Payback Page 3
“I didn’t tell her anything,” I said. “Your plate was covered with dirt. So I told her I wasn’t sure who it was.”
“You must have said you saw me last night though, right? Because she pulled me over a while ago, made me go to the cop shop. Gave me the sixth degree,” he growled. “Asked me a bunch of crap about some tires that got ripped off from that dealership last night.”
It’s the third degree, I wanted to tell him, but that probably wouldn’t have been smart.
“She stopped you because you left the scene of an accident, right?” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. “I didn’t even know it was you and Eliot in the truck last night, I swear. The window was hardly open. Lots of other kids saw your truck there too, not just me. If you’d stuck around she wouldn’t be on your case now.”
Luckily, it was dark enough that he couldn’t see my lousy poker face. Or my terror.
“Oh yeah?” One last really hard squeeze that would probably leave a bruise. I tried not to let him see me wince. Then he gave me a shove, and I stumbled backward and landed hard.
“Be smart and stay out of my way, O’Connor,” he snarled, then strode off into the dark.
Chapter Five
I was shaking. No doubt about it. Lots of weird stuff had happened to me in Bridgewood over the last little while. I’d been in the odd tight situation too. But never anything close to this kind of threat. And I couldn’t stop obsessing on it the rest of the way to Ivy’s place.
Everyone was in the rec room in the basement when I got there. All the guys were playing pool and basically just grunted at me when I walked into the room. The girls were sitting around talking, and right now, being the only guy on the sofa, I was a prime target. So the first thing I heard when I plunked down beside Monica was “Dylan, what’s wrong?” And it wasn’t even Monica who asked me! It was Hannah, gazing at me from an armchair.
“What are you talking about?” I said, grabbing a handful of chips and stuffing my mouth full.
Monica frowned, then gently took me by the shoulders and stared straight into my face. “What happened?” she said. “Why do you seem so freaked out? Tell us, Dylan.”
“Nothing happened,” I said, chewing fast and stuffing more chips in.
Across the room a couple of the guys were watching me. They knew exactly what was going on. Cory motioned with his pool cue, calling me over to join the game.
“Did something happen at the Scoop Coupe?” Ivy asked.
“You look totally stressed,” Quinn added.
“Dylan, we’ve been waiting for you. You’re up,” Cory called. “And after this game, it’s a tournament. Couple against couple until the best team wins, okay, everybody?”
I practically flew off that sofa, then purposely tripped over a footstool and landed on my stomach. Everyone burst out laughing, which instantly changed the atmosphere in the room, thank God.
I took the pool cue from Cory and watched as Tanner and Logan lined up shots. Until Cory nudged me aside.
“So were the girls right? Did something really happen tonight?” he said.
“Just drop it, okay?” I said. “Seriously. Everything’s good.”
Then I slapped a wobbly fake smile on my face, even though I was a bit worried that Monica and her friends would see right through it. Logan and Quinn turned out to be the pool-tournament winners, last couple standing. After that the girls went upstairs. The boys planted their butts on the sofa and played video games.
After a while some awesome smells drifted down from the kitchen, and my stomach started to rumble. Wings and fries. I’d know that smell anywhere. We were all total chicken-wing freaks. Inhaled them every chance we got.
“Am I smelling what I think I’m smelling?” Cory said. “Or is it just wishful thinking?”
“No doubt about it,” Tanner said, licking his lips. “Sweet!”
“We’re coming up!” Logan yelled. “The smell’s killing us!”
“Not yet!” It sounded like all four girls shrieking in one voice.
We shrugged and kept on playing. Ten minutes later we heard the command for us to come upstairs right now. We dropped our controllers and dashed straight up the steps. The girls were leaning against the counter, staring at us with huge grins on their faces. And on the huge kitchen table, which was covered in a white plastic tablecloth, huge words were spelled out. In chicken wings.
CORY JUST WING IT AND BE MY PROM DATE LOVE IVY
Cory grinned. Then he grabbed a chicken wing, walked over and knelt down on one knee in front of Ivy.
