Escape From School

 

Escape from School

 

Stacy had to endure some good-natured kidding and some side-glances accompanied by hushed whispers at times during the rest of the school day. She was anxious to get away from school and very glad to see her father's SUV sitting in the car rider lane. Nevada joined them to study for end of term exams and she was looking forward to her work out as well. Having gymnastics right after school seemed to work out very well and fit into their schedules before Regionals so there was no reason to make any changes now. It was a great relief to Stacy to have her two biggest supporters by her side for the rest of the evening.

“Dad, you should have seen what Stacy did to Bobby today! She was awesome!”

“Kim! I’ve already told Dad everything. It’s over now.”

“She was great Mr. Wright. She did everything you taught us in class” Nevada had to brag on Stacy as he had done all day. To Stacy, it was just a girl taking care of herself. To everyone else, she was a hero in one way or another.

“Bobby’s mother called me from the hospital. His wrist is sprain, not broken and he has a couple of loose teeth. She was pretty upset over what he’s been up to and she wanted to apologize for any harm he may have caused. He’s pretty messed up right now in more ways than one.”

“He’s just plain sick Dad. We all know that.”

“Kim, he’s going to juvenile detention. They found a lot of pornography in his room and stashed throughout the house. Since he’s under eighteen, they couldn’t go into a lot of detail about what they found, but it’s bad enough he may be in there a while. He’s got a psych evaluation coming up tomorrow. The less we say about what happened, the better for now. We need to protect Stacy, you and Crystal. Nevada, Bobby had a couple of great shots of you with Stacy together from this weekend and his mother wanted to give them to you. Bobby was a very talented photographer. It’s a shame he was so misguided.”

“What he did today is all over school Dad. He attacked Stacy at her locker right after we got dressed following assembly. You were probably still in the parking lot when it happened.”

“I don’t know about that Kim. Dad usually gets away from school pretty quick.”

“I had to get Crystal to her counselor’s appointment. We had just arrived when Stacy called me from school. I was pretty close to coming back for her, but she convinced me she would rather stay at school.”

“Dad, I’m sorry I had to use the self-defense stuff at all. Bobby wouldn’t listen to us when we tried to get him to leave us all alone. He kept on spying on us, and then this morning was it. He grabbed me and I lost it.”

“Officer Joe told me you held back when you threw your knee to his face, so you didn’t lose it completely.”

“Well, I did pull back on that because what he did was bad enough. I didn’t want to hurt my knee on him. I made my point.”

“I’ll say you did sis! No one is going to mess with you at school from now on.”

“It’s almost like that time Dad was subbing for our health teacher, remember? By the end of the day the rumor around school was he had put two kids in the hospital for pulling a knife on him. Who was it, Amy who bowed when she came into first period?”

“Oh, I remember that now” Nevada said. “That was pretty funny. No one in fifth or sixth period said a word in health class that day. They were afraid to do anything.”

“Now you know why I wanted to stay at school. Everything will be bad enough tomorrow, but if I had left school, some stupid rumor would get blown up that Bobby had raped me or Kim or both of us. I don’t need that right now.”

“You did the right thing Stacy. You defended yourself with Bobby and you defended yourself by staying at school. I’m sorry you had to do either, but you handled yourself very well.”

Stacy was glad her father agreed with her actions. She knew her father did not agree with the use of force unless a serious threat existed and there was no other way out of the situation. She second guessed herself after kicking Bobby in the groin, but she never regretted nearly breaking his wrist. She acted out of instinct and she reacted naturally to the assault. 

The gym would be a great place to escape everything tonight. Shannon had promised a night of light workouts, but Stacy was in the mood to really let it rip which made Nevada glad they weren’t going to karate class tonight.

“We’ve got to pick Crystal up from Grandpa and Grandma, if they will turn her loose. She has “Little Flyers” tonight.”

The gym had a very electric feel to it when they arrived. Shannon and Jeri were very excited to see all three of their top gymnasts show up to train the night after the Regional competition. Danielle was the first of their fellow gymnasts to greet them as they walked in. 

“Congratulations to all of you! Guess what! I’m fully released and ready to train again. I had a long talk with myself over my stubbornness and I don’t think I’ll be pushing myself that hard any time too soon. You all made me realize what I missed.”

