Part 5: Friday

Chapter 87: Jacob

Personal log (voice), J. J. Stone, Captain of the Flying Dutchman, 9 am, October 28th 2006.

The hospital room I was in was rather quiet. The machines did their subdued beeping as they did what they were supposed to.

But like any place there was quiet, it was about to be shattered.

I woke up muttering. "The fluctuations in the density drives adjustments are causing the changes in the effective simulations of reality. Those fluctuations are caused by frequency adjustments. So what would happen if I started to mess with frequency as the underlying basis for travel? Paper. I need paper."

The nurse in the hallway heard me. "What are you babbling about? Welcome back to the land of the living by the way. Although you do sound a bit delirious."

"No." I replied as I looked about the room. I needed paper. I started to get up.

Now where is that paper?

The nurse paged a doctor. "Dr. Watson. Your patient has awakened. I started to try to move, and discovered several things had changed since last I was in this body. One, my stabbed hand seemed to be working. Another thing was that a lot of the pains of the last week had faded away. The last recently noticed thing was that my left leg felt very different. That's when I fell.

I thought the reason I had legs was because they were supposed to support me.

Dr. Watson came in just in time to catch me as I fell. "Be careful with that. You've just recovered."

"I was looking for paper."

"The gift shop should have some." the doctor informed me as he helped me to sit back on my bed.

"I might as well ask the usual question. What am I doing here?"

"What do you remember?"

Nothing I learned in this world.

"One moment I was falling, and that was it."

"To tell you the truth, I'm not sure I understood the whole story correctly. If I recall correctly, you fell out of some weird flying thing, bounced around a road and smashed into a rock. From there a state police search party located you and transferred you to this hospital."

"Great." I replied. "Tiffany's rescue worked out with a couple of small setbacks. Ok. That I can deal with. I'm here, I'm better, but I'll probably be needing a cane for a month.

"I'm sorry, but you should be saying forever."

"Speaking of time, how long have I been out?"

"Since late Wednesday night."

That would explain why I am so rested.

But did he not just say I'll be needing this cane for the rest of my life?

I was not happy with that. Then again it would be expecting too much of the universe to have escaped all that I had recently gone through with no penalty.

"Damn. Ok. Where is the cane? Where are my clothes for that matter?"

The doctor was making a few notes in a file. "In the closet. The cane is on the other side of your bed."

Good. Time to get out of here.

I reached for the cane. Then I got up.

Watson quickly put his file down. "Slow down there. I haven't shown you how to use that yet."

This is getting a little annoying. Just because I nearly died does not make me helpless. I've been in far more pain than this.

I put my proverbial and (unbroken) foot down on this. "I broke my foot three years ago. I remember the physics of using a cane." This I proved by limping over to the closet. There I pulled out my clothes and tossed them to the bed. Then I used the side of the closet to prop myself and used my new cane like a golf club to move my shoes nearer to a stool. "So what else has been happening while I was out of it?"

"Not much. Your friends brought your father in from the Middle East."

My father? For what reason would they need to get him???

"Why?"

"Why? Aren't you going to ask me how?"

"They used the Flying Dutchman."

"How'd you know? You were too far gone at the time to be hearing anything."

I tried to resist the obvious line.

Really, I did.

But it was just too good to pass up.

"Elementary, my dear Doctor Watson. The only way they could have found my father and brought him back here before tea time today was to use the Dutchman. Conventional methods would not be able to accomplish this."

"Very well, the why is because the hospital refused to let me opereate without a parent present to sign the paperwork."

"Ok."

"You do not sound surprised."

"I'm not. There is more paperwork on this planet than there are bugs. A worse biblical plague could not exist."

"True." Dr. Watson finally noticed what I was up too. "What are you doing?"

"Dressing." I put my clothes on, struggling slightly with my newly bad leg. Then I put on my shoes, grunting slightly with the pain that came from bending my bad leg. Looks like I'll have to be careful with that leg for a while. Then I limped back to the closet and got my coat. I checked the inside pocket for my wallet.

