Season at Sarsaparilla
WRITTEN IN THE ORDER: MAYA, SARAH, KATHRYN, KATE, COURNTEY (when she arrives)
"I don't want to go!" cried Kate, and crossed her arms in the backseat of her parents' Rolls Royce.
Her mother looked at her in the rear view miror, "Now dear, you know you must, it will be a good experience."
"Yes, your mother's right, Kate," said her dad in a gruff voice from the driver's seat.
Kate looked out the window and gazed outside. Cows and sheep grazing in field whizzed by. The sun was shining, and the sky was a brilliant blue. The roads got less sealed, and less frequent. Dust blew up behind them. Finally they spotted a sign saying 'SARSAPARILLA', and they followed a winding dirt road up a small hill. Surrounding it were fruit orchards. As their Rolls pulled into the drive, Kate noticed apple trees, orange trees, plum trees and lots of others as well.
The car stopped and Kate took a deep breath, and grabbed her bags. She got out and said goodbye to her parents. She stood and watched as the car got smaller and finally disappeared.
Kate slowly turned around and looked up at the lodge with an apprehentious feeling.
***
Inside the lodge, Irene took the guest (?) list off its hook. She glanced down at 10 names - 5 male and 5 female - and wondered why each had committed themself to the program. It was a tradition with Irene to do this just as each group arrived.
She replaced the clipboard and straightened the front desk before disappearing around the corner to see to the rooms.
***
Matt turned off the engine of his car and looked across to the passenger seat where his sister Loan sat.
"Are you ready?"
"Yes." She whispered.
"You know what you have to do?" Matt clasped her hand. "This is very important."
"I know. I know. You don't have to keep telling me."
"If we don't see them as guests then we'll leave tomorrow, okay?" Matt smiled reassuringly. "Let's go."
***
Maya hauled her suitcase up the couple of steps which led to the front door of Sarsaparilla. She didn't understand what all the fuss was about. All she had done was steal a single tube of lipstick, and she'd had to come here for "community service," to pick fruit. She was worried about having to spend time with other juvenile delinquints and drug addicts. She wasn't like *them*. Standing in the front door was a woman.
"Hello," she said. "Are you a compulsory or a volunteer?"
Maya looked startled. "What?"
"Maya!" someone called.
She turned. "Matt! Loan! What are you doing here?" She hugged her cousins.
"We volunteered, when we heard you were being sent here. We thought you would like some company."
Maya's eyes filled with tears. "You guys are just the best!"
The lady in the doorway cleared her throat. "Follow me. I'll show you to your rooms." Irene led the 3 inside. After checking their names against her list, they moved into the hall.
"We have 5 girls and 5 boys here. I am Irene, I run this camp. You girls are in this room," Irene opened a door to reveal a room with 6 beds. "The boys are across the hall. Please select your beds, unpack, and meet me in the mess hall. Go down the hall and turn left. I'll see you in a bit. You can meet the others. Our chef, Mrs Ariel is making coconut crab for lunch. You can meet her and her daughter, Courtney then too." Irene opened the door on the other side of the hall, then continued down the hall.
***
After he'd unpacked, Matt moved out into the hall. Standing there was another guy, who was smoking.
"G'day," said Matt casually. "I'm Matt."
The second guy looked up.
"Hey. I'm Chris. Nice to meet you."
They shook hands.
"I think we're supposed to go that way," said Matt, pointing.
Chris put out his cigarette.
"Let's go then."
***
In the hall, 3 girls and 2 more guys sat. They all looked up as Matt and Chris entered. Maya and Loan smiled.
"Matt! This is Sarah. She's a volunteer too."
"You know them?" asked Chris.
"Yeah. Loan is my sister. Maya is my cousin. Come on, I'll introduce you."
Matt made brief introductions. Chris shook hands and then pulled out a new cigarette.
"And the rest?" he queried, surveying the other two guys, who stood on opposite sides of the room. Both looked unfriendly, and merely made grunting noises about the idea that they should introduce themselves.
At this point, Irene came bustling in, followed by a round woman and an extremely thin girl of about 15 years. Irene looked irritated.
