Chapter 17

          Chapter Seventeen

First hour of the Friday school day was over and Kate was happy the weekend was that much closer. She stood in the hallway waiting for Gavin to walk her to second hour, his History class being across the hall from her Math class was one of the perks of her day. She saw him down the hall and waved her greeting, the smile slipping from her face when she saw him. He grimly nodded to a couple of friends as he walked toward her, a disturbing look on his face. Kate felt her stomach tie itself into a knot sensing he had bad news. After the last few days with her dad and mom, she didn't think she could stand to hear anymore poor tidings. But he kept walking towards her, she hoped that soon he would flash that beautiful smile at her, but he didn't. Part of her wanted to turn around and run away from whatever it was he had to say, the other knew she had to face whatever it was head on.

“Have you seen Kenzie?” he asked.

“Not yet, but she is in my Math class. Why, what's going on?” she asked.

“She wasn't in our Psych class, but I saw her come into the school with her parents just now. It looks like they were going to the main office.” He paused looking over her shoulder. She turned to watch Boyd and Mairi approaching, both wearing the same grim face as Gavin. “You saw her?” He asked them.

“What the hell happened to her?” Mairi asked. “She looks like she was hit by a truck.”

Vika and Duncan joined the group. “What are we talking about then?” Duncan asked, then saw the look on Boyd and Gavin's face. “Hold on a moment, what's happened?”

“That's the problem, we don't know what's happened.” Boyd said, his face turning red. He turned and punched the locker next to him. Gavin took him by the shoulder and started speaking to him in a low voice the rest of the group could not hear. Mairi took up the story.

“It's Kenzie, she looks as if she has been in a fight. Her face is bruised and one of her eyes has a cut or something under it, can't really tell because there is a bandage on it. And her right arm is in a sling.” The knot in Kate's stomach began to tighten. After she had announced the cancellation of the defense meeting, she thought for sure she would be hearing from Kenzie. Even though she had been busy with her grandmother, at least she would have received a phone call or a message from her bemoaning the fact she wouldn't be seeing Boyd after school on Friday. She hadn't worried about it at the time, thinking Kenzie had some other homework or family obligations to tend to. She kicked herself for not picking up the phone to touch base with her friend. Gavin and Boyd returned to the group. Gavin picked up on her worried look and took her hand in his. The second bell rang and the dismal group reluctantly broke apart and drifted into their class rooms.

Kenzie was not in Math or at lunch and no one had seen her or heard from her the rest of the school day, but that did not stop the rumors from flying around the halls of the school.

'Kenzie had been attacked on her way home from the store.'

'Kenzie had fallen down her stairs at home.'

'Kenzie had picked a fight with a girl at a restaurant.'  And Kate's least favorite,      'Kenzie was attacked by a large dog.'

Kate tried to concentrate on Kenzie to see if she could somehow call up an image of what had happened to her, but every time she did, the image of Mr. Corkin with his bloody hands popped into her head. Shaking off the image and the feelings it created, she plodded through her day trying to avoid the speculations of the other students. Their imaginations had grown more ridiculous throughout the day, as if what happened to Kenzie was some sort of freakish game. By the end of the day, she was upset and deeply disturbed by her fellow classmates. Gavin found her at her locker and she eyed the same grim look on his face as before.

“Have you heard anything definitive?” she asked.

“Not a bloody thing.” He took her pack and her hand and guided her toward the front door. “People can be so ignorant and cruel, I can't wait to get out of here. I know that each person handles things in their own way, but some of the stories flying around here just made me sick.”

They exited the building and headed up the street to the usual haunt. Mairi and Frazier, Duncan and Vika, Tavey, Lanie and Boyd were all on the street ahead of them. A backwards glance from Vika and a short word had halted their progress for a moment as Kate and Gavin caught up to them.

A somber and beleaguered group entered the restaurant, ordered their food and found a table. They sat in silence, each one deep within their own thoughts. The absence of information about Kenzie was maddening. No one was really hungry, but the food gave them something to keep their hands busy as they pushed it around on their plates. Every now and again someone would sigh or make a motion as if they were going to stand or say something, but then they would settle themselves and the silence ensued.

Kate heard the scraping of a chair and a body sat down next to her. She ignored it and continued to push her food around on her plate. A hand reached over and took a chip from her plate. She continued to stare at her food, not really seeing. It wasn't until the third or fourth time the hand invaded her space that she forced herself to look up at the culprit. Kenzie was sitting next to her, gingerly chewing her chips around a swollen lip.

“Kenzie!” Kate gasped. Everyone looked up in shock. Then, as one, the questions filled the air.

“What the hell happened to you?” “Were you attacked?” “Did you really fall down the stairs?” “Was it an alien abduction?”  The last coming from Duncan and they all turned to stare at him. “What?” he said obviously relieved, as they all were, to see Kenzie in their midst.

Kenzie stared at them all for a moment. Then she reached for another chip off Kate's plate. As she did Kate noticed the scrapes on her knuckles. She gingerly took her hand.

