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Part 3

I remembered to pick Chloe up on the way to school the next morning. Here's to the power of actually not being an idiot two days in a row. Go me! If you are interested, today's color is beige, regarding my turtleneck sweater, and brown in reference to the color denims I was wearing. Chloe insisted that I wear matching socks and loafers this time. I kind of liked the tennis shoes I was wearing the previous day, but they had dark green striping, which according to Chloe would clash with today's outfit. Huh.

With her guidance I did my own make up in the Beetle as we sat in the parking lot. I didn't do too bad of a job, considering I'm not using a massive amount. The object of passing was to not look like the make up artists at Macys, but to look like you were still learning what works for you.

Today I learned that pink is not a really good color for red heads. Do they write books on this subject or something? You'd think if I could memorize the periodic table of elements that I could figure out a color wheel… whatever that is.

"How'd your study date with Steve go last night?"

I rolled my eyes at her. Yes, I knew she was jerking my chain.

"We wound up skipping Macbeth and went straight into making out on the couch."

She nodded right along with the conversation. "Just as long as you remember to use protection. Lord knows where his master of ceremonies has been."

"Oh," I remarked with a disappointed demeanor. "I have to say that it's amazing what steroids do to the little man." I held up my hand and waved my pinky finger.

"Oh, no. That's just sad," she said with sympathy. "It's the peer pressure, I tell ya. The need to excel at striking a small ball outside of a fence so that you can run around in a circle."

"More of a diamond shape really, Chloe."

"Really?" she inquired in disbelief. "How odd."

"Perhaps, it's a sexual metaphor in regards to latent homosexual repression. I mean think about it. On one hand you have a big strong man holding a long wooden phallic symbol while another man, pitches his ball at the holder of the phallic symbol. Then they all run around and try to tag one another before sliding into home plate. Now this, in turn makes everyone around scream and jump up and down in a decadent euphoria."

I sniffed haughtily. "It's a gay thing."

In mid giggle Chloe looked at her watch. "Time to school it!"

~O~

No, I hadn't noticed before, that Ted was in my homeroom. I was too busy talking to Chloe to notice that he had entered the room and sat three rows over, parallel to us. For those of you geometrically challenged, that means he was in the back row too.

"Attention please." Mr. Walsh stood at the front of the class holding a file folder and looking at his watch. "We have five more minutes before you are dismissed for first period. I need to step next door. Please don't make me come back here to discipline anyone for acting out."

Turning back to Chloe to continue my exciting tale about last night's study session, I noticed it didn't take very long for Mr. Walsh's warning to be ignored.

"Gimmie it back."

Even though we had only spoken for a short while I recognized Ted's voice immediately. I spun around in my seat to see a circle widening around Ted and a shorter, but stouter, boy.

"Wow, dragons. Can you be any more gay, dickhead?"

"Oh, shit," I muttered to myself.

"Jerry Greene," Chloe whispered hurriedly to me. "He's such a dick."

Ted made a grab for the sketchbook, but Jerry pulled it out of the way too quick. "You snooze, you loose, dickhead."

No, I have no idea why I did what I did. Maybe it was the fact that I was wearing an itchy lace bra or something. You know, irritation compounded by more irritation.

"God, you are such an ass, Jerry."

It was almost comical how everyone's attention was on me now. Think Casidhe, think!

"Girl's, may I have your attention please." I stood and offered Jerry Greene into evidence. "Note Jerry's short stature and building upper brow. Sure evidence that in less than three more years he will be paying someone good money to shave his back and in about twenty years praying to God that he still had hair on his head as he rubs Rogaine liberally on his scalp, in a vain attempt to lose the comb-over that is rapidly approaching."

Jerry's jaw loosened.

"Now note, Ted. Tall, a little bit lanky at the moment, but with lankiness comes the impending design of muscled bulk. Note his strong forearms, already."

I couldn't see anything else of his arms because of the bulky flannel shirt he was wearing. At least he had his sleeves roles up a couple of times.

