Cold Hard Cash - Chapter Four "Do the Right Thing"
Jeanette had trouble sleeping that night, as her conscience was bothering her. So much in fact, she could almost sense the prescence of a little angel on one shoulder, and a little devil on the other.
"You're a very good friend," Jeanette's little angel assured her, "very noble, very honest, and very trustworthy."
"Oh, I'm gonna puke!" Jeanette's little devil remarked, as she stuck her finger into her mouth, and made gagging noises.
"But you know that sometimes you have to say no to your friends, especially if they ask you to do something that could you get, and him, into trouble." Jeanette's little angel reminded her.
"Ah, what do you know?" Jeanette's little devil butted in. "You heard the little red-capped twerp, all she has to do is pretend she knows nothing about it... if they see she don't have that box of money, and they know Alvin don't have it no more, nobody's gonna be the wiser."
"But Jeanette," Jeanette's little angel spoke up, "you don't know where the money came from in the first place, that money doesn't belong to you, and it doesn't belong to Alvin... it belongs to somebody, and surly they're looking for it..."
"Ha!" Jeanette's little devil scoffed. "If they were lookin' for it, they wouldn't have dropped it on Alvin's doorstep in the first place!"
"But that might not be the case..." Jeanette's little angel argued.
"Look angel-puss, your halo's on too tight, losen it up and look at the big picture!" Jeanette's little devil said.
"The big picture could hold nothing but trouble," Jeanette's little angel mentioned, "you'd be doing Alvin a big favor by turning the money in, he might be mad at first, but once he realizes you only did it to keep him out of trouble, it would strengthen your friendship."
"Would you listen to this basketcase?!" Jeanette's little devil grimmaced. "She doesn't need any friends, it's all about number one in this world!"
"What a selfish thing to think!" Jeanette's little angel said.
"She don't need to be bothered by no 'friends'," Jeanette's little devil contested, "she's in this for herself, with all that money, she can show everyone what she's made of!"
"She's made of a clean soul, and a pure heart!" Jeanette's little angel argued.
"Yeah, look where that's gotten her," Jeanette's little devil said, "with all this moolah, she could be the most powerful girl in school... better yet... the world!"
"It's not about power," Jeanette's little angel said, "it's about the difference between right and wrong!"
"Take it from me, four-eyes," Jeanette's little devil told herself, "don't let this little sandal-wearing saint try to confuse you with babbling nonsense, it's your money now, let all the other kids know you're no push-over anymore!"
"You're not a push-over, Jeanette," Jeanette's little angel assured her, "you're a good, kindhearted girl, having all that money isn't going to prove you're anything you're not."
"Don't listen to her, Jeanette," Jeanette's little devil demanded, "keep the money, use it to your advantage!"
"Give up the money, Jeanette," Jeanette's little angel suggested, "it will only bring you trouble and misery!"
"Keep it!" Jeanette's little devil commanded.
"Give it up!" Jeanette's little angel pleaded.
"Keep it!"
"Give it up!"
"Keep it!"
"Give it up!"
Jeanette snapped. "Will you two just shut up already?!"
Eleanor and Brittany were woken up by Jeanette's sudden outburst.
"Jeanette?" Eleanor asked. "Are you alright?"
"I didn't leave for a wake-up scream, Jeanette!" Brittany moaned.
"I'm sorry..." Jeanette said, in embarrassment.
"Were you having a bad dream, Jeanette?" Eleanor asked.
"No..." Jeanette moaned, as she leaned back on her pillow once more, "a bad reality..."
Jeanette rolled over, while her sisters shrugged it off, and did the same, all the while, Jeanette's little angel and devil were hovering out of the room.
"You beat everything, you know that?" Jeanette's little angel asked.
"Ah, put a boulder in that tomb of yours!" Jeanette's little devil remarked.
"Jeanette?" A soft voice echoed in Jeanette's mind, as she moaned. "Jeanette?" The voice asked again, Jeanette softly groaned, figuring it was her conscience again, until finally, she felt a hand shake her shoulder.
"Huh?" Jeanette woke up.
"You fell asleep." Roberta said.
"Oh..." Jeanette said, with a yawn, "sorry, I had trouble sleeping last night."
"Oh... maybe you should try an ambien before you go to bed?" Roberta asked.
"No..." Jeanette said, "Miss Miller doesn't want me to become dependant on a sleeping drug."
"Miss Miller?" Roberta asked.
"Oh, she's my mother." Jeanette said.
"Oh." Roberta said, a little confused. "Um, Jeanette? Can I ask you something?"
"Sure." Jeanette said.
"Is Brittany Miller your sister?" Roberta asked.
"Yeah," Jeanette said, "I believe she's in your math class?"
"Yeah, she is..." Roberta said, "is... is she... is she nice?"
"Well..." Jeanette began, "she is once you get to know her."
