And You Can't Tell Anyone (Track Twelve: III) 2, chapter 9

After school, Wren shut herself up in her room for some mandatory alone, do-her-homework time. She often found that if she did not get away from the guys, homework tended to hit the bottom of the prioity list. Tonight's mental torture session involved her worst subject: English.

In her mind, it was a waste of brain power. Who really cared about the symbolism of some object or how the author's style contributed to the story? Reading was for enjoyment, not for analyzing it to death. What frustrated her the most was that she could get some questions, but it always seemed the teacher wanted more in depth answers. Wren strained her mind, but it was like looking at something behind six inch glass. Yes, it was there, but not accessible.

Feeling inadequate, she scrawled out another answer, knowing that it was probably not good enough--again. After that, she closed her books. The assignment was done, not perfectly, but it would do.

Without knocking, Billie Joe stuck his head into her room. "Hey, you've got somebody on the phone."

Wren frowned. No one called her, ever. "Who is it?"

"I'm not supposed to say."

Since she was done the assignment anyway, she hurried out to the living room and picked up the phone. As she did so, she heard immediate snickers from Billie Joe.

Ignoring him, and feeling a bit paranoid Where's the prank in all of this?, she said, "Hello?"

"Hi." It was Mike; he sounded nervous.

"Hey, where are you? What's up?"

"About five blocks from the house, at a payphone. 'What's up?' Well, I was wondering if you were free this evening, since it's Friday and all."

Wren grinned, "Sure."

"Alright, cool. I'll pick you up in... half an hour?"

"I'll be there. Which is here, right?"

He laughed, "Yeah. Don't worry, I'll find you."

"See you at five thirty then."

"Count on it."

As Wren put down the phone she realized the ear piece was covered in some sort of black stuff. It smelt like marker. Knowing that she probably had a black ear, she rolled her eyes.

"Fine, you got me. One point. But I think we're still winning."

Billie Joe shook his head. "You need to go back to grade one or something. One is more than nothing."

"Did Tré not tell you?"

At this Billie Joe looked shocked and worried. "No."

"Are you not wondering where Tré is right now?" Wren added.

"What did you do to him?" Billie Joe sounded as if he thought Wren had kidnapped the drummer.

"I did nothing, he just got himself in a little detention. I won't tell you how or why, but it involved the Game. Something about a prank for a public place rings a bell. I think we have more points than you."

"You have to prove it," he sulked, "And I'm not going to say you have points until Tré gets home and confirms it." He looked down at his watch. "I'll go over there and pick him up. Wanna come?"

"Let me clean up first."

Halfway to the school the found Tré walking on the sidewalk, energetically kicking a bottle and then trying to jump on it. Upon seeing them, he waved excitedly and ran straight at the car. Billie Joe had to stomp on the brake to avoid running Tré over. Even so, Tré managed to hit the car.

Wren got out so that he could climb into the back seat. As she was about to get back in, Billie Joe gunned the car forward, then stopped. Wren caught up and tried again, and he kept the car out of reach, again. She could see where this was going. They were going to make her walk all the way back. It was not that far, but a lot closer when driving.

Wanting to preserve her dignity, she started walking down the street, looking like she wasn't chasing the car. She heard the car screech as Billie Joe did a 180 and came cruising up beside. Laughing, she started to sprint as fast as she could.

There was no way she was going to outrun a car, but, she could go across yards that the car had to go around. Hurriedly, she vaulted through a shrub hedge and around a kiddie pool. A little chain link fence stopped her for a total of three seconds before she went over that too. As she reached the edge of her home lot, she saw the red car coming down the street.

Putting on an extra burst of speed, she ran to the house door, nearly smacking into it with her momentum. Sucking in huge gulps of air, she crowed, "Ha! Beat you."

"So, we let you win." Tré replied, "Which is a lot nicer than what you tried to do to me."

"You were going to have me and Mike in serious trouble!"

"You wouldn't have got into that situation if you weren't so goddamn horny!"

Wren gaped at him, feeling a blush ride up her cheeks. A grin spread over Billie Joe's face.

"Ooooooo," he squealed like the typical brother, "Getting a little nasty somewhere? At school? That's fucking twisted."

"We didn't do anything," Wren protested shrilly. "We were doing nothing when you came in and tried to bust us."

"Maybe it was already over," Tré speculated, bugging his eyes out at her. "C'mon, we all know that he has--"

"Stop right there!" Wren ordered.

Billie Joe looked surprised and innocent. "Why? It's nothing that you haven't heard," he smirked, "or seen."

"I'm not exactly comfortable talking about my boyfriend's equipment. I doubt that normal people do stand out in front of their house and talk about it."

"And since when are we normal?" Billie Joe asked.

Tré opened his mouth wide and sucked in a huge breath of air before bellowing, "Heeeeeey everyone! Wren has a boyfriend, and he--"

Wren darted into the house and shut the door, but she could still hear him.

"---has a tiny, itsy-bitsy--"

She ran into the bathroom and turned on the tub. Luckily, that drownt out whatever he was going to say. She waited for a few seconds just in case he was not quite done before shutting off the tap. She then hurried to her room to get a change of clothes. Back in the bathroom again, she took off her watch.

Holy crap! I've only got twenty minutes!