Chapter 86

2 p.m. Saturday

"So, should we track down the artist before he runs off?" Andy asked, putting his arm around his still-fretting girlfriend.

The four males started to move off down the block and they forced the females to follow - as though moving away from the spot would somehow draw the tension to a close.

"There he is!" Andy said, pointing toward the young Asian man who was putting away his drawing materials in a backpack.

Alex Pak looked up from what he was doing to see a host of people coming toward him. He was no stranger to being bullied at school and he immediately thought some of the groups that tormented him regularly had seen him at the fair.

It took him a second look - one he chanced in order to determine if he had time to take his bag with him while he ran away - to recognize the guy from earlier in the day. He relaxed slightly but continued to stuff his drawing materials inside of the bag.

Andy was a bit embarrassed that he didn't recall the guy's name. Regan had put his contact information into her phone - because he had purposefully left his on the boat.

"Uh, hey," Andy said, extending a hand in greeting. "Remember how we said we could line up some commissions for you? Well, turns out it didn't take us very long!"

Alex glanced at the large group, noting the varying skin tones, body types and facial features. There were at least three Hispanics with the group, a voluptuous girl in a skirt, a hot brunette in skin-tight shorts, and a trio of blonds that could only be siblings. He noticed that everyone - except a tall, thin guy and a blonde girl with her nose in the air - was looking at him expectantly.

"We saw the picture you drew of Regan and Andy," Elizabeth said, stepping forward to be the spokesperson as she normally did. "We all loved it! Could you do some pictures of us?"

Alex found himself nodding without really thinking about it. The thought of drawing any of the females in the group - particularly given the way they were dressed - gave him the start of an erection. Even the two that were obviously too young for him looked pretty.

"Great!" Elizabeth said. "Uh, can you start now? We have some ideas we want to run past you."

Alex blinked as the reality of the situation caught up to him.

"I have to go to work," he said in a halting voice. "My family ... they own a Korean restaurant three blocks from here. I work there. I mean, I have to work there. It's a requirement. They say it will make me a better student when I get to college in the fall."

He found himself stammering and his skin darkened further in embarrassment.

"Oh, sure," Paul said. "And, you know, they're probably right. But don't tell them I said so."

Alex nodded his agreement. He thought his parents were correct, too - but he'd never admit to it.

"I love Korean food," Joy said. "What's the name of the place?"

"Pak's," he said with a shrug.

"Maybe we can stop there for dinner later," she said, glancing at her companions for their approval. Elizabeth nodded her agreement. Ruth had ridden with Joy so she knew she had no say in the matter. The same was true with Chuck, Noel, Lupe and John. They were simply passengers so once Elizabeth nodded, their lot was cast. They knew full well that Paul would do whatever Elizabeth wanted him to do. Regan stood still. She had no plans to dine with anyone but Andy that night.

"Maybe if you have a few minutes, we can schedule a time to sit for you," Joy proposed.

Alex nodded again but then quickly shook his head.

"I ... I'm not certain if I can truly do this," he declared. "I have exams, graduation and then my parents will expect me at the restaurant every day. I probably shouldn't have agreed to it in the first place. The thought of possibly being able to do something outside of there made me speak before I thought. My parents ... they are paying for school so I can't defy them."

"Of course not," Elizabeth said. "And we would never ask you to. If it won't work, it won't work. Your college is important. Will you study art?"

"What?" Alex asked as though he hadn't heard the question. It was obvious that he had, though. "No. An art degree would lead me to working in the restaurant for the rest of my life. Drawing is just a hobby. I plan to study engineering or physics. I find math fascinating."

"Whoa," Paul said. "Where are you going to school?"

Alex glanced at the ground and offered a single-shoulder shrug.

"Stanford," he said quietly. His bookish nature had been one of the foremost reasons others in his high school felt it appropriate to pick on him.

"No way!" Joy said. "Us, too! Well, not Ruth. She's going to Northwestern."

She said the last in a snide voice but with a giggle that let Alex know she was only picking on her friend.

"Andy, Regan, Joy and I start in the fall, too," Elizabeth explained. "Paul just completed his first year. My brother, Chuck, will be a senior in high school next fall. Noel is Paul's sister and she'll be a sophomore. John, Paul's brother, and Lupe, my sister, will be freshmen."

She pointed to each person as she named them and Alex took in their names.

"Well, at least you'll have some people you know on campus next fall," Paul pointed out. "That's a big help when you first get there."

"What will you study there?" Alex asked, mostly so he'd have a legitimate reason for being late to work.

"I'm studying communications or marketing," Joy said.

"Political science and pre-law," Elizabeth replied.

"I'm switching to pre-pharmacy in the fall," Paul noted.

"Undeclared," Regan said.

"Undecided," Andy said at the same time. They looked at each other and laughed. It took them a second to realize that everyone else was staring at them, too.

"You're not going to study business?" Elizabeth asked incredulously. "I mean, you have two empires that you'll need to oversee when your parents retire."

"I'm not sure if that's what I want to do," Regan admitted. "I've seen the toll it takes on families and it's not a price I'm willing to pay for success. I've been thinking about chemistry. I think I might like to work doing research on cancer drugs."

Everyone took a moment to take in the information before shifting their gaze to Andy.

"You know, I was thinking about Don Ochs a couple of weeks ago," he said. "Here's a guy that had enough seniority to land at a really good school. Instead, he stuck it out at Eisenhower because he saw he was making a difference in a few students' lives. I've been thinking that maybe I'd like to be a teacher and maybe a coach."

Elizabeth stared hard at him.

"You could have done that at San Jose State!" she said.

"I never said I couldn't," Andy replied. "I don't plan to declare a major until I see what really interests me. I might change my mind."

