-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Tuck A Number -*- Copyright 2002 by Ellen Hayes.
Any resemblance between the writings in this work, and any actual persons or places, living or dead, are purely coincidental, except when used for satirical purposes.
This work contains adult situations, adult language, adult concepts, and possibly sex. If you are legally not allowed to read materials containing such things, then you will be breaking the law by reading this. I am not responsible. Continuing to read this document, or storing it or reproducing it in any format means that you explicitly affirm that you are legally allowed to possess and read such materials in your city, county/parish, state, and country.
All rights reserved. See the bottom for distribution rights.
Tuck A Number
*** 12:04 20 Aug
Mike dinged the play bell as a formality, even though play had pretty much come to an end anyway, with Amanda 'rescued' and Kim's wounds being effectively treated with my healing powers - one bare human, even a witch, was apparently going to have problems in the middle of a bunch of werewolves, I realized - and a fair number of fomori and a couple Black Spirals dead, which was gonna be a good thing, I could tell.
The best Evil is dead Evil.
"Okay, experience!" Mike said loudly before people could really start talking. "Everyone gets two MORE freebie points, and remember that I AM keeping track of your characters, so tell me what you spent 'em on before we play again. Amanda and Kim, you get three, one being a bonus point for excellent roleplaying- The REASON," Mike yelled over the protests, "is that I expect that from you guys, but Amanda and Kim are kinda new at this, without years of practice, and they did as well as you, so they get rewarded." Not that I begrudged Kim and Amanda their awards; I just wanted more for me too.
*** 12:06 20 Aug
"Have you figured out what you want to play yet?" I asked Dan as we packed up.
"Yeah," he grinned back, "now I just have to get my prelude done, I think I'm gonna do that Saturday, with George and Kim helping. Oooh, and the FREEBIE points I'm getting!" he cackled. "I'm gonna be in every prelude there is!"
"Yeah, well, don't kill any PLAYER characters, we need- Hey, where's Kelly?" I asked, just realizing that he- SHE, damnit! I thought to myself angrily. Anyway, SHE wasn't there at lunch.
"Dunno," Dan said, and started to grin, so I hit him. "Hey!"
"I know what you were grinning at and it's not funny," I told him, looking around. "She probably doesn't find it any funnier than I do. Hey Mike, save my stuff, right? I gotta go find Kelly."
"Take someone with you," Mike reminded me.
"Huh?" asked James, who was wearing another Star Trek T shirt today, though not the same one he'd had Friday, or Monday, or Tuesday... "Why?"
"John-Boy," Mike started in his lecturing voice.
"It's JAMES."
"Whatever. Smart geeks don't wander lunch alone, because unlike between classes, there's plenty of time for a mob to drag you somewhere secluded and beat you to death. So, we go in groups."
"I'll go," Kim said, nodding, as she got up.
*** 12:11 20 Aug
Either, Kim had decided she needed to take a dump so suddenly that she couldn't come back out of the bathroom to tell me she'd be a while, or she'd found Kelly in there several minutes ago and couldn't come out.
I sort of hoped it was the first one, because if it was the second Kelly was probably really upset and that was Not Good.
*** 12:14 20 Aug
I had just decided to quit looking at my watch every fifteen or so seconds and just continually stare at it, when the door opened again, this time thankfully disgorging Kim and a rather upset-looking Kelly. "Hey, what'sup?" I asked, pushing myself off the wall I'd perched on.
"Tell h-him," Kim stuttered, and flashed a tiny grin of apology at me, which I ignored.
Kelly caught it, though. "You don't have to make fun of me too!" she snarled at Kim, and yanked away from her.
And ran into me, which hurt an immense amount suddenly because something hit a nipple of mine and white fire exploded through my brain. Can't scream! I realized desperately as I was opening my mouth, and riposting was out I realized as I was starting to wind up to a riposte, so I just stood there for a second, paralyzed with pain and indecision.
"We still have trouble with pronouns and Tuck sometimes," Kim said to cover my freezeup. "Especially with him in makeup like he was this morning in Cosmetology class," which was an utter lie but sounded good, once I stopped trying to protest. "Ask Jill about it if you don't believe me," Kim added.
I finally got my breath back, mostly, and my wits back, mostly, and added, "Ah, besides, I got hit on by a couple of freshmen BOYS this morning at my locker, so it's not-"
"No way!" Kim gasped.
"No shit," I said. "They were asking me if I was in their pre-algebra class," I snickered.
"They did?" Kelly asked, looking very surprised. Kim was looking around with an astounded expression like she wanted to argue with someone about what I'd said.
"You're not the only one that thought I was a girl, I guess," I said quietly. "So, if someone gets the pronouns confused, it's not a twisted little joke at you." Kelly still looked kind of stunned, so I asked, "What happened to get you upset?"
She got all upset again. "That fucking bitch, the blonde one from the computers and stuff the first day, the one that assigned us together?" Kelly snarled, sounding a lot like hi- her Black Spiral. "She's in my Computer Applications class, and when I came in today she said, 'Oh look it's Chris! Chris, where's Pat?' and everyone started laughing at me!" Kelly sniffed, and angry tears started leaking again. "The whole class was laughing at me!"
I looked at Kim and said, "Uh-"
"Don't you ever watch television?" Kim asked me accusingly.
"Not if I can help it," I said back, "it rots the brain, keeps me off the computer, and Mike usually has something more interesting to do anyway. Wanna tell me anyway?"
Kim shook her head accusingly, thinking 'What an IDIOT!' which I could almost see appearing over her head in a thought balloon.
