Chapter 6

Frank was grateful to have someone to talk to on the bus the next morning. Jason took advantage of it as well. With the two of them together, the bullies on the bus were less likely to pick on him, save for a passing comment. Though even this did not stop Richie.

Richie looked irritated when he saw Frank and Jason sitting together and barely said a word past a simple greeting to Jason. Frank flashed Richie a smug look, though it faded when the bus made its final stop and Heather and Melinda came aboard.

"Um, hey, I'll see you later, okay?" Frank said to Jason, rising from his seat.

"Oh, wait, you don't have to..." Jason began.

Before he could finish, Melinda rushed over and slid into the vacated seat even before Frank had straightened up completely. "Yes, he does," she said with a grin.

Jason gave Frank a helpless look. Frank just returned it with a wan smile. "I'll catch you at lunchtime."

"Sure thing. Hey, Frank, you want to come over today? After school, I mean."

Now Melinda's grin faded. Across the aisle, Heather found a seat next to Richie, feeling a little chagrined that Melinda was not sitting next to her.

Frank paused a moment. "Seriously?"

"Sure. I can give you the wireless bridge you wanted and you can show me those Trek sites I don't know about."

Frank grinned. "Deal. See ya later."

Melinda sighed. "Just great," she muttered.

Jason looked at her. "What?"

"I was going to have the house to myself again," Melinda said in a low voice.

"Oh, were you?" said Heather. "News to me."

Melinda just stuck her tongue out at her big sister.

"Alone? But I thought your Mom would be home."

"No, she's working full time now."

Jason paused. "Not at the..."

"Yes, at the same place," Heather said sharply. "The same damn place."

"What the hell does she do there?" Richie asked.

"That's just it. She won't tell us. I've asked her several times now, and..."

"Heather, I really don't want to talk about this, okay?" Melinda said in a forlorn voice. She appeared to slide in her seat closer to Jason, as if seeking his comfort. She turned to him. "I was just hoping you'd want to spend more time with me."

Jason hesitated. He was still very new to the idea of having a girlfriend. "Er... well, yeah, I do to, but... "

"He'd rather nerd-out with the shrimp than make out with the girl," Richie said with a smirk, rolling his eyes. "Funny, when I look at Frank, I don't see no fine..."

"You say one more thing about my boobs and I swear I'll kick you!" Melinda piped. She immediately blushed when several other students on the bus snickered at this, but she didn't care.

"Jesus. Okay, fine. Jason, call off your attack-girl, willya?"

Jason actually managed a small smile at this.

"Do you suppose they'll start the medical program today?" Heather asked in a slightly quavering voice. Some of her dreams the night before had not been very restful. They were repeats of the same imagery that she had had the day before while talking with Diane.

Jason was about to reply when Richie cut in. "Stop worrying about it. My Mom called in sick to work today, so she's fixing to head down to the school later. By lunchtime, the program will be gone. Poof."

"You better be right about that..."

"Well, if I'm not, the brainiac here has a backup plan."

Melinda blinked. "You do?" she asked Jason.

Jason looked surprised as well. "I do?"

"Yeah, you were talking about going to see the nurse yourself. Get the lowdown on her."

"Oh, that," Jason said. He glanced nervously towards the back of the bus. "Well, it was Frank's idea, actually."

"What, you told him about all this?" Melinda asked incredulously. "And he didn't think you were nuts?"

"No, no, he suggested it for, uh, other reasons."

Richie snorted. "The shrimp wanted to see if lookin' at the nurse would give him a boner."

Jason glared at him. "Will you stop calling him that?"

"But what good would seeing the nurse do?" asked Melinda.

"To see if we even need to worry about any of this. If she has the aura. If she doesn't, then it's not such a big deal."

Melinda made an "ohhh" sound and nodded, but Heather looked wary. "I don't know about that, Jason," Heather said.

"What do you mean?"

"It... it sounds dangerous."

"Dangerous?" Richie said with a derisive laugh. "What's so dangerous about looking at a nurse? Unless any of you had that stuff like leap out at you or something."

All eyes shifted to Melinda, the most sensitive of the four of them in this area. She just shook her head.

"I just have a funny feeling about it, that's all."

Melinda gave her sister an odd look. "Heather, what's with you? You've been acting really weird."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Ever since you got back from the mall yesterday. Like you're spooked about something."

Heather paused, then just shook her head. "No, I'm fine. It's in your head, runt."

"It's not in my head. And stop calling me that."

Heather had not realized she had been acting any differently, but she was not terribly surprised. She did not understand the thoughts she had been having lately, even less so than the feelings she had for Melinda. Unfortunately, this new problem was not enough to mask the old. The evening before, seeing Melinda partially nude as she readied for bed and thinking of what she had been doing earlier made Heather feel jealous again.

