New Year at TAC

by Richard Pinkerton

Mav grinned. ‘Ok, you tasted a small amount of success when it came to Nicky… before you inevitably bombed out, I’ll give you that, but Jacqui still hates you.’ He winked.

  ‘Yeah well, Jacqui is yesterday’s news too.’

  ‘Wow, I never expected you to say anything quite so blasphemous as that. Who’s on the Ullman hitlist this time?’

  ‘Chelsea.’ Wal smiled and delivered Sheep a cautious glance.

  ‘Good choice,’ Mav acknowledged. ‘Looks like your tastes are improving Wal old pal. But I don’t know about those glasses though. They look kind of geeky. I thought you’d rather be blind than wear glasses?’

  ‘A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.’

  ‘Yeah, but there’s no need for annoying old clichés.’

  Sheep decided he’d been silent long enough and couldn’t resist getting in a dig at Wal. ‘It’s those glasses, Wal, they’re not just making you look like a geek, they really are turning you into one.’

  ‘Give the guy a break, Sheep,’ Holly said, with a wry smile. ‘He who lives in glasshouses, shouldn’t throw stones right?’

  ‘Please, no more!’ Mav said humorously. ‘Enough with the clichés.’

  ‘There’s a big difference between me and Wal wearing glasses,’ Sheep said. ‘When I wear them, I make them look good.’

  ‘Yeah, whatever, dude,’ Wal snorted.

  Mav put his arm around Holly and she nuzzled in close. Sheep had always found it amazing that a doll like her would go for a guy like Mav. He wasn’t particularly great looking, nor athletic. Sheep could only figure it was his personality she went for, but even then, it seemed a little dumbfounding.

  Jacqui arrived at the congregation point and wasn’t in a good mood. ‘Who does that Vanessa Danté think she is? I can’t believe her back in English, talking to Ms Cann as though she can do whatever she wants.’

  ‘You were impressed, when Rex did the same sort of thing last year,’ Mav said. Sheep knew he was deliberately trying to aggravate her. He sometimes liked to do that, just for a laugh.

  It got its intended reaction. Jacqui nearly exploded. ‘This is totally different! All she was doing was trying to impress everyone and make everyone think she’s a rebel.’

  Mav smirked. ‘Ah, so this has got nothing to do with you feeling threatened by her then?’

  Sheep could see another nuclear meltdown coming.

  ‘Now why would I feel threatened by her? Rex obviously doesn’t want her around. He won’t even look at the cow!’

  ‘He stopped Ms Cann from harassing her,’ Wal reminded her.

  Jacqui glared at him with the evillest expression ever. ‘You are such a butthead, Ullman! He probably just wanted the old hag to shut up and teach the class.’

  ‘Uh, uh. I saw it in his eyes. He didn’t like her laying a finger on her.’

  ‘Wal’s right.’ Sheep had noticed it too and just had to put in his opinion. ‘If you were sitting where I was, you would have noticed it. There was almost a psychotic look in his eye. I reckon I’d hate to be in the shoes of anyone who dared lay a finger on that girl. What Rex did to Surly in the toilets, would be like a blessing.’

  Mav chuckled. ‘Yeah, like holy water. A baptism even.’

  Jacqui rolled her eyes. ‘Oh, don’t give me that shit! You guys don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. Why the hell would he treat her the way he is - avoiding talking to her, if she really meant that much to him?’

  Nobody replied. They had no answers. Sheep certainly didn’t and wasn’t going to try to hazard a guess.

  ‘The girls a nut job!’ Jacqui continued. ‘I mean what the hell is she doing here? She talks her mother into coming here to live, just so she can be near Rex? Then she tracks him down late at night and follows him to Mandy’s place?’

  ‘It may have just been a coincidence that she ran into them there,’ Holly said.

  ‘Are you really that gullible, Hol?’ Jacqui rolled her eyes. ‘Don’t you think that’s way too much of a coincidence? She just happens to run into them outside Mandy’s place around midnight? What we have here is a certifiable sociopath, that’s what we have and its probably why Rex dumped her.’

  Suddenly everyone fell silent. At first Sheep didn’t understand why, but then he followed the gaze of his friends and saw Vanessa standing just off to the right. It seemed she had overheard Jacqui’s last few comments.

  Jacqui blushed. Then her face quickly turned defiant. ‘Oh, so now your stalking us, are you? Hiding behind trees, listening to us, waiting for the perfect moment to pounce. You make me sick!’

  Vanessa stepped up to join them. She showed no signs of being hurt or angry. In fact, she emanated one of her scintillating smiles. ‘So sweet of you Jacqui, you really know how to make a girl feel welcome.’

  ‘Why don’t you just go back to where you came from?’

  ‘Oh, you mean the shadows? Watching and waiting for unfortunate hunky guys to come wandering by so I can leap out and sink my fangs into them? Mmmmm, tempting, but I think I’ll pass.’ She smiled sweetly.

  Jacqui looked like she was ready to slap her. ‘Actually, I mean the town you came from!’

  ‘Mmmmmm, nuh uh, I think I’ll hang around thanks.’

  ‘Why don’t you just tell us the truth, you witch? You came here for Rex. You deliberately tracked him down and now you want to sink your claws into him. Be honest!’

