Chapter 13

*Ding Dong*

The door to the Walters home opened and there was Donald standing in the doorway.

“Come in ladies, come in.”

“Thank you Donald. However, I wish we were here under better circumstances.”

“Jocelyn said this was an official visit. I think we both knew that sooner or later it would come to this. Brit just doesn’t seem to get it and just won’t stop playing these pranks on people.

Anyways, we can discuss this all over dinner. Come into the kitchen and sit down, dinner is almost ready.”

“Where are the girls?” Jessica wondered.

“After you called, Jocelyn decided to feed them then told them to stay in their rooms until we call them down. We thought that’d give us a chance to talk about what’s happened, first.”

As the trio walked towards the kitchen, they could hear Jocelyn at the stove putting the final touches to dinner.

“Ah, Jess and Fran … perfect timing. Dinner is just ready to be served. We’ve somewhat of a traditional English meal that I had planned for Gaby and Jules, since Gaby had that big race this weekend … Roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, turnips, parsnips, peas and carrots and gravy. There’s also horseradish and English mustard on the side for those that would like it and for dessert we have a trifle. Sit down and we’ll eat and have a talk about what brings you here ... *sigh* … as if we didn’t have a pretty good idea already.”

“Oh my. Everything looks and smells just wonderful Jocelyn. It’s that smell and taste of home and it’s always appreciated. Those Yorkshire puddings, look delicious.”

“Gaby knows her way around the kitchen … and she’s a pretty good teacher. She says the Yorkshire’s are her dad’s recipe. Oh, a word of caution. That horseradish is strong ... I know! Gaby picked it out … said she wanted the ‘real stuff’,” Jocelyn boasted.

Her jovial mood soon vanished and her smile disappeared, as she fell silent.

“Mrs. Walters?...” Fran softly inquired.

“I’m okay, Fran. It’s just that I’m so used to calling Drew ‘Gaby’ and ‘her’. Now I suppose I’ll have to get used to ‘Drew’ and ‘him’.”

“That’s up to you, of course … but somehow, I don’t think he’d mind if you kept thinking ‘Gaby’ and ‘her’.” Fran’s voice had a calming quality. “When we spoke the other week, she told me she liked it here with you and Donald.”

*Sniff* … sorry.” Jocelyn apologized as she dabbed her eye. Instead of helping, Fran’s revelation made what Gaby had been put through, just that much harder to take.

As everyone dished up, the room was silent except for the sound of crockery and cutlery as they all began to eat.

Jocelyn was the first to speak.

“I know you’re here about our girls, Jess. What have you found?”

Jessica began to tell the Walters the whole sordid story, as far as they knew it and where Britney had been implicated. Fran occasionally added what she knew. Throughout the telling there were occasional murmurs of “she didn’t?” and “oh my god” and “grounded until she’s 30” from both Donald and Jocelyn.

“Well. I never thought I’d hear my daughters could ever act like that to another human being. Mind you ladies, I have to tell you that Deb came down earlier to tell us about her part in all of this.”

Fran turned to face Jocelyn.

“Really? … And how does it match up to what we’ve told you?”

“Well … according to Debbie, Britney and Maddy have been e-mailing each other ever since the trip was announced and it was a week or two after our girls returned from Warsop that the idea of Gaby coming here, started. Deb said that while she only went along with not telling us the truth about Drew because she thought it could be fun to ‘pull one on us’, but she had no idea what was happening with Gaby and Brit after the girls arrived … she said she was busy trying to be a good host to Jules.” Jocelyn recalled.

“Jocelyn and I believe her on that score. She was really, really p.o’d with her sister and we heard her earlier tearing a strip off of Brit for all of this,” Donald admitted.

“You’re both aware, that what Britney did … if confirmed … would fall under the deliberate endangerment of an exchange student and as such she’d be subject to an immediate suspension and an expulsion hearing. Things might go a little easier for Deb … maybe a long stint in detention … for keeping quiet about this. I know the temptation to put one over on the parent’s is great, in the eyes of any teenager … but I think that this went way too far.

“You also need to be prepared for the possibility of Mr. and Mrs. Bond filing charges of felony child endangerment on Brit.”

“Can they do that?” Donald quickly asked.

“They’d be totally within their legal rights to do so…” Jessica confirmed. “…But I think, that’ll largely depend upon how Drew emerges from this whole mess. I tend to think … and I stress that this is only my opinion … that if he comes out of this ‘no worse for wear’, the Bonds might be persuaded that it’d be in no one’s best interests to pursue legal action … especially if those responsible, are taken to task for it.”

“I have to agree with Jessica. I know Dave and Jenny Bond. Their first and foremost concern is the welfare of their child. If Drew comes out of this, as Jessica says, ‘no worse for wear’ … then I can’t see them pressing charges … particularly with the problems that would arise with the international scope of the case. Unfortunately, those of us back at Warsop College still have to face a lot of questions over this and I fear the prospect of charges may be a little more realistic.”

