NiS: Jacob and Tiffany - Tuesday
by Prof. Jack

Copyright 2004. All rights reserved by the author. Posted
here with permission.


Chapter 19: Jacob

Personal log (voice), J. J. Stone, captain of the Flying
Dutchman, 1204 EST October 27th 2006.

It was 12:04am. That is what my alarm clock said in those
bright neon numbers the nearly blind could read at twenty
paces. With my vision, I could not see them from further
away than three feet.

These thoughts I should not have running in my head. I
should be having my post midnight fantasy about now.

The noise that interrupted my sleep sounded again.

I turned over and looked. There was a new flashing light. I
got up and went over to my computer and hit a couple
buttons. The id for the video call was an army computer in
East Jerusalem.

Suddenly I knew exactly who it should be.

"Computer, on. Screen off. This is Jacob Jehosphat Stone.
Identify the sender." Meanwhile I threw on a smoking jacket
over my pajamas and washed my glasses. Damn, I should have
remembered the time difference. This was most likely the
promised call I was waiting for. With some hair adjustments,
I thought I was somewhat presentable. I sat in my favorite
chair by the window. I was ready.

"This is Major Stone, United States Marine Corps, East
Jerusalem security station number four."

"Screen on. Hi Dad."

"Hi Jake." His Dad was the only person in this state he
permitted to call him Jake. "What's up?" I asked. Now that I
knew who it was, I was not as annoyed.

"Things are heating up. I am beginning to think your mother
has it easy as a fighter pilot after all. The security
detail I'm part of was moved by the United Nations to East
Jerusalem. It seems that after Israel was forced by the
United Nations forces to start accepting the Road Map,
Israel has taken a page from the Palestinian's operation
manual. A bunch of Israelis trapped on this side of the
boundary have formed the Sharon brigade."

"Hold on. Last time I checked, both Arafat and Sharon were
charged with war crimes in an effort to let the world know
that justice was not a paper tiger. It was a major good
faith gesture by Arafat to do this."

"Arafat got what he wanted. An independent Palestinian
state, recognized by the United States. His advisors talked
him into showing, and he accepted his sentence fairly. All
he asked was that he gets to go to an Arab jail. Sharon was
found guilty, sentenced to the same length of time. But the
Mossad rescued him, brought him back to Israel. Since then
every person fighting the new Palestinian state swears
allegiance to him."

"And our great nation, that protector of peace, permits
this?"

"As far as I can tell, we really don't want to put more
effort into it. The European Union has taken the lead and
outside of the token troops they asked for, we have not
pushed ourselves into the mess."

"Hmmm. The situation seems to be similar to how it was
before the state of Palestine came about as far as
resistance, and official denials, with unofficial support."

"True. It's things like this that has me wanting you to stay
out of the military, or visiting us in the war zones. You
have been sheltered from reality by your skills in science.
I've always thought that you are too smart, that you retreat
too easily into science rather than dealing with the real
world. You are almost never seen with a girl and you don't
spend time with kids your own age. I'm proud of what've you
done in politics. And I will not deny that your connections
in the political system are impressive, or useful, but those
achievements are fit for a 30 year old. You are still a
teenager. Don't tell your mother this, but I'd rather you be
holding a few parties since you have the house to yourself.
Parties and girls are a normal teen's life, not rewriting
the bounds of science and playing politics."

I just smiled a knowing smile. I had a few surprises in
store for dad.

"Enough of that. How's school going? Anything interesting?"

Now where do I begin? So many things were crammed into
yesterday that I'm surprised that a school day could hold it
all. And that was only the first day of the Program. The
more I think about it, the more I wonder what I should
expect next. And given the emotional roller coaster of
yesterday, how will I handle it?

"Ok, Dad, you want me to do something different for a
change, something so unlike me that you and Mom would demand
proof before you believe stories about it?"

I inserted a nice dramatic pause there.

"I spent Monday naked in school."

"You didn't!"

"I did."

"You're right. I don't believe it. No way you would do such
a thing if you had any choice in the matter."

"True. But I did not have a choice. You should have received
the packet, as should have Mom. The old law on sexual
openness and equality had been expanded 5 years ago in
select districts. As the flaws of it were worked out, more
districts participated. Turns out that this year, Riverpoint
joined the schools doing it. There was a brochure sent out
about it with an exclusion list sign up form. Apparently due
to military mail issues, neither of you got it."

My dad started leafing though papers in the desk to his
side. "So what happened?"

"I stripped as required, walked into a hallway full of
laughing students. I launched a verbal broadside and moved
though the sudden silence. My partner is a girl I think is
perfect for me with the exception that she is too cool for
me. Or so I thought at the time. Any thoughts about the
subtleties of the program were rendered unimportant by my
hearing two football players plans to ravage Tiffany, my
program partner. What annoyed me most of all about this was
the fact they acted like her feelings, or her consent about
this was meaningless. So, foolish me, I acted."

"The Debbie Kutzman incident?"

"That inspired my actions yes. But I learned from the
mistakes I made that time. This time I set it up so that the
players thought that they had the upper hand. Poor fools. I
caused a lunchroom incident with them to insure they would
play their parts in my trap. The lunchroom monitor gave me
detention because I would not tell what I was up too. Then
after gym I got laid because I played with the rules of the
program."

"I thought you said you thought you had no chance with
Tiffany."

"It wasn't Tiffany. It was a girl in the girl's showers
after gym class. In health class, when we talked about first
times, I bared my feelings to Tiffany. She cried. Detention
had barely started when I ran out, jumped into the Flying
Dutchman to rescue Tiffany. I cut it a bit closer than I
would have liked, but after we reported it, they still were
not punished. It seems football in this school is more
important than a girl's safety."

"You're going to crucify them at the right meeting, aren't
you?"

"No."

"No?" my father asked, surprised.

"No. Tiffany asked me to let her handle it. She was the one
who had been attacked; I saw the fairness of letting her
handle it. As we were leaving, I let her convince me to do
some drag racing. Somebody issued a challenge. Tiffany
convinced me to accept. A Ford versus the Flying Dutchman.
Who do think won?" I gave dad a wide smile. "By the end of
the day, Tiffany admitted she was falling in love with me
and wanted to be my girlfriend. Though I expect that
eventually this will turn out painful, I accepted."

"Well Jacob, it sounds like you had an eventful Monday. But
we knew about the program. We failed to fill out the
exclusion forms on purpose. You needed shocking out of your
shell. It may be true that MIT is head hunting you before
you've finished tenth grade, but being brilliant is not
everything. You need to experience life. While you're at it,
invite Tiffany over one night, but do not let your mother
know that I said that."

My dad did not just say that. He just did NOT say that I
should invite Tiffany over to a house that I'm living alone
in.

Dad changed the subject while that was settling in. "How is
the hovercraft project going?"

"Excellently. I got up yesterday way too late for the school
bus, so I used it to get to school. It was useful for school
travel, plus it enabled me to humor Tiffany in the race. But
for some strange reason, it does not seem to be the most
important thing in my life anymore."

"That shows something about Tiffany that you need to
seriously consider. Exactly what, you will have to figure
out for yourself."

That's a good point dad. I have a few ideas on the meaning
of that, but I'll be truly certain tonight.

"How's the density drive experiment working?

I told him that I planned to test it on Sunday.

"I have to go now, give my love to your mother and
brothers."

"Speaking of that, I've no news from my brothers in
Afghanistan, and Mom's email said the next time she would be
able to video phone me is about two am EST on Wednesday.

My dad tried to hide a look. Futile. I know when he is
concerned.

I asked, "Will my first long distance journey be to
Afghanistan?"

Dad tried to be soothing. He really did. "You'll probably
hear from them by Friday. Bye for now. I'll call you on
Thursday morning."

I tried to have faith in my father's calm. After all my
brothers are Stones. We tend to turn up when least expected.
"Bye Dad."

I turned off the video phone and looked at the map I had on
the wall. It was a map of a very mountainous country, whose
natives could be murderous. That does it. I'm going to
create kinetic weapons for the Flying Dutchman by Friday at
the latest.


Chapter 20: Tiffany

7am.

My phone rang.

Some of my friends have parents that wake them up. Others
use alarm clocks. I need neither. Megan always calls before
7:15am. I picked up the phone. "Hello Megan."

"How did you know it was me?"

"Because nobody else has the nerve to call this house before
seven thirty."

"Not even Jacob?"

"Jacob does not have my phone number yet."

Megan did a credible attempt at imitating Jacob's voice. "I
see."

We both laughed at that.

"Megan, he has not even asked for it. Or me for a date for
that matter."

"Tiffany, we both know men can be so dense at times. How was
yesterday anyway. Is all I heard true?"

"Heard?" I know the gossip net in that school was big, but
this fast?

"Yes. Is it true?"

"Is what true?"

"That in Ms. Q's health class he told everybody how he felt
about you."

"That's true."

"And how about the story that you broke down in tears after
hearing how he felt."

"Not only how he felt." Tiffany said defensively.

"Oh?" Megan asked disbelievingly.

"Ok, I'll admit it was a strong part. But also it was the
fact that he was so caring, so understanding. A girl we all
now knew he wanted was sitting naked in front of him, and he
did not care. He spoke to my pain. He cared more about
helping me though a problem even as he so clearly never
expected to win me. I knew he was different, that he took
pride in his being considered odd by everybody else's
standards. But then I learned that he was not as bad as we
all thought. He had the same feelings and concerns as we do.
Unlike us, he never showed them. Jacob can be best described
as a cross between Scotty and Spock."

"True. But that's not all. He's a legend of sorts. He seems
to be able to pull what he needs out of his coat. He puts on
a shell of uncertainty about what he is up to so that nobody
knows what is going though his head. Personally I find that
a but worrying."

"But Megan, we in the school made him into this living
legend. Because he is so different, so smart, he had to
build a facade. And that facade crumbled in health class
yesterday."

"Are you saying we made him what he is?"

"Partially. He's partly to blame for his situation too. But
I had an inspiration yesterday. I whispered 'Who's going to
sing those songs, who's going to stand that tall, who's
going the fill his boots, who's going to tell the tale of
the Wabash Cannonball?' He lost it. I mean Jacob seemed the
most normal I've ever seen him, ever."

"I'm surprised. But if you are going to fall in love with
him, I'm glad that he does have a human side to him."

"Luckily for me, he was back to his normal self by the time
school ended. Because shortly after the last bell, I was
attacked by two football players."

"And then what? Tiffany, you just can't say things like that
and stop. Tell me!"

"Then my new favorite madman came to my rescue with his
hovercraft. He somehow blew them away, then we went to
report it."

"Ten to one there were not punished."

"You'd win your bet. But only because I told Jacob to let me
handle it."

"Why?"

"I'm not sure. All I know is I had two very powerful forces
about to go head to head. Think about it, Stone versus the
football program. No way those uninvolved would be kept out
of it. Stone may care, but those in the football program
would not. I think I thought that by doing that, I'd force
the feud underground, having it stay between those players
and him."

"Ok the other thing I'm wondering is if it is true that you
and Jacob are officially a couple."

"That's true. We decided ourselves yesterday afternoon, and
told each other our feelings directly last night."

"Now, for what everybody is dying to know. Have Tiffany and
Jacob got it on yet?"

I giggled. "Not yet. Although I do have an idea as to where
our first time should be." I whispered it into the phone.
And nearly lost my hearing from the shrill teenage squeal on
the other side of the phone.

As soon as Megan calmed down she said, "I dare you to go
through with it either before school or during half time at
the soccer game.

This time I laughed. "I'll let you know what happens.
Remember Jacob is still new to sex. He might not have the
nerve to do it there."

I could practically hear Megan's grin. "Let's just say I
have faith that you can 'convince' Jacob to do anything."

I laughed, and then hung up the phone. Then I went to my
closet.

The plunder of half a dozen mall trips looked back at me.
And despite enough clothes in there and around my room to
start a second - hand clothes shop, I had trouble selecting
what to wear. I wanted to dress sexily for Jacob, to make it
obvious what I wanted. Plus it should be nice, yet easy to
get out of. Plus it should be something I'm not too worried
about. After all, I was going to be letting it sit in a box
all day with no guard. Maybe Jacob will have the answer to
that problem.

