GG02 - Accidentally on Purpose
Page 5
"Some of us are way busier than others," Serene said in a decidedly cynical tone. When she had the other girls' attention she cut her eyes toward a doorway where they could all see Amy talking on her cell phone. "Hey, Amy! You here to work or talk on the phone?" she said loudly.
Amy hadn't heard Serene's comment, but felt the pressure of a dozen pairs of eyes; she glanced around and took in the situation, then held up a finger indicating she'd be there in a minute.
"Yeah, sure," Serene said. "What's so damned important, anyway? I mean, it's not like she has a boyfriend to talk to or anything."
Kelly came in at that point. "I've finished hanging the posters you gave me, you guys got any more ready?"
"I'm almost done here, and if you'll wait just a couple of minutes Tanya will have another one finished," Gracie replied. "She works faster than I do."
"Yeah, but I'm not very good. Too bad Andrea isn't here tonight, she's a way better artist than we are," Tanya said. "Oh, sorry Gracie, that didn't come out very nice, I didn't mean it like that."
Gracie gave a critical look at her creation and shrugged diffidently. "No problem, Tanya. I never claimed to be an artist."
"It's the effort that counts," Allison replied. She made a face and waved her hand wildly over her own poster. "Whew, these markers stink. I think I'm feeling a little light-headed. I think if I stood up right now I'd be so dizzy I'd fall down."
"Hey, did you guys hear about Travis?" Tanya asked. "He fell this morning and broke his arm."
"He's so clumsy he probably tripped over his own feet," Serene said.
"He told me he'd slipped on a puddle of water," Gracie said. "It could've happened to anyone."
"I hope his parents don't sue the school; they could certainly use the money," Serene remarked haughtily.
Allison gave her a dirty look. "Then I guess I'd better just sit right where I am, 'cause we've already had two falls connected with the school."
"We don't know if Mrs. Lane fell or was pushed," Tanya said. "But regardless it doesn't count because it wasn't on school property."
Gracie put a quick finishing touch on her poster and pushed it towards Kelly. "If you're done Allison, Kelly can go put these up and you won't have to get up."
Kelly collected finished posters from all the girls and walked out of the gym. By mutual consent they all sat back to rest a few minutes before starting on the next set. The subject of the teacher's death having been brought up, they began re-hashing what they'd heard and knew, or thought they knew. Emily and Madison, not wanting to be left out, joined the gab-fest. Gracie listened as they described their interviews with Ken, some with excitement and some with a touch of fear at having to deal with the police. She only admitted to giving him a partial list of party attendees, thinking they didn't need to know the details he'd given her.
"Well, it's about time you got off that phone!" Serene said as Amy plopped down at the edge of the loose circle.
"Sorry," Amy said. "I had some important calls to make. I really didn't think they'd take so long." She pulled a piece of poster board closer and began enthusiastically working. "Guess I'd better get to work," she muttered.
Brittney leaned over to do the same, and squirmed noticeably as she settled in to work.
"What's the matter, you got ants in your pants?" Serene asked.
Brittney's face reddened, and she bent over her work to try to hide it.
"Brittney, are you okay? Don't pay any attention to Serene; is something wrong?" Tanya asked with quiet concern.
Brittney looked up at her rather shyly. "I, uh, I think I've got a female problem."
"What are your symptoms?" Allison asked, now in what the other girls thought of as her 'professional' mode.
"Well, see, I had a sinus infection last week," Brittney began. "You remember, I missed a couple days of school. So anyway, the doctor gave me some antibiotics and they really helped but now I'm starting to itch." She looked even more embarrassed, if that was possible.
"Sounds like you've got a yeast infection," Allison diagnosed. "What'd he give you?"
"Erythromycin, I think it was." She pronounced each syllable carefully.
"Oh yeah, that'll cause a yeast infection every time," Allison stated.
"So what do I do about it?" Brittney almost wailed.
"Eat yogurt," Gracie put in.
"Yogurt?" Brittney asked with a puzzled look on her face.
Allison favored Gracie with a frown as she told Brittney, "You need to get one of those creams at the pharmacy."
