Heaven’s clock is ticking
In 30 parts, By FinalStand. Listen to the podcast at Explicit Novels.
“There is no firestorm without a spark, no ocean without a raindrop”
I opened the door and there stood Christina, looking pretty depressed.
"Do you want to come in?" I asked.
"I know you have company," she replied. "Can we talk outside?" It wasn't too chilly but I wasn't wearing too much either.
"Of course," I walked onto the porch, leaving the door mostly closed behind me. "What's wrong?"
"I've worked things out with Faith and the other girls," Christina paced nervously. "We are all going to keep quiet about what you learned and see how we can turn this to our advantage." I didn't say anything because she hadn't come to tell me the news of what had been the obvious move on her part so I was left wondering what was going on, then I saw it.
I opened my arms to the side, palms forward, and waited. She saw the move and looked me over with obvious reluctance for what would come next. Finally, she stepped up to me and rested her forehead on my shoulder and let me encase her in my arms. It sucks to be alone, but it truly sucks being alone and being the one in charge even more.
"God, Zane, I fucked up. I could have ruined Heaven's life," she sighed. "The others trusted me and I let them down."
"You are not doing Heaven any favors by being paralyzed with doubt," I told her. "You had no idea who you were up against and even if you had, you would still have weighed what was best for Heaven against the risks and pretty much acted in the same manner."
"You don't understand Heaven," Christina said. "You don't understand her home life."
"Her home life is not my concern, Christina," I pointed out. "The Heaven here and now is my concern, though, and it is the concern of several more friends she's made since coming to this school, friends she wouldn't have if she stayed in a hole."
"What if I fuck up again?" she worried. "So many girls are depending on me to keep the Chancellor at bay."
"I fuck up all the time and I'm still here," I countered. "I know what you mean, though. Sometimes when these girls look at me like they expect me to have all the answers and I've got nothing, I want to run and hide."
"We don't have that luxury. We chose to stand up and now we must carry on in our struggle. I don't know about you, but I wasn't raised to quit," I related to her.
"I made a mistake, Zane. I don't make mistakes," she declared.
"I'm confused; have we lost?" I questioned her.
"No," she grumbled, "and that is not what I meant. I brought Faith in, I misread her, and we all suffered because of it. I was deceived."
"Well, someone should remind Christina Buchanan from time to time that she's human, and a pretty smart woman at that," I replied. "You don't have to win every battle, only the last one."
"That is what my grandfather said," she mumbled into my shoulder.
"He sounds like a clever guy," I said softly. "He should go far someday." Since he was one of the richest men in America, I was probably right.
"You can be a real jerk at times," she muttered, but I noted she wasn't moving.
"I have to agree with you," I said, as I got up on my tiptoes and kissed her on the top of the head. I leaned back and tilted her head to me with a finger under her chin. "Christina Buchanan, would you marry me?" No one said anything for a minute.
"Can I think about it?" she finally whispered.
"Of course," I assured her. "How could I be in love with you if I couldn't wait for you?"
"How can you love me when you don't even know me?" she asked.
"That's why it is love and not like," I answered. "There are times you really piss me off but there is never a moment I don't want to be with you."
"You don't like me?" Christina studied me.
"Right now I like you just fine, but you can be a real pain at times. See, I know what's right and you refuse to know your place," I responded.
"And what place is that?" she smiled.
"Above me, smiling down," I leaned in for a kiss.
"No," she shook her head.
"No?" I pleaded.
"We have a long way to go before I let you treat me like another one of your girls," Christina informed me.
"Okay," I agreed.
"No hard sell in my emotionally vulnerable state?" she mused.
"You are safe with me, Christina," I assured her.
"That's good to know, Zane. Now go inside before Rio blows a gasket," she smiled, slipped out of my arms, and walked toward her car. I still soaked up the marvel of her receding silhouette.
Rio was leaning against the wall just inside the hallway when I got back in.
"I don't get the two of you," she grinned.
"I love her," was my only response.
"That's good, because she's fucking nuts about you," Rio laughed. I couldn't decide whether she was kidding or not.
Later, we lay together in bed, Rio partially over me where she alternated between listening to my heartbeat and kissing my shoulder. She also had a hand between her legs and was doing some serious vaginal stimulation.
"Zane."
"Yes?" I replied.
"I had an abortion," she confided in me.
"Oh, okay," was all I could manage to come back with.
"'Oh.' Is that it?" she sounded a bit hurt.
"I figure there is more to the story than you had an abortion. So are you going to tell me what it is?" I inquired. She mulled that over for a few seconds.
"I did some really stupid shit, like getting shit-faced drunk at some parties with people I barely knew, and pretty much got used like a whore. I didn't really care, and eventually I got knocked up," she told me.
"My parents, the big Pro-Lifers that they were, smuggled me out of state to a private clinic and aborted the kid. They never asked my opinion on the matter but I imagine that having a pregnant daughter who couldn't even name the father wasn't on their agenda," she recited bitterly. I wrapped an arm around her, rolled over on her, and kissed her gently on the lips.
"I don't know what to say," I began. "I can't imagine what it was like to go through that."
"Huh," Rio snorted. "My parents slapped me with anti-depressants and an implant, my 'friends' told me it was for the best, not being teen Mom material and all, and I treated myself like a whore."
"Hell, I sucked and fucked the entire lawn crew once; I fucked my little brother's friends; and I became known as the girl who would ride bareback at my school. It is a miracle I didn't contract herpes or AIDS," she recited sadly. "I think I hated just about everybody."
"You know that none of that matters to me; right?" I asked. "You are still that woman I woke up next to on day one."
"To the bitter end," she recited.
"To the bitter end," I affirmed, my promise to stand by her no matter what.
"Why couldn't you be in love with me?" she sighed.
"You are asking an eighteen-year-old how this love thing works?" I teased her. "I've been lucky enough to meet five women in the past two weeks I'd like to spend forever with, and I love the one I'm least likely to end up with. I'm clueless."
"Me, Iona, Barbie Lynn, Christina and Heaven?" Rio guessed. I nodded, which made her snicker. "You really want to spend forever with Heaven? You are a glutton for punishment."
"Heaven can be really nice," I defended my girlfriend.
"She's got a permanent case of PMS. Hell knows what would happen if she actually had PMS," Rio teased me back.
"So you don't want to spend any more time with her?" I inquired.
"Fuck that," Rio giggled, "I like them brave, bold, and saucy in the saddle. I'd love breaking her down, or having her break me trying."
"Fine," I announced after a moment's contemplation.
"Fine?" she asked.
"I'm not going to break my word to Jill but I can't wait to fuck you until we get back to campus, so how would you like to screw on Pastor Bill's desk before Sunday school?" I suggested.
"I'd love to leave a little something extra on that gold-plated conman's desk," Rio purred.
"Now, Zane, do you think you could bend the rules ever so slightly and finger-fuck me? I'm ever so horny," Rio pleaded. I figured it couldn't hurt too much; right? I rubbed and rubbed one hand down to her crotch where Rio had already pulled her soaked panties down to mid-thigh. With my other hand, I pushed up her top, exposing her ripe nipples, chain and all.
I plucked a nipple into my mouth, letting my tongue play along the stud before sucking in more of the breast, increasing the pressure on the nipple itself. Rio was well worked up already and now began to writhe beneath me. My free hand passed below her carefully groomed chevron-shaped pubic mound and along her clit.
