Chapter 15: First Day

Michael was a little more than apprehensive at letting Chip and Becky attend school. While they have learned and blended in successfully with their peers with their respective jobs, school would most definitely pose new and unique challenges for the androids.

Kids in school can be brutal and tough. Unacceptive of those who are different from themselves.

Chip and Becky however would be on their own. Both Julie and Michael worked, and had to keep their jobs in order to pay for the mortgage. They would only be available to assist the android teenagers in the event of an emergency.

Monday morning, everyone got up and dressed. Michael didn't have enough time to fix breakfast for Julie that morning as he was busy going over last minute details with Chip and Becky.

"Does everyone have their supplies?" he asked, examining the two.

"Yes," they said.

"Ok, either of you call me immediately if there are any problems." referring to the internal cel-modems the three had.

"They'll be fine, Michael," Julie said, walking up behind him and putting her arm around his waist.

Chip and Becky left and walked to the end of the subdivision to where the bus stop was. There, she was pleasantly surprised to see Danny waiting for the bus, too.

"Hi!" he said, seeing her walk up. "I didn't realize you lived in this subdivision."

"Yes! This is my brother Chip," she said.

"Hey, Chip." he said, waving shortly.

"Hey."

There were several other kids waiting at the stop along with them.

"I'm Amy," one of the girls said, walking up to Chip.

They all spent the next few minutes chatting waiting for the bus.

Back at the house, Michael and Julie were getting ready for work.

"You think they'll be ok?" she asked him, putting on her shoes.

"I hope so."

Michael and Julie left and drove to the Park and Ride lot off Mansell Road to catch the bus which would take them to the train station to head on into work. On the way to the train station, Michael received a call from Chip.

"WHAT IS A NERD?" the message said instantly.

"A NERD IS A DEROGATORY TERM FOR SOMEONE WHO IS MORE ACADEMIC THAN THE REST OF THEIR PEERS. IS SOMEONE CALLING YOU A NERD?"

"NO, THEY'RE REFERRING TO ANOTHER STUDENT ON THE BUS, I WAS JUST CURIOUS."

Michael couldn't help but chuckle out loud after disconnecting the call.

"What's so funny?" Julie asked.

"Chip just called me; wanted to know what a nerd was."

"Ah!" she said, giggling.

After picking up several more students, the school bus arrived at the high school. Aimlessly, hordes of students got out, examining the posters and signs telling them where they needed to go.

Becky quickly found one sign which read, 'JUNIORS: A-D – ROOM 103′. "Chip, I think this is us," she said, pointing out the sign. "Where's room 103?"

"Beats me," he said.

They walked through the doors and found a map. Politely, they excused their way through the mass of students and made their way to room 103.

"Sign in, please." the teacher said, greeting them as they entered the room. As instructed, they both signed and printed their name on the sign-in sheet, and handed it back to the teacher.

"Chip and Becky Carson," she said, reading their names off the form. "My, are you two twins?"

"Yes," he replied.

"Thought so. Your handwriting is identical to your sister's."

This was no accident. Chip and Becky had no need for handwriting, or to develop a style of their own. The script they printed was that which was originally programmed into them.

"Here you go," she said, leafing through the papers. "Here are your schedules."

They both compared each others schedule and were pleased to find out that they were identical with two exceptions. Chip was enrolled in Air Force JROTC while Becky was enrolled in Drama instead. They also noticed that they were both signed up for Phys. Ed. the last period of the day, with different instructors.

"I think there's a problem," Chip said, noticing the scheduling error.

"What's that?"

"We're both in Physical Education 7th period."

"Yes, everyone must attend P.E."

"We have a note from our doctors. We both have bad knees." said Becky.

"Just give it to the coaches."

They both left the room, schedules in hand, and went to their first period which was English.

They were assigned a seat, in alphabetical order, which left Chip sitting at the end of one row, and Becky sitting at the beginning of another.

Their teacher was Mr. Lawson. He was a short, stout, older man. Graying, with a receding hairline. Throughout the next 45 minutes, he chatted briefly with each student, as other students slowly poured into the class and found their respective seats.

Chip was sitting next to Marisa Kontardis. She was an attractive greek girl, who's family had immigrated to the United States from Europe some time ago.

Becky was sitting next to Marisa's brother, Michael Kontardis.

The students barely had enough time to introduce themselves when the period bell rang, signaling it was time for their next class.

Chip and Becky examined their schedule and proceeded to their next class, which was Algebra in room 227.

The teacher had no assigned seating, and instructed everyone to find a seat. Becky was delighted to find Danny in this class, and since he was the only person, other than her brother, that she knew somewhat, she sat down beside him.