"Yes, he wears braces. That tells me he actually cares about good dental hygiene, thusly good breath, unlike Mr. TroglaGreen here with yesterday's spinach still stuck between his teeth."

No, Jerry didn't have spinach in his teeth, but he didn't know that.

"Ted has a nice thick head of hair, which any enterprising girl, with the ovaries to know, means nice times are ahead with the running fingers. He's gifted artistically in several ways, and that means he's sensitive to what is around him. I.E. sensitive to a girl's needs, if you take my meaning. I for one, am glad he asked me out on a date this Sunday."

I couldn't have timed the bell ringing any better. Ted grabbed his sketchbook while Jerry seethed in embarrassment.

Chloe stepped up behind me as I gave Jerry my narrow eyes. "Ladies and gentleman, it's time for Casidhe to leave the building."

She rushed me out of the room and down the hall at almost a running pace.

"I don't know whether to be proud of you for putting Jerry Greene in the ground socially, or smack you upside the head for virtually declaring Ted Head the catch of the year." Chloe was shaking her head the entire time. "You know you all but said that he was your boyfriend in there, right?"

With an eye roll I slowed down. "Don't be stupid. I was just showing everyone that you can't expect people to look the way they are all their life. I just know what to look for. It's simple human biology."

Chloe sighed dramatically. "Well don't be surprised if Ted declares his undying love on your date."

There was a point being made here… I know there was, wasn't there?

~O~

At my locker, I popped up a magnetized mirror so that I could check my make up on occasion. After switching out a few books and transferring them to my bag, Chloe and I proceeded on to English where, lo and behold, Ted sat in furious work with his sketchbook.

What the hell? Is he in every one of my classes now? Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating. Homeroom wasn't really a class.

Ah good, no sign of the TroglaGreen.

We still had a few minutes until class started so I checked my Blackberry. Hey, whatdoyaknow, perv's! Block, delete. Block, delete. Block, delete. Curiously, I noticed a lack of penis' in today's mail. Huh. Oh, I spoke too soon. Except the picture wasn't a penis this time, but a fairly nice downward view of some guy's muscled chest. I showed Chloe, and she gave a thumb's up for improved camera angle. The lighting could have been better.

~O~

Ah, lunch. I look forward to thee with lurid yearning. Ugh, spaghetti soup type substance. How can someone actually screw up spaghetti? It's noodle's and sauce… and maybe if you aren't a cheapskate, some meat added. Leave it to the girls in white hairnets to profane my meal by watering down the sauce. Cheese broccoli. I can feel it hardening in my stomach right now. Oh, Coke, dear Coke, to your sugary goodness I write a sonnet to thee.

"Ted Head is sitting at the table behind you."

"Shh, I'm tying to keep the broccoli down right now. It keeps moving around in my…"

"WHOA!" came a loud boyish sound before I was covered in today's lunch.

I froze in disbelief, my mouth working like a fish as I wiped a chunk of sauce from my face, but that wasn't all that was going on. I only caught it out of my left eye as the other was occupied with a burning sensation due to, what I'm guessing was, pepper.

A figure flew by me and slammed into whoever bathed me in, what is this?, great, cheese broccoli.

"FIGHT!" several people yelled.

I stood up and flung my hand out to rid me of the grossness when I saw Ted on top of someone, rearing back and slamming his fist repeatedly into their face. Holy crap! He was whaling on him and I could actually hear it when his fist connected.

You know how in all the action movie fight scenes they have sound effects that make you actually think the hit was more than it actually was? Yeah. Ouch.

The fight lasted all of about thirty seconds before some adult, in stretchy gym shorts with a key chain baring about 400 keys on it, pulled Ted off of… oh, that bastard! Jerry Green.

Apparently, Ted's forearms aren't the only part of his arms that are muscled. The TroglaGreen's face was bloody, his nose was obviously broken and I'd kind of be stunned if his jaw wasn't dislocated as well.

Mr. Walsh grabbed a hold of Ted and held him back.

"I saw the whole thing! He did it on purpose! I'll kick his ass!"

