High School Hangover

by Stephanie Hale

  “I’m sorry, Laney. I don’t see any connection,” she says, tossing her pen on her desk.

  “It’s okay. Thanks for trying,” I say, leaning over to give her a hug.

  “Don’t worry. People like Leo get what they have coming to them eventually,” she assures me. I nod, instead of telling her I’m really not in the mood to wait karma out.

  “I guess I should figure out what college I’m going to go to instead of running around playing Nancy Drew, huh?”

  “I kind of like this new fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants thing you’ve got going on,” she teases. “I think some of that adorable Jack McAllister must have rubbed off on you.”

  “I’m batting two for two on guys,” I tell her, explaining what happened the night I tried to kiss Jack.

  “That makes no sense. Just when you’re about to kiss him, he freaks out?”

  “Our lips were like this close,” I tell her holding my thumb and index finger just millimeters apart. “We had just eaten at this amazing seafood restaurant.”

  “Jack is deathly allergic to shellfish,” she yells. “I took a crab dip for an open house and he almost ate some by mistake!”

  “Yeah, I know. He had a hamburger,” I tell her, laughing. She is being so weird.

  “Don’t you get it? He’s allergic to shellfish. It might have killed him if he would have kissed you,” she explains.

  I remember how into me Jack seemed to be and how we kept moving our lips closer and closer together until he jerked away unexpectedly. He must have remembered I had eaten lobster. Then the seniors busted in on us and he didn’t have time to explain.

  “That means he really did want to kiss me,” I say slowly.

  “You have to call him,” Mom says.

  I’m so happy I didn’t completely imagine Jack’s attraction to me, but I have some serious groveling to do when Jack pulls into town.

  *****

  Practically giddy, I head to Erika’s. When I came to the realization I hadn’t exactly been the world’s best daughter the last few years, I also realized I hadn’t been the world’s greatest friend. I’m really surprised Erika stuck around after all the times I blew her off.

  I knock firmly on her parent’s cherry red front door. I can’t even remember how long it’s been since I’ve been here, but I know this door used to be black. Things are really going to be different from now on. I will never be a social butterfly, but I don’t have to spend all my free time studying either. It’s okay to have some fun. I finally realize life is about balance.

  Erika cracks the door and peeks out, looking almost frightened. “I’m so sorry,” she whispers.

  “For what?” I ask, pushing the door open so I can step inside.

  “Busting you out to your mom,” she says, not meeting my eyes.

  “I never expected you to lie for me,” I tell her.

  “Really? You aren’t mad?” she asks, amazed.

  I shake my head no. “Actually, I’m here to apologize to you.”

  “Huh?” she asks, confused.

  “I haven’t been a very good friend the last few years and I’m really sorry. Things are going to be different from now on,” I promise her.

  “What happened to you?” she asks, bewildered.

  “How much time do you have?” I tell her, laughing.

  We settle ourselves at her kitchen table with a giant bowl of popcorn and glasses of soda. I proceed to tell her about my adventures with Jack and the seniors. I don’t leave out anything, no matter how humiliating.

  “Gosh, I’m sorry about your dad. Does that mean you won’t be going to Tennessee to college anymore?”

  “Definitely not. That’s never what I really wanted anyway, I was just doing that to be closer to Dad.”

  “Yes!” she exclaims, bumping the popcorn bowl and knocking it over after throwing her arms in the air.

  I laugh at her excitement and realize that the people who truly love me were right in front of my face the whole time. I mean, I know Dad loves me, but his head is so messed up right now I’m not even sure he knows what love is. Hopefully someday he can redeem himself, but that’s on him, not me.

  “So, are you going to get with Jack when he gets back?” she asks, silently clapping her hands together. “I always knew you two would be perfect for each other.”

  “I don’t know. Things ended so badly. He might not think I’m worth the trouble,” I say, thinking they should be pulling into town in a few hours if they keep the same schedule we all agreed to yesterday morning.

