13 Changing Of The Guard

I had taken an earlier bus to arrive a lot earlier than I normally did and had to wait for the school to open. I waited a bit longer than that as the teachers, office workers, and maintenance people arrived and I made sure that I saw Mary Strickland going in.

As soon as I did, I ran down the street as fast as I could without drawing too much attention to myself. I stepped into the coffee shop and ordered six lattes and a dozen donuts. I had them be a mix, because I didn't know what they liked, and had extra cream and sugar added to the take-out bag. The pretty woman at the counter also threw in some coffee stirrers for me.

“Thanks a lot!” I said and tipped her well. I had borrowed the money from May that morning, because she knew asking the office to transfer me into new classes without making me drop them, was going to be a huge task. An appropriate bribe was needed.

“Have a good day.” She said and beamed a smile at me.

“I just did, thanks to you.” I said and she blushed a little. I walked out at a fast pace and then I ran. I easily avoided the few people on the sidewalk and ran across the school parking lot and up to the front door. I slowed down and took a deep breath before I entered the building and walked at a normal pace through the hallways to get to the office.

“Good morning. How can I help...” Mary paused talking when she saw me. “Oh, damn.”

I couldn't stop my laugh and set the box of donuts onto the counter with the six lattes balanced on top of it. “I brought a bribe! I mean a token of appreciation.” I said and moved the coffee off to the side. “Lattes and donuts.”

“Please tell me there's a crispy creme in that box.” Another woman's voice said as she poked her head out of an office door.

“I asked for a good mix of the most popular ones...” I started to say and suddenly two men and three women had appeared around me and taken the lattes and raided the box of donuts.

“I work with a pack of vultures.” Mary said with amusement on her face and she took the last latte and added extra cream.

“Thank you, Mr. Parker.” One of the men said. He was an Asian American and also the principal of the high school.

“You're welcome, Principal Morita. I know I've been a pain for everyone lately and I'm sorry about that.”

“We know. Mary keeps us updated.” He said and nodded at her. “I was very close to calling your aunt after the incident with Mr. Harrison and with you quitting the academic decathlon.”

I held in my sigh and nodded. “You would have been justified with that decision, sir. I didn't handle it well. I should have just said I was out and left without confronting him about how he really felt about me. Neither of us needed that kind of aggravation or to cause a public scene.”

Morita nodded. “You haven't tried to apologize to him.”

“No, sir. I'm avoiding any further confrontations. Arguing if I'm faking amnesia won't help me study to try and regain the knowledge I've lost.” I said and lightly touched the bald spot on my head. “I would rather use normal avenues like the school's library to study my butt off, which I also do at home in the afternoons after school. I've even used the city's library to advance myself that much more.”

The people around me nodded and the principal smiled.

“I'm glad to hear you're not letting what happened to you affect your thirst for knowledge.”

“No, sir. I think I'm studying a lot more than Peter ever did.” I said and two of the women looked sad. “It's okay, though. I'm making a lot of progress and I expect to keep doing so.”

“Good. Good.” Morita said and walked over to his office. “Great coffee.”

“We should stop there on the way to work next time.” The other man said to one of the women.

“Great idea. You're buying.” She responded and laughed at his incredulous face as they walked away.

The other two women gave me a smile and left as well.

“Now that they've gone, you might as well tell me what miracles you need me to perform for you today.” Mary said and looked into the box of donuts. She shrugged at the two that were left and took one.

“I would appreciate it if you could change my first class of math on Mondays to third period on Tuesdays.” I said and she looked surprised. “I would really, really appreciate it if you could change my modern geography class to first period in the afternoon on Fridays.”

Mary just stared at me like I had two heads. “Ben, are you serious?”

“Completely.” I said and took out my schedule. “As you can see, I only have two classes on Mondays. That's me attending an entire day here for just two classes. It's a waste of school resources to have me here all day when I have space later in my schedule for those same classes.”

Mary just stared at me without saying anything.

