Chapter Three: SHS On The Street.
A/N The Dawn reference is a nod to the brilliant fic Amsterdam Amsterdam by Cecilia.
I would like to say thanks to every one who reviewed the last chapter,
"This emergency meeting of the babysitters alumni has now been called to order," I said crisply later that afternoon. The babysitters club, which I created back during junior high, still existed but now Vanessa Pike and a bunch of my former chargers were running it. The babysitter's alumni however was a society created for the original members.
"Kristy this emergency isn't like the time you needed extra players for your softball team is it? Because I ended up twisting both my ankles and my wrist last time" Mary Anne asked her eyes tearing up.
"It's nothing like that!" I said and it seemed like Claudia, Mary Anne, Stacey and Abby all sighed with relief.
"Make a note Mary Anne, Mallory Pike and Jessica Ramsey are both missing from today's meeting" I began.
"Well Mallory is the president of the current BSC and Jessica I think is entering a free style hip hop dance off in New York" Mary Anne said checking the official BSC Alumni note book.
"Ok take another note, Dawn Schafer is also missing" I began.
"Um Kristy Dawn is still missing after she ran away to Amsterdam two years ago" Stacey sighed.
"Oh right, ok just write down that all the original members are here" I said to Mary Anne who dutifully began to scribble away using her bright pink feather pen.
"I'm not an original member Kristy, remember I joined a whole year after you guys" Abby pointed out raising her hand.
"Was it really a whole year?" Claudia asked.
"Um yeah, felt a lot longer though, it felt like ten years" Stacey sighed recoiling on my bed. For some reason that I really never got Stacey claimed that she was more comfortable on beds, she must have had a bad back.
"So what's the big emergency?" Abby asked.
"Cary Retlin spoke to me today, he claimed that the school president is embezzling money" I sighed and they all looked at me, Mary Anne burst into tears.
"Embezzling money? That's awful! It explains how all the funds from the dance committee disappeared," she wailed as Claudia handed her a tissue.
"We don't know if it's true or not, he said he's going to send me some files or something but I don't understand them at all" I began gesturing to my personal computer.
"I could take a look at them, I did get an A in my college level economics class" Stacey said.
"I thought you only got that A because you gave Steven O'Brien a lap dance so he'd do the final for you" Abby asked knowingly and Stacey laughed.
"Oh no that was for my English lit class! I'm actually good at math so I really don't need to do sexual favors" she smirked.
"Fine go nuts" I said gesturing to my computer, and she rolled off my bed carefully in order to make sure her mini pink cheerleader style skirt didn't ride up.
"Well what are we supposed to do while she's busy doing the math thing?" Claudia asked obviously sounding bored.
"What ever you do, do it some where else, you can't expect me to solve a mathematical theory while she's crying" Stacey said tensely.
In the end we decided to get a snack, food was the only thing that could stop Mary Anne when she was in the middle of a hysterical fit.
Those who were regulars at my house knew that when you wanted to eat a snack it could be likened to climbing Mount Everest. In case you didn't know I live in a mansion, well it's my stepfather's mansion actually but you get the point. Before you start accusing me of things I'm not a poor little rich girl, my mothers only been married to Watson for three years. Before then my family lived in a tiny house and I had to baby-sit after school to earn enough money to buy my own baseball bat. Sometimes my brain still works on the "poverty" default and I find myself not buying things I need or want because I'm convinced I can't afford them.
It sounds pretty stupid I know.
Anyway because I live in a mansion it takes forever to get to the kitchen no matter what room you're currently in, unless of course you're in the downstairs bathroom. Then once you've managed to get down stairs you have to fight through my six siblings and stepsiblings in order to get to the fridge.
Yes I said six, as Abby once remarked it's like the Brady Bunch on crack.
Then if one had managed to fight through the Brady Bunch, one would have to go into the massive pantry in order to see if there was any food left. The best time to do this was right after school, mainly because no one had a chance to eat anything yet.
It was a full house on that particular day. My ten year old stepsister Karen and my ten year old brother David Michael were stopped over our dog Shannon arguing about what they should dress her as for the annual BSC dog parade.
I'd started it a few years ago as something fun for the kids to do but every since it had become an annual thing spawning more and more crazy and elaborate costumes every year.