"Don't worry. Nobody stole anything."

"I'm not concerned with that. I'm just checking to make sure I have taxi money. I'm betting the students who got my father used the Dutchman to return him, then took it to get themselves home." I counted out several hundred dollars I had taken from my engineering fund for the original mall hanging out trip.

Dr. Watson watched me as I did this. "You're leaving us?"

"Yes. I overheard earlier that the only thing really wrong was my apparent coma. I was only gathering my strength to deal with the world again."

"I can see nothing I can say will stop you. Be careful with that leg then."

Chapter 88: Mr. Bacon.

10:30am

Ninety thousand dollars a year is not enough payment for the stress I have been under from running this school after this week. Rapes and riots, attempted murders and near mayhem have happened. And this crazy week is not even over yet.

The only thing that kept me from setting fire to all this paperwork and making a run for Aruba was the feeling that this naked in school concept had some merit.

But by the educational gods, this program's teething problems are chewing up my time and my school.

I reached for another stack. I might be out of here by two AM if I get to work.

Then more trouble walked in.

"I need to talk to you."

I looked up from the pile of papers.

Heather had walked right past the secretary.

Does she think that her friends still run this school?

Still I tried to be polite. "Can't it wait? I'm busy with paperwork."

"No. It involves the fallout from the Stone/ football feud."

"That's what most of these papers involve." I told her as I waved my hand over my paper-covered desk. "Which of the problems are you referring to?"

"Tiffany's unprovoked attack on me."

I reached for another file and checked some papers. Finally I found a few documents in Ms. Q's handwriting. "According to this report, it was not unprovoked."

Heather's face changed to anger when she recognized Ms. Q's writing. "Yeah, principal." She started, growling, "Tiffany's attack was provoked. But not by me. By that teacher. She accused me of using my words to rape Tiffany." Heather spat those words angrily as if it was my fault that her teacher could have conceived anything that stupid.

Now I was starting to get upset. Unfortunately, principals were not allowed to show their true feelings that quickly. "Didn't you say that she deserved what happened?"

Heather was unrepentant. "She did. The high school was working excellently until Jacob started messing with the way things were run. The sports teams and their supporters have made this school one of top schools in this state, and the press we brought in also made your fund raising more successful."

Somehow I kept my temper. Things are changing around here anyway. Their time was over. Some people just had not gotten the message. "You still haven't explained why she deserved it."

"Because she turned down sex with athletes to sleep with a nerd. A nerd who did not know his place and how things were run."

"You mean the place you and your jock happy friends assigned him. He might not know that place, but he certainly knows how things are run. How else do you think he won the feud?"

"He didn't win in the end, thank god." Heather came back with feeling. "Koke saved the school's honor by getting Tiffany a few nights ago. Then Jacob died rescuing her. As soon as we get rid of Tiffany, the school will be back to normal."

Not if I have anything to say about it.

Then my blood ran cold as the import of her last sentence sunk in.

I will never know how I managed to hold my temper. "Get rid of Tiffany? You advocating her murder as well?"

Her eyes flashed furiously. "Get this. Jacob was not murdered. He got what he deserved. He deserved to die more than most criminals on the news. At least they know how to play the legal system. Jacob refused to play the system. He thought he beat down the system. Well, even beaten down, the system was strong enough to get him in the end. As for Tiffany, she will get hers soon enough."

I had had enough. Smacking sense into that girl was becoming a more and more attractive idea. Somehow I maintained my self control. "Watch it. The athletes don't run this school. Not anymore. Jacob was not the only person who thought that. Several of us on the staff hated our deal with the devil."

"Deal with the devil?"

"The devil. Otherwise known as Coach Koke. We tolerated Koke's behavior, and the athlete's arrogance because he did do what you said. We needed the money to get this school out of trouble and to provide you students with everything you needed. But now he has become a liability. I have been looking into alternative funding for the school. More people than you and your fanatic friends know about have decided we are taking back our school."

