Chapter 77

Miss Beevers asked Sara to stay a minute after class, so I went out into the hallway to wait for her. Sally Faragon came up to me.

Sally is known for her mouth. She's one of the two girls who was talking to Sara when I put my arm around her. And the one who was spreading the word at the beginning of English.

"Gee, Jack, that was some essay. Did you really do all that stuff?"

"Yeah, I guess. Sometimes Sara makes things seem more important than they really are."

"Did she really have a broken nose and ribs?"

"Yeah, that part's true."

"Who did it?"

Sara was coming out the door. "Why don't we ask Sara? Sara? Sally wants to know who beat you up. I'm sure she's just curious. It's not like she wants to spread it around the school or anything."

Sally sort of withered under the look Sara shot her and slinked away. Once she was out of sight Sara giggled.

"Thank you, Jack."

"You're welcome, I guess. What for?"

"Well, for not helping to spread gossip for one thing. But the big thing is for not trying to be modest or anything when I read my essay."

"Well, I figured you really put yourself out there. If you were willing to bare your soul, I could just accept it in the spirit it was written. But you know people are going to be awful curious about how you got hurt."

"Well, let them be. I'm sure it will come out sooner or later. There will probably be something in the newspaper when my parents go on trial for abuse. But I'm not going to make it any easier on them."

"I just enjoy making them look bad when they press me for information."

"Yeah, that's always fun."

Chris came up to the two of us. Sara lit up as he took her hand.

"Hi, Sara. I hear you read quite an essay about Jack."

"We just got out of class five minutes ago."

"Yeah, I just heard it. You got applause and everything."

They took off down the hall while I marveled at how the rumor line blew away most communications as far as speed was concerned.

That was the least of my worries. Patty Johansen was the first of several girls to come up to me, throwing subtle to not-so-subtle hints about the Halloween dance that was coming up in a couple of weeks. The word was out that I wasn't your average high school jock. Little did they know what Jill had gone through to train me.

I was a bit surprised about Patty. I thought I'd made it pretty clear to her that I was tied up with Jill. I hadn't realized that she was that interested.

Chris and Sara called over to me at lunch and I ate with them. I noticed a few girls checking us out. I wondered what they thought of the three of us eating together.

Later in the day as I was working on my floor in the gym, it occurred to me that I had no idea what was going to happen tonight. I went over to Jill's last night, prepared to spend that and every night for the next two weeks over there. That ended abruptly with Jill's surprise. Actually, I was surprised, too. It just didn't mean as much to me as it did to Jill and I didn't take it nearly as hard as she did.

She was getting a ride home from her father after school. That was an hour and a half ago. A lot could happen between those two in an hour and a half under normal circumstances, not to mention the volatile situation they were in today.

I left school and got in my car. After thinking about it, I decided to drive home. The last thing I wanted to do was walk into the middle of John and Jill. Who knows what I'd find. If Jill wanted me, which I was pretty sure she would at some point, she was smart enough to call my house.

I noticed that they'd delivered the dumpster as I pulled up to the curb behind Mom's Lexus. The thing was huge, probably two car lengths long, barely fitting in the driveway. I could see some stuff sticking over the top at the end closest to the garage. I could also see that the top of the front wall was cut flat instead of being a triangle going up to the roof. And there was no roof. The areas where the concrete was going to be poured had been cut out and the frame for the stairs was already in place. When Alex said his guys were going to work flat out, he wasn't kidding.

There was an X made of yellow Caution tape from the garage to the side of the house. I could see Queenie at the gate to the back yard and some more tape back there blocking off the garage and the hole for the new slab. There was a path from the kitchen door to the back yard but I guess Alex didn't want anyone getting near the garage. I couldn't see inside but knowing Alex, I was sure the stuff on the shelf was still covered in plastic.

I went inside and was greeted by smiling, wriggling Jill. She was wrapped around me, kissing me before I had a chance to say anything.

We came up for air and Mary said, "Hi, Hero."

"Great. Go ahead. I knew I'd get a bunch of crap about that essay."

"Uh, uh. You are my hero. I just didn't write about it. If it wasn't for you I don't know if I'd even be able to be in the same room with a guy. And I wouldn't have Dino over there."

I looked over at the kitchen. Dino and Bozo were wrestling. Bozo was still the larger of the two, but every time he got too rough, Dino would growl a little and he'd settle down.

"You're my hero too." Jill kissed me. "Last night is just one example."

"Me, too. You've made things a lot easier since your father died. And since you've been going out with Jill, you've turned into a very thoughtful and caring young man. I'm proud to call you my son. We should have all said something before. It took Sara to come out and say what we all felt."

Mom came up to me and hugged me tight, stroking my hair. As soon as she let me go, Mary was there, followed by Sara. Jill squeezed my hand after they were done.

I looked at my girls. All four were just flowing love toward me.

"Thank you. I love you all. I don't feel like a hero just because I want you to have the best. But I appreciate that you feel that way."

We all hugged each other again. I know it sounds gay and I wouldn't do this in front of the class, but I felt warm inside. We seemed more of a family with a closeness we hadn't had before.

Mom went into the kitchen to start dinner. Mary asked Jill if it was OK to take Bozo outside. She and Sara called the two of them to take them out front on the lawn.

"Why don't you let Queenie go out with you. She looked kind of lonely when I got home."

Sara ran out through the kitchen as Mary opened the front door. The pups ran over each other trying to get out the door first. A second or two later I hear Mary yelling for them to come back.

I went over to the door in time to see her chewing them out at the edge of our property, telling them she wouldn't let them out again if that's the way they were going to behave. Of course, they understood every word she said. Sara and Queenie came up while I was at the door. Sara squeezed by but Queenie nuzzled me for her scratch behind the ears before she joined the rest of them.

Jill was sitting on the edge of the couch, her hands held together between her knees.

"Where are we going to sleep tonight?"

"Here."

"Did you talk with your father?"

"Yes."

"How did that go?"

"All right. A lot better than it would have last night in the hallway."

"I'm glad. Are you going to tell me about it?"

"Not right now."

"OK."

She patted the couch next to her and I went over and sat down. She sighed and moved back, holding onto my arm and pushing her face into me.