Mean Girls of Maplewood Ch. 23

"Hey, it's kind of tough right now, but we're family and the fucking girl that put Chelsea in here is probably dead; maybe you could let it go, for the family prima?"

She took a big bite out of the pastry considering his words.

"I'm scared."

"Don't worry, I got you prima and Mike too; just trust in the family and keep the peace for your sister. We're gonna be hanging around, at least I will because Mike's going off to state at the end of the summer. You gotta be strong for Chelsea; I mean, she already woke up so how bad could it be?" He tried to sound positive.

"I wish I were there when she went to fight that bitch; we could've taken her. I knew what she was going to do, but I didn't say anything Carlos. It's my fault she's laid up in this fucking hospital!!" Antoinette hunched over beginning to lose it.

"No, don't talk like that."

"But it's true, I just wanted her to get Red for what she did to our friend Patty. I wanted that pale freak to get what she deserved so I didn't say anything when Chelsea went after her. She left me behind to watch over Patty, but I should've said fuck that. Now, she's messed up because I let her down."

"You might've ended up in the hospital too." It was a Freudian slip of the tongue, but too late to retract as Antoinette punched him in the bicep. Her phone started chiming with a message from a classmate. It was a message with a video clip attached.

"You're such a drama queen Hum-Bert." Leslie voice emanated from her phone almost drowned out by her victim's screaming. Her eyes went wide as Carlos leaned over getting a shock.

He snatched her phone turning away in his seat only to find an elderly woman one seat over giving him a dirty look. He nodded with an embarrassed grin turning down the sound as Antoinette slapped the back of his neck, snatching her phone back. She immediately recognized one of the former co-queens of Maplewood High. Leslie Anne Kennedy was known about the school to be an ice queen. The sight of her viciously pegging the stuffing out of a screaming peer was horrifically intoxicating as Carlos snatched the phone, pocketing it.

"WHO'S SENDING YOU NASTY MOVIES, EH PRIMA?!!"

"HOW THE FUCK SHOULD I KNOW?!! Oh shit, man Carlos, that was uh...uhm, oh shit!"

"What?" Before Antoinette could answer, a few relatives appeared from the elevator walking in their direction. She quickly shushed her cousin as his brother Mike approached.

"Hey, you can go up now, Chelsea wants to see you."

"Uhm, yeah." Antoinette replied with a half hiccup.

"What's going on?" Mike picked up on the nervous energy between his cousin and brother instantly. Antoinette pushed past him without reply hurrying to the elevator just as a few people were entering. She barely made it catching the sliding doors long enough to slip inside.

"Don't worry, it'll be worth the wait hermano; Antoinette needs to talk with Chelsea stat. How's she doing anyway?"

"The doctors got her doing a shitload of tests, something about seeing if she'll need extended rehab. Everybody's worried she might have brain damage from the beating." The emotion in his voice was palpable enough that Carlos felt like he was choking on it averting his eyes towards the elevators that led up to his cousin's hospital room.

"Man, I hope she ain't crippled from this." He admitted.

"We still family no matter what, and the folks suing the shit out of that fucking sheriff." Mike offered.

"Can't enjoy a million bucks from a wheelchair."

" ¡No hables así! Mantente positivo Carlos. " Mike gave his troubled brother a reassuring pat on the back as some paramedics arrived wheeling a patient towards the ER at the other side of the floor. Both brothers watched, each thinking of their waylaid cousin currently facing an unknown future.

"Easy for us to say right? You know that bitch who put our cousin in here, died last night and now we can't even get payback with her crappy dad being a cop and all." Mike flashed angry, brow furrowing as he edged closer to his brother.

"Ain't no fucking badge gonna stop me from pushing that redneck's shit in Carlos." Mike nodded his acquiescence as both watched doctors and a few nurses taking care of the new patient at the edge of the hospital lobby.

Antoinette stepped out onto her sister's floor feeling anxious still reeling from her encounter with April. Three rooms down she watched a couple of nurses going about their rounds as another walked out of her sister's room pushing a nurse's cart. She hesitated afraid of what she would find inside but steeled herself inching closer as the sounds of a wall mounted television filled her ears. Her cheeks puffed up a bit as she edged into the door frame staring at her bedridden sister.

"Come in here." Chelsea was sitting upright, pillows propped up behind her back as Antoinette meekly stepped into the room.

