Drew Nance Book 2: "The Hidden Staircase" by Bobbie J. Cabot Chapter Six: Drew and Stalkers / Callie and Jealousy

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Drew, Callie and Iola decided to do their shopping for the Hawaii trip the following day, so Drew woke up at around six to be able to do her routine and still pick up the girls before eight and beat the traffic.

After she picked them up, she started making her way to the Goethals Bridge.

“Ummm, Drew?” Iola said worriedly. “Where are we going? This is not going towards Verrazano or the Ferry.”

“We’re going the opposite way,” Drew said.

“I thought we were going to Manhattan.” Callie asked.

“There’s no sales tax on clothes and shoes over in New Jersey, so...”

Callie and Iola looked at each other. "Omigod," Iola mouthed to Callie.

“Coolness!” Callie said. “I don’t mind telling you, Drew, I don’t have too much cash at the moment, so I was so relieved when your dad said he’ll be footing the bill for the trip, but I was worried about our shopping today. But, you know, I don’t think I need to shop much. I’ll just window-shop. I have enough swimsuits for the trip and...”

“What’re you talking about, girlfriend? Look what I got!” Drew waved what looked like a booklet of tickets or coupons.

“What’re those,” Iola asked.

“Alice, my dad’s secretary, told me employees in my Dad's company are entitled to vouchers for company stores. Almost fifty percent discount in any company store. Up to seventy if we buy in bulk. I asked Pop for his vouchers ‘coz I knew he wouldn’t be using them. So we can go shopping in American Amalgamated’s Newark outlet with the coupons. No tax and seventy percent discount!”

“Cool!” Callie exclaimed, almost bouncing up and down.

“And! I also have these.” Drew pulled out the three tickets Eva Jacobs gave her.

“Tickets?” Callie said, and reached for them. “Oooh! The Evolution Concert on Tour! I heard it was their New York leg this week. I didn’t know there were tickets still available, and you got three of ‘em!”

“What is the Evolution Concert, anyway?” Drew asked. She didn’t even know these were in-demand tickets.

“The Evolution Concert is a contest that pits up-and-coming girl bands. There will be three of them, and the Evolution Tour’s a promotion for the next two. It’s been all over the radio and the internet, and they’ve been giving them out as promos. But I didn’t know you can get any more tickets.”

“Evvie Jacobs’ company got complimentary tickets, but she didn’t want them...”

“She got the job at the paper? Cool!”

Drew nodded. “So, do we go?”

“Are you kidding? Of course! It’s the most anticipated concert ever! Unlimited Bandwidth, baby!”

“Bring in the rain, bring in the shine!” Iola sang, and Callie sang in counterpoint – “I love you...”

Drew didn’t know the song, although it sounded extremely familiar, so she just let them have fun. Their mood was infectious.

As they tooled down Interstate 278, Drew noticed a yellow Camaro following them. But then again, it was the highway so it could be just regular traffic going their way. Still, she was suspicious. She’d been seeing a yellow Camaro on and off ever since she won that Race with Phil. There’s not too many yellow Camaros around where she lived, so no one would blame her for being suspicious. So, as soon as they got off Goathals, as an experiment, she took the first turnoff, and the car followed them.

She casually made a U-turn going back to the interstate (although how you can “casually” make a U-turn was something she wasn’t sure about), and she passed the Camaro. At the wheel was Biff Hooper, one of Phil Cohen’s friends. The Camaro made a U-turn, too, and it was now just behind them. If Biff was trying to be inconspicuous, he wasn’t doing too good a job, Drew thought.

“Hey, Drew?” Iola said. “Are you lost or something?”

“This’ll sound weird, guys, but there’s someone tailing us.”

“Omigod!” Callie said. “Is it about that break-in we did? Oh, no!”

“Is it the cops? Omigod, it’s the cops! Omigod, omigod, omigod!” Iola shrieked.

“Chill, girls!” Drew exclaimed. “It’s not that. I think I know who it is. Do you remember Biff? One of Phil’s buds?”

“What! Biff Hooper? What’s that douche doing?”

“This has got to be about Phil and his Escalade!” Callie said.

“I don’t know. But I’m gonna find out. Buckle up girls.”

