Tuesday - 10/1
SALEM HIGH SCHOOL
The weekend passed quickly, too quickly for the students at Salem High. By the following Monday, Fall Fest was over, and everyone was back to their normal lives. Sydney and Silver were taking things out of their lockers.
SILVER: Thanks for everything this weekend.
SYDNEY: Of course. How are you doing?
SILVER: A little better. I’ll be okay.
SYDNEY: I know you will.
Sydney closed her locker and put a hand on Silver’s shoulder.
SILVER: I’m glad we’re best friends, Syd.
SYDNEY: Me too.
Silver closed her locker and the girls walked to their first class. Along the way, they passed a group of girls, one of whom was talking animatedly. The one talking was Sophia. As Sydney and Silver passed, Sophia stopped talking and smiled too sweetly at Silver.
SYDNEY (quietly): Just ignore her, it’s fine.
Silver nodded. With the hand that wasn’t on Silver’s shoulder, Sydney clenched a fist. Then she took a deep breath and slowly unclenched.
SYDNEY (thinking): I don’t wanna cause a scene, at least not in front of Silver. But if that Sophia tries anything, she’ll be sorry.
HOLLY: Look, I’m not denying that I jumped. That’s not what I’m saying at all. What I’m saying is that you jumped significantly higher than I did.
TATE: You know, it’s too bad they don’t allow pictures during the hayride, because then we’d have proof of who really jumped how high, and I’d be able to show you that you jumped higher than me.
HOLLY: Well, I guess we’ll just have to live without knowing for sure. Except I don’t have to, because I know that you jumped higher.
TATE: Oh, whatever.
Tate and Holly smiled at each other, then walked hand in hand to their first class of the day.
HOLLY: Thanks for giving me a chance.
TATE: Yeah, well like I said the other night, I like you. We’ll see where things go from here.
SALEM UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL
Philip sat with Melanie, updating her on all of the recent goings on at the Mansion.
PHILIP: …and she seems to be enjoying preschool so far.
MELANIE: That’s good. I so wish I could’ve been there for Dani’s first day.
PHILIP: I know. I wish you could, too. But, the important thing is that you are healing and should hopefully be coming home soon.
MELANIE: I hope so.
Melanie sighed.
PHILIP: What’s on your mind, Mel?
MELANIE: What was that phone call about the other night?
PHILIP: What phone call.
MELANIE: Philip, you know what phone call. A week or so ago, you got that phone call. You claimed it was work, but it was way after work hours, and I could tell you weren’t telling the entire truth.
Now it was Philip’s turn to sigh.
PHILIP: You know me too well.
MELANIE: I do. Now, what was it really about, and more importantly, why did you lie about it?
PHILIP: I…I didn’t want to stress you out more. You had just woken up earlier in the day after being out for a while, there were still so many unknowns about your condition, I didn’t want to add to that. But, I shouldn’t have lied.
MELANIE: No, you shouldn’t. And you’re lucky that there’s no muffins in the room right now.
Melanie gave a small smile and Philip chuckled.
PHILIP: Fair enough.
MELANIE: So, wanna tell me what that phone call was really about?
PHILIP: All right. You’re not gonna be thrilled, but I guess it’s better you hear it from me.
MELANIE: How bad is it?
PHILIP: I was getting impatient with how long the police were taking in finding out why you were kidnapped. It’s not that I don’t trust Shawn and his partners, of course I do. But I didn’t want to wait for them to go through the proper channels. So, I had one of my associates look into what happened to you. The call was because they thought they had found a lead and wanted me to come check it out.
MELANIE: And did they?
PHILIP: Sadly not anything that we didn’t already know from when you remembered who kidnapped you. They found CCTV footage of Bart taking you. My associate then brought Bart by to ask him a few questions, but we didn’t get anything out of him. He is, as we suspected, still extremely loyal to the DiMeras.
Melanie nodded.
MELANIE: Right.
PHILIP: How did you know? That I wasn’t telling the truth that night, I mean?