Chapter 1

"You don't have to wear out the chalk block, you know," Dave's roommate remarked, snapping him out of his reverie. "And it's been your shot for a while now."

Dave glanced at the tip of his cue stick, noticing that it was covered with an excess of the blue substance. Then he glanced at his smirking roommate, who would have been a Nazi propagandists' wet dream during Hitler's rise to power.

Karl Hartmann was tall, blond, blue eyed, square jawed and broad shouldered. He was born on the same day Iris was, which left him one day shy of being a year older than Dave. And, when Iris told him that she was born mere minutes past midnight, he claimed to have been born mere minutes before her. He professed that he was born at exactly six in the morning, German time, while Iris was born in Canada's Eastern Time zone. Dave didn't know whether it was true or whether Karl had invented the story in the hopes of chatting her up.

"Thinking about the goddess?" he asked.

Dave smiled. It was funny that his housemates had given Iris that name. He had brought her over to the common room shortly before Christmas Break, after securing permission with the Senior House Adviser. Somehow, someone had seized the moment as a photo opportunity, and many of the guys had themselves photographed with her. It was almost as if she had been a visiting celebrity, and Dave suspected that some of her solo shots, in which she wore those tight jeans and that form-fitting jumper, would be used as masturbation material for a long time.

"You are really a lucky bastard," Karl continued morosely, although he didn't elaborate. He couldn't do so in front of the other guys, since he had only confided in Dave.

Karl's childhood sweetheart became his stepsister, when his father married her mother. Karl was 10 when they tied the knot. Then, to make matters worse, his father legally adopted the girl, making her Karl's legal sibling and ending their possibility of a future as a couple.

Dave had seen her picture. A year older than Karl, Karin was very pretty. Not in Iris' league, but pretty. She was Dutch, and they met at the Dutch elementary school Karl began to attend after his father moved to the Netherlands for an engineering job.

Karl took after his father as far as their aptitudes went. Many of the International Baccalaureate subjects at the boarding School had standard and high level variants, and the students had to have three of each. The most challenging combination featured high level math, physics, and chemistry, with the language of instruction, secondary language, and social science subject taken at the standard level. The combination was often associated with the Asian students, and Dave's other roommate, Daniel Kim, reinforced that stereotype.

Dave didn't have that challenging combination. He could have done the high level math, but he knew he wouldn't pursue a university education where he would need it. He had not wanted to slack off completely by choosing mathematical studies, so he took the middle road with standard level math.

His other two standard level subjects were social anthropology, of the social sciences group, and Latin. He had thought that Latin would be fun to know and might be useful in medical jargon. The social anthropology was chosen because of Dave got interested in the subject during his conversations with Veronica. He would have chosen it as a high level subject, but it had only been offered at the standard level.

Like his two roommates, Dave had also foregone the 'arts and electives' subjects to be able to take two subjects from the experimental sciences group, which were Chemistry and Biology. That left English as his third high level subject.

He hadn't wanted to waste a high level slot on English, but hadn't had any choice. His only other option had been high level math, but achieving six points for that subject would have been very difficult, and seven points out of the question. He was aiming for a total of thirty-nine points, excluding the three points he could earn with the Extended Essay and Theory of Knowledge. High level math would likely have yielded no more than five points, making it necessary to score seven points for either chemistry or biology, which he wasn't sure he could achieve.

"How is Karin?"

"She's going to the Delft University of Technology," Karl said, shaking his head. "That place has hugely unbalanced male to female ratio. Those bastards will be all over her."

Dave frowned. He had heard of the place but he couldn't immediately recall where. "Are there any famous alumni?"

Karl nodded. "The guy who came up with the concept of stochastic cooling in proton-antiproton colliders. It led to the discovery of W and Z particles. There are several who have left their marks in physics, chemistry, and mathematics. Why?"

"I'd heard of the place, but I couldn't remember from whom. Now I remember that it was my brother."

"Edward?"

Dave nodded.

"He sounds like real genius," Karl said.

"He's unfathomable. I doubt even this place will be challenging enough for him," Dave said.

He found the school challenging enough. It wasn't difficult to get passing marks, but he had to make an effort to get close to perfection. He enjoyed that challenge, as well as the fact that he was surrounded by more intellectual peers than he had been used to at his previous schools. That didn't mean that there weren't more averagely endowed minds. There were scions of affluent families and Old Boys who needed constant tutoring to retain a passing average, but a bunch of mushrooms like his freshman year bullies couldn't exist in this generally enlightened atmosphere.

He did miss the presence of girls somewhat ... okay, he missed them a lot. Even surface thoughts of pretty girls made him sport a boner. It hadn't been that bad in a long time, and even though doing sports helped burn away some of the frustration, he had frequent dates with Rosy Palm and her five daughters.

Dating the Palm family hadn't been easy either, on account of Dave's masturbatory habits. It was difficult to take one's sweet time in a boarding school. Sure, ninety-nine percent of the guys at school jacked off, and the remaining one percent were liars. But most guys didn't take forty-five minutes to an hour to rub one off, and they initially gave Dave a hard time, until Iris hinted at his sexual prowess during their joint theatre club gatherings with the girls' school. It apparently made the other guys re-evaluate the concept of lengthy masturbation sessions, because a few weeks later it had become very difficult to secure a time and place to have a decent orgy with Mrs Palm and her girls.

