by I N Foggarty
“Yes really,” Raymond replied angrily. “I could have gotten away with him not showing on Monday, but Morgan went and made herself a celebrity, pulling his star up with her own. She’s a total psycho, so people will be glad if she doesn’t turn up, but they will expect Matt to be there. And at this moment in time, he’s not going and I’m gonna look like a total loser.”
Dylan laughed internally when a grim look spread across the boy's face. Raymond had completely lost it. Had Anna actually broken him two days prior? If Matt didn’t show up to his party it would most likely go completely unnoticed and soon be forgotten about, and above all do nothing to harm the social standing of either. Matt was too well-liked to be shunned for not showing up to one party and Raymond, in reality, not popular enough for one person’s non-appearance to be considered scandalous enough to drop him to the bottom rung of the proverbial ladder.
Dylan scratched his chin. “I suppose that is a bit of a bummer. Do you have a solution?”
“You’re his best friend. Couldn’t you talk him into going?”
“I don’t know,” Dylan admitted casually as he saw the hope that had lit up behind Raymond’s eyes flicker slightly. “It could be difficult. Very difficult. Not to mention the risk. There is a psycho involved after all.”
“Fine. I bite. What’s it going to cost me, Dylan?”
Much better, Dylan thought. He had started to ponder whether or not Raymond would ever catch on. Now it was simply a case of seeing how much he could haggle out of him. “What’ve you got?” he replied, trying to keep the eagerness from his tone.
“I’ve got a couple of crates of beer that my dad won’t miss that I’m gonna split with the right people. I can give you four bottles.”
“Hmmm.” What a tight-ass. Matt is so worth more than four bottles of beer to you. “Four beers aren’t really worth suffering death by Anna.”
Dylan could hear Raymond sigh as the boy pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.
“Fine,” Raymond said. He scrolled through a list on his phone and then held it out. “This is my cousin Jessica.”
Dylan took the device and looked at the picture carefully. Wow, she was hot. With long, poufy blonde hair and well-developed breasts, she would have given the best-looking girls in the school a run for their money. Not only that but in the picture, she wore a white t-shirt that had been soaked.
“If you get Matt to my party you can have the beer and I’ll introduce you. She’s definitely not a first timer and should be an easy catch for you. I’ll even throw in an empty room if you get that far. Just make sure you bring your own skins.”
Much better! In fact, he would have settled for just the introduction to Jessica. “Sold,” Dylan replied zealously.
Raymond smiled, took his phone back and pocketed it. “See both you and Matt on Friday.”
“Be seeing you and Jessica on Friday night.”
They gave each other a final smirk and Dylan reluctantly shook Raymond’s clammy palm before the other boy made his way down the hallway. When finally out of site Dylan clenched his fist and pumped the air “Yes!” he exclaimed under his breath. As his hand grasped the handle to re-enter his kingdom a voice called out to him from down the hallway.
“Dylan!” For a moment he thought Raymond had returned. However, his brain quickly rejected it as the voice could only belong to one person.
“Wow,” he exclaimed in mock amazement, turning to face the newcomer. “Raymond evolved into a more slender, feminine form.”
“I don’t have time for your jokes, Dylan.”
“It’s a pleasure to see you too, Nat. Finished licking yet?”
The girl pursed her lips and puffed out her cheeks. She looked like she was about to blow his head off. Then they deflated again. This could be interesting Dylan mused. Normally the girl didn’t need much of an excuse to yell at him.
“I need your help, Dylan,” Natalie then said slowly.
Now that was interesting. Natalie never asked him for help. Especially not in a tone that smacked of one hundred percent genuine beseechment. The girl prided herself on being able to solve her own problems. Accepting aid from people, especially him, was beneath her. Only Anna resided lower on that list. Nowhere in this week’s carefully thought out scenarios had Natalie come to him to ask for assistance. He would have to play this one blind. “Perhaps I should start charging people for my services.”
