rated *profanity

 

 

 

Mystery at Drake University

a Trixie Belden spin-off

by Claudia

 

Chapter One

Don’t worry. Barbara, Bob and Ned are great; you’ll love them! And Des Moines is a great place.

Trixie’s words still echoed in her mind as she stood outside the train station unconsciously clutching her guitar case, looking around, and trying to absorb everything. It wasn’t her first time in Des Moines but somehow this felt different. The previous times it hadn’t felt so... permanent. She knew she would go back home, to her mountains, to her quiet life in the Ozarks. But now... Everything was going to be different.

For a split second, she considered going back into the station and purchasing a return ticket, but deep inside she knew she would never do it. She wanted this chance. She really wanted it and no one ever called Linnie Moore a coward.

Taking a deep breath, she pushed the luggage cart away from the station’s entrance and from all the people going in and out. As soon as she walked a few yards, she spotted the familiar grey Sedan belonging to Andrew Belden, a man she had learned to consider as family; more like an uncle than an employer.

Linnie couldn’t help the wave of relief that flooded her heart when she saw him standing by the car, smiling and waving at her. She still wasn’t used to big crowds. Being a small town girl, born and raised in the open spaces, big cities weren’t very familiar to her. But she knew the big city was the only place with enough room to accommodate all of her dreams.

"Linnie! It’s so nice to see you!" The older man walked up to the brown-haired girl and gave her a big hug. "So, how was your trip?"

"Hi, Mr Belden. It was long!" Linnie smiled and her brown eyes lit with warmth, as she picked up her bags from the cart and put them in the car trunk.

"I told you it would be! But your parents wouldn’t even hear of me paying for the plane ticket," Andrew Belden said sighing as he got behind the wheel. "And didn’t I tell you a thousand times before to call me Uncle Andrew?"

Linnie chuckled. "All right, Uncle Andrew! But it wasn’t just my parents who wouldn’t hear of it. I was the first to say no. You’re doing enough for me as it is!"

Smiling tenderly at the young woman he had seen grow up, Andrew patted her hand and said, "Nothing I can do will ever be enough, Linnie. You and your parents are like family to me. You are just as dear to me as Trixie and the rest of the Sleepyside gang. And if I can help you accomplish your dreams, well then, there is nothing I won’t do. Besides, what did I do? I just lent you some money to live on until you can find a job."

"And I will pay back every cent!" Linnie added, in a tone that left no space for an argument. "And you found me a place to stay, a place I could actually afford. You went through a lot of trouble for me."

Andrew started the car and shook his head. "Linnie, you’ve been working hard in my house back in the Ozarks ever since you were a child, just as hard as your mother and father. This was the least I could do. Besides, Barbara and the others were looking for a roommate, so this turned out to be perfect for everyone."

The mention of the people she would be living with made her shiver. She heard a lot about them but she had never met them. All she knew was that Barbara and Bob Hubbell were twins and that they had been Uncle Belden’s neighbours for many years. They were one year older than she was, but they would all be freshmen at Drake University, since Linnie had managed to skip a grade in high school. Since travelling back and forth from Happy Valley everyday would be tiresome and expensive, they had decided to rent an apartment just outside campus, which they would share with Ned Schulz, who would be graduating from Drake that same year. That was about all she knew. But if Andrew Belden liked them and trusted them enough to have her sharing an apartment with them, that was enough for her. And Trixie seemed to like them a lot, too. She had been thrilled to hear about her coming to Drake University, and the letters she had received from Andrew Belden’s niece, a very dear old friend, had been full of praise regarding the Hubbells and Ned.

Not that her parents had been thrilled to have her sharing an apartment with two strange boys. But Mr. Schulz and Mr. Hubbell had called her parents personally and reassured them about the boys’ good conduct. She grinned as she remembered. Then another thought crept into her head. God, they must really think I’m a real hillbilly! Nowadays, a lot of girls have boys for roommates!

Uncle Andrew must have guessed what was going through her mind, because he reached out and squeezed her hand, reassuringly. "Don’t worry, Linnie. They’ll love you! I know Trixie and Barbara have talked and Trixie spoke very highly of you. And even if she hadn’t, one look at that honest, beautiful face of yours and they’ll all know what’s in your heart."

Linnie blushed at the compliment but replied, "I don’t know if that’s much of an advantage, Uncle Andrew. Des Moines is nothing like the Ozarks. Sometimes I feel I’m too naive to adjust quickly to a big city. I don’t think I’ll fit in!"

"Oh, nonsense!" Andrew dismissed her words with a gesture. "You’ll win them with your smile and your talent. Once they listen to your singing and playing, you’ll have them eating right out of your hand."

She laughed. "Oh, yeah, right! Drake is tough competition, you know! It’s got one of the best musical programs in the country and I will have to work hard if I want to prove myself worthy!"

"Well, you did win a scholarship, didn’t you? And you are one of the youngest people ever to get it! I think they know what you’re worth."

Linnie sank in the car seat and sighed. She really hoped everything would turn out all right.

*     *      *

When Andrew Belden stopped the car in front of large red brick building, Linnie’s jaw dropped. Was this it? Was this beautiful turn of the century, four story building to be her home from now on? And how on Earth were they able to afford living in a place like this?

"It looks great, doesn’t it?" Andrew grinned as he got out of the car.

Linnie followed him to the back of the car, where he was already taking out her luggage from the trunk. "Uncle Andrew, you’re kidding, right? This can’t be it... It looks too... grand!" Linnie looked again at the building, with its large white-framed windows and the polished oak and stained glass front door.

He chuckled. "Yeah, it does look expensive, doesn’t it?" he said, as he picked up the largest bag and walked over to the stone steps leading to the building’s door.

"Yes!" Linnie picked up the rest of her luggage and followed him, expecting an explanation.

Staring at her in amusement, Andrew let out a big laugh. "Don’t you worry, Linnie. I didn’t trick you when I told you how much the rent was nor am I paying for a part of your share."

"Then the guy who owns this place must be totally insane! He could make a fortune out of it!" For her total bewilderment, Andrew laughed yet again, as he pressed one of the buzzers in the second floor row.

"Yes, he probably is. Or he may have decided that rents were already too high in this town and he should give the students an opportunity of living in a nice place without having to worry about having money left to eat after paying the rent."

Then Lizzie understood. "You’re the landlord, aren’t you?" But she only got a mischievous smile for an answer as a female voice came through the intercom.

"Yes?"

"Barbara, honey, it’s Andrew Belden."

"Hey, I’m glad you came," the girl said, sounding pleased. "Come on up! Or do you need a hand with the bags?"

"No, we’ve got it!"

The two of them entered the building and, once more, Linnie gazed in awe at the fine wood paneled walls and the polished wooden floor. To her right there was a door with a sign, that read "Laundry room" and to her left there was an arch leading into a large common room, furnished with comfortable sofas and chairs and a dining table. In front of them, was the staircase.

"Here is what the people around here call the common room, or study room," Andrew said, pointing at the room on her left. "I thought it would be nice for everyone to have a nice place to get to know their neighbors."

"But what’s the story with this place, anyway?" Linnie asked as they started their way up on the staircase.

"Well, a few years back this building was practically and really run down. Every time I passed it by I thought it was a real shame. Then one day I heard of this program the city authorities and Drake University were developing, to recover old buildings and turn them into affordable places for young people to live. I gave them a call and they told me this place was on their list, only the owners weren’t interested in investing in it. I then called the owners and they were willing to sell it amazingly cheap. So, I decided to have a go in Real Estate, bought it, and joined the program. There were tax benefits and subsidies from the Government to help with the recovery. I’m not that insane, you see!"

Linnie shook her head, in disbelief. "But why didn’t you tell me the truth to start with?"

"Because I know just how stubborn and proud you are and you would think this was charity. It’s not, believe me!"

By then they had reached the second floor and Linnie spotted the open door at the end of the corridor. As far as she could tell there were 4 apartments per floor, which, considering the size of the building, would make them comfortably spacious. The flutter in her stomach wouldn’t let her notice every detail. She was very nervous about this and was dreading the moment they reached the apartment where she was supposed to be living for the next four years.

The moment finally came and Linnie found herself literally on the threshold of her new life. And despite her fear and nervousness she liked what she saw. The door opened directly into a large and comfortable room set up to be both the living room and dining room, with a small kitchen area off to the right, separated from the room by a breakfast island. Off to the left, Linnie noticed a corridor, which undoubtedly led to the bedrooms and bathroom. The walls were painted in a light, soft shade of yellow and the furnishings seemed to have been chosen more for utility and comfort purposes than for style. Still, the whole ensemble lent the room a nice, cozy feeling and Linnie felt deep inside she would like living there.

"Hi!" Linnie turned to see a brown-haired girl about her age rushing out one of the rooms. This must be Barbara, she thought.

"I was wondering where you were," Andrew Belden said, as he gave the girl a hearty hug.

"Oh, the boys are still moving in and I was just making sure their room is at least presentable," Barbara smiled and then turned her attention to Linnie. "You must be Linnie. I’m Barbara Hubbell. I’m very happy to have you here. It’s hard for a girl to put up with two boys, all by herself."

Linnie returned the smile, immediately liking the simplicity and friendliness of the other girl’s address.

"Hi, Barbara. I’m really glad to meet you too," she said as she shook Barbara’s hand.

"Well, I guess you’re in good hands now and so I can leave you two to get better acquainted," Andrew said, as he wrapped an arm around Linnie shoulders. "If you need anything just call me up, ok?" Linnie nodded, with half a smile. "But I’m sure this gang here will take very good care of you."

"Oh, we will, Uncle Andrew," Barbara replied, replacing Andrew Belden’s arm with her own around the other girl’s shoulders. "I’m sure Linnie will feel right at home in no time."

*     *      *

After saying their goodbyes to Andrew, Barbara decided to take Linnie for a tour of the apartment. There wasn’t that much to see, but still Linnie was curious as to what the place where she would be spending the next four years of her life looked like.

"You know, we were pretty lucky to get this apartment," Barbara said. "Since Uncle Andrew started leasing apartments two years ago it’s been full to capacity. However, this one vacated this year and the University gives priority to students on scholarships, so we got it, since both you and me and Ned have them."

"Ned is the one that plays basketball, right?"

"Yeah, he’s the Bulldog’s pride and joy! And I’m a Music major too, just like you."

"Yes, Uncle Andrew told me. And your brother, Bob, is majoring in Marketing, right?"

Barbara chuckled. "Bob is still a bit undecided. First, he wanted to be a musician, then he decided he would go into Agronomy, and now he finally went into Marketing. Oh well," she concluded, with a dismissive gesture, "I guess he’s smart enough to do whatever he wants! He’s the brain in the family! At least he thinks he is..."

Linnie grinned, as the girl’s remark sounded very familiar. "I remember Trixie saying something about how close Mart and Bob were!"

This time, Barbara laughed out loud. "Oh, yeah! If you know Mart that well, you’ll know what I’m talking about!"

"Well, I haven’t seen him in a long while, but from what Trixie tells me in her letters he hasn’t changed that much."

"I know what you mean. I haven’t seen those guys in a long time... I really miss them!"

"Me too! The days they spent over at the Ozarks were some of the best in my life," Linnie’s eyes glimmered, as she recalled. "You know, if it wasn’t for Trixie and the others maybe my father wouldn’t have returned home and got his memory back." As the words left her lips, Linnie blushed. It wasn’t like her to share such intimate details of her life with someone who was little more than a complete stranger.

Barbara apparently noticed her discomfort and didn’t press her to go on. She liked Linnie and something inside her told her they would soon be close friends. Instead, she showed her into the bedroom they would be sharing.

"And here, my friend, is the place where we’ll be talking nonsense... and boys," Barbara giggled, "until dawn."

As Linnie entered the room, a smile spread over her lips and lit her pretty brown eyes. After a lifetime used to sleep and study in her tiny room, this was a welcome surprise. No matter how much she loved her cozy log cabin in the mountains in her dreams she had imagined one day she would have a colourful, spacious room, exactly like this. The fact that she would be sharing it with Barbara didn’t really matter.

Twin white iron beds were set side by side, against the room’s back wall. Linnie smiled as she noticed Barbara’s bed was covered with a patchwork quilt, much like the one still in her bag. Maybe we’re not that different after all, she thought, finding the idea quite comforting.

Barbara sat cross-legged on the bed, hugging a well-worn teddy bear. "I hope you don’t mind I took this bed," she said, a little note of concern in her voice.

"No, of course not. I like sleeping by the window. I always did at home..."

"I really hope you won’t miss home too much... I understand how hard it must be for you. I get to go home every weekend and I still miss it." Barbara came to sit by Linnie on her bed and held one of her hands in her own. " You can always spend weekends with us, if you don’t want to be here all by yourself."

Linnie smiled, honestly moved by Barbara’s words. "That’s all right, Barbara. I might do that once in a while, and I might also go to Uncle Andrew’s now and then, but I’ll have to use the weekends to keep up with my schoolwork. You know I have to find a job to be able to provide for myself. I don’t want to depend on Uncle Andrew or my parents."

Barbara nodded, already quite taken by the other girl. She seemed to be the kind of person Barbara admired: feisty, determined and honest. The "what-you-see-is-what-you-get" kind of person. No deceptions, no mask, no pretending. Just Linnie Moore.

"Well," Barbara said, trying to divert the conversation onto less serious subjects "I hope you like the decor." She pointed at the dresser and the vanity table. "The boys did a great job with those. Andrew Belden gave them to us, along with some other stuff and Bob and Ned restored them."

"They look great! And the wall closet is enormous!" Linnie said, as she opened it. Half of it was already occupied by Barbara’s things.

The other girl laughed. "Yeah! I picked us this room just because of that! There’s never too much closet space when girls are concerned."

Linnie blushed. "I don’t have many clothes, really. In fact I’ll have to buy some things."

"No worries!" Barbara said, matter-of-factly. "You can always borrow some of my things and I’ll show you to some pretty nice stores... inexpensive ones, of course!" She winked. "I know them all!"

"That will be great, thanks."

"Anyway, I haven’t hanged any pictures on the walls yet or anything, because you might bring some stuff with you and it will be fun to that together."

Linnie smiled. Barbara seemed to be just as nice as Trixie had described her and she already felt welcomed and almost at home.

"Why don’t we leave the unpacking until later and I’ll show you the rest of the apartment?"

"Ok," Linnie agreed as she followed her roommate on to the next stop.

"This is the bathroom," Barbara announced, opening the door at the end of the corridor. It wasn’t big, but like everything else seemed well taken care off and tasteful. The tiles were plain white, with a single blue border at shoulder height. The room was also very clean and tidy.

"You guys must have gone through a lot of trouble with this before I came," Linnie said, in an apologetic tone. "I’m sorry I wasn’t able to come sooner! But I promise I cook for you for as long as you want!"

"Uncle Andrew Belden did tell us about that particular skill of yours," Barbara grinned. "And I’m sure the boys will be more than ready to take up on that offer, so you better not say that twice! I’m not the best of cooks and I’m lazy, so I guess they’re tired of macaroni and cheese, which is what I do when it’s my turn to cook."

"But I mean it. I owe it to you!"

"We’ll see about that later. Now let’s take a peak at the boys room. Let me just check to make sure it’s presentable. I refuse to clean up their room! They’re slobs!" Barbara giggled as she opened the door and peaked inside. "Ok, you can come in. No foul smells coming from under the beds."

Linnie went in and looked around. The room was similar to the one she would be sharing with Barbara, even if the closet was a wee bit smaller. But the decor was very masculine. There were posters of cars and rock bands hanging on the walls and over one of the beds was a large Bulldogs poster. That must be Ned’s bed, she thought.

"Hey, look!" Barbara picked up a picture frame from the desk by the door. "I bet you know these guys."

Smiling, Linnie recognized all of the Bob-Whites, with Barbara and two other boys. The picture had been taken a few years back; probably around the time Linnie had last seen the Sleepysiders too.

"That was taken two summers ago, when we went to Sleepyside. That guy making faces behind Dan is my dear twin brother, Bob and the hunk standing next to Jim is Ned."

Linnie eyes gazed over the picture, each one of the faces bringing sweet memories to her, until she met Ned Schultz’s brown eyes staring back at her. The sudden stirring in the pit of her stomach startled her. Bob Hubbel was certainly good looking, a lot like Brian Belden. But there was something different about Ned. His features were stronger and there was a determined look about him that made it difficult for her to take her eyes away from him. The feeling disturbed her profoundly. Linnie had always been a down-to-earth kind of girl, and had never let her be carried away by flights of fancy about boys. Or anything else, for that matter.

But this time she was sure her heart had skipped a beat. It’s just a picture, girl. What’s wrong with you? she thought, totally bewildered at her own reaction, as she set the frame back on the desk and prayed Barbara wouldn’t notice her trembling hands.

But Barbara had already picked up another picture and was grimacing at it.

"God, I still don’t know how this happened," she mumbled, as if she was just thinking out loud.

"Excuse me?"

Barbara looked up, seemingly startled and then smiled, when she realized she had voiced her thoughts.

"Oh, I was just wondering what Ned sees in her," Barbara showed the picture to Linnie. It was of a blonde, beautiful girl, with sapphire blue eyes and an altogether look of sensuality and confidence, standing in an ice ring clad in a sparkling ice skating outfit.

Being a fan of the sport, Linnie recognized her immediately. "That’s Dot Murray, isn’t she?"

Barbara grinned and nodded. "Yep. She a Drake student too and Ned’s girlfriend."

"Oh," Linnie stared at the picture. She had admired Dot for years, following her picture perfect skating career on TV and magazines until a terrible fall during the National Championships about 4 years back had cut it short. And now her boyfriend was her roommate? This was just too weird!

"Well," she said, after a while. "I guess I can imagine what he sees in her. She’s beautiful and she’s into sports, too. She would have been National Champion, I’m sure!"

The other girl sighed. "Yes, I know. And I have to admit she is beautiful and she was an incredible skater. But with Dot it’s really a case of not judging a book by its cover. I’ve known her since elementary school and she was always a spoiled little brat. And her sudden stardom didn’t help."

"Maybe she just never learned to deal with success," Linnie offered.

Barbara chuckled a little bitterly. "Well, I don’t know. And I hate to speak ill of her, being Ned’s girlfriend and all, but I don’t like her. I tried but I can’t."

"Maybe she’s changed. Or maybe she’s just unable too show her true self to other people!"

Barbara made a face and set the picture back on the nightstand. "Linnie, if Dot Murray ever shows you her true self, just run for cover. That’s a friendly advice. Or you might just ask Trixie what she thinks about Dot." There was a sly smile on Barbara’s face as she left the room.

*     *      *

"That’s that!" Linnie exclaimed, as she pushed the last of her now empty bags under the bed. She threw herself on the bed and stared at the ceiling. Everything was now unpacked and properly stored with Barbara’s help. They had left the decoration of the room for later, since Barbara had to run some errands in town.

Too tired to go with her newfound friend, Linnie decided to take the time to get acquainted with her new home properly. But right now she was feeling too exhausted to get up. The long journey and the pressure of the last few days were making it felt in every muscle. And in the complete silence of the apartment Linnie felt her eyelids growing heavier and heavier.

She had no idea of how long she had been sleeping or if she had ever fallen at sleep at all, but a strange noise made her eyes pop open. She had to shake her head and sit up to realize where she was, and recognized the noise of the front door opening.

Barbara must be back, she thought as she got up and straightened her somewhat crumpled clothes. As she opened the room door, she nearly bumped into a tall, dark haired young man, holding up his fist as if he was about to knock on the door.

It took her only a second to recognize him. Ned Schultz hadn’t changed much in the couple of years that had passed since the picture had been taken.

"Hi," he said, looking a bit puzzled. "I thought Barb was in there."

"She went out," Linnie answered, cursing her everlasting tendency to blush. "Its only me here."

Ned’s eyes widened, as he appeared to finally figure out who she was. "Oh, you must be Linnie, right? The girl from the mountains?" The young man said it with a smile, but the words struck at Linnie’s pride.

"Yes, I’m Linnie Moore, from Missouri," she said as she coldly shook his hand.

He blushed, finally realizing how she had interpreted his words. "I’m sorry, I didn’t intend to... I didn’t mean it like that. I’m Ned Schulz."

Linnie returned a faint smile, his thoughtless words still ringing in her hears. Somewhere inside her a voice was telling her to pay it no mind, that she was from the mountains and proud of it. But another voice, a little louder than the other one was telling her deepest fears had been true all along. She would be regarded as the hillbilly amongst them.

Ned felt the awkward silence that fell upon them had been his fault. It wasn’t difficult to understand what was going through her head. But he had never been very good with words anyway, and he was afraid any kind of explanation would make matters even worse. Instead he chose to try to divert the subject. But somehow he couldn’t find anything to say.

She lifted her eyes to meet his and he suddenly felt breathless. There was such depth and feeling in those golden brown eyes, as he had never seen before--certainly not in Dot’s. The remembrance of his girlfriend woke him from his reveries and he realized he was still staring at Linnie.

"Something wrong?" She asked, folding her arms, in a challenging pose.

He tried not to smile. "No, no! I was thinking... I have this annoying way of always getting my foot in my mouth. Listen, why don’t we just start over?"

Linnie sighed, and swallowed her hurt pride. Maybe he was being honest and didn’t mean it like that. After all, she was pretty touchy. With a smile she shook the hand he was holding out to her, again. "Fine. Pleased to meet you."

"So, how do you like the place so far?" he asked, trying to ease things between them.

"Very much." Linnie followed him into the living room. "It’s nice to know I’ll be living with people that share both my interests and old friends."

He nodded. "Yeah, any friend of Trixie’s and the others is a friend of mine." Ned threw himself on the couch and put his feet up on the coffee table. "You know, I had a crush on Trixie when we met. Of course, it lasted for about 5 minutes, until Jim started throwing murdering looks at me."

Linnie laughed. "Yes, I recall those looks. And I also remember the way he looked after he rescued her from drowning in a cave once. I hope they’ll get together soon. Everyone knows they will sooner or later, except those two."

"What about you? How did your boyfriend take your moving here?" Ned tried to sound nonchalant, but his stomach ached strangely while he waited for her answer.

The girl looked at him, surprised. She wasn’t much used to sharing her personal life with people, much less with some guy she hardly knew. But after a few moments she reckoned he was just trying to make small talk, so she decided to answer. "I don’t have a boyfriend."

"Oh," was all Ned could muster. Get a grip, man, he thought, What’s it to you, anyway? You do HAVE a girlfriend remember?

"I’m sure that will change soon enough," he finally said, with a smile.

"I’m not here to find a boyfriend," Linnie declared, again folding her arms across her chest, in a gesture he was starting to recognize as a sign of displeasure. "I’m here to study. Hard."

"Ok, ok! Have it your way. But I can safely say that you’ll have at least five or six guys drooling over you, before the end of the semester." What a stupid thing to say! Ned cursed himself for saying that. What was happening to him? Why had he suddenly turned into a babbling fool?

She sighed and walked over to the window, not really knowing if she should answer. She was not going to have this kind of conversation with him. What did it matter to him she had a boyfriend or not? She wasn’t going to tell him she had never even been kissed, much less had a boyfriend. Not exactly for lack of opportunities, she sighed. She had her share of "suitors" in the last couple of years, but one does not earn a scholarship to one of the best musical college programs in the country, skip a year of high school, and become valedictorian of her graduating class by spending time dating and hanging around with boyfriends-- especially when you had to work hard to help your parents and go to school miles away from home. But Ned wouldn’t understand and she was not ready to tell him. He would feel sorry for her and Linnie hated it when people pitied her for her hard life. She was very proud of how her life had turned out. Besides, she still believed in true love, love that lasts for a lifetime, like her parents had. That’s what she wanted for herself.

As it turned out, Linnie never even got the chance to answer him or comment on his statement. A sudden commotion in the hallway startled them both.

"What on Earth..." Ned started as he darted towards the door. Linnie followed him, curious to what was happening. As they reached the hallway, they almost bumped into Barbara and her brother, Bob, who were standing right outside the door.

"What’s the matter?" Ned asked, trying to look past the small crowd that had gathered next door.

