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Pick Up Tuck -*- Copyright 2007 by Ellen Hayes.

Any resemblance between the writings in this work, and any actual
persons or places, living or dead, are purely coincidental, except when
used for satirical purposes.

This work contains adult situations, adult language, adult concepts, and
possibly sex.  If you are legally not allowed to read materials
containing such things, then you will be breaking the law by reading
this.  I am not responsible.
Continuing to read this document, or storing it or reproducing it
in any format means that you explicitly affirm that you are legally
allowed to possess and read such materials in your city, county/parish,
state, and country.

All rights reserved.  See the bottom for distribution rights.


Pick Up Tuck


***
10:44 10 Nov

     "I did suggest you, if she wanted a, uh, similar thing, though," I
mentioned, because that was important too.
     Mike stopped and looked at me as he exclaimed, "What?  You did?!"
     "Well, yah?  I mean... you're, uh, you're more qualified than me in
that respect, I think," I said.
     He looked stunned.
     "Uh... thanks?" he finally said.  Then he shook his head, and
thumped my shoulder again.  "Damn, Tuck...  This feels very sick
somehow," and he raised a hand to get me to shut up as he continued
without stopping, "but somehow it is also very cool and noble of you.
And, uh, thanks.  I really do appreciate it."
     "Sure thing."  I mean, what else was I supposed to do?
     "Did she, uh..."
     "She said she'd think about it.  I dunno what that means," I warned
him.  "But she didn't say no.  Or throw up."
     "Did she scream?"
     "No, actually, she didn't..."
     "Hmmm," Mike said, looking hopeful.

***
11:34 10 Nov

     As we approached the cafeteria, some cheerleader saw me and started
towards me.
     "Mike?!"
     "Tallyho, extending," he said as he accelerated and peeled off.  I
stopped, and she was coming right for me.  But her face...  I checked my
batons anyway, and brushed an elbow against my rib plate to make sure I
was wearing it, which I was.  Mike hung in her 8 o'clock, so he could
come in on her left side from behind and kill her or whatever.
     "Hey, um," she said quickly.  "Tucker.  Thanks for doing all that
on my computer.  You saved me an F on that paper... I just wanted to say
thanks, okay?"
     I eventually nodded dumbly.
     "Okay," she nodded back, smiling like she'd done something right,
and she left.  Quickly.
     "What the fuck was that about?" Amanda asked.

***
11:36 10 Nov

     "Debbie, can I talk to you for a minute?" I demanded.  I had to
glance to check if Mike was still with me, but he was.
     "Yeah hold on," she said, raising her hand at me, and I pulled back
to let her finish her conversation with whoever it was.  We'd had to ask
the Pack where she was, and then go find her in the cafeteria when
nobody knew; but this wasn't uncommon.
     George and Dan wandered past, looking casual or trying to, like
they were getting into the food line.  Which bizarrely reminded me that
I had food on my pack-cart; which wasn't here, it was back at our table.
     "What is it?" she asked me casually as she got up, like it was
completely normal for me to be talking to her like this.
     "Some cheerleader just thanked me for fixing her computer this
weekend?" Debbie made a face.  "Yeah, what the fuck?" I asked,
wildcarding all the things I wanted to know.  I'd let her tighten the
noose around her own neck before I started yanking.
     "Tuck, A she needed it, and B you could use her on your side,"
Debbie said calmly as she started walking.  "Jody is already willing to
testify on your side in the court cases, if she can weasel out of her
charges.  Which your lawyer knows.  And she IS really really sorry about
what happened, and she tried to apologize that time?"
     "What?" Mike asked.
     "She was trying to apologize, that day, when she came by Tuck's
house," Debbie answered Mike, like she wasn't surprised for him to be
there.  "And she wasn't one of the ones that hit you either, I checked,"
she said to me.
     "But-"
     "Now right now she wants to be on your side," she continued.  "And
she's really appreciative of the work you did, on her computer, and, and
she's helping out by keeping an ear on the cheerleaders and- AND, trying
to keep them from interfering in the things like the Knights and the
other things, like the glee club Kelly's-"
     *Damn that thing anyway.*  I could never remember the acronym in
time to do me any good; it was always confusing.
     "-setting up, and some other things.  So don't have a cow over it.
I wouldn't do it for any of the other ones, except maybe Holly, so don't
worry.  Listen, I need to talk to some other people today, so..."  She
gave me a look like 'you are interfering with biz, dude' and so I left.
     It was either that or kill her, and there were way too many
witnesses.

***
11:38 10 Nov

     Mike had taken several breaths and purged the incident, or stacked
it for later; I couldn't.  Luckily this was leech day and I didn't have
to participate in the gaming.
     Mostly I was really fucking mad.  *I mean, what the fuck, do I have
to specify every single fucking time, 'No Debbie I won't work for the
benefit of my enemies'?  She fucking well KNOWS better than that!  And
what the fuck did she mean she was working with Debbie on stuff?*
Collaboration with the enemy was traditionally one of the things that
got wheeler-dealers or fixers or thirdmen hanged, or otherwise 'out of
business', though right at the moment I wasn't sure if I should kill one
or both of them, and if only one which one.
     "Tuck, you're vibrating," Mike observed, and I almost yelled at
him.
     I took a hit of one inhaler instead, just in case.  I was getting
angrier.
     James biting a sandwich reminded me of food.  That might distract
me.  "George, get the cooler," I ordered, and he did, apparently
scenting free food.  He hadn't stayed in line long enough to get
anything even remotely resembling food; which was all we ever got here,
a remote resemblence.  VERY remote.