Jesus!

Jerry was holding his face and blubbering before I saw a tooth, or actually part of a tooth drop to the floor. Oh, eww. I looked back up at Ted. His face was red with rage as he struggled with Mr. Walsh. The knuckles of his right hand were raw and bleeding freely. Dammit. Turning to the table I grabbed the extra napkins I always got and poured out the remaining ice from my Coke into the middle. Wrapping it up as best as I could, I moved in front of him.

"Ted, stop it," I ordered.

It was like flipping a light switch. I grabbed his injured hand and pressed the makeshift icepack on the worst portion. He flinched only a little as he took me in.

"Casidhe, are you okay?"

Was I okay? Yes, I was covered and currently still dripping Jerry's lunch off of my body. He was bleeding and might have broken his hand on the TroglaGreene's caveman head.

"I'm fine, Ted. We need to get you to the nurse's office."

Mr. Walsh made a quick judgment call. "Casidhe, take him straight there. I'll be there when we sort Mr. Greene out."

I nodded and kept hold of Ted's hand, elevating it higher. "Keep it up here. It's going to hurt like a bitch in a few minutes."

We got two steps away when I stopped. "Chloe, can you grab my stuff, and Ted's too?"

She was still wide-eyed, but semi-lucid. I could tell, because she nodded.

~O~

We slipped through the south side of the office, where Ted indicated the Nurse's office was located. She stuck his hand under cold running water and then patched it with a non-stick pad wrapped in gauze before setting a large ice pack over the top.

"I've called your mother to pick you up. You'll need to get that X-rayed." The nurse apparently had done this before. Huh, who would have thought that High School was rife with trouble-makers and hooligans?

Mr. Walsh entered at that moment carrying a clipboard and a pen with him. Oh, joy. Report time.

"Mr. Head, as I'm sure you know, we have your signature on file, indicating that you are currently aware of school policy regarding fights."

"Hold on!" I stuck my butt in. "Have you seen what Greene did to me?"

It was obvious, because I was still picking noodles out of my hair. In fact I did so once more and tossed it to the ground in front of Mr. Walsh.

I knew what school policy was. Remember, I just signed up for school. Having recently read the student handbook, I felt I was probably the only teen in the school that was most aware of its contents. Fight's are grounds for immediate expulsion. They call it Zero Tolerance.

"Miss, O'Connor, shouldn't you be headed home to clean up?"

I stood up and put myself in between Ted and Mr. Walsh. "I'm a material witness to what happened, as well as a victim of Jerry Greene's bullying. Before you go expelling Ted you might want to refer back to the student handbook in regards to school policy on intimidation."

Mr. Walsh seemed to be measuring me up. I couldn't tell what he was thinking and it was driving me nuts.

"I'd be willing to bet you serious money that if we were to go pull ole Jerry's record right now we'd find incident after incident of minor infractions. I'd be willing to bet that if I were to ask around I could find a number of people that Jerry's been intimidating for the last few years."

At that, I heard Ted snort from behind me.

"Has anything been done about that?"

Mr. Walsh kept an even gaze at me, neither flinching, nor leering. Just level.

"I submit, Mr. Walsh, that Ted has every right as a citizen and minor of this state, to defend himself and others from physical and mental abuse that the administration of this school has failed to protect."

I've got to hand it to Mr. Walsh. He was cool.

"Miss. O'Connor, please go home and get yourself cleaned up."

I really hate being treated like a kid.

I narrowed my eyes at him. It was a stare down. Short lived, yes. I'm too short, dammit.

Instead of going off on more B.S. I decided to take a different sort of action, one that everyone in any position of power understands. Bending down to my backpack, I retrieved my Blackberry and pulled up a number.

"Hi, Carrie, it's Casidhe O'Connor… yeah, I'm fine. Is Sam busy?"

I looked back up at Mr. Walsh, and finally saw him in silent contemplation.

"Hi Sam… yeah, I'm fine." I shuffled a bit to the side to block Mr. Walsh's view of Ted. "Yeah, listen. I want to bring a civil suit up against a fellow classmate and Desmond High School."