“Jee-zus Chee-rist! Joce, our own daughter played a big part in messing up this poor child … and just for laughs. She even got you to help her get Drew to that Valentine’s dance. Why, Drew would’ve been lucky if they only beat the hell out of him if’n they went through with their plans.”

“Thank you very much for coming and letting us know just how widespread and serious this is. I know it doesn’t make Jocelyn and I look too good as parents, right now … but I never thought her capable of something like this, either.” Donald lamented.

“To tell you the truth, Donald … I don’t think you could’ve done much about it, given neither of you were privileged to her plans and mind reading’s not an option,” Jessica offered in an effort to lighten Donald’s perceived sense of guilt for Britney’s actions.

“When I think of Drew … why couldn’t we see the boy? We could’ve stopped this whole game of hers!”

“Donald ... hindsight is 20/20, but when you come right down to it … unless you took a shower with Gaby, how would you know? She looked and acted as any normal 13year old teenage girl. What blew me away was how natural it was for her. I obviously didn’t spend as much time with her as Fran and Jules, but I think they’d be the first to agree with me … Drew wasn’t like an actor carrying out his lines … there was no pretending. Drew was Gaby!” Miss Cowlishaw immediately nodded her agreement.

“What will Drew’s future be like?” Jocelyn softly pondered.

“How so?” Fran asked in reply.

“Looking as much like a girl as he does, isn’t going to help him operate in a man’s world as a man … will it?”

“I really don’t know,” Fran whispered as she slowly shook her head. In her mind, she felt that she let him down and now wished she could do so much more.

“Well … I guess it’s time. BRIT! Get your butt down here to the living room NOW! You too Deb.”

Jessica’s thoughts were abruptly interrupted upon hearing Donald’s ‘invitation’ to his daughters.

“…And I thought Dad made a good drill sergeant!”

Both girls jumped at the shout from their father. Even though they had been up in their shared bedroom waiting to be summoned, the tone of their father’s voice told them all they needed to know. With much apprehension, they left the room and started to make their way downstairs. Looking at the uncertainty on her sister’s face, Britney felt even more uncertain and isolated. It didn’t help that Debbie wasn’t speaking to her ever since she had that one-sided argument with her earlier.

As the girls stopped on the landing, Brit turned to face her sister.

“I feel like I’m walking to my execution, Deb…”

“Close to it I bet … they can’t leave us hanging forever.”

“Shit!”

“Yeah, well whose fault is that, Brit?”

Deb was the first to head down the stairs, with Brit following a couple of seconds later. When they got to the living room, both girls were visibly shaken when they saw Miss Bell and Miss Cowlishaw along with their parents, sitting down, ready to question them.

“This is not good.” Britney thought to herself.

Jessica silently pointed to the two kitchen chairs placed in the middle of the room.

“Have a seat girls.” Once the girls had sat down, Jessica again spoke.

“Okay, here’s the deal. I need to know everything, and I mean EVERYTHING that has been going on with Gaby while she’s been here … past, present … and future. If you’re not truthful with us, we’ll know. We’ve talked to others and have a good idea what’s been happening. Now we need to hear it from you.”

“Be sure you don’t leave out the bit about the Valentine’s dance,” Fran added.

Deb’s head turned towards her sister and looked at her as if she had grown horns and a tail. This was noted by all the adults, and they waited to see if Deb was going to say anything.

“You can begin anytime, Britney,” Jocelyn angrily urged.

As Britney reluctantly recalled the times that Gaby was made to appear, starting with the earlier American visit to Warsop and continuing to the current visit by the British kids, you could see the anger building in Deb’s eyes. When her sister began to talk about the plans for the Valentines dance, one could see that Debbie had reached her boiling point. Quickly standing up and upsetting her chair in the process, Debbie took a few disbelieving steps away from her sister and then turned and faced her.

“Jesus God-damned Christ! You have got to be fuckin’ kidding me! Never mind that the kids in the exchange program have to go to this thing ... THIS is what you were planning for someone you told me was a friend? So you and Maddy can get some perverse jollies from seeing Drew get beaten and probably killed? You’re fuckin’ sick!”

Britney couldn’t hold back the tears any longer after her sister’s reaction. However, tears did not stop Debbie from continuing to voice her opinion.

“You want to be the one to tell Mr. and Mrs. Bond how you got him killed?!! She almost died from cancer and now that she’s recovering, you want to tell her that her baby is dead?!! Damn you, Brit … don’t you EVER, ever … speak to me again!”

“What was I supposed to do?!!” Brit wailed. “Casey said if I didn’t get her to the dance I could kiss my ass goodbye socially and that she’d make sure that the rest of my life in high school was hell!”

“Oh, so you been a social nothing means getting another human being killed is okay?!! That’s just sick Brit! You need help!”

Jocelyn decided enough had been said for the moment.

“GIRLS! That’s enough! Debbie … sit down … we’re not finished here!”

Debbie slowly righted her chair and sat down without even glancing at her sister after moving it a small distance away from her. As far as she was concerned at that moment they were done.

Jessica picked up the questioning again.

“So, Deb … by the sound of that, you had no idea what was really going on and you believe that the results of Gaby going to the dance could have easily been tragic. Is that an accurate assessment?”