***
11:44 10 Nov

     "Fucking goddamned-" #THUNK#  The bathroom stall dividers were not
what I wanted to be punching, but it was safer than anything else at the
moment.  "Bitch."  #THUNK#  "Fucking goddamed WHORE!"  That demanded a
kick, which hurt my ribs a lot.  I panted as I recoiled, but at least
I'd left a dent in the metal plates.
     "Dude," George said in admiration.
     "Nnnngh-"#WHUNKK#  Backspin kicks, with the heel as striking
surface, left an even bigger dent.  "Bitch!"

***
11:49 10 Nov

     Of course, once I got it out, George and Matt wanted to know WHY I
was so pissed off, which meant I had to explain it, which meant I had to
think about it, which meant I got all pissed off all over again.

***
11:56 10 Nov

     And I STILL wasn't sure which one of them I ought to kill.
Debbie... I was sort of ambivalent about Debbie.  And Jody or whatever
her name was...  I mean, I could sort of see having a spy in the enemy
camp, and I KNEW what Mom and Dad would do to me if I fucked up a
friendly witness before court...  but...
     I really really wanted to beat the crap out of someone.  I mean, a
lot.
     "Tuck, you gonna-"  I pushed it at Mike.  "No, Tuck, you need-"
     "I'm so fucking pissed right now I can't eat," I mentioned.  "Take
it.  And if you eat it, I can't throw it."  Not that that would even
begin to take the edge off.  "And I brought plenty," I remembered.

***
12:22 10 Nov

     "You sure you're okay?" Kathy asked, attempting to goad me into a
psychotic fit.
     "I'm sure," I sighed.  I was sure I wanted to have my two good
classes and get the fuck out of here.

***
15:08 10 Nov

     "So you're going bowling Friday, right?  You PROMISED," Ricky
insisted.
     I wanted to tell him he was completely wrong, and see if I could
run enough of a head job on him that he'd start doubting his own memory,
and sanity, but I didn't have the concentration to do it.  Which did not
make me more pleased.

***
15:40 10 Nov

     "Because I ended up taking it to school today, so I have to clean
it before I can give it back.  You can watch Stella for five minutes," I
reminded him.

***
15:44 10 Nov

     I'd finally had to agree to take three dollars off the debt he owed
me, which I was keeping VERY careful track of.  Three down, seventy-
eight to go.  At least it had gotten rid of him for a while.
     And now, oh joy, I got to wash out a cooler in the bathtub.  What
fun.  It actually wasn't as much fun as Ricky seemed to think it would
be, though.  I'd rather be watching Stella.

***
15:46 10 Nov

     "Oh, h-"  I'd just remembered that I had to give one dress plus
pieces back to Pam, and one dress plus pieces back to Debbie.  And
NEITHER of them were clean, and I'd said I'd clean them...
     Come to think of it, I ought to do laundry for myself too; I was
getting low.
     *Come to think of it, finish what you're doing, stupid.*
     I sighed and got back to work.

***
15:53 10 Nov

     I'd sort of put the cooler back in the right place; it was close,
anyway, while it sat upside down and dripped on the concrete floor.  I'd
written a note on my hand to remind me to get it before Miz Parker got
home, if I could; she was being kind of unpredictable lately.
     And now I had to call Debbie.

***
15:57 10 Nov

     With a shrieked mental, *SHIT!* I managed to dial before I could
stop myself again.  And then it was too late.  I told myself this enough
times that I didn't manage to hang up before she finally answered.
     "Hello, this is Debbie Carstairs.  I can't come to..."
     *Oh, crap, a bloody answering machine.  No, wait...*  This was
actually tons better than actually talking to her live.  *Yes!*
     I waited out the message, then stated, "This is Valerie; I'll have
your dress and Pam's in the cleaners tomorrow, and I'll pick 'em up when
they're done, whenever that is."  I had no idea, I realized, how long it
would take dry cleaners to do two dresses.  "Thursday maybe?  Please
tell Pam if you talk to her before tomorrow, okay?  Bye."  And I finally
got to hang up.
     "What?"
     "Ah," I gasped, because he'd surprised me.  "Nothing.  I just had
to make a phone call, to my boss, about returning her costume, the one
she lent me for Halloween."
     "So why are you all scared about it?"
     "Ricky...  You know," I said, "how parents can sometimes just jump
your- I mean, all over you, when there's something stressful going on,
and it's not really your fault but you'd better shut up and get out of
their way before they REALLY start yelling at you?"
     "Yeah?"
     "Shut up and get out of the kitchen," I said in the calmest voice I
could manage, "or you're grounded until you turn thirty."
     He actually opened his mouth to say something before his hindbrain
turned him around and took him out of the kitchen.  Smart hindbrain.

***
16:00 10 Nov

     He looked nervous at me.
     "I'm better," I told him.
     "Okay, shush," he said as he turned back to the television.
     I had a sudden idea to shoot the television, to save his brain from
the fungal-type rot he was giving himself another dose of, but I managed
to restrain myself.
     Also I had no firearms at the moment.

***
16:11 10 Nov

     It was actually relaxing, in a way, to sit in the kitchen and play
with Stella and and try and think what I could fix with what the Parkers
had in stock.  I was getting lame.
     So of course my phone rang.
     I sighed and almost picked it up before I remembered to check who
it was.  I REALLY didn't want to talk to Debbie right now.  Luckily, it
was Amanda's number, and I thought it unlikely that Debbie was there
calling me.
     *No, stupid, she wouldn't do that,* I told myself as it rang for
the third time.
     'If you answer it I'm not gonna be responsible for the
consequences,' Hangover informed me.
     "Get OUT of here!  Hello?"
     "Hey Val!" Amanda perked at me.  "How's it going?"