What to wear, what to wear...

Clothes, at least some clothes. Mother will invent new forms
of annoying and humiliating punishment if I try to leave
this house naked.

Start with underwear. None. I'll be wearing less then that
anyway during the school day.

Next, bottoms... how about a skirt? Excellent. Sexy yet
accessible. Hmmm denims? No, jeans. A blue jean skirt. With
a zipper down the rear, a full length zipper. Great.

Now for the top... oh joy. 14 tops and none of them match
what I'm looking for. I looked in drawers and storage things
I had not touched in months. My eyes fell on a denim top I
had borrowed from Diane. Perfect. Zipper down the front,
deep v-neck to start... it's just too perfect.

I called up Diane. "Hey, Diane, can I keep your top another
couple days, I had it washed but now it's the only thing
that will work for the outfit I want to wear today... yes I
know I'll be spending the day naked, but this is for
something else... I guarantee its safety. I'll ask Jacob if
I can store it in his hovercraft... thanks... no I'm not
going to tell you... nobody's going to know this surprise...
guess all you want, I'm not telling you anything." I hung
up.

My outfit was complete. Some jewelry additions, perfume and
I thought I was ready.

I wonder if Jacob went though this much trouble with his
scientific creations. I bet he'd think it was easier to work
his density drive, whatever the hell that is, than
understand girls fashions.

Speaking of Jacob, I called him up, asked him for a ride
into school.

I went to the kitchen to get breakfast. Food, they keep
telling me in Home Ec class is important. I got myself some
cereal and milk and sat down.

"Tiffany?"

Oh, great. Just what I needed. My mother wants to talk.
Well, I do not want to talk to her. Whether we are moving
too fast, or not, I am still mad that she insulted Jacob
like that. Divorcing parents do not have the right to ruin
everybody else's love life.

"You can't ignore me forever, you have to speak to me
sometime."

Forever, no. But I'm sure I can try for sometime next month.
You'd be surprised how stubborn I can be when you get me
this pissed.

"Tiffany, be reasonable."

I responded with deafening silence.

Where was it ever written that a teenage girl ever had to be
reasonable?

My mother moved directly in front of me. "I know you are
upset, and about some of it I'm sorry."

Some of it?

Some of it???

"Only some of it?" I tried as hard as I could not to have my
question soaking in sarcasm.

"Yes, some of it. He is after all one of my biggest foes. So
I'm used to looking for things to attack in him. And he is
used to dealing with my attacks. That's normal. But that
insinuation didn't hurt him."

"What??"

Did my mother have so little clue about men?

It would explain her imminent divorce.

"That insinuation did not hurt him. He would have been
surprised had I not done it. He probably expected it to be a
private accusation. He threw that statement at me, he was
angry, not for me, but because by doing it in front of you,
it showed that I had no faith in your ability to decide
things for yourself."

I think you don't, mother.

"And do you?" I asked her.

"Do I what?"

"Do you have faith in my ability to decide for myself what I
want."

"There are moments, but overall, yes."

Well, well. Will wonders never cease?

"And if I truly wanted him as a boyfriend?"

"I would try to find a way to put up with it."

Change the word wonders to miracles.

Let's really push things.

"And if I seduced him?"

Tiffany's mother gave her a look, and tried not to explode.
She wanted mother daughter peace, trying to keep her on her
side in the divorce proceedings. "That I would not want to
know about."


Chapter 21: Jacob

7:25am

Personal log (voice), J. J. Stone, captain of the Flying
Dutchman, October 27th 2006.

Sleep, a famous science fiction character once said, is for
tortoises. Unfortunately, that person was an alien. I, on
the other hand am human. Despite public opinion, I am human.
My difference is when they call me an alien, or say I'm not
normal, I thank them. Think about human behavior. Wars,
violence at home and school, abuse of friend and family,
petty mocking and torment of the helpless, drug and court
scandals of those we are supposed to look up too, all this
has me glad to be thought different.

I made breakfast. Eggos and syrup plus tea and milk. As I
sat down, the phone rang.

Always my personal time is interrupted.

I looked at the phone. The caller ID said it was Tiffany.
Why ever would she call me? I would have bet every dollar I
spent on the Flying Dutchman that she would have realized
the inevitable results of wanting to be a couple. Crush, or
love, it would not be just us involved. My public reputation
would see to that. Every gesture, every word, every action I
do is gossiped upon. I seriously believe the British royals
produce less gossip than I do.

I hit the speakerphone button. "Stone residence... Morning
Tiffany, how are you? I'm doing ok too... you want a ride...
sure, pick you up in 15 minutes... ok, see you then."

I finished eating quickly then put on my usual outfit. I
went out to the Flying Dutchman, took off and set course for
Tiffany's farmhouse.

I'm running a feud with the football players. Also I have to
deal with a relationship I want, she may want, but will it
survive public reaction? Come to think it, why do I care?
The behavior of everybody else is comic relief to me most of
the time. My concern should be that Tiffany is able to stand
the public reaction. Today I think I'll let her react, face
it as she wishes. After all, for all that I supposedly can
do, I cannot do everything. Any partner of mine must be able
to stand on her own two feet.


Chapter 22: Jacob

7:39am

Personal log (voice), J. J. Stone, captain of the Flying
Dutchman, October 27th 2006.

As the flight proceeded, I decided to put in a Meatloaf CD.

The landing went smoothly. Nobody came out waving a shotgun
at me. I did not think her mother would do a thing like
that, but after last night, anything was possible.

Tiffany approached from the back of the house past a stretch
of the road framed by corn stalks.

Then I took a second look. And a third. The outfit she wore
might have been designed to try to make her look sexy, but
it was a futile attempt. She was sexy to begin with, and all
the outfit could do was show it off. As far as I'm
concerned, Tiffany is the sort of girl who would look sexy
wearing anything. But to be my girl, looks are not enough.
Personality is most of the needed material, but also
personal strength. She has got to run the gambit of the high
school gossips.

I really hope she is strong enough to be my girl.

Tiffany hopped aboard. "Let's go. We don't want to be late."

Late? Not in this craft.

I nodded.

As she put her book bag down, she said "Trust me, you want
to hurry."

I had a better sense of time then most clocks. School did
not start till 8:30am. We had plenty of time. I was just
about to point this out when I remembered something I had
seen other men in relationships do. They humored their
woman, even when there was no reason to do so. "Ok,
Tiffany." I pulled up the GPS and the mapping program.
Shortly afterwards I had the craft moving down the back
roads at a decent clip.

"How's your family doing?"

"Ok."

"You going to introduce me sometime?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because they are not here. To be accurate, they are not
even in North America. Mom is on a carrier in the Arabian
Sea, Dad is in East Jerusalem and my two older brothers are
in Afghanistan." I looked at the console for the density
drive for a moment. "Tell you what. If things work as I
expect they should, after I test the density drive, we'll go
visiting. I'll introduce you around."

Tiffany nodded. She had more pieces to a puzzle. He lives
alone, living in his self - imposed shell. He only did
school stuff and worked on his craft.

As we reached the school, I noticed some new signs. It seems
the school has given the Program participants parking spots
right outside the school. I guess they noticed it was
getting very cold.

Then Tiffany drove all concerns about the weather and
parking clear out of my head.

She came over and dropped her coat.

I could see she was surprised briefly that the ship was so
well heated. Well, I never did tell her how cold sensitive I
was. And surely she noticed that I had my coat hanging on a
hook by the door. I bent to pick up her coat so I could hang
it up as well.

She put her hand on my shoulder. "Forget about the coat."
She maneuvered me so that I was looking into her eyes,
standing about a foot in front of her. "You want to kiss me,
don't you?" she asked, sexily.

Do you have to ask such an obvious question?

Then I looked at her outfit. I mean I saw it earlier,
noticed the materials, patterns, colors, my usual 'scan' of
anything that passes by my eyes. But now I took a really
good look. Her outfit screamed 'innocent country girl', but
the way it hugged her body shouted 'I'm a party girl'. It
hugged her curves so perfectly. The skirt was just enough
below her ass that she could wear it, and high enough that
if she bent over, all would be revealed. Her top had a
neckline that went as far as it could while still hiding
something. I may not be that experienced at reading women's
outfits, but if I had to guess, that outfit screamed 'sex'.
And that zipper went from the neckline to the waist too.

Not even I can resist a hint from a girl in that outfit. I
said the natural response. "Tiffany, I really want to kiss
you." I really meant it, too.

"Then go ahead."

I looked at her just a second longer, then accepted the fact
that the local cop for Murphy's Laws had decided to go on a
donut break.

I kissed her. It started slow and tentative, but before I
could help it, I was kissing her hard. I pulled her to me
and held her tight.

She opened her mouth to me while grinding herself against
me.

Our kiss ended. I didn't want it to. I really never wanted
to stop kissing Tiffany. Unfortunately I still needed to
breathe.

Then she started the next kiss, moving her hands up and down
my back, squeezing my ass as she continued to grind herself
into me. It was as if she was trying to flatten her decent
sized breasts by crushing them against me. She stopped the
second kiss to tell me the zipper in the back of her skirt
was not there for decoration.

The Meatloaf CD started to play Paradise by the Dashboard
Lights.

Ok universe, I'm getting the hint here.

I unzipped her skirt, and she stopped her grinding just long
enough to let the skirt fall to the floor. Before she went
back to grinding, I indicated my pants. "We'll both be more
comfortable without these."

She took off my boots and slid down my pants, then pulled
them off. Then Tiffany practically ripped my underwear to
shreds. "Please, please can I have it?"

Her pleading tone was cause for interesting speculation...
later. Right now there was only one thing I wanted to do. Or
should I say the only thing I wanted to concentrate on was
doing Tiffany.

"Go ahead."

She shucked of her top, and I removed the rest of my
clothes.

She lay down on the floor, and then I got on top of her. I
think the position was called a '69'. I was not going to ask
just then. Instead I fingered her as she started to suck my
cock.

I started with one finger, moving slowly.

She was sucking me, rather nicely. She tried to grind her
body against my finger.

I kept it up, keeping my finger motions rather slow, before
putting in a second finger and speeding things up. But only
just a little bit.

Tiffany was moaning a bit now. She was sucking harder,
trying to get it all in her mouth, almost as if she was
sucking a milkshake. The last few drops of the milkshake
that is. The pressure was building.

A few minutes later, I upped the finger count to four. I
started to match the finger speed to her sucking speed.

She caught on quickly. She sucked harder. Her moaning
increased.

My resistance went quickly. I came in her mouth.

She drank it all. Then she sucked me again. She kept
grinding her pussy against my fingers.

I fingered her off fast. By now I knew what she really
wanted. And I wanted it too.

She came screaming. As soon as she could speak again she
begged, "Put it in, Jacob please put it in now."

Like I wanted to do anything else.

I climbed on top of her and rubbed her pussy slowly and
teasingly with my cock. Her pussy was wet. My cock slipped
in a little.

"Yes... give it to me... please give it to me now!"

I tried to fuck her slowly. I wanted to make the moment last
as long as I could.

I tried.

Instead she put her legs around me, and rolled us over. "I
want it all, now. I need you to fuck my brains out. To hell
with it" At that point she started riding me hard, moaning,
"Yes, oh yes... I love this so much. More... give me
more..."

I reached up, squeezed her nipples.

Tiffany went wild. Her orgasmic screams should have broken
every window in the hovercraft.


Chapter 23: Tiffany

8:15am

That was just too good. If Jacob is that good during his
second fuck, how good will he be after we fuck a few more
times?

One thing is for sure. If for no other reason, I've got to
keep him around for that.

Did I just think that?

Who would have thought I'd be thinking such thoughts last
week?

Now all I have to do is get him past this bit of shyness he
has left. I know he can take charge of things. The question
is, how to give him the confidence to be certain our
relationship will last?

I put on my skirt and my jacket. Then I helped Jacob get
dressed.

As we went to the school entrance we were supposed to do our
stripping at, I saw a large crowd waiting.

Oh great, there was Kevin and Fred standing there. They had
a bunch of football players there. They all had lust driven
looks on their face.

I went from feeling heavenly to feeling like I had gone to
hell.