"Shannon should be Hermione Granger, how could she be Harry Potter? She's a girl!" Karen shrieked.
"Harry is like the star of the movie Karen! No one will know who she is if we dress her up as Hermione" David Michael shot back.
"But Harry's lame! He's just the token character who has undergone NO character development in the entire series" Karen snarled, sometimes I worried about Karen.
Every one called her a genius but I suspected she had no idea what she was saying half the time.
"Yeah well Hermione is a nerd!" David Michael pointed out.
Meanwhile my adopted sister Emily Michelle (what is with my family and giving their kids two names?) and my step brother Andrew were indulging in their latest past time which was torturing Barbie dolls.
"We should give this one a hair cut! Make it bald!" Andrew cried and Emily gave him a lopsided five-year-old grin.
"Kay!" she said happily and they began to attack the dolls hair with their plastic butter knives.
"Wow it's a full house today" Abby remarked.
"God tell me about it, it seems the older they get the more destructive they get! Yesterday I found a ken doll shoved in the toaster," I said moving towards the fridge.
Mary Anne gave another dry sob and I wordlessly gave her a hunk of half eaten chocolate.
"I'm just sorry you guys but we worked so hard to earn that money from the car wash and the to think some one stole it! Oh god!" she shrieked bursting into a fresh wave of tears.
"Mary Anne maybe you should talk to your psychiatrist about adjusting your medication" Claudia said kindly.
"She's still on medication?" Abby whispered to me and I kicked her firmly in the shin before moving back to the fridge.
"Kristy make us a sandwich," David Michael said.
"You have two hands do it yourself" I pointed out, after all when I was ten I was cooking meals for David Michael, making a sandwich wasn't that difficult.
"I cant we're trying to figure out how to perm Shannon's hair" David Michael began.
"Oh that's easy, Dogs fur is much more thicker in texture then a humans so you'd need to use a curling iron and barb wire styling putty as apposed to traditional hair gel" Claudia explain and we all shot her a look.
"During freshmen year I did work experience for a dog grooming business" she explained.
"Kristy do you have any of that barbed wire stuff?" Karen asked.
"Karen I own a hair brush and about a million hair ties, I do not own fancy hair gel" I sighed wearily.
"Hold on I think I have some" Claudia said rummaging about the knap sack she wore over one shoulder; it was made out of a pair old jeans she'd sewn together.
"You carry barbed wire hair putty in your purse?" Mary Anne sniffed.
"A prepared girl carries a range of products with her at all times, now lets give this doggy a perm!" she said grinning at my brother and stepsister.
Shannon began to cry and being some one who'd suffered one of Claudia's makeovers I felt very very sympathetic towards her.
"So talk to me McGill, what's the verdict?" I asked as we re entered my bedroom, Claudia was still clutching onto a plate covered with fried chicken, milk duds and potato chips.
"Whoever did these accounts is an economic genius, no one could ever be this bad at Math unless they were very good at faking it" Stacey said staring at the spreadsheets.
"How so?" I asked.
"Some one is trying to hide the fact that they've been stealing money by making it seem that all the missing expenses are due to bad book keeping, I mean look at this it's been recorded that ten dollars has been spent on new sponges for the charity car wash over six hundred times, have you ever seen over six hundred sponges in the school?" Stacey asked.
I'd done the charity car wash a few times to raise money for the softball team and we'd been using the same tiny half ripped sponges for years.
"Hmm, continue" I said and Stacey nodded.
"They've also done a trick where on some pages it looks like there's been a budget approved for fifty clubs but on other pages there's only forty eight, you'd have to look really closely to spot it though" she said.
"So he's wiping out the budget of some of the clubs?" I asked.
"Yes and these other files that Cary sent you? They're details about expenses for a trip to Japan from the school president's personal computer and get this. Coincidently he has raised the exact same amount of money that has been stolen from the various clubs and organizations" Stacey finished solemnly.
"You're right that is a coincidence," I said grimly.
"I don't get it, why would the school president steal that much money? Why can't he just raise it himself?" Claudia asked.
"Because only official clubs and organizations can raise money for their groups and he's an individual! He couldn't raise the money himself so instead of getting a job he decided to steal it" I suddenly realized and I felt my stomach lurch.