***
16:23 10 Nov

     "You should come to the next one," Pam suggested.
     "Yeah!" Amanda seconded.
     "WHY?"  That stopped them.  "I don't think Debbie wants to see me
there any more than I want to see her there," I said.  I was pretty
sure she felt that way, anyway; I was sure I didn't want to be trapped
in a room with her while I was sleeping.  Except I wouldn't be sleeping.
     "WHY are you so PARANOID about her?" Amanda wanted to know.
     I sighed.  If she didn't get it by now...

***
17:13 10 Nov

     "D-d-d-stupid phone!"  It was Mike.  "What?!"
     "What's up your ass?" Mike asked.
     "'M in the middle of cooking and feeding Stella, whaddaya want?"
     "You still bowling this Friday with the squirt?"
     "Yah," I said, disgusted with myself for-
     "Okay," he said and hung up.
     "What?  D-"
     Stella spat some beef goo at me, just to see if I'd explode.  Then
she laughed, to see if I'd explode over that.
     I closed my eyes and imagined grabbing her, chair and all, and
throwing her out the window into the pool, where she would drown because
she was still strapped in and she wouldn't be able to get out.
     That made me feel better, so I opened my eyes and got up to get
more paper towels, because I'd used all the ones I had already.

***
17:38 10 Nov

     "Ears eyes nose mouth!" Miz Parker half-sang at Stella.  Stella
just screamed in ecstasy.
     When she stopped, which took a very very long time, I asked Miz
Parker, "What are you doing?"
     "Oh, it's just a little game..." she said.  "She loves it, though.
Peekaboo's too scary, apparently," she added offhandedly.  "Ears eyes
nose mouth!"
     I went to meditate upon this.  And get out of Stella's blast
radius.

***
20:18 10 Nov

     "Can you come up when you're done?  I just wanna talk a little," I
told Sabrina.
     "Sure," Dad said enthusiastically as Sabrina nodded.
     "Noooooooooo..." I moaned as I rubbed my face with my hands.  I
really didn't need his brand of humor right now.
     "Something wrong?" Dad asked.
     "I'm going to kill someone and take their identity," I said, "and I
honestly don't care who, or what assets they have, as long as they
aren't in HIGH SCHOOL!"  I sort of accidentally screamed the last couple
of words, so I called, "Sorry!" in the faint hopes that Mom wouldn't
come in and want to know what was wrong.
     "Uh, sure," Sabrina said, which confused me for a bit.
     I decided to go burn off some energy in chores first; that way,
maybe I wouldn't kick a hole in a wall or break a window or anything.

***
21:03 10 Nov

     "Just...  Did Jill say she was dating me for a while?"
     "Uh...  Something like that, yeah," she agreed after some thought.
     "Well, she broke up with me Sunday."  I thought it was Sunday.  "I
think.  I know she broke up or whatever, just not sure when."  I checked
my watch, and it was, technically, yesterday.  "Yesterday."
     Pause.
     Sabrina eventually prompted,  "Uh, so..."
     "Oh.  So..."  My life hurt.  "Could you just sit here a bit and
hold me, like you care?  But don't ask me to like do anything?"
     "Um, yeah?" she replied, as she put an arm around my shoulder.  I
leaned into it, into her warmth, and just sat there.  "Like this?"
     My hands were shaking, I noticed.  "Yeah..."

***
21:09 10 Nov

     "Better?"
     "Yeah..."  They'd stopped shaking, anyway.
     "I do kinda need to get home or something," she said as she gently
pulled her arm off my shoulders.  "You know what you oughta do though?
Go take a hot bath, stay in it until the water gets just warm."
     "But-"
     "No, really.  Take a hot bath, Val.  Do you have any bath salts or
anything?"
     "No?"  *Bath what?  Why would I want to put salt in-*
     "Just do the bath, then."
     As long as I made sure nobody was planning on using that thirty
gallons of hot water any time soon, I guessed it would be okay.

***
21:12 10 Nov

     "What, like-  You're not taking like a bubble bath are you?" Brian
demanded.
     "Wh-  Fuck off...  No.  Sabrina said I should take a hot bath.  And
I thought I'd be nice and ask you first..."  That may have been a
mistake.  Probably was, I corrected.
     He didn't come back with anything, which made me open my eyes, in
case he was doing something.  "Maybe you should do what she said," he
said, sounding odd.  "You look... bad, Tuck, pretty bad.  Ragged out."
     "Yeah, mayb-  ACHUTZZZz!" exploded out of me without more than a
half-second's warning.  "Ow, motherFUCKER..." I gasped, because it had
hurt a lot and I felt half-empty now, like the explosion had vaporized
half my insides.  Painfully.
     As my senses sort of cleared, I noticed that Brian had zipped under
one arm and was cocked to grab me and lift; but he wasn't doing it,
which stopped me from breaking the holds.  "You 'kay?"
     "Ahhh...  Yeah," I lied.  "Sneezing hurts."  That was not a lie.
"Let go."
     "Go take that hot bath," he ordered as he let go.
     Great.  It HAD to be a bad sign when one of my friends - and one of
the girliest ones, too - AND my brother agreed on something supposedly
for my benefit.

