"Where are you off to tonight," Adele asked her friend.
"Nowhere really," Silvia replied.
Adele looked at her friend, wondering why she was avoiding the casual question. Silvia had tried to keep out of the way, from when Adele got back to the apartment. She was in the middle of applying make-up, and had her hair in pigtails, which was unusual. She had been looking at the wall clock so often, it was clear she was on her way out somewhere.
Knowing her friend so well, Adel could see she was nervous. "Come on, out with it. You know I can get it out of you, so just tell me, without the protest. What have you done this time? What's up?" Adele demanded.
"I'm not in trouble! All right, I'll tell you, just don't shout at me. I got caught shoplifting," Silvia murmured. "Stop laughing! It's not funny!" she complained. She explained there was a silk scarf, on special offer, but she had forgotten her credit cards. It didn't help quell the laughter.
"I can't believe miss perfect, stole something. So what's that got to do with you going out?" Adele asked.
"The guy said he would cover up for me, if I went out with him," she said, putting on a sulky face.
"Is this security guy some old pervert?" Adele giggled.
"No. He's eighteen," Sylvia sighed.
"You're twenty-six, you can't go out with a kid," Adele laughed.
"I've no choice," Sylvia said, in exasperation at her friend's flippancy.
"Just phone him and tell him it's off. Call his bluff," Adele urged.
"I daren't. If I'm prosecuted, I'll lose my job!" Sylvia protested. "He said he'd get the security tape and destroy it, if I go out on a date," she huffed. "He was working at his uncle's store, for work experience. You know the one, on the corner of Elm," she said.
"Shit! I know from the kids at school, they always prosecute," Adele told her.
"Thanks! That makes me feel so much better," she said, pouting.
"You're a teacher, how do you get into these stupid situations?" Adele asked, knowing the answer, only too well. Her friend was an intelligent and attractive woman, yet she had little common sense. She was also a push over, so needed help, or the trouble would get worse.
"When he arrives, we'll knock him on the head, and bury him in the garden," Adele told her.
"Kill him! Over a silk scarf?" Sylvia exclaimed, in mock surprise.
"Who said anything about killing the damn shit? We'll bury him alive," Adele chuckled.
"Thanks for that input. Just go and let me get changed. I'll just have to get it over and done with, and that will be the end of it," Sylvia heavily sighed.
"I know you too well. You'll just let him walk all over you. I'm coming along to look after you," Adele told her. She took a firm hold of an arm, leading her to her bedroom.
"Are you actually going to wear that?" Adele laughed.
"It's from the store. That's what he wanted," Sylvia murmured.
"The dress is fine, if you were a teenager, but you're not. The pigtails are so you!" Adele mocked her friend.
"Its part of the deal," Sylvia shrugged. "He's a teenager after all," she added. Sylvia pulled on the flowery summer dress, and pulled a face at her friend.
"Wow! You look good. He has taste, you sure he's only eighteen?" Adele asked.
"Try the other one on," Sylvia said.
"No way! I'm going like this," Adele retorted. She hadn't changed from school yet, so it was just a tease. She was dressing older, to impress the school board, while trying for a more senior post at the school.
"If you're going to chaperone then you better wear it. We're the same size. Besides, we're just going to hang out with his friends, so you can't go dressed in a business suit," Sylvia stated.
Adele picked the dress up between finger tips, as though it might be contagious. Pulling it on, she smoothed it down her slim body, while looking in the mirror. The dress was a pastel blue, decorated with butterflies.
"It's cute, expensive too. I would have loved this, a few years ago," Adele commented. She liked it, so didn't complain too much. "OK! I'm not fixing my hair into pigtails, this is the limit," she added.
"I need a drink, you too. It'll steady your nerves," Adele suggested.
The guy was only eighteen, so the two of them could handle the audacious blackmailer. Adele was going to make sure there was a security tape, and force him to hand it over. They both taught at the same school, so she knew how sensitive the school board was. Sylvia was right about losing her job, if prosecuted for theft.