"Are you sure Stacey? Absolutely sure?" I asked.
"Kristy when it comes to money this brain is never wrong, after all I can figure out any sales discount within twenty seconds" she said smugly tapping her curly blond head.
"Ok, fine, Claudia?" I asked and she looked up from where she was stuffing a milk dud fried chicken and potato chip sandwich into her mouth.
"Mmmph?" she asked gulping.
"Make the phone call," I snapped.
Claudia's cell phone address book was something of a legend at SHS. She'd been working on it since her freshmen year and now she had the phone number of every single person in our year and most of the seniors as well. It was a well known fact that for a case of peanut butter cups you could get her to give you the phone number of any boy you happened to have a crush on.
"It's ringing" she giggled clutching her bright red phone to her ear.
My own cell phone was still in its original silver case and I only had twenty phone numbers in it.
"Hi? Cary Retlin? This is Claudia Kishi!" she bubbled enthusiastically.
"Uh huh? Yeah I got your number at Grace Blumes sweet sixteenth.. So how are you?" she asked cocking her head to one side.
"Oh that's super! Yeah I'm doing good, oh my lord you have to come to my art exhibit next week! You like art right? Of course you do.. Uh huh" she began trailing off.
"Well it's on Thursday night at the museum, hmm OH GOOD! So I'll see you there Cary!" she beamed and then I shot her a frantic look.
"Oh don't hang up! I just remembered it was Kristy who wanted to talk to you," she giggled.
"Um maybe you'll have to ask her," she laughed handing the phone over.
"Hello?" I asked.
"So Claudia asked me to go to her exhibit huh?" I heard his voice drawl.
"Don't flatter yourself, she asked every one including the cafeteria ladies" I replied coolly.
"I assume this isn't a social call?" he asked and I entered my walk in closet in order to get some privacy.
"No it isn't, I've looked over the files and I believe you," I whispered into the phone.
"You understood the files? Last I checked you were failing Math," he pointed out.
"I wasn't failing, a C isn't failing," I pointed out.
"Yes but it's hardly good enough to understand economics" he said casually and I rolled my eyes.
"If you must know I got a friend whose good at Math to look at the numbers, happy NOW?" I barked.
"Ecstatic" he finished.
"So I guess this means I'll help you, why are you so interested in stopping this guy anyway?" I asked.
"I'm not but this girl I'm seeing happens to be on the dance committee, wouldn't want her favorite project ruined due to a lack of funds" he admitted.
"Girl that you're seeing? You are seeing a girl as in well seeing her?" I asked.
"Yes as in the dating sense, not the using my vision sense" he chuckled and my eyes trailed upwards falling on the winter coat.
"Oh, so who is it?" I asked.
"My you're such a gossip" he replied.
"I'm just asking out of curiosity," I said trailing off.
"Cokie Mason" he finished and I nearly dropped the phone.
It made sense in a sick universal fate way that my two greatest enemies would be off in broom closets making out, the idea of the two of them grinding together was enough to make me want to vomit and then die.
Obviously the universe was pissed off about something I had done in a past life.
"Cokie Mason huh? Guess you two must have a lot of fun standing around making fun of people" I finally said.
"No need to sound bitter just because you're on our list" I heard him reply.
"As long as I'm on the top" I said and then I cringed, I could not believe I'd just said that.
"Amusing Thomas, are you going to take the information to the student council?" he asked and I ran my hands through my hair.
"Yes I'll do it on Saturday, we have a meeting in the afternoon" I replied and their was a thudding sound on the door.
"Kristy what are you doing in there? Are you engaging in naughty phone sex?" Abby cried and I rolled my eyes.
"I have to go," I said crisply.
"Wait a second" he interjected.
"Yes?" I asked.
"Tell me how the meeting goes," he said and then he hung up. I found myself staring at the phone for a few seconds the number flashing on the screen. Then the number disappeared, replaced by Claudia's home screen which had a tiny version of the birth of Venus on it.
Slowly I opened the wardrobe door and glared at Abby who was giggling hysterically, I knew what I had to do.
