Chapter 15

They drew quite a bit of attention when Mark drove up with Kristen beside him. Students and teachers watched even more curiously as he solemnly escorted her to her locker, then walked her to class, staying beside her in the nearly empty room until the teacher arrived. By the time he left her to go find the principal, the whispering had already started in earnest.

Principal Ward was in his office, peacefully drinking coffee and enjoying the morning paper when Mark walked in without knocking and closed the door behind him. He collapsed in the chair in front of the desk and glared at the man with obvious annoyance. Before Ward can say anything, he asked, "Why didn't you warn me about her father?"

Ward frowned, puzzled. "What about him? I did tell you he was eccentric."

"Eccentric!" Mark snarled. "He's holding me personally responsible for her safety. Or else."

"What?" Ward still looked confused. "Why?"

Mark threw his hands up in the air. "How should I know? Maybe because I'm the one who came to him about it. All I know is that if I don't do everything in my power to keep his little girl safe ... well, never mind. But it won't be pretty."

The principal shook his head. "I did not know that would happen, Mark. Jesus, the man is a total ... I'm sorry."

"It's okay, I guess." Mark sighed dramatically. "I wanted to help her anyway. Be careful what you wish for, I guess. The rumors are going to start, though. Actually, they probably already have. I drove her to school today, and walked her to her locker and then to class. I am not risking her dad thinking I'm not taking this seriously."

"Understandable. I'll speak with the other teachers privately and let them know what's going on. I can't do anything about the students, unfortunately."

Mark nodded, making a face. "Yeah. I'm probably going to have a little trouble with students blaming me for her decision, though if they actually say something to me, I can quietly set them straight." He rubbed his eyes. "For some strange reason, I didn't sleep very well last night. Go figure. I think she'll be spending a fair amount of time at my place when her father's out of town. I'll try to have another student around as a ... well, chaperone. At least when I can." He looked at the principal. "Are you going to have trouble with the school board when word gets around? I'll try to do waht I can to minimize the rumors, but that's not going to be much."

Ward shook his head. "I honestly do not know. Most of them have had some sort of confrontation with Steven Davis at one point or another. He's well known for being a bit over the top. I think they'll understand."

"Good." Mark sighed again. "Well, at least I got a shot of good vodka out of it. I think he wanted to make sure he caught me off guard." He glanced at the clock. "I'd better get to class."

The principal nodded and said again, "I'm sorry, Mark."

Mark just sighed, shook his head, and left.

Mark was unsurprised to find that the rumors had, indeed, started. A few of them were unexpected. Such as the one that the reason she stopped seeing other guys was that Mark was incredibly jealous and possessive and threatened to kill anyone who touched her. He frowned, and started looking for a chance to talk to David and Kevin. Unfortunately, Kevin avoided him like the plague, and David glared daggers through his skull every time he saw him, then turned pointedly away.

Finally, Mark resorted to actually calling them into his classroom.

Kevin leaned nervously against the wall. David glared sullenly. "What do you want?" he asked.

Mark sighed. "You've obviously heard the rumors. Wonderful. It would have been nice if you'd given me the benefit of the doubt, but fine." He glared at them. "For your information, Kristen's father is holding me personally responsible for her safety. Personally. Just because I was the one who had to talk to him about what's going on."

"Oh." David blinked. "So you're not..."

"Going to kill someone just because they talk to her? No." Mark threw up his hands. "Which is, by the way, an incredibly stupid rumor, since I heard about last wednesday at lunch. You're still alive, aren't you?"

David shook his head, stubbornly ignoring the question. "So you're not sleeping with her, is what I meant," he corrected him.

He just stared at the boy. "Give me some credit for having a few brains, David. She's underage, and she's a student to boot. That would be just about the stupidest move I could make."

Kevin looked at him skeptically. "Man, if she wanted you to, you would. Anyone would."

Mark snorted. "Then maybe I'm lucky that she decided to become celibate. I have no desire to throw away my freedom and career, just for a roll in the hay." He became serious, and looked at them. "Look, she's what, fourteen? Ask me again in three years, when she's legal, and the answer might be different. But for now -- I am not going to risk everything just for sex."

David shook his head again. "You're not dumb enough to admit that you'd do it. But you are human. It doesn't matter. The important thing is that you're not going to try and treat her like your personal

property and keep her from doing what she wants."

Mark just shook his head. "Even if I was sleeping with her, I wouldn't do that. As is, of course I'm not going to do that. All I'm going to try to do is keep her safe."

"Good. That rumor might be a good thing then," David said, surprising the hell out of Mark.

"Huh?"

"It'll keep at least some of the jerks from bothering her when she doesn't want to be bothered."