*** 12:16 20 Aug
When Kim finished, us having moved away from the bathrooms as she did, I thought about it, and finally said, "Ya know, I don't think that's a bit funny. But I bet Mike has something that would be funny, if we gave it to da bitch. Come on," I said, and headed back to the gaming pit. Kim started chuckling and came with, and Kelly eventually followed us both, still looking upset.
Kelly protested, "I don't want to GIVE her something-"
"Oh," I replied to Kelly, "you'll WANT to give her this. And it sounds like she deserves it." And bared my fangs at her before I remembered I didn't actually have fangs, being a player and all instead of a character. Gonna have to watch that, I noted.
*** 12:18 20 Aug
"Ooooh," Mike said. "Now, that's not funny."
"I know," I said, "and we were hoping YOU could come up with something funny, for her." Mike nodded, plotting already, I could tell. "Which bimbo was she, Kelly?" I asked.
"The blonde one, the-"
"They were both blonde-"
"I KNOW that!" Kelly snapped at me. "The one on the, uh, the left side, if you looked at them from our side of the tables."
I'd no idea which one was where, now. "Uh, Shannon's got dark roots-"
As Kelly shook her head that no, Shannon wasn't the one, Kim asked, "The one with Shannon Friday, giving out schedules and stuff? Ashlee'e'e'e'e," she stretched the name out, so now I had a clue as to her first name and a guess to her personality, too. "Benford. That whore said THAT to you?"
I waved my hand at Kim to shut her up and said, "No doubt. Kelly, where does she sit in the class? Exactly?"
"Now Tuck, what ARE you thinking?" Mike grinned before Kelly could answer.
"Heh heh heh," I chuckled, rubbing my hands. "Kell- No, Mike? Can you take Kelly home tonight or something?"
"Hey, Kel, wanna help with another prelude?" Mike asked Kelly.
"Why?!" Kelly asked, looking extraordinarily confused.
"'Cause we have something evil in mind for the bitch," Mike said, "and while Tuck has to go to work before we get out, he can call us, right? The new phone's working, isn't it?" Mike asked me, and I nodded. "So," Mike said to Kelly, "some things are best not mentioned in public places, and so we'll do it over the phone this afternoon, and then do the prelude the rest of the time."
Kelly said, "No, I mean..."
"What?"
"She was just making fun of me," Kelly said apologetically, "I mean, it's not-"
"That sort of thing leads in a couple of days to 'just making fun of you' by stuffing you into a trash can or something," I said from experience, "which eventually leads to them 'just making fun of you' by stealing your stuff and setting it on fire. Whereas, if we do something NOW, we might remind her that it's not a smart move to fuck with us. She should know better by now, but maybe she forgot over the summer."
James came up at that point and said to Kelly, "Hey, where were you today? You were awesome yesterday in the game, I bet you could've-"
"Shut up a minute, James, and go talk to George about the GURPS Star Trek crossover game he's going to set up." James' eyes lit up and he trotted off eagerly. "That boy's starting to get on my nerves," Mike sighed. "I'd say he has a one track mind, but that's a little broad."
"Back to Kelly?" I suggested.
"Yeah," Mike nodded, and turned back to us. "Anyway, most of the cheerleaders are bitches anyway, most of the bitchy ones hate us, and they should be reminded that no matter how unsocially-correct we are, it is a bad idea to fuck with us. Besides, you'll be watching Tuck's back in case someone tries to kick his ass, right?" he asked Kelly.
"Well," Kelly looked at me for a moment, so I nodded, "yeah? I mean, yeah?"
"So," I said, "so we do the same to you, I mean for you."
"Besides," Mike said, "you're going to help, and be the trigger man, I mean trigger babe," he grinned, "though Tuck and Dan are going to do almost all the actual work."
"Depends on what we come up with," I said.
"I," Mike said, "have an idea." And I think all of us bared our fangs at that point.
*** 12:20 20 Aug
The bells rang, which sort of flushed us like a bunch of quail. "Stick with Mike after school, okay?" I told Kelly, and waited for her to nod before I took off.
*** 13:12 20 Aug
I wasn't sure what they actually said, but the, "-is or Pat?" followed by laughter gave me a clue it was about me.
I REALLY wished I was going to High-Energy Physics class.
*** 14:27 20 Aug
"Hey," Rachel said as I came in the door, and she waved at me.
"Hey yourself," I smiled. "How are you?"
"I'm okay," she said as her head bobbed in self-agreement. "How are you doing?"
"Oh, okay, I guess... Susan left for college this morning, and so it's just me and the little brother monster in the house, plus the parents of course."
"Oh, that's cool... no, it's not cool?" she asked after looking closer at me.
*** 14:33 20 Aug
"So, when do you want me to take you to dinner?" I asked her as I pulled a light dress over my head. I REALLY needed to do laundry.
"Oh, well... I was kind of hoping, the next time you have a Sunday dinner, you could-"
I interrupted, "Yeah, next Sunday, but you're already invited, if you want to come, and that doesn't count anyway." When I was decent, I looked out of the closet. "Someplace nice, right?" I suggested, then chuckled, and added, "And I promise to leave Travis home that night so you won't get sick watching us moon over each other." She giggled at that. "So... think of places. Are you doing anything this Friday night after seven-thirty or eight?"
*** 14:35 20 Aug
"Um, Tuck?" Rachel asked.
"Yeah?"
"Would you mind going out as Val?"
"No, why?"
"Just in case we meet some interesting looking guy who thinks I'm interesting? So it won't look like I'm already with someone on a date, 'cause that would keep away the guys I'd like and the ones that would hit on me anyway I KNOW I don't want to talk to," she explained.
