Chapter 22: Friday Morning: Gym/Spanish

Well Kara started as she stepped through the double doors and into the boys locker room it’ll be easy if Manny’s still seeing Vanessa at that point. She can be his official date, and we can go together. There’s no rule that says we can’t dance together at some point during the night.

Kara stepped outside and started to stretch. Well, if it happens in the heat of the moment, it’s not murder. It’s manslaughter or something like that. But I’ll settle for ripping them a new one if need be. And they’re not going to like how I’d go about it.

I will. Kara sat down on the grassy portion, took a meditative position, and slowly began to chant under her breath. “The future is not yet written; as bleak as things may look now, they can improve ... the future is not yet written...” and smiled as the rage began to subside. She continued chanting and suddenly became aware of someone walking towards her very carefully. “Hi Lisa.”

“Wait ... your eyes are closed, and yet...”

“I could tell by the weight of your footsteps that it was you. Most people would either stay away from me, or be over cautious with how they tried to approach me. You used your investigation speed and gait though; you’re the only one I know who does that.”

“Where was this sense of the world around you yesterday? And why did it look like you were planning to slice someone into tiny pieces?”

“I was thinking about something important later this year that could get a little ugly, and how I might handle that. I hope I don’t have to though.”

“Prom?” Kara nodded. “That’s at least eight months away; that’s probably plenty of time for people to get used to you three. Or is it four?”

“It’s not the students I’m worried about; it’s some of their parents. We already had one run in with an extremist mom, and I doubt she’ll be the last. As for your other question...” she stood, and calmly approached Lisa “off the record, of course; not a fourth yet, although who knows what the future holds for us? For now she’s principally interested in Manny.”

“Wait, you’re calling him by that nickname now? Isn’t that Allison’s nickname for him?”

The starting whistle blew; Kara started to jog slowly, matching Lisa’s pace. “It was one of them. She still has her other one that I won’t try to use; but we agreed that it was kind of stupid to lock me out of Manny and Ally. They’re just shorter versions of their actual names, not something with special meaning.”

“Is that on the record?”

“I suppose so, but who would want to read about that? Good luck trying to make a story out of that.”

“That’s fair; I don’t see how that little tidbit would make any splash as news. Now, this other girl on the other hand ... I’ve already heard quite a few rumors, especially after what happened at lunch yesterday. What can you tell me that I can use to squash some of them?”

Good idea Manny. “It would help if you could fill me in on the latest ones.”

Lisa grinned. “Of course. There’s the usual fare; one of you is going to break off from the others with her ... she did kiss all three of you in public after all. Others are saying that you and Allison have tired of men in general, and the new trio to look out for will be ‘the goddess trinity’ to use a new term coined by some of your cult members.”

“They should know better than to speculate like that. I need to have a talk with Pia.”

“So that high-priestess thing wasn’t just a ploy to get them out of your hair for a while?”

“Off the record, and no. We genuinely wanted someone we could trust to share what we wanted shared, and not put their own spin on it. Pia’s too good of a friend to betray us like that.”

“What about the malcontents who left the cult? The ones suggesting that she’s poisoned you against the ones who are your truest believers.”

“They’re just mad because we want to shift the focus of the ‘cult’ from sexual prowess to respectful relationships; whatever form they may take. That meant removing the guy who was in charge and trusting Pia to put in someone she can trust to follow what she says. Now, what other rumors have you heard about the four of us?”

“Only one other really; that she’s really after Emanuel, and her sinister plan is to become the wedge that finally drives you apart. After all, she has big breasts, and girls with big breasts can’t be trusted.”

Kara broke out laughing for a few moments. “That’s ... possibly the stupidest one I’ve heard yet. Who thinks that about big breasted girls?”

“A surprising number of girls. At least two dozen. I know that might not sound like much, but...”

“Numbers like that can spread to hundreds and beyond very quickly if not dealt with promptly. The truth about Vanessa is exactly what I said; she’s primarily interested in Manny, but are open to see how things may develop down the line. That’s all there is to it for now.”

“And the Thumper? What was up with her?”

“An unfortunate case of a group she trusted simply wanting to control her. The whole thing at lunch yesterday was meant to free her from the group; entirely of her own wishes. We merely helped her separate herself from them for good. Hopefully her mom can get free too.”

“How much of that is on the record?”

“Just the stuff about Bonnie. Anything related to her mom is not relevant to anyone.”

“Even with what she did earlier in the morning?”

