Under the Surface

Chapter 19: Stella

Stella was busy serving her fancy mini burgers to some of her daughters classmates she didn't realize that her husband was walking up to the food area with her son, JJ. He had the day off work and collected JJ from soccor practice and JJ, being thirteen wanted to swing by here to go on all the rides, even though it was strictly for Danielle's grade, however Stella being head of the PTA could wiggle around the rules sometimes. "Hey! How was practice?" She smiled to JJ, whose legs were full of muddy stains as he approached her at the table. "It was good! Imma go on the ferris wheel and when I get to the top I'm gonna try and rock it as fast as possible!" he replied excitedly before running off before she could say "be careful!". Martin laughed at his son being a typical boy before saying "hi," to his wife. "Hi," she replied, blankly. She hoped he listened, I mean really listened and took in what she said to him the other night about how he needs to work harder at their marriage. It was just a blip, and people can easily move out of blips. It'll be fine. "So he managed to break you down huh?" she questioned as she handed out a mini burger to a freckled face boy bouncing up and down, eagerly waiting for one. "Yeah, he kept going on about it in the car and I felt bad so I said we'd swing by for a few minutes." he replied, grabbing a mini burger for himself. She let out a small exhale as a laugh. He always did this. This man always had an appetite and no matter what time of the day it is he could eat any type of food. I'm not kidding, one time she saw him eating left over chicken curry for breakfast...chicken curry! He never gained any weight from this habit as he works out in the gym a good few times a week. As they engaged in small talk Stella could see Liane Goldman who was working in the cloak room approach her and Martin. Oh god, she said under her breath, loud enough for Martin to hear and give her a confused look. "Stells! The mini burgers are just the cutest!" she implied, before helping herself to one. "Aw it's the Lawrence's!" she beamed when she noticed Martin standing by Stella. Why is she so obsessed with 'the Lawrences'? "Martin, you're looking well!" she continued, mouth full of mini burger as she held her hand up to cover her mouth, however it didn't mask her muffled voice. "Thanks..." he replied. Stella knew him well enough by now to know that he always said "thanks..." when he wasn't quite sure who the person he was talking to was. She decided to input to help her husband, see that's what a nice and caring wife would do. "You know Liane Goldman? She's on the PTA with me?" fake smiled Stella to her husband who then got the realization that this was Liane Goldman, that Liane Goldman, who his wife would always complain and talk about during their dinners. "Liane! Of course! How are you?" he said to her, handing out his hand for her to shake. She knew that her husband was grateful for her helping him out, there's nothing worse than awkward encounters. "I'm good, I'm good. So, what do you think of all your wife's work?" she beamed, turning around and using her hands to showcase the pitch full of carnival, as if he somehow missed it and hadn't achknowledged it already. "Ah, you know I think she's great," he smiled as he gave a side eye to Stella, who stood there watching their encounter. You know I think she's great? Was that his first step in him trying to try harder at their marriage? Did he really mean it or was he just saying it because he couldn't exactly say to Liane Goldman that she's an annoying, workaholic stress ball that drives me mad with her perfectionist ways. Stella gave him a small smile. "You both are just the cutest! Oh...yum, I forgot about the punch! All that ticketing and hanging up coats and bag sure has got me thirsty," she said as she helped herself to a big cup of punch and swallowed it whole. "Oh. Wow, that's nice...it's got a bit of a kick to it but it's very...hmmm, exotic!" she continued as she helped herself to another glass full. "What flavour is it Stella?" she questioned, sipping away. "It's mango, pineapple and passion fruit," Stella answered as she unboxed another container full of fresh burger buns she made this morning. "Mmm, yum. Well, I'll talk to you two later!" she waved as she finally waddled off back to her assigned job, glass full of punch in hand. "Wow, the punch seems to be a big hit," said Martin, as he watched teenager after teenager line up to take some. "I guess," she smiled, and continued, "people have been coming to it all morning.". 

