Debbie chewed on her lip. *'Cute?' Well, he is,* she admitted to herself, *but a married woman?* Reason and paranoia warred within her for the rest of the night. Kenneth woke up as dawn was breaking, as usual, and put some Bach into his Aiwa portable stereo to wake up, a combination of traits which had caused his college roommate to brand him as a fiend from Hell itself. After his morning ablutions, he wandered downstairs to see if he could scrounge a pastry to tide him over until breakfast was actually served. He heard a noise in the kitchen, and when pushed the door open, Jane was doing the same thing, dressed in riding clothes. "I told you you would enjoy the horses," he smirked at her. "Wipe that expression off your face, young man," she commanded, but grinned back to show him that he was on the mark. "Unfortunately, it seems I hardly have time to ride one nowadays." "Me either," Kenneth hinted. Jane leaned against the counter, her eyebrows raised, and slowly an evil grin drifted upwards. "Care to join me?" she challenged, and Kenneth was off like a shot to his room to change. Tucker woke up as he was jumping off the end of the bed to escape the howling mob that was after him. "Gahhhh, shit," he commented as he tried to catch his breath. "At least it's not aliens any more." He stood up, shook himself, and went to go take a shower. Charlie made it downstairs, to find the other two students waiting for him. Valerie was plugging something into a wall outlet, and when she stood up, Charlie saw that it was a large boom box. "Where did you get that?" he asked, pointing. Valerie grinned at him. "Kenneth's room. I thought I heard music this morning, and it turned out I did." "You stole it?" Valerie huffed in irritation. "It's hardly stealing if it's right here when they get back!" "Get back?" Teresa contributed, "Marie said they went riding or something." She looked more forlorn than usual, and Charlie was thinking about pulling her aside and asking why, when Valerie reached down and pressed the play button. It was rather a loud stereo, but what astonished Charlie was what Valerie had apparently selected to play in it. It sounded almost classical. "What is that?" he managed to get in before the music swelled even louder. "Enya!" Valerie grinned, and began to sing along. Charlie couldn't understand the words, at all, but the song was gentle and powerful at the same time. And Valerie was fitting her voice into the melody like it belonged there, like the song had been recorded specifically with her participation in mind. Jane and Kenneth were walking back from the stables, looking forward to breakfast, when Jane caught a glimmer of unusual sound from the house ahead of her. *Marie couldn't possibly have turned up her stereo that loud,* she realized. "Hey, slow down a bit," Kenneth complained, "it's not a race." She'd picked up her pace without realizing it. When Kenneth caught up to her, he frowned and looked towards the house, just as she had. "Something's going on," she stated, "and I imagine we will find Valerie right in the middle of it, somehow." Kenneth kept walking without replying, and finally mumbled, "It sounds almost familiar..." Valerie selected another track, and eventually, after the ethereal beginning resolved itself, she burbled, "Ah!" right along with the music. And it resolved into, of all things, a waltz. Teresa was, unfortunately, far too close, and she grabbed the girl and began swinging her around. Leading, too, Charlie noticed. As Valerie began singing, Jane marched into the dining room and stopped dead, a truly amazed expression on her face. Charlie winced, wishing at that point that he had objected a little more strongly to the latest of Valerie's ideas. Kenneth came in right behind Jane, and unlike her, he was grinning. He clapped her on the shoulder, and whispered something. As he was doing so, Valerie espied the two newcomers, and she danced over to where the stunned woman was standing and handed Teresa over to Jane as if they'd practiced it for a week. Charlie was half expecting it when Kenneth glided up and held out his hand in invitation. *Does she arrange these damn things with Jane ahead of time or what?* he grumbled mentally as Kenneth began sweeping him around in time to the music. At least he knew how to waltz. When the music ended, Jane turned to Kenneth, and simply said, "See?" Kenneth did indeed. "So what's on the agenda today, Jane?" Valerie asked as she loaded her plate up again. It seemed to Julio that dancing made her hungrier. He sighed. It made him nauseous, but at least he hadn't had to dance with Kenneth. He had to count the small blessings, because they were the only ones he was getting these days. "Well," commented Jane as she delicately wiped her lips, "since Teresa is still in need of some practice in the basics," a comment which made him wince, and then worry about what Kenneth would think Jane was talking about, "I thought that perhaps the other two could keep you entertained for most of the day." Julio saw Valerie shoot Charlene a conspiratorial glance and grin, and sighed. Whatever it was that they would be doing, it HAD to be more fun than just sitting around the house, re-learning everything he did to Jane's satisfaction. Charlie repressed a sigh. He'd rather spend the day, lounging around the house - especially in one of those cotton dresses Valerie had found - than spend it out and about with Kenneth, who worried him. He seemed way too self-confident for Charlie to be comfortable around him. As soon as breakfast was over, he started to help Marie and Valerie clean up. Marie smiled and asked if they could handle it, and of course Valerie said yes, so then it was just the two of them. "So, you wanted to talk about something," Valerie said as she began to run water in the sink. It surprised Charlie; he'd thought he was being subtle. "So talk!" Charlie shrugged. "It's Kenneth," he jumped in. "He worries me." Valerie gave him a weird look. "Why?" "I dunno, he just looks... too in control, or something. Like he's planning something." She rolled her eyes at him. "I doubt it. He's just here to visit after college or something. Semester's over, you know." "Yeah, but why?" Charlie asked. "Didn't you see the resemblance between Jane and him? I think he's a cousin or nephew or something." Charlie really hadn't thought of that, but now, if he thought about it, he could see something in what Valerie said. "Really?" "Yeah," she replied confidently as she handed him a platter to dry. "And if you were related to someone with Jane's bucks, wouldn't you want to remind her of your existance every once in a while? Just in case she had some spare cash lying around that she wanted to get rid of for tax purposes?" "Hmmmm." That made