Sarah seemed surprised by this. "That works for me. Just give me a moment to find the question list."
"No problem," Kane said as he continued scanning the parking lot.
He was in luck; he managed to find it right as she began asking him questions so he could do it in the privacy of the car. They were all pretty straightforward. He had to lie through his teeth and tell them what they wanted to hear but it should be enough, provided there wasn't a second interview Casey could screw up.
Though there was also the potential issue of him sounding completely different in person than on the phone if he did get hired. They might have the same voice but the tones were miles apart and there was his stutter and tendency to mix words up.
One problem at a time. Kane didn't even know if this would work.
"Thank you for your time, Mr. Parker," Sarah said once she asked if he had any questions and he didn't. "We'll be in touch."
"Thank you! Have a nice rest of your day," Kane said pleasantly before she said "You too" and hung up. Well. At least that was over and done with. He didn't even have to leave a note for Casey because she said they would be in touch.
Kane's work here was done. He had already done all the pressing homework assignments for today so he was going to go home and watch TV. He had earned it after all the hassle of being Casey for the past day and a half.
===
Kane showed up a few other times in the following weeks while Casey waited to hear back from Orchard Books. Kane met up with Vera twice for those lessons and had to pretend to be Casey.
Kane really didn't understand their relationship at all and wasn't sure whether or not he should intervene. His job was to protect Casey but he wasn't sure there was any protection necessary here.
She didn't seem to be out to get him. They were clearly friendly and comfortable with each other, considering how she interacted with him. If she didn't mean any harm and wasn't causing any real trouble, there was no reason to intervene.
Kane wasn't here to mess things up for Casey. Kane was here to make things easier and clean up after him when he couldn't do it personally.
Vera certainly seemed nice. Someone as fragile as Casey could use some niceness. This could be a good thing for him, provided it didn't stress him out too much. Everything stressed him out though. He was so weak that it was pitiful.
He couldn't handle very much, which was where Kane came in. He probably wouldn't need to show up as often if the sucker learned how to handle things better. Or if the situations that stressed him out the most stopped.
Kane was almost positive this sudden resurgence was because of the stress of internship applications. Maybe this wouldn't happen as often once that was taken care of.
If it was taken care of. Casey wasn't likely to get an internship with his own abilities.
"Are you okay? You seem lost in thought," Vera noted, concern running through her voice.
"I'm fine," Kane said with an attempt at a reassuring smile. "I was just thinking about something. Not a big deal."
"If you're sure. I tried calling your name three times."
Oops. He was still getting used to responding to 'Casey.' Normally when he was out and about, he didn't get directly addressed. Candy had always called them 'Little Candy Cane' and that kind of included his name so…
"My bad."
"Don't worry about it. I only wanted to know if you needed help with your finish. You've been staring at it for a while," Vera said.
Right. Applying finish to this wooden board. That was what he should have been paying attention to instead of letting his mind wander. He didn't know how to do this anyway so he wasn't about to turn the opportunity to get helped down.
"I do, thanks."
Kane only managed to get through the rest of the practice board because of her help. She was a good teacher.
He could see why Casey bothered to continue interacting with her. It was still weird that he had bothered getting involved with someone in the first place though. He was so terrified of people.
To be fair, they never treated him well. He couldn't handle Candy's love and people bullied him at school. Kane had experienced it himself a handful of times when he took over Casey's body during school hours.
Unfortunately, Kane couldn't do anything but tell them to shut up so he wouldn't get Casey in trouble. School wasn't Kane's domain.
As useless as Casey may be, he was good at school. Getting him in trouble when he wouldn't even remember it would not end well. So Kane was forced to keep his mouth shut.
Calling him names was nothing. Candy used to do a lot worse. But if anyone tried pushing Casey around, they would have problems. Nobody had the right to do that now that she was gone.
She was a special case. She had loved them so she could do things other people couldn't.
There wasn't anyone left who loved them. Kane didn't know what Vera felt toward them but it was nothing like how Candy treated them. Vera was a lot nicer.
He didn't know what to make of it. Niceness was a foreign concept. Candy was almost never nice. He didn't come out much either so he spent even less time with people than Casey did and he seemed to be completely isolated, aside from Vera.
Kane wished he knew how they even ended up as student and teacher in the first place but couldn't ask. Explaining his situation with Casey wouldn't go well. Normal people didn't share bodies with others.
They weren't normal. Never would be. But he was putting on a fairly convincing act to get her to talk to him as much as she did.
Maybe Vera would be able to accept him the way he was. Kane would have to keep an eye on things to see if she was trustworthy or not. If he could find someone else to take care of Casey for him…didn't that mean he could finally rest?
That was probably nothing more than a pipe dream. He would never be able to trust someone with Casey more than he trusted himself. No one else would look out for him the way Kane did. It was stupid to even think like that.