Chapter 12: The Set-up

Thursday morning arrived, cool but sunny. Stick sat on the front steps of the school, sunning himself; boredom had sent him to bed early and gotten him up equally early, so he was among the first arrivals. A familiar vehicle entered the parking lot, and Teddy Frick extracted himself from it. Stick eyed the approach; Teddy was strutting a bit, mebbe? "Yo!"

"Yo!" Teddy returned the hail, grinning. Yeh, he looked cocky, all right.

"So, how's our woman?" Stick managed not to say 'bitch, or 'ho'; it wasn't politic, he figured. Somebody might hear, and there'd be a shit storm, if and when Mary did. This was an uncommon bit of courtesy for Stick, but...

Teddy kept grinning. "She was fine when I left -- but her mother wasn't! She caught me, er, in the saddle..."

Stick grunted a quick chuckle. "Is it gonna be a fuckin' problem?"

Teddy shrugged. "Can't say." He didn't seem to be bothered, though. In fact, he seemed pretty cocky, something new for the little guy. Mebbe this shit was good fer him, after all...

"So, how was it?"

"Pretty damned good!" Teddy's eyes challenged.

Yeh, cocky. Well, good. "Friday still on?"

"If her mother doesn't get in the way... Guess Mary will tell us." Teddy settled a bit.

Stick nodded. There was nothing else to say; the next bit of info would come from Mary.

Nate wheeled up next; Nora got out of the passenger door. Stick was still amazed that Nate hadn't fucked that up, yet. It was pretty obvious he hadn't, though; he was all over Nora, and she wasn't complaining. If Stick wasn't getting pussy from Mary, he'd probably be giving Nate shit; as it was, rocking the boat wasn't smart. Draper and Tenisha arrived together, too, a few minutes later; in this case, it seemed that Tenisha was the hanger, and Draper the hangee, but again, nobody was complaining. Draper settled on the step, and Tenisha settled on his lap, and Draper merely grinned a lot while Tenisha nibbled at his neck. Tuesday evening, Tenisha had lured Draper up to her bedroom, and had somehow managed to trip him and land under him with her legs open; Draper hadn't been the same, since. Once was a fluke, as far as Draper was concerned. But for Tenisha to go to all that effort to climb on his cock the second time... Stick watched out of the corner of his eye as Draper's hand disappeared beneath Tenisha's tank top; seconds later, her eyes popped, but she didn't yell...

Finally, Mary hove into view; Teddy and Stick gravitated to her. "Teddy says there was some excitement, wit' your Momma last night..." Stick offered.

Mary grunted. "Yeah. She read me the Riot Act after Teddy left, but she's not as hot as she could have been... Teddy, she considers to be a long-term project of mine, and therefore not too terrible; you, on the other hand..." Stick grimaced. "She figures you're just in it for the ride..."

"What about Friday?" Teddy erupted.

"We're gonna do it," Mary insisted, "Just make sure I don't scream!" Both boys nodded. "Teddy, it's an all-nighter. Prep your mother!"

"Shit! Any ideas?" Teddy was blank.

"Sleep-over?" Mary tossed out.

Teddy grimaced. "Where? Stick's? Gimme a break! Uh, no offense."

Stick snickered. "None taken. It was 'bout as funny to me!"

"Party of some type?" Mary suggested.

"Maybe. I'll come up with something. Science Club outing, or something."

"Tell her you're going to do some astronomy with a friend! All night sky watching party!" Mary suggested.

"Kewl! I'll have to get Randall to cover me..." Teddy enthused.

"How hard is that?" Mary wondered aloud.

Teddy sobered. "It'd be easier if I had something to offer..."

Stick nudged Mary. "Lend him a coupla fuck flicks..."

Teddy nodded. "Better than nothing..."

"Ol' Randall never seen pussy! An' he's hurtin' bad! Too bad we couldn't get him the real fuckin' thing..." Stick shut up for a second, and looked guilty. "Uh, that came out wrong. I ain't sharin' -- too bad we don't have another source..."

Mary, who'd been just putting on steam to take offense, went poker- faced. "Teddy, see if you can sell the videos. If you can't, though, maybe I can come up with something. Randall wouldn't be looking for prime..."

