CHAPTER 73 – Apologize

Zara dropped off Eppie at the dorm steps just after 6:30 AM, while the campus was still quiet, and the sprinklers were ticking over the quad.

Josefina met her at the apartment door as it opened.

As expected, her House Mother took one look at the sling and lost it. “¡Ay, mija!” She nearly threw the tray. “What happened to your arm? Sit, sit—don’t argue with me. I bring you food. My poor baby!”

“Thanks, Mama Josefina…” Eppie felt safe and warm already, and her butt hadn’t even warmed the dining seats.

Ava turned first, hair in a towel. Her toothbrush stopped moving.

“Oh my God—” the girl gasped. “Eppie! Are you alright?!”

The commotion of their dialogue woke Halle. She came out of her room and let out a little scream. “Eppie? Eppie! What happened to your arm—?!”

Eppie explained again. She lied naturally, using [Act Natural] to back up her deceit. She said she went into the wrong room, some props fell, and her arm got pinned.

Ava wasn’t buying it. Eppie could see the suspicion sitting behind her eyes. Unlike their naive freshman, Ava was old enough to know show business. When she leaned in, Eppie could feel the Jewish girl’s gaze inspecting her face and neck for bruises.

“You didn’t go to the after-party?”

“Does it look like I went to an afterparty?” Eppie sighed dramatically. “I was getting a cast.”

Ava touched the cast.

“Resin,” Eppie said carefully, keeping her smile as sunny and guileless as a cloudless sky. “Hella high tech.”

“You’re still going to class?” Halle asked, incredulous. It was a good guess, because Eppie was in her theatre blacks. Not the good stuff, which tended to hug the skin. She was wearing her loose K-Mart slacks.

“Titus waits for no one,” Eppie said, and ate her breakfast one-handed while Josefina fussed over her luggage.

The girls sat down and ate, curious about the Grammy and the celebrity gossip, but far more worried about her arm.

It was great, in a way, how nonplussed everyone was about eating with a Grammy winner.

LAPA.

In the hall, her peers took on the original meaning of nonplussed, staring without shame, holding their gazes with equal parts judgment and admiration as she traversed the space between the Main Building and the Old Music Building, arriving at the converted basement where the lockers were located.

There were the expectant looks, the ones that said: “Whoa, I just saw her on TV!” Then there were the other expectant looks, the ones that said: “Lucky girl… if only I had that luck.” Then there were the good ones with pity and sympathy, that said: “Who did she piss off to get beaten up like that?”

The imagination of a teen student body, Eppie guessed, was wilder than her old-lady brain could process.

Then she saw William.
The [Usurper] who wore a sling in January looked at the [Usurper] wearing a sling in February, both noting that they were mirrors of one another.

William’s fox-like eyes said: “I wish I were there to add to the action.”

Valorie, to her surprise, stopped suddenly enough to bump into William. There was a flash of authenticity—unguarded and girlish—then shock, which was immediately passed onto William. She could see the suspicion in Valorie’s face, wondering if William was responsible for her injury. William looked back at her and smiled.

Then, in front of Eppie, he kissed her on the lips.

Sonnovabish! Was that really necessary?! Eppie’s lips went sideways. Besides, it’s not like I haven’t kissed Valorie…

“What happened, songbird?” William stopped her by leaning down to speak to her at eye-level. “Did you make more enemies? Did a stage light fall on you?”

“Funny you should say that,” Eppie retorted. “Someone stacked the props wrong, and I saved a girl from being crushed. I do that a lot, did you know? Saving good girls from… bad people.”

William chuckled at her loaded rebuttal. “That’s cute, but do be careful. A pretty little thing like you can’t be load-bearing.”

O Willie, why can’t you be like Kel? Eppie sighed inwardly. Mr Grant had folded like a paper tiger.

Conversely, Eppie didn’t have the heart to deliver the earth-shattering comeback simmering on her lips. To do so would expose Mio and Nozumi.

Instead, she congratulated Valorie for looking stunning last night. Valorie thanked her in return and said that she and Zara were adorable as well. The girls gossiped professionally for a few exchanges, ignoring William, then went on their merry way.

“Eppie,” Valorie called on her before they were out of earshot. “I’ll see you at practice.”

Oh? What was that for? Eppie gave Val a thumbs up, registered the tightness of William’s lips, then headed to her first class.

Five minutes to the bell, her phone rang.
The call was from “Dad”.

“Eppie,” Curon’s voice was rough and without sleep. “Arm still attached?”

“Not anymore. I went to see Lim’s Dad. Got it amputated.”

“Good, good…” A pause, papers shuffling somewhere behind him. “Guy a real doctor?”

“Yeah, he seemed pretty skilled,” Eppie huffed at Curon’s refusal to play. “How are things on your end?”

“It’s all under control. Kellie’s fine now.” Curon sighed. Eppie wondered how many cigars he had pounded down since arriving at home. “Eppie. You scared the hell out of me last night.”

Eppie protested. You scared the [Causality] out of me last night.

“I know,” Eppie said instead, her tone empathic. “But seriously, I am fine. I got a resin cast, too. It’s pretty convenient. Thanks… Dad.”

“So… did you get the apology?”

“The apology?” Eppie asked.

“From our lyrical Wonder Boy.”

“Huh?” Eppie cocked her head, then realised something. “One second.”

She checked her missed calls. She usually had a bunch and habitually left them unattended.

16 Missed calls from Unknown.
2 from Kellie Noah.
1 from Maddy Filmore.
All after midnight.

“I think I missed it…” Eppie explained to her father the curious case of the missed calls.

Curon snorted, half-laughing. “Kel must be losing his mind as we speak. Davis told me that all of his projects are on hold. I would prefer that he be sold to EMI, but he’s Davis’ project.”

Her father paused. “Do you want him removed?”

There was a… coldness to the question that made Eppie’s [Causality] balance tremble. She wasn’t sure what ‘removed’ inferred, but there was no doubt that the disappearance of Kelvin Grant [Karmic Parasite] from God’s good earth would cost more than the…

She double-checked her figure:

Ah… such bliss… Eppie wept without tears. There was nothing quite like the calming sedation of excessive capital. Maybe she could encourage some “growth” before May.

“I would like to keep Kel onboard, actually,” Eppie confessed. “I have plans for Kel.”

Curon sounded like he was choking on something. “You do?”

“Yeah,” Eppie answered seriously.

Curon’s silence sounded contemplative. Please don’t disappear him, Dad.

The clock ticked over to 8 AM.

She made a kissy sound, told her adopted father she had to go, then hung up.

As a rule, good girl Euphemia was never tardy.

Dr Kirby opened in the middle of Act IV.

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“Reverend Hale has seen what the Church can do. He has internalised that the pettiness of the people has replaced the law’s best intentions. He has become a lost lamb, not because he has lost faith in God, but because he’s lost faith in the institution’s mechanics. So what does he do?”

“He begs Proctor to confess,” James Jules answered from the back. “He asks Proctor to lie in order for Proctor to live.”

“Indeed.” Kirby nodded, then read the lines herself. “Quail not before God’s judgment in this, for it may well be God damns a liar less than he that throws his life away for pride. Eppie, how does Elizabeth respond?”

“I think that may be the devil’s argument,” Eppie replied in the [Vocality] of a table read.

“Atkinson?”

“Umm…” Atkinson was still sleepy. “Yes?”

“What is the purpose of this exchange?” Dr Kirby clarified herself. “Why is it significant?”

The class remained mum.