Chapter 59

"Did you get arm-boob?" Gar said.

Steve just smiled.

"Arm-boob from Natalie Rose. Nice."

Steve slid into Gar's car, still smiling like a certain cat from Cheshire. Not the one you're likely thinking of...but a cat that just got some arm-boob.

Chapter 58

In-school suspension had not been the barrel of monkeys Steve had secretly been hoping for. It had been, in fact, exactly the amount of fun that the opposite of a barrel full of monkeys would be. He had finished his classwork for the day with no problems and let his mind wander. During these interludes, the supervising teacher - Mr. Weez, would unfailingly be walking by and not-so-subtly cough, jarring Steve from his reverie.

He was walking out to Gar's car when he heard someone calling his name. He turned and saw Natalie Rose scampering to catch up with him.

"Hey, Natalie."

"Hey, Steve - listen, I really have to thank you for taking the rap for me."

"No, it would have been your third strike here. It's cool. I got a lot of work done today anyway."

"Yeah, but this is probably the first time you've gotten in trouble - you didn't even get an in-school for that fight a few weeks ago."

"Well, it wasn't much of a fight - more of a beating, you know."

"Yeah, that's what I heard. Anyways...thanks." And with that, she tiptoed up and kissed him on the cheek. That, coupled with the feeling of her boobs touching his arm, was thanks enough. Okay - moreso the boob thing, he admitted to himself.

Chapter 57

"Well," Denise tittered, "who sent them?"

"I don't know." Jennipher was baffled. If the person who drove the Audi knew where she worked...who could it be?

Denise snatched the card from her. "Wait, is this about the car a few weeks back?"

"I guess."

"Well, who is it?"

"I don't know!" Jen snapped, a little more harshly than she meant.

Denise didn't notice. "I'll bet it's this guy I know...no, wait, he's in jail. Ooh! What if it's the Colonel?"

"The colonel? No, he's just - " Jen stopped as she remembered how he had stared at her the day of the chase. Could it be?

Chapter 56

"I don't know why you tease him like that," Jen said, still laughing at Lance's abrupt departure.

"It's a gift!" Denise said, turning to the opening door.

A group of people came in, chattering away and rearranging their windswept hair. Denise got up to seat them, leaving Jen alone in the booth. Absently, she swirled her straw in her lemonade and waited for Denise to come back. The door opened again - a delivery man, with a hhhyyyuuuggge bouquet of flowers. (It's a gift!) Jen got up and greeted him.

"I'm looking for a...Jennipher Semmes?"

"I'm Jennipher."

"Here you go, miss."

"Wow! Who sent them?"

"You'll have to check the card," he smiled as she signed her name.

"Thank you!"

Jen took the card out and paused before opening it - and Denise came back.

"Did Kevin get you flowers?" Denise teased.

"I don't know - let me check the card."

She opened the card, breathless for anticipation, wondering what Kevin had written.

The card read:
"Sorry about the Audi. My friend got a little out of control."

There was no signature.

Chapter 55

"So," Denise said, flopping down into the booth next to her, "things are going well with Kevin?"

"They are," Jen smiled, sipping her lemonade, "he's a perfect gentleman. Personally, I'm kind of surprised you know him."

"Ha ha," Denise responded, "not all of the guys I know are jerks. Just the ones I date."

Jen smiled and adjusted her ponytail. These were her favorite times at Alligretti's, when they had just opened and didn't have many customers. They could sit in the corner booth and just relax. People would come and the evening would be busy, but for now...

"Anyways, how's school going? Ready to graduate?"

"I am. I have senioritis to the max."

"To the max? What, are you graduating in 1986?"

"Yes," Jen laughed, "I have traveled back in time to graduate."

A snort behind them broke their reverie. It was Lance, the nerdy busboy.

"Time travel'th impothible! You girlth are crazy."

"Really, Lance?" Denise teased. "Tell us all about it. Here, sit next to me."

Lance sat down. "Well, firtht you thtart with Einthtein, and hith Theory of - Denithe! What are you doing?"

Denise had clapped her hand on Lance's knee and was sliding it slowly upward. Red-faced, Lance got up and raced to the back, his love handles jiggling the entire way.