It was painful for Stacy to watch Danielle work on the easier exercises again. Even though she was very sympathetic towards her rival, but she wasn’t going to give up her edge. She was holding the top spot in the Region and she was determined to keep it. 

Kimberly was working hard to keep her focus, but her high energy level was almost too much for her to handle. She faltered a time or two on the beam and she wasn’t very happy with herself.

“Kimberly, you are losing your focus on the beam. Remember, eyes, mind, body all have to be focused. Relax; just let yourself play on the beam. Take a break and come back to it. Try to refocus.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll try to relax, but it’s so hard now. I’m realizing now what I’m going up against in the next round of competition. I’m really going after a spot on the Junior Olympic National team and it is blowing me away.”

“That’s still a couple of months away, so let’s get you back into the training you need to take it all the way. Kimberly, you are a great person and a really great gymnast. You’ve got tons of energy, tons of potential and we just need to let it all show a little at a time.”

“I think I can handle that. May I get some water? I’m a little thirsty.”

“Sure, take a little break and let’s get back to this. We’ll work the lower beam if we need to do that. I don’t want you to fall off this thing tonight.”

Kimberly took the time to get a drink and to watch Dana, Stacy and Danielle work out. Dana was really working her bars routine very hard and Stacy was adding more elements to her floor routine. Danielle was icing her wrist when Kimberly took her break. 

“It’s going to be a lot harder to come back than I thought. Stacy has really gotten better and just look at you. You’ve can’t be the same Kimberly. You’ve gotten so much better it really is scary.”

“Danielle, I’m sorry you got hurt. You know we have trained really hard and Shannon really pushed us when she realized we had the chance to take all three top spots. Stacy just blew the last two competitions away. Once she got into her zone, we couldn’t touch her.” 

“I know and just look at Dana on the bars. That’s going to be the hard part for me. I’m not 100% sure I’ll ever be comfortable on those bars again.”

“You’ll be as strong as ever and make me work even harder to stay on the team. I found out one thing this weekend. I love doing this more than anything I’ve done so far. It’s great, and I wish you could have been with us.”

“Thanks, I appreciate that, I really do. I’ll do my best. Hey, on the beam, think more like that thing is a mile wide rather than it being only four inches wide. It will help you stop those small bobbles you’ve been making.”

“I’ll try that. Something has to work.”

“Wow, they really work hard here don’t they?” Nevada was impressed with the intense level of training the girls were going through right after a major competition. In the karate school they did not work quite as hard after a major belt exam or tournament. Sarah kept them at a lower level of intensity for a couple of days before turning them loose again. 

“Shannon keeps them plenty busy. With Stacy, she is helping her to keep each and every move sharp. With Kimberly it’s all about focus. If she stays focused, the routines go well, but when she has trouble with her focus, everything falls apart.”

“Maybe Kimberly could use more karate training to help her stay focused, especially sparring. I noticed she never comes on sparring nights.”

“I think you could be right about that. She could use something that forces her to stay totally focused. Fear of getting hit is a pretty strong incentive to stay focused.”

The rest of their training went its normal course which left Kimberly and especially Stacy dead tired when they got back home. The study session with Nevada was more like a review of the day’s events, but under Kevin’s watchful eye, all homework was finished before he put the girls favorite supper on the table. Both Stacy and Kimberly claimed his spaghetti was legendary. With Crystal’s help, he completed preparing this meal without any incident. Crystal was into every spice she could get her hands on, but Kevin’s sauce survived the near overdose of Rosemary.

“Mr. Wright, this is better than the Spaghetti Factory. Where did you find the recipe for this sauce?”

“He makes it up every time he makes it, so it’s always a little different” Stacy said. “He used to cook for the entire station when he worked in Houston. This was Uncle Greg’s favorite meal.”

“He could eat his weight in this stuff, that’s for sure” Kevin added. “And thanks Nevada. I’ll keep that in mind the first time you manage to bring Stacy home late from a date.”

“Dad! We’re still friends, right Nevada?”

Stacy kicked him soundly under the table as he hesitated with his answer. The swift kick reminded him she meant business concerning their friendship.

“Yeah, we’re not going out or anything. Stacy’s my best friend, and I definitely don’t want her as an enemy. Hey, I hate to eat and run, but my mom’s going to be here any minute. I need to get my stuff together.”

