Chapter 4: Family Matters

Veronica Carson had a rough afternoon. As a member of the Town Council, she had an important meeting with the Mayor and several committee chairs. A proposal for increasing the town's education budget was not well received by the Mayor. Her only ally at the meeting was the Chairman of the Board of Education. She felt like her head was in the proverbial vice, as her tension headache raged. She hoped that she could just hop into a warm bath. Instead, she was forced to wear a fake smile.

"Sandy. It's nice to see you. Derek tells me that you two are an item," said Veronica, as she gave Sandy a somewhat tepid hug.

"It's true, Mrs. Carson. You're son's an amazing guy," smiled Sandy.

"Now who are these lovely young women?" asked Veronica, smiling at Derek and Sandy's companions.

"Mom, this is Mindy Harrellson and Maya Ramirez. They're two of Sandy's best friends," said Derek, as the women greeted each other with handshakes.

"We've heard so much about Derek from Sandy. We thought we should get to know him too," said Mindy. "So far, he's everything she's advertised."

"I think Derek has made me laugh about a dozen times since I got here. You're son's really sweet and charming," beamed Maya.

Veronica winced, as she felt a sharp pain.

"What's the matter Mom? Don't you agree with them?" laughed Derek.

"Sorry honey. I just have a wicked headache."

Aside from being bitchy, Sandra Turner had an amazing way of organizing people. Despite losing a lot of that bitchiness, Sandy Turner still had this trait. "I'm sorry you're not well, Mrs. C," she said, reverting back to her old nickname for her boyfriend's Mom. "What can we do to help?"

"I'll be OK, Sandy."

"Derek tells me that Mr. C's not coming home tonight. Let us help. The three of us are pretty good cooks. We can whip something up for you and Derek."

"But Sandy..."

"Come on, Mom, let us help. You just sit back and relax. We'll take care of everything," smiled her son.

"OK, that's really sweet of you all. Thank you," said Veronica weakly. She went into the kitchen, filled a glass from the tap and took an ibuprofen from her pocketbook. Then she put her feet up on the couch in the family room. When the pain reliever kicked in, she dozed.

In the kitchen, the cooks decided to sauté some veal with some pasta. Mindy knew how to make a really good Alfredo sauce, but needed a few ingredients, so Derek and Maya went out to get them. On the drive to the store, Derek had his free hand on Maya's thigh the whole way. Maya was in heaven when Derek gave her a deep kiss after he had parked the car. "I love my wonderful Master so much!" she giddily thought, as they walked into the supermarket together.

"Hello, Carson residence," said Sandy into the phone receiver.

"Hi, who's this?" came a young woman's voice.

"Sandy Turner."

"Sandy? It's Laura Carson. How are you doing?" asked the voice.

"Fine, Laura. I know you must be surprised that I'm at your house."

"To be honest, I am. What's going on over there?" asked Derek's sister with a clear edge to her tone.

"My friends and I are just helping out your Mom with dinner. She's had a rough day and is taking a nap."

Laura Carson was making plans to come home this weekend and wanted to make sure that her family was available. The last person she thought she would be talking to would be Sandra Turner after what Sandra had done to her brother four years ago. If that was not enough, Sandra had done something to Laura a couple of years ago that had greatly angered the older girl. Still, Laura had decided to remain civil to figure out what was happening in her home. "Derek isn't there, is he?"

"Nope. He's out running an errand for supper. You can probably reach him on his cell."

"OK, thanks Sandy," she said momentarily thinking that maybe she should call her hometown police.

Sandy could sense Laura's thinly veiled hostility. While to two had recently shared a fair amount of animosity, like with Derek, their relationship had been very different before Sandy had changed into a bitch. Sandy felt the need to convey to the older girl that she was much more the childhood friend than the evil harpy Laura had recently known her as. "Laura, it's great to hear your voice again! There are so many things that have happened. Derek has made me so happy!"

"Derek?"

"Yes, my boyfriend, Derek!"

Laura had problems believing her ears. She knew Sandra Turner and despite the sound of her voice, this person seemed nothing like her. Laura still had many friends who were seniors at Wilson High, so she had a pretty good grasp on what was going on there. She had not heard that her brother was dating "The Queen of Mean", as she was referred to by her classmates. Likewise, Derek had not told her that he and Sandy were dating. The idea that this could ever happen was completely absurd. She needed to call Derek to see if Sandra had gone crazy. If so, she was sure Derek would call the cops, she thought. In the meantime, she decided to play along. "No sense in upsetting a crazy person," she thought. "OK, 'Sandy'. I'm coming home this weekend, so I hope to see you then."

After they disconnected, Sandy wore a sad smile. She knew that Laura had detested her at school. Laura was a lovely girl two years Sandy and Derek's senior. Unlike her brother, Laura had been quite popular and was her Class Treasurer. Sandy had made an attempt to steal her boyfriend. While she failed, she was not sure if he had ever said anything to Laura about it. It was bad enough that Sandy had been involved in the plot to get Derek stuffed in a locker, if Laura knew about what she had done to her; she would be in real trouble. She knew she had to find a way to live these actions down if she was going to be able to continue to be Derek's girlfriend.

"Hey 'Squirt'!"

"Hey 'Lola'," came the phone greeting from the two siblings using their nicknames for each other.

"What the fuck?! You and that bitch?!" exclaimed Laura's voice.

"I see you've heard about me and Sandy."

"I can think of two interrogatives that I want to stuff down your throat."

