Chapter 9: A Compromise Is Offered

I was very rudely awakened when my two older sisters trooped noisily into my bedroom and proceeded to jump on the bed, shaking me awake.

"Come on, stud, time to get up. We're leaving soon and you've got to come tell us goodbye."

"Uhh," I wittily replied. Glancing around, I saw I was surrounded by Becky and Melinda. The girls I had gone to bed with all seemed to be missing. Who the hell was supposed to be protecting me from my sisters? Of course, the answer immediately sprang to mind. Cate, but I would hate to see her get riled up at her sisters again. Unfortunately there was no one to protect me from their teasing.

"Yeah, sleepyhead," groused Becky. "Here we invade your room and you don't even have the decency to be naked, what's that all about?"

"Hey, just remember that I'm not the one to say it this time," Melinda told me. "Cate's already angry enough at me, I don't want to get in any trouble because of Becky's teasing."

I waved her off, acknowledging I wouldn't pin the blame on her, although I did it mainly because I didn't plan on remembering anything, as I simply planned to return to sleep. However, they managed to grab my arms and drag me from my bed and out the door. By then I'd managed to regain some sense and was being willingly propelled down the stairs. I didn't have a chance to comb my hair, straighten my shirt or wipe the dried spit off of my face, before I was deposited on the couch amidst my parents and sisters, while my girls quickly surrounded me.

"OK," began Becky, apparently the chosen spokesman because she was the eldest, "we're going to be leaving soon so we wanted to talk to you quickly before we go. We've talked it over, and we've come to a couple more decisions. From now on you're a central focus in all of our lives. We're going to dedicate at least a year to helping you, and probably much more than that. We'll work out the details later, but plan on at least putting off college while you visit around the country trying to find anyone else who may share these traits. We all need to learn more about it, and we need more test subjects in order to do that.

"That means we're all going to be around a lot more. Which also means we're going to be much more intimately involved in your life, though admittedly not as much as certain others may be," Becky continued, looking meaningfully at Cate. She at least had the decency to blush at this. "No more of this 'I want to live my own life' crap out of you. You're now responsible for a whole new race of people, so get used to it."

"Yeah," Melinda took over in true tag team tradition. "Cate's going to be the central logician, mainly because she's here all the time, but also because she's so centrally involved. Remember to listen to Mom and Dad, and your girls, of course, as they all have more experience than you do, and will help you with everything. You're definitely the boss in all of this, so your word is always final, but remember to consider what they advise. I know you don't need me to tell you this, but it doesn't hurt to reinforce it. I seem to have had a recent problem which a little more experience might have saved me from," she said, glancing at Cate again.

"We all agree with that," Becky told me, "at least the part about your being in charge. We also talked and agreed that Shaniqua went overboard in trusting the girls and Caroline. From now on, we're all agreed that you should decide who to trust and how much. If anyone varies from that then you should remind them!"

"Any questions, stud?" Becky prompted.

"Uh ... first, please don't call me stud, secondly, I really—"

"OK, stud, firstly, NO. Secondly, forget it," Becky insisted. "We're not going to listen to you telling us we all need to be independent and you don't want to do this and that to our lives. We've all heard your little self-deprecating crap before. While it's still as endearing as hell, save it for your girlfriends. Your sisters are all immune to it already," she warned me.

"All right then," she continued. "Melinda has her assigned tasks while we're in college. We'll be home a bit more regularly from now on. By the way," she said, turning to our father, "you really need to get him a bigger bed. We don't mind not having our own beds, but the boy really needs to be able to sleep with everyone to avoid any hurt feelings."

"At least until the weekend," I cautioned, hoping the girls would have decided which one would drop me by then.

"Finally," Melinda added, "don't be afraid to relax and have some fun. This is apparently going to be a very long term adventure, and if you continually stress over it, you'll be dead before you can even start. Let your girlfriends keep you entertained and relaxed. Don't be afraid to ask for a massage or a foot rub if you think you need it. Again, we're all here to help, and I trust both Kitty and Chalise will feel the same way. At least until you dump one of them, then all bets are off." We all giggled at that, as it was easy to imagine the difficulties something like that would dredge up.

