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High Tuck -*- 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.


High Tuck


***
07:39 28 Aug

     "Oh, gee, we'd so like to go to school today," I lied at Mom with
Brian nodding accompaniment.  "But we have to go get our teeth
examined."
     "I miss my classes," Brian said sadly.
     "Oh, give it up," Mom moaned.  "And don't skip your appointments
either.  OR school after you're done."
     "Skip?" Brian said like he hadn't heard the word before.
     "Never crossed my mind," I said.  It hadn't; the idea had just sat
right there unmoving in the middle of my consciousness and leered at me.
     Mom didn't look like she believed either one of us, but she didn't
comment further.

***
09:18 28 Aug

     Juggling had several benefits when applied to the time spent
sitting around in a waiting room when YOU had been on time for your
appointment(s) but nobody else was.
     It was fun to do.
     It made the time pass.
     It was something I needed to practice (everyone needed to practice
if they wanted to stay good at it) and sitting down was a good place to
do it.
     It was more interesting than Newsbleak, Fiend&Steam, Reader's
Disgust, Seventeen(PagesOfTextSandwichedBetweenTwoHundredPagesOfAds) or
Cosmopoli-bland.  They didn't subscribe to good stuff like Doc Frobb's
or 2600, or even Soldier of Misfortune.  Or at least they didn't leave
them out here.
     You got envious looks from other people who couldn't juggle or
didn't have anything to juggle at the moment.
     It was subtly eye-catching for the staff, so they'd keep looking at
you, and thus remembering you were here, without being blatant about it
which made them annoyed.
     And best of all, it annoyed Brian without actually being something
he could really work up a rage at.

***
11:07 28 Aug

     The really sucky thing about good health insurance was that it
included dental, which meant that insurance would pay for it all, which
therefore meant that Mom wouldn't send me out with a credit card to pay
for it, which could then possibly have been used for other things.
     As we left the office, Brian smirked at me, "Dude, none!"
     "Nonnnnne!" I smirked back at him, and we slapped hands.
     "You're hungry though, right?" he suggested.
     "No, not really," I said casually.  "Besides, if I hurry I can talk
to some of the girls at lunch for a bit before I have my last two
classes."
     "Aw man!  Come on!" Brian protested.
     I had him.

***
11:29 28 Aug

     "So, like, uh, you hang around girls a lot, right?" Brian said
after we sat down again.  Chinese buffets had one great advantage over
home cooking - thirty different kinds of food were a lot more than
anyone would be willing to make for one meal.
     "Yeahhhh," I said, trying to guess what he was going to do with the
admission, and failing.  "Why?"
     "How come they don't tell you how to dress better?"
     "What?"
     "You look stupid in that stuff, and aren't you h- overheating?"
     I sighed.  He knew far too much about my physical state anyway, but
apparently not enough to keep him from asking questions like this.  And
I did not feel like enlightening him today.  "Brian," I did say, slowly,
"I haven't gone shopping for school stuff yet, and I'm not sure I want
to spend the money.  We only get so much, you know, and I had to buy a
new pair of sneaks."
     "Still, man, those pants are too small for you, and you oughta be
able to talk to Mom about it, or maybe Dad, even he goes for that 'look
decent' stuff."  We sighed; both of us had been dragged along far too
many times in Susan's pre-school or beginning-of-school shopping
marathons in the quest to 'look decent' for not too much money.  I'd
often claimed my sister was stupid, but the way she could keep juggling
dozens of prices in her head all at one time while fighting the crowds
showed she had something up there, even if it was being sadly misused.
     "Yeah, I guess," I said unenthusiastically, then brightened as I
thought of something.  "Maybe I could ask Sabrina if she wants to help
me shop this weekend."
     "The one who's coming over for math tutoring?"
     *Oh, damnit, I said that out loud.*

***
11:52 28 Aug

     "Huh?" I said, because something was buzzing and everyone who'd
been waiting to get seated was pulling out and looking at their-
     And then I dug in my pack and pulled out MY pager, which turned out
to be the culprit.  I also ignored Brian as he laughed at me, but that
wasn't too hard since he'd paid for most of our lunch and I was more
worried about who would be-

     TTTKIDTTT ITS HERE ITS HERE-

     "AHHHHHHAHAHAHAhahaha!" I said out loud as I accidentally grabbed
Brian and danced with him before he could break loose.  "My laptop's
in!"
     "What?  Lemme see!" he insisted as he somehow managed to steal the
pager right out of my hand and ran outside with it.

***
11:53 28 Aug

     "Read the rest of it," he grinned as he handed it back to me before
I broke his arm.

     TTTKIDTTT ITS HERE ITS HERE X AND YOU DONT GET IT UNTIL 2000
     TONIGHT SO DONT EVEN THINK ABOUT SKIPPING TO GET IT X HAHAHA X HOPE
     THE DENTAL TORTURE WENT WELL X CONT X TSIXT

     And the second message, which I hadn't noticed come in, said

     TTTCONTTTT SPEAKING OF TORTURE YOU OWE ME A LOT OF MONEY TOO X HAVE
     A DOWN PAYMENT READY X NOW GET BACK ON YOUR HEADS X TSIXT END

     "Dude, I need to get a job," Brian sighed.
     "You could babysit," I snickered.

