Chapter 13

The bell rang as they were getting up to return Jason's tray to the cafeteria, and Kylie hurried him across the yard.

"C'mon." She tugged his hand as they headed back to the hall. "I can't be late for chemistry!"

He grinned at her. "Okay," he said, picking her up and running. She was stunned for a moment, then laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding on tightly.

"There you go," he said, setting her down outside her classroom. The hall exploded into whistles and catcalls as she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down for a kiss.

"Now you hurry up and don't be late," she said, blushing brightly and ducking into the classroom.

His friends looked at him oddly during econ, obviously wondering what had him so happy, but the need to take notes and pay attention kept them from asking.

When he picked her up at the door to her chem class, she was giggling and covered in crease marks.

"Kylie?" he asked, puzzled.

She giggled some more. "Dr. Rourke let me make up the lab I couldn't finish yesterday. But the aprons just weren't enough, and they wouldn't let him let me get dressed, so he found me this... thing ... like a jumpsuit made out of clear plastic made to fit skin tight ... but skin tight on someone about twice my size. You should have seen it, I looked so silly! But it worked. Thing is ... I think maybe it came out of his wife's closet!"

Jason snickered. "I wish I'd seen that. Hey, wait for me a sec? I need to talk to him."

"Okay," Kylie said, frowning in puzzlement as he left her standing there.

"Mr. Rourke?" he asked quietly. "Could I ask a favor?"

Rourke glanced at Kylie, waiting by the door, then smiled, an uncommon expression for him. "Oh?"

"Could I get your phone number, in case I need to get ahold of you after school?" he asked. "I'm ... seeing some things that worry me. I might need to talk to someone who knows how things are around here."

Rourke frowned, but nodded. "That's no problem." He jotted it down on a sticky note, glancing at Kylie out of the corner of his eye. "Quite a difference between gym class and now," he said, his tone not quite making it a question.

Jason nodded. "Yeah. We had a nice long talk." He grinned. "But then, I think you're supposed to do that with your girlfriend. I'm not sure though, since I've never had one before."

Dr. Rourke frowned worriedly. "Ah. That would explain things, then."

Jason nodded. "We did have a nice long talk. We set some rules, based on what we could handle. It might not work ... but I hope it does. And I'm willing to risk getting my heart broken. Kylie's worth it," he said, making sure the last couple of sentences were loud enough for Kylie to hear.

"Not just your heart, but congratulations," Rourke said, looking at Jason with eyes the same sea-green as Kylie's.

Jason looked back at him, not sure if that was 'not just your heart', or 'not just your heart'. "I'm going to do my best to make it work," he said seriously. "If it wasn't, it won't be because I didn't try. We might be too different for it to work, but I hope not. That would be too cruel."

Rourke smiled. "Your best is all anyone can ask. Now go on, or you'll be late."

"Just needed to get some info from him," Jason said to Kylie's questioning look when he returned. "Did I tell you I met him at the dojo yesterday?"

"Huh," she said. "No, you didn't."

"Yeah. I was pretty worked up, so he dumped me on my ass a few times," Jason said. "He's good."

"I never would have imagined," Kylie said. "Huh."

"That's how I knew the dojo did Aikido," Jason said. He looked at the door to the computer room and sighed. "Now we get to freeze."

"Yeah," she said, nodding. "Shoulda kept my Saran wrap."

"We could go back and borrow it," he suggested.

Kylie laughed, and stopped to let a passing boy grope her. To her obvious shock and embarrassment, and the boy's surprise and delight, she was clearly enjoying it.

"Hey, it's okay to enjoy it," Jason whispered in her ear. "I think it's cool."

Kylie turned her head away, unwilling to meet anyone's eyes, and the boy gave her one last pet before heading to class, still grinning. Jason turned her to face him, giving her a gentle kiss.

"I'm not used to this," she said, blushing brightly. "Before ... when I didn't know how it felt, it was different."

"I know," he said, nodding. "It's okay." He sighed again, looking at the door to the computer room. "I guess we'd better get it over with."

"It's not that bad," she said, laughing. "I like computers."

"They're fun, I guess," he said.

Kylie shook her head. "We need to learn these things. It's important, not something stupid like home-ec."

"I guess so."

She tilted her head. "You've got to take something seriously, you know."

"Huh?" Jason asked, surprised.

Kylie shivered as she walked in the door. "You've got to have something that's important, something you care about."

"Hey -- I care about football!" Jason protested.

Kylie laughed. "I know that. Everyone knows that. But what about real stuff?"

"What do you mean," Jason said, confused. "Football's real."

Kylie hesitated, obviously not sure what to say. "Um. Yeah, but it's not something you can do forever, you know?" she offered hesitantly.

"Well, yeah," he said. "I'll probably go to college and do something."

"Right. So don't you want to be able to do whatever kind of 'something' you finally decide on?" she asked.

"Well, yeah."

"So? Then you've got to decide what's important for what you ultimately want," she said. " Most things, computers have to be part of them."

Jason looked at her, lost. "Okay, what exactly are you trying to say?"

"Um ... I'm not sure, really. Just that--" She stopped, looking uncertain. "I mean, isn't it a good thing to plan ahead?" she asked, nibbling her bottom lip. "And act now based on what you want to reach then?"

