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Subject: {ASSM} Now This Won't Hurt A Bit 03/38 (mf ff mF Ff FF msolo fsolo Fsolo oral toys mc nc inc teen magic)
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<1st attachment, "Chapter03.txt" begin>

WARNING: This is a work of erotic fiction. It contains depictions of
nudity and graphic sex.

Author: A Strange Geek
Title: Now This Won't Hurt A Bit
Summary: Four teens have their first confrontation with the darkness
coming to Haven: a voluptuous school nurse sowing sexual chaos among
the students and teachers of Haven High.

Part: 3 of 38
Keywords: mf, ff, mF, Ff, FF, msolo, fsolo, Fsolo, oral, toys, mc, nc,
inc, teen, magic

Copyright A Strange Geek, 2006

Feedback welcome! Please email me at astraYOURngegeek@comMINDcast.net
( lose YOUR MIND to email me )

Or to send anonymous feedback, use the form at bottom of HTML version:

/~A_Strange_Geek/novels/NowThis/Chapter03.html



---------------

The limo passed over the Orchard Street bridge with a rumble of tires
on old wood and rivets. Cassie Kendall's eyes were like the water that
passed beneath; deeply blue-gray in color and placid in temperament.

She had not moved from that position since the car came off the mesa.
She continued to stare with subdued gaze out the window of the back
seat of the limo. When the car thumped off the ancient span and back to
blacktop, the trees of the greenbelt that ran along the Haven River
closed in.

For a moment, the dimness allowed her own countenance to reflect back
at her.

The fifteen-year-old considered her face. Oval-shaped, with high
cheekbones and dimpled cheeks, framed with wavy bangs of perfectly
coiffed sandy-brown hair. Pretty, not beautiful.

She turned away, taking a quick, deep breath, even as the car cleared
the trees and morning sunlight returned.

She looked down at herself. A plain white blouse and dark blue skirt
adorned her body. Her legs were clad in stockings, her feet in
low-heeled shoes. Cute, but not sexy.

She drew in her breath in a deep sigh.

"Is everything all right, Miss Kendall?"

Cassie looked up, as if startled to find that there was actually
someone else in the car with her. "No, Harry, I'm fine, thank you."

"Looking forward to the new school semester are you?"

Cassie wanted to tell him the truth. She wanted to tell him how much
she was dreading it. But she knew this would be useless. He would just
offer some banal platitude and return to ignoring her. Several times in
the past Cassie had tried to engage the man in conversation, but he
never gave anything more than polite, proper answers in reply.

She could not even get him to call her by her first name.

"Yes, I suppose so," she said in a flat voice.

"We shall be there shortly. Please let me know if you need anything
else, Miss Kendall."

Cassie leaned back in her seat and folded her arms. There was nothing
that the driver could possibly give her that would make her feel any
better.

She didn't fit in at Haven High. Her parents were rich. Old money,
handed down from a century and a half worth of Kendall wealth and
power. They could afford anything she wanted. They would give her
anything she wanted.

They could have also put her in a private school, or hired a private
tutor. Yet they thought she should have the opportunity to "socialize"
with people her own age.

The other students either thought of her as the little rich-bitch
wannabe (even though she never lorded her family's position over
anyone, unless they got her angry), or they pretended to be friends
with her to get at some of that money.

There were a very few people that tried to get to know her better. Then
it only got worse. Then she dared to trust that they would not think
her strange when she shared her thoughts with them, when she told them
of the journal she liked to keep about the strange feelings and imagery
that flitted through her head at odd times during the day, or filled
her very vivid and very real dreams at night.

"Some socializing this is," Cassie mumbled to herself.

"Excuse me, Miss Kendall?"

Cassie sighed and shook her head. "Nothing, Harry, never mind."

"If there is anything Miss Kendall requires ..."

"Miss Kendall requires a new life. Can you get that for me, Harry?"

Harry remained silent for a moment. In that time, Cassie held out a
small bit of hope that he might actually start talking to her as if she
were a real person rather than "the Kendall daughter."

Her hopes were quickly dashed the next second. "I would suggest you
take that up with your parents, Miss Kendall," he said politely. "In
the meantime, perhaps you would like me to play some music you like on
the ..."

"/No/, Harry," Cassie snapped. "Just pretend I'm not here."

"As you wish, Miss Kendall."

/As you wish, Miss Kendall/, Cassie repeated mockingly in her head. She
sighed again and looked out the window, her eyes shimmering.

