CHAPTER 27:
The Grand Showdown
‘Chelsea Brown, you are in deep trouble young lady! We should have guessed that you would be here all along.’ Her mother’s eyes were close to bursting. Her father looked equally as displeased, his brow furrowed.
Chelsea could only stand frozen, not knowing what to say.
Rex stepped forward to meet her parents and spoke, ‘Man, are we glad that you’re here. Mr and Mrs Brown, right?’
‘That’s right,’ her father said giving him a strange look. ‘Who on Earth are you?’
‘My name’s Rex Cassidy, a good friend of Chelsea’s. Mr Harris and I were just about to take her home now, right Mr Harris?’ He turned to their teacher with a matter of fact look on his face. Chelsea had no idea what was going on, but remained quiet. It seemed ridiculous to her that Rex could in any way rely on Mr Harris to help bail her out of trouble.
‘Err…’ Mr Harris hesitated only briefly. ‘Yes, that’s right. I’m Dave Harris, the Physical Education teacher here. We were just about to bring her home now.’
‘I’m afraid that there’s been a bit of trouble,’ Rex said. ‘Chelsea here has been having problems with this girl, Roberta Fleming, have you heard of her?’
Both Chelsea’s parents shook their heads and continued to wait on Rex for a further explanation.
‘Roberta Fleming,’ Mr Harris shook his head. ‘I have heard rumours and she’s a real problem all right.’
Chelsea had never heard of this Roberta Fleming before, but her parent’s anger turned to concern. ‘Roberta Fleming?’ Her mother asked, looking directly at Mr Harris. ‘Who is she?’
‘I’ll let Rex continue. He can give you more accurate details than what I can.’
Chelsea marvelled. Mr Harris was smooth; there were no doubts about that. A fast thinker, just like Rex.
‘Jacqui Donaldson rang us earlier,’ Her mother said, staring a Chelsea. ‘She mentioned that you had gone into New Plymouth with a young lady.’
‘That’s her,’ Rex said, before Chelsea could reply. ‘I was pretty worried when I found out what was happening. The thought of Chelsea being bullied into going to New Plymouth by that cow, had me totally racked off. Be damned if I was going to stand around and let it happen...’
‘Bullied?’ Her mother looked alarmed. ‘What do you mean by bullied? Has this young lady been bullying you Chelsea?’
Chelsea knew that there was no going back. She had to continue with this charade for Rex and Mr Harris’s sake. She hoped that Rex knew what he was doing. ‘Yes.’ She dared not say anymore.
‘I brought her back here, because she was too afraid to go back home,’ Rex said. ‘I brought her straight here to Mr Harris, because I didn’t want her getting in any further trouble, in case you guys came here looking for her.’
‘She was pretty shaken up,’ Mr Harris said. ‘It was a good thing that Rex was looking out for her. She could have been halfway between here and New Plymouth by now.’ He smiled and there was something in his eyes that made Chelsea think he was really enjoying this charade.
‘He’s not the only one who’s been concerned,’ her mother said. ‘As I said before, your friend Jacqui rang us telling us all about it Chelsea. All though she didn’t mention anything about you being coerced into going. To tell you the truth, after I spoke to your father, we began to think that maybe it was all just some kind of a trick to stop us from turning up here to look for you. Now it seems that it was the truth all along.’
‘She’s been worried sick,’ Rex continued. ‘It took us a lot to convince her that we should take her home. She was worried about what your reactions would be, especially considering that she was supposed to be staying in tonight.’
‘You ought to be proud of her,’ Mr Harris said. ‘She obviously respects you both a lot. The breaking of house rules seems to be something that she does her best to avoid doing. Obviously this whole escapade has been something that she’s been dreading for quite some time.’
‘But what about this Roberta Fleming girl?’ Chelsea’s father asked. ‘Bullying our daughter? How is it that she could get away with that? Why on Earth would she want you to go to New Plymouth with her? Why didn’t you tell us about her?’
‘Maybe I can explain,’ Mr Harris said and proceeded to rattle of a whole pile of very believable BS. ‘This girl Roberta likes to pick on younger women. She uses force to get them to do what she wants. She threatens to beat them up if they refuse to do as she says, or for that matter threaten to report her. Fortunately, Chelsea has a guy like Rex here sticking up for her. I don’t think that we’ll have any trouble with the likes of Roberta Fleming again.’
‘Surely the school should be doing something about this Roberta girl?’ Chelsea’s mother asked.
‘There’s not a lot that they can do,’ Mr Harris said. ‘It’s not like she targets school girls. Chelsea just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I wouldn’t worry about her any more. I hear it through a reliable source that she’s leaving Te Arawa pretty soon.’
‘I certainly hope so. Rex, you didn’t threaten this girl Roberta did you?’
‘Of course not,’ Rex smiled. ‘I just told her to leave Chelsea alone.’
Chelsea was grateful for what Rex and Mr Harris were doing for her. It was awful to lie to her parents yet again, but they seemed to be buying it. ‘You should have seen him.’ She wanted to build up Rex even more in their eyes. ‘He was firm, but non-threatening. She was shaking in her boots afterwards though.’
‘A real hero, eh?’ Her mother smiled at Rex.
‘Nah,’ Rex said. ‘I just care about Chelsea that’s all. I didn’t want to see her get into any more trouble.’
‘It’s good to see that she has good friends like you and Jacqui. You will have to come around some time to our house.’
‘I’d love to,’ Rex smiled. ‘Actually, I’m banking on the fact that you will be seeing a lot more of me in the future.’
‘Any lad who’s looking out for our daughter is welcome any time,’ her father said with a smile. ‘We’re thankful for what you’ve done Rex. And you too, Mr Harris.’
Mr Harris replied, ‘It was nothing. And I really mean that too.’ He smiled a devious smile, fortunately one that was not interpreted by her parents.
‘I’m sorry Mum and Dad,’ Chelsea said. ‘I really am.’
‘Just as long as you’re safe,’ her mother said, ‘That’s the main thing.’
‘I guess that I have to come home now, huh?’
Both her parent’s eyes met and for a moment they remained silent. Finally, her father nodded. They turned back to Chelsea. ‘You can stay here at the dance,’ her mother said. ‘But just tonight. You’re not exempt for the rest of your imposition.’
Chelsea's beamed and breathed deep, allowing her every joint to stretch. Happiness, great relaxing happiness, coursed through her body. She almost shouted out for joy, but held it back. ‘Thanks Mum! Thanks Dad!’
Her mother smiled. ‘By the way, I like what you’ve done with your hair. It really looks nice. When did you do that?’
‘Ah... in Roberta’s car, just before we were about to leave…’ and couldn’t resist adding one last fact, ‘just before Rex turned up to rescue me.’
‘I see. Oh well, you have a good time now. Try to forget about the unfortunate incident. One of us will pick you up and eleven, all right?’
‘Yes, Mum.’
Once her parents had gone Chelsea turned and smiled broadly at Rex. ‘I can’t believe we got away with that. You were brilliant! And Mr Harris too.’
Mr Harris delivered her a friendly wink.
‘Thanks Mr H for going along with the charade,’ Rex smiled. ‘Things worked out better than what I had expected.’
‘Glad to help. Who the hell is Roberta Fleming anyway?’
‘I’ve absolutely no idea!’
The Mob from TAC Page 33