ahead." Mrs. Silas opens the door wider allowing Courtney in and motioning to the Pepto pink phone on a lacy table.
Courtney punches Dr. Flint's phone number. The great thing about her was that she made herself as available as possible to each of her patients.
The phone rings on the other line and Courtney waits for Dr. Flint to pick up.
"Hi, this is Dr. Flint. How may I help you?"
"It's patient number five, two, four, six, Courtney Wright," Courtney says. "A fieldtrip to Hightrails Mountain park?"
"Perfect isn't it," Dr. Flint answers giggling. "Brandon Whitaker owes me one too many favors. Don't worry about money or any of that, just be ready on the 28th, I believe?"
"Yeah it's on the 28th," Courtney affirms touched by Dr. Flint's extra effort to help her. "Dr. Flint?"
"Yes Courtney,"
Courtney swallows a lump taking a second to answer. "Thanks," she finally says.
Dr. Flint smiles. Her job might be hard or busy sometimes, but it was moments like this that she had started on this career for. "You're welcome sweetheart. Have fun and remember what you're going there for. I talked to Brandon and told him a bit about you, hope you don't mind, but he had to know what he was getting himself into."
"It's okay, see you when I get back from the trip?"
Dr. Flint giggles. "You bet, see you the Friday after next. Call me as soon as you get back though, I want to hear all about your trip."
"All right, and thanks again."
"Don't worry about it Courtney, I'm here for you, you hear me. And not just as you doctor but as a friend. Keep that in mind."
Dr. Flint hangs up. Courtney listens to the tone for two seconds and puts the receiver down.
"What's going on? Everything alright?" Mrs. Silas asks sipping on a cup of hot tea.
Courtney nods, "I'm going to Hightrails Mountain park next weekend."
"Really? That's too bad."
"Why?"
"Oh honey sorry, I didn't mean it's bad, it's a good thing just that Joanne was coming over this weekend and she wanted to see you. Said she and John have some surprise for you."
Courtney looks down at Mrs. Silas's fuzzy pink carpet. She wants to see Joanna and John too, they make her feel special and…wanted, loved almost.
Mrs. Silas senses Courtney's disappointment. "But don't worry your pretty little head off. I'm sure they can come back."
"I guess," Courtney sighs, puts on a fake smile and says, "Well, I've got to go find Aunt Anne a job."
"Find her a job? Don't you ever have any fun child?"
"Sometimes I poke fun at dorks in school if that's what you mean." Courtney jokes.
"Very funny, no seriously don't you want to watch some telly or bake cookies?"
Courtney smiles. "Don't you think I wouldn't, but if I don't get my insane Aunt a job soon, she'll be all over me after I get back next weekend. If she's home, she might notice I'm not there."
"You mean you're not going to tell her?"
Courtney laughs, "Am I going to tell her? Good one."
"Well, why not?"
"'cause I'm not stupid that's why. I seriously have to go now, thanks for letting me use your phone."
"Bye,"
"Later."
FRIDAY 27TH 2 MINUTES BEFORE DISMISSAL BELL
Mr. Whitaker was absent all week. At first Courtney though it was because he was sick and the trip would be cancelled after all. Nevertheless, Friday came with no word of cancellation.
Finally, during last period an announcement came on.
"Students going in the Outdoors club fieldtrip please be ready promptly at your arranged location for bus pick up. Have a wonderful long weeked and a happy and safe Halloween."
There was some whooping at the mention of the long weekend and then the bell rang.
Courtney moves down the crowded halls almost hypnotized by the routinary scholar cycle. Life was almost boring lately, maybe the trip would spice it up a bit, but Courtney doubted it.
She feels a bit sad there's no appointment with Dr. Flint today since she has one every Friday. Dr. Flint, however, said she wanted Courtney to get ready, sleep a lot and have fun the next day. The trip to Hightrails is tomorrow.
Courtney both dreads it and looks forward to it. Tomorrow she'll go back to the last place her family went to together to. The thought of their happiness and the memory of that day seem to mock her right now.
They had all smiled and eaten tuna sandwiches under the sun. Sometimes Courtney wanted just to go back in time and stop it in that day. Never go forwards, just stay there eating sandwiches, laughing at the same old jokes her dad told every time, skipping rocks in the river with Jimmy…
Going back will be hard, but Courtney knows she has to do it. To give herself some 'closure' according to Dr. Flint. And it does sound like a good idea.
Courtney sits on the cool leathery school bus bench. Her mind travels back to one particular day when she came home late from work two years ago when she was fourteen. The same day she lost her virginity.
Courtney ran out the fast-food restaurant as soon as she got away from the pervert in the bathroom whom she left screaming in pain.
She sat in a public bus crying and missed her stop. The sun had set long ago by when Courtney got home.
She opened the trailer to find Jimmy crying his eyes out and grasping one of Courtney's shirts. Aunt Anne and her boyfriend Zed screaming at each other in the kitchen area.
By then, seven-year-old Jimmy was already very sick and seeing him cry like that made Courtney think he was hurting.
"What's wrong?" She asked taking his tiny shoulders.
"You promised you'd never leave like mom and dad did! You promised!" Jimmy yelled.