“I'm sure my homeroom teacher would accept the transfer without me having to try and drop the class.” I said and she sighed. “I know it's a huge favor to ask and I'm sorry that I have to ask you to try.”

Mary didn't say anything else and picked up the phone beside her desk. She dialed a number from heart and it rang once. She asked for my homeroom teacher and then she asked him about changing my class. Her eyes widened as the man's loud voice came through the receiver and he emphatically endorsed transferring me into the right spot.

“Thank you.” Mary said and hung up. She gave me a significant look and I handed her my schedule. She marked the change and then changed it on the computer. “I can't believe that worked.” She said and dialed her phone again. She asked for my modern geography teacher and once again, the man endorsed my transfer.

“I wonder why they allowed both without arguing?” Mary asked out loud as she made the changes.

“I need to come up with something to thank them.” I said and smiled at her. “And you. You've been great this last week and I couldn't have survived without your help.”

Mary waved my thanks away. “It's my job to help students as much as possible.”

“You did and I'm really grateful.” I said and took my updated schedule from her. “If there's anything at all you want me to do, I'll do it.”

Mary smiled evilly at me. “I do have a cabinet I bought that I haven't put together yet.”

“You mean like a wardrobe or something?” I asked and she nodded. “I've got chem lab this afternoon; but, I finished that lab last week and should get out early. Would that be a good time or do I have to wait until after school?”

“After school. I have to stay around until the clubs leave.” Mary said.

“I'm going to assume a couple of hours to put it together, so I should get home in time for supper.” I said and took out my cell phone. I sent a text to May to let her know to pick up take out and I would be back by suppertime and she responded with a thumbs up emoji. “Okay, all set.”

“Come to the office an hour after school is over.” Mary said and gave me a mischievous smile. “Gladys will be more than happy to have you visit until then.”

“You just volunteered me to help with book return duty, didn't you?” I asked, pointedly.

“What Gladys has you do while you're there has nothing to do with me.” Mary said with an innocent look on her face.

I laughed and held a hand out to her. “High five.”

Mary laughed as well and slapped my hand.

I walked out of the office with fifteen minutes to spare before the start of the school day. I walked at a normal pace to get to Latin class and saw Isabelle halfway down the hallway on the Hall Monitor chair.

“I'm not in the mood this morning.” Isabelle whispered as I approached her. The frown on her face was quite the giveaway, which meant Val hadn't only texted Liz about what I said on Friday.

I stopped walking beside her and she wouldn't look at me. “Isabelle.” I whispered in as deep and sexy of a voice as I could.

Isabelle startled a little and turned her head to look up at me.

“I really liked going down on you and hearing you squeal and moan. It was very sexy.” I said and bent down to look into her eyes.

Isabelle blushed. “But... but, you... you never...”

“Some things you need to save for that someone special.” I whispered and gave her a several second kiss. “I didn't ask for more than you were willing to offer.”

“But... what if... I wanted you to see them?” Isabelle asked and didn't have to say more than that.

“I would do a lot more than just lick you if you bared more than you have.” I said and caressed the cheek of her face. “You knew that, didn't you? It's why you never asked for more from me as well. If we went any further...”

“...we would have gone a lot further.” Isabelle said. “Maybe even all the way.”

“And we both know that's not something you're going to give up to just anyone.” I said and gave her another tender kiss. “You'll know when you're ready and it's not now and it's not with me.”

Isabelle sighed and nodded. “Why couldn't it have been you?”

I shrugged. “Either I'm too forward or I'm not the guy you want to meet your parents.” I said. “We were just two ships that passed in the night... and I licked your bilge pump on the way by.”

Isabelle snorted and then laughed. “That's disgusting!”

“Some guys think so.” I said and grinned at her. “Aren't you glad I didn't?”

Isabelle nodded. “I'm only a little surprised that you didn't try to lick lower.”

I chuckled. “That needs a mutual shower at least and a good scrubbing before I'll stick anything near there, let alone my tongue. That smell transfers like crazy.”

