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Tuck With Meals -*- Copyright 2002 by Ellen Hayes.

Any resemblance between the writings in this work, and any actual
persons or places, living or dead, are purely coincidental, except when
used for satirical purposes.

This work contains adult situations, adult language, adult concepts, and
possibly sex.  If you are legally not allowed to read materials
containing such things, then you will be breaking the law by reading
this.  I am not responsible.
Continuing to read this document, or storing it or reproducing it
in any format means that you explicitly affirm that you are legally
allowed to possess and read such materials in your city, county/parish,
state, and country.

All rights reserved.  See the bottom for distribution rights.


Tuck With Meals


***
02:29 25 Aug

     Something alerted me, which shut me up, and I waited silently until
I heard another tap at my window.  I slid over cautiously and slowly
moved my head until I saw Mike standing there in the backyard with the
signal pole.

***
02:31 25 Aug

     "I dunno, it was just a nightmare," I said, feeling horribly
embarrassed that he was over here at this time of the morning because
I'd had a stupid nightmare again.
     "Yeah, so do you want me to stay over here with you so you can get
some sleep, or not?" he asked again.  "I'm already here," he mentioned,
I guess in case I'd missed that.

***
06:00 25 Aug

     "BEEDOOP!" said Gallifrey, then played the opening bars of the CBS
radio news intro.
     Which was a damned sight better than the horrid screeching of the
piezo alarm that I had been waking up to.
     In fact, I was so happy and pleased with myself and my cleverness
that I zoned until I got the second "BEEDOOP!"  I rubbed my eyes and
looked at the screen and found the random keyletter, which was 'P'
today, and hit the 'P' key on the keyboard and it shut off.  It was also
just past half a waning moon today, said the file-read, with no
holidays, and sunrise was just way too damned early.
     Macs had their uses, as did Windozers; they were just few and far
between.

***
06:18 25 Aug

     "No, I gotta go to class, and then at two I haveta go over to the
Parkers', remember?  Well, I have to pick up Stella and Ricky, but
still," I inserted, as I slid on an overshirt.
     "I think," Mike said sleepily, "that I'll just drive to school and
nap in my car until homeroom.  Wake me up when you get out, right?"
     "Don't you need to shower and stuff?"
     "I did that last night before I went to bed, Tuck," Mike reminded
me.  "And I got all my clothes and stuff..."  He shrugged.  "Just need
to brush my teeth some and that's it, I guess."
     "'Kay," I said, "see ya at school, I guess."
     We locked hands for a while, and then I felt better about the whole
thing.

***
06:52 25 Aug

     "What is Mike doing here?" Kim asked as we all watched him pull
into the parking lot.
     "Uh, well, I guess he got up early," I tried.

***
06:55 25 Aug

     "And then he was in the middle, there on the ground, and someone
had killed him, there was like blood and his intestines out and stuff,
and I just completely freaked as I woke up, I guess," I recounted,
wiping my arms in case my hair was standing up.
     "And then you spazzed out when you were 'awake' and called me,"
Mike finished.  "He was in a complete panic," he informed the girls.
"Scared the crap outta me too, until I figured out what was going on."
     "Man," Jill said in wonder.  "That's awful!"
     "We always said," Mike said, "that it was Tuck's defense in case
there were any telepaths trying to read his mind."
     "Yeah," Kim slowly nodded, "I think I'd leave at that point, if I
was peeking inside your head..."

***
08:19 25 Aug

     I hoped Dad had read the four emails I sent him about remembering
to order that laptop and the accessories; I really wanted the whole kit
ASAP.  Mainly, at this moment, because I had all my homework done and I
was completely bored.

***
10:42 25 Aug

     A foot came out of a crowd suddenly in my path, and as I hopped
sideways to avoid it, someone sniggered, "Faggot!"
     I shot back, rapidly and loudly, "Is that why you're trying to trip
me, to beat me to the ground so you can get screwed by a real man for
once?"
     That was probably not the right thing to say in this circumstance,
I realized as I accelerated out of the area ahead of pursuit.  But at
least it wasn't lame and boring.

***
11:34 25 Aug

     "So, Kelly, there you are," Mike started, "in Seattle, still
looking for a job.  You thought when you got your law degree and passed
the bar and stuff that you were on top of the world, had it made and so
on, but it's been almost a month and you haven't gotten anything more
than sort of half-hearted, 'We'll call you's from every single law firm
you've been to.  So it's not going too well..."