"Oh..." Roberta said.
"Don't mind her if she's being rude to you," Jeanette said, "she's just not very good at making new friends, just give her sometime."
"Okay..." Roberta said.
That was an awkward conversation, Jeanette thought.
"Are you alright?" Roberta asked.
"Yeah, I've just got alot on my mind right now..." Jeanette.
"Do you want to take about it?" Roberta asked.
"Oh, I'm just... I'm just having a little problem with a friend of mine..." Jeanette said.
"What kind of problem?" Roberta asked.
"Oh, nothing I can't handle, I'm sure." Jeanette said, finally coming to a decision.
Several miles away, the SUV bearing the two crooks, and their accomplice was being driven, very slowly by their hostage, who tried to lose their box of money.
"What the hell you drivin' so slow for, man?" The second crook asked.
"Well, by going eight miles an hour slower, we could save some gas..." their hostage said, as an excuse for buying time, being nervous about having to deal with whoever might have possible gotten their hands on their money.
"We just want the cash," the first man barked, "get us there so we can get out!"
"Um... okay..." the hostage said, as he began to speed up a little, but within a matter of seconds, heard sirens coming up from behind them.
"Are you serious?!" The first crook said, as he turned his head to see the flash of strobing blue and red through the back windshield.
"What now?!" Their hostage asked.
"Put the pedal to the metal, man!" The second crook yelled.
"Yeah, if we get busted, you're coming with us!" The first crook said.
Within a matter of seconds, the hostage drove like a maniac down the highway, to avoid being pulled over. Other drivers scrambled to get out of the way of the pursuit, as their speed kept increasing with every passing second.
"Get off at this exit!" The first crook demanded.
"Huh?" The hostage asked.
"We can lose them downtown, just do it!" The first crook yelled.
The hostage swerved across four lanes of highway, causing other motorists to come to a screetching hault, with some crashing into each other, as the SUV soared down the exit, with the police following close behind them.
"Okay, now head down this street over here," the first crook instructed, "we can lose the heat in the alleys..."
As instructed, the hostage raced down the street to the right, heading into a cluster of random, burned out buildings, and like a rat running through a maze, the hostage drove through one alley after another, throwing the police off, and after the SUV came to a hault in one alley, they listened for the siren to die down, which it finally did after a few tense minutes, as they all breathed a sigh of relief.
"Now what?" The hostage asked.
"What the hell do you think?" The first crook asked. "Keep driving to the location of our cash, and hope whoever found it parts with it willingly!"
The hostage sighed, as he drove off once more. Back in paradise, the bell rang, for lunch time, as usual, Jeanette sat with her sisters and the chipmunks, though Alvin went on a prowl for another girl to impress, going over his list again from the top.
"You guys don't mind if Roberta has lunch with us today, do you?" Jeanette asked.
"Oh, please!" Brittany said. "Not while I'm eating!"
"Brittany..." Eleanor said.
"There she is..." Jeanette said, as she waved for Roberta.
"That sure is a long line..." Roberta said, as she sat next to Jeanette.
"Sure was." Jeanette agreed. "Oh, these are my friends, Simon, Theodore, my little sister, Eleanor, and of course you know Brittany."
"Hi..." Roberta said, nervously, while all but Brittany greeted her.
Lunch carried on as normal, though Roberta was a little too shy to join in any of the conversations, except whenever Simon, Theodore, or Eleanor asked her a simple question like where she's from, and if she likes it here and what not. She wouldn't say where she was from, but she said she liked it here for the most part. All the while, the two crooks in the SUV were growing really restless.
"Man, what is taking so long?!" The first crook asked.
"Look, I'm sorry," their hostage said, "but we're way off coarse now, I dropped the money out in the suburbs."
"If we don't make it there before sundown man, you're dead!" The second crook said.
"Do you have to keep reminding me of that?" The hostage asked.
"Gotta make sure you don't forget!" The first crook pressed, as the hostage let out another sigh.
Three hours later, the bell rang, dismissing all of the students from school for the day. Jeanette pulled her bookbag out of her locker, with a very determined look on her face, when Roberta slowly walked over.
"Hey, Jeanette..." Roberta said.
"Oh, hi, Roberta." Jeanette responded, as she shut her locker.
"Um... where are you going?" Roberta asked.
"Straight home," Jeanette said, "why?"
"I was just... wondering..." Roberta hesitated, "if you wanted to... kinda... you know... hang out?"
"I'd like to," Jeanette said, "but I've got something important I need to do, and if I put it off any longer, it's going to keep bothering me more and more."
"Oh..." Roberta said. "Well, that's okay... um... maybe... some other time?"
"Sure." Jeanette said. "Bye." Jeanette headed for home, trailing a little ways behind the rest of her group, that is until Alvin stopped in his tracks, and turned around until Jeanette walked up beside him.
