Sadly, that actually made sense.
“No need to admit it,” Caius dismissed. “My intelligence is often underrated because I’m an athlete and I’m attractive. I’m sure you of all people understand.”
Rounding the top of the hill, facing the school parking lot, my ears finally cleared with an audible pop, reminding me of the principal when he tapped on the microphone just before an assembly in the school auditorium. Everything seemed unnaturally loud, from the wind rushing past my ears to the strident shriek of the brakes. I pinched my ears shut with the tips of my fingers as Bacchus pulled into a parking space outside the main entrance.
“I’ll show you to the office so you can pick up your schedule,” Bacchus shouted. “But after that I probably won’t see you till lunch. Caius and I only have one class together. I think the school makes a point to separate siblings.”
Caius slid from the jeep and held out his arms to help me down. He clapped his hands like I was a five year old that needed coaxing. “Come to papa, sugar.”
“You are such a dork,” I said, but let him lift me down.
Bacchus met us around the back of the jeep and the two escorted me inside, making introductions along the way. For the most part, the boys took one appraising look and looked away. The girls were a different story. Girls in general were more fastidious in their evaluations. Where boys just checked out your boobs and moved on, girls judged your overall appearance from the split ends of your hair to the designer shoes on your feet and then gossiped about you for hours afterwards. And I know what they were saying, because I heard them all.
“She’s pretty.”
“Sure, she’s a bleach blonde.”
“At least her Ugg’s look real.”
“Her boobs don’t.”
“Think she’s a relative of theirs?”
“Gross. I hope not. She’s dating their…like…father.”
“Maybe she’s mail order. Russian or something.”
“No, she went to Rock East.”
“Did her parents die or something?”
“I heard her boyfriend caught her cheating on him at some party. Madison saw him chase her into the woods. Now he’s missing. And she’s hiding out here.”
“Holy crap, it’s like a real life Fatal Attraction.”
And so the stories continued. It didn’t help that I had to stand at the beginning of every class while the teacher introduced ‘the new student,’ which only started a new round of whispers and stares. By fourth period, I was prepared to hide out in the girl’s room until school let out.
Lunch at least I could look forward to. The cafeteria wasn’t difficult to find. I just followed the direction of traffic and the cacophonous thrum of voices. On the walk there, my eyes darted left and right, searching for some small sign of the wonder twins. It was to no avail because as I stood at the mouth of the cafeteria, they were nowhere to be found. So when I felt a tug on my sleeve, my heart stuttered in relief.
“Thank Go—” I recant. Why God, why?
“Thale,” said Michael Dougherty with a nod. His left eye was black and blue, and if I had to guess, his ribs coordinated beautifully. For that alone, I could swear allegiance to Icarus.
“They’re in the office. The twins. If that’s who you’re looking for.”
“For what?”
“Fighting. They won’t be out for a while, if at all.”
Wonderful. Delivery it is. Shirking Mike, I headed for the lunch line and began loading a tray for the twins and a bowl of fruit for me. My stomach was growling, but I didn’t think I could stomach anything heavy, certainly not faux spuds or steamed chicken nuggets. I added two extra pudding cups for the twins to wash down their sandwiches, and two bottles of cola.
“You left that night,” said Mike, following me. “You never called or anything.”
“Maybe I didn’t have anything to say to you.”
“I think I deserve at least an explanation.”
“Do you?” I said snidely. “I think I deserved flowers. Or a nice piece of jewelry. How much did you win on your wager that night? You could’ve set a share aside for the subject of your bets, don’t you think?”
Taking my tray, I paid for the food and headed for the office, leaving Mike behind, gloomy and sulking. Perhaps, just perhaps I might eat my meal in peace.
“I was sixteen. And drunk off my ass.”
I cringed. Nope. No such luck. He was persistent. I’d give him that. “And I was a virgin with an idealistic view of the world. I guess we both sobered.”
“Damn it, can’t you give me five minutes?”
“I gave you two years!” I exclaimed, whirling to face him. Surprised by his proximity, I had to take a step back. Mike took a step forward, stealing the space back.