  “Are you kidding me? Jack McAllister has been in love with you since the beginning of time. I remember that day I caught him puking in the hallway before your Chemistry presentation. He tried to pass it off as a stomach bug, but I know he was so upset about the project being stolen that he couldn’t face you,” she reveals.

  “That’s why he didn’t show up?”

  “Yep, he went to the nurse then bolted for the rest of the day. He made me promise that I wouldn’t tell you,” she explains, looking guilty.

  “Leo stole the project. I’ve got to find a way to make it up to Jack. All this time I thought he was lying. I wish I could help his family somehow. He worries about them a lot. Jack is convinced Leo’s family is doing something illegal and Mom and I tried to find a link but we couldn’t,” I say, feeling defeated.

  “I think if you talk to him, he’ll forgive you,” Erika replies confidently. “I can’t stand Leo. I never could figure out what you saw in him.”

  “He’s the one who put me in the truck,” I tell her. Her eyes go wild. Then she smacks herself on the forehead with her palm.

  “I knew something was up when I couldn’t find you, and I saw Leo and Amelia strutting back to the party. I figured they’d hooked up or something. It was so crazy after Mimi went missing though that I didn’t really give it a second thought,” she confesses.

  “Who is this Mimi person?” I ask, wanting to know once and for all.

  Erika starts snorting with laughter until some soda comes out of her nose. I grab a dish towel and throw it to her.

  “Mimi isn’t a person, silly,” she says, still laughing. “She’s a boa constrictor.”

  “What?” I shout.

  “She was a rare purple snake Josie’s sister had as a pet. Everybody was freaking out when they realized she was loose,” she tells me, laughing even harder.

  “Did they find her?” I ask, feeling a pulling sensation at the back of my mind.

  “Nope, somebody stole her. Can you believe that? And I heard she was worth like forty-thousand dollars or something crazy like that. But the whole thing is supposed to be all hush-hush.”

  “Why?” I ask, getting excited because I now know it had to have been Mimi I saw in the cage in the back of the moving van. And that wiggling under Leo’s shirt at the pool I thought I imagined… that had to have been the snake. Leo stole Mimi. But why? That seems so random.

  “I guess she is some sort of exotic pet that isn’t allowed in the state or something,” she explains.

  With those words, everything starts clicking into place. The only link Mom’s families had was that they were all animal lovers. The pawn shop must have been used to fence the exotic animals. It was the perfect crime because the people Leo’s family stole from couldn’t report the thefts or they would be in trouble for ever having owned the animals.

  “Erika, I love you,” I shout to the top of my lungs. I hug her tight then disappear out the door.

  Chapter Eleven

  I immediately call Mom and tell her about the exotic animal crime ring Leo’s family has been running. She tells me to keep it quiet until she can verify with the other families that they had animals stolen and never reported the thefts for fear of getting into trouble.

  It almost kills me not to call Jack and tell him the news. I know how excited he is going to be. Hopefully once the truth comes out, everyone in Higginsville will realize Jack’s dad was telling the truth and maybe he’ll be able to open
his security business again.

  I busy myself around the house to keep from calling Jack. I’m sure I’m about the last person he wants to talk to right now anyway. The seniors have probably been driving him nuts all the way from Tennessee. I chuckle to myself as I rinse out an empty A-1 bottle for recycling. As I fill the bottle with water and then dump it out, it reminds me of Jack refilling his beer bottle at Josie’s party. It dawns on me that Jack was looking out for me the entire night. He tried to warn me about the punch and I can’t imagine what could have happened if he hadn’t gotten into the back of that truck with me. But I still wonder why he didn’t get me out or yell for help? Unless. He wanted to be with me. That’s why he didn’t tell me he had a cell phone. He didn’t want our trip to end.