Mr. Walsh lowered his clipboard and pulled his hands behind his back.

"Assault. A friend came to my defense and now the school's going to expel him for fighting. They have a no tolerance thing… right." I gave Mr. Walsh a quick, shit-eating, grin. "I'll have his mother get in contact with you… no, I'm paying for it … great. Thanks, Sam. You're the best."

With that, I hung up and stuffed the phone in my back pocket.

"Care to step outside in the hall with me for a moment, Miss O'Connor?"

I turned back and checked on Ted. He looked like he didn't know what to think.

"Sure."

Mr. Walsh held the door open for me and we stepped out. He didn't say anything until he closed the door.

"Touché, Casidhe," he said as he leaned against the wall. "You know it will never get to court."

I nodded. "You know I'm right. Greene is a bully. He got what was coming to him. But I have more than enough money and contacts through my lawyer that I can raise a major stink around here if I wanted."

He shrugged. "Considering incident's like Columbine and others you'd probably be right. I don't approve of bullies, Casidhe, but what Ted did in response was overboard."

I thought on it for a second. "You're right. It was. How about this then? Temporary expulsion. A week. An equal amount for Greene."

"He might have a case against Ted. That boy seriously messed up his face."

I shook my head. "Sam can handle that easy enough about my suspicions about Greene's record hold up, not to mention the amount of people I can probably get to back me up about witnessing the bullying."

"Very true." He stood tall again. "I'll pass it by the principal. I don't see any reason that we can't go with your suggestion."

He got a smile from me on that one. "Thanks, Mr. Walsh."

He nodded at me. "Now, seriously, go home and clean up."

I went back into the nurse's office and grabbed my backpack before I sat down next to Ted.

"It was worth it."

I looked to my side at him. "What?"

"Getting expelled. It was worth it to see Greene eat his own teeth."

Shaking my head in response I dug out my folio and pulled a business card from inside. "I'm pretty sure that they are only going to suspend you for a week. I kind of talked Mr. Walsh down. He's going to work it out with the principle now."

The fight was obviously lethargic for Ted. I don't think I've seen him so calm. Granted, I've known him for less than a day, but he's not twitched once since I put the ice pack on his knuckles in the lunch room.

"You're freakin' amazing, Casidhe."

That brought the heat to my face, so I shifted the subject. "Here's my lawyer's card. If they give you any crap or a longer suspension than a week, have your mom call that number. I have him under retainer, so it won't cost you a dime."

He looked at the card but didn't take it, so I tucked it in his shirt pocket and patted it down.

"I'll get your assignments and you can come over during the week. I'll make sure you don't fall behind."

"Thanks."

I stood up and let the backpack hang by my side. "Thank you for defending my honor, Ted." Looking down at my ruined clothes I sighed. "Now I'm going home to see if I can get this crap out of my hair. Email me later and let me know what happened."

He nodded. "See ya."

~O~

On the way out I passed Mrs. Head on the sidewalk headed inside.

"Dear God, Casidhe! What happened?"

I gave her a sincere smile. "Ted beat the heck out the guy that did this to me."

"Theodore did what?"

"He's quite a guy, your son."

~O~

No, I didn't get sauce all over the interior of the car. I have a garbage bag I usually keep in the trunk. So don't worry. When I got home I stripped at the washing machine and dropped everything in the wash. The mess had sunk down to my panties and bra. Yuck.

After a quick shower to rinse the bulk of the mess off my body I ran a hot bath to soak away some of my tension from the day away. Spying the lavender scented bath beads Chloe bought me, I went ahead and tossed some in. I really didn't want to smell like school spaghetti for the next couple of days.

Yes, I did notice the irony of having lavender bath beads.

Two shampoos and a thick layer of conditioner later, I almost felt normal.