"Jimmy I'm here. I didn't leave you."
Zed noticed Courtney's presence in the room and screamed. "Wherechu been you little bitch?"
"Work," Courtney answers resentfully while hugging Jimmy in her arms.
"Till 11 at night,"
"I missed the bus Zed, jeez."
"Don't 'jeez' me bitch." He walks to Courtney and yanks her away from Jimmy. "C'mere bitch, I'll show you some responsibility."
"Lemme go idiot! What are you doing?" Courtney snapped back.
"This little shit here wouldn't shut up 'cause you were missing." He said pointing to Jimmy who cried even harder.
Zed beat Courtney till Aunt Anne told him to stop so they could go to Carrie's Mount bar and do some tequila shots.
Courtney washed her own blood in the bathroom sink. Luckily, Zed didn't get her face as bad as her legs and arms so it wouldn't be so hard to hide the bruises at school.
After that, Courtney tucked Jimmy in his little makeshift bed.
"Promise you'll never leave me." Jimmy said.
"I already made you this promise, I said 'yes' Jimmy."
"Okay then promise you'll never break a promise."
Courtney smiles, "Okay, I promise I'll never break a promise."
FRIDAY LATE EVENING -MRS. SILAS'S TRAILER
"I called Joanne and John and told them you wouldn't be here for their visit. They said it was okay and that they'd be back on Tuesday to see you and to deliver their surprise." Mrs. Silas giggles. "I'm telling you Courtney, those two are planning something. I can tell by the way Joanne kept giggling over the phone."
Courtney takes a sip of her milky cup of tea and then bites on one of Mrs. Silas's extra chunkie chocolate chip cookies. "They're coming from Raleigh twice in one week?"
Mrs. Silas shrugs. "What can I say, they really like you. You must have a lot of friends at school. How come you never talk about them?"
"Yeah," Courtney says tapping her nail on the rim of the white tea cup. "my friends."
"Yes, your friends."
"Ain't got any,"
"Why?"
Courtney looks away uneasily then turns back to Mrs. Silas with a cheesy fake smile. "This is a really good tea, what is it?"
Mrs. Silas frowns. She knows Courtney hates tea, she's not interested in her tea leaves, she just obviously wants to change the subject.
"It's chamomile,"
"Go figure, I love chamomile."
"Well, well you have that field trip tomorrow. Why don't you get a good night's sleep."
"You kicking me out Mrs. Silas."
"Oh no honey, not at all but…"
"Just kidding, see you on Tuesday?"
"Okay, come over as soon as you can, you hear me?"
"Loud and clear."
SATURDAY MORNING -TRAILER PARK
Courtney kicks a rock and sees a white bus materialize from the insides of a cloud of dust.
She hugs Jimmy's ashes to her body and flings her backback over one shoulder. The bus's door hiss open and she steps in.
Courtney's heels click as she walks. A wave of self conciousness washes over her, everyone has hiking boots but her. The bus's eyes turn to look at her and Courtney says. "What're you dopeheads looking at?" in the nastiest voice she can simulate.
As Courtney walks to the end of the bus where she sees an empty seat, she catches Adrian Finch sitting next to Carlos. He's got his earphones on and eyes closed but as she walks past him he opens them.
She stares at him and he stares back. Courtney almost asks if he's told with her eyes and as if reading her mind, Adrian smiles warmly. She smiles back knowing the answer and moves on.
By when Courtney reaches the last seat in the bus, they are already in their way out her street.
Chris and his little friends are looking at her funny and whispering a lot as they point at a wrinkly sheet of paper Brooke holds. Courtney chooses to ignore them and turns to look out the window, Jimmy hugged to her side and her book bag cushioned between her and the cold metal bus's wall.
Courtney's eyelids feel heavy, even though Mrs. Silas sent her to sleep at ten thirdy yesterday, she wasn't able to catch her sleep till well into the night. Her mind filled with thoughts, of Jimmy, of mom and dad, of Joanne and John, of the guy in the fast food restaurants bathroom, of everything.
SATURDAY MORNING -ALMOST THERE
Trees and street signs flash by the window as the Outdoors club's bus zooms down the freeway.
Courtney sees a brown sign announcing the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro. She smiles remembering the time mom and dad took her and Jimmy to see the elephants and girafees. It was a hot, hot day. Honestly, Courtney didn't enjoy it one bit since some stupid kid puked on her. If it wasn't because her parents stopped her, Courtney would have broken all of that puny little kid's teeth. She still didn't understand why they wouldn't just let her do it. He was a little kid anyways, his teeth would grow back. And he puked on her!
She listens to Sebastian tell Brooke about his little sister, obviously trying to impress her by telling her about all the times he's been nice to her even if she's a pain.
His stupid boyish voice rings in Courtney's ears and makes her sick to her stomach. Why couldn't Brooke understand both Sebastian and Tom had a thing for her? Why couldn't she just choose between the idiots and make them shut up for once?
SATURDAY LATE MORNING -ARRIVAL
"Lookie out kids! We've made it." Mr. Whitaker says sweating disgustingly. Courtney's glad she's not the moist blue hankie he keeps in his pocket.
