Shortcuts

A paranormal superhero story with a supernatural twist

Getting to know the new girl

Comments have been blocked for this story but kudos and private messages are always welcome. Even highly critical private messages are welcome. I don't mind criticism when it's private.

Shortcuts
by Terry Volkirch

Chapter 2

Changes and surprises continued throughout the day, peaking at lunch. Lester and Brian sat at one of the tables with Brian at the far end and Lester next to him. There was a lot of space between Lester and the next student, more than enough for the new girl to sit.

Erin arrived and placed her tray on the table next to Lester's. The boy faced his friend in conversation and didn't notice her until his friend stopped talking and stared at something behind him. He turned and saw her, the vision of loveliness, the newest angel of his dreams, standing so very close to him.

"Hello, Lester," she said. "Do you mind if I sit here?"

Shock and awe hit the boy, tightening his vocal cords and choking the verbal center of his brain. She knew his name. How could she know his name?

"How...?" he croaked.

"Yes?" she said as she sat down. "Go ahead. I'm not a threat. I just want to make some friends and experience this thing called high school."

"How do you know my name?" he finally squeaked out.

"Oh, that," she said, then paused with the most adorable frown on her face. "They didn't have roll call, did they?"

Lester shook his head no.

"Well," she said with a sly smile, "would you believe that you're actually fairly popular in certain circles?"

Again, Lester shook his head no, as did his friend, Brian, who also stared and listened in shock.

"I'm happy to inform you that you most certainly are popular. You're so kind and honest and morally strong. You're greatly admired and loved where I'm from."

Erin stopped, as if what she said was enough to answer Lester's question. She started picking at her food, wrinkling up her nose at her lunch, as if she didn't like what she selected.

Lester turned to look at Brian, who shrugged his shoulders in confusion. Both boys were utterly out of their depth, and they slowly resumed eating as they tried to process their unbelievable situation. Lester frequently snuck looks at Erin as he ate and couldn't believe his eyes.

The girl continued picking at her food, sampling it and spitting out what she didn't like into her hand. She daintily cleaned her hand with a napkin and wrapped the offending bite of food in that same napkin, placing it by a stack of over a dozen napkins that she had stacked on one end of her tray.

After sampling the six different foods on her tray, she concentrated on the two things that she liked and began chatting away between bites. From that point on, she seemed much like a normal girl, except for the strange fact that she somehow knew an unusually large number of things about Lester. She seemed to know his parents, his taste in books and movies, and even that his last name ultimately derived from an early Germanic name that translated as home-power. Normal girls didn't research the surnames of their classmates.

Erin occasionally asked Lester simple questions that only required one-word answers. She seemed to understand that he wasn't used to having conversations with girls, even if she didn't understand exactly why. A little sympathy went a long way, allowing the boy to get comfortable enough to ask a few questions of his own in a normal voice.

"Seriously, Erin. Why are you sitting here talking to me? You seem to know me pretty well but I know almost nothing about you."

"Did I do something wrong?" she said, looking like she might cry at any second.

"No! I mean, no, not at all. But you're so… so…."

"What are you trying to say?" she asked, her eyes brimming with tears.

"You're very... cute. Okay. You're cute. And this is really awkward." He turned away, blushing.

"I don't understand," she said, the threat of tears diminished by her confusion. "You think I'm cute?" Then she turned away, talking more to herself but still easily heard by both boys. "Oh, dear. I didn't consider that possibility. How did I miss that? I thought it would be easier this way. And why do I feel so emotional? I just want to be friends. Why is this so difficult?"

"Hey," Lester said, facing her again. "I'm sorry. I'll be your friend. I'm happy to try anyway."

She turned to him and graced the boy with the most beautiful smile he'd ever seen. "Thank you, Lester. I guess I'm trying a little too hard. Let's be friends."

And so it went. Lester and Erin became fast friends that day, very fast friends, and Brian became something of a third wheel. Erin couldn't bring herself to show much interest in Lester's friend. She obviously favored Lester over everything and everyone else, something that didn't sit well with Brian as well as several of the more aggressive boys in the school.

