Catalyst (The Best Days #1) (15 page)

“
You three witnessed the assault?” Clive asked after he’d led Carson to the police cruiser.

Rory nodded, biting her lower lip anxiously.

“It was all a misunderstanding, sir,” Troy interjected, his voice shaking a little.  “Jeremy started it and Carson was just trying to help.  It was just a schoolyard fight,” he insisted.  “It was no big deal, honest.”

Rory and Rebecca exchanged glances but said nothing.

Clive looked at them, the wheels in his head clearly turning.  It was evident that he didn’t buy Troy’s version of events, and rightfully so.  “Girls?” he asked as though he already knew the answer.  “Is there anything else I should know?”

Rebecca
hung her head and said nothing.  Rory shook her head, her mouth dry.  “It – it happened the way Troy said,” she finally managed to choke out, perturbed by the strange turn of events.  She didn’t understand why Troy was trying to minimize what had taken place but she wasn’t about to contradict his rather glossed over version of events.

“Can I go now?” Troy asked
anxiously, looking as though he wanted to be anywhere but there.  “I’m late for a dentist appointment.”

Clive didn’t look satisfied with the information he was getting.  He hadn’t been born yesterday and Rory knew he was a fine police officer.  She was certain his gut was telling him there was more to the story than the high school kids
would have him believe, but as he looked first at her and then at Rebecca, she could also see that he was torn between his job and his loyalties.

Wearily, he nodded his head, swiping a hand over his brow. 
Troy immediately took off.  “What happened to his shoes?” Clive asked the girls as they watched the beanpole of a boy scramble away in his socked feet.

Ror
y shrugged, feigning ignorance.  “What’s going to happen to Carson?” she demanded.

Clive sighed.  “If it’s a first offence
then chances are we’ll end up sending both boys home with a warning,” he replied.  “Schoolyard fights are tricky territory when it comes to the judicial system.  I’m not sure I agree with it but the department seems to lean toward letting the school administration handle it.”

“Carson really is a good guy,” Rory insisted.

A faint smile played over Clive’s lips.  In that instant, the resemblance he shared with his son was uncanny.  “Okay,” he nodded, “I get it.  You and this Carson guy must be very close friends for you to be so adamant about defending him,” he said with a knowing wink. 

Rory blushed immediately.

“I’m glad you called me, Rebecca.  This could have ended up a lot worse.  Do you girls need a ride home?” Clive asked.  “I can call Sheck to come and get you, or maybe Val is even around…”

“We’re fine,” Rory assured him, wondering what the situation with Sheck’s parents was like these days.  There had been no scorn in Clive’s voice when he said his wife’s name, but that didn’t mean much.  Rory couldn’t remember Clive ever really being the expressive type; strong and stoic was more like it.

As the girls watched Clive drive off with their two schoolmates in the backseat of his squad car, Rory took a deep, shuddering breath.  “What was that?” she asked. “Why did Troy act like what happened was no big deal?  I mean, I was there.  I saw and heard everything.  It felt like a pretty big deal if you ask me.”

Rebecca looked just as confused.  “I don’t know,” she confessed.  “Maybe Troy is embarrassed and just wants this all to go away as quickly and as quietly as possible.  Or,” she added, “Maybe he’s afraid of pissing off the football team if two of their
best players get expelled.”

“Oh God,” Rory gasped.  In all the commotion, the thought hadn’t even occurred to her, but Rebecca was absolutely right.  “When the school gets wind of this they’re going to expel Carson, aren’t they?”  There was a sinking feeling in her stomach.

“I don’t know,” Rebecca shrugged, “But I would think he’ll at least be suspended for fighting, no?  I mean, the school has a zero tolerance policy and all…”

Rebecca was right.  Rory knew she was, even though she didn’t want to believe it.  Even if Carson managed to avoid getting in trouble with the cops, he’d certainly be in trouble once the school administration found out about the fight.

If Carson was suspended, his chances of getting a college scholarship to play football were as good as dead.  Rory felt horrible.  All she’d wanted to do was stand up to Jeremy and bring his reign of terror to an end.  But instead, she may have unintentionally cost Carson his bright, successful future.

“I can’t believe this,” Rory hissed as she and Rebecca exited the principal’s office the following Monday.  Her eyes were red and watery as angry tears welled up and threatened to spill down her cheeks.  Rebecca cast a sympathetic look at her and said nothing.

