Chapter Eighteen
Tick, tick.
My eyes opened in my room and my hearing perked up to the surprising sound. Across the room I could hear Lacey slowly breathing in and out. It wasn't the sound that had pulled me from my sleep. I sat up in my bed and turned my head a little hoping to hear the sound again. I waited…
Nothing.
Then… Tick, tick, tick.
This time I was able to target the sound. Something was hitting the glass panes of my window. Curious, I crawled up my bed to the window above my headboard. I peered out the window into the moonlight and saw the dark figures below. The cool night air rushed in when I pushed the double paned window open. I leaned out and looked down trying to determine what was going on. Below in the grass three familiar faces wrestled around, drinking, laughing, and amusing themselves. I blinked my eyes for clarity and noticed my brother was in motion to toss a few more pebbles towards my window.
"Sodapop!" I screamed in elation. Happiness swarmed my senses.
My brother ceased his motion and grinned up at me. "Sissy! There you are, we've been looking all night for you." Two-Bit and Steve, who were clearly drunk, hung on my brother and looked in my direction and laughed.
Two-Bit drawled out an idea, "Sissy, we didn't come all this way to see you hangin' out the window. Quit your gazin' and get on down here!"
I looked down at the three crazy boys. I was in awe to see that they had come all this way to see me, unannounced and unauthorized. I tried to scream in a whisper, "Soda, it's probably two in the morning! What are you doing here?"
"We came to see you!" Sodapop yelled back. "Get on down here!"
"Yeah, hurry up. We aint got all night." Steve yelled louder than the other two had.
"Shhhh." I shushed the boys and looked over at my roommate. Fortunately, she was still sound asleep, but I didn't know about anyone else in the building. I leaned back out the window. "Alright, just shush and I'll be right down."
"You do that!" Sodapop yelled again and took a swig of the beer he was holding.
"Yeah Scout! We aint got all night!" Steve hollered and grinned with delight.
I took one long look at the threesome then ran out of my room and down the main stairway. With no concern for consequences I ran out of the front door of Covington house in my cutoff sweatpants and my dad's old t-shirt. My bare feet slapped against the stone steps as I dashed towards my brother who was running to meet up with me. The two of us jumped into each other's arms with such force that we spun around and fell to the grass. Two-Bit didn't waste a moment as he dove on top of us to join into the fun.
Steve ran to the pile and spanked me hard on the buttocks to show that he cared. "What the hell took you so long?" He playfully harassed me.
Giggling uncontrollably I pulled back from tight embrace and looked at Soda's eyes. "You're all are crazy! How did you get here? How did you know where I lived?" We sat up.
"What's it matter?" Two-Bit answered my questions with a question. "We're here, what more do you want?"
I shrugged my shoulder and looked up at Steve. "It really doesn't matter, I am just so happy you all are here."
"Damn straight, Sissy!" Steve howled a little and his breath smelled like liquor. "We came all this way just to see you."
I looked into my brother's smiling eyes, laughed, and hugged him again. "I love you, Sodapop. I missed you so much!"
Sodapop grabbed me and pushed away from my embrace. "Knock it off!"
"What?" I laughed in disbelief and questioned what he wanted me to do.
"Knock it off!" The voice commanded again. My eyes popped open to darkness. I was in my bed and my roommate was shaking me awake and scolding me. "Would you be quiet? Other people are trying to sleep!" Lacey stormed back to her bed and threw her covers over top of herself.
I laid flat on my back in my bed and disappointment washed over my emotions. Sometimes I hated how real my dreams were to me. Even though I could hear the laughter and feel the hug it had all been just a dream. Sodapop wasn't here. None of the boys were. It had been more than two weeks since I had hugged him or spoken with him, and I had more than a week to wait until I received communication privileges.
Lacey lay awake in her bed and declared her disappointment with me. "You are so dumb."
I knew my roommate's comments were not true, but I had no idea what I had said or done in my sleep, so I worried. I was good at that.
When the sun came up I wandered into the third floor communal bathroom to prepare for my first morning of classes. Before I could get into the shower I noticed the eyes of the other girls fall upon me, and a hush filled the room. My heart sunk as I realized there was sure to be trouble. Lacey's friends began to giggle to themselves then Lacey whispered something to Tucker. The two of them laughed loudly.
In front of everyone Tucker stepped towards me, her wet hair wrapped in a towel stacked on top of her head. "You know, if you love and miss your soda pop so much you can buy some in the commissary."
"I highly doubt it," Rita chimed in, "I bet she doesn't have a penny to her name." The group of girls snickered at the suggestion. Rita embraced the attention and added to her insult. "But if special little Charity wanted to she could probably negotiate a few free sodas for free from the Board of Directors." The room burst into laugher again.
