The Great High School Love Game
Page 24
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Chad was at home all alone in his bedroom, excitedly exercising on his treadmill. Chad found he exercised better when he was wound up about something, and it helped calm whatever aggression he may have been experiencing. He was wearing his headset, and eagerly listening to some of his favorite music, dancing to the melodic rhythms as he walked on the treadmill. Chad’s taste in music, though, was anything but boring.
Chad liked a bit of everything, but, especially favored sensual Latino rhythms. He was running on the treadmill, and progressively increased his running speed, as his all-time favorite song was playing. He was singing along with the song, totally relaxed, and carefree, when he heard a knock at the door. Chad thought maybe he was hearing things, and ignored it, but, when there was another, sharper knock, he knew he indeed had heard correctly.
“Who could that be?” he said, annoyed with this interruption to his exercise regime. Chad, though, remembered Amy, and how he wished it would be her paying him a visit. He stopped the treadmill, and took off the headset, putting it on his bedside table. Chad was a little sweaty from his running, and wiped himself with his towel. After doing this, Chad walked down the stairs, in anticipation of who was at the door. Chad noticed whoever it was was a little impatient, as they knocked for a third time.
“Please let it be Amy,” Chad said, mouth open in enthusiasm. He anxiously gripped the doorknob, prepared himself, and opened the door. Chad, though, was thoroughly surprised to see who was standing outside of his door, and his mouth fell open.
“Hello Chad, can see you weren’t expecting me,” Chad’s visitor said, smiling intently. Unfortunately for Chad, it was not Amy awaiting him, but, instead, Carrie. She was grinning wickedly, and thrilled to see Chad’s stunned facial expression.
“What can I do for you?” Chad asked.
“I wanna see you for a few minutes,” Carrie said, looking him directly in the eye.
“Come in,” Chad said nervously, interested in knowing why she would come to visit him, as Carrie entered the house. After Chad closed the door, he asked her, cutting to the chase, “What do you want?”
Carrie stood way apart from Chad, as she wanted to examine him close-up. Chad was a little intimidated by her severe expression; it was as if she was putting him through an X-Ray machine for an internal examination.
“Nice greeting,” Carrie smirked, to which Chad did the same. “You sure know how to make people feel good, don’t you?” she said. “Anyway, I haven’t come over for a social visit. I’ve got some things I wanna tell you, and these can’t wait any longer.”
“Like what?” Chad enquired, curious as to what Carrie was going to tell him. “Why’d you come here to talk to me? You could’ve done this over the phone, and saved yourself the trouble. There must be a really good reason for this,” he said, looking at Carrie equally as intensely as she was looking at him.
“Yeah, there is,” Carrie nodded. “I wanna talk about Amy. And Jake. And you. And Francine.”
Chad felt a bit of a knot developing in his stomach, knowing he could not easily brush off Carrie. Chad was aware he would run into opposition with Carrie at some point, as she was Amy and Jakes’ biggest cheerleader.
“What’s so important you couldn’t call to tell me?” Chad said. Carrie moved closer to Chad, and smiled at him cunningly. He felt Carrie was cutting him and putting him back together with her bright, clear blue eyes, which were afire with fury. Chad knew Carrie was very devoted to Amy, but he crossed his arms in defiance, and watched her with curiosity.
“Let me put it to you straight Chad — I don’t trust you, or Francine.”
Chad burst out laughing after she said this.
“Oh yeah, why’s that?” Chad said.
Carrie smiled back at him, looking at him point blank.
“I know something fishy’s going on with you two. Don’t think for a second you’ve got the wool pulled over my eyes — I know exactly what’s going on with both of you,” she said, full of menace.
“Like what?” he asked, looking at Carrie, pulling an ironic face.
Carrie chuckled, and nodded her head.
“It’s really easy to understand, but I’ll explain just to remind you. You wanted Amy, Francine wanted Jake, and there was nothing you wouldn’t do to have them,” Carrie said, in her element. “And I mean, nothing.”