perfect sense to him. "So you don't think Jane called him up to come bother us?" Valerie shook her head. "I don't think so. I mean, he's probably going to report on us, but you know, we've been doing this for a while, so we're pretty good at it. We just be the perfect little ladies, or something like it, and he'll give Jane a good report, and then we can spend the rest of the day having fun." "They want to go shopping," Kenneth repeated. "Are you SURE they said that?" Jane insisted. Kenneth snorted. "Of course I'm sure. They said something about showing me around town - which means, I guess, that no one has told them that I lived her for a while - but then Valerie asked me if I would ask you if we could borrow your Visa card." "Oh!" Jane protested, her temper flaring. "Do you know what that child has DONE to it already?" "Tell me," Kenneth asked, biting his lip to keep from laughing out loud. "How did she get it in the first place?" Tucker realized that no one had 'recovered' the boombox from the dining room, so he suggested that they listen to some more real music while they were waiting for Kenneth to get out of conference with Jane. As he said it, he wondered if they were really in conference, like the aliens in Puppet Masters, but then did his best to look at Charlene's breasts as something to push the horrid thought out of his head far enough that he wouldn't dream about it tonight. Thomas Dolby seemed like a good choice, and he knew the words, so he was singing softly along. Charlene looked like she was entranced with the music, or the singing, or the modernality of it all, or something. *Maybe Debbie would like to be serenaded,* he wondered as he sang. "It's poetry in motion and now she's making love to me. The spheres are in commotion, the elements in harmony. She blinded me with Science! She hit me with technology!" He played air synth with the melody change, and when he turned around, Teresa was staring at him, wearing another one of Jane's 'drill costumes'. "Good heavens, Miss Sakamoto! You're beautiful!" he shrieked at her in time with the lyrics, and she flinched like she was going to have a convulsion right there. He cranked up the volume in case she missed the point, which he would have bet money she did. "MmmmMM I don't believe it! There she goes again!" he recited at her, gesturing like the story demanded. "She's tidied up so I can't FIND anything! All my tubes and wires," he moaned, really getting into it, "and careful notes! And antiquated notions..." "But!" he hopped verbally and physically, and she flinched again. "She's poetry in motion!" he sang at her, and Teresa finally broke and fled for Jane's first-floor office. So he turned back to Charlene, who was giving him one of those looks again. He shrugged as he danced and sang. *She's too worried about him,* he realized. *Just a little mind-fuck isn't gonna do anything permanent. Besides, it'd probably do him some good.* Julio sighed as the three teens left to go out. *There they go, having fun, and I'm stuck in this stupid house with this madwoman.* "You look sad," a voice said from behind him, and he spun around to face Marie. He took a deep breath. "I guess," he replied sadly. Then it burst out of him, surprising him, "Why do they get to go out and have fun?" Marie shrugged gently. "Because Jane thinks that they have learned their lessons well enough to go out in public. Even Valerie," she smiled with half her mouth. "She can be quite the proper lady when she chooses. Which is what Jane had in mind for you to learn." "But I don't WANT to learn..." he tapered off, remembering that it was futile to argue at this point. Marie shrugged. "I suppose Jane could always let you go back, but that would mean that you had not finished the program, which would mean that you would return to prison, is that not right?" "Yeah," he admitted, wrapping his arms around himself. "But, I mean, it's not FAIR!" Marie shrugged at him. "Life is often not fair," which he knew she was going to say, "but that is nothing new. Or unique to you. Everyone has had unfair things happen to them." "But," he started to protest, and then let his breath out, because it was useless. It was the way it was, like it always happened, and it was unfair, like it always was, and there was nothing he could do about it, like he never could. Marie put a hand on his shoulder, and commented, "But, if you get good enough in your manners and presentation, I imagine Jane would let you go out and have fun with the other girls, if you could convince her you could fit in with them." "As a girl?" he protested, but her look told him that he was being stupid. "As long as Miss Jane decides that that is how you need to present yourself," Marie confirmed. Life was so unfair. "So where did you get those skates?" Kenneth asked. The two girls looked at each other, but it was Valerie who spoke first. Turning to face him as well as she could from the back seat, she said brightly, "Oh, I asked Jane REALLY nice, and she bought us each a pair, a couple of weeks ago. It's pretty fun, you know. Ever tried it?" "No," Ken answered honestly, and then was struck with the feeling that somehow he'd made a major mistake. Tucker walked slowly, holding Kenneth's hands as he twitched and fumbled on the skates. *Wonder why everyone does that? Must be something neurological, about learning to walk or something. Did I do that when I first started? Hmm...* "Val?" Charlene asked, and he looked over his shoulder. "Do you think I should get some jeans or something to wear skating, or should I stick with the bike shorts?" "Bike shorts," Tucker replied confidently. "It's easier to maneuver in them." "But, I mean, look at your leg," she pointed out. It was actually impossible to look at his leg, since it was covered down to the ankle by a cotton skirt, but he knew what she meant. He'd scraped it mightily when he landed, after he flew over Kenneth's car the night before. "I don't think it would have helped that much, and besides, it only would have ripped up the jeans. Having fun yet?" he asked Kenneth. "I think I'm getting the hang of it," he lied, wobbling. "Want to try it by yourself for a minute?" Tucker asked, grinning. Julio sighed as he arranged lunch on the various plates before carrying them out to the dining room. He could understand learning cooking, but the rest of it... Marie helped him carry it out, and Jane was waiting to be served. He set down his plate and smiled at her, and she smiled back. No reprimand was forthcoming, so he gingerly sat down at the table and looked at his own lunch. It didn't seem very appetizing... and he just knew that Charlene and Valerie were out eating something like McDonalds, out having fun in the wide world outside Jane's house. "Ice cream for lunch?" Kenneth asked before Charlie could. Valerie gave both of them a look. "Well, yeah, why not?" Charlie tried to think of why it was a bad idea, but he really couldn't come up with anything. And ice cream sounded like just what he wanted. "Yeah, why not?" Julio absorbed the latest of Jane's corrections, biting his lip to keep from saying something nasty back, and it hit him. *Waitaminute. If I can do this girl stuff good enough, Marie said I can go out. And get out of here.