"Hey!" he said leaning over to her. "What's your schedule look like?"

She handed him her schedule and examined the other kids as they quickly found a seat.

"Damn, you've got Lawson for English, I'm sorry." he said. "Why?"

"He's a hard-ass. Cutts is cool though. I don't know much about these others, but be careful of Leahy in P.E. – she's a dyke."

"A dyke?" she asked genuinely.

"Yeah, a lezbo. You know, fish-eater."

Becky just had a blank look on her face trying to process what he was saying.

"A lesbian," he said, whispering to her. "A woman that gets off seeing another woman??"

"Oh!" she said. She still wasn't sure what he was talking about.

Chip and Becky managed to make it through the rest of the day. But 7th period was fast approaching.

They both made it to the locker rooms on time. As the bell rang, Coach Hawkins came out of his office and walked into the center of the dressing area.

"Everyone, strip down, and stand in front of your lockers." he yelled, turned around, and walked back into his office.

Five minutes later, he returned to find the 25 students all standing with their shirts and underwear on.

Turning around to look at each of them, when he finished, he yelled, "I said STRIP!"

The kids didn't say anything as each of them, with the exception of Chip, turned their backs to the coach and took off their shirts and underwear. Chip, immediately complied by taking off his shirt and jockeys and setting them on the bench in front of him.

When everyone's butt was bare, he told everyone to turn around.

The boys didn't say anything as they slowly turned around and made a conscious effort of staring straight in front of them. Chip noticed several of the boys' eyes taking quick glances at his, and the other boys bodies.

Coach Hawkins proceeded to stand in front of each of the boys and look them up and down; critiquing their body, and pointing out their flaws. "Conroy, we need to work on your stomach. Adams, chest. Hillcrest, arms. Carson..."

He stopped talking as he looked at Chip briefly in the eyes then let his eyes wander down his body. "Carson, turn around."

Chip complied as he turned his backside to face him. "Turn around to face me, son." he said. "You work out, boy?"

"Not much," he replied. Chip had no need for lifting any weights, his hydraulic limbs had the same strength no matter how much weight he lifted.

"Not much?" Coach Hawkins said sarcastically. "There's not a damn thing wrong with you, boy! Stand in the middle and turn around," he commanded.

Chip complied and walked to the center of the room.

"Turn around," he said. "Now, I want each and everyone of you to take a good look at Mr. Carson, here. This is what you all are going to strive for by the end of this year."

Chip stopped when he reached a full 360, but the coach ordered him to keep turning.

"Look at his body. Perfect symmetry and proportions. All you faggots better keep your eyes up, Dawson." He stopped Chip and leaned into him. "Chip, you're not a faggot, are you?" he asked.

"Uh, no." But Chip didn't have a clue what he was talking about since he had no comprehension of homosexuality.

"Well, Dawson here has been keeping his eyes on your cock, just checking."

Chip continued to turn again, as the Coach told him to get back in his place. "Ok, that's enough, Carson," he said, slapping him on his butt as he walked back to where his clothes were.

"For the next thirty minutes, I want you all to just stand here, naked, and look at each other. See your faults, your friend's faults, and come up with a plan on how you're going to improve on yourself, and your friends."

The boys didn't do, or say, anything for about five minutes; then one of them walked over to Chip.

"Hey man," the boy said. "I'm Derrick."

"Chip Carson."

"Yeah, we know. Isn't Hawkins a prick?" he said, sitting down. "This is bullshit, man, making us all stand here naked."

"Doesn't bother me," he said.

"No fuck," he replied. "With a body like yours I'd be showing it off, too."

Another boy approached him and introduced himself. "I'm Kyle," he said. "Look man, you better watch out for Matthew Dawson over there," he said, pointing to the boy Coach Hawkins had ostracized earlier. He was sitting by himself in the corner of the room. "He really is a fag."

Just then, Coach Hawkins yelled from his office, "Carson! In here, now."

"Yes, sir?" Chip said, standing in Coach Hawkins doorway, still naked.

"What's this I hear about you having a knee injury?"

"I have a note from my doctor in my locker, sir."

"How'd you hurt your knee?"

It took him a while to come up with an appropriate excuse. Chip wasn't allowed to lie, except under extreme circumstances. "Congenital defect." he said.

"Oh," said the coach. "Then I guess this means you won't be trying out for J.V. Football?"

"I don't think that would be wise." he said.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the wall, was the girls locker room. Coach Leahy had the girls dress out and go onto the field for calisthenics.

She was beautiful, and young; about 26 years old. Her students were surprised when they found out she competed in the 1996 Olympics.

