"What's up, man?" Brad said cheerfully, leaning up against the wall outside the high school's main entrance. "Nice to see you alive and in the flesh."

"Thanks, Brad. Wow... What did you do while I was dead? Go all natural or something? You look great!"

"Shit, man. Sandi talked me into doing aerobics with her. I just humored her at first, but now..." he said, bending backwards until his hands touched the ground, then proceeded to smoothly transfer his entire weight onto his hands to do a handstand.

"WOW!" I exclaimed, having used my empathic senses to determine his expected reaction. "Doing aerobics let you do that?"

"Nah," he said as he walked on his hands a few steps then jumped back onto his feet. "That's just what started it. When I got to the point where Sandi couldn't keep up with me, I started trying different things. I guess I just have the body for this shit. Sandi thinks I should be a gymnast, and sometimes I think she's right."

"Hey, make a muscle," I said, my empathic senses picking up his desire to show his body off a little more.

"I work out everyday in the basement with some weights I got from a neighbor down the street when they moved. Sandi gets a kick of watching me, especially when I do it in the nude."

"Shit, Brad," I said as I felt the hard muscle in his arm. "Between you and Joey, I'm looking more like a wimp... Wait. I just remembered something. Weren't you mad at me before I died?"

"Yeah, well... I'm sorry for being an asshole about that. After your, er, death, I finally figured out you were right about giving Sandi her freedom. Fuck, man. If you hadn't, Sandi would have never got me into doing aerobics or start her slut club."

"What?" I said, this time feeling the surprise I had earlier faked on Brad's account.

"Yeah, man. She and Karen decided to start their own private club, and talked one of her other friends, Kris, into joining. Shit, man. Sometimes I think I'm the sex slave with Sandi being my master. Not that I'm complaining. I love letting them practice being sluts on me."

"They fuck you?" I said, not helping getting a woody in my shorts.

"Shit ya," he said with a grin. "I miss being able to decide when and where, but when they wanna fuck, I don't care if I'm the one being told to strip bare."

"I'm glad things worked out for you," I said, getting a hold on my arousal. "I hope you take precautions."

"Precautions? Shit, man. You sound like a sex ed commercial. They're too young to get pregnant, and they've already sworn to not fuck anyone else but me while they're in the club. Of course that might change soon."

"Why? You getting tired of being the only stud?"

"Fuck no. I just think Sandi is starting to... Holy shit! I gotta go!"

"Starting to what?!" I called after him as he gracefully slipped through the crowd.

I noticed a lot of eyes lingering on me after having drawn attention to myself. Several of those eyes were people who I seemed to know, but my empathic senses were telling me they considered me someone to stay away from, everyone having heard about my faked death and all.

In fact, as I walked to the office to meet with Mr. Higgs, I recalled the distant feelings that people had felt when I had come back from my college venture last year. The desire to keep their distance was even stronger this time, but unlike the last time, this didn't disturb me in the least.

"Good morning Tim," Mr. Higgs said walking up to me before I could reach the office door. "Where's your notebook paper and pens?"

"I, uh.." I said, having completely forgotten all about school supplies. I had left them all at school before my death, and for some reason expected them to still be in my locker. Of course when I went to it, I found the combination had been changed and a different student's stuff inside after a janitor opened it up with their pass key. I had gone out to my new car to check for anything I could use, but all I found was a bunch of sex toys in the glove compartment, which wasn't all a bad thing I might add.

"You didn't bring any?" Mr. Higgs said surprised.

"I wasn't really thinking I would need anything. But when I went to my locker, my stuff was gone."

"We cleaned it out when.. Never mind. I'm sure we have something in the supply room you can use for today," he said, hiding his slight irritation from everything but my empathic senses.

"I'm sorry I came unprepared. It won't happen again," I said.

"Here we go," he said as we walked into the supply room. "Looks like you'll have to make do with this," he said handing me a yellow legal pad, "and these," plopping a box of a dozen pre-sharpened pencils on top.

"Thank you," I simply said, not quite sure of how to interpret his emotions.

"You can get your schedule and a pass from Patty. You better get going."

I took a couple of steps intending to leave, then stopped, turned around, and said, "Mr. Higgs? I'm confused. I thought you wanted me to go to school here."

He raised his eyebrows in surprise, then said, "Well of course I do."

"Then why are you being so... emotional?"

"Emo... Oh, I see. I'm sorry Tim. I didn't mean to direct my frustration at you. The first week of a new school year is always kind of tense for me. No matter how well I prepare, no matter how much I look forward getting back into the groove of things, something always seems to spoil my mood."

"Did I spoil it for you?"

"No, you didn't have anything to do with it," he said with a sigh. "Yesterday after you left, a fight broke out in the cafeteria and one of the kids got hurt. Nothing life threatening, but he had to go to the hospital for a few stitches."

"Anyone I knew?" I asked as I felt him relax a little while walking me out.

"Jay Walkerson. He apparently decided to try his luck at being a senior and picked on the wrong freshman, that's all. When this kid didn't take his bullying, Jay shoved the kid into someone else's table and spilled a few drinks."

"So the kid was who got the stitches," I stated.

"No, it was Jay. Scott, the kid who Jay was picking on, apparently has experience in self defense. He got up into Jay's face and dared him to it again, then knocked the wind out of Jay when he tried. That would have been the end of it if Jay hadn't tried to rush him a few minutes later.

"When I saw Jay's face all cut up, I was ready to suspend who ever had done it. But everyone who saw what happened claimed that all Scott did was divert Jay's body slam in self defense, and didn't have time to think much less attempt to aim Jay towards the window. I gave him a detention and had him pay for the window, but I personally think he handled it better than I would have."

Patty, the secretary who was in charge of the senior class, smiled without comment at Higgs' revelation as she handed me my schedule. I echoed her smile without experiencing the emotion behind it, and then realized I had done it automatically and paused for a moment to consider whether or not to stop doing that.

