September 10th, Monday - Casey Silpetti
Morning sees Casey and Harmony headed into school, the radio blaring as usual. Once parked, Harmony turns to her friend. “I may have to stay a little late, we’re working on the dance for Saturday night. I’ll text you when I’m out?”
Casey smiles, “Sure thing Harm.”
They walk into the Student Center to grab some breakfast, and Harm grabs her normal coffee as well. Suddenly she looks all chipper. “Hey Casey, Jake Ryan is over there, and finally alone. I’m going to go pounce on him, so wish me luck!” She takes off, and Casey heads over to an empty table.
Aiden sits across from her a moment later, and takes her hand. “Hey beautiful. How are you doing this morning?”
Casey notices the sour face that May is giving them across the room and smiles widely. “Just great.”
Walking into second period science, Casey sees Roni waiting for her at their shared lab table. As soon as the younger girl sees her, she brightens up and smiles. “Hey Case! Happy birthday again! I had sooo much fun the other night; I can’t believe you all actually got me up to dance! I’ve never been to a place like that before, it was great!”
“I can’t believe ya’ll got ME up to dance. I never do that. But I had a blast, I’m so glad you and Bianca could come, and I’m glad you had fun.”
Casey sits down, smiling at the other girls bubbling joy at being let in to a social group. She really hasn’t had much in the way of friends before, it shows.
“I think I’ve decided to start trying new things, you know? I’m thinking of joining the drama club. I figure if anything can get me off the wallflower track, it’ll be that. What do you think?”
Casey starts to answer, but is interrupted by Aiden sitting down next to her. He kisses her quickly on the cheek. “Hey gals, how’s the morning treating you?”
Casey just chuckles as Veronica goes on her rant to Aiden now, although she does seem a little more composed, or at least trying to be. It looks like it’s still a little harder for her to open up to the guys, and it doesn’t help that Aiden’s so flirty.
“Oh, hey!” Veronica smiles and waves a little wave, and Casey turns to see who it’s for. Cadence has walked in and up to Prof Z, and hasn’t seemed to notice them sitting there.
She’s still got her right arm in a sling, and a cane in her left that she’s leaning on. Whatever she’s telling Prof Z is too quiet for them to hear, but they can hear his response.
“Well, I’m just glad that you were wearing your seatbelt, it could have been a lot worse. We’re happy to see you back, and if you need any help—“ She cuts him off, again quietly. He nods. “Well, if you and Mr. Dennison are ready, we’ll let you take care of your presentation today then.”
She walks past their table, ignoring their looks and another small wave from Veronica, who looks upset at the snub. Casey understands the look. The girl doesn’t have too many friends to begin with, to already be snubbed by one of the few has definitely taken a toll on the cloud of happiness surrounding the younger girl.
Aiden shrugs at the two of them, and gets up to walk back to her table and prepare. A moment later they’re up front giving their report. Cadence lets Aiden do most of the talking, though not all of it. She does do a good job of fading into the background though.
Once they’re done, Aiden sits back next to Casey and Cadence makes her way back to her table. Prof Z launches into a lesson that fills up the rest of the hour. He doesn’t say a word as Cadence makes her way out of the room five minutes before the bell; it must be so she can get to her next class on time.
When the bell rings, Aiden turns to the girls. “I have soccer practice again at lunch and after school today. Our first game is Wednesday night; I was hoping to have a few cheerleaders out there for me, if you know what I mean?” He smiles as he says this.
Veronica smiles back. “Sounds like fun, I’ll ask Binks if she wants to go. If you don’t mind…I mean, if you wanted us to go, and not just Casey.” She cuts herself off, blushing at her own babbling.
“The more the merrier, Roni. I was hoping you’d come along, if your sister wants to that’ll be great too.”
He takes Casey’s hand as they walk out. “You’re not planning anything crazy tonight, are you? If so, I can skip practice. I don’t want you doing anything dangerous, you know. I’m kinda fond of you in the all together, if you know what I mean.”
“Dangerous? I’d never do anything dangerous…” Casey laughs it off, not really answering, and then drops her voice to just above a whisper. “Actually, I still have Cadence’s knife in my locker. I’d kinda forgotten about it ‘til it fell out the other day. If you’re not gonna be at lunch I’m gonna try and find her and figure out a way to get it back to her without anyone seeing.” At her locker, Casey swaps out her books for the ones she needs for her next class, hearing Aiden say hi to someone who has either walked up or walked by. She shuts her locker and sees Chance as she turns around.
“Hi sexy,” Chance says. Casey blushes as Aiden glares and steps between them.
