A Single Second

CHAPTER 12

"Destinee?" It was Debbie.

"Hi, mom," said Destinee, glad to hear her mother's voice again. "How are you?"

"Oh," said Debbie with a sigh, "same as always. Vicky and Patrick are getting ready to go back to school. It starts on Tuesday for them. And my

dance classes are fuller than ever, though I miss my star student."

"Thanks."

"Will you still be continuing with dance?"

Destinee thought a moment. Should she tell her mom about Fleur De la Fontaine? Well, it was just an audition on Thursday, wasn't it? It was just

to see if she could take lessons at Gambiller. Nothing was set in stone yet.

"Um, I might be. We'll see," she said after a moment.

"Oh, well you should, dear. You have too much talent."

"Thanks mom."

Destinee and Debbie talked for about ten minutes before the phone was finally passed on to Victoria.

"Hey there," said the voice that belonged to Destinee's older sister. "So, tell me all about New York."

'It's amazing," began Destinee, and the next five minutes were spent telling Victoria all about the sights and the people of New York.

"We went shopping at the coolest places. I even got this new leotard. It's one of the best there is."

"Nice," said Vicky. "Okay, so Patrick won't leave me alone. He says he has some business with you and that it's urgent."

"I see."

"Yeah, so I'm going to give him the phone before I kill him. Talk to you later."

Destinee could hear Vicky and Patrick talking on the other end, though their words were muffled and she couldn't make them out. After a minute

or so, she heard Patrick's "Hello" on the other end.

"Hey, Patty."

"Ah," said Patrick slowly. "It's good to see the nickname hasn't died, even though you're now several states away."

They both laughed at this.

"So is Daniel giving you a hard time?" Patrick asked, very serious.

"Why would you even ask that?"

"I don't know. Dad seems to think he's some horrible guy. It's all he talks about. Did you know that we had our first family meal that didn't include talk about his newest patient yesterday?"

Destinee laughed. "Monumental."

"You're not kidding," said Patrick with a sigh. "So, word around here is that you're going to some fancy shmancy, rich kid school now."

Word around here? Briefly, Destinee wondered how he'd found out, but... of course. Daniel had been keeping her mom updated. There was no

other explanation.

"Well, I wouldn't call it fancy shmancy," said Destinee. "But yeah, it is a bit of a rich kid school, if you must know."

Patrick laughed at this.

"So, what's this urgent business you have with me anyway?"

"Oh," said Patrick, his laughs subsiding, "that. It's nothing, really. I just wanted to let you know that you owe me big time."

"For what?" Destinee asked, intrigued.

"For leaving me back here in Greenville with a sobbing sister and mother and an angry, quiet father, while you go and party with the rich in good

old New York City."

"Has it been that bad?"

"Only most of the time," Patrick told her. "Honestly, it hasn't been terrible, though mom's been completely insane. She seems to think that without

you, her dance classes are going to fall apart, and I think dad's decided to become "Father of the Year" or something. It's only been about a week and

already we've been to a baseball game, played golf twice, and gone out for pizza and ice cream every other day."

"That doesn't sound like dad," Destinee said with a laugh.

"You're telling me. I mean, one day I wake up and suddenly - BAM! - he's decided to be the perfect dad. It's driving me crazy."

Destinee and Patrick talked for almost fifteen more minutes before Patrick sighed.

"Dad's got some movies and popcorn," he said in a not-so-cheerful voice. "I have to go put a stop to this male bonding thing before it gets out of

hand. Talk to you later."