"You can try. But in the end you will learn that the sports fanatics as you call us will always run this place."

"You barged into my office to tell me that?"

"No, I came in here to get my eligibility back for the various after school groups I belonged to."

"Why should I do that? I agree with everything Ms. Q did to put you in your place."

"You're gonna do it because I did learn one thing from that archgeek. Since Tiffany was not punished and I was, I'm going to call a lawyer, than sue everybody involved."

"You're entire argument is that you want us to punish the victim?" I asked in shocked disbelief.

"The only victim here, is me."

I looked at her. She obviously refused to get it. "I despise everything you've said. If it were up to me, I would expel you and wipe your name from our records. But you have enough friends on the cheerleader squad that I'm allowing you back on it. Only the cheerleader squad. You mess up again, and I'll sign your expulsion papers before you even get to this office. I've already got them filled out."

"Burn them then. The athletes will establish their rule again. And we will put Koke in that chair." Heather pointed to the chair I was sitting in.

Chapter 89: Tiffany

11:41am

I was let out of class early to get ready for the spirit show. As I headed to the gym, I showed my note to the hall attendant. I could see in her face that she was wondering the same thing I was. Why did a program student need any time to change for the spirit show?

I agreed with such thoughts. But I was also a high school kid. No way I was turning down a way out of class. Wasn't happening.

Diane met me at the door. She had a concerned look on her face. "You sure you can do this?"

I tried not to sound as dead as I felt emotionally. But it was going to take something massive to get me to care about the world around me again. "No. But he would not want me to hide in depression. It's hard and it hurts."

"Then take some time off." She suggested. "Stay at home, rest, recover, watch cable. Just do something for yourself."

"That's a nice suggestion, with only one problem. If I stop living my normal life, they've won. I'm not going to let them win."

Coach Cane entered the room. "Ok. There are a lot of freshman in here, so I'm going to explain the procedures for the spirit show. At noon, everybody will be dismissed from whatever class they are in. Everybody will be in the stands by quarter after. We will be standing in two rows, forming an aisle for the athletes to run down between the locker room and the stage at the other end of the gym."

"Cheering and screaming our heads off, right coach?" Cindy commented.

Then I heard a voice I would have happily lived the rest of my life without hearing again. "Of course. We're cheerleaders." Heather was in the doorway.

And Jacob thinks the universe hates him.

Then I tensed up. Friends later told me I looked like a starving tiger getting ready to pounce on a lamb. Then I went to sack Heather like one of those football players she so admired.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Diane demanded as she and a few other cheerleaders held me back. I never knew she was that strong.

Heather waved a paper at us with the sort of triumphant look people love to punch before handing it to the coach. "The principal saw sense. He reinstated me and is deciding what punishment Tiffany will receive."

Through rage best compared to a simmering volcano, I noticed that a lot of cheerleaders were glad Heather was back.

"Settle down girls. I'll get to the bottom of this." Cane told us. "It's time to get in your places."

We got in our positions and got ready. I promised myself I'd act like I usually would.

There was a makeshift stage on one end of the gym with several banners cheering the school teams. The stands on both sides of the gym were filled. From the looks of the crowds, the booster store had made a lot of money that morning.

Mr. Bacon stepped up onto the makeshift stage and ignored the microphone. Like Jacob, he has a way of captivating an entire crowd with his unaided voice. His speech was as predictable as falling rain.

Ms. Q followed him. She repeated most of the principal's remarks. She sounded a lot cooler though.

Then various coaches were called up. The coaches called out the names of the athletes on their teams. As the athlete's names were called out, they would run between the cheerleaders to the applause of the crowd and cheers of their teammates.

Coach Bromby called out the soccer players' names. Once they all ran out, the coach surveyed the crowd. "It's already been an exciting year."

The crowd cheered.