Bob shrugged. "Nothing much. Probably just a practical joke. Rachel, that girl that lives next door, just got some nasty mail."

"What do you mean, nasty mail?"

"Some menacing anonymous letter or something," Bob retorted.

Linnie’s eyebrows shot up. "And you think that’s nothing much? Shouldn’t the police be informed?" she asked, trying to peek over Ned’s shoulder.

Bob turned at the sound of the unfamiliar voice and smiled. "Hey, I’m sorry! We haven’t even been properly introduced. I’m Bob Hubbell," he said, reaching out to shake her hand.

Linnie smiled back. "I’m Linnie. Pleased to meet you. But like I said, isn’t this serious?"

Bob shrugged dismissively. "Nah, probably some frat prank, that’s all."

"I hope you’re right. This is kind of spooky."

Barbara looked at Linnie and nodded. "Yeah, from what I’ve heard spooky’s the word. The letter was written in red ink. Rachel thought it was blood!"

"But what did it say?" Ned asked, leaning against the doorframe, furrowing his brow.

"You better ask your girlfriend," Bob answered. "She’s coming over."

His sarcastic tone didn’t escape Linnie. Apparently Dot wasn’t much liked by either of the Hubbell twins. Standing on tiptoes, she looked over Bob’s shoulder and caught a glimpse of the tall and slender girl walking towards them. Linnie had to admit she was picture perfect, with her long golden hair and sky blue eyes. But there was something amiss. Something Linnie couldn’t quite put her finger on.

"Hi, guys! Have you heard? Isn’t this awful?" she said, as she reached the group and automatically draped her arm around Ned’s waist. Linnie noticed he shifted uncomfortably and hid a smile, when Dot glanced at him with a frown.

"Yeah, it’s pretty nasty! But it’s probably just some frat prank!" Bob gestured dismissively towards the apartment where a small crowd still gathered. "You know they’re always coming up with new stuff."

Dot shook her head and her long hair glimmered under the hall lights, making Linnie suddenly very self conscious of her own short brown hair. "I’m not that sure, Bob. The letter was pretty menacing. It referred to some specific stuff Rachel is supposed to have done, like slighting people and making fun of them. It said that if she kept on doing it, she would pay dearly."

"Well, who ever did it knew Rachel all right!" was Barbara’s snickering comment.

Dot’s eyes darted hatred at the girl. "Rachel is my friend, don’t you forget!"

"As if I could..." Barbara muttered as she rolled her eyes and entered the apartment.

Only then did Dot notice the presence of a stranger. Her demeanor quickly turned from angry and flustered to sweet as honey, when she saw Linnie standing behind Bob. "Well, hello there!" she said, with a smile. "You must be Lena!"

"That’s Linnie. Linnie Moore," the girl corrected her, as she stared up at her piercing blue eyes. Dot was about a head taller, almost as tall as Ned himself, and that somehow made Linnie feel very uncomfortable.

"Oh, I’m sorry!" Dot said, as she held out her hand. Linnie took it and shook it, noticing how soft her skin felt, compared to her own. "Well, I hope you enjoy it here. It must be quite a thrill after the mountains!"

Linnie was about to respond, when Ned surprised her by saying, "The Ozarks are not the end of the world, you know. You’d be surprised with how much nicer life can be over there." He stared into Linnie’s eyes when he spoke, and the young woman had to look away, suddenly unable to sustain his gaze.

Dot’s cheeks grew red and her eyes turned to ice while Bob smiled, apparently amused with Ned’s response to his girlfriend’s merciless comments. "I’m sure it is," Dot said, softly, while she perused Linnie’s face. The girl felt run through by her gaze and quickly excused herself into the apartment once more. It didn’t take long for Ned and Bob to enter themselves. But, by then, Linnie had hid in her room, pretending to still be unpacking.

"Quite a handful, isn’t she?" Barbara said, as she entered the room.

Linnie glanced her way and smiled. She wished she knew herself why Dot had disturbed her that much, and wasn’t about to disclose her feelings to Barbara.

"She must have qualities," she said, as she folded a sweatshirt.

"People have been looking but there’s no record of any being found," Barbara threw herself on her bed and chuckled at her own joke.

Linnie couldn’t help to giggle herself. "C’mon, Barbara. She can’t be all that bad."

"Believe me, I’ve known her all my life. And there was a time I thought she would grow out of it. But, unfortunately, Dot still is the same spoiled, obnoxious, self centered, selfish, sly little brat she’s always been."

Something in Barbara’s voice made Linnie turn and stare at her for moment. "It may not be my place to ask, Barbara," she asked softly, "But has she ever done anything to hurt you? I mean, we’ve hardly known each other but you don’t seem to be the kind of person to harbour such resentment without reason."

Barbara sighed and stared at the ceiling. "You’re right, I’m not. Let’s just say she has hurt someone I like very much. And that I can’t forgive."

"Was it...Ned?" Somehow Linnie dreaded the response. Could it be that Barbara had some feelings towards the basketball player?

Barbara turned to Linnie with a knowing smile. There was a playful glint in her eyes when she answered. "Well, she has hurt him, but Ned can fend for himself. It was someone else. I’ll tell you about it one of these days..." she then lowered her voice and gestured towards the door. "When the guys are out!"

Linnie smiled back and nodded, going back to unpacking.

"And in case you’re wondering, Ned is just like another brother to me. I do not have a crush on him!" Barbara said, slowly. She amusedly noticed the way Linnie avoided her eyes and the way she blushed.

"I didn’t mean other wise," she said meekly.

Barbara chuckled again and got up. "Come on, let’s get dinner ready. I’m starving!"

 

Chapter Two

The first few weeks at Drake proved to be quite uneventful to Linnie, when compared to the day she had arrived. She was becoming acquainted with her new roommates and she and Barbara had grown pretty close. Of the three, Ned was the one she knew less intimately. Somehow those first few moments with him had made her somewhat uneasy towards him. She hardly knew why and the thought bothered her, but she didn’t feel comfortable around him. She also wasn’t especially keen on confronting Dot once more, so she tried to keep out of his way.

But Ned seemed to keep trying to win her friendship and that made her resolve harder to maintain and her efforts in avoiding him quite apparent, which seemed to amuse both Barbara and Bob and get Ned in quite a sour mood.

Nevertheless, Linnie would always describe her first days at Drake as being some of the happiest in her life. It was a new life, a new, if scary, world. But Linnie was everything but a coward and she intended to face all the hardships ahead with her head held up high. Where her resolve in keeping out of Dot Murray’s way fell within that plan, she hardly knew, but she tried not to think about it much.

Classes were like a dream come true, and Linnie leapt head first into schoolwork. She was determined to give her best and be worthy of the scholarship she had so painstakingly earned. Although she kept herself on a pretty tight schedule, Linnie still found time for a little fun, mainly due to Barbara’s efforts in overcoming her new friend’s shy and reserved nature. The Hubbell twins had decided to introduce Linnie into their circle of friends and managed to drag her out of the house at least two or three nights a week. Though they were also freshmen they knew a lot of people at the University, some of which were freshmen like themselves and had been their high school friends, and others they had met through Ned. Regardless of being literally the new kid in town, Linnie was welcomed into their social circle, as her quiet and friendly nature easily made its way into people’s hearts.

After managing to find her spot within the campus daily routine, Linnie’s next step was to find a job. She knew she had to find something that would be compatible with her studies, but she also wanted to do something that she liked. Chances were she would end up waiting tables, but at least she wanted to try to find some other kind of occupation. In the end, it was Barbara herself who gave her hope when she told her one of her friends owned a bookstore and apparently they were looking for someone to help them. Linnie jumped at the chance and the next day she found herself outside Saunder’s Books.

The bookstore was barely a mile away from campus, in a nice, traditional neighborhood. The building itself was only two stories high, and from what Barbara had told her the owners lived upstairs.

Taking a deep breath, Linnie pushed the door open and walked inside. The store was quite large and well lit by the enormous front window and although all the furniture had the appearance of having been there for decades, it was well taken care of and polished till it shone. There were ceiling to floor bookcases, filled with colourful books neatly arranged by author and subject. There were a few tables and armchairs, where one could sit and read at will.

Linnie liked the place immediately. She’d always liked bookstores and this one had a special feel to it. Whoever had planned it was obviously a book lover himself.

"May I help you?" said a female voice, startling her. Linnie turned abruptly to meet a young blonde woman, wearing a somewhat old fashioned flowery dress.

"Oh... yes! I’m Linnie Moore. I’m here to meet Margaret Saunders," Linnie said, a bit embarrassed to have been caught in her surveying of the place.

The older girl smiled and held out her hand. "I am Margaret," she said, shaking Linnie’s hand. "Welcome to Saunder’s Books."

Linnie smiled back and took the opportunity to observe the young woman a little more closely. She guessed Margaret should be in her late twenties. Her curly dark blonde hairs hung lose, framing her slim, pale face and she had bags under her grayish blue eyes. Still, her smile seemed genuine and friendly.

"So, you know my brother, Joey?" Margaret asked as she led Linnie to one of the available tables.

"No, not really," Linnie said, seating across the table from Margaret. "A friend of mine, Barbara, knows him and she was the one who told me you were looking for someone to help around here."

Margaret’s smile faded for a moment. "Barbara? I don’t remember Joey mentioning her," Margaret spoke in such a low tone of voice that Linnie wondered if she wasn’t merely thinking out loud.

"I think they must have met through Ned Schultz."

"Oh," this time there was an expression of recognition in Margaret’s face and her smile returned. "Yes, Ned has been Joey’s friend for quite some time. He’s a nice guy."

Linnie merely nodded, anxiety building up.

"And you’re looking for a job? What’s your major?" Margaret asked.

"Music. Music teaching that is. I have a full scholarship, but I need a job. You see, my parents don’t have much money and I don’t want to be a burden."

The other woman nodded, with an appreciative smile. "I understand. Well, I’m not paying much but I guess it’s more than you’d get waiting tables. There will be a lot straightening out to do, especially on Mondays, because this place fills up on Saturday mornings. Since my brother helps me out on the weekends I will only need you here on weekdays. We can work out the hours you’ll be here according to your schedule at the university."

"That sounds great."

"You do read, I expect?" Margaret chuckled. "The boy I employed last year only read comic books and his knowledge of literature was appalling! Or I should say his lack of."

Linnie’s smile widened. If there was one thing she loved as much as music, it was books. "Yes, I love to read. Thankfully, we had a nice library at school, so that made up for the lack of bookstores."

"Well, I guess that’s it then. If you’re a friend of Ned’s I don’t think I need any more references." Margaret got up. "Can you start tomorrow?"

"Yes, of course!" Linnie’s heart skipped a beat.

"So, I’ll see you then." Shaking her hand once more, Margaret saw Linnie to the door. I’m sure you’ll like working here."

Linnie nodded. "I’m sure I will."

*     *      *

The feedback sound startled Ned from his reverie and he suddenly noticed the song had ended. He really hadn’t heard a word of it, but he put on his best approving smile because he knew there would be hell to pay if she noticed his mind was miles away. Dot jumped off the stage assembled at one of the University’s sports pavilions and ran to her boyfriend with a smile on her angelic face.

"So, how did you like it?" she asked, throwing her arms around his neck.

"Great! It sounded great," he answered, forcing a smile.

Dot pressed her body seductively against his and whispered, "Don’t I deserve a reward?"

Ned swallowed hard. Dot was the kind of girl who knew how to get what she wanted. And it made him mad to admit it, but he had never been able to resist her.

She smiled knowingly and pressed her mouth against his. He kissed her back, but with little emotion.

She pulled away from him, frowning. "What’s wrong, Ned?"

"Nothing," he looked away from her, knowing very well Dot could see right through him. I’m just tired I guess."

She folded her arms across her chest. "I know you, Ned. Something is wrong. What is it? Didn’t you like the new songs?"

"Christ, Dot! The world doesn’t revolve around your songs, you know?" he snapped, before he could stop himself. But lately Dot egocentric ways were getting on his nerves.

Dot widened her blue eyes, surprised at his reaction. Ned had always been calm and collected and she had never seen him lose his cool. He had been kind of jumpy lately, but he had never used that tone of voice with her. And she wouldn’t put up with it.

"I will not have you talking to me like that, Ned. Especially not in front of the band," she hissed, her eyes cold as ice. "If you have a problem, you sort it out. You do not take it out on me." With a toss of her blonde hair, Dot walked away from him and rejoined the band on the stage. Looking back at him defiantly, she approached the bass player and ran her fingers through his hair. The young man blushed and smiled at her, with adoring eyes.

The other band members, however, rolled their eyes and went back to tuning their instruments. They had known Dot long enough not to enter her little games. The bass player however hadn’t been with them that long and was completely crazy about Dot.

Ned sighed, watching the scene. He knew Dot’s solution to their relationship problems had always been to make him jealous. That had never failed to make him reconsider his doubts or to apologize whenever he dared to criticize her. The thing was he wasn’t jealous anymore-- or afraid to lose her. He was tired of playing games. He was tired of his friends wondering why on Earth they were still together. And for some time now he had been wondering precisely the same thing.

My problem is you, Dot, he finally said to himself.

*     *      *

When Linnie got back to the apartment later that afternoon none of the others seemed to be back yet. She sighed, happy to have the house all to herself for a while. It was fun to live in a place full of other young people, but sometimes she missed the solitude of her house in the Ozarks. This was one of those times. She felt like she needed a little time to herself.

When she wanted to reflect she picked up her guitar and sat cross-legged on the sofa, looking out the window, and drifting away with her thoughts as her fingers made the instrument sing. And, almost unknowingly, she started to sing too, her crystal clear voice filling the empty apartment with its pure tones.

Singing had always come as natural as breathing to Linnie. She couldn’t remember a time when singing wasn’t a part of her life. For someone as shy and reserved as herself, music had always been a form of expressing her feelings and that was clear to anyone who listened to her. She played and sang with her heart.

And that was what Ned realized as she watched her. He had been in his room all the time, needing to be alone for a while himself, so he hadn’t revealed his presence when he heard the door.

When he heard the guitar, he had thought it was either Barbara or Bob. Somehow he had forgotten Linnie played too. But now he wouldn’t be able to forget it ever again-- not after hearing her sing. Chills went up and down his spine and he leaned against the wall, drinking in her sweet pure voice and her image, totally abandoned, her eyes closed as she raised her voice. He would never remember what the song was about and it didn’t matter. He was mesmerized and he wished the moment wouldn’t end. But he knew he was trespassing on something terribly private and that soon Linnie would open her eyes and see him there. And she would probably hate him for not making his presence known. So, taking a deep breath, Ned entered the living room, whilst clearing his throat.

Linnie was startled and stopped playing immediately, her eyes shooting open.

"Oh," she stuttered as she put the guitar down beside her. "I thought no one was home."

Ned felt his ears burn and he hoped he wouldn’t blush. "I was... I mean, I was taking a nap and I didn’t hear you come in."

"I must have woken you up, then. I’m sorry."

He smiled and sat down on the coffee table in front of her. "That’s ok. I wish I would wake up to that everyday."

This time, it was Linnie’s turn to blush. She lowered her eyes, torn between the impulse to walk away from him and her natural tendency to be friendly.

"I didn’t even know you sang," Ned went on, encouraged by her silence. He didn’t know why Linnie kept avoiding him, but he desperately wanted to change that.

"I don’t even remember a time when I did not," she replied, finally looking up at him and smiling.

He returned the smile. "You have a beautiful voice," he stated. "You should apply for the Drake Chorus. You’re good enough to be a soloist."

Linnie’s eyes widened. "Me? Sing in public? I don’t think so!"

Ned chuckled. "What? Do you suffer from stage fright?"

She shrugged her shoulders, suddenly very at ease with him. "I never enjoyed having people staring at me. I guess that’s why I decided to teach, instead of playing professionally."

"You’re very talented, Linnie. You’re truly gifted and you should share that." Linnie sighed, realizing he wasn’t going to give up on trying to convince her. So she decided to compromise.

"Thanks, Ned. I promise to think about that chorus thing, ok?"

"Ok, then," Ned held out his hand to her, and after a few split seconds she took it and shook it.

"Does this mean we’re friends now?" Ned asked, not letting go of her hand, with a slight note of pleading in his voice.

"Weren’t we before?" Linnie averted his eyes once more, feeling embarrassed. She knew an explanation was to follow and she really didn’t know what to say.

"Why did you keep on avoiding me then? You always seemed to feel embarrassed around me. At first I thought it was just shyness, but then I noticed you seemed to feel pretty comfortable around Bob and Barbara. Did I do something wrong? I mean, I know I wasn’t exactly tactful in our first meeting, but I didn’t mean it..."

"No, Ned, it’s ok! Really!" Linnie didn’t let him go on. "I was just a little touchy then. And..." She got up, not being able to hold his gaze from such a short distance.

"The way Dot acted didn’t help, did it?" It was merely a rhetorical question, and Linnie was aware of that.

She turned to him once more, now with a comfortable distance between them. "I must admit she scared me a little. So I just tried to get out of her way. Maybe it was silly of me, but..." she didn’t go on.

Ned sighed and ran his fingers through his light brown wavy hair. "She can be pretty threatening, that’s true. And she was very rude. I actually warned her not to do it again. Sometimes I guess she thinks she can get away with anything just because she’s pretty."

Linnie got a little scared with the course of the conversation. It was becoming a little too intimate for comfort.

"I know Barbara and Bob don’t like her," He chuckled, and Linnie thought there was a little bitterness in his laughter. "I really can’t blame them, but I wished... I wished everyone would get along."

"Well, I promise I’ll try to become her friend. I’m sure she’s a wonderful girl," Linnie said, trying to sound sure of what she was saying. "She must be or you wouldn’t be together, right?"

Ned looked up at her, a somewhat startled expression on his face. He stared at her for a few moments without answering and then he gave her half a smile. "Yeah, sure," he said. Then he got up and took a deep breath. Just like Linnie, he had suddenly realized the conversation had taken an unexpectedly intimate course. And he wasn’t ready to share that part of his life with her. Not yet. So he broke the uncomfortable silence by saying, "So, I guess you’ll be going to the Freshmen Welcoming Party tonight?"

Linnie shrugged her shoulders. "I’m not sure. Barbara and Bob have been trying to convince me to go, but I think I should stay at home instead. I mean, tomorrow I start working and I’ll have to rearrange my schedule, so I should..."

"Should, should, should!" Ned interrupted her, with an amused grin on his face. "You should stop making up excuses not to have fun! You’re going and that’s that!"

"Says who?" Linnie frowned, trying to pretend she was angry, but failing miserably.

He pulled a loose strand of her golden brown hair, playfully.

"I do!" Then he seemed to think of something and he looked away for a moment as if gathering courage to say it out loud. Finally, he looked back at her, a strange look in his greyish eyes. "Besides," he said, "The Drakes will be playing tonight and Dot is their lead singer. Maybe it will be a good opportunity for you two to get to know each other."

Linnie swallowed hard before she answered. Somehow his veiled pleading made her stomach turn. But after a few seconds she managed to say, "Sure! I’m sure it will."

To her surprise he reached out and gently caressed her cheek. She felt all the blood rush to her cheeks and shivered at his touch, but he didn’t seem to notice.

"Thanks, Linnie. That means a lot to me."

The sound of a key on the lock saved Linnie from an answer she knew she wouldn’t be able to utter. Bob and Barbara entered the apartment, followed by a young blond man Linnie didn’t know.

"Hi, guys!" Bob threw himself on the couch and look from Linnie to Ned with an amused expression dancing in his light brown eyes. "What’s up?"

"Nothing much," Ned said, dismissively. Then he turned to the other young man, who seemed to be a little at a loss as to what to do next, and said, smiling, "Hey, Joey, nice to see you here, finally!"

Joey smiled and his eyes sparkled through the glasses he wore. "Barbara is to blame! She dragged me here!"

"Yes, drag really is the word! It took me hours to convince him to come," Barbara exchanged looks with Joey and Linnie thought she had seen some kind of spark between them.

"Ah," Bob retorted, " But you haven’t said the reason why Joey finally agreed to come, which was because we promised Linnie would do the cooking. You will, won’t you, sweetie?" Bob asked, batting his eyes at her.

Linnie laughed wholeheartedly. "I will, under the condition that someone introduces me to our guest," she said, folding her arms across her chest.

Barbara slapped her forehead. "Oh, bollocks! I forgot you guys hadn’t met yet! I’m so sorry. Joey, this is Linnie Moore. Linnie, this is Joey Saunders."

The boy’s name suddenly made Linnie realize who was their dinner guest. Joey was Margaret’s brother, the one who had told Barbara about the job opening at the bookshop in the first place. "Saunders?" She asked, shaking the hand he had held out to her. "So you’re Margaret’s brother?"

He smiled and Linnie thought that despite his shy and awkward ways he was actually attractive.

"Yes, I am."

"That makes you my boss then," Linnie stated, smiling back.

"Really? That’s wonderful news!" Barbara gave Linnie a bear hug, nearly choking her.

"I’m glad you got the job. I hope you’ll be happy there. My sister can be a little... demanding," Joey said, blushing at his own words and nervously pushing his glasses back to their place.

"Well, actually we got along just fine, once I told her I was Ned’s friend," Linnie glanced inadvertently at Ned and was rewarded with a surprised smile.

"Margaret is very particular about my friends, but she believes Ned to be a nice guy," Joey said.

Bob laughed. "Yeah, that’s Ned. I don’t know why, but women always seem to find him a very nice guy!" the sarcastic comment cost Bob a pillow on the face from Ned. Barbara’s twin merely laughed again and threw the pillow back at his friend.

"Cut that out, guys," Barbara ordered, snatching the pillow away from Ned when he was about to turn that into a pillow fight. "Linnie, please tell us what you want us to do."

"No, that’s ok. You guys stay here and I’ll help Linnie out in the kitchen," Ned said, trying to sound nonchalant.

Bob was about to comment, an ironic grin already spreading across his features, when Barbara interrupted him by hitting him with the pillow once more. That gave Ned the opportunity to grab Linnie’s hand and pull her into the kitchen area, before she could protest.

*     *      *

Linnie kept quiet all through the meal. She was still confused about her earlier conversation with Ned and couldn’t really concentrate on any of the conversations the others were having. Well, that Barbara, Bob and Ned were having, because Joey seemed to be more of a listener than a talker. Linnie took the opportunity to watch him. He seemed like a nice young man and the few times he spoke were enough for her to realize he was quite intelligent and down to earth. And as far as Barbara was concerned, Linnie was almost sure her friend was in love. But somehow, though Joey seemed caring and sweet to her, Linnie didn’t think the feeling was reciprocal.

"Hey, Earth calling Linnie," Ned said in her ear, startling her.

She smiled and felt all the blood rush to her cheeks, more from his proximity than for being caught at daydreaming. "Sorry, guys," she said, clearing her throat, and desperately trying to find something to say. "I was just... Uh... I was just wondering if there was any developments in the threatening letters case."

"I have no idea, but I don’t think so," Bob said, leaning back on his chair. "I mean, everyone is pretty sure it was just some kind of prank."

"Well, if it was the prankster must have a real sick sense of humor," Joey said, lowering his eyes and blushing when everyone stared at him. "I mean, it’s a pretty nasty thing to do, don’t you think?"

"I couldn’t agree more," was Barbara’s eager response. Linnie couldn’t hide a smile. Precisely at that moment, she and Ned crossed gazes and she realized he had noticed the girl’s partiality too.

"I do too," Linnie said, trying to stop Bob from one of his comments, which she knew for sure would embarrass Barbara, "I mean, it’s not exactly the funniest of jokes, especially since no one has come forward as the author. So, what’s the fun in that? Besides I thought frat pranks were played on freshmen and Rachel is a senior."

Bob and Ned exchanged glances. They hadn’t thought of that.

"You’re right, Linnie," Barbara said, "So if it wasn’t a frat prank, what was it? Whomever did it couldn’t have meant it," her eyes widened, "Or could he?"

Bob reached out to squeeze his sister’s hand reassuringly. "Of course not, sis. Someone decided to pull a fast one on her since she managed to get herself a fair share of "enemies’ around campus."

"You can say that again," Joey murmured, probably not intending for anyone to hear. But since she was sitting next to him, Linnie heard and she stared at him, wondering what he meant. But he never noticed she was staring and didn’t explain.

