Doing it my way

you hate. That is, unless you want to wait another hour for that P.T.A. meeting to end."

     Phoebe was now starting to get cold. "Alright, I'll give it a try."

     "Call me back as soon as you get off the phone with him and let me know how it goes."

     "Alright, Goodbye."

     She punched in the number that Rita sent her and pressed 'send.' In many ways, this was even more nerve-wracking than sneaking out of Felix's house. If Rita hadn't given her the tongue lashing she knew she deserved, perhaps Ian would make up for it.

     "Hello?" The familiar voice answered. Ian was busy making himself a sandwich.

     "Hello." Phoebe was so nervous she could hardly speak.

     "Who is this?"

     "It's Phoebe."

     Ian couldn't imagine why she would be calling him. "Alright, what did I do this time?"

     "You didn't do anything. But this is the hardest thing I will ever do in my lifetime."

     "What are you talking about?"

     "I'm in big trouble, and I need your help. Rita tells me that you've got a sister with a car."

     "Yeah?" He was understandably suspicious.

     "Ian, I need someone to pick me up."

     He was flabbergasted. This was the first time she had ever called him by his first name, and actually got it right. "Phoebe, where are you?"

     "Near Felix's house..."

     "Oh, so that's it, huh?" The mere mention of Felix's name caused a red flag to go up in his head. This sounded just like the sort of cruel joke that he would likely put Phoebe up to. "Listen, you tell Felix to go screw himself. I'm not falling for that again. I've gotten a little older and wiser over the last few months."

     "Ian, I'm serious. He's trying to..."

     "I'm not as stupid as you think." He hung up on her.

     Phoebe immediately called Rita back.

     It took less than half a ring for her to answer. "Phoebe?"

     "He didn't believe me, and I don't blame him. He hung up on me."

     "Hang tight. I'll give him a call." Rita hung up and called her boyfriend.

     "Hello?" He was now eating the sandwich he had just prepared.

     "Hi Ian, it's me."

     "Hello Angel. You're not going to believe this, but Phoebe just tried to lure me into..."

     "Ian, she really was at Felix's this evening..."

     "Perfect. I cannot think of two people on the planet who are more deserving of each other's company." He continued to munch on his sandwich.

     "You've got to listen to me. This is not a practical joke. She's genuinely in trouble."

     He sensed the urgency in her voice. "You're really positive she's not trying to pull something over on you, just to stick it to me?"

     "Ian, listen. You know I would never lie to you. Phoebe has a lot of deep-rooted psychological problems. They all stem from the fact that her mother is a whore. Believe me when I tell you that buried deep inside that self-centered girl is a genuinely good person trying to claw its way to the surface."

     Ian was still skeptical. "Need I remind you that the 'genuinely good person' you are talking about would've hit me in the back of the head with a very large anthropology textbook if you hadn't held her back..."

     "Well you did insult her mother in front of a whole class..."

     "And if she had insulted mine, I might've been indignant, but I certainly wouldn't have..."

     "That's because you're a much better person than her!" Rita was now crying. "Ian, I'm going to make this as plain as possible. Felix lured her over to his house this evening. He evidently tried to pull something on her that was similar to whatever it was he pulled on you. She managed to escape, and is now hiding in the bushes somewhere in his neighborhood."

     "So why doesn't she call her mom?"

     "Because they evidently made all of our parents turn off their cell phones at the meeting tonight. If you don't believe me, try calling yours."

     "I'll take your word for it."

     "Ian, a week and a half ago you completely forgave me for treating you like garbage," She was now screaming. "Now it's time for you to do the same for Phoebe!"

     "Alright," he sighed. "First I've got to go ask Erma if she's got time for this." Ian carried the cell phone down the hall. His sister's door was open, and she was lying on the bed, reading something. "Erma, I've got a favour to ask."

     She put the book down. "What's up?"

     "Somebody I know at school has gotten herself into a serious jam, and needs a ride. She's about twenty minutes away from here."

     "Do I have to drive through a crummy neighborhood?"

     "As a matter of fact, just the opposite. She's in the Alveira Heights area. We'll be the ones who are considered to be the undesirables in that part of town."