“I certainly had no clue about the dance and yes, I’m sure the results would have been tragic. I know what some of these kids are capable of when they see a boy in a dress.

“What about the other ‘pranks’ she mentioned?” Jessica probed.

“Other than those times in Warsop that Brit’s already mentioned, I had no idea of what was going on while she was here.”

“Did you participate in those ‘pranks’ in Warsop?” Fran asked.

“Yes … but those were nothing more than making Gaby appear whenever Drew needed a change of clothes. He always seemed to go along with ‘things’ and Mr. Bond just seemed to throw his hands up in the air and accept them as they happened.”

Deb turned to face her parents, the disappointment clearly evident on their faces.

“Mom … Dad … I’m sorry that I let this go on. I know I should’ve told you about Drew when it became clear that Brit wasn’t going to. I didn’t know all this was going to happen. Drew and his family were very kind to us when we were in England and I admit, this has been a very poor way to repay them.

“Thank you … both of you, for being honest with us. What you’ve told us pretty much confirmed what we have learned from other sources. However, you both are aware that there’ll be some sort of punishment handed out for this, aren’t you?” Jessica voiced.

“Yes ma’am,” both girls chorused.

Tears began to roll down Deb’s cheeks as she began to understand what kind of hell Brit and her friends had made Gaby’s visit.

“Deb … since you’ve not taken an active role in the more serious of these so-called ‘harmless pranks’, I’m going to recommend the following. Until the end of the school year, you’ll report to detention every day. In addition, I’ll recommend you’ll also be excluded from all social events and extra-curricular activities at the school. Should there be no other problems, you’ll be allowed to return to school with full privileges next year … but keep in mind … this will be on your record. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Miss Bell.”

“You knew that what Casey was asking you to do was wrong didn’t you?” Jessica pointedly asked as she turned her attention to Debbie’s sister. Brit silently shook her head in agreement.

“There’s not enough ‘I’m sorry’s’ in this world to make up for what you’ve done. You’ve put Drew under so much stress that his brain effectively shut down because he simply could not handle any longer what you and others were doing to him.”

“You realize that in all likelihood, you’ve just succeeded in getting the exchange program permanently cancelled for our school.”

Brit’s head snapped up.

“I’m going to have to report all of this to the school administration and it’ll more than likely go right up to the school board. Let me tell you something. There’s an element in the board that wants to end … in their words … ‘worthless field trips’ and you just single-handedly gave them a very strong case for their agenda.”

Brit slumped in the chair and her head drooped down again.

“Donald … Jocelyn … I’m sorry about all of this. Britney … I’ve no choice but to recommend that you’re suspended indefinitely until an expulsion hearing can be convened. At that point I’ll make a further recommendation that you be expelled for the remainder of the year with fail marks in all classes.”

Britney’s face fell and she wanted to do nothing more than get out of there. She heard Jessica’s voice, but it wasn’t really registering. As far as she was concerned, there was no point.

“You’ll have to repeat your year, of course … but under certain conditions. If the school allows you to come back next year, you’ll attend classes and classes only. No school-related social or extracurricular activities and you’ll be permanently banned from the Cheerleading Squad. Should you be seen hanging out with any of the crowd you hung out with this year, you will again be expelled. Any and all spares you have will be spent in the detention hall. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Miss Bell.”

You’ve callously disregarded the lives and well being of others and that’s not acceptable in this society.”

Donald and his wife looked at each other and their daughter.

“Britney, up to your room, NOW!” Jocelyn’s face was red with anger as she watched her youngest daughter scramble away from the adults as fast as she could. Soon, a door loudly slammed closed and the sounds of crying could be heard, even downstairs.

Meanwhile, down in the living room, Jessica was still speaking with the Walters.

“I’m sorry, guys … but there really is no other way to handle this from the perspective of the school. Not without outing Gaby as Drew, anyway. Given what we’ve learned so far, it seemed appropriate.”

“Fran, please accept our most sincere apologies for the actions of our children. I know that it’s damned little comfort … but I can tell you if we’d known about any of this, we’d have stopped it in its tracks.”

“I know you would have Jocelyn. Unfortunately, I’m afraid that they’re not the only one’s involved. We’ve still got a lot to deal with before any investigation into this mess can be considered finished. I still have to deal with one of my own students as well let the school’s Headmaster know what’s going on.”

“I’ll need you two to keep Brit and Deb home from school tomorrow. That’ll buy me time to take all this information to the administration and decide what to do next,” Jessica calmly instructed.

Jessica discreetly nudged Fran in the arm and quietly whispered, “I think now would be a good time to head back to my place for the moment so we can sit down and see where we’re at.”

“Donald … Jocelyn … thank you again for a wonderful dinner. I wish it could’ve been under better circumstances, but this needed to be dealt with immediately,” Jessica voiced as she ad Fran stood up to leave.

“You’re very welcome Jess and we understand perfectly. Better you caught it now. You two take care and please let us know how Drew and Jules are doing.”

As Jocelyn began to tidy up, Donald escorted Fran and Jessica to the front door and saw them off.