***
11:58 25 Aug

     "Don't you know ANYthing?" Jill snarled.  "If they catch you,
they'll KILL you, because you're not even supposed to exist!"
     "Well it's not MY fault!" Kelly complained back.  "And who came up
with that stupid idea in the first place?"
     "It's the TRADITIONS," Jill said like Kelly was a moron, which she
sort of was at the moment, or was playing one anyway.
     "Jill," Mike interrupted after he rolled some dice, "you'd like to
continue your chat with this young lady, but unfortunately you notice
that there's someone you know, one of the Ancillae, coming-"
     "Which ones are those?"
     "The Harpies," Mike said.  The 'Mrs. Grundy' of the vampires, I
remembered.
     "Oh shit," Jill said, then rapidly demanded, "How close is she?"
     "Oh, a few yards, and it's a he," Mike grinned, "and," he said, and
rolled, and smiled some more, "you realize that you will never get out
of his range with her before he catches you."
     "Uh uh uh I grab her and bite her neck," Jill said excitedly.
     "What?"
     "I bite her neck, like I'm feeding!" Jill insisted.  "We're in the
downstairs area, the dark one, we're in an alcove, right?  So I'm
feeding-  And I hiss into her ear, 'One of the-', uh, what did you call
'em?" she asked Mike, then said, "Never mind, I say, 'One of the elders
is coming this way so just STAY STILL!'"
     Mike eventually said, "Uh."
     "You're FEEDING on me?" Kelly sort of gasped.
     "Shut up!" Jill hissed at her.  "And moan like you like it!"
     Kelly blinked a few times, and then got out, "Ooooooooooh,"
sounding very liking-it before she broke up laughing, like the rest of
us were doing.

***
12:22 25 Aug

     "You guys are so weird," Kelly said to me as we walked along, on
the way to our classes.
     "So're you," I said, grinning, and I don't think she saw or heard
the grin until she was completely shocked, because she still looked
completely shocked by the time she turned around to look at me.
     "What?" I said, "like weird is a bad thing to be?"

***
14:02 25 Aug

     Another day, another completely overloaded bundle of homework.

***
14:29 25 Aug

     I pulled my pager out of my pack to check for messages, and there
was a new message there, so I flipped back and it said:

     TTTKIDTTT CEASE AND DESIST SENDING EMAIL X ITS ORDERED X SHUT UP
     ALREADY X YOUR PCJR IS SHIPPING TOMORROW X HAHA X TSIXT END

     "WAHOOOO!" I accidentally shrieked and danced.

***
15:08 25 Aug

     "I hate school," Ricky said, like this was news.
     "Yeah, who doesn't?" I asked rhetorically.
     Unfortunately, he wasn't up to 'rhetorical' in vocabulary class,
apparently, because he started telling me who didn't.

***
16:02 25 Aug

     "Hmm hmm hmmm," I hummed musically as I twirled a paring knife and
looked at the pantry.  Then I secured the knife and went to go examine
the freezer.

***
18:38 25 Aug

     "Try it, you MIGHT like it," I said.
     Miz Parker looked at me skeptically, then took the spoon I was
offering and carefully nibbled at the sample of casserole.  "Hmm?" she
said after a few seconds as she ate the rest of it.
     "Not quite what you thought, is it?" I grinned.
     "What did you put in here?"
     "Ahhhh," I smiled, "recipes cost extra..."  I had a thought, then,
and said, "Unless I can borrow your washing machine and dryer tomorrow?"

***
19:04 25 Aug

     "Try it," I suggested to Mister Parker, who was looking at the
casserole dish like he could still see tarantula legs hanging over the
rim of the bowl.

***
19:05 25 Aug

     I managed not to laugh and point and dance off my chair chanting 'I
TOLD you so!  I TOLD you so!' but it was an effort.
     "Even the weird stuff she makes is pretty good," Ricky said, though
whether to help or to get me in trouble I wasn't sure.

***
20:19 25 Aug

     I slipped a cookbook into my pack before I forgot, because I really
ought to sit down with Miz Parker soon and see about expanding some
gustatory horizons.
     Then my phone flashed.

***
21:19 25 Aug

     "Sine divided by cosine is tangent, everyone knows that," I
mentioned as I peeked into the dining room.
     "Shut UP!" Sabrina snapped at me as I ducked the pencil she threw.
     "Now Sabrina," Dad said gently, "don't throw things at my
children."
     "He's being a dork!"
     "Well, yes of course he is," Dad agreed.
     "Hey!" I protested.
     "But I need to keep him around," Dad continued, "or the police will
get suspicious."
     "And Pam said," I said as Sabrina giggled a bit, "that when you get
done here she'd like you to call her, which I think is actually an
order, about some French homework?"
     "Oh God," Sabrina sighed, and rubbed her forehead.

***
03:26 26 Aug

     At least this time it wasn't Mike dead on the floor.  Of course, me
being pulled apart by two groups of happily screaming people as someone
else sliced me into ribbons in the 'middle' wasn't what I'd call a 'fun'
dream either.

***
06:50 26 Aug

     "What," Kim groaned at me as she got out of her car.  "Did you have
another nightmare last night?"
     "Yeah," I shrugged.
     "Have you talked to your therapist or someone about these?" Jill
asked, kind of shyly.
     "I don't think it'll do any good," I said.
     "That would be 'no', I take it?" Kim said sarcastically.

***
06:58 26 Aug

     I accidentally caught Shannon's eye as she came in, and flinched,
because she'd been one of the ones I remembered pulling.
     "How can you say that's 'just' a nightmare, Tuck?" Jill demanded.
     I shrugged.  "I always have bad ones; if they weren't bad they
wouldn't be nightmares, would they."  That was not a question.
     "Oh, hey," Kim said, in a changing-the-topic tone of voice, "What
are you doing this weekend?"
     "I dunno, why?"
     "Wanna come over to Sabrina's house?" she grinned.  "It's been a
while..."
     "When, Saturday?"  She nodded.  "Okay, th-  Wait, it's JUST
Saturday night, right?"
     "What's the problem?"
     "I had some plans for Sunday evening and Monday," I said.
     "But what about SATURDAY night?" Kim pressed.
     Jill put a chin on my shoulder and almost whispered, "Come join us,
become one with us in the darkness of the night..."
     As I fell down laughing, Kim demanded, "What the hell did you say?"