“I’ll walk out with you.” Stacy quickly joined Nevada as he gathered his books. His mother was just getting out of her car as they walked out to meet her. Stacy had yet to meet Nevada’s parents. He explained they worked some strange hours, so both were hardly ever home at the same time.

“Mom, this is Stacy, the girl you’ve probably been hearing about in the news and all. Stacy, this is my Mom.”

“Nice to meet you Stacy” she offered her hand to Stacy as she introduced herself. “I’m Camille Drake, Nevada’s mother. You are all Nevada talks about these days. He was right. The photos and TV don’t do you justice. You are a living doll!”

“Thank you and I’m happy to finally meet one of Nevada’s parents. Ms. Drake, Nevada has been a great friend.  We have a lot of fun hanging out. Nevada, I’ll see you in the morning.” Stacy gave Nevada her tightest hug of the day before she allowed him to leave. His return hug felt very comforting to her and very safe. She found herself wanting to give him a quick kiss on the check, but she held back her urges. She decided that would be best left for a normal day in her life, if one were to ever come around again.

 She returned to her room and started to get ready for bed, but she still had some reading to finish. She picked up her newest book, “Mark Up”, and tried to get into story again, but the music and noise from the deck made her decide to change into her bathing suit to join everyone else in the spa. 

Crystal was very tired, but the sight of Stacy joining them in the spa brightened her face very quickly. She resumed her conversation where they had left off on the subject of staying closer to home more often.

“We need more time here. We stayed away a lot today.”

“You like staying home more, Crystal?”

“Yes, its fun here and its nice. We stay here more tomorrow?”

“Not tomorrow Crystal. I have to work, so you’ll be with Grandma and Grandpa when Mom goes to work. I’ll see you the next day and we get to work on the car again.”

“Cool! Can we stay home from school and help out too?”

Kimberly almost lived to help her dad work on the Corvette. She loved to figure out the mechanics of the car and watch the slow transformation as the car was being restored to its former splendor. Her father bought this car when he graduated high school and it had been a part of the family all her life. The years of being a daily driver took its toll on the classic sports car, but her father’s patience in the restoration was paying off. The car still had a long way to go before it was finished.

“We’ll have plenty of time over your next break from school. When is that, right after Nationals?”

“Yes, it’s the next week after Nationals. We get a whole week off for good behavior, I mean Fall Break. Can we take a trip somewhere after Nationals? That would be so cool.”

“Possibly, but let’s get there first. There’s still a lot of training and school between now and then. We might need to get away after Nationals, but there are times when working on that car takes me very far away from everything.”

“Dad, how are you and Mom doing now?” Stacy could not keep from asking the once private question in front of her sisters. She felt the time was right for all of them to know what was happening between their parents.

“We’re okay. I’m not going to tell you everything is a bed of roses just yet, but we are doing okay. Speaking of that, the news is on. Care to see Mom tell you girls good night?”

Kevin flipped on the small TV on the sundeck and positioned it so they could all see it from the hot tub. Stacy was beginning to relax until she saw the signs of stress on her mother’s face as she reported several news events from the day. It was a slow day for news and her mood should have been very light, but her face showed some major signs of stress. Kimberly picked up on the outward signs of stress also. This bothered her and she could not put a finger on what was wrong. Then she noticed the tone of her mother’s voice as she reported the latest on Marco. 

“They’ve been questioning Mom about that Marco guy again. She’s pretty stressed over that isn’t she?”

“I think so and I can’t blame her. The defense attorneys are trying to get him off a murder charge and Texas still has the death penalty. He could still get life without parole, but I think the DA is going for the death penalty.”

“You think Mom could become involved in this any deeper? This is one of the states where a person who is involved with a crime leading to murder but not guilty of murder can get the death penalty.”

“Stacy, I don’t see your mother involved that far. Remember, she was the one he tried to kill. The other victim was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“That’s a relief. Dad, what do you think will happen to Bobby?”

“I think he will get the help he needs. His mother said they are going to sell their home and move out of the neighborhood. She’s too upset about what he has done to all the girls around here to stay. It’s too much for her.”

“That’s so sad. Why wouldn’t he just come out and play when we used to ask him to come out dad? We really tried to make friends with him.”