Teddy shook his head. "Randall wouldn't recognize prime! Besides, I'm pretty sure he has other standards... If we were really hooking him up, I'd look for a brainy girl..."

"One of THOSE might be easier to find..." Mary simpered. She ruffled Teddy's locks. "Let Mother Mary check with her contacts... DON'T promise anything; I'll let you know if I can find some bait to dangle..." She frowned a moment. "It might help if I knew what kind of equipment I was selling..."

"Pecker size?" Stick grinned. " 'Bout like this..." He measured out about seven inches between two fingers. "Narrow, like mine..." He chuckled. "Stiff alla time..." Teddy snickered. Randall had a perpetual erection.

"Well..." Mary mused. "THAT might help..."

Nate drew Nora aside. "Uh, I need to talk to ya."

"Honey?" Nora looked mildly concerned. "Problem?"

"Yeh." Nate stewed a moment. "Mama wants to see ya."

"Okay..." Nora got cautious.

"I can't see no upside. Mama ain't exactly a trophy..."

"Ashamed of me?" Nora teased.

"Nah. Other way 'round." Nate stewed a moment. "Mama's... a piece o' work."

"Well, some people are, Honey. You deal with it." Nora rubbed his back. What was he so uptight about?

"It's worse'n that," Nate sighed. "Look, Mama's a... doper. She does drugs, heavy."

"Oh." What would Daddy say to THIS?

Having gathered his courage, Nate plowed on, "An' everything that goes with it, too. She don't work -- well, not a regular job. Anything for a fix. Hookin' most often." He couldn't meet her eyes. "Your Daddy knows; we talked 'bout it, Sunday..."

Nora's reaction was more or less the opposite of what Nate expected. Her only REAL worry about the issue was relieved by his last comment! She went back to rubbing his back, "My poor Baby! So, what do you figure she's up to?"

"I dunno," Nate shrugged. "Could be anything, from tryin' to figure out what kinda white chick would want my ass to tryin' to work some angle to get money outta your Daddy..." He hesitated a moment, then: "Probably both..."

Nora's hand continued to massage Nate's back without pause while she absorbed this. "Well, as long as she doesn't go nuts on me for some reason, I can handle a visit with your Mama, Honey -- and as for Daddy, he can take care of himself! Give your girl a kiss, and let's go to class..." Nate could DO that...

Randall Braithwaite was one of those semi-unique items that seems to populate every school, one to a customer. He was a bony, fresh-faced kid with freckles and thick eyeglasses under thick, springy hair that he currently had styled in a comic parody of a classic comb-over; such was its bulk that it looked like a toupee that was three sizes too big for his head. One look at Randall told you that he was going to grow up to be a mad scientist --but he was running a bit late on the growing-up part. What one look DIDN'T tell you was that forty percent of his attention span was perpetually given over fantasies about just about any female that drifted into view; Randall had gotten his first stiffie at about nine, and basically, it hadn't gone down since. But Randall had 'Geek' tattooed on his forehead in a color invisible to him but that fluoresced for virtually everyone else... Randall was vice-president of the Chess Club, a mover and shaker in the Computer Club (and a bit more than a 'script kiddie'), and he WAS the Astronomy Club; his eight inch Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector was its sole viewing asset. If Teddy was going to make Friday night work, Randall was the guy to make it happen. "Hey, Randall!"

"Yo!"

"I need a favor, Man." Teddy closed in and got conspiratorial.

"Sure," Randall replied, "Let's hear it."

"I need you to cover me Friday night. Tell Momma I'm with you doing an all-night Astronomy Club thing."

"So you can do what?" Randall raised an eyebrow.

"Spend the night with..."

"Mary Nally?" Randall nudged Teddy. Randall had to be one of the few people on Earth who not only wouldn't give Teddy shit over his liaison with Mary, but would contrive to be envious. "Are you really getting that? Wow!"

Teddy affected an excess of outraged propriety, "A gentleman doesn't tell!"

"Yeah, right! Just a little, Man! C'mon! How big is it? What do her titties look like?"