She thought she may have found someone different. Someone that didn't
mind her oddness. Someone that could see beyond it. That hope, too, had
been dashed just the week before. He had ignored her as if he had never
known her, only to lavish attention on the buxom blonde nearby.

Cassie wanted to hate him for it, but even that would not have stopped
her dreams about him.

Her body gave a tiny shudder. She drew in a deep breath and let it go.
She could not let herself think about that now. She was sure she would
do something stupid if she did. She knew she would go and do what she
had intended to at the end of the last semester, before she knew that
her parents were going to take her abroad for the summer.

Cassie shook her head. Yes, her parents had money and power, and by
association, she had it as well. Yet she doubted that kind of power
could get her what she really wanted.

All the money in the world could not buy her a boyfriend.



Melinda watched the students streaming in from the parking lot towards
the high school building, entering the building proper through the east
wing entrance. Slowly she relaxed, her heart pounding a little less
hard in her chest. Among the sea of students that moved like a slow
tide around her, she saw not a single black aura.

"I think it's going to be okay, Melinda," Heather said, the relief
evident in her voice.

Jason managed a smile at Melinda and squeezed her hand. Melinda turned
her eyes to him and smiled, her cheeks growing faintly pink. Jason had
to admit that he loved seeing that. He would never tell her this, but
he thought she looked sexy when she blushed.

As if guessing what he was thinking, Melinda giggled.

From behind them, Richie rolled his eyes and pretended to stick his
finger down his throat, making silent gagging motions. Heather punched
him the arm.

"You don't see it either, do you, Jason?" asked Heather.

Jason looked around and shook his head. The only problem was that he
was not at all sure when his "power" worked and when it didn't. He
feared that it perhaps hinged on his ability to accept it without
understanding how it worked. To a geek like him, that was a very
difficult thing to ask of him.

"What about you, Richie," Melinda piped as she turned to him, letting
go of Jason's hand.

"Huh? What?"

Melinda rolled her eyes and stamped a foot impatiently. She spoke
through clenched teeth. "Do you see it yourself?"

"See what?"

"Richie!" both Melinda and Heather called out in admonishment,
advancing on him.

Richie raised his hands defensively. "Okay! Okay! Shit, stop picking on
me, willya?!"

"Then stop acting like this," Heather declared.

"Acting like what?"

"Like you don't give a shit."

Richie shrugged. "Maybe I don't."

"You don't mean that," said Jason.

Richie frowned. "Like hell I don't. Look, what difference does it make?
The pipsqueak here didn't see anything, and she's really into it ..."

"I'm not 'into it'!" Melinda said indignantly. "I don't want this, but
I have it, so I'm going to use it. And stop calling me 'pipsqueak'! I
hate that even more than when Heather used to call me 'Mel'!"

"Okay, I won't, Miss Fine-Boobs."

Melinda made as if to rush him. Jason grabbed her arm and stopped him.

Richie smirked. "C'mon, it was just a joke. Fuck, can't we all laugh a
little, huh? Look, none of us see anything weird, right? So
everything's cool. This school is clean and all that. So can we all
stop acting like we're expecting fuckin' zombies to pop outta pods or
something?!"

The others exchanged silent looks. Before anyone could think to say
anything else, their attention was distracted by the sight of a black
limo pulling into the parking lot. They turned towards it just in time
to see it come to a stop, and for its sole passenger to emerge.

"Say, that's the same girl I saw watching one of your ballgames a week
or so ago, Richie," Jason said.

Richie rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that's Cassie."

"Maybe she likes you," Melinda said with a smirk. Cassie turned in
their direction and appeared to stare at them.

"She doesn't look so bad," Jason commented. All of them remained silent
until the limo had pulled away and she was no longer being seen against
its black paint. "And she's all right ... well, in other ways."

"I don't see it, either, Jason," Melinda said happily.

Richie snorted. "That's a surprise. If anyone would have it, it would
be little miss weirdo."

"Oh, shut up, Richie!" Melinda smiled and waved a hand. "/Cassie!/"

"Gah, don't do that! She might come over here!"

"Richie, stop being such a turd, all right? She was my friend back in
... "

Melinda trailed off as Cassie abruptly dashed over to the school
entrance and disappeared inside. Melinda's mouth became an indignant
pout.

Richie snorted. "Yeah, some friend."

