Chapter 68: Back to School

After such a rough start the rest of the vacation went surprisingly smoothly. Miki proved to be a huge asset. She knew places to visit that we might never have thought of.

There was a small feeling of loss after Liz and Cassidy were picked up. None of us knew them well, but they had been friends. Her short tale of the conditions at the pickup had definitely impressed everyone. Maurice was at times fawning on Jessica. Fortunately the young lady just laughed and then had her minions pounce on Maurice to get him to back off if he became overbearing.

Jana was starting to talk about quitting teaching. Jason was adamant that she should continue. He said it hurt him to see the pain in her eyes when she thought about leaving a job that she could feel proud about. It was a surprisingly insightful comment from my friend and I think the final piece in healing the rift that had been created when Larry blackmailed Jana.

However, vacations come to an end and we finally boarded a plane and flew home. There were no problems with security or the ticket agent, so the trip home was unremarkable.

Unfortunately, our two weeks away from school was noted. The first day we were back Beatrice and Becky came to school with us in order to get Miki transferred in. I walked with Miki as we headed to the main office. We were almost there when Vice Principal Flanagan came out of his office.

The man was visibly drunk. He staggered a couple of steps and then stared at us with bloodshot eyes.

"Well, if it isn't Central High's most truant freshman. Where have you been the past two week?" he slurred.

"I think you missed a plural there," I replied. "I was on an educational trip to the far East, learning about some Asian cultures."

"And I see you returned with some Asian whore," Vice Principal Flanagan said as he rocked back and forth on unsteady legs. "Will you be doing this one while she's bent over the picnic table?"

"I've never," I said in a growl. "And you are out of line."

"What are you going to do?" the man said. He leaned forward and breathed on me. The smell caused me to stagger away.

"Sir, this is uncalled for," I shouted. "I'm just escorting Ogimi-san to the office so she can see about enrolling in classes here. You should not be drinking on school grounds."

"What can they do to me?" Vice Principal Flanagan said with a snort. A bubble of something grew out of one of his nostrils as he took several drunken steps backwards. "No one listens to me anymore. I can't even suspend you or get your grades changed. You are a disruptive influence, but I'm told to leave you alone. But now I have caught you."

"Mark?" Beatrice said stepping out of the office. "Miss Rousey is saying she needs to meet Miki. Oh, Vice Principal, can I help you?"

"You know this punk?" Flanagan said as he pointed at me.

"Mark is a friend of the family," Beatrice said with a smile. "He's been very helpful to me. But I really should escort Miki into the office. She has paperwork."

Miki squeezed my hand and then leaned to whisper in my ear. "I love you."

I headed off to class running through the hallways to try to get to class on time. Just as the bell to start the period rang I slipped into my seat.

Mrs. Pangrac glared at me. "Where is Liz?" she asked.

"She's not on Earth anymore," Kathy responded cheekily. "I'm surprised you hadn't already heard."

"How do you know?" one of the boys shouted.

"Because we were standing outside the restaurant when she was picked up. She went into the place to purchase a take out order," Milli responded.

"And what do you think about that? I mean she seemed to have been your friend," Mrs. Pangrac asked.

"We all understand that if we happen upon a pickup, it will be our time to leave Earth," I said carefully. "Nothing we do or feel will change that."

"So you admit to being an unfeeling killer," Mrs. Pangrac said triumphantly. I noticed that Kelsey was bouncing up and down as if cheering Mrs. Pangrac on.

"I admit nothing of the sort," I said as Jason and Jessica both burst out laughing. "I will miss Liz and Cassidy."

"Cassidy?" Mrs. Pangrac asked.

"She was a friend of ours who got to know Liz over the last few months. They were travelling together and rooming together. Liz took Cassidy along as one of her two companions," Jessica replied.

"Liz took another girl?" one of the boys in the class spat. "You mean that bitch was another dyke?"

"No," I said firmly. "Liz also brought along a man she met during the pickup."

"Ha!" the boy shouted. "You can't know that!"

"She called us," Jason said. "We talked to her as she waited in some kind of lobby waiting for something. I didn't really get what was going on, except some of the rules she explained. That was interesting."

"And why would you care?" the boy asked.

