Desperate Measures Page 8

  Chapter eight

  Tears from heaven

  I jumped up covered in sweat with the echo of a loud snap still in my head. I didn’t bother getting up and searching for the cause of the sound because I knew it was inside me. Whether it was a nightmare or a vision of future events to come, I already knew the cause. It was an echo from the day that Kristina ended her life. I was panting like a dog and my heart was pounding so fast that not only my chest hurt, but my stomach was twisted in knots. I flopped back down on the bed and the little plastic alarm clock said 12:01, so officially, I had five days left until my damnation started. I just laid there, letting various thoughts mingle through my mind as I tried to plan how I could seduce the one person who doesn’t want to be seduced.

  I went out to the front step and just sat there watching the dull flickering light dancing through her window. I assume that she was knee deep into a book, telling herself I will sleep after one more chapter. My mother was that way. It was always just one more chapter and then another until the wee hours of the morning. I could never spend all that time doing much of anything, let alone read. I looked down at my watch and it was surprised to see 1:35 AM. The morning was coming and I needed my wit if I was going to follow the process of trying not to fail, even though I knew failure would come soon.

  The alarm’s ringing was like an icepick digging into my brain as I desperately swatted, trying to make it go away. I was near exhausted thanks to a sleepless night and haunting visions all night long. Images, not only of the things that were beyond my control to stop, but those that I had already caused to happen. I dragged myself and tried to force myself to face this day even though I wondered if I had the strength to make it through the day.

  I walked through the side doors of the school and was immediately hit by the chatter of a hundred kids telling wild tales about their summer adventures. Generally, I would have been one of them, but my summer tale wasn't something you generally share openly. You can't just open with yes I died a few days ago and here I am saving one of the most awkward girls at school’s life and oh yes, my soul hangs in the balance.

  I heard the rumble of a motor revving then the screeching of tires as I saw a streak of blue pass by. It was the two guys from yesterday. Of course they would be here. I was in the middle of nowhere and karma had to throw obstacles in my way.

  I wandered amongst the crowd. Usually I would be in the center of it drawing all the attention. I was more popular than the jocks and wanted by the cheerleaders. Here though, I wasn't the superstar. Here I wasn't even an average Joe. I was just another schmuck in the bunch. I wandered the halls searching for Kristina, but I couldn't find her anywhere. I assumed that she would be here, but maybe she was home schooled. Now that would put a kink in my plans.

  The ringing bell sent the crowd down the halls like cattle being lead to the slaughter. Ok maybe it isn't that bad, but like mindless animals, they started walking behind each other. This short kid with short black hair and thick rimmed glasses ran up, "Hey Jay. I thought that you weren't going to be here for another week."

  I didn't know who he was, but based on his smile and warm friendly manner, I assumed that we were good friends. "Plans changed. Mom figured that my grades last year were too low for me to even miss the first week of school."

  His face was still filled by a dopey grin as he pulled me along, "I am lucky that way. My older brother Tom failed three classes last year so my C's make me look like a freaking genius. I guess being an only child, it means that there's no way your D's look good."

  Of course I had to be locked up in a moron’s body. I am no brainiac by any means, but I still pulled solid B's. This dude can't have any kind of social life, so how does he justify only getting D's? If that's the case, his mom should give him a name tag so she is sure that he spells his name right. I just responded, “Yep. That's about it."

  We made a right turn and there was an orange door that said room 106 science on it. So at least I knew my first subject. Now if I only knew what grade I was in. I assumed 10, but for all I know, this Jason could be married and still trying to graduate.

  A loud bang echoed as this short man wearing a geeky looking short sleeve dress shirt dropped a big thick book onto his desk. "Now that I have your attention. For those of you who don't know who I am, my name is Jean Gibeon and I am your homeroom teacher." The whole class was silent and if I didn't know better, I would have sworn that there was fear in their eyes. He took attendance as he named off the students one by one. I waited for him to call Kristina's name, but he didn't so maybe she was home schooled which made my attending school seem kind of pointless. At least now I knew that my new friend was a relative of Jason Hines. His name was Chris and his brother was named Cliff. Should have figured as much. Families like this, in small towns, stick together and make family feuds famous.

  I basically followed Chris from class to class. Luckily, it seems like they were close or both belonged on the short bus because they were in all the same classes. Bell after bell, we went from class to class. I was always searching for Kristina while Chris blabbed about his motor bike or taking his calf to the county fair and it was a such a shame I had to miss it this year.

  The hallways weren't as confusing as most schools. Each had its own colour for lockers. Orange, green or dull yellow. Of course I had to be stuck in the dull yellow lockers. It seems like fate had hung a sign over this Jason's head that said "Yes, I am a loser."

  We were walking towards our lockers which were side by side, of course, when Chris pulled some kind of glue from his backpack. "You got two quarters?"

  Hell I had more than two quarters in my pocket. "Yes of course."

  "Good because the school has a new skank in it. Oh damn, I guess that you didn't hear about it on account you were in Peterborough helping your sick granny. By the way, tell your mom even though her mom isn't part of our direct family, we all are sorry. Seeing that she's our aunt and all."

