Chapter 37

7:45 a.m. Tuesday

As soon as Andy put on his seatbelt, Elizabeth punched him – hard – in the arm.

"Don't ever do that again!" she shouted.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you," Andy said. "I was tense this morning and you were an added complication I didn't count on."

"I wasn't talking about that," Elizabeth said. "And I'll thank you not to refer to me as a 'complication' again. I was talking about painting a huge fucking bull's-eye on your ass and parading down Main Street. You scared the shit out of me."

"I don't have time to drive you home to change your pants," Andy said, looking over toward her and smiling softly. "It would be 10 o'clock before you managed to get those over your butt and get another pair on."

"Jerk," Elizabeth said – but she smiled, too. She let out a sigh. "What was up with that guy at her school?"

Andy gave a brief description of the gang activity at Thurmond and the principal's impotent stance on discipline.

"That's more than you told me yesterday," Elizabeth said with a frown. "I want you to know, I called the school board president this morning and filled her in on what you said. It's part of why I wanted to go with you this morning. I wanted to see firsthand what was happening."

"I think the Deuces put an end to it yesterday," Andy said.

"Deuces?" Elizabeth wondered. "I thought you said they were Kings or Aces – definitely a face card."

"The Deuces are from my building," Andy explained. "They rolled up on the Kings yesterday afternoon. I would bet that you didn't see the little pricks this morning because the Kings still standing put a hurting on them last night. They might have killed them. I don't know. The Kings are the gang that resorts to guns quickest. The rest of them will fight with fists or knives if some little dispute arises. The Kings are a little more volatile. Mom spent an hour yesterday stitching up cuts and bruises so I don't think it came down to gunfire. Almost everyone in the neighborhood has some sort of felony conviction so it's illegal for most of them to own a firearm – not that it stops them. They just can't buy one legally like you could."

"So he wanted to ban you from walking Lupe to the door?" Elizabeth asked incredulously. "Why didn't he kick those little jerks out for terrorizing her?"

Andy let out a long breath as he pulled into the school lot.

"I'm white," Andy said. "It's part of what I told you yesterday. If he does anything to seven poor black kids, he's going to have the ACLU, the NAACP, the DOE and probably 20 other alphabet groups up his nose in an instant. With me? No one would care if he violates my rights. He thought he could bluster his way through because it's probably worked before. I'm willing to bet he was transferred here from some suburban high school that saw its test scores drop two years in a row. They're hiding him in the system so he can retire. But I actually read the Student Handbook. I looked at it again last night to see why Rico and Tomas aren't permitted to walk Lupe to school."

"I wondered why they don't," Elizabeth admitted.

"The school board has the right to ban anyone with drug, weapons or sexual offenses from being within 1,000 feet of its property unless he is enrolled in that school," Andy said. "Like I said, almost everyone I know in the neighborhood has something like that in their past. It doesn't have to be a conviction for sex offenses, just an arrest within the last 10 years. It is a Class C felony for anyone with something like that in his or her past to be on school property without prior consent from the school board. There are a few exceptions. A kid's mom or dad can go to the school if the kid is enrolled there but Tomas or Rico would wind up in prison pretty quickly if they showed up at the school."

"That's bullshit," Elizabeth said.

"It was designed to keep pedophiles from trolling the kindergartens," Andy said as they headed to school. Once again, Elizabeth had clasped Andy's elbow but today she held it much tighter than before. "The courts found that too restrictive so they expanded it to other offenses so it didn't seem like they were singling out a specific group. In a way, it makes sense. You really don't want those types of people coming to football games and starting trouble."

"It makes no sense!" Elizabeth countered. "How many kids live with stepparents? Almost everyone in our school lives with a person they are not related to. The way you've explained it, a stepmother with a drug conviction would be barred from coming to her son's graduation. He's not her child unless she adopted him. And really, who goes to the expense of doing that?"

"I guess," Andy said. "I didn't look at it from that point of view. I do know it's being challenged in the courts again. Maybe that's why. Let's just forget about my neighborhood for the rest of school and put another day in the books."