It was 12:45 am, the carnival was almost half way through as it ended at 2pm. Stella was pleased with how the food had turned out, especially the punch! Who knew punch could be so popular? Everyone seemed in a fantastic mood too, so happy and giddy. Maybe carnivals brought out the best in people, who would have known! She decided to sit down and take a break as she had been on her feet all day. She couldn't help but get distracted by a loud "wooooo" she heard coming from the cloak room. Much to her surprise she saw Liane Goldman strut out, a bit wobbly and turned the song on the loud speakers to September by Earth, Wind and Fire and took her hair down from her high, tight and perfect bun and shook it all around. What is happening?  She was attracting a fair amount of people who began to laugh and point at this crazy woman dancing around by herself. "What? What's wrong with her?" giggled Stella to Margaret who also watched on in amazement. "I have no clue. She looks like she's drunk!" exclaimed Margaret, as she bit into a hot dog, eyes straight at Liane trying, and desperately failing to do the moon walk. When did she become barefoot?  "Oh no!" pointed Margaret to Lauren Sander's who was bent over and puking all over the grass. Stella quickly ran over to her. "Lauren, are you alright?" she questioned, worryingly as she helped her over to the bench. "I'm just, so dizzy. I just puked, I don't know," she replied as she put her head between her knees. "I think I drank too much punch," she added. "Oh, you didn't like it? Did you not think it tasted good?" questioned Stella, before realising that it's not the main issue at the moment whether the punch tasted good or not, it's about Lauren feeling sick. "Let me call your mother, okay?" added Stella as she took out her iPhone and looked up Alice in her phone. As she dialled she saw two of Danielle's classmates making out on the grass, as if they were at some sleazy nightclub. What is happening?!?!

The pitch was starting to slowly to become more empty as it came to 2 o'clock and people began to leave. Mr.Brown, the principle of Levell High was walking up to Stella where herself and her team were packing up their food table. Mr. Brown was in his mid fifties and was a chubby man, nonetheless he was a nice, chubby man. "Stella, may I talk to you for a minute?" he questioned, as he brought her over away from the table. "What exactly was in your punch?" he asked, quite sternly. She was taken a little aback, why is he acting so serious asking me for my punch recipe, it's no big deal it's not like it's a family secret or something. "Oh, well mango, pineapple and passion fruit juice and.." she continued before he interrupted with "alcohol?". "What!?" she gasped. "People got drunk off this punch Stella, and you were the one who made it," he said. "Drunk? No way! It's not possible to get drunk off juices of fruit!" she replied, sassily folding her arms because she knew she was right. "Did you not see Liane Goldman? She was off her face, definitely drunk and I saw and have heard about multiple students who were either tipsy or drunk," he lectured. "Wait, are you implying that I put alcohol in the punch. The punch that is getting served to sixteen year olds?" she said, anger creeping into her voice at what he was accusing her of. "Look, I didn't want to bring this up as everyone has personal issues going on in their lives but I heard from a fellow Levell High mother that she saw you the other day at the side of the road with a police officer breathing into a breathalyser," he sighed. Oh...my....GOD. "No, no that was a misunderstanding and I had only a glass and a half of wine. You see I came home and completely forgot about collecting my kids from school...that sounds bad, like I'm a terrible mother, I'm not, I swear to you. I was having quite a bad day and started cooking and had an innocent glass of wine, as everyone does and then looked at the clock and realised that I had forgotten about collecting them. I was fine, I wasn't drunk, or tipsy, wasn't even bordering on tipsy I was totally normal! The problem was more about me running a stop sign, not because I had a tiny little bit of alcohol in my system," she exclaimed, almost forgetting to breathe. "Even still, how did the alcohol end up in the punch?" he questioned, a sympathetic look appearing on his face all of a sudden. "I have no clue! I really don't...do you think maybe someone put it in? Like, spiked it or something?" she questioned, biting her perfectly manicured nails due to her nervousness. "It's very strange, I'll tell you that. That's a possibility, but I like to believe that these kids have a brain in their heads and wouldn't be stupid and immature enough to do something like that. Don't worry, we have security footage even out here so if that is what happened we will be able to find out who was responsible and rest assured it will get taken care of," he said, placing a sympathy hand on her arm to comfort her. She sighed, "okay, well I'd appreciate you finding out soon. That's not right!" she frowned.