It was at that instant I decided that I would allow my empathic senses and instincts to guide me in making myself appear normal just so I would fit in. I didn't want people to feel uncomfortable around me because of my lack of emotional responses, so I immediately considered what I would have said from before my wipe and said it.

"Poor Jay. I remember when we were freshmen, he was picked on by a few seniors himself. Now the freshmen are even picking on him. He just can't win."

"Now remember, Tim," Higgs said after allowing himself a little grin. "No skipping of classes, no copying from other people's heads, and absolutely no experimenting on your classmates. Understand?"

"Si, senior," I replied. "Mucho gracias."

"Sounds like you won't be learning much in your Spanish class," he sighed as I walked away.

Even though I was quickly recovering most of my memories and underlying moral beliefs of my original personality, I was still very open to other's influence in rebuilding my new personality. I was determined to follow Mr. Higgs rules to the letter that day, and even though I was tempted many times in the following months to break those rules, I managed to only bend a few of them. Or at least until someone else broke them for me and set me free.

All day long I felt the eyes of the people around me staring, their emotions betraying their thoughts like a transmitter without an off button. Everyone except Joey, Suzi, and Brad seemed nervous around me, even the teachers I remembered from before becoming somewhat disturbed seeing my different color of hair, my deep tan, and the slight Spanish accent when I spoke.

Apparently Higgs had informed the entire school of my situation in the closing announcements the day before, not wishing for anyone to be shocked when they saw me that day. The news concerning my faked death hadn't been a surprise since it had been on the front page that Saturday, so he only gave a brief explanation as to what had happened, then described my current condition in two sentences and didn't say anything more.

So it took a few days before people relaxed around me, but I helped that along by giving everyone I met a warm smile and a friendly hello.

Within a week, the smile and greeting had become so automatic, I found myself doing it all the time, even to the staff at home. While I never experienced the feelings I was emitting, I did find the response I got back to be well worth the trouble.

I had three classes with Brad, while only one with Joey and another with Suzi, so I saw more of Brad than anyone else at school. I even found Brad to be good company while we ate lunch, his perspective of himself and life in general having changed over the summer, and I enjoyed listening to him talk about his sister and her two sluts in training.

Brad still considered his sister as his property, but only in the sense that he was the only one she would have sex with without his permission and approval. I found Brad's offers to share her with me once in a while extremely tempting, especially since I had gone all week without fucking anyone. But I politely declined his offers, having sensed that deep down he worried I might be better at sex than he was to where Sandi wouldn't be interested in him anymore afterwards.

We were walking down the hall towards the stairs after third hour when Brad and I experienced the strongest feeling of de-sha-vu moments before hearing someone call my name behind us at the other end of the hall. Brad and I looked at each other before turning around, then caught the glimpse of a kid just before he was tripped by some asshole's foot and fell to the floor.

Brad started humming the Twilight Zone theme as the asshole walked away laughing. I quickly sought revenge for this new stranger by causing him to trip over his own feet and arranging that he continued to do so for the rest of the day.

Because of the de-sha-vu, I unconsciously prepared myself for the bear hug Eric had given me nearly a year earlier. But the vaguely familiar stranger broke the sequence of events by standing up on his own before I reached him, then gave the stumbling figure the universally understood middle finger salute.

The well built freshman muttered "fagot" under his breath as he turned towards me. But when he notice me standing three feet in front of him, he instantly smiled and exclaimed, "Hey. Long time no see. Got any drug dealers you need taken down?"

It all just kind of flashed in my head as to who he was and what had happened at the Junior high two years previous. I had to quickly decide on the appropriate response, and then grinned and said, "I don't think they would dare. Not with Scott the Super Cop around."

"Hey," Brad interrupted. "The bell is gonna ring in a sec. Last time you forgot to clear me with the teach and I got a tardy. So if you two are going to start hugging and shit, I'm just gonna go class and I can catch you later."

"Uhm, yeah. Go to class. I'll be there in a sec."

"So, how's your sister?" I asked Scott after excusing Brad just incase he would be tardy.

"She's doing okay," he said with a mischievous grin.

"I take it you got to know her a little better."

"Yeah, you could say that," Scott replied. "Hey.. Uhm, I was kind of hoping.. Well, could you do me a little favor?"

The smile on my face vanished as I realized that Scott had come to me for something I could give him. I wondered how many others would be doing the same before the day was up.

But I was making the wrong conclusion with Scott.

"What?"

"Try hypnotizing me again like you did in my room," he said with a wicked grin.

"Huh? Are you sure?" I said, not expecting that.

"Yeah. I'm sure."

"Okay. How about after school today?" I asked.

"Well, I'm kind of... busy after school today, but tomorrow is cool. Is that all right?"

"Sure. After school tomorrow. Meet me on the third floor, okay?" I said.

He nodded his agreement as he walked away cheerfully and full of confidence. I wondered if the experience he had with me before had given him that confidence, or if it was just his nature to be that way. I figured I would find out after school the next day.

Scott met me at the top of the steps on the third floor that next afternoon, and for a moment I didn't recognize him because he had really grown over the two years from when I met him.

"You sure have grown a lot," I commented to him as he got up.

"I know," he admitted. "But I've had a little help in that department."

"Oh?" I prompted when he didn't continue on his own.

"After things cooled off, people started to pick on me and shit. I guess you could say I liked the image I had for a while as being mister tough guy, so my dad.. Did you know he was a boxer before he got married?"

The image of the unshaven, beer-bellied man who had answered the door that day popped into my head, and for a moment I wondered if his mother had remarried or something.

"Uhm, no. No I didn't," I confessed.

"Well, he was, and after I came home with a black eye from someone pissing me off, he took me downstairs and started showing me his stuff. I loved it, and he's like my trainer now. Anyway, he said he was a big kid when he was my age, and the only way he could let out his steam without people getting hurt was through boxing. I guess I'm big for my age too like he was, especially since I spend three hours a day punching the shit out of my dad's punching bag."