Jacob put his arm around me, somewhat protectively. "The
rules be damned. I am going to refuse any supposedly
reasonable requests concerning Tiffany from certain people.
They know who they are."

Fred, Kevin, Ms. Q., Bob and I spoke up at once.

Jacob held up his hand. "This is not a press conference. One
at a time, please."

Fred went first. "You can't stop us. She's free game all
week 'cause of the Program. We can do what ever we want with
her."

Kevin followed with, "You will not be around to guard her
all the time. Sooner or later we will get what we want, and
what we deserve."

I said "But..."

Jacob gave a short, evil laugh. "You'll get what you deserve
alright, you can bet your bottom dollar on that. You and
that son of a bitch coach of yours. Yesterday was not the
end of my plans on that issue. Not by a long shot."

"Language, Mr. Stone." Ms. Q. said. "You have not been the
best Program participant here, you know. It is in the rules
to let them get their requests. Or at least ask them and let
Tiffany decide."

"And no doubt I will be punished in the end. But let me tell
you this, I'd rather spend another week being the naked
laughing stock of this school than let them try to hurt
Tiffany, or even touch her for that matter."

"Understandable. Still..."

"Ms. Q, we have seen proof already that they do not care if
Tiffany permits things or not. It's what they want only that
decides what they do. Nothing, nobody else matters."

Bob came up to me and asked, "Do you mind if I take your
clothes off?"

I looked at him, then took his hand and moved him and myself
out of the line of fire between Jacob and the crowd.

Fred and his football friends charged after us. Jacob moved
in front of them. Most of the soccer team stood by him.
Other students picked sides. They started to look like a
bunch of snarling dogs.

Fred said, "You're going to be beat meat."

Jacob stood there with a calm face. You'd think from his
expression that this was a bunch of friends deciding where
to go next weekend. "It looks like I'm not as alone as you
thought I was."

The two sides tensed. Both groups looked towards their
leaders for the slightest sign to attack.

Jacob was giving nothing away. If anything, he looked
slightly bored with the mess.

Kevin looked like he was aching to spring. Anger seemed to
be seeping from every pore. If looks could kill, there'd be
nobody alive within 80 miles.

Ms. Q. was looking back and forth between the two of them.
She looked like she was at ground zero of a ticking time
bomb.

She was.

Then coaches Bromby and Koke came running. I'd love to know
who told them. I could had sworn that nobody left, everybody
eager for the fight that would solve the question of who was
the alpha student in this school.

Koke told Kevin to relax, he'd get his chance soon enough.

Bromby told Jacob that he could not permit a fight and asked
Jacob if he really thought a fight would help matters.

Jacob thought for a couple minutes. "No. Not yet. I still
have other moves to make, other cards to play." He made a
'stand down' gesture.

By now Bob was done taking off my clothes. He did it with no
suggestiveness, saying something to the effect of he and
other of Jacob's friends will be ready to beat Kevin out of
requests before school.

A freshman girl asked, and got to strip Jacob.

I wore a big grin as we walked arm in arm to geometry class.


Chapter 24: Jacob

10:32am

Personal log (voice), J. J. Stone, captain of the Flying
Dutchman, October 27th 2006.

For once, math class was of some interest. Today we
discussed the abstract mathematical principles of thinking.
Not that that was any problem for me. Almost the entire
mathematical basis for the density drive's theories are
based on such math after all.

After the class ended, Miss Plussman held me back. "I liked
your participation better. At least you acted like you
enjoyed the class rather than looking like you were bored
out of your skull.

"Today's math was more enjoyable. It was not simply that I
could fall asleep in class, get called on and answer right
as I look at the problem. These questions I had to think
about for a few seconds."

"We really have to get you some more advanced assignments.
You better head to your next class."

I moved quickly and started to make for my next class. The
teachers were right about one thing. I have been flirting
with trouble all week. Eventually I was going to put a foot
down wrong and the school establishment is probably praying
they are there to catch me.

WHAT THE BLOODY FUCK???

I had a sudden pain in my right hand.

I felt liquid hitting my chest.

I heard laughter as somebody ran away.

I looked.

I saw a very happy Kevin running away, holding a bloody
knife.

No need to call in Agatha Christie here. Hell, even Clusseau
could put these clues together.

I grabbed a baton of a passing girl and started moving. I
was checking the balance. The time with Debbie brought me
more than just pain.

"DOWN!!!" I thundered.

I must have had quite a look on my face because people
started dropping like bodies in a bad horror movie.

I waited for a clear shot, and then threw. Hard. The baton
flew down the hallway, clearing some students by inches.
Then it struck Kevin in his legs, causing him to fall.

He got up. "You should have died when you had the chance.
I'm going to make you suffer for that." He started back
towards me.

My blood was beginning, causing people to give me a wide
berth. I was trying to remember just how much blood I could
afford to lose.


Chapter 25: Tiffany

11am

Class went great. I got my test back with a perfect score on
it. The teacher told me that if I wanted, next semester, I
could try for an advanced placement course. I just might go
for it.

By the time I reached the usual T - junction, I thought that
maybe the Program might actually have a point. By stripping
us of our metaphorical armor, we can grow quicker.

Oh my Good God. All that blood? Did Lizzie Borden get loose
in our high school? Wait. All the blood on Jacob? Am I
seeing Kevin with a bloody knife? That's it. Kevin is
soooooo dead. He just hasn't stopped moving yet.

I threw all my books at Kevin.

Then I gave him his wish. I jumped him. But not the way he
wanted. I started to do my best to beat him up. I got rid of
his knife first. Then I tackled him to the ground. I sat
firmly on top of him, happily slamming him into the floor.
"I'm going to beat the shit out of you," I hissed, "I'm
going to beat the shit out of you, and then I'm going to
make you eat it." The second part I shouted.

I fully intended to do this. Do not doubt it.

Mr. Makepeace came around the corner at that moment.

Lucky for Kevin that he did.

The teacher took a look at Jacob's bloody hand and blood
covered body and went to the intercom. "School nurse to the
E corridor. We have a knife wound, possibly more."

"I'll be right there." The nurse's reply came.

"Ok, now somebody tell me what happened."

All right, let's see them cover this up, even if I am too
out of breath to say anything.

Nobody answered the teacher's question.

Security showed up, bagged the knife and started to herd
everybody not involved into groups.

The teacher looked annoyed. "Are you guys seriously
expecting me to believe that a fight between Kevin and Jacob
was ignored completely? Even when somebody was swinging a
knife around?"

As I was trying to get back the air and energy I spent
pounding on Kevin, I pointed. I pointed to the bagged knife
in the security guard's hand and then I pointed to Kevin.

Kevin went to attack me.

A security guard blocked his path.

The nurse arrived. She saw Jacob and gave a minor screech.
"Somebody try to kill you?" She rushed over to bandage him
as best as she could. She sent one guard running to her
office and another guard running to the gym for some clean
towels

"Yes," Jacob said, "somebody did. His name is Kevin. Since
everybody is afraid to say it, I must."

Jacob's voice sounded unnaturally weak. That hurt me more
then the punches Kevin had landed on me.

"You hush." The nurse said. I can tell Kevin attacked you.
Otherwise he'd be needing blood like you do. I'm seeing too
much blood here." She pulled out a cell phone. She hit a
speed dial. Get me emergency..."

By the time the call was over, Jacob was feeling a bit too
faint. He fell towards the lockers and slid down to the
floor.

The nurse surveyed the scene. She told the guards to remove
everybody who was not wounded.

No way I was leaving. That just was not happening.

I made my way over to the nurse. "Please. I'm his
girlfriend. Can I please go to the hospital with him?"

The nurse looked at me like I was something out of a
particularly interesting magazine. "No. Jacob Stone does not
have a girlfriend. He's above love and emotion. Stone may
have gotten himself in this mess helping you. That's more
believable. But the entire school would know if he's dating
you. Even Jacob could not keep a secret like that."

That fucking legend again. I'm beginning to hate it as much
as he does. "Listen," I pleaded, "I don't know why the
gossips are so slow about it, but we agreed to be a couple
last night. I want to be there for him."

"No. Not unless you are carrying his child. Besides, if you
truly are dating him, you should know that like the
proverbial cat, he'll keep coming back, no matter what you
do to him. Molly Brown was never as unsinkable as he is."

A guard tried to pull me away. "Time to go to your next
class, young lady."

I yanked my arm free. "Let me go, you mistimed excuse for an
alarm. Now you are all over me when the danger has been
building all day and the disaster just happened? Know this.
If our relationship dies because you did not let me go with
him, you'll only wish it was Jacob Jehosophat Stone who is
pissed off at you."

I stormed off.

The crowds parted in the hallway as if I radiated danger.

Smart crowds.

The last thing I heard in that corridor was "Perhaps she is
Stone's girlfriend after all. That sounded frightfully close
to the way he'd do it."

Good. I wanted them frightened.

By the time I reached math class, I was well and truly
pissed.

"Tiffany? Tiffany?? Are you paying attention?" Mr. Beakins
asked. He was looking irate.

Of course not. After what happened in the hallway, what
makes you think I care about class?

All I did was look back at him.

The math teacher looked like he wanted to say something
else. But he contented himself with repeating himself.
"Tiffany, I said that since you are in program, I can use
you to demonstrate things. Today's lesson involves
mathematical balances, and I wish to use your body to
illustrate my lesson."

"No."

"No? You refusing a Program request?"

"Was my 'no' not clear enough? Then how about FUCK no?"

"Apologize, or be sent to the office."

"Send me. I don't care."

Mr. Beakins reached for the correct form, and then stopped.
"This is not like you. What's wrong?"

"In the hallways, before this period, Jacob was stabbed."

"Why? Who did he offend this time? And why are you so upset
about it?"

"He upset several football players. And the reason I'm so
upset is because Jacob is my boyfriend."

And I thought the room had gone quiet when I had cursed the
teacher. I think I could hear the traffic on the main road,
a quarter mile away.

I continued with "I'm really pissed that though this knifing
happened in a crowded hallway with Kevin laughing
triumphantly, and nobody was willing to tell the guards what
happened. The clues were obvious, but since when are
knifings a permitted way to handle things around here?"

Somebody spoke up from the rear of the classroom. "Kevin
should be arrested."

"Oh get over it," a familiar voice said, "Jacob deserved it.
He has no right to mess with the football players. Maybe if
they hurt him enough, that arrogant geek will realize his
only purpose here is to do whatever he is told by anybody
more 'cool' than he is."

It was Heather.

I asked, "Does that give them the right to assault the
cheerleaders?"

Heather snapped back, "That's a non - issue. Speaking as a
cheerleader, we are all honored and thrilled to get laid by
football players."

"Not all," I shot back. "I turned them down."

"You choose Jacob over Fred or Kevin? Then the two of you
deserve whatever they do to you guys." Heather turned her
back on me at that point.

That was no loss.

"That's enough you two. I want quiet in this classroom now."

I admit it. I didn't pay attention to the teacher. I didn't
care about the teacher or his class. I was not even
interested in being angry with Heather.

I was worried about Jacob.

Who cared about the legend they all believed. The problem
with this is that I had seen the humanity behind it. Not
just any humanity, but his true self. Plus I've seen how he
cares about other people's pain more than his own. I've seen
proof of that long before yesterday. Any man who could feel
pain like that is able to be hurt way more easily.

Finally, the class bell rang.

I had lunch next.

At least there, I could be with my friends.

I got my lunch. It looked uglier than usual.

I tried to think there was a good reason for it to look like
this. I really did. The best I could come up with is that
the school thought it was serving really fresh food... by
serving us recent road kill. I joined the crowds of kids who
did not want to throw up by eating my dessert only.

Diane called me over to the table they chose. Megan, Bill
and Bob were already there. Lucy had a notepad open. She
looked like she was working on notes for the school
yearbook.

I ate what little I could and joyfully trashed the rest.

Hopefully the sickening substance they passed off as food
would not combine to form a new type of life. I think such
unexpected results should be left to the failed and trashed
biology lab projects.

Bill looked around. "I don't know just how bad that fight
really was, but it really has the groups divided. You are
being cursed aloud by almost everybody in here."