***
21:17 10 Nov

     It hurt so much there were tears coming out of my eyes... but at
the same time it felt sort of good.  I elected to continue the descent
and slowly fell the rest of the way into the full bathtub.
     The washcloth I was currently biting kept any noises I made from
getting past the walls and doors.

***
21:44 10 Nov

     "Ow, fuck, ow, fuck, shit, ow..."  I did feel better, I thought.
And I didn't want to stay in here any longer; the water was getting
unpleasantly chill.
     Unfortunately, to not stay in here, meant I had to move to
somewhere else, and moving hurt.

***
02:11 11 Nov

     I hadn't meant to hurt her, and I don't think I actually had, but
they were going to lynch me for child abuse anyway.

***
02:29 11 Nov

     *I was going to start doing something in the morning...*

***
02:31 11 Nov

     "Oh!"  I was going to start checking voicemail and email, right.

***
02:36 11 Nov

     Jill had left an almost hysterical message I'd had to replay four
or five times, before I could decrypt that she finally had enough to get
her motorcycle and Debbie was going to help her get it this weekend.
I'd wondered what the hell she was calling about, after she broke up,
but... this was definitely news too good not to share.
     Both Pam and Debbie had left messages to say that Thursday was fine
for the dresses, which was good; though I had to check what day today
was, to determine whether or not I had to panic.  I didn't need to, I
thought, especially since Debbie had mentioned that Friday was also a
possibility and that was fine too.
     *Now to email...*  I had some stupid things from the guys, some of
which were funny, and a reminder of an appointment to get X-rayed again
and then go see Doc Treble, Thursday morning.
     "Say what?  Damnit!"
     But at least I could get in cosmetology that day.  I REALLY didn't
want to have any more hours to make up.
     *Ha ha,* I said to myself when I caught it.

***
06:24 11 Nov

     "HAH!"  I'd almost forgotten the dresses again, but not quite.  Of
course, I'd have to go back up and get Pam's.  At least I still had the
bags for it, and the shoes.  I was very glad at this point I didn't have
pierced ears; I would've had to remember to return Kim's earrings too.

***
06:55 11 Nov

     "Tuck!  Did you get my message?!"
     I took a breath and prepared to be nice and happy for her.  Not
that I wasn't... just not nearly as much as Jill was.  Kim looked a
little tired of the subject already, but that didn't stop Jill from
starting to tell me all about it.

***
07:58 11 Nov

     "How much did you sleep?" Mike demanded.
     "The usual four... why?  Never mind," I realized.  "Because I look
like shit?"
     "You're starting to look like DECAYED shit, Tuck," Mike warned,
which made Dan laugh a lot.
     "Yeah, fuck you," I said to Dan.  "I've got a checkup, and X-rays,
Thursday.  After cosmetology," there had to be a shorter way to say
that, "and I guess I could make homeroom, but I might not make it back
for lunch."
     "That's a problem, I think," Mike said, "since you're playing
Thursday."
     "S'why I mentioned it."  There was something else...  "Oh, did Jill
call you last night?"
     Mike grinned.  "All girly and hysterical about a motorcycle?"

***
09:04 11 Nov

     "It's a doctor's appointment; I have to go, get X-rayed, then get
the rest of it check-"  I got drowned out by the bell.  When it finally
finished, I said, "It's excused and it's definitely not skipping class,
I mean, I HAVE to go."  I didn't really want to go, but I had to, I
guess; and doing it then would screw up the minimum of my life.  "I just
thought I'd tell you," I said as a parting shot as I went to my seat.
You'd think a sociology teacher would be more in tune with politeness,
but I guess not.

***
10:22 11 Nov

     "Ohhhh..."  I HATED having to write papers; the only thing I hated
more was having to write them for English class.  But apparently I
wasn't the only one, judging by the groans.

***
10:43 11 Nov

     "Tuck," Mike said as he caught up with me, "you're working too
hard."
     "Oh, gee, thanks, I hadn't noticed," I smarted off.
     "No, seriously, you need to do something.  When's the last time you
had a day off?"
     "Back when I was sick, I think," I said without really thinking
about it.  "Not last weekend," I remembered.
     "And you're doing the catchup stuff for nail class on Saturdays,
like ALL day, right?"
     "Yah, pretty much.  And Sunday dinner, and breakfast, and shopping
for food, and th- I gotta see Sheila, and-"
     "Who's Sh-  Oh, whatever," Mike complained.  "And working every day
of the week, school, an-"
     "And don't forget I'm up at-  I mean, I gotta be here at seven, or
a little earlier."
     "So when do you take any time off, Tuck?"
     "That's a good question," Sabrina agreed.
     "You need a party," Amanda said, grinning.
     "Oh no, that's the LAST thing I need," I complained.
     "What's wrong with it?"

