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Message-ID: <57192asstr$1200780603@assm.asstr-mirror.org>
From: Shalon Wood <dstar@pele.cx>
Subject: {ASSM} Sonuachara 12 (ff rom teen)
Lines: 319
Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2008 17:10:03 -0500
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Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories
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Standard disclaimers apply; this story may or may not contain, in any
given part, graphic depictions of lesbianism, homosexuality, group sex,
bdsm, underage (teen) sex, magic, occultism, violence, and biting 
sarcasm.  If you're underage, or if for any other reason it's illegal 
for you to read this, or you're disturbed by the content, please don't 
read it.

Archived at http://prudence.pele.cx, and we've got a web-forum at
http://playground.pele.cx/forums as well, for discussion of both
Prudence and our other stories.

Comments *greatly* appreciated.

Enjoy,

Velvet
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Monday afternoon Zoe was filling out paperwork in the office-- mandatory
crap that had to be filled out periodically, and she changed foster homes
so often she couldn't just check the 'No changes' box and sign it-- when
she heard the director talking with one of the staffers.

"You don't know where it came from?"

"No, they were just on the steps when I answered the door. What do we do
about it?"

"I don't know." The director sighed. "I mean... if this stuff is accurate,
we can't just leave the kids there, but we don't have _room_ for them all."

Zoe sat up straight, and her eyes widened as the conversation continued. It
seemed someone-- and she had a suspicion who that someone was, or at least
who was behind the someone-- had dropped off a box of papers on the front
steps, containing a set of background reports on more or less every set of
foster parents they had, with any reasons they were unsuitable highlighted.

She couldn't bring herself to have a lot of sympathy for them, since they
wouldn't have the problem if they'd done their jobs right in the beginning.
And it was a good thing that the kids would be pulled out of those homes,
even if it was only temporary-- she didn't believe for a moment that they'd
change their assesment procedures.

She did wonder, though, at the timing. It had been less than two days since
she'd talked to Trina's parents. How could they have gotten all that
information in so little time? Even if they didn't have to worry how much
they spent on it, how'd they manage it?

She worried at the question a while, trying to come up with an answer, but
finally filed it away with the other questions she had about the family.
She couldn't answer it, and she wasn't willing to just ask.

She hardly got to say more than 'Hi,' to Brenna that week, as over a dozen
kids were pulled out of foster homes as they verified the worst cases, and
everyone there was swamped. Still, at least they were swamped for a good
reason, and she also managed to overhear that the pressure Trina's parents
were applying had at least stalled things in regards to Brenna's mother,
something that greatly relieved her mind.

Trina continued to invite her to eat lunch with them, and she accepted on
the theory that if it was novelty that was causing Trina's... aggressive
friendliness, exposure was the best cure. And just because she ate with
them didn't mean she had to be _social_.

It was kind of interesting watching the dynamics of the group, however. Or
groups, as there seemed to be three main sets of people at the table.

One, centered around Trina, was friendly-- a bit wary at first, but they
seemed to take Trina's recommendation as proof enough that Zoe belonged
there; one actually said as much.

A second group, focused around Trina's friend Julie, weren't _quite_
hostile, but Zoe suspected that if it weren't for Trina they'd get nasty
fast.

The third group seemed to be non-aligned, for lack of a better word, and
were cautiously friendly, if more stand-offish than Trina's group.

Zoe wrote off the group centered around Julie as non-entities-- anyone who
couldn't make their own judgements wasn't worth her time-- and was prepared
to do the same with Trina's group. She found she couldn't quite do so,
however; most of the fawning sycophantic types were in Julie's group, and
she got the impression that the ones who were in Trina's group were there
by choice, rather than because they needed someone to think for them.

Trina's group was also much more eclectic than Julie's group, who were the
stereotypical 'beautiful people'. For the most part, Trina chose friends
who were intelligent, which made her friendship with Julie even more
baffling. Finally, after watching them all week, Zoe mentally relegated
that friendship to the 'Trina occasionally shows really bad taste'
category.