*     *      *

The party was already in full swing when they arrived. There was quite a large crowd dancing to The Drakes songs and Linnie couldn’t possibly miss the blonde lead singer and her skintight black dress. In fact, no one could. Suddenly very aware of her own simple attire, Linnie smoothed her sky blue shirt with her hands, nervously.

"You look great," Barbara whispered in her ear. "Don’t worry."

Linnie looked back at her friend to tell her she wasn’t at all worried, but Barbara’s smile told her she didn’t have too. Barbara knew exactly what was on her mind, because she was probably feeling the same way.

"You look great too," Linnie said, squeezing her friend’s hand.

"Anyway," Barbara remarked, "None of us has to worry anyway, because Dot made sure she would be the center of attention. I wouldn’t be caught dead in a dress like that."

"But she does look great in it, you have to admit," Linnie said, smiling.

Barbara made a face and shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, yeah, she does. She would look great even if she wore a sack of potatoes! It’s just the little green monster in me talking!"

Linnie giggled and shook her head.

"Yeah, she probably would."

"I guess that’s why she’s still the lead singer. It sure isn’t because of her voice."

After a few moments of listening to the song, Linnie retorted, "She’s not that bad. Maybe she just needs a little training."

"She’s studied singing for years. That’s as good as she can get. Rumor is they haven’t chosen a new singer because Dot also writes the lyrics and she refuses to write if anyone else takes her place."

"Oh..." Linnie stared back at the stage. She understood why the rest of the band went along with Dot’s demands. The lyrics were very good. Actually they were amazing, considering they were just amateurs. "She is a talented writer."

"That’s what bugs me," Barbara leaned against the wall and sighed. "I’ve known her for years and I never knew of that hidden talent. She’s always wanted to be famous. And I have to admit she was always a great skater and dancer and was a cheerleader and all. But writing... I never saw her reading, let alone write."

"She may have been a late bloomer. I mean she could have discovered she could write after the accident. Before that, with all the training she had to do, she probably didn’t have the time."

Barbara made a face. "Yeah, I guess."

"So, are we going to dance or what?" Bob asked, coming up from behind them.

"Oh, I’m not going to dance with my own brother!" Barbara exclaimed. "Linnie, I guess you’re stuck with him!"

Linnie smiled and said, "Well, I guess I can live with that!"

"So," Barbara turned to Joey. "Shall we?"

Joey seemed embarrassed and avoided her eyes.

"I really... I mean, I can’t really dance."

There was an awkward silence within the group, and Barbara blushed to the root of her hair. Joey seemed to want the floor to open up and swallow him. Thankfully, Ned appeared and saved them from the embarrassing situation.

"Dance with me, Barb. Dot won’t come down from the stage anytime soon, so I guess you’re stuck with me!"

Barbara forced a smile and followed him to the dance floor.

"That was weird!" Linnie said as Bob led her to the dance floor himself.

"Yeah, but I guess Barbara is bound to hurt herself. Joey is a nice guy, but he doesn’t seem to be very interested in anything but friendship."

"How long have you known him?"

"Oh, ever since Ned came to college, I guess. And Barbara’s had a crush on him ever since then. She thinks I don’t know, but there’s not much about Barb I don’t know," Bob grinned and winked at Linnie.

"Is Joey in love with someone else?"

Bob hesitated but then he said, "Well, don’t tell Ned I said this, but I think he’s in love with Dot."

Linnie was speechless. "Oh," was all she managed to utter.

He laughed at her expression. "It does get pretty complicated, doesn’t it?"

"And Ned doesn’t know anything about it?"

With a shrug of his shoulders, Bob made Linnie spin and then pulled her back into his arms with a dramatic dip. Chuckling at her surprised expression, he finally said, "Well, Joey is too good of a guy to ever try anything, while Ned and Dot are together. Besides, Dot treats him like dirt. But if you ask me," Bob’s eyes sparkled with mischief, "I think Ned would love an opportunity to ditch her."

Linnie tried to ignore Bob’s remark and concentrated on what he had said about Dot mistreating Joey. It must be because of him Barbara dislikes Dot so, she thought. She looked towards Barbara and Ned, who were dancing close by. The girl seemed to have gotten over Joey’s less than graceful answer to her invitation and was having a good time dancing with Ned.

Joey, on the other hand, seemed sad and worried. He was still where they had left him and Linnie noticed his eyes were locked on Barbara too. She hoped she wasn’t betraying her friend, but she felt sorry for him. In love with someone who didn’t love him back, who happened to date one of his friends, and on top of it all to have someone else love him and not being able to reciprocate the feeling. She sure didn’t envy him.

She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she never noticed Barbara and Ned’s approach until she heard Barbara saying, "Come on, little brother, Ned here has stepped on my every toe! I need a break!"

So, suddenly, and without really knowing how, Linnie found herself in Ned’s arms, just as the band started playing a slow song.

"Hi," he said, smiling as he looked down at her startled face. "I’m sorry to cut in, but I don’t think Barbara and I are very good as dancing partners."

Linnie blushed. A glance at Barbara’s amused expression told her hunch was right. That had all been an excuse to get her and Ned to dance together. I hope Dot doesn’t look this way, she silently pleaded, or I’m toast!

Ned didn’t hold her too close but still the feeling of his arms around her disturbed her more than she had ever thought it would. Apparently he was having trouble dealing with the situation too because he seemed unable to look her in the eyes.

He’s probably worrying about Dot too and what her reaction might be if she sees us, Linnie thought.

As a matter of fact, Ned was thinking about Dot. Only he was thinking of how long it had been since he had felt this way when with her. Of how long it had been since the mere scent of her perfume made him dizzy or a simple look into her eyes left him unable to breathe. Had he ever felt like that? He didn’t know. He couldn’t remember.

They were both so concentrated in their thoughts they never noticed Dot had stepped off the stage and was walking towards them. "Am I interrupting?"

Ned and Linnie instinctively stepped away from each other, startled. Dot looked from one to the other, with a sarcastic grin on her beautiful face. Linnie felt like a bug under the microscope.

"You don’t mind if I dance with my boyfriend for a while, do you honey?" Dot said, stressing the words, as she wrapped an arm around Ned’s waist. He didn’t dare look in Linnie’s eyes, though a part of him wanted to push Dot away and pull Linnie into his arms again. But he didn’t want to make a scene and he knew Linnie would suffer from that action. Dot would make her life miserable, that much he knew. So he didn’t say a word, though he felt like the most despicable coward in the world.

But Dot wasn’t going to stop at this. Not happy with merely leaving Linnie standing alone in the middle of the dance floor, she said, loud enough for a lot of people to hear, "Oh, Ned, if you were trying to make me jealous, you could have chosen better. There are lots of pretty girls available you know?"

Linnie never heard Ned’s response, if he ever gave any. She simply turned her back on the couple and walked away from the dance floor. She managed to keep a straight face until she reached the woman’s restroom. Finding herself alone she broke down and cried.

 

Chapter Three

Linnie regained her composure after a few minutes of self-indulgence. Then she wiped her tears and left the stall. She washed her reddened face and took a deep breath. This is just accumulated stress, she thought, I won’t let this get to me. Dot is just a conceited idiot and Ned... Strangely, Linnie couldn’t find the words to voice her feelings for Ned’s attitude on the dance floor. She couldn’t bring herself to be mad at him nor could she stop the pain she felt every time she remembered the way he had avoided her eyes.

Precisely then, Barbara stormed into the restroom.

"Linnie, sweetie, are you ok? I never realized what had happened until Joey told me! That conceited, good for nothing, fake, blonde! How dare she? And Ned!!! How could he? I’m going to let him have a piece of my mind as soon as I find him..." Barbara had to stop for air.

Linnie was so surprised by the other girl’s outburst that she broke into a fit of laughter. Soon tears were once more streaming her face but this time they weren’t sad tears. She was laughing so hard she had to lean against the counter.

"What’s so funny?" Barbara asked frowning.

"You! Bursting in here like a raging bull! I’m sorry for the comparison, but you just... Oh, Barbara, I’m sorry!" Linnie wiped her tears and gave her friend a big hug. "You were worried about me and here I am laughing at you."

Barbara hugged her back. "Well, I rather have you laughing at me, than crying over those two idiots." Scrutinizing her friend’s face, she said, "Though you have been crying, haven’t you?"

Linnie didn’t answer and merely stared at the ground for a few moments. Then sighing, she stated, "We all have right to have a break down once in a while. Knowing myself as I do, I’d say I won’t have one for the next... oh, five or six years minimum!" Her pretty face lit with a beautiful smile as she held Barbara’s hand. "Now let’s get back to the party. I won’t let Dot or anyone else ruin it for me." She hesitated and then with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes, she asked, "Is she really a fake blonde?"

Barbara grinned widely. "Nah! But it just felt good to say it!"

*     *      *

Despite her apparent good mood, Linnie tried to remain inconspicuous for the rest of the evening. Barbara and Bob showed their solidarity by remaining with her and not mentioning the fact that they were almost hiding in a corner of the room, next to the stage. From that particular spot they had a privileged view of the improvised backstage area, and when the band made a break Linnie noticed Joey approaching the backstairs, apparently trying to remain unnoticed.

She thought it strange but didn’t mention it to Barbara or Bob who had fallen into discussion about some movie they had seen recently. Still, for some reason, she kept watching Joey. By the time he reached the stairs, Dot was coming down. The young woman stopped when she saw him and then looked around. Linnie couldn’t hear what they were saying but Dot didn’t seem pleased to see him there. She pulled the young man to a secluded corner and Linnie could see by the expression on her face she was arguing with him. Joey had his back turned on her, but from his posture Linnie guessed he was the defeated part in the argument. What on Earth could she be telling him? Linnie trembled at the thought. Whatever it was it surely wasn’t nice. Could it be that Joey had overcome his fears of hurting Ned and had stepped forward to reveal his feelings? No, Linnie thought, from what I see he barely had time to open his mouth. It’s like... it’s like she doesn’t want to be seen with him!

Deciding she was trespassing on Joey’s privacy, Linnie decided to look away. It wasn’t her business, anyway. She wasn’t even supposed to know he liked Dot. Her heart then went out to Barbara. It must be hard for her seeing him in love with someone who decidedly does not deserve him.

That train of thought soon led her to think that Dot probably didn’t deserve Ned either. He had hurt her by not standing up to her on the dance floor, but Linnie didn’t know how to hold a grudge. Maybe it’s about time you start to, she told herself bitterly.

She sighed and looked around the room. After a while she saw Ned standing in a corner across the room. She could barely see him, in the dim lighting, but she was sure he was staring right at her. Their eyes met and she saw him straighten his back as if he intended to walk that way.

Linnie panicked and before he could make a move she grabbed her purse and said, "I... I’m tired. I think I’m going home. You guys just stay here, don’t worry about me." She got up and practically ran off, cursing herself for being such a coward and leaving Barbara, Bob and Ned totally dumbstruck.

*     *      *

The next day Linnie got up very early. She still wasn’t ready to face Ned, even if it was to listen to his explanations. So, she left the house while everyone was still sleeping and decided to have breakfast in one of the local cafeterias.

Seated in a booth near the back wall and next to the window, Linnie pressed her forehead against the glass as she absent-mindedly stirred her coffee. She had been taught to deal with life in a plain and simple way, with strong and deeply rooted values and always taking other peoples feelings under consideration. And in the last few weeks she had to learn the hard way that most people acted differently.

She sighed. Welcome to the real world, mountain girl, she thought.

The campus was starting to wake up, on that chilly but sunny October morning. Students were starting to fill the cafeteria and Linnie could spot a few familiar faces. She recognized Rachel, their next-door neighbor, accompanied by another girl Linnie hadn’t met yet. They sat in the next booth without even seeing her.

Linnie noticed Rachel looked troubled. She was pale and was always looking around, as if she was scared of something. "I don’t know what to do," Linnie heard her say to her friend, "First it were those damned letters, now the ripped sweater. I’m scared!"

Linnie lowered her eyes; not wanting them to think she was eavesdropping but Rachel’s tone of voice made it impossible for her not hear what they were saying.

"Take it easy," the other girl said, "This is probably just someone’s sick idea of a joke."

"But the sweater was cut to shreds!" Rachel’s voice was bordering on hysterical. "Who would bother breaking into my locker, and risk being caught, if they didn’t mean it?"

Her friend didn’t answer, and Linnie felt her heart thumping in her chest. From what she gathered the threats to Rachel had taken a more serious turn. Ripped sweater? For Heaven’s sake, what’s going on?, she wondered, with a shiver. Bob’s theory of a simple prank was beginning to sound more and more unlikely.

"Listen," Rachel’s friend said, slowly and in a lower tone, "I wasn’t going to tell you this, but you’re already freaking out, so I guess I will. You’re not the first girl this has happened too. Last year two or three girls received the same kind of letters; they found dead birds on their hoods or doorsteps, and stuff like that. One of them even notified the police but they never paid it much mind. And they are still alive and well. Someone just hasn’t enough of a life and is having fun by scaring you out of your wits!"

"Oh my God!" Rachel exclaimed. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"Oh, Rachel just snap out of it! You have too many clothes anyway! And, speaking of not having a life, look who just came in!"

Linnie couldn’t stop herself from looking at the doorway too, and she saw Joey, carrying a load of books and looking as out of place as he had at the party, the previous night. Her heart immediately went out to him, because she knew exactly how he felt.

"Oh, brother! Just what I needed! He better not even dream in seating with us!" Rachel stated. "I had enough of him this summer, only because he has this gorgeous friend, Mark. I dated him once or twice to see if he’d introduce us, but he was too thick to understand. God, he thought I had a crush on him!"

Rachel’s friend giggled and Linnie wanted to pour the steaming coffee down their heads. How dared they? Reacting to her impulses, Linnie got up and waved at Joey, signaling him to come over and seat with her.

Rachel and her friend stared at her, not noticing until then she had been there all the time. Joey’s face lit with an honest smile and he sat in front of her, greeting Rachel with a mere nod. "Good morning," he said, laying the pile of books by his side. "So, you’re an early riser too, I see!"

Linnie smiled. "I always have been. Back home I had to my chores before I went to school, so I could do my homework in the evenings. And now I decided to take the early classes so I had more free time."

"I wish I was that organized," Joey chuckled. "I’m always losing track of time. There are times when I write all night long, and end up not sleeping at all."

"Oh, I didn’t know you wrote."

Joey blushed and pushed his glasses back into place, in a gesture Linnie was starting to recognize as his particular reaction to embarrassment. "I do. I guess that’s unavoidable when you grow up surrounded by books. I do some work for the college drama club, adapting scripts and stuff. It’s not much but I guess I have to start somewhere."

"I heard Barbara say something about auditioning for the drama club the other day," Linnie said, suddenly understanding why Barbara had seemed so enthusiastic about the auditions.

The young man smiled and looked away for a moment. "Barbara is a wonderful girl and she’s very talented," then he looked back at Linnie and his voice grew softer. "I wish her all the luck in the world."

Feeling a little uncomfortable with the subject, Linnie cleared her throat and asked, "So, does your sister write too?"

He shook his head and seemed a little sad. "No. Margaret is... was a very talented actress while she was in college, but then she dropped out and..." he took a deep breath. "You see, she never graduated from college. She was at NYU when my parents died and she had to come home to take care of the shop and me. We only have each other, and she gave up everything to take care of me. That’s why she’s so hard on me. She wants me to do my best. Sometimes, though, I think my best isn’t good enough for her." Joey blushed when he noticed he had voiced that last thought.

"Oh, I’m sure she’s proud of you," Linnie said, trying to lighten the mood. She hardly knew Margaret but she had really seemed quite demanding. "She sure sounded as if she loved you very much."

"Oh, she does. Of that I have no doubt," Joey said, as he gathered his books once more. "I’m sorry to have troubled you with all this, but some days I just feel... overwhelmed."

"It’s no trouble at all," Linnie said, honestly.

"Good luck in the store today," the young man got up and smiled at her.

"Thanks, Joey."

As he turned to walk away, he seemed to hesitate. Finally he turned back to her and said, blushing slightly, "Tell Barbara I said hi and that I had fun last night."

Linnie’s smile widened. "I will." After a split second hesitation she added, "I’m sure she’ll be happy to know that."

Joey didn’t answer and merely nodded. Then he walked away, leaving Linnie to wonder if the young man wasn’t finally reevaluating his feelings.

*     *      *

Working at the bookstore was fun, but hard. There was a lot to memorize, difficult customers to handle and quite a demanding boss to deal with. Margaret was nice but she expected nothing less than perfection. Luckily, Linnie was used to hard work and was a perfectionist herself, so things were working well.

Barbara came around to see how things were doing and was very excited when Linnie gave her Joey’s message. The girl’s eyes lit up.

"You really like him, don’t you?" Linnie asked, smiling at her friend.

Barbara blushed. "Yeah, I do. And it really hurts to see people treat him like some kind of geek just because he’s shy and his idea of having fun is not partying all night and getting dead drunk."

"Well, then I guess I’m a geek too," Linnie shrugged and then she winked at Barbara. "That explains the looks I sometimes get!"

Barbara reached out over the counter and squeezed Linnie’s hand. "These last days haven’t been easy on you either, have they?"

Linnie squeezed her hand back. "I think I’m starting to get the hang of it. I never expected it to be easy, but I’m not going to sit down and feel sorry for myself." She took a deep breath and ran her fingers through her chestnut brown hair. "And, all things considered, I don’t think I was ever so happy in my life. I’m thankful for every little blessing I get."

Her friend gazed at her admiringly. "I wish I looked at life the way you do. I guess sometimes I’m a little selfish and get a little mad at the world." Then she sighed. "You sound a lot like my mother, you know. She deals with every difficulty with a smile."

Barbara and Bob’s mother had had polio when a child, and her mobility had been quite affected. She had been involved with support groups for years and had managed to raise her children, mind the house and do all the voluntary work she could get her hands on.

"You see, my mother used to tell me that God sends the greatest challenges to the most special people, because He knows they can deal with them." Linnie stated.

"That’s quite a fairytale," said Margaret, startling them.

Both girls turned to her and Linnie felt strangely disturbed. "Hi, Margaret," she said, suddenly feeling like a child with her hand in the cookie jar. "This is my room mate, Barbara Hubbell."

Barbara smiled a little nervous herself, and held out her hand. "I’m pleased to meet you."

Margaret squinted her eyes and finally took Barbara’s hand. "I believe you know my brother, don’t you?"

"Yes... yes I do," Barbara stuttered, caught off guard.

"I hope you aren’t like the others, who always try to get advantage of him," Margaret boldly said, looking down on Barbara.

The girl’s eyes widened and Linnie frowned. "No, of course not, Margaret. We’re good friends," Barbara rushed to say.

Margaret’s countenance seemed to lighten up and she said, "Well, I’m glad," then she turned to Linnie and added bitterly, "Time will teach you God doesn’t really pay much attention to us. I just hope the process isn’t too painful for you."

The two girls watched as she walked away with their mouths hanging open.

"What was that about?" Barbara managed to say, after a few moments.

"Beats me," Linnie answered, still watching Margaret who was now with some customers. "I know her life wasn’t easy and she had to give up a lot after her parents died, but I never imagined she was this bitter."

"She scared the hell out of me," Barbara shivered as she said the words. "But anyway," she said, looking back at Linnie, "will you join us at the Tavern later on?"

The Tavern was one of the local bars, mostly frequented by students. Barbara, Bob and Ned usually joined their friends there, two of three times a week, and Linnie had gone with them a few times.

But Linnie shook her head. "I’m afraid I can’t, Barb, I’m sorry. I promised Margaret I would stay and help her with the inventory. It will be best to do it now, before school work starts to get harder to deal with."

Barbara made a face. "Yeah, sure... You just don’t want to see Ned, admit it."

Linnie sighed. "Look, I really am staying late. I did promise her. But I also don’t feel like facing him, or Dot just yet."

"But why? You should let him explain himself!"

"Explain what Barbara? I know exactly why he did it and I understand. He didn’t want to get in trouble with his girlfriend. It hurt just the same, but I do understand."

"You do? Hell, I would have kicked his butt for that stunt!"

Linnie chuckled. "What good would that do? Look, I’m over it and if I let it hurt me, I’ll just be playing Dot’s game. If I don’t let it get to me, it’s like it never happened."

"Linnie Moore, you’re my hero! Really, you are! I wish I could deal with things like that," but then she shook her head and added, "The thing is, I can’t and I still want to kick his butt! Anyway, I’ve got to go. I’m auditioning for the drama club today," she blushed.

"Oh," Linnie winked at her. "Good luck then!"

"Thanks," Barbara picked up her coat and then lowering her voice she said, "And good luck for you too, with the Dragon Lady in there."

Linnie laughed and watched as her friend left. Then she sighed. And she wished her heart had heard all the sensible things she had told Barbara about Ned and Dot.

*     *      *

"That’s the last of it," Linnie said, lowering a pile of books on the already crowded floor.

Margaret looked up from the computer screen and smiled at the girl. "Thanks, Linnie." Then she looked at her wristwatch and yawned. "It’s terribly late. I’m sorry to have kept you here for such a long time. You must be exhausted."

"Not more than you are," Linnie answered as she looked at her own watch. It was past 11. "Still, now I know all the books we have here. It will be easier to find things."

"Yeah, you can call it shock treatment," Margaret smiled. "Go home, girl. You need to rest."

Linnie nodded. "But will you be alright with the rest of these?" she asked, a little concerned.

Margaret dismissed her worries with a gesture. "Sure, I’m used to doing this. And Joey has no classes in the morning, so he’ll open the store for me. I can sleep late."

"Ok, then." Linnie picked up coat and reached for her bag, which she had left on the desk. As she did so, she knocked over a file sitting on it. A few of the papers inside fell out and as she crouched to pick them up, she noticed there were poems amongst them.

"I’m sorry, Margaret. I’m usually not this clumsy," she said as she handed over the file.

Margaret chuckled.

"It’s easy to be clumsy in a cluttered office like this. Don’t worry; this is Joey’s. He’s always leaving his writings about."

"He mentioned something about writing. He works for the drama club, right?"

The older girl nodded. "Yes, and he is quite talented. He’s majoring in Journalism but I think he’ll become a novelist sooner or later."

"Apparently he writes poetry too," Linnie said, pointing at the file. Then she saw another sheet of paper, lying under the chair and bent over to pick it up. As she did, she realized it was one of the poems. Unavoidably she read a few of the lines and she frowned. Those were strangely familiar.

"What is it?" Margaret asked, noticing Linnie’s questioning look.

"I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t have read it, but I couldn’t help it," Linnie handed the poem to Margaret. "I have heard that before... last night actually. The Drakes were playing and I’m pretty sure that is the lyric of one of the songs they played. I had no idea Joey wrote for them."

Margaret paled a bit as she heard Linnie and stared blankly at the sheet of paper. "Neither had I," she whispered and seemed to slip into some kind of trance as she kept on gazing at the piece of paper. After a few moments of an awkward silence, Linnie decided it was best to go and leave Margaret with whatever thoughts she was having.

As she closed the bookstore door behind her, Linnie buttoned the coat up to her neck. It was getting quite cold and the thought of walking home alone at that late hour didn’t please her. But it was only a few blocks anyway, so she was sure she would be all right.

But as she turned around she was startled by a figure leaning against a phone booth in front of the store.

"Hi," the person said.

Linnie’s eyes widened and her heart started thumping wildly as she recognized the voice.

"Ned? What on Earth are you doing here?" she asked, hesitantly.

"That’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?" he gave her a crooked smile, but she could tell he was just as nervous as she was.

"Did you come to see Joey?" she asked, knowing very well he hadn’t, but not really knowing what to say.

"Joey is at the Tavern with Barbara and Bob." He buried his hands in his pockets. Actually, I was there, too, and Joey was saying he was feeling a little guilty for not being here doing the inventory with you guys. And since it was getting late, I decided to come here and wait for you, so you wouldn’t have to walk home alone."

"You didn’t have too," Linnie said, having trouble facing him.

"After what I did last night, I should be groveling at your feet and not just walking you home."