"Our team is undefeated!"

The crowd cheered some more.

"Two of our juniors have already received full soccer scholarships."

There was even more cheering.

"Every year the players are asked to name somebody on the team who they think has made a real difference in the school and the team's performance. Usually this award is given to the leading scorer, or a student who has done something surprising to pull victory from defeat in a tough game. This year we have on a team a student who has shown us all what it means to stand in the face of adversity, to try to do the right thing when every self-persevering thought says duck and hide. It is now my great pleasure to report that yesterday, at our practice, the soccer team voted Jacob Stone Most Valuable Teammate for his contribution to the team, and to the school."

I cheered loudly at that.

Coach Bromby moved off the stage to stand with his players.

"And now, speaking for the football team is..." the principal started.

"Is me." Kevin finished for him as he jumped on the stage. His arm was in a sling.

"What happened to Koke?" Ms. Q asked.

"He was arrested."

The room went quiet.

"Don't let that ass spoil the party. I'm not good at speeches, so I'm going to call the players names and then shut up."

The principal whispered something into his ear.

"Ok. Ok. I'll say something. But nothing about Koke or what happened yesterday. I'm not the hero here. The hero's are the players, the ones who will win tomorrow and carry us to the championship! And here they are... Fred..."

"The crowd cheered."

"Dave..."

More loud cheering.

"Mike..."

Suddenly the cheering stopped as if turned of by a switch.

Koke shoved Kevin aside. He purposely pushed on Kevin's broken arm.

Kevin managed not to fall off the makeshift stage.

Koke grabbed the mike as it fell out of Kevin's hand. "I'll take that. Good news, everyone. I'm back and Stone's been stopped. First thing I want to say right now is that those traitors, Fred and Kevin are expelled from the football team."

Fred jumped up to the stage and stood next to Kevin. "How the hell did you get out of jail?"

"I made my bail. And now I'm back."

"What?" I think I was just short of going into shock.

"You can't be serious!" Fred and Kevin said almost in unison.

"He is." Jacob's voice rang out from where the athletes had been entering.

There is a moment of shocked silence. Then the entire place broke out in applause.

Jacob walked down the pathway between the cheerleaders, his attention concentrated on Koke. His attention was so concentrated, it was as if the rest of the universe had ceased to exist.

"You again?? Will you please die?" said a very exasperated coach Koke.

"I tried that. They sent me back."

I saw Heather take advantage of Jacob's distraction to trip him.

Chapter 90: Jacob

Personal log (voice), J. J. Stone, Captain of the Flying Dutchman, 12:30 pm, October 28th 2006.

"You again??" the coach told me, "Will you please die?"

"I tried that. They sent me back."

Suddenly I fell. Hard.

Being tripped unexpectedly tends to cause such things to happen.

Tiffany rushed over to help me up as several other people start to advance on Heather.

I should have known she'd be involved.

"No."

Apparently I had only whispered it.

The way the crowds were advancing on her, it was obvious they did not hear me.

Tempting as it has been increasingly getting, I cannot waste time on her. She can escape. The fireworks I'm about to cause are to be centered on Koke.

Several people helped me back to my feet. I took a deeper breath, then spoke louder, "No, leave the poor fool alone. She is not my target today."

The principal looked hesitant, but he made himself ask, "Who is your main target?"

I moved to where I could address everybody. "I am through playing the games expected of me. Today I am going to end this. Once and for all. I know what Koke's immediate fate will be. I will tell you all, and you will comply."

"You little fucker, who the hell are you to say what's going to happen to me?" he started moving to the edge of the makeshift stage.

Then I did it.

Once and for all I embraced The Legend.

"Who I am is the persecuted made triumphant. Who I am is the activist who deals with senators and the like as often as you deal with junk email. Who I am is the man who broke the bounds of science. Who I am is the man that they thought died for love, only to live again to face the fates. Who I am is Jacob Jehoooooooooooooosephat Stone. And may whatever god you worship have mercy on what I leave of you if you make one further move in my direction."

