Double Take
Chapter 20
“Her eyes flashed, hot and angry, like lightning cutting through a red sunset.”
—Tyffani Clark Kemp, Bittersweet
BEING A PARANOID MALE—at any age—I just knew that something was going to explode between Rachel and Rebeca. I almost dreaded going to lunch. But they seemed to get along like old comrades. Wednesday, as we were walking from lunch to Geometry, Rachel nudged me gently.
“Someone came to school looking happy this morning,” she whispered.
“Me? I look the same as always.”
“No. Francie. She was giggling all through our first period literature class. You know she’s a sweet girl but not the brightest spoon in the drawer.” I looked over at Rachel with an eyebrow raised. I was pretty sure that wasn’t the saying. “She’s taking the same Junior Lit class I am.”
“I thought you were a sophomore,” I said.
“I thought you were a freshman. Do you think you’re the only person in the school who gets advanced placement?”
“How do you get advanced placement in an English class? I want to take them all.”
“I thought you were into math.”
“No. Math is easy for me but I want to be a writer.” I’d managed to divert the conversation away from Francie.
7 December 2018
I’m only using one crutch today. The treadmill has done wonders for me. I’m up to three miles an hour and Jock says that’s a good comfortable walking speed. I’ve managed to hit the gym twice a day all week except Wednesday when I had to take the last unit exam for Geometry that I was behind. I’m current with the class and the curriculum. It’s going to take me the rest of the semester to complete all the work for AP Human Geography, though. I can’t believe all the papers I have to write. At least my friend is helping me on Wednesdays after school.
That’s nice. I mean really nice. She’s a sweetheart. I think of her like one of the special aides you see in a nursing home. She’s just giving her time to make life better for me.
And that worries me. We’re just a week away from the Winter Dance and I’m looking forward to her company but I just can’t get… up for her. She doesn’t turn me on. I give her a hug and it feels like I’m hugging my granddaughter. What if she’s in love with me and I can’t return that kind of love? I’m not going to use her but I’m afraid she’ll expect something more from me at the dance.
Unlike our other friend. I’m embarrassed to say that I can’t wait to undress her and make love. There are few girls—or I guess I’m supposed to say young women—who do anything for me at all. But when I look at that friend, I feel like a horny teen. I guess I am. But she’s given every indication that she feels the same way and I don’t feel the least bit guilty about it. I sure hope everything works out at the dance next week. I don’t want anyone to get hurt.
“Polygons are going to kill me,” Rachel sighed as she sat at lunch with us Friday.
“Are those nasty polygamists trying to get you into their cult?” Beca asked brightly.
“Poly…?” Rachel snorted in the most unladylike manner I’d ever seen. She reached across the table to slap Beca’s hand. “You are wicked, girlfriend. Just what I needed on a Friday afternoon. Now if Jacob can just get me through Geometry, all will be well.”
“What’s got you stumped, Rache?”
“Irregular polygons, Heron’s formula, area and perimeter in the coordinate plane. They are all going to be on the test next week.”
“I should probably review the chapter on triangles and polygons, too,” I said. “I spent most of my time this week catching up on Human Geography. I need to review the material in Geometry just so I won’t accidentally blow something simple. Not to mention my review of Maus I & II. We’ll have an essay test in English on that one next week. Ms. Levy always gives us the question the day before and expects us to come to class with an outline.”
“God! For a comic book, that was one of the hardest things to read in freshman English. If you have any sensitivity to what is happening in our world today, you can see the rise of the Third Reich all over again,” Rachel said.
“I’ll trade you advice on Geometry for advice in English,” I laughed.
“What a great idea!” Beca said. “Why don’t you join our study session on Sunday, Rachel? Jacob and I have to go over the notes for the unit test in Human Geography. I feel like religion must have a more important impact on settlement than I thought. I can’t believe there are whole countries who only have one religion and are ruled by the priest caste.”
“Oh. Um… Yeah.”
“Oh, shit. I just invited someone to your house without asking you first!” Beca said.
“I thought you were talking about coming to your house!” Rachel said. “I was going to be all over that.”
“It’s… um… okay. It’s like Sunday is this massive study day at my house. Even Em and Pey joined us last weekend. One more won’t hurt anything. I mean… Rachel, if it’s okay for you to go to a boy’s house… to study, I mean. You’d be welcome to join us.” The smile she shot at me guaranteed I’d have a hard-on all through Geometry.
“It would be great if you’re sure I’m not imposing on your time together,” she said.
“No problem,” Beca said. She gave us both a squeeze before rushing off to class and Rachel and I turned toward Geometry. I grabbed my wheelie in my left hand as I used my crutch to stabilize my right side.
“You don’t need me anymore,” Rachel sighed.
“Um… It’s not like… I mean… Did you really want to carry my books?” Back in V1, it was pretty common for a boy to volunteer to carry a girl’s books between classes, or if they were fortunate enough to live near each other, even carry them home for her. I hadn’t seen any of that in our high school halls.
“I’m teasing. Sometimes it seems almost like you aren’t mentally part of our society, you know?” she said. Don’t I know!