I had to work a while to get it, but I did, finally. "Okay, sure," I chuckled. "Maybe I SHOULD bring Travis, so as to give anyone- oh, and you should look sad all evening, so anyone who looks in our direction gets the idea that you'd like to be doing the same thing with someone?" She laughed, eventually.
*** 15:19 20 Aug
"I didn't think you were ever gonna get here!" Ricky complained as he fell into the seat, backpack in front of him, and started fiddling with seat belt and door. "Can we go?"
"Ricky, why do you have grass in your hair?" I asked, being pretty sure of the reason.
"I dunno," he said, not looking at me. "I tripped."
"Uh huh," I said, flat.
*** 15:43 20 Aug
Ricky hadn't talked, and so I'd given up trying to get it out of him for the moment, especially since traffic was bizarrely thick this afternoon and I didn't want to kill all of us because I was doing something besides driving. And, of course, when we got home, he bailed out of my car the instant I stopped the engine.
I'd find out eventually, though.
*** 16:07 20 Aug
"YOU can go swim," I told him. "I've got to, uh..." which was when I remembered the Caller ID and the other stuff I'd gotten Monday night.
"Do what?"
"Uh, I have to call someone and discuss something, for school," I said. "But like I said, YOU can go swimming, and I'll watch you from the window."
"It's really boring without anyone else," he groused.
"Maybe tomorrow Gary and David could come over," I said, which was a mistake because he started whooping around, and anything he was that excited about was a mistake on my part.
*** 16:11 20 Aug
Apparently my mistake had heartened him enough to go swimming by himself, and so I was juggling Stella and a phone, wishing I'd grabbed the other Zaptronics or whatever it was in the phone box.
"Hey Tuck!" Mike said when he answered it. "You decided to kidnap the babies and keep them in your room, I see."
"Yeah, I'm building a terrarium for them," I lied. "'Sup?"
"Kelly and Dan and George are here, Kim's coming, and since we- are you secure?"
"Haven't checked the line, but the phone's a commercial one and okay," I'd checked, "and there's no one in the house but Stella, and I can see Ricky outside," I said.
"Okay, going to multimode, hold on." I held the phone away from my ear as Mike switched to the box of earphones, which always made the phone scream. I had to fix that, one of these days...
Once it was done squalling with feedback, I put it back. "Check?"
Everybody answered, Kelly sounding sort of weirded, and then Mike said, "Okay, what I had in mind was..."
*** 16:13 20 Aug
Eventually I felt strong enough to pick the phone up again, but someone was still laughing, so I put it back down on the floor next to me and Stella. "Oh, God," I said weakly to her, wiping tears off my face, "that's just AWFUL!" I forced myself to get up and make sure Ricky hadn't drowned, which either he hadn't or the corpse had been possessed very quickly indeed because he was still jumping off the diving board like an epileptic.
*** 16:17 20 Aug
"No sweat," I said. "I've got the perfect payload program in mind, all you have to do, Kelly, is put a disk in and run one program, and it'll zip over to wherever she's logged in and do her evil. Dan?"
"Yeah, uh, it might take a while," Dan said.
"You know," I said back, "if you wouldn't spend so much time looking so CLOSELY at the pictures-"
"Shut up!" Dan snarled, still a bit sensitive on the topic apparently, so I let it go.
*** 16:29 20 Aug
Stella started to whine, which sounded to me like a combination of 'change me' and 'feed me', so I said, "Hey guys, I gotta go, the baby's calling."
They all said various friendly leavetaking things, hurriedly, and hung up before Stella really went off. Which I couldn't blame them for. And I had to get started on dinner too.
*** 17:48 20 Aug
"Yeah," I told Miz Parker, "meatloaf's in the oven, and I think I've got the vegetables okay, the rest of the snow peas and a salad and that squash you had, I cut it up into sort of a stew. And we're out of dinner bread, like rolls or something?"
"Rolls?" she asked back.
"Yeah, we need more grains for the meal, to balance it out," I said. "Like the garlic bread we had, or something."
"That was GOOD," Ricky mentioned.
"I could go to the store," Miz Parker said absently, like she was still considering doing it rather than having decided already that it was a Good Thing.
"It would make it a little better," I encouraged, and she nodded.
*** 18:49 20 Aug
Seconds after I sighed and slammed the calculus book shut, the timer went off telling me that the meatloaf was ready and it was about time to pull everything else and start thinking about serving it and eating it.
Eating it was always a lot less interesting after you'd been cooking it for a couple hours, though.
*** 20:18 20 Aug
"They liked your meatloaf," I told Mom.
She grinned and nodded like this was to be expected, then asked, "Did they complain about the wheat germ in it? Or did you skip that?"
"As if I'd tell them I put that eco-freak vegan stuff in their all- American food! Duh!" I grinned, and we laughed. "What they don't know is good for 'em, won't make 'em complain." The doorbell rang, so I offered to get it.
"Hey!" I said as I opened the door to find a solitary Sabrina on the porch. "'Sup?"
"Hey, uh, you busy?"
"Nope. Whatsup?"
"I was sort of thinking of something," she said as she shuffled her feet a little.
"Oh? Uh, like what?" I asked cautiously, turning my head so I could glance around for unfriendly ears.
"This math thing is really kicking my ass," she sighed.
That did not sound like it required my room, I decided, as I waved her into the house and the hallway.
*** 20:22 20 Aug
"Jeez..." I thought about it. "I don't really have the time to tutor you every day, and if we did it on the weekend that would be like forever, and I still have chores to do and stuff." Sabrina sighed deeply at that, like she was screwed and she knew it. "What's the sudden deal?"
"I need to get better in math," she told me.