***
11:31 11 Nov

     "So, what's wrong with a party?" Amanda restarted immediately.
     "Oh god," I sighed.  "Do I have to get into this now?"
     "No," Mike decided, as I got out of the desk and then had the room
to shove the laptop back into its chest-mounted carrier.  "Gaming today,
and you need all your concentration for it today."
     "What?  Why?"
     Mike just chuckled evilly, but he'd forgotten to get out of range,
or I was getting better or something, because I kicked him in the calf.
"Ow!  Asshole!"
     "Heh."  I felt a whole lot better.
     "Hey, V-Tuck?  You were dating Jill, right?" Sabrina asked.
     "Um..."  I guess it was okay to talk about it now; I really ought
to ask Jill what she wanted to do, though.  Except it was sort of too
late.  "Yeah, I guess," I admitted finally.  "Wh-"  And I'd told Sabrina
yesterday, too, I remembered belatedly.
     "She- oh, sorry.  She, I mean, she sort of, um..."
     "Stopped the dating part?" I threw in.
     "That's a good way of putting it," Mike told me.
     Sabrina continued, "But you're still friends, right?  What?"
     "I just HATE that phrase, okay?  It's like every bad country and
western song, plus all the bad romance movies and all that and
everything all together.  So yes, technically, but NO, don't even HINT
at making me think of all that crap."
     Amanda and Sabrina both looked confused.
     "What Tuck meant to say was, 'Yes we're still friends,'" Mike
translated.
     "Just don't say, 'let's be friends,' or anything like that PHRASE,"
I emphasized.
     "Oh okay," Amanda nodded.
     "Anyway, we really gotta get gaming today," Mike told them.

***
15:08 11 Nov

     "I have to go to the cleaners, to get some stuff cleaned," I warned
Ricky.
     "Like what?  And how come you can't do it at home?  I mean, we've
got a washing machine."
     "Um...  I actually don't know," I admitted, "but some stuff you're
not supposed to wash at home.  They have other ways to clean it."
     "Like dry cleaning?"
     "Yeah," I said, smiling a bit because I wouldn't-
     "What IS dry cleaning?"
     Apparently I WOULD have to explain what that was.  I sighed as I
tried to think about it.

***
15:21 11 Nov

     *Fuck it,* I thought.  She looked like a native English speaker,
and it WAS customer service.  "Um, can-"  She looked up.  "He," I
pointed at Ricky, "had no idea what, I mean how dry cleaning works, and
neither do I, I found out.  How does dry cleaning work?  I mean, how's
it different than just tossing it in the washing machine at home?"

***
15:27 11 Nov

     "So, but, why not do everything like that?" Ricky asked as I was
trying to stuff Stella into the restraints again.
     "Huh?"
     "Gaboo?"  Apparently Stella didn't know what he was talking about
either.
     "Like ALL the clothes."
     "Wel- ow!  D-  Stop that," I ordered Stella, who didn't.  I
overpowered her, using my far greater mass and leverage, and held her
with one hand while I buckled one part with the other, and then she was
caught, haha.  "What?"
     "Why not wash everything like th- like they do in there?"
     "Um...  Hold on and let me get in the car," I said, trying to gain
some time to think.

***
16:33 11 Nov

     "Hello?"
     "Hey Val, 's Amanda," Amanda said, in case I didn't have Caller ID,
which I did.  "So, like, why is a party bad?"
     "Oh, jeez."  She WOULD call up and continue this.  "It's just...  I
mean, I like being around you girls," because I was pretty sure that's
what she really meant, something like another sleepover, "but, I mean, I
got school, work babysitting, eight-  EIGHT," I emphasized, "hours of
cosmetology practice to make up on Saturday, which takes NINE hours too,
all the stuff I have to do Sundays, plus chores and stuff at home..."
     "So you need to relax!"
     "So I CAN'T do that at a party!" I told her.
     "What?  Sure you can!"

***
16:37 11 Nov

     "Thank you," I breathed into Ricky's hair.
     "I didn't DO anything!" he said, sort of muffled.
     "Yeah you did..."  That conversation had not been going well;
Amanda wasn't nearly Debbie, but my resistance was pretty low lately,
and she'd gotten Pam into it too, and I think they was getting far too
close to actually talking me into having a sleepover again.  At MY
house.  Though it wasn't like it would be any less tiring at someone
else's house.

***
16:44 11 Nov

     Stella was warily eyeing Hangover, but as long as he kept his
distance she was warily cool about it, just sort of mumbling to herself.
Hangover was watching the crazy bipeds and predicting disaster - which I
was not listening to - and I was lying on the floor as Ricky carefully
stomped on me while holding on to the kitchen counters.
     This was undoubtedly why I had loaned him so much money, to get it
back with interest like this.  I felt vaguely clever in between the
blasts of pain as he trodded the knots of tension out.
     And a red napkin safety-pinned through my jumper marked the area we
didn't want him stepping on.  He'd liked the idea, of not stepping on my
broken ribs, nearly as much as I had.  Not quite, of course.

***
17:11 11 Nov

     "Eyes, ears, nose, mouth," I said to Stella, again, touching her in
the appropriate places with both hands.  I was extremely glad we didn't
have to have long nails for cosmetology.
     She screamed in pleasure, again.  This was why I had earplugs in.
     "Ears, eyes, no-"  The phone was ringing, I thought.  I pulled out
one plug, and got what I should've expected.
     "Gahhhh.  Hello?"
     "A-bamada-gi-dathuhh!"
     "Never mind, I'll call-"
     "AADAAAAA-MAAA!"
     I hung up, since Mike was going to call later.  I thought that's
what he'd meant, anyway.  I quickly rolled the earplug back into a
cylinder and stuffed it into my ear, where it slowly cut Stella's volume
down to something OSHA wouldn't ticket me for.

