Gregory Girls Gone Wild - Chapter 39: Chapter 39

Rainey barely found time for herself the next several weeks. Between having a girlfriend, studying for her increasingly harder exams, and working two jobs, she was beginning to feel like a hangman's thinly stretched rope. There was little opportunity to use the mic Detective Nguyen had given her, as there were no new notes or signs of Mickey or Sam anywhere. Even Loralie wasn't picking up her phone calls.
Frustrated, Rainey gave up for the time being. Like Detective Nguyen said, she didn't want to go looking for trouble. Trouble hounded her, after all, like it had all year. She just needed to wait.
"Did you hear that Danika is acting in Fiona's new play?" she asked her sister, Mariah. They were spring cleaning one Saturday morning—Rainey in charge of floors and Mariah the cupboards and bathrooms.
"What's wrong with that?" Mariah said, wiping the sweat off her forehead.
"It's just weird."
"Maybe you're overthinking it," Mariah frowned.
"I am," Rainey said, placing a wet wipe on the Swiffer. "What if they talk about me or something? What if Fiona tells Danika about, like, our sex life?"
"Why would she do that?"
"I don't know!" Rainey threw her hands up, frustrated. "That's the point! They could be talking about anything during rehearsals."
"Why does it bother you so much?" Mariah said, hands on her hips. "You don't have feelings for Danika anymore, right?"
"No I don't," Rainey scrubbed the floors furiously. "But imagine if Nakir and your ex-boyfriend, Dan, from high school started hanging out. Wouldn't that drive you nuts?"
"Nakir hanging out with anyone these days would be shocking," Mariah said, sounding annoyed.
"Oh." Rainey blinked. "Are you two not—I mean, is everything okay?"
She felt uncomfortable broaching the topic of her and Nakir. After all, Nakir was their oldest friend in college, and they hadn't really discussed their relationship or what it meant to their friend group.
"This is going to sound really stupid." Mariah blew her hair away from her face, exasperated. "I know it sounds stupid. But lately it seems like Nakir's been avoiding me. He doesn't want to hang out or sleep over. It's like he's always busy."
"Well, classes are stressful this semester," Rainey said, uncomfortable.
"Yeah I understand—to a certain point. But I feel like he's distancing himself from me. He's acting so strange. What if he wants to break up?"
"Don't worry too much." Rainey reassured her. "Nakir is crazy about you. He'd never want to break up. Besides, he's not the only one acting strange. Even Danika is being weird. Must be something in the air."
"Weird? Because of the play?"
"No, just in general," Rainey frowned.
"I saw her last week in the communications building," Mariah replied. "She stopped to say 'hi' and then we got to chatting. It was about ten minutes before I realized I was late to class. She seemed fine to me."
"Hm," Rainey said thoughtfully. Perhaps she had been over analyzing Danika's behavior.
Another thought came to her. "Have you talked to Mom lately?"
"Who cares?" Mariah made a face. "We're better off without her."
"Yeah, but it's been months," Rainey said, worried. "You don't think something's happened to her, do you?"
Mariah shrugged. Rainey dropped the subject, feeling like Mariah was hostile about the whole issue. She would check on her mother soon enough, and see whether there was something wrong.
****
At work the following Monday, Rainey found herself alone with Ethan. Danika had asked for the day off, because she was preparing for an interview for her internship, and so it was just the two of them, like old times.
"Do you want to know what I did last night?" Ethan bragged, in the truck.
"No."
"I climbed the Gregory Tower to the thirteenth floor."
"Are you serious?" Rainey whipped her head around. "Why?"
"I was drunk," Ethan said proudly. "Boys night."
Rainey fell silent. She believed that Ethan was an idiot to the highest degree, on a scale equivalent to the purity of meth.
"It was scary," Ethan said, maneuvering the wheel.
"Yeah, you're not scared of heights, are you?" Rainey asked.
"Terrified of 'em. My boys called me a pussy though. I couldn't let that slide."
"Obviously." Rainey shook her head. "Your boys sound like jerks. Are they Phoenix King members by any chance?"
"Yeah," Ethan said, surprised. "How'd you know?"
"Just a guess."
Ethan paused, as if remembering a memory. "They were the ones that took me to my first Phoenix Kings meeting."
"Your boys?"
"My boys," Ethan said, getting out of the truck.
Rainey frowned. "Did they try to kill you too?"
"No," Ethan scoffed. "I've known them since pre-school. Tucker, Ghee, and Ross."
Despite herself, Rainey's interest prickled. She had never heard Ethan's reason for joining the Phoenix Kings.
"So what happened?" Rainey asked.
Ethan raised an eyebrow. "Hm—well it was a long time ago. I think they joined our freshman year. They stopped talking to me, I remember. We had always been together but when they joined they turned into these mean kind of guys...Tucker wouldn't even go home for the holidays. His mother had been heartbroken. I mean, we hadn't always been the nicest boys, but we never hurt our mothers, you know? And Ghee was into martial arts all of a sudden; he'd come back to the dorm all bloody. Ross, well, I never knew what Ross did. Still don't, honestly. I waited until the next year to sign up...we became friends again, like old times...best decision of my life..."
Ethan trailed off, reminiscing. Seeing an opportunity, Rainey circumspectly turned on the mic the detective had given her. On days when she worked with Ethan, she had taken to pinning the mic underneath her shirt.