After going to bed, she had managed to quell her jealousy, but was unable to do anything with her lingering arousal. Rather than give into it, she had steadfastly ignored it, but it took her a long time to fall asleep.

"Well, all right, fine," Heather snapped, folding her arms. "Maybe I'm nervous about this whole thing, okay?"

Melinda smirked. "And my big sis was supposed to be the one that didn't give a shit."

"I never said that."

"You just seemed to act that way about the new semester. Especially when I was concerned about it."

"Hey, I looked after you yesterday."

"Yeah, fine, you did. Would've helped a hell of a lot more if you tried that when I was freaking out about it the week before."

Heather uttered an exasperated sigh. "Look, I'm sorry, all right? I... wait. You want me to help? Okay, then. I've been trying to find out how to stop seeing the aura on someone."

Melinda stared at Heather. "What?? How?"

"I don't know yet. I'm getting some ideas, but I'm not sure. It has something to do with the way I look at her, but..."

"And you didn't tell me?" Melinda said indignantly.

"I'm telling you now! Give me a break!"

"Look, I hate to break up the cat fight," Richie said with a smirk, earning him glares from both girls, "Point is, you might as well just stop talking about it now. My Mom'll handle it. Problem is solved. Another victory for the, uh..." He paused and looked over to Jason. "So what do we call ourselves?"

Jason stared at him. "What are you talking about?"

Richie smirked. "Well, we gotta have a snappy name, you know?"

Now Melinda and Heather stared at him as well.

Richie rolled his eyes and leaned forward, lowering his voice. "Look, you guys are the ones so gung-ho about all this stamping out evil or whatever the hell it is we're doin'. So we oughta have some fun with it. Come up with a cool name. Like the Fantastic Four or something."

Melinda groaned and shook her head. Heather snorted. Jason gave Richie a look. "You can't use that name, it's trademarked," he said.

"Well, shit, I didn't mean use that, it was just an example!"

"Should we be talking about this so openly on the bus?" Melinda asked.

Richie raised his head for a moment. "They stopped paying attention soon as we stopped talking about your boobs."

"We were not talking about... !"

"Look, chill, okay? I'm just sayin' that if you're gonna force me to deal with this, I wanna have some fun with it."

"There's nothing fun about it, Richie," Melinda said darkly.

Richie threw up his hands. "All right, never mind. Shit. If we're gonna hafta deal with this, I just wanted to make it so we're not so gloom and doom about it, that's all."

"Talk to us after your Mom gets rid of the medical program," Heather said.

Unlike the day before, there was no hesitation. Laura strode from her car and into the school building with a crisp walk, each step filled with purpose and confidence. She actually looked forward to the day.

It had been a new person that had awoken that morning. For the first time in a very long while she greeted the day with eagerness. Quickly her attitude had been rewarded. As she strolled to her office, her pussy was suffused with sweet warmth. She could feel the moisture in her slot, enough to give her a mild euphoria, not quite enough to make her panties damp.

Yet she knew she could be kindled to full arousal and burning need at a single thought from Nyssa. She took a slow, deep breath as she savored that thought.

Laura passed Marcie's desk without looking at her underling. "Good morning, Marcie."

"Oh, Miss Bendon!" Marcie cried, leaping out of her chair, a small sticky-note in one hand. She began following Laura into the office, only to utter a short gasp of surprise when Laura suddenly stopped and turned.

For a moment, Marcie just stared wide-eyed at Laura and clutched the note to her bosom.

"Yes, Marcie, what is it?" Laura asked in a pleasant voice.

"Um, you... you have an appointment this morning, Miss Bendon."

"I don't recall making one, Marcie."

"You got a call... from a parent..." Marcie paused and sheepishly handed the note to Laura.

Laura gave Marcie a puzzled look and snatched the note from her underling. She raised a single eyebrow as she peered down at it. "Sandra Gardner," she said tonelessly.

"I'm sorry, Miss Bendon! I know you don't like parents that insist on seeing you this early, but... but she wouldn't take 'no' for an answer, and I..."

Laura held up a hand and Marcie immediately silenced. "That's fine, Marcie. I'll see her."

"She's going to complain about the medical program, isn't she?"

"Most likely. But that is not your concern, Marcie."

"Well, I was just curious. She was the one that got the pager program stopped last year, wasn't she?"

"While this is true, Marcie, it..."

"Are you going to let her stop the medical program, Miss Bendon? I'm just curious since..."

"Marcie."

Again, Marcie immediately quieted herself, giving Laura an apologetic look.

"All I need you to do is your job," Laura said.

"Yes, Miss Bendon."

"And to do as you're told."

There was a slight hesitation. "Of course, Miss Bendon. I always try."

"Then if I tell you to forget about this?" Laura held up the note.