Drew hit the brakes and the Camaro screeched to avoid rear-ending them. Drew got out and started walking to the yellow car. The Camaro backed up, tires squealing, veered around Drew and roared away.

Drew ran back to her car and put Tiger into gear.

“I saw the driver,” Iola said. “It is Biff fucking Hooper!”

“So it’s about Phil’s Escalade!” Callie said.

“We don’t know that yet, but we are going to find out,” Drew said.

“Yeah!”

“Drew?” Iola said, “Biff is a big guy, are you sure...”

“I can take care of us, but,” she drove one-handed while she fished in her purse. “Callie, here you go.”

“What’s this?” Callie looked at the keychain that looked like a little gun.

“That’s pepper spray. Just in case.”

“Hey, what about me?” Iola asked.

“Callie, you give her the whistle. It’s on the keychain, too. Now, you guys be quiet for a bit. Need to concentrate.”

Biff turned back to I278, and as soon as he got on the highway, he pulled to the inside high-speed lane. Biff thought he was doing well since he could now legitimately go high speed.

But Drew knew a thing or two about high-speed chases, probably more than this guy did. She kept pace with his Camaro, keeping to his right side. Biff couldn’t speed up because of the car in front, or slow down because of the car in the back, and because of Drew, he couldn’t pull out of his lane to escape. Drew rolled her window down and Biff brought his hand up to cover his face.

“Biff!” Drew yelled.

Biff stupidly kept his hand up to cover his face.

“Biff, you stupid jerk! We know it’s you! Roll down your window! So help me, I’m gonna crash my car into your stupid-ass Camaro that looks like a banana and bash your head into the windshield!”

Biff sighed and rolled down his window. “Hey, Drew. It’s funny to run into you here...”

“Shut up! I’m gonna pull out at the next off-ramp, and you follow me.”

“What’s this abo-”

“Shut up, Biff! You follow me, or I swear to you, if you don’t, you’re gonna regret it.”

“Okay, okay!”

They both raised their windows and both started maneuvering to get to the outer lane, in preparation to getting off the highway.

“God, Drew!” Callie said. “You’re badass!” They giggled.

“You better believe it, baby!” Drew said.

“It’s a bit of a turn-on, actually,” Callie smiled mischievously. “Ummm...”

“Keep it in your pants, Shaw,” Iola said, trying not to giggle herself. “She’s trying to concentrate.”

“’Kay, ‘kay. I’ll be good.”

“So, Drew,” Iola said. “What do you think this is all about?”

They got off the highway and started driving down a four-lane road. But, apparently, Biff had a change of heart since he got ahead of her and started to accelerate down the largely empty avenue, forcing Drew to accelerate after him as well.

“Dammit! Hang on - I’m gonna check this jerk.”

They were already doing at least sixty, but then again, Drew was driving her souped-up Opel Twin-top. She snap-shifted and accelerated, easily overtaking the Camaro, and cut Biff off. Biff braked hard and started to pull back again.

Drew reversed and, with more than enough speed, was able to go around the car and cut him off again. Biff then put his car in first again and pulled forward.

“Dammit!” Drew said. She accelerated forward and blipped her car to the right, causing Biff to swerve to avoid colliding with her, and slammed his brakes so that he wouldn’t hit the Ford parked at the curb. His car stopped inches away from the Ford.

That was what Drew wanted. She backed up and blocked the Camaro from the rear, preventing it from moving.

“Callie, keep the pepper spray ready,” Drew said, “and Iola, blow that whistle and try and get people’s attention if Biff gets physical.”

The three girls got down, with Callie holding out the pepper spray and Iola holding the whistle between her teeth, ready to blow.

Biff got out and faced the three girls. At first, he was about to laugh at Callie’s and Iola’s grim faces, especially with Iola holding a whistle in her teeth.

But when he looked at Drew, he gulped. She looked as hot as she always did, but knowing her reputation, he felt so nervous he was about ready to pee.

“So,” Drew said. “Now you’re going to tell us why you were following us.”

“Well, first off, I have to say how lovely you three...”

“Shut up, Hooper. Tell us why you were tailing us.”

“Drew...”

“Dammit, Hooper!”

“Well...” Biff started saying, and then ran off down the street.

“Dammit! Callie, you’re with me. Iola, you stay here, wait for us and blow the whistle if you spot a cop. Me and Callie will run him back here. Callie, let’s go!”