"Where are the other two?" she quizzed the round woman. Irene consulted her list. "That Kat! She's been here three times already. And Darren! Such a devious boy..." she continued to mutter, as the girl set the table.
"Well, they'll turn up sooner or later," Mrs Ariel said comfortingly.
Irene shrugged.
"People! I case you have selective amnesia, I'll remind you that I am Irene. This is Mrs Ariel," she indicated the round woman," our cook and her daughter, Courtney." This was the skinny girl. "Our volunteers are Loan and Matt, Sarah, and of course, Simon, who we see every year." Irene directed a fond glance at Simon, who looked as though he would slit her throat if given the chance. "And our compulsories... Maya, Chris, Kate and Lawrence. We are expecting two more individuals later."
Irene took a seat at the table.
"Ah, lunch!" she said happily. Everybody sat before a bowl of coconut crab, and Lawrence began to tuck in, while Maya, Loan and Matt bowed their heads to say grace.
Courtney watched the new arrivals in a detatched manner. Her eyes rested on Lawrence. He looked interesting. She lifted a crab claw to begin eating, when she noticed that Lawrence's face was red. He tried to say something, but nothing came out. he began to convulse, and then slumped to the floor. Everyone sat still, in shock, staring at him.
"So he just gave you a shot gun? Cool!" A girl with dye making her hair black threw open the door and thumped in. She was dressed in bright, layered clothes and was talking excitedly to a boy of some 17 years. "Darren," she addressed him, "have you ever..." she trailed off. "What's going on?" By now, everyone had crowded around Lawrence who was lying on the floor unconscious, but not dead.
"No one else eat the crab!" yelled Irene, "It could be the crab that did this to Lawrence."
Chris looked up guiltily, as did Sarah, who both had already eaten some crab.
"Let's move him up to his room," commanded Irene, so Simon, Matt, Chris and Darren all hauled Lawrence to the boys' room. Irene and Mrs Ariel hurried behind then with the First Aid Kit.
That left the girls, who sat there, stunned.
"Well, hi everyone, I'm Kat and I'm a regular here. It's not too bad, you get used to it and the food's great," 20 year old Kat said, pulling out a cigarette.
Maya stuck out her hand, "I'm Maya and this is my cousin Loan. She's 23," Maya said proudly.
Sarah, who was getting worried about the crab she'd eaten, muttered a hello, as did Courtney and Kate.
Just then, Mrs Ariel and Irene returned, having called the doctor for Lawrence.
"Now girls, don't worry, I'm sure everything will be okay, Doctor Geordie's on his way," Irene said. The boys also came back in and everyone finished their crab rather silently.
"Now, this afternoon at 3 we have our first session and until then it's free time," Irene said and dismissed everyone.
***
Behind a big pear tree, Matt and Loan sat, talking in low voices.
***
Simon paused outside the laundry door and checked his watch again. He muttered a curse at her lateness and wondered if she was going to pull out. At that moment, Mrs Ariel opened the door of the laundry carrying a basket of washing.
"Simon... can I do something for you?"
"Ah... no." He replied and flushed. "I've got to go." He ran off
"What a strange boy."
***
Maya sat on her bunk bed and ruffled in her backpack for the chocolate she had brought. However, she stopped when she heard the whispers
"Stop it," A female voice protested.
"You wanted to hear about him and where he was from. Well, this is the truth." That voice, if Maya wasn't mistaken, was Chris.
"I don't want to hear anymore," The girl pleaded and fled down the hall.
Chris sighed
"I'm only trying to protect you." Then he too made his way down the hall.
Maya pulled her ear away from the door and wondered who the girl was and what Chris had meant about the other guy. The girl wasn't Loan be cause she hadn't recognised the voice and it had been too high-pitched to be Mrs Ariel or Irene. That left Courtney, Kat, Kate and Sarah. Maya shrugged and went back to looking for chocolate.
***
Kat sat by the window watching the familiar trees sway outside the lodge. Suddenly a car pulled up and a man - about 36 - climbed out. He came into the lodge and approached the front desk.
"Matthew Morrison." Irene greeted him warmly. "We haven't seen you around for a long time."
"Well... I decided to come and help you with this seasons group. Is that okay?"