***
11:32 26 Aug

     Seeing Julia wander past sparked an idea, so I told Mike I'd be
right back and went to catch her.

***
11:34 26 Aug

     "You want..."  Julia trailed off.
     "Not a DATE date," I insisted.  "A friend of mine, Rachel, she
wants to go out more, and you do all this neat stuff.  So," I explained,
"I thought I'd ask you when the next time you were planning to go to
like a recital or a concert or a play or something was.  Something, you
know, cultured," I grinned.  "And then all three of us could go
together, maybe have dinner or something."  I shrugged, because she
didn't look delighted with the idea.  "I just thought I'd ask, it's no
big deal if you don't want to or anything."
     "No, sorry," she said, and I shrugged again, but she continued,
"I'm just bitchy today, I'm, well..."  She looked at my face, then she
leaned close and lowered her voice and told me, "I'm on the rag today,
scrambling my period so I CAN go out this Friday night.  So, if you want
to go or something that'd be cool."
     "Well, if-  You're doing what?" I asked.  "Scrambling?"
     "If you fiddle your birth control," she said, again in a subtle
voice, "then you can make your period come when you want it, sort of.
Better than having to worry all evening about tampons and stuff."
     "Oh, okay," I said.
     "Trust me, it's all a pain in the ass," she said confidentially.
     "I thought you put those things elsewhere!" I said in a shocked
voice.
     "Ugh!  Don't be disgusting!" she complained as she chuckled a bit.

***
11:36 26 Aug

     "When did you finish Kelly's prelude?" I asked Mike as I waved at
Julia as she left.
     "Last night while you were at work, dude," Mike said.  "Didn't I
tell you that love of money was the root of all evil?"
     "Yeah, but then you asked to borrow ten bucks."

***
11:37 26 Aug

     Mike dinged the play bell and waited until we settled down.  "So,
it's two months later, and Kelly, Jill has been working hard to teach
you the stupid customs of the vampires, and-"
     "They're NOT stupid!" Jill insisted.
     "Shut up Jill," Mike ordered.  "The Storyteller is describing
things.  And," he resumed, "it's two months later, and you're both
hanging around the house getting ready to go out for yet another round
of mindless feeding, like some kind of brainless primitive worm back a
half-billion years ago-"
     "Am I getting bored with this?" Kelly asked.
     "Well, you were," Mike smiled, and Kelly and Jill both groaned in
anticipation of something horrible happening.  They were learning.

***
11:39 26 Aug

     "Soooooo!" Matt leered from his position on the floor.  "Are we
going to a party?  A gallery opening perhaps?  A new play?  Exhibition?
Of sculpture?  I love sculpture, especially live ones."
     "He's just lying on the floor saying this stuff?" Kelly asked Mike,
who nodded.  "How did he get in here?"
     "You left the chimney open!" Matt replied cheerily.  "I just laid
a finger aside my nose," he put a finger along his nose, "and up the
chimney I went!"
     "Could you do that again?" Jill asked frostily.  "Now?"
     "Oh, but I thought we were going to a party," Matt said, and
grinned maniacally, then flipped around until he was standing on his
head looking at them.  "Your nose looks so much bigger this way I bet
YOU could go up the chimney," he said, like it was reasonable.  "Or
perhaps I could go up YOUR nose like a chimney?  Do you suppose if I did
I'd find another world on the other end?  Or just end up sitting in your
hair?  Perhaps I'd be on your mind all the time.  You never call me, you
know, and I get awful lonely..."
     "Who IS he?" Kelly demanded.
     "I'm her husband, didn't she mention me?  Of course we're all
married, in blood as it were, but she and I have a special
relationship," Matt chattered as he tried walking on his hands.
     "Uh," Jill said, unable apparently to keep from staring at Matt.
"Mike, I KNOW him?" she asked.
     "Oooohhhh yes you do," Mike smiled.  "He's been hanging around you
for YEARS," he grinned.  "And he is either completely insane, or faking
it too well, and at the same time he knows far more than he should."
     "I just ask the worms," Matt said.  And smiled, sweetly.
     Book's Little Brother apparently had either long experience with
schizophrenia, or a very good imagination, and I would prefer to think
of it being the second one.

