Mission (Ezzy's Education: Part 25), by Garrett Murch
Trunk Langston thundered halfway down the homecoming party cabin’s back porch stairs, stopped, and looked down on Kayla Jennings standing outside. “Don’t you run away from me!” He held his water bottle in the air like Lady Liberty holding her torch.
“You’re a complete buffoon, you know that?” Kayla said, glaring up at him. “I didn’t sit out one second of our field hockey game today and I’m exhausted. The last thing I want to do is listen to more of your moronic drivel.”
Although wearing a mask, Verica kept her head down, fearful she could be seen. How am I going to pull this off?
“Kayla,” Trunk said. “Darling Kayla. Why do you say such mean things? You know Trunk loves you.”
“You are literally the most repugnant person I have ever known.”
“More repugnant than Lucinda Barron? I say not!” Trunk stomped down the remaining stairs. He set his water bottle on one of them.
“Is that all you’ve got?” Kayla asked. “We all get it: Lucinda sucks. Why don’t you look at yourself in the goddamn mirror. You suck, too. Tell me one reason I should vote for you and not just against Lucinda. One damn reason!”
Trunk’s closed mouth arched like a rainbow. He shifted his lips to one side of his face and then the other before opening his mouth like he wanted to look like a beaver. He pointed at Kayla and said, “You. You’re Kayla.” He clenched his fists. “You look so beautiful tonight. My homecoming queen.”
“Don’t try to flatter me. And I’m sure as hell not yours.”
“Really, you do. Blue is a great color for you. It brings out, uh, your eyebrows.”
“The woman at the salon did that. She could help you with yours.” Kayla yawned.
“Now Kayla,” Trunk replied. “You shouldn’t make fun of people’s physical attributes. They have no control over them.” He attempted to tuck in his pea-green, collared shirt that was already tucked in. A section of his hair fell over his forehead.
“Like when you made fun of Luci Lipps for having a congenital joint condition that restricts her arm movement?”
“I didn’t know she had that. She was new at school. I didn’t know her.”
“You did know her. She wasn’t new anymore, and you had already done an interview with her for her new blog after you claimed Lucinda was an alien. I watched the video of it. Practically everyone at school did. In the interview you said if Lucinda couldn’t prove she was not an alien, then she definitely was. Remember that? That’s what you told Luci Lipps—on video.”
Trunk took a long swig of water. “I don’t remember that.” He pushed the section of hair that laid over his forehead back into the dirty blonde cloud above it.
Verica, still not moving, held back a gasp. Don’t drink it all!
“Right,” Kayla said. “Look, are you going to answer my question or not?”
“What’s your question again? Are you still saying I need to give evidence of Lucinda’s ballot manipulation scheme? That would not be very patriotic, Kayla.”
“No. I’m asking, why are you worthy of being president?”
“You really want to know?”
“Yes!”
“Really really?”
Kayla stared into Trunk’s dark eyes. She did not answer him. Her strong legs and arms tightened.
“Well guess what?” Trunk asked.
“What.”
“I’m going to tell you. Soon as I get back from taking a piss in the woods. Hold on, darling. You look beautiful.” In a few seconds, Trunk had disappeared into the woods.
Verica breathed a silent sigh of relief when Trunk had not walked toward her. C’mon, Kayla. Run. Get out of there while you can. So I can do my job!
Kayla hollered at the woods, “I’m going to use the bathroom inside. If I come back, you had better answer my question. And if you don’t, I’m going to vote for Lucinda!” “Bad guy” by Billie Eilish filled the woodsy air when Kayla opened the cabin door and danced herself inside.
Verica looked all around. This is it. My chance. She scurried out of the woods as quietly as she could manage. Each time she crunched a dry, dead leaf, her heart rate jumped. Must. Do. It. I will go to a good college. She reached Trunk’s water bottle on the stairs and reached into her pocket, securing the forget-me pill in her fingers. She looked around again. No one. She dropped the pill into the bottle.
Hustling back to the woods, Verica heard a voice. “Hey there, what you doin’?” She couldn’t breathe. She looked back. Trendon Bravissimo! No!
Trendon stumbled toward Verica, his head leaning forward, backward, upright. Verica fled into the woods. Not good. But he’s drunk, so he might not remember. No way he could tell it was me. She took several more steps away and nestled back into her hiding spot. She watched. All right Trunk, your turn. Come drink from your stupid bottle, you big baby.
Kayla returned before Trunk. Yes! Verica wanted to text Lucinda to tell her the homecoming queen was going to witness Trunk all messed up. Kayla will think he was sneaking alcohol in the woods. He’s such a hypocrite; he says he never drinks or does drugs. Now we know that was all a big lie! She realized she was learning how to warp reality like her mentor, Lucinda. It’s not so hard, and it’s kind of fun!
”Kayla!” Trendon yelled, tripping over himself as he walked toward her, nearly falling. “Did you see that person in the woods? A little person wearing camo and a mask. Ran up there!” He slurred and wobbled as he pointed.
Verica ducked her head. He’s pointing right at me. They can’t see me. There’s no way.
Kayla looked up into the woods. “How much have you had to drink, Trendon? Trunk’s not wearing camo. Plus, he didn’t even go that way.”