***
18:29 11 Nov

     "Oh, you wanted to talk to Stella, right?" I told Mike first thing
when I picked up the phone.  He'd kicked me offline, too.
     "Do it and I won't tell you what I was planning to do," he warned
me.
     "Mike!  I wouldn't do anything like that!"  Not with that kind of
threat a definite possibility.
     "Not with that kind of threat," he agreed.
     "So what ARE you planning?  I don't have a whole lot of time to
chat," I warned.  "I'm cooking."
     "Ask Miz Parker if me and Jill could come bowling with you on
Friday.  Jill called me on break and wanted to know.  I think she's
feeling sort of guilty about dumping you or something."
     "Is this a date?" I asked incredulously.
     "What?" Miz Parker asked.  "Oh, sorry."
     "I don't know," he admitted.  "Pre-date?  Application for dating?"
     "Oh man," I complained.  "But nothing like kissing or anything yet
right?"
     "No!  I don't- I mean, I wouldn't say NO, but I don't think so,"
Mike said.
     Come to think of it, the two of them would help keep Stella
occupied.  "Lemme-  Miz Parker?  Mike, my bud, wants to ask you a
question," I said as I waved the handset at her.
     "Who?"
     "The Chinese guy, my brother.  C'mere," I encouraged.  She did,
more fool her.  "Want me to take Stella?" I asked as she took the
handset.
     She shook her head as she asked, "Hello?"
     A while later, she said, "Well, I don't know... I think I need to
talk to David ab- my husband?"  She looked at me, and I shrugged.

***
18:44 11 Nov

     "I dunno, Mike said Jill called him on break and asked.  She's
working, at Blockbuster, so she can't really come to the phone and talk
about it.  If I call there, I mean.  I can ask her after work, I guess,"
I told Mr. Parker.
     "You think she- they just want to come bowling?" he asked me.
     "I THINK so..."  I was not entirely sure, but that was my best
guess.
     "Well, I don't see why not... they'll be paying for theirs,
though," he informed me.
     "Well yeah!"

***
19:28 11 Nov

     "Well duh!" Mike complained.  "Of course we'll pay for our own!"
     "Okay, I mean, he just said, and I didn't want you to think he
would JUST in case."
     "Well duh!"  He sounded offended that anyone could even begin to
entertain such a thought connected with him.

***
19:31 11 Nov

     "Bowling?" Rachel asked, like she couldn't believe I'd be doing
such a thing.
     "It wasn't my idea!"

***
20:04 11 Nov

     "Bowling?" Kim asked skeptically.  "You?"
     "It wasn't my idea!" I complained, feeling like I'd already
answered this question a dozen times.
     "Oh?" she asked, and asked more than that, with an eyebrow raised.
     I sighed.  "Long story...  Is Jill ever coming out?"
     "I HOPE so," Kim sighed as she checked her watch again.  "It just
FEELS like forever, waiting for her to get out."
     "Won't be forever long," I remembered, and she smiled at the
thought.

***
20:06 11 Nov

     "Well duh!" Jill snapped.  "Of course we were gonna pay for our
own!"
     I wanted to go home.

***
20:48 11 Nov

     I had wanted to go home ALONE, but Jill and Kim had followed me.
     "Oh hey," Sabrina said, and waved.  Probably at them.
     "What's with the clothes?" Kim asked.  Sabrina was doing socks, it
looked like.  Which reminded me I needed to do a lot of laundry, here
and at the Parkers.  I sighed; the more I did, it seemed, the more I had
to do.

***
21:11 11 Nov

     "I think you ought to think about it," Sabrina told me, which was
NOT the answer I was looking for.
     "WHY?!"
     "Jeez, don't have a cow, Val," Jill commented.
     "Being with your friends is good for you," Sabrina said.
     I was about to have a fit when the phone flashed.
     "AHHHHHHHHH!" I said, because the last thing I needed at the moment
was more friends, and it was almost certainly one of them calling me.
     Everyone else looked surprised, as I grabbed my headset and put it
on.  A glance at Arrakis told me it was Julia calling.  I took a breath
and let it out slowly, ignoring the third flash, before I grabbed the
pickle and unhooked the phone, so to speak.  "Hello?"
     "Hey Val," Julia said happily.  I wanted to say something nasty and
ruin her day, but I stopped myself.  Barely.  "Are you doing anything
Saturday night?"
     "Ahah, no," I answered, just barely managing to restrain a fit of
hysterics.  "Why?" I asked, sounding a touch more desperate than I
wanted to sound.  Jill made mouth motions at me, which I couldn't hear
with the headset on, so I looked elsewhere, or tried to.
     "My parents have tickets to the ballet this Saturday night, and
Johnny doesn't want to go so-"
     "Johnny?"
     "Johnny Petrovich, the guy I'm dating?  He doesn't really like
ballet, says it gives him hives from when he had ballet classes, and so
I was wondering if you wanted to go?  Pam already said she would go."
     "Ummm.  How long?  I- Mike's saying I need to rest more, take some
time off and stuff, so I don't want to do it if it's going to-"
     "About two hours for the performance, we'll be there and back in
three."
     Oh god.  That was a lot.  A day only HAD eight of those three hour
slices in it.
     "You don't have to go if you don't want to," she said.  "It was
just a thought.  I mean, I thought you liked the recital we went to,
an-"
     "I did!" I protested.  "Um..."

***
21:32 11 Nov

     And now I was agreed to have a sleepover too, the next weekend, to
balance everything out or something.  I was beginning to feel like a
skin of latex, and really overstretched, but I couldn't seem to stop it
happening.
     And chores to do too.

***
03:30 12 Nov

     "You'd think, that with waking up like this every night," I said
quietly to myself, "that I would get more done or something-  Chores.
Damnit," I said, because to go downstairs and do chores, I'd have to
turn off the motion detectors downstairs, and someone would ask me about
it if I did.  Damnit.
     *Maybe I should talk to Dad about it... he gets up early sometimes.
Yeah, when he's doing badly, and then he'd want to help, and talking
with him is the last thing I need.*  Well, talking with MOM was the LAST
thing I needed; he was about next to last.  *Or he'd want me to talk to
Sheila about it...  Damnit.*
     I was running out of energy to run my life.