Her folds welcomed me like molten gold, so hot yet silky smooth to the touch. As she started to moan, Rio stuck the meat of her palm into her mouth and bit down in order to keep quiet. I spent a minute playing with her two studs in her labia before working two fingers deep inside her, twisting them, and seeking out her G-spot.
"Gak!" Rio convulsed as I stroked it. Oh, yeah, I thought, as I began to seriously work it over. Rio's fluids were sloshing around my fingers, her other hand began pressing my whole mouth over her breast, and she kept bucking up against me. I now began to alternate between rhythmically tapping her special place and brutally finger fucking her, driving two fingers in and slapping her clit with my palm.
"Uh, uh, uh, ugh, ugh, umm," Rio began panting, then her body arched and she screamed into her clenched fist. "Oh, fuck, that's good," she finally managed to get out. Before I could respond, she grabbed my head and drew me up for a fierce kiss. She tore at my lips and tried to steal my breath away.
"Tell me you want me," she pleaded with a desperate hunger tinged with fear.
"I want you, Rio, always," I responded with my own heat and need. Slowly the passion ebbed from Rio's eyes and a playful demeanor replaced it.
"You are such a dumb blonde, Glenda," she sighed happily. Glenda had been the name that had allowed me admission to school in the first place, Glenn Zane Braxton, Glenda.
I answered by pulling my fingers out of her cunt, taking a lick, then pushing them through her lips. Rio daintily sucked on them, pulling them in and cleaning them off before biting down like the little bitch she is and making tears come to my eyes.
"What the fuck!" I hissed.
"That's for not giving me your cock, Asshole," she snickered. When I looked ready to explode, she pouted her lips, rolled onto her stomach and stuck her bare ass up in the air for a spanking. I grunted and rolled over onto my side, away from her.
"Good night, you witch," I sulked.
There was some rustling behind me a minute later, then Rio snaked an arm around me and pressed her body to my back.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I act crazy at times." I rolled over to face her.
"I know what I'm getting into, Rio," I comforted her. "That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt at times." I displayed my wounded fingers. She kissed my fingers, I kissed her lips, and we both finally went to sleep.
Preacher William, Valerie, and the seeds of discord.
Jill didn't know what to make of our prompt appearance Sunday morning for breakfast already dressed for church. I'd convinced Rio to not try a hard sell with my aunt, instead playing it calm, cool, and collected. The real reason we wanted to get to church early was because I'd come up with the idea of screwing Rio on Pastor Bill's massive mahogany desk before class and she'd become infatuated with the scheme.
Gaining Definition
We had to remember our Bibles before eagerly heading out the door. Mine went back to my missionary days while Rio's was brand new, a gift from Jill. She'd lost her old one on the trip from Arizona to Virginia, or so she'd told Jill. In reality, she had torn hers apart page by page and stuffed it down the airplane toilet during the flight, her way of spreading the gospel.
Once at the church, we split up, Rio and I getting together a few minutes later. I was unsure about the security cameras in the hallway but Rio shrugged it off. She followed the wires to the closet the system was kept in, picked the lock, and deleted the last two hours of footage before deactivating the whole system.
I was clever enough to wipe off all our fingerprints before we made for the pastor's office. This time, Rio's improvised, lock picks weren't necessary as the secretary kept the door unlocked. We slipped past her station to the larger office beyond and I chased Rio around to the 'big chair'.
"So, Bad Boy, are you going to make me a Bad Girl?" Rio taunted me.
I stepped up between her thighs and got ready to feast on her succulent cunt lips when she held me up.
"I don't think we have time for that," Rio grinned. She slipped out of her panties, which I quickly pocketed (having learned from the first Barbie Lynn incident), and hopped up on the desk facing me.
I unbuckled my belt, fixed the button, and unzipped my pants. My cock came smoothly out of my boxers and I lined up with Rio's slit. Her juices were already flowing by the time my cockhead graced her full lips.
"Oh, that's what I've been looking for," Rio moaned, as I pushed forward inch after glorious inch inside her.
She wrapped her arms around my neck and came close to doing the same with her legs around my waist by the time I was fully into her. I got a few half-thrusts into Rio, our faces only inches apart, when I began to push her back down on the desk.
"No, I want to look into your eyes," she told me. I nodded and started driving my cock in a strong steady rhythm.
"Rio," I said softly.
"Yes," she breathed heavily.
"I like saying your name," I explained. "I like the sound of it and the way it makes me feel."
"I,” I was sure she was fighting for a snarky reply but then she smiled and said, "Okay."
"Oh. God, Oh, Fuck," Rio gasped, as we began, getting her close to climax. I stopped when I first heard the voices. "What?" Rio panted. I pulled her off the desk and looked for a place to hide. There were three other doors out of the room. I took the closest, yanked up my pants, and dragged Rio to it.
It turned out to be a large closet with vestments, coats, and a few changes of clothing inside. Before I could finish shutting the door, Rio put her hand in the way. Before I could inquire why, the main office door opened and in came Pastor Bill and Lance Wellington. They were yammering on about something or other; I really wasn't paying attention.
All that changed after Pastor Bill took his seat behind the desk and swiveled it to the side. Lance came around the desk and knelt before our spiritual leader. His body blocked my visual but I heard a zipper being undone and some clothes being pushed aside. What Lance proceeded to do was clear enough, though.
Rio was between me and the door; she looked over her shoulder and grinned evilly. Before long, she had my cock in her hand and was maneuvering it back to her cunt from behind. I moved my hips down, she arched up, and I slipped back into the hole I'd been in not a minute before. I stayed still while Rio began to ride my cock up and down.
There we were, two very different couples separated by less than a dozen feet, both fucking in different ways. Lance was giving Pastor Bill oral attention in a manner that dictated long familiarity to not only cock-sucking, but blowing Pastor Bill in particular. Rio had one hand placed against the door sill in order to stop us from spilling out of the closet while the other was tucked against her stomach.
The four of us were pushing toward climax but Pastor Bill was the first one to the trigger. I was still feeling the oily smoothness of my cock inside Rio's cunt while rubbing both breasts through her shirt and bra when Lance began chocking and sputtering. The bastard hadn't even warned Lance that he was cumming.
Good ole Pastor Bill reached across the desk to grab two Kleenex. As he did so, his other hand came down to rest on a slick spot Rio and I had left on his desk. He looked at his hand with disgust and wiped it off his hand before handing a tissue to Lance.
"Get going to class," Pastor Bill told his cock-sucking companion.
"Of course, Pastor William," Lance responded as he cleaned his face. As he headed to the door, he turned to the preacher.
"Do I have to do another marriage counseling session with Felicity? She is so damn annoying," he whined.
"Lance, you are going to have to keep up appearances and that means spending the occasional night with her," Pastor Bill lectured him. "As distasteful as she is, she is the socially acceptable choice for your spouse if you plan to have a political career."
"I wish this whole marriage thing was over with already," Lance sighed. "Then I could stick her in the house and get her out of my life."
"Remember, a woman is a duty, but you know how to get your pleasure. Take your pill when you have to lay with her, and if nothing else, use her back door," he chuckled.
"I suppose so," Lance conceded, "but I'll have to shut her up. She blathers on and on incessantly and her voice is so grating."
