Chapter 19: What You Do For Your Friends
I felt pretty good the next day. I'd fooled around with my girls the previous night and it was fun, but I was definitely getting tired of being limited to oral only. I could hardly wait for Friday. I had to cross my fingers though; given all the trouble I'd been having lately, who knew what might pop up to prevent it.
Things at school were still strained but were becoming a bit more normal. I was gradually getting used to always being stared at, I mean. I made sure we got to school early, so I headed to where I knew Chalise's locker was. Grabbing her by her hand I asked her if she trusted me. She immediately said, "Of course," so I proceeded to pull her along, without a word, and led her down a few hallways until we came up to Darrell's locker.
When she saw where we were headed she hesitated, gently pulling against me. I stopped and looked into her eyes. "You still trust me?" I asked.
"You're sure about this?" she asked in response.
"I think the answer to both of those is 'absolutely', now come on, you're not going to have much time." With that I pulled her along as we came up to Darrell, who was unsuspectingly focusing on his locker.
"Darrell, I have someone here that I think you need to speak with," I announced. He turned and, upon seeing his sister with me, looked embarrassed and glanced away.
"Look, you both have a lot to say, so I want you both to go someplace private and have it out," I told them. "Don't get upset, but don't roll over either. And don't try to hurry. Skip a couple of periods if you have to. I think working this out is worth a detention or two. Now you'd better hurry, you only have so much time and I think you'll want to do this before anyone notices what's going on." Once I'd said my piece I simply headed off without looking back. They'd either work it out or I'd find Darrell's bloated corpse in a few days, either way I'd tried my best.
The rest of the morning went pretty well. It seems that word about Darrell and I having worked out our differences appear to have spread. Mike was fit to be tied, however, but you just can't expect other people to do your dirty work if you can't afford to pay them a decent wage is the way that I look at it. Alice was positively giddy, dancing from foot to foot she was so anxious to speak with me, but we were finishing an assignment so we had to work with our original partners again.
At lunch I really had no particular plans to sit with anyone today, but figured I really owed it to Betty to sit with her for a change, since I'd been ignoring her lately. So I grabbed Kitty, to ensure she wouldn't have to sit alone and be miserable, and Cate dutifully followed along. I sat down with them at a nice quiet corner table all to ourselves, ignoring all the various looks we were getting. But after a bit a Japanese girl stood up from her table and came over and joined us, saying she was sorry to Kitty about all the nasty things being said to her, and would we mind having her sit with us. Looking at Kitty I told our new arrival it shouldn't be a problem and introduced her, remembering her from our initial meeting at her usual table.
"Girls, this is Akia Satō, although she goes by Ai," I told everyone as we all made our introductions. I'm not sure how I ever remembered her name, much less how I ever pronounced it correctly, but she didn't correct me so I assume I got it right.
Since I was now dealing with her on a personal level, as opposed to a group of her friends, I regarded her a little more seriously than I had previously. She was pretty, with short jet black hair that fell a bit below her collarbone and bangs that reached below her eyebrows. I'd wished I'd have thought of that look to hide my own eyebrows. She had a nice playfully pouty face with inquisitive eyes. She had flawless skin and was significantly larger than Cate across the chest, although certainly not big breasted by any stretch of the imagination.
Shortly thereafter a Goth girl I'd sat at another table with stopped by to tell us how sorry she was about how Kitty had been treated. Her name was Mia Amendez and she was, as expected, dressed in black with black eye shadow and black lipstick with a short skirt and lots of black lace. I'd never really been into the Goth look before, but she was cute so I wasn't complaining about her looks.
It wasn't long before we had a table full of young women expressing their support of Kitty and renewing their friendships, however tenuous they may have been. I wasn't sure just how sincere they were about their feelings for Kitty, but I figured I'd see if they stuck around long enough to convince us. They were all very friendly and talked to everyone, especially Kitty, as much as they tried to subtly flirt with me.
After school, just as I leaving the school building heading to my car, I was met by Chalise and Darrell.
"I just want to thank you for making me speak to Darrell," she told me. "We had a good talk. You actually believe his story?" she asked, just checking she wasn't being fooled. I just nodded my head.