“Cut the crap, Dylan,” Natalie said flatly. “I know you just robbed Raymond blind for asking you to get Matt to go to his party.”
Dylan clutched at his chest. “I don’t know whether I should be offended or not.”
“I told you to cut the crap,” she repeated, a glimmer of lunchtime’s fire burning behind her eyes. It appeared her temper wasn’t quite in check yet. He would have to be careful or Raymond might end up introducing Jessica to a plastic bag of body parts.
“What can I help you with?”
“Anna.”
Bitter as a winter wind the response came and Dylan could feel the malice behind it. “What about Anna? I mean she’s slightly taller than you. Her hairs a well cooler colour than yours is. And if I’m any judge I’d say her jugs are ever so slightly larger than yours are. Not that that’s saying much mind.”
The look he received was one of pure venom. “I don’t care how big her…JUGS ARE!” Natalie yelled, throwing her arms into the air.
“Then I guess there’s only one other thing she has that you might care about.”
The girl grunted heavily and he watched her bright chocolate eyes become sullen… broody “Fine. I want Matt.”
“You’ve wanted Matt since before they started going out. Why the sudden urge to do something about it?”
“Because she took something from me and so now I’m returning the favour.”
Dylan took a step backwards as he watched Natalie’s face twist and contort around the words. This wasn’t her normal dislike of Anna showing through, no. This was something completely new entirely. He cocked his head slightly, intrigue grasping at him. “This newfound hatred wouldn’t have something to do with this Rick guy would it?” Though a shot in the dark he had no other new information to work with. Natalie’s lips thinned slightly and he knew he had struck gold. “So who is he?”
“None of your business.” The reply came, swift and biting yet succeeded in only fuelling his curiosity. What on earth had happened in Natalie’s life that he, and if Anna were to be believed, everyone else bar Matt, had missed. “Now are you going to help me take that bitch down or not?”
“Tell me what happened with Rick and I’m in.”
“No.”
The coldness in the girl's tone would have given Anna a run for her money and sent a shiver down Dylan’s spine. Perhaps the pair weren’t so different after all. A brief search of the girls chocolate eyes told Dylan that he would have to dig for information on the mysterious Rick elsewhere. Still, her proposition left him with an interesting dilemma. With Natalie on-side, he stood a much better chance of breaking Matt and Anna up. However, in the past, he had devoted many hours of thought to the matter and had always come to the conclusion that regardless of the outcome he could lose his best friend should his hand be detected. In the end, he decided to play it safe. “Why should I help you then?”
Natalie locked eyes with him. “Because you hate Anna almost as much as I do and if we get rid of her things go back to the way they were three years ago. The way they should be.”
Except for this time, you get to be all cosy, cosy with Matt, Dylan said to himself, suppressing the urge to verbalise the thought. Even though she proposed the gambit he was not entirely convinced of her conviction. Natalie had a bad habit of getting cold feet and running from the room seconds before the psycho killer started the bloodbath and he had no desire to be left on his own should Anna begin a rampage. All it could take were a few well-placed words regarding this Rick to spook Natalie into… A thought occurred to him and he smirked internally.
“So when you steal her boyfriend, what’s to stop Anna from spilling the beans on your little secret?” He wondered if Natalie had even considered that particular eventuality.
“Because I’m not going to steal him,” Natalie replied simply. “I’m just going to pick up the pieces after they break up.”
Dylan smiled at her. “I’ll consider it. In the meantime why don’t we go find out what happened after your little altercation at lunch? With any luck, the vase will already have broken.”
“Not likely,” Natalie replied as she scowled.
“I’ll get my stuff then. We’d better hurry or Matt’ll have left the rink before we get there.”
The girl nodded at him and Dylan deftly nipped back into the classroom to pack up his stuff. A hard look from Kelly told him that all had not gone well for the Shadow Warriors during his absence. He’d have to make it up to them at a later date. Roughly shoving his laptop inside its case he hastily said his goodbyes and returned to the waiting girl. A quick check of his watch told him that if they hurried they should make it to the rink just before the team started boarding the bus.