"'How and When'?"

"Actually 'How' and 'Why' came to mind first."

"Well, to be honest..." which he wasn't completely, "I made a deal with her to help her with some errands. She kind of had a cross between a meltdown and an epiphany about her life. Sandra had just gotten out of an abusive relationship and she realized that she'd rather date a nice smart guy..."

"Then why's she dating you?" she cracked, lightheartedly. "Come on, give me the scoop!"

"I guess I'll have to go into more detail, because 'whatever Lola wants... '"

"'Lola gets, '" she laughed, finishing the quote from the song Derek used to give her the nickname.

"OK, Laura. I'm in the checkout line at a supermarket. I promise to call you back."

"No need. I'm coming home this weekend."

"Cool sis!" he said trying to cover his obvious excitement. He had not seen his sister since just after the New Year and he truly missed her. Strangely enough, he sensed Laura felt the same way about him, as they talked at least once a week. They had often consulted each other about what was happening in their lives and had actually become friends; beyond being siblings.

"Yeah, baby bro, I miss you too. See ya."

"Bye."

When Derek disconnected, he felt Maya's hand on his shoulder.

"So how did Laura take the news about you and Sandy?" asked Maya.

"Like I was talking to her from the moon. I hope that when she sees Sandy and me together, she'll realize that this is really happening."

After paying the cashier, Derek and Maya started to make their way out the door and then they almost ran right into the stranger who changed their lives.

"Hey Derek, remember me?" grinned the man.

"Yes," replied Derek somberly.

"Oh, C'mon kid. Lighten up. I should be your hero!" he laughed.

Derek did not respond, as the man could see the fear in the boy's eyes.

"Look Derek, I was having a bad day when I encountered you and your friends. I'm really not that bad a guy."

"With all due respect, what you did was a pretty bad thing."

"Wow! I thought I was nice when I was a kid. You're a freakin' boy scout," laughed the man.

"You were a nice kid?"

"Remember when I told you that you reminded me of myself as a kid. Anyway, I'm both tickled and impressed by what you have done with the girls," he paused as he laughed. "Shit, man! You had real feelings for the black girl, yet she's the furthest of the four from your heart at the moment. You took the bitch that complicated your life and turned her into your girlfriend. I see your cute little firebrand here has been reduced to your willing toy," he said, pointing to Maya, who remained perfectly quiet, with her head bowed.

"I didn't mean to do a lot of those things."

"I agree; consciously, at least. Somewhere inside, you still harbored a major crush and even some real feelings for the bitch ... or should I say the 'former bitch' and now your sweet girlfriend," he paused, turning his attention to Maya. "This one, you are with, annoyed the hell out of you. Luckily, all she needed was a guy she could trust and now she's your happy little puppy. The other one..."

"OK, I get your point."

"Let me finish," the man smiled. Derek obliged.

"The redhead pissed you off; as if she was about as annoying as a sister. She was having daddy issues, starving for affection and confused about her sexuality. You've changed her into a bisexual, non-biological, sister, who is now happy to fuck your brains out."

"That's sick!"

"Don't be so hard on yourself," he laughed, Derek bit his tongue. "Seriously, there's nothing wrong with that. You miss your real sister, so the redhead's filling that role for you. Because of my deal, you have to fuck her. She wants it. You do too, not because you want to make love to your real sister, but because you and Mindy were both were crying out for intimacy," he paused before continuing. "Now Chantelle ... you're keeping your emotional and somewhat physical distance from her because you love her and she loves someone else. You want to keep it that way because you genuinely care for her."

"OK, what's up with the psychoanalysis?" asked a somewhat emboldened Derek.

The man sighed. "This started out as an ill-mannered, overreaction on my part, but it has become something more." He said before continuing after a dramatic pause. "You have an amazing gift for empathy! You've buried it under your lack of confidence, but it's there."

"How would my empathy have anything to do with what I did to the girls?"

"Derek, you've given each girl what they've wanted deep down in their hearts. For you to do that, you had to connect to their feelings at a subconscious level. That requires an unusually high amount of empathy."

"So you're saying they all WANTED this to happen."

"At some level, they did," replied the man.

Derek thought back to the response of each girl to his meddling in their minds. With Maya, she seemed legitimately happy to be his slave. With Sandy, she had hated herself and what she had become, after her parents almost divorced. Before that, she had a happy life that Derek had been part of, as her friend. With Mindy, he saw her pain at her confusion over her sexuality and connected to her in such a way that a mutual affection and attraction was developed between the two of them. "This is all quite fascinating, but why are you telling me all of this?"

"For two reasons: One that I'll share with you now, because it is vital to see that you're really hurting someone you care for," he said mysteriously. "While you've done an amazing job with the other three, you're doing an equally bad job with poor Chantelle."

"But you..."

"I know a lot of this is my fault, but not all of it. While you're a nice guy, Derek, Chantelle is your blind spot. You were willing to take her to your Prom, despite the fact that she was another guy's girl."

"True, but I was willing to call it off."

"Yes, and to your credit, you were sincere when you realized your mistake. Still, Chantelle's own poor judgment kept the agreement on. In her attempt to stop you from breaking the deal, she confused your feelings with that kiss. Her heartfelt plea about needing to be head cheerleader further convinced you. I know Chantelle was not as much of a bitch to me as the others were yesterday, but she was not completely blameless either. She went along with the other girls in the same way she acted about you and the Prom. She put doing what was best for her ahead of doing what was right."