In a World of Trouble (Do You Remember, Book 4)

Wednesday, October 11, 2000

Well, it appears that this story isn't over yet.

Not by a long shot.

Last weekend, we were supposed to capture Freddie Lloyd, who Milton and I had discovered was behind the savage beating that had left Milton's twin sister Barbara brain-damaged. (Milton is also brain-damaged due to a savage beating that Barbara herself had inflicted upon him after he had deliberately ignored her one too many times.) I'm sure that Barbra doesn't know or care that she's brain-damaged, as she's gotten worse since the beating.

But that's not all, seeing as I've been a part of the Milton-Barbara-Freddie drama since Barbara and Freddie talked about me all those months ago. At the same time, I'm sure that Freddie hates me for not being the brother that she had wanted me to be, but what else is new? (I'm also sure that Jem is still mad at me for not being her brother, so all the hurtful things that Freddie had said to me didn't phase me one bit.)

Well, enough about that.

When I got to school this morning, Kaprice tells me that his birthday is coming up this weekend, and we would all go out to brunch with his family. At first, I was a bit skeptical, seeing as no one really celebrated my birthday with me (unless it was Milton and Clay), and then again, I'm not the type of guy who likes big parties.

"OK," I said. "Anything going on here?"

"Not much," said Kaprice. "But Claire told me to tell you that her uncle is about to go on trial soon."

"Why am I not surprised?" Trevor said as he joined us.

"Because David Gilliam is the main source of her discomfort," I said in turn. "He was supposed to be her uncle, but he let her down."

"And not only that, but he let Mary and Mariah down as well," Adrian said as he and Dorian joined us. "I mean, what kind of man chooses his homosexual behavior over his own family?"

"Well, my grandmother has a saying," said Emilia. "Show me a man who chooses himself over God and society, and I'll show you a man who is going straight to hell. And unless David chooses to repent, he won't be having a good future..."

"Not to mention that his family had already given up on him," said Dorian. "To me, it's only a matter of time before all his sins catch up to him."

Just then, one of the student hall monitors approached us, saying, "I don't know what you guys are talking about, but I would advise you to get to class. There's more important things for you to worry about instead of other people's problems."

"I'd agree with you, but I would also have to ask you to stand down," said Emilia. "You do know who you're dealing with, am I correct?"

"I'm so sorry, Emilia," said the hall monitor. "I didn't see you there."

"See that you remember, you miserable snowflake," Emilia snapped. "Now move along..."

After the hall monitor left, Emilia said, "We need to stay on top of things so that no one will know what we're up to. Kelsey may think that she has the power over us, but she's in danger of making a false move. When she does, we'll be ready for her."

The bell rang and I quickly rushed off to my classes. I already knew that I would have to keep up the false pretense of being a high school student, but this was difficult. I already knew that Claire would have to attend her uncle's trial, but I also knew that she might ask me to attend the trial as well. I'm not into courtroom dramas, so I don't know the first thing about going to court.

*****

After several hours of classes, I went to the cafeteria to our usual spot. Kaprice, Trevor, Milton, Adrian, and Dorian were there, and all of them were having a rather heated discussion about something important.

"Oh, they're convinced that Barbara had been abusing Milton and no one deigned to do anything absolutely that," Emilia said when I asked. "Plus, Barbara is trying to worm her way here, and the student council is doing everything they can to keep her out. There's no way we're letting her into this school, not when everyone here knows about her reputation."

"And what about Zoey?" I cried out. "What is the student government doing about her?"

"I don't know yet," said Emilia, "but there's a chance that we could get her to go back to school. After all, there are laws saying that all children must go to school during the hours of 8 A.M. and 3 P.M."

"I hate to break it to you, but that might not happen," I said as I recalled hearing her saying that there was no way that she was leaving the house, not after everything that had happened to her over the last few days. Plus, anyone who didn't know about her sad story about being abused as a child soon found out.

"I bet that she's going to end up like your uncle if we don't intervene," said Milton. "And we need to work fast or else..."

Just then, the lunchtime news was being read over the intercom, with an announcement that this year's annual homecoming would take place within a few weeks in November. As homecoming fever quickly swept through the school, I suddenly had an idea. The school's homecoming could be the perfect way for us to do our work without any problems.

"So the school is having their homecoming," Kaprice said with a huge frown on his face. "It's all just a popularity contest."

"Yeah," said Trevor. "Who needs those?"

"But it's the perfect distraction," said Emilia.

"What do you mean?" said Milton.

"Think about it," said Emilia. "While everyone else in the school is distracted with the homecoming, this will give us enough time to find out what's going on with Zoey and deal with Claire's uncle. Don't you see? It's the perfect plan."

"You're right, Emilia," said Adrian. "All everyone cares about is the homecoming, and they don't care about Claire and Zoey at all. It's a good idea."

"But still, let's not forget that we're still in school, and the student government will know if we're not participating in the school's activities," I said.

"I hate to say this, but Jed's right," said Emilia. "I already know that the student government is cracking down on social isolation and most of the teen culture, but I'm also part of the student government, so I can tell our class what to do."

"And we're going to need you," said Adrian.

"For what?" said Dorian.

"Trust me when I say that I can control the freshman class," said Emilia. "Kelsey thinks that she's in charge of the school, but when it comes to the students, we outnumber her and her little group about 10 to 1. And when she figures that out, she'll have no choice but to back down."

"Or start a riot," said Kaprice.

Just then, Milton said, "Did you guys hear that Barbara is trying to come here?"

"We did," said Trevor. "But the student council should be trying to keep her out. She's not here to get an education; she's trying to destroy Milton for not caring about her and the rest of us for being his friend."

"Not to worry, because you have me," said Emilia. "I'm not going to let Barbara into this school, let alone control anyone. Remember, there's more of us than her, and when she sees that we're not backing down..."

"Well, we tried that already," said Milton.

"And look at where it got us," I said. "Milton, you got beaten up so bad that you almost died, and Barbara got away with the crime. But when the same thing happened to her, people started feeling sorry for her. That's not right."

As everyone stared at me, I knew that I was right. No one seems to care that a boy is beaten up for no reason, but when it's a girl who was beaten up for no reason, now people start caring. It's the kind of things that makes boys either kill themselves or shoot up the school. We've demonized boys to the point that they become as monstrous as we depict them on our TV shows, movies, and books.

I say enough of that.

But little did I know that I would soon be in a nightmare that I didn't make...