"Of course, of course. I'll go tell Mrs Ariel and Courtney the good news." Irene walked off in the direction of the kitchen. As Kat watched unnoticed by the new arrival, he pulled the guest list of the hook. Skimming over it he smiled.
"Aha, they are here!" Matthew replaced the list and went back to his car to retrieve his bags.
Kat raised her eyebrows.
"I wonder who he's looking for," she murmured. "Well, one way to find out."
Kat added a black cardigan to her outfit and went downstairs. She paused at the corner to listen, then hearing Mr. Morrison struggling with his bags, she stepped around the corner
"Why hello, Matthew. Fancy seeing you here."
He looked up, and swore, backing up quickly.
"Kat," he said in a strained voice.
She grinned predatorily, and continued her approach.
"You're looking well," he continued.
"So, Matthew. Why are you here?"
Mr. Morrison's gaze flickered to the guest list, then returned to Kat. Her hand rested lightly on her hips and one hand slipped into her pocket.
"I'm looking for someone," he blurted.
"Who?" Kat continued her approach. Mr Morrison hit the now closed door and stared at her. "Who?" she asked again.
Mr. Morrison whined slightly, looking paniced. His eyes darted around the room. Suddenly, Kat laughed.
"Don't worry, they took my knife away from me this time. How's your scars?"
Mr. Morrison choked again, and stared as Kat moved back and went back up the stairs. Someone pushed against the door at Mr. Morrison's back. He moved away and stared at the 25 year old woman on the other side of the door. She gave him a distainful-look, and brushed past. Mr Morrison stared after her.
"Wow."
***
At three, everybody, excluding the Ariels and Lawrence, met in the orchard. Irene handed out thick, fabric gloves and plucked a chestnut from the sprawling tree above her head. She demonstrated how to remove the nuts from their prickly casing.
"And be careful," she advised. "Come in for dinner at 5.30, okay?" She shuffled off.
There were several trees, so the workers split up. Simon followed Kate to the tree furthest from the house.
"Where have you been?" he hissed.
"I... I... um..."
"Kate!" Simon sighed. "Honestly, you can't go through your life like this. You're SO boring."
"Simon, last time I listened to you, look where I ended up."
"Where?"
"Here, you moron! I just don't know."
***
Mr Morrison worked alone at the tree behind the brambleberry bush. He knelt down on the ground,, to extract a particularly difficult nut, and heard someone coming up behind him. He turned his head, and glanced a figure dressed in blue, who promptly hit him in the nose with something prickly. Mr Morrison let out a cry and clutched his nose, as the figure ran away.
***
Chris sang as he plucked nuts from the tree.
"What's that rubbish?" Kat asked, from high in the branches.
"'Hanging around,'" Chris replied, "Counting Crows." He returned his cigarette to his mouth, and reached up for another chestnut.
"Well, it's rubbish," Kat repeated, throwing chestnuts down at him. Chris dodged, and Kat laughed and then stopped as she saw someone running towards them.
"Hey, Matthew!" she cried, swinging down. "What's up?"
He looked scared, but angry.
"You little criminal!" Mr Morrison shrieked. "You bashed me in the nose with a chestnut!"
Chris stepped in.
"No, she was here with me."
"I saw her!" Mr Morrison fumed.
"Are you sure?"
"Well... I saw a figure in blue whack me, and she's a criminal!" he accused.
Chris spread his hands.
"Number one, you moron, we're all wearing blue! That's what colour the overalls are."
Mr Morrison looked slightly abashed.
"Number two, we're surrounded by criminals. It's a detention centre. God, do you jump to conclusions or what? Now go and get that blood cleaned up!"
***
"What are you doing here?" Sarah hissed to the young man halfway up the tree. "You know that we cannot be seen together!"
***
Lawrence climbed out of bed and wandered out into the orchard. The guests had been picking for over an hour. Lawrence walked under all of the chestnut trees. People said hello to him and enquired after his health. Lawrence noticed that everyone had spit up, with one tree each, and that an older, unknown man had a large bandage on his nose. He looked decidedly unhappy.
"Hey!" Lawrence called. "Who are you?"
He received no response, even though he was sure that the man had heard him.