I could see what he meant too. Scott wasn't a hulk or anything, but he wasn't a wimp either. I could see the veins in his arms, and I even noticed the solidness of his somewhat hairy legs.

"I don't take the bus," he added when he saw my eyes leaving his legs. "I leave home every morning an hour before school and run the whole way, then take a shower when I get here so I don't smell all day."

"Wow, Scott," I said, pulling the key out I had officially borrowed from Higgs and opened the door to the room. "Sounds like everything has turned out okay for you."

"Shit," he said modestly before saying it again when he saw the painting of Joey, Suzi, myself, and the twins in their blue "virginity" dresses.

"Wow... Is this like.. your room or something?" Scott said, obviously impressed.

"It used to be. I don't know if it still is or not, but Higgs said we could use it this once."

"Oh," he said, flopping down on the couch and bouncing a couple of times.

"So why do you want me to hypnotize you?" I asked him sitting down in my recliner.

He put on a mysterious grin, then as he was looking around the room again he said, "Actually, I don't think you will be able to. That's what I want to find out."

"So you don't want to be hypnotizable, is that it?"

"Yeah. Pretty much," he said, leaning back and stretching his arms out across the couch's back. "One of my teachers last year was really popular with the girls, and I found out that he could like... change the way people think by looking in their eyes.. Anyway, he tried it with me one day when I got a little snoopy, and it didn't work. He was my favorite teacher so I cut him some slack and told him what I knew and promised I wouldn't squeal on him.

"Ever since then, though, I've felt like I had a weakness. You know what I mean. So I read up on hypnosis and I'm pretty sure I know how to keep myself from going under. It's nothing personal. I just don't want anyone to be able to get to me like that, and if you can't then I figure no one can."

"I wouldn't say no one could, but yeah, I..."

"What's matter?" Scott asked when I frowned.

"I'm having trouble remembering... how.." I said rather distantly.

"What do you mean, you can't remember... Oh. I forgot about.. You know."

"I know all too well," I said, giving up. "I'm sorry Scott. I just can't remember how I did it to you, or anyone else for that matter. I didn't even remember you until you first spoke to me, and then that was just in partial flashbacks."

"Oh," he said a little disappointed.

"This teacher of yours. What exactly did he do to the girls?"

"Huh? Oh.. Uhm," he said while turning a little red. "He kind of... I mean we sort of.."

"Blow jobs? Is that all?" I said, reading his mind.

"I thought you couldn't read my mind?" he said startled.

"I can read your current thoughts, I just can't force your mind to recall what I want to know. Is that all you and he did was make them want to give you blow jobs?"

"Mostly, yeah," he said, studying my face for my reaction as he recalled three different girls having insisted he go all the way with them which he did without his teacher finding out.

When I didn't give him any reaction at all, he said, "Well?"

"What do you want me to say? You did what many would do in your shoes as far as I can see. And as far as your teacher friend, what others do with their abilities is none of my business unless it used against me or someone I care about."

"So you're not mad or anything?"

"Right now I don't know how to get mad, and no, I doubt I would be upset with what you did anyway, especially since I've done much worse myself."

"You have?" he said. "I guess you would have, wouldn't you... Uhm, then in that case, could I ask you some.. questions about.. this kind of stuff?"

"Go right ahead."

"Cool. Like, do you remember Tracy? My sister?"

"Yes, vaguely.."

"She kind of likes for me to.. uhm.. watch her when she plays with herself, and she's even let me feel her up a couple of times. I was just wondering.. Did you make her like that? Or is she just like that?"

I took a few moments to reflect on what little I could remember about that time, but what little I could recall about Tracy only lead me to the conclusion, "I think that it was all her, Scott. I don't remember doing anything to her."

"Really? Cool. I hoped you would say that."

"Why? What difference does it make?"

"Well.. The girls Mr. Underwood messed with? They weren't interested in anyone except him at first, and then that only changed because he included me in whatever he did to them. Did you catch the part where Jenna and I... had sex?" he asked in a whisper.

"Yes, and I'm catching it again too," I said as he played out the scene again in his mind.

"I would really like to do it again with her," he said with a distant sound to his voice while imagining what he would do different if he had the chance. "But after the first time, she said it wasn't what she thought it would be... Anyway, she still likes to give me head, just like all the other girls, but none of them want to go any further because that wasn't what Mr. Underwood made them want to do.

"So I figured that if you had done something similar with Tracy, she wouldn't ever let me have sex with her even though she's let me do other things with her."

"I take it then you want to fuck her?"

He turned red again, but nodded with a wide grin on his face.

"Well, good luck," I said, not knowing what else to say in that situation.

"Uhm, I have another question, but..."

"You want me to just peek in your head?" I said when he didn't hesitated.

"No, that's okay. I guess I'm just uncomfortable talking about this kind of stuff.."

"Well you don't need to be with me. You want to know something about what.. Underwood did to the girls, right?"

"Sort of. I mean.. Shit... I guess I just might as well ask you since I don't know who else could tell me," he said with a sigh. "Just try and be cool about it, okay?"

I nodded, then waited patiently for him to continue.

"Do you think.. I mean, is there any way I could.. use what Mr. Underwood has already done to them to get them to do what I want them to do?"

"I can't say without examining one of the girls first, but I doubt it."

"Oh," he said, trying to hide his disappointment, but then he brightened up and looked up at me with a new look of hope and asked, "But you could, right?"

"I'm not going to supply you with a harem, Scott, even if they are motivated to pleasure you to some extent."

"That's not exactly what I was hoping you would do," he said. "Mr. Underwood.. He moved away because he kind of screwed up a little and he didn't want to get into trouble. I'm not really complaining about it, but he kind of left all these girls to me as a sort of present. But there's too many of them. I can't get any peace without worrying about them, uhm, needing me."