The prime example in that category was Trina's boyfriend. Zoe was not
impressed in the slightest. He was, as far as she could see, a
stereotypical jock. Pretty enough if you liked that sort of thing, but that
was it. No brains, no sensitivity, nothing.

The odd thing was that Trina didn't seem to be impressed either.

Still. Zoe wasn't going to say anything, since it wasn't her business, even
if the boyfriend annoyed her more than he should. She found herself having
to consciously restrain herself from sniping at him, even when he hadn't
done anything to deserve it.

Well. Other than being a jock, anyway.

***

Thursday morning, Trina showed up at school looking like she hadn't had any
sleep again. Zoe waited to see if she'd tell her about it, but Trina hadn't
said anything by the time they were in the car, so she made the first move.

"So," she said, supressing her irritation. "You gonna tell me what kept you
up, or not?"

Trina blinked, then smiled. "Yeah. After work. I was working on something."

"On?"

Trina's smiled turned mysterious. "After work."

"Don't you start that," Zoe said, looking disgusted.

"Start what?" Trina asked, blinking innocently and taking a corner at much
too high a speed.

"You bloody well know what I mean. Don't do it."

"I do?"

Zoe narrowed her eyes. Trina knew perfectly well what she meant, _and_ she
knew Zoe knew she knew. And she was enjoying it.

"Fine," Zoe said, narrowing her eyes and turning stiffly to stare over the
door. "Don't tell me, then."

"I'll tell you. After work. It'll give you something to keep your mind off
of the dirty diapers."

"Mmm."

"Trust me," Trina said. "It'll be worth it."

Zoe shrugged in irritation, and Trina reached over and patted her on the
leg. "Seriously, I want to talk to you after work, and we don't really have
time now."

"All right," Zoe said, relenting slightly. "But as soon as work is
over...."

Trina nodded. "I promise," she said, as she pulled into their parking spot.

***

Luckily, Zoe was kept busy enough that she didn't have time to wonder what
Trina had in store for her; in fact, it was half an hour past the time they
were supposed to leave before she knew it, and the director was reluctantly
shooing them out the door.

"You want to go somewhere to talk?" Trina asked, as she started the car.

"It's a nice evening," Zoe said, shrugging. "We can go down to the park."

Trina nodded and put the car in gear, driving the short distance. "I think
there's a clearing back in those trees, isn't there?"

"Mm-hmm," Zoe said. "Some great need for utter secrecy?"

Trina flushed. "Not really. I just... I'd like to be out of the public eye
for a while, you know? Julie's been ragging on me about spending so much
time with you. I'm not about to stop, but I'd prefer not to have to put up
with that bullshit tomorrow, you know?"

Zoe was sure her face didn't give anything away, unless sudden blankness
counted. With studied indifference, she shrugged, then got out of the car.
"It was your idea. Wouldn't bother me to stop. I like things quieter,
anyway."

"I don't intend to stop," Trina said. "Unless... that is, if you don't want
to be my friend anymore...."

"I didn't say that."

Relief flooded Trina's face. "Good. Then I'm not going to stop. I'd just
prefer not to have to deal with Julie's bullshit tomorrow."

"That's fine," Zoe said. "It's not a big deal. Nothing that matters happens
at school, anyway."

"Eh. Some stuff does," Trina said, sitting down on the ground under the
trees. "Have a seat."

Zoe sat down across from her, still carefully not showing any emotion, as
Trina dug around in her purse. Pulling out a small box, she gave Zoe a shy
smile. "I made this for you. It's a good luck charm."

Zoe took it, feeling a bit confused, and opened the box. Inside was a small
copper disk on a chain. Inlaid into the disk, in what looked like gold, was
a complicated knotwork design. Small dents in the surface of the copper
puzzled her for a moment before she recognized them as hammer marks, and
she realized that when Trina said she'd made it, she meant the entire
thing.

