The story of Crystal Lakes (pt 3)

“So,” Elysha said, as Jackson walked in the door. “How’s our old friend Crystal going?”1

“Yeah, fine,” Jackson smiled, attempting to avoid looking Elysha in the eye. “Where’s our dear darling daughter?”2

“Upstairs,” Elysha sighed. “You can tell her all about Crystal.”3

“There’s nothing to tell,” Jackson muttered through gritted teeth. “My ex-girlfriend moved here. It’s not a big deal and you can stop acting like it’s a federal crime.”4

“Well,” Elysha shouted, “it’s a big deal to me!”5

“Yeah, yeah, so was the engagement thing! You made a big deal about it and acted like it was crucially important many, many years after I had accepted it and moved on, and you felt the need to tell every single newcomer to the town the stupid story. It is not a big deal,” Jackson said in a frighteningly hostile voice.6

“It was important to me, and I thought that would matter to you!” Elysha yelled.7

Jackson held up his hand. “Stop! Kari doesn’t need this in her life right now, and we’re both being really inconsiderate having a fight when she’s so stressed out. She’s got enough to think about.”8

“So am I, Jackson! I’m tired of this!” Elysha yelled and stormed out of the house.9

Kari came downstairs in her pyjamas. “Is everything okay, Dad?”10

“Yes, Elysha- I mean, your mother- is just overreacting,” Jackson sighed frustratedly.11

“I know what you mean,” agreed Kari. “I always loved you as my dad, but I never saw Elysha as my mum, and she never saw me as her daughter. You’re the only one I consider a parent, Dad.”12

Jackson thought about this. “Do you believe her when she talks about Crystal?”13

“No,” Kari shook her head and her long, wavy blonde hair. “I bet you Crystal’s not half as much of a cow as Elysha makes her out to be.”14

“Well, you’ve got a chance to find out, you know,” smiled Jackson.15

“What?” Kari said, with a look of utter confusion upon her beautiful face.16

“Crystal’s moved back into Crystal Lakes,” Jackson told her. 17

“Wow.” Kari looked taken aback. “She must be one brave girl.”18

“You can meet her if you want,” Jackson said. “She studied journalism in university just like you’re going to, so I’m sure she’d be more than happy to help you prepare.”19

“She sounds way cooler than Elysha makes her out to be,” Kari observed, frowning.20

“Anyway, how are things going with you and Tony?” Jackson asked, pointedly steering the conversation away from his wife.21

“Fine,” Kari sighed. “He’s looking forward to going to the Academy and studying psychology. I wouldn’t be surprised if he proposes to me soon.”22

“Just make sure you say yes, so his future wife, if it’s not you, won’t make you sound like Satan’s spawn,” Jackson said resentfully. There the conversation went again. “It’s not going to be too awkward being engaged for four years while you’re both studying, is it? That’s the only reason I didn’t propose to Crystal in university.”23

“Would you and Elysha ever divorce, Dad?” Kari asked, not falling for her father’s attempt to divert her thoughts.24

“When I married her, I wasn’t…” Jackson hesitated. No need to let her know all the details. “I didn’t know what I was doing. Since, I’ve only stayed married because she used to be my best friend and she needed the financial support.” Jackson sighed. “She doesn’t any more. She’s got a stable job, lots of money coming in and she’s definitely not my best friend any more. The number of times I’ve thought of divorcing her is beyond billions. Beyond trillions, in fact. Yet I haven’t done it.”25

“You were afraid of hurting me and my life,” said Kari quietly.26

“Exactly. I wasn’t actually sure what would hurt you more- having us stay together and be arguing around you all the time, or for us to separate and to force you to lively such a confused, two sided lifestyle. I finally decided that I had to stay together with her and you,” Jackson told her. “You are the last civilizing rule between the two of us, so God only knows what’s going to happen when you head off for the Academy.”27

“Good luck, Dad,” Kari said, somewhat uneasily. It seemed her dad needed her more than the Academy of Crystal Lakes did at the moment.28

“Thankyou, Kari.” Jackson put his arm around her. “So, do you want to meet Crystal?”29

“Yeah, it’d be cool,” Kari smiled. “I bet she’s nice.”30

“She is,” Jackson sighed. Then he turned and walked away.31

*32

“Where’s Jay, Daniel?” Rachael asked, her long, straight blonde hair falling into her face as she spoke.33

Daniel looked at her, laughing as she fought to push her hair out of her face. “Out with Lucy and Nick.”34

Rachael made an exaggeratedly frustrated face. “God, I finally get a husband and he’s never around.”35

“Could be worse,” muttered Daniel. “You could have nobody at all, like me.”36

“Well, what do you think about Jess?” Rachael asked, settling herself onto a chair next to Daniel.37

“She is beautiful, and really nice, but trust me, when I find the right girl I’ll know.”38

Just then, Jay burst in, a massive smile on his face. “Guess what?”39

Rachael got up and went to put her arms around his neck. “What?”40

“Lucy and Nick are engaged,” Jay grinned.41

“Didn’t they date in high school or something?” enquired Daniel. “I remember it was a really nasty break-up. They wouldn’t speak to each other for a year.” 42

