Peggy The Great: Chapter 10

Peggy’s feet felt heavy as she walked down the cafeteria. At least the bruises from the Bliss Kicks had healed so that they weren’t stinging anymore, but now she didn’t even really care. All she could think about was how she was going to try and comfort her friend about what had happened to her mother. She wasn’t sure how bad the car crash was, or if her mother was well enough to return home yet, but she knew that deep down inside she was responsible for all this.

But she could in no way let Riley know that. Still, it was hard to hide such a big thing from someone you love. It only made the whole affair that much worse. Even though she wasn’t directly involved in it, it was as if Peggy had unintentionally ordered a mob hit on someone. She wasn’t sure whether to be more mad at Dr. Good for not understanding her or mad at herself for not thinking ahead. She should have known that the Doctor had a knack for listening to Peggy’s complaints and then seeking out and destroying the source of the problem like a killer robot sent from some dystopian future. But the young girl wouldn’t have known anyway: she wasn’t used to people listening to her.

She slowly made her way to the doors that lead to the courtyard. It would be where her three friends were. The image of Susan and Quinn both holding and consoling a weeping Riley appeared in Peggy’s head, and she knew that that was what she would see the second she stepped through those doors. She hadn’t even gotten food from the lunch lines, but then again she didn’t feel hungry anyway. Despite her guilt, Peggy knew that if she didn’t try to help Riley in her time of need, what kind of friend would she be then? So she sucked in her fear and pushed through the doors, into the warm sunlight.

The first thing she heard was laughter, and oddly enough it sounded like it was resonating from her table in the far corner. That’s when she saw Riley howling with laughter as she sat next to a smiling Quinn and Susan. Peggy tilted her head in confusion. That didn’t seem right for some reason. Last night Riley nearly burst into tears just from hearing that her mother was in trouble. But now she was laughing without any restraint like everything was fine. Maybe she was just good at hiding her feelings, Peggy thought.

Riley caught sight of Peggy and waved her over. “Peggy! Come here!” She called out. The Sophomore didn’t want to move: her guilty conscious glued her to the ground. But she also didn’t want to disobey Riley so she quickly made her way over. “Y-Yes, Riley?” She asked as she approached the table.

“Oh, man, Peggy. You should have heard this joke that Quinn told me just now. It’s like there was a man and a goat, and...no wait. It was two goats. Or was it two men?  But anyway, they were on a mountain that had a gas station....no wait, a tire store. And then they...they...you know what, you should let Quinn tell it. I’m not a good joke teller. It was a real good one though.” She said, giving Peggy her brightest smile. It warmed the young girl’s heart to see her best friend so happy. She took a seat next to her on the bench.

Riley and Susan chatted about something, but Peggy was still troubled by her thoughts. She felt like she needed to say something, especially if Riley was hiding her feelings. Though it was awkward to bring it up just as she was in the middle of enjoying lunch, she also felt like it was her duty as a friend to try and sooth that which was upsetting Riley. So she spoke up, trying to get her attention. “Uh...Riley?”  

Riley looked down at Peggy. “Yeah, Peg? What’s up?”

Peggy wasn’t sure how to segue into her thoughts, so she just came out with it. “I’m...sorry about what happened last night. I know it must have been tough to hear what happened to your mother. Is she...okay? The wreck wasn’t too bad...right?” She asked timidly.

Riley stared at her in silence for a moment. Then, she burst out laughing again. Okay, that wasn’t the expected response, Peggy thought to herself. It only confused her more. Finally, Riley calmed down enough to address Peggy’s concern.

“Sorry, Peggy, I forgot to text you. But my mom wasn’t really in a wreck.” Riley said.

“Wait...what? Really?” Peggy asked.

“Nope! It was a whole mix-up. Turns out, another woman had crashed with a similar name, and they sent Officer Goodlight to come and get me. But when I arrived, they quickly found out that not only was I not related to the woman, but they had accidentally pulled up a record from years ago! That woman wasn’t even in the hospital anymore. I was relieved though: my mother was still at home watching her soaps! You should have seen me the second the Officer dropped me off at my house. You couldn’t have seen a more dramatic reunion than if you had watched the best TV drama ever made.” Riley said.

“Huh...you’d think that they wouldn’t mess something that big up. Typical hospitals.” Susan muttered.

At first, Peggy was overjoyed. Then she reanalyzed what Riley said and noticed something peculiar. “Wait...what was the Officer’s name?” she asked.

“Oh, uh...Officer Harry Goodlight. He was such a nice guy though. Strange: he didn’t strike me as being a police officer. I’m not sure what made me feel that way about him. But he had a badge and a cop car and everything so I’m not going to challenge his credentials.” She said.

But I might, Peggy thought. It didn’t take a mathematician to put two and two together to solve this puzzle. Dr. Good was involved alright, and he even took the time to toss in a little clue just for Peggy to find later. Goodlight: Good, as in Dr. Good, and Light, as in the Light. He even found an officer who’s name was Harry, like their current principal. She had to give the Doctor credit: He was a creative one. It wasn’t enough to put together some convoluted scheme, but to also toss in an inside joke or two.