***
03:41 12 Nov

     *Okay, yeah, I HAVE to talk to Dad about this, but maybe I can do
it in email,* I decided.  It was worth a shot, anyway.  Email could be
fitted into smaller time slots, and weirder ones, like now, instead of
requiring basically an appointment.  And spare time, which I didn't have
much of.  Like, any.

***
04:09 12 Nov

     "-ow ow ow ow ow ow sixty!  Ow damnit!"  This had to be hurting
worse than when I'd started doing the stretches.  Otherwise, I'm sure I
wouldn't have been doing them this long.

***
06:00 12 Nov

     "Bedoop!"
     "Ngh?"  I was sitting on the floor, arms wrapped around my knees,
and apparently I'd fallen asleep for a while.  And didn't have any
nightmares, or it wouldn't have been the MacinClock that woke me up.
     "Bedoop!"
     Not that it was going to stop trying to wake me up...
     *Ah, well, an hour of sleep is an hour,* I told myself as I
carefully unfolded.

***
06:55 12 Nov

     "I think I know how to work things," I told Jill and Kim.  "I just
gotta use my time more efficiently."
     "Oh fuck, tell me about it," Kim complained tiredly.
     "You guys, you just need-"
     Kim mimed throwing her coffee at Jill; Jill ducked, and thus
totally missed dodging the kick I delivered to her ass.
     Kim smiled at me, as Jill shot back upright and started bitching.

***
11:40 12 Nov

     "Hey, what's up over there?" I asked Jill.
     She glared at me as I pointed at the Pack, then shrugged.  "Why
don't you go ask THEM?" she said slowly and clearly.
     I sighed, and struggled up and walked over there.  James came with
me, which I guess was a good thing.
     Debbie was there too, which did not please me, but she wasn't
really paying attention to me when I got there.  "So you called the
insurance company right?"
     "YESSS!" Pam insisted.  She looked more disheveled than usual, for
some reason.
     "She had a car accident on the way to school this morning," Amanda
told me into my ear.  "She had to get checked out at the hospital, which
is why she just got here."
     "Dude!" I said in surprised.  "Is she hurt?"
     "Bad bruises, she said," Amanda said.  "Oh man... she said her car
was totalled, though."
     "Oh hell," I sighed.  I thought about saying something to her, but
all the rest of the girls, freshthings included, were already chattering
at her.  I took a couple of steps back, and Pam looked at me; I cupped
one hand in the other and placed both on my heart.  She wouldn't
understand actual ASL, I knew.
     She smiled at me for a second, then started talking again.
     She was trapped, by her friends, and there was nothing I could
really do for her.
     So I went back to our table, and tapped the bell for an
announcement.  "Pam got into a car accident this morning, got checked
out at the hospital.  She had 'bad bruises' and the car was totalled,
said Amanda.  That's ALL I know."
     Not that this stopped the questions from the dumber, though.  I
should've expected this.

***
14:17 12 Nov

     "Ohhh, I have to do some laundry today," I sighed, as I looked
around and realized what was clean, and what was not.  Too much was not.

***
15:07 12 Nov

     "But the cleaner said it would be ready tomorrow," Ricky
complained.
     "Amababababababa," came from the back seat; we both ignored it.
     "I meant laundry at your place," I explained patiently.
     "Oh," he sighed.  "Do you know anything about chess?"
     "Do I what?"
     "Do you know anything about chess?" he repeated impatiently.

***
15:30 12 Nov

     "I thought you wanted to-"
     "I gotta walk the dog!"
     "You got..."  I stopped, because he was gone already, out the back.
     I sighed, and realized I might as well start on the laundry.

***
15:56 12 Nov

     "Oh, right, 'walk the dog' my ass," I complained, when I saw him
out the back window.  I mean, technically the dog was engaged in
behavior that could be called 'walking', but a more accurate word was
'chasing Ricky', or 'playing'.  "Oh shut up," I told myself, because at
least Ricky was out getting some exercise instead of sitting in front of
the television.  And so was Hangover; maybe this would tire him out
enough he wouldn't be able to use his depressive telepathy any more.
     "Ambabab'brah?" Stella said, unusually, and I looked down.  She
seemed almost as confused by what she'd said.
     "You think so?" I asked, to start up the conversation again.

***
16:39 12 Nov

     "Ummm," I said, to gain some time, and Stella tried to make a break
for it.  I snatched her up, and she kicked me and complained a lot, and
I decided that I didn't really need to spot Ricky any pieces; Stella was
enough of a handicap all by herself.
     "C'mon, I wanna play!" Ricky complained.
     *Yeah, NOW you want to play...*  He'd tired the dog out.
     I sighed and got back up, then said, "You're white, you get to move
first!" and then went after Stella again.  "I'll be right there."  She
was moving way too fast for such a young age.  Or I was getting old.
"Ufff...  Okay..."  I hauled her back to the table, ignoring her
protests, and looked at the board.  *Didn't I explain the concept of
center to him?*  I thought I had...