"Fine, you git!" Lawrence shouted at him. "Be like that." Lawrence walked off, back towards the house.
***
After chestnut picking
As Maya pondered on what she had heard chris and the mysterious girl say, she decided to try and find who he was talking too.
She quickly found her "cookies and cream" chocolate and flew out the door. While nibbling on her chocolate she tried to find chris.
***
Meanwhile Chris was standing In the main hall talking to an enchanting young lady. It was not known to the others what they were talking about or who the young lady was but yet again the high-pitched voice echoed throughout the hall. No-one dared to enter.
"I don't know why you keep being SO insistant, that is what I have always hatted about you. I don't want to hear it anymore."
"Why, we need to talk about this." Chris said
"I don't understand why you would do this for me... for me... I'm nobody"
Chris replied sympathetically "But, You're somebody to me."
"You mean a lot to me too but we are so young. I wish that we hadn't gotten to this mess"
"So do I but we can't change the past."
"You are taking the blame for me though.... and I can't have that," the girl started to cry "I... know that my mum would be really upset but we or I should come clean. I can't handle the fact that I know I committed a crime that you are taking the blame for."
"But we were in this together there is not point both of us taking the blame. I'm just glad that I can still see you,"
***
At that moment Maya ran in to reveal the true identity of the girl. It was... Courtney, Mrs Ariel's skinny daughter.
"Maya! What are you doing here?" Chris said, looking around nervously.
Maya looked down," I'm eating some chocolate - want some?"
The others declined.
"Uh, did you hear anything, I mean did you hear what we were talking about?" Courtney questioned.
"Nope, not that I recall," Maya said, and hurried out of the room. Did Chris have a crush on Courtney? What was that crime she was talking about? And who was the guy Chris warned Courtney about?
Maya slowly walked back to her room to get some more chocolate, even though it was almost dinnertime.
She passed Simon and Kate, who were busy whispering to each other behind an indoor tree.
She reached the girls' room and went in. She drew in her breath as she noticed someone rummaging through their bags.
"Darren! What are you doing?" Maya cried.
He turned, shocked to see someone.
"Um, well... I'm sorry Maya. I smelt the cookies'n'cream chocolate and I was trying to find some for myself."
Maya was still suspiscous but offered Darren a piece.
***
The group met in the mess hall at 6pm that night.
Mrs Ariel and Courtney served up the roast dinner and sat also.
Courtney glanced down at Chris. He smiled at her and she smiled in return. She pondered at his warnings about Darren. Chris had told her that Darren had a dangerous past but she couldn't believe it. Darren was sweet and caring. Plus Darren had told her that he would protect her at all costs. She blushed at the thought and then continued eating.
Half an hour later the group dispersed. Irene had told them that they would rejoin at 8: O'clock to discuss more of the program.
Sarah walked off in the direction of the bedrooms but Matt stopped her, grabbing her elbow.
"I told you before we can't be seen together." Sarah jerked her arm away and check that no one was listening.
"We have to resolve this." Matt demanded.
"No, we don't, Does Loan know you're talking to me?"
"Yes and she agrees with me. Please... just listen." He pleaded. Sarah paused.
"Okay..." They were interrupted when there was a noise from the shadows. They gasped when out stepped... Loan.
"Oh, it's you," said Sarah.
"Yes, it's me. We have to talk."
"Why?" Sarah demanded.
Loan laughed and took Sarah's arm.
"Honey, listen to me. Just because our parents don't know that we know about Maya's stealing habits doesn't mean that we have to pretend now that we're here. There's no one here that even knows that you and Maya are lovers step-sisters."
"Except me."
The 3 gasped and turned to see Mr. Morrison.
***
Kat slipped out the back door and stood in the shadows. She lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply. A guy came forward.
"Kat?"
"Yeah?"
"Got a light?"
"Sure."
Kat pulled out her lighter and tossed it to Chris. He lit up and tossed it back. The two sat and smoked in silence.
"So, what's this I hear about you and that new guy?"
Kat laughed.
"You mean "Mr" Matthew Morrison? He was a regular the first time I came here. He decided that he wanted to try a few things. I dissuaded him with my switchblade."