***
12:17 28 Aug

     "Dental appointment," I explained.
     "They left brown crusty stuff between your teeth at a dental
appointment?" Mike complained.
     "Shut up, you owe me six bucks," I said, and pulled out the bag of
takeout.
     "What about-"
     I pulled out the other bag of takeout and handed it over.  "And YOU
owe me half a dollar each," I said to the previously whining crowd, "if
you want egg rolls.  Pay Mike..."
     People wanted egg rolls.

***
12:20 28 Aug

     I made sure nothing was between my teeth any more, then left the
bathroom - strange, how the only guy's bathroom in school that still had
mirrors was the one around the admin section - and went to go check in.

***
14:09 28 Aug

     "Man," I mumbled to myself, "it's a good thing I left the cooler in
here, or these other egg rolls might have gone bad."  Not hardly.
     It had been a personally expensive lunch - Brian had paid for mine
and his, but I'd had to pay for Mike's food plus the egg rolls - but I'd
get it back from Mike later.
     "Oooh, and I got a date tonight too," I told myself happily.

***
16:38 28 Aug

     "What do you want?"
     "Hey, Dad!" I said cheerfully.  "Can I stay out a couple hours
extra tonight?"
     "Why?"
     "Because I got a date today," I lied, "and I wanna go out late and
listen to bad folk songs and drink cheap wine and talk about the way to
fix the world."
     "You're not old enough for any of that, you're supposed to be
drinking swiped beer and complaining about how hard life is at your
age," Dad said.  "Seriously, you have a laptop waiting and you want to
go out instead?"
     "Damnit!" I said accidentally, which made Dad laugh.

***
16:40 28 Aug

     "Yeah, I guess the date thing, and I pick up the laptop tomorrow or
so," I sighed.  "That's with everything, right?"
     "Oh yeah, modem and everything," he agreed.  "All here."
     I sighed again, but I really wanted to see Travis...
     "Want me to start loading it?" Dad asked.
     "Uh..."  Taking a computer out of the box, which was something I'd
only done a couple of times since I could usually build better ones;
versus letting someone else screw with the damned drivers.  Hard choice,
since I'd hardly ever gotten to take a computer out of the box.  I
finally decided, "Ummmm... yeah, okay, if you want to load it for me," I
said.  "Barest bones on the Linux, and write down the root password so I
don't have to crack it, okay?  And you're not charging me for this, are
you?"
     "For you, this time, it's free," Dad said.  "And you know you still
have to go to school tomorrow," he nastily reminded me.  I was hoping
to forget that.
     "Yeah, but Dad, it's a DATE," I emphasized.
     "Who with?"
     "Jill," I lied on the spur of the moment.  "She just wants to go
out a bit, and she doesn't want to try the high-tone stuff I'm doing
tomorrow."

***
19:09 28 Aug

     "Chinese?" Travis asked hopefully.
     I laughed, and said, "I had Chinese today at lunch!  How'd you
guess?"
     Travis looked vaguely embarrassed.
     "Oh, c'mere," I told him, and pulled him close for something I
probably shouldn't be doing on the front porch of the Parkers' but was
going to do anyway.

***
19:13 28 Aug

     Apparently he'd missed me as much as I'd missed him, but it was
still him who broke the kiss and asked, though I was happy to note he
was breathless, "So what do you want to do tonight?"
     "Either go back to your place, or go dancing," I told him in order
of preference.
     "Okay, but not THAT place!"
     I laughed, and said, "What, don't you still have your shirt?  Oh, I
have your other one, still, but I remembered to bring it, it's in the
car."
     As we walked out, I asked, "Travis?  Did you have plans this
weekend?"

***
19:31 28 Aug

     This was a new place I'd never gone to, so I asked him, "What's
this place like?" when he shut off the engine.
     "It's a place someone at school told me about," he said before he
got out and came around to help me out.  I was glad I'd worn something
sexy for him, or had brought something sexy to change into when the
Parkers' dinner was far enough along.  It wasn't apparently going to
incite him to new heights of lust, but at least we'd look good when we
were dancing.

***
19:50 28 Aug

     He hadn't told me about the friends that had planned to be there
that night, but there they were, and here we were talking to them
instead of dancing.
     Finally I couldn't stand it any more and pulled myself up to
Travis' ear and said into it, "If you don't come out with me on the
dance floor right this instant, I'm conking you over the head and
dragging you home to molest you."

***
20:00 28 Aug

     I could deal with retro eighties stuff, if it was a good mix, and
this one was decent, techno-oriented, and fast, all of which were good
things.  And you couldn't do much breaking in a dress like I was
wearing, but the heels were good for spins if not much else, so I did a
720 and dropped into a low back kick then snapped around and went up
again, which felt pretty good even though my leg had been slow.