“Your love gives my heart wings, Ivy,” he said and took a bite. “Yes! Let’s do this!”
Ivy threw her arms around his neck. The other three girls were laughing and clapping like crazy. I glanced at Logan and Tanner, who stood there looking as stunned as I felt.
“Are you kidding me?” I murmured.
Around midnight the six of us waited on the street while Ivy and Cory said goodnight. Then Cory walked out with a wide, lazy smile on his face.
“You totally lucked out, dude,” Tanner told him. “I can’t believe Ivy invited you to prom before you even had a chance to ask her.”
“I know. Amazing, right?” Cory said like he was still in shock. “I had no clue how I was going to do it.” He gave us each a high five while the girls stood there laughing.
“Still haven’t come up with anything, have you?” Monica said, then laced her fingers through mine as we walked. “And it’s stressing you out, isn’t it?”
“Too bad you aren’t as creative as Ivy. Because she nailed it tonight,” I said. I instantly regretted opening my big mouth. She dropped my hand.
“Well, that’s kind of a mean thing to say. And anyway, I sort of had a plan, but I didn’t want to ruin it for Ivy. But I’m not going to do it now, that’s for sure.”
Oh crap. I had no idea if the right or wrong words would come out of my mouth from one minute to the next. Or how my girlfriend would react to them. I tried to grab her hand back.
“I’m sorry, Monica. I just don’t know what you expect for this promposal thing. Everyone’s coming up with all these cool ideas, and everything I think of seems totally lame.”
“Yeah, whatever, Dylan. Maybe you’ll figure it out. Maybe you won’t,” she said. Was there a hint of frost in her voice?
“Okaaay,” I murmured. Silence. When I said bye to her in front of her house, she gave me a quick peck on the cheek and went inside. Oh well, better than nothing, I figured.
One by one my friends went into their houses. Since I lived near the edge of town, I was the last one left. I knew it was already past my “official” midnight curfew. For all I knew, Gran had stayed at Buddy’s again, and I’d walk into an empty apartment just like the night before. I hadn’t even seen her for a couple of days now. I had my hand on the handle of the lobby door when I heard a sound beside me.
“Pssst. Hey, Dylan.”
I turned my head. The entrance was dimly lit. But I could clearly see that the bushes near the wall were moving. Then someone stepped out. Eliot.
He stood there staring at me in a strange way, his face half in shadow. My legs got that roller-coaster wobble. I decided my best plan was not to even look at him and focus on the door. When he poked my arm, I jumped sideways.
“What are you doing here?” I muttered, fumbling with the keys in my shaky hand.
My arm was still sore where Jeff Walker had squeezed it. I glanced over my shoulder, half expecting him to come leaping out of nowhere and punch me in the head or something.
“I just want to talk to you, okay? That’s it.”
Eliot’s voice wasn’t threatening at all. In fact, he sounded almost a bit nervous himself.
“Yeah? About what?” I tried to snarl.
My tough-guy voice wasn’t so convincing though. He took one step closer to me. And now I could see his face in the dim light. There was a big red welt on his cheekbone.
“Wow, what happened to you?” I said.
Uh-huh. What really happened? I wanted to ask him.
“Look, can I come inside or something?” he said. His voice was sort of trembling. “I’ve had a crap night, and I just need somewhere to chill out for a while.”
Chill out or hide out? I wondered. “I can’t really let you in, you know,” I told him. “It’s getting late. My grandmother lives with us, and she’s old. She might be sleeping right now.”
“I’ll be really quiet.” He sounded desperate. “Just let me crash on your sofa for a bit.”
“Can’t happen. And what’s up with following me around anyway? How come you pulled that crap with Jeff Walker on me tonight?” Now that he seemed less of a threat, I was more pissed off than scared.
“Because I had to,” he said. “I had no choice.”
“Yeah right,” I said. “Look, I have to get inside. And can you guys just back off now? I already told you I didn’t tell Officer Vance anything, okay?”