* Getting out of here was looking like the only thing that would save his sanity. Lunch with just Marie and Jane there, for example, was sort of like eating with the school principal or something. The only thing was, he'd have to be able to please Jane to do it. Which meant he'd have to really start concentrating on what she was saying, so he could give her what she wanted. He sighed. It wasn't the thing he wanted most, but ANYthing was better than sitting here in silence, waiting to make a mistake that would catch Jane's attention. Tucker sighed in satisfaction as he licked his ice cream again. Life was pretty good, in its own twisted way, he decided. Charlene smiled at him as she spooned some more of her sundae into her own mouth, and he smiled back. *Yep, life is good,* he thought. "What?" Pauline complained as she pulled the headphones off. Trish complained. Pauline sighed. Sometimes it was a real pain in the ass having a deaf sister. She got up and went to go translate. "Hello?" "Pauline?" asked a girl's voice. "Yeah. Who's this?" "It's Valerie, remember me?" she signed, and Trish clapped her hands. "Of course, whatsup?" "Wanna go skate or something?" Trish signed back. Pauline sighed, and nodded, and Trish disappeared to go get her skating stuff. There were some days... "Sure, where are you?" she asked Valerie. "We gotta go back to the house," Valerie announced as she walked back to the bench. "Why?" Kenneth eventually asked. It seemed a reasonable question to Charlie. Valerie, of course, didn't take it that way. "Because! We gotta get our skating stuff!" Kenneth wiped his face before he asked again, "Why?" Valerie huffed at him, like he was completely stupid, and Charlie had to stifle a giggle. "BeCAUSE! We're going SKATING! Duh!" Julio looked up as he heard a car pull up and stop, and naturally the book fell off his head, and naturally it bounced off his foot. "Ai," he said, trying to keep it soft and feminine, and hopped over to a chair so he could sit down. He remembered to sweep his skirt before he sat, too, even though his eyes were watering from the pain. Jane said something, which he missed, but the tone of her voice was as approving as anything he'd heard, so he smiled at the dark shape he could sort of make out before his eyelids fluttered shut again. "I, I think I'd like to sit down for a moment?" he remarked. Charlie had already changed into a skating outfit, consisting of his swimsuit, big baggy shorts that he had picked up at Oshman's, and a tank top, and grabbed his skating stuff when there was a gentle knock at the door. "Huh?" he said, and Teresa came in. "What is it?" "Charlene, I need your help," she said without preamble. "I need to get better at this girl stuff..." Charlie was more than a bit confused. "You, you WANT to get better at it?" She blushed furiously, even through her makeup, but her jaw firmed and she looked right at Charlie as she replied, "It's the only way I'm ever gonna get out of this place, and I GOTTA get out of this place sometime. No TV, no Nintendo, nobody my own age except you two, and you guys keep running off all the time..." Charlie had a mental twinge when she said 'guys,' but it was apparently meaningless. "It's drivin' me NUTS!" "Okay, look," Charlie said, thinking fast, "we've gotta go meet someone, but when we get back, I'll help you after supper, okay?" "Thanks," Teresa breathed, and hugged him, which made him feel a little weird. "Bless you..." "OhmiGod, where did they find HIM?" Jojo pointed. Pauline looked over her shoulder, and saw the two girls they were expecting, and an absolute HUNK that they weren't. She wasn't aware that she'd said something until Jojo elbowed her in the ribs. "Pauline's in LUUUUUV," she giggled, a LOT louder than Pauline would have preferred. "Shut UP!" she hissed, and elbowed Jojo back. "C'mon, let's go get 'em." They all stood up, and Trish made this absolutely HORRIBLE noise, which got EVERYone's attention, and started waving like a lunatic at the three of them. Valerie started waving back, and then grabbed the guy's arm and dragged him towards them. "Oh, God, she's already got him or something," she whispered under her breath. And there was her sister, acting like a retard, and THIS was how she was going to meet this guy. Great. *Why couldn't she have been mute instead of deaf?* she despaired as she tried to keep her feelings off her face. "Why not right here?" Tucker suggested. "It's flat, not too much gravel, and we already got the cars parked and everything..." All the girls looked around at each other and the mall parking lot and shrugged at each other, and then they all looked at Kenneth, as if he held the veto power. "Ahhhhh.... sure," he said, and everyone relaxed and started to chatter and pull skating gear out. Tucker reached into the back seat of Kenneth's car, and only then did he see what Kenneth had in the way of a car stereo. He realized it shouldn't have surprised him, since the guy obviously had some money, but still... "Jesus, look at this stereo!" he remarked, getting everyone's attention as he dug in his bag for the case of CD's he was carrying in case he ran into a party. "And look at THIS!" he grinned, holding it up. "Oooh, a CD player," Tracy remarked, and giggled. "No, stupid, it's a travelling case, see?" He opened it up and fanned the disks at her. "And if Ken will oblige and turn his car stereo on...." With all eyes on him, Kenneth grinned and shook his head. "Okay," he said, arresting the plunge of Tucker's heart, "but not too loud." "Of course not!" Tucker lied. It took Kenneth a while to realize that Valerie had lied. She was actually fairly clever about it. It seemed like every time his eyes were off the car or a song ended, one of the girls would be in the front seat, and just slightly raising the volume. Which, in half an hour, meant that it was loud indeed. He thought about mentioning it, but the way the girls were acting, he didn't think he had much hope, even though it was his car. And Valerie seemed intent on turning him into a master skater before they went home. Or killing him. Tucker was getting exhausted, and from glances around, he wasn't the only one. *Jeez, this sure takes a lot of out you,* he thought as he coasted to a stop. Kenneth could almost be trusted