The Consequences and Rewards of Playing Hookey
Chapter 18
Night of Reckoning Part 1
“So, what do you hope to accomplish by this?” asked Brett, as he talked to Devin over his cell.
“Think of it as a controlled burn; a fire that is set for a purpose, but in a controlled environment, with the understanding it will result in something positive.”
“Well, Suzanne and I have responsibilities to care for Sadie for the next couple of days, but I guess Tom and Carrie are in and Kyle and Tara too, right?”
“Yeah. Hopefully with me and Rachel it will be enough.”
“Speaking of Rachel, didn’t she warn Rana about Prescott?” asked Brett.
Devin sighed, “Yeah, but apparently the asshole had said some bad things about Rachel to Rana and now she doesn’t trust Rachel.”
“I’m still confused as to why you don’t tell Derek.”
“Rogesh doesn’t want Sandra to find out and have Rana get into trouble with her. He made me promise not to tell Derek.”
“We both know that ‘Sandra’ is now ‘Sandy’. She and Derek would be worried.”
“I know, but we don’t have authorization to tell Rogesh, Rana, Kyle and Tara yet,” said Devin. “I feel like I’m stuck in the middle.”
“Well if there is any trouble, you need to make sure that Derek knows. He and Sandy are double dating with Connie and Dean Flynn tonight. They might be able to help.”
“OK, if we have to, but I’m begging you not to tell Tom! Please swear to it. I promised Rogesh and Tom will tell Carrie who will tell Sandy…”
“OK, but I don’t like this Dev.”
“I know. Neither do I.”
“Are you serious?” asked one voice, in the boy’s room.
“Yeah,” grinned another.
“And you are saying we can ‘tap that’?”
“Hells yeah! Pauly P.’s gonna set it up.”
“Shit, I can’t wait!” said another voice. “Same place?”
“As always,” said the original speaker.
At lunch Derek’s cell rang. “Hey, you miss me kid?” came the voice of the stranger.
“It has been almost a week.”
“Well you’ve been kind of busy, so I wanted to give you some room. I hear you are helping out at St. Agnes soup kitchen tomorrow.”
“How did you know…”
“Do you really need to ask that question?”
“Yeah, I’m an asshole for even thinking it,” deadpanned Derek, causing the stranger to laugh loudly into the phone.
“Damn, you’re witty kid. Anyway, speaking of St. Agnes, we have a friend in common?”
“Who?”
“Tara Broome. She’s a really good worker and starting to look more comely, due to yours and Sandy’s efforts…”
“Sir… please don’t…”
The stranger sighed. “Derek, don’t get your panties in a twist. She’s only sixteen. Besides, I don’t mess with girls as nice as Tara. She reminds me of one of my best friends in school. Anyway, the girl isn’t even a Catholic and she volunteers at a soup kitchen at a Catholic church. That tells me all I need to know about her. She’s an amazing kid.”
“How… OK, not asking.”
“You’re learning,” laughed the stranger. “Listen Derek. I’m not a bad guy. Really. I was for a little while, I’ll admit it. I was pissed off at the world and once I got my powers, a lot of bad things happened to people who had been bad to me. I thought I had lost my humanity and then someone came into my life and reminded me that I was a person. I’m still not perfect as you’ve seen, but I’m trying to make amends.”
“But don’t you have a harem?”
“Yeah… but as I told you I’m whittling the numbers down. Since we spoken, I’ve let two more go so I’m down to only six?”
“Six?”
“Yeah, don’t be too harsh on me. At one point I had nineteen. The sad thing is I’ll be lucky if I can whittle it down below what you have now.”
“Why?”
“Remember I said that some will want to serve, even if given a choice?”
“Yeah.”
“Well I have three like that and two others who are really into me and each other.”
“What about the last one?”
“She’s the reason I’ve changed. She’s the love of my life.”
“Would she go if you let her?”
“I think she loves me and while I haven’t been actively controlling her since a week after we met, there is a chance… I know… don’t go all Sting on me…”
“What?”