"Good, then maybe there's a chance of repairing at least one of my family relationships. Of course I don't know what we're going to do about Kitty. I really want to tell her, but I understand what my brother was trying to do. Bad implementation of a bad idea, but still. So Alex, what do you think? Should we tell her the truth?"
"I think we need to," I answered, nodding my head. "I think the relationship between the two of you, and between your brother and you, are more important than Darrell's sense of embarrassment. Of course it's easy to catapult someone else's embarrassment. But maybe right now isn't the time to tell her. Give her another day or two to be mad at him."
"Thanks, man," Darrell stated, reaching out and shaking my hand. "You don't know what this means to me. You also don't know how much it means for someone to stand up like this for me. Not just once but a couple of times. Everyone pushing me to succeed in football wouldn't have taken this much of a personal interest."
"They're not your friends, Darrell. They're merely coaches and sycophants. Try to keep a good sense of balance. Develop friends who don't judge you based on expectations. Easily said, but difficult to implement."
"Well, I think I've made a start with you. Thanks, again." I used his handshake to pull him into me and surprised him by giving him a big hug. It took a second but he grudgingly returned it. As we separated I looked around and saw a very surprised group of onlookers.
"It's worth it just to see their reactions," I whispered, teasing them both. They looked around and laughed, breaking out in a blush. "Anyway, go hide for a bit. We'll introduce you in another day or three." We shook again and he hugged his sister, walking away happily. Chalise snuggled into my side, hugging me tightly.
"I owe you."
"And I'll collect on Friday," I told her.
"No, honestly. You keep doing amazing things and all I manage to do is cause you trouble. First Darrell, then Brandon and my father, and you return all that trouble by giving me love and accepting me into your weird but interesting extended family. You give my Mom and me a place we can safely stay, you rescue my new best friend, and you give me a brand new brother that I've been missing all my life. How can I ever repay you?"
"Just keep being you, beautiful," I said, giving her a quick kiss, "and see if you still feel the same way after I choose Kitty as my girlfriend on Sunday." She promptly hit me on the shoulder and giggled. Really hard, too! I rubbed my arm the whole way to my car as I escorted her out. We found Kitty there with my sister. Just as I walked up, Anh pulled to a stop beside us. Have I mentioned how well telepathy serves for making an impact?
"Look, girls," I told both Kitty and Chalise. "I got some bad news yesterday and I'm going to have to go to the hospital again. I don't want to upset or burden you, so I arranged..."
"Is it Mary or one of the others?" Kitty asked worriedly. "Oh, no, she didn't die on you? Alex, you can't just tell us that and march off. Hell, we've all gotten..."
"No, no," I assured them, as they both looked stricken by the news. "Mary hasn't died. Not yet at least, but she doesn't have much longer. So I really wanted to see her before it's too late. I take it from your responses that you're both interested in coming as well?"
"Hell, yes," Chalise announced. "You'd better take us with you. Besides, knowing you, you'll probably need a shoulder to cry on afterwards." I had to glance over their shoulder at Cate when she said this, but she just shrugged in acknowledgment of what she said. Without another word Anh drove off and I waved goodbye to her as she left.
"OK, then, let's get to the hospital, pronto," I told them.
"You've got to tell us how you do that," Kitty said, before she thought about it. "Yeah, yeah, I know, we don't need to know." They all seemed to think that was quite funny.
So the four of us made the long drive to Carbondale again. Of course, Chalise didn't mention anything about her meeting with her brother, but everyone talked about the odd new group at our lunch table. Chalise, not having been present, was intrigued and asked about everyone there. I thought I had made a good start on fixing Darrell's bad move, but I'd have to continue to handle it delicately.
The girls all thought my eclectic mix at the lunch room had much more to do with me than it did Kitty. "They'd never have said anything if they didn't all have an interest in you. The way you handled my situation might have cemented their attachment to you, but I don't even know those girls," Kitty announced.
"When did you ever sit at the Goth's table?" Chalise wanted to know.
"You must not have been paying attention," Cate informed them. "He's slowly been working his way around the whole school. He's sat with the stoners, the geeks, and any other table he can think of. The only tables he hasn't been able to crack yet have been the cheerleader and sports tables. Apparently being an ex-gymnast doesn't count for much at school."