  Vanessa continued to remain cool. Sheep was impressed at her self-control. She seemed to be letting all Jacqui’s nasty words just wash straight off her back. Maybe she was used to bitterness from jealous girls who saw her as a threat. Jacqui certainly fell into that category, even if she didn’t want to admit it. ‘Ok, I admit it. I went out looking for Rex that night. I went by his house and actually waited outside. I was nervous. I wasn’t sure how he’d react after not having seen me for so long. I was going to go home and return in the morning, but then he came out with Mandy. I really wanted to talk to him, so I followed them. Once I got there, I thought he might be about to go inside with her and I couldn’t bear waiting any longer, so I stepped out and said “hi”. If that makes me a sociopath, then I guess I am one. Hey guys, Hi, I’m Vanessa, the sociopath! Hope you don’t mind me turning up here, trying to steal your boyfriends.’

  Sheep rubbed his chin thoughtfully. That was the first time she’d ever told them anything without buttering it up a little with humour.

  Vanessa continued to eye Jacqui, as if waiting for a response. She finally got one. ‘Why are you even bothering? Rex obviously doesn’t want you back. You’re wasting your time. Do you really think you can compete with the rest of us who are Rex’s valued friends?’

  ‘You’ve got me all wrong,’ Vanessa spoke seriously again. ‘Like I said before, I’m not here to try and steal Rex from you. I just want to be back in his life again…’

  ‘He doesn’t want you!’

  ‘Maybe, but you don’t know that for sure.’

  ‘He won’t even talk to you!’

  ‘He just needs more time to get used to me being around again.’

  ‘Well you must have done something really bad for him to be treating you like this!’

  Vanessa didn’t reply. It seemed her sense of humour had completely gone now. Jacqui had touched a nerve.

  ‘So, what did you do? I can guess. You two-timed him, didn’t you? You started going around with another guy.’

  Vanessa recoiled. ‘Oh my God, No! I would never do that! I mean, pleeeease, would you start seeing another guy if you had Rex? Why would you ever want to? No mere mortal guy could ever take his place.’ The horrified expression on her face and the exasperated tone of her voice seemed very convincing to Sheep, but if it wasn’t that, what could have possibly caused Rex to turn against her? Now he was really intrigued and itched to hear more.

  Jacqui huffed. ‘Well what did you do then?’

  Vanessa paused for a moment before speaking again. ‘I moved away.’

  ‘Why?’

/>   ‘I had no choice. My mother had to move for training for her career.’

  Jacqui was silent for a few seconds and then her face turned sour. ‘That’s bull! There must be more to it than that. You and Rex wouldn’t be having these problems if it were just a simple matter of you having to move out of town. You would have kept in contact. You would have remained friends. You betrayed him in some way… you broke his heart or something.’

  Vanessa paused for a moment, let out a deep breath of air and then to their surprise, smiled. ‘Wow, you certainly are full of conspiracy theories, aren’t you? Hey, you might be interested… You know the great cruise liner the Titanic? It wasn’t actually an iceberg that sank it; a bomb was planted on board, which blasted a hole in its side. Oh, and by the way, the Prime Minister of New Zealand? An alien. But the government won’t admit it, because they don’t want us to know that the country’s being run by…’

  An angry Jacqui grabbed her by the shirt and shook her. ‘You are really starting to piss me off!’

  Vanessa shoved her away, but no scowl of any kind came over her lovely face. ‘You need to keep that temper of yours in check, darling Jacqui,’ Vanessa said calmly. ‘It could get you into a lot of trouble.’

  Jacqui reached out and gave her a vicious shove, sending her staggering back a few steps. ‘You wanna talk about trouble? I’ll give you…’

  ‘That’s enough!’ Rex stepped in between them. For a moment, both girls blinked. Even Sheep was bamboozled. He had come out of nowhere, like Superman. Sheep expected him to scold both girls, but his glare was transfixed on Jacqui, seemingly ignoring Vanessa completely. ‘Don’t you ever touch her again!’

  Sheep felt a chill run down his spine.

  Jacqui’s face paled and she stared agape at him for a few seconds. He continued to glare at her as if she’d just committed an unpardonable sin. Sheep could understand if it was a guy that had shoved Vanessa in that manner, but a girl… and one of his friends at that.

  Jacqui backed right down. ‘I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.’ Worried lines spread over her face. Sheep could imagine the horror she was feeling. Jacqui couldn’t handle Rex thinking badly of her.

  Rex’s glare remained. Sheep had to admit, he could be very scary sometimes. He’d never believed Rex would ever lay a finger on a girl, but now he was beginning to wonder. He marvelled that Vanessa could have such an effect on a guy like him. It seemed a contradiction that Rex could be so resistant to her, but at the same time be so very protective of her. Then again, Sheep figured, if he had been close to a girl like her, he would be too.

  ‘Please,’ Jacqui said. ‘I got carried away, that’s all.’ She turned her eyes around to Vanessa who stood there gazing at Rex as if he had just protected her from serious harm. ‘I’m sorry, Vanessa. I am. I hope you’ll accept my apology.’

  Rex relaxed and took a step to the side so he could see both girls now.

  Vanessa’s eyes flickered to Jacqui and she spoke calmly and sweetly. ‘It’s ok. No hard feelings.’ She flashed a glorious smile at Rex, but he didn’t smile back.

  ‘I better go,’ he said. ‘I’ve gotta go see Mr Harris.’

  It seemed to Sheep like an excuse to get out of an uncomfortable situation and probably a reason not to have to talk to Vanessa.

  ‘Oh, please stay,’ Vanessa pleaded. ‘Just for a few minutes?’

  ‘Sorry. I don’t have a few minutes. Class starts in five.’

  Sheep knew it was definitely an excuse now. Rex never worried about turning up to class on time.

  Vanessa’s face dropped, but she said nothing more as Rex strode away.

  CHAPTER 11:

  Laying Down a Challenge