The Long Wait for Tomorrow (11 page)

Shortly thereafter, Pleasant Evergreen changed its name.

As for what other changes came to be, the stories varied as memories of Pleasant Evergreen’s past faded into the present of Wellspring Academy. While student evaluations remained, a secondary
point
system, easily transcribed into A through D, was added for the sake of securing slots in more prestigious, traditional universities. Teachers were still referred to by their first names, though titles were sneaking in through the cracks. Pleasant Evergreen was once helmed by a head teacher. Now Wellspring Academy was helmed by a principal.

Principal Matt Sedgwick, who had been there since Patrick had started.

The very principal who was now eyeing Patrick, Kelly, and Jenna from behind his desk.

“I’m a little surprised at this,” Principal Sedgwick told them. His voice was soft, very much like the rest of his features. His eyes were blue, kind, and wavering. Middle age had imbued him with a head of thinning, semicurly gray hair. Tall as he was, a little over six feet, he moved with delicate motions, as though wary of disturbing the very air around him. “This is serious. You
left campus without signing out. You ditched your classes, nobody had any idea where you were…. I know the year is ending and … Kelly, I understand everything has been finalized with Ohio State.”

Patrick shifted his eyes. Looked past Jenna and over to Kelly, who nodded. “Yeah.”

“Well, that doesn’t mean you can just do whatever you like for the remainder of the year. The same goes for you, Patrick. And you, Jenna. I understand neither of you have heard from …” Sedgwick let it hang, waiting for them to fill in the blank.

“No,” Jenna replied softly, hands in her lap.

“And Patrick?”

Patrick removed his finger from between his teeth, felt his nail tear. “No, Principal Sedgwick.”

“It’s Matt, please.” Sedgwick went conciliatory, maintaining his softness. “And I’m sure you’ll both get in, sometimes it takes a while….” He turned to Kelly, trying to bring it all together. “You realize that just because you … Kelly, your friends may not … Look, we all hope for the best, for all of our students, but you can’t just act … you’re not done here, you—”

“—can’t just act as though your future’s already waiting for you,”
Kelly said in perfect unison with Sedgwick. Perfect unison, as though mouthing the words from a favorite movie.

There was a quiet skip on the record as Patrick, Jenna, and Sedgwick did their best to wrap their heads around that moment. Patrick and Jenna, for their part, weren’t able to get past it quite as fast as Sedgwick. Not that he let it slide.

Sedgwick’s face took an instant turn for the worse. Stern and wounded, as though face to face with the dark side of nature, the incapacity to understand how some animals can bring themselves to eat their young.

“Kelly, I don’t know what you think you’re doing—”

“Maybe not,” Kelly interrupted. He leaned back with his hands folded over his flat stomach, legs crossed. “But if we broke the rules, if
I
broke the rules, then this meeting must be about … I don’t know, setting an example. Would you like to punish me now? Because we can do that if you like. If that’s what you want.”

“I want you to
understand
what you did.”

“I know exactly what I did,” Kelly said, just the facts. “I woke up both confused and happy to find myself sleeping in my room. Definitely confused, but certainly excited. I’ve been carrying it with me all day, and after a few hours at school, I thought I’d take it on the road.”

Patrick had a choice between staring at the ground in hopes of lessening the impact of Kelly’s impudence, or ogling him with the same appalled scrutiny as Sedgwick. Unable to help himself, he went for the latter. Stared past Jenna, who remained with her eyes downcast, even as Kelly kept right on: “I convinced Patrick and Jenna to go out with me to lunch. Instead, I took them to On The Rail, where I proceeded to play a few games of nine-ball. Have a few beers, a few smokes—”

“Wait,
beers
?”

“And smokes, with Patrick as my designated driver, so no harm done. I was in a hot race-to-five with the bartender,
listening to some jazz, and enjoying this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Jenna wanted to change out of her cheerleading outfit, pick up her things, so I got Patrick to drive us back here. I understand exactly what I did, and now that I’ve done it, it’s time to pay the piper. And I’m not sorry, sir. But I am certainly ready.”

Sedgwick’s Adam’s apple worked in and out, popped the words out in terse bursts. “I don’t think … I don’t appreciate the tone you’re taking, you insolent … You have to understand … You really think this is the way we talk, we don’t talk this way at Pleasant Evergreen—”

“Wellspring Academy, I thought.”

“You can’t just talk
that way!”

“Talk what way?” Kelly asked, guilt free. “I told you the
truth.”

“You did no such thing,” Sedgwick snapped.

“Say what you will, sir, but I know what I know; That you beat me at the mart, I have your hand to show: If the skin were parchment, and the blows you gave were ink, your own handwriting would tell you what I think.”

“What?”

“That’s Shakespeare …,” Kelly informed him. “And if I
had
lied to you, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. That’s all I’m saying.”

“You were drinking
beer
!”

Patrick had seen the principal offended on several occasions; it was almost a matter of routine at Wellspring Academy; a politically correct holding pattern that had a particularly
strong effect on most of the administrative staff. But this was more like rage, and he wasn’t sure if Matt Sedgwick was equipped to handle such emotions.

“During school hours!” Sedgwick added, pale face flushing.

“I’ve
admitted
as much,” Kelly insisted.

“Well …” Sedgwick stood from his seat, taking full advantage of his height. His voice became haughty, anger subsiding as though he remembered he had actual, binding authority over his students. “This just went from bad to worse, Kelly. And all of you are going to have to face some serious consequences—”

“All of us?” Kelly voiced what both Patrick and Jenna were thinking. “All of who? This was my mistake.”