"Well, I doubt you'll be able to crack that particular nut, seeing as how they all practically worship Darrell," Kitty said. I glanced back and saw Chalise biting her lip over that statement.
As I pulled into a parking space at the Carbondale Memorial Hospital the group quickly became quite dour, considering what we were about to encounter. We entered in silence, with Kitty and Chalise both holding my hands, my poor sister having to relegate herself to walking silently behind me, her role in comforting me having been usurped.
As we entered the lobby we were met by Ryan, this time without his ever present assistant, but accompanied by both Allison and Shani.
"Alex, I'm so glad you could come. Mary isn't doing very well and probably doesn't have much time left," he informed me. I simply nodded, so he went on as we began walking towards the elevators. "We've also been discussing Jennifer's case, and there isn't much that we can do until something is confirmed."
"Jennifer? Did something happen to Jennifer?" Chalise asked. "Did she have complications or something?"
I figured there was no good reason to beat around the bush. "When she broke her arm it released all the cancer cells in her bone marrow into her bloodstream. Her cancer is spreading quite rapidly," I informed them.
"But doesn't cancer take months or years to form and develop? How'd you ever diagnose it this quickly?" Kitty asked Ryan.
"He was just saying they couldn't confirm it yet," I told them. "It takes years for a cancer to be diagnosed, but it begins spreading immediately, given the right circumstances."
"Alex is right," Allison confirmed. "It seems to be concentrating in her major organs right now; her lymph nodes, her kidneys and her lungs."
"So how long after it starts to spread does it take before it becomes apparent?" Chalise asked.
"We've no idea," Ryan told her. "We've never been able to see inside the human body at this level before. This is completely unprecedented. I'm trying to think of any way of heading it off, and then I'm trying to figure out how to justify any actions we might take. I'm completely in the dark about how to proceed." He turned and looked at me.
"Do you think you could, you know, give her another treatment and possibly provide her some protection?" he asked.
"I'm not sure that would work. I can't specifically target the immune response, and it wouldn't be able to identify the cancer cells yet anyway. If I simply try to strengthen the infected organs, I'd probably boost the blood flow to the area, which is what the cancer needs to grow. I'm at a loss as well," I told him. Kitty and Chalise made no comment about how unbelievable the general discussion was, and didn't ask why Ryan was asking me for treatment options.
When we arrived outside Mary's room and began donning our protective apparel, I could see Mary lying on her bed. I couldn't see much, but I could tell she wasn't as robust as she had been. We all got prepared quickly, Ryan once again giving us the standard warnings, even though he didn't bother to warn Kitty and Chalise about entering the room to see their friend again.
As I drew up to her, I could see how gaunt and drawn she was. Her cheeks were hollowed and her skin literally looked gray. When she noticed me, she looked up with tired eyes and tried to sit up. I made a motion to stop her from moving, then thought better of it. With her infections running rampant, she was highly infectious now.
"Alex... I'm glad you... came," she gasped, clearly having trouble drawing enough breath. "I don't... have much time," she got out.
"I know," I told her. "That's why I came. I'm sorry I haven't been here while you've been getting worse, but they only told me about it late yesterday. Is there anything I can do for you?" I asked. It took her a few moments before she could gather the strength to respond.
"No, anything... you could do... would only make... the pain worse," she struggled to get out, having to stop to wheeze several times. "I know you... can't hug me but, could you at least hold my hand?"
Even knowing how contagious she was, I didn't hesitate to do so, when I did she motioned to me, so I leaned in so she could whisper to me, which she did so quietly no one else could hear. "Alex, please end this. I don't have the... strength to go... on." I pulled back and looked into her sunken eyes, trying to measure her resolve. What I saw confirmed her words. Without asking for any guidance or assistance, I slowly passed my hand over her face, sweeping from the top down over her eyes. I shut her eyes as I was doing it, just so she'd look at peace instead of simply staring blankly out at the world. As I pulled my hand away the machines she was attached to all started to scream at us. Ryan started to jump but I simply turned to him.