"Dave, your mom is hot!" one of Dave's housemates called out, momentarily confusing him.

"How would you know, Nathan?"

"Because she's outside, waiting for you."

"She came all the way from Winnipeg to pick up her little boy?" Karl teased.

"Damn it, Dave. You've got one sexy mommy!" someone said before Dave could answer. "She's your step-mom, right?"

"No, she's my real mom."

"What? Either her plastic surgeon is a genius, or she had you when she was twelve!"

It was actually fourteen, but Dave wasn't about to tell anyone that.

"I'll walk you down," Karl offered, as she stowed his cue stick.

"Why?" Dave asked suspiciously, as he placed his own stick back in the rack.

"Because those guys made me curious," Karl answered unabashedly.

Dave rolled his eyes and stifled a groan as he headed downstairs, where his pre-packed luggage was stowed.

There were other parents and guardians present to pick up the boarding students, but he didn't see his mother until he had his luggage piled onto a cart. She beamed at him and waved but remained near the building's entrance. She must have remembered his comments about embarrassing him in front of his peers.

"You know, I heard that some guys are predisposed towards women who resemble their mother," Karl said, grinning. "Are you sure Iris isn't a symptom of an Oedipus complex? She could be your mom's sister!"

Dave barely suppressed a wince. Though Iris and his mother weren't as physically similar as some siblings were, the family resemblance had been enough to give away his and Iris' blood relation. But the idiotic grin on Karl's face assuaged Dave's concerns of his roommate realising the truth, and he berated himself for nearly panicking. That, if anything, would give him away. In most parts of the world, the possibility that someone was romantically involved with his aunt just didn't cross anyone's mind that easily.

Instead of commenting of Karl's remark, Dave clapped him on the shoulder. "Have fun in Ibiza. Send me a postcard."

"You have fun with your goddess," Karl replied. "I'll see you after the holidays," he added.

After a final waive, Dave headed towards his mother. She gave him a motherly hug and kiss, but didn't get too mushy.

"My baby is growing up," she said, after giving him a once over. Then she glanced back at Karl. "That's Karl, right?"

Dave nodded.

"You two seem to be good friends."

"He's okay. His mom went to our sister school, and his grandfather's an Old Boy of this one. But unlike some of the other guys, he doesn't look down on first generation independent-schoolers."

"You never told me that you were given a hard time."

Dave shrugged. "It could have been worse. There is a day-schooler who got in with a scholarship. His parents are working class people. In my case, the snobs assumed that you and Dad earn enough to cough up the cash."

Angelica frowned. "I though this schools puts emphasis on humble social behaviour."

"Oh, they do. Not for altruistic reasons, though. One of the snobs said, and I quote; 'I can stand to pour soup for the serfs if it'll convince them to vote for me when I'm running for office.'

"Serfs? He actually said that?"

"Yup," Dave answered. "It's a rather ironic choice of words. He's a moron. He's barely making the grade, in spite of hours of tutoring. The only chance he's got to get elected is to run in a place where the people are too uneducated to realise how big a prick he really is."

"But not all the students are like that, are they?"

"Not quite that bad, no. But quite a few of them do have a snooty sense of entitlement."

"Was it a mistake to send you to this place?" Angelica asked.

"You have to take the good with the bad," Dave said diplomatically. "The education's excellent, and it does open doors. But what are you doing here?"

"I'm actually on business, but I thought I'd squeeze this into my itinerary," Angelica said, as they began to walk to the exit. "Aren't you glad to see me?"

"Of course I am. But your presence could have caused some complications."

"What kind of complications?" Angelica asked, looking genuinely non-plussed.

"They noticed how young you looked, for starters."

"And what's wrong with that?"

"Do you think the snobs I just told you about would let that knowledge remain unused?"

Angelica's face clouded over. "Are you ashamed of having been born to teenaged parents?"

Dave shook his head. "I'd defend you, of course. But—"

"You'd rather not do awaken the sleeping dogs?" she finished for him.

"Especially not the when it comes to my relationship with Iris. Karl noticed the family resemblance between you two."

"Ah, well, I didn't think of that," Angelica said apologetically.

"It's okay. He wrote it off as an Oedipal thing," Dave said.

Angelica laughed. "Really? And have I starred in your fantasies once?"

"Mom!" Dave exclaimed, thoroughly shocked.

"I'm just teasing you, honey. Although it would be okay if I had. Teenaged boys with raging hormones have the weirdest sex dreams, and you can't really be held accountable."

"If that's your way to fish for information, it won't work," Dave grumbled. He had actually had a weird dream involving his mother, but he'd be taking that information to the grave.

His mother chuckled briefly again, before they walked on in silence.

"There we are," Angelica said after a while, gesturing to her right. Dave followed the gesture and saw Iris leaning against a minivan.

Chapter 2 »