by Jack Chaucer
"What dream?" Lynn asked, playing dumb and praying for Candace to text back immediately.
Then she did, pinging Nicole's phone.
"Finally!" Nicole screamed, her eyes five inches above the words on her phone. "She's safe! Thank God!"
"I'm OK," Candace texted. "We're all OK. Everyone coming back into the school right now. Buzzer off. No shots. So relieved. Gotta go blend in before I get caught not exiting the school. CALL U LTR."
"See, I knew she would be fine, Nikki," Lynn lied.
"I want to know who pulled that alarm," Nicole said.
"Maybe it was just a drill."
"There's no way that was a drill, Mom — not at 12:14 on 9/11," Nicole replied sharply as she refocused on her iPhone. She hesitated for a second but then quickly auto-dialed Adam as the expression on her face turned from frazzled to angry. Her hands were still shaking.
"Pick up, you piece of shit!" she yelled, adjusting her hair and jamming the phone close to her ear so she could hear the rings in the midst of the Manhattan traffic whizzing past her.
"Calm down, Nikki," Lynn urged. "Adam's not even in school today, remember? He's suspended."
"I don't care. I want to talk to him anyway. Pick up!"
On the fifth ring, Adam answered his phone.
"Hello?"
"Adam, where are you right now?" she asked loudly.
"What? I'm at home ... why?" he replied.
"Because someone just pulled the fire alarm at school and scared the shit out of everybody!"
"Well, you know that I'm suspended so ... how would I have any clue about that? Where are you?"
"New York City."
"Oh yeah, that's right. You told me you were going there. Say hi to the Statue of Liberty for me!" Adam said, snorting and laughing as he hung up the phone and playfully shoved Thomas Harvey into a nearby tree.
"Who was that?" Thomas asked, punching him back as they retreated through the woods near the school after their fire-drill-viewing party.
"Just a girl," Adam replied.
"Let me guess," Thomas said with his creepy smile, "Dead Girl Walking."
"I'm not going to answer that," Adam said, suddenly turning more serious as he stopped to face Thomas. "But she's off limits."
"What? Are you out of your fucking mind?" Thomas responded with crazy eyes and a fiendish laugh.
But Adam didn't laugh.
"We can kill everybody else if you want, but not her," he said. "Got that?"
"Or what?" Thomas asked, inching closer to challenge his ultimatum.
"Or I'll kill you right now with my bare hands," Adam growled as his heavy boots crunched the leaves.
Thomas backed off slightly, rolled his eyes, shook his head and grinned.
"You said you had the hots for the other rich little whore," he said.
"I lied," Adam said, stone faced.
CHAPTER 16: THE UNEXPECTED DIAGNOSIS
Candace tried to creep out of the girls' bathroom unnoticed, but, as fate would have it, Ms. Alvarez practically bumped into her as she joined the loud herd of students and faculty stampeding through the hallway following the fire alarm. The guidance counselor quickly seized her by the arm and scowled.
"You didn't leave the building during the fire alarm, did you, Candace?" she asked sharply.
"Um," was all Candace managed to say. Her guilty-as-hell expression took care of the rest.
"Let's go to Principal Wheeler's office right now then," Ms. Alvarez commanded, strongly guiding her with a hand on her back.
"But I can explain," she pleaded.
"Good. Save it for the principal. You're guilty until proven innocent as far as I'm concerned."
"Guilty of what?"
"Someone pulled the fire alarm and anyone caught hiding inside the building is a suspect until the surveillance camera proves otherwise," the counselor said as they weaved briskly through the crowded corridor and into Principal Wheeler's office.
"Candace? In my office again?" the principal said, spinning around to greet her just seconds after entering the office herself. "You were suspended yesterday for fighting and now you're back again already? What the devil is going on with this school lately?"
"She was hiding in the girls' bathroom during the fire alarm," Ms. Alvarez reported, closing the door. The principal leaned her backside against the front of her giant desk, folded her arms across her navy blue blazer and looked Candace in the eyes.
