Chapter 08: The Rebellion Rises
Abby awoke the next morning sleeping in Paige's massive, thick bed inside which she sank whenever she tried to roll around amid the tangle of equally thick blankets. She rolled over onto her back with a contented sigh, enjoying the feel of the luxurious blankets as she looked beside her to see Paige sleeping less than a foot away, buried underneath the tangle except for her head and shoulder, which stuck out onto the pearl-white pillow.
With a slight smile on her lips Abby scooted her way over to Paige underneath the covers, sliding up close to her and slipping her arms around her waist. They were both still dressed, preventing things from being TOO awkward. Abby leaned her chin against Paige's shoulder, watching her face while her chest rose and fell with the gentle, steady rhythm of her breath.
"Mmhh…?" Paige moaned softly and opened her eyes at the contact, her hazy orbs scanning the room for a moment before finally turning downward and settling on Abby lying against her side. "Isn't your mom gonna miss you?"
"Let her." Abby smiled back. "I couldn't bring myself to leave."
Paige grinned. "I knew I was irresistible, but dang, blowing off your own mother for me? I AM good."
Abby laughed and smacked her playfully on the shoulder. "I'm just glad your mom's okay with all of this."
"Well, I wouldn't say she's okay with ALL of it… I'd say she's okay with some of it and ignorant of the rest, but hey, who's going into specifics?" Paige winked and tightened her own arms around Abby's waist, pulling the girl on top of her and stroking her back lightly with her fingertips. "Hmmmm, I could definitely get used to waking up like this. I guess this is why people get married."
Abby shivered slightly at the touch of her fingers on her back, leaning her elbows against Paige's chest to prop herself up and looking down at her face. "Yeah, I think I see what you mean… not that I'm marrying you." Abby flashed her a smirk. "We should get going soon. It's a school day, and after that we still have a lot of setting up to do at the amphitheater, plans to make…"
"We're gonna be pretty busy over the next few days getting everything together." Paige told her. "Won't have a lot of time together… unless you decide to give us the best damn Rose we could ask for."
"Paige, you know I can't-" Abby began.
"Oh shut up." Paige ordered. "You've come THIS far against your mom's orders, what do you think she'd say if she knew you were helping me set this up? Or heck, if she saw you NOW?"
"If she saw me NOW I think she'd hurt something. Not sure what, but pain would be involved." Abby smirked.
"Exactly. We both know this is more important than some grudge of your mom's. So what do you say? Come back and play Rose, even if it's only for this one unauthorized show." Paige gave her a smile, squeezing her back with her arms.
Abby looked down slightly, then pushed herself up off of Paige to a sitting position. She felt the bed shift behind her as Paige sat up close to her, but she didn't turn to look, instead just staring down at the luxurious flowing sheets that cascaded down around her. She clutched the top of the sheets with a white-knuckled grip, her mind suddenly whirling and realizing exactly what was happening.
"Abby?" She felt a soft touch on her shoulder. "You okay? You getting sick or something?"
"I've never done anything like this…" Abby raised a hand to her head. "Sure, I don't always listen to my mom but… this is like… outright DEFYING her."
"For a good cause."
"Maybe, but that doesn't make me feel any better about it. I feel like I'm betraying her just being here…" Abby felt the hand move from her shoulder, to be replaced a moment later by a pair of arms encircling her waist. Abby silently leaned back until she felt Paige's chest pressing into her shoulders, her chin settling down on one of Abby's shoulders.
"Remember what I said about thinking too much?" Paige told her. "You keep thinking so much and of course things are going to seem like bad ideas. But you and I both know what's going on here, I know you're smart enough to see it, and I know that unlike a lot of people you care enough to at least TRY to do something about it. If you didn't, you wouldn't have come back to the theater yesterday, and you wouldn't be here right now. Stop thinking about what your mom thinks for a while, and just do what you have to do."
Abby fell silent for a few long moments, then nodded and glanced at Paige's eyes right beside her head. "Okay… no more thinking about it. You're gonna need a Rose for this, and I'm gonna give it to you."