There was total silence.

Dramatic speech out of the way, I continued. "Koke's back because his contract requires employment in the district until he is proven guilty, no matter the crime."

"Exactly. You will never win."

His smugness would have been getting really annoying, had I not known what was coming.

"How do you know that?" the principal asked.

"I know it because I've more connections then there are people in this room. Plus there is more than one route to any victory."

Ms. Q asked worriedly, "What have you got in mind?"

"Simple. He is to be transferred to the part of the school caretakers that deals with scraping gum off of student desks. Also he can be allowed to clean the bathrooms spotless, with a broken toothbrush. He is to be stripped of all teaching duties, and all coaching duties."

"Never. No nerd is going to get me thrown out of my coaching job."

"That's a bit harsh." the principal noted.

"Indeed. But I'm afraid you have no choice. Before I came here, I stopped in the Dutchman, and called the superintendent. As soon as he learned the full history, the super was eager to accept my recommendations. It seems the fact my next call was going to be to my favorite members of the press had an effect on him."

"You're serious?" the principal said. There was no questioning tone in his voice however.

"I am. To make my victory sweeter, I am also taking command of the football team."

"No!" Koke screamed.

The principal whispered something harshly to Koke.

Koke shuts up.

All Kevin could hear was something about giving up, the school's not supporting him... there are worse fates then Stone has come up with.

"What happens if we comply?" The principal asked. "After all this, you cannot expect to go back to being a normal student."

"No, I do not expect that. I was never a normal student. I've stopped resisting that fact. I have embraced the legend I first created in self defense. But remember, the legend has a sense of honor."

"That is good enough."

Chapter 91: Ms. Q

2:50pm

I went to my office after letting my last class of the day out a little early.

They are going to enjoy the next ten minutes.

I'm not.

I knew trouble was coming ever since the Naked In School project's sponsors in the senate came looking for schools to run their pilot programs in. They said that free viewing of naked bodies is something the teens would love. Well, they have to put a few more protections in place for the rights of the students in the program.

I would love to know what convinced them that the students would not factor the program into the high school mentality. Maybe, when they are in college, they might be mature enough to grasp the respect parts.

Maybe.

There was a knock at the door. It was soft, lifeless, just loud enough to be heard.

That would be Tiffany Mary French, the female guinea pig for this week.

Then there was a knock that sounded like an annoyed deity had arrived.

Jacob Jehosophat Stone had arrived.

"Come on in you two."

Jacob opened the door and waved for Tiffany to enter first.

Tiffany entered. She looked around and chose a seat.

Jacob entered, checked the room, and closed the door. He moved towards the wall and stood there.

That was because the other two chairs in my office were occupied.

One held a male.

The other held a female.

I indicated the male. "This is Dr. Rodgers with the state board of education."

Tiffany did not look like she cared.

Jacob gave one of his self assured nods.

The woman was a different story. She started to introduce herself. "And I'm...

"Sarah Hennings, from senator Clinton's educational advisory board." Jacob finished for her. "How's Hillary?"

How can he act as if this was just another meeting?

Tiffany's mouth dropped as Jacob asked after the New York senator.

"Senator Clinton is fine." She said a little stiffly.

"Let me introduce our program students for this week."

"No," Dr. Rodgers interrupted, "let them speak for themselves."

"Now, you young man. Who are you?"

Jacob just pulled out a card. He passed it around.

Tiffany and Ms. Q. passed the card on to the visitors.

Dr. Rodgers took the card and read it. "Afternoon, Mr. Stone."

Then Sarah Hennings took the card. She read it. "No." She took another look at the card. Then she took a closer look at Jacob.

Jacob asked, "Is there a problem?"

Hennings gave him a look. "You know damn well what the problem is."

"Please tell me that you are not one of those short sighted adults who think teenagers cannot do anything without adult guidance."

