"I don't look stupid?" Pauline asked Charlie nervously. "You don't look stupid," he confirmed. He was a little breathless himself, but that was because she had stripped in front of him before she had her attack of nerves, which meant that he'd had to reassure an almost-naked GIRL. Which was not something he was used to. And he couldn't blow his own secret identity, either, which made it a lot harder. "But, I mean, I NEVER wear this stuff!" she protested. "Me neither, if I don't have to," Charlie told her truthfully. "But it's not that bad, once you get used to it. And you really look great in it." "You sure?" she insisted. *I can't believe I'm having this conversation.* "Of COURSE I'm sure! Now get out there before someone comes in to find out what's taking you so long!" "No WAY!" Valerie protested, her eyes wide. "I am totally serious," Kenneth insisted, making sure his face was totally serious. It was an effort. She stopped for a few moments, then started shaking her head in denial. "No way, no way on EARTH-" "Why would I lie to you about something like this?" he asked her. "B- R- B- Sh- You-" Kenneth almost bit his lip to keep from laughing before he remembered that she'd already bitten it. Instead, he took a large swallow of coke from his lunch tray. "Are you sure?" Teresa confirmed. Charlie was getting tired of being everyone's image therapist today. "Yes. I'm sure!" He grinned at her, and added, "You wouldn't want to let down the team, would you?" "But you are such a HUNK, I mean...." Valerie was at a loss for words again. "I wasn't four years ago," he mentioned. "In fact, _I_ think I was quite cute." He posed in an exaggeratedly feminine manner, and fluttered his lashes at Valerie. Valerie put her hands over her face and moaned. Then she put her head down on the table. Which gave Kenneth time to smirk, and then to wonder, *Hunk?* Trish confirmed. Pauline sighed. This was the same sister who had almost stripped naked and gone skinny dipping in the fountain in the town square, in broad daylight, on a bet. Sometimes, Pauline was sure that she had two sisters, and they switched off to confuse her. The pale plum was oddly matched to both colors, actually. Pauline shook her head. *Mom's gonna kill her, and then she's gonna ground ME for letting it happen,* she predicted darkly. *It's not fair!* "So what's this hunk thing?" Kenneth wanted to know. Tucker was glad for ANYthing that would take his mind off the startling revelation that Kenneth had dumped, unwanted, on his poor little brain. "Um, well, the girls seem to think you are like some kind of prime catch. And _I_ am catching hell about it, because they want to know EVERYTHING about you." "What?" He looked disbelieving. "No way, you're-" "My God, I mean, the girls in choir kept choking on their own DROOL after they saw you!" Tucker was only exaggerating a little bit. "They had trouble singing today. And I think that's gonna be the last time they let a visitor hang around outside, too." "You're making this up." "I am NOT!" Tucker insisted. Trish was happy as all hell, except for one thing; she'd fallen in love with this one particular dress, and not only did she not have anywhere to wear it, she couldn't even dare look at the price tag. Her family had to make do with Wal-Mart and resale shops - there was no WAY she could afford something like this, even if it was half off. She sighed as she hung it on the rack, and patted its sleeve before she turned away from it, trying to emboss the memory of what she looked like wearing it, so that she wouldn't ever forget. Jane chewed on her lip for a moment. *Naturally, she had to pick one that was hand-made, of imported silk...* The brave smile Trish gave her sister as the two of them turned to go made up her mind. "Come on," Kenneth insisted, "I told Jane we'd meet her at the Style Shoppe before they got done." "But, I need to freshen up," Tucker told him. And piss, he didn't mention. Kenneth snorted. "You can do that there. Now, come on! I hate being late, and I can carry you if I need to." He glared at Tucker. Tucker was quite convinced, at least that it would be more hassle than it was worth to argue any further. "Well, okay," he said dubiously as he got up from the table. Kenneth had thought that Valerie was being unusually quiet as they walked along the arcade to the Style Shoppe, but it wasn't until they walked in, Kenneth gallantly holding the door for Valerie, that he had any inkling of what she'd been doing. She glided right past him, her body drawn up to what he would have sworn was two inches taller, and stalked gracefully up to the nearest sales droid. "Is Miz Thompson in the showing room?" she asked, in an astonishing English accent. The girl nodded uncertainly, and Valerie thanked her with the tone of voice one would use on a flunky and glided past the girl, straight towards the back room. Kenneth had only been in here a couple of times, and it was on his own initiative, so he didn't have the same bad feelings about it that most of Jane's students had. But it was still a strange feeling to be caught in these most lavish and feminine surroundings. And Valerie was still moving. He hustled to catch up with her. "Jane!" Charlie looked around, thinking he recognized the voice, and he was proved right; Valerie was walking in, in the same pose she'd used the last time they were here, and wearing another stupid hat. "But wouldn't you like to try something on, dear?" Jane managed to insert into Valerie's soliloquy. The girl looked over at the racks of clothing for a full ten seconds, neither moving nor speaking, before she turned back to Jane. "I.... think that perhaps I have enough in my wardrobe at the moment," she said delicately. The implied message was that there was nothing here worth bothering with, but she didn't want to be rude by saying so out loud. Jane had to bite her lip to keep from laughing out loud at the sheer poetry of her cattiness. Valerie continued, "In, any case, Jane, I believe there is a MARvelous dinner awaiting us, so why don't you finish up your purchases, and then we can return to your estate, hmm?" Jane was, once again, torn. Her natural instincts told her to wrest control from the little imp and put her in her place. On the other hand, she was carrying off the role so incredibly well, it offended Jane's sense of artistry to disrupt it. "Children!" Valerie sang out, and turned and clapped her hands twice, bringing all eyes in the shop