The delighted smile on his face fades. "Oh come on, this Jeremy isn't hotter than me. Right?"
Now it's her turn to feel awkward. She stares at him momentarily, her stomach performing flip flops. His hair is clean and it falls like a tidy blanket to his shoulders. The tattoos on his muscular arms does make him look quite appealing, but he is already with another woman and there's no way Maria is going to intervene. She can sense that Marissa has a very dark side to her personality and she does not want to experience that side. "Well, I'd say you're as hot as him." Don't lead him on, Maria.
"Uh…did you know that a nine-year-old girl by the name of Jessica Hunter went missing last weekend?" she says.
"Yeah, I read the article. Sad story. Her mom suspects that her ex-husband abducted her. I wouldn't doubt it if he did. The guy is a total waste of human creation."
Maria's jaw drops. "You know Jessica's father?"
"No, I don't know the guy personally, but his ex-wife sure slimed him; how he used to beat her. I mean, why would the woman even allow her daughter to visit the jerk? Obviously, she, herself, has shit for brains."
"But maybe she didn't send her daughter over to her father's place. Maybe Jessica left without her mother knowing. Or maybe she happened to walk past her father's place when on a walk," Maria says.
"Either way, I hope the guy gets killed."
Maria's gaze sinks to the tile floor. The thought of that woman being beaten relentlessly by her husband and then having her only child abducted by him is far too painful to bear. Her hardship makes Anya's struggles seem minute. "What a sad world we live in. And it's about to get even more depressing because I have to deal with Carly."
"You'll be fine, Maria. I'll be with you. No teenage girl is gonna get away with shit when I'm around."
Maria sighs heavily. "You don't know Carly. She's a violent bitch."
"Oh babe, you haven't seen violence until you've seen a man shot dead between the eyes and then buried in the bushes where no one can find his body."
The harshness in those words makes her heart skip a beat. "Pinning someone to the ground by her hair with weights is worse than shooting someone between the eyes. It is torture."
"You worry way too much, Maria. When I'm done with this bitch, she won't be bothering Anya anymore." Alex squints his left eye. He forms his hand into a pistol, then points it at her, pretending to shoot.
Maria's eyes bulge open. "Alex, you're not going to shoot her, are you?"
He chuckles. "Of course not. I'm just gonna threaten her."
She suddenly feels his hand on her shoulder.
"Maria, look at me."
She looks into those dark brown eyes, not knowing whether to feel comforted or afraid.
"Everything is going to be alright. Come one 'o' clock, you won't have to worry about Carly anymore."
She nods her head. "Yes," is all she can say.
"Okay then, let's go."
"But, I haven't eaten anything yet."
"We'll stop at McDonald's or Tim Horton's; wherever you like, as long as it's a fast food joint because we have only an hour and fifteen until twelve."
"I'll settle for a McDonald's egg McMuffin and another coffee, and a smoke for desert," she says while she slips her feet into her boots.
****
Alex and Maria sneak out of the truck as soon as the school bell rings, its high-pitched sound heard clearly one block away from where Alex has parked his vehicle. They walk down the sidewalk, then round the corner onto the school property, acting like they are regular students.
The moment Maria steps through the entrance doors, memories of her short time at this school flood her mind. Carly's welcoming smile is the first image that appears in her mind. She shakes her head vigorously. Focus, Maria. Focus. Get her out of your mind. She's not your friend. Out of the corner of her right eye, she sees Patrick walking alone, his guitar slung over his shoulders. Geez, that kid is such a loner. "Hey, Patrick," Maria yells.
Patrick jerks his head in her direction. For a moment, he stands there speechless, staring at her with a befuddled look on his face.
Yeah, I know why you're giving me that look. You're surprised that someone is actually talking to you.
Then, the expression on his face darkens. "What do you want?"
Maria can feel the bitter edge in his voice, but it is too dull to hurt. "Do you know where Carly is?"
He frowns at her. "How would I know? I never talk to her."
Alex, who has been silent this entire time, approaches him, blocking his path. He removes his shades so that Patrick can get a good look at him. "We need to know where she is. This is important."