"Why would you do that, Candace?" she asked. "What's going on?"
"I didn't pull the alarm, if that's what you mean?"
"The camera will provide us with that answer either way, but if you didn't pull the alarm, then why not go outside like everybody else?" Wheeler asked.
Candace pondered the question for a moment, struggling with how best to answer it. It was Nikki's dream. Why do I have to answer for it? she thought. She's in New York and I'm the one on the hot seat.
"I was scared, that's all," she finally admitted as both women probed her with unwavering glares.
"Scared of what? Wheeler asked.
"Scared of being shot!" she said loudly, then quickly looked down at her neon-orange-and-white tennis shoes.
"What are you talking about?" the principal followed up.
"That's all I want to say," Candace pleaded.
"I think you should have a talk with Ms. Alvarez about this then. She's one of our counselors and she can help you open up about this fear of yours," Wheeler said. "It's a completely rational fear given what's happened at so many of this nation's schools, but you still have to follow the rules, Candace. Every person in this building must exit during a fire alarm. Being scared is not an excuse."
A knock on the door interrupted the tense moment.
"Come in," the principal said.
Vice Principal Arthur Guyton stuck his bushy, salt-and-pepper head into the room.
"We've got our puller thanks to the magic of film," he deadpanned.
"Is it a he or a she?" Wheeler asked.
"A he," Guyton replied.
Candace sighed and looked at Ms. Alvarez, who nodded at her.
"Thank you, Mr. Guyton. Please announce his name for the school to hear, would you, as you summon him to my office for a chat," the principal instructed.
"I shall," he said, closing the door.
"Candace, please set up a time with Ms. Alvarez to talk about what we discussed, but for now, go back to class," Wheeler said. "I'm sure you've got plenty of catching up to do after missing school yesterday."
"OK," Candace said, but before she left the office, the school intercom system came on and froze all of them in place.
"Brody Upton, please report to the principal's office ... Brody Upton, please report to the principal's office," Mr. Guyton announced.
Candace's green eyes pulled an alarm of their own.
...
Nicole picked at her lasagna at an outdoor table beside a bustling street in New York's Little Italy, but her mind was poisoning the sauce.
"It’s been a rough week, sweetie," her mother observed empathetically as a sea of yellow cabs surged past them.
"Yeah, you could say that," Nicole agreed while the waiter quietly refilled their glasses of lemon water. "Thank you."
The waiter nodded and left, but Nicole was looking straight at her mother when she said it.
"Who me?" Lynn asked, her eyes suddenly heavy with emotion.
"Yeah you," Nicole confirmed. "Thanks for being cool about everything, and so supportive ... for taking me here ... on suspension, no less. It means a lot."
"Oh, Nikki, don't make me cry in public," her mother protested joyfully through tears.
Nicole dabbed her own wet eyes with a red-and-white cloth napkin. "We probably should go visit Ground Zero, the 9/11 memorial and the new Freedom Tower," she said softly.
"I know ... 13 years ago today ... right here in this city ... on a beautiful day like this one," Lynn said. "I didn't let you watch the news all week."
"I was only 4, thankfully," Nicole said. "I barely remember any of it."
"Just a horrible, dreadful day," Lynn said, shaking her head and staring at the passing taxi cabs.
"But I don't think I can handle going to Ground Zero today," Nicole admitted. "I'm already an emotional wreck."
"I know, dear. Me too."
"I'm really not even in the mood to go shopping."
"Now that's serious," Lynn quipped, trying to lighten the mood, but Nicole was beyond that.
"Why do people .. I mean, how can people be so cruel? Killing for sport, for religion, of all things. I don't understand this world at all. It makes no sense to me. Sometimes I like this world only when I'm climbing a mountain and there are very few people around."
"Why?" her mother asked.
"Because I trust people less and less the older I get," Nicole said.
"Yes, Nikki, unfortunately that's part of growing up," Lynn said, reaching across the table to stroke her daughter's brown-and-blue hair. "There are times when I envy you, dear, being 17 and getting to dye your hair blue."