towards her. "Let's all wait outside until Miz Thompson has finished, and then we will go home to eat. Come along!" she insisted, and began to stride out. With cautious looks at each other and Jane, all three of the teens followed her. Jane slowly drifted after, enchanted by the way Valerie was carrying this off... "Jane?" She turned from the spectacle to see Betty Franson standing behind the register. "I hate to say this, but.... if you could avoid bringing That One," and Jane knew exactly of which one she was speaking, "into the shop again, I would be tremendously grateful. It's not that she's caused any problems with the other customers," she hastened to explain. "It's...." "She's driving you nuts?" Jane prompted. At Betty's firm nod, Jane sighed. "At least you don't have to live with her." "What's with the stupid hat?" Charlene asked. Tucker complained, "Would you shut up about my hat?" Valerie looked smug whenever Jane glanced at her over dinner, but she was still being as feminine and as graceful as Jane could want. Which was oddly depressing, in a way, because Jane knew that it was going to end at midnight, or whenever the imp went to bed, and the next morning would be back to the usual shenanigans again. "Oh, Jesus-I-mean-Raven," Mike corrected himself as he stared at the phone, still warm from his 'talk' with Debbie. "I swear," he told the ceiling and the presumed deity or deities beyond, "I hereby apologize for anything I ever said about Tucker being a marshmallow. It's Debbie." *She could talk a statue into- no, a statue of a BEAR into dancing ballet!* Tucker was cleaning up in the bathroom before going to bed, when he heard the definitive click of the lock on the door. "Aw, damnit," he said quietly. If someone had locked him in now, it would be several hours before he could escape... and he'd left Heinlein in the library. He went to go get his illicit room key, just in case, and as he was pulling the drawer out, he realized that he had never really searched behind the furniture. Ten minutes later, he found a lonely RJ-11 stuck behind a wardrobe. "All RIGHT!" He huffed and puffed and finally managed to move it out far enough that he could stick an extension cable into the socket. Then he had to move it back. "Oh, shit, this thing is heavyyyyy," he groaned quietly as he slid the solid wood artifact back into place. A quick test with his lineman's phone told him the line was unoccupied, and so he plugged the laptop in. Charlie wondered if Valerie was going to come to his bed tonight, but sometime around eleven, he decided she wasn't. *Oh well,* he told himself, and tried to go to sleep. It seemed awfully cold in his room, though. "Good morning, Kenneth," Jane's voice came from behind him. "Good morning, Jane," he replied automatically, turning around. "Riding this morning?" he asked rhetorically, for she was already costumed in riding gear. "That is what _I_ was planning," she commented. "What are YOU doing up?" Kenneth shrugged, and wiped his eyes. "Weird dreams," he explained, and sighed. "Not nightmares, so much..." Jane fed the coffeepot and set it to brew before she remarked, "Valerie?" as if she already knew the answer. "Yeah," he admitted. *Well, if Tuck did it, it can't be that bad,* Mike thought. *And she's not dating me, so whatever sick perversions lurk in her head shouldn't have anything to do with me...* It was simply amazing how much mail and other business could pile up in just a few days when he wasn't online, Tucker realized as he noticed that dawn was breaking. It was also amazing how just a few millimeters of plastic on the ends of his fingers could screw up twelve years of reflexes. It looked like the sky might be clearing up today, too. "Or maybe nnnnnnnnnnnaaaahhhhhhhh," he yawned. "Bed," he decided. "So what WAS going on between you two?" Jane pressed. Kenneth sighed, and paused with tack in hand. Jane waited until he came out of his thoughts, shaking his head. "I just don't know, Jane," he admitted. "I knew, I mean, you told me when I arrived what she was, but it just..." He trailed off into thoughtful silence. "Yes?" Jane prompted, and went back to currying her favorite mare, Meg. Kenneth took a deep breath, and looked at her. "I forgot," he said simply. "I mean, I knew, but somehow, it just didn't matter, or it wasn't REAL, somehow, what you had told me, or, or SOMEthing...." He shook his head some more. "I can't say I was analyzing the situation very much at the time," he explained, in a calmer tone, "and afterwards... I don't know what to make of it." He sighed. "She's quite sensual." That last comment disturbed Jane, possibly more than anything else he had said. By the look on Kenneth's face, she wasn't the only one disturbed. Tucker had dressed up for Kenneth, and it seemed to have impressed him, because he wouldn't dance with anyone else in dance class, even when the teacher insisted. Doug looked kind of sad, and Tucker wanted to say something to him, but Kenneth whirled him away before he had a chance to. Everything was, in fact, going perfectly, until Missy stopped the two of them with a hand on Kenneth's shoulder. "Don't you know what she is?" she said scornfully, and put a hand right in the cleavage of Tucker's gown and ripped downwards. He fought with her after that, but there were too many of them and he had too few limbs to keep them all off, plus he had no tools whatsoever, and finally he was completely exposed in front of, not only Kenneth, but Trish and Jojo and Pauline and Tracy and Charlene and Teresa, as well as Doug and Brad and Debbie and Kim and Kathy, all of them looking at him in disgust or horror.... "How could you DO this to me?!" Debbie shrieked at him.... and then there was a brusque male voice somewhere, saying that it was the police, and they would handle it from here, and he felt rough evil hands yanking him up, and some goon looked him right in the eye for a second as he hung, pinned by what felt like gorillas, and then the one in front of him said, "We know how to deal with faggots in this town," and he unsnapped his holster and Tucker KNEW what was coming next but he couldn't break out of the grip of the authorities and the one in front of him pushed his head back with the barrel of what looked like a double-barrelled shotgun and Tucker heard both hammers snap at once- Kenneth was looking forward to a nice, mindless, non-thought- provoking shower as he hauled himself up the staircase, but