"Yeah," that sort of went without saying, "but why now, I mean it seems like all of a sudden, kind of, since last year." I wouldn't have let her take Algebra this year, myself.
"Well, I mean, I.... don't laugh, okay?" she said quietly.
"Uh, would you like to tell me up in my room with the door shut?" I asked back, just as quietly, as I thumbed towards the stairs.
She shook her head. "It's not like that, it's just, I mean... I found out about this thing," she said as she got happier, "Civil Air Patrol?"
"The- Oh, yeah, that." Paramilitary Boy Sprouts, though they dressed better. "So?"
*** 20:24 20 Aug
"And you need to have the trig before you go to the camp, for wind vectors and stuff," I nodded.
"Wind what?"
It would be easier if I could give her a brain transplant, but then she'd probably lose all that fashion information, which might come in handy later.
I said, "Uh, you'll learn." #DING!# "Hey, I got it, c'mere," I said, and waved her towards Dad's office as I walked past her. "Hey Dad, I have a favor to ask you," I said, then waved at him and waited for him to take off his headphones and repeated my statement.
"What do you want, spawn of evil?" he asked.
"Spawn of who? Spawn of WHO?!?" I shot back, pointing at him who had spawned me.
Dad licked his finger and marked the virtual scoreboard with one for me, as Sabrina giggled a bit.
"Sabrina here, she needs to jump a year or two in her understanding of math, by next summer," I summarized.
Dad's eyes narrowed. "And you want me to tutor her. What's in it for me?"
"Hey, I'm just the broker," I said, and got out of the way so Dad could interrogate Sabrina.
*** 20:27 20 Aug
"You think, I mean," Sabrina asked me, sounding unsure.
"Hey Brian!" I called, and he looked up. "Is Dad any good at teaching math?"
Brian thought for a second, then said, "If he was as good at teaching socialization, as he is at teaching math, you'd be in Hollywood right now." Mom started chuckling.
I thought about that until I had it, and chuckled a bit myself, and then looked at Sabrina so I could say, 'See?' but then saw that she didn't see. "Try again," I told Brian.
Brian sighed, and said, "Dad got my sister up to college level math during high school despite the fact that she desperately wanted to be a brainless bimbo at the time."
"Brian," Mom said.
Brian threw up his hands at her and accused, "That's what you said yourself back-"
"Brian!" Mom said sharply, which meant 'Shut up immediately'. "Um, Pam-"
"This is Sabrina, Mom," I said hurriedly.
"Hi Sabrinaaaaaaa!" Brian called as he waved frantically.
"Ignore him," I advised, "he's been licking too many electrical-"
"Eugene," Mom said to shut me up too. "Sabrina," Mom said in an entirely different tone of voice, "Bill was about two courses away from a math degree at MIT, except they wouldn't give him another bachelor's degree while he was also in the graduate program. He's VERY good, and he's also very good at explaining it. He got ME through college calculus when I had to retake it a few years ago."
"Besides," Dad said from behind us, the discussion apparently having dissolved the glue that held him into his chair, "it's usually not the math part that's hard, it's the bad emotional associations you have with math that hold you back. Right, Sarah?" Mom nodded emphatically at that. "What subjects do you do well in?" he asked Sabrina.
"Uh, well, English, and French, a-"
"If you can get a 'B' in second year French," Dad said, "especially while living in America, you can handle calculus. It's a lot less bizarre."
"I got an 'A'?" Sabrina admitted.
"No sweat!" Mom and Dad both assured her.
"French isn't that hard, though," Sabrina argued against herself.
"French is a language specifically designed by people who hate the rest of humanity," Dad said, "and-"
"Bill!" Mom warned.
*** 20:33 20 Aug
"I can't believe I'm doing this," Sabrina sighed as she began folding clothes. Our clothes.
I patted her sympathetically on the shoulder, but grinned wildly at Brian who was grinning wildly back at me. I had to stop and look sympathetic, though, when Sabrina looked at me sharply, but then she wasn't looking at Mom, who threw her fists up in the air and danced on the couch for a moment.
Nobody really liked folding clothes, and now we had someone else to do it for us.
*** 21:08 20 Aug
"Oh, Eugene, Brian," Mom said. "I made dental appointments for you on the twenty-eighth, in the morning. I sent you email about it, but I thought I'd tell you in person."
We both sighed sadly, but it was tons better than having to give up a day of summer vacation. Or even half a day.
*** 22:06 20 Aug
"Yeah, I mean, it sorta makes sense," Sabrina admitted unwillingly. "Why didn't you explain it like that?" she accused me.
"If Dad was as good at teaching social skills," I started, but then she was already chuckling so I didn't bother finishing. "See ya tomorrow, right?" She nodded, and then we hugged, and then she left.
*** 22:26 20 Aug
I felt really alone without anyone in my bed, which was sort of strange since I'd only been inflicted with them this summer.
And I knew that the nightmares were waiting.
On the other hand, I still hadn't picked out a laptop, and I had some programming to do for Kelly too.
*** 22:31 20 Aug
And, amongst other email from Amy and some sweet ones from Travis, I also had one from Mom mentioning a whole lot more medical appointments than she'd mentioned earlier. It looked like I'd lose three half-days or so in September, and that wasn't even counting whatever respiratory stuff I'd pick up from the population. Great.
*** 22:39 20 Aug
As I was putting away the laundry Sabrina had folded into my own drawers, I noticed something that I'd damn well better not have put in there...
But it wasn't me, because when I pulled the nightgown out of the drawer, a note fell out, and that was from Amy to me.
"I know you'll find this a LONG time after I'm gone," she'd written, "but I left it for you anyway just sort of as a reminder. I love you."
