Jealousy at TAC

by Richard Pinkerton

Rex rifled through his locker, searching for his computer text book which he would need for the last class of the day. It was one of the few subjects he actually took seriously as he had never considered himself a computer whiz. ‘Damn. It’s gone.’

  ‘Don’t worry about it.’ Nadia stood beside him. ‘You’ll cope without it.’

  ‘I guess. Could have sworn I didn’t leave it anywhere else.’

  ‘Come on. We’ve only got about fifteen minutes of the lunch break left. I still haven’t got you somewhere private yet.’

  As much as Rex would have loved to have spent time with Nadia alone somewhere, it was Vanessa he really wanted to see. He needed to make sure everything was ok with her as he had sensed something wasn’t right. He figured that Nadia had something to do with it and if spending time with her half sister bothered her, he needed to know. The last thing he wanted to do was upset her in anyway. ‘Vanessa should be back by now.’

  Nadia turned his head to face her. ‘Forget about Vanessa.’

  ‘Sorry, Nadia. I can’t do that.’

  ‘Yes you can. For fifteen minutes. She can wait a little longer.’

  Rex smiled. ‘Is that really what you want? Us to make out somewhere and have me thinking about her the whole time?’

  Nadia’s eyes narrowed briefly, but then opened again. ‘You’re going to make this as hard for me as possible, aren’t you?’

  ‘I’m not trying to make anything hard for anybody.’

  ‘You know I want you and I know you want me, but I’m not the type who likes to share.’

  ‘Sorry, but I think you have the wrong idea.’

  ‘Do I?’

  ‘Yes. I think you are extremely hot, Nadia, but Vanessa is the one I love and I’ll never do anything to hurt her. The only reason I’m with you now is because I believed Vanessa was ok with it, but now I’m not sure that she really is.’

  ‘It doesn’t matter if she’s ok with it or not. You can do whatever you like. She does whatever she likes. Do you really think she cares about how you feel?’

  ‘She’s never done anything to hurt my feelings.’

  ‘It’s only because its girls she sees. Do you really think that if she was straight, she’d be loyal to you?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Then you’re naive.’

  Rex didn’t much like the tone in her voice, but tried to ignore it. ‘I know her better than you. You don’t give her enough credit.’

  ‘Are you going to come with me now or not?’

  ‘No. I’m not going anywhere with you at the moment, nor any other time for that matter’

  Nadia’s eyes narrowed and this time they stayed narrow. ‘You’re joking right? After what we shared on the beach, you’re telling me you no longer want any more of that?’

  ‘Not if it hurts Vanessa, no.’

  ‘I don’t believe this! You’re just going to cast me aside like last week’s rubbish?’

  ‘It’s not like that. It just seems to me that you have no concern for anyone but yourself. Do you even care about your own sister’s feelings?’

  ‘She’s only my half sister! It’s not like we’re full blooded sisters, anyway, whatever happened to compersion?’

  Rex could feel his own emotions starting to well up now. She had seemed so sweet to him before, but now he could see her for the conniving manipulator she really was and he didn’t like what he saw. ‘You underestimate just how much I care about Vanessa. Perhaps it’s partially my fault for fooling around with you, but nevertheless… anyone who would deliberately try to hurt her is someone I won’t tolerate. I’ll protect her anyway I can. You’d better think carefully about what you’re doing, Nadia.’

  Nadia’s eyes widened. Then she scowled. ‘I can’t believe you! I mean, God, she’s mentally screwed up. She’s ill. She thinks she’s gay, but yet she loves you? Doesn’t that bother you at all? Wouldn’t you rather have someone who has it together in the head?’

  Rex did his best to hold back his ire. ‘Vanessa is the most incredible person I’ve ever met in my entire life! I love her for who she is. I’d quit now, while you’re ahead Nadia. Right now you don’t strike me as the type of person I want anything to do with at all.’

  ‘Fine!’ Nadia snapped. ‘You’re throwing away the best thing that will ever happen to you!’