"In a minute," Elizabeth said, pulling him to a stop on the stairs that led the entryway. "Carl said you're moving tonight. Is that true?"

"Sort of true," Andy said. "Uh, Evan ... my dad ... he has a suite downtown. Mom was ... unhappy ... about my role in things yesterday so we're going to stay there for a while. He has room and he offered. I'm not unhappy about leaving the luxury of 22nd Street behind – but I'm a little pissed that I dropped $80 on an air conditioner Sunday night only to pack our shit and leave on Tuesday."

"I'm glad you're out of there," Elizabeth told him. "I was scared this morning – not for me, for you. You had made sure that everyone else was safe and assumed all the danger for yourself. Images of you dying on the pavement flashed in my head and I almost started to cry. If Lupe hadn't been in the car, I would have been a mess. That place ... you've tried to describe it to me ... it's like a war zone or something."

"I've never seen a war zone so I won't argue," Andy answered. "I think you're being a little dramatic. It's just segregated. The Blacks live on two blocks. The Hispanics live on two blocks. The Asians live on two blocks. You pretty much keep to your blocks and your people.

"There are a few black kids on our block but not many. There are a couple of Latinos mixed in with the other blocks. Word has already leaked out that Mom and I are moving at the end of June and it's a good bet a Latino family will move in."

"That's illegal!" Elizabeth said.

"It's illegal when the government does it," Andy noted. "Self-segregation is not illegal. Other races are not barred from living in our building. They choose to wait until something comes up in an area with more people of their skin color."

"Then it's stupid," Elizabeth said. "Lupe told me that she got a B in Spanish because she was expected to be fluent from the beginning. It didn't matter that her family came to this area in 1910 and none of them speak a word of Spanish except 'taco' and 'burrito.' She has a Hispanic surname so she was pigeonholed."

"It's no different from you," Andy said as he gestured for Elizabeth to lead the way into school. Unlike the day before, he took the opportunity to glance at her butt. She was wearing his favorite jeans, the ones that just seemed to sculpt her backside. Andy looked away before Elizabeth turned around but she had seen him in the door's reflection.

She caught him halfway into the school and hugged him. Like Lupe, she seemed intent upon smashing her breasts against his chest.

"Promise me you won't do anything like that again," she said.

"I'll try not to," Andy agreed as he patted her back softly. "I'll see you at lunch."

"Count on it," Elizabeth told him. She put a little extra sway in her hips as she walked to her first class – just because she knew Andy would be watching.

"A gang fight?" Ruth asked as she walked beside Joy and Regan to class.

"It's what he said," Regan answered. "I have that big chemistry test this morning so I only got to talk to him for a few minutes. It sucks because he's working tonight. He won't get out of there until 9:30 so it'll be the same thing this evening."

"And they moved our Economics exam to Friday so you can't ditch class and go home early," Joy said. "What sort of twat schedules an exam for 3 o'clock on a Friday?"

"The kind that teaches Economics," Regan answered. She had been irked when that notice had arrived in her email the night before. The exam had been set for Thursday but was pushed back because the teacher cancelled class on Monday afternoon. "I forgot to tell him about that."

"Did he tell you about Chris?" Joy asked. Regan had been in the library for most of the evening studying for her test and Ruth had already been asleep when she got back at 11 o'clock.

"No," Regan said.

"He totally got dumped yesterday," Ruth said happily.

"Nope," Joy corrected. "He totally dumped that skank yesterday. We're going to prom with him."

Regan started bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement.

"Too cool!" she said happily. "Man, that is going to rock."

"I am totally going to tramp it out," Joy declared. She caught the look Regan gave her and continued. "In a classy way. I sent Chris a picture of the gown. He's cool with it."

"Mine, too," Ruth said, smiling broadly. She decided that she had smiled more in the past week than in the previous two years. "I got it last year – before my boobs grew. It's strapless – and pretty much obscene in a lot a states."

"God," Regan said, shaking her head. "Don't flash your tits at the dance. Please! Andy will be mortified."

"Come on," Joy replied. "We're not going to do anything wild – like go without panties and flash Chris when we get out of the car."