I had noticed this. It was as if deciding to date Jacob was
equal to painting a target on my chest. They act as if I've
given up all rights to any social protection. But what
really annoys me is that while all the people supporting the
football crowd are being loud about it, you can't tell from
what's being said if anybody outside of his confidants and I
are supporting Jacob.

Is this a high school in the United States, or a town square
in a third world country? Since when are we supposed to
settle things with violence? And what is more annoying,
since when are the teachers supposed to let any student get
away with violence?

Megan asked "May I interview you for the school paper?"

I was surprised. Of all the people in this school, why me?

I decided to ask that very question.

"Megan, why me?"

"Because you are doing what nobody else in this school has
done. You've captured the interest of Jacob Stone. Plus you
are in the Program. We always interview the Program
students."

I see. And for once I thought it might be something related
to me.

"Ok. Ask away."

"What do you think of the Program?"

"I know what I think of its intentions. But as I've
discovered, this school seems to be more concerned with
other things. And if those other things need diversions, the
Program's rules provide an easy escape. This Program is
supposed to teach us respect and understanding, for our
bodies and for each other. Yet since Jacob and I went into
the program, we've had an attempted rape and a knifing.
That's just the first day and a half. There will be school
events till at least Saturday that we all need to attend."

"Do you really blame the Program?"

"No. I blame us all."

"Us all??"

"Yes. I blame the football coaches for the football team
being taught that they are above rules and ethics. I blame
the school for permitting this. I blame Jacob for thinking
he has to fight this battle alone. And I blame myself and
the rest of the school for letting Jacob do this. Don't you
realize that if we all stood together, we could change
things in this school on a scale that even my boyfriend
would have difficulty matching," I said earnestly. "But by
meekly letting things go on as they are in the name of some
football championship, or because the victims are un - cool,
we invite the trouble to happen. Because of this, we will
probably lose both Jacob and the football goals, because
neither side is liable to back down."

Megan reluctantly wrote down Tiffany's indictment against
the high school's mentality. "A moment ago, you called Jacob
your boyfriend. Why? What would make him a better choice
then somebody with looks and coolness? There are others in
this school besides the football team, aren't there?"

"Because he was strong enough to cry tears of sorrow for me.
No man has ever done that for me before."

"Sounds like a contradiction. Strong enough to cry tears,"
Megan pointed out.

"It is, but it's true nonetheless. He was the only man to
care that much about how I felt inside. All the others only
wanted my body or the fame of dating a cheerleader. Hey, I
thought this interview was about me."

"It is. Tell us about your activities."

"I'm a member of Future Farmers of America, the 4H, Science
Club, and the Student Events Committee."

"Does Jacob share any of those interests?"

I just glared at her.

Megan had the grace to look sheepish. "I'm trying, Tiffany,
I really am. But the truth is the reason everybody is going
to read this article is that you captured the heart of
Jacob. That has not been done before. I spent the morning
checking the gossip networks. They are all going to want to
know how you did it. Your friends here know there is more to
you than who you are dating. But we all know that everybody
in the high school is not like that. They care about the
sensational, the thrilling, those things which we think are
either beyond us or such things that we think are too cool.
We care about things based more on enjoyment than substance.
The more exciting it is, the more amazing it is, the more we
teenagers like it." Megan was talking earnestly now. She had
a point to make. Tiffany had put herself in quite a spot and
how she handled it could make all the difference. "Take that
race you and Jacob ran against Heather yesterday. She
planned to show you up, make you think that you were
choosing the wrong man, right?"

I looked at Megan. She had a point. But what, what was she
trying to accomplish? And what has a race to do with
anything. I was just trying to get Jacob to participate more
in what most people call normal student behavior. He humored
me, as I knew he would. I'm probably the only person in this
school that can do that. Hmmm. I was probably also not the
only person to enjoy putting Heather in her place either.

Could it be that simple? I know I can offer Jacob love and
support. After all, that's probably all he expects of me.
But maybe he does not have to hate who he is. Through his
desire to please me, I can use my knowledge of the high
school to try to shape him to be more cool.

But would he want to? He has built a legend, that for all
his hatred of it, serves him quite well.

Can it be possible? Take the man behind the legend, fall in
love with him, and together shape the legend so that he can
be more of what he'd rather be while still insuring less
pain and stress?

"I know what Heather wanted to do. Humiliate Jacob and have
me think that no legend is worth the shame of going with
him."

"Did it work?"

I laughed. "No. Like all of us at one time or another, she
underestimated what Jacob could do."

"Based on this, we come to the question everybody is asking
about you. I ask you, what do you think you can offer
Jacob?"

I think I went crazy. I must have left my mind in my locker
along with the books from my last class. Because I finally
stopped playing things carefully. I told the truth.

"Personally there is nothing I have that Jacob does not have
or can not get if he puts his mind to it. He has everything
he needs but the understanding that he can be popular. He's
built a legend. But that legend exists between the happiness
of who he is and who he thinks he should be. The only thing
I can offer is to help him to understand that he can be both
without losing himself. The only reason I can offer him this
is because for all he is and knows, there are things he does
not consider. I'm going to help him with that."

Megan listened to that. "If you can do that, you should have
a legend of your own."

"God help this school if we become a pair of legends."

Diane looked around. "Perhaps that would be a good thing for
this school. We need our status quo upset at times."

The room went silent.

Various voices spoke in disbelief.

"No way."

"How can he? I thought he got stabbed!"

"He did! He was bleeding all over my coat."

"Will nothing stop him?"

"You know what they say. Murphy's Law strikes when it is
least wanted."

I looked where everybody else was looking.

Jacob was there. He was as naked as he was this morning,
except for the thick bandages around his right hand. He also
had that mixed look of world-weariness and triumph that so
annoyed his fellow teenagers.

This time though I could sense some underlying sadness.

He saw us all staring and muttered something about
"spectator sports". In a louder voice he said, "I have
indeed returned," After a pause he added, "and now I am
going to eat."

Lucy called out for Jacob to join us at our table. "Come,
sit with us."

Jacob looked around and saw the various looks he was
getting. "You do know that you are making yourselves
targets, don't you?" Bill looked around in disgust. "Forget
them. Are you ok?"

"I've just been knifed. Should I be ok?"

"Good point," Bill responded.

"However I will say that I'm feeling better now."

"With that bandage I doubt you're feeling anything at all
right now." A sarcastic voice said.

Jacob didn't bother reacting.

I did react. I asked him, "How would you like to be feeling
the floor with your head?"

"Well, well," another voice said, "The geek needs a girl to
protect him. How sad."

I started to get up. Today was not a good day to find out
how bad my bad side really was.

Megan put a hand on my shoulder.

Jacob simply lifted his left hand. "Let the fools babble.
I've more important decisions to make."

Diane got up and got him some lunch.

Megan moved away a bit so he could sit next to me.

He sat down, thanking Megan with a nod.

As he ate, I lost all doubt that he was a right-handed
person. Eventually he gave up fighting with the lunch.

As he sat there thinking, more remarks came in our
direction.

I looked around to see a crowd gathering.

Jacob sighed. "Am I a spectator sport?" he asked tiredly.

Fred spoke out from the crowd. "You should have just stayed
away. Eventually you will be beat down."

"For the love of the fates, why me?" Jacob turned and looked
Fred in the face. "That may be, but at least Kevin will not
be doing any of the beating."

"Dream on." Heather said.

Oh great. I'm going to quit cheerleading if half of what she
says is true about the mentality of the rest of the
cheerleaders.

"At least Kevin will not be an issue any longer."

"Why?"

"What did you do?"

"You're kidding."

"Relax, there's nothing he can do to Kevin." Heather said
confidently.

"Really." Although Jacob spoke normally, everybody quieted.
He'd been in the school long enough for us to learn when
he's waiting to drop some verbal bombshell.

"Okay. Spit it out, geek." Heather ordered.

"Kevin has been arrested. The school refused to press
charges. They continued their 'protect the football crowd'
policies. I pressed charges myself. He should have been
picked up last period."

There was a murmur of discontent though the football
favoring crowd.

"You guys forced me to this point."

Am I hearing sadness in Jacob's voice? Doesn't he realize
that it's outright war between him and the football squad?
Somebody has to have a clear victory, or this will never
end.

Jacob continued. "I will not tolerate any further attacks,
either on Tiffany or myself. I had Kevin charged with a
charge that the school could not drop. Attempted
assassination. I do qualify as a political figure, and I
have no doubt Kevin meant to kill me."


Chapter 26: Jacob

Personal log (voice), J. J. Stone, captain of the Flying
Dutchman, October 27th 2006.

That shut them up good. Finally a move that actually made
those sports addicted annoyances think about exactly how far
they wanted to play this game.

Don't misunderstand me. I enjoy victories. Unfortunately,
despite what they are thinking, that was not a victory. All
I wanted to do is move them beyond their jock vs. geek
mentality. And with all the skills I'm supposed to have, I
should have been able to do this without going outside the
school.

So in part the legend failed by allowing this to happen. I
really should have been paying closer attention. But then
again as far as they are concerned, the legend succeeded.
I'm sure none of them thought I would get Kevin arrested.

God help me, the legend is moving beyond my control. How
soon before the legend becomes me???

Now I've joined my school life with my political life.

I really wanted to keep them separate. I mean I know that I
am possibly the oddest student ever to walk these halls, but
I still want to make some attempt at being a typical
teenager. If I did not want that, I could have joyfully
embraced the legend. Life would be easier. Probably.

About the time I reached that conclusion, the sixth period
bell rang.

Oh dear. Coach Koke seems to be subbing today.

"Stone. On the bench. You've not in gym uniform, you're
getting an F. Shame we are doing the test today. Your usual
teacher does not permit retests, does he?" Koke was laughing
as he turned his back.

I had the feeling that it was futile to try to explain that
the Program required me to be naked in this class along with
all my others. The only thing the coach probably wants to
hear from me is an apology and public acceptance of the
football program's superiority over geeks and odd people
like me. Fat chance of that ever happening.

"Stone! In my office right now!"

Come into the parlor said the spider to the fly...

"Yes, coach."

Bzzzzz bzzzzz.

The coach closed the door behind me.

Now I knew it was a trap. Or was it something else? Could
there be hope that he was just keeping up appearances and is
going to try to negotiate some peace in here?"

"Kevin was pulled out of my Driver's Ed class by two
policemen and arrested."

Old news. "Indeed." I kept my voice carefully neutral.
"Rumors have it, you are responsible."

I just nodded.

"Then get on that phone this second you shit assed bastard
and drop those charges. You managed to get him arrested. Now
do whatever you must to get him freed by the end of this
class period."

"No."

"Do it!" Koke screamed.

"He tried to kill me. This is beyond your arrogant disregard
for students who clash with your team. He raised the ante
with that knife assault. A pity he did not bother to find
out exactly what I might be capable of."

Koke grabbed a bat. "It doesn't matter if he knifed you, you
scrawny bastard. He's on my team. That gives him permission
to treat geeky shits like you however he wants."

God help me, I embraced the legend.

"Hit me with that bat, and you had better kill me. Otherwise
I will make my purpose in life to so destroy your sports
future as to even make sure you are banned from the sports
teams of what ever prison you end up in. What I did with
Kevin is a small taste of the power at the disposal of Jacob
Jehoooooooooooosophat Stone. Use me as a batting target at
your peril."

The coach stopped as he was coming around his desk. Despite
his bigotry, it was obvious that there was some power to
this scrawny geek that he had never noticed. Slowly he put
the bat down.

That's right, Koke. Get a taste of the power at my command,
learn there is justification for my arrogant bearing.
Clothes may make a man, but true power resides in what he
can do with himself. Koke looked at me. Very quietly he said
"I have to respect a kid who can match power and fear with
me. But I cannot let you win this battle. The football team
has a special practice last period. We are going to have a
long talk. I have a feeling you should change schools
tonight."

A crack in his shields?

I had to give him something back. "Coach, I and those who
trust my judgment could have been valuable supporters of the
sports programs. Brains means we can put science into the
game, do calculations to do those small changes to give
greater, more assured victories. After all, who do the jocks
usually run to for tutoring to prevent their grades from
getting too low? I heard after my return from the hospital
emergency room that the geeks of this school as you call
them, have decided to stop their tutoring. Even without my
asking, they stood by me. How far do we have to fight this
war? Until both sides are too devastated to care about the
victory? How high a price are you willing to let the
football players pay for their egos, the egos you fed?"