Trendon looked at Kayla, wobbled left, wobbled right, and collapsed onto the ground. Beer splashed onto his unconscious face after the can landed. Some of it dripped down his cheek and into his open mouth on the ground.
“Trunk!” Kayla yelled. “Where the hell are you? Trendon just passed out! I think he may have taken drugs. He was seeing things.” She looked at her phone. She looked at Trunk’s water bottle. She looked around. “Screw it, I’m too thirsty.” She seized Trunk’s water bottle and with several powerful gulps, she finished it off.
Kayla set the bottle back on the stairs. She looked into the woods after Verica slipped while standing herself up.
Verica froze. No! Kayla! Why did you? How did this? I can’t believe—Trunk emerged from the woods. Verica remained frozen.
“Believe me, Kayla,” Trunk said, “you’re gonna love me after I tell you this.”
“What the hell were you doing?” Kayla asked.
“We’re going to make you a Trunk supporter.”
“We?” Kayla asked in a voice that sounded tired, a voice that gave Verica chills. “Trunk,” Kayla said, “I don’t have time for your nonsense. Are you going to tell me why I should vote for you?”
“We’re going to take care of people like you,” Trunk said. “You will never do better than under Trunk.” Five feet from Kayla, he puckered his lips.
“People like me? What does that even mean?”
“You know exactly what I mean.”
“Actually I don’t, Trunk. Do you mean all Black people? Homecoming queens? Field hockey players? Honors students? Teenagers? People disgusted by you?” Kayla grabbed the side of the porch stairs. She leaned on them. “Oh, my, I don’t feel right. Whew.”
“You had it right the first time, dearest Kayla. The Blacks will do so well with Trunk. So well. You will come to love your Trunk.” He stepped toward her. “Lucinda doesn’t love the Blacks like Trunk does.”
“Get away from me, you sick creep.” Kayla tried to scream but her voice made little noise. She wobbled, much as Trendon had minutes earlier. Her knees bent and she fell to the ground.
“Kayla!” Trunk yelled. Kayla was unconscious. In a few seconds, he was standing over her. “Trunk!” Sheila Bernhart yelled from the porch. “What’s going on out here?” She saw Kayla, cheek flush to the ground, homecoming sash streaked with dirt and pushed against her chin. “What happened? What did you do?”
Verica bolted, running where possible, crunching leaves and snapping dead branches on the ground. I’m done for. They must hear me now.
A hundred yards into her escape attempt, Verica stopped and pulled out her phone. “Please pick me up immediately.” She texted Lucinda. She ran until she reached the grassy edge of the dirt road where Lucinda had dropped her off. She laid on her stomach in the grass.
Lucinda’s Prius soon made a slow approach with only its parking lights on. Verica jumped into the road and waved.
“You look like a ghost,” Lucinda said. “Get in.” Verica got in.
“I-I got it in there but—”
“But what, Verica?” Lucinda turned the headlights on as they continued down the road.
“But Trunk didn’t drink it.”
“How do you know? Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Because Kayla Jennings did.”
The silence that ensued seemed an eternity to Verica.
“You saw this?” Lucinda asked. She sped up their getaway car.
“I did.”
“Did you see what happened after?”
“I did.”
“And?”
“Kayla passed out.” Verica struggled to catch her breath.
“Well, that was unexpected,” Lucinda replied. She sped up even more. “And then what?”
How is Lucinda not freaked out? “I don’t know. I started to run off after she drank it. Then I figured I better watch and see what happened. She was talking to Trunk. When she fell, I panicked and ran all the way to the road.” Verica looked at a silent Lucinda. What is she thinking?
“There’s no need to panic right now,” Lucinda said. “No one saw you, right?”
“I don’t think so.” That’s not exactly true, but I don’t think Trendon counts. No need to mention that right now.
“Good. Hold on, I’m going to send a voice text to the girls.” Lucinda tapped her phone and said, “Let’s see what Trunk is up to now. Dizzy has the lead. Send.”
“You’re sending them in now? It must be chaos!”
“Exactly, Gunstling. I was alarmed for a few seconds when you first told me what happened. But I quickly realized this all may have worked out better than I ever imagined.”
“Are you serious? Kayla passed out on the ground because I-I drugged her!”
“Verrrica. Verrrica. Calm down. Calm down. Kayla will be fine. She’s only about eighty pounds lighter than Trunk; it’s not like she’s a toddler. Can you believe Trunk Langston tried to date rape her?”
“But he—”
”The proverbial lord works in mysterious ways, Verica. Trunk Langston must now be removed from the ballot for what he has done. He has attempted to rape a beloved, innocent classmate! A person of color, no less. Can you believe it? Our worst fears of toxic masculinity, fueled by the violent game of football, have sadly become a reality. We will be monitoring developments of this entirely preventable tragedy on InstaTok at my house. We’ll also get updates from the girls. I will prepare a statement for Luci Lipps. You can spend the night, right?”
I didn’t sign up for this! I’m trapped. “I guess so.”
“Don’t go wobbly on me now, Verica. Victory is at hand. And you played a leading role.”
Verica rolled down the window as they sped along. I think I’m going to be sick.