***
20:44 28 Aug

     There was sweat dripping into my eyes, but I had managed to get my
pack inside through what miracle I do not know, and I had a dograg in it
among other things, and so that took care of most of the sweat, and
since I'd been careful it probably hadn't obliterated my makeup either.
Though it was dark and/or flashy enough in here you couldn't tell
anyway.
     I looked up when I had taken care of the sweat, and Travis was
talking to some girl, so I got up so I could butt in.
     "Hey," Travis said to me as I got close enough to hear them
yelling, "you remember Anne, right?"  I looked, and vaguely remembered
the girl that had hosted a couple of cheerleader parties I'd attended
with Travis, so I nodded and said hi and we smiled at each other.
     "We were talking about going and getting something to eat," he
yelled hopefully at me.
     "But I want to dance some more!" I complained.  "Please?  No
offense," I screamed apologetically at Anne, "but I'm busy this weekend
and won't get to see enough of him.  Travis?" I pleaded.

***
21:02 28 Aug

     "Besides," I yelled at him as we finally got rid of his friends and
went back to the dance floor, "I got a curfew extension, I'm good until
midnight tonight."
     We grinned at each other.

***
22:39 28 Aug

     "Just a quickie?" I begged.  The dancing had been more passionate
than I'd thought it would be, and I wasn't nearly as tired as I thought
I'd end up.  That turned out to be a dangerous combination.
     "You're crazy!" he laughed as he held my hand.
     "Crazy for you," I reminded him, and brought his hand up to my
mouth and sucked on one of his fingers.  I'd heard about this from Julia
on the phone...
     And, by the way he stumbled a bit, it seemed to be effective.

***
23:09 28 Aug

     "I can't believe you're actually acting like this," Travis mused.
     "I can't believe," I said back, "that you're complaining!"
     "I'm NOT complaining, BELIEVE me," he assured me.
     "Good," I grinned, and grabbed at his belt.
     Many frantic seconds later, it seemed to me, we were engaging in
something I still had problems believing I was doing voluntarily, but it
wasn't nearly as bad as I'd thought, and it made him SO happy.
     Which in about ten minutes would make ME so happy, and him AGAIN.

***
23:33 28 Aug

     I could only vaguely wonder at my squealing as I tried not to dig
my fingers into his back as I arched and clinched against him, but I was
definitely squealing this time as I came.
     I would have felt ashamed if it hadn't been Travis on top of me, I
think.  But he was, and he wasn't laughing when I sank back into my
body.  Or crying either, which was probably worse than laughing would
have been.  He certainly looked INTENSE, though.

***
23:40 28 Aug

     "Hnnnnn," I smiled and hummed at him.  We'd moved up to a more
conventional position on the bed so we could cuddle for a while, which
in my opinion could easily take the place of school tomorrow as far as I
was concerned.
     Unfortunately, what I first thought was artillery fire but turned
out to be enthusiastic knocking at his door, rather disrupted the mood.
And my heart rhythms.  And my nervous system.
     And his, judging by the way he screamed hoarsely and convulsed on
the bed.  Alone, because I had already rolled off and was eyeing the
window-
     "Those ASSHOLES!" he raged as he flung himself off the bed and
upright and stomped out and SLAMMED the door to his bedroom.
     *Window?* I wondered, still looking at it, then realized that
Travis probably had some idea of what was going on, judging by the way
he was acting.  I skittered over to the door, making sure to keep my
weight spread out on my hands and feet both so the floor wouldn't creak,
and put my ear up to the door.
     Ten seconds of listening had me skittering back because there were
several males out there, Travis sounded extremely angry, and I thought
I'd best get dressed and ready to assist.

***
23:43 28 Aug

     By the time I'd gotten re-dressed, re-inserted the rubber tits into
my bra, pulled them out and re-re-inserted them because I had them the
wrong way 'round, and then double-checked my clothes to make sure my
skirt wasn't caught in my underwear or something, they seemed to have
left.  Though I had been keeping an ear on things, several times a
minute.
     "Val, I'm really sorry," Travis said as he lifted his head off the
wall and came towards me, looking terribly apologetic.
     "Go lock the door," I suggested.

***
23:44 28 Aug

     "Val, I-" he restarted.
     "Travis," I smiled.  "I don't think you told them to come over
here, and I think we've both seen what MY friends do to annoy ME.  It's
not your fault," I said, getting to the point.
     "I, I didn't want you embarrassed," he grumbled, looking at his
feet.
     "I'm not embarrassed to be seen with you," I told him.
     "What about..." and he gestured at the bedroom door.
     "Ah, well, I...  It's not like they were watching or listening or
something," I hoped.  "So..."  I shrugged.  "So we were having sex in
your bedroom, so what?  Some of 'em'd probably think I'm a slut, but I
don't care; I'm just glad to be with you..."  I grinned, and added, "And
I bet at least half of 'em wish THEY could go home with their girlfriend
and spend half the night making love."
     "Ohhh, Val," he sighed, but there was a very small smile in the
middle of it.

