Stay...Calm

Chapter 11

When Saturday came along, to their advantage, the rain was pouring from the light gray sky. The indoor pool was opened, and the kids jumped in before the door could fully open. Victorine hesitated at the pool line, but was nudged right in and fell in on her side. Underwater, all the bubbles would group up and consolidate, until all she could see was white foam.

And, almost immediately, Anais started grabbing ankles. She went for Victorine first, but her nimble feet pulled right away. With an eye roll, she went for Horace. His leg naturally kicked her off and proceeded to start the complaining. Most of which was muffed by the splashing.

"-ripped right off!" Was all she could catch when she reached the surface. In a minute, he was grabbed again; this time by Timothy, who rose from the water with a smirk. Horace pointed his finger a centimeter away from her brother's face.

"Do that again, and I'll throw glitter in your hair," he threatened.

"Yeah, right."

"Oh no, I'm kidding! I'm not kidding!"

Timothy rolled his eyes and started to swim away.

"It'll be all the glitter that comes out of Pauline's backpack!" Horace chased right after him. Within five minutes, Horace was reduced to just floating on his stomach. Timothy took that time to swim to the shallow end, where Jacey and Yolanda were standing in a far corner. Victorine watched from the other side of the pool, the water up to her shoulder.

Timothy rested his arms on the rim of the pool. He grinned as he stared at both young women. His eyes started to move down, but Yolanda gave him a (literal) slap on the wrist. He kept his eyes off for a minute but soon couldn't help himself. He continued to stare. But when both of them gave him a long enough glare, he stopped. After rolling his eyes, he pulled himself out of the pool and stomped away as fast as he could. He stomped with his face to the wall and muttered a dozen curse words under his breath as he went.

Victorine laid down on her back and stared at the sky. The rain would appear like it would fall down right on them, but splatter on the glass sunroof. Drops would combine with each other and stream down the sides. The steep sides of the roof would get blurry, distorting the view of outside. The light gray clouds would pour down its tears, each making a clinking noise on impact.

About half the people at lunch sat draped with the chairs. They seemed to take in every minute they could and left at exactly noon. Pauline threw an old t-shirt over her bathing suit, which got soaked within minutes. Her towel covered her hair so it wouldn't drip all over the place.

"You look like Asha right now," Buckley pointed out. Asha giggled. Horace pointed at his cousin.

"Terrorist," he whispered, with a smirk.

"Heard that!"Mrs.Daniels exclaimed.

"What?"Horace questioned. "Isn't it true?"

"You don't frickin' say that idiot," Yolanda called.

"It's just an opinion."

"A wrong one. At least for Asha."

"But most of them are."

"Just shut up!"
Horace shut his mouth for a second before muttering things under his breath.

"Why do you have to be such a jerk all the time?"Buckley asked. Horace's head whipped around.

"Y'know why, Buckley?"Horace snapped. "Because we're all gonna die before we know it anyway!"

"No, we are not going to die,"Ms.Kion chimed in, her voice calmer than the rest. "No one said we are not going to survive. Now everyone quiets down, and continue with lunch."

Awkward silence joined him for the rest of the afternoon. Night fell before she knew it, and Victorine laid in bed unable to sleep. Her wide eyes stared at the tan ceiling, her mind struggling to find something to occupy itself with. After about half an hour of nothing, she heard a door across the hall open and shut. Footsteps tapped across the hall and went down the stairs. She paused for a while. Once the footsteps became too distant to hear, Victorine crept out of bed and crawled out the door. She sneaked down the stairs on all fours and slid around the corner where the footsteps seemed to travel.

She took a few steps standing up but halted right in the doorway of the downstairs guest room.

Parker and Jacey were sitting up, holding each other. Jacey's face was buried in his chest, and his arms were wrapped around her. It was hard to see, but Jacey was definitely crying. Parker's head was rested on top of hers as he stroked her hair.

"It's okay," he kept whispering. "It's okay."

He planted tiny kisses on the top of her head. But it didn't seem to help too much. Jacey just kept weeping. His hand rubbed her back comfortingly. Jacey just seemed to break apart in his arms, and couldn't be put back together easily.

Concluding that she'd seen enough, Victorine slid right past the doorway before they could see her. She crept around the shadows, looking for where the person went. Anais and Thelma were sleeping on the couch. Ever so softly, Anais moaned and mumbled in her sleep, as if in the middle of a nightmare.

The sound of a clinking bottle led her down the hall, to the place where all the alcohol was kept. She peeked inside and saw Horace sipping a Bud Light.

She walked through the room staring shelf, noting each one. There was one bourbon, one scotch, and one beer all lined up next to each other. A shelve was packed with bottles and red and bottles of white. Horace leaned against a wall with the can, his eyes looking a bit blurry. Victorine stared at him.

"What?" he questioned. Her stare turned into a sideways glare. "What!?"

Her looked continued to stay on him.

"Yeah, I know it's wrong," he acknowledged. "It won't matter in a couple days. Stop looking at me like that! You know what, everyone here thinks I'm just a jerk. And I don't disagree. Sure, I speak my mind. That's 'cause I have things to say. So what if they offend people? When the nukes drop down on our heads, we won't be able t' say 'em anymore. I'm letting it out now. And if a nuke does come and kill us, then it's hot demons dudes in hell for me."

Horace took another sip. Victorine scooted back a bit. A hint of awkwardness made her muscles feel stiff.

"Have some," Horace said, ready to pour some into her mouth. He poured out a tiny trickle of beer, and she caught a drop of her finger. She hesitated at first, but she licked her finger...and her face immediately cringed up completely. It tasted bitter, and almost stung her tongue. She locked away with a gag. Horace looked torn between being confused and being unimpressed.

"Just go away," Horace whispered, with the can to his lips. "I promise I won't get drunk."

Victorine immediately started to walk away, light on her feet. Before climbing her way up the stairs, she checked back at the guest room. The crying seemed to have ceased by then. Parker and Jacey were asleep, cuddling. He laid on his back with Jacey's head on his chest. Their arms remained around each other. But what caught Victorine's attention was Asha, lying on her side...and smiling.

Before those eyes could turn to her, Victorine tiptoed back up the stairs. But right when she entered the room, she made locked eyes with a set of eyes in the shadows. Both of them froze for a few moments. Victorine noticed the silhouette of a shape the eyes belonged to. Victorine tried to back away, and as did the figure. Her shaking hand gripped the doorknob and slammed the door as soon as she could.