Jason opened his mouth, angry, but stopped at the timid look on her face. It had clearly scared her to death to say that, and he felt his anger draining away. "You're saying I don't plan ahead?" he asked.

Kylie took a nervous step back. "N-no. You just never mentioned anything, so I was just asking."

"Wait," he said, reaching for her hand. "Sorry. I shouldn't have gotten upset. I guess I just haven't thought about it..." He looked thoughtful. "And I guess that would mean you were right, wouldn't it?"

"No, I'm sorry. It's none of my business," she said, watching him nervously.

"Yes it is, if you're my girlfriend," he said. "You've got a right to tell me if I'm making a mistake."

Kylie shook her head. "No, what you do with your life is your business. I don't have a right to criticize things I don't know anything about. I'm sorry."

Jason pulled her a little closer. "Kylie, you're one of the smartest people I know. I care about what you think about me. So I'm asking -- do you think I'm making a mistake?"

She squeezed his hand, but wouldn't meet his eyes.

"I really want to know," he said, tilting her chin up with one hand.

She nodded once, quickly. "Yes ... maybe ... not a huge one, but ... it wouldn't hurt to think about it." Her voice got tighter with each word.

He sighed. "Oh." He glanced down before looking back at her. "Okay. I'll think about it. Thanks."

Kylie smiled with obvious relief before heading to her seat.

Class itself was uneventful. Chilly, of course. It was hard enough to pay attention to start with, but watching his girlfriend's hard little nipples jiggling every time she shivered made it impossible.

He figured it was a fair trade.

Kylie sprinted out of the classroom as soon as the bell rang, wrapping her arms around herself and rubbing her upper arms. "Brr ... I take it back. I'm almost ready to cut that class for the rest of the week!"

Jason nodded. "Think we can get fur coats considered protective gear?"

"Doubt it," Kylie said, giggling. "Though I'd settle for an electric blanket. I'm never going to be warm again."

Jason wiggled his eyebrows and wrapped his arms around her. "Maybe I can warm you up."

She giggled again and leaned back against him before yelping. "Eep! You're like an iceberg!"

"Mmm. Maybe not," he said. "Maybe we could step outside into the sun for a couple of minutes before class?"

"It's almost tempting to provoke groping just for the body heat ... Yeah, just for a second to thaw out," she said.

Unfortunately, a storm had rolled in while they were in class, and it began to pour seconds after they stepped outside.

Jason sighed. "Figures."

Kylie laughed helplessly and dashed back inside, now wet and cold. When approached by a potential groper, she responded to his request with, "Well, I don't know ... are you warm?" thus confusing the hell out of him. She actually sighed with pleasure as his warm hands cupped her breasts, allowing her painfully hard nipples to relax.

"One more class and we're done," she said. "This has been the longest day..." She frowned as she tossed her books back in her locker and glanced in the mirror.

"Something wrong?" Jason asked.

She lightly touched the dark bruise that covered most of the left side of her lower ribs. "This looks awful. My father is going to be mad."

"Mad? Why?" he asked.

She hesitated for just a second. "Because I got in a fight, of course."

"You didn't start it, though."

Kylie shook her head. "It doesn't matter. I'm not supposed to fight. It is not proper."

He was silent as they walked to class, not sure what to say. Finally, he said, "Hey. I think you did the right thing."

She looked at him in shock. "To hurt someone? You think that's the right thing?"

"To defend yourself, yes," he said. "You didn't start it." He grinned a little. "And I heard what you said. I just wish she'd understood it."

Kylie blushed brightly. "Oh god! I didn't think anyone heard that. I'm so ashamed."

Jason grinned wider. "Don't be. I thought it was great."

"Jason, I'm not a violent person!" she said. "I should have just ignored her ... but I was so angry, and it was just too much and I totally lost control of myself. It's nothing to be proud of. I could have really hurt her."

He looked at her. "Kylie, yes, you could have. And she was trying to hurt you. Look, you were not yourself. It was a hard morning, and we'd just come out of one hell of an upsetting discussion. It's understandable."

"Taking my problem out on other people? Acting like a rabid animal? Not to me, it isn't," she said.

"Hey." He pulled her close. "It's okay. So maybe you made a mistake -- it's nothing compared to the mistake I made this morning when I hurt you."

Kylie nuzzled his chest. "You didn't know. You were just being honest."

"I know," he said. "But it was still a mistake, and it still hurt you. And if you don't want me to beat myself up over it, then you shouldn't beat yourself up over yours."

Kylie looked somewhat skeptical, but hugged him, pulling him after her into the classroom.

His friends started teasing him almost immediately. The large cheerleaderish contingent of the class contented themselves with spiteful whispers and nasty looks, for the most part, but one made a point to have him stand and pose while she rubbed against him, to his irritation.

When she failed to get the reaction she was looking for, she stepped back and glared at him. "We didn't know you got into little girls, Jason. When you're ready to play with grownup women again, let us know." She turned angrily and flounced back to her seat.

Jason smiled as he walked back to his seat. "Well, Sherry, if you'd actually been doing it because you liked what you saw, instead of trying to get at my girlfriend, I might have ended up asking you for relief. But all you did was annoy me with your pettiness." He looked at Kylie's little breasts, then at Sherry's. "And at least her tits don't point at the floor."