  It made sense since we shared a last name that Jason's mother married into the family. Ok so now I know why the family left. "Yes I have two quarters. Why?"

  With a stupid grin on his face, he snarled. "Revenge!"

  I knew that I probably didn't want to know why or against who, but I had to ask. "Who are we getting revenge against or why?"

  He opened his locker door like a shield and whispered, "Dad says not to talk about it because of the law and how close Cliff came to being arrested, but you are family after all." He scrunched down like he was trying to turn invisible and was about to say something, when a giant blonde muscled jock who seemed to have no neck came walking by. I noticed my two friends from yesterday were walking behind him. Of course, they had a pet giant. Karma was playing poker and stacking the deck against me. What next? As the unfriendly giant with blue eyes, blonde hair and a dirty John Deere hat walked away, Chris whispered, "I will tell you later ok? I think that Cliff will beat us both if he hears me telling you on account of the law and all." I watched the trio walk away and knew who my cousin Cliff was.

  I spotted an orange glass door in the distance. I assumed that it was the library and figured if there was any place that Kristina would be hanging out on her lunch, it would be there. "I will catch up with you later ok Chris?", I said as I headed down the hall.

  "Where are you going?" He asked.

  "To the library."

  "Why are you going there?", he asked.

  "To read books. Why else would I go to the library?"

  In frustration he answered, "That's my point."

  I entered the library and over at a corner table, I saw Kristina sitting with her head in a book. She was wearing thick rimmed glasses and from my angle, she looked so hot. She was like a chunky sexy librarian. Of course it would have been a complete image if she wasn't wearing a dress that went to her ankles and a sweater that went all the way up to her neck.

  I walked towards her, grabbing the closest book along the way and sat beside her. I just sat there
with the book open, pretending to read it, waiting for her to notice me. It was an old move, but if you play it right, it will surely get you a date.

  "Are you stalking me?", she asked as she looked over the frames.

  I smiled the closest thing to a charming smile this body had and responded, "Who me? No I am here reading, the same as you. If you don’t mind being quiet, I am trying to concentrate."

  Shaking her head, she asked, "Oh really?", as she raised an eyebrow. "And how long have you been interested in reading Homer's The Odyssey?"

  "My whole life. I just never had the time to read it until now."

  "You must be a scholar I think."

  "Oh yes I am damn near perfect and almost a genius." Leaning over I whispered, "I just keep it all hidden on the inside so nobody gets jealous."

  "Yes I can tell. It must be a great burden." Katrina was smiling like we were old friends. She needed someone like me, even if she didn't know it yet. Pulling a small bag of Oreo cookies from her pocket, she passed me one and said, "Cookie?"

  I took it and popped it into my mouth, saying, "Thanks."

  "Classy too I see."

  "Oh yes. I learned it from watching the girl across the street."

  "Did you learn anything else from stalking this helpless woman who happens to be trapped across the street from you?"

  "Actually yes, I did." I reached in and took another cookie, "May I?"

  Her eyes were glowing as she said, "Oh please go ahead. So what else did you learn?"

  "If I am ever stranded on a deserted island, I want to bring War and Peace.", I said, putting my book down on the table.

  "Why is that?"

  "Three reasons. Number one is because the book is so big I can use it to work out." That made her sit back and smile. "Number two is because it would take me the rest of my life to read it."

  After a minute she asked, "And number three?"

  "Oh I am stealing your book so you will come and save me.”

  She burst out laughing, "Does that cheesy line ever work?”

  "Well if you say yes, it will be the first time." I know it’s probably the worst come on ever, but sometimes the stars line up and you get the girl. Ok well up until now, I always got the girl.

  The librarian was walking by and grabbed the book, flipping it over as she said, “Hey Romeo next time you are using my books for mating purposes, can you at least make it look like you can read?”, which only made Kristina laugh even more.

  I thought that I was finally getting through to her, but then her eyes changed and she went still. I mean ice cold like she saw the real me for the first time. I am not sure if she was staring at me or through me, but I wanted to crawl inside myself and hide. “I have to go.”, she said, but her eyes wanted to say more. The only problem was that her lips weren’t talking.

  I reached over saying, “What’s wrong?” My first instinct was to ask her what I did to upset her, but even if she told me, half the time I wouldn’t understand the answer.

  Her eyes were screaming for help, but dropping her head she just said, “Nothing. I just need to go now. Sorry.”, as she ran away towards the back of the library. I was just sitting there trying to decide on my next move. Most women I would chase. I mean chase them down and make them talk to me, but this wouldn’t work with Kristina or at least I didn’t think it would.

  I looked lost I guess because the librarian smiled and whispered, “I don’t think smart young women fall for those lines, but you should know that you made her smile and laugh. She doesn’t do that very often.” I handed her the book I was holding and headed back into the halls. I spent the rest of my day searching for her, but no matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t find her.

  I heard a tapping noise and saw Chris. He gave himself a hug, turned and wiggled and made it look like he was making out with himself. I just smiled, shaking my head thinking, "Ass" but it was funny. I got up and walked towards the door, but my mind was still on Kristina. Not because she was my mission, but because I liked her. Two days ago, she was just a face in a nude picture I made jokes about, but now, she was real. Now she was someone that I wanted to know better if she would let me in.