"It's too late, don't bother. There's nothing you can do to revive her. She's officially brain dead at this point," I informed him. No one said anything as we all stepped back to allow the nurses room to swarm around her, but Ryan kept them back and pronounced the official time of death. Kitty, Chalise and Cate all swarmed me, holding and comforting me as tears filled their eyes. It frightened me that I could so easily do that to someone I cared so much about. Luckily she had so little life force remaining in her, that drawing enough away from her brain to effectively cease its functions was surprisingly easy. We just stood there and watched as the nurses began quietly disconnecting her from the various machines she was attached to. I quietly dropped the latex glove I'd removed into the infectious waste container.
"Should I bother with an autopsy?" Ryan asked.
"There's really no reason," I replied. "Everyone knows how sick she was, and that it was only a question of when. Plus it wouldn't show anything. There shouldn't be any evidence of anything. Her spirit simply decided to leave her body. Leave her to lie in peace. You wouldn't want to risk any other personnel," I told him. And so ended my first encounter with a death of a friend in my young life, a death which I personally engineered.
No one said anything as we slowly made our way home. Ryan had been planning on having me see some other people but thought better of it after what I'd just experienced. I didn't ask him whether it was out of concern for me, or fear of what I'd just done.
Needless to say I didn't stop in to see Jennifer either. I simply wasn't in the right frame of mind to comfort her at the moment.
We changed our usual pattern of me always driving with Cate taking the passenger seat, leaving Kitty and Chalise to share the back seats. Instead I sat sandwiched between them while Cate drove now. Ryan offered to let Allison and Shani off for the rest of the day, but they assured him that I had enough people to comfort me, and that I'd be watched over for the entire night. Nothing further was said except short assurances and encouragement. I never detected a hint of reservation or curiosity in either girl. Cate's face reflected the tremendous loss she felt, and the pain she felt for what I'd just had to go through. That was all anyone needed to say.
I hardly noticed that Cate didn't drop the girls off. All I knew was that they were helping guide me gently into the house, the door magically opening for them as we neared it, my girls looking worriedly on. There was some talk about my condition and they started to move me upstairs so I could rest, but I waved them off, telling them I needed to eat as I was once again starving.
Mom and Anh fixed me something to eat. I didn't notice anyone leaving, but I assume Cate had to drive Kitty and Chalise home after that. Instead Natalie and Mom comforted me while Anh got me situated. I think I'd actually entered a state of shock after that. I vaguely remember overhearing a hurried conversation with Ryan over the phone, as well as feeling a similar conversation in the back of my head, but I paid it no heed. I merely wanted to rest, and to forget what I'd just had to do.
The next day, Thursday, I felt a little better after having had a good sleep and getting a chance to process everything. I still felt terrible, and I was upset with what I'd been forced to do, but thought I could manage on my own now.
The girls were all relieved to see me doing better when I entered the kitchen. Cate, Shani and Anh had been rocking me for much of the night. My parents asked if I was sure that I was OK. I replied that of course I wasn't, but that I thought I could cope, which was all that really mattered in the short term. I also said that I hoped I wouldn't have a repeat performance when Jennifer grew ill.
The girls were glad that I seemed to be OK, and I allowed myself to enjoy their banter as we resumed discussing the odd mix of people at our table yesterday. No one mentioned the events of yesterday, I think they wordlessly agreed to avoid the topic altogether. I can't say I objected to the idea.
Things improved even more for Kitty at school. Apparently the whole football team, which was the reported source of the disclosure, all came out and stressed to everyone that Darrell had never made such a statement to any of them. I also noticed that the girl Darrell had leaked the information to slinking down the hallways with her head hung down in embarrassment, refusing to meet anyone's eyes. Apparently Darrell was trying to make amends. I just hoped he wouldn't go overboard in the other direction. I managed to corner the girl, Julia, after I noticed her skulking past.
"Excuse me, Julia, is it?" She looked up at me and blushed brightly and lowered her head again.
"Yeah, hey, I'm really sorry for all the trouble I caused your girlfriend. I didn't mean anything by it."
"Look, I'm not going to beat you up about it. You seem pretty remorseful and that's enough for me, although it might do more for you if you apologized to Kitty herself. She's pretty forgiving and it would probably be good for the both of you. Anyway, I just wanted to make sure that Darrell wasn't making you feel overly guilty in an overreaction to his attempt to make amends."