“That’s all water under the bridge; a simple misunderstanding that is now cleared up. Got it?”

“Yup.”

The run whistle screeched. “I need to focus for a bit on something else. At least, until the full run is over. Can you save any other questions for then?”

“Of course.”

Kara nodded and focused her attention first inward; feeling each foot as it hit the track with a soft thud, each leg as it bent then straightened to move her forward. She felt her breasts rise and fall rapidly, but in perfect rhythm with the beat set by her legs and feet. She then turned her attention outward; to the cool breeze on her skin, and the bright colors of the leaves on the trees. Suddenly, the pain from her breasts bouncing dulled to a background noise as the temptation to close her eyes and focus on the wind became too great. But instead of seeing nothing, she could see brightly colored ‘people’ in all the shades of the rainbow.

The trees around her and the buildings seemed a dull gray; the sky and clouds softer tones of that gray, but gray none the less. Uhm, Manny?

Kara continued around the track a few more times, and breathed a sigh of relief as the cool down whistle blew. She slowed down to a jog, dropped the focus meditation, and caught up to Lisa. “Hey, can I ask you a question before your remaining ones kick off?”

“Sure. Who do you want to know about?”

“Emily Lian.”

“Oh ... let’s see. Her parents are Japanese; first generation immigrants if my information is correct. They’re extremely traditional, to the point that they don’t speak English in the house; I’m not sure they’ve tried learning it. On the other hand, her aunt, also first generation, is living in New York City and basically gave up any traditions from Japan. Finally, her new friend group is one of the nasty ones that would love to unseat you three, and she has to dress and act a certain way to stay in their good graces. Word is also that she’s seriously annoyed that Allison chose you over her for her birthday party.”

“I got the sense she was annoyed; but ... your wording makes it sound like more than a mere slight. Also, can you share anything specific about the new friend group?”

“Their queen was all set to take down the previous one before Allison started dating Emanuel. But when your cult really got going, it made their previous plan impossible; and before they could come up with a new one, you three had become the DE-facto top. I suspect that their leader is the one behind some of the more subversive elements in the cult, although I have no proof of that.”

“Do you know her name?”

“Pamela, although you might know her by her nickname...”

“The man-killer; yes, I’m aware of her. She has multiple reasons to hate all three of us. A failed retribution on him is why she’s stuck in the Program right now; Allison somehow got pulled into that one too. And Manny’s the one who managed to get away and earn her that branding in the first place. So if Emily’s running with her gang...”

“That’s not good, that’s for sure. If the rumors are to be believed, the social ramifications of disobeying her are disastrous; and if you do something she views as betrayal ... well, you can expect the rest of your high school life to be a living hell.”

“I’m sure Emily is aware of that by now.”

“The full extent of it is probably kept secret, so I doubt she’s really aware of who she’s gotten in with. However, you three have even greater social clout than her now, so if you offered her amnesty for past wrongs, she’d be able to dodge those consequences pretty easily. That might be your way through to her.”

“Maybe. That’s up to Allison; Emily was extremely unkind to one on Emanuel’s friends and as a result Allison really doesn’t trust her anymore.”

“One or two things said, or...”

“Multiple chances to correct herself; far more than anyone could expect to get. Apparently, Emily just saw a dumb jock, and wouldn’t let herself see past that. But, at least it seems to have ended well for him.”

“Wait ... you’re talking about the other eligible bachelor on the baseball team that suddenly got snatched up; and by a freshman girl no less.”

“Yes. Cosette is a real sweetheart, and we both think exactly the right person for Tony.”

“And the rumors that they’re also flirting with a poly relationship?”

“Not mine to comment on. Ask one of them directly if you wish, but I don’t think that’s any of the school’s business yet.”

“Ah, okay.”

That’s the stipulation I was going to make. “How much do you know about why Pamela’s in the Program early?”

Lisa’s eyes perked up. “Just that she did something that the administration thought warranted it, and that it was on the Vice Principal’s orders. You know the details?”

“Yes, but...” she drew close to Lisa and lowered her voice “this has to remain off the record, and we need to remain anonymous.”

She lowered her voice to a whisper as well. “Unless spreading this catches the ears of actual law enforcement, right?”

“Right.”

“Of course. Well, what does my anonymous source know?”

“The offense that she got caught in was attempted sexual assault. She and some of her gang stopped Manny and Allison in the hall, and were prepared to force a dildo onto them; Allison first, then Manny. She got caught before they could do anything, but not before making it clear what she intended to do.”

