CHAPTER 10
They sat around September's kitchen table. Graduation was one week away. It had been one tortuous month since the nightmare had started.
Tripetta had demanded this meeting. She had received her task. Joey had already received and carried out his.
JF~Dress in drag at nightclub
That night they had all gone to a nightclub, where Joey was dressed in drag. Jamie and September had gotten over their argument during the musical, and made him into a very ugly woman.
It really wasn't that bad, Joey had insisted. And it was better than getting hurt.
"Would anyone like some chocolate chip cookies?" asked September, placing a tray of cookies and glasses of milk on the table.
"Are they homemade?" asked Lance pulling her into his lap.
"Why don't you tell me?" asked September, putting a cookie to his lips.
"Mmmm. You'll have to make me some," he said and kissed her.
"Yo September, ya got any beer?" asked Lulu.
"In the refrigerator," said September, who was too busy feeding Lance bits of cookie to care. Lulu stamped over to the refrigerator, got her beer and sat back down.
"Why are we here?" asked Mariette.
"Tripetta and I need to tell you what happened," said Chris. Tripetta had received her task.
Tripetta~Go to work dressed as Bozo the Clown
That was a major insult to Tripetta's prim dignity. She had refused and now she was paying.
"Last night Chris and I were in bed. We were. . . well that's not important. . . .but all of a sudden there was this crash. Something had been thrown in the window," Tripetta explained.
"At first we weren't too concerned. I said that I'd get up and turn on the lights so that we could see what happened. I didn't think to turn on the lights by the bed because they weren't very bright. I got up to turn on the overhead light. Then I felt IT brush up against my leg," she stopped and shuddered.
"What was it?"
"It was fuzzy and had little things coming out of it," Chris wrapped his arm around her as another shudder wracked her body.
"What was it?"
"A spider!" she yelled. "I ran and turned on the light and they were all over! Even crawling on poor Busta! It took Chris and I over an hour to kill them all, if we even got them all. If I live till I'm one hundred I'll never get over feeling as nauseated as I did then."
"And as scared?"
"Yeah I was scared. We used a CO2 fire extinguisher. God help us if the apartment catches fire next."
"Are you particularly afraid of spiders?" asked Justin. Tripetta nodded.
"I hate all bugs!" vehemently.
"It seems to me like the caretaker is hitting us where we're weak. JC loves his career, September was proud of her mural, Mariette loved being in drama. . .and you hate bugs. But who knew that?"
"September, Lulu, and I knew," said Jamie.
"I knew," said Chris.
"I knew. I'm not sure how I knew but I did," said Joey.
"OK. Well I think that it's pretty obvious who the caretaker is," said JC.
"Well then who is it smartypants?" demanded Lulu.
"Yes, indulge us JC. The suspense is killing me," said Chris drolly.
"Well it must be one of those five," replied JC.
"How do we know that it isn't two? Or three? Or four? Or all of them?" asked Lance, who had stopped making out with September long enough to ask that question.
"Hey!" yelled September pushing against his chest. "I thought that we decided that it couldn't be one of us?"
"I'm not changing my idea but. . . .I dunno. Forget it," he said. Mariette hugged him.
"Don't worry. We still love you," she said, kissing him softly.
"I don't!" said Lulu emphatically.
"I wasn't talking about you!" said Mariette. JC smiled and rubbed her stomach under the table.
"Tripetta," said Lulu suddenly, "did you cut your feet on the glass?"
"Yeah."
"May I see it?" asked Lulu nicely.
"Are you calling me a liar?" asked Tripetta venomously.
"Not yet," Lulu replied.
"C'mon Lulu," said Chris, exasperatedly. "I know she cut it." Tripetta pulled off her shoe and held up her foot. It was covered in bandages.
"Are you satisfied?" she demanded.
"No," said Lulu. "Anyone can put bandages on. You weren't limping when you came in. Take them off."
"You like looking at bloody scars?"
"Tripetta, Lulu is just trying to gather information. I can understand that you don't want to expose them to possible infection but eliminating suspects is important."
"Yeah whatever," mumbled Tripetta.
"We'll fix your window after the meeting is over," offered Lance.
"Don't bother. I already fixed it," said Chris.
"How convenient," said Lulu sarcastically.
"Let's just drop it and get back to the bug thing," said Justin.
"Who knew that September was proud of her mural? Everybody. Who knew that Mariette wanted to be in the musical? Everybody," said Lance rhetorically. "We should look toward our enemies."
"Who hates Lulu? Everybody," said JC jokingly. "OW!" he yelled when Lulu kicked him.
"Didn't we agree that we wouldn't hit each other?" he wined.
"You didn't say anything about kicking."
"I love you Lulu," said Joey. Lulu blushed and smiled.
"Who hates all of us?"
"Lulu," said JC, good naturedly. He quickly moved his chair to avoid another kick but they all had a good laugh, including Lulu.
"Maybe it's him," said Lance suddenly. September looked at him, her eyes wide.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Don't bring up this bullshit again," muttered Jamie.
"Let Lance talk! We've all seen those shows on tv where strange stuff happens," said September. "We've all seen the shows where the dark powers are working. Maybe he had. . ."
"No!" yelled Jamie. "There are no dark powers! The man is dead!"
"Not in our minds," said Chris softly. "See how he haunts us still?"
"It doesn't have to be like this," said Lance, agreeing. "We should go to the police. Just say that we're sorry."
"We can't," said Justin. "It's too late for that."
"But what if one of us gets hurt?" he reasoned.
"Then it'll be my fault."
"All we can do is hope to find this guy," said Chris.
"Will we kill him too?" asked Lance sadly.
Tell me what you think here!
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