to stay upright and move on his own, so Tucker had been practicing his own stuff, which at this point consisted of takeoffs and landings. He had been steadily improving, but he was starting to get tired and a bit shaky, and the sweat dripping in his eyes was starting to interfere with his vision. Kenneth swooped near him, so he sighed and accelerated to match speeds with him. "Hey, Ken!" He stopped before he looked at Tucker, chest almost heaving. "Why don't you ask Pauline real nice, and go get some Gatorade or something for everybody in her car?" He stopped, and considered Tucker's proposal, looking around at the girls zooming around. "Not a bad idea," he finally breathed, and Tucker nodded happily. "Let me go get Pauline, then, okay?" Pauline kind of wished she wasn't so sweaty, what with Kenneth being in the front seat with her, but at least he was in the same state she was. "So," she asked casually, she hoped, "how long are you going to be in town?" "Those two," Valerie sighed, signing and talking at the same time. "What?" Charlie wanted to know. Apparently he wasn't the only one. Trish had the same look on her face. Jojo laughed. "You two are STUPID! Didn't'cha see the way Pauline was looking at him?" Trish looked irritated, Charlie noticed, which was the way he felt. Tucker was getting the hang of landings, at least the ones where he'd jumped first, when he noticed another car, not Pauline's, pull up next to Kenneth's. *Hmmmm,* he worried as he curved around. *Wonder who that-* Brad, the guy from dance class, got out. *Oh. Wonder what he's up to?* "A formal?" Kathy asked, skeptically. "Why?" "I just need one," Debbie sighed, and failed to explain any more. "Another one?" Kathy confirmed. "I don't have that many-" "Fifteen, that I've seen, Deb." She'd counted, at the dances they had both attended. "I think you're going a little overboard on this, don't you?" Kathy wondered about Deb's fascination with clothes sometimes. It seemed somehow unhealthy to her. Debbie made a face back at her. "No. Look, do you want to come or not?" Kathy repressed a sigh. The best way for her to find out what was swirling around Deb's twisted mind was to go with her, but that didn't mean she was looking forwards to the experience. On the other hand, she owed it to Debbie to look out for her, even if it meant protecting her from herself on occasion. Kenneth was trying to keep from smiling at the way Pauline had gotten so disappointed when he'd said he was just visiting. She'd 'manfully' kept up the conversation, but he could tell her heart wasn't in it any more, not really. *Oh, God, was I ever that young?* he wondered, amused, as he glanced around at the semi-familiar town. As they pulled into the parking lot and around to where they had left the rest of the girls, Kenneth noticed a car pulled up next to his. The mystery of who it was, was solved to a degree when they got out of the car, and Charlene didn't come running up for goodies. Kenneth looked for her, and she was sitting on the curb, talking to a teenaged male. She didn't look that interested in getting up, either. He was going to go over to her and offer her a bottle, when Valerie grabbed his elbow. "Uh uh," she cautioned quietly, and grinned at him. "I think they'd rather talk with each other, right now." Kenneth's eyebrows shot up as he considered the implications of that idea. It seemed as though he was getting more questions instead of answers. "What's it like?" Brad wanted to know. It would have helped if Charlie had any idea of what he wanted to know. "What's what like?" "You know, living in California, rubbing elbows with movie stars and singers and stuff, hanging out on the beaches-" "Oh, please!" Everyone had that idea about California, and everyone was wrong. "It's just, I mean, it's just a normal place, like living in a big city. It's no big deal." "But, I mean, you have good weather there, right?" Brad pushed. "Well, sort of, but all that means is that we never get out of school because of it," Charlie grumbled. "Oh, that would suck," he agreed. "Still, you never have to bundle up or anything, right?" Charlie sighed. These people in the Northeast were SO stupid. Kenneth finally remembered to look at his watch, a move prompted by the way the sun had been blanketed by grey clouds, the kind that promised rain. *Five fifteen,* he noted, and decided that they should be getting home. Dinner would be in a couple of hours, and he for one wanted a nice hot shower before changing into his suit. It took him several tries to get everyone's attention, but when he did, and told them that it was time for this good thing to end, they were a lot less reluctant than he had feared. Everyone seemed a little tired, and there were some sore spots on just about everyone, either from complaining muscles or fresh bruises. "Yeah, we'll call this week or something, okay?" Tucker promised Pauline. "Cool," she remarked, and bent down to remove her other skate. Tucker was about to go sit in Kenneth's car and do the same thing when someone tapped his shoulder. He turned around, and Trish signed, Tucker confirmed, and they both grinned at each other. Tucker wasn't really so sure, yet, but the possibility was definitely there, and he was going to keep an eye on them to find out for certain. "So, did you have fun?" Valerie asked from her perch in the back seat. "Yeaaahhhh," Kenneth sighed. It had been a lot of fun, and he hadn't quite realized how much being cooped up in a car for the cross-country trip had tightened him up. He was loose now, that was for certain. Julio watched jealously as the three of them trooped in, carrying bags of gear and looking like they had had hours of sweaty, non-modest, un-'ladylike' fun. Totally unlike him, of course. *I have GOT to get good enough at this so I can go out!