Chris started laughing. He sunk to the floor, giggling. Kat looked at him.
"What are you smoking?"
Chris grinned. "Something home-grown, for my own personal use."
"Oh! Got any more?"
"Sure. How much you want?"
"Pure?"
"Of course."
"Make it a g. Twenty-Five?"
"Of course."
Money exchanged hands and Chris produced a foil packed. Kat slipped it into her pocket. They grinned at each other.
"Maybe we should move away from the house."
"Good idea."
***
At 8:30, Kat, Chris, Mr. Morrison, Matt, Loan, Sarah and Lawrence were still missing from the hall. Lawrence came in, explaining that he'd been asleep. The others looked around. Irene was getting irritated, and was muttering under her breath about Kat.
Sarah, Loan, Matt and Mr. Morrison came in, followed a few minutes later by a dishevilled Kat and Chris, who were both giggling and had cigarettes hanging from their mouths. They sat next to Darren, who promptly took them both and inhaled deeply. He looked startled.
"Oooh... Pure..."
He leaned back in his chair and relaxed. The 3 of them giggled together. Mrs Ariel looked on disaprovingly, as did Irene. Realising that she wasn't going to get any sense out of Kat and Chris, she turned to Loan, Matt, Sarah and Mr. Morrison.
"Where have you 4 been?" she demanded.
"Picking chestnuts!" Loan said, just as Matt announced that they had been "watching the sunset", Sarah that they had been "talking in the boys' room" and Mr Morrison that "he didn't know, because he had been reading a book."
Irene put her hands on her hips.
"Oh, that potato salad for dinner was nice," Loan said, changing the subject.
Irene, always distracted by food, nodded.
"Oh, Mrs Ariel worked so hard on it. Now, it's to bed early tonight, because you're all going to be up at 5am tomorrow. You'll be picking pears. And after lunch, Catie will be coming to work with the compulsoraries."
"Mmm, Catie. She's nice..." Kat murmered. Chris laughed.
"I really think that we should go to bed now." Irene herded them out and into their respective rooms.
***
Late that night, Maya climbed off the top bunk, Maya climbed off the top bunk and made her way to the bathroom. On the way back, she saw a figure walking down the hallway. Maya screamed and hid under the hall table.
"Who's there?" Simon's voice came through the darkness.
"Ah... me, Maya." Maya emerged from under the table.
"Oh, Maya! I thought that you were a goblin!" Simon continued down the hallway. Maya stared after him, and then went back to her bedroom. Abstractly, Maya climbed back into bed. She noted that Kate was not in bed, but the idea flitted away from her and she fell asleep.
***
Kat was in a deep slumber when a ringing noise intruded. She turned over, eventually sliding awake and remembering how much she hated these early mornings. She climbed out of bed and drearily dressed.
***
"Good morning," Courtney said brightly. The table was laid for breakfast, bowls of 'Weetbix' and bananas at each place.
"I hate 'Weetbix'," Mr Morrison muttered, poking his bowl with a spoon.
"You have to eat," Courtney instructed. "After you've finished, go and pick fruit." She seemed short tempered, and didn't eat with them. Chris and Darren stared at her.
"You okay?" Chris asked, fishing out his cigarettes.
***
They all walked out into the dawn and headed towards the orchard. They suddenly stopped in shock.
"Wow! Chris! What was in that stuff you gave me?" Kat asked, rubbing her head.
"Um..." Darren looked worried. "Are those pears all different colours, or is just me?"
"No... they're coloured." Kate looked nervous.
Mr Morrison walked towards the fruit.
"It's spray paint," he announced. "Who the hell would do such a thing" Darren yelled They all started to fight as to who the culprit was.
"What is all this raquet about you are all going to wake the neighbours," Irene explained.
"Look" Chris pointed out, the pears
At that present moment in time Courtney walked down to the orchard
"What does someone have to do to get some sleep around here." Courtney yellped, "I wish you would all pipe down. What is all this about?"
"It's okay Courts" Chris tried to clam her down "there has been spray paint put onto the pears and it sort of turned into an argument as to who the cluprit is, We are sorry about keeping you up. 'We must however find the person who did this."
Irene decided to butt in
"Right all of you to the main hall we are going to search all of your rooms for spray paint."
