Spring Fever
Chapter 4: Money Trouble
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Notes: From Guy’s point of view.
Guy wasn’t
sure what Coach Bombay had been saying when Charlie called him up, but he had
sounded pretty mad, the yelling could be heard all the way over to the rest of
them.
“Maybe
he’ll call our parents,” Connie whispered. Guy shrugged. He didn’t really care;
it hadn’t been their fault, so why should he worry?
“Don’t
count on it,” Adam mumbled. “We’re already dead before they get that message.”
Guy had to
agree with that, if there was something that they should worry about, it was
what kind of punishment they would get for wrecking the van. Bombay’s beloved
van. This was going to be a harsh punishment.
“Charlie
said he would take the blame for this,” Fred pointed out. “But we can’t let him
do that, can we?”
“No, of
course not,” Adam sighed. “It’s not his fault alone. It’s mainly my fault, for
letting Cecilia drive.”
“It’s not
her fault either,” Guy pointed out. So, maybe he hadn’t been awake at the moment
when that other car went off the road and right at them, but he knew that
Cecilia had nothing to do with the crash. Everybody knew that.
“Of course
it’s not,” Connie replied. “It’s that other driver’s fault. He was the one
almost making us drive off the road.”
“I heard he
was drunk,” Luis told them. “No wonder he couldn’t keep on his side of the
road.”
“Let’s not
talk about it anymore, it makes me uncomfortable,” Connie sighed. “Where’s
Cecilia?”
Guy turned
to look for her. He was glad that Connie had ended the conversation, if they
had continued talking about drunk drivers, they would’ve made Fred feel guilty
and they all would’ve been uncomfortable with the thought of Fred’s accident
last year. There was no need for bringing that up again.
“I think
she’s being patched up by the ambulance,” Guy said. “I saw the paramedics bring
her out there before we came in.”
“I hope
she’s fine,” Connie said, sounding worried. “I don’t think she was feeling that
well.”
Charlie
went over to them and closed the phone with a clicking sound. “He’s pissed,
surprisingly enough. He sounded concerned for Cecilia, but I think he’s going
to kill the rest of us. He’s so mad, I think he would’ve yelled at Travis if
he’d been the one who’d called.”
“Well, then
things are really bad,” Fred smiled. “What did he say that we should do?”
“He’s
taking care of it, he’s in Minnesota right now, so he can’t get here. Muck’s
back in Canada, so we’re thousands of miles away from them.”
“Are that
good or bad?” Guy asked. The others went silent for a while.
“Bad, it’s
bad,” they all agreed.
“The police
wants to interrogate us, and Bombay is calling them later. Now’s the question;
what version do we tell them?”
“I’ve already
told them the truth.” Cecilia was standing behind them, looking pale. “I didn’t
wanna lie, so I told them that I was the one who was driving.”
Charlie
closed his eyes, looking tired. Guy saw that he had trouble holding back his
anger. Although, Cecilia was probably doing the right thing. Lying would only
make it worse for them.
“Are you
okay?” Charlie finally asked. He looked sincerely concerned for her, for
obvious reasons. She looked like she was about to throw up at any minute, not
necessarily because of the crash.
She nodded
slowly. Then she turned to walk over to the counter, but Charlie grabbed her
arm. She made a sighing sound, and then she stopped. “Wait, I wanna talk to
you,” Charlie said firmly. “We should all stick together now, so let’s all stay
here, okay?”
He was
addressing them all, but Guy knew that it was mostly because Charlie didn’t
want Cecilia to be alone somewhere, feeling left out. Guy felt Connie tug his
sleeve, a sign that she wanted him to listen to what she had to say.
“What?” he
asked her. Connie shrugged and put her hands into her pockets. Guy rolled his
eyes. He wasn’t in the mood for mind reading. Why did girls always have to drag
things out?
“Connie,
just tell me,” he said. “I can’t see what you’re thinking.” He should know
better then to say that, all girls hated that sentence. Okay, only the ones he
knew, all four of them.