thoughts of warm soapy wombs were forgotten when he heard Valerie screaming from her room, the kind of high-pitched scream that made your throat hurt for days afterward, and no one would fake deliberately. A scream of utter terror, it was. "What the..." Several steps later, he was wrenching the lock open and bursting in to find- Nothing. "Huh?" "Uhrhrrr-" came from the bathroom, followed by the ugly sound of someone retching. It was Valerie, of course, kneeling over the toilet and clutching her stomach as she gasped for breath. She wailed again and bobbed forward, spitting out a thin stream of vileness. "Ohhhh..." Kenneth mumbled unconsciously, and then he knelt next to the girl, wiping her face with toilet paper. Her cheeks were streaked with tears, too, he noted as she gasped for breath. As Jane mounted the stairs, her 'jump-starter' mug full of coffee clutched in her hand, the sound of someone in utter distress slowly became distinct enough for her to recognize it. "Valerie," she guessed, and picked up her pace towards Valerie's room. As she unlocked the other bedroom doors, Charlene almost ran over her in her haste to get out, but Jane was already in front of her and turning towards Valerie's room, which was already unlocked and the door standing open. Inside, Kenneth was sitting on the bed, still in his riding clothes, and in his arms was a sobbing, disheveled looking Valerie. "Nightmare," Jane and Kenneth said to each other at the same time. "And a bad one too," Jane observed as the stench of stomach acid caught her nose. Kenneth just nodded, continuing to rock the distraught teen back and forth. Noting that he had Valerie under control, Jane peeked into the bathroom, but the only evidence of the girl's regurgitation was the smell, something for which Jane was grateful. As she turned back towards the bed, Jane saw that Charlene had sat down on the edge of the bed and was trying to comfort Valerie also. The ragged-sounding sobs coming from the child's throat, though, told Jane that it would probably be a while before she calmed down enough to be coherent. "Charlene?" Charlie looked at Kenneth, and only then realized that he was still in a nightgown, and one that was rather short. As Charlie began to blush, though, Kenneth continued, "I think she'll be okay for a while, and I'd like to change out of these clothes and take a shower. Can you take care of her for a while?" At her silent nod, they transferred the now quiescent Valerie from Kenneth's arms to Charlie's, and Kenneth got up and left. After a few minutes more, Valerie pulled back. "Thanks," she said raggedly. "No problem," Charlie replied honestly, and wiped her face one last time. He wished he could do something a little more lasting, to make things right for her, but he couldn't think of anything at all. "What is going ON?" Teresa demanded immediately when he walked into the dining room. "What happened?" Kenneth shrugged. "She, I guess she had a nightmare, and a bad one. But she wouldn't tell me anything about it. I guess she was crying too hard, or something." Teresa pulled inward after that, and seemed to be thinking about what could possibly cause that kind of psychic distress. Kenneth was doing the same thing. *Could it have been me?* he wondered guiltily. After breakfast, Valerie had appeared almost normal, though somewhat subdued. Charlie had sort of expected that, since it seemed whenever she had a major nightmare, it cancelled out whatever sleep she'd gotten. Piano practice, though, had kept Valerie busy, and Charlie was 'helping out' with Teresa, but it took him an hour or more to realize that Kenneth wasn't around at all. "Hi!" Missy exclaimed when she opened the door. "Hey," Kenneth remarked. "Can I come in for a minute?" "Sure!" she said eagerly. "Where's Kenneth?" Valerie asked at the lunch Charlene and Teresa had prepared. Jane smiled into her salad. "I believe he had some personal matters to take care of today, by himself." Valerie and Charlene looked at each other, and seemed to be trying to communicate something. Julio had been trying, REALLY trying all day, and things just hadn't been going well, or something. So when he saw the two girls coming down the stairs in their swimsuits even though the weather was still grey and nasty looking, he almost exploded. In fact, the only reason he didn't was the gut-level certainty that if he did, Jane would absolutely forbid swimming for him. And that, right at that moment, mattered more to him than any other punishment she could dream up. *Well, if she wants priss-perfect...* he thought, and turned to Jane. "Miss Jane?" he asked in the sweetest, most feminine voice he could muster. "Yes?" she replied warily. "Please, Miss Jane," and he threw in a curtsey for good measure, "PLEASE can I go swimming with the other girls, please?" Her eyebrows contracted in surprise, and she was about to say something, but it burst out of Julio before he could stop himself. "PLEASE, Miss Jane, I've been working my ah, my hardest on this, all DAY, and I'm tired, and I haven't gotten to do anything FUN since I got here, and," he was about to make a sacrifice, but it even seemed a small price to pay to just get the hell OUT for a while, "and I know I'd have to wear a, an, a girl's suit but that's okay, I don't mind, PLEASE?" Jane watched warily as the three teens swam around, but they seemed more intent on just moving in the water, rather than committing mayhem on each other. In fact, if it wasn't for the gray clouds hanging rather too low in the sky, she would have been able to relax and concentrate on the portfolio she'd brought outside to work on while watching them. On the other hand, she could only watch the weather, not control it, and so it didn't take up much of her concentration at all. Valerie had apparently gotten tired of trying to do a forward flip off the diving board, and had retreated to one of the lounges near Jane, where she was apparently trying to recover the sleep she'd lost from this morning. Julio shook his head, looking at her. She looked like any other cute girl sunbathing, and normally he would have gone over to offer his hands in applying sunblock... but they had already done that, to each other. Charlene had rubbed the smelly cream on him, and he had been unexpectedly glad at the tight fit of the bathing suit, because a bulge there would have just been WRONG, and he knew it, and he also had a suspicion that it would have scared the blonde