"So they only talked to you again when you became a member of the Phoenix Kings?" Rainey prompted. "Are they really your friends then?"
Ethan scowled. "Of course they're my friends. It's just hard to fraternize with non-Phoenix Kings members. Once you've taken the pill, you feel sorry for the suckers who haven't. I understood that once I joined. Don't you feel the same way, Rainey? Like you can't be comfortable around normal people?"
"No," Rainey said, shying away from the topic. "I have great friends and a normal girlfriend."
"Do you tell your girlfriend everything?"
"Tell me about the camping trip at the Forest of Glass Trees," Rainey changed the subject.
"Why?" Ethan asked suspiciously.
"Uh—I'm curious," Rainey lied. "I still feel like I don't know anything about the Phoenix Kings."
Ethan appraised her. "Huh. Don't tell me you're finally accepting your role as a member? Good on you. Don't forget who put you on first though. Reliable old Ethan."
"Right." Rainey gritted her teeth. "Can you tell me something about the camping trip? Like what exactly the Forest of Glass Trees is?"
They carried the boxes into the Science and Technology building together, so that they could continue talking.
"It's basically a weekend for the pledges to get to know their small groups," Ethan explained.
"So I'm in a small group," Rainey said, thinking out loud. "Whose? Yours?"
"No, you're with Stella, I think," Ethan said sourly. "Have fun with her."
"So she's the one leaving the notes at my door?"
"No, that's me," Ethan grinned. "You like my little surprises?"
Rainey dropped the box she was carrying, exasperated. "Why can't you just give me the letters normally? Why use code?"
"That's just the way it is," Ethan shrugged. "We don't want any outsiders deciphering our plans."
"Why so secretive? What's going to happen?"
Ethan leaned in conspiringly. "Do you really want to know?"
"Yes."
Ethan grinned maniacally. "We're going to burn down the Forest of Glass Trees."
Rainey was stunned. "You guys are crazy."
"I know what you're thinking—"
"Evil, to burn down a forest—"
"It's not really a forest," Ethan interrupted. "The Forest of Glass Trees is an art exhibit. The Dean hired some big shot artist to convert a wild part of the forest into some kind of art show made out of glasses and mirror. It's supposed to reflect the duality of nature, or man, or some shit."
"So why destroy it?" Rainey frowned.
"Because the Dean isn't listening to our demands. He's wasting the budget on arts and crafts instead of fixing the water supply. He also refuses to recognize the Phoenix Kings as an actual group. He's taken a lot of actions to delegitimize us."
"How?"
"Uh—well, I'm only a small group member," Ethan admitted, rubbing his chin. "But basically, shutting down the frat house that Phoenix Kings developed from, Delta Delta Delta. And lying to the police about Sam Stabbings, like saying he's a dangerous criminal and stuff. It's a good thing Sam has connections to the police department or else he'd be screwed."
"Interesting," Rainey said casually, feeling her heart race. She was getting some crazy information for Detective Nguyen. "So how are you going to burn down the art exhibit?"
"Wouldn't you like to know, dummy?" Ethan said meanly, shutting the truck door. "I've already told Stella not to trust your goody-goody ass too much. She's gonna keep an eye out for you. Not that I trust Stella much myself, but I definitely don't trust your Phoenix Kings fangirling all of a sudden."
"That's fine," Rainey said. "I don't trust you either."
"But you're smart, Dumar," Ethan said. "You're like me. We come from small families, poor backgrounds. We don't trust cops or people in power. So I know you're no snitch or anything. You deal with stuff face to face."
Rainey hoped that her face betrayed no emotion.
"I hope you're not telling Danika any of this stuff." Ethan said, sounding serious. "Because she looks kind of depressed these days. Careful, you know, there's a reason we don't tell pretty girls too much of this business. They can feel overwhelmed."
"You think she looks depressed too?" Rainey asked, stunned. She turned off the mic, feeling like Detective Nguyen's ears had more than its fill of information. "She's been looking down since the beginning of the semester. I thought I was the only one that noticed."
"I slept with her once, so I'm kind of attuned to these things," Ethan said, grinning.
"Shut the hell up." Rainey's fist tightened. She was disgusted. "Danika wouldn't go near your smelly ass again."
"She's not interested in you either," Ethan scoffed. "Trust me, I asked her."
"I don't care."
"Poor Rainey...little straight girl doesn't like her, does she?"
"Watch your back, Ethan," Rainey said coldly.
"Oh, geez, I'm so scared."
Rainey didn't answer. They finished the rest of the stations in silence, Ethan looking quite smug with his cheap shot. Rainey reminded herself furiously, almost comfortingly, that she was going to send Ethan to jail one way or another.
And she had almost felt bad for him, for having such a shitty friend group. She imagined freshman year Ethan, a perverted moron probably, but also a naive eighteen year old, who found himself deserted by his oldest friends. It must have been lonely, she conceded.
It was hard to feel sorry for him after the last station. With no heed, he drove away in the truck, accidently leaving her behind to shout and run after him. No, she thought angrily as he turned a corner, he didn't deserve too much sympathy. She stopped running, bending over to catch her breath. She pulled out the microphone device from under her shirt, and hoped that Detective Nguyen had enough information to get out of her life for good.