Chapter 6
There was no reason for Britney's actions to come as any kind of surprise, it was exactly in keeping with her character. Even if she didn't believe a word of what she'd just told me, I really was on my way to becoming a social pariah, and her whole existence centered around becoming more popular.
Even so, knowing I was officially stranded at school with no way home felt very much like the end of the world. We still didn't have a phone, and probably wouldn't for weeks to come, even assuming we somehow managed to keep our home through the end of the week. Calling Mom and asking her to come and get me was out.
Presumably if I waited long enough Mom would decide something was wrong and come looking for me. Unless she was out hiking somewhere, in which case it might be a day or two before she realized I was missing.
There was nothing to do but walk. I waited a few minutes to give Britney time to get out of the lab, and then walked in and grabbed my things. The other kids were already clearing out. Nobody even looked up as I left.
Luckily I'd worn sneakers rather than the exotic footwear most girls gravitated towards. If I'd been wearing anything else, I'd have been nursing blisters before I made it out of the parking lot. As it was, I quickly realized my little walk home was going to be twice as unpleasant as I'd expected.
The school most definitely wasn't in the pretty, green part of the region. Every step kicked up a miniature cloud of fine, red dust that drifted into my lungs and slowly coated my clothes. The dust would've been plenty bad all by itself, but the heat made things even worse.
It was only an hour or two removed from the hottest part of the day, and the air was so dry it sucked moisture out of me with each breath. I knew it was stupid to walk home. My one little bottle of water wasn't going to last me five miles in this oven, but I was tired of always having to be sensible about everything. I was going to walk, and that was it. Maybe if I passed out on the side of the road and ended up in the hospital Britney would finally realize what a wench she was.
I was barely out of sight of the school, still vividly imagining Alec and Britney's faces when they found out that they'd put me in the hospital, when I heard a car approaching from behind me. Only it wasn't zipping by, it was slowing down.
Every scary story I'd ever heard about rapists, kidnappers and murderers suddenly flowed through my mind like frayed ropes catching at my insides as they went, pulling out all of the other thoughts and feelings until there was nothing left but a hollow, fear-filled shell.
I found myself praying for the first time since the accident, pleading with whatever might be out there listening to protect me and get me safely home. My heart was pounding so hard it almost drowned out the crunch of gravel as the car pulled even with me.
I didn't recognize the vehicle, which was a bad sign. It was a light-eating black, and emitted the throaty roar of a sports car. The windows were tinted; I could see that much out of the corner of my eye without acknowledging that it was there. That really seemed like the best course. Maybe if I pretended he wasn't there, the driver would just go away.
A hint of motion told me that wasn't going to be the case. The passenger side window was sliding down with the smooth, even motion of power windows.
"I've heard that some of you easterners have some really funny ideas. I guess seeing as how we don't have any mass transit out here you must've decided you needed to walk home. Don't you think it's a bit hot for that kind of environmental responsibility?"
The voice was familiar, but my mind initially refused to place it with a face. It was too unbelievable to be real. I took a couple more steps, and then looked to my left and was rewarded as an infectious grin slowly appeared on Brandon's face.
I wanted to say something witty, but the thoughts all just swirled around in my head without making it down to my mouth. Brandon's smile grew just a little bigger.
"I really think you should let me give you a ride home. Based on our past history, it's only a matter of time before one of us runs into the other, and I'm afraid of what my Mustang might do to you when that happens."
Brandon's voice washed over me like silk, carrying away any desires I might have had to walk all the way home just to prove a point. Not trusting my voice, I nodded and took the couple of steps needed to reach his passenger door.
"I wanted to apologize for what happened earlier today. Cassie can be a real jerk sometimes."
It was too good to be true. I almost looked over at him, but I knew I'd lose myself in a pair of soft, gray eyes. Brandon seemed to understand that my silence meant I wasn't convinced.
"You wouldn't believe how relieved I was when you stepped forward and stopped her before things got out of hand."
My natural pessimism reasserted itself, undaunted by the fact that I could just see Brandon's exquisitely-muscled arm out of the corner of my eye.
"If you knew Cassie was in the wrong, why didn't you stop her? She's your friend; you should have been able to defuse the situation before it got that far."
Brandon took a deep breath. His voice was quiet now, the perfect example of someone admitting something they weren't proud of. "Things are complicated with Cassie. Our families go really far back, it's almost like she's my sister sometimes. She doesn't like to listen to me, and when she gets mad, things get very unpleasant."