* He knew if he didn't, the confinement was going to drive him insane in a very short time. At least in jail, he'd gotten to exercise. Dinner was rather restrained, in Kenneth's opinion. The two elder students were tired from the skating, but Teresa seemed to be intent on her own thoughts, and on correcting herself before Jane got a chance. As dinner ended, Valerie leaned over and began a whispered conversation with Charlene, who looked rather amazed at whatever Valerie was saying. Finally, though, she nodded, and Valerie leaned back in her chair, looking satisfied with herself. When they all got up, Valerie moved next to him and asked, sotto voce, "Would you like to go out for a walk, and stretch the kinks out?" Kenneth thought about it for a moment, and then decided that would be an excellent thing to do. He was stiffening up some, and stretching everything would be a good way to keep from locking completely. He led the way to the French doors at the back, and after they were outside, Valerie stopped for some reason. As he turned back to look at her, she was grinning sheepishly. "Um, could I have your arm? Last time I went for a walk and went past the pool, I fell in." Kenneth thought that was strange, but he stepped back and crooked his arm. Valerie smiled at him and slid her hand in, and wrapped her other hand around the first. "So what-" Teresa asked as they began to wash the dishes. "I dunno," Charlie sighed. "She just said she wanted to go for a walk and talk to him." Teresa considered this, and then asked, "About what?" "She didn't say, she just wanted to make sure I'd do the cleanup." He was still a little sore about that, but he'd agreed to it before he thought enough about it, so he felt sort of trapped into doing it. They washed dishes for a couple of minutes, in silence, before Teresa started to say something and choked on it. "Huh?" Charlie prompted. "I, I... remember what I asked you, this afternoon?" she asked him, looking embarrassed to even be talking about it. "Wh- about helping you?" She nodded, flushing. "Yeah, what about it?" He had a flash, and prompted, "You want me to help you with it tonight?" "I mean, it's the only way I'll ever get to go out of the house, right? Is with you two, and I have to be good enough to look like a REAL girl before I can, right?" Charlie nodded, wondering where this was going. "Well, I mean, I was thinking about it today, you know? And I can't stand being locked up in here with nothing to do but practice my manners and stuff. It's making me crazy!" Charlie knew from experience, that it had a tendency to make you seriously cabin-fevered after a while. "But you know," he reminded Teresa, "that you'd have to go out as a girl. If that's what Jane decided, I mean," he added hastily, "but I don't think she's gonna let up any time soon." Teresa shook her head in agreement. "Me neither. But I have GOTTA get out of this house, or something, before I go completely loco, right?" "Yeah..." "So," she sighed, "so I gotta get good enough to go out, like a girl, before I can go out. Which is why I need your help." She looked at him desperately. "You, you don't think I'm weird for thinking that, do you?" Charlie seriously considered the question. "Well, I mean, I would think you were weird if you were doing this on your own..." Teresa's face shifted from shame to relief as he continued, "but the way Jane's been with this, I think you're right, and I can comPLETEly understand you wanting to get out of here. Even if it is only for a couple of hours." "So, so you'll help?" Charlie grinned. "Didn't I already say I would? Let's get through with this, and then we'll go up to your room and I'll show you some stuff, okay?" "Okay," Teresa agreed nervously. "I just wondered," Valerie said, smiling at him and squeezing his arm where she was still holding onto it. Kenneth didn't believe it for a moment. "Why all the questions?" he pressed. "I dunno," she lilted at him, and looked ahead of them. "I guess," she continued after a few moments, "I just want to know what you're about, what makes you tick." "Why?" he reiterated. "Because you're different, because you're not one of us girls," which comment almost made him snort. "Because you're the first visitor Jane's had that stayed longer than dinner, and that makes you special, in her eyes." Kenneth supposed that it did. "So I wanted to find out what made you special." She was smiling warmly at him, which normally would have distracted him, but he KNEW she was one of Jane's students. "Mmmm. So what makes YOU special?" he countered. "Me?" she asked, as though the very idea had never occurred to her. "As you pointed out, Jane just doesn't let anyone into her home. So what makes you special?" he pressed. Julio had been surprised when Charlene had insisted that the two of them change into their nightgowns before 'playing' - her term, NOT his - but she explained it as 'setting the proper atmosphere.' Whatever that meant. She'd also made him redo his makeup about fifteen times, and had given him some hints about HOW to put it on, and what facial contortions to use, that had helped him more than he would have thought possible. That was something that Jane and Marie had never showed him, but what Charlene was making him practice was actually making things easier rather than harder. And it did look authentic, he had to admit. "So, I mean," he asked, spying the set of skates that was leaning against the wall, "how do you keep your makeup on when you're skating?" Charlene sighed, and shrugged. "I just go really REALLY light on it, and make sure I'm wearing waterproof mascara. 'Cause I SWEAT when we're skating." "I thought girls didn't sweat?" Julio teased her. She snorted. "Oh, bull. Girls sweat the same as boys when they're doing the same things. And skating is hard work! You just gotta plan for it. Like, today, I wore my swimsuit under the rest of my clothes, because I KNEW I was gonna be sopping wet, and I didn't want my bra and stuff showing through." "Showing through?" "Yeah, you know, like when you get wet, clothes show more, and sometimes you can see through them?" Julio had sort of noticed that, when he was having a good day. Now he was being told to avoid it. On the other hand, it wasn't that he was going to be looking at it, it was that other people were going to be watching HIM to see if they could see HIS bra and panties. Kenneth had enjoyed the walk, but Valerie was something else. Either she was the first real girl that Jane had ever gotten as a student, or she was the best liar he'd ever met in his life. He KNEW for a fact that she was one of Jane's students, and furthermore one that had been there less than a month, but he could NOT catch her out. He was beginning to think of it as a challenge, actually. As they returned to the house, the grounds having finally gotten too dark to see after the sun set, Kenneth decided that he was going to try the most acid test he could think of. He'd bet money that she would fail this one. "Shh!" Charlie insisted as he listened carefully. Teresa looked as though she was about to say something, but wisely decided against it. "I think the two of them are coming up the stairs." "Val and Kenneth?" Teresa whispered, and Charlie nodded in confirmation as he stealthily glided to the light and turned it off, before tiptoeing to the door and opening it a crack. Teresa crept up behind him and looked over his shoulder as he knelt next to the door. Tucker had wondered why Kenneth had insisted on walking him up to his room, but had dismissed it as a continuation of the flirtation game he'd been playing since dinner. When they stopped in the hallway, though, he wondered what was going on. "Thank you so much for the walk," Kenneth said, staring Tucker right in the eyes. "And everything else today. I had a lot of fun." Tucker was getting uncomfortable under the scrutiny, so he dropped his face, and looked at Kenneth through his eyelashes. "Me too," Tucker replied, and smiled gently. Amazingly, Kenneth reached out a hand and lifted Tucker's chin up. He thought about resisting, but he was too deep into the game to do that without breaking cover, and it seemed a little early to do that. "You have such beatiful eyes... why do you hide them?" Kenneth remarked, and Tucker started to reconsider dashing for his bedroom, and the wedges that would keep out anyone without a battering ram. "Um," Tucker said, as a safe answer. It apparently was the wrong answer, though, because Kenneth reached out to Tucker's waist, and slowly pulled the two of them closer. Tucker managed to keep the dismay off his face, but couldn't help thinking, *Oh, shit. Not again.