"Listen, we better get inside," Jason suggested loudly, cutting off
Melinda's retort. He glanced at Richie for a moment and forced a smile.
"You know, maybe he's right. Maybe we're making too much out of this,
about the aura thing. I'm sure we've got time before we have to ... uh
..."

"Have to what? What the fuck were you thinkin' we'd do if we saw
someone, huh? Report him to the principal? Oh, Miss Bendon! Johnny has
this evil black smoke around him! I'd call an exorcist if I were you!"

"Richie, stop it," Heather said, though there was some amusement to her
voice. She had to admit that the imagery that this conjured up was
funny.

Melinda was not quite as mollified, but she was tired of being on edge
all the time. She sighed and looked back towards the school. "Shit, I
hope I can find everything," she muttered.

Heather looked about to move in and comfort her sister, but Jason
intercepted and threw an arm around Melinda's shoulders. This was a
bold move for him, so much so that his heart was pounding in his chest.
Melinda could feel him trembling against her, as well as hear the
quaver in his voice when he spoke.

"I'll help you get around, no problem, Melinda."

Melinda thought this so endearing that she smiled and planted a kiss on
his cheek. Jason blinked and then blushed beet red.

Heather uttered a weak chuckle at this, but it was a cover for another
emotion that had threatened to well up in her before she could quell
it: jealousy. For a brief moment, she hated Jason for taking her place
at Melinda's side. It passed quickly, but the fact that it had been
there at all disturbed her.

"We better get going," Jason said in a flustered voice as he pointed
towards the entrance. A man with a sagging, bulldog-like face standing
to the side of the door had begun gesturing towards them in annoyance.

"Hey, isn't that Mr. Seeger, the vice principal?" Heather asked.

"Yeah, that's ol' saggy-seeger all right," Richie muttered. "So?"

"Well, the previous two years it was always Principal Bendon that
greeted everyone."

Richie just shrugged. He didn't care for either one of them. Miss
Bendon was always handing him detention for one thing or another, and
Mr. Seeger was the one that ran detention. To him, one was more or less
like the other.

"Damn, I hope they didn't make him principal this year," Jason
whispered as they started up the stairs.

"No, Mr. Conner, happily that is not the case."

The four of them came to a stop as the jowl-faced man glowered at them.

"Er ... I-I just meant ..." Jason stammered.

"I knew exactly what you meant, Mr. Conner," Mr. Seeger said haughtily.
"And you will be happy to know that I share the sentiment. I do not
wish the position. Miss Bendon is simply indisposed at the moment."

The disdain with which he said this suggested he would rather be
somewhere else.

"Now, stop dawdling and get on to your homeroom classes. Except you."
He pointed a meaty finger at Melinda.

Melinda just stared.

Mr. Seeger was one of those unfortunate individuals -- unfortunate to
the students, that is -- that had instant recall of every face that
graced the halls of the school. Thus when he saw one he did not
recognize, he knew right away it was an incoming freshman. "Freshman
orientation is in the auditorium. I trust Miss Sovert here can find the
way for you."

He eyed Jason suspiciously at the same time he said this. He was of the
belief that teenage boys were lower life forms bent on ravaging the
female student body, thus he viewed the closeness between Jason and
Melinda as a danger.

Heather rushed forward and placed her hands on Melinda's shoulders.
"I'll be happy to show her the way, Mr. Seeger. I'm her sister."

"Yes, that would figure." He gestured for the four of them to go
inside. As they passed, he turned to Richie. "Oh, and Mr. Gardner? I
suggest you simply head over to detention and save yourself the trip
later. I'm sure you will wind up there eventually anyway."

"I missed you too, Mr. Seeger," Richie said with a smirk. "You're such
a ray of sunlight in my dark and dreary little life."

Despite her feelings towards Richie, Melinda had to clamp her hand over
her mouth to stifle a giggle.

Mr. Seeger frowned. "Shut up and get to class."



Cassie had forgotten all about Melinda Sovert.

It had already been a bit of a shock to see Richie standing there
almost as soon as she stepped out of the limo. At once, her thoughts
began to race, and she was unsure of herself again. Maybe he didn't
mind her hanging around after all? Maybe she just misinterpreted things
at the park?

Then she had spotted Melinda and panicked.

Before she knew it, she was dashing past Mr. Seeger and had lost
herself in the boisterous crowd in the school corridors, hugging her
notebooks to her bosom like a shield.