“You know, ‘If you love someone set them free…’ I can’t… I need her…”
“Hey, I’m not judging.”
“You’re just saying that because I could make you dance like a puppet.”
“No. I understand how you feel. I’m in love with all of my girls; especially Sandy. I have no idea for sure what will happen, but I know one thing.”
“What?”
“There will be a really good chance that I won’t have at least one of them come September and the thought of that is already breaking my heart,” said Derek, as he did his best to not to display his emotions as he was in public.
“You know, it’s not too late.”
“What?”
“To reclaim your powers after September.”
Derek sighed. It would have been very easy to agree, but he knew he could not. “Thanks but no thanks.”
Then it became the stranger’s turn to sigh. “Kid, I wish I had your maturity when I was your age… hell, I guess I could use some of it now I suppose. You know what?”
“What?”
“I can’t rescind the whole three times a week thing, but I can amend it. From now on the women just need to have some kind of sexual contact within the group not just with you…”
“Thank you.”
“Let me finished,” warned the stranger before continuing. “It still has to happen three times a week and the penetration rule, involving having sex with you once a week, is still in force.”
“What about family vacations over the summer?”
“We’ll revisit this arrangement in a few weeks. My best guess is that the reason for the punishment is over, so maybe by then we can come up with a different timeframe for conditions to be met. Still, a deal is a deal, so this has to continue in some form until September.”
“OK. That’s fair,” conceded Derek.
“Well, you’re a good kid, Derek. I’m proud to think of you as a friend.”
Derek smiled to himself. Despite his fear and initial distrust, he couldn’t help feeling somewhat warm towards the man who had helped change his life so positively. “I know I haven’t really said this to you before, but thank you. Even though my life has been chaos lately, you’ve helped me learn some important things about myself and given me my Sandy back. I’ll always be grateful to you for that.”
“You’ve helped me too, kid. You really have been reinforcing what my lady has been telling me. You are helping me to keep my humanity and I won’t forget that.” said the stranger with emotion. “By the way, I think that I should warn you about something.”
“What?”
“I can’t give you specifics, but one of your friends may be in danger tonight. A group of your friends will try to intercede and they may be successful, but they might need help.”
“Can’t you tell me who…”
“No. This is the best I can do or I might get into trouble. You don’t want to see that do you?”
“No, of course not.”
“Good. I can give you a piece of advice.”
“What?”
“Know where your friends are tonight. Call several of them and make them tell you where they are. If you do this, you may be able to avert trouble.”
“Thanks. I will.”
“Oh and Derek?”
“Yes?”
“I spoke to your Principal, Mrs. Hanson. She told me I should expect you and your friends at the soup kitchen at nine tomorrow morning.”
“What?”
“I’m the volunteer lay coordinator for the outreach program.”
Derek marveled. “I guess you really are a good person,” he laughed.
“I try to be. Well you’ll see me and my Harmonica there at nine sharp.”
“You play the harmonica?”
The stranger laughed. “In a manner of speaking.”
“Hey baby. What kept you?” grinned Sandy, noting that there were only fifteen minutes of lunch left.
“Just talking to an old friend,” said Derek, with a wink, noting that Connie and Dean were sitting across the table from her. “Hey Connie and Flynny.”
“Hey Derek. We were just talking about plans tonight,” grinned Connie.
“Yeah, we have an away game at Eastwood High, but should be back at school before 6:30,” observed Dean.
“You pitching?” asked Sandy.
“No. I threw four innings on Tuesday at King of Prussia. Coach is saving me for Monday.”
“So instead you get to watch Marco’s dazzling pivots from first base,” laughed Derek.
“You know why he pivots so gracefully?” laughed Sandy.
“No?” asked Connie.
“Because he and his twin sister, Sharon do ballet.”
“No!” laughed Dean.
“Well, it makes sense. Sharon is a cheerleader and she really has improved with her flexibility and gracefulness. I guess it helps Marco become more nimble,” offered Sandy.