"That's a great way to lose a girl, Man!" Teddy rolled his eyes. "Telling everybody details..."

Randall smirked. "This is too funny, though; I can remember when you wanted me to cover you from HER!" He mused a moment. "Yeah, maybe I should have been a real friend and thrown myself to the lions, there..." His eyes danced.

"Too late, I'm already ruined," Teddy grinned back.

"I guess. Good shit?"

"Duh! Am I trying to date it again?" Teddy rolled his eyes.

"Damn..." Randall drifted in fantasyland for a moment. "So, is this going to be a regular thing? And what do I get out of it?"

"How about if I can lay hands on a couple of porn flicks you can borrow for the weekend?"

"Oh, great! So you get laid, and I have to date my hand... again!"

"What do you expect? That I should share?" Tim eyed him.

"Well, there's that Stick dude. What's up with that?"

"That's... complicated." Teddy had no excuses prepared for this. "It's a competition, I guess. One of us is going to get her, but it isn't clear which, yet. I can't be dragging in somebody ELSE -- that's for sure!"

"Well, I guess you're holding up your end..." Randall looked dubious. Tales of how black dudes with serious cocks made sex slaves out of white girls weren't exactly unheard of, in his limited experience.

"It's equal opportunity, thus far," Teddy asserted. "And Stick's a decent sort, once you get to know him..."

"He got a monster cock?" Randall asked carefully. Best to let Teddy down easy, if that's where things were headed; Randall had seen Teddy, and wasn't that impressed.

"Well, it's kinda long, but it's a lot narrower than mine," Teddy replied. "Sort of like yours..." He winked. "Mary is trying to figure out whether she likes long or thick..."

"Better hope she doesn't find a guy with BOTH!" Randall snickered, then sobered. "I can get porn clips off the Net, you know..."

"Clips, yeah -- full flicks, I bet not. Besides, some things are easier to get than others -- got anything you want to see in particular?"

Randall frowned. "Let me think about it. I guess I'll do it, THIS time, but making my life even more uncomfortable with porn flicks isn't a long-term solution..."

Teddy nodded. There had been a time when Teddy had almost offered to bleed off Randall's excess for him -- they'd even had jerk-off contests at Randall's house a couple of times, watching internet porn. But Randall was a friend, and if he'd freaked and killed their friendship... Randall was solidly pointed at girls, too, no question. "I'll talk to Mary. Maybe she can give you some inside help..."

"Like what?"

"A spy in the enemy camp... It'd be a lot easier to hunt one if you knew you had a shot, wouldn't it?"

Now THAT made sense! "Kewl! That'd be BIG!" Randall was back in fantasyland; to have inside the dope and tactics... It wouldn't be mind- reading, but it would be a LOT better that working up the guts to go in blind...

Nora and Mary were at lunch. "So, tonight's the big night, huh?" Mary queried.

"Yeah." Nora had a few butterflies. Daddy wasn't even really a face in a picture to her, but he WAS a voice, at this point -- and a fairly sinister one... "It's gonna be an adventure..." She mused a moment. "What about you? How's the male harem?"

Mary sighed. "It gets harder instead of easier. They're both SOOO different, but SOOO good..."

"So the first free shot at Teddy went well?"

"I came so hard I screamed! Mother came busting in..." Mary rolled her eyes. "After he left, we went at it, hammer and tongs. The only thing Teddy has going for him is that Mother sees him as a long-term project of mine. Stick, on the other hand..."

Nora nodded. She could just imagine... "Serious issues?"

"Ooooooh, boy... Just about everything you could think of, but the fact that he's black tops the list -- even though she's careful to be politically correct."

"So what are you doing tonight?"

"Resting up for tomorrow night." Mary grinned. "We're gonna try to do a repeat of last Saturday without the front-end stress..."

"Everything?"

Mary shrugged. "Probably. The boys haven't gotten that out of their systems yet -- or at least, Teddy hasn't. I don't mind -- it's fun to watch..."

"How do you think this is going to turn out?"

"I dunno. I think Stick has his finger on the trigger; he can probably make anything happen he wants. But he doesn't seem to have realized it..."

