Chapter Five
A/N Just a quick chapter, I've started class again at university so I've been super busy. I only had time to write this because blerg I have the worst cold in the history of the universe.
Whoo hoo I have reached fifteen reviews! Not one review, not two but FIFTEEN eat that biatches!
Of course I'm well aware that some stories on this page have reached the over 100 review mark but honestly I don't give a flying.. Er whatever.
To Answer some questions.
Emerald: I actually based Stacey's high school personality on this girl I knew when I was sixteen. She was a total skanky (oops should I say sophisticated?) slut who happened to be very good at Math. She was in the advanced math's class and all the nerdy boys and the shy girls had no idea what to make of her, they were also pissed off because she had this ability to get the highest mark in finals while rarely showing up for class.
Cecilia: Sorry if the chapters are too long, I'm used to the Harry Potter fandom where authors think nothing of churning out a EIGHTY PAGE chapter (no I am not kidding) so they end up with these huge epics that take around eight months to read. The Buffy fandom is almost as bad with authors churning out thirty page long chapters; I cut this chapter I planned in half so it's only six pages.
Heather: OMG WE LIKE HAVE THE SAME NAME OMG! 1111 thanks for liking the conversation.
The problem with having four friends who happened to have very different personalities was that when you spoke to them all at once you tended to feel schizophrenic.
When I told the entire group about the kiss after my baseball game on Sunday I got a mixed reaction.
Abby began laughing hysterically, Mary Anne clapped her hands together and started squawking about how romantic it was, Stacey rolled her eyes and called him a jerk and Claudia asked if he tongued me.
"You know I heard a rumor that he and Cokie were going to break up anyway, you should go ask him to the junior prom" Mary Anne sighed dreamily.
"Ok the junior prom happens to be two months away and I'm not going to throw myself at the first guy who kissed me while on drugs" I pointed out stretching my arms behind my neck.
"Yeah we've got more important things to worry about, like the state championships," Abby said punching me lightly on the arm.
"Abby in order to get to state we'll have to win every game from now on, you do realize that don't you?" I asked with a smirk.
"Hey show a little faith Thomas, if you can turn the whole student body against the school president I think you can bring us to the championships" Abby grinned.
"And while still smelling spring time fresh, you must be wearing that new deodorant" Stacey said running her fingers through her blond hair.
"Remind me again why you came to the game," I said, Stacey only ever came to sporting events when she was dating a member of the team.
"I'm being supportive, besides you left your pearl necklace on my dressing table and I figured I'd better give it back before it gravitated into my mothers jewelry box" Stacey said and my throat ended up making a vague squawking sound.
"I can't believe I forgot them, my mother would have killed me if I'd lost them" I said as Stacey gave me the necklace and I fastened it around my neck for safe keeping.
"Well to be fair you were pretty upset last night" Stacey said closing her purse with a snap.
"Upset? Kristy actually got upset over a guy?" Claudia asked.
"I was upset about a bunch of things, and I wasn't crying I was just angry" I corrected her and then when I saw their curious explanations I decided I should explain what happened with Jonathon.
Mary Anne began to grow red in the face then suggested I should have a "nice chat" with Jonathon in order to discuss our feelings.
Abby suggested that I should kick him in the balls.
Claudia came up with the brilliant idea to draw a cartoon mocking him in the school paper.
Stacey just called him an asshole.
Like I said, it was almost like being schizophrenic.
I didn't know what to do about the mess I was in. I knew what to do about Jonathon and that was simple enough, by Tuesday afternoon almost half the school had signed the petition.
I'd put Mallory who'd shown up at the student court eager to please every one in charge of checking for double or fake signatures.
"So far I haven't found any, they must be taking you really seriously," she said to me cheerfully on Tuesday and then she made a content sigh as Erika wandered into the courtroom clutching onto another stack of forms.
"How are we doing?" I asked.
"We've tackled all of the freshmen and junior year" she smiled.
"Good that means we'll have every one done by Friday" I smiled happily.
The problem was that the petition had to be signed in secret in order to not rouse Jonathon's suspicion. This involved a lot of grabbing people while they made their way to the bathrooms and fast talking them into signing.
It was a slow process but it was one that I knew would work.
Solving the problem with Jonathon seemed easy enough, it was Cary I couldn't handle. I'd never been on the end of a confusing teen angst love triangle before and although I usually confronted people this time I couldn't. Instead I'd perfected my avoiding skills, of course this meant I had to avoid the lower levels of the school but we didn't share any classes together so it was easy enough.
Alan Grey had given me several knowing looks during English class but I ignored him, and I'd also ignored the rumors about Cary and Cokie's very public break up in the Gym.
Then everything came crashing down on Wednesday, at exactly two thirty in the afternoon.
I knew this because I'd been looking at the clock on the wall of the girl's locker room.
"Um Abby" I began.
"Hmm?" she asked, she was in the middle of tying her dripping wet curly hair onto a knot on the back of her neck.