Maria steps beside Alex. She can see the fear in Patrick's eyes. "Just tell us where Carly is, Patrick and we'll be on our way."
"I…don't…know," he says, his lips quivering.
Alex takes one brusque step closer to him, causing Patrick to back into the wall. His guitar makes a loud thump when it comes in contact with the hard surface. "That girl almost killed our friend, Anya, so where the hell is she?"
Maria, emotionless, watches Patrick's eyes bulge open. "Anya?" he mouths.
"Yes, Patrick. Carly almost murdered Anya," she says, her voice sounding as hollow as the interior of a tree trunk.
His eyes rapidly fill up with tears. "Oh my God."
"So, where's Carly?" Alex says.
"I think she's in the cafeteria. But sometimes, she and her friends drive over to the mall."
Maria shoots Alex a worried look. It'll be hard to track her down if she's at the mall, she almost says.
"Thanks, man," Alex says, giving him a hard pat on the shoulder. He then slips his shades back over his eyes.
"What’s that kid's relation to Anya?" he says within in Patrick's hearing.
"Anya's best friend. He used to be anyway before I tried unsuccessfully to get her in with Carly's group."
Alex stops in his tracks. Maria can feel the tension emanate from his body. It makes her shudder. "What's wrong?" Oh great. Why did you have to tell him that?
"So, you’re the mastermind behind all this?"
She can almost see the piercing look through his sunglasses. "What the heck are you talking about, Alex?"
"You were the cause of what happened to Anya," he says, his voice escalating.
A few people in passing turn to stare at them. The judgmental looks they give her intensifies Maria’s anxiety. "No, I'm not."
"How can I trust that you're not a lying bitch?"
Maria's face becomes inflamed. "Just shut up and listen to me before you make more accusations," she almost screams. "I tried to get Anya in with the popular crowd, but it didn't work. They were incredibly nasty to her. They turned on me after I stuck up for her at a party last Saturday night, the same night we met you and Marissa. Anya didn't want to come back here, but I told her she had to. It wouldn't be right to see her throw away her dream and all of her hard work because of Carly. Only I didn't know that it would come to this."
Alex backs away from her, his humiliation showing even through his sunglasses. "Maria -- I'm so sorry. I didn't know. I take back what I just said."
"Well, now you know everything. Come on. We can't waste another minute," she says, speeding down the hall ahead of him.
They burst into the cafeteria, their eyes scanning the large, bustling room for Carly. Maria finally spots her sitting with a large group of people at the back of the room. Of course Shondra and Kirsten there. And Matt? He’s nestled right up against Carly, his arm draped around her shoulders. Carly laughs and chats away with them, looking like she's not at all bothered by what she did to Anya.
An image of Anya in the hospital, laying on the uncomfortable bed alone in the room, her neck confined in a brace, her pale face streaked with tears, appears in Maria's mind. It makes her sad and furious at the same time. She marches over to the back of the room, Alex following close behind.
She is met by Carly's malevolent stare.
"Oooooo
h, look who came to say hello," she says.
"And she brought her biker-freak boyfriend with her," Matt says.
Everyone at the table explodes into laughter.
Alex races over to where Matt is sitting. He grabs a hand full of Matt's hair, then shoves his head face first into a half-empty bowl of soup. He jerks Matt's head out of the bowl, pulls him back so severely that, Maria thinks, if he jerks his head back any further, his neck will break. Soup dribbles down the side of Matt's face. By now, everyone, except for Carly, Shondra and Kirsten, has fled the table.
"How do you like to taste your own medicine?" Alex says through gritted teeth. He tightens his grip around Matt's throat, causing him to gag.
Maria scans the room to make sure there are no teachers present. There are none, thankfully, but the room is still filled with students. Those students who are present are either too preoccupied with their own conversations, or they genuinely don't care about what is going on back here.
"You screw with me once more and you may not live to talk about it. I'll hunt you down and make your life so miserable, you'll want to kill yourself." Alex then releases Matt, violently enough to send Matt sprawling on the table.