girl away. "Charlene?" he asked her quietly. When she stopped and looked at him, he went on, "Do, do you think I'm weird... I mean, for this?" He indicated the bathing suit he was wearing - one that was almost identical to hers. She looked like she was about to say something, but let the breath out without any words, and looked into the water like it might tell her something. Finally, she looked back at him and smiled. "I guess, I mean, it's the same thing I said last time. If you had a choice, then yeah, it'd be pretty weird, but since Jane said, then I guess it's what you gotta do, you know?" He knew, and quite well, but there was only so much confinement he could take, in that house, and he said as much to Charlene. "Yeah," she nodded in understanding, "and I think it's better for you to be doing it this way, instead of doing something stupid like running away or something." He was glad. Knowing that a girl, and a pretty one at that, could understand what he was doing, and agree that it was reasonable under the circumstances, made all the difference in the world to him. Kenneth had enjoyed lunch with Missy, and her coy attempts to draw him out, but as the afternoon went on, he began to suspect something he wasn't sure he liked. She was boring. And while Kenneth could put up with a lot of variance from his idealized fantasy woman, this was the one area that he found intolerable. He was mulling this over, when her suggestion to go see a movie, and moreover one that he had already seen, judged, and found wanting in the extreme, made up his mind. He made polite excuses, and as soon as was reasonably possible, was on the road back to Jane's. At first, Tucker thought the cold droplets on his back were simply fallout from swimming. Then, as he dimly realized that it was purposefully malignant, Jane called out, "Girls! Come inside now, it's starting to rain!" *Oh,* he thought, mentally apologizing to Charlene, and almost went back to sleep, but the increasing amount of cold water on his back kept him awake long enough for Jane's words to percolate through his brain until they made sense. Kenneth, unfortunately, couldn't outrun his thoughts as he drove home. It bothered him, a lot, how badly Valerie had reacted this morning. She hadn't pushed him away when he instinctively went to comfort her, but he couldn't help thinking that he had had something to do with her nightmare. Jane had mentioned that she was having nightmares long before he showed up, and that sort of helped, but it still bothered him. After all, the... things, they had done with each other bothered him to some degree, and he was sure of what he was. What would it have meant to someone in the middle of Jane's treatment, and furthermore, one who didn't have Kenneth's own sense of identity, forged in the hell of his home life after his father died? *That bitch did that much for me, at least. Having survived her, nothing can ever touch me again, unless I allow it.* But he didn't think Valerie had that same kind of self-possession. *So why was she kissing BACK that first night?* It was almost as if.... *Could she be homosexual?* he wondered. On the heels of the first question came a second: *And what does that make me, if she is?* "Forget it," he told himself. "What she is doesn't matter to what you are, and you know what you are." He didn't mind gay guys, but he knew he didn't swing that way. Of course, that didn't answer what SHE was, or thought she was. Nor did it say anything about whether Kenneth himself was confusing the issue. "So, I mean," Teresa started to say as she sat down. Charlie noticed, offhandedly, that she remembered to sweep her skirt as she did. "Huh?" Charlie and Valerie said at the same time. "If you have something to say, Teresa," Jane directed, "then say it." Teresa huffed, and thought about it for a second, and then asked, "What happened this morning? Did you have a nightmare or something?" Charlie could feel Valerie's sigh under his arm. "Yeah," she finally admitted, and sipped at her tea. "It was a bad one. I mean, worse than usual." She sighed, and Charlie hugged her tighter. "I, it was kind of weird, and I don't want to go into it, but the last thing was someone putting a gun to my head and I heard it go 'click' and I knew I was dead." There was silence in the room for a while after that. "Kinda freaked me out," she finally added. When Kenneth finally made it home, he took a breath before facing the deluge that lay between him and dry clothes and a good book and a very nice supper. Then he grinned, as he realized he was thinking of Jane's place as 'home.' "Oh, no, Jane!" Charlie protested. "Not tonight! We'll drown out there!" The storm had not let up at all, and while he wasn't too enthused about dance class at the best of times, tonight it was just too much. Unexpectedly, Valerie agreed with him. "Really, Jane, I think it's a bit much outside." "Tsk tsk," Jane said to herself, not at all unhappy. "The rain seems to be slowing down quite a bit, wouldn't you agree?" At least from her vantage point of the front door. It smelled wonderful outside. Kenneth replied from behind her, "Only if I don't have to drive them, Jane." Jane laughed herself limp. Tucker moved a little too fast with the mascara and almost stuck one of the fingernails into his eye. "Ow, DAMnit!" He glared at the offending nail and contemplated the amount of effort it would take to remove them, and the amount of trouble he would get in for doing so. It was a tough calculation. Charlie came out of his room the same time Valerie came out of hers. The first thing he noticed about her was the hat. This one was black. "Oh, no, not another hat," he complained. Valerie snorted at him. "Tell me that again when your makeup's running down your face after running through the parking lot in the rain. Dolt," she added gratuitously. Julio had just enough time to be horrified before the sneeze hit him, and the irresistable toss of his head sent the heavy tome flying. He lept for it, having to dive down to catch it, and just as he did, something ran into his hands, and an instant thereafter into his head. "Whurffff!"*Don'tcursedon'tcurse*THUD"Ow!" He found himself lying on the floor, clutching an encyclopedia in his hands, staring up at an upside-down Jane. And his head hurt. *This sort of stuff never happened in San Diego!