Wrong Number 2 (4 page)

“Are you crazy?” Deena demanded at the same moment.

“Why not?” Chuck repeated calmly. “I have friends out there. I lived in L.A. with my mom for a while. And that's where the movie business is. Why should I stick around a place like Shadyside, or take dumb classes at a nothing college? Why shouldn't I go where the action is?”

“When are you planning to go?” asked Jade, her eyes wide with excitement.

“As soon as I get some money together,” Chuck said.

“I don't believe this!” Deena cried. “Why didn't you tell Mom and Dad you were having trouble in school?”

“Because it's none of their business!” Chuck snapped.

“It's just that I worry about you, Chuck,” Deena said.

“Well, stop worrying!” he replied angrily. “Get out of my face, Deena. Stop trying to be my mother, okay? I've already got too many!”

“Stop it, you two!” Jade put her hand on the back of Chuck's neck and began to rub gently. “Now, let's just all calm down. The important thing is that Chuck is here, right?”

“Yeah, yeah,” said Chuck sarcastically.

Deena sighed and dropped down on the end of the bed. She watched as Chuck and Jade stared into each other's eyes.

“I'm soooo happy to see you, Chuck,” Jade said.

“Yeah. Me too,” he told her. “What's up with you, Jade? What have you been up to while I was away?”

“Oh, just the usual. You know—school, hanging out . . .”

“Pretty busy, huh?” Chuck demanded.

“Just the usual,” Jade repeated.

“Too busy to write, I mean,” he said softly.

“Oh, well, I've never been one for writing letters,” Jade said. “You know that, Chuck. But I think about you a lot.”

“Yeah,” Chuck muttered glumly. “I guess you were thinking about me when you were kissing that other guy tonight.”

For a moment the room fell silent.

Oh, wow! Deena thought. Jade is in major trouble now.

But Jade just laughed, her eyes still turned adoringly on Chuck. “You mean Teddy?” she asked innocently.

“Teddy? Who's Teddy?” Chuck demanded.

“He's on the Tigers' team,” said Jade. “Deena and I went to the game. Teddy won the game in the last second. And I was just—congratulating him.”

“Yeah, sure!” Chuck snarled. He stood up and began pacing the room. “And who else have you been congratulating while I was gone?”

“Chuck!” Jade sounded genuinely hurt. “Give me a break. I've gone out with a few other guys. Of course I have. I mean, I'd die of boredom if I didn't.”

She stood up and followed him, putting a hand on his arm. “But I was just killing time. Waiting for you. You've got to believe me.”

Jade turned her wide green eyes on him and Deena could practically see Chuck melt. “Do you believe me?” Jade asked softly.

Chuck hesitated. “Yeah. I suppose so.”

“Well, good.” Jade gave him a quick kiss. “It's so late. Deena and I are totally wrecked from the game. Go on home and we'll get together tomorrow—okay?”

“Okay,” Chuck agreed. “The only thing is, I don't exactly feel like facing Dad tonight. Can I have your key, Deena? I'll just let myself in.”

“Sure,” said Deena. She fished in her bag for her keys and handed them over to Chuck. “But you don't have to worry. Mom and Dad are away. That's why I'm staying at Jade's tonight.”

Chuck seemed very relieved. Jade walked Chuck downstairs. From the bedroom, Deena could hear them talking in low voices for several minutes before the front door shut.

Dad is going to have a fit, Deena realized. She dreaded the scene when Chuck spilled the news that he dropped out of school.

Maybe Mom and Dad will get used to the idea, Deena thought hopefully. Maybe they'll even help Chuck get it together to move out to California.

Or maybe there'll be a terrible screaming fight.

“I'm so glad Chuck's back. Aren't you?” Jade asked, strolling back into the bedroom.

“Yes. Of course,” Deena replied quickly. But she found herself wondering if she really was glad.

Chuck was always so much trouble. . . .

• • •

Deena was still thinking about Chuck when she pulled the covers up to her chin and switched off the light. A few minutes later she managed to forget all about Chuck as she drifted off into a great dream about Steve Mason.

She awoke with a start when the bedroom phone rang. Her eyes popped open and darted around the strange surroundings. It took her a moment to realize she wasn't in her own bedroom.

“Would you get that?” Jade asked groggily. “It's closer to you.”

The digital clock showed two-thirty as Deena groped for the receiver. “Hello?” she whispered.

“Hello,” rasped a familiar, gravelly voice. Deena jerked up, instantly alert. “Who is this?” she demanded.

“You know,” the voice said. “Remember the closet?”

“Who is it?” Jade asked from across the room.

“It's him!” Deena cried.

Jade quickly made her way over to Deena and lowered her head to the phone so she could hear too.

“Remember the closet?” the voice went on. “The one you were hiding in?”

Deena gasped. A year ago she and Jade had hidden in a tiny closet in Farberson's house while he stalked through each room, searching for them. Squashed together, they had huddled, terrified in the back of the dark closet. But Farberson had found them.

No one else knows about the closet, Deena told herself. Jade, me, and Farberson. We're the only ones who know.

That means this caller
has
to be Farberson!

“Go away! Leave us alone!” Deena cried into the phone receiver, her voice tiny and frightened.

“Think about how scared you were that night,” the voice whispered. “Because you're going to be
more
scared—real soon.”

“T
hanks, Mrs. Smith,” Deena called as Jade's mother dropped her at home on Saturday morning. It was a clear, cold day and Deena squinted into the sun as she walked up the circular driveway to her house.

I wonder if Mom and Dad know that Chuck is home yet, she thought.

As she walked to the back of the house, she heard a door slam and then angry shouting.

They know, all right! Deena thought.

