the Secret Life of Damien Carmichael

14. Defending Damien (part II)

"What happened?' Carrie asked immediately, looking worriedly at Damien as he came up the stairs. His phone was already ringing for his father, Damien held up a finger to let her know he needed a second, as he made his way out of the building, towards the forest. He needed to think and to plan, and most importantly he needed to figure out where the hell they had taken Oliver.

"Damien?" His father answered a few moments later.

"Father," he replied, trying to remain his usual posh self, it was difficult. He was furious with Principal Updike, but even more so with Oliver for not defending himself!

"What's wrong?" his father asked, fortunately his father knew that Damien would not simply contact him for no reason.

"I need you to talk to the school. Oliver was just suspended."

"For what?" his father asked, sounding surprised. It had only been a day since Damien had told his parents about Oliver.

"He and Tyler got into a fight, I don't even think Tyler's going to get in trouble for this even though he started it. But Oliver doesn't have anyone, and we need to get him out of this."

"Slow down, and tell me everything that happened," his father said. Damien looked nervously at Carrie then, he wasn't sure how honest he could really be with his father, but he knew if he had any hope of getting Oliver out he would have to tell him everything. Sucking in a deep breath, Damien decided he didn't really have a choice and prepared to explain to his father everything that had happened leading up to the fight. His father didn't comment, nor did he seem particularly upset in any way, he merely listened, and allowed Damien to explain himself.

After he finished, Damien paused, trying to catch his breath from speaking so quickly. For his part, his father remained silent, as he processed the information.

"I will speak to the school board about this and see what I can do. In the meantime, don't do anything to get yourself in trouble."

Damien nodded, "Of course not," he said.

"Promise me, Damien," his father said, he knew Damien better than that.

"I promise," Damien replied, he heard his father make a noise that suggested he didn't entirely believe him, but apparently he wasn't going to argue the point. Instead, he merely replied with a 'thank you' and hung up the phone.

Damien sighed and slipped his phone back into his pocket, and scrubbed his face with his hands. It was barely 9 AM and already it had been a long day. 

"What the hell is going on?" Carrie asked suddenly, he had almost forgotten she was there. He was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he had barely registered that his own best friend had been standing right beside him for the majority of the conversation.

"I need a drink," he said by way of reply. Carrie grinned, pulling out a bottle of alcohol from her bag. Damien couldn't help but be grateful. "Always on it I see," he said holding out his hand for the bottle.

"Story first," she said, keeping it just out of Damien's reach.

Damien groaned, he didn't exactly relish the notion of telling the story for the third time in fifteen minutes, especially when he was fairly certain she had heard everything.

"I'm not sure what else there is to tell," he admitted. "I mean what I told my father was it."

"Everything?" she asked a note of disbelief in her voice. 

"Yes," Damien replied. Carrie looked skeptical at that. "Carrie please, Oliver texted me last night saying he couldn't sleep, I said 'should I join you?', he said yes, so I did. I planned to get up before anyone else, and I was too comfortable so I went back to sleep. When I woke up Oliver was gone, and so was Tyler, I went out into the living area and they were already looking to fight. I don't really know over what, but I think Tyler had taken a picture of us sleeping in the same bed and was trying to use it to blackmail us."