Chapter 24

I woke up alone in my bed, having a vague idea that Dee had left a short while earlier for her walkie with Dad. It was earlier for me than usual, as I was determined to walk to school, to make up for the lack of exercise over the weekend, unless you call crawling under the house and into the attic 'exercise'. I don't think you can call 'work' exercise, unless you are a furniture mover.

I had a quick light snack of toasted bread and peanut butter, washed down with coffee, and headed out the door into the frosty pre-dawn just as Dad and Dee came in. Dee turned right around and followed me out the door. I told her I was going to school for the day, and then just let her be, she was a independent free-willed being, and in the end, responsible for herself. I kind of enjoyed her company.

She stopped and sat on the sidewalk when we got across the street from the school grounds, and I told her I would see her later. She Yawned and thumped her tail.

The quad was well fermented, the nutrients mixed to all corners, only a forlorn remnant of Seniordom clinging to the past in a small cluster. Class just had no meaning anymore, over more important groupings such as interests, family, relationships or organizations.

I chatted with my friends, who mock complained but really were jealous, that my relationship with Tiff was making me forget them. There was some truth to that, however, I had to weigh the situation in the balance. My Miss Tiff, or geek loser friends? Sorry, pals. They really did understand, and would make the same choice in my shoes.

So when Tiff showed up, we sat and groked together, and ignored them. Unrepentantly. Gym was a normal class now, despite a hot looking teacher. There were plenty of hot teachers, but since there was no chance in hell, it didn't matter. Now, it didn't matter any more in Gym, either. That was good, and Gym wasn't a 'hard' class anymore.

HomeEc put the Home in the HomeEc, and we learned about credit scores, financing, title search, market value, liens, mortgages, and Real Estate Agents. Good stuff, but probably wasted on High School Sophomores. Oh well, at least it would be somewhat familiar in a dozen years or so.

In History, we learned about the Underlying Causes of various wars, which were not the stated reasons. The stated reasons for various wars seemed to just be the excuse, and the wars were wanted by someone or other for different reasons, mostly down to money. Wow.

Seems War costs a lot more than any gain winning would provide, especially since we have paid to rebuild both Germany and Japan after we destroyed them to whatever extent. I would like to know just who made money. War probably doesn't create money as much as it just transfers some money while much else of value is ruined. What a waste.

At Lunch, I managed to speak with Dave Frohm, my Senior Weight-lifting buddy, about if he knew anyone who had either an engine hoist or floods we could borrow for a month or so. He actually had the hoist, and knew who to ask about the floods, and would get back to me on that. He would actually bring the hoist over in his Dad's pickup in the evening, and take a look at the Sweet Heap project.

He and Tiff got into a gearhead discussion for a few minutes, while I ate what I could of my lunch, which was inedible greasy goulash. Why even bother serving kids food they wouldn't ever eat?

I got re-involved with the conversation when it drifted back to current school gossip, it seems the four senior cheerleaders had all dropped out of school, a pretty big scandal, but since they hadn't been to any classes for a week, or any games, not terribly surprising, except for the fact that it was all four. I guess they just couldn't resist acting nasty toward others. Sadly, there is no demand for ugly cheerleaders. Do Not Want.

It isn't as if they had nice personalities, after all. So, the rest of the schoolday was uneventful, and I walked Tiff home to her apartment after school. Dee joined us as soon as we left school grounds, expressing happiness to see us. I doubt she had been waiting all day, she probably just knew it was time for the end of school, and had headed over.

A few blocks later I felt the tingling that indicated Bad Juju, and when the Former Head Cheerleader launched a powerful curse at Tiff, which would have given her a pretty nasty day, month, year, I deflected it harmlessly into the sky with a small shrug, and intended that any other bad intentions willed by her would also deflect harmlessly upward never reaching a target.

Surprisingly, Tiff was sensitive enough to shiver as a feeling of dread passed over her, but I put my arm around her to cover her reaction, and whispered in her ear that she should ignore it and not show a reaction. She snuggled back trustingly, but giving me a quick sharp look that said we were going to talk about this buster, soon.