Chapter 54

Blake tripped forward, expecting a stair that wasn't there. As he picked himself up, shaking his head to clear the figurative cobwebs, he looked around and realized - there was something to look at. Some light peeked through a crack in the wall of what seemed to be a very large room.

"Humbot," he hissed, "where are we?"

Humbot, who had followed him up (although minus the trip-and-fall), shone his headlamps around the room.

"We appear to be in a large room. Elevation shows us as about 3500 feet about the bottom of the staircase. My GPS can't get an exact reading - something seems to be interfering with the transmission."

"Wait, shine your light over there!" Blake said.

Humbot turned, and, in doing so, illuminated a plush couch with a bowl of water next to it. As his mouth screamed for moisture, Blake scampered over, threw himself on the couch and lifted the bowl to drink deep.

"Blake, wait - "

"Stow it, Humbot. I know to just sip until my stomach gets used to it."

"It's not that, it's -"

"And I'm sitting down because my feet hurt. We've just walked up 3500 feet of stairs, or had you forgotten?"

"No, it's -"

The lights went on, momentarily blinding Blake.

"Hey, who's this?" came a new voice. "And what are ye doin' in the Reverend-General's bedchamber? Drinkin' 'er Holy Water?"

Chapter 53

Blake's legs were in agony. The stairs, such a welcome change from the caves they had been navigating, had become their own version of hell. Somewhere around the six-hour mark, Blake began to believe that the stairs were moving and that he and Humbot were making no progress to their goal - whatever that was. Humbot assured him they were still moving upward, though, so they continued.

Their water supply had run out three hours after that, five hours ago. Grimly, Blake had continued. Driven on by the sound of his feet on the stones, the creaking and popping of his knees, and the not-quite-silent sounds of Humbot behind him, he climbed.

Chapter 52

The only light Blake had seen in the past five days had been that of Humbot's head lamps. Humbot had found an underground spring on the second day, and the water they had taken from it was running precariously low.

Blake had been at peace with the idea of death. As a soldier, he had to be. But to die like this, in the dark, under the earth, where his body would never be -

"My toe!"

Blake had stubbed his toe. In the dark, he knelt to find what had caused it. Feeling along the rock, he came to an unnaturally smooth facing of rock. Inching his hand along it, it leveled off, before hitting another smooth facing.

"Humbot! Can I get some light here? I think I've found some stairs!"

Humbot's lights flashed on and sure enough, there were stairs carved into the rock. Stairs meant people had been here, and for people to survive meant water was somewhere around.

"Do we climb, Blake?"

"We climb."

Chapter 51

Steve waited anxiously for Vice Principal Zientarski to continue. When the door had closed behind Natalie, the noted disciplinarian visibly relaxed.

"Mr. Norcutt, I believe you have had a few scrapes with the rules here in the past month or so. Fighting, and now smoking in the courtyard, correct?"

Steve nodded, unable to speak.

"You escaped the fighting incident without formal punishment, is that also correct?"

Again, a nod.

"We can't let that continue, young man. What message does that send to the other students? No, I think...I think a removal of privileges is in order here."

"Sir?"

"There will no be no extracurricular activities for you. No more Superfans at the baseball games, no more prom committee, and...you will not be allowed to attend this year's Prom."

"But sir -"

"Yes, Mr. Norcutt. Did you want to change your story? Maybe let us know whose cigarette was in that can of Pepsi?"

Steve took a deep breath. "No, sir. It was mine."

"I don't believe you at all, Mr. Norcutt. It's disappointing, that you refuse to tell the truth. Perhaps that is, in fact, why are you receiving this punishment. Perhaps the truth would lessen that punishment..." Vice Principal leaned forward, the overhead fluorescent light winking off his bald spot as he did. "Do you value the truth, Mr. Norcutt?"

"I do, sir. I'm taking the blame for the cigarette. It was mine. It was wrong, and I'm sorry."

"Very well. You'll also be serving an in-school suspension for the rest of the day and tomorrow. Coach Rivers, would you escort Mr. Norcutt to the in-school suspension room?"