There it was, out in the open. Linnie blushed and inhaled deeply. Suddenly she didn’t want to talk about it. "Let’s just forget about it, all right?" she said, starting to walk down the street.

He rushed to follow her, a little surprised at her reaction. "I want to apologize, Linnie. Leaving you standing there was just... But I know Dot, and I’m sure she would have made a scene. I felt awful and I tried to find you afterwards, but..."

She interrupted him. "Look, Ned, really, it’s all right. I just don’t want to talk about it. It really means nothing. It’s just that I don’t think I can fulfill my promise of becoming friends with Dot."

"I would never ask that of you now. And I did talk to her. Actually, I was really mad, so I don’t think that qualifies as talking..."

She stopped him once more. "I’m sorry, Ned, but I don’t need the details. That’s your business-- and Dot’s. I just want to get on with my life and forget last night ever happened."

They walked in silence for a while. Finally, he said, "But it wasn’t all bad was it? I was having fun, until Dot interrupted us."

Linnie thanked the heavens above it was dark, because she felt all the blood rush to her cheeks. "No, of course it wasn’t all bad. I just used bad phrasing that’s all." After a few moments, she managed to gather the courage to ask: "Dot doesn’t know you’re here, does she?"

He chuckled. "I don’t think so, but then again I haven’t talked to her all day, so I don’t have a clue as to where she may be either."

Surprised at his answer, Linnie tried to think of something to say, but words seemed to elude her.

Encouraged by her silence, he went on: "I don’t think this relationship of ours is going anywhere. Things are starting to escalate, she’s being obnoxious to my friends and I hate it. I guess I’ve just lost all hope she would change."

"If you love her, maybe it’s worth another go," Linnie said, softly, finally looking up at him.

He lowered his eyes for a moment and then said, slowly, "We’ve been together since our first year here at Drake’s. We hardly knew anyone here, since most of our friends from high school went to other colleges. I guess that brought us together. She was also a little lost. It was a short time after her fall and she didn’t know what to do next. So I guess we started by keeping each other company and we really had fun in the beginning. But then she started to change..." he shrugged, "Well, Barbara will tell you she was always like that. Maybe I was blinded by her looks or something, but I guess I just never noticed. But since she became the Drakes lead singer, last year, things have become more and more complicated."

Oh, no, please don’t go on, she thought, I really don’t want to know this. The last thing she wanted was to be forced to give advice or to be his confidant. On one hand, she really didn’t want to be caught between Ned and Dot, on the other because she didn’t feel like being a shoulder to cry on. Which, in Linnie’s case, was really strange, since she had never minded it before.

"Besides," he concluded, "When all of your friends keep asking themselves why on Earth you’re still together, you start asking yourself the same thing. And I guess I couldn’t find an answer."

"Oh," was all she could utter. What’s wrong with me? she asked herself. But she couldn’t find an answer either.

They walked in silence the rest of the way. Ned appeared to be deep in thought, his brow furrowed and his hands buried deep in his pockets and Linnie couldn’t be more uncomfortable. Her natural tendency was to reach out and ask him to talk to her, to let it all out. But something inside of her told her she shouldn’t do it. So being pretty confused herself, she decided the best thing was to keep her mouth shut, should she say anything that would embarrass her even further.

As they reached their building, the atmosphere seemed to lighten somehow. Ned looked down at her and smiled. "Guess you must be tired, hum?" he said, as he held the door for her.

"A little," she smiled back, still unable to meet his eyes.

"Hey, listen, the auditions for the choir start the day after tomorrow, at 6 p.m. Did you think about what we talked about yesterday?"

"Oh, I don’t know. I love singing, but still..."

Ned pulled a strand of her hair, playfully. She was surprised by the intimacy of the gesture, especially after the awkward moments they had just been through, but didn’t mention it.

"Come on, it’s not like you’ll be alone on stage. They might even let you hide behind the taller singers," he joked.

She made a face. "Yes, but I’ll still have to sing alone at the audition. Well, I promise to think about it, all right?"

"Ok, then." As they reached the door to the apartment, Ned hesitated and then finally said, "Thank you, Linnie."

"What for?"

He reached out tentatively and held her hand. She felt his touch intensely, as if electrical current had suddenly ran through her entire body. "For forgiving me and for listening. I think I needed to say all those things out loud."

"Sometimes saying things out loud makes them even more real, more final."

He caressed the back of her hand with his thumb, slowly.

"I know. And that was exactly what I needed."

Chapters 1-3 edited for the TBH  by Susan

 

NOTE: I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank Alizea for the wonderful job she’s done in editing this, especially because I know how busy she’s been lately. Thanks, girl! :)

Chapter Four

Next morning, Linnie and Barbara were just leaving their Music History class when they almost bumped into Joey, who was walking down the hall so lost in his thoughts he didn’t even see them.

“Hi, stranger,” Barbara greeted, amused at his absentmindedness.

Joey looked up, startled and his face lit up in a wide smile when he recognized them.

“Hi, guys! I’m sorry, I never even saw you,” he said, walking back towards them.

“We noticed,” Barbara giggled. “I would say a penny for your thoughts, but I don’t think it would be enough...”

Joey blushed.

“Oh, it was nothing much really,” then he turned to Linnie and said, “I’m really sorry for not helping you and Margaret last night, but she practically kicked me out of the house.”

“That’s all right. We managed,” Linnie answered with a smile.

“Yeah, Margaret told me you left after 11. I hope you got home all right.”

“I did. Actually, Ned walked me home,” as soon as the words left her lips, Linnie cursed herself. She hadn’t meant for anyone to know. She saw Barbara’s eyes widening and said, before her friend could comment, “I don’t know if your sister mentioned it but I accidentally knocked over one of your files. I hope I didn’t crumple anything.”

“Oh, it was probably nothing much anyway. I’m always scribbling something and I tend to leave things scattered around.”

“Nothing much?” Linnie shook her head. “Well, I read a little of it when I was picking them up and they were some of the best poems I ever read. You’re very talented.”

The young man blushed even deeper.

“Thanks,” he mumbled.

Remembering Margaret’s strange reaction the previous night, Linnie let her curiosity take hold of her and found the courage to ask, trying to sound nonchalant, “I recognized the lyrics to one of the songs the Drakes played at the party. I didn’t know you worked with them.”

This time, Joey paled and suddenly the young man looked like a mouse caught in a trap. He looked around as if he feared someone would hear them. Barbara looked completely in awe.

“Did you...,” he cleared his throat, and swallowed hard, looking honestly scared. “Did you happen to mention that to Margaret?”

Linnie didn’t know what to think. She didn’t expect him to react like this and was already sorry to have brought up the subject.

“Y-yes. Look, Joey, I’m sorry if it was wrong of me, but...”

“No,” Joey interrupted her, smiling nervously. “That’s all right. I just wouldn’t like word to get out. I really don’t like the limelight, you know.”

“I’ll keep my mouth shut then,” Linnie said, trying to lighten things up.

Joey nodded and with a hurried goodbye, he walked away.

“Hey, I didn’t get any of what just happened! Do you mind telling me what that was all about?” Barbara whispered.

Linnie looked at her friend, looking quite bewildered herself, and explained what had happened the previous night.

“Joey? Writing lyrics for the Drakes? But I always thought Dot was their lyricist!” Barbara said, as they walked towards their next class.

“That’s what I’d heard too. But I guess he must have written a few songs.”

“I suppose...” Barbara frowned. “But why did he look scared when you told him about Margaret knowing about it?”

“Well, she did scare you,” Linnie mocked.

Her friend chuckled.

“Well, that she did! And I guess he must have his reasons. After all, they do live in the same house,” Suddenly, Barbara stopped, remembering something. “Hey, that reminds me. What was that all about Ned walking you home? He left the Tavern saying he was going home to study. And that was around 9.30.”

Linnie sighed. She had hoped Barbara had forgotten about Joey’s comment, but apparently she wasn’t off the hook.

“He was waiting for me, when I left the store,” she finally said.

“You mean he waited over an hour, out in the cold?” Barbara asked, excitedly.

“Shh!” Linnie looked around to make sure no one had heard her friend. “I don’t know where he was before, but at 11 o’clock he was there.”

“Did he apologize?”

“Yeah, he did,” Linnie hesitated but then said, needing to confide in someone too, “He also sort of said he was thinking of breaking up with Dot!”

“YES!” Barbara’s shout echoed through the hall and they got more than a few surprised stares. But then the girl looked back at Linnie, her hands on her hips, and asked, “What do you mean, sort of?”

Linnie shrugged.

“He said he was tired of how things were doing, that he had given up trying to change her ways.”

“So, you guys are becoming quite close, aren’t you?” Barbara grabbed Linnie’s arm and gave her friend a knowing look that made her turn red.

“No! He just needed to... I don’t know, vent!”

Barbara smiled, mischievously.

“Yeah, and you just happened to bump into him right then!”

“Oh, just shut up! Anyway,” Linnie said, in a desperate attempt to change the subject, “Aren’t the results of the audition to the drama club supposed to be out this morning?”

“Oh, gosh!” Barbara suddenly paled and she seemed to forget their conversation. “I almost forgot! Will you look at the list for me? I don’t think I can do it!”

“Sure, come on!”

There was a small crowd gathered around the notice board, outside the drama department. Linnie managed to squeeze through and she smiled widely when she saw Barbara’s name near the top of the list of the approved.

“You’re in, Barb!”

Barbara closed her eyes and let out her breath.

“Oh, God, thank you! I was so nervous!” she hugged Linnie tightly, almost choking her.

“Hey, you’ll kill me! I’d like to see you acting before I die!” she joked, as Barbara let her go.

“Sorry! It’s just that I’m so excited!”
“Yeah, I can tell!” Linnie laughed. “And I guess Joey will be happy to know that too!”

“Oh, I wish...” Barbara stopped talking when she noticed Rachel, their neighbor, walking their way.

“So, you’re in, hum?” the older girl said, as she blatantly observed both girls from head to toe. “I guess we’ll be working together then. Good luck! Or as we say in the theater, break a leg!” Rachel said, with a superiority tone that even Linnie wasn’t able to overlook.

“I wish you’d break them both,” Barbara muttered.

“Barbara!” Linnie admonished, but unable to maintain a straight face. In a matter of seconds both girls were laughing out loud.

 *     *     *

When Ned finally woke up, he found Bob already finishing his breakfast.

“Hey, I was about to check if you were still breathing!” Bob joked as he watched his friend fill a mug with steaming coffee.

Ned made a face.

“Rough night,” he answered, his voice still hoarse from sleep.

Bob stared at him for a few moments without speaking. Ned finally noticed his gaze and asked, “What? Why are you staring at me?”

“She’s getting to you, isn’t she?” Bob finally asked, rocking the chair with his arms folded across his chest

“Who? What the hell are you talking about?”

With a sigh, Bob got up from the chair and joined him by the kitchen island.

“Linnie, that’s who. Getting to know her is finally opening your eyes, isn’t it?”

Ned’s grey eyes met Bob’s brown ones. He didn’t know what to answer. The fact was that he had spent half the night wondering about that exact same thing. But knowing Bob, he knew there was no point in trying to deny it.

“I don’t know if it’s Linnie, or if things just piled up until I couldn’t take it anymore,” Ned finally admitted. “I almost can’t bare the thought of being with Dot anymore. Everything she does or says gets on my nerves.”

“Then why the hell do you insist on this poor excuse for a relationship?”

“I don’t know! Maybe I just... maybe we’ve been together for such a long time that I’m scared of being alone again,” he ran his fingers through his already disheveled hair.

“Or maybe you just hate the idea of failing at anything,” Bob said slowly, watching his words sink in.

Ned nearly choked on the piece of toast he was having.

“What??”

Bob exhaled deeply and rolled his eyes.

“Come on, Ned! We’ve been best friends since, like, forever! I know you and you know me! And you know exactly what I mean!”

“No, I don’t,” Ned snapped, hitting the counter with his fist. He hardly ever lost his cool but he was reaching the end of his rope. “I don’t know what the hell you mean, I don’t know what the hell Dot expects of me, and I don’t know what the hell I’m supposed to do about Linnie! I’m sick and tired of people whispering about Dot behind my back, about my parents hating her...” Ned stopped for breath and groaned.

Bob had listened to his friend’s outburst as coolly and calmly as if he had been expecting it all along. In fact, Bob had wanted to provoke him until his defenses broke. He knew how Ned choked up his emotions behind his cool and calm demeanor. And he also knew how he let his problems eat him up inside without ever reaching out to anyone. Ned was the best friend a person could have but it took ages for him to trust anyone enough to confide him or her with his problems and even then he made little of them, as if they were easily surmountable.

“I’m sorry, Bob,” Ned said, his voice still a little ragged. “I didn’t mean to snap at you like that. It’s just...”

“It’s just that you have to stop wanting to sort everything out all by yourself,” Bob cut in.

His friend looked up at him, surprised.

 “Stop trying to be Mr. Perfect, Ned,” Bob went on, “Your friends won’t think less of you even if you screw up sometimes. Guess what, they may even like you more if you show them you’re human too.”

His friend stared at him in awe and Bob chuckled as he rested his hand on his shoulder.

“Yeah, there are some people out there who think you’re some kind of superman! Heck, even I did once, until I began to see under that thick mask you wear.”

“And when was that?” Ned finally managed to ask.

Bob sat on the floor, his back against the kitchen island.

“Many eons ago, my friend, when a certain group of Sleepysider's visited Happy Valley and you didn’t manage to win the heart of a certain freckled-face, blonde-haired girl, because it already belonged to another sort of superhuman. Red haired, I might add.”

To Bob’s surprise, Ned started to laugh and slid to the floor, sitting by him.

“You’re some piece of work, man!” Ned exclaimed, between laughs.

“What, am I wrong?”

“No, no you’re not.” Ned stared at his friend, grateful for his mere presence.

“When you realized Trixie was crazy about Jim, you were really disappointed. I guess it took someone who knew you pretty well to notice and I did. You got over it fast enough, but that got me to think that maybe you weren’t as strong as you appeared.” Bob sighed. “Somehow it made me feel a whole lot better about myself.”

“That’s funny, I always thought that clownish way you have of facing life was always a sort of masquerade too,” Ned stated. “And that made me feel better too.”

It was Bob’s turn to laugh.

“Anyway, spill it out. About Dot, about Linnie, whatever...”

“Yeah, I guess I should.”

And spill it out he did. Ned told his best friend about how he had always thought Dot was beautiful, but like everyone else he thought her also a little conceited. And he had never harbored any feelings for her until he had met her in their first semester at Drake. Knowing hardly anyone but each other, they found comfort in each other’s company and eventually things began to grow more intimate between them. It had been a trying time for Dot, since she had just found out she would never be able to compete again and felt quite lost. As for him, it was nice to be with someone who understood his passion for sports and who seemed to have grown out of her old ways after everything she had gone through. But after becoming The Drakes lead singer, Dot seemed to have regained her old self confidence. The limelight fed her ego and she had begun to change, growing more and more demanding and less supportive. She had stopped watching his games, and she couldn’t care less about his victories or defeats.

His parents had noticed her change too, and had told him about it. He didn’t know what to say, so he tried to keep Dot away from his family. He knew this was no way to live but it was hard to face the fact he had invested two years of his life in a relationship that was going nowhere. And trying to make him jealous was her only answer to his trying to sort things out between them.

Barbara and Bob’s arrival at Drake, his two lifelong friends, who happened to also know Dot quite well, had been his last hope of ever finding a way to change things. He had figured that maybe Barbara could befriend Dot and that that friendship would make his girlfriend change into the person he had once thought she was.

At that Bob had to laugh.

“You are a dreamer, man!”

“You can’t blame me for trying,” Ned sighed and let his head rest against the wall. “Anyway, after last night... It’s over, Bob. I can’t go on pretending I don’t see what’s right in front of me.”

“And I take it your wake up call came all the way from the Ozarks...”

Ned chuckled.

“You do have a one track mind! Seriously, Bob, I don’t know. I guess I have to finish something before I can start another. And right now, I need to sort out my situation with Dot,” he hesitated, and then went on, in a lower tone of voice. “I guess if it wasn’t for the way Dot has treated Linnie maybe I would have carried on with this... poor excuse for a relationship, as you put it... for a while longer. Or not, who knows? But I can’t drag Linnie into this!”

Bob sighed and put his arm around his friend’s shoulders.

“I guess it is a little too late for that, my friend!”

 

Chapter Five

Linnie sighed, as she looked at the clock on the wall for the umpteenth time. It was a little past 2 PM and she needed to be back at the campus at 3 for the choir auditions in which she finally had decided to participate. And Margaret had promised to be back from lunch in time, but she hadn’t shown up till now.

Maybe she forgot, Linnie thought, But I really have to leave!

Deciding it was better to go and tell Margaret she needed to be off, she locked up and put the “Be right back” sign on the door. She walked over to the back of the shop, where a narrow staircase led to the apartment upstairs. Linnie felt a little like a trespasser, but started climbing the stairs.

The door connecting to the Saunders’ apartment was ajar and Linnie could hear voices coming from within. As she approached the narrow landing, she recognized Margaret and Joey’s voices and they appeared to be having quite a heated argument. Hating the thought of walking in on a family dispute, Linnie knocked on the door and cleared her throat, trying to make them acknowledge her presence. But they never seemed to notice her. The loud voices came from a room at the end of a long hallway, which Linnie believed to be the kitchen. Standing on the landing, she didn’t know whether to stay or leave, and as she decided on what to do, she couldn’t help but to hear part of the argument.

“She’s walking all over you, and you seem to be enjoying it,” she heard Margaret say. “You have a gift and you are wasting it!”

“What I do with my life is my business, Maggie!” Joey retorted, with what Linnie interpreted as a little despair in his voice.

“NO!” Linnie was startled by Margaret’s aggressiveness. “It’s my business too! I gave up my dreams so you could have yours, and I’m not letting you waste them with some little tramp who is using you!”

“I know what you’ve done for me, Maggie! You don’t have to remind me of it, each and every day. I was just doing her a favor. I like to write, she wanted to sing and it felt nice to do something for her. She’s not a tramp, Maggie. She’s just... confused, I guess!”

By now, Linnie had a pretty good idea of what they were talking about, but Margaret’s following remark enlightened her even further. And even though she knew she should walk away, she seemed unable to move.

“Listen to yourself! Dot is using your talent and passing it for her own, and you say she’s confused?! What kind of loser are you turning into, Joey?”

A few minutes later, Linnie thanked the Heavens above for the instinct that had led her to rush down the stairs as soon as she heard Margaret’s remark, because as soon as she got back behind the store’s front desk, Joey stormed into the room, pale and obviously disturbed.

He stopped in his tracks as he saw Linnie, and she realized he was wondering whether or not she had heard their fight. Swallowing hard, Linnie put on her broadest smile and hoped her eyes wouldn’t betray her.

“Oh, Joey, hi!” she said, trying to sound surprised and cheery. “I was just thinking of going upstairs. It’s just that I really need to leave and I guess Margaret forgot about it.”

“She must have... lost track of time, I guess,” Joey said, avoiding Linnie’s eyes. “I’ll take care of the store for you, don’t worry.”

“Thanks, Joey,” Linnie hesitated but she couldn’t stop herself from saying, unable to overlook the troubled look on his face, “Are you ok? I mean, if you’re not feeling well I’ll wait for Margaret.”

He gave her half a smile.

“No, I’m fine, only a little tired. Margaret will be down soon, anyway. You really should go.”

“Ok,” Linnie picked up her things and walked towards the door. And as she turned to close it behind her, she saw Joey sink onto the chair and bury his head in his hands.

Linnie’s head was in turmoil as she walked down the street towards campus. There was a lot more to all of this than she had thought! So Dot had been passing Joey’s songs as her own for almost two years? Sweet tempered as she was, Linnie couldn’t help but to feel a little enraged. Dot knew Joey was crazy about her and was using him and lying to everyone. Even Ned, surely, because Linnie couldn’t believe he knew anything about it. Being honest to the core it was very difficult for Linnie to understand how someone could act that way. After all, from what she’d been told, her lyrics were the only reason Dot was still in the band. Besides Dot didn’t seem at all grateful for what Joey was doing for her. So why on Earth did he do it still? Surely he must have realized by now that doing it would not earn him her love.

The weight of the secret she was now unwillingly carrying was almost overwhelming. Her first impulse was to break it all out to Barbara, but it wasn’t her secret to tell. She wasn’t even supposed to know about it, so she must keep quiet.

Her resolve was quite shaken when she ran into Ned, Dot and Ken, the Drakes drummer and oldest member. Dot gazed at her with a smug smile and held on to Ned’s arm. Linnie was so nervous she barely registered the way he seemed to tense under the girl’s touch.

“Hi, Linnie,” he said, as he discreetly got away from Dot’s grip and walked towards her. “Is there something wrong? You’re pale as paper.”

Linnie managed to smile but avoided his peering eyes.

“I’m fine. Just a little nervous, I guess,” she noticed the furious look on Dot’s face and suddenly didn’t feel frightened anymore. Why should she? She wouldn’t let herself be bullied. As far as she was concerned, Dot was just a poor excuse for a human being, despite all her looks. “I’ve decided to audition for the choir, after all,” she said, almost defiantly.

She noticed, not without some pride, that Dot’s jaw dropped and Ned’s face lit with a toothy grin.

“That’s great!” Ken said, smiling at her, his blue eyes gleaming. “Do you mind if we watch?”

Linnie blushed.

“Well, I guess it would be nice to have a few familiar faces out there.”

“But weren’t you saying we had to rehearse?” Dot asked, coldly.

“No,” Ken said slowly, turning to the blonde young woman. “Actually I said YOU had to rehearse!”

Dot turned beet red and Linnie noticed how she clutched her fists, obviously furious. And she looked even more enraged when Ned said, “Well, we will most certainly be there.”

Linnie couldn’t be happier than to escape Dot’s murderous glances. She quickly strode towards the amphitheater where the auditions would take place. The events of the last hour had taken her mind off that particular topic but right now the jitters were coming back and her stomach was turning. Why on Earth had she decided to audition? Oh right, because neither Ned nor Barbara would shut up about it. And because deep down inside she wanted to know if she really was good enough.

*     *     *

There, it’s done! Linnie thought, as she sat down in the waiting room, her legs finally giving under her as they had threatened to do all afternoon.

She had never realized the auditions would be this demanding. The candidates were tested in their abilities to read music, their background as singers, their knowledge of music as well as their personal talents. Maybe that was the reason competition was so fierce! Most people didn’t even try to audition, and if Linnie had been aware of the standards she wouldn’t have either. Not that things had gone badly, but this was too much of a strain for her.

The initial group of candidates had been tested, probed and heard behind close doors, by the highest names in the Drake Music Department. Now, there were about twenty people left and only ten would make it to the public part of the audition. And a small part of her wished she wouldn’t make it.

But when she heard Caroline Moore being announced as one of the finalists, the part of her that wasn’t afraid smothered all the doubts she had and she felt very happy indeed.

*     *     *

Ned sat in the back of the room with Ken and Dot, who was in a really rotten mood. He could see Barbara and Bob seating a few rows in front of them. The amphitheater was quite crowded, since the choir auditions were always quite an event. The Drake Choir had won several interstate competitions along the years and the standards were so high most people didn’t even dare try for it. So, it was always quite a show.

He felt his heart pumping loudly and feared Dot would hear it. Not as much as he once had, though. Things were very cold between them and he knew it was just a matter of time until everything was over. He just hoped she wouldn’t think Linnie was to blame, when he finally brought himself to break up with her.

But now he didn’t want to think about it. He was really anxious to watch Linnie perform and when he finally saw her walking on stage, with some other contestants, his heart skipped a beat. She looked really fragile and small, in the big auditorium.

This was the last stage of the audition in which the candidates would interpret a theme of their choice a capella. There were about ten contestants left on stage. But thankfully Linnie was the third candidate to perform, or Ned believed he would have a heart attack.

When he heard one of the members of the jury call Caroline Moore, he held his breath and watched as Linnie walked to the center of the stage. Her eyes were downcast, and he felt how nervous she was just by looking at her. Her petite figure seemed so out of place standing alone on the stage, he feared he had somehow made a mistake in forcing her to do this. But then he remembered how her voice sounded and that she had made it this far, and he was reassured. That was until he was completely floored by her amazing voice, as it resounded in the enormous room.