***
11:41 26 Aug

     "Ohhh, that's not good," Matt tsked at them, still upside down.
"You know the penalty that King John will enforce if he catches you,
breeding like the cattle.  With the cattle, on the cattle, over the
cattle, around the cattle...  He'll sic the Sheriff of Nottingham on
you!  And no red-breasted cloth of lincoln green robin will be able to
save you then!"
     "She's NOT MINE!" Jill insisted.
     "I can tell, she's far calmer and sweeter of disposition," Matt
snapped back.  "Tell me dear, are there any Malkavians in your family?"
     "Any what?" Kelly asked.
     "A VERY good answer, I applaud you!"  Which he did for a few
moments before he lost his balance and fell over, almost kneeing me in
the face, but I wasn't quite so enthralled that I forgot to dodge.  "Do
you know the one about the elephant and the rabbi too?" Matt asked as he
scrambled to his feet.
     There was an immensely loud knocking, which surprised everyone.
"It's coming from the front door," Mike said as he continued to bang on
the table.
     "I love knock-knock jokes!" Matt said, and sprang - literally, both
feet off the ground for an instant like he was doing ballet.
     "Noooo!" Jill hissed and grabbed him, like Kelly did a second
later.
     Matt sang out, "Whooooo's mmmmph?"
     "Shut UP," Jill hissed, keeping her hand over his mouth.
     Mike stopped knocking for a second, then started banging with his
fist.  "You can hear a voice ordering something, or that's what the tone
of voice sounds like, but you can't make it out from here," he said
over the emphatic thumping.
     "Mrffmmph!" Matt said dramatically.

***
11:43 26 Aug

     "Renegades?" Jill said.
     "Sabbat!" I corrected, with a shudder.  "And they have to be hiding
someplace," I said.  "Which is why your Prince has ordered you to open
your house for a search.  You understand, of course," I weaseled, "we're
certain there's nothing here, but in order to avoid charges of
favoritism..."  I would have kept going, but I got distracted by Matt
passing a note to Mike.

***
11:44 26 Aug

     "Perhaps you wouldn't mind calling him so I can hear this for
myself?" Jill tried, still sounding calm.
     "Of course not, m'lady, in fact..."  I trailed off again, this time
because Mike was waving at me.  <You are S-T-U-N-D,> he signed at me.
     "Uhhhhh," I said, being stunned.
     "Ahhh, is that the pizza boy I ordered?" Matt said cheerfully from
behind Jill.
     "You hadn't noticed him coming down the stairs," Mike said as Jill
whipped around.  "Shush," Mike said over Jill.  "In fact, whatever you
were going to say falls completely out of your mind when you notice him,
because he's completely naked at this point."
     "And smiling," Matt smiled when the first burst of laughter died
down.
     "And smiling," Mike repeated, also smiling.
     "And I've got a pink ribbon tied around my-"
     "Naked?" Jill said in disbelief.
     "Perhaps this is an, inconvenient, time for you?" I asked slimily.
     "The two goons behind the weasel break up laughing at this point,"
Mike described, as several people broke up laughing again.

***
12:14 26 Aug

     "This is a complete OUTRAGE!" Jill complained bitterly, "and I
WON'T put up with this!"
     "Of course, mademoiselle," I said as I bowed a bit.  "And the
Prince knows exactly what a terrible imposition and invasion of your
delicate and exquisite nature this is, and I'm sure if you bring it up-"
     "They're knocking on the wardrobe," Mike interrupted, which was
where Kelly had pathetically attempted to hide when they came up the
stairs.  I'd have gone out the window, if it was me or my character.
"One of them studies the front for a minute, then reaches out and-"
     Mike dinged the play bell, then started dodging immediately.

***
12:15 26 Aug

     "THURSDAY!" Kelly complained bitterly.  "I have to wait until
THURSDAY to find out?!"
     "He's like that," Jill sighed.

***
12:17 26 Aug

     Matt shrugged, having apparently turned off his schizophrenia
emulation.  "I just kind of free associate a little," he said normally.
     "That was really creepy after a while," Kim said.
     Matt nodded without much emotion, like this was entirely to be
expected.

***
14:25 26 Aug

     On the one hand, it was nice of Miz Parker to say I could do
laundry at her place, since that was a lot cheaper than doing it at
Rachel's laundry room.  On the other hand, it wasn't so good, because
that meant I had to collect everything and then stuff it into my car and
then wash it and dry it, fold some of it and hang some more, and then
take it all back at some point, and I STILL had a date to go on.
     On the gripping hand, if I hurried with the wash, I could perhaps
have something clean and nice to wear when I went out with Travis
tonight.
     And, I'd run out of hands - maybe a prehensile foot? - but if I was
lucky he wouldn't want to go out anywhere tonight...

***
15:07 26 Aug

     "You brought your laundry?" Ricky complained as he got into the
front seat.

***
17:48 26 Aug

     "How often are you and Travis going out?" Miz Parker asked, with a
smile on her face.
     "Well, duh, as often as we can," I said with a grin of my own.

***
18:21 26 Aug

     Folding was gonna have to wait until I had some time, which I did
not have right now, as I was cooking in between drying the last load of
clothes, and if I hurried - which I was doing - I just had time to stuff
everything into my car - which I was also doing - and then run back to
the stove before something exploded or the clouds let loose and un-dried
everything I'd just dried.

***
19:04 26 Aug

     "Hi!" I smiled at Travis.  He looked good against a backdrop of
rain, but he always looked good.
     "Hey," he smiled back, then sniffed.  "What's cookin'?"
     "Nothing for us," I said as I ushered him out of the house and shut
the door and locked it.  "If you really want to have me cook you
something, then let me know a couple days in advance and I'll fix you a
feast like you wouldn't believe."
     "You couldn't do it tonight?" he teased as he readied his umbrella.
     "Do you have any pots, pans, a food processor, good kitchen knives,
wheat flour, any fruit, sherry- cooking sherry, not to drink, uh, extra
virgin olive oil... yeah, see?  That's why I need a couple of days."
     "You need all that?"
     "You like Italian, right?" I grinned at him.  "GOOD Italian food
starts with good ingredients and good tools, my sweet."
     He touched my shoulder, then, and caressed it in a way that left me
breathless, which sort of went away when he said, "Speaking of Italian
food, and tonight..."