“Why didn't you at least
tell
us you were having problems?” Deena's mom was shouting as Deena opened the back door.

“I didn't think it was any of your business!” Chuck replied heatedly.

Deena stepped into the kitchen. Chuck nodded to her. Her parents ignored her. They were concentrating on Chuck.

It was obvious to Deena that her parents had gone ballistic over Chuck's news. Her mom kept tugging at her hair, pacing back and forth, shaking her head.

Mr. Martinson sat at the kitchen table, gripping his coffee mug so tightly, his knuckles had turned white.

Chuck's face was bright red. He stood in the kitchen doorway, his hands jammed into the front pockets of his jeans, his features set in anger.

“Did you know about this, Deena?” her father demanded.

“Know about what?” Deena tried to sound innocent. She didn't know how much of his plan Chuck had revealed.

“About the trouble Chuck's been in at school,” her mother said.

“I'm not in trouble anymore!” Chuck cried breathlessly. “I've already dropped out.”

“Deena?
Did
you?” her father demanded.

“The first I knew about anything was last night,” Deena told him. She poured herself a glass of orange juice.

“Deena doesn't know anything,” Chuck told them with a sneer. “What difference does it make what Deena knows? Dropping out of school was the best thing that could have happened to me.”

“Oh, Chuck!” Deena's mom sank into a chair beside the table and lowered her eyes to the floor.

“Well, as long as you're home,” Mr. Martinson said, “we're going to set a few things straight. First, you will obey all the family rules—curfew, chores, everything. You will get a job and help with expenses. And—”

“And what else?” Chuck interrupted. “Do I have to wash behind my ears every night?”

“That does it!” Mr. Martinson shouted, slamming his hand down on the table.

“Dear—” cautioned Mrs. Martinson.

“Forget it!” shouted Chuck. “I can see that coming back here was a mistake. You want to run my life! Well, I won't let you! I don't have to listen to you anymore. I'm going to L.A. at the end of the week—and you'll never see me again!”

Chuck was so furious, his entire body was shaking. Deena tried to think of something to say—anything—to calm everyone down.

But Chuck crossed the kitchen and yanked open the back door. He slammed it so hard, the windowpanes rattled. Deena saw him running down the driveway without looking back.

“Is he
crazy?”
Mr. Martinson bellowed. His hands shot out, spilling the coffee mug. “That boy thinks he can get away with anything!” he cried. “This time he's gone too far!”

• • •

By late that afternoon, Chuck still hadn't come home. Deena tried calling Jade several times, but her line was always busy.

When she'd finished all her schoolwork, she borrowed her mom's car and drove over to tell Jade what had happened. Maybe Jade will have some idea where Chuck is, Deena thought.

As soon as Jade pulled open her front door, Deena found the answer. Chuck sat on Jade's living-room couch, eating popcorn and watching a video.

Jade was wearing a cat suit as usual. This one made of some kind of shiny yellow material. She had a big gold hoop earring in each ear, and her hair hung in one long braid over her shoulder.

Even on a Saturday afternoon, Jade looks as if she just stepped off the cover of a fashion magazine! Deena marveled to herself.

“Come on in,” Jade told Deena with a big smile. “We're watching
Bikini Teen Mutants from Sunset Strip.”

“I saw it,” Deena said. “I thought it was gross.”

“Yo, Deena!” Chuck called. He smiled at her as if nothing at all had happened at home. “Check out these zombies.”

Deena glanced at the screen. Three teenage girls with pasty white skin and glassy eyes were walking around in tiny bikinis underneath some palm trees.

“Now,
that's
my idea of winter!” Chuck said, grinning and pointing to the screen.

“How do you know it's winter?” Jade asked.

“Doesn't matter. The weather's always warm in L.A. If you don't believe it, then come with me and check it out yourself.”

“Yeah. Maybe. Someday,” Jade said. “But first I have to finish high school.”

“Give me three good reasons why,” Chuck challenged. “In fact, give me one good reason.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Deena asked, dropping into a green leather armchair.

“Oh, your crazy half brother is trying to convince me to go to L.A. with him,” Jade told her, rolling her eyes.

“And Jade's very close to saying yes, aren't you?” Chuck said.

“In your dreams!” Jade replied sharply.

“I'm serious,” Chuck insisted. “I can get a job, earn enough money for both of us. If you want to, you can finish school out there.”

“Well, maybe someday,” Jade repeated. “It's certainly something to think about.” Then she flashed Chuck one of her iceberg-melting smiles.

Oh, wow! thought Deena. Can she actually be considering it?

“Well, you have till the end of the week to make up your mind,” Chuck told her. “Because no matter what, I'm out of here on Friday.”

“Where are you getting the money?” asked Deena.

For a brief flash Deena caught the uncertainty in Chuck's eyes. But then he shrugged and grinned. “I'll get it. No problem.”

Deena leaned back against the couch and shut her eyes. Why did Chuck have to hate Shadyside so much?
Why couldn't he just be like other guys and go to college and be normal?

Why did he always have to mess up?

“There's another reason for you to come with me,” Chuck said, leaning close to Jade.

“What's that?”

“You'd be safer.”

He said it so softly and so seriously that Deena opened her eyes in surprise. “What are you talking about?” she asked.

“I told Chuck about the calls,” Jade said.

“Really?” Deena and Jade had decided not to tell anyone.

“Jade says the guy talked about a wrong number, and the closet you two were hiding in,” Chuck added.

“Do you think it's Farberson?” Deena demanded, hearing the whispered voice in her mind again.

Chuck shook his head. “No way. Farberson's in jail, right? Maybe it's someone Farberson knows, someone Farberson told the story to.”

“Or maybe it's someone who read the details in the newspaper,” Jade suggested.