It was a weak explanation, but there was something in his voice that made me believe him. The few doubts I still had melted away as I finally met his eyes. I've always been pretty good at reading people, and I'd never seen anyone whose eyes conveyed that level of sincerity. My voice caught, and it took a couple of tries to get actual words out.
"She'll come after me."
Brandon shook his head. "I won't let her. That's part of why I wanted to talk to you. I won't let anyone do anything to you. Think of it as repayment."
The words weren't anything special, but there was something about the way he said them that made me absolutely sure he'd deliver on his promise, that he was somehow completely in control of his surroundings.
The intensity in his stare was too much, and I found myself looking away, trying to buy some time to collect myself. Luckily I wasn't so far gone as to not recognize where we were.
"Oh, gosh, that was the turnoff to my house. I'm so sorry."
Brandon flashed me another smile and quickly maneuvered his car through a U-turn, a feat I was fairly certain was harder than it looked in the bulky muscle car.
"No harm done. You guys bought the old Anderson home then?"
I nodded, staring out at the desolate landscape. "You mean every single person in town doesn't already know everything there is to know about us?"
"Oh, the joys of a small town. Yeah, with as little real news as we get out here, people probably know more about you than you're used to. It has its benefits though."
I snorted, and then felt myself turning red with embarrassment. You would think after seventeen years I'd have learned how to laugh without making those wretched sounds. "As if. I can't think of one good thing about everyone having their noses in everyone else's business."
The smile was back, but it was more mischievous than before. "How about me knowing Britney left you high and dry after school today?"
"Please. That just makes the humiliation more painful."
Brandon shook his head as we pulled to a stop in front of my house. "No, that means I can do something about you losing your ride."
I suddenly felt like there was a joke I was missing out on. "How do you propose to fix that?"
"It was my fault so I'll be your ride back and forth from school every day."
"I don't know about all of that, but thanks for the lift just now."
I fumbled for a minute with the unfamiliar latch, and then invited the blistering heat into the cool interior of the car as I swung the door open.
Brandon gently captured my arm before I could slide out of the passenger seat. "You'll wait for me tomorrow?"
"I don't know--maybe. Anyone that thinks Mi
nnesota is the east instead of the Midwest can't really be relied upon to remember important things like appointments."
I could feel myself blushing again as I pulled free and fled into the house with a single wave goodbye. Normally I wasn't flirtatious. Heck, I hardly knew the meaning of the word, but something about Brandon turned it all into a harmless game. A game with rules that were nearly comprehensible for a change. One where there was very little to lose and an undreamed-of potential for achieving amazing things.
As soon as the door was shut I ran to the window and hid behind the blinds, watching as the black Mustang drove up our lane. Overcome by the sudden urge to giggle, I ran upstairs looking for my mom. I made it all the way to her door before remembering the Jeep hadn't been downstairs.
Typical. The one time I had good news, and she wasn't around.
I wandered back downstairs, more because it was cooler down there than because I had any real desire to work on homework. Once I was down there though, I grimly decided to open up my bag and make some progress before Mom got home. I pulled my feet up on the couch, leaned back against the arm and rested my Spanish book on my knees. I momentarily wondered if I should make myself quite so comfortable as my eyes closed.
The doorbell came as an abrupt surprise, waking me from the nap I hadn't intended on taking. I'd been in one of the surreal, vivid dreams. It was already too distant to remember details, but I had the impression of being on a mountaintop during the day with vision so acute that I'd been able to see the individual motes of dust. Oddly enough it almost seemed like Alec had been there too.
The person waiting outside wasn't anyone I recognized, but he had the cultured, high-brow appearance of someone who was either really rich, or who moved in the kind of circles where you didn't get seated unless you were properly attired.
"Why, hello, you must be Adriana. Can I call you Adri?"
I shook my head. "I prefer my full name, Mr..."
"Wilkenson, Mayor Wilkenson. Is your mother home?"
Suddenly struck by the fact that living in the country meant there wasn't anyone around to hear your screams, I almost lied, but for whatever reason I believed him. Maybe because he exuded the false, overabundant sincerity I'd come to associate with both the class presidents I'd known back in Minnesota.
"She's out photographing one of the parks. Is there a message you'd like me to pass on?"
He looked surprisingly uncertain, almost like he was used to working from a script, and didn't know what to do when things didn't go as planned.
"Do you know when she'll be back?"
