Day 3

The doorbell rang at noon.

No one answered.

The door bell began to ring, frantically.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming", Kat yelled, coming down from the stairs.

The ringing stopped.

Kat opened the fount door.

Athena was there.

"Hey", Athena said to Kat, with a slight smile.

"Hi. What're you doing here?"

Kat let Athena in, and while entering, with her eyes closed, Athena said, "Well, Patrick called me and begged me to come over". She stopped walking and looked at Kat, who was behind her, "It was really very sad", she walked to the dining table and sat down, Kat across from her, "So, I told him for fifty dollars I'd come down here and solve the deficit problem!"

"Why does he think you'll solve my problems?" Kat scooted up in her chair.

"I don't know. I guess Patrick sees me as a mother/big sister type figure, which is odd considering that I'm almost a full year younger than him", Athena glanced up to the ceiling, as if she was thinking. "Ish, ish. I helped ol' Patty with his problems, and, so, he thought 'Why the hell not? Athena will help Kat with her problems too!', therefore, here I am."

This is where Kat got excited, "Like what?"

Athena started laughing, "I'm not telling you." She laughed for a few more seconds and then stopped, "If Patrick likes you enough he'll tell you"—Athena becomes alarm and raises her arms, defensively—"it's not that he doesn't like you, but it's not my place to tell. I guess I'll say it this way then, if he feels the time is right, and then he'll tell you. You just haven't gotten to that stage yet or the opportunity hasn't arisen thus far. I only know about his emotional crap because I was there when it was happening. So what's your problem?"

"Well, the whole school is mad at me because I disparaged them and all", Kat said slowly and quietly. "Kat, I would love to help you with your problem, but you have to tell me what it is first", Athena told Kat, cruelly. Kat then told Athena the whole story of what happened. Kat had expected Athena not to know what to do and to reply with a "That stinks" or some line like that, but, instead, Athena responded with, "Oh that's easy! This is what you do", Athena drew in some air, "tomorrow, at school, be a wallflower, fade into the background, don't stand out!"

"That's against my principles though!"

"Do your principles involve your car being pelted by junk?" Kat didn't respond. "But, you'll just have to be a ghost until the next scandal arises, which will be in a week or so. After that, you're home free, you see, kids today have very short attention spans thanks to cell phones and video games, so by next week, you'll be able to stand out again, but I do advise you to not return to your normal boldness, since that could trigger some sort of memory that involves the video of you insulting them. And when you met this Blank chap, be warm towards him, but keep your distance. Congratulate him, shake his hand, and it would work better if Patrick did the same too."

"And should I bake him cookies and give him a massage, too?"

"Naw, that's too much", Athena promptly told Kat, brushing off her sarcastic remark. Addressing Kat's desire to be hostile towards Blank, she said, "It'll make you the bigger person, that you don't have to resort to cheap ploys like that, and, we don't know if Blank posted the video up or not, but we'll have to assume that he did for now", Athena licked her lips and paused. "Now, concerning the real culprit, who would have access to the video?"

"There's Cameron James, the video tech guy."

"Okay, if it's the same Spoink that I knew in middle school, we can clearly mark him out", Athena said, trying to contain a laugh. "Wh"—Athena tried to not laugh—"Who is next?" Athena giggled out a small laugh.

"Ah, Gaya Pinto."

"Don't know who she is", Athena said, "Who's next?"

"Tabitha Cook."

"I think I've heard of her", Athena squinted her eyes in thought. "Describe her."

"Okay, she's very active in school, a goody two shoes"…

"Oh, isn't she that brown haired girl with a stick up her butt?"

"Yes, she was my speech writer and didn't seem too please about the video and the changes"…Athena smiled as Kat seemed to doze off into space.

"I think you've found your rat."

"Ha!" Kat shouted.

"So, we've found the who, the how, and the ha. Now, the why."

"Do you have it?"

Athena smiled again, "Human beings are driven by two things: lust and power. Therefore, this Tabitha would be driven by one or both of these. Who do you have that she would be attracted to so much that would drive her so far as to do something like this?"

"Patrick and I guess Blank."

"Well, she's obviously not lusting after Patrick because, if so, she did a very stupid move."

"Which was?"

"In romantic movies, an event like this actually causes a broken-up couple to get back together; always happens. Her doing this to get Blank seems a little far-fetched, which brings us to, power. She obviously wants power so she worked with Blank. He probably promised her some stupid position like the head of a committee like prom."

"I would have let her be the head of a committee."

"I guess she just generally dislikes you. And, maybe, in her twisted mind, she hoped that if she worked with Blank, he would fall in love with her, so lust did have a small part in it, too."

"I'm so going to kill her."

"No, no, don't do that. Act like you don't even suspect a thing. She'll lower her defenses so it'll be easier to systemically destroy her. I can see it now: she showed him the video of you rapping and dancing, he said something about you winning or him losing or something like that. She won't accept that and, against his strict orders, she posts that video up. He's very mad at her and he was telling the truth, he had nothing to do with it. Now, I don't know whether or not you should tell Blank that you know. Either way, I expect him to fill so overcome with guilt that he doesn't place Tabitha as the head of a committee, that'll make her feel that all was pointless. I think if you tell him it'll just speed the process up, but if you don't then he might not do it. Just tell him, but wait until way after you shake his hand and congratulate him."

A clock rang at one o'clock.

"Oh", Athena said noticing the time, "I better get going." She stood up; her black horn rimmed glasses were slipping so she pushed them up. "What time do you have lunch tomorrow? I would love to come by to see Spoink."

"Eleven thirty."

"Okay", Athena walked towards the door. "Bye."

"One question."

"Yes?" Athena turned around to face Kat. "How do you know how to get out of situations like this?"

"My boyfriend's family is all in the political business. In the Cavour family—that's his last name—you're either a priest or a politician. And his uncle is a childless publicist so he taught me the way of lying and deception." Athena smiled and turned to leave, but then stopped and told Kat, "If Patrick asks, we had a good time and jabbered on about gossip. I think he wants us to be friends. As I said earlier, he sees me as a mother/big sister figure so I guess he wants my approval before he tells you anything."

"Do you approve of us?" Kat became slightly nervous.

"I don't know", Athena shrugged. "It took my boyfriend's mother three months before she gave a hint on whether she approved of me or not. I'll try not to take so long."

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