Bayview Heights Trilogy (75 page)

“I thought it was cool when Dr. Lansing got
chocolate all over his face.” This from Erica, who giggled loudly.
She’d been unusually talkative lately.

Zoe tried hard not to remember how “cool” Dr.
Lansing had looked and what a good sport he’d been. She’d thought
about him all night after they’d gotten back yesterday and a lot
today, though she struggled against it. For the first time since
he’d dumped her for Elizabeth, she was truly angry. Watching his
success with the kids this past weekend, she couldn’t help thinking
that the two of them should have been together, doing things like
Down to Earth as a couple.

She tried to listen with interest as the
students threw out other funny or embarrassing incidents: Evan
losing his sneaker in the “crawl-through” and the kids playing
keep-away with the big jock; Vivian getting doused with cold water
in the shower before they realized it wasn’t working properly;
Shondra’s general klutziness, which she acknowledged with good
humor.

Madison wrote nothing and just rolled her
eyes.

Bosco checked his watch. No doubt he thought
she was wasting time. The guy just didn’t have a clue.

“All right,” she said easily, “let’s get
serious. The most valuable things—for real.”

“The way we helped each other Saturday during
the physical activities,” Shondra said. “I couldn’t’ve done it
without everybody.”

“How we mastered things we were sure we
couldn’t do,” Erica put in. “I didn’t know I had it in me to do
that pulley thing.”

“I liked the written exercises best,” Dan
said. “They made me articulate what I was feeling.”

“Hey, Caruso, where’d you learn that
fifty-dollar word?” Vivian teased. Yet there was something
underneath—some genuine sarcasm. Zoe made a mental note to watch
her.

“I thought having Dr. Lansing and the rest of
the supervisors along was the best.” This from Rachel.

The others shouted a chorus of agreement. Zoe
turned away, ostensibly to check the board, hoping they wouldn’t
extend this line of thinking.

“Wow, Maddie, I didn’t know you could do
that,” Zoe told the girl. Madison had scripted the list in
calligraphy. “It’s lovely.”

She gave Zoe a pained look that clearly said,
There’s a lot about me nobody knows
.

“That’s another thing,” Rachel added. “We
never knew Maddie could write like that before she took notes for
our group this weekend. We all let other people see things about us
that we kept to ourselves before.”

“I got a ‘least valuable,’” Shelley Marco
said. “Seeing Dr. Lansing dangle from the safety harness. I thought
I was gonna sh—” the girl blushed “—die when he fell.”

Bosco sat up straighter. Here was something
concrete he could grasp on to. No doubt he was scrawling “physical
risk” in big letters on his pad.

“Dr. Lansing was perfectly fine, wasn’t he?”
Zoe asked. Feeling like the worst hypocrite—she’d never forget how
she’d panicked when Kurt fell—she needed to clarify this point. She
stared right back at Bosco. “These kinds of glitches happen. No one
was hurt.”

“Yeah, and he was so cool,” Rachel added. “He
never yelled or swore or anything.”

“Grace under pressure,” Julia called out.
“Right, Ms. Caufield?”

“Right,” she said. “Now let’s finish
debriefing. We’ve got a writing assignment to go along with
this.”

The kids groaned and Bosco’s eyes narrowed on
them. It was going to be a long afternoon.

o0o

“DAN?” VIVIAN STARED UP at him from eyes
laden with heavy liner. “You coming?”

Julia and Dan stood in the hall outside Ms.
Caufield’s classroom after school when Vivian approached them.

“Yeah, Viv,” he said. “In a sec.”

“Ms. Lansing won’t like it if you’re late for
our meeting. You know she usually leaves at noon. She stayed just
for this.”

“The room’s right there,” he said, pointing
to the door connecting Caufield’s and Lansing’s rooms. “I won’t be
late.”

Julia frowned. “What’s that all about?” she
asked as the other girl stomped away.

“Dunno.” Dan shrugged. “What’d you wanna talk
about?”

Suddenly Julia felt shy. They’d gotten close
this weekend, or so she thought. Now he was treating her as if they
were Jets and Sharks. “Um, I was just wondering...You were worried
about your brother all weekend, and I…”

He smiled and Julia blushed furiously. He
knew
. He knew this was just an excuse to talk to him, to
be with him for a few minutes before she went to work.

