Chapter 15: Obstacles and Choices

Derek walked hand-in-hand with Sandy into school. "What a difference a week makes," he thought. The reason for this thought was all around him. Girls of all classes were checking him out. He even noticed one of his sister's friends, a senior named Amélie, was checking him out. Over the years, she had always thought of him as nothing more than Laura's pesky, younger brother. He smiled at her. "Hey Amélie! Were you able to see Laura on Friday?"

"Only for a few minutes," admitted the dark haired beauty.

"Hey Ams," greeted Sandra Turner in a friendly manner.

"So Sandra ... it seems that you have turned our little Derek here into a stud."

"I didn't. He did it all on his own. I was just the first lucky girl to figure it out," she laughed.

Derek blushed, but he couldn't help but laugh. He felt Amélie's emotions. She seemed to be transmitting a mixture of lust and jealousy. "Well, Amélie. You can't say that you didn't get a chance with me. After all, you used to be over my house all the time. You knew I had a crush on you, right?"

"No ... Yes ... I mean I wasn't sure but I thought you might," she stammered.

"I always thought you were beautiful," he paused. "I still do," he added with a wink, before walking with Sandy to her locker. As they walked Sandy started to giggle hysterically.

"What?" asked Derek.

Sandy tried her best to calm down, but some giggling persisted. "You're so mean."

"Hey, you should have seen how she and some of my sister's other friends teased me. She had it coming."

Sandy grinned. "You've learned your first rule of meanness, grasshopper."

"And what would that be, Oh 'Sensei of Meanness'?"

"Revenge can be fun," she laughed.

Connie caught up to Brett in the hallway.

"Brett, I was hoping to see you last night, but I'm really glad you called instead," husked Connie.

"I'm sorry. I'm just involved in an important project, so I had to attend a meeting."

"I trust this project won't interfere with us getting together soon," she smiled, leaning into him.

"After the ... end of the week ... it shouldn't," he stammered before adding, "What's really going on here, Connie?"

"What do you mean, sweetie?"

"I mean did you really mean what you said yesterday ... I mean about us?"

Connie sighed. She looked around for teachers and when she saw none, she leaned in and gave Brett a deep, smoldering kiss. Soon their tongues were dueling. Since Brett was a novice, he let her control the kiss. He felt her hands on his ass, as her tongue explored the inside of his mouth. When she broke the kiss, she grinned at Brett's goofy look. "Does that answer your question," she asked with a smile.

All Brett could do was nod.

"So, do you want to hook up?"

"I ... think I need to go..." he blurted as he ran toward his locker.

Connie smiled. She could tell that she had melted the poor boy's brain. She knew he would come around. She had confidence in her looks and charm and she could fell Brett's arousal during the kiss. She knew he was painfully shy and perhaps she had come on too strong. Anyway, she knew it was inevitable. He would be hers. His family was wealthy. He was smart, loyal and cute. "What more could I want?" she laughed to herself.

Unfortunately for Brett only moments earlier, Suzanne Rowan had come out of the girl's room in time to see Brett and Connie kissing. She quickly ran back into the bathroom, got into a stall and began to cry. She sat there crying, as the bell rang. She had had a content life until Sandra Turner stepped in and messed it all up. First having feelings for Brett and then Sadie about to die, she cried for the next ten minutes before reporting to Homeroom late.

"Mr. Fitzwater, Derek Carson is here to see you," said Mrs. Gunderson, one of the office secretaries.

"Does he have an appointment?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

Roscoe Fitzwater was both concerned and intrigued as to why Derek would come to visit him. "Please send him in."

When Derek got into the office, he saw the very large, gray haired man behind his desk. "Hello Mr. Fitzwater. I'm glad you were willing to see me on such short notice."

"Well, Mr. Carson, to be honest I'm not sure why you are here. I don't believe that you are one of my students this term."

"No. I'm still with Mrs. Seales."

"Then what brings you to see me?"

"Actually, I'm here for several reasons."

"Well don't just stand there, son. Please elaborate."

Derek paused trying to sense the man's mood. It was surprisingly confident, though it was tinged with some anxiety. "First of all, you may know that Sandra Turner and I are close friends ... very close."

"I was not aware of that. Of course I don't tend to get involved with my student's personal lives unless I have cause. Mr. Carson, should I have cause to get involved in Miss Turner's personal life?" he both lied and threatened.

"No. In fact From now on you need not worry about Miss Turner at all. Miss Turner will be transferring to Mrs. Seales, effective immediately. I've already asked Mrs. Seales and she seemed to think you wouldn't object."

"Well, Mr. Carson, I would object. In fact I would and do object greatly. Miss Turner is a promising young student, but she is underperforming in school and needs the firm hand and continuity that I provide her," he said, as his lip curled into a supercilious sneer.

"First of all, we both know that Miss Turner is one of the best students in the junior class. She is hovering around the top ten for class rank."

"That may be so, but she has the intellect and knowledge to be in the top five. I would be thrilled if she could pull her marks up enough to get into an elite college."

"Funny. That is not what she said about you."

"What did she say?"

"She stated that you would write unfavorable letters to the Deans of Admission at several schools she is applying to."

"She must have misunderstood. I said that I would not be able to write her a favorable letter if she didn't bring her grades up," he said before adding, "I really don't think I should discuss Miss Turner's business any further."