She shook her head and turned to Alex, who was watching the byplay with interest. There were several children from wealthy families in his high school - and none of them had spoken a kind word to him since second or third grade.

"You should have seen the lengths I went to in order to get him to go to Stanford," she said, shaking her head. "For a full week, I had to wear my tightest jeans to school so he'd follow me around while I extolled the virtue of the Cardinal! Once I saw he was on the fence, I started to wear low-cut tops so he'd stand in front of me while I sealed the deal. Now he tells me he wants to be a teacher at an inner-city school. I should have stuck with baggy sweats."

The picture Alex had in his head of Elizabeth Pena wearing skin-tight denim and low-cut sweaters cleared when he caught the last portion of her statement.

"You're from... ," he gestured across the bay to the city the group called home.

"All of us," Joy confirmed. "Regan, Ruth and I go to C-B Prep - oh, and Lupe, too, next fall. Andy, Chuck, Elizabeth and Noel go to Eisenhower High School. John will be at Bryson Hills. That's a prep school over here."

"I know of it," Alex said. "How'd you all become friends? I have people I've lived beside for five years that I don't hang out with."

"Andy picked up some trollop on the highway," Ruth joked, gesturing to Regan with her head. "I'm the trollop's roommate. Joy's her friend so we got dragged in. Elizabeth is Andy's social coordinator and Paul is her boyfriend so they got roped. The siblings never stood a chance. He's like some Charles Manson wannabe or something."

"Leave him alone!" Joy said. Andy was the first to understand that she was talking about Alex and not him. The rest were clued in when she said, "we've only just met him and you're already giving him a bad impression of us. Yes, Alex, Andy and Regan are the nexus. We were all friends of one of them and we found out we all get along. Lupe, Noel, John and Chuck are all cool so we invite them to hang out with us, too. The only one missing is Chris. He's in the All-City Orchestra and he has a concert tomorrow."

"Speaking of concerts," Regan whispered. "If you don't want to go, I understand."

"Why wouldn't I want to go?" Andy wondered. "We're not hanging out with these guys all evening. We already decided that!"

"I mean, you know, with the story in the paper," Regan said.

"Nope," Andy declared. "I'm living my life on my terms - or yours. I will not live it on the terms decided by the World Times. We're going to the concert."

"Chris will be glad to see us there," Ruth said, misunderstanding the context. "Will you sit with us?"

"We were talking about a different concert," Regan admitted. "Yeah, we'll go with you. We'd planned on it."

"What concert were you talking about?" Joy wondered.

"Uh, the Alyssa Grace concert tonight," Regan said sheepishly. Joy was a bigger fan than she was.

"You got tickets to Alyssa Grace and you didn't tell me!" Joy asked.

"Andy got them for us," Regan said.

"Evan ... my dad ... got them," Andy corrected.

"Joy takes off her panties and gives them to you and then you take Regan to the concert!" Ruth said, laughing. That caused almost every set of eyes to alternate between Joy and Andy.

"Well, I gave him something, too," Regan said. "And it was a little more personal that soiled underwear."

"Uh, I need to go," Alex said quickly.

"I'm sorry," Joy said. "We do this all the time. We're just kidding around."

"I still need to go," Alex responded.

"Uh, one quick question," Elizabeth pressed. "Could you do your sketches from photographs?"

Alex nodded. He'd done portraits of almost every photograph in his house. They lacked the three-dimensional quality of real life but a good photograph was easy to draw from.

"How about if we take some pictures and send them to you?" Elizabeth asked. "We can e-mail them to you."

"We have a good printer at home," Regan noted.

"Of course you do," Ruth said, rolling her eyes. "Regan's family is loaded, Alex. But she's OK. She still slums with the peons like us."

"Like you?" Andy laughed. "Good God, until a couple of weeks ago, Lupe and I lived in the actual slums."

"We'll explain everything to you later," Joy promised because Alex's confusion was evident. "Is it OK if a big group shows up for dinner at your family restaurant?"

"My parents would love to have anyone with money show up there," Alex admitted. "The economy has really hit Korean section hard."

"Then we'll see you there later," Joy said. "Maybe you can introduce your family to the new friends you'll have at college in the fall."

The young man nodded his agreement, gathered up his backpack and headed on his way.

"He's cute," Joy said as she watched him walk away.

Sir James Ralston waited for the entire 20 minutes before he called the woman who said she was Rita Riley. He lacked the sort of contacts that Rita possessed so he wasn't able to verify the number. But whoever had called had a lot of information he'd done his best to keep quiet so there was no doubting their resources.

"Please hold for Sir James Ralston," the voice Rita had spoken to earlier announced.

"To whom am I addressing?" a fresh British voice asked a moment later.

"Cut the shit, Jimmy," Rita growled. "You know who it is and you know you fucked up if you popped your head far enough out of the sewer for me to notice you. So let's cut to the chase."

"Mrs. Riley, I've heard rumors about your demeanor but I don't see why we can be civilized," Sir James intoned.

"Because the bunch of lowlifes you employ at that London tabloid have set out to do a hatchet piece on Evan Duffield," Rita announced.

"I'm afraid you have me confused with someone else," Sir James said. "I know nothing about any London tabloid and I'll have you know that I count the Earl of Smithfield among my many friends."

"I told you to cut the crap," Rita said. "Evan has never heard of you. And the tabloid is part of Monolith Media. You went to great lengths to hide your ownership but, as I told your flunky, I'm Rita God-Damned Riley and I can find out anything I want to know in a matter of minutes if I put my mind to it. Lie to me one more time and I'm not only going to take every cent you have to your name, I'm going to make sure everyone in England knows exactly how bad a parent you are. Are we on the same page?"