“His mother said he had such a deep crush on Stacy and Melanie that he couldn’t even talk after you girls went to his house. He just froze up. The only thing she could do that would get a response from him was get him something to eat. He really has some problems and it is sad they didn’t get the boy help sooner.”

“Mommy’s telling us all goodnight, so we should go to bed now” Crystal called their attention to Helen’s personal signal to her family as she was curled up in her towel.  

“Crystal is right girls. It is time for bed. We have an early day tomorrow and you girls have to catch the bus again. No late night reading or wandering through the house tonight. Everyone get a good night’s sleep.”

Kevin took Crystal to her room and Stacy helped her get dressed for bed. Crystal chose one of Kevin’s old work shirts to wear that night and it seemed to be the only thing she would keep on throughout the night. Crystal was very tired, but she was never too tired to give both her sisters a huge goodnight hug.

Kimberly decided tonight was a good night to try the silk pajamas her Dad got for her. The soft fabric felt great; better than feeling the covers against her skin. She did miss the freedom, but this was a great sensation.

The next morning, Stacy’s incident at school had made it to the media. “Did they have to pick this story up? Well, at least it’s local only.”

“I had that story up last night, but I made sure we ran out of time. I knew it was your school and from the descriptions and all, I figured you were involved some how.”

“Thanks Mom, I think. School could be a real trip today.”

“You’ll be fine Stacy. I’m there for you, especially at lunch.”

“Thanks Kim. It’s really nice to have a sixth grader looking out for me.”

“Stacy, be nice. I know this isn’t a great situation, but my guess is all your friends are already taking up for you if anyone has tried to start any rumors.”

“It’s the attention Dad. I’m under the microscope enough don’t you think? After all those sports commentators and gymnastics analysts this weekend, plus every pervert in the country looking at my butt in a leotard, isn’t that enough for one lifetime?”

Due to the incident with Bobby, Stacy was more sensitive to the TV exposure she had gotten this weekend. She took a long look at the leotards and how much of her wasn’t covered up when she was on the competition floor. She looked at her cheerleading photos and realized there were times she had come very close to some wardrobe malfunctions of her own. She got into her routines so much she never paid much attention to whether her tights or leotard were riding up in sensitive areas. Only on the vault did she ever take time to adjust her leotard and that was out of habit, not out of modesty.

“Stacy, we can get with a wardrobe designer to cover you more if you like. You are too good to let this incident stop you from moving forward with your competition.”

“Dad, I’m okay with my leotards, really but could you find a way to remind me to check my bottom more carefully? In a couple of the pictures Bobby took of me cheerleading, I had a pretty bad wedgie. That could have been embarrassing if he had been taking that picture from the front.”

“I think together we can do something to help you with that. Shannon can add a wardrobe check to the beginning of each routine.”

“Dad, as much as Stacy puts into her routines, that could put her into overload.”

“Girls, the bus waits for no one. Better get moving. Kevin, are you sure your parents are okay watching Crystal today?  I could take her to the studio with me until Laura gets off. Maybe we could get some girl time in before we do the noon show.”

“No TV” Crystal demanded. She did not want to be on the TV screen. She was pretty sure Stacy didn’t really like to be on TV when she wasn’t doing gymnastics and she wanted to be more like her in everything she did. 

“You don’t have to be on TV today, honey. I just thought it might be nice for you to see where Mommy works too.”

“It’s okay with them either way. Mom looks forward to seeing her and so does my dad, but they will understand if she goes to work with you.”

“Grandma house. Let’s go there today.” Crystal knew Grandma had planned to plant some flowers today and she was looking forward to playing in the dirt. “We plant flowers today.”

“Oh, I forgot about that. Grandma’s got all those flowers she wants to plant with you today. That’s probably more fun that playing in my office and hanging out with a bunch of TV people, right?”

“Next time Daddy works?” Crystal asked. 

“Next time will be fine, honey.”

“Well, now that you two have settled that, I’ve got to be on my way. Okay girls you need to get outside. The bus will be here in five minutes!”  

Reviews

[Raven Starhawk]

This one has a wonderful body and shape that really is enticing and such a delight to read and ponder as night settles in. Your words are mighty and hold in store a high degree of intelligence.