𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐘 • Neil Perry

Chapter 8

EVELYN stared up at Chet's house with her heart in her throat and her pride in her hands. But just as she walked towards the front door upon leaving her bicycle against the fence, a boy with a bloodied nose and a tie rugged and loose around his neck marched out of the house. He had a napkin to his face, trying to lighten the damage, but somehow it made it look worse.

And it was the injury and the shirt and tie underneath the long hooded coat with the red on the inside of hood that all corroborated an assumption she instinctually made. Neil has that coat—or at the very least, something that looks exactly like it. Thus, he has to be the Welton boy; Neil's friend and Ginny's new potential.

So, she tested her theory.

"Knox?"

He stopped steps across the driveway and found her eye, confirming her silent suspicion. "Do I know you?"

She could tell he didn't mean it insultingly because he didn't sound remotely obnoxious. But instead he seemed confused and nerved more so than anything else. It was like her interruption was the straw that broke the camel's back.

"No," Evelyn uttered softly. "I'm Evelyn."

"Right," Knox recalled. "Neil said you'd be here."

Evelyn held down the smile that threatened to break the surface at the mention of Neil talking about her and diverted her concern to the matter at hand. "Is your nose okay?"

Knox pulled away the napkin and looked at the red decorating it. "I think it might be broken actually."

"Do you want me to look at it?" Evelyn offered.

"No, it's okay," he assured. "I'm just going to get back to Welton or find the nearest hole and hide myself in it forever."

Evelyn parted her lips. She didn't know what there was to say other than a simple and indifferent, "Okay." But then she couldn't shake her curiosity. "Actually, did you happen to tell Chris about... you know?"

"You mean did I tell Chris that her boyfriend's a no good two-timing sleaze?" Knox remarked unapologetically, throwing Evelyn off guard. "It didn't come up, no."

"Then how did the nose thing happen?" she wondered.

"By being prone to nosebleeds and having my ass handed to me apparently."

Evelyn's eyebrows pushed together. She couldn't tell if he was always this frank about things or just partially under the influence, but it felt wrong to leave him in this state in the middle of the night. "Are you sure you're alright to get back?"

"Yeah, it's just my nose," Knox assured, although Evelyn thought she detected minor traces of sarcasm. "But thank you for the concern."

"Sure," she responded disconcertedly.

"Are you going to tell her?"

"That's the plan, yeah."

"Good luck," he said sceptically, and headed on his way.

Her eyes followed him to a bicycle that he mounted, before she finally decided to swallow down her nerves and do the deed. She couldn't let the only thing she came to do fall through her feet like it fell through Knox's. She wouldn't. Her only hope was that less blood would be involved.

Once Evelyn stepped inside, things seemed lively for the most part. She watched a boy in a Ridgeway letterman jacket and a girl with dark-hair lock themselves in what Evelyn could only assume was either a closet or a restroom.

But in spite of the mostly empty foyer, the rest of the house bustled with doo-wop music and chatter. Beyond an archway she spotted a dining table surrounded by girls, and in a fashion that couldn't have been more timely, Ginny exited the room from around a corner. Her purposeful stride fell short once she spotted Evelyn and her face ignited with a glistening grin.

"You're here!" She pulled Evelyn into her arms, but then she sharply let go, becoming much more sombre. "You just missed it. Chris was getting felt over by the boy from Welton she invited—you know the one I was telling you about—and Chet went up-the-wall crazy."

"God," Evelyn winced. "Where is she now?"

"Upstairs," Ginny nodded towards the staircase. "They're having it out I think. But don't mind that. I want to introduce you to some of the Ridgeway kids."

Where Ginny had already angled her body towards the dining room, Evelyn said, "Can I join you in a minute? My bladder's about to explode."

"Course! The toilet on this floor is a little occupied by Milly and Jonathan at the moment—again, Ridgeway kids you've gotta meet. But just head to the one up the stairs and two doors down the right."

"Thanks."

Then, in no time at all, Evelyn raced up the stairs and straight to Chet's room. Had she not known where it was, she would have found it just fine by following the sound of his voice yelling back and forth with a deeply emotion girl.

And given his aggressive and unrelenting tone, Evelyn didn't give him the courtesy of knocking first. She just twisted the handle and barged inside where Chet stood toweringly in his letterman jacket and a blonde—Evelyn could only assume to be Chris—frowned as tears wet her rosy face.

Chet's face contorted with his anger. "What are you doing here?"

Chris quickly turned away to hide what she had already exposed and wiped at her face with the back of her hand.

"Are you okay?" Evelyn asked her.

"She's fine," said Chet.

"I wasn't talking to you," Evelyn stated steadily without pulling her eyes away from the head of blonde hair facing her. Then she repeated herself. "Chris, are you okay?"

"Don't say her name," Chet demanded as he grew red-hot with rage. "I said she's fine, so get lost."

Evelyn turned her head to him that time. "Don't speak to me like that," she asserted unwaveringly.

"I'll speak to you however I damn well choose under my own roof. If you don't like it, scram."

Evelyn scoffed at his attempts at being demanding and menacing. She had seen him under so many lights, even the worst of them: the teary-eyed, the vulnerable, the passionate. This beast he tried to mask himself as was about as menacing as a child in a halloween costume.

So, without moving a muscle, her eyes shifted back to Chris' blonde hair. "He's cheating on you. I just thought you should know."

"What are you talking about?" Chet continued.

"He has been for months. I'm friends with Ginny and that's how I find out about you. She doesn't know anything about me and him."

"Okay," Chet took steps forward. "That's it. Get out."

Evelyn didn't move a muscle. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

"Are you deaf?" Chet roared. "Get your lying ass out of my house!" But the moment he tried to pounce his way towards her with his hands gripping to push her out of his room and down the stairs himself, she took a step back and edged her body away from him.

"Don't touch me," she said collectedly. "I'm going."

Her eyes flickered to Chris who had been stood the very same way. But it wasn't until Evelyn turned around, walked out and Chet had slammed the door behind her, that Chris' shoulders flinched.