They waited for him to turn up, hoping he wouldn't have the gall to go through with it. They giggle like schoolgirls on a first date, primping each others hair, and flouncing around in the new dresses. Adele had at least put her friend in a better mood.
The guy didn't even bother coming to the front door, he just honked the horn.
"Don't forget, put him at his ease. We're just a couple of silly young girls, out on a date. I'll keep an eye on him, you just relax," Adele coached her. At the right moment, when he was off-guard, she would hit him hard. She would treat him like a student, lecturing him like a delinquent kid, to get the tape.
He just sat there while they got into the car. "What's she doing here?" James suspiciously asked.
"My name is Adele. I'm here because we thought you might like to show off two young girls," Adele countered, giving him something to think about.
It worked, because he pulled away, with a big grin on his face. He kept looking in the mirror at them, with a smile lighting his face. He had two beautiful women in his car, for the price of one.
The over confidence of the young lout, meant they had a chance of denting his ego, big time. Once he was vulnerable, she would get what she wanted. Having primed Sylvia to play good cop, she could sit back, and wait for the right moment.
Before Adele could ask where they were going, he pulled into a driveway, running up to a large, impressive house.
"We'll stop off at my parents and I'll get changed," he said.
Looking at each other, they exchanged shrugs. This was unexpected, so maybe it wouldn't be such an ordeal after all. They had expected the dire prospect of being shown off to his friends, by a nerdy guy, unable to get a girlfriend without blackmailing her.
In the light of the hallway Adele got a good look at him. He was tall and muscular, not what she expected at all. He had a nice bottom too. She looked at her friend, wondering if it was just the blackmail that influenced her, to go along with his plans. If he had been a lot older, he would have been boyfriend material.
It was embarrassing meeting his mother in the kitchen. Sylvia could just about get away with looking like a teenager, with her fresh faced looks. They were both slim and short, so looked younger than their twenty-six years. Adele kept her head down, trying not to reveal her face.
In the dining room, on their way to his room, Adele took hold of his arm. "I want to know if there really is a security tape," she hissed at him. He may be on home territory, but his mom was close by, so he wouldn't want to make a fuss.
"There is, for sure. My uncle is red hot on security, there are cameras everywhere. To get it back you both have to keep me happy," he smiled.
It was too much for Adele. "Blackmail is nasty, and that makes you a nasty shit. You'll give it to me, or I'll damn well tell your parents. You're just an obnoxious bastard, an arrogant fucking shit," Adele told him, with an angry force spilling from her.
"What do you think you are doing? Talking to my son like that, in my home, using such foul language?" his mother interrupted. "Well? What have you got to say for yourself, young girl," she asked. With hands on her hips, she was standing to her full height, looming over Adele, looking powerful and mean.
Adele shrank down into herself. This was unnatural for her, for she could stick up for herself. Not wanting to be discovered, as a mature adult, she let the woman think she was just a friend of her sons. From the woman's fierceness, and from being embarrassed, she capitulated.
"Sorry," she mumbled, sounding like an adolescent.
"I'll get my husband to take you home, and he can tell your parents. He's head of the high school board, therefore he knows how to treat young miscreants, like you," the woman lectured.
Adele wanted to laugh from shock. It was she who had made the whole situation worse, not Sylvia. If they found out she was a teacher, at the high school, it was she who would be fired. The woman reminded her, of a no-nonsense teacher they had in senior year. The tone of voice alone left her feeling like a naughty school girl, rather than a teacher.
"Please, miss, don't tell your husband. I don't want to be expelled," Adele lied, without looking at her.
""Young people are so rude, I'm glad not to be teaching these days. I'm not letting my son take a young ruffian like you home. There's no telling what trouble you will cause. It's dark so you can't walk home alone, either," she added.
Adele had heard enough. She had to get out of there, without the woman's husband finding out. The man could fire her, and even if he didn't, her career would be in shreds. Her parents were a hundred miles away, so what would he say, if he took her to her apartment.
"I promise not to use bad language, in your home, or in front of James. Just punish me and get it over with," she stated. The assertive tone of voice wasn't helping, yet she couldn't hold back.