***
20:23 26 Aug

     Dinner had been going quite well until I caught a noseful of
someone's nasty perfume - not a whiff, this was more like a full frontal
Guards Shock Army assault - and did not manage to put my fork down
before I started sneezing.

***
20:25 26 Aug

     "It'll come out," I lied as we both dabbed at the large red stain
on the front of my blouse with our napkins.  I HOPED it would come out
without six-molar HCl.
     "Maybe you should go to the bathroom and try and rinse it out?"
Travis suggested.

***
20:34 26 Aug

     Silly me, I hadn't thought to bring a change of clothes with me to
dinner, and I'd left my car in front of the Parkers' house, so all I had
was my bathing suit to change into - and I wouldn't have had THAT if I
hadn't demanded Travis' keys so I could get my pack - so I could stand
at the sink and play laundress while other women drifted in and out.
And I was lucky to have the suit at all, though I sort of chilled at the
realization that I'd been carrying it around school.

***
20:40 26 Aug

     Someone came into the bathroom, which was not unusual; what was
unusual was that she was calling, "Valerie?" and looking around while
holding a very familiar looking shirt.
     "He didn't," I sighed to myself.  "I'm Valerie," I said to the
woman, who I vaguely remembered as the hostess.

***
20:42 26 Aug

     "I was afraid after it took you so long, that it wasn't coming
out," Travis said apologetically.
     "I'm just glad you're wearing a T shirt underneath.  Or were," I
smiled.  It was a bit tight across his chest, but that meant I could
look at him and it was almost like no shirt at all.  "The stain came
out eventually, but it made the blouse kind of transparent.  Next time
we go out, though," I teased, "we have to make sure that we're better
coordinated, since your shirt doesn't really go with my skirt tonight."
     "It looks good," he told me.  I hoped it did, but I had a feeling
he just liked seeing the skin where his shirt was hanging open because
I'd tied the shirt in a knot at the tail.  It looked way too stupid on
me if I buttoned it up like he'd been wearing it.

***
21:04 26 Aug

     "You want ice cream after that?"
     "Well, if you don't want to," Travis partially offered.
     I knew he wanted to have some, though, because he wasn't subtle
enough to bring it up for another reason.  "No, no, that's fine," I
smiled at him.  "Where?"

***
21:20 26 Aug

     Apparently, having ice cream on weekday nights was a cool thing to
do if you were in college, judging by the number of college-aged people
in here.  I felt a little out of place, but not too bad, since I had my
own boyfriend.  And, no one was especially looking at us weird, which
was nice.

***
21:51 26 Aug

     "Whatever you want to do," I lied.
     "Ummm... busy this Thursday?" he asked me.
     "Not any more," I smiled.
     "No, come on," he protested mildly.  But he was smiling back.

***
22:54 26 Aug

     "Hey," Mike said as he got up.  "You got home finally."
     "What are you doing here?" I sighed.  I really wanted to go
upstairs and go to bed for a while.  No, what I really wanted was to go
back to Travis' place and go to bed for a while.  Like a month.
     "I had to ask you something," he said as he motioned us towards the
stairs up.
     "No, wait," I said, and pointed towards Dad.  <Weekend,> I signed.
     "Oh," Mike sighed.

***
22:56 26 Aug

     "Yeah, we're gonna have a super-maxed-out gaming weekend," Mike
said to Dad.  "We're not entirely sure whose house it's going to be at,
though.  We may end up moving around."  Mike shrugged.
     "Two days?" Dad confirmed.
     "Oh, we'll be here for Sunday dinner," I said when I caught on that
he was worrying about that.
     "That wasn't what I was worried about," Dad lied.  "Are you going
to get enough sleep?  And what about homework?"
     "I'll get it done!" I protested.
     "We'll be having a community homework bazaar when we get tired of
gaming," Mike said.
     "And that would be..." Dad said.
     I said, "Next week," just when Mike said, "October."

***
23:02 26 Aug

     "Yeah, that looks really good," I nodded and smiled at the picture
on my big monitor.  If I didn't know better, I'd swear Ashlee had lied
about her age to someone to make some money.  "Were the cum splatters
original or did he add them?"
     "I didn't think to ask, and I don't want to know," Mike said.
     "Good point," I agreed.

***
23:10 26 Aug

     "So, give this to Kelly tomorrow morning, and tell her what to do,
right?" I said as I handed Mike the reloaded floppy disk.
     "Right," Mike agreed.
     "And remind her NOT to run it until class is almost over," I said.
"And to TAKE THE DISK WITH HER."
     "Right," Mike nodded.  "Is that your shirt?" he pointed.

***
23:16 26 Aug

     Mike was chugging a coke before he went home, and then something
caught him and he choked a bit and then exploded.
     "Yeah, THAT's how it happened!" I snapped as I first ducked and
then got up to quickly get a towel or two.

