Chapter 15

“You can be angry. I’d be angry.” Leanne worried as she shifted from foot to foot. She had no idea what to do with her hands. David continued to smile.

“I’m not angry. A little disappointed, I guess. I’m sure I’ll find something to do tonight.” He considered. “Hey, we’re still on for Friday?”

“We are!” She yelped. She lowered her heels back to the floor. She blushed and grimaced. “So long as you’ll take me?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world, beautiful.” He beamed. They kissed, a light touch of their lips. They hadn’t furiously made out yet but sometimes she’d get to touch his tongue with hers before she’d retreat. This wasn’t one of those times.

“Thanks handsome. I’m sorry, I just have to--” She took a deep breath. She couldn’t suppress her nervous energy. She couldn’t withhold her blushing. She smiled. “Everything’ll be great. I’ll text you.”

“Of course.” David grinned. Kristi and Persephone arrived together. He frowned. “Are you going to join us for lunch?”

“Uh,” Leanne turned her head and snapped it back upon seeing Persephone. “No, um, I’ll meet up with Avery.”

She grabbed his hand and squeezed and twisted and dashed before he could pull her in for another kiss.

“Hi Leanne!” Kristi’s smile was bright and genuine. Leanne bolted past the redhead with a mumbled: “Yeah, hey.”

“Hey!” Curtis leapt up from the bench he occupied a bit further down the hall. “It’s our favorite girl and one not worth ranking!”

Persephone flipped Curtis off.

“Guys, can we talk real fast?” Kristi was starting to blush harder than she had been made to smile by Curtis’s comment. She whipped her hair as she turned away from Persephone. Her hair whacked the pink haired girl’s face.

“Really really fast.” Curtis assured Kristi as he spat out the syllables at blinding speed.

“I ... Don’t ... Know...” David stretched out every word way too long. Kristi giggled and dashed to their bench. Persephone rolled her eyes. She moved with no hurry and sat down. The girls bracketed Curtis. David joined them on Kristi’s left.

“She stole the Charming Prince out of my bedroom.” Kristi hissed at low volume. The two boys lost all jocularity from their faces. Persephone retreated a bit.

“I didn’t steal it. I just thought it was coffee.” Persephone muttered. She raised her shoulders and her chin. She stared down Curtis. “Threesomes wipe me out.”

“Threesomes?” David asked.

“You were doing movie night with your dad.” Kristi squeezed David’s hand. “I didn’t know she was going to be there.”

“OK.” David squeezed her shoulder.

“I guarantee, dude, you were about to hear all about it at lunch.” Curtis grinned at David. Kristi blushed and smiled. She agreed with a smirk but she let her bangs hang in front of her eyes to soften the eye contact with David.

“And, I figured I was just a slut!” Persephone grinned. “Until I poofed into a boy! How come you guys don’t go blasting more girls at school with this stuff?”

“Because it’s for the three of us, not anyone and everyone!” Kristi sounded brutally harsh. David nodded right away. Curtis laughed.

“OK, dude, cat’s out of the bag. You obviously want something Percy.”

“Sephone!” Persephone ground the rest of her name out between her teeth.

“Kristi wouldn’t have brought you here if we didn’t have to talk about it.” Her interruption to Curtis didn’t slow him down at all. He didn’t correct himself. “So, Fearless Leader, what do we do with this interloper?”

“I’m not the leader!” Kristi balked.

“You’re the kind of girl who does what she’s told?” Persephone teased the redhead but the boys started laughing madly.

“We don’t need a leader.” David was squeezing both of Kristi’s shoulders now. She was jello under his hands. Persephone watched her but the boys didn’t seem to be noticing the power they exerted over the redhead. “What happened? When you poofed into a boy?”

“I freaked the fuck out! I was cutting through the park, panicking as I ran home to regroup. Muffin was there with some of the skater kids. I guess I whammied her and I fucked her. I turned back into a girl and took off before she turned around.” Persephone spoke clearer and louder than the other three were comfortable with.

“That’s a shit pussy story, dude.” Curtis interjected.

“Fuck you.” Persephone countered. “I was calmer but still freaked out. I went to talk to the only person I’d ever talk to about this kind of shit. I went to visit Quinn.”

“Yeah, and you almost woke her up.” Kristi nodded.

“Did you feel that thing?” David asked. “What did you feel Curtis?”

“Like I could almost reach Quinn but there was something pulling back on her.” He answered.

“Oh yeah!” Persephone nodded. “But I figured if a kiss could almost get her there ... She always wanted her first time to be with someone who loved her anyways.”

Persephone couldn’t raise her eyes. She fidgeted her nails in the rips of her jeans.

“Jesus, I--”

“Would Persephone Kallas please come to the front office? Persephone Kallas to the front office.” The PA bing-bonged off.

“What the shit is this about?” Persephone growled to her feet. “Tell them about tonight and I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“OK.” Kristi nodded. She didn’t say word one until Persephone disappeared around the corner. “We need a big carpet to roll her up in and a bridge to throw her off of.”

“There’s Gauss Bridge, it’s almost four feet above the river.” David suggested.

“And that river’s almost two foot deep. In that one tiny part.” Curtis nodded.

