Chapter 19 The Rescue Squad #3
I laughed in his face, as loud as I could.
“You think I’m in love with you? Monty, please.
I may be insecure, but I could never fall in love with some oaf stuck in a small town who pretends to be a basketball star when he couldn’t even hold onto his spot on a feeder team.
You’re a loser, and you’ve always been a loser, and that’s why you’ve always tried to hurt other people, to make yourself feel better.
I love Jack. I never loved you. And I doubt anyone else ever will, either. ”
That felt good. Letting it all out was like drawing in a breath after scaling a mountain.
A huge weight had been lifted off of me.
But if I’d taken inspiration from Jack’s confrontation with his father, I’d forgotten one important thing: Monty and Mr. Ross were two different people.
Where Mr. Ross had frozen, Monty leaped at me, ready to grab me by the neck, and I barely had time to get away.
Nelle and Sue froze, but Mike, who had been in his fair share of scrapes, jumped in and shoved Monty backward, shouting, “Don’t you dare touch her!”
None of us had expected that, least of all Monty, who grimaced, confused, and asked him, “Or what? Because I sure as hell know your little ass isn’t going to do something about it.”
That was personal, and Mike didn’t hesitate to throw a punch at Monty’s face.
But he was slow, and Monty blocked him easily and answered back with a harder, faster blow.
We could hear the crunching of bone, and Mike bent over and held his nose.
Irrationally, I grabbed Mike to protect him, even though I knew there wasn’t much I could do.
I didn’t have anything like Monty’s strength, and I wasn’t sure if I was prepared for what might happen if I hit him.
As it turned out, though, I didn’t need to, because Sue jumped in to take my place, dealing him a swift kick between the legs that buckled him over and knocked him to the ground. He rolled back and forth groaning, coughing, and trying desperately to catch his breath.
“Come on!” Sue screamed.
We ran around Monty to the other side of the street, me holding onto Nelle’s arm, Sue trying desperately to take out her keys. Mike hurried along, holding his nose and laughing despite the blood. “Sue, that was amazing!” he said. “That dumb bastard will probably never have kids!”
“It’s a bad time for your jokes,” Sue called back to him.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something moving.
Monty, I thought, terrified. But then I saw it was my mother and froze.
She was wielding a broom, coming up behind Monty, who had stood and was staggering toward us.
My eyes were like saucers as she raised her weapon and struck him in the back of the head.
“Leave them alone,” she shrieked, raising the broom and bringing it down over and over. “You piece of trash! You dog! You nasty, nasty person! I called the cops! They’re already on their way. You’ll learn your lesson this time!”
With these words, she broke the broomstick over his back. Monty tried to grab the half Mom was still holding, and when he couldn’t, he covered his face and took off running, stopping only briefly to pick up his gym bag.
All of us had stopped and were gawking at Mom, who was breathing hard but looked proud of herself. Proud and worried, obviously.
“Are you all OK? Did he hurt you?” she asked.
I was too stunned to speak. I simply pointed at Mike, whose nose was gushing.
Mom moaned and hurried over to take a look.
I heard more footsteps, slow and heavy. It was Dad.
He looked exhausted and rested his hands on his knees, only speaking after nearly a minute had passed and he’d caught his breath. “OK, it’s OK, you’re safe,” he said.
We walked to my parents’ house, where Mike stuffed his nostrils with tissue until he finally quit bleeding.
We asked Sue how she’d managed to floor Monty, and she just laughed and said she’d taken karate lessons as a kid.
Mom hadn’t actually called the cops, but her threat had worked.
Monty didn’t come back, and he didn’t dare to call, either.
My parents said we shouldn’t travel that night.
It was dark, and we’d been through a traumatic experience.
Sue, who looked exhausted, didn’t argue with them.
For the first time in a while, I felt at ease in my own home.
Dad and Mom made beds for Mike and Sue in Spencer and Shannon’s old rooms, and Nelle slept in my bed with me.
We stayed up talking till around two. After brushing my teeth, I peeked in to check on my roommates.
Sue was lying flat on her back like a vampire in a coffin.
Mike was splayed out with one leg hanging off the bed.
Dad came out to meet me in the hallway. “Sorry I didn’t make it in time to save the day,” he joked in a whisper. “I don’t run as well as I used to. Don’t tell anyone, though.”
I didn’t laugh or smile. He had a lot of explaining to do, and I wasn’t going to let him off that easy.
“Jenny, I know we haven’t treated you the way we should have,” he continued.
“You’ve got that right.”
“You deserve to be angry.”
“Right again.”
“I’m trying to say I’m sorry, OK? And I want you to know you’re welcome here again.”
“That’s great, Dad,” I told him, “but it’s a little late for words.
You went for months without talking to me, you kicked me and my friends out of my grandmother’s funeral, and you turned your back on me for getting a restraining order against Monty when you’re the one who convinced me to go to the cops.
I appreciate you guys being there for us tonight, but that doesn’t change what’s happened. We’re leaving tomorrow.”
I didn’t wait for an answer, I just pushed past him and walked into my room. Nelle was already in the bed in her pajamas, lying on top of the covers and looking at the ceiling. When I shut the door, she admitted in a soft tone, “I heard your conversation. I’m really sorry.”
“Don’t be. It had to be talked about.”
I pulled up the sheets and got into bed beside her, turning off the lights and thinking in silence.
“Some night, huh?” Nelle murmured.
“I’ll tell you one thing: if someone had said a week ago I’d be lying in my bed in my parents’ house with you, I’d have told them they were out of their mind.”
She laughed and swatted at me. “I’m not good enough for you?”
“I’m sorry to break this to you, Nelle, but you’re not really my type.”