Even still, Peggy was so relieved that Riley’s mother hadn’t gotten hurt. It made her re-evaluate her mentor’s methods. Though it seems that killing someone may be the easiest thing in the world to him, Dr. Good seemed to avoid doing so often. He hadn’t killed off Dr. Barnabus, and he hadn’t harmed Riley’s mother either. But the Harmony Factory Incident was still up for debate, and she felt like she’d have to confront him on that eventually.

Riley went on talking to Quinn and Susan, and lunch continued as usual. Peggy began to relax, feeling satisfied with the closure of the problem. But just as she was starting to feel happy again, Riley turned to her and spoke again. “Hey, speaking of what happened last night, I thought about what your mother said. She really doesn’t want you dating Fawkes, huh?” She asked.

Peggy shook her head. “No. She doesn’t.”

“Well, I have the solution. From now on, we just won’t tell your mother that you’re dating Fawkes. She’ll still come over, but just as a friend and a study partner. I’ll even stop by some time to sit down and talk to your mother about you breaking up with Fawkes. You’ll have to keep a secret, but I’m sure it’ll be fine with you.” She said, gently patting Peggy on the shoulder.

Peggy’s entire mind just shut down. It was as if the whole affair of last night was completely pointless, save for her near heart attack after overthinking the situation regarding Dr. Good and Riley’s mother. Even with that huge fight, Peggy was still going to be dating Fawkes. That meant that Fawkes would be back at her house, and just that thought alone made Peggy sick to her stomach.

The bell rang, announcing the end of lunch. The three other girls immediately stood up and began walking away. “See you tomorrow, Peggy!” Riley said as she pushed through the doors. Peggy couldn’t move though: she was still just so bummed out by the whole thing. But as the courtyard began to thin out of students, she knew she had to get out and get moving. History class was her next subject, and she couldn’t be late otherwise she might get locked out of class. So she sluggishly picked up her backpack and walked back into the building.

She found her way to her locker not far from the class. She was probably going to need her history textbook, so quickly she undid the padlock and swung the door of the locker open. The locker stopped short, followed by a loud thump that made Peggy jump. Her eyes shot over to see that she had accidentally hit someone right in the face with the door of her locker, and he had staggered back and was now covering his face and moaning angrily.

The Sophomore yelped. “Sorry! I’m so sorry!” She spouted out. She took a few steps towards the man with her hands held out, ready to help comfort him. But when he removed his hands from his face, Peggy found herself suddenly frozen stiff as she stared into a pair of all too familiar eyes. In her initial shock, she hadn’t noticed that the man she accidentally hit with her locker was Randal.

In turn, she herself took a few steps back. He straightened out, towering above her as he stared down at her. He growled like a dog, his shiny white canine’s exposed. Peggy suddenly found her in practically the same situation she had each time she encountered this strange man. He lowered himself so that his face was eye-level with her own. “What the hell was that for, you bitch!?” He bellowed, giving Peggy a whiff of his rancid breath.

She began to shiver, backing up against the locker as he stared her down. “I’m sorry...I’m so sorry...” She murmured pitifully.

He only took a step closer to her, cutting off any escape route. Peggy knew that this was the worse place for her to be right now, but she couldn’t get out of it. “No, you’re not getting away this time, bitch. Every time I see you, you just dare me to gut you with my bare hands. You got a problem with me?” He asked, spitting his words through his clenched teeth.

There were other people standing in the hall as well, but when they say Randal standing over Peggy like that, they figured that now was a good time for class. The hallways quickly emptied out: people making an attempt to avoid eye contact with either Randal or Peggy. The Shadow Man didn’t seemed to notice. He just stood there, blocking her off. He pressed his big, callused index finger against Peggy’s chest, putting enough pressure to pop an acorn right on her sternum. “I’m tired of you, bitch. Tired of your face, tired of your crap, tired of all of it. It’s about time that someone put you in your place.” He muttered just above a whisper, but with the kind of intensity that was normally used by murderers.

Peggy looked around frantically: expecting someone to be there. Her mother, Riley, George, even Fawkes would have been great to see. Not for the first time, Peggy truly felt in danger, but like always, she didn’t know what to do. All she could do was stand there, back pressed against the cold steel, shivering violently, and quietly say “I’m...I’m sorry...”

Out of nowhere, Randal’s face muscles relaxed. Without another word, he took a step back and let Peggy get some breathing room. This confused her, but she was relieved for the breathing space. When she looked up at his face, however, she saw that he was looking around cautiously, scanning the hallway. She did as well out of curiosity. The whole hall was empty; not another soul but her and the Shadow Man. The Sprint bell hadn’t even rung yet.

Peggy looked back up at Randal and just in time to see his hand in mid swing. She felt the full strength of his slap hit her directly in the cheek, and the vibrations shot through her whole tender frame. She collapsed to the ground, covering her left cheek with both hands as tears came streaming down her cheeks. It had felt like someone had hit her with a hammer: not just her cheek but that entire side of her jaw burned with the ferocity of a forest fire. Her weeping turned to full on sobbing, and she closed her eyes and lowered her head, completely enveloped in the pain.
Randal stood there silently for a moment. Then he quietly muttered “That was just a warning. If I see you again, I’ll kill you” before walking off.

Peggy was left alone in the hall to sit there as she wept. Nobody came to help her.

No one.