***
17:16 12 Nov

     I'd warned him that I was going to be better than him, and even
with the distraction of Stella, I'd beaten him both times.  I'd made
some exceedingly boneheaded moves, though, so it wasn't as close as I'd
have liked.
     We'd decided that if he wore earplugs - I was going to have to get
a new box at the store; I was almost out of fresh ones - that I could
play 'Body Parts' with Stella, and she could scream endlessly in
delight, and we could play chess.
     And I would've missed the dryer going off, except I'd set a timer
on my home computer, via my laptop and a modem link, to call my
cellphone, which was buzzing inside my sleeve.  I loved cron.

***
18:19 12 Nov

     Ricky was gone, I'd guess trying to talk Mr. Parker into playing
chess with him - Ricky was still in the stage where parents could do
almost anything - and I was cooking away, earplugs thankfully out, when
the phone rang.  "Aw man," I sighed, and checked the food - it'd wait -
and saved my homework on the laptop.
     I finally got the caller ID where I could read it on the third
ring; it was Mike.  "Hey, what?" I asked.
     "You sound tired."
     "Ricky discovered chess, Stella has discovered what legs are for,
I'm cooking dinner, and... oh, laundry, here."
     "Tuck!" he complained.  "You gotta get some rest!"
     "Yeah, I know..."
     "Saturday night, you need-"
     "I said I'd go out with Julia and Pam."
     Pause.  I had a feeling I'd said the Wrong Thing.
     "What?!" he shrieked.  I would've winced but he just couldn't do
the supersonics like Stella could.  Or the phone couldn't.  Or I was
going deaf.
     "Julia called last night and asked..."

***
18:22 12 Nov

     "Tuck, are you getting all passive again?"
     I was annoyed, and then I realized it was true, and then I had the
perfect comeback.  "Well," I said, trying to sound tired and wimpy, "if
you think so..."
     I enjoyed Mike's apoplectic fit a lot more than I'd enjoyed the
chess games or naming Stella's body parts.

***
18:55 12 Nov

     Miz Parker asked me, "Are you staying for dinner tonight?"
     "Uh, nn-"  I looked at my watch.  "I hadn't planned to, but I still
have some laundry in the dryer."
     "Oh, you could leave that and I could get it."
     "No, it's mine; yours- well, one of yours is still in the washer.
I messed up," I admitted.
     "Huh?"
     "I should've done all of mine first, and then I could leave, and if
I HAD to leave late, you could've done the last bits.  Like you said.
Except, I didn't."  Which, I remembered, I specifically hadn't done so
it wouldn't look really lame, like I was doing mine before theirs.
     Aw hell.

***
19:33 12 Nov

     "No, I can get it," I told Mr. Parker.  "Just slow."  I did not,
I'd found, enjoy carrying heavy loads, and the laundry was amazingly
heavy tonight.
     "No, here," he insisted, and plucked the basket out of my hands and
carried it off like it was empty.
     I put a smile on my face and called, "Thank you!" as I gathered my
stuff up, because killing him after he'd complimented me on dinner
would've been rude.

***
20:02 12 Nov

     I wondered if I was safe to drive, or if I should just throw some
soft stuff down on the floor in Rachel's closet and get immediate sleep.
     *No, home,* I told myself, and forced my legs to start moving me
out of her room.  I banged into the door, but that sort of woke me up.

***
20:37 12 Nov

     "Mom?"
     "Y-" Mom started to say, but then looked up.  "What is it?"
     "'M real tired..."

***
21:06 12 Nov

     Sometimes - far too often, lately - my mom could be a real bitch,
but sometimes she could be a wonderful person.
     She'd grabbed Brian and made him unload my car, while getting me
out of my clothes and armor and into a warmish shower, and then helped
me out and into my room and into bed.  I felt embarrassed, so much I
wanted to cry at how childish I was, but... it felt so good.
     "Um, Tuck?"  I looked up, and Sabrina was standing at the door.
"Your mom said I could say goodnight but not to stay long..."
     "Oh, yeah, come in..."  I was actually feeling a little better.  "I
just had a hard day for some reason, or something."
     "Did something happen?"
     I shook my head.  "No... just, lots of things to do, and it's like
I just got really tired tonight."  I moved my legs to the side, and she
nodded silently as she sat on the bed.  "How're you?"
     "I'm cool."  She smiled.  "I'm getting tired of doing laundry..."
I managed to stifle all the things I wanted to say about laundry; none
of them were good.  "... but I'm getting really good in math.  My grades
are like 90s all the time now."
     "Hey, wow...  See, though?  I told you he was good..."  I didn't
want to rub it in, so I stopped, and then we were both sort of smiling
at each other.  I felt really good for her, or proud of her, or happy
for her, or something.
     "So, anyway, you get some sleep and I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
she said gently, as she leaned over and kissed my forehead.  "Don't stay
up geeking."
     "Who, me?" I joked feebly.  As she frowned, I told her the total
truth, "Not tonight.  I'm going to sleep as soon as the lights are out."
     Mom said from the door, "Which-"
     "I know," Sabrina said as she turned, then turned back to kiss me,
on the cheek this time.  "See you tomorrow."
     "G'night..."  She waved at the door, and then she was gone and Mom
came in.  "Mom, th-"
     "She did need to go home, and you do need to sleep," Mom said, more
gently than usual but still sort of firm.
     "I know.  Thanks for tonight."
     She sat down on the bed, nearer my head than Sabrina had been, and
finger-combed my hair.

***

"God could not be everywhere, so he created mothers." -- Jewish proverb


Distribution:
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+ @>--,--'-----   Ellen Hayes   o===[--------      __      vicki .sig  +
                  -=[1990]=-                       \/      virus 13.4
+      http://www.barkingduck.net/ehayes     PGP key: EFC9 5D55 (1996) +



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