Nicole chuckled at that.
"You should try it," she suggested, dabbing her eyes again and smiling.
"Oh yes, they'd love me at the bank with blue hair," Lynn said with a grin before turning more serious. "But there are times when I don't envy you at all — coming of age in today's world."
"Is this one of those times?" Nicole asked.
"Yes. Candace told me about your dream that night on the mountain," Lynn said calmly.
"She did?"
"Yes, but she didn't want to so don't blame her. Blame me. I wanted to know what was going on in your head. You were so distant. Then you're on LSD," her mother said, suddenly lowering her voice to a whisper and mouthing the letters in public. "I was desperate to help you. Can you put yourself in my position for a minute and understand why I pushed Candace to tell me?"
Nicole nodded, somewhat relieved they could have this discussion given the latest developments.
"Do you feel safe returning to Lakeview tomorrow?" Lynn asked.
"I don't know."
"Do you really believe Adam Upton is planning to try to kill you and your classmates?"
"I ... I'm not 100 percent sure either way," Nicole replied. "I don't know him well enough. I've tried to get to know him and be his friend, and we've seen the results of that so far. He's definitely weird and damaged and compulsively aggressive. Yet, he's capable of being sweet and funny and possibly somewhat normal with the right people around him. Honestly, I feel like he could go either way — in a positive direction or a very negative direction, and I'm afraid I'm not enough to make a difference."
Lynn listened to her daughter's every word and realized she was having a conversation with a beautiful young woman. Nikki was not a little girl anymore, and her mother's heart ached from that loss even as she smiled and admired her daughter's maturity. Tears quickly returned to her eyes at the thought of losing her, but she forced herself to keep smiling and to stay strong for the one person she loved most in this dangerous world.
"Do you want me to call the police and discuss the situation with them?" Lynn asked.
"I don't think so," Nicole replied. "Not yet — not based on a dream. I'm still hopeful I can reach him as a friend, and calling the cops on him will make that impossible."
"I admire what you're trying to do, Nikki, and I'm very proud of you for being a positive influence on this boy, but I don't want to see you get hurt," Lynn said, her voice choked with emotion. "This world can't afford to lose people like you and ..."
"Oh Mom," Nicole interrupted, reaching across the table to grasp her mother's hand.
"Neither can I," Lynn finished her sentence in a whisper.
...
Candace's mind careened between conflicting thoughts as she steered her car into the Middlebrook Police Station parking lot, came to a stop and kept the engine running. The fact that it was Adam Upton's younger brother Brody who yanked the fire alarm at 12:14 gnawed at her all afternoon. She yearned to text or call Nicole with the bad news, but she decided against it. She wanted her best friend to enjoy the rest of her time in New York with her mother before returning to such a frightening reality. She also knew she had freaked out Nicole enough already with her earlier text from the girls' bathroom.
A uniformed officer emerged from the side door of the rectangular, red-brick police station and whistled as he got into his black-and-white cruiser. He never noticed Candace sitting there with her car idling just 20 yards away. She had important information to share, but would the police even care?
"So let me get this straight: your friend dreamed there would be a shooting at your high school," she could hear the skeptical officer repeating her words back to her.
"But they pulled the fire alarm today ... at 12:14," she would quickly add. "Newtown happened on 12-14."
"It's understandable that you would be concerned by that," the officer would say in a faux empathetic tone. "Any other evidence or reason why these boys would take the leap from fire-alarm pullers to potential mass murderers."
"They have really creepy stares," she imagined herself replying, knowing it sounded inadequate.
"OK," the officer said, pretending to jot something down in his notepad.
Candace pounded her fists on the steering wheel, put the car in reverse and drove off.
...
Brody hopped off the bus and was visibly surprised to be greeted with satisfied smiles from his brother and Thomas Harvey.
"Nice job, little Bro," Adam said, slapping him on the back. "See, I didn't call you son. You're part of the crew now."
"Thanks," Brody said, still partly shell-shocked from being reamed out simultaneously by Principal Wheeler and Vice Principal Guyton.