So she found a role she could play. Haughty
sophisticate, like Katherine Hepburn putting Spencer Tracy in his
place. “Never mind. Sorry I was concerned.” Shoulders back, head
up, she started to walk away.

Dan grabbed her from behind and pulled her
around to face him. His chocolate-colored eyes warmed to the color
of hot fudge. “Look, if you wanna be with me, you don’t need an
excuse.”

An arched eyebrow. A curl of the lip. “Who
says I want to be with you, Caruso?”

He straightened. He was usually slouched over
in his seat or against the wall like a reincarnation of James Dean,
so she was always surprised he was so tall. “
I
say,” he
told her, tightening his grip. “
This
says,” he added,
stepping closer. And then he took her mouth in a deep sexy
kiss.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Ms. Caufield. Can’t
you get these kids to control their hormones?”

Julia sprang back from Dan. The remark came
from Bosco, and Julia saw Ms. C’s gaze narrow on the man.

“Sorry, Ms. C,” Dan said quickly, though he
shot Julia a look that said he was anything but sorry. “We know not
to do this here.”

Ms. C smiled at Dan gratefully. The message
to Bosco—that their teacher had taught them decorum— was clear.
Julia, actress extraordinaire, was tongue-tied and couldn’t get a
word of defense out.

Well, damn, she thought as Dan walked away
and the two adults left. What the hell had happened here?

o0o

ERICA STROLLED into the clinic at four
o’clock, whistling. She’d completed her physics homework before she
left school, so after she finished volunteering, she could spend
all night on her English paper. She felt like a million bucks, and
it had only taken one Bennie to give her the energy she needed. So
far she’d kept her usage to a minimum, having researched on the Net
the negative effects. She only had a few minor ones— dry mouth, an
itchy scalp, some dizziness. And she hadn’t been sleeping well.
Long-term effects could be severe—she could do without increased
blood pressure, hallucinations and fidgetiness. But she had things
under control. Any more side effects and she’d stop.

Mostly she was concerned about getting the
damn pills. There was a little problem with that…

I’m uppin’ the price
, Carl Pike had
told her.

Why? They’re exorbitant as it
is.

Your daddy can afford it
.

Squelching the sinking feeling in her
stomach, she knocked on the open door to Lansing’s office.

He glanced up from his desk, and the genuine
smile he gave her made her heart hurt. Dr. Lansing’s daughter was a
lucky girl. Erica wished her father would look at her like that
just once—as if he was glad to see her, as if she didn’t have to do
anything to earn his love.

“Have a good day?” Dr. Lansing asked, eying
her carefully.

“Yep.”

He stared at her a long time, as if assessing
her mood. “I’m surprised. Sometimes reentry’s hard.”

“Reentry?”

“Coming back from a weekend of intense
camaraderie can be difficult.”

She smiled. “It was, sort of. I liked the
debriefing in Life Issues class today, though.”

His smile slipped. Damn, she didn’t want to
remind him about Ms. C. “Did the debriefing go well?” His voice had
all the casualness of a bulldozer.

“It was fun, except for Bosco being
there.”

Dr. Lansing tossed his pen to the desk and
leaned back in his chair. It had been a kick seeing him in jeans
and sweats all weekend when he was usually dressed like this, in
pressed suits and starched shirts. “Oh, no, was this the day he
came to observe?”

“Yep.”

“Poor Zoe.”

“She was cool. She always is.”

He sighed. “Good.”

Actually she wasn’t always cool. Erica
remembered the time Ms. C had found out that Caufield’s Chicks had
been to a bar in the city…

“Well, this makes me feel terrific.” There’d
been sarcasm in Ms. Caufield’s voice, which was a rarity.

“What do you mean?” Erica had asked.

“What good have all my drug-and-alcohol-use
lessons done if my best kids go out and do this?” She’d shaken her
head. “I feel like a failure.”

“It isn’t your fault.”

“And, anyway, you’re underage. Think of what
might happen if you were caught.”

“We weren’t driving,” Shondra had said
defensively.

“It’s still illegal. All those fancy schools
you ladies applied to would love something like this on your
record.”

They’d said nothing. Ms. C had stormed out of
the room then, saying, “I’m very disappointed in all of you…”

The Chicks still drank, but not as much, and
mostly at Erica’s house.

“Erica? Are you all right?”

“Huh?”