"Oh Amy, you dork," I sighed, and hugged the nightgown - it smelled like her, still, just faintly - and went to go write her another email to tell her I'd found it.
*** 02:10 21 Aug
"Oh, shit," I said when I checked the time, and then I yawned REALLY hard.
*** 05:47 21 Aug
"Did you really think I'd be grateful?" Debbie asked rhetorically as I backed away, too late. And as usual, the other kids were gathering around going 'Fight! Fight!' "You little faggot, I had something going with him, and you had to go and fuck it up. What did you think you were going to do, 'save' me?" she sneered as she fingered the stiletto that was already dripping.
I protested desperately, "But, wait, I thought-"
"Have fun sucking cocks in hell," she said, and slashed my throat and I screamed into my darkened bedroom as I slammed into the top bunk from underneath.
*** 05:49 21 Aug
The knocking on my door was unwelcome but hardly unexpected.
I rolled over, which hurt my head a lot, and I eventually managed to stand up, staggering a couple of times before I got the trick again. It would have been easier if I could have let go of my belly, but I was still afraid my intestines would fall out if I did.
*** 06:55 21 Aug
"You look like shit," Jill said as we met up outside.
"Oooh, thanks," I grimaced. "I was up all last night composing love sonnets to you, but if you're gonna be like that about it-"
"No you weren't," Jill stated. "What happened?"
I sighed. "I had some nightmares last night. Do I really have to talk to Debbie today?"
"I think you ought to, yeah," she told me.
"What happened?" Kim asked.
*** 06:58 21 Aug
"She wouldn't do that, Tuck," Kim sighed.
"She did it last night-"
"That was a DREAM," Jill emphasized.
"And thus, shows what I am truly afraid of," I shot back. "And how do I know how she's going to react?"
"You idiot," Jill said, "the friends SHE will have around you, are gonna be US, and we like you too. Remember?"
"Yeah, I guess," I sighed, giving up on trying to explain this.
*** 08:02 21 Aug
"Today at lunch, right?" Mike insisted.
"Oh, damnit," I sighed.
"How much did you sleep last night?"
"Oh... three hours?" I guessed.
Mike looked at me for a moment.
"Debbie?" he asked.
"Of course."
Mike just shook his head. "Yeah, it's time to talk to her."
*** 10:42 21 Aug
"Faggot," some senior said as he shoved me sideways into a locker so I'd stop obstructing his imperial advance.
"You know," I sighed to myself, "if you'd just do that hard enough, I'd get to go to the hospital today and avoid this."
He stopped and turned around, a very confused look on his face.
Oh, shit, did I say that out loud?
"What?"
"Never mind," I sighed, then smiled and said, "Have a nice day!"
"Faggot!" he said as he turned around and walked off.
Turing Test saaaaaays... FLUNK! But I made sure to keep my mouth shut this time.
*** 11:30 21 Aug
"It is not going to be that bad!" Sabrina insisted as we got up.
I sighed, and just tried not to think of Debbie slicing my throat as she smiled at me.
It wasn't working.
*** 11:32 21 Aug
I had to start gulping air when my body slammed into overdrive, which it did when I got close enough to smell her.
"Raus," Mike said, in a not-unfriendly tone, and pushed me around the corner.
And there she was, in the middle of a whole bunch of her friends.
The only consolation was, Debbie looked far more upset, and far LESS angry or irritated or smug, than she had in my nightmares.
That, and Mike at my left flank, of course.
"What's YOUR problem?" Kathy asked me as she looked down at me.
"Nah, nothing," I lied. I was terrified, but I wasn't sure if that was a problem or a completely useful pre-battle warmup. I always moved faster when I was terrified.
And then Debbie looked up at me, and her face was not the face of nightmare. Somehow, it hurt more because of it.
My heart went 'tweedle-eedle-eedle' at this point, which was an entirely new and completely unwelcome sensation.
"Tuck," she said, far more calmly than I could have said anything, if I could have said anything. "Did, did you get my voicemail?"
I nodded.
Mike nudged me from behind.
"Urr," I croaked, then cleared my throat and remembered what I was supposed to say. "Uh, yeah, I did. Uh, no big deal, and you don't owe me any favors okay?" I said rapidly. "So..." I ran out of things to say, and tried to leave but Mike was pushing me back before I started.
"Why," Debbie asked, "why did you..."
My throat closed up then, so I couldn't have said anything at all even if I had an answer to give her, which I didn't.
*** 11:35 21 Aug
"Well, that was a sterling example of your usual style and grace," Mike commented.
"Mike, shut the fuck up, would you?" I gasped out.
"What the hell happened to you?" Matt asked with wide eyes, staring down at me as I lay on the floor and tried to recuperate, after I'd fled the area.
"Have you ever heard the song," Mike explained, "'Breaking Up Is Hard To Do'?"
"Yeah?" Matt said, now looking immensely stupid from this angle as he turned to look at Mike.
"It really is, some girls," Mike said. "You should always plan ahead to what happens if you break up."
"And what happens if you and I break up?" Kim asked archly.
"Then," Mike smiled, "I get the B-83 thermonuclear bomb Tucker's been hiding up in his room all these years, and wipe out my disgrace in a truly epic fireball."
"Oh," Kim said in a completely unconvinced voice, "that's so sweet."
"Only the best for you, darling," Mike said with the same level of sincerity.
"Did she kill Tuck?" George whined from somewhere out of sight.
"Not quite," Mike said as he turned around.
"Good, let's play," George demanded.
Good old George; no matter what terrible trauma had just happened to you, you could almost always count on him being a maximal asshole about it.