The Student Council met every week but every month they also had an additional meeting, it was Jonathon's idea and it was designed for the members who had to miss a meeting due to other commitments. Every one was expected to show up, unless of course they wanted to be shunted off to the student court or worse kicked out of the council all together.
This month the meeting was being held on a Saturday afternoon, I knew because I had to skip softball practice.
I hated missing softball but we all had to make sacrifices.
The student council met in a much nicer room then the student court, for one thing no one had written anything about genitals across the front door. I held onto the presentation I'd made as I walked through the door nodding at my fellow council member Emily Bernstein.
"So I hear that Mathews shoved you into student court, tough break" she said sympathetically as she sat down next to me.
"It's not that bad, in fact I prefer to see it as a rewarding challenge" I said with a calm controlled smile. Emily and I had been sort of friends back in middle school but by our freshmen year we were bitter rivals. When the current BSC disbanded I suddenly found myself with a lot of free time on my hands. At first I spent it with Abby trying to antagonize as many people as possible but after the Cokie Mason incident I threw myself into extra curricular activities. Emily had spent middle school being the queen of the school paper and the yearbook and needless to say she wasn't willing to share.
"Challenge? You call watching Rick Chow and that Greg guy playing video games a challenge? It just so happens that I'm doing something worthwhile" Emily said with false sympathy.
"Oh really Emily? What's your student council project then?" I asked and she smirked.
"We're organizing a rock concert to raise money for the tsunami crisis," she said.
"But that happened four months ago" I pointed out.
"Yeah well it took a long time to file the paper work and get approval," she snapped and I sank into my seat waiting for the meeting to begin.
The student council meetings followed a very strict format that Jonathon had devised as soon as he'd become the president. They began with him reading out the crucial points from the last meeting, he would then read out a speech of his own devising about the future plans he had for the school. Back before I knew he was evil I'd admired the way he'd managed to get the members to listen to him. Now however I found myself listening to the whole speech critically a sinking feeling forming in my stomach.
It was the sort of sinking feeling that one got when an amateur met their master; Jonathon was brilliant at bossing people about without actually promising anything at all. He spoke of sacrifices that needed to be made in order for the school to have representatives who could properly show the world what SHS was made of, beside me Emily was nodding a small smile on her face.
But I knew what sacrifice he was referring to and I realized I was making annoyed growling sounds deep within my throat.
'"Shhh" hissed Emily and I folded my arms trying to control my rage.
"Now has anyone got any new proposals?" Jonathon asked and I jumped up.
"I have a new proposal Jonathon," I said and he eyed me doubtfully.
"You have a new proposal? A student court proposal?" he asked his lips twitching into an almost smile.
"Yes, all student council members are allowed to make a proposal, this shouldn't take long" I said marching up to the podium.
I knocked Jonathon aside who was staring at me with a suspicious expression on his face.
"Members of the council, teachers and fellow students, I come here today to not speak about new uniforms for the softball team or rock concerts for third world countries" I said shooting Emily a knowing look.
"I come here to speak to you about a crime that's been committed, right underneath our noses" I continued.
"Now Kristy.." Jonathon began.
"There will be no questions until the end of my speech" I smiled sweetly and he stepped away looking pale.
" I know that several of you are in fact representatives from various school organizations, how many of you have noticed a slight dip in your budgets this semester?" I asked.
Emily Bernstein glanced around and reluctantly raised her hand, followed by the captain of the chess team, the president of the Spanish club and the leader of the swim team.
"It's not because the school has needed to tighten it's budget like some of you may believe, rather a member of our council has been using their power to embezzle fundraising money which was earned to assist our clubs and activities" I said dramatically. There were several murmurs and Vice Principal Brown stood up.
"Miss Thomas these are very serious allegations, where did you get this information?" she asked.
"It's available to anyone who has a computer," I said and then I picked up the photocopied spreadsheets I'd made which had the numbers Stacey had calculated
"I had a economics honor student take a look at them Vice Principal Brown and the figures are shocking" I said handing her the spreadsheet.
She stared at it for a moment her thin brown painted lips smacking together with outrage.
"This doesn't look right at all! But I trust your judgment Miss Thomas, you have after all turned yourself around this year and become an excellent student" Principal Brown muttered and she narrowed her blood shot eyes.