Marcie's eyes flicked over to it briefly and then back to Laura's face. "Then... I'll forget about it, Miss Bendon."

Laura smiled. Marcie smiled with her.

"Very good, Marcie. Carry on."

"Yes, Miss Bendon."

Laura watched Marcie return to her desk before turning away and heading into the office.

After closing the door behind her, Laura allowed herself a small smile and a soft sigh of excitement. Her pussy felt hot and her nipples were hard and rising to points, raising two bumps on her blouse.

It was going to be so easy. Marcie was already ever so obedient. It was just a matter of turning her thoughts and desires such that she would be obedient where Laura really needed her. She was so looking forward to that. It gave her job true meaning again.

She closed her eyes. It had another advantage. It helped her forget what she had done to achieve her current state of bliss.

Cassie had come to an important decision. She had decided that enough was enough.

She had spent the better part of the drive down from the mesa deep in thought over this. By the time the driver brought her over the river and into Haven proper, she had resolved it in her own mind.

It was as simple as this: Cassie liked Richie. She wanted to know if he liked her in return.

That's all she needed to know. She had to know. Self-pleasuring herself to thoughts of him was bittersweet at best. She wanted to know if there were even a chance of any of those feelings being reciprocated. She wanted to stop feeling guilty for touching herself with Richie in her mind.

Cassie glanced out of the window for the first time since the drive began. She looked almost surprised to see houses, trees, and grass, instead of rock and scrub.

Her heart pounded. It would not be much longer now. By the end of that day -- by the end of the morning if she could swing it -- she would know.

Cassie was not looking for him to pledge to be her boyfriend, as much as she might have wanted such a thing. She just wanted the chance. She thought he had already given her that when he actually sat down and talked to her that wonderful day last semester. That had been one of the best days of her life since the dreams began.

Cassie allowed herself a small smile.

She had to be right. He did want her. Why would he lead her on like that? Just a case of being kind? No, not Richie. Not the kid that took every opportunity to laugh at the other kids that happened to be clumsy or unattractive.

Well, true, he did cut back on that since he became friends with Jason. But she doubted that the friendship itself had had that kind of effect on him. It would not have made him help her collect all her notes from her history class after someone had vandalized her locker and left them strewn all over the hallway. It would not have made him stick around afterward until she had stopped crying.

He had even apologized for not finding a batch of the notes, even though it wasn't his fault.

But what had really impressed her was how he had come to her days later, the missing notes in hand, smiling and offering to sit and have lunch with her.

Over lunch, he had claimed to have searched high and low for them after hours, just to return them. True, it had been too late then. The paper she had due had to be re-done from scratch. But the gesture had been appreciated, and over lunch, she had simply gushed at him, telling him everything about herself.

Including the dreams.

Cassie took a deep breath to calm herself as the limo turned into the Haven High School parking lot. She quietly collected her things, stepping out of the car the moment it came to a stop.

Harry's timing was impeccable as always. There stood Richie and his friends, having arrived by school bus not moments before. His little entourage.

Cassie cast a lingering gaze towards them. Her eyes clouded over. She sometimes dreamed about them as well. But none of what they did made any sense to her. Perhaps she would talk to him about it. Perhaps if he...

She turned her eyes away and walked with long, purposeful strides into the building, again ignoring Melinda's friendly wave and shout. Cassie took another deep breath. She could not get ahead of herself. Concentrate on finding out what he felt about her now. The rest can wait.

One way or the other, she would get what she wanted.

"What is with her?" Melinda demanded, giving a pebble an indignant kick with her foot.

"I told you, Melinda, she's a freakazoid," said Richie.

"Will you stop making fun of her?!"

"I'm not! I'm tellin' it like it is! Don't believe me? Go talk to her."

"Well, I would, if she would pay attention when I wave to her."

"Just find her in the hallway some day and ask her about her dreams," Richie said with a snicker.

Melinda gave him an odd look. "Huh?"

"Except you probably won't hafta, she'll tell you anyway."

"So? Everyone has dreams. What's the big deal with talking about them?"

Richie sighed and rolled his eyes. "Because she describes some really weird shit, that's why. And she never shuts up about them. You try to change the subject and it comes back up. Everything has something to do with her dreams."

"Oh, and like you never became obsessed with anything?" Heather cut in.

"Never like that, man," Richie said.

Jason suddenly made some coughing sounds, injecting the word "baseball" in the middle of them.

Richie made a face at him. "Yeah, not like Roswell conspiracy theories or Star Trek like some geeks that shall remain you, huh? Anyway, at least I can talk about something different."

"I heard Cassie was making eyes at you over the summer," Heather said with a smirk.

Richie slapped his forehead. "Fuck, if I hear that one more time..."

"Oh, getting teased about that, are you?" Melinda piped. "Yeah, my heart bleeds for you. Right. Date any teachers lately, by the way?"

