08 More Fun Than Expected

Sarah, Kelly and I walked through the school and Sarah held my hand until we reached the auditorium. There was a group of three older girls waiting outside and one of them was Liz.

“Liz! You are NOT going to believe what just happened!” Sarah exclaimed.

Liz smiled at her friends and looked at me. “Another incident, Ben? Is this going to be a regular thing?”

“Probably for a couple weeks.” I said and motioned to Sarah. “I'll let her explain what happened.”

“Why can't you tell me?” Liz asked.

“Sarah's going to explode if I don't let her.”

Liz laughed softly. “That's true.” She looked at the shorter blonde. “Go ahead.”

What followed was a solid stream of speech that had Liz, Kelly, the other two girls with Liz, and myself, completely entertained. I wasn't even sure Sarah realized she hadn't paused even once during it all.

“I'd recommend you for the journalism course, except you'd run out of material halfway through the broadcast.” I said and gave Sarah a quick one-arm hug and let her go. “That was both awesome and scary.”

“Ben!” Sarah gasped and Kelly laughed. Liz and the other two girls joined her.

“I'll write up my lab report tonight and I'll give you my notes tomorrow morning.” I said to distract her and Sarah looked happy.

“Wait, you still completed the lab? How?” Liz asked.

“I did it with my setup while I cleaned up my partner's station. Probably ex-partner. I doubt Mrs. Leyva will want Ned anywhere near me after that.”

“Oh, Ben.” Liz said and stepped close. She put her arms around my neck and pulled me in close. She was five foot eleven inches and I was only about five foot seven, so she had four inches on me, not counting the two inch heels she wore.

“I think I need a box to stand on or something.” I said and rested my cheek on her shoulder. “Maybe a step ladder.”

“You're not intimidated by my height, are you?”

“No, it's just more of you to love.” I said and a collective 'aww' sound came from the girls around us.

Liz let me go and looked quite happy.

“I know what I need! Clown shoes!” I exclaimed and she covered her mouth to stop her laugh.

“I think you meant platform shoes.” One of her older friends said. “Clown shoes are long for big feet.”

“Oh. Okay.” I said and gave her a confused look. “I know having big feet stands for something...”

All of the girls exchanged looks and the amusement on their faces was unmistakable.

“That you have a big... personality.” Liz's other older friend said with a smirk.

“Cool! I wonder if I can find clown-sized platform shoes? My new personality is huge!”

The girls looked surprised for a moment, then they all started laughing, even Liz.

I stood there and basked in the laughter, because making a group of girls laugh was the best sound to hear.

“Here... comes... Mr. Harrison and... the other team members.” Sarah said.

“That's my cue to get out of here.” I said and stood on my toes to plant a kiss on Liz's cheek. “I'll see you tomorrow at lunch.”

Liz blushed and nodded.

“Bye, Sarah, Kelly, and the other two girls Liz can introduce to me later!” I said and waved to the still laughing girls and jogged down the hallway in the opposite direction.

“Coward!” Flash shouted from behind Mr. Harrison.

“Restraining order, you flashing pervert!” I shouted back and the group of girls laughed some more. With any luck, that would be all over the school by tomorrow at lunch.

*

I had English Literature first thing on Wednesday and the teacher just waved me to a seat and said I could study whenever I wanted to keep up. I told her I already had, because her class was important to me, and she gave me a pointed look.

I opened my backpack and held up the assigned reading book. “I'm about halfway through this thing and reading Old English is a pain in the ass.”

Just then Sarah and Kelly entered the class and giggled at me.

“Sorry for being so crass, ladies.” I said and bowed slightly to them.

“We've heard worse.” Sarah said and they sat down.

“What's the antagonist's motivation?” The teacher asked me.

“It started out as revenge on the group that wronged him, then it changed to him realizing the entire caste system was wrong and he wants to bring it all down.” I said and she looked surprised. “I doubt he'll be successful, mainly because he's thinking too small.”

“Excuse me?” The teacher asked and Sarah and Kelly looked at me with interest.

“The protagonist is going to easily foil his plans without realizing he is perpetuating the problem that the book starts with.” I said with a shrug. “If the antagonist had been smart, he would have set up a backup plan, maybe even a henchman to take over for him, to ensure his work to expose the nobles would still happen.”

The teacher gave me a smile. “That is a very interesting point of view, Ben. I look forward to reading your book report on it.”

“Thanks! I'll do my best with it.” I said and the teacher started to do something with the papers on her desk. I put the book down and dug into my backpack for several sheets of paper. “Here you go, Sarah. A copy of my notes and my lab report, so you can change a few things and it won't look like we copied off of each other.”

Sarah blinked her eyes several times. “R-really? You're giving me both of them?”

“Copies of them, yes.” I said with a smile. “I already dropped off the original at Miss Leyva's office. The last thing I want is for you or Kelly to be accused of cheating.”

Sarah gave Kelly a glance and the other girl smiled back at her. “You knew I was going to share it with her?”

I chuckled. “I certainly hoped so! She's your best friend and your lab partner. Why would you keep it from her?”

Both girls beamed smiles at me and spoke together. “Thanks, Ben!”

“Sarah gave me a great hug yesterday, so the extra work was worth it.” I said and they giggled.

The class quickly filled up and the teacher took over our attention and kept us busy for the whole period. I had Civil Engineering next and I breezed through the testing questions that the teacher tried to trick me with. The class itself was easy, because a lot of it was math and statistics, which I was kind of a prodigy with.

Business Economics was next and that was just math as well, so it was actually easier than civil engineering. The teacher was impressed with my performance and actually told me that I didn't have to study more in my spare time. That was great to hear and I thanked the woman before I went to lunch.

