Chapter 24 Drama
Drama
Even though Oscar and I have been on the freeway back to Point Liberty for a while, I still have tons of adrenaline pumping through my body—from being chased by Nash and the police officer, from jumping into a cold swimming pool in a panic, from the millions of questions I now have swirling in my mind about my brother.
I need to calm down and think clearly—because Oscar is right. “Every moment counts,” and “We can’t be sitting on our asses until the sun goes down.”
Nash got to my shoelace before I figured out what his game plan was (framing me), and he somehow got to my video files before I could secure them (probably while I was passed out overnight in the garage). What else has he already done that I don’t know about yet?
Oscar is still watching travel videos on YouTube.
“Hey,” I say, to get his attention.
“Yeah?”
“Let’s see what’s on Nash’s laptop. I don’t know what we would be looking for even. I mean, he’s not gonna have anything on there about what he’s done, but maybe we can find some clues or something about what he’s planning or where he’s going.”
Oscar reaches for the laptop in the backseat. He opens it.
“It’s got a lock screen, bro,” he says. “It’s asking for a PIN number.”
“It’s probably four digits. God, I hope it’s only four digits.”
While I drive, I announce numbers, and Oscar keys them in. We try Nash’s birth year and birth date, our street number, a combination of jersey numbers of his favorite basketball players. No luck.
Then Oscar says, “What about 1-2-3-4?”
I shake my head. “Nash isn’t dumb enough to have that as his PIN.”
Oscar turns his head away from me. “That’s my PIN number.”
“Oh,” I say. “I didn’t mean dumb. I meant it’s common.”
Oscar shrugs. “Yeah, it’s dumb.”
He tries 1-2-3-4. Nope.
“Shit,” Oscar says.
“What?”
“Your brother got it set up to only let you try the PIN number five times. And it says here we can’t try again for another thirty minutes.”
“Damn it,” I say. “This sucks. And if his PIN is longer than four digits, then this could be endless.”
There’s millions (or even billions or trillions?) of possible number combinations that could be Nash’s PIN.
(Math isn’t my strong suit, so I’m unsure of how many possibilities there are, but I know it must be a hell of a lot.) And now we only get five tries every half an hour.
Unless we get incredibly lucky, this is seeming more and more like an impossibility.
“Ain’t there like software or something that can crack a password?” Oscar asks.
“There is. We can download it on my computer at home, try to connect it to my brother’s laptop, and run the program.
But even then, depending on how complex Nash’s PIN is and because we only get five attempts every thirty minutes, it could take hours or days or weeks.
We don’t have that much time. But I guess we can start the process in case we get lucky. I wish I knew more about hacking.”
“What about one of the nerds in your computer class?” asks Oscar. “One of them might be into hacking and shit.”
“I don’t feel right about getting more people involved. I mean, I already dragged you into this, and I already feel bad about it.”
“This is what friends do,” Oscar says.
“Besides, I don’t really hang out with any of those guys. I don’t have their numbers or know where they live or anything.” A thought occurs to me. “Oh, but wait. I kind of know Carter T. Douglass.”
“The Black dude that’s shaped like a marshmallow?”
“Yeah. I don’t know if he hacks, but it’s worth a shot. I mean, on my own, I can do research and try to learn, but someone who knows stuff might help move things along faster.”
“Where does he live?”
“I don’t know actually.” Another thought strikes me. “But today’s Saturday, right? I think he told me once that he goes to the comic book store downtown on Saturday afternoons to play Magic: The Gathering. They have, like, a game room in the back.”
“Magic the what? What’s that?”
“I think it’s like a role-playing game with cards or something. I’m not sure.”
Oscar points. “It’s this exit if you wanna go there.”
Just in time, I pull off of the freeway, which spills me onto Main Street, which leads into a downtown area that people describe as “quaint” and “charming.” No big shopping malls around here—just locally owned restaurants and “mom and pop” shops and things like that.
The street looks like it’s from a movie of the past.
I find street parking on a block that’s around the corner from the comic book store. I grab the laptop from Oscar, dust the cocaine from the top, and get out.
As we hurry along the sidewalk, I see that skinny girl from school, Lucy, walking towards me with Andrew. As I approach them, I lift up my chin at them and say, “‘Sup.”
Once I’m past them, I can hear Lucy say, “Dear God in heaven.”
And Andrew adds, “Hunter’s looking like a snack.”
I’m used to it because I’ve often passed by those two when I’m out on one of my runs.
On weekday mornings, I’ll run just a couple miles or so because I have to go to school.
On weekends, I’ll do a lot more, sometimes twenty miles.
I’m almost always running with my shirt off, even when it’s cold out, because I get really heated up and sweaty.
Lucy and Andrew have gotten pretty shameless about looking me up and down.
Part of me likes it, I guess, but a bigger part of me still wrestles with stupid insecurities.