“Thank you guys!” Kristi relaxed and slumped against the wall. “She’s been using the Prince. She used it on me. Before we came over here.”

“Whore.” David grumbled. “Persephone, obviously.”

“I know.” Kristi squeezed David’s knee.

“She wants to force herself into the group.” Curtis looked up to David. “Dude. No.”

“No indeed.” David nodded.

“She wants to save Quinn.” Kristi empathized.

“Well, we can do that.” Curtis laughed. “Can we?”

“Your sister, and her friends, they’re going to summon the devil tonight.” Kristi relayed in a quiet whisper. “A devil. Maybe a faerie or something. There might not be a difference.”

“OK, that might be why Leanne cancelled our date.” David said. “Do you know where? When?”

“I know how to find out.” Kristi said. “Hopefully, Persephone’s out of our hair.”

“OK, so what’s the plan?” Curtis got excited. David was on the edge of the bench.

“It involves playing matchmaker,” Kristi glowed with a bright smile, “Between Eiko and Dee.”

“Awesome, but there’s one thing we need first.”

“What’s that?” Kristi turned to David with wide eyes. Curtis leaned in and whispered in her ear.

“Sandwiches.”

“My little Percy!” Persephone’s mom wrapped up her daughter the moment they arrived at the sheriff’s station. Sheriff Elizabeth and a chubby deputy led the mother and daughter inside. Persephone shyly waved to Keith Cavanagh. Quinn’s father tried to smile but his eyes were blood red and his hands were shaking around his coffee mug.

“Thank you for meeting us, Irene,” Sheriff Shannon led her procession past the receptionist desk to her office. “Will we be waiting on your lawyer or can we get started?”

“You told me Percy wasn’t in trouble! You told me she wasn’t under arrest!” Mrs Kallas growled.

“She’s not. She may be a witness.” Elizabeth assured her. Her deputy remained out of the office. Persephone flumped into one of the waiting chairs. Irene sat on the edge of hers. “May we get started?”

Elizabeth inserted a small cassette into a tape recorder. Few things frustrated her more than the state of her budget. She also set her smartphone down to record. The county wouldn’t even pay for her phone when they had so many of those little cassettes left from the nineties. She laid out a notepad in front of her.

“Yes! Yes, please, please, begin.” Irene slowly inched backwards in her chair. She whiteknuckled the armrests.

“Mom do you have to be here?” Persephone grumbled.

“She doesn’t, no.” Elizabeth drummed her pen on the notepad, “But you’re a minor and she’s looking out for you. It’s her decision to leave you alone, not mine and not yours.”

“OK.” Persephone grumbled. “Why am I here?”

“You visited Quinn Cavanagh at 7:30pm last night?”

“It was probably closer to eight.” Persephone grumbled. Elizabeth scribbled down notes without looking.

“And what time did you leave?”

“The nurses let me stay until nine or so. I left before they told me I had to go.” Persephone had fled the moment she had had her female body back. That couldn’t have been after 8:15.

“Did anyone else come by or look in while you were there?”

“Just that one nurse. Sigh-Oh-Ban.” Persephone shrugged, which looked more like an inchworm retreating with her sluglike posture.

“Did you see any men or boys around that night?”

“Um ... Mr Cavanagh left with Mrs Cavanagh to get some food just when I arrived.” She mad a show of remembering. She was kind of proud of herself. “Sometimes Dr Shannon looks in when I’m there but he didn’t last night.”

“Are you sure, it’s very important.” Her mother leaned across the armrest and grilled her daughter.

“Mrs Kallas, please let me ask the questions.” Sheriff Shannon gave a short perfunctory smile to Irene. “Where were you before you went to the hospital?

“That’s relevant?” Persephone asked but answered before anyone answered her question. “At Kristi’s place. Mint I think her last name is. Curtis was there.”

The Sheriff nodded, unreactive at the mention of her son. She wrote Christy on her pad. “And where did you go from the hospital?”

“She came straight home.”

“I got a milkshake from Alice’s first.” Persephone remembered just to spite her mother.

“Tell me about the time you spent with Quinn.”

“Not much to tell. I just rambled, told her about my day, drank a coffee, kissed her and left.”

“A coffee?” The sheriff’s question caused a flaming of Persephone’s ears. The pink haired girl, slunk her ass back into her chair and sat up. She took a moment to look into the sheriff’s eyes before replying.

“Yeah, uh,” she bounced her heel, which bounced her knee, which shook her through. “I didn’t finish it there. I took it with me. That’s why there was no cup in the garbage or nothing.”

“Keith was there most of the afternoon and evening. The trash was filled with coffee cups,” The sheriff tried her smile again. It had little calming effect on Persephone. She turned to the second page of her notebook. “Walk me through when you got to the hospital and who you saw until you left.”

The last bell of the day rang and Kristi couldn’t be happier. Math was the only class she shared with David. She couldn’t sit with him, assigned seating had her stuck between Roger and Sloane, but it did give her a nice vantage point to look at his butt. She also noticed that Persephone was still absent. Score!