The two of them started running after Biff. Though Biff was bigger and more powerful, Drew and Callie were lighter and more fit, so they started overhauling him. After half a block, Biff started slowing down, winded and breathing hard. He looked over his shoulder and saw the two rapidly approaching, with Drew in the lead.

Realizing he needed to get back to his car, he turned to face them. When they were almost on him, he tried to slip past them and run back to the way he came. Drew reached out and grabbed him by the arm, and Biff slipped on the asphalt and fell down.

He got up and tried to run away again. Drew did some kind of Judo thing, flipped him over and Biff found himself down again, his face in the pavement.

He tried getting up again but Drew put her foot on his ass and pushed him down. “Stop trying to get away!” Drew said.

Biff stopped and apparently decided not to struggle anymore. After a bit, when he had caught his breath a little and Drew’s foot was off him, he turned over and saw Drew’s and Callie’s faces looming over him. Callie was pointing Drew’s little gun at him.

“So, what’s that anyway, girly? You going to shoot me?” Callie pressed the trigger and sprayed him in the face. “Aaargh!” he screamed.

Drew and Callie walked him back to their cars. Biff’s eyes were extremely red, but it didn’t hurt much, actually, and after a few minutes, most of the effects were gone. Drew had to say something to her dad – these mini-Mace keychain sprays weren’t too good. She’ll have to look for something better.

When they were near Iola, Drew started quizzing Biff.

“Tell us why you were following us.”

“Well... strictly speaking, I wasn’t following you. I was following... you.”

“You’re sounding crazy. You’re not following us, but you’re following us?”

“No, Drew, I mean... Well, can I speak to you in private for just a sec?”

The girls looked at each other.

“Well, okay....” Drew pulled him back, away from Callie.

Callie walked to Iola and looked at Drew and Biff while they talked in whispers.

“Wonder what this is about,” Iola said.

They looked at both of them as they talked, Biff clearly embarrassed and Drew very serious. After a few minutes or so, Drew was smiling a bit, and after a little while more, they broke up.

Biff went to his car and got in the driver’s seat.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you girls later,” he said.

Drew went into her own car, backed up and allowed Biff to pull out and continue on. Callie and Iola watched him go, went over to Drew’s car and got in.

“So?” Iola said. “What did he say?”

“Well, he was telling the truth.”

“What truth?”

“He wasn’t following us. He was following me.”

“He was? Why?”

“It seems he has a, ummm... he has a crush on me.”

“Huh?”

“He was stalking me.”

“Stalking!” Callie exclaimed.

“Very badly, too.”

“Ahhh!” Iola said, finally understanding. “I’ve always thought he was creepy.”

“Yeah. Anyway, he promised he to stop. Still, you guys keep an eye out for him.”

“How did you manage that?”

“I, ummm, I promised to go out on a date with him sometime and he’ll quit following me.”

“Oh, is that all?” Iola laughed.

“You should have seen him almost pissing in his pants! And blushing a mile a minute! He looked sooo adorable.”

Drew and Callie laughed.

“He has a crush?” Iola asked.

“He said he thought I was so awesome and cool and sexy and hot. Hey, those’re his words! I think he needs to learn what commas are.” Drew laughed again.

Callie looked at Drew, her mood changing. A faint kind of irritation, anger or something like that, came over her expression.

“Hey!” Callie said crossly. “I thought we were going to go shopping.”

“Yes, we are.”

“Then, let’s go.”

“Yep. We’re goin’ – that’s why we’re here, Callie.” Drew giggled.

“Well, okay,” Callie harrumphed.

“Grumpy!” Iola said.

Drew looked at Iola via the rearview, with a questioning look, as in, “what’s gotten into Callie?”

Iola shrugged with her own look, which said something like, “I don’t know, but let’s just ride it out.”

After a little while, they were in the Bayview interchange, and maneuvered to the New Jersey Turnpike. They turned off at Jersey Garden Boulevard and were soon pulling up to Elizabethtowne, the largest mall-slash-department store the Tate Group had in New Jersey.

They had some time on their hands before the mall opened, so they went to Blimpies, right across the mall. It was semi-full with early-bird shoppers like them waiting for the mall to open. They ordered two “Blimpie BLT subs” and coffee, and sat down to plan for their shopping.