The auditorium went completely silent as Linnie began singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow. The familiar song took a whole new dimension in her crystal clear voice. It came so naturally to her that everyone forgot they had heard it millions of times before. And she didn’t look small or fragile anymore. She seemed transfigured, as she closed her eyes and let emotion take over her.

When the song ended, there was a moment of complete silence before the hall erupted in a thunder of clapping and cheering. Casting a sideways glance at Dot, he saw her sitting there with her mouth hanging open, apparently still unable to believe what she had just witnessed.

“Wow!” Ken said to Ned, as he kept on clapping. “She’s amazing!”

“She most certainly is,” said Barbara, coming up the aisle to meet them, as the crowd started to settle down and another candidate was called. “I never thought she would be this great, though. She was so nervous!”

“That’s what I call singing!” Ken stated. “Where has she been hiding all this long?”

“Maybe you should ask her to sing with the Drakes,” Barbara told him, with a mischievous look in her eyes.

“Maybe we should,” Ken retorted, winking at her.

Ned braced himself for what was to come. He knew Barbara had said it on purpose to make Dot mad. And mad she was!

“Oh, is that so? I didn’t know you needed a singer!” she exclaimed, earning herself a few angry glances from the people around them.

“Well, you really should pay more attention in rehearsals,” Ken shot back at her.

Dot got up, her fists clenched in anger and said, before leaving the room, “If you think that ridiculous hillbilly is good enough to sing with you then maybe you should get someone else to write for you too!”

Ken sighed. “It’s not like I haven’t tried,” he mumbled.

Taking a deep breath, Ned decided this was the time to talk to Dot. She would probably be alone, which was a rare occurrence and he couldn’t loose this opportunity. In fact, she was standing just outside the door, apparently waiting to see if he’d follow her. Her face lit up as she saw him.

“Oh, Ned! I’m so glad you’re here!” she said, as she drew her arms around his neck.

Ned gulped and grabbed her arms, gently but firmly pushing her away from him. She gave him a puzzled look.

“We need to talk, Dot,” he said, his voice coming a little hoarse.

Immediately, she assumed a defensive stance. Her eyes grew colder and she held her head high.

“Oh, do we?” she said, softly.

He sighed. He knew enough of her to know this wouldn’t be easy.

“I suppose we’ll be talking about that girl once more,” Dot continued, in a mocking tone. “All right, I shouldn’t have called her a hillbilly...”

“This has nothing to do with Linnie!” Ned snapped, suddenly feeling very tired. Dot stared at him in complete awe. He didn’t usually speak to her like this, not even when they argued. And she realized all of the sudden this time it was serious.

“Look, Dot, this isn’t working anymore. I’m sick and tired of pretending everything is fine!” He said, looking her straight in the eye. “We had fun, we enjoyed each other’s company but that’s all changed now. We both know it. I’m sorry to say it, but it’s time we call it quits before we can’t stand the sight of each other. Before we can’t even be friends!”

“I see,” she said, growing pale, “Your friends have won after all.”

“That’s what I’m talking about, Dot!” he exclaimed. “No one has won anything. This has nothing to do with anyone but you or me! The problem is we have nothing to do with each other anymore. You don’t like my friends, you’re not interested in what I like or want, and frankly, I no longer give a damn about it! I simply want to move on. Why are we torturing each other?”

“Oh, so now I’ve been torturing you?”

“No! I mean, yes... oh! God damn it, Dot,” Ned took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his thick brown hair. “Can you honestly say you’ve been happy with me for the past months?”

Dot avoided his eyes and didn’t answer.

“Why should we be miserable, Dot? Let’s just admit it’s not working anymore and go on with our lives.”

She finally looked up at him, her eyes as cold as ice and said, “Fine! If that’s the way you want it,” and then she added, wanting to hurt him. “And you’re right, I never did like your friends!”

Turning on her heels, Dot trod down the hall, without another word.

When she finally disappeared from sight, Ned let out the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding and sat on the cold floor, his back pressed against the brick covered wall. It was over.

 

Chapter Six

The last few hours were a kind of a blur to Linnie. She had been dragged to the Tavern after the results had been announced. She was in! She was now a full-fledged member of the Drake University Choir and she still couldn’t believe it. Having auditioned mostly as a joke, it was very hard for her to believe that she would now be singing to crowds.

“Oh, I’m so excited for you, Linnie,” Barbara said, with her eyes gleaming. “You so deserve this!”

“It’s scaring the hell out of me, Barb,” Linnie confessed. “I’m not stage material. That’s why I’ve always wanted to teach.”

“Well, maybe this will make you change your mind.” Barbara sighed. “I still want to be on a stage someday. Singing, I mean.”

“Then why didn’t you audition for the choir?”

Barbara blushed.

“Oh, no! That’s not what I’m aiming for. I like singing and acting both. My dream was to be on Broadway musical! You see, ever since the first time I went to New York, with Trixie and the rest of the Bobwhites, I went crazy over it. But my Dad said that he wouldn’t let me go to acting school without a college education. I had to agree with him. If acting doesn’t work out, I’ll still have other skills to rely on.”

“So you decided it was better to try the acting department while you were in college,” Linnie completed.

Her friend giggled and blushed even deeper.

“Well, that was the main reason,” she said, winking at Linnie.

“Speaking of Joey, where is he?” Bob said as he appeared suddenly from behind them and made them start.

“Robert Hubbell! Wait till Mum knows you’re eavesdropping in my conversations!” Barbara punched him playfully on the shoulder.

“I didn’t listen to your conversation, sister dear. I merely noticed the way you were giggling! It didn’t take a genius to realize you were discussing men!” Bob smirked and added, “And apparently I was right!”

His sister turned crimson and Linnie hid a smile, as Bob exchanged a knowing look with her.

“I have no idea where he might be,” Barbara said, trying to sound unaffected by Bob’s comment. “I called him when we decided to come here but his cell phone was off. I guess I might as well try again.” Barbara grabbed Bob’s cell phone from his shirt pocket and stuck her tongue out to him as he protested and followed her.

Linnie smiled at their banter and then let her eyes roam about the room. After a few moments, her gaze met Ned’s. He was at the pinball machine but instead of playing he was staring at her, with a smile. When she returned the smile, he motioned for her to join him. Since the twins had left her alone, she got up and walked towards him.

“Hi,” she greeted him.

“What were you doing there all by yourself?” he asked, lowering his head towards her so she could hear him above the loud music.

“Oh, Barbara and Bob went to call Joey and see if he would join us,” Linnie answered, a little disturbed by his proximity.

“Hey, I haven’t had the chance to congratulate you properly,” Ned said, as he walked her to a quieter corner of the room. “You were amazing!”

She blushed, more from his intent gaze than from his praise.

“Thank you. I still can’t believe it! There were some amazing people there.”

“No one was a wonderful as you were,” Ned’s cheeks grew a little red too and he turned his eyes away from her for a few moments. “You were... absolutely magical!”

At a loss for words, Linnie merely smiled and nervously bit her thumb nail. He chuckled at the unconscious infantile gesture and tenderly pulled her hand away from her mouth.

“Don’t do that,” he scolded, softly.

She looked up at him, surprised by the intimacy of the gesture. When their eyes met once more, Linnie suddenly lost all ability to form a coherent thought. But Barbara’s urgent tone of voice broke the spell.

“Guys, we got to go! Joey’s in trouble!”

Linnie looked up at her friend, startled. The words took longer than usual to register, but when they did she shot up.

“What happened?” she asked, her eyes widening when noticed the paleness of Bob and Barbara’s face.

“I’m not sure... He sounded pretty scared!” Barbara’s voice was trembling, so Bob decided to take over the explanations.

“Joey was at the police station. Apparently something happened at campus and they’re blaming him for it. From what he told me, and it wasn’t much, I think it has something to do with Rachel and those letters she got.”

Ned got up too, still a little dazed. He ran his fingers through his hair and remarked, “But I thought those were just frat pranks!”

Linnie blushed as she remembered what Rachel and her friend had discussed in the cafeteria.

“I guess they weren’t,” she finally said, slowly. “I heard her saying something about other weird stuff happening to her. But I didn’t give it much importance anyway.”

“Why don’t we go back to campus and try to find out what really happened?” Bob suggested, wrapping a comforting arm around his sister, trying to calm her down. “It won’t do Joey any good if we panic. We don’t even know what on Earth happened. Maybe it was all just some big misunderstanding.”

The others nodded and felt thankful for Bob’s calm guidance. He could be a clown but he also could be relied upon when it came to organize things in the best possible way.

*     *     *

When the group got back to campus they soon found the answer to their questions. There was a tow truck in the main parking lot, getting ready to tow away a pretty battered convertible. From where they were standing they could see the tires were cut to shreds, as were the leather seats. The word “Bitch” had savagely been etched on the windshield and the hood was also deeply scared.

They approached the small crowd, still in awe of scene in front of them.

“That’s Rachel’s car,” Ned said, his voice betraying his amazement.

“Christ! Who in Heaven’s name was sick enough to do this?” Bob asked, folding his arms across his chest.

“Apparently they think it was Joey.” Barbara’s voice was barely audible and she appeared transfixed by the sight.

“But why would anyone think Joey had reasons to hate her all that much?” asked Linnie, her brow deeply furrowed. Her friends stared back at her, finally realizing what was really at stake. The real problem wasn’t the state the car was in, but the fact that Joey was being charged with the vandalism.

The answer to Linnie’s question came from an unexpected source.

“He was stupid enough to leave his pen in the car,” Dot said, appearing from behind them. Her icy gaze landed on Linnie and then on Ned. “A pen with his name on it.”

“That must be the pen his father gave him just before he died,” Barbara whispered, her eyes growing wide with fear. “He carried it around with him all the time.”

“Come on, Dot, you don’t really believe he had anything to do with this!” Ned exclaimed, raking his hair with his fingers, and trying to disguise the trembling in his hands.

She smirked and eyed Linnie, provocatively.

“Well, people are capable of the most amazing things, even when you never thought they had it in them. Like stealing other people’s boyfriends, for instance.”

Although Linnie didn’t have any clue as to what she was talking about, she knew it had something to do with Ned and her, so she couldn’t help the deep blush that invaded her cheeks.

Ned, on the other hand, looked furious.

“Stop it, Dot! I’ve warned you!”

The blonde girl walked up to him, her eyes leveled with his.

“Talking about warnings, here’s one: take care with the companies you keep, Ned. You might just get in trouble one of these days, for walking around with the wrong kind of crowd.”

Before Ned could answer, she turned her back on the group and walked away.

“What was that all about?” Bob asked, looking mad.

“Never mind, I’ll fill you in later,” Ned said, taking a deep breath. “There are more important things to worry about right now.”

“Yeah, we should go down to the police station and try to find out if Joey is ok,” Barbara said, unable to hide the emotion in her voice. But none of the others were in much of a joking mood, so they agreed and started walking towards the police station, which was only a few blocks away.

As they walked, Linnie’s head was in turmoil. Not only about Joey and the vandalized car, but also about the scene between Dot and Ned and the little stings the obnoxious blonde young woman had more than apparently directed at herself. She wondered what had happened between them, but didn’t have the courage to ask. Looking up at him, she tried to find something to say but all she was able to utter was, “Are you ok?”

Since they had started their walk, Ned had had his eyes locked on Barbara and Bob, who were walking in front of them, but his thoughts were probably miles away. But when Linnie spoke, he turned to her, his handsome face lighting with a wide, honest smile.

“I’m fine,” he answered, his eyes growing softer as they looked into hers. “Thanks for asking.”

She gulped and turned her eyes away, somehow unable to stand his gaze.

“You’re welcome,” she mumbled.

Then, to her utter surprise, she felt his hand take hold of hers and gently squeeze it. Startled, she looked up at him, expecting an explanation or something of the kind, but all she got was his eyes staring deeply into hers, as if defying her to protest or take her hand away. But she did neither, completely awe struck by his gesture and the amazing feeling of her small hand in his strong one. And of the way her heart was thumping in her chest, as if begging for more.

*     *     *

When they got to the station, Joey and Margaret were coming down the front steps. Both looked pale and tired.

“Joey!” Barbara called out, running to him and hugging him without thinking twice. After the initial shock at her reaction, Joey smiled and hugged her back, apparently relieved that she didn’t have doubts about his innocence.

“Are you ok?” she asked, anxiously.

“He’s fine,” Margaret answered coldly, before he could utter a word.

“I can answer for myself,” Joey said, his voice firm and steady. “I’m a little shaken up by all this, but I guess I’m ok.”

“What did they tell you?” Bob asked, as the group sat on steps.

“Not much,” Joey sighed and he rubbed his eyes, behind the glasses. “They wanted to know how my pen ended up in the car, where I’ve been tonight... That kind of stuff. But I couldn’t tell them much, since I have no idea how that pen got there. I lost track of it some weeks back, and I had no idea where it had gone.”

“Didn’t Rachel give you a ride or something?” Barbara asked.

He shook his head.

“Yeah, a while back...”

“She was always offering him rides and such,” Margaret stated, ironically. “Only because she wanted to get closer to a friend of his. And silly Joey never noticed and he went and lost his damned pen in her car...”

Hearing his sister’s words, Joey got up, his face suddenly red with anger.

“Stop it, Maggie! I told you that’s my problem, not yours!”

“Joey, Margaret, please,” Linnie intervened. “We’re all testy and worried, and we’re all bound to say things we don’t mean. Now we just have to concentrate on the best way to clear Joey’s name. None of us even believes for a second he could have done something like this,” as the words left her lips, Linnie felt guilty. Merely hours before she had wondered about Joey’s involvement in the strange events taking place around campus. But now her heart was telling her she had been wrong. There had to be another explanation to all of this.

“Linnie’s right,” Ned said, coming to her aid. “We have to keep calm and think straight.” Then he turned to Joey and asked, “You do have an alibi for tonight, don’t you?”

Joey lowered his head avoiding his friend’s eyes and mumbled, “No, not really. I...” He lifted his eyes for a moment to look at Barbara and then looked back down again, as if ashamed. “I was alone, in the theater. I went there after the choir auditions and I left about an hour ago. And since I didn’t see anyone, I don’t think anyone saw me.”

“That is a bit of a problem,” Ned said. “But the truth will come to light soon enough. We just have to be patient!”

“Easy for you to say!” Margaret snorted.

“Maggie!” Joey turned to her again, and his voice had a menacing ring to it.

She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair.

“All right, I’m sorry, Ned,” she finally apologized. “I’m just... It’s been a hellish day!”

“That’s fine, Margaret,” Ned smiled. “I guess we all better go home and get some sleep. Tomorrow we’ll see what we can do.”

The others agreed and they said goodbye to Joey and Margaret, who got into Margaret’s car and drove away. But as the remaining four started walking towards the apartment, Ned hesitated.

“Guys, I think I won’t be going home just yet. I guess I need to wind down.”

“It’s late, man.” Bob sounded a little concerned. “You want me to stay with you? We’ll get the girls home and...”

“Hey! What do you mean, take the girls home?” Barbara complained. “Why can’t we come?”

Ned chuckled.

“No, that’s fine. I’m just going down to the gym and shoot some hoops. The janitor knows me, he’ll let me in. I won’t be long.” He hesitated for a few seconds gazing at Linnie and then said, “Do you want to come along? Barbara told me you used to play basketball in High school. We could play some one on one.”

Red as beet, Linnie couldn’t even find the words to turn him down, so she just nodded and followed him, as he started down the street.

“I don’t get it,” Barbara said, frowning. “Why couldn’t we come?”

“Do you want me to draw you a picture, sis?” Bob asked, sarcastically, as he drew his arm around his sister’s shoulders.

Suddenly, Barbara got it and a wide smile lit her pretty face.

“Oh! God, I’m such a moron!” She giggled. “Well, this certainly lightens up my night!”

*     *     *

I won’t shed a tear over him, Dot promised herself, fury still burning strong inside her, as she crossed the campus lawn, I won’t!

She had known things weren’t that great between her and Ned for a long time, but it had never crossed her mind that he might break up with her. She had considered breaking up with him, but the reverse situation had never even seemed like a possibility. After all, she was beautiful (everyone said it), she was glamorous and she knew everyone that mattered. So why had he broken up with her? It certainly couldn’t be her fault, so someone else must be to blame. Maybe the twins, since they had never approved of her relationship with Ned. Probably they had pushed that hillbilly right into his arms. That was it! He had been fooled by them!

But they’ll be sorry for it! And I’ll get him back, she thought. Suddenly, as she reached the concrete sidewalk she heard footsteps behind her. Startled, she looked back but saw nothing but the tree shadows projected on the ground under the street lamps.

It was probably just my imagination running wild, she thought. But a moment’s hesitation as she turned around to get back on her way allowed her to see the distinct silhouette of someone coming out from behind a tree.

Taken by a sudden panic attack, Dot was unable to move, even though all of her internal alarm bells were ringing. She tried to run, as she saw the approaching figure, but her legs refused to respond and all she managed was a few awkward steps.

Before she knew it the menacing figure had rammed into her, making her fall over on her rear, and loomed over her, as she lay on the hard and cold concrete floor. Finally getting her strength back, Dot started kicking and screaming as the hooded assailant tried to pin her to the ground and cover her mouth with his hand.

Dot bit it, which earned her a violent punch on the side of her head and made her see stars. With tears of fear and pain in her eyes, Dot heard the sound of ripping fabric and felt the rough cement on her bare shoulder. She kicked even harder without even knowing where she hit and suddenly heard a grunt and her attacker fell back, holding on to his stomach.

Not really knowing where she found the strength to do it, Dot got up and started running without even knowing where she was headed.

 

Chapter Seven

The quiet gym was a peaceful but scary place in the dark of the night. The echo of their footsteps broke the deep silence and Linnie jumped when Ned turned on the lights.

“Easy, it’s just me,” he said, chuckling and joining her by the hoop pole.

She smiled, still a little nervous with the strange turn of events. How had she ended up alone in the gym, in the middle of the night, with Ned?

He dribbled the basketball a little, seemingly relaxed and shot a few hoops without apparent effort. She admired his style and imagined he must be quite an attractive presence when playing. But when her mind started drifting into imagining him in his team gear, in his shorts, Linnie decided it was best to stop at that and not run along with her imagination.

So she silently walked to the hoop and when the ball fell through it, she picked it up before he did.

“Hey!” he protested, playfully.

She showed him her tongue and threw the ball, which drew a perfect arc in the air and fell right through the hoop once more.

He laughed.

“You are a professional. Have you been hustling me?”

“What do you mean hustle? I thought Barbara told you I could play!”

“She did, but I thought you played... well, like a girl!” Ned teased.

Linnie laughed and threw the ball at him.

“Never judge a book by its cover,” she said, taking the ball away from him again as he tried to make a shot. “Most boys back in school didn’t think I could play because I was short and a girl. Well, let’s just say they don’t think that anymore!”

“Oh, yeah?” Ned grinned. “Well, you’ll have to prove it!”

And prove it she did. They played for some while, both completely losing track of time.

But finally Linnie was the first to give in, totally worn out. Ned grinned and walked her to the benches.

“I haven’t played in a while and I guess I just can’t take the strain anymore!” she admitted.

“Well, you put up a hell of a fight. You are pretty good,” he smiled. “In fact, is there anything you’re not good at?”

Linnie sighed.

“Oh! There are plenty of things I really suck at.”

“Name one.”

She blushed.

“I don’t know. People, I guess. I’m too shy and too gullible at times.”

“Everyone loves you, Linnie,” he reached out and brushed a strand of hair away from her forehead. “Maybe you just need to see yourself the way other people see you. Maybe you’re just too hard on yourself.”

“Not everyone loves me,” she whispered.

Ned took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a second. Then he said, “Everyone that matters anyway.”

She bent her knees and encircled them with her arms. After a few moments, she found the courage to ask, “What was Dot talking about earlier? I mean, it’s none of my business, but...”

He chuckled, and there was a little bitterness in his voice when he answered.

“She made it your business by going at you like that. We broke up.”

“Oh...” was all Linnie managed to say. Her heart pounded in her chest and she really didn’t want to know why.

Ned seemed to wait for her to enquire further, but since she didn’t he went on.

“I couldn’t take it anymore. We were just hurting each other and others along the way. It was more than time to move on.”

“Well, I hope...” she really couldn’t find the words. “I hope that all turns out for the best.”

He gazed into her eyes and smiled.

“I hope so too. Especially since I finally got a picture of what was the best for me”

A strange and uncomfortable silence sat between them, and both felt there were a lot of unspoken words making it harder to break. But before any of them could think of something safe to say, Ned’s cell phone rang.

“It’s Barbara,” he said as their friend’s name flashed on the screen. “She’s probably wondering whatever happened to us. It’s almost midnight.”

But as he answered the phone and listened to what Barbara had to say, Linnie noticed how his face went from amused to surprise and then to concerned and realized something serious had happened.

“Is everything alright?” she asked, as he put the phone back in his pocket.

He stared at her for a few seconds, in silence, looking confused. Then he said, as he ran his fingers through his thick brown hair, “It’s Dot. She’s at our place. Barbara said she showed up in tears, apparently scared to death, bruised... They haven’t been able to understand what happened. She’s too nervous to make any sense! And she came there looking for me. We... we better go!”

Linnie got up instantly, despite the strange sinking feeling in her heart.

“Yeah, sure. We need to know what happened.”

But as Linnie started towards the exit, Ned grabbed her by the arm and forced her to look at him.

“Linnie,” he said, staring deeply into her eyes. “Whatever happened to her, it doesn’t change anything. From now on, Dot is merely a friend, who can count on me whenever she needs me, sure, but a just a friend.”

Linnie lowered her eyes. She really didn’t know what he expected her to say.

“And she needs you now, so we really should get going,” was all she could utter.

He took a deep breath and nodded, realizing Linnie’s principles didn’t allow her to go any further.

“Yeah, we should,” he said, smiling reassuringly.

*     *     *

The scene that awaited them in the apartment was uncanny to say the least. Linnie found it hard to believe that the sobbing, puffy-eyed, disheveled girl seating on the sofa, with Barbara’s arm wrapped around her shoulders was the same girl that had challenged her openly merely hours before. Whatever had happened had certainly been very serious. Her clothes were crumpled, there was a tear in her t-shirt, exposing her shoulder and purple bruises were starting to show on the smooth skin of her face.

As soon as they entered the room, Dot got up and dived into Ned’s arms. He embraced her, but Linnie noticed the way his body seemed to tense at her touch.

“It’s ok, you’re safe now,” his voice sounded firm and reassuring, but everyone could notice the absence of tenderness in his voice. Even Dot, despite her nervousness and tears, noticed it and pulled away from him, as if repelled by its coolness. “Calm down, Dot, tell me what happened.”

Trembling, the blonde girl wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and looked around her, at the expectant faces of the others. Then, taking a deep breath she started, her voice trembling almost as much as her hands, “I came here with Rachel, after I... left you in campus,” Linnie noticed the hesitation and glanced at the girl. Their eyes met for a moment and even with all the distress, Linnie saw a spark of defiance in Dot’s blue eyes. “She... was very nervous. I stayed in her apartment for a while, and then I decided to go home. It was late but since it’s just a few blocks away, I thought I’d be all right. There was no one to accompany me anyway.”

The sting was intentional and Ned felt it deeply. Softly, but firmly, he pushed Dot away from him and led her back to the sofa. Then, he went to stand next to Bob, by the breakfast island.

Linnie noticed how Dot’s jaw tightened and wished she could just run away and hide in her room, until it was all over. But she also wanted to hear the story through.

“Anyway, I was about halfway home, when I had this strange feeling someone was following me. I walked faster, but suddenly...” at that moment, Dot’s lip started to tremble again and she broke in tears once more. She could be obnoxious, but she really must have been through a lot. Linnie knew her enough to know she wouldn’t show her weaknesses just to anyone, and certainly not to people she apparently regarded as enemies. So, she decided she had to do something to help her. Getting up, she said softly, “I’ll make you some tea, Dot. It will help to calm you down.”