"Sounds like a complaint to me," I observed. "So what you want is for me to.. put them back to normal for you?"

"Yeah, or at least most of them," he said, this time not being the least bit shy about what he suggested.

"How many are there?"

"Thirty seven."

"I see what you mean..."

"So you'll help me? Uhm, again?"

"Yes, but I'm not just helping you, you know."

"Yeah, I know, but still..."

"Any other questions?"

"Well, since you asked... Could you maybe... you know... convince Jenna to.."

"I'm sorry, Scott. Like I said. I'm not going to supply you with a harem, even if it's only one girl. You're just going to have to convince her yourself. But from the looks of you and what you've said so far, you probably won't have much problem getting girls to hop in the sack with you. Maybe not Jenna, but there will be other girls."

Scott sighed, realizing he would soon lose the thing that most guys could only dream about, but he wasn't all that down hearted about it. He still had his sister in any case, and he even believed I was right about his chances with other girls.

Most of the girls went to our school for apparently Mr. Underwood preferred the eight graders to that of the seventh graders, and so naturally they were now freshmen. The next day he gave me a list Mr. Underwood had given him that had all the girls phone numbers and addresses, and with Higg's help, I undid the simple programming in their heads.

I didn't really see Scott around that much after that for he was pretty busy with his boxing, and quite frankly I forgot about him after a couple of days. And as Joey and Suzi spent more of their time together, I made every attempt to make sure I wasn't with them, so I ended up spending a lot of my time with Brad.

The reason I kept my distance from my two ex-lovers was because I had finally identified the emotion I kept having twinges of whenever I was around them both. While I had no trouble with my brief moments of jealousy affecting my thinking or actions other than to avoid further instances, I had absolutely no warning about the return of another far worse emotion on the morning two weeks after my first day back.

"Hey," Joey said as he and Suzi walked up with an arm behind the other's back. "Did you hear about John?"

"John? No. I didn't even remember him until this moment. What happened to him?"

"He moved to Florida," Suzi said. "His mom got offered a huge promotion, so his dad quit his job and they all moved to St. Petersburg so she could take it."

"Wow.. You know, I kept thinking something was missing. I'm going to miss him."

"Yeah, me too," Joey said. "The last time I saw him I cussed him out pretty bad. Shit, I cussed a lot of people out right before... you know."

"I think everyone forgives you," Suzi said sweetly, looking lovingly in his eyes deeply.

"Do you forgive me?" he said, softly, mirroring her expression.

"Let me see," she said as she stood up on her tiptoes to kiss.

I felt my jealousy return as I waited for her final answer, so I left them standing there deep in their kiss, suddenly finding myself thirsty and heading for the coke machine for a drink.

I waited patiently in line, ignoring my jealousy and the fact that they were still locked in their kiss. I was pleased to have the distraction of inserting the coins into the machine and pressing for my selection, but then found my favorite drink was sold out.

"...why the Little FUCKER!" I roared as I slammed the button so hard that it cracked. And for some reason the fact that it had cracked only made me even angrier, driving me to the point I was pounding the machine with all my might.

I think everyone was too stunned to react to my enraged attack on the machine, for no one stopped me as I mindlessly thrust my fist through its lit plastic front. Somehow I managed not to damage my fists as I continued to punch holes in the machine, and I think it was when I made the second fluorescent bulb explode that it snapped someone to their senses and they grabbed me from behind.

There was only one person in that hallway who could have done so without my instant command to release me working on them. Joey held on to me tightly after pulling me away from the defaced machine, just waiting silently with his arms around me, pinning my upper arms against me until I calmed down and stopped struggling to get free.

"What's going on!" Higgs said, hurrying down the hall towards us like several teachers also rushing to the scene.

"You all right?" Joey said between heavy breaths.

"I don't know," I honestly said. "I think you can let me go though. I'm pretty much over... whatever it was."

As the teachers began breaking up the crowd, Higgs wordlessly pointed to us both, then thumbed over his shoulder towards his office.

"I'm coming with you," Suzi announced in a firm voice, gently taking one of my hands to examine as we walked.

"I think the nurse should see these cuts first," she said to Higgs behind us.

He must have nodded to her for he never said a word, but as soon as we were in the nurses office with the door closed, he exclaimed, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't send the two of you home, permanently!"

"Huh?!" Joey cried. "What did I do?"

"Joey only grabbed Tim to stop him," Suzi desperately tried to explain.

"Oh.." Higgs said. "Well Tim? If Joey didn't cause it..."

"Suzi, I don't mean to hurt your feelings, but could you leave?" I said, keeping my face neutral as I battled my increasing feelings of jealousy and bitterness.

"Leave? Why do you want her to leave?" Joey asked as Suzi gaped at me in shock.

I closed my eyes and tried to clear my head of the emotions which were colliding with my thoughts. It helped me to get a better hold of myself, but I couldn't get rid of the emotions which were plaguing me.

When I finally opened my eyes, Suzi and Joey were both gone. The sigh of relief I made confirmed Higgs' suspicion that they were the reason for my troubles.

"So, what happened out there?" he asked after the nurse finished treating the cuts on my fists and had left. "What did they do that caused you to vandalize my soda machine."

"My dad will pay for the damage. I'm sorry for losing control. It won't happen again."

"What won't happen? What the hell triggered that kind of rage? You said.."

"I know what I said, and until the moment I noticed it didn't have any grape soda, I hadn't felt any trace of anger."

"You still haven't answered my question," Higgs said. "What did Suzi or Joey do that caused this to happen? I know it was something to do with them, otherwise you wouldn't have asked Suzi to leave."

"I suppose I don't have a choice but to tell you," I analyzed. "A couple of weeks ago, Joey asked my permission to be Suzi's boyfriend. He didn't want to betray me seeing that Suzi had been my girlfriend first and I had never actually said it was over between her and I. Well, ever since I told him I did didn't have any problem with it, I've gotten flashes of jealousy when I saw them together. I never felt anger though, so I'm not sure why that happened."