"So whose responsible?" she asked.
"Yeah Kristy, I want to know so I can rip there heads off! We actually had to print the year book in soft cover this year" Emily cried.
I stared at the council who were looking at me with a mixture of confusion and outraged anger.
This was it, the moment I either made or broke my political career.
I breathed in deeply summoning my inner babysitter.
"The person responsible is.." I began but the name was drowned out as the fire alarm went off.
It turned out that the school was surprisingly full for the Saturday afternoon, the gamers club was meeting in the computer lab along with the kids who were in the auditorium practicing for the spring school musical.
Then there were the members of the student council, all of us ended up stampeding through the school, dripping wet due to the sprinkler system.
Five minutes later I found myself clutching onto my presentation my dripping wet hair falling out of my ponytail.
I groaned, the pieces of paper were now ink-covered mush and I'd wasted all the ink in my printer running the presentation off.
Around me students were filing about and I watched as smoke curled out of the basement.
"What happened?" Jonathon Mathews asked sidling up next to me. I stared at him wondering why on earth he was speaking to me, after all he knew I was going to expose him for the crook he was.
"Well I think it's obvious that some one started a fire, or at least pulled the alarm," I pointed out with a forced smile.
"I know and right in the middle of your presentation," he said sympathetically and he eyed me up and down his eyes hovering on my wet alien loves predator t-shirt.
"I'll tell every one on Tuesday when we have our next meeting, it's no big," I said undoing my ponytail.
"Or you could just tell me in person, I am after all the student body president" he said as I wrung the water out of my hair.
"Excuse me?" I asked flipping the wet rat tails over one shoulder.
"I said you could tell me who was responsible, we could discuss it over dinner tonight" he said and I blinked rapidly unable to comprehend what was being said.
For a second I was sure I hadn't heard him right, no boy had ever asked me to dinner. I'd been asked to baseball basketball and football games but never ever dinner, I wasn't that kind of girl.
"Dinner?" I asked.
"Well we've already missed lunch and I have several matters I need to deal with," he said and I continued to blink slowly my brain still working in autopilot mode.
"You want to discuss a student council matter over dinner? Why?" I asked.
"I rarely get to socialize, this would be like killing two birds with one stone," he said and then he eyed me thoughtfully.
"And from what I've seen Thomas you rarely socialize either" he pointed out.
" No I just rarely associate with thieves and liars," I said smugly.
"Thankfully I'm neither one of those things" he said his eyes still hovering on my t-shirt.
"Oh really?" I asked with a small tight smile.
"Yes really, haven't you ever heard of misunderstandings? Innocent until proven guilty, or a chance for the accused to defend themselves?" he asked and he looked well assured of himself but he also looked sincere.
Back before my friend Dawn Schafer ran away to Amsterdam she'd been obsessed with dissecting our personalities based upon astrology. According to Dawn my sun or moon ascended in the house of Libra which meant that although I was stubborn I had a need to seek justice and attempt to see the world from multiple perspectives. I said that I saw the world from multiple perspectives because my family was filled with multiple perspectives . Dawn just gave me a vague smile and poured me another cup of foul tasting green tea.
But for a fraction of a moment I found my self-staring at Jonathon wondering if perhaps I was wrong. After all Cary Retlin was notorious for causing trouble and he could have faked the evidence, but then again Jonathon was a politician, which automatically meant he couldn't be trusted.
I knew from past experience that when punishing several children a babysitter needed to consider both stories.
I needed to hear about his side of things.
"Fine, where and when" I said and he almost smiled.
"My family has it's own table at the local country club" he began and I raised my eyebrows.
"Country club huh? Impressive" I remarked.
"No need to sound so crude, you too come from a privileged family" he began and I instantly despised that notion but I knew that if I wanted to discover the truth I would have to for once keep my opinions to myself.
"Fine pick me up at seven, you know where I live right?" I asked.
"Of course I do, every one knows where Kristy Thomas lives," he said.
One of the things I've learned during my first sixteenth years of life is that the only way to truly get warm after being hit by cold water is to drown yourself in hot water. Bubble baths were the best ones of course, which was why I lay in the mansions spa while I talked to Mary Anne on the phone.
"So you're going to dinner with him?" she asked.