* * *

By some quirk of fate, Erin managed to share every class with Lester. She walked with him from class to class, monopolizing his time, with Brian trailing behind when he also happened to share a class with Lester. She even shared the last class, coed Physical Education, where they played mixed team sports.

Lester sympathized with Erin when she had problems running after the soccer ball. She didn't seem comfortable with her large breasts at all, squealing as they bounced out of control. That made him curious as well as a little aroused. He noticed some of the other girls watching the new girl and shaking their heads.

"Try a sports bra," one of the girls told Erin with a hint of envy in her voice.

"Thanks," Erin said, smiling back at the helpful girl. "I will."

The class, and school, ended and Erin found Lester waiting for her. He skipped taking a shower to make sure he caught her.

"Oh! Hi Lester. Were you waiting for me?" She tried squeezing her wet hair and frowned when it didn't help much to dry it.

"Yeah. I thought I'd walk you home." He flashed her a hopeful smile. He normally took the school bus but the bus was long gone by that point.

"I don't think that will work," she said carefully. "I don't... live anywhere near your house."

"Are you sure? I don't mind a little extra walking."

"I'm sure, Lester. I'll see you tomorrow." She started walking and turned to frown at him when he fell into step beside her.

"What?" he said. "You should know I live this way."

She shrugged her shoulders and turned left at the next intersection, leaving the boy continuing straight ahead for his long walk home.

Lester replayed the day's events, trying to understand Erin a little better. But nothing about her made any sense to him. Before he got halfway home, he went back to his strange library daydream, and that led to yet another vision and an important revelation.

He stood on the sidewalk, looking down the long, straight lane, lined with large oak trees and once again saw the infinitely long rows of bookshelves. He also saw who he thought of as the librarian, and he realized why Mister Guile looked familiar. The substitute teacher could easily pass as a slightly lighter-skinned version of the Dark Librarian.

The boy shook his head. 'I haven't had any accidents all day. But I'm still cursed.'

* * *

Lester's week passed by in a blur of mildly interesting classes, pleasant lunches with Erin and occasional brief visions of the strange library. He didn't know it but preparations were being made for arguably the most interesting year of his life, and by the end of the school week, the time had come for a most unusual learning experience to start things off.

Lester made it home that Friday, did some homework, ate dinner and surfed the Internet until bedtime. Once in bed, he daydreamed about Erin for a short time as he drifted off to sleep, and, not long after, he began dreaming of the infinitely large library.

The Dark Librarian silently appeared from the boy's left, wearing a black robe, his arms spread wide in a welcoming gesture.

"Do I know you?" Lester asked him. "You look very much like one of my teachers."

"I know nothing of your life," the man lied. "I exist only to serve you in your quest for knowledge. These are the Akashic records. You can find anything here. Anything you care to learn is at your fingertips."

A strong tremor suddenly shook the dreamscape, making Lester stumble and making the librarian say something a little different than he'd planned.

"I mean to say, that the potential exists to find anything that you care to learn. I can only give you a little initial guidance to show you how things work here." He paused to make sure there were no more tremors. "I detect an interest in flying. Perhaps you'd like to learn to fly?"

Another strong tremor shook the dreamscape.

"Okay!" the Dark Librarian shouted. "Let's start with something simpler. How about levitation?" He cringed when another tremor hit.

"Flying? Levitation?" Lester asked. "What kind of library is this?"

"Ah. I exceed myself. Perhaps we can start with records for the library itself?" He sounded like he was asking for permission, and after several seconds without a tremor, he smiled and added, "You'll definitely understand soon. Now if you'll just follow me."

The Dark Librarian led the boy along an impossibly short path to a particularly dark place, the light far too faint to read any books. It seemed as though time sped up with the sun flying through the sky and setting in the span of a few heartbeats. The apparent shelves of books blurred into a single line of light gray that darkened along with the fading light, and the shelves slowly disappeared when the pair came to a stop.

