BEAU • [3:28 p.m.]
Forty nine, fifty. Fifty one, fifty two...
I had at least two more minutes until my last period is over. I've been tapping my pen on my desk and bouncing my knee. I was distracted. I was antsy. I wanted to get out of here and visit Piper.
She didn't come to school today. I glanced at her table during first period and saw that her table was vacant. That was when I assumed that she skipped class. She must've had a nasty hangover. It was probably her first hangover in her life, too.
Last night came in as a shock to me when I heard Michael shouted at the kitchen that "Palmer" was knocked out cold. When I rushed to the scene and saw Piper's body on the ground, my head and my heart started to throb. People were scrambling towards the room and I didn't hesitate to bend down to help her up.
I shouted at Lucas and told him to start his car, as I carried Piper out to the kitchen. I was debating whether or not we take her to the hospital, but Lucas opted to go straight to her house.
I've never shouted so many profanities in my life since last night.
As the bell rang and broke my reverie, I dashed right outside the classroom and went straight to the student parking lot towards my car.
— — —
[3:43 p.m.]
I rang the Griffin's doorbell hoping Piper would open it.
"Oh, shit." I muttered under my breath at how insensitive that sounded. I bet she was still resting soundly in her room. I didn't see Pascal's jeep around so I guess no one would answer the door for me.
Much to my dismay, I turned around and was about to go back to my car when I heard the door creaked open.
"Abby," I said.
"Beau," she replied back, her hand gripped firmly at the doorknob.
Good thing the neighborhood didn't complain about the loud voices of Lucas and I last night, but we were lucky enough that we caught Abby's attention next door. She was just as nervous as we both are, but Abby was such a big help. If it weren't for her, we wouldn't have access inside Piper's residence, since we didn't know where Piper hid their house keys. Fortunately enough, the Griffins trusted Abby to tell her in case of an emergency.
"What are you doing here?"
"Helping a friend," she told me, folding her arms. "I just came right after school. And you?" she asked, arching a brow.
"Let me see her—" I insisted, as Abby stopped me with the palm of her hand.
"Piper's not expecting anyone right now."
I released a sharp sigh and scratched the back of my head furiously. "Can I just please talk to her?"
She narrowed her eyes at me, shaking her head in disappointment. "This is all your fault. Besides, Pascal's on his way back, he just bought some medicine. You wouldn't want to mess with Piper's older brother, and you know that."
I rolled my eyes, as if that was news to me. "Oh I'm already involved in a mess with him, alright. Now could you let me in?"
Abby sneered at me one more time before she fully opened the door. "Enter at your own risk."
I zoomed straight pass her and dashed to the stairs towards Piper's room. After I let out an exhale, I rapped at her door three times before I got an answer.
"Come in," I heard a soft yet weak voice reply. I slowly opened the door and saw Piper lying down on her side in her bed, nestled under her duvet and fiddling with a small gadget in her hand with furrowed eyebrows and a scrunched nose. Her hair was in a mess and her eyes were still bloodshot as if she had just woken up.
She was still wearing my hoodie.
"Piper," I spoke, my voice dry and surprisingly nervous. I caught her attention as she looked up and quickly propped herself up from her bed, putting her gadget down at the bedside table.
The small gadget was a Tamagotchi.
I caught her playing with a freakin' Tamagotchi.
"B-Beau, you came." She immediately turned red, and I advised her to not move too much, or she'll be giving herself another headache. She nodded and laid her head back down on her pillow as she began to play with the hem of my hoodie.
"How are you?" I asked, grabbing a chair and settling beside her.
"Well, I feel like I have a second heartbeat in my forehead."
"You didn't come to school today," I said. Piper lowered her gaze at me, as if I wasn't pointing out the most obvious thing in the world to her.
She chuckled under her breath. "Uh, as you can see, I'm recovering from a nasty hangover."
I didn't know what to say so I initiated the awkward silence. Cue the crickets.
Piper cleared her throat, breaking the tension lingering in the room. "So what did I miss back in school?" she asked.
"Well Mrs. Armstrong mentioned the pointers for our upcoming finals."
"Amazing," she replied in a heavily sarcastic tone. Piper never missed a day in school, and she hated missing out on the important announcements. I did tell her that I'll send her the pointers online, and she thanked me for that.
The next thing that I said though, was kind of out of the blue.
"Uh," I started. "School's also starting to sell prom tickets so..."
"Well, that's irrelevant news to me," she immediately said, avoiding my eyes.
"Are you going?"
She gave me an unsure look and shrugged. "I wanted to. I mean, I've never been to one before, but Hartsmith's proms are just like couple parties. I have no one to go with, so what's the point?"
"Don't you have a date?" I asked, trying to appear as innocent as possible.
"No."
"Right, right." That single answer of hers hit a nerve to me. Why was I acting so guilty? I tried to change the subject. "Speaking of parties, I'm sorry for what happened last night."
She bit her lip and made a face, like she didn't even want to recall it. "About that. Could you please apologize to Lucas for me? I'm just so embarrassed that he had to carry me to our house—Abby mentioned it to me."
