Chapter 1: Darling

Joey Di Rosa took a deep breath and looked at his sister Teresa.

"Are you ready, Tess?"

"Guess I have to," she replied grimly.

"You'll do fine. Remember, if there's a problem, text me."

He put the car in first gear and drove out of the short driveway onto the residential street. He sighed heavily. It would not be easy for Tess. She was still suffering from her head injury and with her jerky walk she was primed for the nickname Spazzy.

It was a little over fifteen minutes before he drove his mother's beloved Mini Cooper Clubman into the school's parking lot, behind the cafeteria. He suppressed the impulse to help Tess from the car ― something she did not want ― and waited patiently for his sister to join him at the exit of the lot. Tess limped with much effort, but also with determination.

"Do you want me to help you with your bag?" a voice sounded behind them.

They turned to see a rather tall girl who obviously had just alighted from a yellow F-150. The truck was already leaving the curb. Joey could not place the girl.

"Of course, the big, strong he-man could also take your bag," the girl added sarcastically giving Joey the evil eye.

"Listen, I know I'm limping," Tess snapped, "but I need to do this on my own, okay?"

Holding on to Joey's arm, Tess limped towards the tall building complex that was Benjamin Franklin Preparatory School, or BFP in their jargon. Halfway along they paused for a moment so that Tess could concentrate on walking again.

The girl caught up with them. "Why don't you use a wheelchair or something?" she asked.

Tess turned and shot her an angry glance. "Because I've worked my ass off for the last eight months to walk again. Because I'll be damned if I ever sit in a fucking wheelchair again! Now get the fuck outta my face! I don't need you and your shit!"

The girl backed off, looking crestfallen and hurt at the same time. "I didn't mean ... I'm sorry," she stammered and ran off ahead of them.

"Bitch!" Tess swore, starting her jerking walk again. "Showing me how she can fucking run."

"Nah, she was just scared of you, Tess, that's why she ran," Joey grinned. "And you spent too much time with Uncle Vince's men."

"What? You don't like my fucking language?" Tess grinned.

"Tone it down; we're back in the real world."

When they joined the crowd around the entrance, Joey recognized a few students from the previous year's junior class who would be seniors with him, and he nodded to them. Likewise, Tess saw the girls from the previous year's freshman class and approached them in her jerky gait.

She need not have worried about acceptance. In five seconds flat, Tess was surrounded by a crowd of girls. When they all had to find their homerooms, Joey saw that another girl helped Tess along.

Then Mr. Joyner, the biology teacher, stood in front of them. "Welcome back, Senior Class," he greeted them in his usual cheerful way. "Let's get together for homeroom, shall we?"

A little while later, at homeroom, Mr. Joyner went through the usual announcements. "Since I will retire next spring, I was given the honor of being the Senior Class' homeroom teacher. Those who know me can perhaps tell the others that I have three convictions. One: we of the faculty strive to make sure that you'll enter the real world as well prepared as possible; two: you'll do your utmost to foil us; and three: we'll succeed anyway, mostly, at least."

They all chuckled dutifully. Joyner then went through all the points the principal wanted him to announce. Before he ended, however, he turned serious. "I would like to welcome back a student who missed most of last senior year due to tragic circumstances. Mr. Di Rosa, we of the faculty want to express our heartfelt sympathy for your tragic loss and we hope that you and your sister will soon feel at home again in our school."

All eyes turned on Joey and he took a deep breath. He stood and scrambled for the right reply. "Thank you, Mr. Joyner. I saw already how well my sister was received back by her friends and I hope I can fit in soon."

"That's what we hope, too. Now, to get on with this, I have the privilege to teach both biology and AP biology this year..."

The morning passed rather smoothly. During lunch break, he sat at Tess's table, surrounded by a gaggle of freshman girls. Suddenly, a shadow fell over them, and Joey looked up. Tess did, too, and she squared her shoulders. It was the girl from the parking lot.

"I'm sorry for interrupting. I wanted to apologize. I transferred here after Christmas and I had no idea what happened to your family. I ... I'm really sorry." She sounded sincere.

"S'okay," Joey said and Tess nodded. "Can I ask your name? I'm Joey Di Rosa. This is my sister Tess, and her friends Emily and Monica."

"H-Hi, I'm Deidre, Deidre Darling."