"The creams will work, but they're expensive and icky," Gracie insisted. "There's something about the culture in yogurt that helps, plus it tastes good!"
"Which would you do?" Brittney asked Allison.
"I've never had the problem," Allison admitted. "I'm allergic to erythromycin, I can't take it."
"You're allergic to everything!" Serene put in.
Allison turned to her with an angry look in her eyes. "It's no laughing matter," she said coldly. "I took some when I was a kid and had an anaphylactic reaction and almost died."
"What's that mean?" Tanya inquired. "The what's-it reaction, not the dying part; that I understand."
"My throat swelled up and I couldn't breathe," Allison explained.
Brittney looked at Gracie and Allison in turn. "I think I'll try the yogurt first, it sounds easier."
"Well, now that we've got that out of the way…" Tanya leaned and stretched toward the supplies. "Hey! We're out of poster board."
"Oh, darn," Serene said.
"There's more in the office," Brittney offered.
Amy jumped up. "There should be some backstage too, right Emily?"
"Maybe," Emily allowed. "I don't really pay much attention to how the scenery gets made."
"I'll go see," Amy declared. "It's closer than the office, anyway. Maybe I can make up for all the work I missed," she said, all but sticking her tongue out at Serene.
Amy left and Serene took over Amy's unfinished poster. The rest of the girls wandered around aimlessly looking for something to do or took the opportunity to check their phones for messages and post on FaceBook. "Tired of decorating, can't wait to see X" summed up the majority of them. Gracie walked around the room picking up tag-ends of crepe paper and bits of tape. Little groups of two or three formed, girls chatting about whatever happened to be on their minds. Gracie eavesdropped as best she could, but the teacher's death seemed to have been superseded by far more private concerns like boyfriends, clothes, or homework.
Amy returned to the gym and allowed several pieces of poster board to slither out of her arms to the floor. "There wasn't a lot there," she remarked. She walked to the bleachers and began rummaging in her purse.
Tanya eyed the pile to estimate the number of pieces. "That's okay, it'll be enough for whatever hall we haven't done yet."
"The east hall," Kelly supplied. "And I can always move a few around if I need to."
"I'm tired of this," Serene said. "It's not like this is a really important game, anyway."
"I think we're all ready to go home," Brittney commented.
"But, Jake and the team are doing so well," Amy insisted loudly from where she stood. "We want to support him, don't we?" She finished rubbing hand lotion on, dropped the tube in her purse, and returned to the center of the gym. "Hey, where's the poster I started before I left?"
"You were gone so long I had to finish it for you," Serene answered with a malicious smile.
"Let's just get this done, then we can get outta here," Gracie suggested. Like the other girls she was looking forward to spending some time with her boyfriend, even if they would just be doing their homework together.
"I give up!" Gracie said, defeat evident in her voice. "Math isn't my best subject; I don't know why I'd ever need to solve an algebraic equation in real life anyway."
"Let me take a look," Kelly said soothingly. He let his finger trace along the lines of her work, mumbling the steps she'd taken. "Oh, here it is
! If you add A and 3A then you can divide both sides by 4 and simplify it."
Gracie leaned over his arm to look for herself, and Kelly took the opportunity to kiss her cheek. "I see where I went wrong, thanks." She gave him a quick peck in return.
"Your mother thinks we're here to do homework," he teased.
"We are doing homework…but maybe we could take a little break?" she suggested.
The phone rang at that moment, startling them both. Gracie sighed and rolled her eyes, but got up to answer it.
"Oh good, it's you," a female voice said without benefit of greeting.
"Hi, Aunt Jeanine, how are you?" Gracie used an overly pleasant tone of voice, but rolled her eyes again, then crossed them and stuck out her tongue.
Kelly laughed and then pointed to the glass of water she'd left on the book-covered table. He knew from experience that this would likely be a long conversation and she'd need the liquid as well as something to do with her hands so she wouldn't make strangling motions with them. Gracie nodded, making herself comfortable.
"You gotta do something for me," Jeanine said, typically ignoring the niceties.
"In other words, it's something you can't ask of my mother," Gracie concluded.