Maria's terse gaze darts from Carly to Shondra to Kirsten, then back to Carly. "Well, Carly, now you know what it's like to feel afraid, humiliated and friendless."
She opens her mouth to speak, but Maria's irate glare silences her. "The only reason why Shondra and Kirsten are still sitting here with you is because they know that if they left, you'll label them as losers." Maria's furious gaze falls on the two cowering girls. "And that fear is very real, isn't it Shondra. Kirsten. I've met some very insecure people in my life, but you girls take the cake. I've never known evil to take on the persona of three very physically, beautiful young women. Incredibly ironic, isn't it."
Maria is aware that her voice is raised, her face is crimson red, and that she has gained the attention of everyone in the room, but she doesn't care. "You're all cruel to Anya, not because she’s poor, but because she has far more potential to succeed in this life than all of you combined. That's why you -- especially you, Carly -- decided to use Matt's weights to pin her hair to the frozen grass."
Matt looks up at Carly, his face white and his eyes wide with horror. "So…that's where my weights were?"
Maria looks at him, her face aglow with a mixture of anger and satisfaction. "Yes, Matt." She then does the unthinkable. She turns around so that her eyes meet with everyone else in the room. It feels like she’s about to give a speech because now everyone is silent and all eyes are on her. "Alex and I found Anya laying unconscious on the field. If we hadn't found her in time, she would have died. And if that had been the case, would you want to spend the rest of your lives feeling guilty for treating Anya like a worthless, piece of shit?"
No one responds. The room is so silent that if a pin fell from a table, Maria would hear it clang against the hard floor. "Thought so. Maybe, from now on, you should think twice before you judge someone." She then spins on her heels."You didn't think that you could attempt a murder and then get away with it. Did you, Carly?"
Carly stares at her, speechless. All of the color is drained from her face.
"Because if you did, then you are one stupid chic."
Maria flips her hair over one shoulder and marches across the room with Alex by her side.
Once they enter the hallway, Maria breathes out a huge sigh and allows her aching muscles to relax. "We did it! We fixed that bitch good. She'll no longer terrorize the school because now, she won't have any friends. Too bad, so sad, Carly."
"Maria!"
Mrs. Cummings! Maria turns around slowly to face the one teacher she loathes. "Yes, Mrs. Cummings," she says, trying to keep the edge out of her voice.
"I demand to know why you were absent this morning."
"I had important business to attend to." Like, ruining Carly's life.
Mrs. Cumming's pointed gaze falls on Alex. "Who are you?"
"I'm Maria's friend."
She scrutinizes him. "I've never seen you here before. In fact, you look to old to be here."
Maria rolls her eyes skyward. Oh, this is just great.
"I'm sending you to detention, Maria."
"No, you're not."
Her face stiffens. "Don't try me, Maria. To the office. Now!"
Maria narrows her eyes. "I'm not going to the office because I don't come here anymore. Besides, I start my new job at four and I'm not going to show up late."
"And, is that at McDonalds?"
The haughty look on her face makes Maria's blood boil with rage. "No. But, where I work, I'll be making more money than what you earn in a day."
"Look lady," Alex says, stopping a furious Mrs. Cummings from losing her temper, "we have to go now, so I suggest you mind your p's and q's and let us get on with our day. Okay?"
"Right then," she says through clenched teeth. She brushes past Alex. Her heels make sharp clicking noises all the way down the hallway.
CHAPTER 26
"Knock, knock."
Anya glances up from the mystery novel she’s reading, the one that Deborah -- the nurse's aide -- had lent her. She’s quite surprised to see Marissa standing in the door frame instead of Maria. Marissa is wearing a pair of tight-fitting, blue jeans and a short, black ski jacket that boasts a hood trimmed with fur. She flat ironed her hair, Anya can tell, because it's as straight as a pin and it falls in long wisps around her shoulders, looking quite a lot thinner than when it's curly.
"Oh, hi," Anya says.
"How are you feeling?" Marissa says, approaching the bed. She seats herself down on the edge, placing her purse where Anya can see it.