"Well," Pastor Bill laughed, "you can always use her mouth too." Lance snorted and left the room; Bill followed a minute later.
For our part, the whole exchange between Pastor Bill and Lance got Rio hotter and hotter. She was rocketing back against me until I was afraid the slapping of our flesh would alert our host to our presence.
Once he was gone, Rio went off.
"Fuck me, damn it," Rio exulted. "I'm going to rape their asses." I wasn't sure how that would work. It wasn't like Rio's or my word would go all that far. I decided to spin her back around and kick her leg up over my arm so I could fuck her while gazing into her eyes.
The first thing I noticed was the sheer joy etched all over her face. The second thing I noted was her phone in hand, set on record. There was going to be some severe damage over this and I had to do damage control, but first I had to screw Rio to orgasm.
"Ah, ah, ah," Rio moaned. "You are churning me up inside, you fucking brute. This is so fucking good."
"And the video?" I inquired.
"Fucking brilliant," she panted, "My best idea yet." I drilled Rio several more strong strokes and she gripped me tightly and sexually exploded on me. She kept squeezing my cock with her vaginal muscles as I came in her as she was still cresting her wave.
"Oh, Zane," she wept tears of joy on my shoulder, "You make all this other shit bearable."
"No problem, bro," I sighed happily, "but we need to talk about the video."
"Yeah," she snorted, "you have a plan. I'm going to bypass me having a temper-tantrum and get straight to you making me happy with how clever you are."
"We find more ways to bring Felicity over to our side, then hit her with this when she's wavering," I detailed. "We still need credibility and that's going to take Barbie Lynn on our side. Once we get Felicity, we can get Mrs. Wellington too. That gives us access to everyone in the church."
I set Rio onto her feet and handed her panties too her. Rio shimmied into them and grinned.
"Now I'm all sloshy inside. Is that thing a damn fire hydrant?"
"You weren't complaining a minute ago," I countered.
"I'm not complaining, but all those bitches in class are going to know I've been fucked," she snickered.
"Who are you going to blame?" I wondered.
"Pastor William, our glorious shepherd; I can describe just what his cock looks like now," she grinned manically.
"I think we are back to that whole 'credibility' issue," I reminded her.
"You aren't going to let me have any fun," Rio pouted.
"Well, work on this; I'm pretty sure Lance isn't the only guy here that the pastor is using. Lance was a tool, nothing more," I told her. "It could be fun to find out who his other toys are."
"I hate you for having a better idea than me," Rio giggled, "but I love your deviant mind more."
"I love you too, Baby," I said as I brushed her cheek. "Let's get to class before they get to ridicule us for arriving late." Rio grabbed my hand and sprinted with me out of the office. We were late to class but only just. This time I'd studied so Mr. Coleman wasn't able to humiliate me, though some wise-ass taunted me about being on a women's committee.
"Yes, I do," I confirmed, "and what committee are you on?"
"Athletics committee," he sneered. I gave him a shit-eating grin right back that gave him pause.
"So I hang out with a bunch of MILF's, which is a pretty red-blooded American male thing to do, while you hang out with a bunch of guys, which is pretty homo-erotic," I chuckled.
There was a deafening silence in the room. We had broken up for church service and a few guys were almost out the door. The target of my aggression was first stunned, then angry.
"Mr. Braxton, that is quite enough out of you," Mr. Coleman snapped.
"I'm sorry about that, Mr. Coleman. I thought he was ribbing me about my committee so I teased him back about his; I wasn't serious," I lied.
Andy, the guy who'd given me a hard time, elected that moment to get in my face.
"That wasn't funny, Braxton," he snapped. Mr. Coleman remained conspicuously silent.
"Gosh, Andy," I quipped, "I don't know where to begin. How about, we are in a House of God and shouldn't be raising a fist against one another."
"If that doesn't work, do understand that you get the first punch, then I break you like a twig," I continued with eagerness written all over my face. "You are an elementary school teacher and I have years of martial arts experience." Andy suddenly paled.
"Mr. Braxton," Coleman growled again. "How dare you threaten somebody?"
"Um, Mr. Coleman, Andy got in my face, so what exactly are you getting on my case about? Wouldn't the situation be better served if you stopped him in the first place?" I said.
"Andy should be able to take a joke better," another guy in my class, Christopher Gilbert, joined in. "Besides, Zane's right; the wives on the committee are attractive and their husbands are lucky men."
That seemed to end the matter because Chris Gilbert was the son of somebody and carried weight in this crowd. We continued to depart but I felt obliged to stop Chris.
"Thanks, but I'm not sure why you just backed me up there," I questioned.
"Maybe you're not such a bad guy," he grinned.
I had to think that over. I barely knew Christopher Gilbert. He was 23, son of a big real estate guy, he was a property manager, whatever that was.
"I have to appreciate the timing of your epiphany," I joked.
"It came to me late Thursday night when I had a security issue at one of my properties," he grinned. Oh, crap. His daddy must own the mall where I had that little altercation.
"Sorry if I cost you a good night's sleep," was all I could say.
"Let me say that, 'damn, you're fast,' and it would have been mean of me to let Andy get his ass handed to him in front of all his friends," Chris related. "He's really not a bad guy either."
"I'll keep that in mind," I nodded.
We were making our way to the church hall when Rio, Iona, and Barbie Lynn intercepted us.
"Hey, Ms. Masters," Chris said to Barbie Lynn. He looked at the other two girls.
"Christopher Gilbert, this is Rio Talon and Iona Becket, two of my classmates and closest friends," I introduced my buddies.
"So, Chris, how do you know Barbie-licious?" Rio smirked.
"Huh?" Chris said.
"Rio has an intense sense of humor, Chris," I intervened. "Pay her no mind." Before Rio cold make things worse, I placed an arm behind her and pinched her ass. "Behave," I warned her.
"Okay, Zane," Chris chuckled. "Good luck with that one. To answer your question: I know Ms. Masters from a few years back at a youth retreat. We were both counselors. Take care now." He turned and walked off to his section of the tabernacle while the girls and I went off to ours.
"So, Barbie, were you hot for Chris back at camp?" Rio persisted.
"Chris? Nah, he had a girlfriend back then; they both went to the University of Virginia. I think they broke up right before they graduated but I'm not sure," Barbie Lynn informed us. "Besides, I had a fiancé too."
"Had? Have you tossed him over for Zane?" Rio teased. I sighed and Barbie Lynn blushed.
"Nah, Shugah, I tossed him over for you," Barbie Lynn whispered into Rio's ear.
"Just for that tantalizing tease, no Honey Glaze for those hot crossed buns of yours," Rio bantered right back.
"Am I the only one who remembers we are in a church?" lectured Iona.
"No, you are not," Christina surprised us. "Now stop trying to make a scene and sit down with the rest of us." We dutifully obeyed because three of us respected Christina and I had one of Rio's arms twisted behind her back.
At the end of service there was no problem getting the gang to go down to the space between the pews and the podium where the important people gathered. I caught Pastor William shooting me a hooded look but I blew him off. I was here for someone else, as was Barbie Lynn and Rio. Iona was tagging along to make sure we kept out of too much trouble.
"Hey, Sahara," I greeted the pastor's wife, who hovered near but wasn't part of the action.
"Why, hello, Zane," she smiled. "Did you enjoy the service?"