"Well, shit, you know how she treats me," her aunt defended herself. "She never did like me much, made it clear she didn't want me around, and won't have a damn thing to do with me ever since the divorce and especially since your daddy passed."
Gracie happened to know that her father, Jeanine's own brother, was the one who'd wanted little to do with her. Though it wouldn't surprise her in the least that he'd claimed it was his wife's decree; Charles Greene had never taken responsibility for anything, especially if he could push it off on someone else. On the other hand, she also knew that her Aunt Jeanine never took responsibility for herself; doing as she jolly well pleased, blaming everyone else for her troubles, and demanding help when she'd gotten in too deep. Gracie's mother, Clarissa, had tried to remain friendly but had refused to bail her former sister-in-law out of financial trouble; thus Jeanine felt slighted.
"You do remember that I don't have control over the money I inherited," Gracie wanted to make this clear from the beginning.
"Oh, honey, why would you think I'd ask you for money?"
"What else could it be?" Gracie mouthed the words silently.
"Nah, you gotta come take me to the bank, that's all," Jeanine said.
Gracie eyed the phone questioningly. "Why do you need to go to the bank?"
"I just gotta get me some cash out," Jeanine replied. "That's all."
"So why don't you just go to an ATM?"
"Cain't," was the succinct answer, even if it didn't explain anything.
"Why not? What's going on, Aunt Jeanine?" Gracie asked with some exasperation. Getting information from Jeanine was like pulling teeth; she could never manage to explain clearly, making you guess at half of the situation. "You're not in some kind of trouble with the bank, are you?"
"Hell, no!" Jeanine insisted. "I just cain't get there; you gotta take me."
Gracie sighed loudly. "Why can't you get there? Isn't there an ATM at the convenience store a couple blocks from your apartment?"
"Yeah, but I busted my ankle and cain't walk. I told you that! Happened two, three weeks ago," Jeanine explained.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Aunt Jeanine!" Gracie said with real sympathy. "But you didn't tell me that; I tried to call you in September but your cell phone service was shut off." She looked more closely at the caller ID display. "Lookee here, you've gotten a new number. I'll have to add it to my address book," she said in a tone at once syrupy and derisive.
"Yeah, they charged me for minutes I didn't use and sent me this huge bill and I couldn't pay it," Jeanine declared. "But since I'm cooped up in this little place I had to have a phone or I'd go crazy and start talkin' to myself. Besides, since it happened at work they're paying me for my time off."
Gracie was pretty sure her aunt hadn't bothered to read the contract and had run up the bill out of stupidity, but she knew it wouldn't do any good to suggest that. "Did you have an accident at work and break your ankle?"
"You sure I didn't tell you all about it? Well, anyway, this guy comes into the store and buys a gallon of antifreeze. Then he goes out to his car – he was parked right in front of the store – pops the hood and proceeds to pour it in his car. Except that he didn't have a spout or nothin' so it just went everywhere." Jeanine stopped speaking as if that explained everything.
"And you walked out and stepped in it and fell," Gracie hazarded a guess. "How does that make it the store's fault?"
"It was!" Jeanine insisted. "See, someone reported it and they sent Greg out to clean it up but all he did was hit it with the garden hose and didn't do a very good job. That stuff's slicker than pink-frosted dog shit!"
"I see," Gracie said, mentally picturing her large and ungraceful aunt landing on her keister; it was not a pretty image. Doubtless the woman hadn't been paying attention and had stepped into the middle of the puddle. "I'm really sorry, Aunt Jeanine. I guess Kelly and I could come over and take you to the ATM."
Kelly looked up from his homework upon hearing his name, and began making frantic negative gestures.
"Not the ATM, I gotta go to the bank," Jeanine insisted.
Gracie suppressed the urge to sigh loudly. She took a deep breath to calm herself before asking "Why the bank? Do you need to pay bills there?"
"Cain't go to the ATM no more," her aunt replied. "Last time I was there I was so flustered on account of the check hadn't hit yet that I forgot to shut off that damned screen and some asshole took $200 outta my account. Least that's what that smart-ass girl at the bank says; I think they just made some kind of error and won't admit it."