  ‘I don’t think so. I’m keeping hold of the best thing that ever happened to me. That’s Vanessa.’

  ‘Huh! We’ll see just how long she’s willing to keep hold of you.’

  Rex hesitated. ‘What do you mean by that?’

  ‘You think she’s really as loyal to you as you think? Well we’ll see. Maybe when she dumps your ass, you’ll think differently.’

  ‘Maybe I will, but I can assure you, I won’t be coming to you for a shoulder to cry on.’

  Nadia huffed. ‘You’re gonna be sorry!’ She turned and marched out of the locker bay.

  Rex sighed and collected some more of his gear. The bell would ring soon, so he headed out to see if he could find Vanessa.

  He hadn’t gone far when Ms Grainger intercepted him. ‘Rex. We need to talk privately for a second.’ Her hair was a mess and she breathed heavily. ‘Over here.’ She pointed to one of the prefab classes rooms. The door was open and the room was empty, so they entered. She turned to face him. ‘My husband is being an ass. In fact, it’s worse than that; he’s going way too far.’ She flinched. ‘He’s reported us to the school principal. But it’s not just that, he’s lying about what happened and he’s insisting that I lie too, but what he’s asking will have you up on serious charges.’

  Rex stared. ‘What?’

  ‘He’s telling them that you raped me and he expects me to back him up.’

  ‘Drokk!’ Rex flinched.

  ‘Of course I’m refusing to go along with it. I would never lie about something like that. But If I don’t, I’m going to lose my job.’

  ‘Oh no.’

  ‘Rex, honestly, I won’t tell them you attacked me. I’ll insist that it was consensual and that I was the instigator, but if I lose my job, I’ll never get another teaching job every again. What am I going to do?’

  ‘I can’t believe your husband would put you through all this.’

  ‘He has a vendetta against you and he’s willing to use me to do it. I... I guess I can’t blame him in one way. He’s angry at me too, so maybe he no longer cares. Our marriage is over. It won’t survive this.’

  ‘I’m so sorry.’

  ‘It’s not your fault. I was dishonest with you and lured you into it. I’m more worried about you than myself really. You may get expelled because of this.’

  Rex sighed and stepped over to the window of the classroom. ‘There must be a way to fix this.’

  ‘I don’t see how there can be any way.’

  ‘There’s always a way. We just have to think one up.’

  ‘Mr Luxton is looking for you. He wants both of us at the office, but I don’t think I can face him over this.’

  Rex turned around and faced her. ‘We deny it.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘We tell him that your husband is lying. It’s his word against ours. He has a vendetta against me, right?’

  ‘Yes, but we have to be able to do more than just deny it. We need alibis, which we don’t have.’

  Rex pondered on the matter. It seemed hopeless to try to come up with a plan at such short notice. ‘I think I need to get out of here for a bit.’

  ‘Where will you go?’

  ‘I don’t know, but I need to think.’

  The bell rang.

  Rex sighed. ‘Ok, I’ll go now, while the big rush to class is on.’

  ‘Good idea. I think I’ll go too. I can’t face this today. We can’t be seen together though. I’ll leave via the side entrance.’

  Rex headed out to join the crowds of students heading to class. The whole situation perplexed him and it seemed there was no obvious solution to the problem. He arrived in view of the front entrance and
was just in time to see Vanessa dash out the gates. He paused for a moment, wondering where she was going in such a hurry. She had her bag too. He quickened his pace, exited the grounds and peered down the road. He could see her down the end of the road and she turned a corner and disappeared from sight. Rex considered running after her, but decided there was no hurry. She’d be heading home. He pulled his cell phone from his bag intending on calling her, but then discovered to his disgust it had run out of power. There was no other option. He would meet up with her at her house.

  He walked briskly down the hill, hoping that everything was ok. Ten minutes later he arrived on the doorstep of her house and knocked. It took quite a while before someone answered it. Grace appeared, her hair dripping wet, dressed only in a towel. Her eyes lit up when she saw him. ‘Rex! Come on in. What are you doing out of school?’