Lord, why did he have to be so damn good looking? Those hazy green eyes always got me. And his tousled hair. I remember twirling those windblown curls around my finger while we shared our lunches, and made plans for our future together. Some future.
“People change, Thale.” Nonetheless, the ball bag had yet to apologize.
“I’ll tell you what,” I said, pulling my sharpie from my backpack. Mike stared suspiciously but consented with a nod, stepping up. I began writing on his bright yellow tee, spinning him around and scribbling the punch line across his back. “Prove to me that you’re still not the same selfish, inflated prick I remember, and maybe I’ll consider speaking to you again.”
“Whatever it takes.”
“Goodbye Mike.” I really meant goodbye. Asshole.
Back in the office, I found Bacchus and Caius lounging uncomfortably in two hard plastic office chairs. With the toe of my shoe, I pulled the small end table out and set the tray of food down. They stared incredulously, gawking at the food like it might sprout spores.
Considering its source, it just might. But they were hungry.
“Man, you’re the bomb, Thale,” Caius swore. “I’m starving.”
“Excuse me,” said the short, squat woman behind the counter. She tilted her head to stare over her cateye frames. When she did, her chin doubled into a bib of pale flesh. “You can’t eat that here. Food belongs in the cafeteria.”
“Oh,” I said sweetly, “so we can all go to the cafeteria then?”
“You may go; they have to stay until they speak with the principal.”
“Well, this is last lunch and they haven’t eaten yet.”
“They can eat after they’re sent home. Right now, they’re under suspension.”
“You don’t know how long that’ll be. Withholding meals is a form of corporal punishment. I didn’t realize it was legal in the state of Pennsylvania.”
“Don’t get belligerent with me young lady.”
“No, Ma’am. Should we go to the cafeteria now?”
“No, out in the hall. But within sight.”
Caius grabbed the tray. We followed him into the hall, breaking into laughter once the door closed behind us.
“I’ll be watching you, Wazowski, alllwaaayyyss watching,” I said in my best Roz imitation.
“She’s like a hamster,” Bacchus said. “I think she keeps extra food stored in that thing.”
“Food,” Caius snorted. “Try small children.”
Sitting in a small semi-circle, we divvied out our lunches, eating over napkin-draped laps. Although the twins inhaled their sandwiches, so the napkins were a moot point.
“So, does this happen often—the fighting thing?” I inquired, dipping an apple into some vanilla pudding. Chocolate was my thing, not that I’d dip an apple into chocolate pudding, but I’d miss it all the same. I could write odes to chocolate. That’s how much I’ll seriously mourn over my new allergy.
“No,” said Caius succinctly.
“Let’s save the inquisition till Icarus gets here,” Bacchus added politely. “How’s your first day treating you?”
“Oh, well, a girl in first period’s nose whistled for an entire hour. And a boy two seats over has this OCD
throat clearing thing, but he makes this humming sound that sounds like an Uzi machine gun. The kid in front of me bites his nails. Someone behind me likes to drum on their desk with their pencil eraser. And Mr. Fisker farts a lot, but no one else seems to notice. Or mind. I’m not sure which is more disturbing. Anyhow, it sounded like one of those bands that play music with trashcan lids and stuff. Seriously, it was like. Whistle snap eh hem pfft -bump de bump - whistle snap eh hem pfft - bump de bump - whistle snap eh hem pfft - bump de bump. The pfft was the fart by the way. The image of Fisker’s flabby buns clenching as he tried to muffle ‘em will be forever stuck in my mind. I think I’m scarred for life.”
Bacchus and Caius broke into a raucous, gut-splitting fit of laughter. Caius couldn’t sit upright and rolled to his side on the floor, while Bacchus was more subdued with an affectionate punch on my arm. Wryly, I thought, glad that I could entertain them with my mutating anatomy.
Naturally, their mirth only aggravated Roz, whom decided the wonder twins should be repenting silently for their misbehavior, which forced her to leave her lily pad and chastise us with bellicose enthusiasm. All along, we watched her chins waggle with accordant disgust.