As the pair nipped out the nearest exit and headed for the car park, Dylan looked up at the sky. The day’s clouds had turned dark grey verging on black. He might not have known where this evening would take him, but one thing was certain. A thunderstorm brewed in those clouds and it wouldn’t be long before it hit.
Beware of geeks bearing gifts
A few blocks away from Woodlake Academy, the local ice arena sat amidst a sea of empty tarmac. Home to many of the local high school teams, including the Woodlake Wolves, the rink saw its fair share of visitors over the course of the week. At present, the only vehicles that filled the parking lot belonged to the staff, with the exception of the Woodlake school minibus.
Inside the air was cool and the stands deserted. However, the lack of an audience served only to amplify the sound of skates cutting their way across the recently trashed ice surface. The clamour of sticks clattering and scraping also prevalent, while every so often a resounding thud sounded from the barrier when one player tried their best to crush another.
Matt Taylor glided along the ice, puck in front of him. Expertly his stick moved from side to side, guiding the small black disk across the choppy surface. Knocking it to his right he swivelled his body left and drew his stick back in one fluid motion. With all the force he could muster he swung the stick forward… crash.
The next thing Matt knew he lay face down on the frozen expanse. Somewhere above the familiar horn that normally indicated the end of period sounded. Not for the first time that evening could he feel the chill of an icy fragment melting on his face. Grunting, he picked himself up.
“Ok times up folks,” a voice shouted from somewhere to his right. “Everyone hit the showers. If you’re taking the bus back then be outside in twenty.”
For the first time in memory, Matt was glad practice had ended. Clutching his left side he used his stick to propel himself across the surface and towards the nearest exit.
“Taylor, over here.”
Great, Matt thought as he reached the gap in the barrier and had to do a U-turn. Grimacing he skated over to where the coach stood in one of the dugouts.
“What’s the matter son?” the coach asked in a concerned tone when Matt’s skates touched the bottom of the barrier between them. “Your heads so far out the game you might as well be playing Frisbee with that puck.”
“Sorry, Coach,” Matt instinctively apologised, if not convincingly.
“If I didn’t know better I’d say you didn’t wanna be out there on that ice tonight.”
“I just had a bad one today. I’ll do better tomorrow.”
The coach studied him. “Ahh, we all have bad days once in a while.” He considered Matt for a long moment causing the boy to feel awkward. “You got a lot of potential, Kid, you know that? Your grades are good you’re likeable. I mean, Kid, you could be looking at scholarships if you work a little more at it…I’m talking full ride. I got connections with the Timber Wolves, Taylor. ”
Looking down at his skates, Matt nodded. The coach continued, “an old buddy of mine is coming to the game Sunday… not scouting... not officially, but he’s gonna be there so I need you to get your A-game on you got it?”
“I got it, Coach,” Matt replied.
The Coach’s tone softened. “Go home Matt, take the night off. Then come back tomorrow and give it hell.”
“Thanks, Coach.” As he skated across to the other side the coach called out to him once more.
“If that’s bruised don’t forget to put some ice on it. Remember…”
“If ice caused it, ice cures it,” they said in unison.
“And don’t forget it,” the coach added.
By the time he got to the locker room, a quick shower was all he could afford; the coach having hoovered up five of his precious twenty minutes. Allowing the hot water to run down his back he looked at his side. It didn’t look that bad he thought, pressing a finger into it. A stab of pain shot through his ribs. Damn, Billy, he cursed as he allowed the water to soak the area. There had been no need for such force in a training session. Coach would have agreed. The man believed in hard-hitting, but not in training when the only people who could get hurt were your own teammates. That was just plain stupidity.
Out of the shower, Matt deliberately dried and dressed on the opposite side of the lockers from those who remained. Thankfully out of sight meant out of mind, none of them bothering to include him. In fact, they probably hadn’t noticed him. Good, he thought, furiously running a towel through his damp hair. The current topic of conversation being, of course, Raymond’s stupid party and he had no desire to fend off remarks regarding his refusal to attend.