Paige grinned at that and kissed her cheek softly. "I knew I could count on you, Abby. After all, you've never backed down from a challenge before, no matter how much I wanted you to."
***
The next few days passed in a hectic frenzy, both fast and frenetic and slow and quiet at the same time as they rushed to get the show together while keeping it secret from those not involved, and figure out a way to get their parents there on Friday night without them simply putting a halt to the whole thing. The more Abby tried to think about it, the more it just made her brain spin and hurt. This was going to be extremely difficult, and she had no idea how to pull it off.
Paige seemed unphased, though, which set Abby somewhat at ease. The girl was just taking charge of everything, ordering people around like a lion to her lionesses, and nobody ever even thought to complain about it. She was certainly a commanding individual, with an attitude that dared anyone to defy what she was saying and demanded respect. Now that Abby wasn't fuming about it, she realized Paige actually seemed to know what she was doing. This might actually work out…
The day was rapidly approaching, and Abby was careful to move silently everywhere she went. The theater in the park was becoming cluttered with costumes and props the actors could scrounge up from their homes. Someone even managed to slip some old furniture out of their garage to use, but none of them knew how to make real sets, and they certainly couldn't use the ones made for the real play. They would just have to make do…
The days at Ringworm Jr. High felt almost unbearable as Abby watched the minutes pass until the performance that could make or break Charlie's dreams, especially the day before their performance was scheduled to take place. Her heart was racing just sitting there, but she forced herself to calm down and wait out the school day until finally that beautiful bell rang and she rushed through the hallways toward the front door.
She yelped and whirled in surprise when a hand suddenly grabbed her shoulder before she could reach the door. She found herself standing in the middle of the hallway with students pushing past her towards the exit, looking into her brother's eyes as he watched her with a curious gaze.
"Ty! You scared the crap out of me…" Abby huffed. "What is it? Is something wrong?"
"I don't know, why don't you tell me?" Ty asked.
Abby raised her eyebrow. "Um… okay…? That's kind of an odd thing to say…"
"Abby, I know what's been going on, and I'm not sure it's such a good idea." Ty told her.
Abby stared at him for a moment, then grabbed his wrist. "Come on, I think we need to find some place more private." She turned to leave with him, heading out of the school and making her way a distance from the school where they could walk alone before speaking again. "Okay, Ty, give me your lecture."
"I'm not trying to lecture you Abby, I'm warning you." Ty stopped walking and turned toward her. "Mom's noticed you've been acting strange, if she sees you up on that stage she's going to completely flip."
"I already promised Paige I would do it, I can't back out now! It would destroy everything she and the other actors have been working for!" Abby replied.
"You know how mom feels about all of this, if she sees you up on that stage, she won't give you a CHANCE to put the play on!" Ty told her. "She's already been freaking out worrying, I think you need to chill out and think this through."
"She has?" Abby blinked. "But she hasn't said anything to me about being worried…"
"Well, that's not really something I can tell you. You need to talk to her if you want to know how she's been feeling." Ty told her seriously. "I just want you to think about this a little more, before you do something you might regret for the rest of your life."
"It's just a play, Ty." Abby told him.
"Is it?" Ty stared into her eyes with a look of concern. "From where I've been standing it seems like it might be a lot more than that to you and Paige."
Abby stared at him for one more long moment, then turned her back on him and crossed her arms over her chest. "It's not really your business if it is, is it?"
"No… I guess not." Ty's voice grew low as he spoke again. "But you know I don't care what you do… I just don't want to see you and mom fighting. I'll see you around, Abby… take care of yourself." He brushed past her, making his way down the sidewalk with his hands shoved into his pockets.