“Yeah, playing second requires great footwork. You really need to be able to pivot tightly to avoid sliding base runners. Very often this puts you in awkward throwing positions. I get that a bit, playing short, but Marco has it much harder. I’m sure ballet probably helps him,” agreed Derek.
“So you’re not going to tease Marco?” asked Connie.
“Oh no… we’re still going to tease him,” laughed Flynny and Derek nodded as he laughed.
After a few minutes more minutes of chit chat, all four got up to go to class. “Hey, Turner, you going to Bio?” asked Connie.
“Yeah, Martin, give me a sec.” replied Sandy. “So what’s up,” she whispered to Derek.
“Spoke to our ‘friend’. He warned me that one of my friends was in trouble, but couldn’t say who.”
“Some friend.”
“No, I guess he has rules about interfering. Anyway, he suggested on keeping tabs on them all tonight.”
“I’ll start up a phone tree. I’ll make everybody check in with someone periodically,” stated Sandy.
“Good idea, Babe,” he said as he leaned in and gave her a quick kiss, before watching her walk off with Connie to their Bio class.
“Rogesh, I just wanted to say I’m sorry for accusing you for being jealous and I really appreciate you helping me get together with Paul tonight,” smiled Rana.
“As, I told you right along, I just want you to be happy, Rana,” he said before pausing. “I do need to know where you two will be going, though”
Rana looked a bit suspicious before he added, “Just in case your parents ask or call.”
“True,” she admitted. “Paul told me he was taking me to the movies.”
“Dev, me, Kyle and their girls were thinking of going to the movies too.”
“Just promise me you won’t talk to us or even get too close,” admonished Rana.
“OK. Just don’t be surprised if you see us there.”
“OK.”
“Dude, I heard about tonight. I’ll be back from my game at about 6:30.”
“That should give you plenty of time to meet up with us. Mike and Rich will be there too with the van. I’ll need to work on her for a little while. She thinks that I’m taking her to the movies.”
“When you’re really heading for ‘The House Plant’ around the corner.”
“Yeah.”
“You really think she’ll let us nail her?”
“My guess is she won’t remember a fucking thing,” he laughed.
“Good, she’s a hot, sweet and spicy dish. I can’t wait to get my meat into her.”
“My meat goes in first though.”
“No argument here,” grinned his friend.
On the school bus ride home from the game, there was the generally upbeat feeling that came from a victory. This did not stop some teasing.
“Carson, way to bring the lumber,” mocked Jon.
Derek grimaced. He had gone 0 for 2 with a sacrifice bunt, grounding out weakly and popping up in his only other plate appearances. Due to his consistent hitting in both the scrimmage and the first game, his coach had moved him into the number two hole from number seven in the lineup and he was feeling the pressure. Still, he had been solid in the field and Wilson High had won the game 3-1.
“You seemed to have left you bat at home, too Sizemore,” laughed Marco Ogelsby.
“Hey, I hit the ball hard all three times,” complained Jon.
“Yeah, but three outs are three outs. You couldn’t pick me up, after Carson sacrificed me into scoring position,” he taunted.
“Good thing I was swinging a hot bat,” laughed Dean.
“Yeah, dude! Awesome game with the two dingers,” grinned Derek. “That first one was a ‘moon shot’.
Ryan Costello saw his chance to chime in and gain some support to get his job back from Derek. “Well, Carson, after that sucky performance, your ass should be demoted.”
“What the fuck, Costello? So you can fucking boot away any chance we have of getting to State,” glared of all people Jon.
“Leave it to a fucking sophomore. Listen dipshit,” started Flynny.
“What?” said Ryan sullenly.
“Do you know what ‘sophomore’ means?”
“No.”
Dean laughed. “It means ‘wise fool”. In your case sitting on you fucking brains on the bench must have squashed the ‘wise’ part. We don’t need Derek for his bat. Marco, Messing, Sizemore and I give us plenty of pop. Carson plays great in the field and good fundamental ball in general. If I were you, I’d kiss his ass and maybe he might teach you something.”