Four pairs of eyes landed on her all of a sudden, and Linnie blushed under the scrutiny. Dot and Barbara’s gaze was one of surprise, Bob’s was of admiration and Ned’s... well, Linnie didn’t really want to see whatever message he was trying to convey with his eyes. So, she just turned her back on him and walked into the kitchen, as Dot resumed her story, in an unsteady voice.

“Someone jumped me from behind... The person was wearing some kind of a hood...” Dot’s voice came in gasps and she shut her eyes, as if trying to forget the images. “I kicked and screamed, but I couldn’t get away... I thought... Lord, I thought I was going to be raped or something... But the person... it seemed whomever it was only wanted to beat me up! I got punched, kicked, scratched... Then I finally managed to escape the grip enough to kick hard. I don’t know where I hit, but the person let me go and I managed to run away. I didn’t know where to go, so I ran back here!”

Linnie looked at Dot and saw the pleading look in her eyes, directed at Ned. But he wasn’t even looking at her. His eyes were locked on the floor, his brow furrowed and his arms folded across his chest.

“You were right to come back here,” Barbara said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. “You shouldn’t be alone, in case whoever attacked you comes back or something.”

“Yeah,” Ned finally said. “And we should notify the police and take you to a hospital or something.”

“No, there’s no need to go to the hospital. I’m just bruised...” Dot said. “The person... who did this... wasn’t very strong. I wasn’t hurt badly, just... scared half to death.”

“Did the person who attacked you asked you for your purse or something?”

“No! I was just... beaten!”

“We have to call the police. Something tells me this has something to do with all the other strange things that have been happening lately.” Ned walked towards the sofa and sat on the coffee table in front of Dot. He squeezed her hand, gently, and Dot’s face lit up. But Ned let go of her hand almost immediately and the smile died on her lips.

“All right, I’ll talk to the police,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. But Linnie had the strange feeling it had more to do with Ned’s coolness than with the fright she had just had. She walked back into the room, and held out the cup of tea to Dot.

The blonde young woman took it and murmured “thank you” without even looking at her. Barbara caught Linnie’s eyes and shook her head, in disbelief and formed the word Idiot with her lips.

*     *     *

It was almost dawn when Linnie finally managed to get in bed, completely worn out. The police had left only moment before, escorting Dot home, after interrogating everyone over and over again.

“What a night!” Barbara said, from the other bed.

“You can say that again...” Linnie whispered. And in her mind she added, And you don’t know the half of it! She felt bad not to tell Barbara about her conversation with Ned, but she was too tired and confused to even think about it.

“Dot really is a complete jerk!” Barbara apparently was nowhere near sleep. “You were so nice to her, and she barely acknowledged you.”

“She went through a lot tonight,” Linnie said. “We can’t blame her for not being in her usual self.”

“But she was!” Barbara sat up in bed, cross legged, and Linnie realized she wasn’t going to get any sleep anytime soon. “She was her usual magnificent self. Even after all she went through! She came here asking for our help and for comfort and she was just as obnoxious and bitchy as before!”

“Barbara, today was a rough day for her.” Linnie sighed. She was going to have to tell the whole thing after all. “Ned broke up with her earlier. So, she was bound to be nervous already, even without the attack.”

“Ned did what?” Barbara jumped from her bed as if moved by springs and literally invaded Linnie’s. “They broke up?”

“Yeah. That’s why she nearly bit my head off, back in campus. Apparently she thinks I had something to do with it.” Linnie sighed.

Barbara smirked in the darkened room.

“Well, I think you do too. Not intentionally of course, but the fact that Ned met you, who are everything Dot never was, probably has been some kind of wake up call.”

Linnie groaned and buried her head on her pillow.

“Oh, Barbara, please! I really don’t need this... I had nothing to do with it!”

“I know, sweetie, but I think Ned likes you. And that gave him the courage to make a move he has been considering for a long time,” Barbara reached out to squeeze her friend’s hand.

“I hate to think that I have somehow caused someone’s unhappiness,” Linnie’s voice was barely over a whisper. “Even if I don’t really like Dot much.”

The other young woman giggled.

“They should name you Queen of Diplomacy! Or of the Understatement. But seriously now, has he told you anything? Details?”

Linnie sat up in bed and hit Barbara with the pillow, playfully.

“Come on! Of course not!” she lied, knowing fully well Barbara could see through her reddened face.

The grin on Barbara’s face widened.

“Yeah, right. Well,” she put on a serious expression and added, “Whatever happens I just want you two to be happy. I love you guys!”

Linnie smiled and she gave the other girl a quick hug.

“Thanks, Barbara. I do too. But right now there are more serious things to talk about. Everything else will... sort itself out.”

Linnie’s words seemed to remember Barbara of the night’s other events.

“I’m so worried about Joey, Linnie. You don’t...” Barbara hesitated and she looked away for a moment. But finally she asked, “You don’t think Joey had anything to do with this, do you?”

Linnie gulped. She hated to lie and she knew Barbara would be able to see right through her if she did.

“Look, Barb,” she started, softly. “I really like Joey and I find it really hard to believe that he would do something like this. But I’ve heard something that...” she exhaled deeply, gathering the courage to tell Barbara. “Something that has made me wonder.”

After she finished her tale, Barbara sat there in silence for a few moments, her face pale and expressionless and her eyes locked on the carpeted floor.

“I still can’t believe he would do something like that,” she said at last, tears bordering her long brown lashes. “I have always believed he would snap one day, and end all the abuse and the mockery. But this isn’t like him. He doesn’t have it in him. I mean, terrorizing people, sending anonymous letters, destroying people’s property... Christ, beating people up? No, I just can’t believe it!” Barbara’s voice got stronger as she spoke, the conviction of his innocence growing deeper roots as she considered everything. “He wouldn’t hide behind some hood. He would face everyone who ever abused them and challenge them face to face.”

“Then who would be interested in blaming him?” Linnie asked, even more confused than before. “Even if his pen showing up in Rachel’s car was just a coincidence, all the girls that have been attacked or menaced were somehow mean to him. If the police heard about this, he’s toast!”

“We can’t tell them, Linnie,” Barbara pleaded, holding Linnie’s hands in her own. “Please, promise me you won’t talk about this to the police. Not before I talk to him!”

“Barbara, of course I won’t. I like Joey and...” she sighed. “Deep inside, I don’t believe he did it either. Besides what I heard proves nothing. We aren’t even sure if what happened to Dot tonight had anything to do with this.”

“But Dot could mention it to them. I mean, she was too nervous to think straight, but tomorrow she might tell the police Joey had a motive to attack her.” Barbara was starting to panic.

“I hadn’t thought of that, but then she would have to give herself away. She would have to tell them the truth about the songs. And I don’t think she would want that, no matter how scared she is.”

“I hope you’re right. And Ned would never look at her again!,” Barbara rubbed her temples. “Did you tell Ned about her and Joey?”

Linnie shook her head.

“How could I? It wasn’t my secret to tell and besides that would give him another reason to walk away from her. I just... I really don’t want to get involved.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean. Dot can be pretty scary.”

“It’s not Dot I fear, Barbara,” Linnie said, finally admitting the truth. “I mean, I do hate scenes and scandal, but... This is happening a bit too fast for me.”

Barbara smiled reassuringly.

“Everything will turn out all right, Linnie. I just know it will.”

“Thanks, Barbara,” then, after a short hesitation, Linnie asked, voicing a thought that had crept into her mind, but that she had dismissed until then. “Barbara, have you wondered if... I mean, could Dot have faked it? You know, the attack? Just to get close to Ned again?”

Her friend’s eyes widened as the hypothesis registered in her mind, but then she shook her head.

“As much as I would love to have just another reason to hate her, I think it really happened. She was truly scared. And she’s not that good of an actress. Besides, she’s too proud to grovel.”

Linnie lay back on her pillow and sighed.

“Somehow I almost wish she had faked it. Then things would be a lot simpler.”

In spite of not being sure of what things Linnie was meant, Barbara nodded. Whether she talking about Ned or Joey, she was right nonetheless.

 

Chapter Eight

Barbara got up early, despite the almost all-nighter she'd pulled. Sleep seemed to elude her, so she decided to take a walk. Her head was bubbling with hypotheses and theories about the events that had taken place the previous night. Had Joey done it? Did she know him that badly? Or was someone trying to frame him? But why? Did it have anything to do with his dealings with Dot?

She groaned. It was barely nine am and she already had a headache.

"Barbara!"

She jumped, startled, and turned around. To her utter surprise, she saw Joey standing just behind her. Apparently he had been calling out her name for quite some time, but she hadn't even heard him.

"Joey, hi!" She felt her cheeks grow hot and cursed herself. He always did that to her.

"Hi! You're quite distracted. I hope I'm not disturbing you or anything..."

"No, of course not. In fact, I was just thinking about you," Barbara bit her lip. "I mean, about last night."

He gave her a shy smile and looked away for a moment. "Yeah, that's been on my mind too. I've just been to the police station, to confirm all I said last night. And they told me that someone was attacked last night. Did you hear about it?"

Barbara sighed. "It was Dot. Someone one followed her home and beat her up."

"What?" Joey stopped dead on his tracks, his face growing terribly pale. "God!  How is she?"

"Oh, a little bruised but mostly scared. It was quite a fright!"

"I bet! Did she see the assailant?"

"No, the person was wearing some kind of a hood."

Joey sat on a nearby bench, looking confused. "This is all so weird, Barb. I don't understand what's happening."

Barbara sat beside him. "I don't either. None of us do. But it would be so much easier if you had an alibi for last night."

He blushed and looked away from her. Barbara frowned. He was hiding something, she could tell.

"You do, don't you? You just didn't want to tell whom you were with." She couldn't help the pang of jealousy that hit her all of a sudden.

The young man looked back at her, a guilty look in his blue eyes. He seemed to consider what to do next and then he said, "Yes, I do. There was someone else with me in the theater."

"Oh," Barbara lowered her eyes, not really sure if she wanted to hear this.

"I was with Dot," he said.

The girl closed her eyes, suddenly dizzy. "Dot?" She could barely speak the name, as the implications of what he had just said invaded her mind.

"We had a fight," he went on, sighing. "We went into the theater because we didn't want anyone to hear what we were talking about and..."

"You had a fight about the songs, didn't you? You wanted her to tell the truth, that you were the one who wrote them all and she wouldn't do it, right?"  Barbara was suddenly so mad that she blurted it all out, without even thinking. Whom she was mad with, she didn't even know.

He looked flabbergasted.

"How do you...? You know about that?"

Barbara took a deep breath and finally turned to face him again. She looked him straight in the eyes and said, "Linnie told me about the song she found in the store and what you had told her about writing a few songs for the Drakes. But I've known Dot all my life and I always found it strange that she had such a hidden talent! She always was very keen in demonstrating all of her talents!" There was bitterness in her voice but she really didn't give a damn. The fact that he had been protecting Dot all along really upset her. But she was still thinking straight enough not to give Linnie away, so she added, “So it was easy to put two and two together and conclude that you wrote all the songs, just because you've been in love with her ever since you met her!"

"Barbara, I..."

She interrupted him with a gesture. "You don't need to explain. It's your life and your talent. I just feel the need to tell you, as someone who... someone who cares for you, that she doesn't deserve you! She should have come forward and revealed she was with you! Rachel is her friend and she's letting her think you did that to her car and wrote those letters!"

She got up and was about to walk away, when he grabbed her by the arm and pulled back to the bench, almost violently. There was a very determined look on his face.

"I know that. If I had any doubts before now I don't. But I can't just expose her. I can't do it. But I'm not writing another word for her, that I can assure you."

She gulped.

"Well, I'm glad," was all she could say.

There was an awkward silence for a few moments. Barbara could feel his gaze on her, but wouldn't look up to meet it.

"She's free now, you know," she finally said, her voice barely above a whisper. "Ned broke up with her."

"Good..." he said, softly. "For Ned. He did the right thing."

His words made her finally look up at him, her eyes wide with surprise and was greeted by his smile. He reached out to caress her cheek.

"I'm not that blind, you know. Or spineless. Just a bit slow on the uptake," he chuckled, his blue eyes suddenly very tender.

She smiled back.

"I know that." Then she realised what she had said, and she tried to correct it, "I mean, not that you're slow! I meant the not being blind and spineless bit!"

"Yeah, I know. Barb, thank you. Thanks for standing up for me!"

She blushed. "You're my friend. Of course I'm standing up for you."

He squeezed her hand in his own.

"I don't give a damn that people think Dot wrote those songs. It means nothing to me. I know she'll come around and do the right thing. Especially now that she was attacked. She'll see this is too important."

"You're not slow, Joey," Barbara sighed and squeezed back his hand. "Just too naive. She won't say a word." 

 

Linnie found the atmosphere at the bookstore somewhat heavy. Margaret was in a sour mood and none of her attempts to lighten her up seemed to work. In fact, Margaret snapped at her quite a few times and Linnie found it best to keep as quiet as she could. So, taking all this under consideration, she was very happy when the clock struck one and she could leave. Taking her coat and purse from under the counter, Linnie was getting ready to leave when she heard the tinkling sound of the door bell.

Damn, she thought as she raised her head, a customer. It was a young woman, whom Linnie had seen around campus a few times. She remembered Barbara mentioning she was a member of the Theater group too. Lindsay, that's her name, she recalled.

The girl browsed the shelves for a while, seemingly without any intention of purchasing anything. After a few moments, she walked towards Linnie, smiling.

"Hi, may I help you?" Linnie asked, smiling back.

The girl seemed to hesitate. "Well, I'm not sure... Is Joey around?" she finally asked.

Linnie was caught a little off guard. "Joey? I... I have no idea. I guess he must be at the University."

Lindsay seemed disappointed.

"Oh..." she seemed to consider her options and then decided to trust Linnie.”You see, I work with him at the Theater group and I heard about... you know, what happened last night."

"And you wanted to show him your support?" Linnie completed, a little suspicious of the girl's true intentions.

"Sure, sure!" Lindsay said. And then, leaning over the counter, she whispered, "After all that I figured the best thing was to become friends with him. Just in case. I really love my car, if you know what I mean." Linnie's jaw dropped but she didn't have the time to even think about something to say, because Margaret appeared out of nowhere and, in a furious rage, grabbed Lindsay's arm and dragged her towards the door.

"Get the hell out of here, you little tramp! You're just trying to use him, just like all the others," she bellowed, as she pushed the young woman out the door. "Just leave him be! He's too good for any of you!" 

Linnie swallowed hard. She still couldn't believe what she had just witnessed. Margaret had lost it, surely. Of course she herself had been quite offended by Lindsay's admittance to her intentions but surely there was no need to resort to violence. But her instincts of self preservation spoke louder and she didn't say a word. She merely grabbed her things and headed for the door.

"Is... there anything you need, Margaret?" she asked, feebly. Margaret took a deep breath and seemed to remember only then that Linnie was around. She managed a faint smile and rubbed her temples, as if in pain.

"No, I'll be fine. I'm sorry to have exploded like that, but..."

Linnie made a dismissive gesture and smiled.

"It's okay. I understand. I'll see you tomorrow then."

"See you, Linnie." 

The girl felt her mood lighten as she breathed in the fresh air. For the first time she was happy to leave the bookstore.

She glanced at her watch. It nearly one-thirty, and she had choir practice at two, so she had time to grab something to eat. She decided to head for the cafeteria, which was just a few blocks from the Music Department building.

She sat in an empty booth at the back and browsed one of her text books as she waited for the waitress to bring her order.

Engrossed in her reading, she was startled when someone sat right in front of her. Looking up, Linnie felt all the blood drain from her face as her eyes met Dot Murray's ice blue gaze.

"Dot, hi," she managed to say. "Are you... feeling better?"

 "Let's skip the niceties, shall we?" Dot said, coldly. "We both know you don't give a damn about my well being. I'm here to talk about Ned."

That much I figured, Linnie thought, but then said, "What about him?"

"Don't play dumb with me. I'm sure he told you and those idiot twins he broke up with me. And I'm sure you partied all night, celebrating."

Linnie was a patient, calm girl, but she did have a temper. And Dot had just pushed all the wrong buttons. Without raising her voice, she leaned over and said, "No, actually we didn't. We were up all night pampering some inconsiderate brat who won't even step down from her pedestal to appreciate the help she got in a time of need. The help, I might add, she seeked."

Dot was silenced by Linnie's outburst. Apparently she never expected it. But she recovered quickly.

"Well, well. The mountain cat has claws after all. Feeling a little more sure of yourself, are you, now that you think he's free?" She narrowed her eyes. "You're wrong. I'm getting him back." Snapping her fingers, she added, "Like that."

"You don't deserve him," the words escaped her lips before Linnie could stop them and she felt herself blush deeply.

"And you do?" Dot laughed. Anyone watching might think they were having a friendly conversation, judging from her wide smile. "Honey, I always get what I want. And I'm getting Ned back." Saying that she got up and left.

Linnie had to clench her teeth not to speak the words in her mind out loud, I don't know if you always get what you want, but last night you surely got what you deserved! Her own sudden inner rage surprised her. Ill wishing was not in her nature, but Dot seemed to bring out the very worst in people.

 

Chapter Nine

Things seemed to quiet down in the next few days, maybe because Thanksgiving was just a few weeks away and everyone was making plans for the Holiday.

Joey told Barbara the police was talking about closing the case for lack of evidence. They seemed to think that the fact his pen had been found in the car was merely circumstantial, since Rachel herself had admitted to having given him lifts once or twice. And they hadn't linked the attack on Dot to that case, thinking it was just a weird string of events, brought along by the full moon or something.

Linnie never mentioned her conversation with Dot to Ned. She told it to Barbara who wanted to go to him immediately, but Linnie stopped her. She really didn't want to be caught between Ned and Dot.

As for Ned, he seemed to be very happy without his previous girlfriend.

In fact he seemed to be in the very best of moods. Linnie was aware of his trials to deepen their friendship and despite the fact she didn't want to get in Dot's way, she couldn't resist his advances. Something within her heart was starting to stir, a sort of rebellious feeling that told her she had a right to enjoy whatever life had decided to hold out to her, Dot or no Dot.

That day he had met her outside choir practice and they gone out to lunch together. Margaret had given her the day off, but instead of using it to study, as she usually did whenever she had some free time, she decided to enjoy the day.

Strangely, and despite the emotional turmoil within her, Linnie found herself growing more and more at ease with Ned. Without even knowing it, she began telling him things that she had never shared with anyone before, namely about the years she had spent away from her father, believing him to be dead.

He listened to her, silently watching her as she spoke.

"It must have been really hard on you and your mother," he said, softly.

Linnie sighed and leaned against the large oak tree they were sitting under, on the campus lawn.

"I don't think we would have made it, if it wasn't for Mr Belden... I mean, Uncle Andrew."

Ned smiled.  "Oh, I don't know. I think you would. I think you can make it through anything."

She blushed and looked away from him. "Why do you say that?"

"Because of all your accomplishments. You lived in a small town, you had a hard life, but still you managed to get a scholarship and get into one of the most reputed Universities in the country. And you stuck to your principles. No many people can say the same."

"It's the only way I know how to live." Linnie finally looked back at him.

"It's how I was taught to face life."

"I wish..." Ned hesitated. "I wish everyone was like that."

Linnie's heart sank. She knew who he was talking about. Apparently he still regretted the fact that Dot acted differently than herself. And suddenly she hated the fact that he was comparing the both of them.

"I do too," she said. "But people are the way they are. We must accept them as such. Or not. But it's our choice. We can't change them."

"Don't you believe people can change?"

"Of course I do. But no one should unless they really want to. We can't force them just because we don't like the way they act."

Ned lowered his eyes.

"I wish I had known you before," he whispered.

"Why?" Linnie asked, suddenly feeling courageous. "Would that have changed anything?"

He looked up at her, surprised at her sudden boldness. He seemed to ponder on her question for a while and then said, "Maybe not. Maybe we met when we were supposed to meet. Before--I guess I wanted different things from life."

"It's called growing up."

He nodded and moved closer to her to hold her hand. "Do you believe in Fate? In destiny?"

She shrugged.

"I believe we have things we're supposed to do or go through, but I believe we get to choose the way to get to them."

"Well, I think we were supposed to meet, at this precise point in time," he said, still holding her hand.

Linnie didn't know what to answer. Suddenly, his rich brown eyes were a little too deep and a little too intense for her to endure and she lowered her own.

"Hey," he said, as he tilted her chin upwards, forcing her to face him. "I don't mean to scare you... I know things have been happening a little too fast, and I'd like to slow them down too. But despite all this mess, I feel like something is starting to happen between us and I want to know if you feel the same way."

Before Linnie had time to even think of an answer, she heard their names being called. Startled, they automatically moved apart, only a moment before Barbara reached them.

"Hey, guys!" she said, her cheeks red from the cool wind and her ragged breath creating clouds in the air. "I was looking all over for you!"

"What's up?" Ned asked, frowning. "What happened now?"

"Oh, nothing much! It's just that we're having our dress rehearsal for the Thanksgiving play, and I was kind of hoping you guys would come... I mean, I know my part is small and all, but it would be nice to have friendly faces there."

"I'd love to come, but you can't get a friendlier face than Joey's and he's sure to be there, isn't he?" Linnie asked, grinning mischievously.

Barbara's blush spread wider and she stuck out her tongue at her friend. "Yes, he is but since he is one of the script writers, technically he'll be judging my work too, so I kinda need a little more support."

Catching Linnie by surprise, Ned wrapped his arm around her waist, firmly and said, stealing a glance at her, "Of course we'll come".

Barbara's eyes widened at his gesture and she grinned, as Linnie blushed in turn.

"So why don't we get going?" Linnie managed to say, dreading the thought of being alone with Ned again.

"Yeah, why don't we?" Ned agreed, as he held her even closer and pretended not to see her blush deepen.

 

Barbara felt a little guilty for interrupting what she thought was a special moment for Linnie and Ned. She was praying with all her being that the two would get together. But nonetheless she really needed their support, because she was incredibly nervous. 

Why am I trembling all over? she asked herself. This is so silly! What's the worst that can happen? That I fall on my butt in front of everyone? Even though she was trying to calm herself, she failed miserably. The mere thought of making a fool of herself in front of Joey sent shivers down her back.

Taking a deep breath, Barbara decided this was no time to be afraid. She would just go ahead and do it. After all, there were worse things that could happen than merely making a fool of herself. At least, she had always been able to laugh of herself.

The trio soon arrived at the Theater. There weren't many people, outside the actors and other elements of the drama club, around, for which Barbara was very grateful. She left Linnie and Ned to find a seat and went to get on her costume.

As she was walking backstage, she bumped into Joey, who was just coming out the basement door into the hallway. He had a concerned look on his face and he seemed to be totally oblivious to his surroundings.

"Barbara! Hi!" he exclaimed, apologetically. "I'm so sorry! I was miles away. I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Barbara giggled.  "No, not really. But is there something wrong? You look upset."

He seemed to hesitate, but then answered, "Well, no. Not really. It's just that... Well, I was just trying to call Margaret but she won't answer the phone. I guess I'm just overreacting, but I can't help being worried... You know, with all the weird stuff happening..."

"I'm sure she'll be all right," Barbara reassured him. "She knows how to take care of herself."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Joey gave her half a smile. "Well, break a leg."

She smiled back.

"Thank you, Joey."

 

The rehearsal was halfway through and so far things had gone fine. She had forgotten her exact lines once or twice, but had been able to work around it and go on without any major harm done, which had earned her a wink and a smile from Joey. Needless to say it had been exactly that which had caused her to forget her line the second time but she had sailed through it.

And that was when it happened. She was just walking out the stage, her scene having ended, and Lindsay was just coming in. As they passed each other, their eyes met and Barbara remembered the scene Linnie had witnessed in the bookstore. It was just a passing thought, but somehow it sent shivers down her back.

Without looking back, Barbara heard Lindsay's voice as she began saying her line. Then she heard something snap and a scream.

When she turned around she didn't see Lindsay anymore. But she saw the great gaping hole on the wooden stage. Somehow the old trap door had opened.

Trembling, Barbara ran towards the trap door. By the time she got there everyone else seemed to wake up from their daze and rushed to the stage.