"So it was anger, not jealousy? Or a mixture of both?"

"It was definitely anger, but I didn't feel it until it suddenly was there overwhelming me. Now that I think about it, it doesn't feel.. I know this sound's unlikely, but it didn't feel like it was my anger, but someone else's."

"How is that poss.. No, don't answer that. I think the best thing to do is to send you home..."

"But I feel fine now," I protested.

"Send you home," he repeated firmly, "until Dr. Cain can determine whether or not you have some kind of psychological problem causing your emotional difficulties. I should have insisted on it to begin with, but your mother convinced me you just needed some time."

"Mr. Higgs, I swear to you I have not had any other emotional reactions to anything besides when I see Joey and Suzi together. Yes I will go to see Dr. Cain, but I don't see any need to miss class. If we can simply tell Joey and Suzi to keep their distance while I'm with them, I can't believe something like this would happen again."

"And what happens if you explode again without warning? I don't believe you know for sure what caused you to lose control. You said it yourself it may have been someone else's anger."

"You don't understand how... difficult it has been for me the past two weeks to absorb the material presented in class and complete the homework. I'm constantly plagued with flashbacks, some of which completely destroy any train of thought I have. I learn so much more sitting in class and watching the teacher's mind as they lecture because for some reason I don't have flashbacks while I'm doing that. Please, Mr. Higgs... Don't make me miss class. I don't think I could catch up if I did."

He let out a long loud sigh as he sat back in his chair and stared at me while he thought a few minutes.

Finally he said "I'm sorry, Tim. I really am. I have to put the safety of the rest of the students first. Unless you can tell me right now what caused your explosion of anger AND convince me it can't happen again, you're going to have to miss class until either you or Dr. Cain do so."

"I understand. And when you put it that way, I agree I should go see Dr. Cain before I return to school. May I use the phone to call her and see if I can get in today?"

He nodded, then leaned forward and turned his phone around so I could reach it.

I picked up the hand set and put it to my ear, then was about to dial when I realized..

"I'm sorry. You don't happen to have her number, do you? I don't seem to know it."

He turned around and grabbed the phone book, then handed it to me without saying a word. I ignored his silent treatment and looked her number up, then after I dialed, I found him staring at me.

I pretended not to notice his recollection of the time I revealed my abilities to him and offered to help him out of his sticky situation, and after I gave Dr. Cain's secretary my name and was asked to hold, I found Higgs pulling out one of the colored hand drawing of the symbols I had given him.

"Do you remember when you gave this to me?" he asked me when he noticed my gaze.

"I believe so," I said. "Wasn't it after I came back from that college?"

"Yes. You said it represented me, but you wouldn't tell me what this symbol meant. I almost asked your mother to bury it with your supposed body, but..."

"I'm glad you didn't, Mr. Higgs. Would you like to know what that symbol means now?"

"I.. To tell you the truth, I don't know if I do or not," he said thoughtfully. But then he grinned and said, "It's funny. When I look at this, all I can think about is how much this symbol is like you, not me."

"Me? How so?"

"Well, I suppose it's because it's so very familiar to me since I've studied it so much trying to work out what it means. I know every nick and bend, and probably could redraw it without looking at it. Yet it's still a total mystery to me, just like you are. I never know what to expect with you, and I don't imagine I ever will."

Just at that moment, Dr. Cain herself got on the phone, and after I explained the situation to her, she told me she would see me immediately. I thanked her and told her I would be there shortly, then hung up the phone and asked Mr. Higgs for a piece of paper and an envelope.

He didn't ask what for, and once I had written a single word on the piece of paper, I sealed it up in the envelope and handed it back to him.

"What's this?" he asked, surprised.

"If you ever decide that you want to know what that symbol means..."

"Oh... Thank you, Timothy."

"Thank YOU, Mr. Higgs. I'll see you later, okay?"

"My door is always open for you," he said with a nod.

"What's up, man," Brad said as I joined him at lunch. "You look like you just had a fight with a soda machine."

"Ha ha," I said with false sarcasm. "My fists are hurting, and you're making jokes."

"Sorry, man. So why did you kill an innocent soda machine anyway? Some people think you were on something, but I know that wasn't it."

"I'd rather not talk about it," I said honestly.

"Then where were you? Higgs office?"

"Nope. I had to go see my telepathic shrink. She really knows her way around a person's head. I was only there an hour before she worked out... uhm.."

"Come on, man. I'm your bud, right? Have I ever leaked a secret?"

"Oh, okay," I said. "You know how I thought I was someone else this summer? Apparently Joey wiped that... personality from me with a concentrated burst of empathic anger. Dr. Cain believes that even though I don't consciously remember it, I must have accidentally triggered the memory when they didn't have the soda I wanted."

"Shit, man. That sounds dangerous. You could blow up at any moment, you know?"

"It shouldn't happen again. Dr. Cain helped me put a memory block on it. But there is another problem associated to this. The machine being out of grape soda didn't cause my outburst on its own. It was just the... final straw, I suppose. The real source was Joey and Suzi."

"Man, I knew it. Shit, I think everyone kind of guessed that's what is was."

"Really? I didn't relate it until Dr. Cain... It doesn't matter. I just have to tell Suzi and Joey to avoid being around me when they are together. For some reason I'm having... difficulty figuring out how to tell them. They seem to want me to... participate sometimes, but I have no desire to intrude like that."

I told him the same thing that I told Higgs earlier, and found he was more understanding than I expected him to be. In fact he even offered to tell Joey and Suzi for me, and that probably was the biggest reason I began seeing him as a more trusted friend than in the past.

I told Joey in the following class, and he accepted it better than I expected when considering how guilty he had felt before. But I think like Brad he had suspected the reason, and had been already considering his options. It basically had come down to choosing between me and Suzi, and without needing my help, he had chosen Suzi like she had chosen him.

