The Bookworm Next Door: The Expanded and Revised Edition (33 page)

              “Let me…”

              “No, Will,” Kelly sighed.  “There are a few other things that need addressing before we confront her.”

              “Like?”

              “Like how she’s treating Hannah.”  She sighed, almost wishing that she had stayed at home and visited with her sister-in-law instead of getting dressed up. 

              Jennifer was the first one to notice that the chaperones were huddled together.  Every now and then a head would look around and look for Kelly.  She had a feeling about what was about to happen. 

              Blinking while watching the teachers, “Guys, I think Kelly is about to get kicked out.” 

              Shaking her head, “It was worth it,” Kelly proclaimed.

              Delilah touched the other girl’s shoulder.  “We’ll deal with Aimee later.”

              Without a word, Kelly waved at the teachers who were still trying to decide what to do about the situation. 

              They ended up as the only people in prom dresses at the nearest fast food place. 

              Except for Penny’s missing date. 

              It was an intervention that she didn’t see coming.  After school Delilah, Kelly, and a few other people were hanging out around Aimee’s car and waiting for her to return.  Kelly had heard about the ‘apple juice’ jug and why her sister-in-law needed a 24-hour urine sample and had decided to get Delilah and a few of Hannah’s theatre friends to help.

              Nobody had been aware just how much Aimee’s immature antics had been stressing Hannah out, but they all knew that the additional stress was not good for the pregnant teenager. 

              “Hello, Aimee,” Delilah smiled once the girl started to approach the group.  She knew that Aimee had been whispering about Hannah skipping out on Prom and speculating that the girl had gone into labor and couldn’t make it to one of the ‘biggest nights of their lives.’  She’d heard about Aimee announcing her concern that Hannah would go into labor in the middle of lunch and ruin everybody’s meals.  “I hear that you haven’t learned anything from last semester.”

              “What’s it matter to you?”

              “Hannah is a nice person.  She doesn’t deserve to be the focus of your frustration.” 

              The former self-proclaimed Queen Bee sneered.  “She shouldn’t be as glorified as she is.”

              “Her life isn’t any of your concern!” Kelly interjected.  “You can’t keep being mean to people just because nobody likes you.  There’s a reason nobody likes you and that’s because you aren’t a very nice person.”

              Aimee looked at her former best friend and tried to calculate what words would best make her cry, “I heard about you and Garrett.”

              “Nothing happened between us and everybody knows it.  Will took Tracy Wyatt to the Prom and Garrett Bryant took me.  The problem was with Tracy and Garrett.”  Kelly rolled her eyes at Aimee’s attempt to make it seem like it was her fault that Tracy and Garrett had been caught making out with somebody other than their dates.  “That’s weak and you know it.  I hope you grow up between now and college because they’ll eat you alive with how petty you are.”

              One of the theatre girls started to giggle.  “You realize that right now we are more popular than you are, right?”  She didn’t wait for Aimee to respond before continuing, “We have no problem using your tactics against you, and we,” she circled her finger around at the five girls surrounding the car, “are more than you.” 

              “I don’t think,” Delilah smiled slyly, “that your boss at the bookstore would appreciate to learn how you have been treating some of his customers when people you don’t like come in.  Or how you kept flirting with David after he told you to stop.   How your actions have cost Mr. Raty’s customers and sales.” 

              “I don’t think,” another girl spoke up, “that Mr. Jameson will mind when he finds out how some of the basketball team got a copy of the test that he made everybody retake in February.” 

              “Or that Mrs. Pruett will fail you if she finds out that you hired a college student to write your research paper.” 

              With a sinking feeling Aimee realized that she had not gotten away with some of the things she assumed she had gotten away with.  That she had been observed closely and that these girls were holding onto the information for when they needed it the most. 

              “Fine,” she sighed, “you win.  I’ll leave Hannah alone.”

              Delilah moved forward, “You will leave everybody alone.”

              “Fine.  Whatever.”  Without another word she climbed into her Celica and left the others standing where they were. 

              Looking at each other, they all nodded their heads.  They knew that a few more drama students had carefully watched Aimee ever since Hannah had joined them at their lunch table.  They knew that the dirt they held over Aimee’s head was far deeper than the other girl currently suspected. 

              The first time it happened, Hannah jerked away, saw the clock read three am, and started shaking Brady.  It took a moment for him to wake up; he’d only been asleep three hours after coming in from a baseball game. 

              “It’s too soon!” she nearly sobbed.  “We still have a month!” 

              It wasn’t supposed to be happening like this.  She was supposed to graduate high school in two weeks and couldn’t afford to take time off right before finals.  She’d have to go to summer school just to complete her senior year and that would throw off their college plans of starting during the second summer term. 

              Brady was the calm one, reminding her to breathe and that everything would be okay.  “The doctor did say that our little peanut could come early.” 

              “But that’ll mess up all of our plans!” It didn’t matter that none of their plans from the beginning of the school year had actually happened the way that they’d planned. 

              “That doesn’t matter,” he soothed her, grabbing her bags as he led Hannah to his truck.  Turning his phone to speaker phone, he called the doctor first.