“Not cool, bud.” He turns around and kisses Casey’s forehead. “Go, I’ll see you later.”
“‘Kay.” She ducks out under his arm and nods a good bye to Chance.
Aiden turns back to Chance, “What was that? You know from Saturday that she’s my girl.”
Chance is unapologetic, “She IS sexy, well at least she was this weekend. These uniforms don’t really do anything for her. I was just stating a fact.”
“We’ve been friends too long Chance. Don’t piss me off about this. Just let her be. Pretend you never saw her in anything but her uniform.”
The bell rings. “First off, you know I don’t date high school girls…and as hot as she is, she still won’t make me break that rule. Secondly, you know it’s true, but I will do my best to not mention it in the future when I see her.”
The Dean of Students walks past, “Shouldn’t you two be in class by now?”
They both agree and head off in separate directions.
At lunchtime, Casey grabs a sandwich and pop, and goes searching for Cadence. She checks the student center and the cafeteria and still doesn’t see her. She says hi to Veronica and Bianca and asks them if they’ve seen Cadence, which they haven’t. She checks the library and goes to Ms. Connor’s room to ask her where Cadence is, but no one is in there. Casey finds Harmony and eats her lunch quickly while Harmony busily crams for her test this afternoon. She wishes Harmony luck and heads off to the restroom, almost literally running into Cadence in the hallway.
“Cadence, I’ve been looking for you. Where’d you spend lunch?”
“Ummm…I went home and ate. I’ve gotta get to class, not movin’ so fast, ya know,” she jokes without smiling.
“Well, I won’t take long, it’s just I have, well, I have…” Casey drops her voice to a whisper and looks around before continuing, “…your knife, from the parade. It’s in my locker. I didn’t know what to do with it.”
Cadence turns quicker than Casey would’ve thought possible, making her back up to the wall. “Does anyone know you have it? Why didn’t you tell me before?”
“A…Aiden knows, he’s the one that told me to hide it. I didn’t want to tell you at the hospital, and uh, I didn’t think you’d appreciate me mentioning it Saturday with everyone around…”
“I’ll meet you after school and get it then,” she says quickly.
“I have study period last, and I’m ditching out today, I won’t be here.”
“Fine, right before last period then.” Cadence limps off, leaving Casey to practically run to her next class.
Casey makes it through the rest of her classes, spending her art class scanning photos into her website to try and get them sold. She waits at her locker for Cadence, nervously moving things around inside until she gets there. Cadence finally arrives and Casey looks around, making sure nobody is close enough to see. She picks up the knife gingerly and starts to hand it to Cadence who hisses, “Stop!” and then looks around herself. “Put it in something first.”
“Sorry.” Casey looks around at what’s in her locker and shoves the knife between the pages of her chem book, even though it doesn’t really fit, and then puts them both in Cadence’s bag which she’s holding open. “Just bring the book back to class tomorrow.”
“I will. Thank you Casey, this is sort of a family heirloom, and I thought it had been lost.” She says this quietly, not meeting Casey’s eyes.
Casey nods as she grabs her bag and her jacket and closes her locker. “Hey Cadence, thanks for coming on Saturday. I know you were still hurting, and ummm, it really meant a lot to me that you made it.” She gives her a quick, careful hug, “Let me know if you need help with anything.”
Cadence looks like she wants to say something, but her eyes flick over Casey’s shoulder and she ends up not saying anything, she just nods and slowly heads off toward her last class. Casey turns and sees Mr. Pleasant standing at the far end of the hall, watching Cadence walk away. He turns his eyes to Casey, and regards her for a long moment. He gives her a small, hard smile and walks off.
Casey quickly heads out front and hops on a bus that will take her to Faust’s neighborhood. She heads up to door and knocks, but this time it doesn’t open. She knocks again, and it still doesn’t open. She tries the knob and, of course, finds it locked. “Faust?” She knocks a third time, louder, then leans her head against the door, not sure what to do now.
When nothing happens for a long few minutes, she figures she better get a move on. This isn’t the kind of neighborhood that she wants to be in too late, and it’s already starting to get dark. She gets almost half way to the bus stop when a jeep passing in the opposite direction comes to a quick stop, and backs up to pull even with her.
Faust is sitting in the driver’s seat, and he leans out towards her. “Looking for me?”
A car stops in front of him, and the driver leans on the horn. Faust ignores him completely, other than flipping him a quick bird. The car pulls around in the opposing lane, the guy cursing loudly through the window.