“Ben!” Liz said and waved when I entered the cafeteria.

“Did I just hear an angel call my name?” I asked and pretended to look around, then jumped a little when I 'found' Liz. “Oh! It really was!”

A few people laughed as I walked over to the table. Liz had a huge smile on her face while Betty and Cindy looked about ready to pounce on me.

“Easy, ladies. We'll get to the juicy gossip after we start eating.” I said and sat down.

“You better not disappoint or trick us like last time.” Cindy said.

“Heaven forbid.” I said and smiled at Liz, who winked back.

We all started eating, the three of them with cafeteria food and myself with my homemade lunch. I started talking about what happened to me, from start to finish, and I added in the way some of the teachers didn't believe me and how others were great about it. I expressed my gratitude about that, too.

“That's great.” Betty said and gave me an intense stare. “Now tell us about Flash Thompson.”

I smirked at Liz and she laughed softly. “You already heard about it from a bunch of people and just want confirmation that it's true, right?”

“Yes!” Cindy gasped and her pen moved like lightning. “Did he really proposition you?”

“A couple of times. He's even verbally assaulted me and tried a few times to grab me.”

Cindy looked like Christmas came early and kept writing.

“Details.” Betty said and I told her everything. I also might have added a few words that he didn't say and also told them about him choosing a nickname for himself that was a crime. Who wanted to be known as the guy named after a perverted act? It wasn't right to promote that kind of filth in a school!

Betty and Cindy now shared the same look. They had an exclusive scoop and were going to milk it for everything that it was worth.

“As thanks for taking an interest in me, I brought this in for you.” I said and took out a food container. I opened it and inside were three pieces of fruit cobbler. “Please, help yourself.”

Liz, Betty, and Cindy let out sounds of surprise before the three pieces were on their plates and they started eating them.

“You have got to tell me what store you bought this from.” Liz said and took another bite. “I think I'd send dad across the whole city to get one of these for myself.”

I chuckled and stayed quiet as she enjoyed it.

“You're keeping it to yourself?” Cindy asked with a frown.

I reached over and lightly touched her hand before I pat it and pulled my hand back. “I'm just waiting until you're done eating it before I shock you and possibly make you choke.”

Betty huffed. “We're professionals. There's nothing you can say that will surprise us.”

“Yeah! Tell us already!” Cindy said. “You said you wouldn't disappoint us!”

“If you're sure.” I said and they nodded. I gave each of them a pointed look, then I gave them a big smile. “The truth is... I made it.”

Three forks dropped to the table and three identical surprised looks came from the three girls.

“Consummate professionals, huh?” I joked and they didn't react. “Aunt May had a similar look on her face when she tasted it. She knew I was making it and was still surprised.”

“You can't be serious.” Cindy whispered.

“You really made this?” Liz asked and put the last of her piece into her mouth.

“I'll tell you another secret.” I said and gave them another pointed look as I packed up. “I've made everything I've brought to school for the last two weeks.”

Their surprised looks returned and I stood up to put my backpack on. I walked around the table and bent down to kiss Liz on the cheek.

“I've got mechanical engineering all afternoon, so I won't see you again until lunch tomorrow.” I said and walked out of the cafeteria.

I went to class and I have to say that it was awesome! We spent the first period going over the tools we would be using, including a metal lathe, then we were tasked with creating our own drill bit diameter measuring tool... in half inch thick steel! I couldn't believe it!

We were only three months into my first year of high school and I was already learning how to make my own tools to make the things I wanted to make!

Needless to say, I was so excited about it that I smashed through that task in only half an hour. I even polished and marked the sizes with a tap and die set with both metric and imperial measurements. It shocked the teacher so much that Mr. Simmons gave me a ten out of ten right there and told me I could practice some of the other projects I had done as Peter.

I just barely stopped my excited laugh and almost hugged the man, because he had just given me unlimited access to the materials shop and the tools that the class had previously used. That was like giving unlimited water to a parched man. He was going to suck up as much of that as he could handle until he threw up, then he was going to drink a whole lot more!

*

I walked into the apartment with my backpack completely stuffed with metal projects, scrap pieces of steel, and a ton of tools and bits that I had created all afternoon. It was amazing what you could do with access to a fully working metal shop and permission to do whatever you wanted.

I put my backpack in my room and went to the bathroom. You could get surprisingly dirty when handling and working with metal, so I stripped off and hopped into the shower. I scrubbed everywhere and made myself squeaky clean, including down there, which made it react. I hopped out of the shower and dried off.

I glanced at the time and nodded, quickly wrapped the towel around my waist, and left the bathroom. If I thaw out the chicken pieces as soon as possible, I can start the soup stock and... My thoughts came to an abrupt halt when I was halfway down the stairs and saw who was there.

May stood in the living room with surprise on her face and beside her was a black woman that I had never seen before.

“May, you didn't tell me your nephew was so handsome.” The black woman said and gave me an appraising look. She seemed to like what she saw, if the smile on her face was any indication.

As fate would have it, my hastily wrapped towel decided to let go at that exact moment.

Both May's and the black woman's eyes went right to my revealed crotch, which just so happened to still be erect from me washing it. It also bobbed slightly from having the towel hit it as the cloth dropped to the stairs.

“Make that quite handsome.” The black woman said and her smile changed to a sexy one.

There was complete silence for about five seconds as I stared at them and they stared at my crotch.

May shook slightly and was the first to react. “BEN! TOWEL!”

I jumped slightly and took two steps down as I bent over to grab the towel that had rolled down a couple of stairs. “I just got out of the shower.” I started to explain. “I forgot to take the chicken out before and...”

“UPSTAIRS NOW!” May yelled.

I ran.