***
00:03 29 Aug

     "I don't believe they did it quite that way, though," I remarked as
Travis locked his door, from the outside this time.
     "Sometimes we kind of stay out late and stuff," Travis said as he
turned around.  He walked me down the stairs, and out to his car, and
they did indeed seem gone.

***
00:20 29 Aug

     One quick and painful stop at an ATM machine later, my savings
account was much depleted but I had the ransom for my laptop.

***
00:37 29 Aug

     Rachel seemed asleep when I got to her place, so I tried to be very
quiet as I changed, and she didn't seem to wake up or notice me, unless
her saying loudly, "What IS a rutabaga anyway?" before rolling over and
immediately resuming snoring, counted.  I didn't think it did.

***
00:58 29 Aug

     The laptop - MY laptop, or at least that was my guess - was in the
middle of Dad's study, and looked like someone's disembodied brain in a
B-movie, with all the cables coming out of it that linked to other
things in the study.  And Dad looked...
     "Dad?"
     "Uh?"
     "I'm home, it's not quite one o'clock yet."
     "Uhuh."
     Pause.
     "Dad?"
     "Uh?"
     "Going okay?" I asked carefully.
     "Uhhhhhh," he vocalized, meaning I think that it was going as well
as could be expected, which was usually pretty frustrating.
     "Uh, well, goodnight..."
     "Uhuh."  He had not stopped typing, nor had he looked away from the
screen.  I left, quietly.

***
01:14 29 Aug

     I really wanted to go to bed, but I had to write an email to Mom
telling her that it had NOT been my idea that Dad seemed to want to stay
up all night working on the laptop, and therefore if she didn't like him
doing that she should talk to him, not to me.  I also told her that the
date had been good, mentioned we'd gone dancing, omitted the parts about
sex, boyfriend, and artillery, and signed it and sent it and locked up
and then finally went to bed.
     And made SURE that I had Travis' bear next to me.

***
03:41 29 Aug

     "I guess it's not the bear," I sighed, once my heart and breathing
had slowed down enough I could think about such things.  I didn't
normally have problems with dogs, but it really bugged me when I was in
school and then hundreds of them were howling and baying and chasing me
down the halls trying to rip me into dog food.

***
03:46 29 Aug

     "Dad!" I said in surprise.
     "Uhuh," he said, but this time he looked at me, around the beer he
was holding to his forehead.
     "You... seem to be done?" I hypothesized.
     "Uhuh," he confirmed, and closed his eyes again.
     Pause.
     "How'd it go?"
     "Got it," he grated.
     "All of it?"
     "Heh," he grunted, but then opened his eyes and swung around on the
couch and got up.  "Come see."

***
05:44 29 Aug

     "Oh!  And you-"
     "Yeah, an-"
     "Bill!" Mom snapped unexpectedly from behind us, causing both of us
to twitch upright.
     "Uh oh," Dad and I said at the same time.
     "'Uh oh' is right, did you stay up all NIGHT?"
     "I didn't ask him to!" I inserted, which did not have the hoped-for
effect on Mom.

***
06:05 29 Aug

     "Dad?" I said after Mom had finally shut up and left.
     "Uhuh?"
     "Don't stay up all night next time."
     "Uh UH," he agreed emphatically.  "What're you doing up so early
anyway?"
     "You know how, you're at school, and suddenly you realize you don't
have any pants on, and then there's like hundreds of dogs chasing you
through the halls trying to bite your throat and kill you like a deer?
And you still don't have any pants?"
     Pause.
     "Date didn't go well?"
     "Nah, it went fine.  Great, actually.  Can I drop out of school?"
     He looked at his watch.  "Not now," he said.
     There might have been some rational explanation for that, but I'd
bet there wasn't.

***
06:52 29 Aug

     "I!  Got!  My!  Laptoooppppp!" I sang at Kim and Jill before I
danced around a bit.
     "Why is it handcuffed to your arm?" Jill asked.
     "Well, duh!"  That was one of the things I'd had Dad order.  It was
worth the extra fifty bucks, plus the extra fifteen for a dozen keys.
Plus the security cables.  And locks.

***
06:58 29 Aug

     I waved happily at Shannon as she and a couple of her current
parasitic hosts came in, and she frowned, which just barely improved my
already-superb mood.  Then she saw the laptop in front of me, and REALLY
frowned, and that ratcheted it up another tiny notch.  I couldn't get
much further up, I guess.

***
07:09 29 Aug

     "Jeezus Christ," Jill muttered, which broke my concentration so I
looked at her.  She was staring at my laptop.  "How fast do you type?"
     I shrugged.  "Never been tested," I told her, and went back to
taking notes on the lecture.
     This was going a helluva lot better than paper notes had been.