***
23:20 26 Aug

     Scrubs were cheap, durable, easy to clean, and ugly as heck, which
is why we had some of them as spare clothes.  Mike was now wearing a
scrub top before he went home, because it hadn't stopped raining yet and
his shirt was not going to be washed unless he wanted to stay here and
do it himself for two hours, and I was planning on going to bed.
     So, Mike's shirt ended up on the top bunk and Travis' was wrapped
around the bear so I could look at it and faintly smell him as I went to
sleep.  I wished he was here, but this was the next best thing.

***
05:58 27 Aug

     I wished I could find Travis because I really wanted to have lunch
with him.  Even if it meant I was going to be skipping gaming for the
day, it was worth it.  But I couldn't have lunch with him if I couldn't
find him, and the damned lunchroom seemed to be completely full, and I
didn't feel like trying to push and slither my way through the crowd.
Finally I gave up and went outside, and started looking around, because
it was a nice day and he might be-
     "Daddy!  Daddy!" called some children, who came running over from
the playground outside the high school cafeteria.  One of them, the
bigger, was a boy, about eight years old, and the other one was a
younger girl in a smaller replica of the dress I had on.
     They ran right up to me, calling, "Daddy!" the whole time, and when
they got closer the little girl said, "Daddy, Travis is waiting for
us!" as I scooped her up and perched her on one of my hips.
     "Well, let's go see him," I said, smiling, and they both cheered a
bit and we walked around the playground, my heels tack-tacking on the
concrete as we went, until I saw Travis, dressed in a fantastic looking
suit and leaning against the fender of a Mercedes and looking at-  No,
he was Looking at me.
     The children squealed and the boy ran off as the girl thrashed, so
I let the girl down and she ran after her brother or homed in on Travis,
who grinned and greeted them affectionately.
     "Hey," Mike said from the side, and I looked over and there he was,
in a loincloth, tending a fire.  Around the fire was the rest of the
gaming group, and the Pack too, wearing leather bits and painted faces
and feathers in their hair.
     "We're having the big ritual today," Mike said, and held out his
hand to me, so I tried to look for Travis so I could tell him what I had
to do, but he was beckoning me to the car.
     "I can't leave the children," I said as I turned back to Mike.
     "Debbie's going to take care of them," Mike said, and I looked
at him and then back at Travis and there was Debbie, rocking the baby on
her shoulder as the boy pestered her with questions, I could tell from
his posture and her expression.  "She's almost as good as you."
     I waved, and they waved back, and then I turned to Mike and started
disrobing, shortly ending up feeling really naked since I didn't have
any paint for the ritual.  *I have to borrow some,* I thought, but I
felt embarrassed to ask until I told myself, *These are my FRIENDS.*
     I thought it was Mike that said, "Beedoop!", but it wasn't, it was
something else, by my head, and I turned as the notes rang out and then
I was looking at the MacinClock.

***
06:14 27 Aug

     I hoped I wouldn't get Mike's shirt and Travis' shirt confused,
since Mike would swim in it and Travis probably couldn't get it on,
respectively.

***
06:57 27 Aug

     "Maybe it's going out with Travis?" Kim suggested.
     "You mean, I have to go out with him every night to get some sleep?
Oh well," I said, putting my wrist to my forehead, "it's such a torment
but I guess OW!" I complained as someone poked me in the ribs.

***
10:42 27 Aug

     "Your dad was asking me if I knew who you were out with last
night," Sabrina said in a apparent attempt to cause me to die of a heart
attack.  I almost grabbed my chest in shock.
     "Don't WORRY," she said, "I told him I wasn't sure but if it was
the girl I was thinking of, that she was nice.  And played basketball,"
she smiled.
     "Oh God," I moaned softly.
     Amanda suggested, "Maybe if you asked Kathy REALLY nicely, she
might help you out if he wanted to meet this girlfriend of yours?"  And
giggled.
     "She'd do that for me?"
     "Your dad's helping ME out, and he's tons better than you or any
math teacher I've had since I was ten," Sabrina said, and nudged me as
she smiled some more.  "Kathy might be willing to help out a little, if
you'd do her a favor or something."
     "Hooo boy," I sighed.
     "Don't forget, we gotta get over to the lab first thing today,"
Mike reminded me as he sat down.
     "Why?" Sabrina asked.
     "We gotta check on something," I evaded.

***
11:31 27 Aug

     We had kept our stuff packed so that when the bell rang we were out
of there like racehorses, but we were halfway there before I noticed
that Sabrina had done the same thing.
     "What, and miss whatever it is?" she said at me before I could ask
her what she was doing.
     "There's nothing going on," I hoped.
     "Liar," she said, as Amanda giggled.

***
11:34 27 Aug

     When we rounded the last corner, Kelly was coming towards us
looking a little confused.  And Ashlee was nowhere in sight.
     "So?" Mike asked as we got within casual speaking range.
     "I..." Kelly said.  Then she looked at us.  "What did you do?"
Well, I guess she was looking at me.
     "Never mind that, not here and not now," I said emphatically.
"Where's the disk?"  She dug in a large pocket and pulled out the
envelope with the floppy inside.  I checked to make sure it was in fact
my disk and not hers, and it was mine.  "Where is Ashlee?" I asked as I
stuffed the thing into the deeper recesses of my pack.
     "She's," Kelly turned to point.  "She's still in there, I think.
She didn't get up when class was over, she just sat there."
     "How long before the bell rang did you run it?"
     "Um, maybe two minutes?" Kelly guessed.  "Something like that."
     I took a breath and let it out, and motioned to everyone that we
should leave.
     "What did you do?" Kelly asked me again, but I ignored it.