"It's very pretty, but why?" Zoe asked, wrinkling her forhead and running
her thumb over the knotwork. "You don't have to give me things so I'll like
you. I'm not like those idiots at school. And you don't have to give me
anything to... to make up for wanting to be more discreet at school,
either. It's never been my intention to cause you a hard time."

Trina shook her head. "I made it because... because I wanted you to have
it. You've had enough bad luck in your life, it's time you had some good
luck."

Zoe shook her head in return, a crooked half-smile on her face. "You know I
don't think there's any such thing. But thanks, that was... really
thoughtful." She slipped it on, tucking it under her collar and carefully
dropping it down the neck of her shirt.

"Thanks," Trina said, smiling. "I wanted to ask... how's Brenna doing? I
haven't gotten to spend much time around her this week...."

Zoe smiled, thinking about the younger girl. "Good. She's happy and
excited. Even therapy was easier for her."

"The cream is helping?"

"Seems to be," Zoe said. "But I meant, well, emotionally."

"Oh, good. I can't wait for her to get to come home." Trina gave Zoe a
small, shy smile. "I can't wait for you to come home, either."

Zoe smiled in spite of herself, and gave a little half-exasperated head
shake. "I haven't made any promises, you know."

"I know," Trina said, still smiling. "I'm thinking positively."

Zoe laughed. "Right. Thinking positively." She rubbed her chest, feeling
the outline of the small disk through her t-shirt. "You stayed up all night
doing this? I mean, that's sweet as hell, but why not wait until the
weekend, when you'd have time? You can't just keep skipping sleep."

Trina shrugged. "It was the right time. I'll be okay. It's not the first
time I've skipped a night."

"I _know_," Zoe said, frowning. "If it were just once, it wouldn't be a
problem."

"I don't do it that often," Trina said. "Maybe once a month at most,
usually."

Zoe ran a hand through the long bit of her hair and sighed. "All right.
It's your choice, anyway. But, at least for me, I'd prefer you wait so that
you're not hurting or endangering yourself, okay?"

Trina smiled. "Okay. If I can, I will."

"Good enough, I guess," Zoe said.

"Good," Trina said. "Are you going home tonight, or do you need someplace
to sleep?"

"Home," Zoe said. "George is going out of town for the weekend, and this is
the last night he'll be home. It'd be cold to skip out."

"Okay," Trina said. "I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow."

Zoe cocked her head as something occurred to her. "You gave me the
impression that what you wanted to talk about would take a while," she
said, raising an eyebrow.

Trina blushed. "Well, I... I kinda figured I'd have to argue with you to
get you to take the necklace. I know how stubborn you are."

Zoe flushed. "After you obviously worked that hard on it? How cold do you
think I _am_, anyway?"

Trina raised an eyebrow. "Cold? Not at all. Stubborn, mule-headed,
absolutely determined not to take anything you didn't earn, now...."

"I'm not _that_ bad," Zoe protested. "And it's different, anyway, from
something that's just... well, bought."

"Not that bad... riiiight," Trina said, giving her a skeptical look. "You
outstubborned Mom, and that's almost impossible."

"Oh, stop," Zoe said. "The way you talk, I'm not even human. There's
nothing wrong with wanting to be independent."

"You're human," Trina said. "A stubborn, mule-headed human, but I like you
anyway."

"Well, that's good," Zoe said. "I'd hate to think you'd go through all this
trouble for someone you _didn't_ like." She frowned for a moment, as a
thought struck her, but banished it immediately.

"What's wrong?" Trina asked.

"Nothing," Zoe said, shaking her head. "Just random thoughts."

"C'mon...."

"No," Zoe replied. "Nothing important, or even concrete. C'mon, I really
ought to be back in time for dinner."

"If you're sure...." Trina said reluctantly.

"You know I'm always sure," Zoe said, smiling quirkily.

Trina laughed. "Yeah, I know. Okay."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you like this, you might want to take a look at Strange Love, an
e-zine of sf/fantasy/paranormal erotica. The first issue is on sale
now for $2 at:

http://strangelove.pele.cx

Take a look!

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
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