Bunny and Clyde

Chapter 5

"Bunny."

"Yeah, Clyde?"

"Jem is walking over here, so I don't know if you want me to turn him away, if you want to put on some lip gloss, whatever."

"What are you talking about?"

"You like him, don't you?"

Bunny's knee jerked, causing the desk to rattle. She casts a glance at their teacher before leaning close to Clyde, glancing at the door. Jeremy isn't there.

"That was a test, wasn't it? One of those, 'we didn't find out until you said' type things." Clyde grins smugly and nods. She glares at him and reels back, going back to doing homework; the whole point of study hall.

"So do you?" Clyde pushes, grinning. She doesn't answer, instead she just keeps writing. He notices that she's gripping her pencil too tight and is trying too hard to look nonchalant. He also notices that she's gone very still; her lying tell.

He rubs his overly large hands together and picks up his pen. "Well that answers that. This'll be a fun lunch." The bell rings immediately after he says that.

Bunny sighs and packs up her bag, cursing every person in that classroom. And most of all, she's cursing Jeremy. Jeremy and his face, his smile, his personality. Everything. She slings her backpack over her shoulders and walks with Clyde out the door.

They walk into the cafe and walk into the line, looking around. Bunny is clutching her lunchbox, looking for an empty table. If there was one, she would've still stayed with Clyde in line; she has mild anxiety and that includes being unable to sit alone.

Neither of them see a table until they see Keaton waving at them. Clyde nudges her and hands her his backpack.

She sighs and takes it from him, maneuvering to Keaton who grins at her. She smiles back and pulls out her lunch, dropping Clyde's backpack. She glances at Keaton and he lifts a finger and waits for Clyde. 

Finally, the boy walks up to them, his overly large hands holding his bowl of pasta and his little carrier of fries. Bunny snitches a fry and the two look at Keaton expectantly. The boy nods and pulls out his laptop and just leaves it in the middle. The two stare at it. They look back at Keaton.

Keaton snaps his fingers.

Jeremy rushes to their table and skids on the floor. "Clyde! Your cousin is an idiot!"

Bunny jerks up, standing in all her 4'5" Smurf height. "Fight me!"

Jeremy waves her off. "Shut up, I'm not done. We were calling those leads that your uncle gave us and I told the kid I was going to do all the talking. We call up this one place, they won't let us in, so your idiot cousin decides to pull the lying card and say that we're family with the owner who is conveniently out of town for the weekend. So."

Clyde just keeps eating. "Yeah, that's something he'd do. Are we investigating or are you guys?" He smacks Bunny's hand when she reaches over for a fry.

Jeremy scoffs and sits down. "Please, there's no way I'm spending any more time with that lunatic. Hey, Keaton, what're you doing here?" His attention shifts towards the other boy who is currently typing away on his laptop.

Keaton spins it around and shows it to the other three. It's a website for a family run lipstick company. Bunny and Clyde recognize the name; they passed it when they were heading that way to bust an illegal fight club.

"You're thinking..." Bunny says trailing off. She glances off into space, then whips out her planner, so that's the end of her part of the conversation.

"Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Clyde what do you think of-" Jeremy's cut off by a choked off, high pitched scream coming from Bunny. The three boys stare in shock as she rushes off, leaving everything where it was.

A minute later sees her trudging back, terrified, into the cafe. She walks numbly to them and sits down before dropping her head on the table and screaming. It was a strangled scream, but it was a scream nonetheless.

Keaton laughs nervously - or it was just his usual laugh, they do sound the same - and Jeremy just stares at her. Clyde pats her head and she shakes him off. He puts a hand on her back and she lets him keep it there. He's about to be surprised at how long she let him keep it there when she shrugs him off.

"Sorry. I forgot to turn a late project in. I have an F in it now." She wipes at her eyes and the boys all wince. Clyde knows what's going to happen once Bunny gets home, he knows it.

"Hey, wait! Is it for History?" Keaton jumps up and begins typing on his  computer. Bunny nods and Jeremy stands up and lets her take his seat. She looks over Keaton's shoulder and sees the information page for the project.

He points at an update that reads: Because of the scheduled study hall that no one told me about, we will be presenting next week. Please just turn your reports in by this Friday.

Keaton looks at Bunny. "She told us she made an update when you were out sick. We're presenting next week, you still have until 11:59 tonight to turn in your report." He gives her one of his iconic smiles, but falters when he sees her blank expression. "Bunny. Bunny, are you okay?"

There's just a tense silence. Then Bunny's squealing and pulling Keaton into a bone crushing hug. "Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" Keaton laughs - a bit awkwardly - and pats Bunny's back.

She pulls away suddenly and smiles at him, "Uh, yeah, thank you, Keaton. That, um, that kinda saved me." Clyde rubs her shoulder as Keaton shrugs and tells her 'no problem'. 

Jeremy is just watching the entire scene with slight confusion; he never really hung out with any of them. Sure, he and Clyde hung out with each other, along with all the other guys that played sports and were way too horny for their own good. Maybe that was why Clyde left.

There's a shout and everyone looks outside. It was pouring. Now, the thing about the wonderful town of McNeil is that it is part of the grand 51st state of the USA, right next to California, it is an undiscovered treasure, and when it rains, it's like every cloud decided to cry at this one particular spot and they won't stop until they're wiped from existence. And it's never a common occurrence.

Everyone crowds to the window, trying to get a glimpse of the rain. The four stay seated, seeing no need to try to shove everyone away to look at falling water. Bunny is about to start eating when Jeremy's phone starts ringing.

"Your girlfriend?" Bunny asks. She winces, "Wrong tone. That came out wrong, that was the wrong tone." Clyde nods; she sounded way too snarky.

Jeremy shakes his head and picks up the phone. "Hello?" There's a frantic voice on the other line, one that Bunny nor Clyde can hear. Jeremy's eyes widen. "Okay, okay, we'll be right there. What's your name? Candace? Okay, Candace, just give us a few minutes and we'll be on our way."

He hangs up and looks at them. He shrugs. "We got a lead. A Pembrook girl being taken right now."