"OK, soldier, stand up and give us a hug," Becky demanded, making sure she was the first in line by being the one to grab my hands and pull. It was a little surprising to get such full hugs from my sisters, but I figured it was part of our new dynamic. Everyone hugged everyone else and soon they were heading out to their car, shouting goodbyes, good lucks, and to keep in touch. I was officially dizzy when they disappeared, as I still hadn't woken up yet and I was hungry to boot.

Mom and Cate expanded a bit on everyone's assigned roles, but I largely let it roll off my back, figuring they'd work out the little details. When they finished, they nodded approvingly, as if they agreed with my role as nominated de facto ringmaster of this particular circus act. The girls then led me back in to get dressed while Anh and Mom went to cook some breakfast.

Breakfast was fun. Cate couldn't keep from looking like she'd just won the lottery, as her morning afterglow shone brightly enough to cause my father to finally get up and leave the room while my girls all giggled about it. I knew I'd have to have a discussion with my father soon, as this sudden turn of events seemed to have really caught him off guard. Which was strange, because he'd seemed OK with it until then.

School was, as was becoming common, interesting. When Cate and I entered, she glanced around, said "pardon me", winked at me when I turned, and approached a guy I didn't even recognize. She then proceeded to give the young man quite a kiss! It shocked me to think she could be interested in someone like this. However, someone was right there to catch her at it, and they called them both to task and asked them in to see the Principal. Cate winked at me again as she passed, and it suddenly occurred to me that this had all been planned.

She'd apparently picked someone, largely at random, and kissed them to cover her noticeable 'morning after' grin. I guess she figured she couldn't hide her radiant look today, and figured getting caught kissing a guy would firmly establish him as the guilty party. I guess for once a rampant rumor might just help us out. I figured the guy would be so smitten by the sudden attention, he probably wouldn't object to the misperception. I smiled to myself as I walked away, hoping Cate didn't get into too much trouble for her little subterfuge.

During home room Mike just fumed silently at me, staring at me with open hostility. After class, as we were all filing out, he bumped me fairly hard.

"I talked with Jimmy and Kevin," he hissed. They were my other two regular friends. "They both agree with me that you've become a fucking ass. They want you to know they want nothing to do with you either, douche bag!"

I was a bit shocked at the vehemence, but amused that the worst curse he could think up was "douche bag". That insult had to have originated in the 50s, before there were commercials for feminine hygiene products on the television every day. Still, I resisted laughing at him, figuring it wouldn't help. He stormed off, so I just shrugged and continued on my way to my first class of the day.

I felt badly about Jimmy and Kevin, since we hadn't even had a chance to talk yet. But then we'd frequently go for long periods without getting together, so I couldn't figure out what the real deal could be. I figured I'd have to hear it from them that they actually wanted nothing to do with me. I didn't really trust Mike's judgment given his current level of resentment.

The rest of the day was pretty normal, though. The various looks I received throughout the day continued. They seemed to have lessened by the end of the previous week, but I imagined the rumors of my dual dates had fueled them even more.

At lunch I figured I'd continue with my new tradition of trying to reach out to different groups and so I approached the table of Asian kids. I figured they'd be more accurately defined as the Intellectual table rather than Cate's normal group of so called friends, though the whole school separated them by race instead.

I walked up early, a trick I'd learned previously in my history of visiting other tables. That way there'd always be a spare seat when I'd ask. When I inquired if they minded if I sat with them one guy looked up and started in on me.

"What, just because you know one Oriental you figure you know all of us?" he challenged.

I briefly sized him up, though it didn't really tell me much about him. He wasn't especially tall, but was taller than anyone else at the table. He had a clear complexion, which says a lot for most high school kids. He looked attractive enough, but his eyes clearly conveyed his dislike of me. I had no idea what his issue was, but thought I'd best try to deal with it here and now.

"No, first of all, my friend isn't Oriental. She's a Vietnamese-American. And I don't think she'd have anything in common with the rest of you. That's why I'd like to sit and get to know you, because I don't know you and I'd like the opportunity to do that. However, I'd expect the same from you.

"I've spent the last couple of years sitting off by myself, just waiting for high school to be over. However I've recently changed my mind. There's no sense putting off leading my life just because high school kids are a bit temperamental. If you don't want me to sit at your table then just tell me, but you don't need to attack my character when you don't know me from Adam."

I made sure to keep my tone calm during this whole diatribe and tried to make eye contact with each person seated there while I was delivering it. It seemed to work, as the feelings from the group seemed to ease considerably.

