CHATROOM LOVE
Chapter Thirty-Four
November 19, 2001
The plane landed in Edmonton at five
o’clock in the morning. Ruth had to shake Rose and Jack to get them to wake up
and leave the plane.
“No, Mom,” Rose mumbled. “It’s
too early to get up.”
“Rose, you have to be at school
in two and a half hours. I told you what would happen if you went on this
trip.”
“Huh?”
“Rose, you’re still on the plane.
You need to come with me. You can sleep in the car on the way back to the
house.”
“Oh, all right.” Rose sleepily
unbuckled her seatbelt and got up, shaking Jack. “Come on, Jack. We have to get
off the plane.”
Jack opened his eyes and looked
at her sleepily. “Why? Did we crash?”
“No, we didn’t crash. We’re back
in Edmonton.”
“Oh. That’s nice.” He closed his
eyes again.
“Jack, get up!” Rose yanked on
his hand. “If I have to get up, so do you.”
“Huh? Oh. Whatever.” Jack got up
slowly.
“Come on, you two. I don’t think
the people in charge want you camping out in the plane.”
Rose looked around sleepily.
Helga was already stumbling down the aisle and off the plane, while Fabrizio
followed her, looking as bright and cheerful as if it were the middle of the
afternoon.
“How does he do that?” Rose
mumbled, watching him catch up to Helga.
“Do what?” Jack asked. A huge
yawn split his face.
“Nothing. Never mind. I can’t
remember what I was talking about.”
“Oh.” Jack followed Rose off the
plane, holding onto her hand as though he was sure he would get lost without
it.
Ruth helped them collect their
bags, then herded them out to the car. Rose and Jack climbed into the back
seat, where they promptly feel asleep again.
The car ride seemed much too
short. Before they knew it, they were at Jack’s house, and Ruth was shaking him
awake.
“You’re home, Jack. You need to
get your bag and go inside.”
“Man,” Jack whined, sitting up
reluctantly and slowly disentangling himself from the seatbelt. “I don’t
wanna.”
“Come on, Jack. I need to get
Rose home.”
“Rose can stay here.”
“I don’t think so, Jack. Come on.
You just have to go inside.”
Jack groaned, getting out of the
car. “It’s cold out here.” He looked surprised as he stepped into the snow.
“Where’d the snow come from?”
Ruth laughed lightly. “The sky.”
“But it’s only November. It don’t
snow in November.”
“It does here, Jack. Come on,
now. Your aunt and uncle are waiting for you.”
“Okay, okay.” Jack rubbed his eyes
and took his bag. “Good night, Rose.”
Rose slept on, oblivious.
“Oh, never mind.” Digging his
keys out of his pocket, Jack started towards the front door. “Good night, Mrs.
DeWitt-Bukater.”
“Good night, Jack, or, should I
say, good morning.”
Jack just groaned and headed for
the door.
*****
“Mom,” Rose whined, an hour
later. “Why do I have to get up? I’m still tired.”
“We discussed this already, Rose.
You knew that you would have to go to school the day after the concert if you
went.”
“But, Mom…Dawn doesn’t have to go
to school.”
“Dawn is sick. You aren’t.”
“Yes, I am.” Rose closed her eyes
and made a face. “I feel awful.”
“You’ll feel better once you get
to school.”
“Mom…”
“Now, Rose. Get up and get
dressed, or I’ll take you to school just as you are.”
That got Rose out of bed. “You
wouldn’t!”
“Yes, I would, Rose. Your
education is important. Now, go get dressed.”
Rose headed for her closet,
mumbling under her breath about how mean her mother was and how none of her
friends would be at school.
*****
Jack, Rose, Tommy, Helga, and
Fabrizio sat around a table, all of them except Fabrizio looking as though they
were about to fall asleep again.
Rose stared at Fabrizio. “How do
you do that?”
“Do what?”
“How are you so wide-awake?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I just
am.”
“He had three cappuccinos at the
concert last night,” Helga told them, “and more coffee on the way to school.”
“That explains it,” Tommy
mumbled, his eyes half-closed.
“This sucks,” Jack complained. “I
don’t want to be here.”
“Yeah,” Rose added. “My mother
dragged me out of bed less than an hour ago. I told her I was sick, but she
wouldn’t listen. She just said that I’d feel better once I got here.”
“My uncle pulled all the covers off
me and made me get up,” Jack told them. “I was freezing, and there’s snow
outside.”
“That should’ve woke you up,”
Helga responded, leaning her chin on her fists.
“There’s not supposed to be snow
in November. It’s too early.”
“You’re just a California kid,”
Tommy teased him, still sleepy but not sleepy enough to refrain from teasing
Jack. “It never even rains where you’re from.”
“Does so. But it never snows in
Santa Monica.”
“Then how do you know when it’s
supposed to snow?”
“Well, it snows in the mountains.”
“This is Canada,” Rose pointed
out. “Not California.”
“I don’t care where I am. I just
want to go back to sleep.”
The bell rang, signaling that it
was time to go to class. “I hate school,” Jack complained.
“You’ll feel better when you wake
up,” Fabrizio assured him.
“Shut up. And go get me some
coffee.”
*****
Rose yawned widely as she
rummaged through her locker for the books she needed for her homework. She had
already told Mrs. Hulstrom that she wasn’t coming to cheerleading practice that
afternoon—she had blamed it on a headache, which wasn’t far from the truth at
this point.