* "Ulgck!" Teresa mentioned, which Charlie took as a strangled version of, "Oh my God, they're kissing!" Or at least, that's what he wanted to scream at the moment. Kenneth expected Valerie to break loose, or fight, or collapse into hysterics... anything but what she actually did. What she actually did, was slide her arms around his neck, bend his head down to hers, and initiate her OWN kiss, which was a lot longer and more passionate than the one he had just bestowed upon her. The delicate movements of her tongue had him responding before he realized what he was doing. In fact, he most likely wouldn't have realized what he was doing for quite some time, if a voice hadn't interrupted with, "Kenneth, if you're back-" He came back to his senses in a rush, and pushed away from Valerie, who was doing the same thing. Both of them turned towards Jane, and the look on her face told Kenneth that she had been watching for entirely too long a time before she spoke. "Um, g'night," Valerie said nervously, and made a dash for her bedroom. Jane's eyes were still boring into his, demanding an explanation, and the slight grin on her face told him that she found the whole situation amusing, which annoyed him no end. And embarrassed him no little bit as well. "Goddamnit," Tucker cursed to himself as he ran the shower over his face, "why do they always kiss ME? What the fuck IS it?" "It was just, I...." Kenneth sighed. "She was SO controlled, SO good at it, and I just HAD to break it, just a little bit. I mean, my God, she's only been here a month-" "Less," Jane corrected in a neutral voice. Kenneth looked at her, but she was sipping her drink and holding her face in that neutral position that Kenneth knew was entirely willpower. Tucker had been feeling vaguely guilty about 'relieving' himself in the shower, but that went away the instant the door to his room opened. As he whirled around, he was afraid it was Kenneth, come to take advantage of the fact that he had forgotten to secure the door, but it turned out to be Charlene and a very quiet, wide-eyed Teresa. "What?!" he snapped, surreptitiously making sure his boxers were concealing everything. "Did you really kiss him?" Charlene almost gasped as the two of them piled into his room. *Where have I been through this before?* Tucker asked himself. "Yes, I really kissed him. Or he kissed me, which is closer to what happened." Julio had always wondered what girls did when they were hanging out with each other, and now he knew. They talked about boys. He was a little saddened to learn this, as he had hoped it would be a little more illuminating - full of some kind of secrets, perhaps - but he had to admit to himself that it only made sense. After all, what did the guys mostly talk about? Naturally, he had nothing to contribute to this discussion, so he kept quiet and looked around. Valerie's room looked much like his, except decorated in pinks instead of pastel blues. He wondered for a moment if it was some kind of code, showing which ones were girls and which were actually boys, until he remembered that Charlene's room was done in purple. And Charlene was as much a young woman as anyone he'd ever met. Tucker sighed. There was only one actual female in the room, and yet it sounded like every female slumber party he'd ever been to, or listened in on. Except it was more intent on makeup and clothes. And Charlene had only the basic glimmerings of a clue as to what looked good or not. *She's been here with Jane too long,* he realized. *She's forgotten what happens in the modern world.* "No, look," Tucker interrupted, "see?" He walked up to Teresa, and pointed from behind the boy-girl, so that everyone could see what he was talking about in the mirror. "She's thin, and not developed yet, like me, so she's got to wear things that either hide it, if she wants to look older, or that show it off, if she wants to look young and anorexic like what's fashionable these days. Watch, okay?" There was this skirt that would demonstrate his point, if he could find it in the lump of clothes he hadn't found a place for yet. Some days, at Jane's, Charlie wanted to click his heels three times and WAKE UP. This was one of them. He was SUPPOSED to be the oldest student, and the most experienced, but Valerie challenged her at every turn, it seemed, and kept pointing stuff out that he had missed, and worst of all was that it made sense. She had a unique view on things, which was kind of hard to miss since it conflicted really badly with what was 'in' lately, but everything she showed the two of them was right on target. "See?" Valerie said as she led Teresa to the mirror again. This time, Teresa was wearing one of the cotton dresses they had picked up shopping. "You're cool, and fully covered, which makes you a little more confident, since you don't have to worry so much about sitting right. Or sweating. It goes great with sandals, and other flat shoes, so you wouldn't have to worry so much about heels. And, it shows off your skin, which makes you look more confident, at least if it's warm enough to wear something this light. And, it's really modest, so you don't have to worry if the guys are gonna throw coins down your cleavage or something." "What?" Charlie let out without meaning to. "Happened to a friend of mine one time," Valerie explained, shaking her head. "It really upset her, a lot. 