"I'm still a little fuzzy on the message of seeking wisdom in God's word instead of Man's technology," I grinned. "After all, I have an app that gives me helpful Bible verses on demand."
"I think you missed the point, Zane," she shook her head with mirth. "We need to trust the Word of God over the simple technological solutions that fail to take in the moral implications of the results."
"Wow, when you say it that way, it makes sense," I applauded. Sahara blushed and gave me another smile.
Rio and Barbie Lynn had closed in on Felicity, allowing Iona and I to come up behind Mrs. Wellington. I put my hand on the small of her back and positioned myself at her side.
"Hello, Mrs. Wellington," I greeted her. I knew her first look at me would define a lot about how she felt about last night.
"Zane," she beamed at me. "How are you doing today?"
"Better now," I grinned. "I just wanted to say that I'm downloading those files we discussed when I get to campus this afternoon."
"Oh," Mrs. Bainbridge sneered, "is Mr. Braxton working on a special project already?"
"Zane," Rochelle Wellington smiled to her rival sweetly, "send Kendra a copy of the notes you showed me. Kendra, Zane has a talent for 3-D imagery that the committee will find quite useful. I thought you might find it nice to have our newest member showing some interest."
"Oh, it is his interest that I'm worried about," Kendra commented, with a pretty obvious look toward Sahara.
Before I could respond to that jab, I felt a hand on my shoulder trying to pull me around.
"Pastor William wants a word with you," Lance informed me.
"Okay," I shrugged, then turned back to Kendra. "Mrs. Bainbridge, I admit that it is my fault that I find Mrs. Penny to be kinder, more compassionate, and more spiritually understanding than you. She is a gentle soul who better relates to what a young man needs."
"Pastor William wants to see you now," Lance insisted.
"That's nice, Lance. I'm talking to your mother," I said dismissively. "Rochelle, thank you for agreeing to mentor me; I appreciate you helping me understand this Church and this community by taking some of your valuable time to listen to my ideas."
"Ladies, have a nice Sunday. Okay, Lance, let's go see what Pastor Bill wants now," I told him.
"His name is Pastor William," Lance corrected me somewhat angrily.
"No, his name is William Penny and he happens to be a pastor," I jibed. Lance's response was stymied by our arrival at Pastor Bill's circle of cronies.
"Ah, Glenn," Bill greeted me. "I would like to invite you to dine with my wife and I tomorrow night." I was smart enough to know that wasn't really an invitation, but still,
"I'd like to but this week is our first round of testing for the semester so I'm not sure I can break free," I answered.
"You find time enough for other things, like jail," he lectured me in a personally degrading matter.
"Pastor William, as you will learn about me, people who cross me or threaten the ones I hold dear, I beat bloody and leave broken on the ground," I smiled evilly right back. The confusion that threat caused was evident because I hadn't been quiet.
"Jesus loves the Peacemaker," Pastor Bill bantered back.
"Winners write the history books," I countered.
"That is not very Christian of you," Mr. Wellington, the Mayor, pointed out.
"Jesus Christ ended up nailed to a cross; Emperor Constantine, who converted the whole Roman Empire to Christ's worship, got to build his own city," I responded.
"I won't be as famous but I'll do more and get to bury my enemies before I die," I added.
"Are you sure you were a missionary in Thailand?" another church elder asked.
"Oh, I was a missionary all right, but not a very good one. I left the hard work to my Uncle Tim and Aunt Jill," I informed them.
"Did they convert many heathen souls to the World of our Lord?" a third man inquired.
"It is not that simple. They taught people to read English and got them in the practice of reading the Bible," I explained. "They have over a thousand years of culture to work against and many of the tenents of Buddhism are close to our own Christian virtues so it is hard work."
"So that would be a 'No'," Pastor Bill gloated.
"Really?" I grinned. "When Uncle Tim went missing, 200 of his flock risked floodwaters in an eventually futile effort to save him. How many of us would risk drowning to save you, Pastor William? I would say that when lives were on the line, his flock did their Christian duty."
I noticed Jill standing on the edge of the group listening, her eyes close to tears. Hey, I hated Tim, but I wasn't going to let these spineless bastards degrade the man in front of his widow, no matter how I felt.
"I'm sure we would all rise to the challenge," Mr. Wellington pontificated.
"Then you are as good a man as Uncle Tim," I trapped him with his own words.
"Your Uncle Tim gave everything, including his life," Pastor Bill said with a smug, superior smile. "His willingness to give should be an example for all."
"I'm already giving. The Festivities Committee's budget seems a bit anemic so I'm going to be funding some of their efforts," I enlightened him.
"That is not how tithes are normally handled," Pastor Bill corrected me.
"I'm not a normal guy," I grinned. "Pastor, I'll look over my schedule and call your house to let you know if I can swing dinner tomorrow. It has been a wonderful chat but I have to be going now."
I turned and left them there, confident I hadn't made any friends among Bill's inner circle. The price of their friendship was way more than I was willing to pay and it wasn't just monetary. My girls swarmed around me, even Jill.
"Thank you, Zane," Jill said softly. "Tim would have been proud."
"Jill, I said that for you, not him. You stood by him and that shouldn't be trampled on by people who don't know any better," I comforted her.
"I was getting ready to cry out 'Blood and Souls for my Lord Arioch," Rio grinned.
"Why did you antagonize them?" Iona wondered.
"They are used to bullying people and getting their way. I let them know I was more than willing to fight," I told Iona.
"He also wanted the women to see what he was doing," Barbie Lynn said. "I saw a few females, Felicity included, who thought a great deal of how Zane handled the situation."
"Girls love watching men fight over them," Rio laughed as we exited into the parking lot.
"Is everyone coming to our place for lunch?" Jill asked. I took a quick look around the girls who nodded their approval.
"Sure thing, Jill; we will be at home in an hour," I answered.
Getting back to campus and into casual clothes wasn't a problem, nor was lunch with Jill. We sat around and shot the shit for an hour afterwards but school work demanded that we head back to school to do some actual classwork. I went by Raven's to pick her up because she'd left me a text (by way of Iona) that she'd made some progress over the weekend.
"We really should study in the library," Raven told me as we headed to my room.
"The last time I checked, the library didn't have a snack bar," I told her. Raven was less than convinced and a bit nervous until we opened the door to the bottom of the steps leading to the Solarium where I lived and the voices of multiple girls welcomed us.
"You have company?" she questioned me.
"All freshmen are welcome in my room, Raven. You'll see," I informed her.
"Is there going to be anyplace for us to study,” Raven began to confound me, then we came to the point where you could see past the side of the stairs into the Solarium.
"Oh, God," she muttered at the scope of the room, "you, you have pool tables!" she ended up in a near squeal. "I love pool!" She took a few steps forward into the room before looking back at me. "What is all this? Where did this all come from?"
"I was given the entire Solarium as my room, sort of, and I decided to convert most of it to a common area for the freshman class," I said.
"How long has this been going on?" she wondered.
"We did it yesterday," Iona said from the closest sofa. She put down her laptop and walked over to us. "Zane paid for the stuff and we students put it in. Let me show you around."
"You do that, Iona," I told her, as I gave my diminutive friend a hug, "I'll be in my room."
Iona led Raven deeper into the complex of entertainment while I headed to my room, which seemed to be the quietest place to study today. I passed around the Chinese silk screens that shielded my private area from the rest of the Solarium and saw my new monster-sized bed. I also saw the tall, honey-blonde Amazon reclining on it, looking my way.