Chad threw back his head and laughed.
“If you’re so sure it’s like that, why don’t you be a good friend, and tell Amy,” Chad taunted, with a naughty smile.
“Don’t be so fast,” Carrie said, her face again taking on a serious expression. “I’ve told Amy what I believe, but she won’t believe me — yet. When she finds out what you’ve done, and she will, she’ll drop you like a hot potato, and that’s a promise,” Carrie said, with dogged determination.
Chad was beginning to grow scared by Carrie’s accusations, and butterflies fluttered restlessly in his stomach.
“Finished yet?” Chad gulped. “You’re gonna get nowhere trying to make me look bad. You’ll only look bad if you try too hard, and Amy’ll hate you for it,” he said, with confidence. “Amy’ll think you hate me, and you’re doing it on purpose to get back at me ’cause she dropped Jake.”
Carrie hummed at Chad’s comment, and curled her lips.
“No Chad, I’m never finished where you and Francine are concerned. Oh, by the way, whatever you do, and whatever you say, Jake’ll always come first for Amy. While she may not show it, she’ll always feel it,” Carrie said softly.
Chad was becoming annoyed with Carrie’s chatter, but, his spirit was undaunted.
“We’ll see about that,” Chad said passionately.
Carrie shook her head, and walked towards the front door. She turned the handle to open it, and faced Chad one more time.
“Yeah Chad, we’ll see,” Carrie said, satisfied she had the final word on Chad, as she walked out the door, and closed it behind herself. After Carrie’s departure, Chad looked at the door, and thought about what Carrie had just said. He was a little uptight believing Carrie was onto him and Francine, and wanted some reassurance from her. In a fluster, Chad grabbed the phone, and began to dial Francine’s number. Chad was very grateful she quickly picked it up, as he was becoming a little tense.
“Hello Franci.”
“Hi Chad,” she said casually. Francine was on her bed, painting her fingernails.
“I’m so happy you’re home.”
“Why, what’s up?” Francine asked.
Chad nervously paced around the room, Carrie’s threats racing through his mind like water repeatedly striking against a sandbank.
“Something just happened you’ve gotta know about.”
“Oh, hope it’s good,” Francine said. “You’ve just interrupted me from some beauty stuff, and I’m very angry with you,” she said, with a raunchy giggle. Chad paused for a moment, and, after not responding to her comment, Francine realized all was not well with Chad.
“Chad, what is it?”
“Well, I had a visitor before.”
This sounded positive to Francine, and she raised her eyebrows in interest.
“Who was it? Amy? Our plan’s working after all,” Francine said gleefully. “Looks like she can’t do without you anymore.”
Chad again paused, and Francine gathered from his silence that Chad was bothered by something, and cast aside her nail polish.
“No Franci, it wasn’t Amy who came over, but Carrie,” he said, in a worried tone of voice.
Francine was intrigued by this latest event, and could not wait to hear more. She crossed her legs, and made herself more comfortable on the bed.
“Carrie? What’d she want?”
“Seems like she knows about how we wrote the letter, and how this broke up Amy and Jake.
“What’d she say?” Francine said, a little alarmed by what Chad was telling her.
“Carrie said she doesn’t trust us, and that she knows what we did to Amy and Jake.
She also said she’ll tell them everything when she finds out the whole truth,” Chad said, in a state of panic. The thought of his relationship with Amy being knocked over like a sandcastle on the beach was too shattering to contemplate.
Francine quietly listened to Chad’s anxious talk, and hummed happily.
“Mmn…”
“What is it, Franci?” Chad asked, intrigued.
“When’ll you ever learn to read between the lines,” Francine said, inspecting her nails, which were drying.
“What do you mean?”
Francine made a deep sigh, a little angry with Chad.