'Course, she was about fully grown in the breast department by the time she was fourteen, which we are not." She sighed, as if it was really a burden to her that she wasn't developing breasts fast enough. "See?" Valerie said as she finally got throught brushing out the curl she'd made with Charlene's curling iron. "Now, you do that over your whole head, and-" "Well, I mean, like, all of it?" Julio questioned. That was a lot of hair... "Yep," Charlene replied grimly. "But, see, it looks good on me, right?" Julio had to admit that it did. "And you'd look good with more curls in your hair." "Unlike me," Valerie said, and grinned. "I look like Shirley Temple or something, with my hair so short." She tucked some of her straight hair behind an ear, as if to emphasize the point. "It's not that short," Julio pointed out. "If I had another six inches or so, I could," Valerie said, "but that'd take a while. And I'm not sure I'd want to put up with it that long. Long hair is a pain in the rear, it really is, sometimes. But that's the price you pay for having long bee-yoooo-tiful tresses," she drawled out, making Charlene giggle. It was a pretty lame slumber party, as they went, and so Tucker wasn't too displeased when both Charlene and Teresa showed signs of dropping in their tracks from exhaustion. *These kids today, no stamina,* Tucker thought with a grin, but he managed to get Teresa up and out and in her own bed, and helped Charlene into his before turning out his light and crawling in next to her. Kenneth awoke irritable, not helped in the least by the strange dream he'd been having. Nor the fact that his stereo was still downstairs, and he felt compelled to go down and fetch it before really getting dressed. When he got out of his room, dressed sufficiently for one of Jane's breakfasts, and made his way downstairs, he found the girls giggling in the kitchen. "What are you doing?" he asked. Charlene turned to him and shrugged. "Marie's usually up and around by this time, but we figured she was sleeping in today, so we decided to make breakfast." Kenneth had an intuitive flash that if he didn't supervise, that things were Going To Go Badly. The way Valerie dropped a pound of butter on the floor only reinforced that. Tucker selected the right CD for a group of people making breakfast, and selected track two. "Y'all ready for this?" he asked rhetorically. Kenneth said, "Huh?" but that wasn't reason enough to stop and so he released the pause. The thunderous bass that came out of the speakers was enough to wake him all the way up without any caffeine, which reaffirmed his belief that music was magic, that good clear syncopation... When Jane made her way downstairs and into the dining room, she knew that something was wrong. For one thing, the children she expected to be standing around the table were conspicuously absent. For another, there was the sounds of music and merriment eminating from the kitchen, a combination which usually promised mayhem and punishments that lasted days. She pushed open the door, and immediately saw the cause of the problem. Valerie was chanting, "Wait, wait, wait," and concentrating on a skillet intensely. With a tremulous move, she shook the skillet and then flipped it up, causing the pancake within to spin upwards and then fall back. "Yes!" Charlene caught sight of Jane, and tried to say something, but it was drowned out by Kenneth's commanding, "Here, give me that." He claimed the skillet from Valerie, and in a move that looked much more practiced and polished than hers, flipped the pancake into the air and just barely managed to catch it with a wild motion sideways. "Hah! You suck," Valerie commented with glee, and then saw Jane herself. Jane chewed on her lip for a moment, then decided that since it was Sunday, and Kenneth was here, that they could all use a day of rest. Besides, if they had dropped any, and Jane was sure they had, then at least they had had the common sense and decency to clean them up. Which was, in part, what Jane was trying to teach them. "Let me show you how it's done," she commanded, and strode forward. Marie lazily rolled over, glanced at the clock by her bed, and almost went back to sleep before she decoded what the hands meant. With a burst of extremely profane French, she thrashed out of bed and into the fastest version of her morning routine that she could manage. She'd be lucky if Jane didn't force HER into the little-girl skirts and pettis for being so late this morning! When she pounded downstairs and into the kitchen, the detritus from a cooked meal only made her feel worse. She dashed through the kitchen and into the dining room, apologies bubbling up from her lips, before she stopped completely. In a vista that was, to say the least, unique in her experience, Jane was apparently conducting a class on proper pancake flipping to the children. In the dining room. Her confused eyes lit on Valerie, who was grinning and waving at her, and she knew that somehow, the dark-haired pixie was to blame. "Valerie, Charlene, if you would commence the cleanup, then-" "Uh uh," Valerie stated, which was so unexpected that Jane almost dropped her napkin. "We cooked this morning. AND served. I think it's only fair that you and Marie clean up." Charlene glanced at Valerie, but a grin formed on her face, and she added, "Fair IS fair, Jane." Marie was feeling bad enough, and warily waiting for Jane to explode, as she carried in the last of the dishes from breakfast. What she didn't expect was the snort that Jane let out as the door swung shut. "That child," she grinned to herself, then looked at Marie. "I really can't argue with her reasoning, either, which is the annoying thing. And what happened to you this morning?" Marie's face heated up as she hastened to explain, "I just overslept, I don't know what happened, Jane, I am so sor-" "Don't worry about it, Marie. Things went a lot better than I expected, actually. Do you know, the children actually cleaned up the mess when they were cooking?" She was smiling as she dumped the dishes into the sink, and Marie was beginning to wonder if perhaps the children hadn't added something... ELSE, to the meal. Charlie went to the window before he went upstairs, and looked out. It wasn't that his clock was wrong, then. It really did look like- "What are you looking at?" Teresa asked from behind him. He turned around and smiled at her. "The weather. It looks REALLY bad today. Like lots of rain." Teresa glanced outside, and her face fell as she apparently agreed with him. "So, what do we do?" He shrugged. "I guess, find something to do inside. Unless Jane has some ideas..." He sighed. "Unfortunately, she usually does." Teresa didn't look too happy with that idea, but then, neither was Charlie. "Mmmmm," Valerie purred as Kenneth followed her up the stairs. "I could go back to bed this morning." "Oh, come on," Kenneth teased. "On a fine day like this?" She turned around and pursed her lips. "Did you see what it looked like outside? Don't think this is a good day for sunbathing!" she chirped. "Maybe not... but still. Don't you think you could find something to do?" She fluttered her lashes at him. "Like what?" Kenneth stepped up so that