"Uhm, how're you doing?"

Both of Chelsea's eyes were swollen and bruised surrounded by dark circles. Nose covered with a bandage, but miraculously not broken while her lips displayed visible cuts. A dark blemish adorned her cheek on the right side of her face.

"Not so good; kind of shitty actually and I've got a headache that won't seem to go away."

The room was quiet for a minute as Antoinette averted her eyes looking up at the television noticing the morning news cast. Some reporter was standing in front of Maplewood High. Chelsea shifted a bit grabbing the remote turning down the television. Antoinette noticed her bruised knuckles and broken nails before her eyes drifted up finding a deep visible bite mark peeking out from Chelsea's hospital gown. It was on her shoulder blade.

Red had lost it becoming completely feral in those moments her opponent was unable to defend herself. Antoinette leaned in looking under the gown at her neck examining the bite before Chelsea brushed away her hand covering up with a blanket. Try as she might, the sixteen year old felt her face dropping while her eyes began to water tears running down her cheeks. Chelsea reached up wiping some of them away as her little sister bent over burying her face in the bedding.

"So, is it true what the news is saying about Red?" Chelsea asked unwilling to address her sister's crying. Both of the girls had been raised to tighten up when adversity reared its ugly head. Antoinette looked up at her older sister's battered features.

"I'M GLAD SHE'S DEAD; I HOPE SHE'S BURNING IN HELL RIGHT NOW!!" Chelsea rubbed her sister's back trying to calm her nerves.

"Uh, guess I ain't getting no rematch when I get out of here, huh?" She half chuckled trying to look strong for Antoinette.

The younger sibling looked up to her sister knowing that she was putting on a brave front for her benefit. Both girls chuckled together for a few seconds which was interrupted by Chelsea coughing profusely. Antoinette patted her on the back getting some paper towels for her sister who hocked up a deluge of phlegm and darkened blood. Chelsea quickly wrapped up the paper towel in a futile attempt to hide its contents from her sister. She tossed it into a bedside wastebasket before taking Antoinette's hand.

"I should've went with you; we could've beat that bitch up together."

"You're not supposed to be fighting; you know that hermana." Antoinette bristled slightly at Chelsea's nurturing hypocrisy.

"I don't care, it's my fault you're in this bed."

"No, its that dead psycho's fault I'm laid up in the hospital Antoinette."

"I don't give a shit Chel; I'm never gonna let this happen to you ever again. I'll never let you down again, I swear to God on a stack of fucking bibles."

"If mom hears you saying that she's gonna lay the belt across that ass." Chelsea's attempt at humor was disrupted by more coughing as Antoinette filled a cup full of ice water for her sister.

"So what, I mean it."

"I'll whip your butt too if I catch you fighting." Antoinette averted her eyes recalling her dust up with April and her subsequent defeat. The insanity fueled misanthrope threatened to put her in a bed beside her sister giving away the fact that she knew of Chelsea in some capacity.

"Whatever." She replied ruefully.

Antoinette took a seat beside the bed, the sisters looking up at the television staring at the muted news cast. Some cheesy looking guy was reporting the weather, but both girls were looking beyond the television at two different things.

"Hey?" Chelsea spoke after a while.

"What?"

"Did Brad come see me; while I was out?" Antoinette folded her arms tight across her chest biting into her lower lip at the thought of answering the question.

"Fuck no, that asshole didn't come see you." She almost cut her older sister off before she finished asking the question noticing the change on Chelsea's battered face. Neither one of them could know that Brad Tucker had visited the hospital only to be intercepted by their friend Patty in front of the building.

"Uh, guess he was busy." Antoinette's heart fractured knowing Chelsea still carried a blazing torch in her heart for the traumatized jock.

"I think he might visit you real soon."

"Yeah?" Chelsea perked up at her sister's suggestion.

"I'm sure of it Chel; I mean, there were a lot of people here and you know how dad is about guys messing around looking for you. Dad might've run him off or something, but I'm real sure he might visit you."

"Thanks Antoinette." It was unclear whether Chelsea believed her little sister as both sat watching television. Antoinette snatched the remote from her sister's hands.

"Let's watch some cartoons; I wanna laugh."

************

"Mooney, somebody got it in for us something fierce."

"What're you talking about?"