“Look Chaddie, sounds to me like Carrie’s just trying to call our bluff, and make us, ’specially you, feel scared. I think she went to see you ’cause she believes she can scare you, which is something she wouldn’t be able to do with me. Look Chad, she doesn’t know anything, hasn’t seen anything, and’ll never find out anything, either,” Francine said, full of confidence. Francine knew some minor incidents such as these would spring up from time to time, but would not sidetrack her from getting what she wanted.
Chad, though, was still a little worried that something might slip, and ruin their plans for Amy and Jake. This was always at the back of his mind, and somewhat bothered him a little. Chad was also beginning to feel a little guilty for his part in breaking up Amy and Jake, and thought maybe it was wrong to do it at all.
“How’re you so sure Carrie knows nothing? She sounded really determined to get to the bottom of everything. And, she just might do that.”
Francine was getting impatient with Chad’s negativity, but, thought all he needed was a good talking to.
“Chad, I’m sure for one main reason that she won’t – ’cause I know we’ve worked so hard to win Jake and Amy. It’d be a great shame to see it all go to waste — I won’t let this happen. Let Carrie say what she likes — she doesn’t have any proof against us, so she can’t do anything. Anyway, Jake and Amy wouldn’t believe her, as we’ve been so great to them, so she’d seem like an idiot to them. I think Carrie knows when to be smart, and when to back off.”
Chad moaned slightly, not fully believing Francine.
“Hope you’re right Franci.”
Francine could not understand why Chad was so affected by Carrie’s visit, and why he became so easily scared. She felt Chad had no backbone at times, and simply gave up just when things were getting better for them. On the other hand, Francine knew Chad was always full of surprises, and would come through whenever she lost faith in him. He would always support her when she was down, the same going for her. This was probably what made them closer over the years, and, oddly enough, strengthened their relationship.
“Everything’ll be great for us Chad — you’ll see — nothing can get in our way now, nothing,” Francine vowed, her eyes glowing with true grit.
With this firm vote of confidence from Francine, Francine and Chad ended their phone conversation. Chad continued to feel restless after Carrie’s visit, and knew that as the stakes were now higher for him and Francine, they had to be more careful than ever before. Francine felt similarly to Chad, with many thoughts running through her brain. Now that Carrie was on their tail, Chad and Francine could not let even a single detail slip.
Chapter Twenty
“Christmas is coming, Christmas is coming…”
School had now finished for the Christmas break, and Carrie and James were at her house, sitting together on the comfortable beige micro suede sofa. They had just had a great lunch together, and were refreshed and relaxed. Carrie and James loved to play card games with each other often, and today were playing poker. They were watching each other carefully as they dealt their cards, each determined to win the game. Carrie almost always won the game over James, and wanted today to be no exception. James, though, had his sights on winning over Carrie, and was trying to be as clever as possible in his moves.
“Ha, gotcha, again!” she said, with a naughty smile.
“Damn, not again!” James said, throwing his cards on the sofa out of disillusionment. “Why can’t I ever win?”
“’Cause I won’t let you,” Carrie said, smiling wickedly at James. “And that’s the way it’s always gonna be.”
James smiled thoughtfully, and shrugged his shoulders.
“I’m just gonna have to live with it,” James said. “I’ll never beat you.”
Carrie gathered the cards, and said, “Yeah, at least you understand that.” She paused for a second, and looked up at him. “Want another game?”
James looked at her in fake horror, shaking his head melodramatically.
“No way,” he said. “I feel bad enough; don’t wanna make it any worse.”
Carrie grimaced at James; she had made him suffer enough today, and had had enough fun at his expense. She eagerly arose from the sofa, and put the card deck away in the buffet drawer. After a few seconds of silence from Carrie, which seemed odd to James, as she was always so chatty, he swung around on the sofa, and saw Carrie looking at something with much interest. Carrie was viewing a photo from the fancy dress gala with Jake, Amy, herself, and James, in full costume.
James was curious to know what was going on with Amy and Jake, and realized Carrie was thinking of them, as she was staring intently at this particular photo. He walked over to Carrie, who was on the floor with the photo album, and lightly brushed her hair. She was a little startled by this, but looked up at James, and smiled.