Coach Rivers wordlessly opened the door and followed Steve out. As Steve walked, eyes down, he failed to notice Jennipher Semmes, hall pass in hand, watch him go.

Chapter 50

Vice-Principal Zientarski's office hadn't changed in twenty years. The same faded diplomas on the wall, the same wood paneling, the same ugly light fixture, the same smell of Student Fear. Zientarski was known as a fierce disciplinarian, a draconian presence with delusions of grandeur, a real...jerk. This was the first time Steve had met him face-to-face.

"Mr. Norcutt, Ms. Rose. Sit down."

Coach Rivers stood behind them, arms folded across his chest. The aura of intimidation each man gave off caused Steve and Natalie to look at the checkered brown carpet (the same checkered brown carpet that had caught the sweat and tears of so many students over the past twenty years).

"What happened, Coach?"

"I caught these two smoking cigarettes in the courtyard at lunch. Mr. Norcutt was holding the Pepsi can," Coach Rivers took it away from Steve and set it on VP Zientarski's desk, "but I believe Ms. Rose was the one smoking."

"I see," Zientarski tented his fingers. "What do you two have to say for yourselves? Ms. Rose, I believe this will be your third strike, is that correct?"

Before she could answer, before he could even think about it, Steve blurted out "It was all me!"

VP Zientarski raised an eyebrow. Was that a trace of a smile on his face?

"How noble, Mr. Norcutt. But I don't think anyone in here believes you've taken up smoking."

"I just started."

"Really?" Coach Rivers' voice grated behind him. "Then you should be able to smoke a cigarette right now without coughing once, shouldn't you?"

"It's illegal to smoke in school, sir."

Now that WAS a smile on Vice Principal Zientarski's face. But not a good smile, not a smile that anyone would ever want to see. This was the smile of a hyena who had come upon am injured zebra. Steve felt all warmth leave his body.

"Ms. Rose, you may go."

Chapter 49

Natalie was in the courtyard after lunch. Steve excused himself from Stoner and Bobby B's conversation (about the benefits of going commando) and headed over to the group she was standing with.

"Natalie - can I talk with you for a second?"

She followed him to a relatively private bench, carrying her Pepsi can. She had pioneered the art of lighting a cigarette, placing it in the can, then twisting the pop-top around to hold the cigarette in place. To the casual observer, it looked like she was merely sipping a soft drink.

Today she was weating a purple tank top with a hint of a suggestion of a possibility of cleavage. A light breeze drew attention to her generous assets, but Steve willfully ignored the new developments and focused on her eyes.

"Hey Natalie - I heard you broke up with that dude."

"Yeah - are you here to pity me?" She took another drag from her concealed cigarette.

"No! I'm here to see what you're doing for prom."

Nataliecough-snorted, sending smoke into the air. "Prom? Me? Seriously?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"I'm not really the prom type of girl, in case you hadn't noticed."

"I will bet," Steve said, "that you look fantastic in a formal gown."

"Are you just asking me because you think you're going to get - oh, crap."

Coach Rivers was coming through the crowds of students, heading straight for them. Without thinking, Steve grabbed the incriminating Pepsi can and held it behind his back.

"Ms. Rose," the coach's gravelly voice sounded terrible, even at lunchtime, "are you smoking out here?"

"No, sir."

"Then perhaps you'd care to explain the cloud of smoke I just saw from over here."

Natalie was silent. Slowly, ever so slowly, Coach Rivers turned his steely gaze on Steve.

"Come with me, both of you. And kindly bring the can you're holding behind your back, Mr. Norcutt."

Thoughts of prom disappeared as Steve followed Natalie and the coach inside.

Chapter 48

Natalie Rose wasn't the type of girl Steve would normally go for, dating-wise. She was tough, hung out with the auto shop kids, had no plans to go to college. She smoked Marlboro Reds and the occasional joint (some said more than occasional). A tattoo of an eagle was attacking her right shoulder blade, and she had gotten into a fight with another auto shop girl (whom she soundly thumped). Natalie had said good-bye to her virginity during freshman year without a second thought. She had been called to the office more than once to get something to wear to cover up her "inappropriate attire." And on one memorable day, she had taken the sweatshirt issued by the school into a home ec room, stolen a pair of scissors, and cut it to the point where the school just had to send her home.

