I wasn’t but I have no choice but to listen to his explanation anyway.
“It wasn’t very hard. I just told him I’d forgotten the key to the lock on my locker one day and asked if I could put some stuff in his. When he said sure and gave me his key, I made a copy of it so that I could plant the drugs later. What an idiot.”
You’re the idiot, I want to tell him, as I think about the knife on the ground that he completely missed.
“I’d like to see him wiggle his way out of this,” Christian continues. “And now Mandy is in a coma because of a drug overdose, and everyone thinks that Mandy bought them from him.”
I can’t believe how cold he is.
“The coma was just a surprise bonus,” he says. “Sure, I sold Mandy drugs— it was easy. Just get her drinking and she’ll try anything. But I didn’t know she was so clueless that she’d mix up a bunch of them together and put herself into a coma. Apparently it was her first time and my mistake was assuming she was a pro.”
Poor Mandy.
“I wanted her to get drugged up enough to where I could have her call your dad and say she was on drugs that Wesley had sold her. Instead she just passed the fuck out. But fine. Now people will just think Wesley caused her coma. And then people will hear about poor Chelsea too, but in the context of being just another of Wesley’s victims.”
So that’s his plan. To set Wesley up as the perpetrator of my demise. This guy sinks even lower than I thought anyone could sink.
“But first I’m going to take what was supposed to be mine. You.”
He takes a step towards me, and my heart pounds with fear. But then he pauses, looking around.
“Fuck. Where’s the other rope? I know I just had it. To tie up your other foot, so there’s no way you can get away from me. It was right here…”
This guy should be on one of those episodes of Stupid Criminals.
He walks backwards, re-tracing his steps, and finally turns around to look behind him and find the rope.
Here’s my opportunity.
It’s now or never.
I stand up, bringing the chair with me since I’m attached to it. Then I pull one of my wrists out of the rope. Luckily, it comes free.
Obviously this idiot didn’t go to boy scouts— or fishing camp— and he has no idea how to tie a good knot.
“What the—?” Christian begins, coming back over to where I am, without having found his other piece of rope.
I do a quick side lunge and grab the knife. I never thought my gymnastics classes and cheerleading moves would come in handy to this extent.
I slice the rope that was holding my ankle to the chair so that I’m free. Then I hold the knife up in front of Christian.
“Woah. Hey there,” Christian says, backing up from me. “Take it easy. We don’t want anyone to get hurt.”
“Of course we don’t,” I mock him, leveling the knife right in front of his face. “But I’m going to need you to switch places with me. All I’ll do is tie you up the way you were trying to tie me up, but I’ll do a much better job of it.”
“Chelsea, please…” he begins, but I slap the tape over his mouth.
“No more talking. You’ve done enough of that.”
He lunges at me and I instinctively lower the knife, making contact with the top of his thigh.
He makes a muffled scream underneath the tape and tears spring to his eyes.
“Oh you’re fine,” I tell him, sitting him down on the chair and wrapping his wrists with the same piece of rope that he had inexpertly used on me. “It’s just a surface wound.”
He moans, but I ignore him as I tie up one of his ankles.
What a drama queen.
“You really will be fine. Which is good because you need to go to jail now,” I tell him.
I bend down and scoop up something else I’ve had my eye on the whole time.
“Oh, and by the way, your other piece of rope is right over here where you left it. It’ll be perfect for me to use on your other ankle.”
Chapter 49 – Wesley
It’s been a long drive to the lake house with Coach Thompson. We haven’t said much, but my mind has been racing with fear and worry, and I know that it’s been the same way for him.
As we finally pull up to the cabin, he says, “There’s her car.”
It’s eerily quiet, with no one around that I can see.
“There’re no other parked cars,” I say. “That’s good. Doesn’t look like anyone else is here.”
But when we walk into the cabin calling Chelsea’s name, there’s no answer.
It’s so weird for me to be here again, in the place where Chelsea and I first started. I miss her and I really hope she’s okay. I have the horrible realization that if Christian is here and is out to get her, then he could have taken her anywhere— even down to the lake.
But then as if on instinct— or maybe memory— I look out the back window.
“Oh my god.”
Coach Thompson comes over and looks out as well.
“What the hell?”
“Looks like Chelsea is tying Christian to the chair and the table,” I narrate.
“This is not at all what I thought we would see when we got here.”
“Me neither,” I agree.
We both laugh.
But deep down in the pit of my stomach, I’m so relieved. I had no idea what we would see, and I have to admit I had feared the worst.
It looks like the worst could have happened, too, if not for the fact that Chelsea somehow saved herself before I arrived to save her.
We rush out the back door, with me yelling “Chels?” and Coach Thompson yelling “Sweetheart!”
“I see my knights in shining armor have arrived,” Chelsea jokes, as she finishes up with the rope.
“Holy shit,” I exclaim. “How did this happen? Is he bleeding?”
Christian moans and twists around, but he can’t say anything and can’t get up.