I smiled to hide my anger and looked into the mirror. I pretended to check my hair and be satisfied with what I saw. Without a word I turned and left the bathroom, devastated.
Feeling alone and like an outcast I threw my hair into a ponytail. I quickly dressed in my uniform and left for the cafeteria. As I walked the confrontations with Lacey played over and over in my mind. She didn't like me and it was quite clear that she was hell bent on having everyone she knew at Ashford not like me too. I decided that for my own emotional survival I needed to return to my old defenses. They were the same ones that had worked for me for so many years, avoidance and solitude.
By design, I didn't make a single new friend in any of my classes. I was relieved when my first day was over, and I could return to the semi-solitude of my dorm room in the afternoon. I stacked my homework on my desk, sat down on my bed, and heard the bells ring in the corridor. There was a man in the house, but my interest wasn't peaked. Instead of rushing to the door like the other girls did I stayed on my bed and slipped off my shoes. A moment later, I heard footsteps on my floor coming in my direction then my door eased its way open. I only glanced at the person coming into the room because I didn't want to chance making eye contact with Lacey or her friends. I was surprised to see Jackson walk through the doorway carrying a huge cardboard box. My defenses faded and I was relieved to see a friend. A smile spread across my face and I stood up to help him guide the box to my bed. The young man put the box down and offered me a smile.
"I went by the mailroom this afternoon to get your boxes and saw that you hadn't picked up any of your mail."
I looked down to the floor, too ashamed to tell Jackson how bad the first twenty-four hours in Covington House had been. "I wasn't sure where to go to get the letters."
"Oh that's easy." Jackson said, "The mailroom is in the main building where the infirmary was. Go in through the front door and the mailboxes are in a little room off to your right. You can't miss it." I nodded my head and read the address tag on the top of the box. Jackson tilted his head a little and looked at me before speaking again. "So, how was your…" Jackson cut his words off as he heard my roommate come through the door. He looked over his shoulder and watched the girl walk across the room. The two made eye contact and stared at each other as if they had already met. Lacey flopped onto her bed and Jackson turned his attention back to me. "Miss Curtis, I have two more boxes to bring up, so I'll go fetch them for you."
I looked to Lacey who was staring at Jackson who was staring at me. I responded. "I'll help you bring them up." I slipped on my shoes and followed the maintenance man out of my room. The two of us walked down the hall in silence, but in the stairwell Jackson leaned toward me and spoke in a low guarded tone.
"I'm sorry to see that your roommate is Lacey McGovern."
I answered. "I noticed you already know her."
Jackson kept quiet as a few girls passed us in the stairwell. We didn't speak again while we were inside of Covington House. I used the silence to torture myself and think about what Jackson's reason for knowing Lacey would be. The last thing I needed was to have the one person I considered a friend be influenced by her too. We walked outside the house and as soon as the door shut behind us Jackson looked to me. "Lacey and I had a run in once. She had a thing for me when I first got here, but I wasn't too interested in being her houseboy, if you get my drift. I don't think she was too happy to be rejected. "
I felt a rush of relief wash over me. I responded simply, "I see."
Jackson looked down at me. "Do you two get along?"
I shook my head and was honest with my friend. "Not so far."
"Why not?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "It's kind of like a rich girl, poor girl sort of thing."
Jackson stopped along side of his Ashford Academy pick up truck and threw his arm up on the metal box. He hitched the thumb on his other hand into the pocket of his work slacks and looked at me with a questioning grin. "Are you the rich girl, or the poor girl?"
I grimaced a bit when I realized I had disclosed to him what he hadn't assumed. I looked to the ground and answered. "Well… compared to her… I'm the poor girl." Jackson stood silent and I avoided eye contact as I tried to imagine what he was thinking. When he didn't respond I tried to salvage the conversation with a crooked grin. "You didn't really think I was rich, did you?"
"I just figured you were because everyone else is."
"Everyone but me," I replied, "sure makes it hard to fit in."
"No doubt." Jackson said and reached into the box of the pick up truck and handed me a shoebox wrapped in brown paper. I read the return address and giggled. Jackson noticed and inquired, "Is that a good one to get?"
"It's from my boyfriend."
"Your boyfriend?" Jackson asked and slapped a pile of letters onto the box I was holding. Then he reached into the truck box and lifted a bigger package into his arms. "I should have guessed a girl like you would have a boyfriend."