"Come here, my Love-Monkey," she said in a deep, husky voice. I'm sure my mouth gaped open.
"Ah, I don't believe we've been introduced," I managed to finally say. She smiled and patted the bed beside her.
"You are seriously hot and I'm positive I'd remember you if we'd met, but I don't and I do need to study so I'm going to ask you to please leave," I groaned. "Trust me, I really don't want to be asking you that either."
I heard laughter from the far side of the bed and Rio slowly raised her body into sight.
"Bro, the look on your face is priceless," she chuckled.
"So this is really your room?" the other girl inquired.
"I told you it was," Rio grinned.
"Yes, it is," I responded as well. "In fact, this entire floor is mine, mainly because the Administration has nowhere else to stick me."
"Rio, what's going on here?" I turned to my other friend.
"Honest, Boss," she beamed, "I found her when I got home. She's my new dorm mate, your replacement."
"You were her first roommate?" the newcomer asked.
"For all of one night," I confessed. "Then everyone realized she had boobies, and I didn't, and I developed this current life of seclusion."
"This is your version of seclusion?" she questioned.
"What can I say?" I sighed. "I'm a man of creature comforts. That still doesn't explain you on my bed. Rio?"
"She is Valerie Palmer, a new addition to the school," Rio started, "but that's not the cool part. She's a member of the Stormriders motorcycle gang." Seeing my lack of name recognition, Rio added, "They are a big deal in the West, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Nevada, and Arizona, of course."
"Nice to meet you, Valerie." I knelt on the bed and extended my hand. "I'm Glenn Zane Braxton, but everyone calls me Zane. Welcome to FFU, and what brought you to us?"
"Dad is a born-again Christian and he wanted me to come here, so here I am," she shrugged. Now, to me that made no sense, as she should have been eighteen, thus her own person, but who was I to press into her personal matters.
"Damn it, Zane, I keep forgetting you were living in a cave for the past two years," Rio shook her head. "Her grandfather is Daniel 'Damien' Palmer." Again, I didn't know who that person was.
"My grandfather is doing three life sentences," Valerie said with a degree of weariness.
"Fine. I should take it the Stormriders are not a motorcycle club, then," I grinned at her.
Valerie's eyes and mine locked for several seconds.
"Are you arrogant, stupid, or really unconcerned?" Valerie asked me.
"A little of all three," Rio chimed in.
"You should never ask a man if he's arrogant because if he is, he won't know it," I responded.
"I'm smart enough to get into this university, but them I'm dumb enough to be the only guy at this university," I continued. "I can honestly tell you I really don't care who you were before you came here. It is none of my damn business. If you want to be friends, I'm game." Valerie nodded. "Oh, and Rio is a nutjob, but if you hurt her, I'll make you suffer, I swear it."
"Is that supposed to scare me, rich boy?" Valerie said, becoming very serious and sitting up, "because I'm not impressed."
"I didn't say it to impress you, Valerie," I met her gaze, "I believe in fair warning. I don't care if you are damaged goods or you are one stone-cold, bad-ass bitch; you mess with Rio and I'll take her pain out of your hide."
"Rio, I thought you told me this guy was cool," Valerie said to Rio while still looking at me.
"Best guy in the whole God-damn world," Rio beamed.
"Zane, have you ever stabbed somebody?" Valerie quizzed me.
"On purpose or by accident?" I asked.
"How do you stab someone by accident?" Valerie wondered.
"You toss their ass into a stand of bamboo so hard the stalks break and they get impaled," I answered. "I take it you've done it on purpose." She shrugged.
"Do you fight much?" she changed tact.
"More than I should," I replied, "but I ass in where I don't belong too much."
"Me too," Valerie nodded, "on the 'I fight more than I should' thing."
"Well, I would rather talk shit upfront than spill blood later," I pointed out.
"Like warning me about Rio," she nodded.
"Please believe me, she's a nut and will get on your nerves, so please don't toss her out a window or down the stairs because I'm actually attached to her," I grinned. Rio flopped on the bed.
"I should be mouthing empty denials but Zane's pretty much right," Rio snickered, "and if he hadn't fucked me silly on the preacher's desk this morning, I'd be in his face about this bullshit."
"You had sex on your preacher's desk?" Valerie smiled.
"Zane, what are these girls, what the hell?" Raven went off. "What kind of bedroom is this?"
"Raven, you know Rio and this is her new roommate Valerie. Valerie, this is Raven," I groaned.
"Hey, Raven," Valerie greeted her. "So do you normally walk into Zane's bedroom too?"
"No," Raven blushed. "He invited me over to do some work on our English project." Iona stepped in behind Raven and waved to Rio.
"Iona, Valerie; Valerie, Iona," I sighed.
"Wait!" Valerie raised her hand and looked back to me. "Are you gay? Because I see a lot of girls strolling into your room and none of them have been identified as your girlfriend yet."
"Technically, that would be Heaven," Iona volunteered. "She's a senior."
"Can we get back to everyone being in Zane's room?" Raven grumbled. "And what is he doing with a bed as big as my entire room back home?" Valerie appraised the room.
"Got it," she laughed. "You are sleeping with her (Iona) and her (Rio), but not you (Raven)."
"Of course I'm not sleeping with him," Raven shot back. "I took a Purity Pledge, as should all of you."
"I'm not a virgin," Valerie responded.
"Me, either," Rio waved.
"I am," Iona raised her hand.
"That's nice," I directed. "Rio, Valerie, and Iona, please leave. I've invited Raven to my room so we can do actual classwork because I occasionally like to pretend I'm in college for an education."
"On it, Zane," Rio snickered. "Come on, Valerie, let's go check out the hot tub. I wanted to show you to Zane so he could put you on his 'To Do' list." Iona shook her head and left.
"I've got a boyfriend," Valerie clarified.
"Thank God," I muttered, which drew looks from all three women. After Rio and Val left, Raven kept staring at me.
"I, does this happen to you often?" she finally asked.
"Yes, but I've learned to adjust," I pointed out.
We sat down on the bed, Raven pulled out four library books on the period we were looking into, and we began going through them and taking notes.
"Is Heaven really your girlfriend?" Raven asked after a while.
"Yes, but it is more complicated than that. I love another girl but I don't know if she loves me, and I spend time with a dozen other girls here, plus I have friends at a Sorority House off campus," I explained.
"And you sleep with Rio, who isn't a virgin, and Iona, who is," she stated, and I confirmed with a nod.
"I was wrong. If you can keep all that straight in your head, you have a good grasp of details. We are going to do fine on this term paper."
"Thank you, Raven," I smiled at her, and for a change, she smiled back.
Gust Front
I would have liked to spend the night with Iona and Barbie Lynn but Iona informed me that Coach Dana Gorman had tested her security code earlier in the day and I figured something was up; nothing good for me and my friends. Sure enough, at 12:10 in the morning, my little buzzer by the bed that informed me that a key code was being entered woke me up.
I silenced the alarm (no sense in letting them know that I had it) and waited in bed. Shortly thereafter, the Coach and two female security guards came strolling in.
"Alone?" Dana quipped.
"You asking me out?" I grinned.
"Get up; we need to check the bed, if that is what you call this thing," she motioned to my sleeping platform. I dutifully got out of bed.