***
07:57 29 Aug

     "Auuuugh!" Mike commented when he saw the case locked on my wrist,
and then everyone had to come look at it.  Well, at least my friends did;
I didn't care about the rest of the population.  And they didn't seem to
care about my laptop.

***
08:16 29 Aug

     Gee, what a coincidence, the seat I'd picked out in study hall the
third day of school was RIGHT NEXT TO an electrical outlet.  Amazing.
     And possibly even more amazing, it was live, which meant that in
seconds I was trickle-charging the battery again and almost completely
out of the 'real world', but being right up there next to the warden
made it difficult for anyone to do anything really nasty to me.
     You'd almost suspect I'd planned it this way.  Which I had.

***
10:39 29 Aug

     "...and don't forget the paper is due Monday," Mister Alston
reminded us, and I almost groaned before I remembered that I had the
perfect paper writing instrument chained to my desk at the moment, and I
wouldn't even have to worry about Microsoft at ALL, if I could remember
to print the thing out at home which I usually didn't.

***
10:44 29 Aug

     "What did you DO to Ashlee?" Sabrina asked.
     "What?" I asked, simulating cluelessness.  "Who's Ashlee?"
     She glared at me, then at Mike who was a bit late and looking-
     "Goon," Mike explained, "dodged him.  No prob."
     "What did you DO?" Sabrina asked me again as I sat back down.
     "I'll... show you Saturday," I said.  "You have a..."  Bizarrely, I
did not recall her having a computer.  But-
     "I!  Got my laptop!" I sang a bit and danced in my seat.  "Oh,
laptop lapowch!"
     "NO SINGING," Mike insisted.

***
11:36 29 Aug

     "It's got Gnu C, LISP, Emacs, LaTeX, full source, drivers for the
PCMCIA modem and SCSI card, the CD recorder works..."  I wanted to dance
with it some more but restrained myself, since it was unpacked and I
hadn't sprung for the extra five thousand bucks for a 'hard' system.
"And we're working on Xwindow."
     "'X' Windows?" Bob asked.

***
11:38 29 Aug

     "And it's got-"
     "Tuck?" Mike asked.
     "Yeah?"
     "Can we, you know, play?"
     "Oh, uh, yeah, sure," I nodded.

***
11:45 29 Aug

     "If you're going to use that thing to take notes during the game,
Tuck, you have to pay for Eidetic Memory."
     "Okay!" I cheered.  I'd actually been copying my character sheet
into ASCII format as best I could, but this was even better.
     "Oh, crap," Mike sighed when he realized what he'd done, and I
guess when he realized that I still had unused points to pay for Eidetic
Memory, too.
     "Sucker!" I couldn't help crowing.

***
12:29 29 Aug

     Once I mastered some LaTeX, I'd be able to turn in my math homework
without little nasty comments about illegibility written in the margins.
Not to mention the graphing possibilities, either.  Heh.

***
14:04 29 Aug

     "Oooooh," I sighed and flexed my fingers.  I REALLY had to put some
study time in learning something to handle the less ASCII-related
symbols in the notes I had to take for physics and calc, or my fingers
were going to cramp out, because the only way I could take notes on the
laptop without such a thing was to write everything out longhand, just
like the teachers explained it, or close to.  And that took a loooooong
time and a LOT of typing.  Plus I made more errors than usual, dealing
with English, so I'd have to go back and recheck the notes to make sure
I had it down right.
     But it was still better than paper and pen.

***
15:08 29 Aug

     "I got my laptop!" I almost sang before I remembered, then
remembered that Mike wasn't here to stop me from singing.
     "You what?" Ricky asked.
     "My laptop?"
     "You what?  Oh COOL!" he screamed, which set Stella off.

***
15:40 29 Aug

     "But why don't you have any games on it?" Ricky whined.
     "Ricky..."  I sighed.  "There is no way to explain this, but games
compared to everything else on here, are stupid and boring and
irritating.  With it like THIS, I can DO THINGS."

***
17:19 29 Aug

     "Uh oh," I said when I noticed the time.  "Ricky, I gotta start
dinner."
     "Okay," he said.
     "That means, it turns off and gets put away," I said.
     "Aw MAN!"
     I had to be strong, because if this thing got sauce in it or
something, I'd die.  Less than thirty hours after it had come in, too,
and I was hooked.  Sad, really.  Not sad enough to stop, though.

***
17:50 29 Aug

     "Oooh, yeah, just like I wanted," I grinned.
     "Can I see it?" Miz Parker asked.
     "Um..."  I was going to say, 'You break it you bought it', but I
didn't even want to take that risk.  "Sure, give me a minute to settle
the stuff in the pots."

***
18:04 29 Aug

     "Oh, I thought you'd have things like games on here or something,"
Miz Parker said, and Ricky nodded triumphantly at me.
     "Ah, no."  Maybe Quake, later, but not now.  "I do have my school
notes on it, though, and I got halfway through a paper already with it
here."  Well, I'd spent some time downloading a few dozen references and
so on, so I hoped there'd be a paper in there somewhere.  In any case, I
had some better opinions to look at than the rest of the non-literati
class I was in.