Joey held out his hand. "Okay if I just call you Deidre?" he asked with a smile. Then he couldn't help himself. "At least in the beginning?"

She did not take it well. "J-just Deirdre will be fine. I h-have to be going. See you."

"You need some rust remover for your pick-up lines," Tess remarked drily. "That was sooo fucking lame."

Joey grinned ruefully. "I'll apologize when I see her. She's a bit shy, isn't she?"

"Well, with that last name, she must be getting a lot of shit."

Joey did not have a chance to apologize until later that afternoon when he had his AP biology class. Deidre was already seated when he entered, and he sat across the aisle from her. She did not look up.

"Deidre?" he offered. She stared stubbornly at her textbook. "I'm sorry for the cheesy line, okay? I guess that shit must come out of your ears already. It won't happen again."

She looked up hesitantly and their eyes met. Hers were blue, a striking contrast to her dark brown, curly hair. He swallowed. Deirdre obviously made no efforts to doll up. Her hair stuck out in all directions, her eyebrows had a substantial connection over her nose, and no lipstick or eyeliner was in evidence. Yet he could see all the makings of a natural beauty. She had large eyes with long, brown lashes. Her nose was delicate and perfectly symmetrical, and it matched a small, well-formed mouth. He caught himself wishing she would smile.

"What?" she snapped and Joey realized he had been staring at her.

"I'm sorry, again. I just ... You know, I ... I'm an oaf, sometimes. I just wanted to say, I'm sorry," he ended lamely.

Her face flaming red she bent over her book. Her "okay" was barely audible.

Mr. Joyner fairly breezed into the room. "Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to my swan song AP Biology course. I can promise you excitement over the next months. We have received a fairly large donation of used but up-to-date equipment from a local biotech firm, and I must thank Mr. Di Rosa for directing this windfall in our direction."

"They asked if my school needed stuff when they closed a department." Joey felt the need to explain. It was the lab where he had interned during the summer.

"Anyway, we will all appreciate the new possibilities. Chief of all, we have a very serviceable thermocycler unit, allowing us to explore the potential of one of the most important new technologies of the past twenty years, the Polymerase Chain Reaction. This will be our focus for most of the first semester, in fact. I may add that we also received a gift of the necessary consumables, just a month or two past their use-before date, but working perfectly.

"First things first, though. I have to pair you up. Unfortunately, not every wish could be granted and I had to make a few decisions. I'll read the pairs out now. "Agouishi and Tonegawa; Belmont and Mortlake; DeVeer and Wu, Darling and Di Rosa, Espinoza and Washington."

Her face flaming, Deidre was standing already.

"One moment, Miss Darling, please. Your first order of the day is to get to know your partner and prepare the first assignment. For next Wednesday afternoon, I want you to write a short assay, listing the most important impact of the Polymerase Chain Reaction on science. No more than five pages letter format, if you please.

"Now, Miss Darling, Mr. Di Rosa, you may come forward."

Joey stood and walked to Mr. Joyner's desk, shrugging. He had not requested a specific partner since he knew almost nobody from last year's junior class. To his surprise, Mr. Joyner motioned for them to follow him outside. He led them to his office where he sat, offering Deirdre and Joey seats, too.

"Now, Miss Darling, what's on your mind?"

"Mr. Joyner, with all respect, why am I paired with him? I listed three other partners as my preferences."

Joey snorted and shook his head. Mr. Joyner looked at Deirdre with sympathy.

"Miss Darling, oh hell, Deirdre, you know I think the world of you as a student, right?" Deirdre nodded hesitantly. "Well, some of your fellow students don't, I'm afraid. Two of your preferences explicitly asked not to be assigned as your partners. The third and her assigned partner listed each other exclusively. Mr. Di Rosa's return was a stroke of luck as he did not list any preferences. Why didn't you, Joey?"

"I don't know anybody that well," Joey shrugged. "Besides, you can't pick your colleagues at work, either."

"Do you object to Miss Darling as your partner?"

Joey almost said yes out of spite but he noticed that the shy girl was already in tears over the snub she had received.

"We can try," he shrugged. He turned to Deirdre. "Listen, I've got nothing against you. You said something stupid, I said something stupid. I'd say we're quits. Want to give it a try?"