"I can't see much," the boy complained. "How am I supposed to read the books in the dark?"

"This isn't your typical library, young man. This is a place full of ethereal records that are fed directly into your mind. You access a record and you simply know it. I just have to give you an easy technique for accessing the records and the rest is up to you, except possibly for a little extra guidance."

"I don't get it. Why me? What's going on?"

"You're special, my dear boy. You've got potential and I'm here to help start on your path to greatness. I can't show you much but I can start you on your way."

"Why can't you stay and help me find everything? Isn't that a librarian's job?"

"I'm not allowed to do more than give you nudges in the right direction."

Another tremor shook the dreamscape.

"Damn it!" the dark being gave himself away a little then, but he recovered quickly. "Ah. Please excuse me. I'm being guided myself. Let me rephrase what I said. I can give you a little guidance but that is all, otherwise I might interfere with your natural progression to reach your full potential."

The boy sighed. "This doesn't make any sense, but I suppose it's just as well. This is a dream after all."

"Oh, Lester. This is much more than a dream, and when you see results in the waking world, you'll come back again and again."

"Wait a minute. How do you know my name?"

"I keep telling you, boy. You're special, and really popular in certain circles."

Lester cocked his head. "This is too weird. You sound just like Erin."

The librarian laughed, sounding all too similar to Mister Guile's laugh when Erin entered his classroom. Warning bells sounded in Lester's subconscious but his curiosity kept him rooted to the spot. He wanted to know more about what was going on and he seemed to be in the perfect place to learn.

"Okay," the boy said after the Dark Librarian stopped laughing. "Enough talk. Let's get started."

The librarian helped the boy access information about the Akashic records themselves and waited until Lester suddenly got the hang of reading records. He then had the boy practice by absorbing a second record having to do with the creation of ancient clay tablets and a third record that described an early history of written language. Lester's head spun with new knowledge.

"This is all kind of interesting," the boy said, "but what about things like levitation and flying? Can I actually learn to levitate or do I just read about other people saying they can do it?"

The librarian placed a finger over his lips to ask for silence and beckoned the boy to follow him with a simple hand gesture. He led his Akashic student for what seemed like miles, stopping occasionally to allow for some practice with gaining more random knowledge. The first stop contained records for cooking, the next one described how to build various primitive dwellings, and there were many records to follow but still nothing like levitation or flying. It wasn't until the librarian stopped, said farewell and faded away that Lester obtained one last record for the night. He absorbed everything about levitation that had ever happened. Every thought, every technique, every success with levitation flowed into the boy's head and all he had left to do was to practice whenever he had the time in the waking world.

The wager between dark and light had truly begun, and as Lester reviewed everything that he'd learned that night, he was never more confused. According to the information about the Akashic records themselves, there was no librarian.

* * *

After a weekend of trying to apply what he learned from the Akashic records, Monday morning found Lester sitting in his usual place, alone on the bus to school, but that suited him just fine as he couldn't stop thinking about levitation. After trying all weekend, he finally managed to levitate himself while eating his breakfast that morning. He felt himself rise a couple of inches and drop back onto the stool after his surprising success broke his concentration. Even more surprising, once he did, it suddenly seemed so easy.

Brian gave Lester plenty of room when he got on the bus. His friend looked too preoccupied to be much good for conversation so Brian moved to the back of the bus and sulked, wondering if the two of them would still be friends after being ignored most of yesterday. He understood being ignored in favor of a beautiful girl, but he still didn't like it.

The two boys filtered out of the bus, got to their lockers and made their way to their first class, neither noticing the pleasantly warm day. They had too many things on their minds.

As Lester got closer to the school, his thoughts slowly drifted from levitation to something even stranger. He soon sat in Government class, watching Mister Guile's every move and carefully listening to every word of the man's lecture, measuring it all against what he'd seen of the librarian in his dream. The two men matched up too well in spite of several differences in their appearance and speech. They seemed to be the same height with the same short, spiky black hair, same eyes and same laugh, and the timing seemed suspicious, seeing both on the same day. It was all too much to be a coincidence.