Melinda had been her only friend in grammar school. Or at least the
only one she dared to call a friend. She was the only one that never
made mention of Cassie's money, either for good or bad. Melinda simply
treated her as a person.

But that was before the journal. Before she started having the odd
dreams. She couldn't stand the idea of going over to Melinda and her
friends and feeling mortified when Melinda rejected her as being too
"weird" now.

And now, to make matters worse, she shared homeroom with Richie
Gardner.

Cassie had almost hoped that the memory of how he had ignored her and
chatted up the blonde bombshell would let her stay upset with him to
mask any other feelings she had. It had been in vain in any case.

Homeroom was only fifteen minutes long. Enough to take roll call and
make announcements. Cassie cast furtive glances towards Richie, located
an aisle over and forward of her seat. Fleeting images of her dreams
flitted through her mind, and her sex tingled. By the time the bell
rang to signal the change to the first class of the day, her pussy was
damp.

Cassie couldn't stop herself. She had to talk to him.

Richie was closer to the door and made it out first. Cassie had to rush
to catch up with him. Once out in the hall, however, she slowed and
hung back. He was looking up and down the corridor, sweeping the
students with his gaze, occasionally rising on tip-toes to gaze over
the crowd. He finally stopped and uttered a frustrated sigh.

Cassie rushed up to him. "Looking for someone, Richie?"

Richie flinched in surprise. "Huh? Oh ... it's you."

Cassie sensed the disappointment in his voice. She ignored it. "Yes,
it's me, Cassie. You remember me, don't you?"

"Er, yeah, I do," Richie said with a small smirk. "You were watching me
play."

She smiled and nodded.

"Liked what you saw?"

She looked at him oddly. "Pardon?"

"I won almost every game."

"Won almost ... oh, the ballgames! Yes! Yes, I enjoyed watching you ...
/the games/ very much."

"Cool. Well, gotta go. See ya."

He turned and started away from her. She caught up with him. "Uh, were
you looking for someone, Richie?"

Richie gave her an exasperated look. "Yeah, I guess I was."

"Anyone I know? Maybe I can help you find him."

"Her, actually."

"Oh." Cassie paused. She had to jog a bit again to catch up, as he
seemed to have quickened his step suddenly. "Well, who is she? Maybe I
know her."

"Nah, you don't know her, Cassie, trust me."

"Well, you never know. Describe her to me. I bet I'll know who it is."

Richie sighed and rolled his eyes. "No, you won't."

"Try me. Seriously, try me! I know just about everyone in the school."

"Uh, yeah, right, Cassie," he said with a smirk.

"I do! Look, I don't just see them here. I see their faces in my
dreams. Sometimes they talk to me. They ... uh ..."

Richie gave her a funny look.

Cassie blushed. "Ok, never mind that. I just know a lot of people,
that's all. Just ..."

"Cassie, look, I don't need any help, okay?"

She sighed in frustration. "Richie, this is not like you."

Richie stared at her. "Huh? What the fuck does that mean? How am I
supposed to be?"

Cassie winced. She hated profanity. "I just mean you weren't like this
last year, when you ..."

But by this time, Richie was no longer listening. The crowd of students
had thinned, as most of them had by now found their first class of the
day. He had just glimpsed a familiar blonde step into one of the
classrooms. While today she was dressed more conservatively in slacks
and a blouse, there was no mistaking that figure.

"There she is! Linda! Hey, Linda!"

Richie burst past Cassie, nearly bowling her over as the edge of his
backpack caught her.

Cassie stumbled, righting herself in time to see Richie dash up the
corridor and towards the classroom where the blonde had entered.

She had recognized the woman as well. She was faster on the uptake than
Richie had been, as she already knew as Melinda did that there was a
new teacher named Linda Davis at the school. She had recalled thinking
that the girl that Richie had been so enamored of was rather older than
perhaps he was assuming.

And she also realized that Richie had not figured this out yet.

"Oh dear!" She ran after him. "Richie! Wait! She's not what you think
... I mean, she's ..."

But by the time she had caught up with him, he had already crossed the
threshold and now stood just inside a classroom filled with senior year
students, all of whom were looking at him in amusement. She stopped
just short of entering the room with him and hung back in the corridor
instead.

"Hello, Mr. Gardner."

Richie looked towards the front of the class.