I'd taken a shower because it was a Wednesday and those days usually involved the most grueling class of gym ever, dodge ball.
Our Gym teacher Coach Tudgemen was vaguely sadistic and wouldn't end a game until at least four students had been sent to the nurse's office. Normally I wouldn't have cared about smelling like a pig but born leaders needed to keep up appearances and I didn't want to meet my army after school with sweat stains on my armpits.
In retrospect it turned out to be a really bad idea.
"Where are my clothes?" I hissed.
"In your locker" Abby said dismissively.
"No they're not" I choked.
"Kristy clothes just don't get up and walk away" she pointed out raising her eye brows.
"Yes I know that but I swear to god my clothes are not in my locker! My gym clothes aren't even in my locker and I'm standing here in my underwear with a towel wrapped around my waist on the verge of having a MAJOR FREAK OUT ABBY" I yelled and I realized I was screaming when she slapped me.
"Sorry but you needed that Kristy, you were starting to freak out" she said firmly.
"Of course I was freaking out! This is the most naked I've been in public since my mother gave birth to me" I cried.
"Just duck into one of the shower stalls and I'll try to find your clothes, everything will be fine! You just need to chill," she said raising her hands.
Some how this seemed worse then the time Cary had stolen my math homework or Alan Grey had put a wet noodle down my shirt. I was half naked, dripping wet and above everything else alone.
I ducked into the shower stall while I listened to Abby search the locker room.
"Huh weird" she muttered.
"Has some one written the word dyke all over my clothes again?" I asked, it had happened once during my sophomore year after all.
"No all the gym uniforms are gone including mine, and the towels, and every one else" Abby said her voice muffled.
"All the clothes are gone? Do you know what this means?" I cried.
"That some one had a hankering to do a huge load of laundry?" Abby asked.
"No that this was planned! Try and find Claudia ok? I know for a fact that she always keeps at least one spare outfit in her locker to change into so she doesn't end up with paint all over her clothes" I begged her.
"You're actually willing to wear one of Claudia's outfits?" Abby gasped looking horrified.
"It's better then walking around the school in this lovely black sports bra" I sneered.
Once Abby had gone I was left alone, sitting in a stall, in my underwear while I read graffiti which had been posted all over the walls.
The PA System crackled and said something along the lines of "Ill Ry Lin ome Fice"; I assumed it had something to do with the lunch menu.
After a few moments I began to make mental spelling corrections, it was obvious which ones Claudia had written.
Once that was over and done with I hugged the towel closer listening to the dripping sound of the shower, where the hell was Abby?
Claudia only ever went to two classrooms so it shouldn't have taken so long to find her.
After twenty minutes I was freezing and I was beginning to get worried, it was then that I heard footsteps pounding into the locker room.
"Kristy?" I heard Claudia call.
"I'm in here Claud," I said and she ran into my stall handing me a pile of clothes.
"Sorry it's all I had in my locker, I know the pants don't match the top and it'll look totally stale but at least it's better then being naked" she said.
"Claudia, these pants are covered with beanie babies" I pointed out.
"I sewed them on myself! Be careful of the one shaped like an owl because it's worth three hundred dollars" she said as I wrestled myself into the plush bear covered trousers.
"Hurry up Kristy we have to move now" she said handing me the shirt, which was an ugly, beige colored one covered in paint that I suspected once belonged to her dad.
"Move why? I've already missed nearly all of Math," I pointed out.
"Cary's been suspended" she said casually as I buttoned up the shirt.
"WHAT?" I screamed.
"The principal called him to his office and Rambling Rose eavesdropped on the whole thing, Cokie Mason and Jonathon Mathews gave the principal a copy of the petition you handed around! Accept the words were like changed on it to make it seem like you guys wanted to kill Jonathon, I think they changed the word from expel to exterminate" she said.
"Oh my god" I cried frantically doing up the rest of the shirt.
"I know! Every one thinks that Cokie was trying to get revenge for the making out thing" Claudia grinned wickedly.
"I have to find him," I said running across the room as fast as I could in a pair of pants covered with hundreds of fluro colored animals.
"Why?" Claudia asked.
"To find out if he told on me," I snapped.
I'd love to see an athlete try to sprint across the school with no shoes on, covered in stuffed animals and wearing a shirt four sizes too big.
By the time I'd reached the parking lot it was just in time to see a car pull out and onto the curb, if I squinted I could make out Cary's blond hair in the back seat.
"He didn't say anything about you" a voice sneered and I turned around, Cokie Mason was staring at me a faintly amused smirk on her lips.
"Cute pants, they're a Claudia Kishi original aren't they?" she asked and then she reached into the bright pink shoulder bag she had slung over one shoulder and pulled out a olive tank top and a pair of denim shorts.
My olive tank top and my pair of denim shorts.
"You bitch" I sneered and she smirked again.
:"Well I had to get you out of the way some how didn't I? Poor Cary didn't stand a chance in front of the Principal with out you around to back up everything he was saying" she smirked.