In the end, I made the wonder twin duo a trio because of my few, though highly objectionable, ‘belligerent’ arguments. And that’s how Icarus found us when he arrived, lined up like three peas in a pod along the wall of the principal’s office on my first day of school.
“On your first day.”
“I didn’t do anything. I’ve never been sent to the office in my life.”
“So you walked in on your own volition and started trouble because you felt excluded?”
“No, I was bringing them lunch.” I pointed to the twins who were doing their best to appear contrite and failing miserably. Honestly, they look frightened.
“You mouthed off to the principal’s assistant.”
“Better the principal’s assistant than the assistant principal.”
“There you go again. You realize that’s why you’re here?”
“I did not mouth off. In fact, I’m the picture of innocence.” Fluttering my eyelashes, I added. “Do I look like a troublemaker?”
As luck would have it, in walked Michael Dougherty, raising his eyebrows as he passed by on his way to Roz’s desk. Bacchus and Caius broke out in muffled laughter. Icarus barely refrained from rolling his eyes.
The front of Mike’s shirt read:
Who’s faster than a speeding bullet?
And on the back:
Me, in bed.
“Trouble,” Icarus sighed. Dropping his head, he pinched the bridge of his nose between his eyes. When he looked up again, his focus flickered to Dougherty’s shirt and back to me. “Is this your work too?"
From the corner of my eye, I saw Bacchus shake his head, but despite his warning, I found my mouth forming the word ‘yes.’ I hadn’t done anything wrong. I refused to cower as if I did. Michael deserved much more than a trifle insult to his overinflated ego.
Much like the day he kicked me out of his home, Icarus iced over, his visage freezing in a mask of barely subdued rage.
“Mr. Quirinus?” Turning, Icarus offered his hand to Principal Fleiss, setting my castigation on temporary reprieve. The balding olive-skinned man shook his hand with a mien that spoke of arrogance and authority. “Let’s meet in my office, shall we? There we can discuss the twin’s misconduct this morning in class.”
With a glance at the twins, they rose and followed him into the principal’s office. Icarus spared only once glance over his shoulder, his gaze settling on Michael Dougherty in warning.
“What do you see in him?” said Mike, as soon as the office door closed.
“Shut up.”
“He’s a little old, don’t you think?”
“I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”
“He’s a creep if you ask me.”
“I didn’t ask you.”
“You deserve better is all. Might not be me, but it’s certainly not someone like him. Really, Thale, it’s weird. He treated you like property the other day, pissing all over his territory with that kiss, and now he’s treating you like a child. I don’t get it.”
I snorted over his analogy of Icarus’s behavior, how close to the mark he came. “You don’t need to get it. What are you doing here anyway?”
Plucking a tuft of his shirt, it sprang back taut to his chest. “Miss Freeman didn’t think it was appropriate school attire. But I could ask you the same question.”
“Minor violation.”
“I mean at Rock West. What are you doing here?”
Ignoring him, I feigned interest in my cuticles. We had never discussed that. I wasn’t sure what to tell him. It wasn’t his business anyhow. But it would certainly douse the rumors burning up the halls. Mike was probably the most popular senior at Rock West, a few whispers to his close friends and word would spread through the school faster than the stomach flu.
Leaning forward, Mike rested his elbows on his knees. In what I could only guess to be frustration with my ill will, he dropped his head and rubbed the back of his neck.
“I’m sorry that I hurt you.”
It was his tone that caught my attention. Abandoning my cuticles, I found his eyes fixed on me. Repentant or not, a few small words would do little to erase the two years of acrimonious sludge that had defiled the walls of my self-conscience.
“May I use the restroom?” I asked, abruptly standing. Roz eyed me apathetically and nodded before returning to her menial paperwork. And I escaped the attention of my double ex boyfriend. Temporarily. I had seven months of school to go. If today was any indication of Mike’s determination, my senior year was really going to suck big time.
