The Long Wait for Tomorrow (32 page)

Yes, Kelly could’ve had any number of skeletons floating about in his closet that he would never even have begun to touch upon.

The door slid open and Cody grabbed Patrick’s arm, dragging him out into yet another hallway. Patrick stumbled along, shaking his head. A fresh shot of pain with each movement. “Why would Kelly
do
something like that?”

“Because
that
is how it
is,”
Cody replied, tapping a finger against his temple. “That’s what athletes
do.
Kelly was always a wet blanket, but he knew what was expected of him. Kudos to him for
that.
At the very least, he understood
that.”

“If Kelly goes down,” Patrick threatened, weaving toward a wall before Cody jerked him back onto the straight and narrow, “then he’ll give you up, too. You won’t pass a test.”

“Look at you with your little threats. You can’t even walk straight.”

“You’ll test positive, Cody.”

“And why’s that?” Cody asked pleasantly, coming to a halt in front of room 2507.

“Because …” Patrick suddenly felt very unsure of what he was about to say. “Because you’re using, too.”

“I’ve never touched the stuff,” Cody said with a superior grin. “I come from good stock, you’ve seen pictures of my dad when he was my age.”

A nauseating tumor began to grow in Patrick’s mouth. “But the pills …”

“Idiot
, I was keeping those pills for
Kelly.
I
bought
them for him. Methandrostenolone, better known as Dianabol. Better known as Reforvit-b down in Mexico, where the dealer I bought them from
gets
the shit.” Cody leaned close, cupping a hand alongside his mouth with theatrical secrecy. “You dumb, stupid asshole … Kelly just broke into
my
house to steal back his
own … fucking … stash.”

The tricks the mind plays
, Patrick’s angels lamented.

Patrick realized he was bleeding from his mouth.

Didn’t care, could hardly stay on his feet. “So what Edmund saw …”

“What Edmund saw was me, buying
Kelly
his anabolics. I saw Edmund witness the deal. I told Kelly. And Kelly came up with that little plan to photograph Edmund’s little soldier.” Cody nodded with sound approval. “Got to hand it to him. It’s the only time I ever saw Kelly acting like a man of his means should.”

Cody placed his hand on Patrick’s shoulder. “But you ain’t got a thing to worry about. Neither does Kelly, truth be told. Not much, anyway. After the cops take him in, my father’s going to ask to speak to him, alone. After he leaves, he’s going to tell the cops that Kelly didn’t do it, and that he doesn’t want to press charges. The cops won’t have found the missing files and money stolen from my dad’s safe anyway.”

“That money was never stolen, was it?”

“We just thought it would give the cops a reason to search
Kelly’s car, maybe his house. But all he’s going to have to worry about is the steroid charge. Like I said, he did us a favor not playing in that last game. Sedgwick gets his sacrificial lamb, gets to make an example. And since we won the game without Kelly, we get to keep our trophy. Not to mention hefty contributions from rabid alumni.”

“Got to admit …” Patrick let out a pained laugh, covering for the sobs he felt welling up inside. “You’re not the brainless wonder I always took you for.”

“Too bad for you.”

“No, too bad for you,” Patrick retorted. Spat some blood onto the carpet. “You shouldn’t have sent Edmund’s picture out, man. There,
you
fucked up.”

“Kelly made me do it,” Cody sang with mock innocence.

“I came here to
warn
you,” Patrick hissed. “I don’t know why the hell I still am, but there’s a
very
good chance that Edmund is coming after you.”

“I’m not the one Edmund wants,” Cody assured him, the way an adult might tell a child that Mommy and Daddy’s divorce wasn’t his fault. “This really isn’t your night, is it?”

The chill of central air was beginning to make Patrick tremble. “What are you talking about?”

“Well, not everybody believes in killing the messenger,” Cody said with a sly smile. “Sure,
I
sent out that e-mail, but what do you expect? I’ve always been an asshole, right? A brainless wonder? I’m just doing what I do…. But what Kelly did, man, that’s just cold.”

“What Kelly did,
what
?”

“Way Edmund figures it, Kelly’s the real mastermind here. Wasn’t enough he had to take that little snapshot. Wasn’t enough he went ahead and sent it out to the whole school. No, Kelly befriended Edmund, gave him some wild story about time travel. He gained Edmund’s trust, even showed him the memory card, let him destroy it. Kelly gave him all that hope, just so he could dash that poor kid’s soul to pieces….”

Even Patrick’s angels couldn’t begin to put it all together.

“Betrayal stings like a bitch, Patrick,” Cody said, knocking on the door to 2507, three times, then once. “So if you were Edmund, who would
you
be after?”

And for the first time, Patrick heard the sounds coming from beyond those numbers.

The clank of bottles. Loud, raucous laughter.

All mixed with the heavy bass and synthetic loops of hip-hop.

All of which grew louder as the door to 2507 opened.

Patrick barely had time to place Zack as the one who opened the door when a rough shove from Cody sent him stumbling into the room.

“HEYYYYYYY!” came the manic, sarcastic cry of what had to be the entire football team.

Patrick brought himself to a halt and fell back against the wall.

Through the eye that wasn’t rapidly swelling shut, he saw a large room. Soft recessed lighting, a desk and table littered with beer bottles. The entire football team was there all right, dressed to the nines like a flock of gym-class penguins. The
familiar faces; bodies of Wellspring Academy’s most popular girls lined the walls with their slender, sequined curves.

And there, sitting at the round drink-laden table, was Edmund.