  I went from class to class still thinking of Kristina. Of course, I wasn't surprised that I wasn't in any of the same classes as Kristina. We didn't run in the same circles. She was very smart and her best friends came from the pages of books. Jason was slightly slower and in most cases, would be too shy to do anything but hang out with family. There was always security in family no matter if you were a redneck or the seventeen-year-old kid of Asian immigrants.

  The final bell rang and the whole school was filled with movement as the students stampeded out the doors and to freedom. I lived a small walk through a graveyard away from the school, so I was in no real rush. I waited, then made my way to my locker. Not that I had anything in it yet. It was the first day of school after all.

  I was just making my way around the corner when I saw Chris standing next to a locker. He looked guilty. I can't really say why. Maybe it was the fact that it wasn't his locker or maybe it was just the look in his eyes. Either way, Chris seemed surprised to see me coming towards him. "What are you doing Chris?"

  Tossing a bottle of glue into his back pack he said, "Nothing. I was leaving a surprise for somebody in the morning." He wouldn't look me in the eyes, but kept looking away.

  The whole door was covered in quarters. I stepped in closer and tried to pull one off, but it wouldn't come off. It was glued. I quickly counted and saw that there was twenty bucks or so on there. It wasn’t hard to figure out who’s locker this was. Hazel had explained the torment that Kristina had encountered. "This isn't cool Chris. Not cool at all."

  "She's a whore. You heard the stories. She did things this summer while you were gone. You don't know about her."

  I slammed the locker door, "I know more than you think and this stops now." I was trying to unsuccessfully rip the quarters off of the door. "This is bullshit."

  Something forced me against the locker and a series of smashes made my lungs feel like they were going to explode as the air was forced out of them. "Don't remove one of those quarters. I am next in line." A few more punches in my lower back made me feel like crying, but if I played the role of a little bitch now, it would never stop. As I struggled to get to my feet, a few well placed kicks caught me in the back of the head so hard it made my whole back tingle.

  As I tried to fight the tears and stop the world from spinning, I heard a bang that made all the lockers rattle. "WTF.", somebody bellowed. "I was just doing what you said."

  I turned to find the unfriendly giant Cliff towering over me with a grin on his face and a tooth pick between his teeth. "I know, but nobody slaps a Hine's around, but a Hine's." He punched the locker door causing a small dent as he added, "You are my best friend, but Jason is family." His eyes weren't full of hate, but disappointment as he just stared at me.

  At the end of the hall, two figures turned the corner and started walking towards us. Kristina was one and beside her was an older man wearing a yellow suit jacket with a slant in his walk. My mother was a doctor so by the way he walked with a slight limp and the way his shoulder tilted down, I knew that it was some kind of back injury. "You boys stop what you are doing and come here.", a loud male voice bellowed.

  Cliff grabbed Chis and pointed at me, "We will talk later Jason. I think that you have forgotten bros before hoes and nothing comes before family." He drove his fist into the locker just to make sure I knew who was in control before walking out the doors. Before the doors closed he said, "You weren't here this summer, but we will talk about this later tonight. I will stop off after hockey."

  From the end of the hall, I could hear stomping as the male figure came running towards me still yelling, "I said come here.", but I knew they'd be long gone before he was close enough to even see them.

  The janitors cart was just down the hall. I walked over to it and found a p
utty knife that would do the job. I grabbed it and started scrapping the insult off the door. It didn't take long for me to realize that some of these quarters weren't put here just now, but all day long. I was determined to get them all off.

  Kristina said, "Don't bother. It won't make a difference." She rolled her eyes and said, "They will just glue more back tomorrow."

  The older male clenched his teeth with rage in his eyes, "Little bastards."

  I kept scraping the quarters off the door one at time watching them bounce onto the floor. "If they put more up tomorrow, I will scrape those off too."

  Kristina almost jumped in frustration as she said, "And what will the point of it be? Bring more attention to the town whore?"

  The older man snapped, "Don’t you ever call yourself that again. Not in my presence. I don’t want to hear those words leaving your lips again young lady." Kristina looked like she was about to cry, but just nodded instead. Stepping closer towards me he said, “Mister Hines. I suppose you won’t tell me what was happening here would you?”

  There wasn’t a lot he could really do about it even if I told him so I didn’t see any point of it. I just kept scraping away at the quarters, “Nope. It was a family disagreement.”

  “Yes I assume it was. Could you do me a favour and escort miss Harris home then I would like to meet with you in my office.”

  Kristina whimpered, “No it’s ok. I can make my own way home.”

  “I wasn’t asking. I was just ordering mister Hine’s around in a polite manner.”

  I could feel a small stream of blood running off my forehead and I wasn’t really fond of letting either of them see it, but I knew that there was nothing I could do to hide it. So far, I think that my shirt had collected the bulk of my blood and they had been concentrating more on the door of the locker than anything else or else they would have noticed the small streak of red running down my body. Standing up, I answered, “Yes I will escort her.”

  I turned to face them. Kristina cried out, “You are bleeding!”