Just then a car pulled up to the curb in front of the building. I heard muffled voices and laughter, then someone got out, shut the car door and started up the apartment walkway.
“Dylan? I see you beat me home tonight!”
“Gran? What are you doing out here?” I said.
“Buddy just dropped me off.” She glanced at Eliot and smiled. “So who’s your friend? Why don’t you boys come on inside? I’m in the mood for a nice cup of hot cocoa.”
Chapter Six
“This is your grandmother?” Eliot said. “Seriously, she looks more like your mom.”
Gran was smiling widely now. As I was trying to send her a telepathic message, she pushed past me, turned my key in the lock and held the door wide open. “I think I like you already, kiddo. I just made some fully loaded raisin chocolate-chip cookies you might enjoy. You look like you could use some fattening up.”
Did she really just say that? When I glanced at Eliot, he was laughing. “It’s kind of late, Gran,” I told her. “I’m bushed right now, and I should go to bed. Work tomorrow, ya know.”
“What did you say your name was?” Gran said, totally ignoring me.
Eliot followed her into the lobby. “My name’s Eliot Barnes, ma’am,” he told her.
“That’s a nice name. Eliot was the middle name of my favorite prime minister, by the way.”
He grinned at me over his shoulder as we stepped into the elevator. “Your granny totally rocks, dude,” he said.
I couldn’t believe this was happening. Before I knew it, one of the weirdest, sketchiest guys in town was sitting at our kitchen table, drinking hot chocolate and munching on my favorite cookies. While Gran interviewed him like she was a newspaper reporter or something. She found out everything too—where he lived, who his father was and that he’d been kicked out of school a while back. Then she started lecturing him about cleaning up his act and how important an education was. I was so stunned, I couldn’t even swallow. All of a sudden she stood up.
“Well, I’m turning in now, boys. I’m pooped. Clean up the table for me please, Dylan. And don’t stay up too late. You have to work tomorrow.” Then she headed off to her bedroom and left the two of us sitting there staring at each other.
“Sure wish I had a granny like yours,” Eliot murmured. “Think I can snag some of these awesome cookies to eat on the way home? Hey, maybe we can play a few video games first.”
“No! Absolutely not,” I half yelped. “You need to go now. I don’t even know how you got in here in the first place. My gran would normally never let a stranger in.”
“But I’m not a stranger.” Eliot nudged my sore arm. “You know me from school. And now we’re friends, right?”
I almost felt like puking on the table. I hadn’t planned on getting in deep with Eliot and all his problems. And right now it already felt as if I was in this thing way over my head.
“Look, this was a one-time deal, okay?” I said. Then I stood up and walked over to the door. “We’re not friends. We don’t hang out, and we never will. So take some cookies and get going, because I really am fried. And messed up from what your friend did to me too.”
Eliot got up, grabbed a few cookies, then shuffled toward me. “Yeah, sorry about that. I tried to stop him from going after you. Told him to leave you alone. And this is what I got for it.” He pointed to the welt. “And trust me. Jeff Walker is so not my friend.”
I felt even more queasy now. How much control did this Jeff guy have over Eliot anyway? And why was Eliot buying into it? There had to be a reason. And how could I kick him out after he’d taken a punch for me? “Crap. That sucks. Thanks for trying at least.”
I played video games for half an hour, just like he wanted. And I blabbed on about the promposal situations at school and made him laugh. And told him how I was stumped for an idea myself, just to make conversation. Then I let him out and watched until he was in the elevator and gone. He never looked back at me.
I shut and locked the door, then leaned my back against it and sighed. Gran was standing in the hallway staring at me.
“That boy is being mistreated by someone. I’m glad you were nice to him,” she said.
Gran’s words clanged around in my brain the whole night, which made it hard to fall asleep. It wasn’t easy being nice to Eliot Barnes. But at least I’d made a bit of an effort after finding out he’d tried to stop Jeff from chasing me down. Especially since I’d said some mean stuff. I was glad I didn’t have to work until noon so I could sleep in.
Except that someone started rapping on my bedroom door before eight thirty.