"How's my precious treasure?" Alvin asked, quietly, as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
"Oh..." Jeanette began, "it's um... it's... just fine..."
"Keep up the good work," Alvin whispered, "I'll have to drop by later tonight to make a withdrawl, if you know what I mean."
"Yeah, I get it..." Jeanette said, nervously.
"Great, see ya!" Alvin ran off to catch up with the others, as Jeanette paused and sighed.
"I can't do it..." Jeanette said to herself, "Alvin will kill me... on the other hand, if I don't, my conscience will kill me..."
Jeanette walked even slower than before. Which would be worse, having Alvin be mad at her, but eventually get over it, or feeling guilty knowing she helped Alvin spend money that doesn't even belong to him? Jeanette knew she wanted to do the right thing, but she didn't want Alvin to be mad at her for 'betraying' him. Jeanette started feeling ill to her stomach, but she made up her mind, she was going to give the money to the police, even if it means losing Alvin's trust. No sooner did Jeanette start to catch up with the others, as they made it closer to their houses, when the dark SUV pulled into the street.
"Well, we're here." The hostage said, nervously.
"Which house you leave the money at?" The second crook asked.
"That one..." the hostage pointed out, as Alvin, Simon, and Theodore started into the walkway.
"Come on..." the first crook said, as he got out of the SUV, followed by his partner, and accomplice. The hostage attempted to stay put, but the crooks yanked him out his seat, and dragged him along, as they walked up to the chipmunks. "Hey, kids!"
The chipmunks turned around to face him, while the chipettes stopped on the sidewalk a little ways to see what was going on.
"You kids live here?" The first crook asked.
"Um, we're not supposed to talk to strangers..." Theodore said.
"We're just looking for somethin' is all." The second crook said.
"What could you possibly be looking for?" Simon asked.
"We could tell you that, but we'd have to kill you." The second crook added, before he was slapped upside the head.
"Nah..." the first crook said, "I think we can get through this without killing anybody."
"Hey, what's going on here?" Alvin asked.
The first crook knelt down, to make eye contact with the boys, while the girls walked closer to the fence in front of their house to see what was going on.
"Here's the deal," the first crook told the boys, "all we're looking for is a little cardboard box full of money that this idiot left on your porch..."
"Uh... hi?" The hostage said to the boys, before the first crook brought his fist back, and hit him in the crotch.
Simon glared at Alvin, while Theodore turned towards him as well.
"If you can give us that money," the crook began, "we won't hurt you... as a matter of fact, you'll never hear from us again... okay?"
Alvin gulped, loudly.
"Give them the money, Alvin." Simon said.
"Huh?" Alvin responded.
"Give them the money, Alvin!" Simon pressed.
"Well..." Alvin choked, "I'd... like to, I really would... but... I don't have it anymore..."
"What?!" All the men yelped, before the first crook grabbed Alvin by the collar of his shirt, and lifted him off the ground. "What do you mean, you don't have it anymore? What the hell did you do with it?!"
"Well..." Alvin began, all the while, Jeanette quietly snuck away, something that didn't go unoticed by the accomplice.
"Where do you think you're going?" The accomplice asked, drawing attention to the girls.
"Shit, we got witnesses!" The second crook said.
"Nobody move!" The first crook ordered, as the kids all froze. "Somebody has our money... who is it?"
Alvin bit his tounge to keep from spilling the beans, while Jeanette began to tremble, something that didn't go unoticed by the crooks, as Alvin was dropped, and they made their way over to Jeanette.
"You're trembling..." the first crook pointed out, "you got somethin' to hide?"
"Well..." Jeanette began.
"Alvin..." Simon whispered, "please tell me you didn't give the money to Jeanette!"
"Okay, I won't..." Alvin whispered back, as Simon groaned.
"Is... is the money your's?" Jeanette asked.
"You bet it is," the second crook said, "you have it?"
"Uh... yeah..." Jeanette said, as her heart sank, "um... I'll go get it..." Jeanette turned to leave.
"We're comin' with you." The first crook said, to make sure Jeanette didn't try to pull a fast one.
Shortly later, Jeanette went down into the cellar, only to find that the box was gone.
"Uh oh..." Jeanette said, quietly.
"'Uh oh'?" The first crook said. "What does 'uh oh' mean?"
"It's not here anymore..." Jeanette said, as she went through the other boxes around it to make sure she didn't misplace it.
"Then where the hell is it?!" The second crook asked.
"I don't know..." Jeanette said.
"That does it..." the first crook began, "grab 'em!"
The second crook raced up the wooden staircase, grabbed Brittany and Eleanor, the accomplice grabbed the boys, pointing his pistol to them, while the first crook grabbed Jeanette by the collar of her shirt.
"You got some serious explaining to do!" The first crook said, as Jeanette trembled.