Toto and the Boys III: Dannie

Chapter 7

A piece of the past...

"Is Danica okay?" Lee asked George and Jackie. Troy pretended to be busy with his pen and notebook while waiting for an answer to his friend's question.

"We don't know. We've been wondering the same thing," Jackie answered, concern in her voice.

He wanted to ask a follow-up question but Jackie and George did not seem to be in the mood today. Danica had been missing school for three days now.

"Do you know where she lives?" asked Miguel.

"Why?" Jackie asked.

"Just asking, Jackie. Don't you want to know what she's been up to?" Troy wanted to hug his friend for speaking out.

"Yeah. She might be sick or something," he finally added when Jackie and George kept their silence.

"Let's give her some time," Jackie said. "She has been gone from school for weeks in the past, right?" But there was something in her voice and the way she said it that told Troy Jackie and George were already making plans of their own.

"Come on, guys," Troy said to Lee and Miguel. "Let's go get something before the bell rings." He almost dragged his two friends out of the room and when he looked over his shoulder, he saw George and Jackie's heads together, talking about something. "I think George and Jackie are planning to go to Danica later," he said to his friends conspiratorially. "And they need escorts," he added with a grin.

*****

"What the hell, Troy!" Jackie shouted in surprise. "Miguel! Lee! What the hell are you three doing here?!"

The three of them were caught in the act of following the two girls. There was nothing they could do about it so Troy said, "We just want to make sure you two don't get in any harm."

"And you should be thankful, you know," Miguel added. "Three cool guys made it their task to make sure you boys are safe."

"Stop following us," George ordered.

"You're going to Danica, aren't you?" Lee asked.

"No."

"We are only five minutes away from where she lives," Troy said.

"And how do you know that?"

Troy swallowed and tried to think of a fast excuse. "I just figured. There's some sort of a squatters' area around here, right? And Danica never denied she lives in such neighborhood. It's just a well-calculated guess. So come on, let's go see Danica."

George and Jackie looked at each other wearily.

"Come on. We won't tell anyone," Troy urged.

"Dannie won't like it," George said.

"Then we'll not show up. You two can go visit her. We'll just wait around one corner and make sure you're safe."

"Come on, boys," Lee and Miguel uttered in unison.

"Fine," Jackie finally gave in. "But if Dannie sees the three of you, you're all dead."

"Deal," the three of them answered in unison.

PRESENT DAY

When I saw Troy again, he was grinning from ear to ear, pulling Dannie baby by the hand toward Tata.

And then I realized something. Wait, wait. Does this mean I would be left here?!

"You should have told me you were coming!" Dannie was saying as she struggled to keep up with Troy's brisk steps.