Chapter 9: Forever Ashley

My three morning classes were quiet. The teachers seemed a bit distracted, and the students just wanted to whisper about the President's announcement. Most students were speculating on the special show to be on television in two weeks. No one seemed to have a clear idea of what to expect.

I stayed silent as the others continued to gossip. It was not due to a lack of interest in the possibilities. My issue was that I wanted to have facts rather than rumor, and other than Jessica, there was no student in my classes I trusted to have real information.

Finally, the morning break started. I headed to a rarely used table near the blacktop area and the athletic fields. Jason followed me. "Why not go to our usual table?" he asked

"Because I'm not sure I want to watch the dance that will be going on," I replied. "Our class has one hundred and twenty boys. Since the announcement just a few days ago ninety of those boys have tested. If the rumors are true, fifteen have scores above the volunteer line. Then we have at least three girls who score high enough."

"So?" Jason asked.

I sighed. "Haven't you listened to all the gossip this morning? I'll bet if you go to the lunch courtyard, you'll find at least two of the boys with a volunteer level score trying to get girls to pledge themselves to them. And I doubt it will be as nice as I have been with Ashley."

Jason looked a bit dubious. He seemed about to say something when Walter walked out of a hallway and rushed to the table. He dropped onto the bench next to Jason with a groan. "Don't go to the courtyard," he moaned. "Hector and Manuel are holding slut auditions."

"Slut auditions?" I asked.

"It's more like slut twenty questions," Jessica said as she walked up. I could see Kathy and two others of Jessica's regular entourage following her. One of the two was a young boy named Tommy. He was a dependable athlete, but lacked any interest in his studies or in people. His father was a janitor at Milgen, and he had known Jessica for more than ten years. The other follower was Millicent. The young woman usually tried to act like a bored socialite, but at the moment she was staring at her own shoes.

Jason just gaped. "You mean those two are asking?"

"Very personal questions of all the pretty girls," Walter finished for him. "Most have said nothing, but they have about fifteen participating. Or they did when I finally had enough and left."

"You plan on testing on Tuesday after school still?" I asked Walter.

He nodded. "Yeah, Julio will be testing at the same time, why?"

I shrugged. "I might be willing to visit with you to help give you some moral support before you test."

"Immoral support might be more useful," Jessica said with a giggle. "At least for Julio. He needs to break the apron strings with his mother, or he'll score poorly."

"Where is he?" Jason pondered.

"Watching the girls making fools of themselves," Kathy said. "It was kinda gross. He was drooling after Tiffany admitted that she masturbates every morning."

Suddenly, I felt the plastic bag in my back pocket. I wanted to pull it out and check the package, but not in front of everyone. I sat uncomfortably for a moment when a pair of hands covered my eyes. "Guess who?" a female voice caroled.

"Kelsey?" I said, pretending to be confused.

"No fair, you guessed it in one try," Kelsey said as she removed her hands from my face. She stepped over the bench and slid in to sit next to me. As she did, I felt her slip a piece of paper into my right front pocket. I slid a hand down to secure it as she looked at the others.

"I'm glad you aren't watching the circus in the courtyard," I said absently.

Millicent looked up. She walked up to the table and sat down to my left. "It's stupid," she muttered. "I won't claim to be all that nice."

"You've been nice," Walter said. "I mean we all know your father is a demanding asswipe who doesn't deserve to have a lovely daughter like you. And we know that you are often angry about things, but that you try to be nice most of the time."

I noticed that Jessica was gazing fondly at Walter. She noticed my appraisal and winked at me before she sat down across from Millicent. Kathy immediately scrambled to sit in Jessica's lap. "He's right," Jessica said to Millicent. "You are very sweet when you can let go of your anger."

Millicent raised her hands and covered her face with them. "I can't ... I won't be saved though," she said through several sobs. "No one here would want me."

Jessica sighed as she put her arms around Kathy. "I never said that," she said sharply. "I told you that the information my father has been given says that currently I can only take two concubines."

"Concubines?" Walter asked.

"Oops," Jessica said. She lowered her head as her cheeks started to turn bright red. "I wasn't supposed to use that word until after the TV special. They are going to announce that it fits then. Basically the companions a volunteer takes are an instant harem. They are expected to be..."

I held up a hand. "We can probably all guess. But you were answering the red head beside me."

Millicent kept weeping into her hands. Jessica took a moment to kiss Kathy on the lips. She held out a hand for Tommy. "Well, you all know that someone can retest on their birthday. My plan is to retest in October when I turn fifteen. If I can raise my score enough to allow more concubines, I want to take Millicent."