* "Are you alright?" the Jane figure asked from above him. In Spanish, which was all he could manage at that moment, he replied, "I want my lawyer." Jane was relieved that the child was okay, but as they seated themselves, she couldn't help but repeat, "I want my lawyer?" Teresa looked blank for a moment, then shrugged. "It seemed like the thing to say," she explained limply. Julio was glad that Jane seemed to be in such a good mood, and he was even more glad that his headache was fading quickly, less than a minute after impact, but best of all was Jane's 'suggestion' that he make an early night of it and go off to bed. Which, of course, meant no more practice for him tonight! Julio almost danced his way up the stairs in glee. Tucker spun under Doug's arm and almost made it back without incident. Unfortunately, Doug for some unfathomable reason had lifted his foot at the wrong time, and planted it firmly on Tucker's foot, which was not wearing the boot it should have been. "Ng," Tucker commented as he grimaced, trying to keep from uttering what he really felt. "Oh, sorry, did I hurt you?" Doug asked over the music. "Ng," Tucker smiled, wondering if he was justified in breaking a few of Doug's fingers in retaliation. "Your friend seems to be having problems," Brad mentioned to Charlie. "Huh?" Brad turned, allowing Charlie to look over his shoulder. Valerie had her teeth bared, and Doug had that oh-I-goofed look on his face. "Heh," he chuckled. Julio wrapped himself in a towel and went to sit on the bed and dry off before putting on his nightgown and going to sleep. *There is something wrong about this,* he realized, not for the first time. For one thing, it was only eight o'clock. *On the other hand, I don't care.* He was tired, and any opportunity to have some 'time off,' even if it had to be spent snoring away in a nightgown, was not to be missed. Kenneth had spent most of the class reading, after fending off the teacher. He wasn't really interested in having a lesson or two before he left. Mithradates in fact, that Charlene actually had to come up to him and tell him that class was over before he noticed. "Hmmm?" "Come on, we can go home now," she told him, smiling. "You gotta wait for your mom?" Tucker confirmed. Doug nodded, looking ashamed of the fact. Tucker could sort of understand that; there came a time in a teenager's life when it was just Time For A Car. Tucker was there himself, but since everyone seemed to be under the impression that he was yet to be in high school, he really couldn't bitch about it. Not and stay in cover, anyway. "Want us to stay with you until she gets here?" Charlie glared at Valerie. *If you'd kept your mouth shut, we could be going home now!* But, of course, she hadn't. "What?" Brad asked. "Huh?" "You look like you're pissed at your friend," he mentioned. "Ah... sorta." He really hadn't meant for it to be that obvious. "I just sorta wanted to go home. I mean, not like you're bad company or anything, just..." Brad chuckled at him, and he felt his face heating up. "You're really getting into this dancing," Brad changed the subject, which made Charlie feel not at all better. "Um," he started, and then, after too long a time, realized that he couldn't think of anything to say. Brad started to chuckle again, which pissed Charlie off no end. "Hey, you know," Brad said as Tucker waved at Doug, "maybe next time we could take him home, instead of waiting for his mom or something. And then we wouldn't have to stand out in the rain." Charlene sneezed then, as if in counterpoint. "Jeez," Tucker said defensively, "I mean, what, we were just gonna go off and leave him ALONE in the rain?" Kenneth caught Valerie coming out of her room in a nightgown and robe. "Hey, Val?" he said quietly. She stopped and looked at him. Kenneth sighed. "Look, I just wanted to... apologize for yesterday, and, and everything." Her eyebrows came together. "Apologize for what?" "For..." Damn, she was making this harder on him than it needed to be. "For leading you on like that." "Oh, that," she giggled. "No, it's no big deal, I mean, I didn't think you'd be staying forever, or you would have brought more stuff. So it was just, you know, kind of like being friendly. No big deal." She got a curious look on her face. "I, I mean, I didn't bother YOU, did I?" "Oh, no, not at all," he hastened to assure her. "No, I was... I was worried that, that..." She laughed gently, cutting him off. "Look, don't worry about it, okay? If you won't, I won't." Kenneth grinned at her. "Deal." He stuck out his hand for the traditional shake-on-it. "Deal," she confirmed, but instead of shaking his hand, she put her arms around his neck and kissed him gently on the lips. What really surprised him, though, was her nuzzling against his chest afterwards. Eventually, he moved his arms to hold her, and she stayed there for quite some time. He was enjoying it when she finally pulled back a little. As he let go, he realized that the smile on her face was mirrored on his. "G'night, Kenneth." "Good night, Valerie," he replied. She flashed a last, bigger grin at him, and dashed into a bedroom and shut the door. As Valerie climbed in the bed next to him, Charlie sighed. It was NICE having her in bed, damnit! "'Night, Shar," she said as she pressed herself against him. RIGHT against him, too. "Night," Charlie managed faintly after a few seconds. His dreams that night were truly disturbing. "Oh, no," Kenneth commented as they pulled up to the music house. "What?" Kenneth sighed, and turned to Tucker. "I think Missy's waiting for me, out front." Tucker looked, and she was, too. "I thought you liked her?" "I thought I did, too," he said, but didn't explain any further. As they parked, Tucker asked, "Want me to take your arm or something, keep them off you?" Kenneth sighed, and seemed to be considering the idea seriously. Finally, he shook his head. "No, I guess I can handle it. Them." "Them!" Tucker intoned ominously, like a horror movie character. Julio was less than entranced with learning how to correct makeup in public, but then again, who cared? Not Jane, that was for sure. Even Charlene looked less than thrilled with the entire concept. "You wanna go for lunch or something?" Valerie asked as she got into the car. "You're not inviting anyone, are you?" Kenneth checked. He was beginning to think he much preferred older women. At least ones in college. Valerie neither agreed nor disagreed, occupied as she was with laughing herself sick. "You know," Tucker mentioned, "if the girls in choir, just, um, aren't for you..." He managed to keep from laughing, but it was an effort. "Anyway, you ought to give Pauline a call." "Pauline?" "Trish's sister?" Tucker reminded him. "The rational one?" The boring one, he didn't add. "Hmm," he commented, and had another bite of peas. Tucker thought he was considering it. Kenneth didn't know whether to feel embarrassed or what. Valerie had caught him before he went into his room, and gotten another relatively chaste goodnight kiss, but this time, Charlene was watching, and he caught a horrified expression on her face. He managed to keep from flushing, but he wondered what was going through her mind. *She has to know about Valerie... I wonder if Valerie told her about me?