She was indeed exactly as he had remembered her. Long blonde hair, deep
liquid blue eyes, fantastic figure. Even with her more conservative
attire, her blouse was just tight enough to show off the nicely rounded
breasts, and the slacks just snug enough to show off the flare of her
hips.

She gave Richie a gentle smile.

"Er ... hi, Li ... uh ... Miss Davis," Richie stammered.

"While I'm happy to see you eager to learn history with me, you'll have
to wait until your scheduled class later this morning."

Richie stared at her for a moment. He had a great deal of trouble
seeing her as a teacher. All he could remember was the gorgeous blonde
he had seen in the park, the one that, in his mind at least, had come
on to him and practically invited him to ask her out. For that whole
week before school, he had entertained vivid notions of her being just
as he had described her: oh-so-fuckable. And always with him on the
giving end of it.

"Do you need me to help direct you to your classroom, Mr. Gardner?"

Some of the students sniggered. One whispered a comment to another,
ending in more snickering. Richie heard part of it. "Shut the fuck up,"
he snarled.

"That's quite enough." Miss Davis strode across the room towards
Richie, a hard expression on her face. "Please get to your class, Mr.
Gardner. You're going to be late as it is. I would appreciate you not
disrupting my class as well. Or using such profanity for that matter."

Richie made a face. "Yes, Miss /Davis/," he spat through clenched
teeth. He turned and stomped out of the classroom, slamming the door
behind him.

He stood in the hall for a moment, seething.

"I'm sorry," Cassie said helplessly. "If I knew that you were looking
for her, I ..."

Richie glared at her. "What? Laughed at me?!"

"Huh? No! Never! I ..."

Richie sneered and stormed off.

Cassie watched him go. When he was safely out of sight around a corner,
she allowed herself a small smile.

She could not help it. It was amusing. He actually had no idea that she
was a teacher! If it had been anyone other than Richie, she indeed
would have laughed.

She was also smiling for another reason. She simply did not know it at
the time, or have the ability to fathom what the reason was even if she
did know.



"Hey, man, I'm really sorry about my friend Richie. He's not usually
like that, really."

Frank Darrens turned his bespectacled face towards Jason as the two of
them walked to their next class and just shrugged, his brown eyes
subdued. "I'm used to it," he commented glumly. "The littlest kid
always gets the short end of it, you know?"

Jason chose not to comment on this. He had been rather surprised to see
the kid whose seat on the bus Richie had usurped in his homeroom class.
As it turned out, he was not a freshman at all, but a sophomore like
Jason. He was even the same age.

Frank didn't quite look it, though. He stood nearly a head shorter than
Jason, with a smooth, round face that suggested someone from the latter
years of grammar school rather than second year of high school.

Jason saw the boy's eyes regard him appraisingly from behind the
wide-lensed glasses that subsumed half his face. Even some of his dark
brown bangs draped over the top of them. Jason thought with some
amusement that the boy looked a little like his impression of a young
Bill Gates.

"I have to admit, I don't remember you from last year," Jason said
cautiously.

"That's because I wasn't here last year," Frank replied, a slight edge
to his voice. "Moved here from Denver over the summer. Pfft. Like I had
any say in it."

Jason sensed the frustration in his words. He gave the kid a
sympathetic smile. "Don't like it in Haven, huh?"

"I hate it. Gotta problem with that?" Frank said defiantly.

"From me? No way. My Dad moved us here a few years ago. No idea why. I
can't stand it either."

"What the hell is there to do around this town, huh?" Frank cried,
lifting his arms briefly and letting them fall to his sides in his
exasperation. "The library here is still in the twentieth century! The
museum is a freakin' joke! And just because I'm on the north side of
Vaughn instead of the south, I can't get DSL. Goddamn."

Jason's smile widened. "Man, I hear you. Though I do have broadband.
Cable."

"Pfft. My cheapskate step mom won't pay for shit. DSL's just in her
price range, but we're considered to be too far out in the boonies to
get it."

"Step mom?"

Jason realized asking that was probably personal, but Frank answered
anyway, as if giving many pent up frustrations vent at once. "My Dad
remarried last year. Then he's always away on business trips so I get
stuck with the wicked witch of Haven and her bimbo daughter." He sighed
and shook his head. "Shit, I never wanted a sister. Not one like her."

"Sorry, man," Jason said softly. He admitted to being more curious
about Frank's home life, but decided not to pry.

Frank just waved a hand of dismissal. "You don't wanna hear about me."