***
11:38 27 Aug

     "Oh, before I forget, I got your shirt," I told Mike, and dug
through my pack and handed it to him.
     "Man!" Bob laughed, "What, did you forget it after you two had sex
or somethoof," he ended as George did something which I'd seen described
as 'muckling onto'.  Dan joined in a second later, and then Bob was
pinned and gagged, as Mike and I got up to provide some visual
screening, since I didn't want to go back to visit Dobson again this
soon.  A little encouragement got the other freshthings to do the same
thing and so we all stood around looking down at Bob, who didn't seem
happy.
     "Bob," Mike said patiently, "if you don't stop being an asshole,
we're going to have to insist that you leave."
     Bob said something in reply, but the only things I caught were
'fags' and some painful noises as something hit him a few times.
     Mike waited until things calmed down, which took a minute or two,
and then said, "Let him up, and let's see if we can't do SOMETHING
before the end of lunch.  Bob, be nice, now," Mike said.
     They let Bob up, and I thought he was going to try and start
something by the way he was glaring, but he just shut his mouth and
glared before stomping off.
     "Okay, so..." Mike said as he sat down and rang the bell.  "So, the
tribal elder says..."

***

14:04 27 Aug

     "Oooh," I said to myself as I remembered something.

***
14:08 27 Aug

     "I'll have the dentist fax the note to you tomorrow morning from
their office," I said.  "What's your number here?  Oh, and don't get all
upset if you get my brother Brian's note and not mine, they did that
last year and I almost got in trouble for it.  The office help there is,
well...  Not as good as here," I said diplomatically, and smiled.
     "Sure thing, and thanks for letting us know ahead of time," the
secretary smiled back.
     "Oh no," someone moaned, and when I looked up it was Dobson.
     "It's JUST a dentist's appointment tomorrow!" I told him before his
heart failed.  He was being a hell of a lot more reasonable than
Nickerson had ever been, and I had no wish to lose him, especially not
over something as trivial as this.

***
20:04 27 Aug

     "Hi Mom," I sighed as I came in.  I was not too tired to smile at
the sight of her doing dishes, though.  Mainly because it wasn't me
doing them.
     "Hi, how was sitting?" she asked.
     "Oh God," I sighed.  "Did-  Never mind.  Mom," I said, "I hereby
apologize for the first two years of my life, when you and Dad had to
feed me.  It's not so funny now as I think it was then."  Stella had
certainly thought it was the best time she'd had in ages.
     Mom smiled.  "What did she do?"
     "Blow.  Everywhere.  Then she knocked the jar loose when I was
wiping some out of my eye, and it broke all over the floor.  I think she
did the aerosol spray of food trick that time as a distraction so she
could take out the jar."
     "Oh, I hated it when you used to do that," she nodded.
     "Don't you mean 'Susan' or 'Brian'?"
     "Ooooh no," she said, sounding quite certain.  "It was you.  At
least, you were the best at it.  Compared to trying to get food down
YOU, Brian was a piece of cake."
     "Cake?" Brian asked as he came in with several dirty coffee mugs.

***
20:13 27 Aug

     "Your friend Sabrina is very nice," Mom told me.
     I almost argued with her, telling her the truth, but managed to
catch myself in time.  After all, I'd rather have Mom thinking they were
all nice, rather than her knowing what they were REALLY like.

***
20:24 27 Aug

     I had intended to go to bed WAY early once I got done with the
trash, hoping to repeat the success of last night, when the phone
started flashing.  I checked Arrakis and it was Pam, of all people.

***
20:41 27 Aug

     It was actually Pam and Amanda and Julia and Kim, of all people.
Which was actually a fairly large percentage of 'all people', or at
least the ones that I'd talk to on the phone.  I wondered sometimes how
girls had lived before conference calling.
     "So how are you and Travis?" Amanda smirked.
     "We're going to drop out of school and spend the rest of the year
screwing ourselves and each other into oblivion at his place."  I hoped
that would shut them up.
     It didn't, but in between the laughter and catcalls I heard someone
going, "That would be nice..."

***
21:03 27 Aug

     "I think we broke up," Amanda sighed.
     "You THINK?" I wasn't the only one to say.
     "He hasn't called me back in a week, and I've been leaving messages
on his machine!" Amanda said back.  "Even my phone number in case he
lost it or something."
     "Like what KIND of messages?" Julia asked.

***
21:31 27 Aug

     "Oh, and you need to call Kathy before you go to bed," Sabrina
added  She'd joined the conversation after she got home - thus not
speaking to me at my house but waiting until she could get me on the
phone; there was something wrong with that.  "So don't forget."  I
wanted to forget because I wanted to go to bed immediately.  "You have
her number?"
     "Oh, give it to me anyway," I said as I switched keyboards over to
Arrakis and prepared to enter some info on Kathy for a speed-dial.