Rory had spent the weekend on pins and needles, anxiously waiting to find out Carson’s fate.  He’d finally returned her
repeated phone calls on Sunday night but had spoken in a hushed voice, telling her he couldn’t talk to her for long.  Much to Rory’s relief, he’d assured her that the police hadn’t pressed charges against him.  His parents, on the other hand, had taken it upon themselves to be his jury, judge and executioner.

Right then and there, Rory had decided she had to try to fix things. 

The next morning, Rory had insisted Rebecca accompany her to the principal’s office.  Rebecca was smart and always knew the right thing to say.  She was persuasive, too – in fact, their mother was always hinting that Rebecca should join the debate team although Rory knew her sister’s fear of public speaking would never allow it.  Rory skipped out on her classes with alarming frequency, turned in homework late and barely passed her exams.  But Rebecca was Going Places.  If there was one student the administration would listen to, it would be Rory’s sister.

Stepping into the principal’s office was always a tense experience for Rory.  She rarely found herself there of her own accord.  Usually she was summoned
to the principal’s office to be informed that she was in danger of failing a class or that if she missed any more classes she’d be facing disciplinary action.  For her, a visit to the principal’s office was never a good thing.

Of course it was a different situation entirely for Rebecca.  She’d never been in trouble a day in her life.  She was at ease as they waited for their appointment.  When the principal summoned the sisters into her office, it was clear that she and Rebecca had a good rapport.

To Rebecca’s credit, she’d handled herself beautifully in there.  Rory had expected as much.  Rebecca had said all the right things, respectfully and intelligently pointing out that Carson ought not to be reprimanded for coming to another student’s aid.  If anything, she argued, he should be commended.

The principal had listened carefully, even nodding her head in agreement at times.  For a moment there, Rory had been hopeful that they’d get the results they wanted.  Carson would be spared a suspension, would get to remain on the football team and would impress all the college scouts at his next big game. 
Everything would work out.

Then the principal pursed her lips and apologetically explained that while the school’s zero tolerance policy wasn’t perfect, it was designed to send a strong message to students about
the school’s stance on physical violence.  She admitted that perhaps the application of the policy to Carson was heavy handed.  She assured the girls that she was sympathetic to their cause.  But then she pointed out that the school policy couldn’t be changed and applied retroactively.

“But that’s not fair!” Rory had blurted out, causing the principal to raise an eyebrow.

Rebecca had kicked her under the desk, silently warning her to keep her emotions under control.

Gripping the armrests of the uncomfortable straight-backed office chair tightly, Rory had tried a different approach.  “Isn’t there anything you can do?” she’d pleaded, her tone calmer and her blue eyes wide.  “Please?”

“We can review our policy going forward,” the principal had replied.  “I’m sure we can find ways to improve upon the way we respond to conflicts in the future.  But as for this particular case, I’m sorry but my hands are tied.”

The principal had stood up from behind her desk, signalling the end of the conversation.

“But…” Rory had protested, unwilling to just accept defeat.

Rebecca had stood up and nudged Rory until she’d done the same.  “Thank you for your time,” Rebecca had said politely before practically pushing her sister out of the office. 

Now they stood in the hallway staring at one another.  Rory couldn’t be angry with Rebecca.  She’d really tried to persuade the principal to cut Carson some slack and Rebecca wasn’t even fond of the guy (Rory suspected that would change if Rebecca would just give him a chance).  But Rory was completely frustrated with the system.  As far as she was concerned, it was deeply, infuriatingly flawed.

“We should get back to class,” Rebecca pointed out, noting the deserted hallway.

“Yeah,” Rory said unconvincingly, not moving an inch as her sister began to walk toward her first period classroom.

Rebecca turned around and gave her a look.  “I’m not trying to nag but you
are
going to class, aren’t you?  I know the teachers have been going easy on you because of everything that’s happened but you’ve been missing a lot of school, Rory.  If you keep it up, it’s going to catch up with you.”

Rory sighed, feeling defeated.  She couldn’t even argue with her sister because Rebecca spoke the truth.  “I’ll go,” she promised, sounding every bit as unenthused as she felt.  Then in a tiny voice she added, “Want to meet for lunch?  Maybe we can go to that little Chinese place a few blocks over.”  She couldn’t bear to sit in the cafeteria with her usual crowd. 

Rebecca hesitated.  “I was hoping to find Troy,” she admitted.  “I haven’t talked to him since everything happened and I just want to make sure he’s okay, you know?”

“Oh.”

“You can join us if you want?” Rebecca offered.  “When the weather’s nice we usually eat in the courtyard under that old oak tree.”

“Nah, that’s okay.” 