“How did that happen?” Kate asked. It seemed the simplest way to start what obviously was going to be an emotional story. Kenzie swallowed her chip and took a deep breath.

“First off, I am all right, no lasting damage has been done.” Deep breath, “Second, I was attacked last night while I was walking back from the store.” A barrage of questions filled the air. Kenzie waited for a moment looking at all their faces. Not able to look any of them in the eye she finally focused on Kate. “It was stupid of me, but I had to run to the store for me mum and I took a short cut up one of the sketchier closes. I knew I shouldn't have done it and I was half way up, when I realized I made a horribly bad choice. A bloke came out of nowhere and grabbed me. I did that thing you taught us.”  She pointed to Kate. “And quick as a wink he went down, but even faster he got back up and hit me and I fell. He started going through me things looking for, I guess money. I started to get up, but he hit me again and again.” Her breath became ragged and she seemed on the edge of tears. Kate took her other hand to calm her. Kenzie focused only on their hands. “I guess I started swearing and kicking him but there was just so much of him. Then someone pulled him off of me and I heard a growling like a bear or somewhat and it sounded like someone was beating the daylights out of him. Then Mr. Corkin was there kneeling down next to me. His hands were all bloody and I could hear the shouts of the Police running down the close. He stayed with me until the ambulance came and then he was there at the hospital. He said he saw me head up the close and had a nagging feeling he should follow me. He heard me swearing and that's how he found me. He saved me and they caught the guy.” She looked up at the group, shocked into silence by her story. Vika and Lanie had tears in their eyes. “Oh come on, I don't look that bad do I?” Kate took in her black eye, swollen lip and the cut on her cheek. She saw her friend putting on a brave face for her mates. She knew from experience that even with protective gear on, she herself had received brutal bruises from competitions. She also knew there was bound to be some injuries they could not see and others only Kenzie would know of.

“No, you don't look bad at all,” she smiled. “In fact, I have seen worse.” Kenzie tried to smile back but it was too difficult, so she opted for a high five. This brought a sigh of relief from the group and quietly they began to ask her questions of her ordeal.

“I thought Mr. Corkin was out of town?” Duncan asked. “I heard he was going to a funeral.”

“A wedding, not a funeral,” Kenzie gingerly laughed holding her ribs. It was good to hear her laugh.

“Same thing,” he said.

“No, Mr. Corkin was going over to Glasgow. He is getting married this weekend.” She said, which started a whole new round of exclamations and questions.

“Our Mr. Corking is getting married?” Tavey said disappointment tinged his words. “I thought he was smarter than that. I always looked up to him, the bachelor I was modeling me life after.”

“Remember him telling us about Mr. Dougall's sister?” Kenzie asked. They all nodded. “She is his fiancée.” She waited for this to sink in. “After she was attacked, Mr. Dougall asked him to teach her some defense techniques, and one thing led to another, and now they are getting married.”

“Wait a minute, if he is getting married to Mr. Dougall's sister, then why isn't Mr. Dougall there? He was still at school this morning, you would think he would be in the wedding party or something.” Mairi asked.

“He left right after second hour today,” Vika said. “I saw him leave. He had a tote and a suit bag with him.”  

“That makes sense, since the wedding isn't until tomorrow. I guess Mr. Corkin was needed earlier?” Kenzie offered.

“More likely, Miss Dougall requested his presence earlier.” Tavey said using his best bedroom eyes. Frazier elbowed him. “What? I just meant that.” They never did find out what he meant because Frazier elbowed him again. A laugh sounded around the table and Kate knew that Kenzie was glad to be here with her mates, safe and sound and not the center of attention.

Quietly, she leaned over to Kenzie and asked, “You feeling up to coming tomorrow?”

“I wouldn't miss it for the world,” she said. “Might have to take it a bit slow, but I will definitely be there.”

They sat around the table quietly talking about her attack. Kenzie had more details about the ambulance ride and the hospital, but they all respected her enough to not push her for information about the actual attack. Mr. Corkin, on the other hand, became fair game. Any and all questions put to Kenzie about him and his upcoming nuptials were answered to the best of her ability, and what she didn't know, Tavey and Frazier made up.

In their version of reality, the wedding would be on a cliff somewhere in the highlands. The bride in a mini skirt, along with the bridesmaids, the wind would be blowing just so their skits would fluff enough to be tantalizing, but not reveal anything. At the end of the ceremony Mr. and Mrs. Corkin would jump off the cliff deploying parachutes ala James Bond.

Sometime during Frazier and Tavey's wedding narrative, a chair appeared next to Kenzie and Boyd insinuated himself beside her, taking her hand out of Kate's and claiming it for his own. Hands and heads together, Kate caught a glimpse of the feelings Boyd had for her. She was ashamed of herself for thinking Mr. Corkin was a bad man, he was a hero. Kenzie had been the girl in her visions and Mr. Corkin had saved her. The disjointed pictures and unfinished mini movies were not enough to give a true meaning to what they showed. Her jumping to conclusions were as bad as some of the wild stories the students at school had concocted about Kenzie. She vowed never to assume she knew what the visions meant until she had more information.