My headshake seemed to unnerve him a little more. Presumably he was having a hard time believing in a world where people didn't have fixed schedules, where moms didn't let their daughters know when they'd be back from their outings.
"The message really is quite urgent. Are you positive you don't have a way to contact her? Well then, I suppose I've no choice."
Most people say they don't have a choice rather flippantly, but he seemed rather more like he had his back against the wall than I expected.
"You know, I presume, that there was some confusion regarding the tourism project she bid out for the city? Well, I've managed to get to the bottom of the situation and it appears we did indeed award the contract to her."
The news seemed too good to be true. "You mean she's got the job?"
"Technically it isn't an employment offer. It's more in the way of a consulting project, but yes, she'll be in a sense working for the city. I've asked my staff to make sure that the confusion is cleared up with the bank as well so you shouldn't be in any kind of danger of losing your house anymore."
I almost clapped for joy, only there was something off about it all. Since when did the mayor personally come to deliver a piece of relatively insignificant news? Not only that, why would he be so shaken up? He'd actually seemed to be trying to determine whether or not it would be okay to just leave a message. Like he was operating by a set of rules he didn't completely understand. Or maybe at the order of someone else?
Normally I wouldn't have been brave enough to press, but the words were out of my mouth almost before I realized what I was doing.
"That's great, sir. Do you often work so closely with the local bank? I mean when the loan officer talked to my mom he said that there was no way to keep us from losing our house. I think she said his exact words were that it would take an act of God to change things now."
A tiny fragment of memory rose to the surface of my mind. A time when Dad had been talking about negotiating with someone for work. "Don't be afraid of silence, Adri. Especially not when you know you're right. Let the silence work on people for a little while and they'll usually start to crack."
That was the last thing I wanted to do right now, but I kept my mouth shut anyways. It was almost like I could see the gray matter starting to heat up as the mayor tried to figure out exactly what I knew and how much I just suspected.
"Act of God indeed. Fancy that. Well, surprising as it may be, Fredrick doesn't know everything there is to know about the world."
He was turning to leave, and most of me was screaming to just thank him and wave goodbye, but there had been something in his eyes that had me convinced he'd been lying.
"Thank you, sir. I guess I need to learn more about civic government. I can't wait to go into whatever records are public and learn about all of the ways the mayor works with the banks. I'll bet there are plenty of other people who'd be interested too. Maybe I can start a club at school."
It was like someone else was doing the talking for me. I'd never been this bold, and to do so now with someone who could arrange for my mom's job to disappear again seemed like the worst kind of stupidity, but I couldn't fall apart now.
I almost couldn't believe my eyes when his face turned red. "Listen here, Missy. I've been in politics longer than you've been alive, and it takes a whole hell of a lot more than a precocious teenager to blackmail me. So, you can just drop your veiled threats and pretend like we never had this conversation, or I will see that your mom is once again unemployed, and we'll just see whether or not your protector is bluffing."
Stepping out of my front door and being hit by a cement truck would have been less of a surprise. I'd thought something odd was happening, but the idea of someone protecting us was almost unbelievable.
The mayor took my shock as a sign he once again had the upper hand. Smiling smugly, he turned to leave, but not before I could grab at the sleeve of his sport coat. "Wait. Who is it? Who's helping us?"
The smirk hadn't left. "No, he was very clear on that point. You're not to know. That's the one thing guaranteed to make him go through with his threats. You'll just have to be satisfied with the fact that you'll both continue to be able to live in our fine city."
Normally I would have just acquiesced, but I couldn't bear the thought of letting him leave, taking with him the identity of the only person besides my mom who really cared what happened to me. I tightened my grip in an attempt to stop him.
"Please, if you won't tell me who it is, let me write a thank you note. I have to do something. He's done so much for us."
He stopped partway through shaking his head. "I can't promise he'll even bother to read it, but I'll take it to him if you promise never to talk about this again. I don't want to hear even the slightest rumor anything unusual happened in association with this project."
I nodded, relieved I'd have a chance to jot down a couple of lines, that I'd at least have that much of a link with our protector.
Mayor Wilkenson waited at the door, almost the perfect picture of a gentleman at his leisure, but his desire to be done with this whole affair was almost palpable. I hurried back to the kitchen counter and tore a piece of paper off of the tablet I'd been drawing on.
Whoever you are thank you so much for what you've done. Not just for the job, but for smoothing things over with the bank as well. I wish there was some way I could repay you for everything.
--Ad
riana