Mister Guile, seemingly oblivious to Lester's scrutiny, turned to write on the white board behind him and muttered an obscenity when he couldn't quite reach the top of the white board. He pulled the cap off the red pen and threw it into the trash can. Then he scribbled roughly, the pen tip squeaking loudly. He wrote out the three branches of the United States government, explaining how they were created with checks and balances in the hopes of preventing an imbalance of power.

"Those poor founding fathers. They underestimated man's potential for corruption. Today's government with all of its money and influence peddling would likely turn their stomachs, and it's too bad really. To me, it seems a waste of time to try to prevent corruption. Corruption seems inevitable, but I'm not a politician so it's just as well."

He continued on, talking about lobbying and special interest groups. His eyes glazed over and a brief smile occasionally appeared on his face. The passion in his voice made it clear that he loved the subject and loved sharing it with young, impressionable minds.

Lester tried to listen and make sense of the lecture. He wanted good grades, expected to go on to a nice university, get a good job and make a difference in the world. The subject of lobbying couldn't be found in the table of contents of his textbook, though there were several pages listed in the index that made a reference to lobbying. The way his teacher spoke, lobbying made up an integral part of government, but the boy couldn't accept it even if it looked to be the truth. It didn't seem right.

He dared a quick glance diagonally back at Erin and saw an even more extreme reaction than his own. The red-haired girl glared at Mister Guile.

If he really thought about it, he might suspect Erin of being involved somehow with the substitute teacher. She showed up on the same day, and she seemed to have caused both the Dark Librarian and Mister Guile to laugh for whatever reason.

'Naw. That's too much of a stretch.'

Lester decided to stick to chasing after links between the two short, black-haired men, when he wasn't distracted by Erin.

The redhead was proving to be the biggest mystery of all, and she was a most pleasant distraction. He felt lucky that she didn't sit in front of him in any of his classes. His grades would likely suffer otherwise.

* * *

Government class ended and Erin walked along with Lester to their next class, but she didn't seem nearly as friendly as she had yesterday. She talked a lot less, only asking a few polite questions that one might ask a family member.

Lester focused on the redhead and the background noise of the other students in the crowded hallway faded to insignificance, yet he still had trouble figuring out what was different about her that morning. It took him a few minutes before he pinpointed the difference. To be fair, he would've thought of it much earlier if he hadn't kept sneaking looks at the girl's long, bare legs, striding beneath a pleated skirt that swung deliciously high above the knee. She stood only two inches shorter than he did and he especially loved tall girls for their legs.

The smitten boy vigorously shook his head and his thoughts finally cleared. "Erin?"

"Yes, Lester?"

"Is anything wrong? You seem a little preoccupied today."

"Oh. I guess I am. I got in a little trouble when I... got home yesterday. I have to be more careful about what I say. I'm new at this."

"New at this? What do you mean?"

Erin stopped the both of them and held her hand in front of her mouth. "Oh, no. I'm doing it again. I really have to be more careful since I'm stuck like this for a year." Her eyes widened in distress and she squeaked out, "I just keep doing it!"

Students flowed around the two stopped teens without disturbing them, though the number of passing students soon slowed to a trickle. It was getting close to the time for the next class to start. The noise levels dropped enough to allow the two of them to talk quietly.

"Hey. It's okay, Erin. Just slow down. You're not making much sense so I wouldn't worry about saying too much." Lester smiled, trying to put her at ease. He really didn't understand half of what she talked about and he didn't care to. He gave up trying to understand girls long ago.

She looked deeply into his eyes sensing only the truth and she visibly relaxed. "Thanks, Lester. I needed that."

The boy smiled back and started them walking again. "You're welcome. Perhaps now you could do me a favor." She'd unintentionally been encouraging him enough that he finally found his courage to pursue her in spite of all of the mixed signals she gave him.