Connie gave
him an insulted glare, but cleared her throat anyway. “I need to talk to you,”
she explained.
“Can’t you
tell me now?”
Connie threw
an eye at the rest of the gang. “It’s private.”
“Well,
they’re not listening, just tell me, Connie.”
“I need
money.”
Was that
the big emergency? She needed money. Big surprise.
“We’ve been
in a car-accident, and you want money? Have I missed something here, Connie?
Shouldn’t you be concerned for Cecilia instead? Or at least be a bit shaken up?
Is this your way of handling a traumatic situation? Asking for money?”
“No, I need
some actual money.”
“Look, Connie,
if you need to talk or something, I’d be glad to listen, and you won’t have to
take a fee either. I’d be very content to hear you talk, without having to pay
you.”
Connie gave
him an icy stare. “It’s not a traumatic reaction for the accident, stupid. I
need money, do I have to spell it out for you?”
“For what?”
Yes, question her more, that’d help.
“I think
someone took my money when we stopped at the gas-station.”
What was
this? ‘Every air-head girls’-day?
“How much
did you have in your wallet?”
Connie
looked close to tears now. Maybe he was right, maybe this was her way of
handling the shock from the accident. If she just had realized that her money
was gone, and on top of that tried to calm down from the crash, she’d probably
just reached the amount of bad things she could handle in one day.
“I had all
my money in it.”
“It’s okay,
I can give you money for the rest of the trip.”
Connie
shook her head. “No, Guy, not the money for this trip only. All my money.
Everything I had on my saving account, every penny I own. Everything my parents
saved for me. Everything is gone.”
Money was a
fragile subject to take up among the players. There were so many
class-difference between them, which made it impossible to be political correct
to everyone. Guy was one of the few that usually could get away pretty well
when that subject came up. He was from a middle class family, and had it
neither bad nor good when it came to money.
Connie, on
the other hand, came from a family with little money to spare. They were three
siblings, and Connie only had money to cover the more basic stuff, like food
and things like that.
Guy usually
had to treat her for movies and dinner, but he didn’t mind. He had the money.
He wasn’t as wealthy as Adam or Fred, but he had hard-working parents and only
one sibling, so he wasn’t too bad. Compared to Connie’s family he was rich,
though. Compared to Adam, he was poor. And if he was going to compare himself
to Fred, there wasn’t much to say, besides from the fact that everybody seemed
poor next to Fred. Even Adam.
“How much
was it?” he asked again, with a more serious tone this time.
“Close to a
thousand.”
“Dollars?!”
he shouted, making everyone else turn around.
“No cents,
what the hell do you think? Of course it’s dollars.”
If a
thousand dollars sounded a lot to him, he could just imagine how much it was in
Connie’s eyes. Or her parents’ eyes. It must’ve been everything they’d been
saving up for Connie, and it must’ve taken them years to do so.
“Connie,
are you sure? Maybe it’s in your bag or something.”
“I thought
so, but when I went through it after the crash I couldn’t find it. It’s gone,
Guy. All my money. My parents are gonna kill me,” she sobbed. “I lost all my
savings.”
This was
obviously not the right time to lecture her about how stupid she’d been to
carry all that money with her. He now understood why she’d been so nervous
about Coach Bombay telling their parents. Much could be said to Connie’s
advantage, but she would never be a good liar. One minute with her Mom or Dad,
and she would’ve come clean with everything.
“It’s okay,
Connie. It’s gonna work out, I promise. Your parents will just be relieved that
you’re okay after the crash.”
Connie
burst into tears. Guy sighed. This was just great. Could anything else possibly
go wrong? He put his arms around her and tried to sooth her.
It just
downed on him. He’d been in a car-accident, which could’ve ended more serious
then it had done. He just got so tired. Just to think how much worse Connie
must be feeling.
This was a
great ending of a perfect day.
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