Rory knew Troy probably wasn’t sure what to think of her.  She was Rebecca’s sister but she was also a part of the very group that had participated in or at least condoned his harassment.  As unfair as it was, that may very well mean she was guilty by association in his eyes.  She knew Troy was pretty much the only friend Rebecca had now that Mya had moved away and she didn’t want to interfere with that.  It wouldn’t be fair.

“Are you sure?” Rebecca pressed, looking guilty.

“Wipe that look off your face,” Rory ordered with a flip of her long blonde hair.  “Everyone keeps treating me like I’m broken and it’s getting old.  You’re my sister.  You of all people should be able to treat me like a normal human, okay?”  She rolled her eyes melodramatically and muttered, “I swear, sometimes I feel like I’m on display in a zoo.”

Rebecca laughed, looking relieved to see a glimpse of the old Rory no matter how fleeting.

Rory forced a smile as she gave her sister a small wave before heading in the opposite direction toward her homeroom.  She was glad her little white lie had convinced Rebecca that she was okay.  She just wished saying it enough times would convince her as well as everyone else.

But it wasn’t that simple.  And
Rory wasn’t so sure she wasn’t broken.

* * * * *

When lunchtime rolled around, Rory felt lost. 

She couldn’t go to the cafeteria because it was full of phony, self-aggrandizing fakes who she’d rather not see. 
Besides, she wasn’t exactly sure what the fallout from the Jeremy incident would be like and wasn’t in any mood to find out.  She couldn’t eat her junk food locked away from the world in a bathroom stall because it brought back painful memories of Grace.  She couldn’t go sit on the bleachers and stare out at the football field that Carson wouldn’t be playing on because it would make her miss him and feel awful.  That didn’t leave her with many options.

When the bell rang Rory
headed outside, careful not to look at the memorial to Grace.  She wondered how long it would be left up for.  Surely someone at some point would decide it was time to take it down, but when?  Seeing it – and all the insincere messages from snobs who’d deemed themselves Grace’s good friends only in death – made Rory’s head hurt.  It couldn’t come down fast enough, as far as she was concerned.

Just then her phone rang.

“Hello?”

“It’s good to hear your voice.”

Rory’s face lit up.  “Carson!  I thought your parents took your phone away?”

“They did,” he confirmed, “But they didn’t hide it very well.  I use it when they’re out.”

“Sneaky!  I never knew you were such a badass,” Rory teased.

“I didn’t either,” he chuckled. 

He sounded remarkably good all things considered.  He’d gotten in a fight and been hauled into the police station like a common criminal.  He’d been suspended from school and booted off the football team, pretty much destroying his prospects of getting a scholarship to college.  He’d also undoubtedly disappointed his parents.  Yet he sounded rather upbeat.

“Have I ever mentioned you have a hot phone voice?” Carson asked, his own voice sounding rich and masculine.  “Because you do…you have a very hot phone voice.”

Rory blushed.  “I never said thank you for coming to my rescue,” she told him.  “So…thank you.  Even though you probably wish you’d never met me in the first place, thank you.”

“Please!” Carson scoffed.  “What I wish is – oh shit.  My parents just came home.  I’ve got to go, sorry!  Bye!”  There was a click and then nothing but the dialtone in Rory’s ear.

She sighed and put her phone away.  Glancing at her watch, she saw she still had nearly three quarters of an hour to kill.  She sighed and kicked at a pebble on the sidewalk even though the pebble had done nothing to deserve her wrath.

Rory
wished for the millionth time that she had a car.  Failing her written driving test had been devastating – just one more item to add to the long list of things Rory was bad at.  She could have retaken it but she’d opted not to, paralyzed with the fear of failing a second time. 

At the rate
things were going, Rebecca would probably get her license before Rory did!  Rory had visions of herself needing to be driven around by her younger sister.  Now
that
would be embarrassing!

It took Rory a moment to realize she was agonizing over the same things she’d been obsessed with Before.  She wasn’t sure
what to make of that.  Part of her felt superficial and selfish but another part was relieved that maybe, just maybe, the old Rory was still in there somewhere, buried beneath the mountain of grief that made breathing difficult.

Rory’s mom had been pressuring her to visit a counselor.  Rory couldn’t imagine anything worse than being expected to spill her guts to a stranger
, sniveling like a little bitch and getting snot all over the “talk therapist’s” expensive leather couch.  She didn’t think she could handle revisiting that awful night over and over, talking her way through it – that
was
how talk therapy worked, wasn’t it? 

“What’s up, stranger?”

Rory turned around already knowing who she’d see.  She’d recognize that voice anywhere.