Autumn in Philadelphia Trilogy

Stolen Souls: II

"Yes, yes, I see," Alan said. He was sitting at the kitchen table on the telephone when Amy walked into the kitchen. "Well, thank you very much for calling. All right, I will. Good-bye."

"Who was that?" Amy asked sitting down at the table with him.

Alan gave her an amused smiled. "That was Animal Control," he replied. He looked up when he heard feet thundering down the stairs.

"Hey, just the guy I wanted to see," he cried when Cory bounded into the kitchen.

"Hey, Dad," he returned, heading for the door. "The guy you wanted to see is on his way to the girl he wants to see."

"Oh, she'll wait," Alan said waving him over. "Have a seat."

Reluctantly, Cory obeyed.

"Why do I have the feeling that I'm in trouble?" he asked laying his head on the table. He saw his afternoon with Topanga flash before his eyes.

"I just got off the phone with Animal Control." Alan folded his hands in front of him.

Cory perked up. That couldn't possibly be directly related to him.

"It seems that they found out what was killing the squirrels."

"Well, that's great," Cory agreed jovially as he inched towards the edge of his seat. "'Cause it was just awful that the little guys were dropping like flies."

"Sit!" His dad pointed to the chair. Cory sat back down.

"What's killing them seems to be comprised of the same stuff that you and Shawn tried to pawn off on your classmates."

Cory's eyes widened. "How's that possible?" he wondered. "That was weeks ago. Why didn't they die sooner?"

"Don't know that, son," Alan said.

"So how long am I grounded for?" Cory sighed in resignation.

"You're not. But pass along this information to Shawn. And don't you two ever do something like that again."

Cory signed, this time with relief. He was going to see Topanga after all.

"Yes, sir."

A few weeks later, Topanga found herself sitting alone...sort of. Instead of sitting with the girls, she was sitting with Cory and Shawn at lunch. It had been like that for over three weeks.

Allora wasn't speaking to her. Topanga finally had the opportunity and nerve to talk to Allora about a potential eating disorder, but it had gone poorly. Allora had exploded when Topanga urged her to seek help. She had called her horrible names and said that Topanga was jealous of her and wanted nothing more than to see her fat and hideous. No matter how Topanga had tried to convince her that this wasn't true; that she was just concerned, Allora would hear none of it. In a fury, Allora had stormed off and refused to even look at her former best friend much less talk to her.

Topanga hadn't been able to wait until the end of the day to cry. In the middle of English, she had burst into tears. Since Miss Andrews had been teaching, it was Mr. Turner who had taken her out of class and tried to comfort her. As much as she wanted to, she hadn't been able to tell him what had happened. Instead, she cried on his shoulder. Eventually, he sent her the nurse's office for the rest of the period.

Now, Topanga's gaze wandered sadly over to the table where Allora sat, giggling and talking with the "popular" and "beautiful" girls. At one point, Allora looked up and their gazes locked for an instant. Topanga thought that she saw a hint of sadness in her friend's eyes. If there was, it was quickly extinguished by self-importance.