“Heard anything about Amy and Jake?” James asked, crouching to join Carrie.
“No,” Carrie said with disappointment, without looking at James.
“Last I saw, Amy was with Chad, and Francine with Jake. They all look like they’re really tight,” he said softly. James knew how much Carrie cared about Amy, but felt sometimes interfering was not the best idea. Carrie, though, was of the opposite opinion.
“That’s what they want everyone to think,” she said sadly. After closing the album, Carrie looked to James for some meaning. “Jamie?”
“Yeah?”
“How can I can help Amy and Jake work it out?”
“How?” James asked, pulling a confused face.
Carrie shook her head, as she felt James was too lazy to help, and her inspirations were running low about Jake and Amy.
“Oh, thanks for being so helpful,” she teased, to which he returned a slight smile.
“No problem, think all this Christmas stuff isn’t helping my brain work,” James replied. “All that study probably killed some of my brain cells, too.”
Without warning, Carrie excitedly shot up from the floor. Carrie dropped the photo album she had in her hands with a thud, and some loose photos flew into the air, landing on the ground like feathers. James looked at her both in surprise, and total bewilderment.
“Carrie, what’s wrong?”
Carrie looked at James, and nodded knowingly. She flashed a wide smile at him, and James looked at Carrie as if she had lost the plot.
“Sometimes James, you say the right thing at the right time,” she said. “But don’t get a big head; you don’t always do that.”
“What do you mean?” he asked, puzzled by Carrie’s statement, and also arising from the floor.
Carrie spun around the room in a whirl, hair swaying in the air, and eyes alight with happiness.
“Jamie, there is a way I can bring Amy and Jake together, and it could work.”
“Huh?” James asked.
“We can bring Amy and Jake together — with Christmas cheer and mistletoe,” she said triumphantly, smiling at James.
“What?” James intoned, shaking his head. “Dunno what you’re talking about.”
Carrie sat again on the sofa, and James quickly joined her, anxious to know what she was cooking up next.
“Well, Christmas is only a few weeks away, so wouldn’t it be great if we had a Christmas Eve party, here at home. In such a happy place, you never know, Amy and Jake may make up,” Carrie said, beaming at James.
“Oh I get it, you’re gonna use Christmas as an excuse to get them together,” James said, nodding at her. “Sounds okay, but for your sake, and theirs, I hope it works,” he said, looking fondly at Carrie. James did not want Carrie to get her hopes too high about Amy and Jake, as she seemed to have taken their break-up to heart.
“I know it will,” Carrie said. “I can’t lose.” Carrie’s concern for her friends was one of the many reasons James loved being with her. James smiled at Carrie, and she readily returned this.
“Know something Carry On?”
“What?” she asked, wide-eyed.
“You’re very protective of your friends. I’m jealous of all the attention you give to Amy,” he said, poking out his tongue playfully.
Carrie looked at James in appreciation, and recognized he was far from the jealous type — he knew she always meant well.
“You made a bit of a mistake here,” Carrie said gently.
“Being?” he asked, looking at her lovingly.
“James, I’m very protective of all my friends, you included,” she said, moving closer to James on the sofa, and putting her head on his chest. James sighed, and stroked Carrie’s long blonde hair. “I just hate what’s going on with Amy and Jake. I know if I don’t do something to help them, they may never get back together,” Carrie said, with a serious expression on her face.
James turned his head, and looked at her — he felt he was lucky to know Carrie, and have someone like her on his side.
“Yeah mommy,” he said, tongue-in-cheek. She understood exactly what James meant by this, and smiled at him. “Carrie, you’ve just reminded me why I think you’re the nicest, kindest, sweetest person on this earth,” he said, full of glee.
Carrie lifted her head a moment to face James, but, looked vaguely irritated.
“Hey, wait a sec, before you say anything else, would you do something for me?” Carrie requested, half-seriously.
“What? Anything — just name it,” James said.