Camille’s eyes darkened as I reminded her.
I didn’t need her to answer, but added, “Every night?”
Camille nodded, still fuming.
“Oh, my god. Sherry!”
“What, Jim?” Camille asked, confused.
“Sherry asked to come over to Kristen’s apartment. It looked as if she was ashamed…”
“Oh, fuck, Jim. This ain’t funny at all. He’s going to destroy the girls’ lives!”
I nodded sadly. How do you fight somebody who has tickets?
“Where does Tim have his tickets?” I asked.
“He pulled the ones he gave me out of his jacket pocket.”
“He probably keeps them handy in case an emergency comes up,” I said, mostly to myself. I followed the thought and realized that it meant that I couldn’t give a ticket to, say, one of the bigger students, and have him knock Tim unconscious. If Tim managed to give the guy a ticket first, he could find out that I was the person who set him up.
“I’ve got to think this through, Cammy!” I said.
I calmed myself down, and considered my options.
After a few moments, I realized that I had three advantages over Tim. First, I possessed my own roll of tickets, and Tim may not know about them. Second, I knew that Camille seemed to be immune to their effects—even Tim’s, thank goodness. Third, Kristen and Patty knew about the tickets. Now, even if Tim managed to find his tickets the same time that I did—and this was unlikely, or we probably would have heard of his antics sooner—Camille probably had the most experience with the tickets, even if only on the receiving end.
I pointed this out to Camille, who had already reached the same conclusions. We talked about possible situations, but didn’t come up with anything concrete. Camille had an interesting suggestion which might work on alleviating Sherry’s orders, however.
In addition, Camille agreed that Kristen could be a good ally. We needed to come up with a foolproof plan by Saturday afternoon.
“Oh, Jim?” Camille said right before the class bell rang.
“Yes?”
“I know that I’ve thanked you for showing maturity with those tickets,” Camille said, giving me a friendly kiss. “Now I better warn you: Kristen might be on Tim’s list of targets. She is the richest girl in school, probably in the county!”
Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck!
Kristen was at her Camaro when I ran out of school. “Kristen, quick, we need to get to the apartment fast!”
Kristen didn’t ask me why, but she got into the car and before I even my seat belt was fastened, she was peeling rubber out of the parking lot.
“Where’s the fire, Jim?” Kristen asked.
“Tim Hawking,” I said.
“Tim who?”
I looked at Kristen. There was nothing on her face that told me that she was playing dumb.
“Tim Hawking. He’s the high honors nerd in tenth grade.”
“I might have heard of him, but his name doesn’t really ring a bell,” Kristen said.
“Kristen, do you trust me?” I asked, seriously.
“Of course, Jim.”
“I’ve been told of an emergency. It involves Camille, Sherry, and probably all the cheerleaders.”
“You’ve been invited to Jackie Lombardi’s orgy!” Kristen smiled.
“Orgy?” I asked, shocked.
Kristen laughed. “Her party. Camille asked me about it before homeroom. We’re free on Saturday. Camille was going to ask you about it sometime today.”
I sighed.
Kristen pulled through the security gate and into our driveway.
I didn’t feel good until I looked back and saw the gate close.
Once we were parked, I pulled a ticket from my attaché case and said, “Here, have a ticket.”
“You have one wish,” Kristen intoned.
“Kristen, I want you to be aware of me making this request. I want you to honestly answer the next two questions.”
“Your wish is my command,” Kristen said. “What the fuck is this?” Kristen demanded.
I knew that I would be sorry no matter how Kristen answered this next question. “Do you know Tim Hawking and have you received a lucky ticket from anybody other than me?”
“No, and yes, and what is this shit?”
“Whoa there! No and yes?”
Kristen looked at me, confused. She nodded, but didn’t seem to understand.
I gave Kristen another ticket.
“You have one wish.”
“I want you aware of me making this request, also. I want you to tell me exactly who, other than me, has given you a lucky ticket.”
“Debbie Lombardi gave me some a few years back and has given me a ticket to make me forget what she asked. The only thing that I can tell you is that none of her wishes other than the one to forget are still in effect, although she has about twenty thousand dollars of my money.”
Kristen shook her head. “What the fuck was that all about? Debbie Lombardi has tickets?” After a few seconds, Kristen shouted, “TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS! I got in all sorts of trouble for that!”
“It’s a long story, Kris,” I said. “I’m sorry if it sounds as if I don’t trust you, but I needed to do this,” I said, truly sorry. “Tim Hawking is a tenth grader and he’s using Lucky Tickets to have sex with the cheerleaders. I figured that you might be a possible target due to your wealth.”
“I have no idea who the fuck…” Kristen paused, her eyes opening wide. “You said Debbie Lombardi has tickets. Now there’s somebody else in school who also has tickets?”
“Debbie had tickets,” I said, emphasizing the fact that it was past tense. “At least, she did according to Camille,” I added.
“How does Camille know?” Kristen asked.
Oh, fuck. I never told Kristen about Camille.
I decided to skirt that question, and instead told Kristen about the boys’ room during third period, and what Camille told me about second period.
Kristen’s eyes narrowed at me as I told my story. I could see her getting angrier and angrier as I continued.
Finally, when I was finished, Kristen simply shook her head. “You are lying to me, Jim.”
Before I could answer, Kristen stormed out of the car and went upstairs into our apartment.
I sat quietly for a few moments before getting out of the car.
I tried the door that led into the back of the garage. It wasn’t locked. That was a good sign. I may own the deed to the apartment, but I lived there with Kristen’s good graces.
As soon as I entered the apartment, Kristen threw a pillow at me. “You sleep in the living room, Jim!”
“Kristen, please listen to me!” I begged.
Kristen shook her head. “You lied to me, Jim! Camille couldn’t intentionally do a bad job with a boy. Debbie told me… well, everybody knows that Camille has a lot of experience. And Camille couldn’t know about his tickets if she was given one.”
“Tickets don’t work on Camille,” I blurted out.
Kristen looked at me. After a minute of silence, she slowly asked, “What did you say?”
“Tickets don’t work on her,” I said. “I promise, Kris. It’s what we talked about a few weeks ago at Lake Shore Point.”
I could see a million thoughts entering Kristen’s head. Before she could ask her questions, I said, “We have another problem, Kris. Remember how weird Sherry acted in the lunchroom? I believe that she’s been told to practice giving blow jobs and to learn deep throat. She asked to come here, Kris!”
“Sherry?”
“Yes. I also invited Camille over.”
Kristen rolled her eyes. “You are not going to have an orgy here!”