***
18:11 29 Aug

     "Oooh, and a couple of friends and I are having a culture night,
we're going to see this chamber music group at the college tonight," I
nodded and smiled at the idea.
     "I didn't know Travis liked that sort of thing," she mused.
     "Ah, well..." I said, feeling embarrassed.
     "What, no Travis?" Miz Parker teased.  At least, I think she was
teasing.

***
19:04 29 Aug

     "I did TOO take notes in class today on it!" I protested.  "Want to
see them?" I challenged Mister Parker before I thought about it.  Still,
his assumption that I had gotten the laptop entirely for email and games
was rather grating.

***
19:06 29 Aug

     "What IS that?" he asked, pointing at the screen.
     "Uh," I started, because I wasn't sure what he meant.  "The
hardware or the software?"
     "The software."
     "Emacs."
     "What's that?" he asked me, looking puzzled.
     I opened my mouth, and closed it before I quite went off.  He was
going to need a mundane's explanation, which I wasn't very good at.
Finally I said, "My dad's an old-time nerd from the 70's, went to MIT,
had a slide rule holster for his belt, you know?"  Dad still had both,
too; he'd whip it out and use it if he thought it would annoy someone.
Especially at work; it really bugged people on some level to see all
this high-tech high-end electronics, and Dad slipping away on the brass
shortsword that had cost more than I thought possible.
     Mister Parker chuckled and nodded.
     "What's a slide rule?" Ricky asked.
     "Mechanical calculator," I said.  "What people used back before the
electronics got small enough to put an electronic calculator in your
pocket."
     "Wow, like World War Two?" Ricky asked in this voice of wonder,
like he was touching dinosaur bones.
     "Uh, yeah," I admitted.  "And up until the mid 70's, actually."
     "I used one for a while," Mister Parker said.  "In college."
     I'd used one for a while in eighth grade, until they gave up and
let the peasants use calculators.  "Anyway," I finished, "I look sorta
like Mom but I got Dad's brain, so I use the same kind of programs and
stuff you'd see him using.  Which have nothing at all to do with
Microsoft, Lotus, Novell, or most software companies you've heard of," I
added, JUST in case he was going to make the mistake of thinking that
because Windoze cost money, and lots, that it was what people who knew
what they were doing used.  "Old geek stuff, since it's what I learned
from him."

***
19:50 29 Aug

     "Hey!" I said as I came in, because Rachel was sitting on the
couch, looking ready to go.  And looking very nice, too.  "Let me go up
and change quick, okay?"  I'd already known that a shortall and sneaks
were not going to cut it for the evening.
     "Sure," she said, and got up and followed me.  "Uh, what's in the
bag?"

***
20:00 29 Aug

     "Does this look okay, and like civilized?" I asked as I came out of
Rachel's closet.  I'd pulled my 'little black dress' and my black heels
to come up with something classy.  I hoped.
     "Oh..." Rachel said, looking intently at me.  "Yeah, but you need
to do something with your hair...  C'mere," she said as she pulled open
a dresser drawer and started rummaging through it.

***
20:09 29 Aug

     "Yeah, turn left up here," I said, glad I had remembered to get
directions from Julia again.
     I already missed my laptop, but Rachel had convinced me that it
would be inappropriate, and safe enough if I handcuffed it and chained
it to two different pieces of furniture in her room.

***
20:21 29 Aug

     "Wonder who's having the party?" Rachel asked as we waited for the
door to open.
     "Oh no," I mentioned, because all of a sudden I had a very good
idea of who might be having a party-
     "Hi!" Bonnie said as she opened the door.  "Come in, good to see
you again!"
     *Sabrina, help!*  "Oh yeah, hi!" I said like I meant it, and her
face brightened just a bit so I guess I did it right.  "Um, we're here
to go out with Julia, actually?"
     "Oh, sure!" Bonnie said as we came in, "She's still getting ready,
but she'll be down in a few minutes."
     "This is a friend of mine, Rachel," my telepathic rlogin to
Sabrina's social lobe made me say, "and Rachel this is Bonnie, Julia's
mom and a very nice lady."
     As the two of them made nice to each other, I wondered if I'd
mistakenly tapped Debbie instead.  Still, it seemed to be working, and
my head wasn't exploding, so I wasn't going to complain too much.

***
20:24 29 Aug

     A few minutes had passed, Julia had not shown up, but Rachel had
found someone(s) new and bizarre to talk to, and was doing so while I
hung back and wondered when I was going to stop getting into situations
like this.
     "So, I don't mean to be rude or pry or anything," Rachel
disclaimed, "but, what's the attraction for you?  To doing this?"
     And by the time I realized she was inevitably going to trigger
someone's lecture mode, it was too late to hit her on the head with a
lamp or something.
     I thought about asking Rachel if she wanted something to drink
before I went and hid in the kitchen for a few minutes, but I'd either
have to rudely interrupt, like they were doing to each other, or wait an
awfully long time, because it was quickly turning into a debate, in the
middle of which was Rachel who was happily nodding and verbally
prodding.