"Relax," stated a slightly shorter, stockier guy. "Tony is a bit excitable," he explained. "Plus, I think he's a little upset that you managed to hook a string of girlfriends while he's having trouble holding onto one." They all laughed at Tony's expense, but I wasn't so easily dissuaded.

"That's part of the problem I've been having lately. Everyone assumes they know me because of a few rumors floating around the school. What makes you think I have a host of girlfriends?"

"Word is that you're living with several older women and we saw them kissing you. That certainly didn't look like a polite kiss to me. You were seen arriving at school in an expensive red convertible with two women who appeared quite friendly. And then there's the story that you're dating Bulldozer's girlfriend and sister. That sure sounds like a few to me."

"Well, the women that kissed me after school are staying with my parents, not me," I lied. "One's working for my parents as a cook, while the others are looking for apartments and jobs nearby. They're just family friends. Also, just for your information, one of the women in the convertible was my sister. And the reason why I asked Darrell's friend and sister out," I purposely refused to call him by that crude moniker, "is precisely because everyone's been treating me like I'm some sex freak because of these idiotic rumors.

"The women kissed me because they like to tease me, precisely because I'm young, shy and easily embarrassed. They did it when we first met in Orleans to embarrass me in front of my family, and again the other day.

"I can hardly blame them, cause it's the kind of humor my whole family shares, but it's made my life around here a real mess. That's why I asked the two girls out, because they showed an interest in me and not in this sex maniac everyone expects. I told them both I'd ask them out if they could treat me like we'd just met. They did and so I've gone out with them, like I said I would.

"Now, if the rest of you could possibly treat me the same way, I'll be glad to sit here and talk. But if you're just trying to continue this terrible rumor then I'll just leave now."

They were all instantly apologetic and I began to think I had made a mistake being honest for the past week. Lying is sooooo much easier! They all introduced themselves and we finally got to know something about each other. Of course, I'll never remember their names, even if most of their first names are plain American ones. And by American I mean English Protestant Anglo-Saxon, because I was rapidly learning that's what all the names I'd previously considered 'normal' were.

I noted that there were several cute girls here, and they all spoke and carried themselves well, though Tony's attitude didn't improve much. I learned that quite a few were Japanese-American, a few were of Chinese extraction and the rest a variety. And no, I didn't ask, they all volunteered that information. After the lunchroom began clearing, I thanked them all for being so patient with me and said I hoped they'd occasionally let me join them in the future. They were mostly receptive and I was happy with the whole scene.

The remainder of the day was almost normal. Up until my rendezvous with my two potential girlfriends, that is. That was an odd enough circumstance to negate my feelings of normalcy, in and of itself. They both met me by my car, eager to begin our planned discussion. I wondered how they found it until Cate showed herself, sitting inside the car talking to them.

"What're you doing here?" I asked her.

"Well, duh, how else am I going to get home? You seem to have forgotten that I rode to school with you." They all giggled while I looked askance at my sister. She knew I was planning this today, but never thought to remind me she'd need a ride. Plus, she could easily have arranged a ride on her own. I could see her wanting to involve herself in this discussion.

"Well, Cate, the three of us have a fairly private matter to discuss. I'll just have to take the time to drop you off first then."

"Oh, no," Kitty protested. "That'll take too much time. Everyone will expect me at home. Besides, we've all gotten to know your sister since we asked her what you were like. You'll remember you asked us to do that, right? So we don't have a problem with her coming along with us."

"Yeah, and if it bothers you, I can just sit in the background while the rest of you talk," Cate offered. I still didn't much like it, but I figured I'd been outfoxed. The only problem was I didn't know if I had one or multiples foxes involved.

Our recent liaison just complicated everything as well. Although I doubted it, I wasn't sure if my new sexual relationship with her might have triggered a new bout of jealousy in her. Even if it didn't, I wasn't sure I wanted her here to complicate an already delicate situation. I didn't know how she'd react, or even how I'd deal with her.

So I drove the three girls to the Dairy Queen in Farbersville, a little town about a half hour away, because it wouldn't be likely to house any friends, acquaintances or families, and it also had outdoor tables that would allow for a lesser chance of being overheard by anyone. The girls spent their time teasing me during the drive. As we situated ourselves at an isolated table, Cate offered to get everyone some ice cream cones. The girls all enthusiastically agreed, while I suspected she offered just so that she'd have an excuse to come back to listen in.