“What?” I groaned, peering out from under my cozy covers. “Go away.”
The door cracked opened slowly, and Gran peeked inside.
“Dylan? You didn’t happen to notice my wallet lying around anywhere last night, did you?” she said. “Because I can’t seem to find it. And my handbag was still on the armchair where I left it when I got home.”
That woke me up fast. “Are you sure? Maybe it fell between the cushions or something.”
“Already checked. Don’t tell your mom, okay? She came home late and she’s still asleep. They hosted a big anniversary party at the pub last night.”
Gran stood in my doorway, her face rumpled with concern. I knew she was thinking the exact same thing I was. I crawled out of bed feeling as if I had a heavy stone in my gut. I wanted to believe it was all a mistake. But that wasn’t easy, knowing Eliot’s messed-up history.
“I’ll have a look around,” I said, trying to slip past her. “And I’ll check outside too.”
“It’s nowhere, Dylan. I already looked myself.” Gran touched my arm. “I even called Buddy, and he didn’t find it at his place either. But I don’t want to cause any trouble for that kid,” she said. “I’m sure he has enough as it is. If he did take it, he must need it more than I do.”
“But your ID and credit cards and everything, Gran. Not good to have them floating around, right? And anyway, we should at least let Nicole know, don’t you think?”
“Just wait for a bit,” Gran said. “I don’t have any credit cards. And my ID is safe in a zip pocket in my handbag. There was only about fifty dollars cash or so in the wallet.”
“Well, that’s a relief. But still, Eliot can’t get away with this. You were so nice to him. And this is how he pays you back? That totally sucks.”
I followed Gran to the kitchen. She poured us each a coffee. Fury was simmering inside me. I felt like punching something. Why had I been dumb enough to allow Eliot into the apartment? And why had my ever-suspicious Gran, who seemed to think everyone was up to no good, actually invited him inside?
“Dylan, I felt sorry for the guy,” Gran said, and I had my answer. “He looked like a sad little puppy. And I thought you two were friends. Aren’t you?”
“No, we’re definitely not! But I didn’t want to start arguing with you in front of him. He just showed up out
side.” I didn’t tell her all the bad parts, to spare her the worry.
Gran sipped her coffee and stared into space. “Well, he must have shown up for a reason. He must really need someone to talk to. He had a hard-luck look about him, I thought.”
“That doesn’t change what he did,” I told her, pounding a fist on the table. “And it sure doesn’t make it okay either.”
Gran patted my hand. “Everyone has a reason for what they do,” she said. “I know you, Dylan, and I know you won’t stay out of this one. So just be careful, please? You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.”
I couldn’t believe it. For the first time ever, Gran wasn’t lecturing me, warning me to stay out of trouble. Telling me not to do something. She was actually talking to me like an adult, as if she trusted me. Even though she’d used one of her weird sayings to make her point.
I grinned at her. “Right. Honey, not vinegar. I’ll keep that in mind, whatever it means!”
Right after breakfast and a shower, I told Gran I had to get to the Scoop Coupe, even though I didn’t start work until later. I headed out on my bike into the damp and misty April morning. There was no way I could let Eliot get away with what he had done, no matter how “hard luck” his situation was. I owed it to my grandmother to try and get her wallet back, at least. And I had to do it while the fury was still pulsing through my body and making me feel braver than I actually was.
Eliot’s place was in the seedier part of town, with run-down low-rise apartment buildings and rickety clapboard houses that were mostly rentals. A lot of them had enclosed porches that were overstuffed with any piece of trash imaginable. By the time I was in front of Eliot’s house, something inside me was telling me to make a run for it.
His was one of those falling-apart junk houses. Like nobody who lived there gave a crap about anything. The front porch overflowed with old tools, broken furniture, twisted bikes, a stepladder—even a couple of lawn mowers. I wheeled my bike up the driveway and stood there staring at the door. A rickety log pile was stacked against the house. Wood chips everywhere, a rusty old saw. Total mess. I willed myself to knock on the door.