Ruthless People
Chapter V
“I had a great time; I wish we’d done it sooner.”
“Well, the first hundred times I asked, you turned me down.”
“And I realise now it was a mistake. Thank you, for tonight. I really needed this.”
“Glad to do it for you. But I said I’d have you home at a decent hour, and we may have gone over that.”
“My mom won’t mind. But I’d love to do this again soon.”
“And as soon as be both have conflict free schedules, we will. Promise. You better get inside; it’s cold out here.”
“Yes, I better. I’ll give you a call, and we can agree on a day and time.”
“Sure. See you later.”
“Bye.”
Kate waited until her date was driving down the road before she went inside. She couldn’t honestly remember the last time she’d had so much fun with someone her age instead of the kids. It was a refreshing change to have a conversation with an adult, instead of debating the pros and cons of various cartoons with her son.
Turning into the living room, she wasn’t surprised to find Kevin still wide awake and obviously high on a sugar buzz, watching some variation of cartoon. She knew that it would’ve been wiser to have Gillian baby-sit, because her mother let Kevin away with far too much; but he was her only grandson, spoiling came with the territory.
“Momma, Momma! Granma made cookies, and she let me ice ‘em and we ate ‘em and then we watched cartoons and Granma says Scooby-Doo is better!”
“Kevin, slow down. How many cookies did Granma give you tonight, huh?”
“No know.”
Picking Kevin up and settling him on her hip, Kate knew she’d have a hard time getting him calm enough for bed. It would be easier waiting until the sugar wore off, and he simply passed out with exhaustion, but she couldn’t do that; she‘d never get to bed herself. She walked through the house, Kevin still talking a mile a minute, until she found her mother who was finishing putting the baking supplies away.
“I’m back.”
“Honey, how was your night?”
“It was fun. How much sugar has my little guy had tonight, mom? He’s bouncing off the ceilings.”
“He had three cookies, but I suspect he sneaked a couple when I wasn’t looking.”
“Probably. Is Lucy back yet?”
Alice-Anne took Kevin from her daughter and gave him her best “strict Granma” look to quieten him and Kevin took it as his first and only warning. Kate had often wondered how her mother managed to get her children so hyper, yet managed to calm them with a simple look. To be fair, she had her own “glare of death” she perfected over the years which seemed to have a similar effect; but with men, however, they were falling at her feet more than they were obeying her orders.
“Lucy never left. I think you should talk to her.”
“What happened?”
“She wouldn’t tell me. She’s been in her room all night.”
The information sent a bolt of worry down Kate’s spine, as Lucy was never one to shut herself away from everyone. The dust had settled in the past two months, and everyone was finally in a routine that suited them. Lucy had her friends, Kevin was progressing well for his age and Kate had her work, which more often than not had more good days than bad; a definite change from LA. Lucy suddenly changing her attitude and becoming reclusive wasn’t exactly a great sign in Kate’s eyes.
Leaving her jacket and purse on the kitchen table, Kate grabbed the last remaining cookies from the plate on the counter and headed up to Lucy’s room. When she reached the door, Kate could just make out the beat of what was a very hard to listen to rock song; most likely of the Papa Roach type. When knocking on the door never got her anywhere, Kate tried her luck and walked in to Lucy’s room and found her sitting in the middle of the bed, apparently studying.
“I thought you were going to the movies with Karen?”
Lucy shook her head in favor of answering, and continued on with her homework.
“What happened?”
Again, Lucy held her tongue and shrugged her shoulders instead. Kate sighed and went to sit at the end of the bed, offering up a cookie in hopes of gaining a vocal response from her surly daughter.
“I can’t help if you don’t talk to me, Lou.”
“There’s nothing to help with and there’s nothing to talk about. Karen just decided that I wasn’t invited tonight after all, end of.”
“Hey! Attitude adjustment, please. I just wanna know what’s going on, that’s all. Is that such a crime these days?”
Saying nothing, Lucy got off the bed and stormed out the room, leaving Kate aghast at her daughter’s sudden change. Deciding it would be better to wait until Lucy came to her - with a hatchet, her mind supplied - Kate went into her room to change before heading back to the living room to try and calm her boisterous four-year old down.
***
She was either paranoid, or everyone really was whispering about her as she walked through the packed lunchroom. Lucy had spoken to Karen, Lori and Amanda that morning and the girls realised it had all been a huge misunderstanding; it wasn’t that Lucy wasn’t invited to the movies, it was just that they had changed the days. It was something they had all laughed over during math instead of focusing on their algebra equations.
Making her way to her table, she could see Karen and Lori laughing at something Amanda had said and Lucy felt as though the joke was on her. When she finally reached the table, the girls fell silent and made Lucy feel even more unwelcome than she already did. Lucy moved to take the last remaining chair at the table, just as Amanda put her rucksack on it; apparently claiming it.
“Excuse me.”
“There is no excuse for you.”
Amanda’s words felt worse than a slap to the face; Lucy was obviously out of the group. She backed away, setting her lunch tray on top of a nearby bin and walked as fast as she could from the lunchroom, hearing nothing but Amanda’s laughter and the whispers of her peers as she left. Natalie had watched everything from the other side of the room, and couldn’t help but think ‘I told you so’ as part of her wanted to run after Lucy and check she was alright; in the end her better nature won out and she followed Lucy.
***
“Someone will be here to pick you up shortly, Lucy. Just keep your leg elevated and the ice pack on your ankle.”
“Thanks, Doctor Hampton.”
Jordan Hampton left the sick bay, leaving Lucy to mull over what happened at soccer practice; regretting not having listened to Natalie in the first place. If she had, she probably wouldn’t be sitting in the nurses office with an ankle swollen to the size of a golf ball. She could call it a dirty tackle or she could call it evilness but whatever way she looked at it, it hurt like hell.
“You okay, Lou?”
Lucy looked up from her injury when Natalie popped her head round the door. She figured she should really apologise to her cousin, but something in Natalie’s eyes told her she didn’t have to.
“Yeah. Dr Hampton called someone to pick me up. I just wish it didn’t hurt so much, y’know.”
“Your ankle or the rejection? Either one is pretty painful. Lori shouldn’t have done that; she came right at you deliberately. Mr DiNozzo seen it too, so I’m pretty sure she’ll be in trouble.”
“Doubt it. Karen and everyone can do no wrong in the teachers eyes, and we have to pay the price for crossing them. The teachers can‘t do anything.”
The girls remained silent until Gillian arrived to collect Lucy, who was slightly unhappy that it wasn’t her mother who was there; the one who knew just how to make her feel better. Helping her mom get Lucy down to the car, Natalie made a promise to Gillian that she’d keep her eye out for Lucy and tell them when things were getting to this point again. It was either that or explain to Aunt Kate why she hadn’t done anything to prevent it in the first place.
As Gillian drove her home, for the first time in months Lucy wished she’d never told her mom what she’d seen and that they’d never moved to DC. Her life would’ve been a lot easier without Karen Miller in it.
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