"What are you doing?" she snapped when she realized I was naked.
"Getting out of bed like you asked me to. I sleep in the nude, or didn't you already know that?" I yawned.
"Put some clothes on," she ordered. I picked up my robe and put it on while they stripped back my sheets and looked for bodily fluids under the dark light. I had been at my Aunt's the past two nights, so yes, my bed was still fresh. Unsatisfied, Dana and her two buddies began roughly going over my place.
When they finally discovered nothing (my hiding places were specifically designed), the two officers turned and left.
"I'll be keeping an eye on you, Zane. You can expect this to be a regular occurrence," she promised. I simply stared. We remained looking at one another for a minute because she knew I was up to something.
"That's right, step out of line and make my job easier," she noted. Again I kept my silence. It would have been easy to take this personally but I'd told her this was War and I took that seriously. I doubted I was the sole beneficiary of their attention so I had to get ready to respond to their next move.
"Nothing to say?" she asked. I kept staring. "Say something, damn it," she growled.
"Good night, Coach," I obliged. She shook her head, turned, and walked away. When I saw the door close behind her I went back to my room and took out my phone. I made three calls to the concerned parties and a final call to Iona, to have her wipe my call log. I can't say I slept well that night.
Showering in the morning was troublesome enough on normal days but this morning, Rio decided to invite Valerie to join us. I did my best to pretend to ignore her, which wasn't easy. Valerie was around six feet with milky skin where the sun didn't reach and tanned where it did. Her hair was golden-blonde and she was trimmed, not shaved. Her eyes were grey with a hint of blue around the edges; he breasts were a solid C without a hint of sag. There sure were a lot of blondes going to this school.
I could see the mental calculations going through her head as she walked in and the other girls eyed her. In the hierarchy of this place, I didn't hold a place; proximity to me showed a girl's status among the crowd. Opal was top dog, but Rio and Iona were marked by their close relationship with me as well.
Valerie clearly thought about walking away from it all to spare herself the drama and the grief. She countered that with the knowledge that she had to fit in somewhere in this school, and as non-traditional as she was, her best bet was with us. She answered that internal struggle by taking the shower one down from me, next to Opal.
Opal expressed her dominance to Valerie by corralling me into a body massage and a show of mutual affection. I thought Valerie was unimpressed with those actions but as we got into it, I sensed she was intrigued by the notion of having sex without actually having sex, and the sexual arousal that came with it.
As I settled in front of the sink to brush my hair, shave, and brush my teeth, Valerie took the sink beside me.
"You don't seem to mind all these naked bodies around you," she noted.
"Why should I? I enjoy them and they enjoy me. I like making them happy, and my presence certainly makes their lives more difficult so I'm glad to help," I explained.
"So, do things ever go to the next level?" Valerie asked.
"Not here, and not with most of these women; they are virgins and happy about that fact. They want to be virgins on their wedding nights and I respect that," I answered.
"Rio makes you out to be some sort of sex-crazed stud monster," Val informed me.
"Rio's not a virgin and her only plans for marriage involve her being a black widow to her old, rich husbands," I grinned.
"Is she, bi-sexual?" Valerie whispered.
"Yes, I can verify that she is," I replied quietly. "Has she hit on you yet? Wait, silly question, have you thrown her out of your bed yet?"
"This morning I found her sucking on my nipple through my nightshirt," she smirked.
"Rio needs constant reminding of where the boundaries are," I informed Val.
"You two talking about me?" Rio came bouncing up. "Is there a three-way in our future? Who gets tied up?" Valerie groaned in response.
"Rio, there is such a thing as personal space and acceptable roommate behavior," I told Rio. "Things like spontaneously feeling her up while she sleeps are Bad!"
"God, damn it!" Rio squalled, "But did you see the size of those bad boys? They are huge and puffy and I swear, they were calling out to me across the room."
"In my long and illustrious career with the female nipple, they have never talked to me. If you don't behave, I'm going to have to tie you up at the next orgy and make you watch," I warned. I couldn't threaten to take away something she had, like her piercings; that would make her dig in her heels. Instead, I went after the things she was looking forward to.
"Don't forget to secure her hands over her head so she can't diddle herself," Valerie got into the sport of things.
"Good point," I agreed.
"Major buzz-kill, you two. Valerie, you are trying to make your first day here no fun at all," Rio teased.
"Which reminds me; Valerie, has Rio warned you about Handmaiden's Duty?" I inquired. Rio looked offended that I would say such a thing while Val looked confused.
"It is a tradition here that requires all freshmen to perform a task of a non-damaging nature for any and all upperclassmen. They cannot grab you in class or a dorm room, but anywhere else is fair game," I informed her.
"My first task was to be a bench for someone to sit on," Rio grinned.
"Mine was to kiss a girl," I nodded.
"Kiss her? Cordelia damn near passed out, you kissed her so long and deep," Rio teased me.
"The first one was very nice and chaste," Iona stepped up and added. "It was the second one that curled her toes and started the stampeded on Zane."
"What do I do if a girl asks me to kiss her?" Valerie worried.
"Tell her you are waiting for your herpes to clear up," Rio volunteered.
"It isn't likely to happen," Iona came across with sounder advice. "Homosexuality is frowned on at this campus."
"I'd tell you to kiss them and enjoy the moment, but I'm a guy," I shrugged.
"I'm still not sure what is normal for this place," Valerie related.
"Rio and Zane are aberrations," Iona offered. "Most of the girls here are fundamentalist Christian virgins who are looking to get married once they graduate this place."
"What is your story?" Val asked Iona.
"I was pretty much the girl I just described until I met these two," she smiled. "Now I feel that I have, options."
"Options like prison time," Rio laughed, "or becoming a sex toy at an S&M club."
"I was thinking more like taking a summer and roaming the country," Iona glared Rio.
"Maybe I could teach you to ride a motorcycle and you can come with me," Valerie offered.
"That would be wonderful!" Iona brightened up. "When could we start?"
"This afternoon, if you like," Val responded. "My ride is in the parking lot."
"You have a motorcycle, here?" Rio exclaimed.
"Rio, it is hard to be in a motorcycle gang without a chopper," Valerie pointed out.
"On that note, I have to go," I sighed. New girls were starting to migrate in, meaning I had to retreat to my room. "Take care, everyone."
The crapstorm fell on us as we left the dorm. All kinds of upperclassmen snatched up freshmen as they appeared and shadowed Pro-Christina students they couldn't grab. Rio and I were able to shove off of Valerie before she was identified as being with one of us, so she made it to the Dining Hall unmolested.
I didn't have to do anything too heinous, carry three backpacks while reciting the Gospel of Luke from memory (ugh). They made Rio sing 'Onward Christian Soldier' because it was the only religious song she'd admit to knowing. She did a horrific hack-job of it too. They had Iona going through the descendants of Noah; she knocked them back flawlessly, Brainiac.
It got better at the Dining Hall door where Rhaine oversaw the removal of every electronic device from the incoming students, no phones, tablets or laptops, nothing capable of rapid communication. Then came the assigned seating designed to break us all up. Surprisingly, Valerie looped back around and joined us in the line.
She leaned into me.
"What the fuck is going on?" she whispered.
"There is a war going on between the Pro-Christina faction Rio, Iona and I belong to, and the Pro-Rhaine faction, which is supported by the Administration. I didn't want to get you involved," I explained as I saw Mrs. Marlowe closing in.