I soaked and then warmed the bath once more. That's when I saw the shower caddy sitting by the toilet, adjacent the bath. Inside were a few disposable razors and some shaving gel. Of course, Chloe had already sprayed some out so there was some dry crusty gel at the tip to give the illuuuusion that I do this often. I swear, the girl could probably pull off the perfect murder if she wanted. Her attention to detail is pretty darn good. On a quick further refection I decided to go ahead and find out what it felt like to actually shave my legs. I'd never done so in the past.

Not that I'm a hairy beast or anything. On the plus side of not being able to produce massive amounts of testosterone… or any for that matter, I was currently blessed with really thin body hair. Well I say body hair; I mean my arms and legs. It's thin and being a red head it's light colored. But I had the urge, yanno?

~O~

Note to self: buy a styptic pencil to staunch the flow of blood in the future. Do you know how much it stings when you cut yourself right behind the knee in that really sensitive portion? Yeah. Ouch.

~O~

Warming the bath one more time, I lay back and enjoyed the unusually sexy feeling of uber-smooth skin. That's when I was rudely interrupted by my cell phone ringing. Upon making note of who was calling, I answered.

"Casidhe's Bath House of pleasure, Casidhe speaking."

The sound of giggling echoed out of the speaker. "You are such a dork."

"Yes, but I'm a lavender smelling dork. It makes all the difference."

I sloshed in the tub.

"What are you doing?"

"Just got done shaving my legs. Now they are as smooth as a baby's butt. Is a baby's butt actually really smooth? Have there been scientific tests run? I'm beginning to become a skeptic."

"Oh my God, shut up." I really enjoy hearing my best friend giggle. She gives good giggle.

"What goes on in the school front?"

"You are officially a celebrity now. But Ted is off the charts. Everyone is talking about how he beat the crap out of Greene because of what the troll did to you. I can also tell you that there won't be a girl around that will date him after that."

I laughed out loud. "Why?"

"You don't mess with a girl's clothes."

"Good point. These freaking things are expensive."

"One other thing you might find of interest."

"What's that?"

"Apparently the rumor mill has gone full blast, and you two are officially/unofficially an item."

I think I sloshed about a gallon of water over the side of the tub when I sat up. "What!"

"Ooop, bell's rung, gotta go!"

"Chloe! Chloe!" I shook the phone like that was going to help. "Chlo?"

"Just kidding," came her voice over the speaker.

"I seriously hate you."

Chloe gave me more giggle while I rolled my eyes.

"It did come up, but I slashed it in the bud. They just think it's really cute that a boy did that for a girl he hardly knew."

"Whew." I leaned back and tried to enjoy the water again.

"But I will tell you this. Sunday when he comes over, you might want to have a sit down and talk things over."

"Why?"

"Check out his sketchbook."

"Oh, I've seen it already. Isn't he really good!"

A short bout of silence came over the phone. "You've seen it… all of it?"

"Uh, no. About the first five pages or so, why?"

I heard Chloe take a deep breath. "Well, it's the last ten you need to pay closer attention to."

A deep feeling of dread passed through me. "Why?"

"They're of you."

"Really? Are you still screwing around?"

"No, I'm really serious."

"Ten?"

"Yeah, and their freaking detailed. I saw them when I picked up his books at lunch. That's what he was working on when jerk-wad Jerry decided he really needed a root canal the hard way."

I heard the bell in the background. "Bell's rung, really this time. Gotta go. Pick me up after school! Bye!"

~O~

Oy. I'm not Jewish, but I think the situation called for a good old fashioned Oy. I'd never be able to pull the yamaka look off. I'm not a beanie type person. Never was. Oh, I guess I'd have to wear a scarf thing over my head since I'm dressing like a girl now. I have no idea. I'm not religious. I know virtually nothing about Jewish people. Oh my God, what the hell am I going to do about Ted?

~O~

I styled my hair and put my bra and panties on. I really need something to fill my bra out. It looks ridiculous against my flat chest. Maybe I could get implants. That would freak Chloe out. Hey girl. Holy shit!

Yep, the double-D milk maiden has arrived.

Okay, my humor is an acquired taste. No implants for me.