"I am," Ruth said, still grinning. "The dress hits me mid-thigh. It's sort of like the one you wore, Joy. It's red without the sequins. It was a little too tight last year but it should fit me pretty good this year – except in the bust. It's in storage downstairs. I'm going to get it out and try it on this evening."

"Me, too!" Joy said. "Mine is red. It's sort of a square neck but it's short."

She put her hand about an inch below her pussy.

"What are you wearing?" Ruth asked Regan.

"I'm not sure," she admitted. "I want to talk it over with Andy. I don't have anything as ... racy ... as what I wore to our dance. I wish I did."

"I have a dress you would rock," Joy said. "Particularly since your boobs are bigger than mine. It's a green slip dress with a V-neck. The neck is why I don't like it. My girls look lost in it but you would be sexy as hell. It's longer than the one I'm wearing but not much. I guess it would hit you about mid-thigh since you're taller than me, too."

"Is it here?" Regan wondered.

"It can be by tonight," Joy promised. "Mom is coming out this way to cover a meeting. She's taking me out to dinner at five. I can have her bring it with her."

"I'll take a look at it," Regan said. "I'm not sure what Andy wants."

Ruth stepped in front of Regan and put her hands on the girl's shoulders to stop her.

"He wants you," Ruth said in a firm voice. "He wants you to look and act and dress the way you want to. That's all he wants."

"This whole thing with that girl has me bothered," she said. "Elizabeth went over to ride to school with them this morning."

"Is some little skank making a move on your guy?" Ruth asked.

"Little is right," Joy interrupted. "She's in eighth grade. Andy called her 'gawky.'"

"Gangly," Regan corrected.

"Jesus Christ," Ruth said in a dismissive voice. "Andy is not going to drop you for an eighth grader!"

"You don't understand the culture there," Regan said as the group resumed walking. "Most eighth graders that Andy knows have been screwing for three or four years. Some of them have two kids by eighth grade. That's the sort of people Andy is used to being around. Mom and Dad are doing their best but he's still uncomfortable around them."

"You're stupid," Ruth said. Unlike her sarcastic voice, she was dead serious this time. "Andy wasn't uncomfortable around your parents. You were uncomfortable around them. He was fine. He and your dad were chatting like old friends and your mom was nice as hell to everyone. He was good with everything. You were tense as hell. Don't pass your feelings off to him."

Regan frowned and narrowed her eyes at Ruth.

"He's also used to hanging out with girls like Elizabeth," Ruth pointed out. "You sent her over to ride to school with him and some kid who wants to bang him? That's like putting two foxes in a henhouse. They may have gang raped him before he ever got to school."

Ruth chuckled at her joke but Joy and Regan glared at her. They knew the reality of Lupe's situation – or at least as much as Andy had confided.

"I'm kidding," Ruth said defensively.

"The reason Andy is driving the girl back and forth to school is to protect her against being raped by a rival gang," Joy explained.

"Are you kidding me?" Ruth asked. She looked Regan for confirmation and Regan nodded. "Who is this girl to him?"

"It's the girl I wanted to get a scholarship for out here," Regan said.

"Don't worry about her," Joy said.

"It's just the way he described her," Regan said. "I can tell he feels protective of her. That's how things started with me. And I'm barely going to talk to him this week. He's working tonight and Thursday. I've got an exam Friday afternoon and a mandatory study session Wednesday. It's driving me crazy."

"You can trust Andy," Ruth said confidently. Joy nodded her agreement.

"I do trust him," Regan said.

"It doesn't sound like it," Ruth countered. "It sounds like you think he's just like the idiots at Lake Howard that change girlfriends every two days. He isn't. Look, Chris told me how he is at school. While you were locked away here, Andy had his pick of most of the girls at Eisenhower. Do you know what he did?"

She didn't wait for a response but plowed ahead.

"He waited for you," she continued. "Elizabeth called him every single weekend to try to get him to go out with some girls Chris said he would have severed an arm to go out with. Andy always turned her down. He was waiting for the girl of his dreams – you."