Derek, Marco, Jon and Messing began to laugh. Ryan shut up, but glared at Derek and continued to do so. He was pissed at Carson, but decided he wouldn’t let what happened ruin his night. He had some fun planned with friends later. Had Derek known about this fun, he would not have been laughing.
“Wow Sandy! You look hot tonight!” said Carrie looking at her foster sister wearing a sexy top and a fairly short skirt.
“Yeah. I want to make sure that Connie doesn’t have any residual feelings about Derek,” she laughed.
“From what you told me, she’s into Flynny, so you should be OK.”
“Yeah, still I want to look my best for Derek.”
Carrie laughed. “Well, mission accomplished. I’m hoping you won’t mind me borrowing a cute top so I can do the same for Tom.”
“Of course. I have just the thing,” she grinned, as she pulled a cute white and pink checked top from her closet.
Carrie grinned broadly. “That is so pretty.”
“We are about the same size on top, so I think it should fit,” she smiled.
As Carrie eagerly took off her top and put on Sandy’s. Sandy beamed at the younger girl. She was lovely, with her light strawberry blond hair and blue eyes. Her hair color was light enough that it didn’t clash with the pink in the top. The colors would pull out the pale blue in her eyes. She was awakened from her thoughts by Carrie throwing her arms around her.
“Oh! Thank you! This looks so good on me! Tom will love me in it!”
“I’m sure he’d love you out of it,” grinned Sandy, before noticing that Carrie got quiet. “What’s the matter?”
“My body.”
“You have a great body; kind of like mine. You’re even a couple of inches taller than me and my body is to die for,” she laughed, showing a flash of Sandra.
“The bruises… it’s ugly.”
Sandy looked at Carrie compassionately before saying, “Your body is perfect; especially to Tom. The funny thing is that bruises tend to heal when you don’t have anyone making new ones. Nobody is going to hurt you Carrie. If anybody tries, I’ll kill them, if Tom won’t, but you’ve already seen what he is capable of when it comes to you.”
“I don’t deserve all of this…” Carrie said as she started to cry.
Sandy thrust her anger to the back of her consciousness. Instead, she focused all her love and brought it to bear on her new younger sibling. “Shhhh…. Of course you deserve this. You are an amazing girl Carrie. A lot of people love you, including your big sister,” she said as she pulled Carrie into a gentle but firm hug. They both cried for a few minutes.
“So where are you going tonight?” asked Sandy after they both had a chance to calm down for a little while.
“Tom and I are hanging out with Devin, Rachel, Kyle, Tara and Rogesh. We might be going to the movies.”
“No Rana?” asked Sandy, as her ears perked up.
“I guess not. Maybe her parents won’t let her go out two nights in a row.”
“Maybe…” said Sandy, as the wheels began to turn in her head. “Honey?”
“Yeah, sis?”
“I know this may sound crazy, but even though we are probably going to the movies too, I need you to check in with me from time to time tonight.”
“Of course, Sandy, but why?”
“Something may be happening tonight and I want to make sure everyone is OK.”
Paul Prescott and Rana were dropped off by his brother at the movie theater.
“Baby, you look really lovely tonight,” said Paul Prescott as his gaze lingered at his date.
Rana smiled shyly and blushed “Thank you.”
“I was wondering, do you really want to go to a movie?”
“What do you have in mind?”
“I really want to get to know you better. That is hard to do in a crowded movie theater, don’t you think?” he asked as his blue eyes twinkled.
“I guess…”
“I just want to talk. I know a quiet place near here. It’s pretty warm tonight. We can walk.”
“OK,” she smiled, as she felt his arm wrap around her.
Rana stopped and pulled out her cell.
“What’s up? Who are you calling?” asked Paul.
“Rogesh Patel. He is my excuse to see you tonight so I need to tell him where I’m going.”
“It’s not important that he knows where we are going. He’ll just say that you were at the movies, right?”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“We don’t want him coming over and bugging us, do you?
“I guess not,” she smiled nervously, as she put her cell phone away.
“Good girl,” he smiled, as he pulled out a bottle of cola and turned the cap. “Want a sip?” he offered, as they walked.