"Just all this shit that's been going down at the local high school; feels like somebody's got it in for us and all. I mean look at all the shit we been shoveling lately while the Sheriff been laying up on his ass."

"Well he's got his hands full with a blown up daughter; in case you hadn't noticed." Deputy Mooney stated the obvious as the partners drove to the small one story station at the far end of town.

"I know you're disappointed to all hell about that, huh Mooney?"

"Fuck Jimmy, why'd you have to bring that shit up? Remember one time I got that ginger cunt in the back of my car after catching her pounding the snot out of some eight grade kid on account of a spilled drink in her lap down at Happy's? Beating the shit out of a fourteen year old kid and all the while he's like, apologizing for his own ass whipping."

"Yeah, I recall; how come you didn't get shit canned for tossing her in the lockup?"

"I don't know, maybe Sheriff Reed was okay with it on the down low; but his little princess did her darndest to get me fired. I figured tossing her in the lockup would straighten her out like those scared straight tv shows on the cable."

"Poor Ethel Mae; she didn't know what hit her." The deputies chuckled at the memory.

"Yeah, we had her in for public intoxication and Red figured me out right away. She must have thought Ethel was a plant or something because she started whupping her ass all over the cell soon as I slammed the door. Sheriff Reed never should've let his girl take all of them fucking karate classes and shit."

"Well, at least Ethel Mae got all those tickets tossed in the shredder and it only cost her a smooshed nose and cowboy boot in the cooter."

Both men laughed at the memory.

"What the fuck you think was wrong with that girl, anyway?"

"Fuck if I know."

"I think she just needed a damn good fuck." Deputy Jimmy breezily commented in a way that made his partner, a father of five uncomfortable.

"Cool it."

"Hell, she was legal, when she was alive. Now that friend of hers, the other cheerleader girl, that's a future trophy wife if ever I saw one. Man, I'd almost be willing to let her take my poop shoot in fair trade, Mooney." He was referring to the revenge porn currently circulating around town.

Parties unknown managed to hit a large number of social media accounts including YouTube and Facebook as well as various students around Maplewood High. There was no telling where else the clip was popping up even as they drove into work with a full plate. Of course he was aware of Leslie Kennedy, herself a classmate of his second oldest.

His own daughter had been rejected from cheerleader tryouts but maintained a sort of tacit hero worship of the squad which was akin to campus royalty. His child would never know how happy he was that she'd been rejected. That same daughter Karen had come to him in the early morning hours presenting the sex clip anonymously texted to her phone.

"I wanna check in with the guys; then I guess we'll go talk to that guy's parents."

"We know who that kid is; I mean, maybe it was kind of consensual, or something?" Deputy Jimmy asked.

"Didn't look consensual to me, but you know we gotta have our ducks in a row before we pick Leslie up. She's uh, one of them trust fund babies."

"Oh yeah, that's her name, right?"

"Hey not trying to pry or nothing; but, what's your deal? I'm getting the impression you're in need or something; what Treena not putting out anymore?"

"More like somebody stuck a pin in the fucking balloon; we been clashing on account of she's so lazy and all. Don't do nothing around the house, clean the dishes or take out the trash; just stays on that fucking video game thing playing Call of goddamn duty! Barely even puts on a bit of makeup, answer me one word when I talk to her and shit! Ever time I talk about the crapload in the house, she asks if I want a blowjob. When we do it, most of the time she just lays there like a piece of meat...and she ain't got no FUCKING TITS!!"

"Geez Jimmy, got yourself a list there, huh?" Both deputies chuckled for a while.

"Yeah well, everybody can't be as lucky as you."

"Says the guy twice married and shacking up with a girl young enough to be his daughter." Mooney countered playfully.

"Ain't shacking up with her; Treena just never left."

"I miss that second wife of yours, Amihan; what ever happened to that Filipina gal?"

"Fucked up and let her go to that there community college. Got her nursing degree and hit the road while I was at work. You know, she even left a note said, "I GO NOW, FRUK U" Mooney; that one has a special place in my heart."

"I bet."

"She was definitely a better lay than Treena, better tits too." The modest sheriff's station came into view as the men talked and laughed. The work environment around the station was significantly better sans the presence of Sheriff Reed.