“So,” Drew said, “what’ll we look for? We have lots of vouchers so we can go for anything.”

“Well, swimsuits first, I guess,” Iola said as she split their two subs into roughly three pieces each.

“Yeah,” Callie said. “Swimsuits, some walking-around dresses, shorts, thongs, a couple of club outfits?”

“You’ve given this a lot of thought, huh?”

“I’m a girl on a budget, Drew. I have to.”

Drew gave her a hug. “Well, not too much on a budget.” She took out the booklet of vouchers and split it into three (making sure Callie got the thickest).

“Let’s see,” Drew said, and read the instructions on the back of the vouchers. “Okay, the way you use the vouchers is that you give one voucher per item to the cashier when you’re paying, and you’re supposed to tell them the Tate Group employee’s name and ID number that the vouchers belong to, and depending on the voucher color, you’d get the appropriate discount.”

“What’s ours?” Iola asked.

“Let’s see – yellow vouchers entitles us to, well, what do you know? Eighty percent!”

“Eighty percent? Omigod!” Callie cheered.

“Oh, wait! The discount doesn’t apply to everything. If the number below the barcode of the product ends with a ’99,’ it means you pay full-price.”

“Darn...”

“They’re probably the high-end items,” Iola said, “like designer clothes and things.”

“How about things like lotion, toiletries and other stuff?” Callie said.

“Yes, the vouchers work with them, too. Everything, actually, except for those marked ‘99.’”

“Great!”

“Lemme give Pop a call so I can get his employee number.”

“Do you think he’s awake by now?”

“My pop? Oh, he’s definitely awake.”

After she talked with him and wrote his employee number on the back on some of his business cards, she gave the girls a card each, and kept one for herself.

“Hey,” Callie said, “I forgot to tell you, I’m shopping for two. Aunt Arlene asked me to shop for her, as well.”

“Coolness,” Drew said, and gave some more vouchers from her set.

A lot of the people eating started to get up and stream towards the restaurant’s exit, and started walking across the street to the mall’s main entrance. “Hey, they’re open now, I think.”

They finished up and walked to the mall as well.

They then spent most of the morning roaming the mall’s main department store. When they made their first few purchases, aside for the vouchers and Carson’s employee ID number, the cashier also asked for an ID.

Drew was the one who gave an ID, and she asked the cashier to call her dad's office. When they did, and Alice confirmed Drew’s ID, they were more friendly. Aside from the cashiers asking for the vouchers, the girls had no more trouble with the mall people – the news that some VIP shoppers were in the mall had probably spread.

Thanks to the vouchers and the absence of any sales tax, Callie was able to keep to her budget and actually buy everything on her list and then some. Same with Iola. In the end, they bought so much, they couldn’t put everything in Tiger’s trunk. Drew had the girls wait in the car and she went back to the store. After a while, Drew came back with garbage bags, a couple of jump ropes, and elastic netting – the kind motorcycle enthusiasts used to stretch over their stuff to secure them on their motorcycle seats.

Drew first put a couple of layers of garbage bags on the bottom of tiger's trunk. She then put all the stuff with boxes (like the shoes and sandals) on top of them. Then she put all the other stuff in garbage bags and put them on top of the boxes. When she had everything in, she put another layer of bags over everything, stretched the netting over the entire thing, and swung down the trunk’s hood.

Of course, the hood wouldn’t close so she used the jump rope to tie down the hood. Sure, it didn’t close completely, but at least their stuff was secure enough to survive the trip back to Staten Island.

The first thing they did was to go to Drew’s place and segregate their stuff. Iola called her dad and he agreed to come pick her up. As for Callie, Drew said she’d bring her home. She had more stuff to bring home than Iola, after all.

After Mr. Morton came and went, bringing Iola and all her purchases home, Drew and Callie then packed Tiger’s trunk with Callie’s purchases (without Drew’s and Iola’s stuff, they fit easily).

Drew pulled up in front of Callie’s house. “Well, here we are,” Drew said. “Do you think Aunt Arlene’s home?”

“I don’t think so,” Callie replied. “Aunt Arlene is doing her friend Doris a favor and is covering her shift for the day.”

“Who’s Doris?”

“She’s the nurse that agreed to take on Aunt Arlene's shifts so that we can go on our Hawaii trip.”

