Chapter 13: Telephone

Drake awoke the next morning and looked around him, groggily. It took him a moment to realize he had no idea where he was. Then it came to him; he was still at Erika's house! Somehow they had fallen asleep on the couch last night during the movie and slept through the night. Drake looked down and saw a huge blanket covering the two of them. "Her sister must have come home." Drake thought.

All of a sudden a wave of panic washed over Drake. He had to call home and explain what had happened, his mom was sure to be royally pissed by now. He worked out what he would say in his mind first, then he lifted Erika up a little, just enough to get off the couch without waking her up. He set her back down and covered her again, walking out into the hall and dialing home.
"Hello?" a young female voice answered sleepily.
"Sophie?" Drake asked, before continuing. "Listen, does mom know I'm not there?"
"Umm, she got in real late last night. She went straight to bed and crashed."
"Good, I'll be home in about 20 minutes...will she still be out, you think?" he asked
"Yeah, I think so. But...you're gonna owe me big for covering this up...first, i want a full explanation when you get here. We'll talk after school about the details." she said
-CLICK-

"Wonderful, now I'm gonna have to do her slave work for a month or something..." Drake thought.

Drake walked back in the living room and was surprised to see Erika sleepily staring at him. She stood up and shuffled over to him, stopping inches away from him. "I'm sorry I got you in this mess," she said "I should have known we would fall asleep. If you get in trouble, please...blame it on me." she said, grabbing him and giving him a hug. "Now you need to get home A.S.A.P. mister, the quicker the better. I'll see you on the bus, kay?"

Drake was speechless. His mind was swimming and all he could manage was a weak "Kay," before grabbing his bag and walking out the door. He turned and smiled at Erika, standing in the doorway, and managed to regain his composure. "See ya in a bit! And don't worry...I'll take the fall if something happens. I don't want you getting involved if possible." he said, turning and running in the direction of the park.

Drake passed the park and kept on running all the way to his house. "Maybe I should go for Track." he thought. His sister was waiting by the front door and quietly opened it for him, letting him in.

"Go on and get a shower and ready for school...we'll talk at breakfast." said Sophie.
"Kay, I'll be down in a few. And thanks, even though you're totally using me, you're helping because deep down, you care." he said with a sarcastic grin.

Drake showered and got dressed, slipping his pack back on and heading downstairs. Sophie had just poured herself a bowl of cereal and had set an empty bowl by the next seat. Drake walked in and sat down, getting his food as well. "So," she said "Where were you? Or should I say...who were you with?"
"I was at Erika's house," he began, noting the surprised look on her face and quickly explained. "We were watching a movie last night, and we fell asleep on the couch. I woke up this morning and called right away."
"Well well, my little brother finally got some action."
"It's not like that..." he said
"Yeah, I bet. Look, I don't blame you...she's pretty, smart, and she's kinda in with the popular crowd. She's your ticket in, if there is a ticket for you at all. Whatever you two were doing, I don't care...just be safe, kiddo. I don't want to be an aunt anytime soon."
"Yeah, and I want to be an uncle?"
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that." she answered.

Drake glanced at the clock and saw it was almost time for the bus. He cleaned his bowl and put the stuff away before walking out the door. He could hear the bus in the distance and determined the bus was about 3 minutes away. As if by magic, exactly three minutes later the bus came into view, a block away. It pulled up to Drake's house and opened the door so Drake could get on. He walked to the back, as usual, and sat down, scooting over to make room for Erika to sit when she got on. "Wow, maybe this is more than I thought...first last night, it kinda turned into a date, then that hug this morning...that was more than a regular hug, and now I'm making room for her to sit with me without even knowing it." he thought.

The bus continued on it's path, picking up a few more kids, most of whom sat near the front. Soon it stopped at Erika's and she got on. She walked to the back, smiling at Drake, then sat down next to him and set her bag down next to his on the floor in front of them. "Saved me a seat, I see." she said, grinning.
"Not like anyone else would have sat here anyways, but yeah, I made sure to leave your spot." he grinned.
"You're lucky I sat with you, mister." she said "Otherwise you would have been keeping a seat for someone sitting in the front."
Drake paused.
"I'm kidding silly, of course I wanted to sit with you. Why wouldn't I? We're...friends." she said carefully. "Right?"
"Uh, yeah...friends." Drake said as the bus lurched forward again, heading off to school.
~~~~~~~~~~

"Are you okay, Drake?" asked Erika when she saw him before their first of two classes together. "You're acting kinda weird."
"Yeah, I'm fine." answered Drake, realizing he was glaring at the ground.
"Well, if there's something bothering you, don't feel bad about sharing with me. I'm a good listener."
~~~~~~~~~~

"Ugh." grunted Erika, slamming her tray down on the cafeteria table in front of Drake.
"Umm, you okay there, Erika?" Drake asked
"I'm fine, I guess. Have you heard?"
"Heard what?"
"Some anal retentive person started a rumor about us..." she said, a tear forming in her eye
"What kind of rumor?" Drake asked, immediately thinking of his sister.
"A nasty one, an untrue one, one about us last night. Everyone in the school's saying we had sex last night!" she whispered the last part, face welling up with tears.
"Sophie." he said, his eyes narrowing.
"Huh? You're sister? You think she started it?" she sobbed
"I'm positive. I'm gonna go chew her ass out right now."

Drake marched over to where his sister sat, in the middle of the cafeteria. "What the hell is your problem, Soph?" he demanded.
"What's yours? What did I do now?" she answered
"You know very well what you did, the whole school's talking about it now." he said.

The rest of the table stood up and shuffled away, wanting to get out of there A.S.A.P.

Sophie grinned. "As much as I'd love to take the credit for that, it wasn't me. I haven't told a single person." she said
"Oh yeah, then who the heck did? I haven't told anyone else about what happened, and she's absolutely devastated about it, so she clearly didn't either." fumed Drake
"I've got no idea...maybe someone saw the two of you at her house last night or something. Please believe me, it wasn't me. I promised I'd keep it quiet, and I made sure not to mention to anyone, even when people asked me about you two." she said. "Maybe it got out of control, like that kids game, telephone. The story could have changed a hundred times as it was passed from person to person. And you know how some of the idiots are here...not a brain cell to their name."

Somehow, Drake believed her...he couldn't explain it, despite all evidence to the contrary, Sophie didn't start this. Now he had to find out who did...the easiest way is to ask around and see who people heard it from, eventually he might reach the true source, if people weren't covering for them. He walked back over to Erika, who was discreetly crying, making sure not to look at anyone. "Erika, it wasn't her...but I'm going to do everything i can to find out who it was. Someone had to have been spying on us last night, there's just no other way." he said
She dabbed her eyes with her napkin. "I'll help too. If it's that serious, you're gonna need help." she squeaked.

Drake was fuming. How could someone do something like that? What justification or proof did they have to start a rumor like that, and why would someone start it, even if it was true? Erika was still silently crying, and Drake couldn't stand it. He wanted to comfort her, but in this crowd, it would only make the rumors worse, somehow. "Come on, let's get out of here...away from all these people." he said, leading her out into the hall.




END Ch. 13