The interior of the small sheriff's station was moderately busy as the deputies entered. Deputy Mooney took stock of the environment glancing around until his vision settled on Deputy Linda working dispatch covering for a civilian employee on break. The stern yet attractive blonde glanced back with a slight wave, scowling out of nowhere as Mooney glanced over finding his partner grinning like a jackal at her.

Mooney nudged him with an elbow prodding Jimmy to keep it moving to his desk. He recalled Linda's brief partnership with Jimmy when she was a rookie officer and their brief three day fling that ended when she discovered his unmentioned "housewife" Treena reclining in the self-made lothario's living room. She'd come over to pick him up for work only to find Treena gaming in nothing but a pair of panties while he was out cold on the couch, stone drunk. The affected deputy didn't bother waking him up continuing on her way to work the shift alone for the first time.

Later she had to stop herself from drawing her weapon on him when he goosed her at the local Tastee-Freez restaurant. Deputy Jimmy rolled right through the situation without copping to anything even after she informed him of the Treena sighting. She was no match for the older officer who finessed her into one more hookup by denying everything until she went through his phone finding nudes of his aforementioned housemate.

Deputy Jimmy was soundly clocked in full view of everyone including Sheriff Reed who promptly suspended the rookie officer. The Sheriff only relented from an intended firing of the thirtysomething blonde when several deputies came forward on her behalf including the only other female in the office who'd also run afoul of Deputy Jimmy.

After that and a one sided talking to from her boss, Deputy Linda was relegated to office work with sporadic assignments out on the town while Jimmy received a two day suspension and a written warning. Mooney was always his partner's exterior conscious, sort of a Jiminy Cricket on his shoulder as the two resumed their partnership. Sheriff Reed had the nerve to tell the married father to keep his partner out of trouble after that.

"How's it looking Linda?"

"From the expression on your face, I gather you already know the deal as such with that there revenge porn and all. Pretty sick stuff for kids to be doing even if they're eighteen. Made a call over to the other county and their little cybercrimes unit is looking into it for us. Honestly, it might take a while cause it's just two eggheads working the case, Mooney. There's Coach Hamblen's coroner report on your desk too."

"Heard from Sheriff?"

"Shit Mooney, his daughter is dead. He wasn't around a whole lot the last few weeks anyway; you know how it is with the sheriff."

"Yeah, but I gotta ask any way to keep up appearances."

"Nobody cares around here honestly speaking; we were all glad he was getting some because work got so much better without him around. Guess he's gonna come back spoiling everything like a wet tampon now, huh Mooney?"

"I take it one day at a time Linda." He continued on his way as the civilian employee returned to her post.

"TELL JIMMY THAT I'M GONNA CHOKE HIM OUT IF HE EVER SMILES AT ME AGAIN!" Deputy Linda was never the same again coming to earn a reputation as an iron butt after her trials and tribulations with Deputy Jimmy. Mooney knew she meant every word of it and knew she had taken up MMA in the interim. She was really good at it too.

"I'll let him know."

Before he could walk away, Deputy Linda motioned towards the corridor in the direction he'd come from making the lately overworked officer internally cringe. He figured Sheriff Reed returned to office but found the Mayor and a few members of the city council waiting near the station entrance. Mayor Bobby Laird was stout, more horizontally challenged than anything, and ill tempered.

He usually didn't make an appearance around the law unless something was mucking up his much worked and used governing method of benign neglect which people confused for being "laid back." Deputy Mooney looked around at some of the other deputies exchanging glances before taking the lead greeting the big wigs.

"Morning mister mayor; uh, the sheriff is taking a day and I think you guys are in the know about why that is, right?" Deputy Mooney removed his cowboy hat scratching his temple.

"Well Jeb, that's kind of what we're wanting to talk about right this minute." The mayor and two members of the city council side eyed one another signaling some conversation already had prior to their meeting with the deputy.

"Understood, you wanna go into an office or something, sir?"

"Nah, I gotta go to my kid's soccer game two counties over and I'm already running kind of late; let's just step outside."

He followed the mayor and company back out into the adjacent parking lot. Mayor Laird turned abruptly almost bumping beer gut into Mooney's torso. The portly man removed the pork pie Stetson he was rarely seen without revealing his balding head. The mayor fanned himself with it looking around as Mooney noticed his entourage appeared uncomfortable.

"So, how's that Sheriff Reed taking it about his daughter's death, Mooney?"