  ‘Is Vanessa here?’

  ‘No, she should be at school.’

  ‘I saw her leave the grounds. She was in a hurry.’

  ‘That’s strange. Come in for a bit. Maybe she’s not far away.’

  Rex decided it a reasonable course of action, so entered the house.

  ‘Excuse me,’ Grace said. ‘I was just in the shower. I took the day off work, so I could take her to the modelling studio. Can I get you a drink?’

  ‘No, it’s ok, I’ll just wait in here.’ He pointed to the lounge. ‘Mind if I use the phone? I’ll call her on her cell.’

  ‘Sure. I’ll just finish my shower.’ She hesitated for a moment and then walked back down the corridor.

  Rex entered the lounge and picked up the phone, which sat on a side table. He rang her number, only to have it go to her voice mail. ‘Hey, Ness, it’s Rex. I’m at your mother’s place. Are you ok? I see you leaving the grounds. My phone is out of juice, so I couldn’t text. Hope you’re ok.’ With that he hung up, wandered over to the couch and sat down. He wondered where she had gone. Perhaps she was going somewhere else not home, or perhaps she stopped in at a shop or some other location on the way.

  Grace re-entered the room. She still only wore the towel and stood next to the door. ‘You know... I was just thinking something...’ She let the towel fall to the floor. Rex’s jaw dropped as she stood before him in all her glory. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from her finally sculptured body. She moved towards him, sensuously, and sat down beside him on the couch. She placed her hand on his shoulder. ‘Seeing as Vanessa’s not here yet...’

  Rex came to his senses and tore his eyes away from her body. ‘No.’ He shuffled aside. ‘Are you crazy? Vanessa may be here any minute.’

  ‘She won’t mind.’

  ‘I can’t do that. Not with her own mother.’

  ‘I’m telling you, she’ll be ok.’

  ‘Well I’m not.’ Rex rose to his feet. ‘Drokk, Grace, it’s so very tempting, it really is. You don’t know how tempting it is, but it’s a definite no.’

  Grace sighed and leaned back in the chair. She smiled. ‘Vanessa is right. You are very dedicated to her. She is very lucky.’

  ‘I’m gonna go. I’m gonna see if I can find her. I think something’s wrong.’

  ‘Really? You think so?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘Maybe… She was very quiet today when I took her into the city. I think there are some things bothering her.’

  ‘Has she said anything to you?’

  ‘Only that she’s been upset with Nadia making the moves on you.’

  Rex flinched. ‘I didn’t know.’

  ‘She doesn’t trust her at all.’

  ‘I should have seen it. Damn, I’m slipping.’

  ‘It’s not so easy with Vanessa. She hides pain well. Nadia is up to no good, Rex, at least that’s what Vanessa tells me.’

  ‘Yeah. I can understand that. Nadia showed her true colours today. Any way...’ He continued to fight the urge to ogle Grace’s naked body. ‘I really have to go. Otherwise... otherwise I might not be able to.’ He cast her a smile, turned and left the house.

  He stepped outside, breathed a sigh of relief and then debated where to search for Vanessa first. He figured she might have gone to the Domain or the bushes alongside the domain, so headed that way. He hadn’t gone far when he heard the sudden whoop of a police car siren from behind. He turned to see it pull up alongside of him. Rex’s favourite police officer climbed out, Constable Gloria Melrose. She didn’t smile like she normally did, in fact she looked grim.

  ‘Hey Gloria. What’s new?’

  ‘Rex. I’m afraid some serious allegations have been made about you and I need you to come to the police station for questioning.’

  Rex sighed. ‘It’s that damn Ed Sanders right? Telling lies about me?’

  She frowned. ‘Who? No, I’ve never heard of the guy. The complainant is a teenage girl by the name of Nadia Harrison. She has just accused you of sexually assaulting her in New Plymouth on Saturday afternoon.’

  CHAPTER 21:

  Worst Possible Timing