* Kenneth then wondered what difference, if any, it would make if she did. And, of course, long before he puzzled out the answers to anything, the two of them had gone into Charlene's room and shut the door. Which presented another question or five. "I THOUGHT you were going to STOP that!" Charlene hissed at him. "Stop what?" "KISSING him!" "Shar," Tucker sighed, "it was just a goodnight kiss. No big deal. Didn't you ever get that from your mom or something? My dad used to do it when I was little." "You're NOT little any more," she glared. Tucker put his hand to his forehead to rub out the tension. And block her out. It didn't really work. "Look, Shar, we got things settled, and now we're just being nice, okay? And a goodnight hug and kiss is nice. Have you ever had one?" he grinned at her. "No!" she almost shrieked, like he thought she would. "No!" he shrieked, hating the way his voice shot up into soprano range. Valerie got this funny expression on her face. "Not even from a date? Like on the front steps or something?" "NOooo!" Charlie emphasized. "Have you ever been on a date?" she asked, and the 'No!' shot out of his mouth before he could stop it. "Really?" she asked, sounding incredulous. "No, I HAVEN'T been on a damn date," he hissed at her, not wanting the entire house to know about it. "Oh, sorry," she said, actually sounding mildly sympathetic about it. "I thought, you know, you being fourteen and everything..." Charlie, who had thought the same thing until he turned fourteen and found out that every girl he asked was more interested in dating guys with cars than they were in looking at him, snarled, "No I haven't! The girls don't even look at me!" There was one of those long-seeming pauses, in which Charlie wished that he could do something - ANYTHING - to take back what he just said. "It's not a big deal," Valerie said hurriedly. "I mean, I know some girls like that, it's not like I'll hate you or anything-" Charlie had had enough, and unfortunately he was locked in the room with her. Before he knew what he was doing, he'd burst into tears from sheer frustration. Tucker felt bad. Not only was he now burdened with A Secret He'd Rather Not Have Known, but she was crying because of it. He hurriedly gathered her up into his arms and started consoling her. "You WHAA?" Charlie gasped as he shoved Valerie away. "Um," she said, looking confused. "I dunno! What did I say!?" "You said you'd kiss me!" he repeated. "I, I mean, well..." Valerie's tone shifted from shocked to defensive. "Yeah, I would, I mean, if you wanted it. Girls have said I kiss pretty nicely." Charlene was spluttering over the idea that had come wandering out of Tucker's mouth. She hadn't stopped crying, either. He wanted to slap himself, but figured it would only freak her out worse. "Shar, look, I'm sorry I suggested it." "But, I mean, I mean, WHY?" Tucker raised his hands defensively. "It was just an idea! I mean, sometimes people get upset like they're behind or something if they haven't been kissed at a certain age or something. I dunno!" She wiped her eyes. "Look, Shar, let's forget I suggested it, and go to sleep, okay?" She nodded, finally, and lay down in the bed, not saying anything. *Oh, boy,* Tucker thought, *this is gonna be a fun night.* Charlie was still awake when Valerie got up and blindly staggered to the bathroom. When she came back and slid into bed, Charlie asked, "Were you serious?" "Huh? 'Bout what?" "Kissing me?" Charlie reminded her. "Oh." She smacked her lips and swallowed. "Yeah, I guess, I mean, if you want to. But we should do it later, my mouth is kind of nasty right now." "Oh." Charlie was strangely disappointed AND relieved, at the same time. "Night Shar," Valerie said, and lay down and rolled against Charlie's body. Charlie lay down next to her and tried to sleep. Tucker was sitting at the piano and trying to decode the notes for Linus and Lucy when Charlene came in, apparently not required for whatever Jane was doing to Teresa at this point. "'Sup?" She looked around nervously, and Tucker sighed before beckoning her over. She came and sat on the piano bench next to him. "Well?" he asked, this time quietly. "Were you serious about, um, what you said last night?" she asked nervously. And quietly. "Huh? Oh, about the, uh," he derailed as her eyes dilated. "Um, right before we went to bed?" She nodded. "Yeah, I guess- I mean, it's not like I'm obsessing over you or anything like that at all, I mean, it was just an offer, to like see if you liked it or something, or whatever. I mean... um." She was making him nervous by being nervous about it. "Yeah, if you wanted to try it, I was serious." She licked her lips, and seemed like she was about to say something when Marie called them all to lunch. Tucker wanted to scream. "And girls, don't forget you have dance lessons tonight," Jane mentioned at lunch. "No, Jane." "We won't, Jane." Julio contemplated yet another evening spent here, with only Jane, Marie, and Kenneth for company, and wondered if he shouldn't have tried for dance lessons himself. At least then he would be out of the house. "Wanna go swimming?" Charlie asked Teresa after lunch. "Jane said it would be okay." "Yeah, I'd love to!" was her instant answer. Tucker wondered why everyone was so nervous about swimming, and finally realized that this was the first time that Kenneth had joined them. He shook his head. *I mean, it's not like he's a rapist or anything, and besides, me 'n Charlene outnumber him if he tries anything.* He knew why Teresa was nervous, and he supposed he might have been too, if he didn't know about Kenneth's history. *Come to think of it, wonder if I should mention that to Charlene?* One look at her told him it would be a bad idea. *One more shock today, it looks like, and she'll have an aneurysm.