“I find that since I woke up from my accident, I’m less sure of myself,” I explained. “Some things that should be familiar sound strange to me. It’s like… I forgot all about the National Service until Em got her induction letter over break. Then it was like… WHAM!... All of a sudden I realized I had that to look forward to.”
“I get it. Sometimes I feel out of place, too. I think we all do. Well, I’m a year older than you. I’ll help guide you through the jungle.” She dropped her voice so I had to lean close to her as we entered Mrs. Stierwalt’s class. “And right into the swamp,” she whispered.
That was all it took. Her bare legs were right in my line of sight every time I glanced down at my workbook. I contemplated what she meant by that.
Our study session over the weekend had been mostly relaxed and we really got a lot accomplished. Rachel even had a few words of advice on our Human Geography assignment and since Beca was just in a different section of freshman English, she participated fully in our discussion of Maus. They found my perspective a little different, too. I almost lost them.
“The Krauts and the Japs were bloodthirsty hordes. If the war had gone on six more months, Truman would have dropped the first A-bomb on Berlin and there’d just be a big hole in the middle of Europe now.”
“Jacob! That’s a racist comment! The Japanese and the Germans are our allies now. It would have been a terrible loss to humanity if we’d destroyed Berlin completely.”
“Do you think there was no loss to humanity with the destruction of Nagasaki and Hiroshima? It was a war—and the last war America fought that she intended to win. We should have wiped out the whole Middle East in ’90. There’d have been no 9/11,” I said hotly.
“You sound like an old man,” Rachel said. “20/20 hindsight. Welcome to the twenty-first century, dude. We have future problems to face. We need to learn from the past, not repeat it.”
“We could have saved a million more Jewish lives if we’d bombed Berlin in ’44,” I said. I was settling down and separating V1 from my heated responses.
“At the cost of a million innocent German lives who were also living under the tyranny of the Third Reich,” Rachel said. “We learned.”
“Take this lesson to the future. Act sooner, even if you aren’t sure. Apologize later.”
I’m afraid I scared the girls a little and tried to back off. No matter what my V1 life dictated, this was a different reality. I needed to learn before I spoke.
“Oh my God! She’s back in the hunt,” Beca said as she pulled me to her side at lunch Monday. Instead of sitting across from us, Rachel slid in beside me. I followed Beca’s eyes and saw Joan. If anything, her skirt and top were more outrageous than ever. Last week she’d gone overboard looking nondescript. Today, I wanted to go check the floor around her to see if she was dripping.
“Why didn’t I notice her last week?” Rachel said. “I’d have dressed a little more provocatively.”
“If you did, you’d provoke a riot,” Beca laughed. Rachel was wearing skinny jeans that showed what a great figure she had. The daring part today was the crop top that stopped just below the legal limit. The underside of boobs and the nipples weren’t to be exposed in school. Joan wore a button-up shirt that wasn’t buttoned. It was tied just above her navel. Beneath it she wore an elastic band of some sort that provided the mandatory boob cover and nothing else. The waistband of her skirt barely topped her mound. In fact, I was willing to bet she had to shave it in order to not expose her pussy hair. The hem of the skirt was just long enough that she could sit on it and not expose herself. Unless she intended to.
“Geez. Last week must not have worked for her. What do you suppose happened?” I asked.
“I think you’re going to find out. Here she comes.”
The second rule we’d noticed about her behavior—other than the pattern of when she wore what clothes—was that she never left her table. She didn’t cruise. She waited for her conquests to come to her. Seeing her walk across the floor impersonating Scarlett Johansson sent all the blood from my head rushing elsewhere. We didn’t get a chance to greet her.
“So, do I have to spread my legs for you before you even ask me out?” she demanded of me. Aiee! The personality matched the look. What a bitch.
“I don’t think spreading your legs would help,” I said. “I’ve seen skanky cunts before.”
“I just bet you have!” she laughed at me. “What are you? Fourteen?”
“Fifteen.”
“And in your vast experience you’ve seen enough pussy not to be interested in mine? You two girls must really be good.”
“Pull your skirt down enough to cover your butt and sit down,” Beca commanded. Shit! I almost checked to see if I was wearing a skirt and had my ass on the bench. Her tone of command was something I’d never heard before.
“Yes, ma’am,” Joan responded. She immediately obeyed the command. Her eyes locked on Beca and then she lowered them. I wisely shut up and let my little friend take over.
“Now, tell us what happened and why you think Jacob is the remedy,” Beca continued. Rachel scooted a little closer to me and placed her hand on my thigh. It was a calming rather than possessive gesture. I’d pretty much deflated once Joan actually opened her mouth. Rachel’s gesture didn’t get a rise.
Joan heaved a big sigh that threatened to release her generous boobs from their narrow confinement. “I fucked a guy last weekend. Then he dumped me. He didn’t even wait until the next day. He dumped me right after he came in me.”
“You troll for a new guy every Monday. That can’t be the first time you broke up,” Beca stated.
“I always do the dumping. And I don’t fuck them first.”
“Why are you here?” I asked. Beca glanced at me but nodded.