"Because if the same rules are in place it will affect me and my ladies when I finally end up in a pickup," Jason said. "I want to think about how they might affect things."

"Why would you care?" a girl in the class spat. I looked over and realized that I had seen this girl chatting with Walter in the fall. She noticed my gaze and turned to look at the blackboards.

"Because there is no reason to be unnecessarily cruel," Jessica said calmly. "Mrs. Pangrac is correct that the gift the aliens gave us has been a double-edged sword. There are men like Walter who forget that the people they are going to take with them are human."

"Sometimes I think Walter forgets that he is human," I said as a pretend aside.

I heard Milli and Kathy snort as Jessica reached out and put a hand on my head. "And now you know why we keep Mark here. Anyways, I know that part of my goal with all of this talk of CAP scores and such is to provide anyone I leave Earth with a good life. To do that I need to know what the rules are."

Mrs. Pangrac looked at me. "Your actions don't make sense. You could be kings of the school, and you don't bother except to ace every test I give you."

"We aim to please," I said with a smirk. "And weren't we going to study the French Revolution today? I want to hear you equate the madness of King Louis with the rules the aliens have for us."

Mrs. Pangrac frowned, but pulled out her book and started going over the day's lesson. I pulled my book out as Kelsey got up and moved to a corner of the classroom. She glared at me as we started to review the details of the French Revolution.

Our next class was much the same. Miss Villefort our English teacher was equally surprised by the news that Liz had been picked up by the alien military. Many of the other students wanted to start a discussion about it, but Miss Villefort turned the class into a lesson on writing a newspaper article. By the time class was over we were expected to turn in an article about something that happened in the past month. I could see that Miss Villefort was expecting many of the students to just copy something from the news.

The stories about Liz being picked up seemed to race around the school. I overheard several students talking about it while we walked to our Geometry class. From the animated nature of some of the conversations, it was clear that many students were unhappy with what had happened.

The morning break proved to be tense. Walter followed us out to the courtyard and marched up to our table as we were sitting down. "I hear that you lost a friend," he said scornfully.

"Liz isn't lost," I said. "In fact I think in some ways she's probably more confident in her position than any of us are. Her wait to find out what happens next is over."

"A likely tale from someone who has been avoiding pickups," Walter said as he leaned over me.

"And how successful has your search for a pickup been?" I asked. "I remember you charged over to the one restaurant you heard was going to have a pickup."

"It was next door," Walter hissed. "My contact had the right location."

"And how many other wrong locations has he sent you too?" Jessica asked.

"He only has to be right once," Walter said calmly. "Then I'll get off this planet. I'll finally receive the homage I'm supposed to."

Ashley giggled. "What nature is this homage?" she asked. She turned and winked at me. I noticed she slid her legs out from under the table.

Walter looked off into the distance. "Well, first she should fawn all over me. Do things like sit in my lap, kiss my neck, stroke my hair."

Ashley got up from the table and walked around it. She nudged me with her hip. I spun around on the bench, putting my back against the table. As my feet landed on the ground on the outside of the bench Ashley sat down on my lap and put her arms around my neck.

"That sounds so romantic," Kathy said wistfully. "Is that all?"

"Of course not," Walter said. "That's just the beginning. She'll be extremely sexy."

"Kathy and Milli are definitely sexy," Jessica said quietly.

"She can't act like a complete virgin. I want a girl who's loud, enthusiastic, and wild in bed," Walter said softly.

"Just like you are," I whispered to Ashley.

"But I was a virgin," Ashley whispered back. "Lenore and Miki were almost virgins."

Walter opened his eyes and looked at me. "That slut is in your lap?" he snapped. "You don't deserve her."

"I think I get to decide if he deserves me," Ashley said firmly. "And after almost a year of being his, I can say that no man could deserve me more."

"More?" Walter said with a screech. "He's a coward who won't even try to get picked up."

"I think its courageous that he's willing to risk not getting picked up to protect his sister," Jessica said.

"He's stood up to bullies," Ashley said. "He has plenty of courage."

"Even I can see that he'll step forward and protect the weak," Miki said.

"Who the fuck are you?" Walter asked. "I've never seen you before."

Jason snorted. "Oh, right, like you asked to be introduced. Ogimi-sama,"