I eyed the maintenance man and noticed the look on his face suggesting that Owen would be mad that I had made friends with a boy. I giggled again. "Don't sweat it Jackson, he is not the jealous type." I playfully knocked my hip into Jackson's hip and the two of us took the boxes to my room. I led the way in and found Lacey lying provocatively on her bed with her shirt unbuttoned one button too far and her skirt hoisted up far above her knee. I ignored her pose and discreetly stuffed the box from Owen and the stack of letters under my bed. Jackson followed me in to the room and noticed Lacey's attention seeking behavior.
"Afternoon, Miss McGovern." He said with a teasing southern charm and set the box down on the floor.
"Evening." Lacey said and batted her eyes at the young man. "I see you've met my roommate, Scout."
"Sure have." Jackson answered back. Then he turned to me and raised his eyebrows the way he had done before when he was trying to communicate with me in a secretive way.
"So, as I was saying, the best place to study is in the library on the 3rd floor. About fifteen minutes from now it should be almost vacant and awfully quiet. I think you'll enjoy it."
I smiled politely at the suggestion. "Thank you Mr. Wesley. I will take the idea into consideration." I turned away from the man and he walked out of the room. Lacey ignored me by pretending to read a schoolbook. The bells rang again signaling the building was free of men. I gathered my homework and left for the library.
I didn't want to arrive too soon, so I paced myself as I walked along the brick pathways that led to the library. Quietly, I entered and climbed the open wooden staircase to the third floor. Jackson was right. The level was completely vacant of people. Seeing Jackson wasn't waiting at one of the study tables in the main area I headed along the bookshelves to search for another set of library tables. Without warning a strong hand grabbed my arm and pulled me in between the book stacks. Jackson and I bumped together and we both laughed in a whisper. I looked up at him and he pressed his finger to his lip to be sure I stayed shushed. With a grin he pulled me through the stack of books to the other end of the aisle where smaller library tables were set for studying and we were sure to have more privacy.
I leaned my backside against one of the study tables and Jackson rested his backside against the end of the bookshelf. He spoke first. "I wasn't sure if you'd come."
"Well, it was a tough choice," I said sarcastically, "Stay in my room and be ignored by Lacey or come here and chat with you."
"I can't stand that girl." Jackson grinned. "Good choice."
"I'm full of good choices." I said with a grin that faded rapidly as I realized the untruth I had told. Good choices didn't seem to come easily for me in the past month.
Jackson noticed my mood turn to gray, so he fought to keep the conversation between us alive. "So, those were some pretty heavy boxes I brought up to your room. Did you get anything good from home?"
I looked up at him. "I didn't take the time to open them, but I am pretty sure the big boxes are just my clothes from the laundry mat."
"Why did you have your clothes shipped from the laundry mat?" Jackson asked with a disbelieving grin and rested his hands on his hips. "I thought you were the poor girl?"
Absent mindedly, I explained, "Since the area was still considered part of the crime scene I couldn't bring any of them with me."
I watched as Jackson's eyes widened in confusion. "Crime scene?"
Slight panic set in as I realized I had let my guard down too far. "Um… it's nothing. You know what… I really do have to study, so I will see you around. Okay?" I gathered my books and held them against my chest in a guarded stance and turned to flee.
"Wait a second." Jackson said with concern and put his strong arm up to block my escape. "Why are you leaving?"
I stopped abruptly to keep from walking into his stiff arm that blocked my way. "I really do have homework, but thanks for suggesting this area. I think this will be a great place to study." I tried to back away.
Jackson stepped towards me and calmly grabbed my arm. His gentle, round eyes begged for a clue to my past. "What happened at the laundry mat?"
"Nothing." I replied, but Jackson gave me a stern, disappointed look that melted my defenses a bit more. "It was no big deal, just a little neighborhood fight."
I stepped backwards again. Jackson crossed his arms across his chest like Darry would when he demanded the truth from us. "Who was involved in the fight?"
I smiled nervously. "Just some kids from Tulsa, you wouldn't know anyone."
"Try me." Jackson insisted. "Because I know this one girl who arrived at the school awhile back, and it sure looked like she had been in a fight with someone."
I lied to keep Jackson from investigating further. "Well… you see… there were these two guys in a fight at the laundry mat I was at. Stupidly, I tried to help make peace between them. That's all."
Jackson exhaled his silent disappointment that I didn't trust to tell him the truth. "Okay, if that's the way you want to tell it, that's the way I'll believe it."
"What? It's the truth!"
"I know," Jackson said to let me off the hook. He relaxed his stance and smiled. "I've got a lot of work left to do, so I'll let you get to your studies."
I smiled at my friend. "Thanks."
"No problem." Jackson winked at me, smiled and walked away.