***
As Irene searched the girls room and bags from the cans she tried to do it in a methodical order to ensure a thourough check. However there was no evidence pointing towards the girls. She then decided to see whether she would have anymore luck in the boys room.
As she entered the boys room she realised that chris was missing.
"Where is Chris?" Irene asked
"How should I know" Matt replied.
The search now began. in the boys room. Lawrence seemed particularly on edge. "Uh, Irene, why don't we do this another time."
Irene looked at him funnily," No, we'll do it now."
By now Lawrence was sweating profusely. Irene came to the last bag - his. She opened it and found a pair of gloves covered in spray paint.
"Why, Lawrence, why would you do such a thing?" Irene questioned sadly. The other boys quietly left the room, leaving Lawrence to face Irene.
***
The rest of the group, except Lawrence, went back out to pick the pears that weren't coloured. Matt and Loan were over by themselves again, so Maya went up to them.
"Hey guys, what's up? Why are you whispering?" Maya asked.
The two looked at each other. "Um, we'll tell you soon, I promise," Matt said, "But meanwhile, here's some chocolate for you."
He handed Maya some raisin chocolate
"Mmm, thanks," she mumbled and walked off.
Sarah, from the other side of the field, watched Maya intently, as did Mr Morrison from the other side.
Kate and Simon talked quietly as they picked the fruit. Irene approached them from behind.
"May I talk to you two for a minute?" Irene asked.
"Sure."
"I may have found the gloves in Lawrence's bag but after searching I found spray paint cans under your beds. Do you have an explaination for me?" She demanded. They both looked quite guilty.
***
An hour later Lawrence, Kate and Simon had been reprimanded and given punishment for their crime - they would clean toilets and help in the mess hall for the rest of their stay. While they grumbled at their fate Matt and Loan wondered when they should tell Maya about Sarah.
"She needs to know." Loan said.
"We'll tell her soon." Matt assured her. Across the field, Sarah approached Mr Morrison.
"You're not going to tell Maya about my being her sister, are you?"
"That depends," he said. "What are you going to give me?"
***
Later that morning, Mr. Morrison hid behind a tree. He was sure it had been Kat who had hit him with the nut, but he had no proof. After being hired by Matt and Loan's parents to "keep an eye" on them, and try and make sure they didn't find out about Maya's stealing habits, he had found out that he'd have to come back here. Pity that Kat was still here. She was a pain. And Mr. Morrison hated picking fruit.
***
Courtney sat with Chris behind the kitchen door. They spoke in low voice, their heads close together. Darren watched curiously. There was something strange about those two. Kat came up behind him.
"Boo."
Darren grinned. "Hey Kat."
"Want to have some fun?"
"Sure! But we have to pick pears, else we'll have to clean toilets and chop veges like the others."
"Oh, we'll pick fruit..." Kat grinned and tilted her head to the spray painted trees. Darren grinned and the two set to work.
***
At lunch, Irene went out to inspect the amount of fruit the group had picked. Dispersed in the normal fruit, were orange, green, red, blue, purple and yellow pears. Irene shook her head, chuckling slightly. She had a fair idea of who would pull a stunt like that. Kat and Darren were always doing things to frustrate her, but never quite stepped over the boundries. Well, it would give the 3 in the kitchen something to do. They could peel coloured pears. Irene turned and went back to the house.
***
Catie arrived at 2.30pm, and took the compulsoraries aside into the living room.
"What are they doing?" Sarah quizzed Simon, who had had his punishment put on hold while the others were with Catie.
"Ah, they have to talk to her about repenting. She says the same thing every time, but apparently she's really nice."
The conversation was interrupted as Matt came up behind Sarah.
"Sar, we need to talk."
Simon grinned.
"I'll see you two later, eh?" He wandered off.
"What's up?" Sarah asked.
"This Matthew Morrison guy... I don't trust him. He's up to something."
"YOU don't trust him! He's the slimiest little weasle I've ever met!" Sarah spoke in anger.
"What's he done to you?" Matt asked.
Sarah looked worried.
"Look... Matt... I really can't talk to you about him. You and Loan are going to have to sort him out without me."