After procrastinating for an absurd amount of time in the bathroom, I returned to the principal’s office with grudging strides. Mike was gone, I noted with a great deal of relief. Bacchus and Caius had returned to their seats, looking grim. Icarus was nowhere in sight.
Roz’s head rose as I walked through the door, her wide, reptilian mouth pressed to a thin, indifferent line. “Mr. Fleiss is waiting for you,” she croaked, pointing her plump, liver-spotted finger toward his office. Eyes following me, she stretched her head around until her gullet fanned out beneath her chin like a fat tom turkey, turning only when I closed the door behind me.
“Have a seat, Miss Llorente,” said Principal Fleiss, standing as I entered the room. He sat again once I took my seat, and lifted a manila folder from his blotter. After studying the contents with the leisure of a sloth on sedatives, he stared from beneath the heavy ridge of his brow. “You’re new here, Miss Llorente. I hope today isn’t a presage of future occurrences.”
“No, Sir.”
“Your parents withdrew you from East due to reasons of a personal nature.”
Ignorant of how to respond, I looked to Icarus for assistance. The muscles in his jaw twitched. “Thaleia’s withdraw from Rock East has no relevance on her behavior today.”
“Mr. Quirinus, I am trying to prevent her past at East from affecting the future of the eighteen hundred other children that attend Rock West. I have a responsibility to protect the students here. Mind you, it’s her first day and she’s already in my office with not one, but two offenses. I‘m sure you understand, it raises concerns.”
“Thaleia has no prior history of trouble in school. You have her records I provided upon registration Friday afternoon. They’re clean. Her grades and attendance are flawless. Furthermore, she is not a suspect in the murder, Mr. Fleiss. If you relate the investigation to her past again, I’ll have my lawyer contact you for slander.”
Red flags went up, listening to Icarus and Mr. Fleiss parry accusations. Murder? Investigation? Was he referring to Marcus and Jack? My attention vacillated between the two men, willing one or the other to spill the answers.
“There’s no need to exaggerate the situation,” Mr. Fleiss said, his tone altering with the threat of legal action. “These
were minor offenses that we would normally acknowledge with a written warning.”
“We’ll accept a warning for the initial offense, but I want the second expunged from her record. Thaleia is a student here; you’re equally responsible for her wellbeing. If I find out that Mr. Dougherty is harassing her again, I’ll add neglect and endangerment to the list.”
Browbeaten, Mr. Fleiss sighed heavily. “Let’s call it a day, Mr. Quirinus. Miss Llorente, we’ll write today off as frayed nerves due to your first day of attendance at Rock West. I suggest you take the afternoon to reflect upon the respect one should have toward their superiors, and return tomorrow with a new attitude. I’ll overlook the written warning on both accounts as long as I don’t see you in my office again for the next several weeks, if not the rest of the year.”
Any thoughts of Icarus’s anger toward me were dispelled as he placed his hand at the small of my back, guiding my pace through the administrator’s office. The wonder twins, however, weren’t as lucky, gaining the full force of his attention as we left the building.
“What murder investigation?” I asked, unwilling to wait until his anger diffused. “Is he talking about Jack? Is Marcus being investigated? Have they found him? Have you talked to the police? Am I in trouble?”
“Yes, I’ve talked to the police. No, they haven’t found Marcus. Right now, they only want him for questioning, seeing that a neighbor placed his truck at the scene the morning of Jack’s death. And they haven’t officially labeled it as murder, since it was an animal attack. Everything up until now is speculation. That’s why the police are investigating, so they can determine whether they’re hunting for a witness or an assailant with a dog.”
“What did you tell them?”
“I confirmed your alibi. You arrived at the party with Marcus, and left separately after the incident with Peyton. You spent the weekend at my house with Hailey and the boys, until you left Sunday afternoon.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about any of this?”
“You have enough to worry about. You didn’t need the added stress.” Another gentle touch of reassurance, a slight brush of my waist piqued my curiosity. There was more that he wasn’t telling me. “Wait in the car, Thaleia. I need to talk to Bacchus and Caius.”
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