Chelsea says, “I told you it’s your turn to be quiet, Christian. Or I won’t call 911 to come help you with your little wound there.”
She gets on the phone and calls for help.
“How did you manage to get him tied up?” Coach Thompson asks.
“Oh, he helped me out by getting started with the ropes and the tape. I just turned it back around on him.”
“I’m so sorry, Chels,” I say, hugging her.
“It’s all right,” she says. “At least I know how to tie a good knot. Unlike Christian here.”
“Was it a Palomar knot?” I ask, unable to stop a grin from spreading across my face despite the situation.
“Yes. So I see you did retain something you learned during our fishing session,” she laughs.
It feels so good to see and touch her again, and to be laughing with her, although this circumstance was not at all how I would have preferred for our reunion to have happened.
“Really though, it’s not your fault,” Chelsea says. “It was all Christian’s doing.”
“But I was supposed to rescue you,” I protest. “And you went and rescued yourself.”
“It takes a strong woman to change a bad boy,” she says, with a grin.
“Is that what you think you’ve done?” I ask.
But I have to admit that she’s exactly right.
Chapter 50 – Chelsea
My dad swoops in and says, “Now it’s my turn for a hug.”
“Yeah, I see you brought Wesley to crash our fishing trip weekend.”
“Yes, once again I’m in the way up here,” Wesley jokes. “And overstaying my welcome.”
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” my dad says. “But really. It’s okay. I needed his help. I originally figured out Christian’s connection to all of this but he’s the one who realized that now you might be in danger, too.”
So that’s all it was. My dad needed Wesley’s help to determine what was going on and save me from Christian. I hope this means he won’t be mad when he finds
out the full truth.
“Wesley, I’m sorry I doubted you,” I tell him. “I know now everything that’s been going on. Christian told me as he was preparing for my demise.”
“You asshole,” Wesley says, approaching Christian and waving a fist in front of his face.
“Wesley, don’t,” I tell him. “On the phone, they said there would be an investigation. We don’t want to make it look like we’re the ones at fault here.”
“I wish I could bash his face in,” Wesley yells.
“Let’s concentrate on more pleasant things,” I say to him. “Dad, I have something to tell you.”
“I know what it is,” he replies. “And I approve.”
“You do?”
I squeal and hug him again.
“Now listen,” he says. “I can’t say I’m totally used to the idea just yet. It might take me some time. But what I’m saying is that I can’t exactly disapprove of the guy who helped me come rescue my daughter who didn’t end up needing rescuing, now can I?”
We laugh.
And then Dad says, “And I have something to tell you.”
“I know what it is,” I tell him. “And I approve.”
My dad says, “Really? I mean, I know you know that Ms. Hudson and I have been dating. But I don’t know if you know exactly how serious it is compared to…”
“Yes Dad, I know,” I say, groaning. “You don’t have to go into details. And please just don’t call her Ms. Hudson. She’s been Sherry to me since I was about thirteen years old and dropped the whole ‘miss’ thing that kids have to say.”
“All right, all right,” my dad says. “Sherry it is then. That’s an easy promise to make.”
“I might need some time to get used to it too,” I tell him. “But someone’s already helped me work through the acceptance part of it. And I really am happy for you guys.”
I wink at Wesley, and he smiles at me.
“And I’m happy for you guys too,” Dad says. “And as long as I get a father- daughter fishing session in this weekend, I’ll be fine. Because I don’t think I’m going to have to be a third wheel or anything…”
He’s peering towards the hill that slopes from the front of the lake house to the back, where, as if on cue, Taylor and her mom are coming to join us.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
I nod at Taylor, hesitantly, and she nods back with a confused look on her face as she looks from Christian to me and then back to Christian.
Wesley says, “I needed Taylor’s help with something. And I figured her mom might be interested in joining us for her own reasons.”
Taylor says, “And I’m left out again. Poor Taylor.”
“You’re never left out when you’re with me,” I tell her. “We’ll watch more scary movies. Wesley can’t handle them, so you’ll have to comfort me.”
“This looks like the scene of a horror movie right here,” Taylor says. “You’ll have to tell me all about it, especially how the spunky heroine made it out in the end.”
“I can definitely do that.”
As the ambulance and cop cars pull up, sirens ablaze, I pull the tape off of Christian’s mouth for the sake of appearance.
“Great,” Christian shouts. “I’m glad they’re here to arrest me finally. It’s better than having to sit around listening to this fucking love fest.”
Chapter 51 – Wesley
I’m alone with Chelsea in the spare bedroom. Finally.
But she’s still understandably distracted by everything that’s gone down today. She peeks out the blinds on the window to make sure the cop cars and ambulances are all gone.
“They’re still going to do a further investigation that may involve interviewing us again but they believe my version of events rather than Christian’s so that’s good,” she says, before coming to sit down beside me in the bed.
I wrap my arms around her.
“That is good,” I tell her. “I’m so sorry this happened to you.”
She sighs.
