Chapter 27

Friday morning I got up somewhat early, restrung my guitar, and gave it a rough tuning. Thursday night I had worked a little past my bedtime to get the carvings almost finished. They still weren't sanded quite enough to meet my standards. I'd have to give them another hit before doing the charging ritual.

The roads were finally clear enough to render riding our bikes non-idiotic, but we were planning on bringing Kirsten back with us in the van after school, so Mom drove Mary, Sean, and I again. I wasn't sure how to handle giving Kirsten her gift. Now that we were allowed to see each other again outside of school, I no longer had to give it to her there. In case she brought a gift for me, though, I carefully put Kirsten's present away in my backpack so that the wrapping wouldn't tear. I had taken to carrying the pack even when I wasn't riding my bike to school. It was much handier than carrying my school stuff loose.

After Kirsten and I shared our greeting hug and kiss, the morning rapidly got less pleasant. As we waited for the door to be unlocked, Carol was telling whoever would listen how I had run from him in the mall. I'd learned that I couldn't give him an inch. "I like the mall, Carol. If I had let you force me to kick your ass again, they would have banned me from the premises." I said it loud enough that much of the surrounding crowd could hear.

"Any time, Powyr."

"You're just not getting it. I don't get any jollies out of hurting people, not even you. If you attack me, I'll defend myself as necessary. Otherwise, if you leave me alone, I'll leave you alone."

"My mother thinks you're an asshole and your mother's a bitch," he said.

"My mother thinks you're a shithead and your mother's an imbecile."

He got in my face. I said, "Are you really looking for this kind of trouble just before winter break?"

"Take it back."

"If I took it back, it would only be to shove it up your ass."

I guess that was too much, because he swung at me. I deflected the punch with my left arm, stepped inside even closer, and hooked my right elbow into the side of his head. The fight was over after that.

Unfortunately, it wasn't because my elbow to the head had ended it. I hadn't had that much on it. Instead, Kirsten had taken control of Carol's deflected arm. She now had it twisted behind his back in what amounted to a standing hammerlock.

Whereas it reflects well on Kirsten's character that she so quickly came to your assistance, Ursus thought, I perceive that having a girl defend you probably makes you look bad among your age group.

Yeah, likely. "Carol," I said loudly, "how many times do I have to tell you that Kirsten can kick your ass?" People laughed at that. Perhaps the situation was salvaged.

Through the big windows, I saw Miss Gorse going down the hallway toward the door. "Teacher!" I said. At my warning, Kirsten released Carol with a little push. He whirled to face us. "Teacher!" I warned again. It sunk in that time, and he turned toward the door as it was being unlocked. He glared at me while we were hanging up our coats, but he didn't say anything more.

As we were walking inside the classroom, Ursus thought, That one isn't going to give up until we fight him again.

With our protection spell in force, I'd feel really bad about agreeing to meet him somewhere.

Indeed, it hardly makes for a fair duel, but I've always disdained the dueling culture. Unless I'm at war, I fight only when I have to defend myself. Along with his statement came memories about dueling.

Novi Orbis and the English Empire haven't had a real dueling culture in around a hundred years.

I think that's to their credit. Mind you, having the option to duel has the societal advantage of inducing people to be polite. As a disadvantage, though, it tends to degrade into being a way for young hotheads to prove their manhood.

Before class, Mr. Dean gave my term paper back. I had scored one hundred percent, and he had written, "Excellent job!" Considering that I now had an ancient scholar in my head who was increasingly influencing my thoughts and actions, I didn't take as much pride in the accomplishment as I might have. It was much like a professional athlete defeating children.

"What did you get," Kirsten asked.

"One hundred percent. How did you do?"

"Ninety-eight."

"I received ninety-nine," said Debbie Taylor. She got up and posted another book report. "I've caught up, Arthur."

At least I could still have some fun with that competition. With Ursus in residence, the amount I had been reading was actually less than usual. "You better keep it up over break, Taylor. I'm going to have some time to read." I smiled when I said it.

"As you say, 'May the best bookworm win.'"

"Nerds," Sean muttered.

I decided to give Kirsten her Christmas present at lunch. "Why are you taking your books with you?" Kirsten asked once class was dismissed and we got up from our desks.

"I have something in my pack."

"What is it?"

"You'll see when we get to your house."

"Oooo, mysterious."

Once we were inside and our winter gear was off, I took my pack over to one of the counter stools and opened it up. "I got you a Christmas present," I said as I handed it to Kirsten.

"Thank you!" She had a big smile.

"Are you going to make her wait until Christmas to open it?" Mrs. Kennedy asked.

"I thought about it. My mom is firmly in the no-opening-until-Christmas camp, but I want to be there when Kirsten sees it. So go ahead."

Kirsten tore off the wrapping paper and opened the box. Her eyes got big, and I suddenly had an armful of happy girl. After she hugged me, she wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me. She kept kissing me. Until then, all of our kisses had lasted a few seconds, at most. Kirsten didn't slip me her tongue or anything like that, but she didn't seem eager to stop any time soon. Finally, Mrs. Kennedy loudly cleared her throat, and we broke our clinch.

"I'm going to be watching you, boy," Mrs. Kennedy said to me. She smiled when she said it, but I had no doubt that she meant it.

Ursus replied to her. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Help me put it on," Kirsten said. She gave me the necklace and turned around as she lifted her collar-length auburn hair out of the way. I passed the necklace around front and then fastened it behind her neck. "I have to go look at it in the mirror," she said. Her mother went with her.

That was a big hit, I thought.

You do realize that you've pretty much just declared your love for her, right?

In fact, I hadn't entirely thought through the full implications of giving her a gold heart. Of course, as soon as I realized that, Ursus realized that I'd just realized that, etc. I thought, Well, she's certainly a lovable girl, and special.

She is. Try not to break her heart.

Kirsten and her mother came back. Kirsten was carrying a wrapped gift. "I was going to bring this with me when I went to your house after school, but I might as well give this to you now." She passed it to me.

It was fairly heavy. When I unwrapped it, I saw it was a large book, 250 Songs for the Guitar. Like the book I had from the library, it had both tablature and standard notation. I put it down and gave her a hug. "Thank you."

The exchange of gifts over, Mrs. Kennedy dished out lunch--homemade chili and cornbread. "This is good. It's a lot like my mom's," I said.

"It's your mom's recipe," Mrs. Kennedy said. "She said it's one of your favorites."

"It is. Thank you for going to so much trouble."

"You're welcome, but it wasn't any more trouble than normal."

"It's better than your old recipe," said Kirsten.

"I'm tempted to say something sarcastic," Mrs. Kenney said, "but I agree with you."