Millicent dropped her hands and stared at Jessica. "But..."

Jessica smiled and reached out her free hand, placing it on the table in front of Millicent. "I told you that we fight too often. That isn't a lie. Your anger makes you quick to find a reason to fight. Add in your distaste of authority due to your father."

"He's a powerful man!" Millicent protested weakly. "He wants me to do my best!"

I reached out and put an arm on Millicent's shoulders. "Millie we all know you love your father. It's right to do that. But I think even you will agree that he doesn't exactly exude a lot of warmth. And the way he treats your mother is near criminal."

"She cheated on him!" Millicent hissed. "He didn't divorce her, and he could have. She deserves to be punished. Father could have been disgraced by her actions."

Jessica sighed. "And that is why I struggle with the idea of taking you with me. Millicent, you need to let go of some of that anger."

Millicent nodded. "I know. I even talked my mother into finding me a therapist. But it's hard to let it go. Can you be patient with me? And with the fact that..."

"What?" Jason said when Millicent lowered her head again.

"Millicent doesn't really care for the idea of sex with a man," Tommy said softly. "And if she could, she'd be dragging Jessica and Kathy to someplace with a bed right now."

"Well, she has good taste," I said. "I can understand wanting to see what's under Jessica's clothing. She's one of the cutest girls in the class."

"Hey! What about me?" Kelsey chirped as she dug an elbow into my side.

"You're one of the cutest girls in the world," I said as I kissed her forehead. "But you do need to get tested."

"Hey! Did you hear that the president proposed that the minimum age for sex be lowered from eighteen to fourteen?" Walter asked. "I heard that the House is going to vote on it today. Supposedly the educational unions were against it though."

"Wonderful," I said. "Are they against it because it's right, or because they want to challenge the whole CAP scheme? If they are like my father, it's all about trying to force the CAP system and the aliens to disappear."

The bell to end the morning break rang. "Hey, let's come back here for lunch," Jason said. "I don't want to watch the others toy with desperate girls."

"No," Walter said. "You want to be the puppeteer doing the toying."

We all laughed at that as we stood up and started to scatter and head to our next classes.

I hung back and let the others head off first. Once I was sure none were looking back, I pulled a crumpled piece of paper from my front pocket. It had been loosely folded, and I opened it up as I traveled to my next class. It was a note, written in Kelsey's precise handwriting. I paused and leaned against the building wall to read what she had written.

"Master" the note began. "Fine, I know you aren't my master, and probably don't want to be one. However, in many ways, that's what I want you to be for me. No, that's not right..." The next line had been covered over with a series of ragged lines. Then the note continued.

"Mark. I don't know how to put this. First, as you probably have heard, I've had a crush on you since I became Matilda's friend last year. You are sweet, kind, and oh so handsome. Every time I visit I want to throw my arms around you and kiss you forever. Now, I get told that there is some special test you take at fourteen, and depending on the score, you might leave Earth with some companions."

"Mark, I want to be one of your companions. I'll do anything to be one. If you told me to crawl across the courtyard naked I would. But I know you won't. You have never liked seeing someone humiliated..." Once again several ragged lines obscured the next few lines, but the note had one more paragraph.

"I met your girl Ashley today. She promised me that once I test we can talk seriously. I'll try to avoid being too obvious that I consider myself yours now. Please don't chase me away and try to be on Earth when I test. I love you."

I stood staring at the note for a minute before remembering that my next class was about to start. I roughly folded the note and stuffed it back in my pocket before running to class. I had just cleared the door when the bell rang. Mrs. Hackworth glared at me as I stood in the doorway.

"If you are quite sure you are in the right class room, you can take your seat. Today we'll review yesterday's lesson and then go over the past three chapters. There is our second midterm on Wednesday of next week, and then we start the final four chapters before the final in June. You should have completed the problems I assigned. Please turn in your homework. Mark here has volunteered to collect them and put them on my desk," Mrs. Hackworth said before turning back to the chalkboard and starting to write out several equations.

I dashed over to the table I shared with Jessica and Jason and tossed my backpack on the table. My first action was to unzip the main bag and pull out my finished copy of the homework. Jessica and Jason had their answers ready as well. Then I went up and down the aisles collecting the work the rest of the students had completed before setting in on Mrs. Hackworth's desk. She had her back to the class as I set the papers down and returned to the table.

"Thank you Mark," Mrs. Hackworth said absently as I made my way to my seat. "Now, let's go over the type of problem we discovered in the most recent chapter. Victor, how about you explain how to solve this first problem."

I slipped into my seat and put my head down. "Why were you late?" Jessica hissed.