Kneeling beside the open trap door, she looked down, afraid of what she would see. Lindsay was apparently unconscious, half lying on the old mattress that usually exactly under the trap door, to avoid accidents like this. But somehow, this time the mattress was slightly to the right of it.

From what she could see, one of Lindsay's knees had hit the cement floor and from the angle the leg was in Barbara knew she was better off unconscious.

As the dazed people around her sprang to action and ran to the basement, Barbara looked up at the audience. And she saw Joey looking very pale and upset. But somehow he didn't seem at all surprised. And the sight of him made her shiver.

 

"God, this is awful!" Bob said, as his flat mates finished telling him about the accident. "Lindsay was lucky not to be more seriously injured. A broken leg is bad enough but it could have been a whole lot worse... Imagine if that mattress was just a few more inches away from the trap door." Barbara left her place by the window, speaking for the first time since they had got back to the apartment.

"It was supposed to be exactly under the trap door. That lock was supposed to have been replaced already... It's old and rusty."

"Someone must have bumped into it and move it without noticing..." Linnie said, trying to find an explanation.

Her friend shook her head and lowered her eyes.

"It's too heavy... It can't be moved accidentally."

"But why would someone do that? How could they guess that the trap door would fall open?" Bob walked over to his sister, a concerned look upon his features.

Ned came back into the living room, after leaving to answer the phone, just in time to catch Bob's final remark.

"They didn't. The lock was tampered with," Pointing at the phone, Ned went on, "Joey just called. The police were called in and they found the screws on the lock had been almost totally unscrewed."

Barbara gasped. Her worst fears had come true. The image of Joey coming up from the basement still came before her eyes every few seconds, making her feel nauseous.

"But why would someone want to hurt one of you?" Bob asked.

She looked up at her brother, on the verge of tears.

"It wasn't just to hurt one of us, Bob. Lindsay was the target. The trap door was Lindsay's marker in the first act. No one else would stand there."

"Do you realise what you're saying, sis? Someone deliberately tried to harm Lindsay? But who? And why?"

Suspicion was sneaking into Linnie's brain and as she stared at her friend she knew she was right.

"I saw Joey coming up from the basement, minutes after the rehearsal started," Barbara said, her voice barely above a whisper. "He knew the markers... He was the one who decided on them!"

"Joey?" Ned frowned and folded his arms across his chest. "He would never do that!"

"Come on, Ned! Do you think I enjoy saying this? My heart is breaking as it is! But what do you expect me to think?" Barbara sounded desperate and tears were starting to well up in her eyes. "I've been trying desperately to find other explanations for all of this, but after this afternoon..."

Linnie walked over to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Sighing, she told the boys about the scene she had witnessed at the bookstore, when Lindsay had met Margaret.

"So, Joey might have heard about it and decided to get even. That's what you're thinking?" Bob summed up. "But that means he probably is guilty on all the other stuff that's been happening lately..." He went pale. 

Tears streamed down Barbara's face and she curled up on the sofa, feeling her heart breaking.

"I'm sure there's an explanation to all of this, sweetie," Linnie said, trying to comfort her friend.

"You were unsure of him from the start, Linnie. You were probably right and I was just too blind to see it!"

Ned and Bob stared at Linnie, both total strangers to what they were talking about.

The girl sighed under their gaze and finally told them about her suspicions, which she had desperately tried to discard but always had came back to haunt them.

"I never wished so hard I was wrong," the girl said. "I really want Joey to be innocent."

"We all do, Linnie," Ned sat beside her on the couch and leant back, closing his eyes. "But the guy might have snapped, from all the abuse. It's been known to happen."

"Do you think we should confront him with this?" Bob asked, voicing what was lurking in everybody else's mind.

Barbara moaned.  "I can't, Bob! If he has nothing to do with this I'll never be able to look him in the eyes again."

He crouched in front of her and asked, softly, "Will you be able to look him in the eyes as it is?"

She didn't answer, but her lip quivered, and tears streamed down her face.

Bob wrapped his arms around her and hugged her. She cried softly for a

little while and then said, "I must talk to him, guys. And I have to do it alone," she stopped the objections from her companions with her hand. "I was the one who saw him. I have to clear this out."

"Listen, sweetie, if..." Bob took a deep breath. Joey was his friend too and it was hard to think of him as someone who could hurt others. "If he is responsible for all of this, and you confront him with it, he might..."

She shook her head.

"He won't hurt me, Bob. That I'm sure of. And I'm willing to take the chance."

"Well, but I don't know if I am..." Bob's temper was on the verge of surfacing and he stood, his fists clenched.

"Bob, please," Barbara got up and grabbed her brother's hands, forcing him to look at her. "What would you feel if the only people you call friends mob you and accuse you of trying to kill someone? Even if he is guilty, he'll never admit to it... And if he lies, I'll know!"

"I hope you're right, sis. I really hope you're right." Bob said as he pull her into his arms and hugged her once more.

 

Chapter Ten

Sleep totally eluded Linnie that night. It took a long time for Barbara to go to sleep too, and since Linnie knew her friend needed to rest she decided to go into the living room, in order not to risk waking her up.

Wrapped in a thick blanket, she climbed to the window sill and leant her forehead against the cool glass of the window, sighing. She wanted to find a way out of this for her friends, it hurt.

"I know how you feel," Ned said, coming out of the darkened kitchen, and startling her.

She jumped back to her feet, her heart pounding.

"You scared me! I didn't see you!"

He smiled.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." He sat on the window sill and signaled for her to come back to her original position. "Some night, huh?"

She nodded in agreement and then shrugged. "I don't know what to do. I really don't."

"Neither do I. Maybe we should leave it to Barbara."

"I wish... I wish I had no doubts about Joey," she whispered, staring at the floor.

"Like I said before, I know exactly how you feel." He sighed. "No matter how hard I try to see that things really do make sense, I still can't believe Joey did all those things... I simply can't."

"But who did then?"

Ned groaned. "I don't know... Maybe we should call Trixie. She'd have a suspect in no time."

Linnie smiled, remembering the time the BWGs had visited her hometown.

"Or maybe we should think the way she does and never dismiss an option just because it sounds silly."

He chuckled. "Because the truth is bound to be even sillier, right? Sounds like her, alright."

"Perhaps we should start looking for someone else who might have held a grudge on the girls that were attacked."

Ned nodded.

"Maybe we should. It's not like they've been everybody's best friends.

Rachel and Lindsay do get on some people's nerves and Dot... Well, maybe the attack on her is related to all this after all."

She swallowed hard at the mention of Dot's name. It felt uncomfortable to discuss her with him.

He noticed her silence and a sly smile appeared on his lips. It was a good sign that she felt disturbed when he mentioned Dot. It meant she wasn't indifferent to it--which also meant that this was a good a time as any to try something.

"Linnie," he started, clearing his throat. "I know this is an awkward time to talk about such things, but I've been trying to muster the courage and I better take this chance now..."

Her eyes widened and she felt all the blood in her body rush to her cheeks.

She desperately wanted to run away from the room but she couldn't.

Leaving his place by the window, he stood in front of her and reached for her hands.

"I've been wondering if you'd like to be my date at the Halloween dance. I really would like you to."

Linnie opened her mouth but no sound came out. How could she tell him that she had been dreaming about hearing those words and dreading them at the same time?

He took a step towards her, wanting so hard her answer would be yes that it hurt.

"Please?" he pleaded, his voice hardly above a whisper.

She looked up and gulped. He was so tall her head hardly reached his shoulder, but right now his face was very close to her own. If she moved just one inch, their lips would probably touch.

"Are you sure Dot won't mind?" she asked, trying to create a playful mood.

He sighed. "I'm pretty sure she will, but I don't care."

"I guess I'll be needing a bodyguard then..." Linnie cursed herself when her voice came out broken. She was trying to joke, but she knew how serious things were getting.

He swallowed the ready answer that formed on his lips as soon as he had heard her remark. It had been hard enough to get here and he didn't want to scare her away. So he merely smiled and said, "Whatever, as long that is a yes."

"It is."

He exhaled audibly, making her smile inadvertently. He reached up to her hair and brushed it back, reveling in its softness.

She shivered at his touch but didn't move away. Somehow his touch reassured her that everything would be all right and she didn't feel scared anymore.

So when he pulled her closer and gently kissed her, it felt the most natural thing in the world. It was like she had always known it would feel that way, in spite of never having felt that way before.

Ned wanted to deepen the kiss and show her just how much he had wanted this to happen, but he restrained himself. There would be time for that later on.

But despite its softness, the kiss was long and intense, neither one wanting it to end. When it finally ended, he gathered her into her arms, resting his chin on top of her head.

Linnie was still too awe struck to speak but she held on to him, listening to the thumping of his heartbeat that mimicked her own.

Finally, she broke the silence.

"We should be going to sleep, Ned. It's late and this has been a long day," she said, pulling away just enough to look up at him.

He searched her eyes, wanting to know if she was regretting what had just happened, but she reassured him by smiling and reaching up to caress his cheek. He smiled back, relieved and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"You're right. We should get some sleep," and he led her to her bedroom, he added, "I can't wait to dream about you."

Linnie blushed deeply but couldn't help a smile. When they reached the door, he leant against the wall and reluctantly let go of her. "Sleep tight, sweetie," he whispered, softly.

She hesitated but finally stood on tip toes to plant a light kiss on his lips.

"You too," she said as she disappeared into her bedroom.

Dazed, Ned ran his fingers through his air and grinned, feeling happier than he had in ages. Feeling happier than he ever had.

 

Joey leaned back against the door he had just closed and sighed, his face pale and tired. He had come feeling miserable and she had made it even worse. Why on Earth had he been such a coward? Why had he wasted so much time grovelling after her, wishing she would just give him one simple smile?

Now he knew he had been totally fooled, totally wrong and he was responsible for everything that would happen. But he couldn't turn back time, what was done was done and he had to live with it.

But he hadn't expected her to be waiting for him in the library after he had come home from that blasted rehearsal. He had never seen that coming.

How dared she come and ask him, no, trying to seduce him into writing more songs for her? She had said she depended on him, that he had to write because it was her only chance to stay in the band, that she had nothing left. She had finally admitted that if it wasn't for his songs she would never have become lead singer. Yes, Dot had said all that and a little while back he would have felt on top of the world because she needed him. Not right now though.

There was someone else that made him feel on top of the world. Someone who deserved him. So he had chased her out. He had been able to overlook her tears, her pleas and had told her "no". For the very first time. And it actually felt great but it didn't make up for everything else.

"Congratulations."

Joey jumped, startled by the sound of his sister's voice.

"What? What do you mean?" he asked, confused, as she came out of the darkened office into the dim lighting.

"You finally got the nerve to tell her to go packing," Margaret said, a scornful look on her face.

He sighed.

"You heard?"

"Yes, I did. And I feel proud. Now all that's left is to reveal all that to the world and show everyone just how big of a witch she really is."

Joey sat tiredly on a chair and raked his hair with his fingers.

"What's the point? I don't give a fig about that."

Margaret's face grew red.

"You mean you're going to just leave it at that? After all she put you through?"

"Whatever happened, happened because I let it happen. It's my fault too. So, all I want right now is to forget all about it. I don't want revenge. If everyone has to find out what she's like, they will. I won't say anything."

"You're spineless!" Margaret was flustered and her agitated state scared him, so he decided not to answer. He merely turned on his heels and walked upstairs.

 

Chapter Eleven

Barbara had planned to confront Joey with her suspicions, but she hadn’t had the courage. Especially after he asked her to the Halloween dance. It had been the last thing she had expected from him, but he had done it. And she had been too surprised to say anything but “yes”. A very selfish part of her had refused to spoil the moment with questions that would have made Joey mad at her for suspecting him. Or maybe her heart spoke louder because only her head even considered the hypothesis of him being responsible for all those awful things happening. Besides it was a job for the police who, from what Joey had told her, had started to put two and two together and had questioned him about the “accident” in the theater.

But both the Hubbell twins had been raised with strong moral values and Barbara felt quite depressed and miserable during the few days that preceded the dance. And she felt even worse walking into the dance, with Joey’s hand firmly clasping her own.

The young man had asked her what was wrong but she had managed to evade his questioning by mocking a smile. But her stomach was turning.

The only thing that lighted up her night was the fact that Linnie and Ned seemed pretty happy, dancing together. Despite the way she had felt for the past few days, the looks and smiles that passed between them hadn’t escaped her and she felt extremely happy for both of them. And she knew there was another surprise coming for Linnie that night.

 

Linnie felt on seventh heaven. Ned had been sweet and tender the past few days, but hadn’t forced her into anything. The unspoken agreement of taking things slow seemed to suit both of them just fine, despite the fact that sometimes it had been hard to maintain. For both of them.

But she was feeling perfectly happy in his arms, dancing in the dimly lit gym, when Bob came to interrupt them, a wicked grin plastered on his face.

“Sorry to cut in,” he said, winking at Ned. “But I’m in dire need of speaking to this young lady here.”

“Me?” Linnie wondered what he could possibly want and was even more curious when she saw that Ken was standing just a couple of feet away from them, watching her intently.

“Yes, you. As you might have noticed, the Drakes should have been playing right now, but they seem to be out of a singer...” Bob didn’t go on, but the glint in his eyes spoke volumes and Linnie blushed beet red when she realized what he was trying to say.

Walking towards them and still catching Bob’s final words, Ken added, “We really would like you to sing with us tonight. I mean, we would like you to sing with us from now on, but that’s a whole different story. Please, will you give us a try?”

“Me?” Linnie was in shock. “Me, give you guys a try? I mean, I never sang with a band before... I’m totally inexperienced!”

“But you’re also totally amazing,” Ken smiled. “Please, Linnie. We’d really appreciate it... And so would everyone else, I bet.”

“I don’t know about everyone else, but though I hate the idea of being without a partner for the rest of the night, I also would love to see you up there,” Ned said, his eyes shining in anticipation.

“I don’t know...” Linnie hesitated, and not just because of her natural shyness. “This is a party and I would hate to see it spoiled by... by some incident...”

“Leave Dot to me, Linnie,” Ned’s face grew serious. “She won’t make a scene. I won’t let her.”

“Your place is up there,” Bob reassured her. “Dot is going to have to learn to live with the fact that you’re a much better singer.”

“But I don’t want her to think I took her place...”

“You didn’t,” Ken answered. “She lost her place. You took what was already vacant and because we invited you.”

A sudden surge of excitement took over Linnie and she realized she really wanted this. She really wanted to go up on that stage and sing.

“Ok,” she finally said. “I’ll do it.”

Her answer triggered manifestations of joy from her friends, which in Ned’s case were of a very special nature.

 

Barbara was feeling short of breath. The music, the dancing couples, the decor made of cardboard witches and plastic pumpkins and ghosts were making her feel uneasy, to say the least. And when Joey left her alone for a moment to pick up drinks, she couldn’t stand it anymore and rushed out of the room.

Trembling and on the verge of tears, she sat on a darkened corner of the stone steps leading to the entrance of the gym. She was desperately trying to control herself, but she knew she was about to have a panic attack. Trying to hide her suspicion from Joey was tearing her apart.

She was sobbing quietly, when she felt him coming towards her and in a deep, dark part of her brain she thought this was a perfect opportunity for him to harm her if he wanted. But the mere thought led her over the edge and her sobs turned into convulsive crying.

“Barb...” Joey sat beside her, his voice caught in his throat and she could sense his concern. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

The term of endearment only made her cry harder and she hid her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking.

“I’m... sorry,” she managed to say, between sobs.

Joey wrapped an arm around her and pulled her firmly to him.

“What for? Barbara, please tell me what’s wrong! You’re scaring me!”

She pulled away from him, managing to control herself enough to speak.

“I didn’t mean to...” Taking a deep breath, she realized it was time to come clean. She had to tell him or she would burst. “Look, Joey, there’s something I need to tell you. It won’t be easy to say or to hear but I owe it to you.”

He went pale, as is he had a pretty good idea of what she was going to tell him. But he didn’t say a word while she poured her heart out to him. And he also didn’t let go of her.

When she finished, she felt lighter as if someone had lifted an enormous weight from her shoulders. She stared at him, waiting for a response, but he kept quiet for a while, his face strangely peaceful.

Finally, he broke the silence as he took her hands in his and turned to face her.

“Barbara, I wish I could tell you how much it means to me that you told me all that. I know it sounds silly, because you probably expected me to feel outraged or hurt. But I don’t, I really don’t. I would suspect me too,” Reaching to her face, he caressed it softly. “All I can tell you it that my conscience is clear.. I didn’t do any of those things, despite the appearances. Still I do feel a little responsible.”

“But why?”

He looked away for a moment and bit his lip. Then he said, “I wish I could tell you. I feel like a total creep for not telling you, actually. But believe me, I can’t. I just need you to trust me for a little while longer... Just until I can figure out what to do!”

Wiping a few stray tears from her eyes, Barbara took a deep breath. Now that she had talked him, she felt surer than ever that everything would turn out right. She was sure he was innocent.

“Can I help?” she said, tenderly.

His face lit with a bright smile.

“Oh, you have helped. More than you could ever imagine. Thank you for standing by me, Barbara.”

“I’ll always be here for you,” her voice came out barely audible. Without thinking, Barbara threw her arms around his neck, emotion taking over her, and kissed him.

To her surprise, he didn’t even hesitate and closed his arms around her, kissing her back. It felt as if he had been yearning for her touch for as long as she had yearned for his.

When the kiss ended, they were both out of breath and flustered. But before any of them could say a word, a rustling sound in the nearby bushes startled them.

His face went suddenly pale. Without a word, he got up and rushed towards the darkened garden, leaving her totally dumbstruck. But her surprise lasted only a few seconds. She got up and ran after him.

 

When Dot heard the first chords of the song, her heart sank. Not because of the song itself, since it was an old classic that everyone knew. But the Drakes’ version of it was unmistakable. And she knew who would be singing, even without looking.

And as Linnie’s clear voice filled the room, she felt herself fill with rage. How dared she? Without even knowing what she was doing, she stormed across the room, towards the stage, the smiles and cheers of the crowd enraging her even further.

But two hands firmly clasped her arms, stopping her in mid stride and pulling her to a corner. She was about to scream when she recognized Bob Hubbell, wearing a sarcastic grin.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she hissed, brushing his hands away violently.

“Stopping you from making one more mistake,” he said, calmly. “That chapter of your life is definitely closed. There’s no use in making a scene. Just bow out gracefully.”

“She stole my place!” Dot was fuming.

He shook his head.

“No, she didn’t. And besides you’re in no position to talk about stealing. I know about Joey and his songs.”

She turned crimson.

“That little creep! I should...”

About to lose his temper, Bob grabbed her arm again.

“You should keep quiet, girl. He hasn’t said a word. But I can assure you that I will, if you make a scene.”

Before Dot could answer, the room became suddenly quieter, as the music died out. The band was still playing, but the speakers had gone dead. She watched as Ken approached center stage, probably about to make some crack about technological advances, as he had done so many times before. But before he could say whatever he was going to say, the speakers came alive again, but with something other than music. And Dot heard her own voice fill the room once more, but in quite a different way she had ever wished for.

“You have to write more songs for me, Joey,” she heard herself say. “It’s the only way they will take me back!”

“No,” said Joey’s voice. “I’m sorry, but I can’t. I shouldn’t have done that in the first place. It was wrong of me to help you mislead everyone, and I refuse do go on with it!”

“You don’t get it, do you? You’re a waste of talent! If you can’t use it yourself, then help me out!”

Joey’s voice grew harder and Dot trembled. She remembered very well what came next.

“Why should I, Dot? When I started to write those songs for you, I thought you would become my friend. Instead you trampled over all me, and my feelings. You used me, Dot, and I decided I won’t be used ever again.”

“What? Are you going to let everyone know that you wrote those songs and not me?”

In the tape, Joey sighed.

“No... I won’t tell anyone. Go away, and leave me alone!”

The recording came to an abrupt stop and the silence in the gym was absolute. Dot was shaking all over, and she couldn’t tell whether it was anger or fear.

“Dot, I have nothing to do with this,” Bob said, frowning.

She looked up at him, not knowing what to believe. She couldn’t be sure if he was telling the truth and frankly, right now, she didn’t care. There was only one person she blamed for all that, one person who, in her head, could be responsible for her humiliation and he was the one she wanted to find.

The moment he realized what was happening, Ned rushed to the control room behind the stage. It was empty, but there was a tape running in the broadcasting system.

With a frustrated sigh, he stopped it and then, as an afterthought, he took the tape out using a handkerchief to protect any fingerprints. He really didn’t think this was a matter for the police, but as Linnie had pointed out, they should be thinking like Trixie. And deep down inside he knew this wasn’t just a prank. It was related to everything that had been happening. Somehow.

When he came out of the control room, he was still able to catch a glimpse of Dot rushing through the crowd, fuming, and not paying the least attention to the deep frowns from those around her and the less than favorable comments that escorted her out. He shook his head, wondering how things had got this out of hand.

Ken, Linnie and the rest of the band came to meet him, concerned expressions on their faces.

“Ned...?” Linnie started.

He shook his head.

“There was no one... Whoever did it had enough time to leave...”

Ken’s gaze traveled from Linnie to Dan and he frowned.

“You guys knew about this?” he asked, his hands on his hips.

Ned groaned, knowing this wasn’t going to be easy.

“Calm down, man. We just found out and it wasn’t our secret to tell...”

“I can’t believe this! We had to put up with her for ages just because of her songs and now we find out Joey was the one writing them?” He shook his head in disbelief, but then his face lit up. “Well, but on the other hand that means we can still have the songs. I must talk to Joey one of these days.”

While the band members got back on stage, Linnie pulled Ned aside, a worried look upon her face.

“Do you think Joey had anything to do with this?” she asked him.

He shrugged.

“I don’t know, Linnie. It doesn’t sound like him at all... But then again, with all that’s been happening we never know.”

“But Dot probably thinks he did it...”

“I know... And I saw her storm out of here. She probably is going to look for him.”

Linnie went pale.

“You mean... Ned, if he is guilty of all this...”

Ned nodded and raked his hair with his fingers.

“I’m going after her. Go back on stage, Linnie. This is your night.”

She shook her head, decisively.

“No way you’re going without me. This can wait. I know Ken will understand.”

His eyes were shining when he bent over to kiss her softly.

“I know I had fallen for you for a reason,” he said, his voice thick with emotion.

She blushed at his words. He had never been so specific about his feelings. But then her practical sense kicked in. This was no time for romance.

“Come on, Ned,” she said, tenderly. “We have to find them.”

He agreed and took her hand, leading her out of the gym, after throwing Ken a quick explanation.

 

When Dot got to the bookstore, her anger had died out somewhat and she was feeling quite depressed. Somehow she was starting to think this was useless. The harm had been done and she knew blaming Joey would solve nothing. Maybe she should just turn around and hide under her bed.

But a masochistic part of her forced her to walk towards the door and knock. But surprisingly it slid open as soon as she touched it. The library was dark and apparently empty. Still, an open door at that time of night meant something was not right. Nevertheless, she walked in.

“Joey?” she called out. There was no answer, but she felt shivers down her spine. She felt observed, like someone was watching her in the dark. “Hello? Is there anybody here?”

Hesitantly, she took a few steps into the dark. And that was about all she had time to do, because the sudden blow to the back of her head erased all traces of consciousness.

A voice was calling her from afar but somehow she couldn’t really figure out who it was. It was strangely familiar, but the throbbing pain in her head wasn’t letting her think straight. Carefully, she tried to open her eyes afraid that any sudden burst of light would make the pain even worse. But there was no light. Actually, it was very dark.

Slowly, Dot tried to sit up but she found out she couldn’t. Her hands seemed to be tied behind her back.

As consciousness came back, she started to panic. Where was she? What had happened? And why was she tied up?

“Easy, Dot. Calm down,” the familiar voice said. “It’s me, Barbara.”

With difficulty, Dot managed to look up and in the obscurity, broken only by flashes of light, probably from car headlights, coming through a small window high up on the wall, she recognized her companion, who appeared to be bound as well.

“Where are we?” she asked, while she managed to sit up without using her hands.