"Yeah, I do. Hey, you want to come over to my house sometime?"

Frank raised his eyebrows. "Your house? Wait, did you say you had cable
internet?"

Jason smirked. "Yep."

"Awesome!" He paused a minute as they came up on the next class that
they shared. "Hey, uh, sorry I kinda vented all over you back there."

Jason shook his head. "Don't worry about it."

"I just didn't want you to think I was trying to make you feel bad or
something. I'm just pissed off at my family right now."

"If I feel bad, it's because of Richie earlier on the bus. I'm just
sorry you caught him on a bad day."

Frank snorted. "Does he ever have a good day?"

"Well, yeah. Kind of. Really, he's not all that bad. He's bummed about
something, too."

"It sucks because I actually like school, you know?"

Jason grinned. "Yep, I do." He paused. "Hey, I got an idea."

"What?"

"I just remembered that I have an old wireless bridge at home. You want
it? I'll bet you anything that someone in your neighborhood's got an
unprotected wireless network you can latch on to."

Frank's gaped at him. "You serious?!"

"Oh, yeah. This is Haven, dude. They roll up the sidewalks at night. No
one thinks about securing their ..."

"No, I don't mean that! You'd give that to me? Free?"

"Sure, why not? I'm not using it."

Frank eyed Jason for a moment. He hated having this attack of suspicion
again, since it was obvious that Jason was just trying to be nice to
him. Yet he had had far too much turmoil in his life recently to want
to take any chances.

It was bad enough that he had a step mom that was always critical of
him. He also had to deal with a stepsister that was bossy in the
extreme. It didn't help matters much that she had decided to attend the
community college in Haven, so she was still living at home.

"No strings attached?" Frank asked warily. "Don't have to do you some
favor later for it?"

"No, man. Hell, you can just have it. I don't really need it. It'll
make up for Richie acting so shitty towards you."

Frank finally broke into a wide smile. He clasped Jason's hand firmly
and shook it. "Shit, man, thanks. First time anyone's given me a break
since I moved here. Maybe it won't be so bad after all."

Jason smirked. "Geeks gotta stick together, you know."

Frank blinked and then laughed as the two of them walked into the
classroom together.



Richie had considered skipping Miss Davis' class. It would not have
been the first time that he had skipped a class in his school career
just because he felt like it. All it did was earn him some detention.
He preferred detention to some of the teachers he had to deal with.

That was until his eyes scanned down the printout and saw the policy
change, the one which stated that truancy was an automatic suspension
and possible expulsion.

He sighed, though he smirked slightly to himself. He would not have
been surprised if it had been his own truancy that had prompted the
policy change. He remembered overhearing some of the principal's staff
mentioning that he broke the record with regard to most unexplained
absences from class or school.

"My fifteen minutes of fame," he remarked to himself as he put the
schedule away.

Richie attended the class. He refused to give the instructor a single
glance when he walked in, and he chose a seat as far in the back as
possible. He saw her trying to catch his eye before the start of class,
but he ignored it.

Paying attention in that class was hard. He still could not see Miss
Davis as anything but the fuckable sexy young thing with the long legs
and big boobs. While her current attire perhaps muted the "fuckable"
part (though not by much), it did nothing to hide the legs or tits. The
former still moved with slim grace under her slacks, and the latter
still jiggled enticingly in her blouse when she strode back and forth
in front of the class.

If anything, Richie resented the way she constantly walked about. It
was as if she were strutting for them, teasing them with something that
they simply could not have.

When the bell rang to end the class, Richie slammed his book shut,
shoved it into his backpack, and sprinted for the door.

"Mr. Gardner, I'd like to see you for a moment."

Richie stopped and cursed under his breath. He turned and trod heavily
over to Miss Davis' desk, casting a sullen look at her. "You wanted to
see me, Miss Davis?" he said in a slightly mocking tone of voice.

Miss Davis waited another moment for the last of the students to leave.

"I won't keep you long, since you all have the assembly in the
auditorium next, and I have heard that Principal Bendon is a stickler
for punctuality," she said in a softer tone of voice than she had been
using during class. "I wanted to apologize to you, Richie."

His eyebrows rose when she used his first name. "Huh?"

Miss Davis sighed. "It was a mistake for me to do what I did a week
ago."

Richie just shrugged. "Just a stupid ballgame," he muttered.

"I don't mean that. I mean about what happened afterward."