A wave of panic and distress were written all over my face when we reached Piper's house last night. I didn't know what has gotten into me back then, but I found myself exchanging some heated banter with Lucas. He was the one who eventually transferred Piper from his car to her house.
I swallowed a huge lump on my throat, remembering how a useless wimp I was last night. "Nah, he's good. He said you weren't heavy, anyway. Lucas plays judo so lifting and carrying people are nothing new to him."
"It's a good thing he didn't throw me violently to the sofa."
I forced a chuckle. Lucas won't do that.
"I was, however, mentally thrown off from that shot of Bacardi you gave me," she said.
I quickly shook my head, trying to register what she just told me. "What are you talking about?"
"You left a note with that Bacardi shot last night for me, remember? It basically started a fire in my mouth!" she reminded me matter-o-factly. She was not making any sense to me.
"But I didn't give you anything!" I snapped. "Why would I offer you alcohol when you told me you don't drink?"
She shot up from her bed as she gave me a puzzled look in return. "That was my point either! So it wasn't you?"
"Hell no!" I said with full force, staggering back to the chair. I cannot believe this.
"Someone used my name to fuck you up, Piper." Now I was infuriated. My jaw clenched, and my hand somehow tightened into a fist. Who had the nerve to give Piper that alcohol? Was it a prank? If it is, it wasn't funny. Not only was it downright cruel, but the fact that the person had the audacity to use my name so that I could take the blame was just crossing the line.
Whoever did this was messing with the wrong guy. I swear, that someone will never see the light of day ever again once I get to the bottom of this.
Piper dragged a sigh, slapping her forehead. "Beau, it's okay. It's my fault for being gullible. I never should've—" Piper stopped as soon as we both heard distant yet familiar voices outside the walls of her bedroom.
"Why is he here?!"
"He came to check up on Piper,"
"That asshole!"
It was Pascal and Abby talking downstairs, and we realized that the former just got home. Based from what I just heard, I was pretty sure he was not exactly ecstatic to see me.
I was about to get up when Pascal barged into the room, followed by Abby behind him.
His eyes came in contact with mine and I can say that he was furious. He was taking deep breathes and he looked like a rabid dog who's about to eat me alive.
"Beau, my sister needs to rest." His voice was rough and it gave me a hint that I should leave her sister alone.
Piper then began to interfere, waving a hand. "It's okay Paz, he's just—"
"You need to rest," he stated angrily, cutting Piper. He tossed a small brown paper bag to the bed. "Go take some painkillers."
Piper was taken aback at the tone of his brother's voice, so she just nodded sadly and eventually obeyed. Abby jogged past Pascal and replaced me in the chair that I just sat on. Pascal then darted his evil-looking eyes at me as he pointed a finger.
"I will talk to you outside the house." He turned around and walked away.
"You should go," Abby spoke. "You wouldn't want to let him wait for you."
I sighed and looked at Piper one last time.
"I'm sorry," she mouthed. I let out a soft smile as I headed down.
I was in big trouble.
— — —
Pascal slammed the door shut behind us. "You make me want to punch you in the face right now."
"You have to listen to me here. I didn't give her anything last night," I explained as I raked my fingers through my hair, feeling a little bit anxious. I didn't know how Pascal got the information, but he was Pascal—word traveled fast to him especially if it concerned his sister.
He rolled his eyes, not believing me. "It doesn't matter. Deal's over. I don't give a flying fuck anymore whether you take her to prom or not."
"But I still need the money—"
"To hell with that, Beau?" he interjected, his voice raised. "My father trusts me to take care of my sister while he's away, and I'm taking full responsibility to whatever's going to happen to her."
"She's eighteen, Pascal, not eight!"
His eyebrows furrowed as he slowly rubbed his temples. He looked up with a seriously pissed look on his face, like he couldn't stand to be here with me anymore. "Do you realize that intoxicating her would've given her a trip to the hospital? That drink was seventy percent alcohol, for Pete's sake."
"You're over-exaggerating yourself!" I fired back.
"If it's my sister's health that we're talking about, so be it." After he said that, I died down, not uttering a word.
Pascal ignored me and continued on, raising his hands up. "Enough's enough. I didn't know it would come this far. Sorry but you're on your own, Huntley." He gave me one last stern look and went back inside their house, slamming the door shut yet again.
— — —
[4:08 p.m.]
I reached home with a heavy heart. I didn't know where I was more frustrated at—the fact that someone used my name last night for some shitty prank or to Pascal for breaking the deal.
What do I do now? Half of the money that I was getting for the Cadillac will be coming from Pascal's pocket. If I didn't get the money, my parents will no doubt give me the worst punishment I might ever receive in my life.
I felt my phone buzzed in my pocket and I fished it out, reading that I just received a message from my aunt.
My aunt was all the way from Arizona. What could she possibly want?
"Huh?"
What was she talking about? I clicked my phone shut and jogged outside my house towards the mailbox. I opened the mailbox to get a peek and I reached for a piece of thin envelope inside. I grabbed it and read that the mail was addressed to me.
What the hell could this be?
I walked back to the house as I tear the envelope apart. I stopped when I saw what was inside. My eyes bulged. I had to read what was written on it again and again to make sure I wasn't imagining things.
This was too good to be true.
It was a check for four thousand dollars.