"I can't believe even you would stoop so low to work for Mathews! He stole money from your dance fund," I pointed out and she rolled her eyes.
"I prefer a thief over a cheating boyfriend Thomas, and besides Jonathon gave me back every cent the dance committee raised" she smirked and I knew perfectly well that he wasn't going to do the same thing for all the other clubs.
"I'm a little disappointed though, I was so sure he'd take you down with him but I guess he must have a spark of something good in him, he refused to tell the Principal who else was involved in the petition and now he's been suspended" she said shrugging her shoulders.
"Pathetic really" she added and I did the only thing I could do, I punched her face in.
"So you hit Cokie Mason again?" Nannie asked during our weekly yoga class.
"Yes, but the teachers weren't around thank god, otherwise I would have ended up with a detention," I whispered back.
The first time I'd gotten into a fight with Cokie Mason Mom and my stepfather Watson were too busy being workaholics to do anything other then give me a ten minute lecture. It was Nannie who stepped up to the plate and started forcing me to go her weekly yoga classes, she'd already been going to them for six weeks and there was nothing more disturbing then seeing an elderly woman do the lotus position. She said I needed to go in order to learn how to control my anger.
I knew perfectly well that Yoga was something Dawn did and I was worried I'd end up becoming a sunflower seed eating carnivore-hating psychopath. But after the first two sessions I realized that it was mainly little old ladies like Nannie, or house wives who took the classes and they were all refreshingly normal.
"Hasn't the path taught you anything Kristy? Karma will eventually punish her and violence is never the answer" our instructor Miss Sarah Moon (a.k.a Miss Laura Sanchez, Mallory told me that three years ago she'd been a Stoneybrook day camp counselor) said.
"Yeah well karma isn't going to do jack all when Cokie is running around framing people for crimes they didn't commit" I snapped.
Miss Sara moon (a.k.a Miss Laura Sanchez) sighed and clapped her hands together.
"I think we all need to get into the feeling circle," she said and I rolled my eyes.
"Not the feeling circle! Can't we just keep stretching? I have another game coming up next weekend and I want to be limber" I said.
"Kristy you won't be able to do anything athletic as long as your soul is troubled, your fears will merely manifest themselves and cause havoc across your body" Miss Sarah Moon said knowingly.
The feeling circle was something Miss Moon organized once in a while when she sensed that one of her clients was feeling "troubled" and it usually consisted of Ms Besser complaining about her messy divorce.
"So group we're here to help Kristy through her life problems" Miss Moon began, it was so embarrassing.
For one thing half the woman in the feeling circle were former Babysitters club clients including Mrs. Barret and Mrs. Arnold.
I stared at all their faces feeling shame swirl around in my stomach, and Miss Moon gave me an encouraging look.
"So Kristy, why are you angry?" Miss Moon asked.
"I'm angry because Cokie Mason stole my clothes and framed Cary Retlin for a crime he didn't commit" I said.
"And why would she do that?" Miss Moon asked eagerly.
"Because she wanted revenge," I muttered.
"Why?" Miss Moon asked.
"Will you stop asking me questions?" I asked.
"Unless we know the root of the problem we can't heal your soul" she persisted, and I sighed reluctantly telling the feeling circle the whole story, leaving some facts vague of course.
The assembled adults were staring at me with a mixture of shock and sympathy, I bet that none of them could believe that I Kristy Thomas former babysitter's club president was capable of doing all the things I'd done in the past two weeks, I guess I had a lot to be ashamed of.
"Well I don't think you did anything wrong Kristy, it seems to me you were thrown into a situation that got out of hand" Ms Besser said.
"I think we should call the school and have a little talk to them about this Mathews boy" Nannie said grimly.
"No you can't do that!" I protested.
"Kristy's right, she's proven in the past that she's a very capable girl who can handle herself," Mrs. Barret pointed out while brushing her fingers through her brown curly hair.
"Capable yes but no mans an Island, this Mathew's boy sounds slippery, if she's going to prove his a criminal she's going to need help" Mrs. Arnold said.
"But I don't know who to ask, Jonathon already turned Cary in and what if he does the same thing to my friends?" I asked.
"If he keeps doing what he's doing he'll never learn his lesson, if one of our children was misbehaving you wouldn't have let them get away with it" Mrs. Arnold pointed out and I frowned.
"I just don't know what I can do," I said.
"Well if it was a kid how would you deal with it?" Ms Besser asked and I frowned.
How would I deal with it?
My mind turned to all my past babysitters club experiences, holding a giant sleep over didn't seem appropriate and neither did taking a trip to Sea City.
"Well I guess if a kid was doing something bad and trying to avoid punishment I would make sure he did it in front of his parents so he'd get caught?" I suggested and the members of the feeling circle slowly nodded.
I knew what I had to do, I had to make sure that Jonathon stole again and I had to make sure that this time he got caught.