“Yep,” Rachael said. “They were really cute together… most of the time.”43

“Well, anyway,” Jay continued, “I’m Nick’s best man and Lucy’s said that you’ll be her maid of honour. Analeece is pregnant, so in Lucy’s opinion that automatically disqualifies her, and Indigo and Sarah are going to be in England for the wedding ceremony.”44

“So, am I invited?” Daniel demanded, suddenly irritated for some reason. 45

“Of course you are,” Jay assured. “At the top of the guest list, they wanted me to tell you.”46

“Unless you’d rather be a bridesmaid,” laughed Rachael.47

Daniel got up and walked out of the house. 48

“Hey, did we say something?” Jay muttered.49

*50

Crystal ate her dinner in silence, thinking about everything that had happened that day- it wasn’t like there was a limited number of things to think about- and she felt happy, but Crystal was scared at the same time, because she knew that eventually Jackson would find out that she was going out with Will, either through Will himself, or, without doubt, through Belle, who appeared to tell everyone everything about everyone else as a compulsion, and also appeared to have a network that could pass gossip super-fast, and Crystal had a feeling that when Jackson found out, he would definitely not be devoutly happy (about her and Will, that was).51

Just after she’d cleaned up (something that usually took longer than absolutely necessary with her) and was ready to throw herself into bed, the phone rang. “God, Donna, you just couldn’t have called tomorrow, could you?” Crystal groaned, and stumbled over to answer it.52

“Hey,” Crystal said. “What’s up?”53

“Hi,” said an unfamiliar voice that definitely did NOT belong to Donna. “My name’s Kari- I’m, um, Jackson’s daughter.”54

Oh,” Crystal said. That explains it. “Um, how did you get my number?”55

“You gave it to my dad,” Kari said in a small voice that made Crystal realize she had sounded very unfriendly when asking that last question. “He said you studied journalism in university, so he thought I should talk to you, seeing as you graduated at the top of your class.”56

“Oh, are you studying journalism?” Crystal brightened up considerably. “Awesome. It’s so much fun. The assignments are, of course, mostly written ones but the things you have to write about are always really interesting, and the practical ones are interviewing people, which is always… different.”57

Kari laughed. “Cool. So, I was wondering, are you busy tomorrow? Because we could like meet for lunch, or coffee, or something.”58

“Sounds good,” Crystal agreed. Then she thought of something. “Can I bring a couple of friends with me?” Kill two birds with one stone, or whatever the expression was, she thought.59

“Depends who they are,” Kari said grimly. 60

“Well, my friend Donna, she’s new so you probably don’t know her, and, um, Belle,” Crystal told her tentatively.61

“Belle? You mean, Nirvado, right?”62

“Yeah,” Crystal said, crossing her fingers. 63

“Sure, no problem with either of those guys. How about ten thirty at The Lounge for coffee, and then we’ll all go shopping?”64

“Um, where’s that? I’m new, remember?” Crystal felt like the new girl asking the most popular girl in school where the water fountains are. 65

“I’ll pick you all up,” Kari offered. “It really doesn’t take long to find places in Crystal Lakes. We’re really only a very small community, if you don’t count the nightlife district, where nobody even lives anyway. Which I don’t.”66

Far from being reassured, Crystal merely felt inadequate. How strange. “Well, um, okay. Tomorrow at ten thirty then.”67

“Au revoir, Crystal.”68

Crystal blinked and hung up. She had some calls to make to what were going to be some very confused people.69

*70

Grace Collier, mother of Crystal Lakes’ largest (blood-related) family, ran her fingers through her mop of long beautiful curly red hair frustratedly. Life just wasn’t making itself easy to live at the moment, particularly for her. Thank God the kids were asleep; this gave her some time to herself, which was a luxury that other, less busy people took for granted. Then again, Grace’s youngest two, Shania and Jesse, were liable to wake up at any moment. 71

Grace’s husband, Gavin, came into the kitchen and saw her standing there. “Are you alright, honey?”72

“Life is just too hard, Gavin,” sighed Grace in frustration. “I’ve got a teenage daughter, who’s a big enough handful by herself, and I’ve got Sam, who’s so smart he corrects everything I say, and then of course there are the toddlers. And you’re off working six hour days so that this household is actually generating some income, which leaves me to take care of all the kids and prevents me from getting a job. My life CANNOT continue like this. It can’t.”73

“You wanted a big family,” Gavin reminded her. “I guess it didn’t all work out the way you expected it to.”74

“Oh, now you’re just making me sound like a terrible mother,” Grace sobbed. “Thing is, I have to keep being a good mother to these kids despite everything and God, it’s difficult.”75

“Look,” Gavin said, the voice of reason as usual, “We love each other and we love them, and I’m sure Daniela and Sam will help with the younger ones,” Gavin reassured her. “It’s not like the school we send them to gives them homework.” 76

Grace smiled for the first time that day. “I guess the school has the opinion that life gives them enough homework. Which it does, when you think about it.”77

The smile then evaporated as Shania, their toddler, started crying. “Time to go do some parenting,” Grace sighed, and she made her way up the stairs.78