"I figure that the least I can do is let him either admit that he committed the crime or try to prove his innocence," I said flexing my feet in the water.
"Well yeah but some one stole the money we both know that" Mary Anne began.
"I know but Jonathon said that his family are country club members, why would a kid whose parents can afford membership need to steal spending money for a trip to Japan?" I asked and Mary Anne sighed.
"Maybe he didn't steal it because he needed to maybe he did it because he wanted to" she suggested
"Was that actual cynicism from Mary Anne? I am shocked and appalled," I laughed.
"I'm not being cynical I'm just trying to think, some people like to steal for the attention" she pointed out and I nodded.
"But whoever stole the money did it in a way that was not attention grabbing" I argued as I crawled out of the spa balancing the phone between my ear and shoulder.
"I know the whole thing is really weird but I know you can solve this Kristy, so what are you going to wear?" she asked.
"Wear? I don't know a shirt I guess," I admitted.
"You can't wear that to a country club Kristy, do you still have all those nice clothes your mum gave you for your birthday?" Mary Anne asked.
"You mean the torture devices?" I groaned shrugging on my dressing gown.
"A skirt isn't a torture device Kristy, can you turn on your computer and set up your web cam? I want to see what outfits you have" Mary Anne began.
"Since when do you care about clothes?" I asked as I trotted out of the bathroom and back towards my bedroom.
"I care a little bit and that isn't such a bad thing, I mean you don't really want to follow Claudia's fashion advice if you're going to a country club but my look is pretty preppy so I think I can help you find something appropriate" she said.
"Well why can't you just come over and pick something?" I groaned.
"Cant, I'm supposed to be studying for my English in class assignment on Monday" Mary Anne groaned.
"Fine I'm switching on my computer happy now?" I asked indulgently and I moved to the wardrobe hunting around for the clothes my mother had bought me for my birthday.
A lot of people seemed obsessed with criticizing my fashion sense, which was in the end annoying. After all I'd made great strides when you considered what I wore in high school, my jeans were after all fitted dark denim now with out holes. I wore woman shirts as apposed to sweaters that once belonged to my brother Sam and I no longer constantly scraped my hair into a ponytail. Of course people like Claudia and my mother were still obsessed that there was a super model inside of me waiting to crawl out, I'd been attacked several times by Claudia's lip gloss wand until I started applying it myself in order to make her leave me alone.
To make matters worse my mother was obsessed with buying me new clothes every Christmas and every birthday, I rarely if ever wore them. For my last birthday she had bought me a dress, an actual dress.
It was black and knee length with no sleeves and a low neckline, but it was still a dress.
I stared at it doubtfully; black I suppose was safe, black was professional.
"Right I'll just turn msn and my web cam on ok?" I said on the phone.
"Sure, ugh Logan happens to be online remind me to block him" Mary Anne sighed.
"Are you two still fighting? Its been three years Mary Anne" I pointed out, but then again it was always bitter when you broke up with your first serious boyfriend.
Not that I would know considering I'd never had a serious boyfriend but I'd seen it happen to me friends countless times.
"No It's just his grammar, it really is terrible and it's not like he has learning difficulties like Claudia" Mary Anne said with a small sob as I connected there web cam.
"Ok so what do you think about this?" I said holding up my black dress in front of the computer screen.
"I cant see anything Kristy just a big patch of black" Mary Anne pointed out and I took a few steps backwards.
"Now?" I asked irritably.
"Try it on first" Mary Anne advised me and I tossed the phone on the bed before disappearing into my walk in closet.
After several seconds of frantic pulling I managed to shimmy myself into the dress and I hopped towards the bed.
"Ok now?" I asked into the phone while I stood in front of the computer.
"Oh yes, Stacey would say that you look really sophisticated" giggled Mary Anne.
"Has it ever occurred to you that sophisticated might actually be a code word for skanky?" I asked.
"Huh?"
"Well you all keep calling Stacey sophisticated and yesterday she was lounging around on my bed in a see through blouse and a red lacey bra" I pointed out.
"Well in this case I mean sophisticated like Audrey Hepburn in breakfast in Tiffany's" Mary Anne gushed.
"She played an escort in that movie" I sighed.