She couldn’t remember how many
times she’d fallen asleep in class, especially in math, which she thought was
particularly boring. She had slept very peacefully in that class until one of
her classmates had thrown an eraser at her, waking her up and leaving her in a
sour mood.
Rose frowned as a folded piece of
paper tumbled from the locker and fell to the floor. Picking it up, she
unfolded it and read the message.
My love,
I know about your trip to Las
Vegas to see that concert. I hope you enjoyed yourself, because you won’t be
going again. I saw you and your boyfriend kissing on TV, and I want you to know
that the sight angered me. You and I are meant to be together, and we will be—one
way or another.
I am watching you, Rose.
Like the other times, the note
wasn’t signed. Rose turned it over and over, trying to find any indication as
to who had sent it. She was sure that it was Cal, but she had no proof. If she
could only find proof—she could make sure that he stayed away from her.
But there was nothing on the note
to indicate who it had come from, and she had no way of knowing when it had
been left, or who had left it. People would have noticed if Cal had been on
campus, since he wasn’t a student and was a prominent businessman.
“Rose?”
Rose jumped, whirling around as
Jack came up behind her. “Jack! You scared me!”
“What’s wrong?”
“I got another one of those
stupid notes. Jack, I know it’s Cal, but I don’t have proof, and the police
won’t listen to me.”
Jack took the note and read it,
his eyes narrowing. “He’d better stay away from you.”
“I hope he does, but this note…it
scares me. He says that we’ll be together one way or another.”
“Listen, Rose. I think you should
avoid being by yourself. If he is stalking you, he might be waiting for an
opportunity to get to you. Don’t even stay home alone. If your mom isn’t there,
and neither are any of your servants, go to one of our houses. Okay? I don’t
like this. This note sounds real threatening.”
“I know.” Rose rubbed her eyes.
“Jack, I’m so tired…and I’m tired of this. Why won’t he just leave me alone?!”
“I don’t know, Rose.” Jack put an
arm around her as they began to walk away from the locker. “But I’ll do
everything I can to keep him from hurting you.”
“Thanks, Jack.” Rose leaned
against him. A thought suddenly occurred to her. “Jack, lots of times when I’ve
gotten these notes, there’s been an obscene e-mail, too. Let’s stop by the
library and see if there is one this time.”
“Okay.” Jack took her hand in his
as he walked beside her. “But let’s make it quick. I’m ready to fall asleep on
my feet.”
*****
Rose stood beside Jack in
McDonald’s, looking around nervously. There had indeed been an obscene e-mail,
once again from a free address that had been deleted after the e-mail had been
sent. It had said the same thing as the note, with one added line.
Dawson doesn’t deserve you.
Whoever it was, they had
definitely been watching her and knew what she was doing. And if it was
Cal…Rose shuddered. She didn’t want him anywhere near her, and she didn’t want
his obscene notes, either.
“Rose? Are you okay?”
Rose looked up at Jack, who was
waiting patiently for their order so that they could leave. By the time they
had been finished with the library, they had both found themselves to be even
more hungry than they were tired—hence the trip to McDonald’s.
“I—I’m fine. I’m just thinking
about that note and that e-mail.”
Jack nodded. “This is scary,
Rose. Whoever it is really has been watching you.”
“I know. And they—oh, my God!”
“What?” Jack looked in the
direction she was staring, to see Cal sitting at a table, watching them
quietly. “What is he doing here?”
“Waiting for his order,
apparently.” Rose stopped. “He wasn’t ahead of us when we were ordering, and
we’ve been watching the counter while we were waiting ever since.”
Jack ducked his head, turning
Rose around so that Cal couldn’t see their faces. “Do you think he’s following
you?”
Rose nodded, her face paling. “He
must be. Why would he be sitting there like that if he wasn’t? He doesn’t have
any food, and he hasn’t been in line…”
“Maybe he’s waiting for someone
else.”
“Why would someone like him be
meeting someone in McDonald’s? I know Cal, and he prefers the country club and
expensive restaurants. Why is he here, if not to keep an eye on me?”
Jack put an arm around her. She
was shaking with fright.
“I don’t know, Rose. Let’s just
get our food and get out of here.”
At that moment, their order
number was called, and they hurried up to get it. Not looking back, they headed
for the door, trying not to make it look as though they were hurrying.
When they got outside, Jack
turned to Rose. “Rose, you need to tell your mother about this.”
“Jack, I’ve already showed her
the notes and e-mails, and told her about the hang-up calls. She’s talked to
the police, but they won’t do anything, and Cal always has an alibi. It won’t
do anything but worry her.”
“But how much more would it worry
her if something was going on and you didn’t tell her? How would she feel if something
happened to you and you had given her no sign that you were still getting these
notes and e-mails?”
“Jack!”
“It’s true, Rose. What if
something happened?”
Rose took a deep breath. “All
right. I’ll tell her. But if Cal doesn’t leave me alone, I’ll…I’ll…I don’t know
what I can do. I can’t even prove it’s him!”
“Rose, come on. Let’s get you
home.”
Rose nodded miserably, walking
back to the campus with Jack to catch the late bus. As they passed the window
Cal had been sitting by, she looked up.
Cal was gone.