Over the next several days, I became more interested in Brad's slut club stories than learning what Joey or Suzi did that day that didn't involve each other. The three of us knew that we were purposely distancing ourselves, and very quickly I forgot all about them in the day to day things.

And then there was Eric. While not exactly spying on me, I did notice him checking up on me once in a while. The only reason I knew he was doing so was because of the distinctive and strong feelings he emitted when he was around me.

Brad commented he had noticed Eric hanging around Suzi and Joey quite a bit, and once in a while I would catch Joey and Eric together without Suzi, acting like they were old friends and talking up a storm.

I didn't really care at that point what those three did. I was a robot, an emotionless machine who could disguise himself as one of the beings around him without the constant interference of my feelings getting in the way. I believed I was more perfect than they were, seeing all their mistakes, tolerating their stupidity, and generally ignoring the effects of what my warm welcomes did to those who began to depend on my empathic touch.

A week before Joey's eighteenth birthday, the first undeniable sign of my empathic warm greetings having an accumulative effect showed up.

"Hi ya, Tim," the captain of the Golden Girls purred as I walked up to my locker.

"Hi, Rachael," I said, giving her an extra dose of my 'hi sexy' smile. "You look awfully gorgeous today."

She did too. Even though it was the middle of October, Rachael was dressed in tight shorts, a sleeveless shirt that only came down to just above her navel, and her nipples and goosebumps were all standing up like she was either in a draft, or..

"I wore it just for you," she said while her body language spoke her desire and need.

"You did?" I said.

"I've been trying to catch your eye for a week now. Haven't you noticed?"

"Well, yeah, I noticed you looking extra sexy, but I didn't think you'd be interested in me."

"Oh, why would you think that? You're the nicest, sweetest, hottest guy here," she said, barely keeping herself from pressing herself up against me.

"I am?" I said, automatically giving her another shot of my smile.

"Oh, yes! And you have the most beautiful and sexy smile," she said, her face lighting up like a Christmas tree.

I gently decreased the strength of my smile to consider what this meant, then almost missed what she was saying.

"..your new car sometime," she said a little seductively.

"What about my new car?"

"I said," she said, stepping into my space, "I'd like to go for a R. I. D. E. in it."

"Oh," I said, finding her attraction to me becoming mutual.

"I've never even sat inside a Porsche before, let alone ride in one. And I think they're sooo sexy," she said, placing heavy emphasis on the sexy part by pressing herself against me.

"How about right now?" I said, almost stopping my instinctive smile.

"I'd love to," she breathed, her nose inches from mine.

I could smell the watermelon flavoring of her gum on her breath, hear the slight tremble of excitement in her voice, and while I was in complete control of my actions, I hadn't felt so motivated to kiss someone since before my wipe. I decided I could allow myself to go with my instincts, for while I had been unintentionally motivating her to desire being in my presence, her sexual attraction was something she had developed on her own.

So I gave her what she truly desired, and my smile caused her to press her lips against mine in delight. Old habits from before my wipe kicked in as I kissed her back, automatically using my telepathic senses to guide me in giving her what she liked best in a kiss.

She suddenly pushed away to break the kiss, then she said softly, "I've wanted to do that for a long time now."

"How long?" I said while moving to give another one.

"Sophomore," she began just before we pressed our lips together again for a short but wet kiss.

"Year," she finished, then moved in for another.

We stood there in the hall for a good ten minutes exploring each other's mouths while the curious passing onlookers thinned out due to the buses getting ready to leave.

"Wow," she panted when we finally came up for air. "I've never been kissed like that before."

"You're not so bad yourself," I gasped, trying to get my breath back.

"Really?" she said, rather pleased. "I'll be honest with you as long as you will be with me."

"Okay," I said, flashing a smile at her.

"I've been kissing since I was thirteen, so I've kissed a lot of guys. But I've never been kissed so.. EWWW!" she said, diving for my mouth for another one.

Her hands went wild rubbing up and down my back, but they slowed down when I wrapped my arms around her and pressed the lump in my jeans against her crotch, enjoying feeling her slowly rub herself up and down as we continued to kiss.

When we stopped our exchange of saliva, we rested our foreheads against each others as we both gasped for breath.

"Let's go for that ride," she said between breaths.

"Do you need anything from your locker?" I asked, having noticed she didn't have anything with her.

"I don't need a ride home," she said with a cocky smile. "I threw my stuff in my car before last period so I could catch you before you left. I didn't do that yesterday, and you were pulling out by the time I found you. So after we have our little drive somewhere, you'll have to bring me back here."

"No problem," I said, grabbing my overstuffed book bag and closing my locker door.

"Is all that homework?" she said amazed as she led me by the hand towards the exit.

"Unfortunately. I'm taking two of the finals I missed last year tomorrow, and I have all my regular homework to do too. That's why I was in such a hurry yesterday."

"Oh," she said, frowning. "In that case, we can go for our ride some other day."

"Nah. I think I need the break. I don't feel as stressed as I did before you showed up, and I doubt I could think straight if we didn't go for our ride."

"Maybe we'll find something else to do to help you reduce your stress even more," she said suggestively.

"I'm sure I'd like that," I replied honestly.

"I know I will," she said under her breath.

Once I disabled the alarm and opened her door for her, I let my eyes linger on her long tan legs before shutting the door and going around to my side.

"I love the smell of a new car," she moaned as I sat down. "And these seats are so... soft," she cooed as she rubbed the tan leather with her hands.

I watched as she turned around to feel the leather on the back of the seat, finding the sight of her kneeling while caressing the leather extremely arousing.

I started the car when I noticed the goosebumps on her arms and legs, and revved the engine a few times so the heat would warm up faster.

"Oh, I love that sound," she said with her cheek against the back of the seat. "It sounds so powerful.."