He was leaning over his desk. “You zoned
out.” Again his gaze narrowed. Jeez, he was a doctor. Could he tell
she’d been taking Bennies? She usually tried to take them when he
and Ms. C weren’t around, but today she’d needed one, and she
didn’t think there were any visible symptoms of her use, anyway.
Distract him
, she told herself. “I was thinking about Ms.
C and how neat she is, that’s all.”

Her answer seemed to satisfy him. He cleared
his throat and fished some papers out of his in-box. “Here’s the
drug order for last week. They came in this morning and Diane Diaz
is going to unpack them today. I’d like you to help her check them
against the order forms.”

She could hear the thump-thump of her heart
pounding in her chest. “I get to handle drugs?”

“Ah, no, we’re not quite that liberal here.
The drugs are Diane’s responsibility, but you can help her
inventory them.”

“Oh.”

“It’s nothing personal, Erica. Bosco’s on the
town council, too. He’d love to see us allow students to handle
drugs. Then he’d have a reason to close us down.”

“So why do I even do this?”

“You should have some experience with
ordering controlled substances.” He smiled. “Besides, it’s a
tedious job that has to be done.”

“And I’m a peon.”

Apparently he caught her teasing tone. “You
got it, girl.” She never would have joked with him before the
weekend. Nor he with her. It made her heart swell and scared her at
the same time. She didn’t want to like him

“Then I’ll go don my serf’s dress and get to
work.”

Lansing laughed. She was halfway out the door
when he said, “Erica?”

She pivoted. “Uh-huh?”

“I enjoyed getting to know you better this
weekend.”

Her throat tight, she said, “Me, too.”

He looked as if she’d given him a gift.
“Thanks” He coughed nervously again. “Now go make sure my drugs are
in order.”

When she got out to the hall, she glanced
down at the sheet. Her heart stopped.

At the top of the list, under A, was
amphetamines.

o0o

SHONDRA SIGHED HEAVILY Tuesday night as she
cleaned the coffeepot in the waiting area of the clinic.

“Crummy job, huh?” she heard from behind her.
Turning, she found John Battaglia in the entryway. He’d just come
from outside, and his jet-black hair was wind-whipped, his dark
eyes smiling. Damned if he didn’t look like a tall Andy Garcia.

“No, it’s not that.” She smiled back. “What
are you doing here? You don’t work tonight.”

“I came to Bayview to see Alexandra’s
preschool play, and while I was in town, I thought I’d pick up a
book I left here.”

Reaching into a cupboard, she drew out a
heavy text. “Endocrinology.” She rolled her eyes. “Even the books
in med school are weighty.”

He took it from her. “You’ll know soon
enough. Heard from Harvard yet?”

“December fifteenth is early-decision
notification.”

“You don’t look happy about that.” He cocked
his head. “What’s wrong? You were sighing like an old lady when I
came in.”

“Parent problems. Immature stuff to you,
probably.”

His face sobered. “No way. My life was on a
fast track to nowhere because of my ‘rents.” He smiled, but it was
not a happy look. “If it hadn’t been for Cassie, I’d be lying in a
gutter somewhere now.”

“What happened with your parents?”

John dropped onto a vinyl chair and stretched
his long legs out in front of him. As always he wore black jeans,
tonight with a gray T-shirt under his battered bomber jacket. “My
dad died when I was ten. He was a Vietnam vet and was not a good
father. My mother was ineffective, to say the least.” His face
darkened. God, he was cute, even when he was sad. “If it hadn’t
been for Cassie, then Mitch—” here he smiled brilliantly “—I’d
never be where I am today.” He shuddered. “Sometimes I still have
nightmares about it.”

“That’s a nice story about Ms. Lansing and
her husband.”

“So, you neglected, too?”

She rolled her eyes. “Just the opposite. My
mother’s on my back all the time about my grades, how I act,
everything
.” She shook her head. “She says I have to set
an example, you know, because I’m black.”

“No kidding?”

She laughed at his reaction; most people
shied away from talk about race. “And she won’t let me do anything
that interferes with schoolwork. She told me I couldn’t go to Down
to Earth this weekend, but I went anyway.”

“She get pissed off?”

“Big time.” Shondra scowled. “You know, I
never defied her before. It was like she didn’t know what to do
when I said I was going—so she ended up signing the permission form
in a state of shock. Now she’s not talking to me, though.”