"Yep." Kevin nodded in agreement with his friend. "A lot of guys who wouldn't think anything of hassling her won't want to mess with you."

Mark raised his eyebrows, and then looked thoughtful. "I guess that makes sense. And they'll be mad at me, not at her, so if they come after anyone ... that could be useful."

"Yep." David grinned. "Big, muscular adult males who blow things up are much less likley to be harrassed than pretty little girls."

"Indeed," Mark agreed with a smile.

Kayla confronted him at lunch. "What the fuck is going on?"

"Huh?"

"Have you suddenly turned suicidal, or what? Have a sudden craving to become the luvslave of a burly inmate named Chet?"

Mark stared at her, confused.

She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "I come in this morning, and half a dozen people ask me if it's true that you've decided Kristen is yours and did you really beat up Aaron because he looked at her?"

He blinked, then sighed. "Oh. That. I assumed that Kristen would have told you, since y'all are friends." He spoke as if they were being overheard, mindful of his half-open door. "Her father decided to hold me personally responsible for her safety, so I brought her to school and escorted her to her first class." He made a face. "Which reminds me, I'd like to ask you for a favor. She's probably going to spend a fair amount of time at my place when her father is out of town, and I'd feel better if there was a ... chaperone around. Maybe that will help defuse the rumors. If it was two guys, with her reputation people would just say we were both ... well."

Kayla stared at him in disbelief, then fought not to laugh. "Uh. I see. Sure, I'll talk to my mom about it."

Mark nodded. "Thanks. You know, these rumors might be useful. If people think I made her stop, maybe they'll be mad at me, not her."

"Um. Yeah. That makes sense." She leaned forward over the desk and whispered, "You have got some serious balls, there, Mark."

He just grinned, and whispered back, "I'd think you would know."

"I can't believe you really have the nerve... " Kayla shook her head, grinning.

Mark chuckled. "It's the perfect cover, though."

"No better lie than the truth, I guess," she agreed, smiling. "Just be careful."

"I am. The nice thing is that I can be visibly worried about her safety."

"Yeah. Okay, well, I'm gonna go have lunch with her. Don't beat me up, k?"

Mark grinned. "Go eat." He headed to the teachers lounge to eat himself.

There were more rumors after lunch, mainly saying that the fact that Kristen was in the cafeteria for the entire lunch break confirmed the earlier rumors. On the positive side, though, the principal seemed to have talked to the teachers, because the disapproval ... and in a couple of notable cases, extreme jealousy ... which was radiating from them before lunch was gone.

The rest of the week followed a similar pattern. Mark and Kristen would spend the night either at his house or Steven's, he would drive her to school and escort her to her locker and then to class. No more threatening notes appeared, and if the rumors didn't die down, then at least they didn't get any worse.

They made plans for the wedding, and spent a lot of time in enjoyable exploration. Kayla was over for at least a couple of hours each day, ostensibly to 'tutor Kristen in math'. They discovered that any morning Kristen started out glowing slightly, she could skip her traditional 'lunch break', a discovery that pleased her immensely and resulted in her actually gaining a pound or so during the week.

The girls seemed to have a lot of fun together, in bed and out. They laughed a lot, and teased each other and Mark. Kristen nagged Kayla into doing her English homework; Kayla nudged Kristen into completing her algebra rather than burning it. All week Mark watched them together, and he grew more and more convinced that he needed to have a serious talk with Kristen.

Friday night, after Kayla had gone home and Kristen was happily snuggled up to him on the couch, he bent and kissed her forehead. "Hey, love. Need to talk to you," he said, unable to hide his nervousness.

She looked up at him apprehensively, eyes wide. "What's wrong? Is it tomorrow?"

Mark shook his head. "No. It's ... well, to be honest, I'm scared to bring it up. It's not anything bad, but I'm scared to death I'll say it wrong, and make you think it is, and hurt your feelings. I wouldn't bring it up, but I want to be up front with you about everything, so that you never have to worry or wonder about how I feel."

"Mark..." Now she sounded truly scared. "Just tell me. Please."

He kissed her gently. "You know I love you, right? And you know Kayla's in love with you too."

"Yeah, I know," she said quietly, almost a whisper.

"How do you feel about her? Any less confused?"

"I ... I still don't know." She looked away. "I just don't want to do anything to screw things up. This week has been so nice."

Mark kissed her again. "It sounds like there's something you would like to do, but you are afraid it will screw things up. Want to talk about it?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. If things stayed just like they are, I'd be happier than I've ever been in my life."

"Which do you like better, her going home and not making any demands, or when she spent the night with us last week?" he asked.