Craig told me the only fun they’d found was a local bar where they did karaoke. I explained singing was not in the cards for me. I didn’t even sing in the shower. He told me I could lip sync. They wanted to go out one night and have a contest to see who the best was. Craig told me to bring my ‘A game’ because he planned to kick my butt. I wish he hadn’t done that. It made me get my dance-class girls and the theater group to help me. We’d see who kicked whose butt.
IT ENDED UP I STAYED Saturday night with Harper and then all day Sunday. We didn’t sleep with each other, but we did do a lot of talking. I didn’t know as much as I thought I knew about Harper. Harper was from old money. I knew her last name was Mass, but didn’t know it was that Mass. The Mass family owned about a quarter of the land that was currently downtown Chicago. Her grandfather had been governor of Illinois. As a side note, he was one of the few who didn’t end up in jail.
Harper’s father owned Mass Investments. Their business was wealth management and construction. If you had a lot of money and wanted to keep it, you wanted them. His passion, though, was building. One of his current projects was to convert several blocks of Lincoln Park, a neighborhood in Chicago, into high-end houses. He’d designed them to look like they were part of the neighborhood by using reclaimed brick and building styles similar to those already there.
Her mother was State’s Attorney for Cook County, where Chicago was located. Her office had over 900 attorneys and was the second-largest prosecutor’s office in the country, behind only the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office in terms of the number of lawyers.
I was more than a little surprised her father had had me investigated. Harper showed me the file. They’d done it when she told them she was going to San Francisco with me. I was shocked to see they had information I didn’t about what happened the night Lily almost died. She had been dosed with a drug called ‘GHB,’ or ‘liquid Ecstasy.’
I found an article about GHB and it said it was tasteless. One of the quotes scared me. It was from a girl who lost twelve hours of her life. When she came to, she said, “My heart is palpitating and my hand-eye coordination doesn’t work and it feels like if I stop concentrating on breathing I’ll stop breathing. Am I dying?”
It made me wonder if this ever happened to Tracy. It wouldn’t surprise me if Bill was behind Lily being drugged.
After I read the report, I filled Harper in on the details the report had missed and updated her on everything recent. She, in turn, told me all about herself. Harper always had gone to private schools. She begged her parents to let her go to Wesleyan for high school. They wanted to keep her closer to home, but she wanted the education Wesleyan provided. She talked Ray into coming with her so she’d have a friend there.
When Ray came out of the closet, it had shaken her, but she supported him. She just wished he’d told her before they’d started to date. His drug problems weren’t getting any better. He’d been kicked out of Wesleyan and the subsequent boarding school. He was now at Lane Academy, a school for troubled boys.
I found out Tami and Harper had something in common: they were both extremely smart and motivated. I knew Harper was smart. She more than held her own with me. She told me she was an outcast back home because she felt the kids were so immature. When she came to Wesleyan she fit in better and had made some great friends.
Once we had the background covered, we talked about our friends, specifically Missy, Lisa, Jennie and Tami. I didn’t realize the first three were halfway in love with me. I thought Jennie hated me by the way she acted towards me. Harper explained she was just acting out because she was frustrated I wouldn’t even consider her more than just a friend.
I explained to Harper what a self-centered person Jennie really was, and what she, Mark, and her mother had pulled on me. Harper had never heard about any of it and understood why I wasn’t interested. I also told her about Teddy Wesleyan and his attitude towards money. I was surprised Harper was pissed when I finished telling her.
I was emotionally exhausted by the time I went home on Sunday. The only other person, besides my family, who I had let in like this was Tami. By the end of the weekend, I knew Harper was the right one for me. The good news was she felt the same way. We both knew that trying to maintain a long-distance relationship would be hard, but we decided to give it chance.
I don’t really know how to describe it, but I felt like the missing something I had been longing for had been found. The corny line about another person completing me now made sense. The only thing was, there was something in the back of my mind telling me it should have been Tami.
WHEN I GOT BACK TO school on Monday, I ran into Lisa Felton. I was surprised when I didn’t feel the attraction I normally had when I was around her. She just gave me a sad look and we didn’t speak. I thought for now this was the best approach. I didn’t want it getting out that we’d slept together, and was sure she felt the same way.
While I was gone visiting Harper, Mom and Dad had talked to Tom and Mary. Mom shared with them what they needed to know to be supportive of Tracy as she recovered. Mom told me she found it funny that Dr. Hebert had told them the same things Mom had, but for some reason it didn’t sink in until Mom explained it.
On the school front, I had a ‘B’ going in English Lit. Dad had reminded me I promised I wouldn’t let my grades suffer. I called Suzanne and hired her to be my tutor again. We tackled Shakespeare. So much of it could have multiple meanings. Suzanne confessed that money was tight and she missed teaching dumb jocks. It was a good thing I liked her. What I didn’t like was she made me reread everything with her notes on what to look for. Something I liked about Suzanne was she didn’t just give me the answers. She helped me really understand whatever the topic was, so I had no choice but to take my Shakespeare books with me to Yellowknife.
WE FLEW INTO CALGARY and then had to switch to Air Canada to get to Yellowknife. We boarded a smaller plane that only had twelve rows of seats, two to a side. It was all economy seating. I caught myself before I became an ass. It would be very easy to get used to flying first class. Kendal reassured me I’d be okay sitting with the common folk. I reminded her she could be replaced. She didn’t believe me for one second.
The flight took two hours and ten minutes. When we landed, it was three in the afternoon and a balmy 5 degrees out. Of course, in Canada they use Celsius, so they’d say it was minus 15; that better describes how it felt. I was glad I’d brought my Range Sports thermals. Kendal almost turned around to go back home, but I’d gotten thermals for her also. It was cold enough you actually felt it in your lungs when you breathed in the cold, dry air.
There was a minibus waiting to take us to the hotel. Yellowknife was the largest town in the Northwest Territories, with a population just under 20,000. I was surprised to see they had several taller buildings of ten-plus stories.
AT THE HOTEL, ONE OF the production staff met us. They wanted me to go to a meeting concerning tomorrow’s shoot. I had three scenes to do before I left. The first was supposed to be at an outpost. The school, in the story, had organized a training exercise at a remote location we were supposed to be protecting. The major rival to Craig’s character, Royal, was in charge of our two four-man teams. Royal was in charge of Bree, Elizabeth and me.
The plot said the other guy was an arrogant ass and left Royal and Stryker—me—to defend the outpost while they all went into town to party. While they’re gone, we’d be attacked. I’d spent a lot of time working to get ready for this part of the movie. I wasn’t surprised Jessup would want to talk about it. I found the conference room where we were supposed to meet and was the last to arrive.