The bell announcing the end of class rang then.

I nodded at the coach and headed for Ms. Q's class. As the
country song puts it, the battle lines are clearly drawn.

Upon arriving in my next class, I sat down next to Tiffany.

She leaned over and kissed me.

I composed myself. By the time class started, I looked calm
and detached like I usually did. If it were not for the
bandage, there'd be no clue from me of all today's troubles.

Ms. Q. noticed the bandage and asked if I was ok.

I told her I was ok.

Ms. Q. turned and addressed the class. "Yesterday we
discussed first times. We had an eventful and revealing
class, didn't we?"

There was some laughter and comments in the affirmative.

I contented myself with winking at Tiffany.

She smiled back.

"Ok, Jacob," the teacher asked, "after yesterday's
revelations and the effects they had on you two, I think we
all want to know something."

"Everybody expects me to have all the answers" I sighed.

"This question a lot of us think we have the answer to. But
you are one of only two people who can confirm it."

"Go ahead."

"Did you and Tiffany hook up?"

"Yes." I let loose a genuine smile. "I have the honor to be
Tiffany's boyfriend. Possibly, no make that certainly the
greatest achievement I have yet accomplished."

"But Jacob, what about your hovercraft?" Tiffany asked.

"Simple science. I enjoy it, but it cannot bring me
happiness. You can, and do."

"Your too sweet."

"No man can be sweet enough to match what you deserve. But
I'm going to give it my best shot."

Ms Q. coughed slightly. "That's really romantic. Which leads
me to the discussion topic I have planned for this
afternoon's class. We've learned that a person's first time
can color that person's attitudes on sex. But any two people
can have sex. As you've no doubt seen, sex can be easily
bought if you happen to be in the right area. It can be
offered to you if you are famous enough or as a bribe for
favors. But as you will all learn, that is simply sex. There
is no pleasure beyond the skill of your partner and the
rewards/ treats the partner might give you. Now for the big
question. Tiffany, Jacob, have you two had sex yet?"

I sounded slightly disappointed. "Ms. Q, I told you
yesterday that gentleman do not kiss and tell, and that at
the very least, I am a gentleman."

I don't know why I bothered. No sooner did I finish trying
to be noble and protect her reputation when she opened that
sexy but occasionally big mouth of hers.

"Yes we did. This morning."

"This morning, Tiffany? Where?"

Tiffany gave me a questioning look.

I gave her a slight 'go ahead' grin.

Tiffany gave me a more normal looking grin back.

I nodded and I held up three fingers, then two, then one,
then as I dropped the last finger down, I said "In my
hovercraft."

Tiffany said "On the floor of Jacob's hovercraft."

The various reactions I heard from the class were to say the
least, surprised. From a few of the comments, you'd think we
announced we had God's personal telephone number.

"I'm curious. Was this sex any different? And be honest
now."

Tiffany looked at me. "I'll go first. You are right, Ms. Q.
Sex with a man I love, and who loves me was much better than
anything before."

Even I am incapable of recording how I felt when I heard
those words.

First I gave Tiffany a loving look and whispered, "Might as
well give them what they are expecting." Then I turned to
address the class. "To answer your question, Ms. Q, yes and
no. Clinically speaking, the same. Sex is sex. But on an
emotional level, on those levels beyond science, it was most
certainly different. Sorry, Becky, but feelings do matter. I
may not be the most experienced in matters of sex, but I
think that while sex for fun is fun, sex when you are in
love is so much more enjoyable."


Chapter 27: Tiffany

I love him, but he says things in the oddest ways.

"I would like to point out that it is better because those
in love care more about each other's loving. They want it to
be an enjoyable experience for both."

The bell rang then.

We all gathered our stuff and started to leave. Well
everybody but Jacob and myself. We had nothing to gather.

Ms. Q. held Jacob and I back. "Is it possible the two of you
could choose a fantasy to play out in our next class?"

Jacob looked shocked.

"The reason I chose you two is simple. Those in love are
more willing to play such games, and more willing to trust
that the partner would not hurt her or him."

"That's true," I said, "I'll talk Jacob into it, don't
worry."

Talk him into it, or seduce him into it. Either way I'll get
him to do it. And me.

In science class I made sure we were in the same lab group
again.

When it came time to hand out the chemicals, Mr. Shuman
said, "You two have to sit out the lab for safety reasons."

"Won't that mean a zero for the day?" I asked.

"I'm afraid so." Our science teacher replied.

"Might I offer a suggestion?" Jacob asked.

"Sure."

"How about the two of us stand off to the side. Tiffany can
do the writing. I'll just give instructions and
suggestions."

"Jacob, you've been a bit of a pain in my class. Why should
I work with you?"

"Because, otherwise I'll just fill in the answers in my lab
book, and share them with Tiffany. If you spare us the
effort of actually participating, we should be turning in
our lab session notes in about five minutes."

I smiled. And people wonder what sort of advantages dating
Jacob has. Name me one jock that can do what he just said.

My science teacher was torn between the idea of having me at
least learn something out of this lab, or the safety laws.
He had no doubt Jacob already knew the answers. He thought
for a few seconds. "Sorry. The safety rules cannot be
ignored." He whispered the next part. "But if Jacob will at
least wait ten minutes, I'll let him fill out the book and
give you the answers. That way you two can avoid zeros for
the day."

"Done." Jacob said.

The rest of science class went quietly. I figured now was
not the time to bring up the things Ms. Q. wanted us to talk
about.

The last bell for the day rang and the general stampede
began.

One thing was strange though. Nobody was trying to touch us.
Jacob not being touched I could understand. But why not me?

Jacob watched as the third crowd split around us. He leaned
into my ear and whispered, "It seems we are outside the
usual interactions. Also I see the biggest jocks are not
having their usual followings. It's as if we are all above
things and that everybody is waiting for their retaliation.
They don't want to be at ground zero, lest they become
victims of my next reaction. I knew I should have looked for
some other solution."

I pulled him to the side. "Look, despite what you think,
that was the best move to make. The football players and you
were headed for a showdown. The more dangerous you look, the
more likely you will be able to convince them to watch their
step. It's too much to hope for that everybody will shake
hands anyway."

"Ok. I'm just not happy about making such moves. Such
actions prevent me from being liked by the general student
body. To change the subject, can you do me a favor?" Jacob
asked.

"Sure."

"It will be tough."

"If it was easy, you probably would not be asking. I'll be
thrilled to help you." I tried to sound as eager as I could.

"Very well. Thanks to Kevin, I have a problem." Jacob held
up his bandaged right hand. "The problem is that I need two
hands to fly the Flying Dutchman. I need you to help me
pilot the Flying Dutchman to and from the away game. The
soccer game is at St. James High School."

My mouth didn't hit the floor. But that was only because my
brain gave up its control on the rest of my body. After
Jacob dropped that bomb, the rest of me went on autopilot.

Jacob was going to trust me to fly his hovercraft?

Hold on, I don't even have a driver's license!!

Is he out of his mind???

If he is, then I better agree. Besides it will give me a
level of equality with him in the eyes of the school.
Besides, I love him so that despite that crazy idea, I trust
him to have some clue what he is doing.

I hope.

"I'll be glad to do it."

Jacob smiled.

"And hopefully get a chance to do you too."

Jacob smiled even wider.

We went to get our clothes, and carried them to the parking
lot. On the way towards the parking lot, Diane came over.
She had three other girls with her.

"Tiffany, hi, Jacob, hi... where are you two going?"

"I'm taking Jacob to the soccer game."

"But you don't drive," one of the other girls mentioned.

I just smiled.

Jacob looked at the girl and her two companions. Then he
just raised an eyebrow.

Diane introduced them. "Jacob, this one is Candy, Cindy is
the one with the long blond hair, and the one on the end
with the baseball cap is Carla. They are all cheerleaders."

Jacob looked at all three of them and said "Interesting." He
was examining them as if they were probable opponents. "More
Heathers?"

"Jacob!" Diane shouted.

I glared at him. "That was not very nice."

"Perhaps not." Jacob said. "But I'm quite aware that I'm in
a duel with a good deal of the cool people of the school.
Tiffany, you and Diane I know and trust. The rest of the
cheerleaders are unknowns, and I know that Heather is trying
to get them to turn on me as well."

Carla said, "I'll be honest. I agree with everything
Heather's been saying except the point where Tiffany's
supposed to have no choice but to do as they command. Most
of us would be proud to get it on with them, yes, but I
disagree that we should have no choice."

Jacob took her hand and shook it. "I respect your honesty. I
never expected all the cheerleaders to support me. All I
ever hoped for from them was that they would respect
Tiffany's choices."

Candy smiled. "For personal reasons, I'd like to see you
stopped before you are too successful. But I agree with
Coach Cane. If both you and the football team do fight an
all out war, we will all suffer."

Cindy looked at him. "I'm Kevin's girlfriend. I came along
to see the menace that has the proper school order so shook
up."

Jacob gave a mock bow. "Ah yes, Cindy Pubsgate. Jacob
Jehosophat Stone at your service. May I be honest with you?"

"Please do."

"I know what I say will be passed back to the football
supporters within the hour. Please tell them that even now
it does not have to be war 'til one side is destroyed. I
have played such games in the past and such victories never
thrill me. I have many cards still to play, and I suspect
they have plans of their own. Your boyfriend was the first
casualty. You and Carla, and those cheerleaders who agree
with the two of you are perfectly placed to look for a
settlement. All I seek is equality. I may never be cool, but
this feud has forced me to reveal the legend of Jacob Stone
as only partially an act. And I know damned well that the
football players have reps of their own. Common ground
exists. But since I made the call that got Kevin arrested, I
can no longer make any moves toward a settlement. So long as
nobody cares to get between us, it can only get worse,"
Jacob said as he sadly shook his head. Then he let loose a
deep sigh. "That's how is stands. You did not hide your
loyalty to the one man who you had to know is not a friend
of Kevin. To you I will make my last gesture before the feud
overtakes us all. I'll be willing to listen to peace
gestures until I leave St. James field. After that, I'm
afraid the football players will most likely be making their
next move. From thence on it will most likely be a battle to
final defeat."

Cindy looked surprised. "In your shoes I'd be going for
total victory, destroy them all as they would destroy you."

"And then they would be plotting to do worse. Instead of the
war lasting a week at the longest, it will be forever. Too
many innocents will be hurt. I want them defeated to the
point they cannot harm me. That is all. The rest of their
pride they can keep."

Diane spoke up at that point. "The four of us are going to
the soccer game to cheer them on. Want to come with us?"


Chapter 28: Jacob

Personal log (voice), J. J. Stone, captain of the Flying
Dutchman, 3:05 pm October 27th 2006.

Tiffany told her "I'm riding with Jacob. We'll catch up."

"I'll be right back." I left Tiffany to talk a bit with the
cheerleaders while I picked up a few things. I ducked into
the supply room, and got the soccer books. I looked at the
bag of soccer balls we used for practicing, and decided to
take them in the Flying Dutchman.

A couple of members of the soccer team saw me and demanded
to know what I thought I was doing.

"With a cheerleader squad joining you, you guys are not
going to have room for this on the bus."

They stopped listening after I said 'joining you'. They were
too busy running off to find out which cheerleaders were
going. With luck, they would be some of the few who did not
have boyfriends at the moment.

"I'll meet you there!" I shouted after them.

I rejoined Tiffany and we headed towards the craft.

"Ok Tiffany, you first enter a six digit code to open the
hatch. I've recently switched it to a very important date in
my life. You should easily be able to remember it as well.
You input the numbers." I moved out of the way.

Tiffany entered the code correctly. As the hatch opened, she
turned to help me put the ball bag onboard. "One, one, zero,
five, nine, one... November 5th, 1991..." she whispered to
her self. "Hey, that's my birthday! How sweet of you to use
it."

I smiled. I had changed the code last night.

After we both boarded the Flying Dutchman, I steered Tiffany
into the control seat.

