Ridley Pearson - Power Play

Amanda appeared among the mass of students crowding the hallway, wearing a look of fierce determination. Charlene knew what they were about to do went against everything Amanda held dear. Knew that for Amanda this was about friendship and loyalty and her dedication to Finn and the Keepers. Knew that she was, like Charlene, dying inside with anticipation.

“Follow me,” Amanda said, all business.

Charlene stepped into line behind her. Amanda made her way to the stairway. They held close to the banister and hurried down, passing other students. They reached the ground floor and continued down to the basement level.

“It’s all about timing,” Amanda said, over her shoulder. “You remember your assignment?”

“Yes. Of course.”

“You have the stockings?”

Charlene held up her balled fist.

The basement level was far less crowded. They walked together down a hallway and turned to the right.

“She’ll be coming by here any minute,” Amanda said, pulling open a door. “Band room. Empty this period.”

“Okay,” said Charlene.

“We’ll be expelled if we do this wrong.”

“I know. So let’s not do it wrong.”

“I’m in the hall. You’re inside, but out of sight,” instructed Amanda.

“I remember.”

“I’ll cough.”

“I know.”

Charlene turned into the darkened room and tucked around the corner, her chest ready to explode. There was a bass drum on a metal stand. Risers with chairs and music stands. An upright piano. She left the lights off, bracing herself for what was to come. She pulled the piece of panty hose down over her hair and head, obscuring her face.

Amanda wore the section of rolled panty hose on her head like a winter cap, kneeling with her face to the wall, her hands in her computer bag, digging around as if looking for something.

Sally Ringwald came down the hall with two girlfriends. Now came the tricky part.

Without turning, without showing her face, Amanda said, “Hey, Sally, got a minute?”

“I’ll catch up,” Sally told her friends.

As predicted, the two girls turned up the stairs. Amanda had chosen this spot for a reason.

“What’s up?” Sally said to Amanda’s back.

Amanda coughed and pulled the stocking down over her face and turned around, looking like something from a slasher movie.

“What the-”

But Sally didn’t have time to complete her exclamation.

Amanda lifted her hands and pushed . Sally lifted off her feet and flew backward through the doorway, skidding on her bottom across the floor. Amanda stepped through and Charlene pulled the door shut.

When Sally jumped off the floor, she wasn’t even human. She sprang like a mountain lion, crashing into Amanda, her green eyes flashing in the dim light. She and Amanda smacked into the wall by the piano.

Charlene came at her from the side, grabbing an arm. Sally tossed her off like she was a stuffed animal. Charlene landed hard.

Amanda pushed for a second time. Sally lifted off her feet and crashed into a music stand, taking it down as she knocked some folding metal chairs out of the way, landing in a heap. Amanda pushed again. Sally slid on her bottom and was pinned to the riser. Amanda held her there, still pushing, arms extended.

Charlene crossed the room and was slammed to the floor as if a ninety-mile-per-hour wind had struck her. Groaning, she rose, and with Amanda still pushing, Charlene wrestled Sally’s arms behind her back and tangled their legs together, keeping Sally down.

Amanda released her push.

The three girls were panting, out of breath.

Charlene said coarsely, “What do they want?”

Sally wrestled, but couldn’t get free of Charlene’s hold.

“Power,” Sally said through clenched teeth. “What’s anybody want?”

“From us?” Amanda said.

“You’re insignificant. Don’t flatter yourselves.”

“So insignificant that you’re spying on us,” Charlene said, pulling the girl’s arms back harder to make her point. “What’s that make you?”

“Busy,” she said, snickering.

“Who…are…you?” Amanda asked, for the girl’s eyes were wide and evil-looking.

Sally Ringwald laughed. But it wasn’t a girl’s laugh. It was a woman’s. “The future,” she said.

“Not my future,” Charlene said, gasping. It was taking all her considerable strength to restrain Sally’s arms. Both she and Amanda feared what Sally might be capable of if she could get free.

“There is no yours or mine where the future’s concerned. It’s ours . You can either be on the right side or the wrong side,” Sally said.

“There is no side to the future, only to the things we do with it, the choices we make,” Amanda said.

“What do you know? The future always arrives before you can stop it,” said Sally. “Talk to me Saturday morning.”

To Amanda it sounded like a recruiting line. She felt slightly light-headed. The pushing had drained her. Charlene looked as bad as she felt. They were out of time.

“How many of you are there?” This had been the question Philby most wanted asked.

“More each day,” Sally answered. “More than you can possibly imagine.”

“We have big imaginations,” Charlene said, increasing her hold, and winning a wince of pain on Sally’s face.

“Your kind think ‘dreams really do come true’? Then dream on.”

Charlene flashed Amanda a look-her signal she couldn’t hold on much longer. Amanda had been expecting it. She nodded.

“Now!” Amanda called out.

Charlene let go and rolled.

Amanda pushed, sending Sally into a back somersault and into another music stand and more chairs. She and Charlene ran for the door. They got into the hall, and both girls grabbed the door handle together and held on.

The door was struck from the other side by what sounded like a truck. The entire jamb dislocated in the masonry wall.

“On three,” Amanda said. “One…two… three !”

They let go of the door handle, stripped off the panty hose masks, and ran as fast as they’d ever run for the stairway. They heard an enormous crash behind them as they climbed the stairs out of breath.

Reaching the mob scene of students, they slowed, hooked elbows, and walked calmly into the surge of bodies. They heard footsteps flying up the stairs behind them, but never looked back. They were deep enough into the mob that their clothes could not be seen to be identified. They turned into the lunchroom packed with other students.

Amanda looked around for Finn.

He wasn’t there.

FINN SAW GREG LUOWSKI down the school hallway standing at a locker, and recalled their strange encounter on the street. An agent for the Overtakers? Was it possible? Did Wayne’s Kim Possible message about friends turning their backs on you have something to do with Luowski, or only Charlene’s erratic behavior? Luowski could never be considered a friend to Finn, but did Wayne know that?

Next he spotted a woman, wearing a visitor’s sticker, down the hall. She was staring at him, her face vaguely familiar yet unknown to him. The way her gaze locked onto him he had no doubt she was there to see him. Worse, she was upset. Any kid knew that look on the face of a grown-up.

That was when he realized how a stranger could look so familiar: behind the crinkly eyes and puckered lips, Willa looked back at him.

The woman started toward him at the same time Luowski caught Finn staring. Luowski’s menacing expression seemed to say, “You want something?”