“I’m not sure,” Barbara replied. When I woke up, we were both here. Last thing I remember is a blow to my head and everything going dark.”

“Same thing here,” Dot said. “I was trying to find Joey...”
“I thought as much,” Barbara said, with a sigh. “We have to find a way out of here, but first we need to untie ourselves. We have to let them know who’s behind it all...”

“Wait! What do you mean? You know who did this to us?”

In the dim lighting, she could see the bitter smile that appeared on the other girl’s face.

“Somehow I wish I didn’t know... Things would be easier.”

“What are you talking about?” Dot asked as she wiggled her hands, trying to understand if there was anyway she could free herself.

“Never mind that now,” Barbara said. “First and most, we have to find a way to get away. Listen, can you drag yourself over here, so we stand back to back? Maybe I can untie your hands and then you do mine.”

With a groan, Dot half crawled, half dragged herself next to Barbara. Beads of perspiration broke in Barbara’s temples as she pulled on Dot’s bonds to see if there was anyway she could free her. After what seemed like forever the knots seemed to become looser, and finally Dot managed to free her hands.

“Come on, let me loose now,” Barbara asked, the pain in her arms from the effort almost too much to bear.

Squinting her eyes in the dim lighting, Dot worked on Barbara’s bonds, her hands numb and tired, and finally managed to free her.

“There!” she cried, victorious. “What now?”

Barbara looked around. Suddenly, she exclaimed, “Hey, I know where we are! We’re in the basement of the theater!”

Dot frowned and folded her arms. An idea seemed to creep into her mind.

“Wait a minute! If we’re in the theater, the person who got us here must have a key. And from your reaction when I asked you if you knew who was to blame for all this, there can be only one person who would...”

Barbara interrupted her with a tired sigh.

“Dot, listen. There’ll be plenty of time for the who-dunnit stuff! Now we must concentrate on getting the hell out of here. Somehow I don’t think anyone would just leave us here and be done with it.”

The other girl grew even paler.

“You mean... We’re still in danger?”

“It gets more dangerous every minute we stand here...” Barbara stopped something grabbing her attention. She looked around, frowning, a look of deep concern in her brown eyes.

“What? What’s wrong? Barbara, you’re scaring me!” Dot’s voice was trembling.

“This smell... It’s smoke!”

“Look, Barbara, under the door!” Dot screamed.

Barbara did look, and the sight of the thin cloud of smoke coming in from under the door chilled her to the bone.

 

Chapter Twelve

Ned and Linnie were both breathless when they got to the bookstore. They had run all the way there, while Bob rushed back to their apartment to see if Barbara had, by any chance, gone there.

The lights were all out, and Linnie frowned at the sight of the darkened windows. Margaret had told her she planned on staying home to catch up on some reading. Surely, it was too early for her to have gone to bed.

As they slowly approached the front door, her heart kept telling her something was terribly wrong. But before they could even touch the knob, the door was pulled open from the inside.

Linnie and Ned both instinctively took a step back, as someone stepped out, freezing on the spot when they came face to face.

“Linnie, Ned! I’m so glad to see you,” Joey exclaimed, his pale face expressing what appeared to be true relief.

Ned frowned and he hesitated before he spoke. Linnie could tell he was fighting the urge to grab Joey by the collar and beat the truth out of him. So she decided to take matters in her own hands.

“Joey, have you seen Barbara? We need to find her!” she said, cautiously, trying not to let her voice betray her mixed feelings.

Joey paled even further.

“Barbara? Oh God, no!” The young man closed his eyes and leant against the doorframe, as he ran his fingers through his hair. “I thought she meant...”

By then, Ned lost it. He took a steep towards his friend and grabbed him by the shoulders, forcing him to stare him in the eyes.

“Enough is enough,” he said, trying to control the anger in his voice. “We need to know what the hell is going on and there’s no use in trying to pretend you don’t know anything about it, because it’s clear now that you do! You need to tell us the truth, no matter what!”

Joey grinned, wearily.

“Yeah, I know. My friends now believe I’ve done all this and it’s all my fault, really.” As if he felt his legs could no longer support his weight, Joey sat on the steps and held his head in his hands. “But it’s about time I tell you...”

But instead of proceeding with the awaited explanation, Joey handed out a crumpled piece of paper to them and sighed.

Ned took it from his hand and unfolded it. Linnie approached him and strained her eyes to be able to read the note, with only the street lamp to shed some light on it. The first thing she noticed was that the handwriting was very familiar. And it wasn’t Joey’s.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t able to take better care of you”, the note read, “But I promise everything will be fine now. I won’t let either of them ever hurt you again.”

As the words sank in, the pieces of the puzzle finally started to fit together and Linnie felt chilled to the bone.

“I never thought it would come to this,” Joey said, in a strangled voice. “I tried to stop her, the moment I realized she was the only one who could have done it. But it seemed that things just went out of control, and there was nothing I could do to stop her.”

“Her? You mean...” Ned seemed to finally realize the truth. But before he could say anything else, Linnie laid a hand on his arm to stop him.

“Joey, do you have any idea where she might be? We might still be in time to stop her from doing something irreversible...” she asked, softly, as she sat on the step beside him.

“I don’t know...” Joey groaned. “She can be just about anywhere.”

“And who was she talking about, Joey? Who are the people she mentioned in the note?” Ned asked, still a little dazed with the turn of events.

“Barbara and Dot...” Linnie said, as everything suddenly fell into place. “They were the ones she hated the most: Dot because of what she had done to you and Barbara because...”

Joey looked up at her, and said, completing her thoughts, “Because she knew Barbara meant the world to me, and was jealous of her. Though she said she was just afraid she would hurt me too, the truth was Margaret could never bare the thought of me loving someone more than I loved her. She just could understand it were different feelings. But since there was no one else in her life, she couldn’t accept I had someone else in mine.”

“Joey, when did you find out? For sure, I mean?” Linnie asked.

He sighed.

“I suspected it when Dot was attacked, but I was only sure when Lindsay got hurt, in the theater.”

“You saw Margaret down in the basement, didn’t you?”

“We had a fight down there. Margaret likes to go there. She sometimes gives me some pointers on the play direction and stuff... That day I saw her go downstairs and followed her. She wouldn’t tell me what she was up to and I confronted her with my suspicions. She went crazy and called me inconsiderate and ungrateful and turned her back on me. I looked around to see if I could figure out what she had been doing, but I never even thought of the trap door and that damned mattress.”

Ned took a deep breath and reached out his hand.

“I’m sorry I jumped the gun on you, Joey. I should have known...”

Joey got up and smiled, wearily.

“That’s ok. I would suspect me too.”

“Joey,” said Linnie, with a pensive look on her face. “Does Margaret have the keys to the theater?”

“No. She never goes there without me and...” Joey suddenly went even paler, and he dug in his coat pockets, furiously. “Oh, damn! I don’t have them on me! The keys...I left them in my room, because I was afraid I’d loose them at the dance. Just hang on a minute!” Joey rushed inside, as his two friends stood outside, waiting and trembling in anticipation.

In seconds, Joey was back. And from the look on his face they knew the result of his quest: the keys to the theater were gone.

 

Barbara was trying her best not to panic. Dot was obviously terrified, so it was up to her to find a solution. First and foremost, they had to find a way to get out of the room, before they suffocated.

The small window was too high and too narrow, so that way out was obviously out of the question. That left the door, so Barbara automatically tried the knob; in the eventuality Margaret (whom she had already identified has their captor) had trusted far too much in her ability to tie knots.

"Ouch!" she cried, taking away her hand from the already burning hot knob. The fire must be right outside, she thought, feeling chilled to the bone, in spite of the growing heat. "Dot, give me your scarf!" she demanded.

Dot was too scared to say a word, so she simply handed her the scarf she had tied around her neck.

Her hands protected, Barbara tried to turn the knob, but the door was definitely locked. What now? She asked herself.

"Barbara!" Dot’s voice sounded trembling and hesitant.

"What?’ Barbara felt bad for snapping at her, but right now there was no time for her whining.

"I have a credit card!"

Barbara turned to her, wondering if the fright had made Dot lose her mind. Did she think they could buy their way out of the room?! But suddenly something clicked in her head and she remembered some of the things she had learned with the tales of Trixie’s adventures.

"Do you have any idea of how to use it? On the door I mean!"

Dot gave her a feeble smile and took over her place by the door. If Barbara remembered correctly, none of the locks in the old theater were in tip-top shape, but would the card trick work on this one?

She prayed as Dot fought with the lock. The other girl was trembling from head to toe, but Barbara could see she was trying her best to be of use.

Suddenly, she heard a click and the door opened outward, making Dot stumble outside the room.

"Dot, watch out!" Barbara cried, as she saw her companion almost fall into the flames that were already licking the walls around them. With a sudden jerk of her body, as she fell, Dot managed to fall away from the flames, but her cry as she fell told Barbara she must have injured herself.

"Are you alright?" Barbara asked, as she bent over to help her up, her hand in front of her nose and mouth, trying to protect herself from the thickening smoke.

Dot grabbed her outstretched hand, but grimaced in pain as her right foot touched the ground. "My knee," she explained "the one I hurt when I took that fall years ago. I guess I strained it."

"Lean on me," Barbara offered. "And let’s see if we can get out of here, before we suffocate!"

"Thank you", Dot said, with a smile, as she leaned on Barbara’s shoulder. Barbara could tell, even with the smoke, that she was truly grateful and that her smile was genuine. Well, maybe we can still dig up the nice girl she has inside, she thought, returning the smile.

The two girls managed to find her way through the smoke, and soon they found themselves near the staircase that led out of the basement and onto the stage. But has Barbara started to climb the steep steps, Dot fell back and leant against the wall.

"I don’t think I can go on, Barbara. I must have hurt myself more than thought. It’s hurting too much. I go ahead and get help. I’ll be alright!"

Barbara went down the stairs again and forced her to put her arm around her shoulders.

"Are you insane? We both are leaving this place, right now!"

Dot stared at her, frowning.

"Why are you doing this, Barbara? We were never friends... And I guess I acted rotten most of the time!"

Barbara grinned, as she helped her up the stairs.

"You see, all is not lost if you have already accepted that fact. So, I’m right about giving you a second chance. Besides," she added, "I guess there will be other chances of leaving you in the midst of a blazing fire with a strained knee, if you don’t behave.’

Despite the pain and the fear, Dot couldn’t help to laugh.

Their eyes were stinging and they were finding it increasingly difficult to breathe, when they finally reached the top of the stairs. But has they crossed the doorway they froze at the spectacle in front of them.

Margaret was on stage, clad in odd items taken from the theatre’s old wardrobes: feathers and sequin, satin and fur. She took long strides across the stage, her head held up high, her lips moving in some silent soliloquy.

The two girls stared at each other, unsure of what to do. But as they hesitated, they saw something that made blood freeze in their veins. Margaret was holding a prop torch in one hand and a lighter in the other. Slowly, in the same majestic gestures, she lighted the torch and said out loud, "Alas! Let there be light!"

Before their horrified stares, Margaret set fire to the old velvet curtains. In horror, Barbara finally spotted the container on the other side of the stage, and it didn’t take a genius to realize what was in it, especially after the fire rushed up the curtains, as if devouring them.

Instinctively, Dot and Barbara moved closer together, as the spectacle of the mad woman before them both terrified and mesmerized them.

Laughing madly, Margaret started dancing and spinning on stage, to the sound of an imaginary song, as the flames furiously rushed up the curtains.

The snapping and creaking sounds coming from above their heads made Barbara and Dot look up and what they saw finally woke them from the horror-induced reverie. The ropes that held the curtains were burning and the metal frames that held the projectors above stage were bending under the intense heat.

"Oh, God!" Before Dot could say a word, Barbara rushed to Margaret, who was so immersed in her imaginary performance that she didn’t even see her coming, until she knocked over.

Margaret screamed and kicked, but Barbara’s athletic preparation came in her aid and she was able to keep her firmly pinned under her. Right then, one of the projectors above crashed on stage with a loud bang, sending sparks and wood splinters all around. Barbara lowered her head, trying to shield her eyes, but she felt several sharp stings on her cheek and shoulder. Under her, she felt a jolt from Margaret’s body and she stopped struggling. Barbara tried to check on her but she hardly could open her eyes, stinging from the smoke.

"Barbara! Are you okay?" Dot called out.

"I’m fine! Go outside and call out for help! This place is falling apart!"

Dot opened her mouth to say she was injured and couldn’t possibly go out alone, but the gravity of the situation finally hit her. Without a word, she limped across the room as fast as she could.

Meanwhile, Barbara was finding it more and more difficult to breathe. Her eyes kept stinging and she felt a trickle of blood running down her cheek.

"You’re hurt..." she heard Margaret say, hoarsely.

Surprised, Barbara opened her eyes and through the mist of tears saw Margaret staring at her, pale and looking exhausted.

"I’m sorry,’ she said. "I’m so, so sorry..."

Before Barbara could say anything, she felt the other woman’s body go limp and she realized Margaret had passed out.

Dot bit her lip all the way out of the theater until she tasted blood. The pain in her knee was excruciating, but she knew she had to do this. Something inside her told her this was the last chance she had of changing her life. So she had to make it, also because she wanted to have a life to change! Finally, after what seemed to be hours, Dot pushed the entrance door, praying it wouldn’t be locked from the inside.

The door opened easily and Dot felt the cold night air hit her lungs. Only then did she realize what Barbara was still going through inside.

"Oh, God!" she looked around, praying to see someone. But the streets seemed to be deserted. Desperate, she held on to her last piece of strength, and, putting all the pain in a secluded part of her mind, she went on limping down the street.

She had only managed to walk a few yards, when she saw three people running in her direction.

"Dot?" she heard Ned call out. Exhausted and relieved, Dot let her legs give out under her. "Are you ok? Where’s Barbara?" he asked as he reached her.

Too tired to speak, Dot pointed to the theater and immediately she saw Ned and Joey sprint into the burning theater. Only then did she notice there was someone kneeling beside her on the sidewalk. Looking up she found herself staring into Linnie’s soft brown eyes.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

A knot formed in her throat and Dot felt herself on the verge of tears. The remorse of what she had done and said to Linnie and Joey, and others all through her life, especially after the accident, hit her like a ton of bricks.

"I’ll be okay," she managed to say.

"Dot, I had nothing to do with what happened before..." Linnie started, but she stopped when Dot looked up and smiled, shaking her head in dismissal.

"Linnie, please don’t. I know... Besides, whoever it was, I deserved it. I had it coming. It must have been Margaret too."

"Margaret..." suddenly, Linnie remembered why they were really there and her heart skipped a beat as she saw the flames coming out the windows of the playhouse.

Away in the distance, she could hear the sirens. Someone must have called the fire department, she thought. Please, God, let them all be alright.

As if in response to her plea, the theater doors were opened ajar and Ned came out, helping Barbara. A few seconds after that, Joey appeared, his sister’s limp body in his arms.

Almost simultaneously, the first fire engine appeared, and Linnie finally let out the breath she didn’t know she had been holding.

The flames were finally dying out. The firemen had struggled for over two hours, but had finally won. But to everyone standing outside the blackened building, it hardly felt as a victory.

The theatre was virtually destroyed, despite the firemen’s efforts to minimize the damage. But what the fire hadn’t turned to ashes, the water had ruined, and everyone’s heart was broken. The news of the fire had spread through campus and everyone seemed to have left the dance and come to watch what they thought had been an accident. So far, only a few people knew the truth.

An ambulance had taken Margaret to the hospital, in a complete shock induced stupor. Joey had left with her, but had returned to talk to the police. He wanted to tell them the truth. There was no point in trying to hide it.

Barbara, still a little shaken and with several little cuts on her cheek was staring at him from afar, as he talked to the police. He seemed devastated, as if the weight of the world was resting on his shoulders. His eyes were red and swollen and he was sickly pale.

Slowly, Barbara walked over to him; clutching the blanket the paramedics had given her closer around her. By the time she got there, the police had finished their questioning and had walked away.

"Joey..." she called, softly, almost afraid of his reaction. When he didn’t turn around, she took a deep breath and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Joey..." she repeated.

"Go away, Barbara. Leave me alone!" he said, through gritted teeth.

Barbara took back her hand, instinctively, feeling his words as a slap in the face. But then something deep within her told her she shouldn’t back away, that she shouldn’t let him push her away. Taking a deep breath, Barbara grabbed his arm and forced him to turn around and face her.

"Why, Joey?" she asked, her heart breaking into tiny little pieces at the sight of him. "Why would I leave you alone?"

"Because..." he ran his fingers through his hair. "Because there’s nothing for you here now... Not after all this!"

"What are you talking about? You asked me to trust you when I doubted you, and now that I know for sure you did nothing, you ask me to walk away? It makes no sense!" Barbara realized her voice betrayed the panic in her heart, but she couldn’t care less.

"No sense? Barbara, my sister tried to kill you! And I’m to blame too because I didn’t stop her! I never thought she’d go this far but I should have stopped this when I first suspected it..." Joey’s voice broke and Barbara was afraid he’d break into tears, but he seemed to manage to control himself. "My sister did all this because of me... She turned into this... maniac... because she was forced to give up everything for me. And now I’m the one who must take care of her..."

Suddenly, Barbara understood what he was driving at and her heart filled with deep rage. She wouldn’t let him do this to himself and to her. She wasn’t going to let him bury his dreams because of his sister! She wouldn’t!

"Stop it, Joey, just stop it!" she yelled.

He finally looked at her, startled by her tone.

"I’m not letting you do this to yourself... and to me!" Barbara held his hands so he wouldn’t turn away and looked up at him. "Your sister is sick and she needs help. Of course you’ll be here for her, but she needs more than you can give her. Right now, she needs treatment. All she needs from you is your love... Not that you bury yourself alive as she did! How do you think she will feel when she recovers, if she realizes you gave up on everything because of her? Then it’s like all of her sacrifices were in vain! Despite everything she loves you and I’m sure she never meant things to get this way. She’s sick, and she probably has been for quite sometime. Her resentment for having to give up on her dreams woke some illness I’m sure she already carried with her. And she had no one to talk to. I don’t know if her friends gave up on her before or after she gave up on them, but I won’t give up on you. On us! I won’t!"

"Barbara, I..." he sighed. "I can’t... I can’t face people after this. I can’t face you! Or your brother, or your parents... Right now, I hate her for what she did but she will always be my sister... Nothing can change that!"

"But who’s asking you to change it? She will get the help she needs and she will be alright, you’ll see. We’ll be here for her.’

"We?" Joey seemed confused.

Taking a deep breath, Barbara took another step towards him and her face was only inches away from his.

"Yes, we. Joey, I don’t hate Margaret. And neither should you. I’m very sorry for her, and she’ll need all the love we can give her when she gets better."

"She said you saved her life, inside... She asked me to thank you and to apologize in her name."

Barbara nodded.

"She’d already apologized, inside. I guess she had a brief moment of sanity before she passed out... The old Margaret you once knew still is there, somewhere, deep inside her soul. And once she gets help you’ll get her back."

"My sister was amazing... So loving and talented! I noticed there was something wrong with her a while back, but she wouldn’t see a doctor. She said she was tired, stressed out. I even encouraged her to go back to acting and to school, but she got mad whenever I broached the subject." He shook his head. "I can’t help feeling guilty because she gave up her life for me..."

Gently, Barbara put a finger over his lips, silencing him. Once again he seemed surprised, but said nothing.

"You’re guilty of nothing. Your sister chose to do things that way. Wrong or right, it was her choice. You should feel grateful for all she did for you, but you’re an adult now. She can’t control your life or your choices. And I’m sure that after she gets well, she’ll understand that. And she’ll want you to go on with your life and be happy. It’s the only thing you can do for her now."

Barbara felt his grip on her hands tighten and she felt him pull her even closer. If she looked up, their lips would certainly touch.

"Are you sure about this, Barbara? Are you sure you want this? Even after what she did?’ he asked, his mouth brushing the hair just above her ear.

She nodded. Taking a deep breath, she gathered the courage to say the words she’d been hiding inside her for a long time.

“I love you, Joey. For you, for the person you are. And I have to be thankful to Margaret too, because she was the one who raised you. I won’t judge her for what she did... I’ll wait to get to know her when she gets better and I’m sure we’ll be friends.”

Joey held her hands with only one hand and with the other he tilted her chin up.

"You’re out of this world, Barbara, do you know that?" he said, so softly she felt his breath caress her lips, like a feather. "I love you too, sweetheart."

She lost her breath and her eyes grew watery at the sound of his words. Slowly, she stood on her toes and kissed him. His arms closed around her, holding her to him in a passionate and desperate embrace, as if he still felt she could change her mind.

But she wouldn’t. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck and held on to him, as the kiss deepened and that single moment made up for all she had gone through that night. Just one single kiss and everything was forgotten.

Ned and Linnie smiled at the scene. She rested her head on his shoulder, still not quite believing how things had turned out.

"It’s all over now," Ned said, gently kissing the top of her head.

She nodded in agreement.

"I hope we can all rest now. 'Specially Joey. He must have been through hell."

"Things will still be hard for him. People won’t let him forget what Margaret did, but at least now he’s not alone."

She smiled and held him closer.

"That feels nice," he said, his voice growing thick with emotion. Things had been so hectic lately they hardly had had time to enjoy their budding love.

Linnie looked up at him, her brown eyes shining like stars.

"Yes, it does," she said as she turned in his arms and kissed him softly. Suddenly, she broke the kiss, remembering something. "Ned, I forgot... Before the firemen came, I was with Dot and she..."

Ned’s expression darkened. He wouldn’t tolerate another one of Dot’s attacks on Linnie, injury or no injury.

"Where is she? What did she say to you? I won’t tolerate any more crap coming from her..." he stopped, when Linnie started to laugh. He didn’t understand what was so funny. "What? What are you laughing at?"

"You! I was trying to tell you that Dot kind of apologized to me. I think all this made her realize what really matters in life."

"She did? Wow!" Ned grinned. "This really is a night for surprises." Looking over her shoulder, his grin widened. "And they keep on coming..."

Linnie looked over to where he was pointing and smiled as she saw Bob and Dot talking in a quite intimate way.

"Well, if you think about it, what’s so surprising? Bob was the only one of us who managed to think coolly through it all... And who’s been able to read all of our minds. Maybe he’s what she needs. And maybe she’s the one who will be able to keep him focused."

He chuckled.

"You always manage to find something good in every situation, don’t you?" He hugged her tightly, and then whispered in her ear, sending shivers down her spine, "That’s why I love you so much!"

Dot had been sitting on the back of the ambulance, wrapped in a blanket, absently looking into the dark. Her knee was patched up and she was supposed to go to the hospital to get it x-rayed. She had never felt lonelier than at that precise moment, watching Joey and Barbara comforting each other through that ordeal. And she knew that if she looked back she would see Ned and Linnie together too.

You’ve always been this lonely, you idiot, a little voice in the back of her head told her. You just never knew it, because you couldn’t see beyond your own belly button.

The cold hard truth of it made the long held back tears finally stream down her face. Dot pulled the blanket closer around her, hoping for the least bit of comfort. But when she least expected it, she felt someone wrap an arm around her shoulders. Startled, she looked up and found herself staring at Bob Hubbell.

"It’s ok, Dot, cry away. I won’t tell," he whispered, in mocked seriousness.

She couldn’t help the smile that crept up to her lips, despite the tears.

"I feel lonely..." she said, somehow finding his presence comforting. It was strange, because it should feel awkward, but it didn’t. It felt right.

He nodded.

"Yeah, I know. But you don’t have to. I guess if you’re up for it, everyone will be willing to give you a second chance. Barbara told me you were pretty damn brave in there."

Dot smirked.

"Not really. I was terrified. Your sister was the brave one. She nearly had to kick my butt to make me move!"

"Well, anyway, it’s over. It’s time to start anew! Are you up for it?"

Dot looked up at him, at his smiling and friendly face and suddenly felt her heart warm up. Instinctively, she asked, "Will you be there for me in case I need it? To kick my butt, if that’s the case?"

A sparkle of some kind lit his deep brown eyes for a moment, and then he smiled. His voice sounded deeper and softer than she had ever heard it when he said, "You betcha, kid. You betcha!"

The End

TBH Main