*** 11:38 21 Aug
Mike dinged the play bell. "Ooookay. Since Tucker is now able to sit upright again-"
"Fuck you Mike!"
"Don't interrupt the Storyteller," Mike said calmly. "We now turn back to those thrilling days of yesteryear, when Kim was juuuuuuust graduating from the FBI training course..."
*** 12:05 21 Aug
"HOW tall?" Kim gasped.
"Mmmm," Mike said, "about twice as tall as you, you guess. Roll yer Wits, dear, target six."
Kim rolled a few dice, and did not do well. Too bad she wasn't rolling for the other side on this one. "Heh heh heh heh," Kelly snuffled.
"Oooh, a little too stunned to act there," Mike grinned. "Jack?"
"It's JAMES," James insisted.
"Pipe down, lad," Dan said.
"Heh-hehheh-heh-heheheheheh, you said 'pipe'," George chortled.
"Delay of GAME!" I insisted.
"Yeah, shut up," Mike added. "James, roll a single." He got a nine, and looked unbearably pleased about it, and slightly more so when Mike ordered, "Now roll YOUR Wits versus six."
He rolled, and got two successes. "Can I shoot the monster?"
"Sure," Mike said, sounding gracious. "Kelly?"
"Reach out and grab the monkey with a gun, his arm," Kelly sneered.
"The arm with the gun?" Mike asked, "Or the other arm?"
"The one with the gun!" Kelly said scornfully. "Duh!"
"Tuck," Mike said, "roll a single tenner, high is good." I rolled, and this was just not going to be my day. Luckily I wasn't playing 'my' character yet, just an NPC who looked like she was going to be hamburger in ten seconds or so. "Spazz," Mike said, so I did my best.
*** 12:06 21 Aug
It looked as though ten seconds had been wildly optimistic, since the screaming had apparently upset Amanda's whatever-the-hell-it-was and she/it was now busily engaged in pulling pieces off me to shut me up, and so I was keeping up a constant low-level wailing and shrieking for background ambiance-
"What the HELL is going on here?!" bellowed fiercely, got our attention, though.
*** 12:11 21 Aug
"Oh no," Dobson said as we started crowding into his office.
"I can explain this," I said.
"Oh no," he groaned.
*** 12:13 21 Aug
After totally mangling some well-edited facts, some hysterical assumptions, and a general prejudice against things he didn't understand, into a bizarre mess that made it sound like we'd been sitting there sacrificing babies to pagan gods (worse than Satan by a long shot) while gambling and probably drinking and/or doing drugs (and he probably thought dancing was in there somewhere too), the football coach stood back and crossed his arms.
"Can I say something?" I asked.
Dobson glared at me. "Go ahead," came out of him like he knew he was going to regret allowing it. He was, but I still couldn't figure out why he kept bothering with demanding explanations when we always had at least one.
I explained, "It's a game of pretend, except with more rules, to keep us from arguing; or, it's improv acting for our own amusement, except we do a lot more of it sitting down. The dice are there to generate random numbers for acts that are uncertain in nature," I said. "The only thing we're betting, is that this is more fun than sitting around talking about boy bands."
The gamers snorted; the coach got upset; and Dobson immediately raised his hand for silence. I thought I saw his lip quiver a bit, though, before he asked, "Eugene, do you SWEAR to me, that there's no gambling involved?"
I thought about it, and nodded. "I do swear that there is no gambling involved, especially for money."
"Why were you screaming?" he asked.
"Uh, well," I explained, "my character, I mean it wasn't MY character it was sort of a supporting background character I was playing, she was being ripped in half by this enraged werewolf, one of the evil ones I mean, and it sorta seemed the thing to do, you know? I mean, what else-"
*** 12:15 21 Aug
"I believe I can handle it from here," Dobson told the coach, again, and finally the coach got the hint and left us there.
Pause.
I was thinking, We'd damned well better NOT get detention over this, when Dobson sighed, and said, "Eugene... do, were you planning to do this tomorrow?"
"Uh, yeah?" I admitted, surprised at the question.
"Where?"
*** 12:16 21 Aug
"You're gonna WHAT?" popped out ot my mouth before I could safety it with my hand.
"Watch," Dobson repeated. "And see what this is all about."
"Uh," I said. Well, I tried to, but I was still holding my own mouth shut so not much came out.
"But," Mike said, raising his hand, "if you want to watch, that's okay but you have to understand something..." He sort of trailed off a moment as Dobson glared at him, then made his morale check and went on, "A, it's just a game, but B, we like to really get into it, so if we start screaming stuff at each other or something, it's not really serious no matter how serious it sounds, okay? I don't let them get so out of control that they start pounding on each other or anything like that, and one of the reasons I have some of them playing the bad guys, is so that I can stay neutral and just judge things. And keep it from getting out of control."
"Yeah, I mean, just because Amanda was ripping me apart," I added, "doesn't mean it was like, y'know, SER-"
Dobson glared at me and I shut up.
Dobson then took a breath and we all shut up.
Then he let it out again.
"Get out of my office and I'll see you there tomorrow," he said.
*** 12:18 21 Aug
"Did that just happen?" Amanda asked the rest of us, sounding at least as baffled as I felt.
"Roll your Perception plus Enigmas to tell for sure," Mike quipped.
*** 15:07 21 Aug
"Why are you all dressed up?" Ricky asked me as he climbed into the car.
"Uh, I'm running out of clean clothes," I sighed.
"Why don't you do some laundry?"
"Ricky!"
"What?" he whined back defensively.
