TIME & TIED: AWARENESS

ARC 1.3 - Of Her Impact

PART 17b: OBSERVER EFFECT 2

"I've heard that Corry’s been trying to start up some little ensemble band at school,” Carrie prompted.

"Oh, good golly, yes!" Laurie said, now nodding eagerly. “Of course he's already in the regular band and the choir too but you obviously don't get to sing in the band or play in the choir, so he was thinking of trying to get some people interested in a small ensemble but there hasn't been enough interest yet or not enough for Mrs. Willis to shell out any money for music, besides my brother can only play flute and keyboards so he obviously can't be a one man band which is sort of a shame because I think it's a really great idea, don't you?"

Carrie would swear that, despite a semblance of commas, Laurie had never taken a breath through all that. The blonde stopped biting her tongue long enough to speak up again.

"Indeed. In fact, we're having a dance tonight, right? Corry could take the opportunity to generate more interest in his ensemble by gracing all of us with a number or two."

Laurie blinked. "Huh? I don't follow."

Carrie mentally added another checkmark next to the times she’d felt like physically smacking someone, but was able to resist. Fortunately, only a few choice people tended to bother her to that degree.

”If Corry were to sing a few songs at the dance," Carrie explained patiently, "It might get others interested in joining a small ensemble with him. Right?"

"Oh!" Laurie seemed to reflect on that. "That's a pretty good idea,” she decided.

"Yes," Carrie concluded, leaning back in her seat with a sigh. "I thought so." Julie had thought so too, being the one to propose this plan.

Julie had indicated that if Corry pulled off his whole ensemble thing, he would probably be too busy to bother her. Plus it would take attention away from the teddy bear rumours now circulating. That last seemed a bit optimistic, but Julie always seemed to know what she was doing, so Carrie wasn't about to start second guessing now.

"I think I'll mention that to my brother," Laurie added brightly.

"You do that," Carrie indicated.

"You're all right, you know that?" Laurie continued. "I mean, sure, things got off to a rocky start between us and some people around the school say nasty things, but golly, stories like that always get blown out of proportion, plus lots of the people are Corry's friends so they only say mean things about you because you hang around with Julie so you can't totally believe them. What I mean to say is I always knew that deep down you were an okay gal and I just want to say again I'm really pleased that you're letting me sit next to you here, don't think that I'm unaware of the honour involved!"

"Laurie..."

"Yes, Captain?"

"PLEASE stop babbling," Carrie said, flexing her hands in restraint.

"Golly, sorry again, you’re right, I’ll do that, definitely I will, you just watch me now, here I go," she affirmed, reaching once more for the hem of her skirt.

Carrie found herself praying that they would manage the rest of the trip home without further outbursts. 'I think Julie owes me for this favour,' she reflected. 'She reeeeeeeally owes me for this one.'

***

The dart flew through the air, striking Julie between the eyes. Or that's where it hit in Corry's mind anyway, as he'd mentally projected her smirking face onto the dart board.

“What. Is. Your. Deal?” he muttered for what felt like the thousandth time since their first encounter. He reached up to brush some of his shoulder-length red hair back off his ear. He preferred to keep it the same length and style as his sister - not because of any real concession to them being twins, so much as the occasional confusion (and amusement) it afforded him when one of them was viewed from behind.

He could still remember the time last year when that football player had been incessantly hitting on Laurie. No one did that to his sister. So, Corry had given the guy the opportunity to corner her for a date - only to discover in the moment that he'd cornered Corry instead.

Corry smiled. He had engineered that flawlessly, and the expression on the guy's face when he'd discovered the switch had been priceless. The date hadn't been bad either, if you liked that sort of thing. Not that Corry swung that way, but a deal was a deal - he hadn’t let the guy squirm his way out of the invitation.

If only Julie was as easy to manipulate.

Julie. Corry flung another dart at the board. The girl who required that everything work out HER way. Such arrogance! Of course, the real annoying thing was how Corry rather preferred to have things go HIS way. But not all the time, like her. Only half the time. Maybe up to three quarters of the time. Then occasionally 90% of the time.

Corry grimaced. Fine. Maybe he'd taken that initial dislike to Julie because he'd sensed some of his more questionable qualities in her. He threw his final dart.

His bedroom door opened and his sister stuck her head in, knocking as she did so. "Laurie!" Corry shouted out in warning.

The redheaded girl flinched as the dart whistled by her face and embedded itself in the dartboard hanging by the doorframe. "Golly," she remarked, peering at the dart's final resting place with a stunned look.

Corry exhaled. "Damn it little sis, how many times do I have to tell you, knock first, THEN open the door, not both at the same time?"

Laurie looked back at her brother. "It wasn't locked," she replied petulantly. "And don't get into the little sister thing with me again. You're only two minutes older."

Corry rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine," he grumbled. He didn't really feel like arguing. He moved to retrieve his darts, deciding to find a better place for the board. "Then what's so all fired important that you felt it risked putting an eye out?"

"Oh, it's a great idea concerning the dance and your proposed band ensemble,” Laurie said, clasping her hands. She briefly - or briefly for his sister - outlined the idea, and it’s origins.

"I see," Corry responded dubiously. "So Carrie mentioned this, did she? She wouldn’t do that for no reason. Did Julie factor into it?"

"I didn't think to ask," Laurie realized. She frowned marginally. “Julie can’t be up to something involving you again, can she?"

"I don't know," Corry admitted. The main reason Julie was on his mind now was due to the 'teddy bear affair'; she might want to get back at him for it. Corry supposed he could have employed a little more tact and restraint in his remarks. But damn, taking Julie down a peg or two had sure felt good.

"Maybe you shouldn't come to the dance tonight," Corry decided. "If she is up to anything, I don't want you involved."

"Aw, geez, Corryyyyyy," Laurie protested. “It's the first dance of the school year and the first major social event not counting Julie's party which we can't really count seeing as we weren't invited, plus Chartreuse is expecting me there and I recently got this cool new pair of shoes that I was planning to wear, besides I can take care of myself so just because YOUR silly feuds are hinting at trouble it doesn't mean I shouldn't be able to go and have a good time.”

"Okay, okay, enough already,” Corry said, raising his hands in resignation. "Do whatever you like then, see if I care!" Julie wouldn't stoop so low as to use his sister against him anyway. He was getting paranoid.

Laurie hmmphed and turned away, though she turned back a moment later. "So, will you sing at tonight's dance then?"

Corry pursed his lips. "I'm not sure," he concluded, looking down at the dart in his fingers. "I'll decide when I get there."

***

In a dark basement room, the final touches were put on a small device, before it was slipped into a jacket pocket. The owner smiled - so far, everything seemed to be going according to plan.