***
22:19 27 Aug

     I finally got Kathy on the phone.  And boy was I glad she had a
separate line; it was kind of late.  At least I'd had plenty of time to
write some emails, especially to Travis saying I'd love to do something
Thursday night.  Susan was okay, and Amy was ready to drop out, run
away, and start living out of dumpsters like she usually was at this
time of year, but she had said it was nice talking to Travis again.  I
was a little jealous, but reasoned that New York was a long way away,
and if she did run away from home and come here I'd have plenty of
warning and could dig a pit trap before she got to Travis in the flesh.
     "Hey, uh, Val, lemme call you back in a few, okay?" she said.  "I
got a ton of messages on my machine."
     "Uh, well, two are from me," I said.
     "I've got six- no, seven," she said.  "So I'll call you back in a
few, okay?"

***
22:27 27 Aug

     The phone flashed, and Arrakis said it was Kathy, so I picked up
with a nice, "Principal's office Dobson speaking."
     "That's where you oughta be," Kathy said ominously.  "All those
messages except one, are about you.  What is this about me dating you?"
     "Oh uh, that's not about DATING dating," I said, making a mental
note to shave Sabrina's head and paint 'I AM EVIL' on it.  "Um, what
about the watching Kelly part?  That's REALLY important."

***
22:54 27 Aug

     She'd said 'yes' to watching Kelly, and 'maybe and DO NOT push me'
about the lying-about-dating-in-front-of-my-parents part, so, since I
wanted her to be happy and especially not desiring disassembly of me, I
didn't push it.
     And then we'd talked about other things, like who she was really
dating and who I was dating and how they were and so on for a while,
before I remembered something else I wanted to know about.  And if
anyone would A know this and B talk to me about it, it was probably
Kathy.  Or maybe Susan or Amy, but I'd have to write another email which
would take longer than asking verbally, "Kath... you know about birth
control pills, right?"
     "Yyyyyyyyyeah," she said hesitantly.  "Sort of."
     "Julia said yesterday something about scrambling her period so
she'd be able to go out without having to worry about it, for Friday
night.  And Amy, on the camping trip, she was using her BC pills to
screw up her period so she wouldn't have one that month too.  Is that
common?"
     "Yeah," she said more confidently.  "I heard about the trick a long
time ago, from a girl I knew.  You don't want to do it that often, but
once in a while is okay."
     "Does Debbie know this?"
     "Yeah?  We all do."
     "Okay, so... so, so at that convention Debbie and I broke up at,
she was on 'em, I know she had 'em with her because she was taking them
in the morning...  Why did she have a period that weekend?"  I realized
I was starting to sound hysterical about the time that I stopped, which
was good.
     Kathy sighed into the phone.  "Tuck," she said.
     "What?!"
     "She screwed up."
     "What?"
     "She screwed it up, she took the wrong pills at the wrong time and
instead of stopping her period for a few days, she brought it forward a
few days."  She sighed again.  "That's one of the reasons she was so
upset, because she just got it backwards at the completely wrong time."
     Pause.
     "You're not lying to me, are you?" I asked.
     "No, V- Tuck, I'm not," she said solemnly.  "Ask Kim about it, she
was there when Debbie said she took the wrong pills and I told her what
she did and she got worse.  More upset, I mean."
     "Oh my god," I said.  Then, "But why didn't she tell me?"
     "I..." Kathy said.  "Um."
     "What?"
     "I think," Kathy said slowly, "she was embarrassed she'd messed it
up, and she guessed that she had on the trip and didn't want you
laughing at her or something.  Besides, Tuck, it's... sometimes it's a
little hard talking about female biology to your boyfriend, ya know?"
     'Harder talking to your boyfriend about male biology,' I didn't
say.  "But, I mean, but-"
     "Look, Tuck, I think she was wrong not to tell you at the time, but
I wasn't there," Kathy said.  "And it doesn't make a difference now,
does it?"
     "I dunno... it seems to," I said honestly.

***
23:11 27 Aug

     I'd looked over at my bed and thought that maybe it had been the
bear or something.  So, I was going to try again, and see if I couldn't
sleep until morn-

***
23:12 27 Aug

     "Damnit!" I said at the email I was staring at, which was the one
I'd just remembered, which was the one from Mom reminding me about a
morning dental appointment.  "No, wait," I retracted, since it wasn't
until nine in the morning and I didn't have to go to school before it,
which meant I could sleep in.  "Cool!" I said instead.

***
23:14 27 Aug

     On the one hand, it required a little more brain to type stuff into
the MacinAlarmClock than just sitting there numbly holding a button and
watching a register increment.  On the other hand, this one didn't panic
me awake, and I'd have a clue when I woke up WHY I was waking up at that
time, since every little bit of assistance at reboot time was good.
     Well, usually.

***
06:04 28 Aug

     I couldn't claim I'd had GOOD dreams, but at least they weren't the
kind that made me scream a lot.
     "It's Travis," I sighed as I looked at the bear, which was still
wearing his shirt.  "And I have to give that back to him tonight."

***

"Men always want to be a woman's first love.  Women have a more subtle
instinct: what they like is to be a man's last romance." - Oscar Wilde


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+ ==[--------   Ellen Hayes   @>--,--'---      ellen@barkingduck.net +
PGP DH/DSS keyfing: 33D4 156A AE39 53E2 0313  6714 2878 56A8 61B0 9CDC
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