     Unknown to Ian, Mabel had been listening in on the conversation from her bedroom across the hall. She walked up behind him. "You guys are going for a ride into the ALveira Heights district? Cool. Can I come along?"

     "Well, since both of you are obviously into this, I guess I have no choice." Erma put down the book and reached for her jacket.

     Ian spoke to Rita, who was still on the phone. "Alright, it looks like we're off to the rescue."

     "Thank you so much. Ian, can you guys bring her over to my house?"

     "Sure, why not."

     "You've got her number, right?"

     "Yeah, it's still in my phone's memory from when she called a few minutes ago. I'll give her a call and keep you posted."

     "I love you."

     "I love you too." Ian hung up.

     The three of them all piled into Erma's car

    "Do you know exactly where we're going?" inquired his older sister.

     "Just drive in the general direction of ALveira Heights. I'll give you more specific instructions once we're in the area." Ian now picked up his phone once again, and punched in Phoebe's number. It took less than half a ring for her to answer.

     "Hello?" Her voice was still trembling.

     "Phoebe, it's Ian. I just got a call from Rita. We're coming to get you."

     "Th-thank you."

     "Listen, for the time being, just calm down. You are not walking in some dark back alley on skid row. You're in a well lit wealthy gated community. There's no need to be hiding in anybody's bushes."

     "I'm afraid of Felix."

     Ian sighed. "Yeah, welcome to my nightmare. Look. Just start walking towards the guard gate. If you walk at a brisk enough pace, you'll keep warm, and by my estimate, you should arrive there several minutes before we do."

     Phoebe got up and started walking. "Alright, I'm on my way."

     "Give me a call if there's a problem. I'll see you in about 15 minutes." Ian hung up the phone. As soon as he did, it rang again.

     This time it was Rita. "Ian, there's something I've got to ask you."

     "Yeah?"

     "Obviously you've known him a lot longer than I have. What exactly is Felix's story?"

     "Needless to say, I'm no authority on what makes him tick either. All I know is that his parents are really rich...I mean, we're talking nine figures...and that they're hardly ever home.."

     "In other words, this is a guy who's used to getting whatever he wants, whenever he wants it." said Rita.    "Yeah, on top of being rich, he's also tall, handsome and muscular. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if getting expelled was his very first brush with anything remotely resembling adversity."

     "That actually explains a lot. I'll see you a little later."

     "Bye Angel." Ian closed his cell phone

     Erma had been listening in on the conversation, and was curious to know what was going on. "So exactly what kind of a problem has this friend of
yours got herself into?"

     "I'm not so sure she's my friend," Ian was even more droll than usual. "Basically, we're on a mission to rescue an idiot from the clutches of an even bigger idiot."

     Erma didn't press the matter any further. She and Mabel just kicked back and enjoyed the scenery for the next fifteen minutes. Ian finally gave a couple of specific directions.

     "Turn right up ahead, and then drive a couple of blocks. You'll see a guard booth on the right. She should be wafting for us there."

     Erma followed his instructions, and sure enough, there was Phoebe. She seemed to be shivering, even though the guard had lent her his jacket.

     As they drove up, Ian swung the right rear door open. "Jump in, Phoebe."

     Phoebe handed the guard his jacket and thanked him. She then got in the car, never dreaming there would actually come a day when she would be relieved to see Ian.

     "You alright?" He asked.

     Without looking at him, she answered very quietly, "Yes."

     "These are my sisters, Erma and Mabel. This is Phoebe Shan."

     The three girls exchanged hellos and Erma spoke up. "So where do you live, Phoebe?"

     "We're not taking her home," interrupted Ian. "We're taking her to my girlfriend's house. It's not far from ours."

     With that, Erma drove off. For the first five minutes of the ride, Phoebe just sat in silence. For her, it was still unbelievably strange hearing Ian using the phrase 'my girlfriend' when referring to Rita.

     "Phoebe, I think there's something you should know."

     She turned and looked at him with a blank expression. Ian took this as a sign that he had at least earned her respect, if not her friendship. Ordinarily, she would just flip him off.

     He continued. "Last summer, out of the blue, I got a call from Felix one day. I asked him