Chapter 5

Robin opened her eyes. Light was streaming in through the windows. Something was wrong; her nipples were really sore and her crotch ached. She tried to remember what had happened, but all she could recall was falling asleep watching television with Brad. How odd. She got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen. Brad, Tiffany, and two other of her friends were sitting around the kitchen table having breakfast. It was 8:30.

"Morning," said Tiffany.

"Morning," groaned Robin, who sat down and poured some cereal into the bowl sitting in front of her.

"Milk?" offered Mike, with a smile.

After breakfast, Mike went outside and started up Brad's jeep. He drove over to his old house, Mike's house, and parked in back. He knew that his family would be at church, so the house was empty. Walking to the garage, he keyed in the access code, and the door opened. Mike went downstairs to the basement and found the secret panel he had constructed last week in one of the walls. He opened it up and found what he was looking for: two medium sized aluminum briefcases. Taking the cases, he left the house and closed the garage door. Back at the jeep, Mike opened the rear gate and put both cases in a large lacrosse gym bag he had waiting. Satisfied, he drove back to Brad's house.

Gym bag slung over his shoulder, he walked into the house and up to Brad's room. He looked around to make sure that nobody was in the hall, and he closed the door. He took both briefcases out of the bag and opened them. The cases were filled with DVD-ROMs, external hard drives, two neural headsets, and other gizmos. He plugged both headsets and a hard drive into Brad's computer and booted it up. When it came up, he put the DVD-ROM containing the neural drivers into the drive and loaded them into the computer, along with the neural analyzer and editor program. That done, he turned off the machine and changed into his gym clothes. Before leaving the room, he took a Tag wristwatch out of one of the briefcases, and put it on. Mike closed and locked the cases, stowing them under the bed.

"I'm going to the Y," yelled Mike as he ran down the stairs and out the door.

His friends were already waiting for him when he got to the Y, which had a very large gym with several basketball courts, weights, stretching areas, and cardio machines. They shot some hoops, played some one-on-one, and some three-on three. As Brad, Mike was clearly superior to the rest, and he was able to pull off some amazing plays. He was clearly enjoying himself, especially when groups of girls gathered around to watch him play. After some time, Mike and Justin decided to go and get some Gatorades from the vending machines by the entrance.

"So, I hear that Jordan is dipping his chip in your salsa, Brad," said Justin, as Mike fished around in his pocket for change.

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about last night, after the party. You didn't hear?"

"No. Tell me," said Mike, as the machine dispensed his drink.

"Well, after Jordan drove Jessica home in his van, he passed Katie walking home from another party. She was totally wasted, so he offered her a ride. They drove into the woods, and he ended up fucking her in the back of the van. She told someone about it, and they told someone else, and word got around." Mike was vexed. The nerve of that asshole! Jessica AND Katie!

"So, is Jessica going to break up with him?" asked Mike hopefully.

"Nah. She's totally his bitch. He made up some story, said he was drunk and had no idea what he was doing, and he apologized. "

"What a dumb bitch," said Mike. He couldn't believe it. It looked like he needed to accelerate his timetable.

As they walked back to the courts, Mike saw Jessica working out on one of the treadmills. He waved to her, and she waved back. Mike, Justin, and the others played another two games, and then they decided to call it quits, going to the locker room to change. On his way out of the lock room, he ran into Jessica, who also appeared to be leaving.

"Hey, Jess."

"Hey Brad," she said with a smile.

"Where are you headed?" he asked.

"Just home. I've got some problem sets to finish up for tomorrow."

"Need a ride?"

"Sure," she said. They walked out of the Y together, and got into his car.

The drive home was fairly long. He took the scenic route down a fairly deserted highway. They chatted amicably. Jessica told him what an awesome basketball player she thought he was and how cool it must be to be such a great athlete. Mike feigned modesty, watching her tits jiggle from the movement of the car. She barely fit in the seatbelt. Mike took her steady stream of complements as an advance, so he decided to go for it. He pulled over to the side of the road.

"Why are we stopping?"

"I want to level with you, Jess. I've wanted you for so long. I dream about you all the time. Jordan is such an asshole to you. Dump him and go out with me instead."