"Mr. Braxton, be quiet," she snapped.
"Of course, Ms. Marlowe," I nodded to her; she glared back. We had assigned seating for breakfast, isolating us. Conversations were kept to a minimum by roving teachers and the mood was getting grim, made worse by a slow drizzle that began to fall outside. Still, things weren't hopeless.
As I was putting my food tray away, Paige of the Science Club slipped past me.
"Copper Seven," she whispered.
Cordelia, head of the Science Club, was definitely the smartest person on campus. She'd created a list of contingency plans for us to use if things went bad. We should have been getting them on our phones but the Chancellor had stymied us there.
Instead, things were circulating by word of mouth. In this case, Copper Seven, things were simple. Copper meant theft and Seven was the code for communications. We were stealing the facility's phones, crashing their computers, and doing whatever mischief we could to make communications difficult, if not impossible.
I had the pleasure of passing the word on to Rio, who gave me a look that would have made any brigand with a handful of gold proud. I didn't know the specifics of Rio's criminal history but I knew she definitely had one, and I'd have been stunned if pickpocket and shoplifting weren't part of her repertoire. I'd warned Coach Gorman about making shit like this fascist suppression policy up.
I barely recalled what I was forced to perform on the way to Assembly because what happened there was so memorable. We got the standard lecture, then the Chancellor laid into Christina for all the disruptions the student body was going through, Christina and a few other malcontents. What made it memorable was, at the end of Doctor Bazz's speech, a freshman I barely knew, Millicent Pierce, stood up and raised her fist in defiance.
"That's bullshit!" she cried out.
"Sit down and be quiet, child!" the Chancellor commanded. "Coach Gorman," she then directed our head of security toward the young girl. Millicent wasn't done yet.
"You are lying to us!" she screamed out again.
As Gorman and a second teacher made their way to our young rebel, Rio stood up with a raised fist.
"Shame!" Rio called out. A dozen of us followed suit. Teachers flooded off the stage but Cappadocia figured out that if you joined up with other girls and linked arms, they couldn't drag you out.
Girls were screaming at girls, shoving began, and soon blows were being exchanged and Assembly degenerated to a nasty furball. We were threatened with demerits, detention, and finally expulsion, but nothing seemed to curtail the conflict. I saw Ms. Goodswell leave the melee and go to the base of the podium and begin to plead with Bazz about something.
I could see that Goodswell was trying to get the Chancellor to let Christina come onto the stage and quiet her followers but our Glorious Leader wouldn't budge. Christina could see the gestures and I knew she was about to end things anyway. There was something I had to do before things fell apart.
I leapt up and began using the backs and arm rests to jump across the crowd. I made it to Millicent right ahead of Gorman. Millicent seemed stunned to see me hovering over her but it was too noisy to communicate. I pulled her up and retreated back the way I'd come, keeping her out of Gorman's clutches for the moment.
"Thanks," she grinned at me.
"Who is your Spiritual Advisor?" I responded. "We need to get you to her so you don't face the Chancellor alone."
"Ms. Trenton," Millicent responded.
Ms. Trenton wasn't one of the 'good guys' but she wasn't on our enemies list either. I located Trenton and angled us toward her.
"This is crazy," Millicent gasped. After all, if we tumbled, we might very well break our necks. Ms. Trenton didn't look happy to see either one of us but she immediately clued into why I was dropping her student off on her. She grabbed Millicent by the arm and led her away. This was a good thing because our rebellion was about spent for the moment.
A minute later we had quieted down. Doctor Bazz threatened us with a whole new series of punishments before exiling us off to our first classes. I had the joy of getting hate blasted my way by both the Chancellor and Coach Gorman. I didn't have long to dwell on it because the moment we stepped out, a new group of upperclassmen descended on us freshmen.
"Walk the other way or I'll feed you your lungs," growled Rio as she stepped in front of a group of us and stared down a slightly larger group of students. At times like this, I really wish Rio knew how to fight. On the other hand, she plays 'crazy' real well and it takes a certain desire to experience pain to confront her. After the melee we'd been through, the other students backed off.
I was halfway through my first class, English Lit with Ms. Goodswell, when the door burst open and my albino pseudo-friend Paige burst in.
"Zane, they are expelling Heaven," she gasped. "They are walking her off campus right now." I jumped out of my seat and shot Ms. Goodswell a look.
She didn't bother telling me not to go and I was spared the necessity of ignoring her. I really liked her and I would have hated to show her disrespect. Paige and I went racing out of the building, her trying to update me about what had happened through her wheezing and gulping of each breath.
She must have been running her ass off because the second I found out that they'd called Heaven a taxi and were getting ready to ship her out at that very moment, I had to leave Paige behind and beat feet for the parking lot. On the way I breezed past Dana Gorman.
"Zane!" she called out. "Zane, stop!" I had no intention of doing any such thing.
I found Heaven with two campus security guards and Joy Jefferson lugging her luggage along.
"Heaven," I grabbed her since my arrival allowed me to surprise everybody. "Here, take my keys; go to Aunt Jill's. I'll cover it for you." I shoved my keys into her hand. Heaven had been crying and even in the light rain, I could tell she was a mess. She was trying to make sense of what I'd said and done.
A hand grabbed my arm, twisted, and forced me down at the waist.
"Zane, I told you to stop. Now you are going to the Chancellor's office with me," Dana Gorman told me as she locked in the arm bar. "I swear, you are not even trying, "
Dana was cut off by someone catching her on the far side and flipping her on her back.
Dana rolled with the blow and came back up ready to fight.
"Heaven, don't do anything," I waved her off as I turned to face Dana, side by side with my savior. It was Valerie! WTF?!
"You two, get on your knees and lace your fingers on top of your heads," Dana told us.
"Who is this?" Valerie inquired.
"Coach Dana Gorman, head of security on campus," I answered.
"Well, damn it," Valerie groaned. "I thought you were in trouble so I came running."
"Get down," Gorman demanded.
"Are we going down?" Valerie whispered to me while keeping her eyes on Dana.
"We are screwed so we might as well make her earn it," I chuckled.
"Very well. Guards, taser," Dana directed. The guards moved in position to shoot us with their drawn tasers.
"Well, we are boned," Valerie grimaced. "I've been tasered before and it sucks."
"I haven't had the pleasure but I think I'm about to," I groaned.
"Drop them," Dana ordered. As the one to my right rear got ready to shoot, a movement behind me drew her attention and she fired at it. The taser crackled but the figure came on anyway. Chastity had pulled up her backpack as a shield and let that take the brunt of the attack, and rode her momentum into the officer and slammed her into the taxi.
The second guard turned to concentrate on Chastity and was blindsided by another student, Hope Song. Hope knocked the taser from her hand and flipped the officer to the ground. Joy and Heaven remained pressed against the taxi while Hope and Chastity joined Valerie and me in confronting Dana. Dana sighed, took off her jacket, and made ready to fight.
"This is your last chance, students; kneel and put your hands on top of your head," she warned us.
"Is she that stupid, or that good?" Valerie asked me.
"She's that good, I'm afraid, but we can at least let her know she's been in a fight," I readied myself.
Dana spun and kicked Hope first, knocking her flat. Valerie and I closed in rapidly and drove Dana back while Chastity tried to maneuver around so we wouldn't get tangled up. Dana had my number and seemed to know Valerie's style as well, but combined, we could keep her occupied.