“Wait, what?! I hope you weren’t going to suggest that I can spread this to the bigger gossips. Something this important can’t be trusted to the rumor mill. I strongly believe that a topic of this magnitude demands a printed article; and that means I need evidence and...” she paused for a moment “advice from my teacher about how to approach such an article carefully. That would mean redacting many of the names from the article.”

“Do you really have to publish an article on this?”

“Yes. You’ve seen what happens to the largely beneficial rumors after they’ve passed through a gossip or two. Do you really want to trust them to not embellish or distort something like this?”

“That’s ... a good point. It would disastrous someone embellished this even a little bit. Give me a moment to confer with Manny and Allison.” So...

“Do it. The acting principal can provide you with most of the evidence you need.”

“Which means he’s the one who caught them, and for one reason or another decided to not pursue the most severe punishment he could. That worries me.”

“I personally think he did that for two reasons. One, they only got as far as expressing serious intent, so he’s erring on the side of a degree of leniency while he still can. Two, neither Ally or Manny were going to press charges if the gang had backed down when they were offered the chance to; I don’t think he could insist on a stronger punishment.”

“I’ll talk with him first, before I say anything to my journalism teacher. You should warn Emily asap to get away from those girls though; when this does break, anyone who is too slow in distancing themselves from Pamela will be in real trouble. If any authorities suspect Emily might have been part of Pamela’s gang that day, she could get roped into any trouble the rest of them get into. And I firmly believe this will reach a concerned parent or two, and it will get to the authorities.”

They heard the final whistle blow. “Hit the showers, and be quick about it this time!”

Oops ... I think my ‘escapades’ of the last few days have the track coach really annoyed.

Unless Emily surprises all of us and expresses interest in exploring with you, I think you’ll fine today. Besides, this is the last day he has to deal with you.

I’ll ‘deal’ with you later Ally. Kara headed inside to the locker room, dropped off her socks and shoes, and went to a stall in the corner. I think Emily is coming right for me.

“I saw you talking to Lisa. What did she tell you?!”

Kara smiled softly. “Just a little bit about you. But I know something she doesn’t know.” She lowered her voice as Emily drew closer, a daring stare on her face. “I know that trying to make a bunch of very different people happy is starting to drive you mad. I can see the violent urge building in you, threatening to swallow who you really are.”

“And what do you know about ‘who I really am?’ anyway? You don’t know what’s it like to...” she lowered her voice as well “to be pulled in three different directions at once. You don’t know what it’s like having incredibly conservative parents breathing down your neck to ‘follow the old ways’ or how much it hurts that your Aunt has completely abandoned them and the family. You don’t know how hard it is to find a group of friends that don’t abandon you at the first sign of you thinking differently from them. Or how tiring it is to constantly...”

“Go about your life wearing a mask; to start losing yourself to the persona you adopted because you felt you had to, and which is becoming the real you the longer you wear it.”

“Yes, that ... wait, how do you know? Can you read my mind or something?”

“No. I know because that’s been my default mode for at least the last five years. The brash, confident, and unshakable girl you’ve seen around the school is a persona I built ages ago. But what I didn’t realize when I adopted it was that it was going to cut me off from the ability to be vulnerable; to think critically about who I am, and to feel anything that wasn’t happiness or anger. Because the woman you see standing naked in front of you is not the same Kara you’ve seen around.”

The scowl on Emily’s face began to soften. “You ... you do seem different. I ... I never could have confronted that other you; not without fearing like I was taking my life into my hands. But there’s something...” she looked away as she finally began to lather up with her body wash “sort of welcoming about the you I see now. Were ... were you being serious about the violence thing?”

Kara nodded her head softly. “Yes. When I looked at you while we were running, the only thing that was constant was the swirling mass of blackness inside you; it seemed to be slowly swallowing up the shifting colors that flowed around it. How strong is that little voice; you know, the one that calling for you to show those around you what they’re really worth?”

“Almost too strong. I ... I love my parents, even if they are too deeply bound to Osaka. And I love my Aunt, but there are old family traditions that she simply threw away to fit in better with the people around her. And ... wait, why am I sharing all of this with you?”

“Because you need to share it with someone, and I’m not the villain that little voice claims I am. Neither are Ally or Manny.”

“A part of me knows that, but ... the voice keeps shouting that she abandoned me for her worst enemy; all because I didn’t like her double date pick for me.”