Tiffany looked at the controls. I saw a flash of
comprehension cross her eyes as she read the various labels.
She lifted her hands and made a few motions with them, as if
she was testing ideas out. Then she slid something.

The hatch shut.

She smiled.

I grinned. "Impressive, for a cheerleader. And just a small
fraction of what I expect you can do. This time I'm going to
show you how to set the systems up. The actual flight you
will get to do." I leaned around Tiffany and received a very
distracting view.

Concentrate, Jacob. You miss something and the only
excitement the both of us will get will be as the Flying
Dutchman crashes.

Tiffany was not helping any with the way she was leaning her
breast into my arm.

It was only with the help of an epic effort that I
concentrated on the lesson. "First, Tiffany, you engage the
primary engine by flipping the switch located on the wall to
your left. When only one person is flying the ship, that
person usually stands between the two chairs. The third
chair behind me will have access to all the ships functions,
but will probably not be connected before Thursday. There
are two rows of engine controls at that point. One of them
says conventional. Push the button marked 'One'. While you
are in that area, adjust the heater as you wish. No reason
to dress since we are only going to have to strip once we
get there. The rest of that side is simply engineering
controls." I pointed one out. "When the reading on number
one engine reaches 75%, hit that button there. That is the
recyclatron. It basically takes the developed power and
regulates the flow versus the need. If more power is being
produced then is being used, it recycles through the system,
reducing the draw off the energy fields and thus saves the
fuel. The recyclatron also feeds the batteries. Extra energy
is dissipated safely. The upshot is the more energy the ship
can use wisely, the longer the fuel cells will last." I
waited while she dutifully watched the engine's indicator.

Two minutes later, it reached 79%.

Tiffany pushed the button.

All the interior lights came on. A gentle hum filled the
ship. A gust of hot air washed over us as the environmental
systems compensated between initial readings and the
requested settings. And the radio came on.

Tiffany looked around in awe. "Now this is more like it. It
was impressive before, but this, this would get even those
loudmouth idiots in school to shut up and take notice."

"True. But I did not build it to show off to fools. I built
it for use. If I have a say in it, it will not become a
tourist attraction with tour guides and t - shirts saying 'I
flew in the Flying Dutchman'."

"A shame. You could easily buy popularity with this. The one
thing we students in this school all love is something
impressive. What next?"

"For the remainder of this flight, you can sit down in the
right chair. On the wall to your right, make sure the flight
systems are set to sub orbital. Then put my cell phone onto
the downward slot in the center." I handed her my phone.

She put it in and grinned as the lights on the communication
system kicked in.

I was beginning to think that she loves putting up and
powering up Christmas lights too. "Ok. Now, you look at the
screens in front of you. The one on your left has GPS
mapping and our current location. The one to your right has
the most important indicators and their current readings. In
front of you is a large area that looks solid. Either you
can open a set of windows, or you can push the large button
above the left hand screen at your console."

She did so. "Wow." She gasped as a holographic projection
was played in the area just in front of the two control
chairs. "Cool." She turned to face me. That's when she
really gasped in surprise. No matter where she looked, she
saw the projection displaying what she would have seen if
there had been no metal hull between her and the outside.
"But yesterday there was only a forward projection screen! I
would have certainly remembered something like this!!"

"Yesterday there was only that, yes. But last night I needed
to work off some frustration, so I combined the observation
system to the projection system, and ran it all through the
computer for enhancement quality."

"This is just tooo cool. Can I show a couple friends?
Please???"

I sighed. "I'll think about it. Next you power up the
hoverjets. To your lower right in your panel, there is a
bunch of twelve switches with dials next to them. Flip them
all from neutral to positive, and set the dials all to 3.5.
That should be able to deal with any environments we
encounter on this trip. As a rule, the more unsteady the
surface, the higher the power rating you want. To the right
of those controls you'll see a set of four pointing
switches. They are for aiming the inner four hoverjets.
Simply kill power to the jet, aim it, and boost the power
up, then hit the button below it. They happen to be the only
weapons the ship has."

"Is this how you blew them away yesterday?" She laughed.
"Pun intended."

"Yep. Now repeat after me. There is nothing more useless
then a lock with a voice print."

"There is nothing more useless then a lock with a voice
print." Tiffany repeated obediently.

"System. Authorization delta omega 714. The previous voice
is now authorized to access system and voice control.
Tiffany, choose a passcode."

Tiffany thought for a moment. "Wabash Cannonball."

"Acknowledged. System now acknowledges Tiffany French as
authorized to control the Flying Dutchman."

"Tiffany. Get a system check."

"System. Current status according to set parameters."
Tiffany was proud of herself for her choice of words.

The deep computer voice responded. "One hundred percent."

Tiffany relaxed. She had been following the instructions
cautiously. But now she had an insight. Complex as the man
behind the ship was, he did not go out his way to build it
so. She realized that no matter the high sciences that make
the ship work, the controls themselves are relatively
logical. She understood the controls. She probably would
have no clue about the inner workings, but the ships
controls she knew she could handle.

"Great, Tiffany, you keep this up and people might stop
thinking I'm the smartest student around here. Now put your
right hand on the thing that looks like a sponge ball.
Incidentally, that is what I call that control. With your
left hand, key in the power levels you expect to use."

She checked the power readouts, and made a few guesses. She
keyed them in as I watched.

Excellent. She's not trying to test limits or show off.
"Next is the automatic avoidance device. That basically
scans the environment and keeps us from hitting anything we
shouldn't. On Friday I should have it capable of not only
warning and stopping, but of choosing an alternate course to
avoid trouble without troubling the pilot. Activate the
automatic avoidance device now, if you would."

"System, activate the automatic avoidance device, please."

"Activated." The system's bass voice responded.

"And now for the moment you've been waiting for. Now you
grab the joystick in your left hand, and squeeze the ball
lightly with your right hand. It will seem as if the ship is
almost controlled by a force of will. The more pressure, the
more power the desired action will receive."

Tiffany put her hands on the controls. She squeezed gently,
and moved the joystick back. A more decisive hum filled the
ship. She continued though the parking lot towards the road.

Suddenly an alarm sounded. The ship froze in its current
location. "What the hell??"


Chapter 29: Tiffany

Tuesday, just after school

Jacob sat in the unfinished command seat with his usual
annoying calm. "Check the screens."

I did. There were a bunch of cars boxing the ship in from
all sides. I thought I saw something in common about most of
the drivers. "System! Give me distance enhancement, ten
feet."

"Acknowledged." The ever-obedient computer replied.

I could see the insides of those cars so clearly I thought I
could reach out and slug those idiot drivers. But I could
also see what the common factor was between all the drivers
involved. They all were wearing football jackets.

Poor fools. Have they no idea what my boyfriend has put at
my command?

I hit the speaker button. "Move your cars or else."

"No."

"No way."

"Not going to happen."

"Dream on."

"Even that thing cannot push all of our cars out of the
way."

"We're going nowhere."

"Neither are you."

Then we heard an annoyingly familiar voice. "Give it up,
bitch. The only way you are getting out of here is if you
leave Jacob behind to be punished by the football team for
having Kevin arrested. Your boyfriend is going to get what
he deserves."

Jacob sounded disgusted. "Heather. This girl could not be
crossing my path more if I were dating her."

"Fuck off," Heather shouted back. "That will never happen."

"Thank every god ever worshipped!" Jacob said with great
feeling. "I can think of no more horrible a fate than to be
tied to you. Hell, such an evil bitch as you, I would not
even want to touch."

I said nothing. I just stared at the controls. I had every
intention of getting us out of this little fix without
asking Jacob for help.

Of course. The hoverjets. According to this screen, we are
five feet off the ground. If I kick in a couple of the back
up engines, then it should be easy to deal with these
idiots. I got up, went over to the engineering area and
activated engine numbers two and three. Then I watched the
power indicators as the extra power started flowing through
the systems. Then I moved the hoverjets' control settings to
6.5.

The crowd watching this clash now watched the hovercraft
rise to 30 feet.

As we flew over the cars, I could not resist a squeal of
triumphant laughter.

This is almost too easy.

Now all I have to do is get Jacob to care about moving in
high school society as much as he cares about science. He
even has a major part of what he needs to do already done.
He just refuses to take it to the next level. I wonder why.
What is he so afraid of that he refuses to let loose all of
his abilities? He has things that would get him credit with
the cool people if only he'd let them be used that way. His
intelligence is off the scale...

I flew on, amazed at how easy the controls responded to my
touch. I swear if I sneezed, there was a chance the air from
that sneeze might be registered as a command.

Jacob picked up a sheaf of papers. He snorted and sank into
thought.

"What interesting project do you have there?"

"This is a recruitment package from MIT. I sent a basic
version of the ship's visual system as part of the packet I
had to fill out for the guaranteed admissions program. Now
they will not leave me alone." Jacob snorted even louder.
"As if this is anything special."

Can he be that dense? 'As if this is anything special' he
says. If he walked on water, he probably would complain if
people noticed his shoes stayed dry. Is it possible the
sheer miracle of his achievements escapes him? Does he think
that anyone else in the school, hell, in the state can so
easily do what he has done?

About ten minutes later I found myself passing the school
bus with the team on it to our right.

I waved.

Hey, I may be in something the people who work at Area 51
might want to get their fingers on, but I'm still a
teenager.

Why is nobody waving back?

Without even looking up from his papers, Jacob said
"Windows."

How did he know?

Of course. The visual projections only go one way. I used
the controls Jacob told me would open the windows and waved
again.

Jacob gave his friends on the bus a brief wave of
acknowledgement. Then he returned to the sheaf of papers he
had been reading. "According to this, they still wish to
admit me in January. But now they want to pay any expense I
possibly incur while there, but as soon as I finish my
degree, they want to offer me a position on the faculty if I
produce a few more inventions like the one I submitted."

"That's great." I sounded really thrilled.

I heard the effort in Jacob's voice as he tried to share my
enthusiasm. "But the cost of accepting this package is to
lose all hope of having any sort of normal teenaged life. I
will forever become the legend."

I have plans for that legend.

I squeezed the sponge ball a little harder. The ship sped up
a bit.

Jacob's cell phone rang.

"Nearly every lesser function can be done by voice control."
Jacob told me. "System. Put the incoming call on the
loudspeakers."

"Jacob?"

"Yes Bob?"

"Could you follow the bus?"

"Why?"

"It would be better if we all arrived as a team."

"Would it? I'm not exactly the most popular fellow around,
you know."

"Believe us, we know."

Jacob asks "Given the controversy and my recent actions, are
you sure we should arrive together?"

It sounded to me like Bob held out his phone as he relayed
the question.

"Hell yes." One player says.

"Of course."

"He's not the coolest, but he's a better person than a lot
of people I know."

"He is a member of the team."

"I'm not worried about being seen with him."

"Heck, I'd be proud to be seen with him."

It sounded like Bob got his phone back. "Looks like they
want you, Jacob."

Jacob wiped a few tears from his eyes. He was seriously
touched. It is not only a game of high school politics. Some
people actually gave a damn about Jacob, even if they do not
truly know who he is.

I could not keep silent. "See, you have more people who like
you than you thought."

"The cheerleaders are there to support our team. I do not
want to put them in a bad mood."

Bob snapped back, "Jacob, will you stop being so fucking
self sacrificial? You have a right to your own happiness. It
is not your purpose in life to solve everyone else's
problems, no matter how we act at times. Enjoy yourself,
goddammit! Sorry coach."

A new voice came over the speakers. "Jacob, this is Carla.
The cheerleaders here agree with Bob. Even Cindy."

Cindy's voice was heard in the background agreeing.

"Convinced?" Bob asks. "Some people actually like you."

"I'm glad." Jacob says, "I may have mastered being the
outcast. That does not mean I am enjoying it."

Then Jacob broke down in tears. Unable to speak clearly, he
signaled for the hovercraft to move behind the bus.

I shut the windows. I did not think Jacob wanted his tears
exposed to the world.


Chapter 30: Jacob

Personal log (voice), J. J. Stone, captain of the Flying
Dutchman, 3:22pm October 27th 2006

I heard Coach Bromby's voice next. "Jacob, what about our
team's practice soccer balls? They told me you had them."