"Yeah, he laid it on pretty thick, telling me he meant for the message to get back to Kitty, but that he didn't count on the demand for stories about you."
"Yeah," I sighed, "there certainly is a fascination with me. I keep hoping it'll taper off but it just hasn't happened yet. I just wish people would take me at face value, rather than making me fit into who they think I am. Anyway, that's not your fault. It's my own battle and I don't expect you to fix it for me. You just did the typical thing and I want you to know I don't blame you for it, so relax. You don't look as cute skulking around in a blue funk." She immediately broke out in a cute smile at that last comment and blushed prettily this time.
"Thank you, Alex. You really are a trip. You're pretty much what everyone keeps describing but nobody seems to be able to believe. I'll try to keep my normal gossiping under control, but it's going to be hard. Gossiping is pretty important to girls' lives."
"Yeah, I know. I keep fighting it, but I think it's a losing battle. Luckily I won't be here for too much longer to worry about it."
"Oh, yeah? So what're your plans for the future?" Now that she was more relaxed she seemed much more talkative. I just hoped she wasn't still fishing for gossip.
"Well, I had planned on attending college, but it doesn't look like it's in the cards anymore."
"Oh, that's too bad. What's the problem? Finances?"
"Seems I've got other obligations that'll preempt it," I explained. "Still, there are plenty of people who make waves who don't go to college. Still, I think I'll try the mail order college approach on my own time."
"Well I'm glad you aren't giving up. Are you staying in the area? Getting a job or something?"
"Yeah, the idea is to stay locally for a while. At least until I find a specific reason to move. But I think I'll be traveling a bit. Especially this summer."
"Oh, that sounds like fun. Anyone going with you?" she teased, batting her eyelashes at me.
"Just my sister, maybe a friend or two, nothing's been decided yet."
"Well, I hope you enjoy yourself. But then again, knowing you, I'm sure you won't have any trouble generating excitement wherever you go. Hope I'll see you around next year anyway. I still have more time in this hellhole high school," she lamented.
"Yeah, we probably will." Everyone was moving off to their classes and we'd both have to rush to get to class in time. "Look, come by the table at lunch and talk to Kitty. As I said, it'll be good for both of you. Look, I gotta go, but I'll see you later." And with that I had to run off.
I hoped I hadn't revealed anything I shouldn't have with that brief discussion. I'd hate it if being honest with someone who'd been hurt for being a normal teen came back to haunt me, but I didn't really think I said anything untoward.
I got another surprise during the course of the day. All the jocks were acting very friendly to me all of a sudden. I couldn't figure out what was happening, thinking that maybe Darrell had said something to them, but even that wouldn't convince all of them to regard me in a better light. Finally the last piece to the puzzle slipped into place when one of them cornered me between classes.
"Hey, man, it's unbelievable what you arranged for us. My brother's friend got clocked during a game a few years ago and the coaches just told him to walk it off. He wasn't right for a long time afterwards and it affected his performance. He didn't get any scholarships as a result, and that really made getting into collage hard for him. This will make a big difference to everyone, both on the football team and in most of the other teams as well."
"Whoa there, hold on a minute," I complained. "What the hell are we talking about? Did I miss something?"
"Oh, I thought you knew. The coach said it was all arranged because of you. They announced it to the various teams yesterday that the Carbondale Memorial Hospital is starting a new program where they'd have people on staff at each of our football games, as well as having them on call for the other sports. They said they were trying to detect head trauma quicker and more easily using some newly trained personnel, and that they wanted to try it out with us. These new people would detect who needed to be examined and who could return to the game. Those that they flagged would be evaluated by a doctor to see what they'd need.
"This should make a big difference to everyone. Knowing we're safe to play again will ease the coaches' minds, while knowing we shouldn't play will let the kids know when it isn't safe to. It's a win/win for everyone, unless it occurs when there are scouts in attendance, then you can expect a little grief."
"Wow, that's quite a bit of news," I told him. "Ryan mentioned he was going to try something, but I had no idea it was quite so extensive. I guess the girls forgot to mention it to me last night."