they were eye to eye, and gave her his best seductive grin. Her face moved down and to one side, and she gazed calmly at him through her lashes, with just the slightest hint of a smile on her face. Charlie was just about to go up the stairs when he saw Valerie, and Kenneth, and they were kissing again. "Oh, God," he said to himself in a low voice as he pulled Teresa back. "He's KISSING her again!" Teresa gave him a funny look, and it took him a moment to realize that he knew things about Valerie she didn't. Someone tapped on his door, and so Tucker opened it to let whichever girl it was in. "What the hell are you doing?" Charlene gasped in a strangled whisper as she opened the door. *Hn, thought she went to her room to change,* he thought as he went behind her and shut the door. "I thought I was going to be changing clothes for the rest of the day." *If I'm lucky,* he thought sourly. The worst thing about this girl stuff was the way Jane insisted that he change about four times a day. Even Sabrina didn't- Charlene interrupted his train of thought with, "Kenneth, you idiot! Are you in love with him or what?" "What?!" *Oh, boy, was she out of it this morning. Must've stayed up too late last night. No stamina at all...* "Charlene," he explained patiently, "he's playing a game with me, and he has been since last night." "What, when YOU asked HIM to go on a walk?" she challenged. He sighed, and sat down on the bed. "Shar, what I was doing was showing him around the grounds, AND," he raised his voice to block the interruption he saw forming in her mouth, "and, to figure out what he was doing." "What he was doing?" "Yeah, I mean..." He sighed, and sat down on the bed, patting a place for her next to him. She came over and perched delicately on the edge of the bed, waiting for him to resume talking. "He's here, and I know Jane has told him something about us, because she would. So, he's been acting the perfect gentleman since he got here. Didja notice that? He hasn't even been irritable in the morning when he wakes up, unlike any normal human being." Tucker was always irritable, because he knew that he was designed by nature to go to bed when the sun came up. "So he's testing us. So I wanted to see what I could get him to admit, or let slip, and at the same time have him give Jane a good report." After a moment of staring at him, Charlene stated with the utmost authority in her voice, "You are out of your mind." Tucker shrugged, and grinned. "Maybe, but I found out last night that he's not really related to Jane at all." "He's not?" she asked as her brow furrowed. "But you said-" "It was the best assumption. Turned out to be wrong. But, that in and of itself is something significant to know, isn't it?" Tucker waited for an answer, but he was pretty sure she wouldn't be able to come up with one. When she didn't, he smirked and got up to go dig through the clothing for something suitable for the rest of the day. Or as long as he could manage, anyway. Kenneth was sliding into a shirt when there was a knock at his door. "Who is it?" "It's Jane," replied Jane's voice. *I like it a lot better when she knocks first,* he decided as he got up to open the door for her. "And what can I do for you this fine morning, Jane?" he asked as she came in. She shut the door behind her, and gave him one of her sardonic grins that promised suffering for someone. He had been out of her house for a long time, and out of her 'program' for even longer, but it still gave him shivers to see that look on her face. "I'd like to ask your help working on Teresa," she started. "Why?" Julio was wandering around the house, looking for something to do that wasn't too feminine. He'd had enough of that for a while, and he knew that even the most feminine of girls didn't do it ALL the time- "What'cha up to?" a distinctly male voice asked from behind him, and he whirled even as he identified who it was. It was Kenneth, of course, and leaning against a wall with a gentle smile on his face. Tucker didn't know whether to laugh or not. Teresa had apparently been trapped by Kenneth into an impromptu dancing lesson, which was no doubt going to be so THRILLING for the little fart. On the other hand, Kenneth's being occupied meant that their little game was put on hold. And, Jane had decreed that Tucker himself was going to be sitting at the piano for a while this morning. "Ah, well, I need to practice some more anyway," he told himself. Charlie had found a Sherlock Holmes book to read, and even better than that, he'd also found a place that had some light and very little chance of being found. "I think maybe I'll just stay out of the way for the rest of the day," he decided, quietly, as he settled in. Tucker had practiced until lunch, at which point he figured he was reaching the point of diminishing returns. Besides, he was sort of hungry. Charlene, unusually, was the last to make it to the table, just as Jane was looking around and about to order a searching party. She was carrying a book with her as she rushed to her place at the table, apologizing as she went. *Must've been seriously into whatever she was reading,* Tucker observed. *Wherever she's been. Come to think of it, I haven't seen her since right after breakfast. Wonder where she's been hiding? And if she'd tell me where it was?* Jane had announced that the rest of them could do whatever they wanted for the rest of the day. What Kenneth wanted was a swim, but with the way it was still storming outside, he decided that he didn't want one that badly. Second choice was one of the books he'd brought, and so he was sitting in a comfy seat in the library, with a drink, when Valerie came in. "What'cha up to?" she asked, unknowingly imitating what he'd said to Teresa earlier. As he looked up, smiling at the coincidence, he saw what she was wearing; a deceptively simple sundress that covered her body modestly, yet fluttered enough to let him know that the fabric was tissue-thin, and exposed enough skin around her shoulders and neck to show that she was getting some sun. And the pastel blue floral print directed attention up to her eyes. "Just some reading," he replied. "What?" she asked, coming closer. Tucker had found Kenneth's choice in reading material surprisingly agreeable, and had 'borrowed' a Heinlein he hadn't read. They were sitting on a couch in the library together, when Tucker remembered the game he was supposed to be playing with, or against, Kenneth. So he slipped his shoes off, and stuck his feet under Kenneth's legs. "Hmmnm?" Kenneth remarked as he looked up from his book. Tucker just smiled gently at him, and pointed his face back at Heinlein. And waited to see what Kenneth's next move would be. Copyright 1997-1999 Ellen Hayes, all rights reserved