“I’m going to grab Eiko. Wait for me at the car.” She motor mouthed as she zipped out of the class. He replied in the affirmative and packed his bag in a slothful manner.

Her spiral down the stairs of the D-Tower nearly leveled the freshmen she jumped over. Victoria and a different girl than the Corkwood girl Kristi had met at lunch.

“Hi Vicky!” Kristi singsonged as she hurried on.

“Oh, hey Kristi. Can you call--and she’s gone.” The youngest Shannon sister lamented.

Kristi made it to the A-Wing without other incident. Eiko’s locker was near Kristi’s lunchtime hangouts with Curtis and David. Eiko was switching out history for English and chemistry. Leanne was there too.

“Hey bitches!” Kristi hopped to a stop. She beamed in a great mood.

“Hey bitch.” Leanne did not share Kristi’s euphoria.

“Um do I have to call you a name too?” Eiko asked.

“Bitch is taken.” Kristi laughed. “You busy?”

“Why?” Leanne demanded.

“A mutual friend’s visiting.” Kristi explained. “Eiko and her hit it off last week.”

“David lives here already.” Leanne frowned. “So does Curtis.”

“Dee!” Kristi beamed. “Can you join us?”

“Is David going to be there?” Leanne asked.

“David’s plans tonight were your job.” Kristi threw that back in Leanne’s face. “Besides, I already successfully matchmakered my boy when I told him you liked him. Now I gotta look after my girl now.”

“You don’t have to grab me like that.” Eiko was pulled in on Kristi’s side. “I have to close my locker.”

“You told him about me?” Leanne seemed shocked. “So it is you and Curtis?”

“Actually, I had been trying to line Curtis up with Quinn.” Kristi frowned. She watched Leanne and Eiko’s faces. Leanne broke eye contact and was no condition to reconnect.

Eiko went pale. Eiko was paler than Leanne, not by much, and Kristi was a redhead so she had them beat. The other Asian kids in school, Eddie was the only one Kristi knew the name of, they were all significantly darker. Eiko was Japanese not Chinese, Korean, or whatever everyone else might be.

Leanne was pretty if she deigned to smile. Eiko was super cute, short though. The few times Kristi had gone for girls, she went taller. Dee had maybe a quarter inch on Kristi and Shannon had two full ones. Leanne was a liberal 5’5’’ and had four inches on Eiko.

“I’ll have to ask mom.” Eiko took a deep breath. She looked at her phone.

“Yeah, no worries.” Kristi shined.

“Remember, we got that thing later.” Leanne bumped Eiko’s hip. She looked at Kristi, “Don’t keep her all night.”

“No promises!” Kristi saluted. There was no way she’d keep Eiko all night. Phase seven was follow Eiko to the alleged Demon Summoning.

“Ugh, if you’re not with David or Curtis, who are you interested in?” Leanne stopped herself from going.

“Oh, I don’t know. The boys said avoid hockey players.”

“Well, Roger and Josh.” Leanne agreed. “I’ll see you later, Eiko.”

“Bye.” Eiko was shaking because she had texted her father. He was at work. Why not ask mom? He’s just going to say “Ask your mother.”

“Sure thing, Eiko-Chan.” He had replied. She slipped her phone into her backpack.

“Is what I’m wearing OK?” Eiko looked up at Kristi. She had expected a no. Now she was insecure. She was dressed in a knee length skirt and t-shirt. The skirt to shut up her mom. Always present yourself well. The t-shirt because none of her button up shirts had been replaced since the embiggening.

“You look great!” Kristi agreed, “I love your hair.”

“Your hair is way prettier.” Eiko retorted.

“Ah, thanks!” Kristi beamed. “C’mon our chariot awaits.”

Avery hated Truce’s radio stations. Victoria hated Avery fiddling with David’s car radio. Curtis didn’t have much hate in him. He was thinking about porcupines and wouldn’t have been able to describe the series of thoughts that had brought him to his current state.

“There she is, we can get--” David spotted Kristi coming through the short wooded path between the school and the rink parking lot.

“Eiko’s with her.” Avery said with suspicion. Her fingernails drummed the armrest on the window.

“Maybe he thought Vic wasn’t riding with us like this morning?” Curtis suggested. Victoria looked at her brother and narrowed her eyes.

“We can make room if Curtis takes the front seat.” Victoria interjected. She was nervous as hell. Her stomach was tense. She prayed, more like begged, to God that Kristi wouldn’t say anything about lunch.

“Hey, I’m paying good money for this ride. I think I--”

“Mom’s money. Time to go to the back of the bus, Rosa Parks!” Curtis interrupted his sister.

“Hi, oh, I thought you weren’t going to be here.” Kristi took ahold of Curtis’s open door.

“Oh.” Eiko groaned. She averted her eyes from anyone in the car. Curtis hopped out and swooped around the two girls to yank open Avery’s door. She locked it just in time. Eiko poked Kristi. “There’s not enough seatbelts.”

“Yeah, we can walk. It’s only about thirty minutes or so.”

“But what if we get there before--” Eiko shut up.

“She’s going to my place,” Kristi informed the car.

“Get in,” Curtis pushed the girls from behind. “Vic, try not to molest anyone. No means no.”