“So, are you going to walk back to my place, or would you like a ride back. Obviously you want something, or you wouldn’t be out looking for me this late.” He smiles when she takes her time deciding. “I won’t bite. Besides, you owe me now. I have to keep you safe or you can’t ever pay me back, so you’re safe.”
She rolls her eyes as she goes around the back and steps up into the jeep. She does keep to the side of the truck a little more than needed, but he doesn’t seem to notice. He does reach into his pocket and pulls out a manilla envelope from his trench coat as he pulls the jeep back out into his lane.
“I was out taking care of our little problem. You can have those back now.”
She opens the envelope to see the two pictures she took at the park. She closes it quickly. “You… you found him? It?”
“No. I passed it along to the cops. I figure they should earn their paychecks, and I don’t have the time to go hunting for it now.”
“The cops? And they— they believed you?”
He looks over at her as he pulls into a parking spot in the alley next to his building. “They have a department that deals with those sorts of things. They aren’t public, and you shouldn’t mention that you know anything about it. They’re not too crazy with people knowing about them.”
“Seriously? There’s enough of this crazy shit going on that there’s a secret police department that works on it?”
“Sure. It’s only a handful of people, full-time at least. But like I said, they don’t like to be noticed. And they belong to the Mayor, which means you can’t trust them. But for something like this, it’s not so bad.”
He turns to look at her. “There’s a lot more going on in this city than you’d believe. There’s stuff that happens in every city, but this place… this place is special. Powerful. Oh yeah, a lot goes on here.”
They both get out, and are quiet until they’re inside. “So I passed along your two photos to them, and they should be able to take care of it in the next few days, before it gets hungry again. So you should feel good. You just saved some lives, maybe a lot of them. Of course, only the two of us will ever know about it — your boyfriend too if you tell him. But I take it you’re not interested in fame anyway.”
She nods as she sits on the sofa. He takes the seat across from her. “So, why are you here? Ready for more info?”
She steels herself. “Yes. I want to know how I can help Roni. She doesn’t deserve all of this, and she’s my friend. And I’m going to help her, one way or the other.”
He leans back in the chair, silently and coldly appraising her. “Well, they say anything is possible, don’t they? It won’t be easy, but I figure you already know that. So then lets discuss.”
“Right now she’s the safest she’ll ever be. As long as her parents can afford that j’he medjii, not even Laithe will try anything. Neither will anyone else who might figure out what she is.”
“You keep saying that. What do you mean? I mean, you said she—”
“Wasn’t human? She’s not. But I don’t think you’d be able to believe me if I told you what she was. You’re ready to learn, but your mind is still shocked with finding out about this sort of stuff. We’ll get to that later, I promise.”
“Well, what can we do if that… if her bodyguard leaves?”
He looks away from her, and is silent for a long minute. “Well, there’s the interesting conundrum. First things first, she has to realize what she is. Which will be hard, as I’m sure her parents have some kind of whammie on her to keep that from happening. But if she did, she could be her own best protection from Laithe and others… if.”
“If what? And, uh, what’s a whammie?”
He looks at her, and leans forward. “A whammie, you know. Mojo, a spell, something like that. Kind of a technical term,” he says in a joking tone. “And as far as the if… if she is happy, full, content… If she is in love and has it returned, she will be the strongest she’ll ever be. Her power will be magnificent. But at the same time, the closer she gets to that, the more likely that Laithe and any other Tom, Dick, or Harry will want to rip her heart out and eat it. She has to be sure of herself, and know herself, and quite frankly it’s a lot harder than the movies make it seem, the whole fairy tale romance and all.”
“Other than that, you’d better find some people to ally with, that are as strong as you can find. Maybe enough will be able to put up some kind of fight with Laithe, but that won’t be easy. You really have no idea how evil and strong he is. I’ve been fighting him for… well, a long time.”
“What kind of people?”
“Here’s a little lesson for you. There are three types of people in this world. Remember what I told you about possibilities? About the spark inside you that lets you change things, affect reality?” He pauses until she nods.
“The first type of person is the Pawn. Most everyone you know falls into that category. Their spark is dim, or unheard. It takes hundreds or more in order to have any affect on the flow of reality.”
“Second are Pieces. Think of them as your knights, rooks, bishops, etc. Their spark is strong, their possibilities great. A single Piece can alter the flow of reality. They’re of varying strengths, of course. You, my dear, are a Piece just beginning to understand that you have a place in the world greater than you had believed.”
He falls silent, and finally she breaks the silence to ask, “And the last?”
“The last are Players. They are involved in a struggle that’s as old as time itself. A game whereby they pit Pieces and Pawns against each other, each trying to win. They have unimaginable power. Laithe, he is a Player. Not the only one in this city, but a strong one.