  I nearly drop the bottle I’m so excited. I wasted so much time trying to get Leo to notice me when Jack was right in front of me the whole time. I hope that his feelings haven’t changed since yesterday. I’ve got to find him. I toss the wet bottle into the recycling bin and scramble around for my keys.

  A few seconds later, I’m screeching out of my driveway and making my way toward Jack’s house. There is no sign of the Primrose bus when I pull up so I’m hoping that means I haven’t already missed them. I sit there for a few minutes gripping the steering wheel, watching the clock and getting more nervous by the minute. Why aren’t they here yet? Ginger had every activity timed to the minute.

  What if Arnie had a really bad episode? He never got that bad in front of Jack and me, but I think Jack was a good distraction for him. I wring my hands for a few minutes before it dawns on me that Jack doesn’t live here anymore. This is the house my mom sold for him. I slap my forehead in realization.

  Crap. I have no idea where Jack lives now and no phone to call anyone to find out.

  I start the car and pull into Josie’s driveway then run up and bang on her door.

  “Hey, Laney,” she answers, looking miserable. “I’m grounded for life.”

  “That sucks, Josie. I’d like to stay and chat, but I’m pretty sure I know who stole Mimi, so right now I need you to tell me where Jack McAllister lives.”

  Josie wrinkles her forehead in confusion then blurts out the name of a condominium complex near the hospital. I bolt down the lawn and back into my car. I fly out of Josie’s driveway and head toward Jack’s.

  I have to pull over for an ambulance, slowing me down. I glance at the ambulance pulling into the emergency room entrance. I almost look away when I spot the Primrose van racing through the hospital parking lot. It jerks to a stop, parking haphazardly. Jack bolts out and races toward the emergency room doors with the seniors following in diminished states of hurriedness.

  My heart leaps trying to figure out who is missing from the group but I can’t process this as I try to cross three lanes of traffic to get over. No one is letting me in but I gun it through an extremely narrow opening and barrel into the hospital lot. It takes me forever to find a parking spot and I’m close to taking a ticket for parking in a handicapped spot when an SUV finally backs out. I zip into the spot, lock my doors, and sprint toward the hospital.

  What if I upset one of the seniors so much that I gave them a heart attack? All they wanted was to get to a Chicago Cubs game and I had to ruin that with all of my drama. I sprint toward the emergency entrance. Once inside, I glance around for any of the seniors but don’t see anyone I know. Out of breath, I approach the checkin desk.

  “Can I help you?” a nurse dressed in Scooby-Doo scrubs asks without even looking up.

  “I’m looking for a friend who came in here,” I tell her, soon realizing I don’t even know who got hurt. “Well, I don’t know exactly who is hurt but it is a group of senior citizens with a really handsome seventeen-year-old,” I state, my cheeks warming.

  “What’s the patient’s name?” she asks, sounding impatient.

  “I’m not sure. They were just in here. A group of old people with a freakishly good-looking guy with brown curly hair wearing a hideous track suit.” I reiterate. The nurse hasn’t even looked up at me yet so she probably didn’t notice Jack or the seniors.

  “You think I’m freakishly good looking?” a familiar voice says from behind me. I get a tingly feeling in my stomach as I turn slowly around.

  When I see him, I wonder how I didn’t see him like this years ago. It’s like he is outlined in beams of light. My heart starts pounding like crazy. I can’t gauge his mood. He doesn’t look mad but he isn’t smiling either.

  “You think I’m freakishly good-looking?” he repeats.

  My eyes fall take in his tousled, out-of-control curls and his kind eyes. I nod emphatically.

  “What about Leo?”

  I shake my head no with a vengeance. I don’t bother blurting out what Leo and his family have been up to because there is plenty of time to get into that later. I don’t even ask him why he never told me he had a phone because I already know the only reason he didn’t tell me was because he was afraid I might use it to get away from him.

  “I have one more question for you,” he says, moving closer to me.

  I can’t read him at all and my pulse is quickening like crazy wondering if he is going to tell me to beat it in front of this snotty nurse and a waiting room full of hurt people.