* He swam over to Kenneth, both in an attempt to keep him from feeling left out and to encourage the other two. "Having fun yet?" he grinned. Kenneth smiled wearily. "Yeah. It's been a long time since I went swimming." "Really?" Tucker grinned. "Wanna race?" "You gonna come dancing tonight?" Valerie asked Kenneth as she got up to help with the dishes. "Um.... no," he decided. He could read at home, or talk with Jane, and then he wouldn't have to listen to the music. Or the directions. "Good afternoon," said Debbie in a very professional sounding voice, "and thank you for coming!" "Now," she continued, walking around a little, "I know that Mary Kay is sort of a big joke to everybody, but they really do produce some superior products, in my opinion. And normally I would have brought my boyfriend to prove it, but he's at camp all summer. So I got his best friend instead!" The assorted suburbanite women laughed, right on cue. Mike attempted to smile. *Twenty-five percent, twenty-five percent,* he kept telling himself. "I mean, I'm trying really hard," Doug explained as Tucker concentrated on keeping a smile on his face. His foot felt like it had almost been shattered. "I know," Tucker managed to force out. "I just, I mean..." Tucker took a deep breath. Anything he said at this point might come out in the grand jury investigation, and it would be best for Tucker if it looked like sudden insanity. Or the pain driving him mad. "Having fun yet?" Charlie asked as the bathroom door swung shut. He'd seen what Valerie was going through. "Ooooh, yeah," she replied. "And if I don't go like real soon, I may just retaliate the next time he steps on me by pissing on him..." she trailed off as she locked herself into a stall. Charlie snickered, but he'd come in more for the chance to get away fom the guys and to check his makeup than to use the facilities. While he was reapplying lipstick, a woman - a very nice looking woman - came in muttering under her breath. Charlie looked up and noticed a large coffee stain on her blouse, before she hoisted it up and over and off. *Don't stare, don't stare,* he told himself as he dug in his purse and hoped the flush would go away- "Excuse me," the woman said from behind him. "Could I get in there?" Charlie tried to think of something to say, but by the time he had come up with 'Sure,' he had moved aside and the woman was rinsing out her blouse in the sink. The black demibra kept calling to his eyes, and it was very hard not to focus on it. Or them- "Naturally," the woman commented out of nowhere, and Charlie almost jumped, "the one time I go shopping for something nice and wear it out before it can get a stain, I spill coffee on it and get a stain." She shook her head. "God, I hate dressing up sometimes." "So why do you do it?" Charlie asked, desperate for something to focus on besides her. She glanced at him through her hair, smiling. Charlie's heart sped up some more, as if he needed it. "Because, it makes my boyfriend stutter so nicely when I do," she chuckled. "You do look nice," Charlie thought it was safe to venture. She laughed. "That's what he said." She made a face. "Then he spilled coffee on it." "Well, that's it! Stand up," Debbie ordered Mike, and whisked the barber's sheet off. "There you have it, ladies," she added. "Tucker said you always kissed him afterwards," Mike mentioned amidst the applause. "Do I get a kiss?" Debbie smiled at him, showing her teeth. "No." Charlie walked out of the bathroom, still feeling remarkably uncomfortable, because the woman had been quite nice, and hadn't suspected a thing. And she'd stood there, half naked, talking to him, until he'd just about exploded out of his panties. She'd even asked him to help tuck her blouse back in! As he walked up to Brad, something went wrong and he stumbled, but luckily Brad caught him before he could plant his face on the floor. "Hey, you okay?" Brad asked as he pushed Charlie back upright. He was also, unwittingly, causing a whole lot of friction in a place that definitely did not need any more. "Ah, yeah, I think so," Charlie gasped. "Um, let-" and Brad let go, just like that. It took Charlie a few more moments, though to finally stabilize on the heels. "You sure you're okay?" Brad asked suspiciously. Charlie nodded, and tried to smile. Suddenly, Valerie's antics with Doug weren't quite so funny. Tucker watched suspiciously as Charlene tried to catch her breath. *Wonder what he did to her?* As they waited outside, Charlie was glad that his biology had finally calmed down. It was hard thinking about dancing when the other end of your spinal cord had something else in mind. But at least Brad had some idea of what he was doing, so Charlie's feet had been spared what Valerie's seemed to be going through. If only Brad didn't seem so interested in him now... Charlie figured that the momentary contact when he'd been off balance had somehow set off some twisted train of thought in his head, and now he was interested in Charlie. Or something like that. *Maybe that woman was wearing pheromones or something?* As they got into the car, Tucker mentioned, "Seems like you and Brad are having fun-" Charlene turned on him and snarled, "Would you just shut UP?!" Tucker's eyebrows went up, but inside he grinned. *Oh, she does have the hots for him. Thought so....* Kenneth listened to the two girls bicker about one of their dance partners halfway home, until he had had completely enough. "I hate to ask this," he started reasonably, "but would you two SHUT UP?!" "But she-" Charlene started. Valerie just grinned at him in the rearview mirror. Kenneth sighed. *I could have been asleep...* "...and she keeps on about it!" Charlene continued. Charlie sighed when Valerie knocked lightly on his door. It was tempting to lock her out, but he knew he would feel too guilty about her nightmares in the morning. He finally let her in, and she came in apologizing. "Look, Shar, I'm sorry, I was just teasing you-" "I know, it's just kind of painful sometimes." He sat down on the bed, wrapping the skirt of his nightgown around his legs. Valerie perched on the bed next to him. "Sorry," she finally said, and she sounded like she meant it. Charlie looked at her, and she had sort of a half smile on her face. "You two just looked like you were having fun, after class." She shrugged. "I thought, I... I dunno. Sorry." Charlie sighed, rocking back and forth in mild indecision. "It's okay," he finally decided, "just... I mean, don't tease me about it, okay?" "'Kay," Valerie agreed. They sat there for a while, with Tucker starting to feel more and more uncomfortable. *So, I mean, now what?