"Cheer up now," Thomas ordered him. "Your brother and I are taking you to Mickey D's for a fucking Happy Meal."
They both laughed and Brody hung his head.
"I'm serious, kid," Thomas said, a little softer this time. "Our treat."
"Yeah, Bro, hop in the back of the truck and let's go eat," Adam said, waving his brother along.
"Good, I'm hungry," Brody said, finally perking up when it appeared they weren't busting his balls. He grinned, eagerly tossed his backpack into the truck bed and jumped on board.
"Pulling stuff sure can give a boy an appetite," Thomas quipped as he climbed into the passenger seat.
"Oh shit, he's used to it ... pulling his pud all the time and all," Adam added with a snort and a howl. He quickly revved up the truck and sped off, kicking up gravel from the shoulder of the road before swerving into the other lane and then back to the legal lane.
Two miles and 10 minutes later, Brody was scarfing down a Big Mac, super-sized fries and a large Coke across from the two seniors, who were ready to debrief him in between big bites of their own meals.
"So Bro, what did those douche bags throw at you?" Adam asked.
"I got suspended for tomorrow, that's it ... because it's my first offense," he mumbled while gulping down a mouthful of food. After a drink of Coke, he added, "If I pull it again, they said they'll arrest me. They wanted to send me home earlier, but Dad never answered their calls to pick me up so I had special detention until the buses ran."
Adam laughed. "Probably because Dad's drunk at the bar and turned his cell off," he said. "He likes to get wasted on Thursdays and not be interrupted."
Thomas nodded and grinned. "Did you blame us like we told you?" he asked Brody.
"Yeah. I told them I was delivering your message of protest for your suspensions."
"Good," Adam said, snorting.
"Then the principal said something like, 'That'll be the last thing they get to protest at this school,'" Brody noted.
"Nice," Thomas said.
"Good work, Bro. Now go take a long piss so Lee and I can shoot the shit for a few minutes alone," Adam instructed.
Brody hesitated as he held onto the last chunk of his burger.
Brody stuffed the rest of the burger into his mouth and shuffled off toward the bathroom.
"I told ya he'd do it," Adam said. "Now we got it all timed for Monday."
"I'm 'don't-Tase-me-bro' shocked. I didn't think he had it in him," Thomas said.
"Well, I did threaten to kick his ass. That didn't hurt."
"He doesn't have to pull it again on Monday," Thomas said. "I'll get in there no problem. I'd rather do it myself when it's the real thing anyway. The less people involved, the less chance for fucking it up."
Adam nodded. "Yeah, the less he knows and the less he's involved the better. I might tell him to get off the bus and keep on walking right past the school on Monday. I don't even want him there when this heavy shit goes down."
"Don't forget to tell your sweetheart to do the same," Thomas ribbed him.
"Shut the hell up!" Adam shot back.
"Hey, at least I didn't call her 'Dead Girl Walking' this time."
"At least we never have to take another bullshit class at that retarded school," Adam said, changing the subject.
They both smiled like convicts gazing back for a moment at the prison from which they had just escaped.
"They definitely bumped up our suspensions for telling Brody to pull the alarm," Adam added. "It sounds like they might expel us, too."
Thomas laughed hauntingly at that before lowering his voice to just above a whisper.
"Expel us from where?" he asked, grinning like a boy possessed. "There won't be a school left to expel us from when we get done with it. We'll be the ones expelling everyone, not them."
...
Brody was asleep by the time Gary finally staggered through the door around 10 p.m. The big man smelled of booze, but he looked more tired and sad than drunk, Adam observed as he sat up on the sofa and turned off the TV.
Gary paused for a moment with his head down and Adam didn't know what to expect next. He had never seen his father act this way before. He assumed he had heard the phone message about Brody's suspension and Adam's possible expulsion, but Adam was used to anger, a punch perhaps — definitely not this.
"What's wrong, Dad?" he finally asked when it appeared his father was waiting to see how long it would take for his son to notice his depressed state.