I took a breath and let it out. "I know this," I said calmly, "but it's hard going to school and everything, and it's really hard to find enough time to do everything in my life, and I got three hours sleep last night and I am really tired." I paused. "Plus I have a date tonight with Travis, so I want to look nice. What would you like for dinner?" I asked him.
"What?"
*** 15:26 21 Aug
I hoped that the alternate route I'd used today would work in the future, because I was starting to feel like every minute was precious, because it sure seemed like I'd run out of them generally.
Ricky did not hang around to discuss driving strategy and optimum navigation, of course; not that I would have, if I hadn't changed clothes already myself. There was something about getting out of the clothes themselves, or something, that was like washing away the taunts and insults and nastiness. Or maybe it was just the sweat thing.
Or, maybe it was that Ricky was allergic to really ugly plaid.
*** 17:50 21 Aug
"It would really be helpful if I could skip dinner with you all tonight," I said, hopefully sounding apologetic. "Be-"
"Wh- No, go ahead," Miz Parker suggested.
"Well, I was hoping to have a date with Travis, and the last one my sister had to meet him and then I still have to get home by ten thirty so we didn't go see a movie like we planned, we sorta ran out of time, and, y'know, if I can get a head start on it like by half an hour or something, that would really be a BIG help."
"Well, Valerie, you should have said something," she said, like I'd made the mistake. "You don't have to cook EVERY night, I mean, I CAN cook if I nee- if you need to go somewhere," she changed.
"Well, I mean, but you said you don't l-" I wasn't supposed to say that, I remembered. "Well, you know, like you said," I said. "And it's not that big a deal if I cook and then leave."
"Valerieeee," she protested gently.
*** 18:02 21 Aug
I explained to Miz Parker, "I don't even know if he-"
"Hello?" Travis said.
"Hey! It's me Val," I said, smiling stupidly at the phone. "Um, Miz Parker said I could leave early tonight, so if you wanted to come by and start the evening a little sooner, that would be okay?" I sure hoped it was.
*** 18:38 21 Aug
"So just make sure you keep stirring-" The doorbell rang, and my heart gave a little happy leap. "Um, stirring this, don't let it stagnate for more than a few minutes, and the rest of it will fall into place."
"You sure?" she asked, sounding skeptical.
"I'm SURE!" I assured her. "My brother could do- My DAD could do this from here. Just don't add anything, and you'll be fine."
"Add? Like what?" she asked.
"ANYthing," I emphasized. "Or it'll blow up and you'll have sauce all over the remains of your exploded kitchen and Ricky'll want you to make it blow up again so he can do it at school."
As she laughed, I heard Travis laughing too, and whipped around because I knew I hadn't let him in-
"I can let HIM in, right Mom?" Ricky said from way below Travis.
*** 18:43 21 Aug
"How was your day?" Travis asked me after we got done kissing each other hello, next to the cars.
"Oh God," I said. "How was yours?"
"I don't think mine was that bad," he grinned. "Do you want to talk about yours?"
"No." I was quite sure.
Pause.
"Which movie were we going to go see?" he asked, changing the subject.
"Which one did you want?" I asked because I couldn't remember.
*** 19:02 21 Aug
I sure hoped Air Force One was going to be good.
*** 21:20 21 Aug
"Good movie?" Travis asked.
I was sure that one, this movie had no relation at all to reality, and two, it was pretty good entertainment anyway, and three, doing anything affectionate in the theater other than holding hands and minor snuggling was a waste of money, since we could have gone to Travis' place and had a lot more room and a lot fewer onlookers. Luckily, he seemed to have been as interested in the movie as I was.
"Yeah, good movie," I smiled at him.
"Where to?" he asked.
"Um..." I checked my watch. "How about we go back to the cars, since we really don't have time for much before we- Wait, did you eat already?"
"Yeah," he said, seeming mildly embarrassed for some reason. "Um, but, I could eat something again, if you wanted to get something."
"Ummmm..."
*** 21:29 21 Aug
Taco Bell seemed like a reasonable alternative to the usual Wendy's, and eating inside was nicer than either sitting in his truck and eating, or trying to dash to his house to inhale some food before dashing off to change so I could dash home. Plus it was starting to look like rain, too.
I was glad I had inadvertently dressed nice, though, because some girls came up to Travis and started chatting him up a bit - I guess they knew him from school - and glancing at me a lot. It wasn't like they were ignoring me especially, and Travis did introduce all of us to all of us, but they were talking to him about their school stuff and of course I had no idea who the teachers were or what the classes there were like or athletics practice or anything, so mostly I ate slowly and wondered what they were thinking.
Except when Travis took a bite out of a burrito which was not completely successful, and so I reached over with a napkin and wiped the dribble of sour cream off his cheek, and Travis and I grinned at each other and he said, "I guess I'm just a big ol' Ricky to you, huh?"
"Not quite," I said, still smiling, and tickled his leg with my foot. "You're much better at opening jars, for one thing."
*** 21:48 21 Aug
"So what was all that about?" I asked when the girls had finally left.
"What was all what?"
"Those girls," I said. "They sure seemed interested in you, or maybe I should say you and me? Whassup with that?"
"Ahhh," he said, leaning back and looking at the ceiling, which didn't look like a false ceiling so I don't know why he was thinking of escaping that way. "I dunno... I told you I was kind of shy with girls, right?"
"Yes, you did TELL me that," I emphasized, "and I still don't believe it."
"No, I'm serious!" he insisted, emphatically enough that I decided I'd pretend to believe him.
"Okay, okay, so..."
"So," Travis said, looking back down at me again, "so they're not really used to seeing me out and stuff."
"Like on a date?"
"Yeah," he admitted, looking down towards his shoes now. Or maybe his empty tray.