“She must be an awfully close friend. Agreeing to cover her shifts for more than two weeks.”

“I guess, but everyone at the hospital got their shifts cut, so I’m thinking Doris is the one who feels grateful, cause she gets more duty time.”

“Ahhh.”

“Wanna help me bring my stuff in?”
“No prob.”

Callie got about a third of the stuff in garbage bags while Drew got the other two-thirds plus the stuff in boxes.

Laden with the bags, Callie struggled to open the door with her key and they went in. Callie dumped all her stuff on the couch, and asked Drew to do likewise. She went to the kitchen for a second and grabbed a couple of bottles of water.

“Here you go,” Callie handed Drew one of them.

“Thanks!”

They both sat down on the carpet by the coffee table and sighed. “Long day, huh?” Drew said.

“But fun.” They both giggled.

“That thing with Biff,” Callie said. “That was scary.”

“Well, yeah,” Drew replied, “until we knew it was Biff. After that, it was nothing – just another stupid thing from Phil and his buds.”

“I just couldn’t believe you Judo-chopping him. And twice, too!” Callie laughed. “Where’d you learn to do that?”

“Pop had me take self-defense classes. I’ll teach you sometime, if you want, although all I really know are basic self defense stuff.”

“Still, you are one bad-ass girl, Drew,” Callie laughed again. She imitated Drew’s voice. “’I’m gonna crash my car into your stupid-ass Camaro that looks like a banana,’” Callie quoted. “’and I’ll bash your head into the windshield!’”

The two of them laughed until they couldn’t breathe anymore. “Oh, Drew,” Callie said. “That was hysterical!”

“I couldn’t believe I was saying those words!” Drew said. “And listening to them now, they sound awfully lame. ‘Looks like a banana!’” They laughed some more.

“It was fun, actually. Although, at the time, I was scared out of my head.”

“Me, too,” Callie replied. “But, Drew...”

“Yeah, Honey?”

“I have to apologize. I was sorry for being so abrupt.”

“Ahhh, no need to apologize, Callie.”

“Really, I’m sorry. I... don’t know what came over me.”

“S’okay. It was nothing.”

“I guess I just didn’t like Biff stalking us... or stalking you, rather. He’s a creepy guy.”

“No more than the other guys in school. Except for the stalking thing, that is.”

“Yeah...”

Well!” Drew said over the growing awkward silence. “I got to get back to the house. Pop’s gonna be back home soon.”

“Okay.” Callie walked Drew to the door.

“And, Drew?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for the vouchers. I wouldn’t have been able to shop if it weren’t...”

“Hey, Pop wasn’t going to be using them. So it might as well have been us to use ‘em instead of them going to waste.”

“Still...”

“Ain’t no big thing, Callie. Really.” Drew stepped out the door.

“Okay.”

Impulsively, Callie leaned forward, threw her arms around Drew’s neck, and gave her a kiss on the lips. It wasn’t meant to be anything sexy since it was just a spur-of-the-moment thing, but it still was.

“Bye, my love,” Callie said and closed the door.

Callie...” Drew started to say, but the door was already closed.

Drew sighed and walked to her car. After getting in, she looked back. She sighed again and drove away.

From behind the curtains, Callie watched Drew pull away. She was kicking herself for kissing Drew. But Callie couldn’t help it. At least Drew didn’t slap her or anything like that. She had a feeling Drew liked it, although she couldn’t be sure about that.

Still, it didn’t hurt if she dreamed.

Callie’s infatuation with Drew was growing, and there will come a time when she, or Drew, would have to acknowledge it and do something about it. Still, it wasn’t that time yet.

Callie looked at the stuff she just bought, and took them out of the trash bags. She separated the three swimsuits Aunt Arlene asked her to get for her – two bikinis and a one-piece, a couple of cover-ups, several sundresses and a nice-looking pair of rubber thongs. Callie bought the same things, but she had more sundresses and swimsuits. She hoped her aunt would like what she picked for her, but was fairly confident that she would – she and her aunt had similar tastes, but she had modified it a little bit based on what she had learned from Drew. She felt her tastes had been... “upgraded” (She thought that word the most appropriate way to describe it).