“I was so pumped full of adrenaline earlier that I didn’t even realize how scared I was. I can’t believe everything that happened.”
“You’ve been through a lot.” I massage her shoulders. “But I’m so glad you’re okay. And I’m glad we’re together again.”
Me too.
She shifts closer to me, and I kiss her.
Oh how I’ve missed those lips.
But then I pull away.
“I need to explain some things to you,” I tell her.
“It’s fine.” She puts a finger against my lips. “I know you weren’t with that hot algebra tutor. Taylor confessed that she set it all up. And I know you didn’t sell drugs. Christian confessed to that, and a bunch of other crazy shit too.”
“I know,” I tell her. “But there are still some things left unexplained. And I want you to know everything.”
“Okay,” she says. “But first there’s something I want you to know.”
“Shoot.”
I can’t help but worry what it is. My mind fears the worst. She got tired of waiting around on me and hooked up with some other guy, and now she’s pregnant…
“I came to watch you play Ultimate Frisbee,” she says, with a smile. “But you had already left. I just want that on the record.”
“Duly noted,” I laugh.
“I’d told Christian I was coming but might be late. He said you guys would be going to Caddyshack’s afterwards but when I got to the field, some guy named Stan said they’d decided on Buddy’s instead.”
“The plan had been Buddy’s all along,” I tell her. “But now everything makes a lot more sense. Christian clearly didn’t want us to hook back up.”
“That bastard,” she says. “Out of all the horrible things Christian tried to do to me, making me traipse across town to try to find you in that god-awful bar that you’d never even planned to go to would have been the worst.”
“Good thing you outsmarted him every step of the way.”
We laugh.
“And hey,” I tell her. “I left the game right after it ended because I was so bummed you hadn’t shown and I obviously hadn’t gotten the message that you were going to be late. I was being a fucking pouty emo asshole. I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine,” she says. “It all worked out in the end.”
“It did,” I tell her, and I can’t help but kiss her again. “But now I want to clear something up.”
“Shoot,” she says, just as I had a moment ago.
“At my old school, I was in trouble for selling drugs. You may have heard that through Taylor.”
“I did,” she says. And then she says, “And honestly? While we’re putting it all out there, I first saw it on my dad’s computer.”
“Oh.”
“I didn’t mean to snoop. It was just… there. And I couldn’t resist it. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I know how confusing everything must have been. It makes sense that you’d feel the need to seek out your own answers.”
She nods, not seeming entirely convinced that she’d done the right thing. But I’m sure she’ll get over it.
“Anyway, I want to tell you something I’ve never told anyone. Okay?”
“Okay,” she says, nestling her head back down onto my shoulder.
“I didn’t really sell drugs.”
She turns her head to look at me. “But the contract said…”
“I know. It says I admitted guilt. And I did. But I didn’t do it.”
She’s silent, so I continue.
“I took the fall for my sister.”
“What?”
She sits straight up again and stares at me.
“My sister has struggled with drug addiction for a long time now. And she’d been in some trouble with the law previously so she was facing serious time. She told me that she realized the magnitude of her situation and wanted to change. I agreed to say that I had done it if she would agree to go to rehab.”
“And
she went?” Chelsea asks, looking hopeful.
“She did. I paid for what the insurance didn’t cover. So I didn’t have money to pay to stay at Huningdale without my scholarship. And that’s another reason I’m glad your dad agreed to the deal where I could come play at Calton.”
“That was so nice of you.”
“Yeah, well. You know that time you wanted me to meet up with you and I never texted you back? And later you saw me at the Moon Howl Grill with a woman…”
“It was your sister,” she finishes the sentence for me.
“Yes. It was.”
“Oh my god, Wesley. I’m so sorry. I’m such an idiot.”
“No you’re not,” I tell her, rubbing her back. “You had no way to know. You’d never seen my sister before. And I wasn’t expecting her. She just showed up at practice saying she needed to talk to me right away. I didn’t want people to talk, so I just rushed off to the restaurant with her, and left in such a hurry that I left my phone in the locker room. So I didn’t get your message until much later that evening after we’d sorted everything out.”
“Of course. That makes sense,” Chelsea says. “So is she okay now?”
“Well, she told me she was dangerously close to using. She had successfully completed rehab and was living with our parents. As I’m sure you can believe, that wasn’t a great environment for her. She was stressed out by their fighting and she had been close to calling her old contacts so she could score. But instead she called me. When I didn’t answer— because I was in practice— she just drove to the campus to see me and tell me what was going on.”
“That was a really wise choice.”
“Yes, it was very smart of her. Rehab really helped her a lot. In fact, after we called them together and explained the situation, they hooked her up with a scholarship to transition to a sober living facility. They hadn’t realized how tenuous her living situation would be after she completed the program.”
“That’s awesome.”
“She’s doing really well so far. The sober living facility is a much more peaceful place for her than our parents’ house.”
“I’m so glad it’s working out. And I’m sorry I jumped the gun and thought you were…”
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