Despite all that, she got along well with Steve. They had been on friendly terms since the eighth grade dance when he had found her throwing up outside the gym. He had helped her clean up and convinced his parents to drive her home. Since then, they hadn't been friends exactly, but they spoke.

She was, not to put too fine a point on it, the opposite of Jennipher Semmes. And that's what Steve needed.

Chapter 47

Steve walked to his locker, still a little embarrassed about being caught daydreaming in class (although, to be fair, he was daydreaming about poetry in English class, so that's probably okay). He switched books, grabbed a piece of gum, and turned around - and almost crashed into Little Kueny.

"Dude!"

"Sorry, bro. Hey, Jonna wants to know how the food plan is coming for prom. She says you haven't been answering your email."

"Yeah, I've been busy. But I did meet with the event planner woman - does that sound like a title? She gave me a price sheet for meals that fits within our budget. We'll be good. It's going to be a baked chicken with some kind of sauce, roasted garlic potatoes, steamed veggies, and some kind of brownie thing for dessert. And before you ask, yes, there are vegetarian options."

"Cool, man. You know, tickets go on sale this Friday." Little Kueny's massive hands dwarved his history book.

"I know, I know - I've been preoccupied. Tell Jonna I'm sorry - I'll do better about communicating with the group."

"Hey, do you have a date for prom yet?"

"Uh..." Steve felt his stomach drop as he considered Jennipher again.

"It's cool, man. Hey, Becky Smart doesn't have a date yet..." Little Kueny fought off a smile.

"Yeah...no."

"Well, neither does Natalie Rose. I'm just saying, is all."

"Really?" Steve was surprised, with a dash of curiosity. "What happened to that guy from the metal band?"

"She caught him cheating. I gotta get to class. Just think about it. I'll catch up with you after school and we'll play some football."

"Laters."

Chapter 46

Steve couldn't keep his mind on Mrs. Kotoly. She was talking about the chapter of "Foundation's Edge" that the class was supposed to have read. Steve had read the book several times, and so was abstractly doodling in his notebook, trying not to think about the state of his love life. But the harder he tried not to think about it, the more he thought about it. Such is the way of the world.

He flipped back to the start of his notebook. It always represented a fresh outlook for him, the pages and pages of possibilities. Notes on different things they had discussed in class, asides in the margins asking his neighbors about different things, and one super-sweet drawing of a stick figure watching paint dry - that had been during a discussion about "Things Fall Apart." Although not much of the book had stuck with him, Steve couldn't forget the poem that had inspired the title. "Turning and turning in the widening gyre; the falcon cannot hear the falconer. Things fall apart; the centre cannot -"

"Steve? Are you with us?"

Steve snapped to attention. The class was focused on him, some with thinly-discuised smiles.

"Sorry."

"Woolgathering a bit?" Mrs. Kotoly was smiling as well.

"Yeah, something like that. I'm back now."

Chapter 45

As night crept over the village, Stares-At-The-Sun stayed in the shadows. Sneaking around the goat pen, he made his way out onto the veldt. It was time for a conference. Time to begin instructing the participants of their roles in the events to come.

Chapter 44

Jennipher woke with a start. As she regained her breath, her mind flashed back to the dream - trapped underground, no hope for rescue. Her only companion badly injured. And a looming sense of dread about a crime she had, in fact, committed.

As she tried to get back to sleep, she thought briefly about calling Kevin to tell him she had a bad dream. Smiling at what his reaction would be, she drifted off again - but not before an image of Steve Norcutt flashed before her eyes.

Chapter 43

It took some doing, but Blake finally got Humbot's leg unpinned.

"What do we do now?" Blake asked, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"My sensors indicate that there is a cave of some sort to our west. The ground there seems smoothed, as though it were a man-made path."

"Shouldn't we stay put?"

"No, Blake. By the time someone got here from Sharpin, you would have starved to death. We will take the man-made path and see if we can find aid."

Blake considered this for a moment. "Lead on. You've got the lights."