"Melinda!" Richie growled through clenched teeth. "I don't wanna hear about that anymore!"

"Then stop acting like a total jerk all the time!"

"Look, will the two of you knock it off?!" Jason cried in exasperation.

Richie sighed and turned away. Melinda looked stricken at the sudden rebuke and glared at him. "Fine. At least you have plans for today after school. Plans that don't include me!"

"How was I supposed to know you'd have the house again?"

"She didn't, and she doesn't, " Heather declared. Melinda whirled around and gave her sister an indignant look, but Heather cut her off before she could speak again. "Melinda, no. I'm not going to just run off every day just because you want to fool around with your boyfriend."

Melinda's mouth dropped open and she blushed furiously. She shot a deadly gaze at her sister and left in a huff, stamping off towards the school entrance.

Jason sighed and gave Heather an annoyed look. "Did you have to get her that upset?"

"Look at it this way," said Heather with a wry grin. "Now she's furious with me instead of you."

Jason blinked at this. "Oh. Uh, thanks."

Heather smiled weakly. Truth be told, she was not at all sure that her own motivations were that altruistic.

"I just wish everyone would shut the fuck up about Miss Davis," Richie said darkly. "And Cassie, for that matter."

"I thought she had the hots for you or something," Heather commented mildly.

"Argh! She doesn't! Don't even joke about that!"

"You may want to tell her that, then."

Richie made a face. "I don't have to tell her anything. She's not interested in me."

"That's not what I heard."

"I don't give a shit what you heard."

"Why would she be interested in you, Richie?" asked Jason.

"She's not! Fuck!"

"Theoretically, then," Jason persisted. "If she were, you have any idea why?"

Richie sighed in exasperation. "Well, all right... I was nice to her once last semester. Then I ate with her in the lunchroom. That was long enough to find out what kind of freak she was. She sorta bugged me a bit til the end of the semester, but then I heard squat from her til a few weeks ago."

Heather gave Richie an odd look. "You? Nice? Just out of the blue?"

"And why is that so surprising, huh?"

Heather just chuckled. "Yeah, my mistake. I forgot, you're the nicest guy here and God's gift to us."

Jason snorted. Richie glared at him. Heather laughed and turned away from them, heading towards the school entrance.

Richie watched her go, shaking his head. "Shit, what the hell is it with girls these days, huh?"

Jason couldn't help but see the irony in Richie asking Jason for such advice. It made him feel a little better about his cluelessness when it came to Melinda. He just shrugged at Richie in response. "We better get inside before we're late for homeroom."

"Man... this year is gonna really suck." He glanced over towards the visitor parking lot as they headed towards the school. He smirked as his eyes fell on the familiar blue Chevy. "Well, some things are lookin' up."

Jason peered. "That your Mom's car?"

"Yep. After lunch, they'll be taking the medical program out with the trash."

"Yes, Ms. Gardner, Marcie told me you, ah, made an appointment to see me," said Laura with a polite smile. "Please, have a seat. Oh, and close the door behind you if you would, so we won't be disturbed."

Sandra regarded the principal for a long moment, her hand still on the door knob. Now that she had been asked specifically to close the door, she felt she should leave it open. Nevertheless, considering the dressing-down Sandra intended to deliver, perhaps it was best not to compound the embarrassment to the principal. She did as Laura requested.

"May I ask what this is about?" Laura asked.

Sandra turned and shot a glare at the principal. "Oh, I think you know exactly what this is about, Miss Bendon." She surged forward and fell into the proffered seat, dropping her purse heavily to the side.

Laura looked at Sandra and realized with wry amusement that she was attired more like a student than a parent. It was quite apparent that Sandra wished to show that she had no intention of putting on airs. She was dressed in faded denim shorts and a rather worn t-shirt. Her feet were covered in sandals that were close to falling apart. Her hair was a bit frizzy, as if she had not bothered even to so much as brush it out that morning.

It had been the same thing she had done the year before, when she had come to complain about the pager program. And Laura was thinking now the same thing that she had then: it simply made Sandra look like cheap white trash.

Laura leaned forward, placing her elbows on the desk and folding her hands. "Since Richard Gardner is currently not on the detention list, I can safely assume this has nothing to do with him."

"Well, actually, Miss Bendon, it does have to do with him. See, I don't particularly care for you and this damn school -- once again -- trying to act like his goddamn parent."

"I take it this would be about the medical program we're instituting at this school?"

"Hey, got it in one, I guess I should be impressed. Too bad some of your smarts don't filter down to the kids' heads, considering the idiots that this place churns out every year. Maybe you should be concentrating on that problem instead of my kid's health, huh?"

Laura fixed her gaze unwaveringly on Sandra. "And is it wrong to be concerned about the students' health, Ms. Gardner?"