* Finally, he took the plunge. "Shar-" She jumped when he said it, and he almost sighed out loud. "How about we go to sleep, huh?" he smiled gently at her. She nodded nervously, and got up without saying anything. *Oh, brother....* Kenneth sat on his bed, legs pulled against himself. "And what the hell is going on between those two?" he asked the air. "Choir dance choir dance choir dance," Tucker complained to himself as he got dressed in the dawn's too early light. "I thought this was supposed to be summer VACATION." Kenneth sighed as he saw the girls waiting for him at the music house. "Valerie?" "Hmmm?" The amused sound in her voice told him that she already knew what he was annoyed about. "Would you mind if I dropped you off this morning, without waiting?" She giggled. "Gee, Kenneth, you sound like you're scared of something!" Then she laughed. "No, that's fine," she finally managed to say. "I'll, uh, I'll fend them off for you..." Missy didn't really believe what Valerie was saying. "What doctor?" she asked. Valerie shrugged. "I dunno, he just said he had to go this morning. Said if he didn't, he wasn't going to be able to date all summer." She looked at her sheet music, apparently unaware of what she was implying. Missy chewed on her lip. "Maybe it's mono or something," Valerie offered casually, but Missy knew THAT wasn't it. "What DID you tell them?" Kenneth was a little worried; Valerie had spent several minutes talking to him from the window side of the car before she got in, and none of the other girls had come with her. The sudden reversal was unsettling. "Oh, I just implied you were ill." Kenneth glanced at her, and she was studiously examining her feet. "Uh-uh, Val, there's more to it than that. What EXACTLY did you tell them?" "Well, I only talked to Missy about it, it wasn't like I made a general announcement or anything," she deflected. "What. Did. You. SAY?!" *** Thursday *** "And so-" Jane started to say, when the phone rang. "Oh, bother," she sighed, and picked it up. "Hello?" "Jane? This is Andrew," the masculine voice said. "Andy! How are you doing?" He sighed into the phone. "Not well, I'm afraid, but that's not why I was calling..." "What's wrong?" Andy sighed again. "We had some problems with our chief network engineer, and we had to fire him last week, and it seems he took umbrage to it, and now the computers are acting like they're possessed." "Possessed?" Jane queried. "Surely you're exaggerating-" "I wish I was," he interrupted, sounding faintly amused. "I've never seen a computer act like this, much less five of them." "Well, can't you hire a consulting engineer?" Jane asked. "I thought New York was full of computer professionals that had gone freelance?" Tucker's ears had perked up when he heard the word 'consulting,' and 'computer professional' made him put down his tea and drift closer to Jane and the phone. When he heard Jane almost squeak, "Three weeks?!" he couldn't stand it any longer. He did a Debbie and ended up with the phone. "Hello?" "Who's this?" asked a old, polished male voice. "This is Valerie... I heard you needed a computer engineer, quick?" He laughed. And laughed. Jane finally recovered from her shock and pinched a nerve in Valerie's wrist, causing her to release the phone again. "Andrew, I am so sorry about that-" He was laughing into the phone, distantly. She glared at Valerie, who was glaring back and holding her paralyzed wrist. Finally, Andrew came back. "Valerie, I thank you for the offer-" "Andrew?" "Jane? I thought it was Valerie on the phone?" "She grabbed it away from me for a moment, I apolo-" "No, no, put her back on for a minute." Jane let the phone drift away from her ear, and thought about it. Or tried to. Before she could really come to a decision, though, she found herself handing the phone back to Valerie. "Uh, hello? Yeah, I- Well, you said you needed one, and..... Well, tell me what happened?" She grabbed a pen, and Jane put a legal pad under her hand before she started writing on the blotter. Valerie smiled silently in thanks, then went back to the conversation within moments, scribbling notes to herself. After exchanging incomprehensible technical terms with Andrew for several minutes, Valerie said, "Uh huh, and he had how long before, I mean between when he knew he was gonna get fired, and when he left? Uh huh.... A week? And what's it doing now?" She listened intently for a minute, then commented, sounding shocked, "That's it? If that's the best he could do in a week, then you needed to fire him, he's incompetent." Jane almost looked around for the person that snorted in amusement, before she realized it was herself. "So, you really think you could fix it?" Andrew asked him. "I'm certain, if you're willing to spend some money- I mean, I know you need to keep spending down-" He didn't know, but that was always a safe thing to say to a suit. "Money is no object, if you can get it fixed by Monday." *Oh, sweet gods, it was like hearing angels sing to hear that,* Tucker thought with glee. "In that case, if you can talk to Jane, and get her to let me come and work on it, I can have your office up again by Monday." "How sure-" "Guaranteed." Andrew paused on the other end of the phone. Tucker waited for Andrew to jump into the net. Finally, he asked in a quiet voice, "And how much would you be charging for your services?" Tucker looked at his watch, which wasn't there. "Um, it's Thursday... Twenty dollars an hour, fifty hour minimum, plus equipment and expenses like food and stuff." "A thousand minimum?" "Yes sir, and if it's not up by eight A.M. Monday morning, you pay nothing, AND I will make sure that the best available engineer in the area will fix the problem, at my expense." Calling his dad 'in the area' was a bit of a stretch, but with an expense account to play with, he could rewire the whole damned office by Monday morning. "Let me speak to Jane again, then," Andrew commanded, and he handed the phone back to Jane. The looks she kept bestowing on him drove him to sit on the other side of the room and wish he could turn invisible. The looks he was getting from the other two didn't make him feel any better. Copyright 1997-1999 Ellen Hayes, all rights reserved