Derek was impressed with the man's story. He thought, "I guess you can't be as big a pervert if you can't find ways to cover your behavior." He decided it was time to increase the anxiety that the guidance counselor felt. He found the thread of anxiety. He could try to increase it all at once, but he thought that doing it gradually would reduce the headache he was going to feel. It would also seem to be a more genuine anxiety increase. "Well, I appreciate your concerns, but the change is underway. In fact Sandra is meeting with Mrs. Seales as we speak."

"Well, as the Head of Guidance here I will not allow this change to happen!" he yelled, as his increasing anxiety mixed with his anger at Derek.

"I thought you might say that. That's why Sandra's parents have made a request to the principal that this change be made."

"Did they say on what grounds?" asked Fitzwater, barely hanging on to his composure.

"Why would they tell me? I'm only her boyfriend."

"If they don't have a valid reason, then I won't allow the change."

"You know, while I don't know for sure, it does remind me of a question I've always wanted to ask you."

"What?"

"Why do most of your students have big breasts?"

Derek saw the big man get really red in the face and he exploded, heaving his massive girth out of his chair, stumbling to his feet, with only his desk to keep him upright. "Get out of here!!!!" screamed the guidance counselor. "Go to the office now!!!!!!!"

"I'm leaving and I may get into some trouble for this visit, but I think you ought to know that I plan to sit down with my mother, Councilwoman Carson. She's working with Mr. Seales, the chairman of the board of Ed. As you know, he is Mrs. Seales' husband. Anyway they're looking into why so much sexual abuse falls through the cracks at this school. After talking to you and my girlfriend, I think I know why," threatened Derek, as he walked out the door. He went to the office and waited to be disciplined by the Vice Principal.

"A week's detention?!" exclaimed Sandy, before she was shushed by the librarian.

"Yep. I volunteered to work it off in Fitzwater's office. I don't think they appreciated the irony," laughed Derek. "Anyway, when they called home my Mom was ticked, so now she's on the warpath. The Vice Principal is willing to delay the punishment until he's had a chance to interview Fitzwater at length. My guess is it won't get implemented until next week. Anyway, the pervert will back down once he realizes that he could get into trouble himself."

Sandy smiled sadly. "If he doesn't?"

"We'll deal with that then."

"So, first baseball game, huh?"

"Yeah. It's only really a scrimmage, but it is away, so you guys will need to take the bus home tonight."

"OK ... Derek?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry you got stuck with this."

Derek looked around the library and then he pulled Sandy close and he kissed her hard on the mouth.

When he broke the kiss, he looked at her. "What happens to you happens to me. I'm not going to let some three-hundred pound tub of lard exploit the woman I love. If he gets in our way, I will take the son-of-a-bitch down."

Suzanne hung around after school. Brett was in his prom committee meeting. When it wrapped up, Suzanne walked in and saw Brett and Connie talking. She had been miserable all day after witnessing the kiss. Now seeing the two of them together, something snapped.

"So please call me tonight. We have a lot to talk about," said Connie.

"I do have that other project I was telling you about," reminded Brett

Connie smiled. "Come on honey. Blow it off. For me?"

Suzanne strutted in and grabbed Brett's arm. "Sorry. This week he's busy. You can have him next week, but for now I need him!"

"Well aren't we a 'Bossy Betty'," laughed Connie.

Suzanne flashed an angry expression. "You heard me. Leave him alone!"

"Suzanne..." started Brett.

"That's OK, Brett. Your kid sister needs help with her homework. What kind of girlfriend would I be if I didn't let you help her," laughed Connie.

"Connie!" yelled Brett, but it was too late. Suzanne burst out the room crying. Brett flashed Connie an angry look and then quickly followed Suzanne.

"Wait! Suzanne!" yelled Brett, as he caught up with her.

"Leave me alone!" she cried.

"Please. Listen to me."

"Why should I?"

"Because, I'm your friend."

All of a sudden his words began to resonate. Suzanne collapsed into his arms and started to cry. "I saw ... you ... kiss her."

"Actually she kissed me," corrected Brett. "But you told me I should go for it with Connie."

"I know. I'm an idiot. I say a lot of things I don't mean."

"You're not an idiot. But you sure were being foolish about me."

"Why would you say that?"

"Because you know how much I care for you. Now I know you feel the same."

Suzanne's eyes widened. "You do? You want me?"

"I do. But I needed to know how you felt."

"I ... want you too." she blurted.

Brett took her head in his hands and engaged in the second french kiss of the day and for that matter, his life. Suzanne had her first.

Boys had tried to kiss Suzanne like that in the past, but she wouldn't let them. Now Brett was taking her and her head began to swim. She felt heat and passion she never knew existed. It was like a dam of frozen water had thawed, leaving her completely vulnerable to her new feelings.

When Brett broke the kiss, she was grinning ear-to-ear, despite her tear stained face.

Brett smiled. "So ... wanna be my real girlfriend?"

"Yes!" she screamed excitedly.

He smiled and took her hand. They walked to the front of the school and waited for his Mom to pick them up.

Connie turned the corner moments earlier and saw her second prospective boyfriend being taken away from her. She just shook her head. "What's the matter with me?" she murmured glumly.

The score was two to two with two outs in the last inning. Derek made an error on his first chance as he booted a grounder, but managed to make a good play later in the inning to erase the runner. Since then, he had played a stellar game in the field. Offensively, He had a clean single up the middle on his first at bat followed by a ground out. Now he was looking down the line at third to see Jon Sizemore taking a lead off the bag. Jon had sharply singled to left and then advanced to third on two consecutive outs.