Plus ca Change: Part 2c
by Tom MacCarrol
Disclaimers: Worlds,Backgrounds, "old" characters; not mine. Story, "new" characters; mine. Names; stolen from all over. (I really have a block on this!) text inside /// \\\'s are from the sound system of the club. The band's name is from a Bruce Springsteen lyric, *their* lyrics are mine, but *heavily* inspired by Sprung Monkey's "Believe" (Swirl CD or off the Welcome to the Hellmouth sound track)
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Part Two C
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"I don't *have* a side. I wasn't involved with any group, organized or not. I didn't dig up any bodies, never saw anyone else do it, either." I just can't come out and say he dug himself out, and then blew away downwind after getting staked. I'd rather not be seen as bucking for an insanity plea, just yet.
"I have nothing to tell you guys except look for whoever took my stuff. Just 'cause something with my name on it is somewhere, doesn't necessarily mean I put it there." Of course, then again it might, but we won't go into that, I hope. If I get out of this, I ought to send my old logic teacher a big thank-you card. Crickton shook her head slowly. "Alright Ms. Winters. If you don't want to help yourself, we can't force you. You want to live or die by 'I wuz robbed', go ahead. But let me warn you, this is not, by any means, over."
"We're actively investigating this case, it's only going to be a question of when, not if, we get to the truth. And when we bring in the others, don't count on the schoolboy code holding up. At least one will roll over for a lighter sentence, and if your name comes up then, this deal is off, you go down with the rest." Wesniic threatened calmly. He handed her a business card. "I can be reached at that code, if you remember anything... *differently*, later. But remember, the clock is ticking, and there's no prize for coming in second."
The police left the room then. Anne, rather shaken by the encounter, was about to go also, when Whiplish stopped her. "Just a few words, please." The vice-principal looked as if she'd bitten into something vile.
"To say that I am disturbed and appalled by your involving yourself and this school in such an incident is a major understatement. Taken with what happened at your last school..."
"Not my fault. That guy was trying something I wouldn't permit even with a ring and a license. All I *meant* was to pry him off me - the part where he went down the fire stairs was an *accident*"
"To which there were no witnesses, no evidence, nothing but your say-so. Just as with the alleged 'theft' of exactly the items found at this latest crime scene. How consistently convenient." She took a deep breath and exhaled loudly, turning a full-power glare on Anne.
"While you may, for a while longer, escape the legal consequences of your actions- the basis for administrative remedy is much more flexible. While I can't stop your delinquent behavior, or keep you from making all sorts of trouble; I can and will see to it that you do so somewhere else. And that can be made to happen so fast your head will spin. Consider yourself on probation young lady- one more incident and all I'll need is an excuse- I'll have all the reasons I'd need." Whiplish's face shifted into a cold smile. "Have a nice day, Ms. Winters."
Anne walked away from the Admin wing slowly, feeling very small, alone, and mostly numb. There was no way she could face up to her last couple of classes, she was way too upset and confused to concentrate or deal with people and questions. Instead, she simply wandered outside, then found herself ambling homeward. Maybe cutting wasn't the smartest move, but it felt like the best one.
Her Mom was still at the shop- she let herself in the side door and clumped slowly up to her room. Throwing her books and self on the bed, she lay for a long time, thinking of nothing. Finally, after even the time when school should have ended, the heavy black clouds inside her began to break up.
By simply deciding not to tell her Mom, at least not right away, all the nasty possibilities on that front went away. It wasn't exactly lying, since she hadn't really done anything, and Whiplish's threats would blow over as long as nothing else went wrong.
As far as the Police- they certainly weren't going to ever find the 'gang' that dug up 'ole Heneri what's-his-name, so all the rest of their song-and-dance act was just bluster. Nobody was going to turn her in, she wasn't about to go to jail.
School, well all she had to do was just stay out of further trouble for a while, at least until Whiplish decided to go make someone else's life miserable. Even if she was the major project on that sourpuss's calendar, there were less than two months left in the term. By the start of next year's classes all this would be forgotten.
Seen this way, one at a time, things were actually looking pretty good. It was only taken as a pack, each one reinforcing the next, that everything came out dismal.
The comm console chirped downstairs, breaking into her internal pep rally. Anne practically bounced down to take the call. It was Liz, looking worried.
"Anne, you're home, good. After you got pulled out of class, I couldn't find you anywhere. It was like you fell off the face of the world or something. What happened? You look awful again, what did 'Witless' do to you?" "Ha. You should have seen me when I first got home...All Whiplish did was go on an abuse of power trip. The big deal was with the Police..."
"Police? They had the cops on campus? Whaa..."
"Oh. No big, really. Some bozo stole some of my stuff a few days back, then dropped it while doing another crime. Since I was the one they could find, the cops were asking me the questions they meant for him."
"That really reeks."
"Yup. Not high on my list of fun ways to spend time."
"Speaking of fun, if you're too upset and want to bail tonight, I'll..."
"No, no. I really need something to take the taste of this afternoon out of my mouth. I'll show, no prob."
They ended the conversation there. Anne puttered around, unaccustomed to so much free time, until it was time to go.
She left her Mom's share of supper in the fridge, posting a note with re-heating instructions and a brief explanation of where she'd gone. Anne paused to arm the security system, then set out for Liz's house. Sundown had brought back a chill to the air, she picked up her pace a little to help keep warm.
Walking together towards the downtown area, Anne mentioned, "Winter seems not to want to quit around here. As soon as it gets dark, wham, back to the ice age."
"It's been abnormally cold and rainy this year. Usually by now , it's really nice. But the weather pattern's gonna break soon. By this time next month it'll simply be glorious. Once school lets out, we have to do some hiking in the Arca range, the views are fantastic."
The girls approached the club, sited in the three-block industrial area of the town. The building had once housed a metal-forming factory - before changing technology put it out of business. The current owners had bought the shell cheap, added minimal renovations and made a mint off entertainment-starved young people for several towns around. Anne had been semi-aware of the place's existence, but tonight would be her first time inside.
They joined the scattering of people streaming toward the entrance. The bouncer/doorman checked ID's, hand- stamping those old enough to drink, and collecting a couple of credits from each male patron. Dangling from a pipe overhead was an actual brass sculpture of a generic simian.
The inside was a vivid contrast to the night outside. Instead of the chilled, quiet, almost deserted streets, the interior was packed with people, warm (almost hot), and extremely noisy. There was a live band on stage, the amplified music hitting against Anne with almost the impact of physical surf. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// {lyric} (Lead) Time is changing; / re-arraigning, / (backing) what's inside your.../what's inside your.../
(Lead)`what's inside your head./ (backing) what's inside your head?/ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ The competing babble of scores of conversations added to the general roar.
Anne and Liz moved deeper into the cavernous building, getting clear of the traffic jam around the door. The crowd ranged across quite a span of ages, but was mostly teens. In fact half the school seemed to be there.
The band's percussionist ripped lose a riff like a burst of machine-gun fire. Their lead singer yowled wordlessly, then pranced across the stage in a funny sort of hopping dance, while the rest of the group wailed into an extended instrumental break.
"So, what's first? Grab a table and check out the scene for a while, kinda ease in slowly; or hit the dance floor right away, just plunge in?" Liz asked as they skirted around a group of couples trying to make themselves heard over the music.
"Actually, " Anne said, feeling a strange twinge run through her belly, "none of the above. Bathroom." She swallowed, surprised by the taste of bile at the back of her mouth.
"Good call. I'll show you, they're a little hard to find, sortta like almost backstage."
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