"Ryan, huh? That's what you call the head of the hospital? No wonder he takes what you say so seriously. He said they learned a lot from your accident over the weekend, and that's why they could start this new process with us."
"Yeah, that was what Ryan told me as well," I explained. "I think I know the people who will be doing the evaluations. Anyway, I'm glad it all worked out. Personally I don't think we have enough concussions to detect any difference, but it still sounds like a good program."
"Yeah, well, being such a small school, we're usually the last to get noticed. The fact we're getting cutting edge treatment means a lot to everyone," he assured me.
We parted after that since there isn't much time between classes to gab, but I considered the ramifications afterwards. Throughout the rest of the day various people all stopped me and commented about it as well, so apparently it was really having an effect on a lot of students. It seemed maybe I'd reached a new level of student acceptance.
I was really surprised when Ashley Milford, the head cheerleader, stopped me in the hallway.
"Hey, Alex Jennings, isn't it? I just heard what you managed to arrange for us. I don't know if you know it, but with all the new routines the cheerleaders are trying now, we're as concerned with concussions as the other teams are. I'm really relieved that we'll be getting preferential treatment regarding head traumas. Plus the coach said that we'll have access to better medical evaluation on an ongoing basis as well. This really means a lot to all of us, and I just wanted to thank you for arranging it," she said, giving me a quick squeeze.
Man, if it resulted in the head cheerleader giving me a personal hug in the middle of the crowded hallway in the middle of the day, then the tides must have really changed all of a sudden. My head was reeling from the sudden switch from being an outcast to becoming the school hero as far as the athletes were concerned.
At lunchtime I entered with my tray full of questionable goodies and looked around. The same table we had sat at yesterday was already full of people, so I guess the new arrivals had stayed on for yet another day. I moved in and found they'd reserved a central seat for me. The whole new crew from yesterday was sitting there. Quite a strange mix, representing all the various isolated group tables and all female as well. I was kind of hoping we could get Darrell to join us, just so that I wasn't the only guy sitting here. Maybe he could run some interference for me?
When Chalise approached from behind me it started a reaction.
"So there you two are. Where've you been? K-I-S-S-I-N-G?" Kitty sang, teasing. All the others just shook their heads, not being able to believe her cavalier attitude, when they all knew what was at stake in our not so secret selection process. Chalise just smiled and gave me an exaggerated kiss before sitting down. Everyone seemed even happier today. More relaxed, more comfortable, more used to everyone else. Kitty nudged the girl, Ai, sitting next to her.
"So, Alex, what do you think? Want to go all Asian, black and white? That'd make what? Two of each?" Ai blushed prettily.
"Not the same. And it's not Asian I'm going for. I'm just working my way across the Continent. They're all different. One Vietnamese, one Japanese, what next? Maybe a Chinese courtesan?"
"Just so it's not another Japanese, otherwise it might end up being my younger sister," Ai laughed.
"Now there's an idea," I replied, continuing the teasing. "I haven't tried sisters yet."
"You haven't actually tried any girls yet," Chalise laughed, and both she and Kitty giggled, leading the other girls to look on questioningly. Finally taking pity on one, Kitty leaned over and whispered to her. Her eyes got big and she just said "No!" Chalise leaned across and whispered, loud enough for the entire table to hear, "Yes." Suddenly all the girls at the table started whispering back and forth. Another girl asked "But you live with several women, how do you...?"
Kitty leaned back in and whispered some more, leading to another "No!" and more whispering between all the girls. "How do you get all these women when you haven't ever...?"
"He's just good at the basics, and we're all just dying to see how he does with the real thing. Want to come along?" My mouth just dropped open. The general discussion was bad enough, as I really didn't like revealing that all the rumors were true, but now Kitty was inviting an almost total stranger to our communal bed for my de-virginizing. Everyone at the table laughed at my expression.
"Man, I wish I had my camera phone for that. The girls would have loved it," Kitty laughed. More whispering. "No!" Another nod. More whispering.
"How many girlfriends does he have so far?" asked one at the end of the table.
"Well, it depends. There are the ones here, then there are the ones still back in New Orleans. Then there's the children of one of the newest to arrive in town, who just love him to pieces," Kitty patiently explained.