Abby watched him go, walking down the sidewalk with his shoulders drooping slightly at his sides. She thought for a moment to go after him, then shook her head and turned to head back to school. She really didn't want to run into him right now, and besides, she'd already made plans to meet with Paige right after school let out to make last minute preparations. Tomorrow was the big day, and they still had so much to do. Costumes to finalize, props to dig up, they would just have to make do without actual scenery…
She leaned against the massive sign in front of Ringworm Middle School and settled down to wait for Paige to emerge from the building, but as the flood of kids passed and began to slow into a trickle, there was still no sign of her anywhere. Abby pursed her lips curiously, but slid down the sign to wait a little longer. It wasn't until no students had emerged for a good five minutes that she began to feel something gnawing on the pit of her stomach. Paige wouldn't ditch her…
She pushed herself up from the grass and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, only to see a message on the front screen that she'd missed a call. A quick check of the number confirmed that it was from Paige, but she didn't leave a message. She hadn't even heard it… did Paige just call and then hang up before it had even rung? That didn't make any sense, Paige was not the 'practical joke' type, and even if she was this wasn't a very funny joke.
Abby turned to walk away from the school, speed-dialing Paige and putting the phone up to her ear as she headed down the sidewalk. She waited for several rings, only to hear a soft click and Paige's tinny voice come back over the receiver. "Obviously you wanna talk to Paige, but I'm not here, so you'll have to deal with leaving me a message. Later." Abby sighed and waited for the usual beep of the voicemail turning on.
"Paige, it's Abby. I guess I missed you at school so… when you get this, give me a call, okay?" She hung up and slipped the phone into her pocket again, speeding up on her way down the sidewalk. Maybe Paige remembered something she had to do, she reasoned. She was trying to get this play to go perfect, she probably came out while Abby was talking to Ty and remembered something, perhaps at home. Yeah, that had to be it…
She made her way to Paige's house, approaching the door and ringing the bell with a somewhat tentative touch. She stepped back and took deep breaths to calm herself until Paige's mother appeared at the door. "Good afternoon." Abby smiled. "Has Paige come back home today?"
"Huh? No, I'm afraid not. I figured she was with you." Paige's mother lifted her eyebrow curiously. "Is she okay? Did something happen?"
"Oh, nono!" Abby lifted her hands quickly to calm the woman. "She's fine, I just lost track of her when school let out. Thought she might have come home. Well, thanks for your help." Abby waved with a smile and quickly turned to leave, her heart sinking down in her chest and her smile turning to a frown when she was away from the large mansion. She turned the corner, her mind swirling with thoughts and worries until finally she whipped out her green communicator, flipping it open and turning it on.
"Lab Rat? You there?" Abby asked, walking down the sidewalk.
Her genius friend's face appeared on the screen in her hands with a warm smile. "Hey Abby, how goes the rebellion?"
"I thought it was going good, but Paige has gone missing." Abby told him worriedly. "If I give you her cell phone number, do you think you could track her down with the Bureau satellites?"
"Uuhhh…" Lab Rat grunted for a moment and rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know, that's kind of an inappropriate use of Government technology. We could get in serious trouble."
"I won't tell."
"Well, that's different then. Give me the number."
Abby grinned. "You're the best Lab Rat. The number's 555-2025."
"Alright, give me a few second… and there. We've got a fix." Lab Rat's focus turned to one of the other screens off to the side and his fingers flew over the keyboard in front of him. His rat Hermes leapt up on his shoulder to watch him work, its deep red eyes blinking curiously at the sight. "Zooming and… looks like she's in a residential area, but one pretty far from her house, AND the school. She must have gotten a ride out there."
"Give me the address, I'm going to check it out." Abby told him firmly.
"Do you want me to call Ty for backup?" Lab Rat asked as the address appeared on her screen.
"I don't think so, there's no reason to think she's in TROUBLE, I just want to make sure. I'll keep in touch if anything does go wrong." Without waiting for a response, Abby closed her communicator and turned to race down the street as fast as she could go. Lab Rat was right, the address was too far for her to walk and she'd never seen Paige ride a bike to or from school… someone had to have given her a ride. But Paige wasn't dumb enough to just go with any random stranger, was she…?
To Be Continued