“And sometimes others suffer because of the mistakes we make,” Sedgwick replied smugly. “Maybe this will teach you that.”

“I
know
that.” Kelly shot up from his seat. “But my mistakes aren’t about to get them in trouble.
You
are. Just to prove a point that doesn’t need proving!”

“You can sit down, Kelly.”

“Or what, you gonna punish my
chair
?”

“That’s it—”

The door to Sedgwick’s office burst open, and Mike Redwood’s voice beat his body across the threshold: “What the
hell
is going on?”

Kelly and the rest turned and saw the vice principal filling the doorway.

He stood a good couple inches below Matt Sedgwick, carried a good couple pounds extra around the face, torso, and
stomach, but his sturdy foundation had helped him carry it well into middle age.

Patrick glanced back, caught Sedgwick frozen in apologetic terror.

“Wow …” Kelly blinked, as though battling a mirage. “Coach?”

“Kids?” Redwood motioned toward the door. “Would you step outside, please? I’d like to have a word with Matt, alone.”

Patrick stood along with Jenna, let out a quiet breath.

“Outside the building, if you would,” Redwood added gruffly, staring hard at Sedgwick. “It’s going to get a little loud in here.”

Jenna didn’t miss a beat.

Seeing that Kelly was stuck in the moment, Patrick took hold of his arm and gently maneuvered him through the door. He reached back and closed it with a soft click.

Even as the three headed toward the exit, the shouts were already following them down the hallway. Commanding and laced with profanity, Redwood’s diatribe appeared to be cutting right to the chase. Patrick glanced back one last time to assure himself that they really had escaped the lair of the white worm.

This time, his relieved sigh came out quite audibly as they left the administrative building.

Cody was waiting outside.

He, Zack, and a few others from the team, dressed in their practice clothes. Grass clippings and sweat stains covered them from head to toe. All leaning against the rail to the handicap
ramp. It creaked menacingly as a couple of them thrust off, standing to attention at the sight of Kelly McDermott. A mixture of sluggish questions filled the air, only one emerging with any clarity.

“Everything all right in there, Kelly?”

“I don’t know,” Kelly replied truthfully.

“Coach is in there, straightening it out, though, right?” someone asked.

Kelly glanced back, unconcerned. “Seems so.”

“Seems,” Cody piped up, thick arms crossed over his chest. “Is my father in there, or not?”

“Yeah, he’s in there.”

“Yeah, we were out practicing a little, you know … how we always do.” Cody’s muscles twitched. He slowly ran his hand through his thick dark hair, a trait that seemed to run in the family. “Someone told us Sedgwick nabbed you guys. Took you to his office, so we sent in the marines.” He clapped his hands, held out his palms. One of the players automatically tossed him the football. Cody trapped it between his palms with a loud smack. “Is this because you guys took off this afternoon?”

“We came back for Jenna’s bag,” Kelly told him. “And Sedgwick saw us, you’re right.”

“So this doesn’t have anything to do with …” Cody let the rest go unspoken.

The rest of the team leaned forward, waiting.

Anticipate
, Patrick’s angels reminded him, and he shook his head on Kelly’s behalf. “No.”

“Oh …” Cody nodded, cradling the ball under his arm. “Just in case, you know … Edmund didn’t learn his lesson, or maybe … someone else talked to Sedgwick.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Jenna asked, stepping to Kelly’s side.

“Football,” Cody told her. “Nothing the jersey chasers need to worry about.”

Jenna rolled her eyes. “Real nice.”

“Ain’t no rule book I’ve ever read that says I’ve got to
be
nice.”

“Ain’t no book you’ve ever read,
period.”

“Kelly, you want to ask your bitch to take a walk?” Cody snapped, and launched the football.

Kelly’s arm shot out in an arc, struck the football down in midflight. It bounced unevenly down the handicap ramp, between the legs of the players not fast enough to pick up the fumble.

“Maybe
you
ought to take a walk,” Kelly suggested, unaffected by the sudden attack. “You look a little freaked out, might help to clear your head.”

“What’s your
fucking problem
, Kelly?”

“Hey, hold on, guys …” Patrick slid between the pair, felt the tension flowing like electricity. A quick inventory of everyone’s face suggested the same spirit of a long-awaited mutiny. “Come on, Cody. I was there, Sedgwick was just trying to lay down the law. Same as he tried two years ago, remember that? And remember who had the final say? This is no different,
nobody’s got
anything to
worry about. All right?” Patrick looked from one to the other. “Kelly, Cody, all right?”

“Who cares?” Kelly said abruptly, if not a little on the cheerful side. “We’re getting out of here.”

Jenna didn’t hesitate.

Kelly took her by the hand and led her away.

“I’ve heard things about you, Kelly!” Cody called after him.

Kelly kept right on walking, his figure growing small as he walked across the campus.

“I’ve heard a few things,” Cody told Patrick. “Heard Kelly’s not acting himself.”

Patrick found himself in unfriendly waters. A full-length brigade of pure muscle. Silent eyes daring him to speak.

“Got a big game tomorrow,” Cody reminded him. “I’ll be fucked if I’m going to lose it.”

Patrick took two steps back. “You won’t.”

“Better not.”

There was no sense holding his ground. No sense talking reason to Cody. He liked to win, almost as much as he hated to lose; it was who he was.

And Patrick was nothing without Kelly by his side.

He didn’t need his angels to remind him of that.

atrick and Jenna sat out on the back deck, silent for the time being.