"Don't think we haven't been trying..." Matt grumbled.
***
Loan pulled a hair pin out of her bun and picked at the lock on Irene's office door. The door swung open and she walked in, slamming the door behind her. She opened the nearest filing cabinet and flicked through it, looking for the file on Darren. Irene was meticulous in her filing and research into each guest's past.
She found it, and pulled it out. Maya had approached her in that morning, and had asked her what she knew about Darren. Maya apparently was getting suspicious about the numerous conversations she had witnessed between Chris and Courtney.
Loan threw open the file. She leafed through.
"Oh my!" she cried. "Darren is... a father. This really isn't happening but to who"
Suddenly the door flew open and Irene burst into her office.
"What do you think You are doing?" she demanded
"Ummm.... I was..... nothing" as she had been standing there talking to Irene the file on danen had mysteriously made its way up the back of her jumper She would look at that later.
"I must say I don't believe a word of what you are saying and there will be consequences for these actions. But for the moment I must Consider your punishment."
Loan ran to her room and started to open the file once again. the mother to Danens child was..... Kat.
Loan's mouth dropped open. It said the child was only 1 year old.
"What the -" she said, and ran to find Maya. She found Maya talking with Chris and Courtney.
"Look, look what I found out!" Loan yelled.
She told the three that Darren had had a child with Kat. Maya's mouth dropped open. Chris said to Courtney "See? I told you Darren was up to no good. He just can't be trusted."
Courtney looked stunned. Suddenly there was a noise behind them, and 2 figures stepped out. It was Darren and Kat
***
In another room, Matthew Morrison was busy talking on his mobile phone to Matt and Loan's parents.
"Yeah, they both definitely know about Maya's stealing habits, there's nothing else I can do."
He heard a noise from behind him and turned to find a gun pointed at his head.
Matt's hand shook slightly as he stepped closer to Mr Morrison.
"Hang up the phone." He said menacingly.
"Okay... just calm down." Mr Morrison put down his phone and held his hands up in surrender.
***
"How dare you look into my file." Shouted Darren. He put a protective arm around Kat...
"So we have a child together. It's none of your business."
"But... but." Courtney cried tearily. "I thought you loved me."
Darren's huge mouth (resembling Bogey Loenstein from 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU.) curved into a sneer.
"I just said that so I could get bigger helpings of coconut crab."
"Well... where is the baby?" Asked Loan to Kat.
"Safe with my mother." She replied.
"Wait a minute." Loan started. "Where are Matt and Sarah?" Kat looked at the assembled group.
"Ok, let me explain a few things. Darren and I are married. Chris and Courtney tried to black-mail us when they found out I was pregnant but Chris took all the blame. Kate and Simon are dating. Have been for almost a year. Lawrence is alergic to crab. Mrs. Ariel tried to serve it because she thought he had designs on Courtney. Mrs. Ariel doesn't know that Courtney and Chris are sleeping together. Loan and Matt are brother and sister. Maya is their cousin. Sarah is Maya's step-sister."
"Wait a minute!" said Maya. "Step-sister?"
"Oh yeah... there's a whole thing with your family name. You know, they don't know that anyone knows, and the want to keep it all a secret ~ you know how it is."
"What about Mr. Morrison?"
"Oh, he's just a reject. With any luck, Matt will have taken care of him by now."
"What?!"
""Mr" Matthew Morrison is a hired gun. Didn't you guys know that? God you're stupid. He was here to kill Maya, because she's ruining the family name."
Maya fainted.
"Let's all go into the hall."
Everyone moved into the hall, and found Matt holding Mr. Morrison at gun point. Just then, Dr. Geordie entered the room with 2 policemen, Rod and Greg. They arrested Mr. Morrison. Kat grinned, and leaned forward.
"I got my knife back," she whispered.
Mr Morrison scrambled away and the police and Dr. Geordie left.
Irene and Mrs. Ariel came out looking very confused.
"It appears that there has been a lot going on here. I hereby announce that Sarsparilla is closed for the season. Call your parents and go home."
Irene and Mrs. Ariel went back into the kitchen, leaving the others standing in the hall.
"Well," said Kat. "Let's go home."
THE END