I did it again, then watched her rub her entire upper body up and down the leather seat with the engine speed. I was about as aroused as I could be, probably almost as aroused as she was getting just from the sight, sound, feel, and smell of my car.

"Rachael," I said calmly. "Sit in the seat right and buckle up so we can go."

"I.. Oh.. Yeah, sorry," she said flushing in embarrassment.

I gracefully pulled out of the parking space, then analyzed the current layout of the parking lot before giving her a sample of the superb maneuverability of my new car.

Weaving between the remaining cars and other obstacles while maintaining a brisk yet not unsafe speed, I drove the entire length of the parking lot without any jerks or sudden changes in the cars motion.

The smoothness of the ride combined with the atmosphere of the car had its effect on Rachael by the time I pulled to a halt to see if she wanted more.

"May I drive?" she asked gently.

"I suppose that would all right."

I got out to switch places with her, then barely had my door closed before I was thrown against the back of my seat as she peeled out.

"Rachael, what do you think you're doing?" I said calmly as she pulled out of the parking lot.

"This car is so.. HOT!" she exclaimed, passing the two cars in front of us that had stopped at the stop sign, then made a hard right to head up the hill.

"Rachael, I think you should let me take over now," I said firmly.

"No way, Tim!" she said excited. "Just let me drive us somewhere special, then you can drive us back, okay? I promise I'll get us there in one piece."

She had slowed down while saying this, and since I didn't sense any deception on her part, I said, "All right."

"Thanks," she said, leaning over and kissing my cheek.

"You're wel..." I said just as I was thrown against the door while she made a hard left turn onto a unfamiliar private road.

I vaguely recalled that the road led to a quarry which had been shut down a few years ago, then confirmed this as we passed through an open gate which apparently had been forced open at some time and hadn't ever been closed again.

"You haven't been in here since this summer, have you?" she said with bright eyes as she slowed and carefully turned onto an earth packed road that led down into the quarry. "This place is perfect for testing out what this car can do, and there's nothing down here to hit except the walls."

"I don't think.." I began as the sight of the quarry filled my view.

"Pretty neat, huh?" she said as we reached to bottom of the ramp.

"It is quite... large," I admitted.

"Yes, and there's no speed limits, no animals, no kids," she said as she brought the car to a halt at the foot of a long pair of tire tracks that went all the way to the other end of the quarry.

"And no stop signs!" she said as she shifted into low and floored it.

I couldn't help feeling exhilarated as my car leapt forward like a tiger after its prey, the two of us sinking back in our seats feeling the power of the engine flow through us.

Her shifts were no where as smooth as mine, but she obviously had experience with a stick just from the way she changed gears without losing much speed.

After getting it up to almost 120 mph, she let it drop down to 80 to navigate the tracks which curved to the left for a bit. Once we were getting close to the wall of the quarry, she let our speed drop off slowly until we were going about 30, then swung the car around before bringing it to a stop.

"Nice spot, huh?" she said, shutting of the car's engine and starting mine back up with her suggestive smile.

"Very nice," I said with an equally suggestive smile.

She basked a moment in the warm feelings I was projecting to her unconsciously, then undid her seat belt and said, "In our sophomore year, I use to have these really hot dreams about some of the Golden Girl practices."

"Oh?" I said as I unclipped mine as well and moved my seat back as far as it would go. "Did I happen to be in any one of them?"

"Until last week I didn't remember who was in it," she began as she climbed over the stick and laid herself on top of me.

"But last Thursday I was.. thinking of you and it just sort of came to me," she continued while rubbing her body up and down mine.

"What came to you?" I said, understanding there was a double meaning to the word.

"That I was dancing topless for you," she said, slipping her hands under my shirt.

"Do you remember anything else about your dream?" I said after helping her remove my shirt.

"I remember everything," she said huskily as I ran my hands up her belly, under her shirt and gave her breasts a full feel.

"Especially the way I came at the end," she said before lifting her top off.

"It must have been some dream," I said as she lowered her chest towards my waiting lips.

"It wasn't a dream, was it," she stated before she gasped.

"No," I simply confirmed before taking the other nipple into my lips.

"Good," she moaned as she felt my hands slide down into her pants.

Rachael gently humped my exploring hand's knuckles a few times, her wetness coating them before I moved them to pull her panties and shorts off her and caused her to let out a desperate sigh.

But then suddenly she slid down my body, then while crouching on the floor, she undid my jeans and pulled out the prize she was looking for.

"Mmmmphh!" she muttered as she filled her mouth with my cock, then made similar noises as she tasted and bathed my meat from its base to its tip.

It was probably the first blow job I had actually enjoyed since I had woken up from my wipe, and I was lost at to why I hadn't liked them until now. While Rachael didn't once attempt to deep throat it or do any other professional tricks, her lips and tongue were experienced enough to give me some excellent licks.

I was a bit disappointed when she quit and licked her way back up to my face, but once she was up to my lips, she took a moment to rest as she was completely out of breath.

"I hope you brought a condom," she said after teasing my lips with her tongue.

I quickly did a check on her sexual history and the date of her last period, finding that she hadn't been careful with most of the guys she had fucked, and was only worried about becoming pregnant during her most fertile time of the month.

"Yeah, I have some in the glove compartment. You want to put it on me?"

She gasped when she opened the glove compartment, then said rather shakily, "You sure have a lot of... stuff."

"Look behind the extra vibrator batteries. I think that's where they are," I said, struggling to see around her.

"What..." she said, pulling out a double headed dildo, "the hell is this for?"

"What do you mean, what is it for?" I said confused. "It's for girls. Have you found the condoms yet?"

"But..." she said, clearly baffled why I would have such a thing.

"Here, I'll show you real quick," I said holding my hand out.

She hesitantly handed it to me, then started to turn around to face me.

"Just keep looking for the condoms, then hold still when you find them," I said, teasing her well trimmed crotch with one of the heads.

