Got Thrills? A Boxed Set (A McCray Collection) (4 page)

“Cec!” a bright voice called out from behind.

She turned to find the freckle-faced Helen hurrying toward her. Right behind her was the darker-haired Francesca. Cecilia didn’t even wait for them to catch up before she made her way through the surging crowd to Building D.

“Wait, wait, wait!” Helen demanded. Puffing, the redhead caught her by the sleeve. “What is going on with your skirt?”

Cecilia looked down at her school uniform. Everything seemed in order. Her shirt was a stark white, and her skirt the required blue-and-black plaid. “Nothing.”

“Um, what about the length?” Helen asked, in that weird I-am-trying-to-talk-about-something-secret-without-really-telling-you-what-I-mean voice.

Francesca tried to help out. “A quarter turn, remember?”

“What are you guys talking about?”

Both of her friends glanced over their shoulders at Sister Switzler, the vice principal. The matronly figure stood outside her office, watching the quad like a hawk over a field of mice, trying to decide which one she would pluck from its day.

Helen leaned in with a harsh whisper. “You were supposed to roll your waistband a quarter turn this morning. You know, to bring your hem up.”

Cecilia rolled her eyes. She had forgotten about this ill-conceived attempt to get around the strict uniform guidelines. The theory went that if
every
girl in school rolled her waistband just the tiniest bit each day, so that every girl’s skirt looked the same, that somehow in a few weeks they could get their hems above the knee. It was, quite possibly, the stupidest idea Cecilia had ever heard. Besides, she liked her hem exactly where it was.

“Sorry, not doing it,” Cecilia said as she renewed her trek to get to class on time.

“Come on!” Helen pleaded. “We need everyone to do it, or we’ll get busted.”

“Then you’ll get busted,” Cecilia snapped, then instantly regretted it as Helen’s lips fell from a smile into a frown.

Francesca, though, had a sympathetic look. “Rough night, again?”

Cecilia could only nod.

“Your mom had another migraine?” Francesca asked.

Yeah, sure. A migraine. Cecilia nodded, though, letting them think what they would. It was easier than explaining the truth.

Helen shifted gears as only she could. She grabbed Cecilia’s arm so that they walked locked together. “I am
so
sorry! I wouldn’t have bugged you if I’d known. You do look really tired.”

“Can’t the doctors figure out what’s wrong with her?” Francesca asked, as they finally made their way to Building D.

Sure, it seemed everyone knew what was wrong. No one though, not the doctors or even her uncle, actually seemed willing to do anything about it. But that was TMI for her friends. They didn’t need to be as bummed out, or as
worn
out, as she was.

“They just say she needs plenty of rest.”

Her two friends nodded in sympathy until they heard some tinny music. That same stupid song from last night. A group of four boys were gathered around watching a video on someone’s phone. They had the speakers cranked up so high that even she could hear the KMNY radio promo.

“And once again, K-Money comes through for Halloween! We’ve got the creepiest bands at the creepiest mansion on the creepiest night of the year. You’re gonna stain your shorts when you see what Diana Dahmer has in store for you! To win these exclusive tickets you just need to—”

“Mister Donovan!” a shout came from across the quad. Sister Switzler did not even have to move away from her office to make her displeasure known. The boy in question shoved the illicit phone back in his pocket and tried to act like he had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. Then, she crooked a finger at him.

No one, but no one, ignored that finger.

Francesca leaned in to whisper, “Those eyebrows alone scare me.”

Yes, Cecilia had to agree. Sister Switzler did look like Mike Myers in drag as a Russian weight lifter. Only Mike Myers would look way more girly.

Finally, the boy lowered his head in acceptance and started the trek over to the vice principal’s office. They all made a clear path for him, not wanting the “Finger of Switzler” to beckon them as well.

“Darn it,” Helen sighed as they put as much distance between Mister Donovan and them as they could. “I really wanted to find out how to win those concert tickets.”

“What?” Cecilia asked. “Why? You hate that music as much as I do.”

“Um, hello?  Look at those guys over there.” Helen indicated three boys sitting along the far railing. “Why else would I want to go?”

Even Francesca nodded. “They
are
hot.”