***
20:27 29 Aug

     Plastic did not enhance the quality of the wine, as far as I could
tell, but it was better than no wine at all.  Lots better.
     "Oh, thanks!" Rachel said absently, and sipped at the cup I'd just
handed her before asking someone else something.

***
20:28 29 Aug

     I tapped on the door and got a voice tone that sounded roughly like
Julia.  "Julia?  It's Val, come save us!" I called.
     "I said come in!" she yelled faintly back.
     So I opened the door and came in, and Julia looked up and froze for
several seconds before sighing and resuming putting clothes on.  At
least, that's what it sounded like; I now had my eyes closed.
     "You said to come in!" I reminded her defensively.
     "Yeah, I know," she sighed.  "No big deal, though.  Where's
Travis?" she asked.  "Is he still downstairs?"
     "I dun-  Why would he be here?" I asked as my eyes opened again.
     "I thought you'd be bringing him?" she said as she heaved at her
pantyhose.
     "I, I thought," I spluttered, "I thought this was girls only!"
     "Val," she said patiently, "Dirk doesn't like chamber music, that's
why he's not coming with me tonight.  And I never said 'Don't bring
Travis', I know I didn't."
     "Well... shit," I complained, which made her laugh.

***
20:35 29 Aug

     "Well," I mentioned over my shoulder as we descended the stairs,
"you look really nice tonight."
     "Thanks," she smiled.  "So do you."
     "Not like it's going to do any good," I sighed as I caught Rachel's
eye by luck and waved at her and pointed at the front door.
     "Awwww, whassamatter Val, all dressed up and no chance to get laid
tonight so it's wasted effort?" she cooed at me.
     "Kiss my butt!"
     "I think that's Travis' job don't you?" she shot back.
     "I wish he WAS kissing my butt!" I snapped as I sort of spiraled
around the end of the staircase so I could talk to her face again.
     Julia finished descending and turned to face me and said, "Well,
Val, seriously, if you want to go out with him tonight, then go.  I
mean, I like hanging with you, but I think Rachel's okay, it's not that
big a deal if you come or not.  If you skip out now it won't ruin my
evening, is what I'm trying to say," she said.
     "Well," I sighed.  "I dunno... I mean, I saw him last night, and
he's sort of right, we do seem to just fall into bed whenever I get the
chance to drag him up there."
     "Val, seriously, do you two really..."
     "Yeah," I admitted, since my ears were already pinking.  I wished
my hair was longer so I could cover them in situations like this.  "I
dunno, I mean, he really REALLY excites me somehow.  So, I mean, it's
like, I want to every chance I get.  And even he's sort of, I dunno,
he's not complaining but he mentioned it a couple of times?"  Julia
nodded at me.  "And that's not why- I mean, it's not the, the ONLY
reason I like him, it just seems like it's the most important when we're
together.  But he's sort of right, I guess, we, he and I, we should do
more than just dinner and go back to his place and make out."
     "So why didn't-"
     "Because I thought this was girls only!" I reminded her.  "I know
you didn't say that specifically but that's what I thought, I mean...
next time can I bring him or something?"
     "If we can PRY you out of bed!" Julia grinned at me.
     "Oh!" Rachel said from behind my shoulder.  "Were you supposed to
be on a date with Travis tonight?  I'm so- I didn't mean-"
     "Rachel!" I snapped as I turned around, exasperated.

***
20:48 29 Aug

     "Why do I never remember to get here early enough to find a parking
space?!" Julia asked someone; I was pretty sure it wasn't me, though.
     "No, wait," Rachel said, and dug in her purse.  "I brought my
parking permit," she said as she continued searching for it.  "I think?"

***
20:56 29 Aug

     "Cool, they're just going in," Julia breathed in relief as we got
closer to the auditorium.  "You know we're probably like way overdressed
though," she mentioned.
     I sighed.

***
21:52 29 Aug

     "Wow, this is like really nice," Rachel said enthusiastically.
"Does it make you feel, I dunno, sort of grown up, listening to this?"
     "Yeah, kind of," Julia said while I considered it, finally nodding
before sipping some more of my soda.
     And we were sort of overdressed; the college kids who had come had
mostly dressed nice but not formal like we had.  On the other hand, the
obviously older adults, the sort you might find at art galleries or the
symphony or charity dinners or something, matched us almost exactly.
There were even two tuxedos in the crowd, as well as a lot of nice
looking suits, and of course the dresses were almost all black and
simple and more expensive than I'd have believed a year ago.
     "I mean," Julia continued, "sometimes I like finding someplace
where the bass is pounding the walls down and there's strobes and
blacklights and such, but sometimes I just want to feel..."  She sort
of trailed off, thinking about it, and then instead of saying anything
she just swept her arm towards the rest of the people.
     "Exactly," Rachel nodded, as did I.