The Coach knocked me aside and pummeled Valerie but the new kid wouldn't fold up, leaving Dana now surrounded as Chastity got behind her and Hope stood up.
"Stop this!" shouted Christina as she came running up with Faith.
"Christina, tell them to give up," Dana snapped.
"Shut up, Coach," Christina yelled back. "One more word and I'm going to take specific pleasure in grinding every bone in your hand to a pulp." That threat hung angrily in the air.
"Give Zane and me a minute with Heaven and we'll go peacefully," Christina promised. Dana withdrew and soon it was Hope, Chastity, Faith, Christina, and me huddled around Heaven.
"Zane's letting me stay at his place," Heaven wept. "I'll be close."
"I'll contact Tawny and I want you to spend time at the Kappa Sigma House, Heaven. They can be your friends," Christina told her best friend. Heaven worked off my house key and handed me back the ring. She then folded me up in a hug.
"I'll see you soon, girlfriend," I smiled down at her before we kissed. Heaven turned to Christina and hugged her too. Christina kissed her on the forehead, and then Chastity, Hope, and Faith all closed in for one final effort before we put Heaven in the taxi. I gave the driver my address and wished Heaven the best of luck.
That done, we turned and got ready to be lead to our punishment at the Chancellor's office. We'd attacked and/or threatened security officers.
"Zane, who is the newcomer?" Christina asked.
"I'm Valerie Palmer, but my Stormrider name is Valkyrie," Val answered.
"What happened?" Chastity jumped in.
"I was crossing over to Admissions when I saw Zane running across campus with another woman in fast pursuit, so I went to help him. She had her hands on Zane so I flipped her off of him. Your arrival saved us from being tasered, so thanks," Val informed them.
"So, why did you make Gorman back off when the four of us couldn't?" Val inquired.
"Christina had ten years of training in M M A," Chastity grinned. "Not enough to take Dana by herself, but with everyone else there, she was going down."
"Damn it," I joked, "Christina, is there anything you don't do well?"
"I certainly don't understand you," she sighed. "It doesn't matter, though, this is it. The Chancellor played us well and we're done."
"We aren't done yet," I tried to buoy her spirits.
"She expelled Heaven in such a way that we felt compelled to act. By doing so, we broke the rules, and now she can legally get rid of all of us, end of rebellion," Christina noted.
After that, we were all pretty quiet. We only waited in the Chancellor's waiting room long enough for our varied Spiritual Advisors to show up, then we were led into her office.
"I wanted to say goodbye," Melrose Bazz purred to us. "You are all officially expelled. You will be packed and off this campus by noon."
"One question," Virginia Goodswell interrupted. "Mrs. Moore wasn't contacted about Ms. Vickers' expulsion; I checked. Ms. Vickers can't suffer academic punishment without counsel."
"Mr. Vickers is a transvestite," Bazz shot back. "She falsified her admissions documentation."
"She was still accepted and therefore is afforded our traditional protections all students enjoy," Virginia persisted. Bazz shot her a dirty look.
"Ms. Goodswell, that is quite enough. When the public and the Board of Directors find out that Mr. Vickers perpetrated a fraud on this school, they won't care," the Chancellor stated.
"You can't do that," Christina said firmly.
"I can and I will," Bazz sneered. "We are well past you having any voice on my campus."
"No," spoke up Ms. Lane, the school's lawyer, "you can't release that information. Those are medical records and we'll get destroyed in any lawsuit that is brought against us."
"He's a boy who wears girl's clothing," Doctor Bazz countered.
"Wrong," glared Christina. "Heaven has implants and takes drugs for her situation."
"Your problem is one of definition," I grinned. "A person who wears the clothes of the opposite sex is a transvestite, or cross-dresser. Someone with both girl and guy parts is transgender and Heaven is transgender; release that stuff at your own peril."
"There is still the matter of you assaulting campus security officers," Bazz growled.
"That's a non-starter," Valerie stepped up. "I initiated the fight in good faith."
"What does that mean?" Gorman spat. "You attacked me when I had Zane contained."
"Precisely," Valerie looked Coach's way. "You never identified yourself as a campus security officer. All I saw was a woman in a pantsuit attacking a known student; I came to his aid."
"Even so, when Zane identified me, you still resisted," Dana responded.
"Not relevant. Zane could have told me you were a Martian for all that the legal system cares. You never identified yourself to me, allowing me to continue resisting," Valerie said in an even monotone.
"Don't even get me started on the taser," Valerie continued. "I know you gave the command for the deploying of the weapons but that's not enough. The firing officer has to clearly annunciate their intention to use the weapon before firing, three times. Your officers failed to do so, thus deploying the weapons in an unapproved manner, allowing our group to defend itself."
"Those guidelines are only to be used in crowd suppression. My officers were defending themselves from imminent attack," Gorman said.
"No," Chastity grinned. "They were aiming at Zane and Valerie when I arrived on the scene and I stopped them. They never announced their intention and I assumed Zane was getting blindsided."
"You shouldn't have been there in the first place," Gorman growled.
"You shouldn't have been dragging Heaven away in the middle of classes before she could have a single word with any of us," Christina countered. "You goaded us out but you didn't count on the outcome of the struggle."
"Heaven was being moved out to avoid just such a scene," Gorman declared.
"How did that work out for you?" I snickered. Dana scowled at me. We seemed to be at an impasse.
"Chancellor Bazz," Virginia broke the silence, "I am informing you that I'm going to immediately petition the Review Board to examine the expulsion of Ms. Vickers and seek an injunction that allows her to return to classes until a final decision is reached." Any threads of civility between Ms. Goodswell and Doctor Bazz evaporated but the Chancellor had to nod and accept the statement.
"Dana, I think we need to review events at the parking lot before we proceed with any charges," Hudson Lane requested. Dana grudgingly nodded.
"Zane, Chastity, Hope, you are all now on three-day academic suspension. Everyone else, you are on academic probation," Chancellor Bazz announced. "Dismissed."
As we walked out, Chastity sighed, "Well, there go our first tests of the semester. We'll all get zeros, which are going to be fun digging ourselves out of that pit."
"Look on the bright side," Hope grinned. "We aren't likely to finish the semester anyway."
"Yes," Christina noted, "that makes everything so much brighter."
"Nice save, Valerie," I congratulated our newest friend.
"Yes," said Christina, "that was very timely."
"That?" Valerie chuckled, "That was total bullshit. I've had a few run-ins with the law so I know some of the lingo, but most of that was a total pipedream. A decent lawyer would have picked up on that right away; we are lucky theirs is a loser."
Everyone but Valerie and I laughed. I looked embarrassed, and Valerie looked confused and a bit put off at not getting the joke.
"Zane's banging the lawyer, Ms. Lane," Chastity told Valerie softly. "She's on our side." Valerie gave me an appraising look then shook her head.
"Seriously, dude; is anyone on this campus safe from you?" Valerie chuckled.
"You've got it all wrong," Hope snickered. "Zane is like a shiny new laptop. Leave him alone in a room too long and someone's going to come along and have to use him."
"One of these days you are going to treat me like a real person with wants, desires, and feelings," I groaned. That earned a few weak chuckles but we all knew that things were getting worse.
To be continued in part 13, By FinalStand for Literotica.