"Nothing happened afterward," Richie said. The bitterness in his voice
suggested that he wished it had been otherwise. In a softer voice he
added, "We just talked, that's all."

"Yes, but I think I led you on. I made you think I was something I
wasn't."

Richie said nothing.

Miss Davis sighed and smiled gently. "I do like you, Richie," she said,
reaching out and touching him lightly on his shoulder. "Just so you
know. But ... not in that way."

Richie drew in a deep breath at her touch. He felt a stirring in his
pants. "Yeah, I'm just a stupid kid, right?"

"I didn't mean it that way."

"Yeah, you did." He backed up from her touch.

"I'm ten years older than you, Richie. And I'm a teacher. I only
realized after that day that I might have given you the wrong idea."

Richie felt flushed. "No, you didn't. I didn't get any ideas, okay?" he
snapped, his voice rising. "No ideas at all."

Miss Davis looked at him intently for a few more moments. She knew he
was lying. She also knew that if she called him out on it, it would
only embarrass him. At the same time, not calling him out on it meant
he'd be carrying around these repressed feelings about her.

She erred on the side of caution for the moment. "All right, Richie. In
that case, then, I suppose there's no problem."

Richie shrugged. "Was there ever?"

Another pause. "I suppose not."

"May I go, Miss Davis?" Richie said with exaggerated politeness.

"You may go, Mr. Gardner," Miss Davis replied with overdone formality.

Richie turned and fled.

Miss Davis sighed again and shook her head in Richie's wake. She
sincerely hoped that this was not going to come back and haunt her at
some point.



"Jason! Wait!"

Jason abandoned his search for his new friend Frank at the sound of
Melinda's voice. He had barely turned around when she was upon him,
throwing her arms around him and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Um, what was that for?" Jason asked, his cheeks pink.

Melinda smiled. "I didn't see anything," she said happily.

"Oh, you mean your teachers?"

"Teachers /and/ students. They're all okay."

"I didn't see anything either. I ..."

"Heather!" Melinda suddenly shouted, looking past Jason and waving
wildly. "Over here!"

Jason turned to see Heather approach the auditorium entrance along with
the stream of students coming in from the west wing. She was flanked by
a tall, lanky girl with long, dark hair. Heather turned at the sound of
Melinda's voice and rolled her eyes. "I'll catch up with you later,
Diane. Have to go sit with the runt."

Diane gave Heather a sympathetic look and let herself be herded into
the auditorium with the other students. Heather dodged around them
instead until she came up to her little sister.

Heather had hoped she would have made it here before her sister. Now
that she had hooked up with all her old friends again, it managed to
distract her from her troubled thoughts. She had hoped to just sit with
some of them and forget about everything else that had happened. That
morning had been the first true peace of mind she had had in several
weeks.

When she saw Melinda, however, she felt obligated to sit with her. She
was sure that it was just out of a sense of duty and nothing else.

"Did you see anything, Heather?"

"Huh? Oh ... no, I didn't. Not even a trace."

Melinda hopped once in her excitement. She raised her head again.
"Richie! Richie, over here!"

"Yeah, fine, whatever, I ain't deef, ya know!" Richie grumbled. He had
already been on his way over to them when Melinda saw him. "What I do
now?"

"Nothing, Richie. I just want to know if you saw anything."

Richie smirked. "Yeah, I saw lots of things."

Melinda's eyes widened. "Y-you did?" she asked in a small voice.

Heather punched him lightly in the arm.

"Ow! What the fuck?!"

"She means, did you see anyone with the aura," Heather said.

Richie rolled his eyes. "Are we on that kick again? Shit."

"Richie, did you or didn't you see anything?" Melinda asked, giving him
an indignant look and a single stamp of her foot.

"Well, I saw a student stuffing two gray-skinned alien bodies into a
locker, a teacher trying to rebury Jimmy Hoffa, and the janitor was
having tea and crumpets with Elvis," Richie quipped. "But no spooky
black smoke, no."

"You suck, Richie."

"Love you too, Mel."

Melinda's hands balled into fists. "Fine! Just don't speak to me
anymore, okay?! If you don't care about this, you can just go fuck
yourself! Come on, Jason."

Before Jason could react, she grabbed his hand and stormed off into the
auditorium with him in tow stumbling along beside her.

"Nice going," Heather muttered.

"Don't you start, okay?!" Richie snapped. "I don't wanna hear it! I've
had enough shit dumped on me today!"