***
21:56 29 Aug

     We were still standing around chatting about pianos and cellos and
so forth when Julia looked over at something.  I craned my neck, and
then wished I hadn't when I met Dobson's eyes staring out of Dobson's
body- one might say, the entirety of an unwelcome Dobson.
     Mostly because he was staring at me like I'd done something wr-
     "Oh," I sighed when I realized what it was.  Then I smiled,
deliberately, and waved a hand at him.  "And a good evening to you," I
said.
     "Good evening... ah... Valerie," he said, and nodded back.
     *Oh, shit.*  He'd remembered.
     "And who's this?" asked a not-too-pleasant-looking woman who was
standing next to him.
     "These," Dobson said to her while pointing out me and Julia, "are
two of my students, Valerie and Julia..."
     "This is Mister Dobson, our high school principal," I said out
loud to Rachel, managing not to groan.  Who would'a thunk he'd be here?
     "This is Rachel, a friend of ours who actually goes to school
here," Julia traded.
     "And this is my wife, Patty," Dobson finished.
     We all said hellos and suchlike; mine was insincere but I tried to
make it sound good.
     About the only good thing about it was that I hadn't brought Travis
after all.

***
22:02 29 Aug

     "My life is just too damned weird," I sighed as I swept my skirt
and sat down.
     And got shushed, because the music was almost starting.

***
22:58 29 Aug

     The applause wasn't quite thunderous, nor were there whistles,
hoots, air horns, lighters, or half-naked otaku girls rushing the stage,
but it was pretty heartfelt anyway.  At least from me.
     And I felt good enough that I didn't even mind running into my high
school principal while wearing a nice cocktail dress.

***
23:04 29 Aug

     Though twice in one evening was a little much, I decided as I
smiled at him and his wife.  Again.
     Then I yawned, one of those big ones that just about dislocates
your jaw, and I realized that I would in fact like to go homeward so I
could sleep.  "'Scuse me!" I managed to say when I got control of my
face back, in case Miz Dobson was one of those people.
     "Oh, come on, Val!" Julia complained, only half seriously, I think.
"The night's just beginning!"
     "Um, I think my fairy magic token has expired and I'm about to turn
back into a pumpkin," I said, and then yawned again.
     "Your what?" Rachel asked.

***
23:12 29 Aug

     Okay, it made some kind of sense: Julia's car was here, Rachel's
was at Julia's, and mine was at Rachel's; I wanted to go home yet Rachel
and Julia did not; yet there was another factor in the mix that I hadn't
even considered might butt in and decide that they could take me home.
     But I wasn't too happy about it.
     I don't think Dobson was too happy about it either.  He seemed kind
of nervous, which I eventually figured out was because he was worried
about 'trying to explain' what I was wearing to my dad, which wasn't
really explainable by Dobson since he knew maybe half of it.  I wasn't
too sure I could explain it, and me and Dad spoke the same English.
     So when I said, "Oh, by the way, I left my car at Rachel's place so
that's where we're going," and he slumped a bit in relief and then
sounded much happier about the conversation, I knew I'd gotten it right.
     Mostly it was a quiet ride back, which was good for me.  I was
still sort of in the music, and I felt nice and calm without quite
wanting to slip into a coma.  Sometimes classical did that to me, if it
was good, and this group had been good.  Plus there's always something
better about live music, for some reason.

***
23:27 29 Aug

     "So, see you Monday?" I said to Dobson.
     "I hope not," he said, and I thought he was referring to the way he
was no longer seeing me except when Something Bad happened.
     Which is why I protested, "Hey, that's not fair, when was the last
time you saw ME in your office?"
     He opened his mouth to say something, and I flicked the skirt of my
dress just a bit at him, and he shut his mouth as he caught the twist.
Then he opened it again and said, "Monday is Labor Day, remember?"
     "Oh!  Ohmigod, I almost forgot," I sighed.
     "Forgot what?" Miz Dobson asked.  "I can't believe you'd forget a
SCHOOL holiday!" she smiled.
     "No, I need to send some email tonight to make sure some plans
haven't changed..."  I shook my head; this was more than they needed to
know.  So I said, "Anyway, it's late, and thank you SO much for the
ride," and smiled really big.

***
23:36 29 Aug

     "Oh, laptop laptop laptop," I sang as I looked at the carrying case
as I changed clothes.  "Oh, bugger," I said as I remembered I was going
to need a lot of changes of clothing this weekend, and I didn't have
that many at my house.
     Then I realized my best bet was to come here Saturday afternoon and
just pack my car with whatever I needed.

***
00:10 30 Aug

     No Dad, no anyone, apparently.  That was kind of weird, but maybe
Dad had crashed early because of last night.  Or, Mom was punishing Dad
for him staying up last night by sending him to bed early-
     Which I flung out of my head as hard as I could because there was
only one thing she'd have done with him when she got him IN bed.

***


"Give me a woman who loves beer and I will conquer the world."
 -- Kaiser Wilhelm


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+ ==[--------   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 +


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