I sifted though and found the last outfit that Chloe bought. I had been trying to postpone the obvious, but if I have freshly shaven legs I might as well show them off. It's a Gypsy skirt and a peasant blouse. I really don't have the breasts to pull off a good look with the blouse, but it's cute. I slipped my feet in a pair of sandals and made my way to the make up table.

Yes, I was getting much better at only my second solo attempt. It's really not that hard putting make up on. I just copied what Chloe did. Afterward I stood up and checked myself out in the closet mirror. Yes, I swished the skirt from side to side. Can I help it if I'm really enjoying being a girl?

With a frown I looked down at my plain feet and decided to brave the unknown and try to paint my toenails.

Dammit! How are you suppose to put polish on these little tiny nails without it sloshing all over the skin!

It took me three tries of painting, removing, painting removing to actually get it somewhat respectable. I guess that's why there is an entire profession devoted to doing this. It's a freaking skilled labor job! They probably have to train like electricians or something. The little piggy is a bitch to get right. I'm not even going to go into how screwed up my fingernails are. Forget that mess.

Checking the time I found I still had an hour left until Chloe got out of school. So I signed on to my email and Jesus!

Inbox: 137 New Emails

You've got to be kidding me.

After doing a quick run through, oh great I'm on a mailing list. Spam blocker do your duty! Anyway, I blocked and deleted more pervs. And wow, a whopping seventeen new porn mails, a new personal best for me. One Trojan, pfft, whatever. DIE DIE DIE! I wound up with fifty-three actual emails.

Mostly, they were people wondering what happened at lunch. I set those aside and found three more applicants for tutoring. Uh oh, too many.

I told them to meet me at the flagpole after school and I'd talk to them.

Crap, I'm gonna be late!

I turned off the computer and ran down the stairs.

Note to self: Don't run down stairs in new sandals.

I caught myself hanging on to the banister for dear life after almost taking a nosedive. Once I was on flat ground it was much easier. I dashed out and zipped down to the school. Parking down the street I grabbed my notebook, a pen, and my keys and made my way to the front of the school. Once I got to the parking lot the final bell rang and I slowed down.

I timed it like that, really!

It was still too early for students to be rushing out of the doors, seeing as almost everyone goes to their locker, at the end of the day, anyway. So I sat down on the bricks and had to stand up again because the skirt bunched up under my butt. I smoothed it out and sat down again. Upon further reflection, I crossed my legs at the knee, and leaned over to answer some more emails on my Blackberry.

"Are you Casidhe?"

I looked up and, gulp!, there stood a guy, trim of figure, but it was obvious that he really took care of himself. Dark brown hair, cropped short, and a rectangular face. He had the greyest eyes I had ever seen.

"I…I…" get over it Casidhe! "Uh, yeah, that's me."

"Cool," he sat down next to me and… oh no! I could feel my face heating up. No, not now!

"My teammate, Steve, said that you tutor him in English IV. He said you're really good."

My embarrassment induced frown started to stretch into a smile. "Yeah, we had our first session yesterday."

"Cool."

"Yeah, cool."

Oh my God, if anyone says 'cool' one more time…

"So, you need help in English as well?"

He shook his head. "Uh, no. I know it's not on your listed subjects, but do you know anything about Political Science?"

I blinked.

"They offer that here? I thought it was a college level course?"

He nodded in return and dug into his backpack. "It's an AP course. Advanced Placement. If I take the course and a test at the end of the year I can opt out of my first semester in college."

"Cool." I cringed. I must have sounded like a total retard. "Uh, yeah. Anyway, politics is a hobby of mine. Gramps and I spent four months in DC. I learned tons."

His eyes brightened and his smile widened. Dear God, he has perfect teeth.

"Really? That is so cool. I haven't even been out of state, much less to DC."

It was then that I noticed that I'd missed something he said. "I'm sorry, what?"

He chuckled a little. "I asked if you thought that you could help me."

I nodded, almost a little too eagerly. I think I'm turning into a spaz. "I'll need to look at the textbook to see, but I don't know why not."

