Chapter 29: Code

November 1, 1980

9:30pm

We’d had a quiet day of family time and homework. Not much time to go over the dance. I was sure Angie would be by tonight, and she didn’t disappoint.

Lying beside me, on her side, in her cute pink pajamas, she was all smiles. “That was quite a night, big brother. You were the savior of the dance and no one even knows, except us lucky people.”

I smiled. “And Mr. Myerson.”

“He worked wonders!”

“I’m almost certain he came up with the switching-tables plan. That clearly threw them off, and then, like idiots, they gave it all away.”

She shrugged. “What could they do, really? Sit there assuming all their friends were unknowingly getting plastered? Avoid that cauldron themselves? Once it started unraveling, they were screwed.”

I grinned. “Speaking of being screwed...”

She giggled. “Uh huh. Can’t wait for tomorrow. Just can’t wait! Dances make girls horny!”

“I’m not sure I wanted to know that. It’s late and I need my energy for tomorrow.”

“Sucks to be you! So, why Mr. Myerson? I know he’s sympathetic, but I don’t really know him, except what he did at the dance. He mostly teaches seniors, right?”

I nodded. I needed to be careful here. The truth obviously wouldn’t work. “Yeah, he teaches the Advanced Placement and CLEP versions of Government, Economics, stuff like that. Senior classes. I’ve talked with Mel about him, some. He helps out student government, that’s why Mel knows him. When we talked at the game, she seconded the idea of picking him. He has a reputation for fairness, and since I’d done nothing wrong, I figured that would benefit me. I knew he’d give me a fair hearing.”

“It’s good that some teachers are really open-minded. It’d suck if they were all like Mrs. Higgins.”

“I’ve heard that Mrs. Ames, in Debate, is pretty open-minded too. And Mrs. Smith, the Drama teacher. Of course, it’d be hard to be a Debate coach and not be open-minded, I’d guess, and I can’t really imagine a close-minded Drama teacher being effective. But I could be wrong — the world is full of stuffy jerks.”

She snickered. “Isn’t it, though? I’m glad it worked. Getting plastered at the dance would’ve totally sucked. Mom and Dad would have been furious and, even if we proved we had nothing to do with it and were victims, it’d have set everything back.”

“I think that was a lot of the goal. A bunch of drunk freshmen go home, which outrages their parents, and they ban their little darlings from dances.”

“You said a lot of the goal. Not the goal?”

“No. I think, and Mel agrees, that she was a target, too. Maybe they hoped she’d sit at that table. For all I know, they’d marked it as ‘reserved for the freshman social committee rep’ or something like that. She thinks they have it in for her because she’s been successful at getting freshmen to go. I could easily see them trying to frame Mark and Morty for spiking the cauldron and using that to go after Mel.”

“Oh! Damn! That would work, wouldn’t it? Those two have reformed considerably, but most people don’t know that. Emily’s been a great influence.”

“It might have. It was still not the most well-thought-out plan ever, but I could see it working. Even if it’d missed her and the twins, it’d still have been awful.”

“Really awful.” She gave a nice big stretch. Which reminded me she definitely had boobs. Not that I was likely to forget. She caught where my eyes went.

“Yup, you’re a guy, big brother.”

“Guilty as charged.”

She hugged me and mashed them a little against my chest, smooched me, then got up.

“Still a bit worn out from last night. If I don’t get to bed, I will actually need a real nap tomorrow. Wouldn’t that be the dumbest thing ever?”

I laughed. “Sweet dreams, little sister. I love you.”

“Sweet dreams, big brother. I love you, too.”

November 2, 1980

My phone rang just between church and lunch. Two rings, pause, then it started going. I picked up.

“Steef? Is Candis. I ‘ab a code.”

“Oh, honey. I’m sorry!”

“Ib sowwy, ooo.” Coughing. “I cab go ooo study goop.”

“It’s fine. You rest and get better. Take some Nyquil. Naps are a good thing.”

“I wan a nap wif ‘oo.”

“Me too. Soon.”

“But not Oosday.” She sounded sad.

“Probably not. Maybe if the bus gets back early.”

“I wub ‘oo.”

“I love you, too. Get some rest.”

“Bye, Steef.”

“Bye, love.”

Well, damn. I worried more about Candice than myself. She sounded awful. I wondered if the freezing Homecoming game had done it. Of course, you don’t catch cold just from being cold, but I was pretty sure it lowered resistance.

I came out. Mom caught my look. “Bad news, honey?”

“Not real bad, but yeah. Candice has a cold. Sounds like a pretty bad one. I told her to take some Nyquil. Naps do a world of good.”

Angie was behind Mom. I saw her face. She was having difficulty not losing it.

“Aww, the poor girl. I hope she feels better soon. At least you don’t have any big tests coming up, right?”

I nodded. “Nothing big until the next week. Most will be the week after that. Then we catch Thanksgiving break, and it’s downhill to finals from there.”

“I’m glad you can keep this all straight.”

Angie chimed in from behind, “We have to. They won’t let us forget. The last thing the teachers want is for us to say they surprised us with a major exam.”

“Pop quizzes are a whole different ballgame,” I added. “Some teachers love those. But the major exams? They make sure we know exactly when they’re coming and what they cover.”

I went over and hugged her. “Thanks, Mom! We couldn’t do it without you.” Angie hugged from behind. “We love you, Mom!”

Arriving at Mike’s, Angie sighed. “Sucks, bro. Or, doesn’t?”

“I’m just sorry she feels so rough.”

“Yeah.”

Mike was waiting outside. “What happened?”

“No Candice. She’s got a cold.”

“Oh. Yeah, something’s going around. Marcus is down, too.”

I shook my head. “I hope it doesn’t get me until after Tuesday. I don’t want to miss the trip just because of a cold.”

Mike shrugged. “Cool that you get to go. Not my thing...” he grinned, “ ... but cool.”

We all headed downstairs. This was the opposite of last week; last week we had a ton of studying to do but the couples wanted time alone. This week we were down two couples and had only a little studying to do.