"Yes but a glamorous hooker" Mary Anne argued.
I spun around the dresses fabric gently swishing against my legs, it wasn't that bad, it covered most of my bits without making me either look like a crack whore or a nun, my spin was interrupted however by a familiar beeping sound.
"Hold on Mary Anne I have call waiting" I said.
"Hello Brewer residence, Kristy Thomas speaking" I said in my polite yet firm talking to adults voice.
"Wow I had no idea that you were working part time as a Butler, say that line again but this time with a British accent" some one snickered on the other end and I sat on my computer chair.
"Whose this?" I asked suspiciously.
"Guess" the voice taunted.
"Sam?" I ventured, the voice did sound familiar in a sarcastic way and it was one of the weird stunts my brother would pull.
"I'm not your older brother Thomas, really your usually much better at solving mysteries," he laughed again and I felt my fingernails dig into my palm.
"Cary Retlin" I said with a forced angry smile.
"Bingo Thomas" he replied.
"How did you get my phone number? It's not listed," I snapped.
"You're not the only one who knows about Claudia Kishi's address book, I gave her a bag of Twinkies and she sang like a bird," he informed me as if he was proud of himself.
"She didn't sing that loudly, I notice you haven't got my cell phone number," I said and my computer screen lit up, Mary Anne had sent me an instant message asking me who was on the phone.
"Oh she wouldn't let me have that much information, she claims that she doesn't trust me and I really can't imagine why" he said sounding as if he was hurt by the suggestion but I knew better.
"It's probably because you're a smarmy two faced smart ass with a hidden agenda," I said sweetly as I typed an answer for Mary Anne.
"I'm hurt Thomas, here I was trying to be a nice guy and you attacked me" he sighed.
"Since when are you a nice guy? No wait don't answer that" I snapped my eyes staring at the screen.
" You know I have no idea what I did to offend you Thomas but I suggest you double your dosage and get over it" he replied.
"If you can't think of what you did to offend me Retlin then you're not as smart as you think you are," I snapped.
"How do you know how smart I think I am?" he taunted me and I sighed feeling a migraine coming on.
"What do you want Retlin?" I asked wearily.
"What do I want? I can't call a friend without being accused of wanting something?" he asked me again putting on his sincere smarmy voice.
"You could but we're not friends, you ignored me for two years remember?" I said and for a second I was sure I could hear a hitch in his breath, but whatever it was the moment passed with out incident.
"How did the meeting go?" he finally asked, sounding serious.
"Well I was able to convince the student council that some one was stealing money, but before I could name anyone the fire alarm was pulled," I explained.
"How convenient" he said.
"Anyway I'm going to have a talk with Jonathon tonight, maybe I can get to the bottom of this and if he's responsible I can convince him to give the money back" I said warily.
"You're kidding right?" he asked.
"Look you told me to try to handle things and the student court can't just punish people before hearing their side" I pointed out and I heard a disapproving tongue clicking sound.
"And here I thought that you went the sort of girl to fall for that kind of bull shit Thomas" he snorted.
"Bull shit?" I asked coldly.
"Oh come on he's not going to confess anything, instead his going to take you out and win you over so you'll forget about everything" he said in a patronizing tone of voice.
"Oh please you could at least give me a little bit of credit," I snorted.
"He knows how to win over girls like you," he warned me but instead of hearing it I heard an insult.
"What do you mean by girls like me?" I asked my voice neutral.
"Lonely girls, the kind that never have real boyfriends" he said sounding embarrassed. I realized I was still staring at my web cam and my expression was hurt.
Just because something was true it didn't mean you want to hear it, especially from some one you hated.
"Is it so strange that he wants to spend time with me," I yelled and I expected him to yell back but there was a deep sigh.
"Sure whatever, keep telling yourself that?" he drawled.
"Oh and what are your plans tonight Cary? Are you going to go screw Cokie Mason in the back of your dads station wagon?" I asked.
"Here Berina actually" he replied and I pressed on the call cancel button before throwing the phone onto my bed.
The computer screen was still flashing; Mary Anne had sent me another message. She must have seen my expression on the web cam which looked like some one had kicked me in the stomach.
"Are you ok?" it asked I realized I wasn't ok, not at all.