“I hear you and Alan aren’t talking. Did you really take his date for Prom and give it to someone else?”
“He’s such a baby. He got himself grounded and can’t go to Prom. You’d think he would have the decency to tell me so I could find his date someone else to go with. She’s flying all the way from LA, after all. Kind of shitty on his part to have her make the trip and find out her date couldn’t leave his house,” I ranted.
Tami just laughed at me.
“I talked to your mom, and she’s not happy with him. Was that the last straw?”
I took a deep breath. It was one thing to think it, and another to say it aloud.
“Yeah, I believe we may be done as friends.”
“Good,” she said, surprising me.
“You think so? He and I have been friends since kindergarten.”
“I always thought Alan and Jeff were friends, and you just tolerated Alan because of Jeff.”
“Jeff was the only one who seemed to be able to get him to listen to reason unless you smacked him in the head,” I said.
“It’s funny. I always imagined the four of us would be friends for the rest of our lives. I never realized that Jeff was the one who held us all together. Well, I mean the Alan part. I knew our friendship didn’t rely on the group,” Tami said.
“Yeah, I agree. I miss Jeff.”
We got quiet for a minute, lost in our thoughts of our friend. Tami was right. If it hadn’t been for Jeff, I probably wouldn’t have hung out with Alan.
◊◊◊
Before going to bed, I saw there was an email from Frank Ingram. It was labeled ‘Car Video,’ and there was a note that said he’d gotten all the video Fritz had downloaded from Detective Kitchens. Ms. Dixon wanted there to be a clear chain of custody in case we ever had to go to court. She didn’t want us to open ourselves up to charges of tampering with the videos.
I clicked on it and watched the two women who had interviewed me as they loaded their car.
Interviewer: “Oh my God, did you see the look on his face when I told him he wouldn’t be getting the raw footage? I’d melt my hard drive before I’d let anyone see it!”
Videographer: “By the time we get done editing this, we’ll have turned him into someone no woman would ever want to talk to. He’s going to regret making me look like I was doing anything other than trying to save that poor girl from him last fall.”
Interviewer: “This’ll also be good for us. By the time I’m done editing this, we’ll have a salacious story that’ll fit perfectly with the movement’s primary message. We’ll be able to sell this for some big bucks to a lot of different outlets, and it’ll really boost our cred with the organizations.”
Videographer: “Yeah, but for me, it’s more personal, and I’m going to enjoy watching that backwater jerk squirm. It’ll be all the sweeter because it’ll be his word against ours. Whatever he says, he’ll come across as trying to spin the story. The media will eat him up. That hick won’t have any idea what he’s stepped into.”
Interviewer: “It almost doesn’t seem fair to the poor trusting idiot, but we all have to make sacrifices to further the cause. In this case, we’ll just be sacrificing him!”
From the laughter that followed, they apparently thought it was funny. I didn’t think so. It pissed me off that they thought I was some ignorant kid.
Videographer: “You’ve got that right! Now let’s get the hell out of Smallville. I want to get at least as far as Chicago before we celebrate. I can just about smell the cow dung here, and I want it behind me when the night’s done.”
After I turned it off, I felt myself getting mad. I realized I should just forget it for now, because I knew that my people were working on it. There was simply too much else going on that demanded my attention.
◊◊◊
Chapter 40 – Operation Prom Wednesday May 4
I had to skip baseball, the dojo, and Japanese lessons tonight because I was shooting the Public Service Announcements. Halle had insisted that she go with me. I was curious when I found Fritz out in front of the school and no Halle. With Halle being a California girl, I suspected she would be late for her own funeral, as Uncle John used to tease me when I wasn’t on time. In the front seat, on the floor, there was a cat carrier with Bandit inside, looking put out.
“Hey, Buddy, how come you’re getting a car ride?” I asked him.
“I’ve no idea why he is. Halle told me to bring him,” Fritz said.
“Shouldn’t we let him out?” I asked.
“For safety purposes, he needs to be secured,” Fritz said.
From his response, I could tell he’d had this discussion before. Halle showed up, opened the front door, opened the crate, pulled Bandit out, and then joined me in the back seat. I could almost see the steam coming out of Fritz’s ears.
“Wouldn’t it be safer to put Bandit in his cat carrier?” I asked.
The look Halle gave me made me just stare straight ahead and keep out of it. Fritz didn’t even try to talk her into having Bandit ride anywhere but on her lap.