Chapter 42

Like a pearl diver surfacing from the depths, Blake came toward consciousness. At least, he thought he did - it was difficult to tell, as there was no light to see by. The throbbing on the back of his head was something, at least, that let him know he was alive.

Methodically, he patted himself down, checking for massive blood flow, broken bones, or exceptionally painful areas. Realizing he was, for the moment, in one piece, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Blake Blakesly...you are well?"

"Humbot? Is that you?"

"It is."

"Are you okay?"

"My leg appears to be trapped under a large rock, but other than that, yes, I seem to be functioning."

"Can you shine your lights?"

"Absolutely."

The air around Blake got perceptibly lighter, and seemed to originate to his left. Feeling his way blindly across the stones, he eventually reached Humbot. True to his word, the android was sprawled on the ground, right leg pinned beneath a boulder.

"Hello, Blake."

"Let's get that rock off of you."

Chapter 41

It was with reluctance that Blake prepared to leave the mine. The haul of luthracite had been instrumental in his receiving double portions of pizza the night before in celebration of the last day of work in that vein. He had sent Humbot out to clear the mine of workers before walling it off, and now waited patiently for his return. As if his thoughts had summoned him, Humbot appeared through the gloom.

"Blake. I have something you need to see."

Puzzled, Blake followed. The glare of his headlamp lit a narrow path. After a few minutes, he asked Humbot where they were going.

"It's just up ahead," Humbot answered.

They finally stopped. There didn't seem to be anything special about it - just a used-up luthracite shaft.

"What's going on, Humbot? Is there something else down here?"

Humbot turned and grinned a terrible android grin. "Hold on, Blake."

And with a tremendous roar, millions of pounds of earth fell on them.

Chapter 40

Steve and Gar walked back in, their sweat mostly dried. Neither said anything as Gar went to the fridge and grabbed two Gatorades, handing one to Steve, who accepted it without looking at it.

They each took long drinks and stared at nothing. Their breathing slowed, and finally - finally! - Steve broke the silence.

"What are the odds?"

Gar snapped back, "What are the odds of us being tied? Or what are the odds of my shot to win the game interrupted by a group of kids on those stupid rollerskate shoes getting into a huge crash in front of the house? Or the odds that when we come back from checking on them, the ball has gone mostly-flat and my one desperation heave knocks down the backboard, which massively dents the roof of my car? Which one?"

Steve paused. "I guess all of them."

"What's the highest number you can think of?" Gar raged. "Now double THAT to one and you've got the odds against all those happening at once!"

"Sorry about your car, man."

Gar sighed, a long, watermelon ice-scented exhale. "It's not your fault, man. It just sucks. I'm just sorry I still have to listen to you whine about Jen."

"I guess I still don't know if she's my destiny, huh?"

"Looks that way, man."

Chapter 39

Steve paused, stuffed basketball in hand.

"Am I a bad person?"

"That doesn't rhyme at all." Gar said, absently.

"Seriously, man. She's allowed to see whoever she wants, right? So why should it eat me apart inside?"

"Because you're mostly a woman?"

"It's going to be like that? I'm dying here, man."

"Yes, it's going to be like that," Gar considered what he had written, then erased a large part of his poem.

"I just don't want to be a jealous jerk."

"You're not jealous."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, you're envious. For jealousy you have to possess something and then lose it. Envy is when you want something that someone else has. You're basically coveting."

"Shut up."

"You shut up, you envious jerk. There. The poem's done. Let's go shoot some hoops."

"All right."

"Hey," Gar turned back to face Steve, "if you beat me, you're fated to win her heart."

"By prom night?"

"By prom night."

"Sounds like it's up to fate, then."

"No no - when I win, I don't want to hear anything more about Jennipher Semmes. Deal?"

"Deal."

"Right."

Chapter 38

Steve was on the floor. He lay on his back, throwing a stuffed basketball (won at the Freedom Festival a few years ago) at the ceiling. Gar was in his office chair, ostensibly working on his physics homework.

"What rhymes with Gewrzyn?"

"What?"

"Do you think 'newer son' would work?"

"Are you writing a poem for your physics teacher?"