"Oh? Sure! Anything!" the girl gushed.

"Uh, Erin. You shouldn't tease me like that." His eyes sparkled playfully.

"Tease? I'm not teasing you."

"Oh, be still my heart," he said, looking up at the sky. "She promised me anything. Surely she must know better than to promise a boy anything, unless she really means it."

Erin's eyes widened in distress again as she realized what he implied. "I was speaking figuratively!" she said, raising her voice.

The boy laughed. "I know. I'm sorry. I couldn't resist."

"Lester!" she squealed.

Just before they entered their next class, the domain of young Miss Mills, the Advanced Literature teacher, the boy smartly asked his favor. He timed it perfectly, knowing Erin wouldn't make a scene. She'd never disrupt what she said was her favorite class and favorite teacher.

"Erin, would you go out on a date with me?"

The girl's eyes widened in shock. She tried to speak and for the first time ever, her voice failed her.

Lester quickly held his hands up. "You don't have to answer now. Just think about it. Please. You can let me know after class or even after school. I'll wait." He smiled and Erin returned a smile, but hers didn't look quite the same. Her sad little smile didn't give the boy a good feeling.

The redhead turned and quickly made her way to her desk without looking back, followed by the boy, who slowly scuffed his feet to his desk, sitting three rows in front of the girl that reluctantly held the key to his heart.

* * *

Erin and Lester left their last class before lunch, slowly walking to the lunchroom together in silence. All of the other students rushed ahead, leaving the two of them alone. Just before reaching the large double doors, Erin stopped and turned to Lester with a sad look on her face.

"Here it comes," muttered the boy.

"I'm sorry, Lester. I'm so sorry. I like you but I just can't go out on a date with you. It's not just you though. I'm not going to date anyone."

"Ever?" he tried to joke.

Erin just gave him a nervous laugh in response.

"Once again, I don't understand," he told her, not really expecting an explanation.

"Even if I wanted to date, I don't think it'd be a good idea. I still have so much to learn. I don't think I'll ever catch up. Do you have any idea how complicated it is to be a girl? Styling my hair, applying makeup, deciding on an outfit to wear. It's all so complicated! Though I have to confess, it is good fun, and I'm really developing a fondness for shopping."

Lester held up his hands. "T-M-G!"

"T-M-G?" she asked, cocking her head to one side.

The boy thought she looked so cute that way. It took a powerful effort of will to focus and answer her question. "I just made that up. T-M-G stands for too much girlishness. You know. It's like T-M-I. Too much information."

Erin frowned. "Huh," she said after a short pause. "Girlishness? Is that even a word?"

Before Lester could look up the word on his smart phone and show it to her, she very briefly got a blank look on her face before blurting out, "Oh! I guess it is a word. I'm sorry for doubting you."

"Wait a minute. How'd you look it up? You told me you don't own a smart phone."

"Yeah. I don't really need one."

"Okay. I don't even want to know. I'll just think of it as one of the mysteries of being a girl. But I still want to go back to something you said earlier. You sound like you're just now getting into being feminine. Did you used to be a tomboy or something?"

She gave him a short, nervous laugh and then hit him with a verbal barrage. "Oh. You could say that. I guess. Uh. Can we change the subject? Let's go eat lunch. I think I'm hungry."

The worlds flew by Lester in a blur. He only picked up her vague agreement that she was a former tomboy and that she might be hungry.

Erin's stomach grumbled, causing her to squeak in surprise.

Lester laughed. "Yep. You're hungry," he said.

She looked down and placed a hand over her stomach. "I don't think I'll ever get used to that," she said quietly.

The boy just shook his head and opened one of the large doors for her. She passed through and he followed. They were still friends. He kept telling himself that would be good enough.

* * *

© 2014 by Terry Volkirch. This work may not be replicated in whole or in part by any means electronic or otherwise without the express consent of the Author (copyright holder). All Rights Reserved. This is a work of Fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional and any resemblance to real people or incidents past, present or future is purely coincidental.