"Why should he?" Nora challenged. "He can pick you and turn out Teddy, or he can pick Teddy and turn you out. Or he can get twice the service! Why not just let the whole thing ride?" Nora pondered a bit. "As long as you can't choose between them, and as long as they continue to be interested in bi games, this thing is a whole lot more stable than it appears, as long as the Stick - Teddy connection doesn't go public..."

Mary shrugged. "That's certainly a point of failure. Then again, while they'd both lose friends, it might drive them together..." She reached down and scratched a distinctly unladylike place, "I'm absolutely rubbed raw! Itches like mad..."

Nora tittered. "Then it gets wet, and THAT's a downhill cycle..."

"You, too?"

"Tonight will be the first night since Saturday that I haven't had Nate..."

"Damn. I gotta catch up? Oh!" Mary slapped her forehead. "I need to come up with a bribe for that wacko Randall to get him to cover Teddy! Preferably one with two legs and a wet spot between..."

"Getting Randall laid could be a serious project!" Nora observed.

"Well, he isn't picky -- that's a plus!" Mary chuckled. "The boys say he's preoccupied with the fact that he has a constant woody -- and fortunately, it's a fairly decent size... Brains are probably more serious than looks, but she'd need to have a seriously itchy clit..."

"You're totally forgetting the flip side!" Nora countered, "Where would you find someone who'd WANT him?"

"That's true; where would I find something like that?" Mary scratched her head.

"Why not ask the expert?" Nora replied, raising an eyebrow. Two sets of female eyes shifted to a noisy table on the far side of the lunchroom where a certain brunette was holding court from her boyfriend's lap...

"Yeah..." The pair got up and descended on the only sophomore at a table full of seniors. "Bobby, can we borrow Dina for a sec?"

Dina Nellis was up off of Bobby McCormick's lap before he could open his mouth, turning and placing a finger over his lips to forestall any response. "Easy, Lover! Girl talk!" Bobby rolled his eyes and shrugged; he'd gotten a lot quieter, recently. Dina stepped away a few feet with Nora and Mary, "What can I do for you? Has Nate fucked up already?"

"No, no," Nora replied, "Nothing like that..."

But Dina's attention was already gone. "So, Mary, catching up?"

Mary colored. "Well, I got lucky. Some of YOUR work set me up..."

"So tell me!"

"Well, some of it's top secret, but Nate going to Nora and Draper going to Tenisha left Stick without a ride. Teddy was scared to go home with me alone..."

"Kewl." Dina eyed the pair. "Okay, if current relationships are stable, why do I have the feeling I'm about to match make?" Dina had shaken up the place on Prom Night, and she and Bobby had managed to take some of the pieces and put them together in interesting new patterns...

"We -- I -- have a new problem," Mary began. Dina merely looked impish and waited. "Teddy's staying overnight tomorrow night, but his mother is overprotective. We figured out a pretty safe excuse, but we need Randall's cooperation..."

"Mad Doctor Braithwaite?" Dina giggled. "Come clean -- it's not just you and Teddy tomorrow night, is it? You can tell Mama Dina..."

"How do you DO that?" Mary shook her head. "Okay, we MIGHT be able to get him to cover tomorrow, but we're kind of looking for future goodwill, if you know what I mean. And it's generally unknown, but..."

"... Randall's a major lech," Dina finished. "Some people are SO blind..." She shook her head. Nora just blinked. "He's packing, too, isn't he?"

Mary was beyond surprise. "So I'm told." She held up her hands for a measurement, relating Teddy's info on the subject. "A bit narrow, but long and ever-ready..."

"Okay... I don't like one-nighters. Makes me feel like a pimp. What do YOU think he needs?"

"Teddy and Stick seem to think that the physical piece is less important than brainpower -- as long as the candidate can take considerable heat..."

"Yeah, he's probably going to try to wear it out. Well, you two know a lot of your contemporaries -- who measures up? If brains are important, let's start there..."

The three stood, pondering. "Well, there's..." Nora began, "No, she's taken. Ummm..."

"Looks are low priority, Girls. Surely, there is a deserving female that you've hung out with..." Dina admonished.

"Well, there's Darla Jean..." Nora offered.