"A little better, but not much. My neck still hurts a lot, and I'm tired all the time." To prevent herself from thinking about Carly and them, she focuses her attention on Marissa's purse: It is large and fiery red. Silver hoops hold the straps in place and the material is a soft leather. Anya thinks it must have cost a lot of money, an item Marissa wouldn't afford working part time at Ricki's Grill. Alex must have bought it for her.
"Well, have you been taking the medication the doctor prescribed for you?"
Anya shifts her attention to Marissa's face. She is instantly comforted by the gentle look that the woman gives her. "Yes. The nurse has been giving me the T-3 pills and the anti-inflammatory pills along with my food.
The corner of Marissa's mouth twitches upward into a smile. "I have something for you."
Anya's eyebrows snap up. "Really?"
"Yes," she says while rummaging through her purse. She pulls out a small, pink envelope, a tiny, narrow bottle of some sort, and a tube of cream.
Anya instantly knows what's inside the envelope, but when she looks at the other two items, she draws a blank look. "What are these?"
Marissa smiles at her. "Open the envelope first and then I'll tell you."
Anya breaks the seal, being careful not to tear apart the envelope. She then pulls out a card. On the front is a short, get-well message written in pink, cursive lettering: it is not the kind of message that says, 'hope you get well soon'; it is one that contains strong words, heartfelt words, a card that only a true friend would buy. She then opens the card. Inside are other messages, carefully hand-written by Marissa, Maria and Alex. Anya's eyes fill up with tears as she reads each message. She is overwhelmed, but also content and relieved to know that she is not alone. There are people here to help her through this storm. So what if they walk on the wild side? They care about her. That's all that matters.
"Thank you," she says, dabbing at her eyes. "It's so kind and thoughtful."
"Look, Anya," Marissa says, "I realize that I wasn't nice to you, and I don't know why. It wasn't right for me to treat you that way. You didn't deserve it."
Anya smiles at her. "I forgive you, Marissa. I wanted to be your friend from the start…even though you were mean. But I'm really glad we can be friends because I think you're really cool."
Marissa smiles back at her. "Me too. You, Maria and I are gonna have a lot of fun together. I can't wait to introduce you girls to my friends."
Anya then finds out what the other two items are: the little bottle contains tablets of Arnica and the tube contains Traumeel cream. Marissa explains to her that she's supposed to take two to three tablets of Arnica at once and let them dissolve under her tongue. She must take the medicine on an empty stomach and she can't eat for fifteen minutes after taking it. "It's so that the Arnica kicks in," Marissa says.
Anya gives her a blank look. "What do you mean by kick in? It won't upset my stomach, I hope."
"No, it won't. It's a homeopathic medicine. It contains natural substances that decrease inflammation, so if you follow these guidelines, you'll soon notice that your neck won't hurt so much, and you'll be able to move it more."
Anya looks at her, impressed by her amount of knowledge on homeopathic medicine. "Where did you learn all this stuff?"
"I'm a health nut, and so is Alex. Actually, he was the one who got me into this stuff." Marissa's face lights up. "I learnt well from a self-educated man."
"Wow. He's smart. So, what's the Traumeel for?"
Marissa explains that it is another homeopathic medicine used to rub onto the injury. This time, she launches into detail, describing every ingredient and how each ingredient stimulates healing. Anya listens with her eyes wide open. She is in complete awe of Marissa's intellect and she is so intrigued by this new information, she doesn't notice that Alex and Maria have just entered the room until she hears him say, "So, Anya, are you taking notes? There'll be an exam, you know."
"I just learnt something new today. I think it's incredibly awesome that you guys know so much about this stuff," she says, grinning at him.
"Yeah, totally," he says, winking at her.
Anya gets the feeling that he wants to tell her something else, but he won't for whatever reason. Instead, he wraps his arms around Marissa's waist and presses his lips against hers.
"Don't stop," Marissa says, clearly excited by his affection. But to Anya's relief, he backs away from her and says, "we'll do more when we get home, baby girl."
To be Maria Page 14