Oscar and I round the corner. As we reach the front entrance of the comic book store, I hear behind me: “Ooh, I told you they were lying! I told you!”
Oscar and I turn around and see Blanca and Emma, walking towards us, ice cream cones in their hands.
“The hell you yelling about, Blanca?!” screams Oscar.
Blanca points an accusatory finger at me. “You said you had a family emergency!”
“He did!” Oscar says.
“I told Emma you were lying! And I was right!” She gestures at our clothing (flip-flops, swim trunks, tank tops). “See, Emma?! See? I was right. He didn’t have no emergency. They went to the beach and shit.”
Emma’s mouth is open, confused. She says to me, “You said we were gonna hang out today. But you didn’t call me all day.”
Me: “My phone is dead. You know that.”
Emma: “But you have a home phone. And you could’ve e-mailed me. But instead, you went to the beach?”
Me: “We didn’t go to the beach.”
Blanca: “Then why you in swim trunks, you lying piece of shit?”
Oscar: “You the lying piece of shit, Blanca.”
Blanca: “This don’t got anything to do with you, Oscar. Emma’s my friend. And it’s my job to catch Hunter in a lie. And I just did.”
Me: “Emma, it’s the truth. We weren’t at the beach. I’m dealing with something concerning my brother right now.”
Emma: “It doesn’t look that way. Why are you in swim trunks?”
Me: “It’s a long story.”
Blanca: “Well, you better start telling it, Hunter.”
Me: “Stay out of this, Blanca.”
Blanca: “Don’t talk to me like that.”
Emma: “Don’t talk to her like that.”
Blanca: “You can’t even fuck your girl.”
Me: “What?”
Emma: “Blanca.”
Blanca: “Maybe aiming for the ass just comes natural to you for some reason.”
Emma: “Blanca.”
Oscar: “What’re you talking about, Blanca? You sound crazy right now.”
Apparently, Emma told Blanca about my failed attempt at sex last night.
Me: “Look, Emma, I’ll explain everything later. I don’t have time right now.”
Emma starts crying.
Me: “What’s the matter?”
Emma: “You don’t have time for me, but you have time to go to the beach and go to the comic store?”
Me: “We’re here because we need some help. From Carter T. Douglass.”
Emma: “Carter T. Douglass? What does he have to do with this?”
Me: “Emma, I can’t be wasting time right now.”
Emma: “You think I’m a waste of time?”
Me: “I didn’t say that.”
Blanca: “That’s what you said though.”
Oscar: “Shut up, Blanca.”
Blanca: “Don’t talk to me. I’m not your girlfriend.”
Oscar: “I’m glad you’re not my girlfriend. I don’t need you. Imma fuck a lot of other girls. All different races too.”
Blanca: “Yeah, right. You stupid.”
Oscar: “You stupid. Hunter and me are going to a college party tonight, and there’s gonna be all these fine-ass girls there. Way finer than your nasty ho ass.”
Emma: “You’re going to a party?”
Me: “No.”
Oscar: “Tonight.”
Me: “Oscar.”
Oscar: “Oh.”
Emma: “You can’t spend time with me, but you’re running around all day with Oscar and you’re going to a party tonight?”
Me: “It has to do with my brother.”
Emma: “Stop lying, Hunter!”
Blanca: “Tell him!”
Me: “I’m not lying!”
Emma: “Why are you treating me like this?”
Me: “I told you. I have an emergency to take care of.”
Emma: “Then why can Oscar come with you and I can’t?”
Me: “Because I need his help.”
Emma: “If it’s really an emergency, then I want to help.”
Me: “No. I can’t have anybody else involved in this.”
Emma: “In what?”
Me: “I have to go.”
I start backing up towards the comic book store.
Emma: “Don’t walk away from me!”
Blanca: “We’re all still talking, Hunter!”
Me: “I’ll explain everything later. But right now, I really have to go.”
Emma: “If you walk away from me, I’m breaking up with you!”
Blanca: “I’ve been telling you, girl. Be strong, girl.”
Me: “Emma, don’t do this.”
Emma: “I don’t deserve to be treated like this.”
Me: “Emma.”
Emma is crying uncontrollably. My heart breaks for her.
The world stops. Nobody says anything. Nobody moves.
It wasn’t supposed to go down like this, Emma and me. Of course, I always thought we would eventually break up, but I had imagined that it would be a clean break, like we would split when she and I went off to different colleges. It seemed like the easiest path with the least amount of drama.
But this here isn’t clean. And the drama is unbearable. So my anxiety is off the charts.
I sharply turn away from Emma and Blanca and stomp into the comic book store. Even inside, I can hear Emma, still bawling.
In the long run, all of this really is for the best. But right now, I can’t bear the fact that I’ve caused someone so much pain.