“And interesting things can happen, when you consider these three types of people. The more Pawns who believe in a Piece, the stronger that Piece is. They actually share their own power with those they put above them.
“You owe me. You agreed to it, said the words. In a way, you now share your power with me in some form, making me stronger. You must always remember, that this game has rules, and they rule everyone. Your word is your bond, never promise anything you cannot do. Never volunteer something that can have power over you. Your trust, your love, your devotion. Think long and hard, because those ties bind you in ways that you will not even begin to comprehend, at first.”
“So then, having friends helps me do things…or change things…or whatever?
“Certainly. Having people invested in you makes you stronger. And you give strength to those you invest yourself in. It’s the way things work, so remember that. It’s sort of the root of my “No Help” policy.”
“How do I know whether someone is a Pawn, Piece or Player?”
“You don’t. Not at first. That’s a skill that takes a long time to train. Listen to your instincts. If someone is scary, they probably have power. Someone with confidence, someone who seems… ‘strong.’
“And don’t think that people can’t change. Everyone has the spark in them, I’ve told you that. Pieces… they just listen to it better. They learn to use it. And by doing so, they get stronger.
“In fact, if you want to know what a person is, the best way is to look at their actions. Until the other day, even though you have strong possibilities – a touch of destiny – about you, you were a Pawn. But you took action. You decided you were going to help your friend, and in doing so joined the Game. You became a Piece.
“The same can happen to anyone you know. Someone who acts, who tries to make a difference – whether selfless or selfish – is someone you should be aware of.”
“OK, I only have two more questions before I head out.” Casey’s phone beeps that she has a text message. She looks quickly and sees that Harmony is done with her dance planning stuff. “Sorry, ummm, how many people know what Roni is?”
“I don’t know. Her parents must. I do, Laithe does. Alanna does. That’s all I know.”
“Alanna?”
“Another Player. She owns and runs Legal Tender. She’s the Swiss.” At her look, he chuckles. “You know, completely neutral? Legal Tender is off-grounds for any conflict. Anyone can meet there, get whatever they want. No fighting allowed. You’re always safe in those walls.”
“Why are you telling me all this? I mean, after Roni was found you could’ve shut the door on me and Aiden, or kicked us out, or something, but instead, even though you’re pretty cryptic most of the time, you’re filling me in…I just don’t understand why.”
“I don’t like killing people like her. And just because I can’t face up to Laithe, doesn’t mean I don’t like seeing other people try. And who knows, maybe if you keep her alive she can help take him down someday. It’s a Game. You need Pieces and Pawns if you want to win. So I’m tapping you.”
Casey checks her watch and stands up. “Well, ummm, thanks for info. I’ve gotta get going. I…well, I guess I’ll see ya later.”
“Remember what I said. If you want to help her, help her wake up. Help her remember what she is. Be her friend, open her up. She’s shy, naïve, vulnerable. You open her eyes, and she has a chance. She needs backbone; she won’t fight to live if she doesn’t get it. Hell, maybe if I don’t tell you what she is, you’ll work harder to help her figure it out.
“Help her find out there are things worth living and believing in. Fighting for. Get her laid; maybe a boyfriend will give her a chance. Whatever you do, just remember if you give up on her, she’s going to die. There’s no question of that.”
She heads out and calls Harmony on her way to the bus stop and finds out she’s still at school. After a moment she hears Aiden in the background asking about her. She hears Harmony tell him she doesn’t know where Casey is, that she just got done with dance planning. After some shuffling sounds, Aiden is on the phone.
“Case, where are you? I’ve looked around, I know you’re not at school.”
“I uh, went to try and sell some photos. I’m on my way back to school now, so if you’d tell Harm to wait for me, I’ll be there in a little bit.”
“OK, one of us will be here.”
“Gotta go, bus is here. Tell Harm to wait. Bye.” She doesn’t wait for a response, just hangs up and gets on the bus, paying her fare. She reads for her Lit in Film class on the way back to school.
Aiden is waiting for her at the bus stop when she gets back. He gives her a quick kiss before she says anything.
“Any luck with the photos?” Casey looks down quickly then back up at Aiden, shaking her head no. He takes her hand and they walk to his car. “You hungry?”
“Yeah. What did you have in mind?”
“Dinner with my parents. They’d like to meet you.”
“What?” She pulls away a little, but Aiden tugs her even closer.
“You heard me,” he teases. “What do you say?”