"Yessss! Perfect!" Dina enthused. "Shy, brainy... She's pretty thin, and not well-endowed, though. Question is, can she take the heat? What about sex?"

"Any girl who dates her hairbrush handle as often as Darla Jean does can probably handle a dick!" Mary replied. "We, uh, had a couple of sleepovers when we were younger... That's top secret info -- please don't blab it..."

Dina nodded, lips pursed. "When was this? How old were you?"

"Thirteen, fourteen..."

"Any indications she's nailed a boy?"

"Nope, she's pretty shy. We fell out when she started with the brain trust, but you know how THEY are..." Mary chuckled. Nora looked on, bemused. How WERE they, actually?

"Yeah, no common sense. Totally transparent. Even if she kept it hidden, the guy wouldn't." Dina grinned.

"Okay, so how do we work it?" Nora asked.

"Well, it's a two-step process," Dina related. "You provide a bit of privileged information, then you do expectation setting. Are we being sneaky?"

"With Darla Jean? Maybe," Mary replied. "Since I need to give Randall something, probably not, on his end..."

"Oooookay... One way or another, Darla Jean needs to know about Randy Randall's ever-ready assets. That's probably enough for her; she's already hunting in the brain trust. But she's so bad at it that we'll have to give Randall the word and hope he can carry the ball..." Dina opined.

"So, what do we tell him, exactly?" Nora asked.

Dina shrugged. "Tell him Darla Jean has an itchy clit, but she's chicken -- with any luck, that's enough. Basically, it sounds like they're made for each other. If Randall can bring himself to move at all, it will take care of itself!"

"Nothing else?" Mary was dubious.

Dina shook her head. "If it isn't really possible in the first place, it's not gonna happen. What you do is tear down the last couple of barriers and let nature take its course... Most times, things don't happen because people don't have a key piece of information or two, things that let them know it's all possible. Sometimes, you have to go the other way, letting someone know that whatever wild dream they have needs to be put away, but there is a perfectly acceptable substitute..."

"Or that something will work if you're willing to put up with the downside..." Nora mused.

"Exactly," Dina agreed. "In this case, we might have to give Randall classes in how girls think, which is a pretty straightforward thing. But approaches to Darla..." She tousled her curls, distractedly, while thinking.

"I'll talk to Teddy about it. Maybe we can come up with something," Mary said.

"Kewl. One day, I'm gonna want to hear ALL about what you two are up to..." Dina waved and headed back to Bobby's lap.

"I have an idea," Mary confided. "I want to get it rolling with Teddy, and then we'll ring in Darla Jean..."

"How?" Nora wanted to know.

"Casual conversation... We'll discuss my sex life in Health class, and I'll ring in Randall. But first, I want to rig the setup..." The girls adjourned, and Mary went off to chase down Teddy before lunch was over.

She found him playing chess with Randall, who was leaning on him pretty hard to get something for the favor. "Oh, good! I get both of you! That makes it easier!"

Teddy and Randall looked at each other, both erupting, "Huh?"

Mary got to the point. "Randall, I have an idea, but we need to flesh it out into a plan... What's the cover story?"

"Why?" Randall was instantly suspicious.

"Because if we can make it serve to ease YOUR little problem, too, that would be convenient."

"Teddy!" Randall was mortified. Mary OBVIOUSLY knew too much!

"Heyyy," Teddy made shift to defend himself.

"Oh, stop it, for chrissakes! Jeezus, Randall, you're never gonna get that thing handled if nobody knows about it! Now, look, what's the plan? Astronomy Club?" Mary moved them on to business.

"Yeah," Randall agreed. "It's an excuse for an all-nighter."

"Okay. Are there any girls in the Astronomy Club?"

Randall actually recoiled in his seat. "Why, uh, no..."

Mary eyed him sardonically. "And why is that?"

The simple truth was that it hadn't occurred to any of the members. The Astronomy Club was several years old and pre-dated interest in girls, generally; add the fact that none of the membership was particularly successful with women, and things became clearer. Late night at the Astronomy Club usually featured wistful talk about the charms of this girl or that, viewing of porn mags or the occasional video clip while awaiting a particular celestial event...