“She never abandoned you; especially not for her worst enemy. I know what she said when you were close friends, but those were false memories; specifically created to explain why certain people were no longer in her life.”

“How about the abrupt change in her personality? The Allison I see now is not the one who was my friend.”

“You’re seeing the real Allison now; not the mask she freely wore to protect herself from the world around her. The woman you see now reflects the girl I knew when I was young.”

“So, ‘if’ what you’re saying is true, then why did she choose you over me? Why did she abandon me?”

“Think back to that double date. What was she asking of you during it?”

“To give that jock a chance he ... wait...” she paused, rinsing off as a look of horror crossed her face. “She just wanted me to try and look past my first impression of him based only off of his involvement in sports. And all I did was keep spitting in his face when he was trying to be nice to me. I sabotaged that encounter, didn’t I?”

“Yes.”

“And after that, I stubbornly held my ground instead of apologizing for my own awful behavior. But, considering what she believed then, why did she choose you instead?”

“Because while I didn’t remember doing any of the things she claimed, I still apologized assuming I had; and I prioritized her happiness over my own.”

“Wait ... what?”

“She knew I was romantically interested in Manny by then, and I could have pulled my ‘I’m his best friend and Kempo partner’ card if I wanted to. But I couldn’t hurt him like that, and in putting his happiness first and agreeing to change how I was going to treat her, I became an actual friend instead of a rival.”

“But how did that lead to you three being... ‘married’?”

“I gathered up my courage and asked if she was willing to share him just once; so that he could be my first. He was always my first choice, and really the only one after hearing about her first time with him; he was the only guy I could really trust to do right by me. And she agreed; we had to convince him that it wasn’t a bad idea. What none of us expected was that I’d fall in love with both of them; it was fortunate for all us that a friend had lent them a book that talked about the possibility of poly relationships. That book gave us enough of a framework to figure out how we wanted to start trying this crazy new idea.”

“And what lead to the whole ‘marriage’ thing?”

“You watch the news, right?” Emily nodded as Kara rinsed off and turned off the water. “So, you probably saw the story concerning his father.”

“Oh yeah ... he didn’t take that well, did he?”

“That’s an understatement.” Kara started back toward the locker room, grabbing a towel and quickly drying off before she left the shower room. “Allison told me how badly the news was breaking him, and I rushed over to help however I could. What ended up bringing him back to us also linked us together in a way I didn’t expect.”

“Did it involve meditating together, trying to empower each other?”

“Trying would imply it didn’t work. As a result of it...”

“Wait ... that actually works?! My mom talks about it sometimes.” She glanced down at Kara’s hand. “I suppose that beautiful ring on your finger isn’t the only blending of those colors between you three.”

“No, it’s not. And when we explained what had happened to Allison’s mom, she got my Mom involved, and it’s because of her that we have these rings and the cord that bind us together for the next year. I know some of the school rumors would suggest that we’re crazy for ‘pretending to be married’, but that’s exactly what this year is supposed to be; a test to see if legal marriage is actually possible.” Kara quietly pulled her socks and shoes out of her locker and began to slip them on.

“So I fucked up a true friendship, and replaced it with a group that only likes me as long as I behave the way they expect me to. And by now, it’s no doubt too late to try to fix things with her.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. Allison’s willing to look past the mistakes you have made, and give you another chance. It’s unfair to condemn you to high school hell because of a few mistakes.”

“So, I’d be welcome to sit at your table?”

“Yes. We ask that you show the others the kind of respect you’d like us to have for you; but that’s really it. You no doubt saw that Bonnie joined us yesterday, right?”

“That surprised everyone except Pamela. She said your group is the group of rejects, so it only makes sense that a reject Thumper could only find another table with you. Anyone who sits there will never be able to sit at a normal table again. She’s even spoken to some members of that weird cult of yours, but only because she claims she had to.”

“So, explain this to me then...” Kara replied softly. “If we’re simply a group of high school rejects, then why are we a threat to her? Enough of a threat that she felt it necessary to try and wreck both Allison’s and Emanuel’s social status by sexually assaulting them? Or that she’d risk her own social status by talking to one of the sheeple who populate the more extreme members of that group?”

“I ... I don’t know. And are you saying that you don’t want them following you around like that?” Emily replied in a similar tone.

Kara lowered her voice to a whisper again. “We’d rather they leave us in peace, but that’s not possible it seems. So it makes more sense to play along a little, and hope that we can slowly teach them to really respect each other and to be their own people; than to keep trying to fight them off.”