"Actually, he's got some kind of prioritizing system involved. Something about who gets him, as in who can 'see into his soul' and those that merely have 'feelings' for him," Chalise said with a smirk.
"That's not what the different categories are for," I tried to explain, already knowing it was a losing battle. "I don't discriminate based on that basis. I only discriminate based on how annoying the teasing gets," I added, looking pointedly at Chalise.
"I rest my case, your honor, he has so many he's always looking for a new reason to prioritize them." The rest of the meal wasn't any better.
"Look," I insisted just before we left to head to our various classes. "The one thing I always insist on is that there isn't any gossip or talking about anyone without their permission and their presence. OK?" I informed the table in general.
"We'll see," Kitty teased as they all dispersed, laughing all the way. I was going to have to get them back. Maybe Gail could ship me a set of handcuffs or other bondage equipment before Friday. Then I reconsidered. Nah, they'd probably just enjoy it all the more, I groaned to myself as I left the room.
That afternoon there was a confab around the car by the time I got there.
"He found us a whole table full of new friends that don't judge and are more open than any of my previous friends," Kitty expounded.
"And let me guess, they are all in love with him as well?" Cate asked.
"Well duh," Kitty responded. "Who isn't?" They all laughed as we stood around the car, simply enjoying the sudden bit of warm spring weather we'd just gotten.
"I guess I can't afford to miss lunches around here," Cate responded.
It just struck me that she hadn't been around at lunch. "Yeah, why weren't you there today?" I asked. I then thought a little further. "Wait, you've been gone from our lunchroom crowd a few times lately."
"Duh, I didn't want to intimidate all the potential dates," she teased.
"More like you didn't want to reveal the fact that you're in love with him too," Chalise laughed. Suddenly an awkward silence descended on us. "More likely she'll just teach them all to punch me," I tried to bluff to fill the silence. A bit late it seemed but still I had to try. Cate's face was a deep pink and she tried to hide it by looking away.
I wasn't sure what the scene we'd just experience was about. Did they just notice what my family had been observing for the past several years, or did they suspect that Cate and I were actually lovers now? No, there'd be no way to know that, but then again, our combined awkward response told them more than our previous actions had. Both Cate and I had been careful to keep our behavior in public completely circumspect, but now we'd effectively blown that. I guess I'd just have to see how it played out. Unless either Kitty or Chalise openly questioned me, the best course was still to pretend we were an almost normal brother and sister combo.
Cate started heading into the car, hoping to avoid any further scrutiny, but Chalise prevented anyone from climbing into the car and made us all wait.
"Kitty, don't get upset with me, but we've got to talk." She hesitated a bit before continuing, considering Kitty's response. "About Darrell," she concluded.
"Look, Chalise, I know he's your brother, but I just don't know if I can talk about him after the way he treated me."
"There's something you don't understand, though," Chalise responded. "First, he's been making a real effort to amend for his mistake."
"That's true," I offered. "I've heard he's got the entire football team to tell everyone that he never told them anything. Apparently the only one he told is Julia, and I spoke with her today. She's really sorry for all the trouble she caused."
"So you've been talking with all the people who've made my life hell lately?" Kitty asked pointed. "Talked with them behind my back?"
"Now that's just not fair, Kitty," Cate argued, ignoring her previous embarrassment when faced with someone accusing me of something. "You know Alex is always about fairness and giving everyone a fair chance. I'm sure he just wanted to understand why they did what they did." Kitty was still fuming though.
"The thing is, Kitty, Darrell still really likes you, but he could see that he'd never be able to compete with Alex in your eyes," Chalise informed her. "As a result he thought he'd try to give you an easy out and make himself look like an ass, so you wouldn't have to honor Alex's requirement that you date them both. It seems having to date you when he had no chance of winning you was a bit too painful." It seemed Kitty was getting ready to argue when Chalise just railroaded over any potential objections.
"What he did was stupid and juvenile, but the truth is that things just got away from him. He knew that Julia is a bit of a gossip, and that the first one she'd leak the info to was you. So he told her about how he'd been bragging to the whole football team about how he'd 'bagged you'. None of it was true. However it got out of hand. Julia only mentioned it to a few close friends, but the information went viral because everyone's just so preoccupied with any rumors about Alex. Before either one knew what they'd done it was all over the school, and Darrell just feels terrible." With Chalise's explanation finished we all settled into yet another uncomfortable silence.