  I nod, waiting for his last question.

  “Have you eaten any shellfish today?” he asks, a grin unfolding across his adorable face.

  I shake my head no and throw myself into his arms. He lowers his lips down on top of mine and they are a perfect fit. That Mentos explosion fizzes inside my head as Jack squeezes me tight and kisses me urgently. I hear applause but I don’t stop kissing Jack to find out where it is coming from. Eventually, Jack pulls away and gazes into my eyes. I feel sort of like I did after drinking all that punch, but this time I know it is Jack having that effect on me.

  “I’m in love with you, Dimples,” Jack confesses, holding onto me for dear life.

  “I’m in love with you too, Jack,” I admit, even though I guess I hadn’t realized it until that very moment.

  The waiting room erupts into more applause with the exception of the scowling nurse who moves on to the next patient without a word. Embarrassed at our display, I back out of Jack’s arms even though it’s the last thing I want to do.

  “I’m sorry about everything,” I blurt out. Jack responds by putting one of his fingers against my lips.

  “You have nothing to be sorry about,” he replies, not taking his eyes off me.

  “You didn’t take me out of that truck because you wanted to be with me, didn’t you?”

  “Guilty as charged. And I hid your cell phone battery and money so you couldn’t get away,” he confesses.

  I gasp, shocked. I hadn’t even thought about that stuff. “Jack McAllister, you are bad,” I tease. I throw my arms around his neck. He runs his hands through my hair then kisses me again.

  “The gang is going to be so happy to see you. It’s all they’ve talked about the whole way here,” Jack tells me.

  “Wait a minute. Why are you here? Did Arnie have an episode?” I panic.

  “Everything is fine,” Jack tells me, gripping my shoulders reassuringly.

  “But I saw everyone rushing in.”

  “It was Bernie. He got upset when we stopped by your house and you weren’t home,” Jack explains. “I think he was faking because he thought we were going to leave town without seeing you.”

  “Can I see him?” I ask, knowing I’ll feel better if I see Bernie with my own eyes.

  “Sure,” Jack says, lacing his fingers through mine and guiding me down a corridor into a bank of curtained off rooms. Jack holds his finger to his lips as we approach Bernie’s curtain. I can hear Ginger and Milly bickering over whether or not he should be wearing the hospital-issued booties. Kris tells them both to shut up and I stifle a giggle. As I peek at their feet under the curtain-Milly’s stilettos, Ginger’s sturdy Rockports, Kris’s weird looking Jesus sandals, and Dom’s Nikes-I
realize I could stand here listening to them all day.

  “Knock, knock,” Jack says, pulling the curtain back partly. I’m still hidden and so is Jack’s hand, entwined with mine. “The doctor says you are fit as a fiddle and we can be on our way,” Jack teases.

  “I feel like I could flatline any second,” Bernie tells Jack, even though we both heard him tell Trudy that he would kill for a Big Mac.

  “What if I took you to get a Big Mac?” I offer, peeking around the corner.

  “Laney,” the group yells. Even Milly looks excited to see me, especially when she notices me holding hands with Jack. Everyone is scrunched into a very small area. It helps that Ginger is sitting on Dom’s lap and Milly is on Kris’s. I grin knowing that my plan to get these four together worked.

  “Aren’t you too busy to take time out for a bunch of old folks?” Bernie grumbles, not meeting my eyes.

  “I’d never be too busy for you, Bernie,” I tell him. He jumps off the gurney and starts pulling his clothes on over his hospital gown.

  “Let’s get going then, time’s a wasting,” he says.

  We all laugh as we back out of the room to give him some privacy. It takes a bit of convincing to get the doctor to sign him out but we finally promise to keep Bernie off the bus for a few days. I know Mom won’t mind the seniors bunking with us for a while. Arnie agrees to settle for a Cardinals-Cubs game at Busch Stadium instead of Wrigley Field.