She found the condoms almost immediately, but didn't turn around from feeling the dildo's head rubbing against her hot box. She spread her legs a little to give me better access, then let out a sharp gasp when she felt the head penetrate her outer lips.

Rachael quickly adjusted herself to accept the cock deeper within her, finding the dildo's different feel strangely exciting.

I'm not sure if she even knew it when I switched heads on her, but she definitely knew it when I attempted to slip the well slickened end into her winking rose. She jerked herself away, hitting her head on the dash then taking a nose dive at the floor.

"Are you okay?" I asked as she struggled to get back up on the seat with me.

"I'm fine!" she huffed from under her arm. "Just warn me next time before you try doing something like that!"

"Sorry," I said, watching her struggle to turn around. "Here, let me help you."

I lowered the chair's back so it was as flat as it could get, then grabbed her legs which were straddling me and pulled her back.

When I gave her clit a surprise lick, her arms gave out underneath her and barely missed slamming my nuts with her forehead.

I ignored the mild pain her fall had caused as I made her wiggle and gasp with my tongue. When she aided my licking by rubbing her crotch up and down my face, I knew she was getting ready to fuck.

When I heard the brief crinkle of a condom package being opened, I gave her clit one last lick then waited for her to slip it on me. I was pleasantly surprised when she wet my cock down with her spit before she did, then have her another smile as she turned around to face me.

Rachael didn't even hesitate before loading her cunt with my cock once she was turned all the way around, and I gave her the benefit of hearing me moan from the pressure and heat around my dick.

She was certainly no virgin, for she had no trouble working herself up in speed even though she had to straddle me somewhat awkwardly on the seat. I hazily recall how her breasts looked below me as they flopped back and forth with her humps.

I knew I wouldn't lose control while having sex because I had built up quite a bit of sexual tension in the past month without doing anything to relieve it until now. And since I was still in complete control of myself, I knew I wouldn't have to abstain from having sex any more.

So I was rather pleased with the way things turned out, and as Rachael started to tire without bringing either of us off, I reached up to her breast and gave it a little twist while sending a surge of my magic touch through its sensitive skin.

She froze from the pleasurable sensation it had produced, and I found her very responsive to my magic touch, more than what I recalled ever experiencing before.

Seeing she had pushed herself as hard as she could, I switched my magic touch to sooth and easily relaxed her down on top of me to give her a nice body rub.

While she was completely subdued in a deeply relaxed state, the thought occurred I could easily manipulate her into allowing me to fuck her ass. But I dismissed the idea for I was quite satisfied with the fucking so far and saw no need to rush things like that. I knew I would sooner or later desire to take her ass, but only if she consented to it before hand.

So to aid that future possibility, I kept teasing her rose with my pleasurable magic touch momentarily as I ran my hands up and down her limp body.

By the time my arms had gotten tired of reaching for her lower parts, my cock was feeling quite full of spunk and energy, so I rested my arms beside me while laying my hands on her back, then switched my magic touch back to sexual pleasure while transferring it to my dick.

At first only the only thing that even twitched was Rachael's cunt, but slowly the movement spread until her hips began to wiggle, then moments later started to hump.

It was like my dick was the source of some great energy which was spreading through her body and animating it as it went. Once her humps were strong enough that she needed some extra lift to go further, her legs began to take on some of the work.

Her arms began to move a few moments later, sluggishly at first but steadily until they lifted her chest off mine while opening her eyes with a groan.

She threw her head back in pleasure as her humps became thrusts of increasing strength, then suddenly went all out while we both moan and groaned in pleasure, feeling long needed orgasms approaching.

She peaked before I did, and I found her lowering herself back down just as I felt my own release come to bear. Thankfully Rachael kept her humping motion up as I shot my seed into the rubber, and then I enjoyed feeling her continue it even after I had collapsed.

It wasn't until after she got us both worked up again that I realized the reason she had left her engine running was because I hadn't stopped using my magic touch. But I didn't bother to stop it until after she brought us both off again, and then all I did was change it to the soothing kind again.

We found the windows completely fogged up by the time we took any notice of our surroundings, and when we heard another vehicle in the distance obviously racing towards us, we both went scrambling for our clothes as I scanned to find out who it was.

"Rachael, there's a blanket behind your seat," I said getting into the drivers seat. "I'm going to have to roll down the windows to see, so you better get it out so you don't get cold."

She did as I suggested, then exclaimed, "Oh shit. It's Kevin. Come on... Let's get out of here."

"Kevin?"

"He's my old boyfriend. If he catches us together, like this, he'll probably flip. This was our spot to, you know.."

"Uh huh," I said, flashing her a smile before starting the engine and hitting the buttons to roll down the windows. "I know all right."

I took a moment to get a good look at the layout, but unfortunately couldn't see beyond the dust cloud behind Kevin's supped up Buick Regal which was heading straight for us. I considered making Kevin unable to see us, but I was obliged to show Rachael I knew how to handle my car like she had, even if I found it to be rather stupid myself to do it.

"Well? Are you just going to sit here until he has you trapped? You can't just go in any direction you know.."

"I can't? Why not?"

"Because it isn't level enough to go very fast, that's why. Look, do you want me to drive?"

"No, that's okay. I'm just waiting for him to reach that rock that looks like a big nose with a zit."

"Why?" she exclaimed.

"This is why," I said, putting the car in reverse and floored it until I reached the end of the strip, then waited in the dust cloud until I heard the Regal's engine decelerating.

"Hang on," I said as I flipped my lights on, floored it, and hit the horn.

I wasn't actually going full out since I was trying to time it so if I had to go around him, I could do it at the wider spot of the path at the bend. But just as I had hoped, when Kevin saw us coming out of the cloud at high speed with our lights and horn blaring, he panicked and swerved off, bouncing up and down as his shocks got a good work out from the unleveled terran.

"Next time we go for a ride," I said as we entered the cloud of dust he had left behind. "I'll do the driving."