Without any fanfare he handed it over. Without meaning to, my sandal started dangling from my toes. I realized I was bouncing my foot a little as I sat there with my legs crossed. Trying to ignore my body's attempt to break down I flipped open the book to the table of contents and scanned the page.

"What are you working on that you need help with?"

He didn't even skip a beat. "Constitutional interpretation."

Whoa. I really didn't know if I was qualified. It's one thing to have read the Constitution and memorized the Preamble, but to actually give a firm explanation of its meaning? Hell, there were Judges and College professors that have hard times doing something like that.

My lips tightened in resentment at being robbed of a chance to help him. I frowned and gave up. "I'm sorry…" after a quick shot of blood to my face I realized I didn't know his name."

He gave me his toothy smile. "I'm Mark Tanner."

All of the pieces started to fall into place. "You're the Baseball Captain."

He held out his hand and it swallowed up mine. Holy crap. His hands were huge!

"Yep. Steve said you wanted him to kill me for the Captaincy."

I inhaled sharply, and yes, I choked on my own spit. With a violent cough my sandal fell off and I nearly dropped the textbook.

"Whoa, are you okay." He laughed for a second. "I was kidding. He told me how you used baseball to make sense of Macbeth. I thought it was brilliant."

He thought I was brilliant?

Mark got up and grabbed my sandal and knelt to put it back on my foot. He was bent over me and I could see his smooth muscled chest through the opening at the top of his button-down.

"Mark Tanner, what are you doing?"

He jumped, I jumped, we were a couple of Mexican Jumping Beans. I looked up and froze. It was Lisa, the office bitch! She was two steps outside of the front door standing there with her arms crossed, and her face all scrunched up like someone just squeezed a lemon up her butt. Those of you that have had unfortunate experience of having a lemon squeezed up your butt, know how uncomfortable that can be. I'm not saying that I have… I have a vivid imagination, leave me alone.

She all but marched over and stood there while Mark took to his feet.

"Flirting with underclassmen again, Mark?"

"It's not what it looks like, Lisa. I'm trying to get tutoring help for my Poly Sci class."

She looked over at me and then back up. "From a Freshman? How stupid do you think I am?"

"I'm actually a Sophomore." While I should have added, And I think you're pretty freakin' stupid, I didn't feel it was conducive to the conversation.

Giving me a look like a squashed bug on her shoe I glanced over at Mark. "Email me later. We'll set up a time."

She gave me another glare. "He's taken, little freshman. Now piddle off and peddle your bike home."

"Thanks for giving me a ride home, girl."

Ah, Chloe. A lifesaver. I retrieved the key from the pocket in my skirt and handed it to Chloe. "The car's off the street back there. I'll be right behind you."

I gave Miss. Lemon Wedged Lisa a smirk and handed Mark back his textbook. "I'd suggest buying one of those little pocket copies of the Constitution and bring it along when we study."

He looked back and forth between me and Lisa. "Cool, thanks."

At that, I turned and made my way through the throngs of exiting students. Chloe was waiting for me behind the corner of the school. "Busy day today?"

I shook my head in resignation. "Only my life can be this screwed up."

"So, you and Mark?" She gave me a very interested waggle of her eyebrows.

I looked back and saw Lisa dragging him back in the school. Even though she didn't see me I gave her my narrow eyes and stuck my tongue out at her for good measure. With a exaggerated sigh I threw my back up against the brick wall of the school.

"You wanted to know my type? Mark is my type."

I closed my eyes and groaned.

"You don't go half-way on anything do you?"

Snapping my lids back open. "Chloe, he put my sandal back on after it fell off!"

"Cas, he has a girlfriend."

"The bitch! It had to be Lisa, didn't it?"

"Cas, he's way out of your league!"

"Hey!" I took mild offense at that.

"Cas," she edged into me and stage whispered, warningly. "You're a boy."

And just like that, my insides turned to lead.

Photo Credit: Olga http://mgpg.wordpress.com/2006/09/25/olga-super-red/

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To Be Continued...