Mr. Whitaker is practically a nervous breakdown with legs and a thick southern accent. He sweats so much Courtney wonders how he hasn't died of dehydration by now. He took row three times during the bus ride for Christsake! Wasn't 'cause Carlos stopped him, Courtney thought, he would have done a head count every three minutes.
Mrs. Whitaker pushes Mr. Whitaker out the bus knowing he would leave the mountain without ever getting off if it was his choice.
"Come on kids, come on out." Mrs. Whitaker says merrily. Mr. Whitaker had explained he brought Mrs. Whitaker because since two girls were going he needed a female chaperone for them. Just in case of case.
Courtney didn't believe that for a second. It was a good excuse, but she knew Mrs. Whitaker came because she knew Mr. Whitaker would fall apart at the first sign of trouble.
Courtney steps off the bus holding Jimmy dearly. She hears something like a click and turns around. Did someone just take a picture?
She doesn't see any cameras or anything and just forgets about it.
Mrs. Whitaker slips a golden key out her purse and places in the doorknob. With one smooth turn of the key, the door opens to a cozy log cabin.
After short directions as to where the girls' side of the cabin is. Courtney hurries up the stairs to see the room where she'll be staying for the next couple of days.
Brooke walks behind her with two heavy suitcases complaining, grunting and silently begging for help.
Courtney sighs, she doesn't want to help Brooke. Why does she have to carry her house around everywhere anyways?
She steps back and grabs a corner of one of Brooke's bags and helps her get it up.
When they arrive at the top of the stairs, Courtney leaves Brooke to herself and walks into the fist room. Inside, she sees a cozy wood log room with two beds side by side next to the window, a bedside table with pink and blue lamps on the side of each bed, a TV with VCR and a cutesy bathroom in the corner.
Courtney steps onto the soft beige carpet of the room glad that she'll be staying in such a nice place for the entire weekend and drops her lightweight bag on one of the bouncy beds.
Courtney's uplifted mood is shot down by Brooke's whiny voice.
"This is where we're staying, where's the closet? No DVD? Where's the stereo? Don't they have a hair blower? What's this ugly carpet? Oh my God, is that the bed where I'm sleeping? It's so tiny!"
"Shut up! Would you like to sleep here, or should I just knock you unconscious and leave you for the bears?" Courtney snaps.
"Gee, you don't have to go psycho-ball on me. I paid highly for quality and I should get it, that's all I'm saying."
Courtney opens the drawer in her bedside table and carefully places Jimmy inside. "Touch that drawer and I'll kill you." She says stepping out of the room.
"Where are you going?" Brooke asks.
Courtney turns her head and puffs impatiently. "They're expecting us downstairs."
SATURDAY AFTERNOON -AFTER MR. W'S ORIENTATION TALK (OR RATHER 'COMPLAINS BOMB DROP')
After carefully inspecting the whole room, Courtney walks into her room's bathroom. It big and clean with white titles with daisies on them.
Brooke's obviously been trying to 'rich-'n-girly' it up a bit. Lavender candles lined up in front of the mirror and a base of light pink flowers in a blue cup from the kitchen adorned the far left corner.
Courtney sneezes. Her eyes feel itchy and teary.
"Ugh, what are those flowers?"
She sneezes again. Her nose and eyes go red and she can barely see through blurry tears.
Suspicious of the flowers, Courtney picks them up and sniffs one.
She sneezes again, twice this time.
"I'm allergic to these stupid flowers." She realizeds not saying it out loud. She plucks the flowers from the makeshift base, opens the bathroom door and walks to the window in the middle of her and Brooke's bed and opens the window. The wind rushes in catching Courtney totally off guard and leaving her hair messy and crazy.
"Au revoir," She says as she shoves the pastel pink flowers out the window.
She sees Adrian and Carlos walking back to the cabin. Adrian catches her looking and stares back. Courtney steps away from the window and goes back to the bathroom.
Once inside, Courtney doesn't bother lock the door. She just flips the lights on and lets the door close itself.
Courtney surveys the damage in front of the mirror. Her whole face is scarlet and her eyes a bit puffy. She looks like she's been crying, too proud to let anybody see her like this, Courtney plucks a tissue from a floral box under the mirror and pats her eyes with it willing to stay inside till her face looked more normal.
She sits in front of the toilet and patiently waits for the reddening to go away while twisting the tissue around in her hand.
Stumbling noises come from outside reaching Courtney's ears and before she can get up to lock the door, Brooke walks in.
"Na, na, na, na Ahh!"
"Get outta here!" Courtney yells angrily getting up and ready to jump on Brooke.
Brooke turns around quickly and trips on her own feet. "Sorry, I didn't know you where here."
"Well now you do so GET OUT!" Courtney screams again.
Brooke pulls her feet out of the way and Courtney slams the door shut.
Courtney is left in the cold bathroom breathing heavily with anger. Brooke is a very annoying girl, she decides. It's only a couple of days they have to live together, it's not like they'd become friends or anything, Courtney thinks relieved imagining herself dressing in fuzzy pink clothes like Brooke did. Ugh!