I summoned my will power. Not a chance I was ready to let
them know how much the proceeding conversation affected me.
"I do. I figured you, or at least the players would have
preferred the space free for the cheerleaders."

"Good guess."

"I have the record books and two ball bags in the Flying
Dutchman."

"Okay. But I have just one more question."

"Go ahead."

"What are you doing in that thing?"

"Teaching Tiffany to drive. We'll follow you there."

I could not help crying just then. I was seriously touched
by the fact that they felt that way. I was not alone
anymore. I had a lover and I had support. High school might
actually be enjoyable after all.

And I was proud of how skillfully Tiffany was piloting the
Flying Dutchman. Outside of that parking lot incident, she
did not trigger the automatic avoidance system once.

I might have to get one of these ships for her use.

Tiffany followed the bus to the St. James parking lot.

She didn't cut the power though.

I put the pile of MIT papers down. Prior to that cell phone
conversation I was actually considering accepting MIT's
offer. Outside of Tiffany I was starting to wonder if all
the high school had to offer me were quixotic challenges.

"Do you trust me?" Tiffany asked.

Stupid question. She would not be in that seat, and most
certainly she would not be my girlfriend if I did not trust
her. I just responded "Of course."

"Then just get out of here, with the books, and trust me."

Ok. I waited for her to open the hatch and I got out. I took
the team books with me. I met up with Bob, Megan and the
others and we entered the stadium. I saw that they had set
up a soccer field at one end.

As we were entering, coach Bromby came up beside me. "We're
going to need the bags of soccer balls in a few minutes, you
know."

"Tiffany has it covered."

We exited the little tunnel to the main field.

There were some gasps.

We heard some discussion about the Program and that this was
the first time they saw a Program student naked at an after
school event.

It seems that at St. James, Program students can dress as
they usually would for after school events.

Then one of the St. James players shouted, "What the HELL is
that?" He was pointing skyward.

The other players were looking up too. Some were in
disbelief. Our players were just amused.

I had an idea what it was. Tiffany was showing off in the
Flying Dutchman. Does she really think popularity can be
bought with gimmicks and impressive gestures?

The Flying Dutchman cleared the stadium with the ease of the
Goodyear blimp and flew around the field.

Carla said, "That gives me an idea for the homecoming game.
A sign hanging from that ship would be impressive. Plus it
would be good in the homecoming parade."

Cindy told her, "That would be a great idea if it were not
for the fact that the ship belongs to Jacob. I've never seen
him care about a sports game. Plus he definitely is not a
fan of our football team at the moment."

Candy smiled. "But he loves Tiffany. Maybe she could
convince him. Come to think of it, where is Tiffany anyway?"

The St. James coach came running over. "That's... that's...
that's IMPOSSIBLE!!!" He stared at the ship as it completed
its circuit of the field and headed towards an open area of
the field.

Oh, am I going to spank the hell out her for this. It is
entirely too early for everybody to start expecting things
of the Flying Dutchman. Hell, the bloody thing is only half
built!

I strode towards where she was landing the ship. My look
could have punctured every soccer ball on the field. "Clear
an area for her!! Keep those bloody gawkers out of there.
She has had no practice with crowded landings. Oh, for the
love of the Olympic soccer teams, keep them the hell out of
there!"

I must have seemed positively Kirk like. Even these kids had
to have heard of James T. Kirk. Completely ignoring the fact
I was naked, I headed where I needed to go.

The St. James coach reached coach Bromby. "That's
impossible. I should know. I'm the advanced placement
science teacher."

Bromby was not even going to try to explain things. "Jacob!"

I practically ran over to where she landed, shoving people
out of my way. By the time I got there, the hatch was
opening.

Tiffany opened the hatch and stood there smiling. "Did we
make a good impression?"

I glared at her. "Tiffany whatever the hell your middle name
is French, I love you dearly, but if you ever do something
like that again, I swear I'm going to spank your ass until
it is redder then the cheerleader outfits your friends are
wearing!"

She just kept that triumphant grin on her face.

"Now I've got to explain this to a bunch of people, the
majority of which can't drive a car to begin with." I headed
off towards the coaches. Then I briefly turned. "Absolutely
no tours!" I yelled back.

The two coaches were itching with impatience.

Bromby looked at Jacob, then at the St. James coach. "I'm
not even going to try to explain this. Jacob, you do it."

I sighed. "Bromby, you cannot explain it. And I cannot
explain it in a way this other fellow will understand it.
It's too complicated."

The other coach was not happy with that.

Tough. I did not come here to explain my science.

"Sir, it's not a matter of arrogance and disrespect. It's a
matter of high science and invention. Best to accept that is
a rather advanced hovercraft. We can get to the soccer game
quicker. That's why we came after all. Besides, I want to
observe my school's team trouncing yours."

The other coach glared at me for that response. "You may be
a scientific genius, but we are the better soccer team." He
blew his whistle hard.

The St. James players looked at their coach. Then back at
the Flying Dutchman. They were torn between their interest
in the game and fascination about the ship.

The coach blew his whistle twice, harder.

The St. James players reluctantly left the crowd around the
ship and went to start practicing.

Tiffany brought the ball bags over to our team.

Before the coach started our pre - game practice, he told
Tiffany "I want you to park the Flying Dutchman outside the
stadium. It's too big a distraction. You and Jacob running
around here naked will be enough of a distraction. Our team
does not need distractions to beat these opponents."

Tiffany did as the coach asked.

Our team watched briefly, and then continued practicing.

St. James' team watched the ship's flight until it
disappeared on the other side of the stadium. Their coach
glared daggers at me during the whole time the ship was
still visible.

The game went pretty well. Both teams were performing pretty
well. Still, by half time our team was 3 points ahead. I was
not going to complain. Although that foul kick that had a
soccer ball nearly take off my left leg did not please me
much. I could not get upset though. It was one of my
teammates that made the mistake.

Tiffany joined the rest of the cheerleaders shouting their
support from the stands. But she had problems of her own.
Being the only naked girl on the field meant that nearly
every male in the stadium was staring at her. Correction.
Make that every male in the stadium was staring.

The crowds had been getting steadily bigger as the game
proceeded.

At half time the St. James coach briefly stopped by our side
to congratulate us on a game well played so far. "These are
the biggest crowds I've ever seen for a regular game"

Tiffany giggled. "You could have crowds like this normally
if your Program students had to be naked at after school
events, too."

"I'm not sure we could take that type of distraction daily."
The coach smiled as he went back to his team.

I got my snack and looked around for a quiet place to sit
and think. As I was not a player, my presence is not really
needed for this part. Besides I get the idea that Tiffany at
least is getting too much attention. To keep our lead on the
scoreboard, they should get an undisturbed half time to talk
and plan.

I looked around. Perfect. Nice wooded area with a babbling
brook. It even had a few ducks swimming. Soothing and
relaxing.

Tiffany came up behind me. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that little spot in the woods would be perfect
for a little picnic." I pointed out the spot.

"Looks like a place I've been at as part of a 4H trip. Let's
go."

We went, wiped off a rock and sat down.

Tiffany put her arm around me.

I put my arm around her.

We cuddled.

Tiffany looked invitingly at me.

"You are too tempting," I replied, "but I doubt the host
school is used to two happily fucking students so close to
the stadium."

There was a noise behind me.

Looks like I chose right. Don't get me wrong, fucking
Tiffany is something I'd happily do all afternoon. Witnesses
however, I do not need.

I heard some more noise.

Sounds like more than one person. I waited for the students
to get 10 feet behind us. "The group of four who are
approaching from behind, who are you and what do you want?"

"Candy and Carla." Candy said.

"We have a couple of people we think you should talk to."
Carla added.

"Indeed? Who?"

"Our boyfriends on the football team."

Every sense went on alert. I couldn't get up, dammit. I was
trapped by that stupid legend into acting as though this
encounter was no different then somebody in the hallway at
school asking directions. I looked around for possible
weapons and escape routes.

I should have expected trouble. Trouble follows me like a
loyal sheepdog at school. Why should away games be any
different?

But Tiffany did not have to stay. If trouble was brewing, I
was not keeping her around here. "Tiffany, go."

"Why Jacob?"

"Because I do not want you at ground zero."

"Well, you have no choice in the matter. I'm staying."

Heaven save me from women who won't let me protect them.

"Don't worry," Carla said, "we are not here to cause
trouble."

Candy added, "Our boyfriends just want to talk. You said you
wanted to avoid more battles. Tiffany, remember coach Cane
asking us all to try to keep things under control?"

"Yes." Tiffany replied

"Well, we are trying."

"Ok, I said, "introduce them, I'll listen." I turned around.

Tiffany did likewise.

Candy went first. "Jacob, meet Dave."

I nodded.

"Jacob, meet Mike." Carla said next.

"Oh good grief. Not another one. Exactly how many people
named Mike are there at our school? You are the third one
I've met this week."

Mike chuckled. "Eight I think."

"Nice one Mike," I laughed. "You have my attention."

Dave and Mike looked at each other.

"You seem to have put him in a good mood, Mike, you go
first." Dave said.

"Ok. We're here to ask you to have pity on Kevin and save
the football team.

"Kevin? Have pity on one of the guys that attacked Tiffany
yesterday and tried to rape her? Not to mention his knifing
me today. There is also the little detail of the football
coach Koke nearly cracking a bat on me before 7th period."

I wanted them to realize that I was not the offending party,
no matter how much my victories hurt them.

Mike said, "We are only trying to diffuse the feuding
between you and the football team before it gets any worse."

"Gets worse?" Jacob asks.

"Just because we are football players does not make us dumb
jocks. You can move a large enough segment of the school on
us to cause us major trouble. Plus today we learned you will
call on your connections outside the school." Dave
interjected.

"So?"

"We also know from an uncle that your instructions are to
hold him, but not charge him pending you stopping by the
police station before the council meeting." Carla added.

"You guys are learning. Now, what can you offer me to make
me consider not charging him?"

"How about a promise to keep him out of your hair."

"Not good enough. I can do that right now. Why is one
hotheaded player so important to you anyway?"

"Because of a new state law. Any team with a member arrested
for school violence must forfeit the rest of the season."

"Bit draconian, that law. Do you have a better offer?"

They talked among themselves.

"Kevin gets benched for the season." Dave suggests.

"Getting better. Try both Kevin and Fred are benched for the
rest of the season, they must clean up after the Halloween
dance this Friday without help, and coach Koke must formally
apologize for his attacks on me, for not immediately
punishing Fred and Kevin for their attack on Tiffany, and he
must do this in front of the school at the school spirit
assembly this Friday morning."

The football players were shocked at that.

Dave frowned hard. "You arrogant bastard."

I said, "Yes I am, but the battles you force me to fight
make me so."

"When must you have your answer?"

"5:30 this evening. Agree to my terms and I'll have the
police chief put him on youth probation. That will avoid his
formal arrest and keep the team from being disqualified."

"Ok, we'll pass on your response."

Carla, Candy, Dave and Mike headed off. There were talking
among themselves.

Tiffany didn't think they looked too happy. She had the idea
that this conversation might not have been enough.

I watched them leave, too. The snippets of conversation I
heard made me slightly worried. The situation we were all in
forced me to ask a lot. Perhaps too much.

Trouble was not yet avoided.

Tiffany looked at me. "Can I ask a question?"

"Sure. Any time."

"Why are you even negotiating?"

"Because total victory is too much."


Chapter 31: Tiffany

Ok. I admit it. I was curious. Make that confused. Jacob had
put himself in the dominant position. Of his top three
enemies, the police was holding one, the other was lying low
and the third was starting to watch his step. All Jacob
needed to do now was cement his victory by taking out either
Heather or Fred and the football vs. Stone battles would be
effectively over.

Jacob watched the ducks swimming.

Finally I could not resist asking. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Since you went through all the effort to have him picked
up, why would you even want to negotiate? Remember, Kevin
did knife you."

Jacob moved his heavily bandaged fingers slightly. "Trust
me, I had not forgotten."

"Then why???"

I received a curious look.