Gracie slapped her forehead and shook her head in disbelief. She'd have thought even Aunt Jeanine had the sense to log-out of an ATM before walking off. Of course the next person that walked up had drained the account dry; and frankly, she was surprised there was $200 there to take. "I could use the break from homework; I'll be there in 20 minutes."
"Good," Jeanine said, and hung up. She never had learned how to say 'please' and 'thank you'.
CHAPTER 7
At school the next morning everything seemed back to normal. Gracie kept an ear open for mention of Mrs. Lane and/or the party, but heard nothing except the usual petty gossip. There was a substitute teaching her class, though presumably a permanent teacher would take over at some point. This being only the sub's second day there hadn't been time yet to evaluate him; probably the poor guy was going extra-easy on the classes out of sympathy for the students. Maybe he thought if they liked him he'd get the permanent position.
Kelly had a test in second hour and was in a hurry to get to class so he'd have a couple of minutes to look over his notes. Consequently Gracie arrived at math class early; she got out her book and homework and sat there fidgeting. Amy bustled in and dropped her backpack on the floor, making no move to open it.
"Hi, Gracie. I see you survived decorating last night," Amy said, laughing.
"Hi! Yeah, I did," Gracie responded. "I don't know what the deal was, nothing seemed to go right. You have a good evening after that?"
"It was okay, I guess," Amy said. "I was tired when I got home, didn't feel like doing my homework."
"I got mine done, but it was late when I finished. My aunt called and I had to drive her all over town," Gracie explained.
"Doesn't she have a car?" Amy asked.
"Oh, you wouldn't believe the mess she's in!" Gracie said. "She works at a grocery store, and some customer spilled antifreeze in the parking lot; the boss told one of the guys to clean it up but apparently he just dumped some water on it. And Aunt Jeanine is not known for watching where she walks, so she just steps off the curb right into the middle of the puddle and slips and breaks her ankle."
Amy laughed. "Let me guess, it's her right ankle so she can't drive."
"You got it!"
"Constantly," Gracie agreed. "She told me she just needed to go to the bank, but when I got there she informed me that she 'really had' to run just a few errands. It took me two hours!"
"And you came home from that and did your homework? I'm impressed," Amy said.
Gracie made a face. "Had to," she said. "I'm having enough trouble figuring this stuff out as it is. Gotta bring my grade up in this class."
Amy waved a hand as if to say grades weren't everything. "I understand it, I just don't see why I have to do a zillion examples to prove that."
The bell rang at that moment, saving Gracie from having to figure out a reply. Amy was smart enough, she just didn't take school seriously. How she expected to get into college – or what she thought she could do with just a high school diploma – Gracie couldn't figure out.
Ken Freeman drummed his fingers on his desk. Yesterday he'd spoken with most of the kids who'd been at that party. He was sure he'd missed a few, nobody ever remembered everyone that had been at a party that big. A few of the kids swore they weren't there, that always happened too. But in each case only one person had claimed to see them, so it was probably just a way to get back at someone they didn't like. He'd ask Gracie; though she hadn't stayed 'til the bitter end, he did trust her word.
Most of them had commented unfavorably on the teacher's behavior, though they worded their remarks a little more generously now that she was dead. A few of them hadn't been quite so nice, but even so he hadn't learned anything he didn't already know. Not counting, of course, who'd come with whom and who was stepping out on whom. He'd pretended to write it all down, but he knew next week the couples would have changed again.
He mentally ticked off what he knew. Maggie Lane had flirted with the entire football team and ignored everyone else. She'd been drinking fairly heavily and either giving, or allowing, the boys alcohol. She'd yelled at the tomboy about making marks on the floor, but that had ended peaceably. The party had ended around 1:30 in the morning; as usually happened the stragglers left en masse after realizing the time. They all agreed that no one person had stayed behind, nor had Mrs. Lane ordered them to go. In fact, she hadn't seemed to care about the lateness of the hour. That seemed to Ken to indicate that she wasn't expecting a late-night lover, though it could simply be that she was so drunk she hadn't cared.