Actually, during the shopping, she and Iola had been getting their cues from Drew, and patterned most of their selections after Drew’s. Callie didn’t say anything to Iola, of course, since she knew Iola prided herself on her clothes sense. Still, personally, between Iola and Drew, she thought Drew was by far the better dresser, actually. In fact, she actually thought Drew was the best dresser in her school.

Some of the other girls in school dismissed Drew as just one of those Richie Rich Manhattanite snobs, but only a few of them did. Most didn’t think she was like that. Most of them actually thought she was pretty nice and approachable, and that she only happened to have great taste. But everyone wondered why she and her dad moved to very déclassé Staten Island, much more to their school. Drew's dad could easily have enrolled her in one of those snooty private schools, but for Callie, she was just grateful that Drew ended up in Staten Island and her school, and that she was now one of Drew’s best friends.

But Callie wanted to be more than just a best friend. She sighed.

She looked at the stuff she just bought and wondered how Drew would think of them when she sees her wearing them in Hawaii. Sure it was meant for their vacation. But she made her selections more to catch Drew’s eye. She giggled and picked them all up to bring to her room.

- - - - -

Drew hit the button to bring down Tiger’s convertible top. The roll bar was still there though, but it didn’t bother her much anymore.

She thought of that kiss. Oh, wow.

Like Iola said, Callie was putting the moves on her. She wasn’t exactly a girl but she recognized the signs. The overnight was a big deal to her. Sure the Hawaii trip was their latest obsession, but with Callie in that nightie...

She drove up to their house, clicked the control to open the garage door, and parked.

She went into the living room just as their big grandfather clock tolled five PM. It was still a couple of hours before her dad came home so she had time to put all of her new stuff away. She even bought her dad a couple of vacation-type outfits and one golf outfit just in case. After she put them all away, she swept the house with the portable radio signal and nonlinear junction detectors, and the house checked out as clean.

But, as she thought of her “stalker” that morning, she got a couple of ideas.

She went around the house and reviewed the pictures from the lipstick surveillance cameras and found more than one stalker.

She easily found Biff in the video files, passing by the front of their house every couple of days, and there were two occasions when the cameras caught him peeking through the living room windows.

Other than that, there were a few other kids from school passing by their house. They (and Biff) would stand outside or park in front in his Dodge Charger, sometimes the Camaro, and as soon as Drew came out or pulled out of the garage, they’d quickly high-tail it out of there. For Biff, the cameras caught him driving past the house the most just as Drew drove away. He was obviously tailing her.

But there was one other guy, a kid Drew recognized from the Sophomore class. This kid was the most persistent of them, even more than Biff. He would hide in the bushes and would stick around, usually peeking through the windows late at night or early morning, and would leave when Drew left.

It was creepy, to say the least.

One of the more surprising ones was Sabrina, one of the new incoming cheerleaders. What Drew suspected before, that there were more people out there with a crush on her, was more-or-less confirmed.

Anyway, Drew resolved to ignore the ones who just pass by in front of the house, including Sabrina. Totally harmless. But she had to do something about that Sophomore kid.

Drama, drama, drama...

Other than the stalker-kids, there was nothing suspicious in the pictures. She initialized all the SD cards in the cameras and reset them (saving some of the pictures first, though). But it goes to show, she needed to review the footage from the cameras more regularly.

She sighed and picked up all the stuff she had bought for her dad and brought them to his room.

She didn’t buy much this time. If she bought more, she might make Callie and Iola feel bad. So all she bought were some swimsuits (All of them were one-piece suits – no two-piece ones. That earned her several “boos” from Callie and Iola when she got them, but these suits were the only kind that would work with her gaffs. Her friends didn’t know that, of course. All they knew was that Drew wasn’t as adventurous in her swimwear as she was with her other outfits). But, Iola had to admit, the suits Drew picked were awfully sexy on her. Still, Iola stuck to two-piece string bikinis and super-sexy monokinis herself.

Drew also bought cover-ups, sundresses, a couple of club outfits for when they go out, a couple of pumps for the club clothes, and a pair of rubber thongs, sunglasses and a large very-wide-brimmed Mexican sombrero-style sun hat for when they were at the beach lounging around and getting a tan.

She had to giggle. More than twenty separate pieces and yet she thought of this as “not much.” Par for the course for her new, skewed life.

Oh, well.

- - - to be continued - - -

 

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