              The second time Hannah felt Braxton Hicks contractions was in the middle of class.  She calmly texted Brady, remembering the doctor’s advice to not leave until the contractions were seven minutes apart, and asked him to come pick her up.  She didn’t want to alarm her teacher or classmates, even though one or two of them saw her wince a few times.  All Hannah could think of was Aimee taunting her about having her baby in the middle of class. 

              While she wore a calm façade, as soon as the bell rang dismissing class, she hurriedly waddled out of the room and went to the office.  It only took a few minutes to explain why she needed to sign herself out, that Brady was coming to pick her up, and that there wasn’t much reason for them to worry. 

              They called in the school nurse to check her out, the nurse being a former ER nurse that decided to change her focus. 

              A few minutes later the ‘contractions’ stopped and Hannah texted Brady to tell him that it was another round of Braxton Hicks.  She felt more embarrassed than anything, suspecting that this story was going to go around the school once Aimee heard about it.  It didn’t though; Kelly told everybody that Hannah had a doctor’s appointment weekly now that she was a few weeks away from her due date. 

              Nobody minded when she signed herself out during her last class, the guidance counselors understanding that their office aide needed to leave, and cried out her embarrassment to her husband.

              The third time it happened was in the middle of Bible Study and the other young couples smiled as Brady and Hannah quickly left the room. 

              “This time it feels different,” Hannah insisted. 

              It wasn’t. 

              This time her doctor advised her to not come in until her water broke.  “It’s not as if you aren’t close to the hospital.” 

              “You are tired.  Get some sleep while you still can,” she suggested to the young couple as they left the room. 

              It was all downhill from that point.  The Seniors were all counting down the days until Graduation.  Senioritis was a serious condition that faced all but three of the students.  Kyle, Jennifer, and Taylor Rodgers were still battling for the honor of being that year’s valedictorian. 

              Kyle knew that his chances had dropped once he stopped stressing himself out over his grades and the assignments.  A few B’s in his classes might have hurt his chances – he bet Jennifer that it had – of ranking in the top three, but he was okay with that.  He definitely wasn’t stressing about it anymore like he had been before his football accident. 

              Many of the students were placing bets on who was going to get the honor.  Wesley had placed his money on Jennifer.  “She’s a genius,” he was heard stating.  “Have you ever gotten in a debate with her?”

              Some people reluctantly placed their bets on Taylor; they knew there was a chance, but he could be obnoxious about the entire thing.

              “You’ve got this in the bag,” Wesley whispered to Jennifer one day before finals. 

              Letting out a laugh before explaining, “I have a photographic memory.  It doesn’t take much for me to recall the textbook, my notes, or what the teacher puts on the board.  I only struggle in math and science because there isn’t always a clear-cut answer or way to do things.” 

              Delilah, walking up to them, let out her own laugh.  “You are a genius when it comes to math.  You only think you aren’t because of a C you had gotten in the sixth grade.”  She turned to Wesley, “It was the teacher’s fault.  She’d given us a test meant for the eighth graders.  Jennifer was the only one who passed that test.” 

              Pressing a hand against her chest, “That C still hurts.”

              “Please, don’t mention the letter C,” Kyle moaned, joining them as he waited for Grace.  “I still can’t forget the first C I made this year.”

              “But that grade was dropped.”

              “Thank goodness,” Kyle sighed.  “That would have ended my run for the highest honors in the class.”

              “Class President?” Wesley quipped.

              “Sure, if you want to have to deal with high school reunions for the rest of your life.”  Kyle put his bag down and opened up Grace’s locker.  Without thinking he had it ready for when Hannah would waddle her way over to them with a book in her hands.  It had gotten to be a routine with them when Hannah realized that she needed to stop carrying her books in her book bag.  And when Aimee had an underclassman break a bottle of perfume in front of her locker. 

              The people around Hannah’s locker silently suffered, uncertain if it had been Aimee’s idea or an accident.  They still remembered the damage done to David’s Mustang. 

              “Guys,” Jennifer whispered.  “Kyle,” she turned to him, “I purposely made an A minus last semester in one of my classes.” 

              Everybody turned to look at her.  A chorus of ‘whys’ echoed down the emptying hallway. 

              Taking a deep breath, “The only thing Taylor has to live for is this honor.  Ever since we were freshmen his only goal was to be the class valedictorian.  First or third I’m still getting my scholarships.  The only difference is at third I won’t have to give a speech.”

              “Second,” Kyle responded.  “You’ll be second unless Taylor has messed up.  I had some trouble in one of my classes and didn’t do perfectly on a few assignments.  Maybe a test.” 

              Grace walked up beside them, holding onto Hannah’s book.  “Hey.  Why is everybody so serious?” she asked as she slid the textbook into place. 

              “Did you know about Kyle’s grades?”

              Smiling, “Of course.  He’ll get the scholarships he needs, regardless.” 

              Wesley mumbled, “Not that he needs them.”

              Kyle whipped around to look at his friend, “My dad will only pay on the condition that I go into sports rehab classes.  I’d rather go into communications and become a journalist, even if it is for sports journalism.   But Dad doesn’t care about that.  I’m on the sidelines or nothing.”  Shaking his head, “I’m being cut off as soon as I move out.”