Heather gave him a puzzled look, but before she could think to say
anything, he turned away and stomped off towards the auditorium.



Somehow, all four managed to sit together, though Melinda and Richie
made sure to sit on opposite sides. Melinda made sure Jason sat down
next to her and held his hand. Her eyes darted over the other students
in the seats around them and the ones that continued to stream in from
the hall.

"Still nothing?" Jason asked her softly.

Melinda nodded quickly, uttering a sigh of relief. She glanced over to
the stage and the podium, where some of the faculty were gathered.
"They're okay, too."

Jason nodded absently. He admitted that he was not actively trying to
see any auras, but he was grateful to hear that none were to be found.
He managed to relax somewhat. He looked over to Melinda and said very
softly. "I'm really sorry about Richie."

"Just don't talk to me about him," Melinda replied, though not as
softly. From the other side of Heather, Richie leaned forward briefly
to shoot her a glare, then folded his arms and looked sullenly straight
ahead.

Jason sighed. This was the second time he felt like he had to apologize
for Richie. Maybe having him as a friend again was not such a good idea
after all. Yet he did not want to just ignore him. The bond that was
shared between the four of them because of the House was too great to
ignore. No group of people could go through an experience like that and
not feel some sort of connection with each other.

Jason had to hope it was just the first day back that was getting to
Richie.

Between Jason and Richie, Heather was sitting still and quiet in her
seat. Her eyes were not revealing anything either. She knew she should
feel more relaxed at this, but something was making her tense. And it
was only getting worse as the minutes ticked by.

The tide of students had abated. All of Haven High was seated in the
auditorium. At the stage, a few faculty chatted idly. Some looked at
their watches and glanced off to towards the entry from the side
hallway impatiently.

"Something's wrong."

Jason and Melinda immediately turned to Heather. Richie did not react
visibly, except to arch a single eyebrow derisively, but he was
listening nonetheless.

"Did you see something, Heather?" Jason asked. He felt Melinda squeeze
his hand.

Heather shook her head. "No, but ... but something's wrong."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Richie demanded, though there
was an undercurrent of nervousness to it.

"I don't know, it's just a feeling." Heather swallowed. She was
trembling. She tried to take a deep breath to calm herself, but it had
no effect. If anything, the feeling was growing worse.

Jason furrowed his brow and looked towards the stage. "Wait, where's
Principal Bendon?"

"She's not there?" Melinda asked in a hollow voice. "But I thought she
was giving the talk."

"She is, but ..."

"Oh, what's the big fucking deal?" Richie called out. "She's late,
that's all. Doesn't mean shit."

"Yes, it does!" Heather said, her voice quavering. "She's never late
for anything. I've been at this school longer than any of you, and this
is not like her. This is not normal."

Melinda swallowed. "J-jason?"

Jason blinked. Like with the House before this, he again felt that
people were turning to him for all the answers. "Well, uh, Heather is
right about the principal being rather punctual, but ..."

"But nothing!" Richie cried. "For fuck's sake people! Oh, let me guess.
She'll show up and say, 'Hey kids! A funny thing happened on my way to
the auditorium! I got possessed by the devil!'."

"/Richie!/" Melinda hissed.

"No, this is stupid! You're all expecting the big bad bogeyman to pop
out from behind every ..."

There was a loud clanking noise as the side door to the auditorium
opened, and Principal Laura Bendon strode towards the stage. Throughout
the auditorium, the students slowly fell silent.

Heather's eyes widened, shimmering in mounting dread and fear, her
lower lip quivering. "Oh my God ..."

Melinda gasped and went pale, staring in horror.

Jason swallowed once and blinked, as if trying to make it go away.

Richie just stared, his mouth open slightly, his eyes betraying both
confusion and anxiety.

The cloak of blackness flowed out behind Principal Bendon like the long
train of an ethereal gown. Unlike any other they had seen so far, this
was a completely opaque, living darkness that writhed and undulated as
if it had a mind of its own. It slithered after its mistress like a
horrible parasite attached to its prey. When she stopped at the podium
and turned towards the students, it pooled behind her briefly, then
flowed up her back and sides and around her arms, forming a sort of
loose-fitting dress or robe over her normal clothing. It did not stop
moving, but continued to seethe and flow, as if agitated.

Or excited.

"Welcome, students," Principal Bendon said in a steady, commanding
voice, "to another year at Haven High School."
<1st attachment end>


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