Casey Barnes Eponymous - By E.A. Rigg Page 0,48
more closely, seen that they were ever so slightly wet, and maybe, just maybe, deduced that he wasn’t responding because he was scared to. The thing is, people don’t look closely when they’re angry.
“You should go,” he said.
29
Leigh’s whereabouts were revealed as soon as Casey got home from Ben’s. She sent an email saying Casey should call her at a number beginning with a District of Columbia area code.
Casey called. A woman answered. Her voice was familiar. “Can I speak to Leigh?” Casey asked.
“Is this Casey?”
Casey knew why she recognized the voice. It was Aunt Eva.
“Aunt Eva?”
“In the flesh. Hold on, I’ll put Leigh on.”
“Hi,” Leigh said a moment later.
“You’re alive.”
“Yep.”
“Aunt Eva’s in D.C.? Is that where you went last night?”
“Yeah, at a hotel, editing some political thing. She’s the one who came and got me last night.”
“She was awake?”
“I’d texted her when we were leaving your place.”
“Smooth,” Casey said.
“I kind of wanted to freak you out a bit too,” Leigh added.
“Well played. And, hey, sorry again about the whole accidental ganja-baked-good-drop.”
“I’m not mad anymore. I even told Eva. She wants to make a short film about it.”
“Can I play your mother?”
“Don’t push it.”
“So what now?”
“She called my parents this afternoon and told them I’m at the hotel with her,” Leigh said, “We’re all going to dinner in an hour.”
“But what if they drug her drink and whisk you away to boarding school?”
“Eva said not to worry about the boarding school thing.”
“Why’s she think she can persuade them?”
“No idea. Hey what’s going on with talent show?”
“We made the cut for second round of auditions,” Casey said. “And…” She attempted to summon the excitement she felt earlier after the triumph of the Maxine French song. Yet her visit to Ben’s house was tempering things.
“And what?”
Casey shook her head. “And today we played a song about what a bitch Maxine French is and brought the house down.”
“You really are crazy. Do you know that?”
There was suddenly a booming knock on Casey’s door. “Insanity is relative. I gotta go. Call me later?”
“Will do,” Leigh said.
Casey hung up. Yull came barging in. “What the hell was that?!”
“This ‘that’ you reference could be a number of things, dear brother. You’re going to have to learn to be a bit more specific when requesting informa--”
“That song about Maxine French! That that.”
“Oh that.” She stifled a yawn. “Well she is a bitch. I have firsthand knowledge of it. And, based on the reaction my little gold mine of a tune garnered, I’m not the only person at Walton who thinks it.”
“It doesn’t matter whether or not she’s a bitch.”
“Spoken with the ease of one who has never been tortured by Maxine French.”
“There are people at Walton who are meaner, who are fat, who smell…there are even people who are gay.”
“Cut the koomba-fuckin-ya chase and tell me what you’re getting at.”
“My point is that there are a lot of people to talk about. And if anyone were to get up and sing about them even half as well as you did, the song would get a big response. It’s called mob mentality. But that doesn’t make it okay.”
“You’re talking about apples and oranges,” Casey replied, “I wouldn’t do what I did to a fat or smelly kid. I did it to Maxine French because she chooses to be a bitch, and she deserves to get called out on it.”
“Do I deserve to get called out on being gay?”
“Um, newsflash Yull: You’re out. And you’re one of the most popular people at Walton.”
“Perhaps.”
“Your attempts at modesty are pathetic.”
“Well do you know why everyone likes me so much?”
“Because you steal money from Mom and pay them to?”
“Because I’m nice, Casey.”
“Why does every conversation we have come back to the beatification of Yull?”
“I’m merely trying to emphasize a point.”
“And I am too. People as nasty as Maxine French have it coming. People said as much to me when we finished playing the song.”
“I don’t disagree that the girl can be a bitch. What I disagree with, strongly, is that song. You can’t do that to people.”
Casey folded her arms and looked away. “I can do whatever I want.”
Yull paused. “I’m going to tell you something I wasn’t going to.”
Casey studied his face and, suddenly, she knew what he was about to say.
“I’m the reason you made first cut for talent show,” he continued, “I helped count votes and I moved two for Hair Band to Pop Wire. I wanted you to have a boost because I felt bad about the whole