"Can they?"

"Check your history. Chap by the name of Alexander the Great took over all of the world that he knew about. He did this as a teenager."

"So?"

"If one teenager can conquer his world, why cannot another teenager change his small part of it?"

Hennings was silent.

I decided to take control of the conversation going on in my office.

"Enough of that. Whether he is a famous activist or not, today he is here as a program student. Jacob, Tiffany, the students run though the program are usually asked their thoughts on it by Dr. Rogers so that a report can be made and we here at the school can improve it. Due to the events of this last week, Mrs. Hennings came down from New York to learn first hand some of the problems we've had."

Dr. Rodgers turned to Tiffany. "Now then young lady, what's your name and how did the program help you?"

I flinched at that.

Tiffany spoke in her emotionally dead voice. "I'm Tiffany French. I'm a freshman. It started out as a way to expand my horizons. They told me this program was to expose social insecurities and build a better social reality." Tiffany stopped there.

"Yes?" Dr. Rodgers asked.

Hennings looked at her. "Please go on."

She issued her damning indictment with all the emotion of a houseplant. "It exposed my body to every sex driven male in the high school. There are claims that this program teaches respect for our bodies. I was not shown much respect. People from students to teachers thought the fact that I was walking around naked made me a sex toy. The rule about not being able to say no made it easy for everybody to do what he or she wanted. What do you think that teaches us? And it did not build me up. It destroyed me. In the last week, I've been verbally attacked, attacked under the stands, physically assaulted by a teacher, raped and nearly murdered by the same teacher. Plus there is every indication that it was the rape that gave me AIDS."

Jacob moved away from where he was to stand next to Tiffany. He put his hand reassuringly on Tiffany's shoulder. "Now it is my turn. For the record, I am Jacob Jehosophat Stone. I was put in the program this week, and because of it, I was the focal point of a feud with the football team over their rights to torment who they pleased. While the program was not responsible for this mentality, it gave this mentality quite a desirable target. As for me, I won the battle, but ended up in the hospital. It was only because of a revolutionary procedure that I'm still alive."

"What do you think of the program?"

"Are you really sure you want me to answer that?"

"Yes." Mrs. Hennings snapped. "He would not have asked you otherwise."

"Very well. I find it rather flawed. It's high goals are endangered by the low mentalities that your target audience will/have shown."

"Do you know there will be a meeting on this on Saturday?"

"Yes. I've been told this. What exactly I'm going to say, I'm still deciding."

"You were right. I'm used to thinking that kids your age need a lot of guidance. But Tiffany is right. This program is supposed to teach respect. However, it's our goal to have this respect between everybody. That means I have to respect your reputation. Even if I'm uncomfortable with the age of the man that earned it."

Jacob nodded. A slight grunt escaped him. "Sorry. Still getting used to needing this cane."

I indicated the edge of my desk. "Go ahead. You will not get in trouble."

"Thanks." Jacob sat on the corner.

Chapter 92: Tiffany

2:59pm

Jacob nodded. A slight grunt escaped him. "Sorry. Still getting used to needing this cane."

Ms. Q. indicated the edge of her desk. "Go ahead. You will not get in trouble."

"Thanks." Jacob sat down.

I watched as Jacob limped to Ms. Q's desk.

Ms. Q cleared off a corner for Jacob.

There are those who think teenagers are willing to accept nearly anything. To a point, they are right. Why should we think about things we do not understand or cannot change? Why should we care about things that do not affect us? But even I'm having trouble believing just how easily Jacob returned. He mentioned something about an experimental procedure. He also told me that medicine was not his specialty. It is mine, and what he told me still seemed a bit futuristic. And I still think it is amazing that all he paid for the events of this last week was a permanently damaged leg.

Dr. Rodgers let Mrs. Hennings finish swallowing her pride. Then he asked Jacob, "What would it take for you to put your support behind this?"

Jacob looked blankly back.

Or he thought he did.