Decked out in an oversized tweed jacket. Drunk grin on his face.

Sitting next to him, with no particular flair or fanfare, was Jenna Garamen.

ou’re back, baby!”

For a moment, Patrick thought Jenna was talking to him. He could feel a simpering grin blooming along his battered face as he saw Jenna rise from her chair. Damp hair hanging over a wet shirt, she opened her arms. The swish of her hips propelling her across the room, and for a moment Patrick thought this might have all been one large surprise party for him.

Cody brushed past him.

Patrick watched in a sickening state of limbo as Jenna threw her arms around Cody.

Drew him close for a loathsome kiss, full on the mouth. The fact that she was a good two inches taller didn’t help how absurd the two looked.

Cody broke away with a loud smack. He turned to Patrick, one arm around Jenna, the other brandishing a beer that had somehow appeared in his hand.

“Funny how life works out,” he told Patrick, taking a swig of Sam Adams. “We were in our limo, headed to pick
you
up, of all people. And who do we see stranded in the rain?”

“Me!” Jenna declared proudly with a vampy grin.

“Seems like she was in the mood to party!” Cody declared, raising his beer.

Jenna let out a loud whoop, the rest of the room joining in.

Including Edmund, but Patrick was going to do this one step at a time.

“Jenna …” He tried to regulate his breathing, forget that he was trapped between four walls and a window leading to a twenty-five-story drop. “What are you doing?”

“Uh …” Jenna put on a vapid expression. She pressed a finger against her cheek. Twisted it, crossing her eyes before going back to normal. “Having a good time!”

Patrick felt blood trickling down his chin. “Jenna … Kelly—”

“Screw Kelly McDermott!” she lashed out.
“And
Patrick Saint. I’m sick of the both of you.” She spun around drunkenly, addressing the whole room. “Kelly actually thinks he’s from the
future
!” She was greeted with boisterous laughter, though it was clear they’d been enjoying this little joke for a while now. “He thinks he’s come back to
right the wrongs!
Make better what once was worse!”

“Fucking true to that!” Edmund announced with a crass, uncharacteristically nasty selection of words, courtesy of what was looking to be quite a drinking binge. He raised himself out of his chair, all elbows. The hand he was using to support himself went slipping across the table. Beer bottles fell like dominoes, drawing cheers from the rest. Edmund raised a bottle of tequila to his lips and took a swig. “I mean, what kind of idiot travels through time an
d fucks
things up the way he has?!”

“Edmund …” Patrick glanced around, still unable to piece it together. “What are you …”

“He’s looking for Kelly!” Cody laughed. “Looking for the man of the hour!”

“Looking for Kelly,” Edmund slurred.

“My guess?” Cody walked over and slapped his new friend on the back. “Kelly should be coming out to play any minute.”

That’s why he sent the picture!
Patrick’s angels screamed.
He did it to draw Kelly out in the open, get him arrested. It was
Kelly
Edmund was after when he left the house. The name he said didn’t being with a
C.
It began with a
K.
He must have come looking for Kelly, and
—

Patrick opened his mouth, when—

Don’t warn them about the gun. You tell them he’s got a gun, there’s no telling what Edmund might do, there’s no telling what
or worse
could be.

“You can’t change history.” Edmund grinned, taking another swig of tequila. “Can’t be done.”

“Yeah!” Jenna said, sauntering across the room and nabbing a handle of Aristocrat vodka off the night table. “Think about it! Kelly trying to change destiny! Can’t happen! We’re all stuck with what is and always has to be!” She took what appeared to be a mammoth swig from the plastic bottle, head tilted at a ninety-degree angle.

Cheers erupted around the room.

Patrick frowned through the disruption.

There’s no air bubbles
, his angels whispered frantically.
She’s not really drinking.

“Here’s a thought …” Jenna sauntered over to Edmund. “And I’d like to ask our resident genius what
he
thinks.”

“Yeah, genius!” some girl cried out.

“If someone traveled back through time …,” Jenna postulated, swaying aggressively. “And if that person found themselves doing some weird-ass shit like …” Jenna burped. “Like maybe if they screwed their own mother or something … If the time traveler didn’t disappear right then and there, wouldn’t that mean he was always, without knowing it, his own father? Edmund, what say you?”

“I say …” Edmund put his arm around Jenna, under orders from Jose Cuervo, joining her in storm-tossed motions. “I’d say that if Kelly were doing something like that … Well, that means it’s all happened already, hasn’t it?”

The jury of drunk athletes let loose with deep
ooooohs.

“It’s already happened!” Jenna declared, slinking toward Patrick.

Her steps were drunk and wavering, but her eyes were suddenly serious. Piercing, the look of someone doing all she could to send an SOS across a crowded room.

“Already happened,” she repeated, stepping close to Patrick. “It would mean that Kelly is only doing what he was supposed to do. What he was
meant
to do, sexy.” Jenna reached around and grabbed Patrick’s ass, pressing her body against his. “Don’t feel bad, baby. Kelly’s a goddamn nutjob, that doesn’t mean you can’t step up.”

Jenna took the back of Patrick’s head and drew him in for a deep kiss.

The leftover traces of vodka burned Patrick’s lips, mournful realizations that this was how he would be forced to remember
their first kiss. He closed his eyes, unable to be swept away with the staged motions of Jenna’s tongue.

“Look at that slut!” Cody’s voice called out in the darkness, pleased as punch. “Look!”

Jenna slid her lips across Patrick’s cheek, began chewing on his earlobe.