Isabelle nodded. “I definitely wouldn't let you kiss me afterwards if you had tried.”

“That's good to know.” I said and she gave me a sad look. “You know I can't do it anymore.”

Isabelle nodded again. “I agree with what you told Val. You can't jeopardize your chance with Liz.”

I let a happy smile show on my face. “I had a lot of fun proving that I could get you off without damaging anything.”

Isabelle smiled back. “How did you resist trying to finger me, anyway? I know I begged you to do it a few times.”

“If the opening you have down there allowed it, I would have.” I said and the first bell rang to tell students it was time to start the school day and to go to their lockers to pick up their books for first class. “I need to go.”

Isabelle grabbed my shirt and pulled me down to kiss me hard. “You better make Liz as happy as you did me.”

“I'll try my best.” I said and she nodded as she let me go. “Goodbye, Isabelle.”

“Goodbye, Ben's tongue.” Isabelle joked and then looked sad.

I gave her a pointed look and then knelt to look into her eyes. “You were the first girl I've done that to in my new life and in Peter's life.” I said and her eyes widened. “His journal had a lot of things in it and he never mentioned doing that to someone.”

“B-Ben... you...”

“You'll always know you were the first girl I kissed and the first one I went down on.” I said and gave her one more kiss, even though there were other students in the hallway now. “Do you understand what that means?”

Isabelle stared into my eyes. “I... I think so.”

“You were the first and no one can ever take that away from you.” I whispered and she blushed. I was sure my point was made, so I stood up and lightly touched her cheek, then I walked down the hallway and into Latin class. Several people looked at me and I smiled and sat down in my seat and took out my book and scribbler. I read the sentence on the board and quickly wrote out the Latin translation.

Miss Romani entered the classroom as the bell rang again and she shut the door. It surprised me that she wore a pair of white pants that looked painted on and her top was so light and airy that it was almost see-through. Upon a closer look when she walked around her desk, it actually was see-through and she wore a flesh-colored camisole underneath it. Without a bra.

“Is there anyone here that can write out the sentence on the board properly?” Miss Romani asked.

Every guy's hand shot into the air, except for mine. Her eyes ignored everyone's hands and she looked right at me.

“Mr. Parker, are you unable to do it?” She asked and everyone heard the challenge in her voice.

I held up my scribbler and spoke in Latin. “The brown dog ran down the hill and bit the mailman.”

All the hands dropped and the teacher looked a little annoyed.

“You aren't cheating are you? How long have you been here?” She asked in English.

I switched back, too. “I was breaking up with a sex friend in the hallway when the first bell rang and I've been sitting here for less time than the rest of the class.”

Miss Romani glanced around and saw several nods. “I hope you don't think knowing more will give you special treatment in this class.”

“It shouldn't.” I said and smiled as I switched back to Latin. “I can give great oral sex and that knowledge has no bearing on what I can do in this class.”

Only two people in the class understood most of what I said and both the guy and the girl made surprised sounds.

Miss Romani's mouth dropped open in shock and we all sat there as she stared at me for several minutes.

I kept the smile on my face and didn't say anything else. No one else said anything, either.

Miss Romani snapped out of whatever was going on in her head and she turned back to the board and erased the sentence there. She wrote out another one and when she turned around to look at me, I already had it translated and held it up to show her. She didn't bother asking me to say it and told the class to write it out and translate it.

I sat there for the entire class and watched as she moved around and seemed to be trying to show off as much of her body as possible without actually showing it off. It was almost funny how she was acting and I wondered if she had a bad break-up or something and wanted to see the desire on the faces of her students.

I left the classroom when the bell rang and I managed to refrain from asking her about it. Barely. She was a quite attractive woman, after all. Being supportive was a good way to make someone like you.

I wasn't surprised that Isabelle wasn't in the hallway. I walked passed the empty chair to go to physics class and wondered if I would ever see her in any of the halls I used to go to classes.