“I…I don’t know.” Aiden opens her door and Casey slides into her seat. He leans in and kisses her deeply. “I missed you today.” After a beat he adds, “They’ll love you, Case,” before kissing her again. He shuts her door and goes around to his side. It doesn’t take long for him to make it home. They chit chat the whole way there, Casey smoothing her hair and straightening her clothes nervously without even realizing she’s doing it.
They walk in the door and can already smell dinner. “Relax, Case. Just be yourself.” They head for the kitchen and Aiden makes the introductions. His dad declares dinner ready and Casey excuses herself to wash her hands. She comes back into the kitchen is given a basket of bread to carry to the table. They all sit, and Aiden’s dad leads a prayer. Casey bows her head, murmuring “Amen” at the end. The dinner conversation flows pretty easily; talking about where Aiden and Casey each plan to go to college, how school is going, how his parents’ jobs are going, how Casey grew up (she glosses over a lot of it), where she’s staying now, and so on. Nothing too intense, and Casey is grateful. When they’re through eating, Casey and Aiden clear the table while his parents have coffee and ask to see her photos.
“I don’t have my portfolio with me, I’m sorry. I’ll make sure I bring it next time I’m over,” she answers. “I hate to eat and run, but I have a ton of homework to do tonight, I really should get going. Thank you so much for dinner.” His parents tell Casey good night and Aiden grabs her bag and coat, along with his car keys and they head out. After a few blocks he pulls over and shuts off the car, turning to face Casey.
“What did you really do after school today, Case? No portfolio means you weren’t out trying to sell your photos.”
She blushes and looks down, answering softly, “I went to see Faust.”
“What?!?”
She makes herself look Aiden in the eye. “I had some more questions. I wanted to know how I can help Roni stay safe, what I can do.”
“You know you can’t help her if something happens to you, right?”
“I know, but I can’t just sit around and not do anything. Besides he didn’t really tell me there’s much I can do anyway.”
“Casey, you said you weren’t going to do anything dangerous today.”
“It wasn’t dangerous. The bus stops like two blocks from his place, and you know it leaves from right in front of the school.”
“But you went by yourself, to a not very good area of town, and you didn’t tell anyone where you were going.”
“I’m fine, Aiden. Nothing happened. Plus Faust said that since I owe him he can’t let anything happen to me or I can’t pay my debt to him.” After a moment of silence, she continues, “Plus he took my photos to the police and they’re gonna take care of the guy that killed those kids.”
“Yeah right! Like the police are gonna believe it was a man that did that, they’re convinced it was feral dogs.”
“Uh, well, he said there’s a special department of the police that deals with this kind of thing. Oh, but nobody knows about it and…shit…I don’t think I was supposed to tell anyone about them.”
“It’s ok, just don’t do that again Casey. I don’t think you should go see Faust by yourself again. I don’t want to have to worry about you, ‘kay?”
“OK. Ummm, can you take me home now? I really do have homework tonight, couple of chapters to read for Lit in Film, some Trig, and I need to start my American History paper.”
He starts the car again but doesn’t go anywhere. “Promise me you won’t lie to me again Casey, please.”
She bites her lower lip. “Unless it’s for your own good, I promise.”
“Casey…”
“I can’t.”
“Case…”
“I just can’t promise that, Aiden.”
“Why not?”
“I just can’t. I don’t know what gonna’ happen in the future, and I don’t want to see you get hurt either. If there’s ever a way I can protect you and it means I have to lie to you, then I will. Can you honestly say you wouldn’t do the same?”
He thinks about it for a moment, “No.”
“But I do promise to not lie to you unless it’s for your own good.”
Aiden is silent again. “I guess that will have to do.” He puts the car in drive and takes Casey to Harmony’s. They ride in a slightly tense silence.
Before Casey gets out of the car she says, “I’m sorry, Aiden. I guess I didn’t really think it was dangerous to go to Faust’s, and I never would mean for you to worry. I just didn’t think you needed to miss practice just so I could have a couple of questions answered. I won’t let it happen again.” She starts to get out of the silent car.
Aiden breaks the tension, “What…no goodbye?” Casey laughs. “Good night, Aiden. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She leans over and gives him a quick kiss then goes to get out of the car again. He pulls her back and kisses her again, his hand slipping under her shirt. She lets out a little moan and pulls away. He leans closer, kissing along her neck. “Aiden…I really have to go.” He groans, and kisses her once more on the lips. “Good night, beautiful. Go get your studying done.”
“Night Aiden.” Casey stops by Harmony’s room and says hi before going to her own to study. She works on all she needs to before getting ready for bed. She swings by Harmony’s room and gets caught up watching MTV for awhile before telling Harmony good night and heading off to bed.