His brown hair semi-dry his mind once more turned to Anna. He couldn’t recall a time when she had sounded so angry at him. Maybe he had been wrong he pondered as he pulled on his dark blue jeans. Perhaps he had always taken it for granted that Anna preferred to deal with her own problems, and that she didn’t need nor want him to get involved. Thinking back, he completely understood why she had been so angry. In an attempt to prevent her from blowing the lid on Natalie’s personal secrets he had completely ignored the fact that the other girl had said some horrible things to Anna first. Any outsider watching the exchange would probably have thought that Natalie, not Anna, was his girlfriend. How could he have been so stupid?
“Yo, Matt.” Apparently, his presence hadn’t gone unnoticed after all. “If you’re getting the bus you’d better get a move on.”
“Alright, be there in two seconds, Steve,” Matt grunted as he forced the last of his kit into his holdall. Pulling on a Woodlake Wolves hoodie, he shouldered the bag and winced, realising too late that he had just clattered it into his injured ribs. He made his way out of the building. Today really wasn’t his day.
Outside he couldn’t fail to notice that the sky above looked dark and foreboding. The rain prophesied by the weatherman on the bus radio would surely begin to fall within an hour; two at the most. Across the parking lot sat the minibus where it appeared everyone else was waiting for him. Quickening his pace Matt reached it and made for the steps when a hand took him by the shoulder.
“Not you, Taylor.” Matt turned to look at the coach in confusion. Was he going to have to walk home as punishment for having a bad night? That sounded almost like something Anna would do. “You’ve got another ride waiting for you.” The coach pointed to the other side of the vehicle.
Now completely confused, Matt made his way around to the other side. At least he would not have to walk home.
“Matt, over here!” His eyes darted from side to side before he eventually found the owner of the voice a few spaces further down the car park, Natalie. She wore a long-sleeved wine coloured top and black leggings with knee-high boots and, Matt suspected due to the threat of rain, a reddish brown leather jacket. He cocked his head. Had she been wearing that outfit earlier? H
is face a mix of surprise and confusion, he took a minute to register the bonnet of the black mustang she sat atop. Dylan, he realised when the car's horn sounding. What on earth were they doing here?
Moving to the open trunk to deposit his bags an echo of the anger he had felt towards the girl hours earlier stabbed at him. “Matt,” she said softly as she suddenly appeared beside him and took hold of his arm; he hadn’t even realised she’d left the hood. “I just want you to know like…I’m really sorry about what happened at lunch today. I don’t know what came over me.”
He turned to face her and saw immediately her sombre expression. Slowly he relaxed the iron-like grip he did not recall having on his holdall strap. Though she sounded sincere, it did not change the fact that she had been downright nasty to Anna. “It’s not me you need to apologise to.”
“I know.” She hung her head. “I’ll try and patch things up with Anna.”
“I’ll try and put in a good word for you, but only if you promise to try and get along with her.” He paused for a moment, then added. “And that goes for you too, Dylan.”
“Hey, what did I do?” Dylan protested through the open driver’s side window.
“You drove Nat here so you can share her fate,” Matt replied his face a picture of seriousness.
Natalie stared at him quizzically for a moment, then he started to laugh. The girl quickly followed suit, which caused Dylan to give his horn another blast. Clearly beginning to lose patience.
“Ok so if we’re all done sentencing Dylan for crimes he didn’t commit can we get a move on? There’s burgers out there with our names on them.”
At the mention of food Matt’s stomach made a loud rumbling sound. Due to ‘events’ out with his control, he had missed lunch and so hadn’t eaten anything since his midmorning snack. Unfortunately, though burgers sounded good, he had no cash to spare. “Sorry man I’m broke,” he said in dismay. Dylan didn’t need to know he would be buying Chinese food for himself and Anna on Friday night.
“Hey, no sweat I’ve got it all covered. Just hop in and let me do the driving and the buying.”