“Sure,” she said, taking a swig. “It tastes kind of funny.”
“Yeah. It’s a generic. You get used to it,” he said taking the bottle and taking a small swig, before giving it back.
“I guess it isn’t so bad,” she said after taking another sip.
“Well, any sign of Rana yet?” asked Devin.
“Nope… wait is that them?” Rogesh asked, as he saw a couple walking away from the movie theater in the distance.
Both Devin and Rogesh ran to the lobby door, before noticing that the couple had disappeared from view. “Well if it was them, they aren’t there anymore.”
Rogesh pulled out his cell phone.
“Baby, just let it ring,” said Paul.
“No, let me get rid of him,” slurred Rana, as she giggled a little, before answering her cell. “Hello?”
“Rana, where are you?”
“Leave me alone, Rogessssssh.”
“Rana, are you OK? You sound funny.”
“Go away…” she giggled, as she closed her cell.
Rogesh was not the only one who had a Rana sighting. Derek, Sandy, Dean and Connie were pulling into the parking lot at the movie theater when Derek thought he saw Rana and a guy turn a corner on the far end of the theater parking lot, which led to an abandoned industrial complex. The locals referred to the place as “The House Plant” because it contained a huge warehouse and manufacturing plant for a former defense contractor that went belly up in the early nineteen-eighties. The whole structure was an eyesore and the town was looking to demolish it and hoping to sell the land, but was dealing with environmental issues that were keeping the deal locked in litigation. The area had become a make out point for many local teens because the parking areas were nook and crannied into the various portions of the huge structure.
“Sandy, you said that Rana was staying into night, right?”
“Yeah, I thought so. Why?”
“I thought I just saw her walking with some guy toward the back of the lot.”
Sandy frowned. “Are you sure, honey? It’s getting dark.”
“I’m not sure.”
“What are you guys talking about?” asked Connie.
“Our little social experiment,” said Sandy. “I think maybe one of my little soldiers is AWOL.”
“Is it really a big deal?” asked Dean.
“I guess not. I’ll deal with her tomorrow,” said Sandy.
Rana had another drink from another cola that Paul had produced from the bag. What she didn’t realize was that he had spiked the cola with rum. Because alcohol was against her religion, she had never tasted it before. She had no tolerance for it. While she had taken sips and then swigs from the first bottle, she was now taking gulps. She went from giggling to slurring to now stumbling, as Paul took every chance to feel up her nubile body as he helped to prop her up. They entered the parking lot, took a right and then an immediate left. Paul saw Mike’s uncle’s van parked where they had planned.
Mike Gilroy was a senior and a former football player. He and his younger brother Rich hung out with Paul and Ryan Costello. Rich played JV Football with Paul and Ryan. The boys would pay Mike to get booze, cheap hookers and local girls from the nearby city and bring them to “The House Plant” where they would get the girls drunk, party and have orgies in the back of the old moving van. The van had been customized into a sex palace with carpeting and three large mattresses. Normally the parties involved multiple women and most of these women were consenting (to at least being there). For the first time the plan was to have an innocent virgin as their sole victim.
“Dev, why didn’t you tell us?” asked Tom, after he and Carrie had arrived on the scene and had been briefed on the Rana situation.
“Because you would have told Carrie.”
“And I would have told Sandy,” Carrie glared.
“Sandra can’t find out or Rana will be in trouble,” defended Rogesh.
“Rogesh, you ass! Can’t you see that Rana IS in trouble!” spat Rachel, before turning to Devin. “Baby, I played along with this at first, but you’ve really fucked up here. We need to call Sandy and Derek!”
“What’s going on?” asked Tara, as she and Kyle approached the scene.
“We have to go find Rana and call Sandra!” exclaimed Rachel, as the seven hurried out of the lobby door. Carrie had her cell phone in hand when they ran right into Derek, Sandy, Dean and Connie.
“What’s up guys?” asked Derek.
Rachel looked panicked. “Rana is with Paul Prescott and she’s in trouble!”