"Yeah. I can't figure out these last two problems, so I figured I'd blatantly suck up."

"Nice."

Chapter 37

Blake smiled as he watched his new vein of luthracite being carted to the surface. Everything was going smoothly, and he could almost forget he had been in Sharpin for two months. As he signalled Humbot to take him to the surface, he heard a brief sound. A groaning of the support pillars, the weight of the Earth settling above his head. Aware that this was normal yet still disquieted, Blake headed to the exit of the mine.

Chapter 36

"Um, dude?" Stoner went on, under his breath, "Are you going to get in a fight? Because maybe we should have kept our clubs. I mean, you did get beat down by Christian like two weeks ago."

"I'm not going to fight. I just want to see this guy."

"Okay, but if you fight...throw coffee in his face first."

They walked across the parking lot of the Arcaditorium to the Starbucks patio. Steve examined Jen and her date without seeming to. He didn't seem to be anything special - thoroughly average. Annoyance grew, as Steve and Stoner walked to the counter without Jen noticing. After ordering their drinks, Steve turned around and feigned surprise.

"Jen?"

"Steve! How are you?"

"Great. How's it going?"

"It's good. This is Kevin. Kevin, this is my friend, Steve. And back there is his friend, Stoner."

"How's it going, man?" Ugh. Steve hated everything about this "Kevin." Especially his stupid voice.

"It's going. Stoner and I were just over at the Arcaditorium."

"Really?" Kevin smirked. "Are you junior high kids on a date?"

Jen laughed and so did Steve - although a little louder than would have been appropriate.

"This guy's funny. Good thing, with a mug like that. No, his girl works there and he wanted to see her. Plus, you know. Free mini golf."

Jen sensed the dynamic and paused, unsure of how to continue. Kevin broke the silence.

"We'll see you, Steve."

"Yeah. It was good meeting you, Ken -"

"Kevin."

"Sorry. Good meeting you, Kevin, see you, Jen."

"Bye."

Steve walked away, seething. In his head, he knew that Jen wasn't his, but to see her with anyone else made his heart drop into his stomach and splash acid all over his insides.

Chapter 35

...the initial wave of nausea passed. Steve was not going to throw up - not now, at least.

"Let's finish the round," he gritted.

The rest of their round went quickly - Stoner didn't even spend time lining up his shots. They played through a group of eleven year-olds without asking - the kids didn't even protest, as they had caught the heat baking off Steve without trying. At the eighteenth hole - the chance to win a free game - Stoner took Steve aside.

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know," Steve answered. "I feel like I need to go talk with her. I mean, she's allowed to talk with other guys, right? We're not together, and even if we were, it's her life, but...I think I'm most upset because...did she lie to me about prom?"

"Okay. Let's go over."

They returned their clubs to Stoner's girlfriend at the counter and headed over to pretend to be surprised by Jen and her date.

Chapter 34

"Juads Priest, Stoner, will you hit the ball already?"

"Miniature golf is a game of precision, Steve. Precision and perfection. And you can't rush either." Stoner said. Then, after a brief pause, hit his putt. He and Steve both watched it roll, bounce off the corner board and ease its way down the ramp. There it struck one of the pylons and rolled gingerly toward the hole. It paused, then fell in for a hole-in-one.

"You can't rush it, man." Stoner smirked.

Steve rolled his eyes and set his ball down. Friday nights at The Wild West Mini-Golf-And-Go-Kart Arcaditorium were not the best place to hang out (unless you were a junior high kid on a group date, he notes, looking around), but Stoner's girlfriend always let them golf for free, so...here they were. Thinking about perfection and precision, Steve lined up his shot.

"Hey, isn't that Jennipher Semmes over there?"

Ha ha, Steve thought, I will not be swayed by Stoner's Jedi Mind Tricks.

"With some dude?"

Steve couldn't help it. He looked up as he swung, sending the ball careening nowhere near the hole. But yes, at the Starbucks next door, Jen and some dude were sitting outside, laughing together. Steve's stomach dropped and he felt bile rising in the back of his throat. Oh, throwing up would not make Stoner's girlfriend happy...