She still did not look at him when she spoke. "Mr. Joyner, you know I'm in the running for valedictorian and I need scholarships for college. I need good grades in this course."

Joyner was a little less patient now. "What makes you think you cannot achieve this with Joey? He was a State Science Fair finalist in his sophomore year. He's already interned in research laboratories. Why isn't he asking for a better partner?"

If possible, Deirdre's complexion reached an even darker shade of purple and she bit her lips. For the first time she looked at Joey.

"I didn't know. I'm sorry. It's just ... I don't get along well with boys."

"That's something you need to work on," Mr. Joyner ended the discussion. "As Joey said, you can't pick who you work with in real life. You know your first assignment. Get moving, you two!"

Joey shrugged again and stood. Deirdre stood too, and for a moment it looked as if she would make another plea with Mr. Joyner. The teacher was ostensibly studying a letter on his desk though and Deirdre followed Joey out of the office with hanging shoulders.

"How do we do this?" she asked when she caught up with him. "Do you want me to write a first draft?"

"Shouldn't we discuss what we want to write first?" he asked back, raising his eyebrows.

"Oh, of course. But how?"

"Well, we could sit somewhere and talk. I have to pick up my sister in an hour but I'm free until then. The library?"

She shook her head. "Mrs. Turner does not allow talk there."

"How about we sit in the lunch room? Nobody will bother us."

"Okay," Deirdre answered, seemingly resigned to some terrible fate.

Joey pulled out a cell phone and started to type a text message.

"We're not allowed to use cell phones on school grounds," Deirdre chided.

"I have permission as long as I text my sister. She needs to know where to find me."

"Oh," Deirdre answered, flustered.

He had finished his message and looked at her. "Why do you always tell people off? Is your dad a cop or something?"

She went from flustered to angry in a heartbeat. "Is this fun for you? Does it feel good to rub it in? Yeah, I'm a bastard. I don't know my father. Yeah, my mom lives with a woman. She's a lesbian, a rug muncher. Satisfied?"

Joey cringed. He had stepped deep into doodoo. "Oh shit, Deirdre! I didn't know, I swear. It's just that you're so cop-like."

"My mom's an Assistant DA," she conceded, already embarrassed about her outburst.

Joey nodded. "Look, we have to work together. We can't do that with our feet stuck in our mouths all the time. Why don't we give each other a short run down on who we are to clear up things? I really don't want to tick you off."

Deirdre took a deep breath. Then she nodded. "Okay, you first!"

"Right. I'm Joseph Di Rosa, but everybody calls me Joey. My parents ran a furniture store. My father built it up from scratch. My mom was his first accountant and she kept working in the store after she had us. My sister Teresa is three years younger than me. My grandfather must've been some sort of mobster; he was shot and killed when my father was sixteen. My father made it a point to break away from the Di Rosa organization. We only see the other Di Rosas at weddings or funerals.

"My great uncle is supposed to be a local capo of sorts, at least that's what you can read in the papers. Rumors are that a competing syndicate wanted him to retire, and to make their point they killed my parents while we were driving home from the store. My sister got hit in the head by a bullet and her right side is still palsied. I caught three bullets in my back and spent almost five months healing.

"Since then we've lived alone and I'm her legal guardian now. You may want to steer clear of mob jokes in my presence. Now you!"

Deirdre had watched him intently. Now she seemed to gather her resolve. "My mom's a lesbian. She's known it since high school. Her parents cut her off, but she received fellowships to go to college and later to law school. She had me early in her senior year of college. I was born in Baltimore. When she finished law school my mom joined the DA's office in Pittsburgh. She met Karen there, her partner. Karen is a fitness instructor and trainer.

"We moved here last January when there was an opening at the DA's office. Karen found a job in a rehab clinic. We live on Mount Vernon Street, in Powelton.

"I guess I'm touchy about my mom and Karen, and I'm not used to guys. I want to go to Johns Hopkins after college or to some other great school. I want to become a geneticist. I'm a bit intense about school work sometimes."

"You have goals; that's cool," Joey smiled. "I want to be a researcher, too, but in infectious diseases like malaria or cholera."

Right then Joey's wish was fulfilled. Deirdre smiled. It was gorgeous! "That's great! You want to become a virologist, then?"

"Nah, not necessarily," Joey smirked. "Running around in a pressure suit like in Outbreak seems like a drag."