“Ah, from those bleached tips to their pointy goatees, they are smokin’ hot.”

Cecilia, though, did not see the attraction. The boys in question were a fairly skinny and pale lot. Apparently, looking sickly was a goth code. And given that they went to a Catholic school, it made it a little hard to really go full-on death black, but somehow they tried to make up for it with hair products and eyeliner. One even had a folder with Diana Dahmer doing something unsavory to a sheep.

“You guys can have ’em,” Cecilia said, but then one of them nodded and smiled.

Helen gasped. “OMG. Michael just smiled at me!”

“You? It was for me,” Francesca stated, as she stepped in front of them.

Cecilia sighed. “Whatever. I’m going to science class, if either of you would like to join me.”

Her friends followed, but only so that they could try to flash that quarter of an inch more leg they had showing.

“You guys do realize that they have goatees because they don’t have enough testosterone to grow full beards yet?” Her friends ignored Cecilia. “And even at that, they still have to use eyebrow pencils to fill in their mustaches.”

Helen elbowed her in the side. “Shh! If we can do a little touch-up work, why can’t they?”

“And the folder?” Cecilia asked, incredulous that her friends would swoon over such cretins.

“Oh, look how lucky we are… ” Francesca said as she pointed to the other end of the quad. A group of five jocks strode across the lawn as if they were gladiators returning in victory. Even though it was like, seventy-eight degrees, they each had on their letterman jackets. The boys were so covered in huge varsity letters that they were nearly stacked upon one another.

The tallest and broadest of shoulder, John, led the group. Cecilia picked up the pace. He was possibly the only person she wanted to hang out with less than the goth boys.

“Hey, wait up!” the jock called out, but Cecilia struck for Building D’s large double doors. She really did
not
want to have to talk with him. All the speculation during their junior year was that he and Cecilia would be crowned King and Queen of the prom this year. Even she had gotten wrapped up in what others called the “dream team.”

Had it only been a year since the prom was the focus of her life? When after school was filled with booster club and cheerleading? It seemed like an entirely different life.

Today after school, all she had to look forward to was the state of disarray her mother was in, and whether or not they had any food in the refrigerator. That and dishes, and, of course, laundry. If they had enough money to buy detergent, that is.

Crap
, she thought. She’d forgotten to check the bank account online before she left for school to see if her mom’s disability check had cleared. If it hadn’t… well, it would be frozen burritos again.

“Look! Michael and the others are coming too!” Francesca hissed as she smiled at the goth boys.

The last thing Cecilia wanted was drama.

Unfortunately, that is exactly what she got as all three groups got to the door at the same time.

“Hi, Cecilia,” both John and Michael said at the same time.

The jock sneered at the dark-haired boy. “Michael, why don’t you just knock off… you… sheep-sucker.”

“At least I don’t wear a dress and sing like a girl,” Michael retorted.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Helen said. “There are more than enough of us to go around!”

But the much larger John turned a shade of red reserved for cartoon figures. “I’m an altar boy, you—”

The jock took a swing at Michael, but the goth boy seemed surprisingly prepared for that. Actually, it seemed that he had goaded John into the motion as he ducked under the punch and ended up next to the door. Before anyone could respond, Michael opened the door with a flourish, and bowed.

“Ladies first.”

As John stammered behind them, Cecilia couldn’t help but grin.

Okay, so maybe Michael
was
pretty cute.

* * *

Paxton rushed into the video arcade. Given that it was in the middle of a school day, the place was pretty quiet. Only one machine in the back dinged and whistled. He shook his head as he made his way to the sound.

Sure enough, he found a slight, dark-haired boy playing like his life depended on it. How he had hoped it wasn’t his nephew, but the Lady of Sorrows uniform pretty much confirmed that it was.

“Jeremy,” Paxton said, “I thought we had an agreement about truancy.”

The boy kept playing. “Oh, man! I paid the clerk five bucks not to narc on me!”

“Well, he didn’t. It was the convenience store owner across the street who called me, but thanks for letting me know about the clerk.” Paxton looked over his shoulder at the pimply twentysomething guy at the counter. He made the “eyes on you” gesture, as the guy slunk back to the front desk. Paxton would have a nice talking-to with him later. For now, he needed to get Jeremy back to school.