Leahy was the loner in the school, she came to work, did her job, and went home. Aside from spending some weekends with her girls while they were at track meets and other events: coaching them, and cheering them on; few of her students or peers knew much about her, except she is a lesbian.

Her teaching style was drastically different from her male counterpart on the other side. Instead of degrading her students, she cherished and praised their uniqueness and individuality.

While the girls were stretching and doing their exercises, Becky noticed that another student was following Coach Leahy back to the locker rooms.

Curious at what was going on, she waited for the two to enter the building and started to follow.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, dearie." a voice called out from the crowd.

"Why?" Becky turned around, replying to the group.

"You're liable to get your rug munched," another student said.

Not sure what the girls meant, Becky turned back around and continued to walk to the lockers. When she entered the empty room, she heard strange noises coming from the Coach's office.

Quietly she walked to the edge of the window where she saw the coach sitting on her desk, her shorts and panties down to her ankles. She could make out the hair of the other student who had her head in the coach's lap. Moans and muffled screams of pleasure came from the coach as she gently kicked the edge of her desk with her feet.

The girl popped her head up and Becky recognized her immediately as Crystal McAllister, the head cheerleader. Crystal didn't say anything as she made eye-contact with Becky and winked.

Becky turned back around and walked back out onto the field. She, nor any of the other students, said anything about the incident and they continued their stretching and exercises.

The period was almost over, and it was time for both sets of students to take a shower and get ready to go home. One by one, the girls flowed into the showers, stripped down, and washed. Soap was dispensed from repositories on the wall, and the girls proceeded to lather themselves up.

Leahy stood in the doorway watching the naked girls apply rich lather to their breasts and stomach and was paying careful attention to Becky.

On the other side, the boys quickly showered; if you could call 30 seconds of getting wet a shower, dried off, and got dressed.

The bell soon rang, signaling the end of the day, and the boys and girls quickly headed to the waiting buses.

Chip and Becky were walking together to the buses when they were interrupted by Mr. Dean, the Guidance Counselor, who wanted to discuss their transcripts and find out how their first day was.

Instructed to always be polite, and to obey the instructions and requests of authority figures, they complied by coming to his office.

He asked them about their past, where they went to school before, and about their home-life.

Chip and Becky were unresponsive to most of the questions, afraid of giving anything away. His continued efforts to press information out of the kids proved fruitless though, and he chocked it up to distress over their loss.

Mr. Dean was genuinely concerned how they were doing coping with Dr. Carson's death from earlier in the year, and after thirty minutes or so of talking with the two, he became satisfied that the two were still having issues, and excused them to leave and go home.

When the two walked outside, they were confused to find that all the buses had left to take the students home leaving them with two alternatives: Call Michael and Julie, or walk home. Neither of the choices appealed to them, and they sat on the benches contemplating what to do next.

Ten minutes had passed, with the android brother and sister comparing their day with each other, when Matthew Dawson walked out. He noticed the two sitting on the bench and walked over.

"Miss your bus?" he said, approaching.

"Yes," Becky said. "We're debating whether to call somebody to pick us up, or walk home."

"Well, I could give you a ride," he said, sitting down next to Becky. "By the way, my name's Matthew..."

" ... Dawson," Chip interjected. "Coach Hawkins was talking about you earlier."

"Yeah, Coach Hawkins. I've been trying to get out of P.E. For the past two years but don't have much luck."

"Why do you want out of P.E.?" asked Becky.

"Because I'm gay," he said.

Chip and Becky both logged onto the Internet using their cel-modems and accessed The Electric Library's Encyclopedia.com to find out what "gay" meant.

"What does that have to do with anything?" she asked.

"That's what I've been trying to figure out all along!" he said, laughing.

"Some of the greatest artists, authors, scientists, and entertainers in America's history were, or are homosexual," said Chip.

"Try telling that to Coach Hawkins."

"It seems Coach Hawkins is suffering from a superiority complex," Chip said. "I've noticed he's quite sadistic."

"Oh, that's nothing! Last year he caught me subconsciously staring at another boy; took me outside, made me take off my clothes, and allowed all the other kids to play dodge-ball, with me as the target."

"That's terrible!" Becky said, putting her arm around him to console him.

"What he did to your brother was almost as bad," he said.

"Chip? What did he do to you?"

"He made him stand in the middle of the locker room and parade him around naked."

"Well, somebody needs to put a stop to him." she said. "That's not right!"

Several months ago, when Michael had transferred his intrinsic knowledge database to the two droids, they were given part of Michael's original programming, put in by Dr. Carson. The database provided a blueprint if you will; of ethics, morals, and basic knowledge.

Matthew got up, frustrated and angry reliving his past experiences with Coach Hawkins and proceeded to pace in front of the two.