“You watch me every week but never even walk by my table. I thought… maybe you’d tell me what is wrong with me.”
“It’s Joan, right?” Beca asked, taking back control of the conversation. Rachel just kept her hand on my thigh, occasionally stroking a little. I discovered my left hand had found the tight blue jeans-encased curve of her leg. “Last name?”
“Long. Joan Long.”
“So, I take it you don’t have a date for the Winter Dance. Sit here at lunch with us this week. Do your usual routine. Tight hip huggers tomorrow. Yoga pants on Friday. You know. The way you usually do when you hook a guy. Get a stag ticket for the dance. You’ll join us there. Wear a sexy red dress but don’t go overboard on the slutty stuff.”
“Him… and the three of us?” she asked. She licked her lips.
“Yeah. But understand this. If you fuck him, we get to watch and play, too.”
“I…” she looked at me and then at Rachel before turning back to Beca. “Yes, ma’am.”
The bell rang and we all headed different directions. I did watch the way her ass moved under the short skirt as she walked away. Rachel grabbed the handle of my bag and swung it over to the left side. I was surprised since I was only using one crutch and not depending on it a lot. She put her right hand in my left. We held hands as we walked to Geometry.
“All respect to Beca for the way she handled that, you know? But if you fuck Joan before you’ve fucked me, I’ll kill her. And maybe you.” I grinned and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before we went into class. Her blush nicely tied her freckles together.
“Em, I need help. Can you please take me to the flower shop?” I moaned when I saw her after school.
“I suppose so. I thought you already ordered your corsage for Rebeca, didn’t you?”
“Yeah. But I just found out I need one for Rachel and for Joan.”
“For two more girls?” my sister asked in disbelief.
“I’ve never been on a date before and my first one is with three girls. I have no idea what the fuck I’m doing.”
“That could get expensive. Maybe I should join your little crew. I could get Francie into a dress, too. Better order five flowers.”
“Em! Please don’t do that to me.”
She laughed. “I won’t. Tony asked me to the dance. I think Bill was a little pissed and after a little argument Friday they asked if they could both escort me. So, I guess it runs in the family, eh, brother?”
“Just don’t come home horny,” I laughed. “But, Em? I love you. I won’t let go.”
“Good. Now we can both go out and have some fun. But don’t you dare hurt that little Beca. I’m sure Rachel can handle herself and if you’re talking about the Joan I’m thinking of, she won’t be around long enough to worry about. But don’t hurt Beca. You’ll answer to me. Got it?”
“I would never hurt her. I feel about her… like I do about Peyton. She’s like a little sister I need to take care of.”
“Well, that attitude could hurt her, too, but I think it’s appropriate based on what I saw this weekend. Just remember, it’s her first date, too.”
“Yeah. I’ll try to make it special. At least as special as I can with Mom driving.”
12 December 2018
No crutches! I was beginning to worry. I haven’t been using them to support myself for a few days and only had them to help if something gives out. When we went to the mall for flowers, I saw a cane. Nice. Glossy black with a silver handle. It wasn’t fancy or engraved or anything. It just looked good and when I leaned on it, it was perfect.
Now all I need to do is learn how to dance. With three girls. In two days. I don’t even know what music is popular right now. I haven’t been anywhere that popular music is playing. If my sisters are listening, they have earbuds in. I guess whatever music I had was on my iPhone that was trashed in the accident.
Mom made me try on my suit to make sure it fit okay and then took me straight to the Men’s Wearhouse and had me pick out a new one. I think Em was as excited about picking a new suit for me as she was about new shoes for her. Even Pey got into the act, choosing my shirt and tie.
“I’m not wearing plaid,” I said when Em pointed to the mannequin. I went immediately to the three-piece business suits similar to what I’d worn in the 80s and 90s.
“No! Ick! You’ll look like an old man,” Em said. She next tried to steer me to an Egara Sharkskin suit that I thought was pretty cool.
“Let’s not go overboard,” Mom said when she saw the $700 price tag. “He’s still growing and I expect this suit will only last until fall.”
Well, that got me thinking. Maybe I could be a little wilder in my choice if that’s what Em wanted. I knew that if it pleased Em, it would please my date, so I let her guide me to the cheaper rack where there were a lot of separates. She put together a brown ultrasuede jacket with a pair of more subtly plaid slacks. Pey showed her taste with a floral patterned shirt and solid tie. When I looked at the clothes on the hanger, my first thought was that I wouldn’t be caught dead in them. But I recognized that as V1 thinking. When I put the whole ensemble on and looked in the mirror, I had a very different impression.
I hadn’t really looked at myself in a mirror other than to check on the healing of my cuts and scars. Standing in front of a full-length mirror, dressed in a suit and tie, I saw a different me looking back. Thick, dark brown hair hung past my ears. A slight shadow of whiskers darkened my upper lip and I remembered it was about this time in V1 that I started shaving. The ragged scar on the right side of my face added a toughness to the look that I didn’t have in either V1 or V2.
I looked like a teen who knew where he was going and I decided to go with it. We managed to get out of the store for under $300. Mom was pleased.
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