“All right, that’s it,” Paxton said.

“Oh, come on, Uncle Pax! Let me at least finish this game.”

Without warning, Paxton jiggled the joystick, causing the on-screen player to hurl himself off a mountain. “Time for you to play another game that I like to call ‘college preparation.’ ”

Jeremy, though, flew back in a rage.

“Is everyone working on remote? Does everyone have a collective stick up their butts?” Jeremy’s tone dropped, as if he were reciting the words of another. “Death is never far, and we must seize the moment!”

“Yeah, well, you are going to seize a schoolbook and get your butt into a classroom.”

Paxton tried to guide Jeremy toward the door, but the kid balked.

“This is kidnapping.”

“No, hog-tying you and throwing you in a truck with a gag in your mouth would be kidnapping. This? This is saving you from juvie.” Paxton pointed to the door. “Now, get in the car.”

Jeremy walked, sullen and slow, but walked out of the arcade. Once they were in the car, Paxton went to turn the key, but stopped. His nephew deserved more than this.

“Look, Jeremy, you know that I would do anything for you and—”

“You gonna bring Dad back from the dead?”

“If I could, I—”

The teen was not placated, though. “Fine. How about something in your control? How about getting Mom’s head out of the bottle? Why are interventions only for celebrities?”

Paxton stiffened. He and his sister had a rocky relationship before his brother-in-law’s death. Paxton was about the last person in the world she would want help from. But try telling that to Jeremy.

“Recovery only happens when the person is ready for—”

“Fine,” Jeremy said, cutting him off. “Then how about we come live with you?”

The thought of his tiny one-bedroom apartment strewn with takeout and an extremely dirty cockatiel cage gave Paxton pause. Jeremy read more than that, though, into the silence.

“That’s what I thought. So why don’t you save this good cop routine for work and drop me off where somebody actually cares about me?”

The frustration of the day, and his shame at not being able to do more for his family, flared to the surface.

“Do you think you’re the first teenager to have problems and use them to destroy your life?” Paxton’s knuckles turned white as he gripped the steering wheel. “You’re just the latest in a long list to pull this social outcast crap. If you doubt me, go rent
Rebel Without a Cause
.”

He looked over at his nephew to find his eyes glazed over with tears. Jesus, the kid was going through enough. He didn’t need Paxton piling on. Just one more reason why he was the last person in the world to take these kids in.

More in control, Paxton started the car and pulled out into traffic. Silence hung in the air between them, punctuated only by the occasional sniffle that Jeremy tried to hide.

“Jeremy, I am not trying to say that your life doesn’t suck. I know it does.”

Boy, did he know. It was nearly a flashback to his own childhood. Only he and his sister, Susan, had lost their mother—and were left with their drunken, raging father. Paxton knew that he had that kind of anger inside of him. He did not want to roll the dice, as Susan had, and start a family.

Jeremy sat beside him, looking out the window as the city flowed past them. He looked so young and fragile. A slip of a boy. Shoulders far too narrow to carry the burdens that life had given him.

“Take it from me, Jeremy. You will grow up and
out
of this mess.”

His nephew did not respond. Why would he? Paxton wasn’t exactly convincing himself. But during the course of his job, he had seen kids like Jeremy end up in foster care or worse, so Paxton had to try, even if it fell on deaf ears.

“I’m just trying to make sure that when you do get your own life, you’ll have some future left.”

Jeremy snorted. “Thanks, but I’m doing just fine.”

Paxton ground his teeth. The kid gave new meaning to teenage angst. Perhaps it was time for a little tough love.

“Really? Because the next time I get a text like this, I’m not coming. I’ll let the uniforms pick you up, and you can spend a little time in juvie contemplating your attitude.”

Jeremy shifted in his seat to face even farther away from Paxton as he retorted, “I didn’t know you cared so much.”

“Damn it,” Paxton said as he made a right-hand turn into the school’s parking lot. “I
do
care, and if it takes locking you up in a detention enter and chaining you to a school desk, then I will.”