Grabbing a pillow and hugging it to her chest, Nelle said, “Thanks for coming.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“I’m serious. Thanks for pushing me. After the way I treated you when your grandmother died…”
“Seriously,” I told her, “I’d rather not talk about it.”
I had managed to put the bad things out of my head, and there was no point in her stirring them up.
“Sure,” she agreed. “Good night, then.”
“Good night,” I said, turning my back to her and starting to drift off.
Nelle spoke again: “Thanks for helping me even though we’re not friends anymore.”
Opening my eyes, I replied, “You’d have done it for me.” That wasn’t true. We both knew it wasn’t true. But she didn’t argue.
“I can see your treehouse from here. Remember how I spilled a soda on the rug and then you never let me back in there again?”
“You deserved it.”
“We were happy then,” she said. “And I ruined it. I’m sorry.”
That memory had made me grin. But the apology…something about it didn’t sit right with me. I had wanted it before. Now I wasn’t so sure.
“It wasn’t your fault, Nelle,” I told her. “It wasn’t our fault. Neither of us can blame ourselves.”
After that, we finally fell asleep.
I don’t know who was more surprised the next day, the twins or Spencer, who had been planning to drop in to see our parents and instead found all of us having breakfast at the kitchen table.
I was ready to go back home, so I made sure the conversations were kept short, and by nine, we were all in the car. Or everyone except for me was. I had the trunk open and was stuffing Nelle’s things inside. My parents came out to say goodbye, looking doubtful.
“Be careful on the road,” Mom said. “And stop and eat something.”
“Sure.”
“Call when you get in,” Dad added.
“All right,” I said.
When I closed the trunk, they surrounded me.
“Honey, we’re sorry,” Mom said. I wanted to respond, but I didn’t know how I felt.
It wasn’t anger—at least, I didn’t want it to be—but something inside me was resistant to just pretending the last two years hadn’t happened.
To avoid any discussion of it, I hugged them both and got inside, and they wished everyone a pleasant trip.
I fell asleep several times on the ride home.
Mike and Sue sang songs on the radio together.
At first, Nelle refused to join them—she always had been a little self-conscious—but at some point I woke and heard her screaming so loud, I thought she’d burst a lung.
I tried sticking my fingers in my ears, but it was pointless.
Jack called while we were on the road. I got Sue to turn down the volume and responded. “Please tell me you’re back home,” I said.
“Indeed. You know what’s not, though? You. Not to mention my car. I thought you’d be back by now. You’re in trouble. Though if you’ve managed to find a way to get rid of Mike and Sue forever, I might let you off the hook.”
“Sorry, Jack. We’re almost there.”
“Don’t say you’re sorry. This relationship’s full of surprises, that’s what makes it fun. You want to tell me what the emergency was?”
I looked over at the rest of the group. Everyone was staring away, but I could tell they were all eavesdropping, the gossips. I remembered Monty raging around like a monster, and I almost lied to Jack to keep him from worrying, but I remembered our agreement: no more lying.
“Don’t get mad,” I said. “It’s not as big a deal as it sounds like, it’s just…
” Slowly, tentatively, I told him everything that had happened, leaning my head against the window.
Jack didn’t reply or interrupt me, and that only made me more nervous.
I needed to know if he was upset, and what kind of mood he was going to be in when we made it back.
When I was done, everyone else in the car was as eager to know his reaction as I was.
“Are you angry?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” he confessed. “If I’d been aware of what you were doing, I probably wouldn’t have let you use the car. That was dangerous, it could have gone bad.”
“It didn’t.”
“But it could have.”
“But it didn’t!” Sue shouted. “Stop being so dramatic.”
Jack sighed.
“Give Sue some credit,” I told him. “She’s the one who put Monty on his ass.”
“OK, I guess I’m starting to like her a little better.
” We got off the phone soon afterward, and my excitement built up right until the moment when we were pulling into the parking lot.
We had dropped Nelle off on the way—her parents had paid for a hotel room for her until she could find a place to stay, and she said she preferred to be alone when she heard how many people were living in our apartment.
I didn’t blame her—she probably needed the solitude after all she’d been through.
“So that was the famous friend your ex cheated on you with,” Sue said in the elevator.
“I can understand why,” Mike said. “She is hot. Don’t be offended, you’ve got a way better personality, but…”
“Shut up, idiot,” Sue snapped and nudged him with an elbow.
“I’d just as soon we not talk about it,” I interjected.
I was nervous when I walked into the apartment, but the sight of Naya and Will there on the sofa looking happy calmed me down.
Jack was sitting across from him. Will asked if we’d brought back presents.
Sue asked him if Jack’s car still being intact counted.
Jack looked exhausted. I figured he must have taken a nap at least, but maybe it hadn’t helped.
His suitcase was still under the bar by the kitchen.
I wasn’t sure what he was feeling just then, but when he walked past me to the bedroom with a bare nod—no hug, no kiss—I realized he was probably in a bad mood.
“Jack,” I said as he disappeared down the hallway, and he called back, “Not now.”
Everyone’s eyes turned to me. After a moment’s hesitation, I grabbed his suitcase and dragged it back to the bedroom. When I shut the door behind us, I found him lying on the bed with a pillow on top of his head.
“Not now,” he repeated.
“Just let me explain…”
“There’s nothing to explain, Jen. We agreed we would talk about things, and I trusted you, and you used that to do something you knew I wouldn’t approve of.”
“There wasn’t time!”
“There was. There’s always time to call. But as I said, I don’t want to talk about it. I’m exhausted.” I knew that was the end of it. He turned his back to me and to the entire world. And since I wouldn’t get anywhere with him in that moment, I left him alone.