"Oh." I thought about it a bit. "Did I do okay, talking to them and stuff?"
He looked at me, and got that Look on his face. "Yeah..."
*** 22:07 21 Aug
We stopped kissing for a bit, which allowed me to stuff my face against his chest, which was nice too.
"You never want to go home, do you?" he asked.
"No," I admitted.
"What?" I pulled my face off his chest and repeated it so he could hear it, and he nodded, and held me a little tighter.
*** 23:22 21 Aug
I was still humming a bit from my date - even the nasty rain on the way home hadn't 'dampened' my spirits, haha - when I settled in to check my email and voicemail and do some more programming work. The scraps of calculus I had left would wait until study hall tomorrow morning, but I still didn't have a laptop and so I couldn't easily program at school.
Theoretically, in one sense, I could have done the programming in the computer lab during lunch, but I had a game to play, and then there was the fact that if any of the teachers saw me in the lab doing programming, I'd probably end up getting pre-emptive detention.
*** 23:39 21 Aug
This was probably the first time in history that I'd admitted to Susan that I missed her, but her own email to me was nice, and she even said she hoped that I'd have another date with Travis soon. That made me feel kind of weird - my own sister, encouraging me to date a guy - but it was weirdly nice to have her acting more like the Pack and less like Angelica from Rugrats.
*** 02:19 22 Aug
"Mmmaybe a quick nap," I said as I finished yawning.
*** 05:16 22 Aug
I wasn't going to go back to sleep after THAT one, that was for sure, so I figured I might as well get up, wash the fear and sweat off, and get ready for another day in the prison.
Plus, if I printed and packed the notes I'd scribbled on which laptop to get, I could look at them in study hall and stay awake and maybe make a decision by Saturday so Dad could order it and next-day ship it, and I could get it by Monday or Tuesday.
*** 06:52 22 Aug
"Did you have more nightmares last night or something?" Jill asked me as I wandered over to Kim's car, which woke Kim up enough to look concerned. At least it hadn't started raining yet, though it was definitely going to today.
"Yeah," I said, "but that's NOT what I wanted to talk about..."
"What DID you want to talk about?" Jill asked.
"My date with Tr-" I looked around carefully, but nobody was close to us in the parking lot. "Travis?" I said quietly anyway. They were going to ask about it anyway, so I figured I'd get it done out here instead of inside.
"Didn't you just go out Tuesday?"
"This was the movie we didn't have time to see because my sister was there- oh, and she sent me a nice letter last night; I'm beginning to think she's been possessed or reprogrammed by the aliens or something."
"God I wish my sister would change into something resembling a decent human being," Kim groaned.
"Or my whole family," Jill nodded.
"Come over and live with me," I suggested. "You can use Susan's room," and we all laughed at that. Then we all sighed. They were probably thinking of their families; I was wanting someone to sleep with so I could sleep.
"We'll come over Sunday," Kim said eventually, "grab you for brunch and then come back and make you fix us an amaaaaaazing dinner."
"Ooooh, yeah," Jill grinned as she rubbed her hands excitedly. "So, how did the date thing go?"
"They ate, they talked, they screwed like rabbits," Kim sighed.
"Did NOT! We saw a movie, Air Force One, which is not at all bad if you like Harrison Ford thrillers, then we went to Taco Bell after, met some girls from his school there, and then I had to go home. I have to wait until this weekend for the screwing," I admitted with a sigh, which made them both laugh.
*** 06:57 22 Aug
I was not made more confident about life in general and the quiz in particular by Shannon pointing at me and laughing to one of her little symbiotes when she came in.
"You look beautiful this morning!" I called at her, which shut her up and wiped the grin off both their faces.
"Considering," Kim said, just softly that Jill and I could hear it, "that she was walking the streets all night whoring to pay for her drugs and booze."
"Someone would PAY for her?" Jill gasped in fake amazement, and then it was us doing the laughing.
*** 07:59 22 Aug
"Tuck," Mike asked, but then the bell rang so he had to stop for a minute. "Are you sleeping?"
"Yeah, a little," I said.
"What was it last night?"
"You know those dreams where you're in school and you don't have your pants on?" All of them nodded. "And you know the ones where you're being chased by a bunch of people with like knives or scalpels?"
"You were being chased by a bunch of people with blades, and you didn't have pants on," Mike guessed, and I put my finger on my nose.
"Were you wearing a skirt?" George asked before laughing, and I sighed.
Never apply a Star Trek solution to a Babylon Five problem.
Distribution: No part of this work may be distributed as an original work by another person or group. Permission is given to redistribute this by electronic means, as long as the entirety of the work (from the BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE header to the END PGP SIGNATURE footer) is distributed, and credit is given to the original author, me. And no fee may be charged. Archiving is permitted provided no fee is charged for access.
All rights reserved.
- ==[-------- Ellen Hayes @>--,--'--- ellen@barkingduck.net + PGP DH/DSS keyfing: 33D4 156A AE39 53E2 0313 6714 2878 56A8 61B0 9CDC + http://www.barkingduck.net/ehayes -=[1990]=- vicki .sig virus 11.4 +
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2
iQCVAwUBPO2kuHYDebnvyV1VAQGbBQP/Ylu+CVJ0cL5lSE0qN/gTuo4wQXbYMW5L wOX9LdWU39EX8DQ92LfmVe6r8CH5aZJ2/WGZVBqlvdgMA0Pza60YjW4BFLx5YnDC SBmOadM51pbdfIvDYmAk0HOUg/55dzSnIH1Vqk2bzmDSWziOGmdsAtR36TnL34K4 kYSIleCeCcg= =iTYm -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----