"He's really still interested?" Kitty asked, after a few moments.
"Yeah, but he's embarrassed and knows..."
"Yeah, yeah, I got that part. Alex, what do you think?"
"I think he really meant to do the right thing. Unfortunately he hasn't had a lot of practice with doing the right thing, and he really messed up. I think you should try to forgive him if you can."
"I don't know, he really upset me."
"We know," I told her. "He knows as well, and feels terrible that he caused you so much agony when he was just trying to make you feel better."
"Chalise, you normally don't like any of your brothers much. Why are you suddenly sticking up for him?"
"Well, we had a long talk, at Alex's insistence," Chalise recounted. "He confessed the whole thing to me and we got into an honest discussion for once. He said that Alex had affected him, showing him a new approach to life, and that maybe being an angry jock wasn't the best approach to life."
"Alex, huh?"
"Guilty," I confessed quietly, raising my hand as if she could possibly miss me.
"He kind of has that affect on a lot of people, huh?" Cate prompted. Kitty laughed carefully.
"Yeah, he's always bringing out the best, and the worst, in people. I never expected any of those people to offer to sit with me at lunch, and now they seem like some of my best friends."
"So, will you be willing to reconsider your view of Darrell?" Cate again pushed her softly.
"I don't know. I guess it would help Chalise if she's started a new phase with her brother," she hedged.
"Plus he's really trying to change who he is in life," I offered. "I'd like to help him along. He's seen what a mess Brandon has made of his life and how little support the whole football community at his University is offering him following his accident..."
"Some accident," she scoffed.
"Anyway, he's seen that he can't rely on football to carry him through life like his father has always claimed. Now he's rethinking his priorities in life. I think we can all have an impact on him, but only if we're allowed to talk to him."
"My opinion doesn't seem to have hampered you any up till this point," she observed, glaring at me.
"Again, guilty as charged. But I was bothered that his actions didn't match his behaviors of late. So I asked him about it, after telling him how disappointed I was. That's when the whole thing came out."
"I'll have to think about it," Kitty concluded, ending the discussion by climbing into the car. We all shrugged our shoulders and climbed in as well.
"You know Mom's been talking to my father," Chalise informed me once we'd gotten underway once again.
"I wouldn't doubt it," I added without comment.
"She'd like to try again, but the biggest sticking point is you and I right now." I didn't respond, just acknowledged her point so she continued. "Seems he can't quite get over his anger at you for what you did to Brandon, and what he thinks you've done to both Darrell and me, and how you're the one who took his family away from him."
"Sounds like I have the deck stacked against me," I concluded.
"Yeah, you've got an uphill battle with him. Mom's really torn, though. She wants to support me, but knows that there's no way he'll ever accept me in the house again as long as I'm dating you. But she'd also like to see what she can do about this new side of Darrell that she's been seeing."
"Your mother has been talking to Darrell as well?" Kitty asked. "Et tu Brute?" she concluded, rolling her eyes at the ceiling.
"I know it's tough on your mom, Chalise," I replied, "but she has to do what she thinks is right. I'm sure Becky would be willing to put you up if she wanted to go back, but she'd have no legal framework to do so if it came to that. Your father could just walk up at any point and drag you out of there, or out of school for that matter, and that'd be the end of it."
"Yeah, we know," she sighed.
"What do you think, Chalise? Are you asking for permission to move back home?" I asked her.
"Heavens, no," she laughed. "I think I've been given a unique opportunity that only appears once in thousands of lives. Somehow I seem to be in the center of a tempest that I certainly don't comprehend, but I understand there's more going on than I'll ever realize. I'm not about to sacrifice all of that, or you, just to please someone who never really cared about me to begin with."
"Well, as long as you're still thinking about it," I kidded her. I wanted to say something more about not jumping to conclusions, listening to rumors, or just judging someone by their actions rather than rumors, but I figured they'd already heard it multiple times and it didn't seem to be having much of an effect anymore.