Jacob sighed and answered me. "The goal here was to get them
to stop, not to destroy them. Things kept getting worse
because they just kept upping the ante. Because of this the
cost of their defeat kept increasing. Koke's humiliation is,
I admit, a bit petty, but the coach did go out of his way to
threaten me with a baseball bat in a place where there would
be no witnesses. I also believe that he is the one that is
teaching the players that they are above normal rules. His
public embarrassment is to teach him that there are others
who can play power games too. Some of us can play them
better too." He grins at that. "Maybe it will even prevent
others from following in his footsteps."

"Is that the best way? It sounds like overkill to destroy
their egos like that."

"What, Tiffany, do you suggest I do about them?"

Well, if I must meddle in the affairs of titans, let's see
how good I am at it.

"I'm suggesting you watch how far you are taking this
revenge. You need to be careful that you only get your
intended target. Do you really hate the entire football team
over what has happened to us?"

"Not really. What I hate is the mentality that jocks are the
elite, that they think they can do what they want and get
away with more than everybody else. They are no different
than the rest of us. We each have our areas of expertise. I
cannot throw a football, but by god I can explain the
physics and related science behind their actions, to explain
how to know where to be to catch the football when it comes
down. Hell, if I was in shape and had better hand eye
coordination, I could be on that football team!"

"So you really don't want to destroy them. But the terms you
offered to Carla and company sounded like you hated them
all."

"What do you suggest?"

I was honored that he would ask me for advice.

"Am I correct in believing that the only thing keeping you
from destroying the team completely is the fact that deep
down, you do not think they are all horrible?"

"I hope not. I'd like to think that most of them are just
being annoying out of some sort of group loyalty. But then,
is it too much to ask that they try thinking for themselves,
to ask themselves if the group actions underway are really
good actions?"

"So do you really need such harsh settlement terms?"

"Hmmm, I see your point. Very well. You can tell them that
my new terms are that Kevin and Fred need not do the
cleaning detail after the dance. The season long benching
they can get out of only if she can get those two to
apologize to us convincingly. If so, I'll settle for those
two just being benched for the homecoming game. As far Koke
is concerned, I insist he suffer a bit. He must be broken of
that attitude. Also you can tell them that I will not
involve any football players in my vendetta against the
coach. But if they put themselves in the middle of the Stone
- Koke feud, all bets are off."

"That's it?" I asked

"Sure. I have a feeling anyway that they'd rather be benched
for the entire season than apologize to me. You may know I'm
not shit, my friends believe it, your friends are starting
to accept it, but Kevin and Fred most certainly would rather
puke for hours on end rather than admit I'm not shit."

I grinned. "Excuse me."

Jacob watched me head over to where the delegation was
talking to Cindy and a few of her friends.

Carla turned as I approached. "Your boyfriend come up with
more terms?"

"What now?" Cindy sounded upset.

As well she might be, given the previous terms.

"Actually, Cindy, you might want to stay for this. I'm
pretty sure you'll find it interesting."

Candy suggested everybody but the cheerleaders, Dave and
Mike give them some privacy.

"Ok. Before I tell you what I just got out of him, tell me
the terms as you understand them."

Carla looked back at me with a 'you've got to be kidding
look.'

"Humor me."

"Ok Tiffany. Jacob wants both Kevin and Fred to be benched
the rest of the season. He also wants them to have to clean
up the lunchroom after the Halloween dance this Friday
without help."

Candy finished with, "And this is the hardest part. He wants
coach Koke to formally apologize for his attacks on your
boyfriend, and for not immediately punishing Fred and Kevin
for their attack on you. Jacob wants this apology to be at
the school spirit assembly Friday morning in front of the
whole school."

"Correct" I said. "In exchange Jacob will pull a few strings
and get Kevin into a warning form of probation. There would
be no arrest record and the team can continue its winning
season."

"But without Kevin and Fred it won't be a winning season for
long. In case you haven't being paying attention, those two
are our star players. All our strategies depend on them."

"That's why I have good news for you guys. I have talked him
into an alternative offer."

They looked shocked.

I understood why. The number of times anybody successfully
changed Jacob's position in a discussion could be counted on
one hand.

I smiled. With this, I would prove to the school that Jacob
had reason to love me for more than my body.

Cindy couldn't take it any longer. "Spit it out for god's
sake. You've been dating him two days and he's changed you."

"I'm happy about that too. But with luck, he will do some
changing too. Anyway, this is the new offer. Fred and Kevin
no longer have to do the cleaning after the dance. Jacob is
also giving them an option for the season long benching. If
those two apologize to us convincingly, I've talked him into
only demanding their benching during the homecoming game. I
must warn you that he thinks they would rather eat shit than
make that apology."

Cindy sadly nodded her head. "Jacob may well be right about
that."

"Anything else?" Carla asked.

"Yes. Concerning coach Koke, he is inflexible. What he said
before goes. I did get him to promise not to target the
football players though. I've managed to convince him that
they are not all evil, that once he wins a visible victory
against Kevin and Fred, things should quiet down."

"Will it?" Candy asked.

"I think deep down even he knows he's not going to get rid
of the jock vs. geek mentality. But I think he's hoping that
at least both sides will be more tolerant of each other."

"Maybe," Cindy said, "he will accomplish that much."

"For the next part, I'll be quoting him directly. 'Also you
can tell them that I will not involve any football players
in my vendetta against the coach. But if they put themselves
in the middle of the Stone - Koke feud, for the interfering
players, all bets are off.' "

"He no longer wants total surrender?"

"No. If I might presume to guess what is going though his
head, I think he went overboard because of their abuse of
me. When Jacob deeply cares about something, he'll go all
out to do what he needs to do. My mother told me that from
their political rivaly. Imagine how much effort we can
expect from him when the endangered cause is his new
girlfriend. Especially if that girl loves him and is not
using him for his gear or brains."

Dave said, "I better call the assistant coach. He and a few
others are waiting for a group confrontation. Tell Jacob
that he's managed to scare more people then he might have
thought."

I started off as Dave started the phone call.

The game went ok. The second half of the soccer game was
heavily contested. In the end it was a draw. Towards the end
of the game, there were several close calls, but our goalie
seemed to grab the ball out of the air at the last possible
moment.

Jacob collected the soccer balls along with the other team
materials and took them to the parking lot.

When I caught up with him, I heard him talking to himself.

"... there, the bags are in storage. Now to deal with my
other problem. Sometime I've got to figure a way to fly the
ship with only one functioning hand..."

What is he mumbling about? I thought I was here for that!
"Exactly what, Jacob, are you planning for me now?" I asked
as I started to dress. "I'm going to drop you off at the
high school. After that I have to figure a way to get home."
Jacob looked at his bandaged hand.

"No invitation?" I pouted. "Don't you want me to go home
with you?"

"No. I'm only going to be there long enough to change into
my suit before going to the council meeting. I would not
want to make you sit though that."

"How about after the meeting?"

"I know what you want, I want it too, but I do not need to
make your mother any more of an enemy."

"Why do you care?"

"Because tonight, I have to try to get her to support the
Recreation Committee's proposal for using the yard behind
the Republican Club for the staging area for the festival
workers."

"Let me handle my mother. You just worry about handling me."
I put a lot of suggestiveness into the word 'handle.'

Jacob gave me a look I was not sure I liked. "Are you sure?
Politics is not the normal habitat of teenagers, after all."

I inwardly shook my head at his lack of social
comprehension. Or was it his dating comprehension? "Look
Jacob, if you are comfortable doing this, than the girl that
loves you can take an interest. I'm sure you'll get involved
in things that I care about, too."

"True enough."

I flew us back to the school.


Chapter 32: Jacob

Personal log (voice), J. J. Stone, captain of the Flying
Dutchman, 5:05pm, October 27th 2006.

I directed Tiffany to park the Flying Dutchman in the yard
behind the barn.

As she parked, she looked around. "Can I get a tour?"

"Tomorrow I'll give the grand tour. I have to do a quick
change now." I threw some Swedish meatballs TV dinners into
the microwave and went upstairs to change.

Tiffany looked around the kitchen. It looked like the sort
of kitchen her friends would have.

The oven sounded.

Tiffany put the food on the table and found some silverware.

I came back down the steps. I was wearing a three - piece
suit. The suit was navy blue. The vest I was wearing used to
be my grandfather's. The pocket watch was inherited from my
grandfather as well. With a little effort, I managed to put
on the cuff links as I reached the bottom of the steps. I
kept the tie and tie clasp in my hand.

"Dinner is served." Tiffany called out.

We ate quickly.

"Want help with that tie?"

"Sure."

"Come here."

When I did, Tiffany tied the tie around my neck expertly.
She rubbed her chest all over my back as she did this.

She was getting me hard.

"Ok, ok. I'll fuck your brains out tonight."

"I want it now!"

"But we have to go now. Later, I promise."

"You're damn right you'll fuck me later. But I can't wait
for your cock." Tiffany sunk to her knees, unzipped my
slacks, extracted my expanding equipment and started sucking
on my cock hard.

I gave up my attempts at resistance. I put my good hand at
the back of her head and started fucking her face.

She only managed to suck me harder.

I did not even try to hold it in. I came down her throat.

She wiped off her face and got a quick drink of soda. "After
tonight, you will never be able to resist me that long
again."

"I'm having trouble not fucking you as often as I can
already."

"Great." Tiffany smiled. "Give me your brief case and we'll
leave for the meeting."

"You don't have to, I can carry it."

"I insist on carrying it."

"It's ok. I have it."

"Jacob, I like to do things for the man I love. In
relationships I believe the man should not be the only one
going out of their way. I like it much more if the
relationship is an equal thing between us."

I gave up at that point. With all my intelligence I should
have known that men are rarely fated to win arguments with
their girlfriends. "Ok. Let's go."

As I opened the door, the phone rang. Tiffany said, "The
phone always rings when you are just leaving."

"Indeed. I wonder if there is some scientific law that
causes that. It might be a good subject for an amusing
research paper." I went over and picked up the phone. "Stone
residence. Jacob Jehosophat Stone speaking."

Tiffany watched me standing there, and then I hit the
speakerphone button.

"I see. Who then, Carla, was assigned the task of giving the
football team my response?"

"I was." A new voice entered the conversation. Seems both
sides were using speakerphones.

"Fitting, since it was your suggestion that the cheerleaders
get involved. For the record, I was impressed with Candy,
Carla, even Cindy for that matter."

"As," Carla said, "we were with Tiffany."

"Indeed." coach Cane continued. "From what they reported of
your opening terms, nothing much would have came of this if
Tiffany had not talked you into more reasonable terms."

"That she did. The question is whether even those more
reasonable terms were acceptable to the football team and
coaches."

"Well, I can tell you that it caused a shouting match in the
locker room."

"This I expected. The result?"

"Overall, the team accepts. Koke gave in that far to keep
the team from being disqualified for the season. Or should I
say he gave in because all his assistant coaches said they
would act as if Kevin and Fred had been suspended from the
team and banned from all team events unless Koke agreed to
the season long benching."

"I see."

"As for the rest of the agreement?"

"Koke agreed. He sounded like the words were choking him to
death, but he agreed."

"That might cause a dilemma."

"Have faith. Even Koke knows to pursue things further can
only hurt the team he loves so much."

"Very well."

"Ok. I think you should expect an interesting morning and
lunch on Wednesday, and an interesting Spirit Day. Are you
ready to carry out your part?"

"Coach Cane, there you were lucky. You caught us as we were
going out the door."

"Not really. If I missed you at home, next I would have
tried Tiffany's cell phone."

"Good. Tonight I will get Kevin released, but be forewarned,
I'll be highly displeased if they fail to keep their
promises."

"They will keep their promises because I've added the threat
that I will be a witness against them in court about their
assault on Tiffany if they fail to keep their promises."

"That must have been convincing indeed."

We left for the meeting as soon as I hung up.

It amused me to watch to the people's reactions. I guess
since Tiffany did that stunt at the soccer game, I figured
it was no use trying to keep a low profile. Two days of use,
including high school and a sports game. Considering that
country areas have better gossip networks then supermarket
tabloids & phone party-lines, and including talkative high
school students at two different schools, I'd be surprised
if there were more than eighteen people who did not know
about the Flying Dutchman.

Tiffany dropped me off in front of the courthouse where the
town meeting was being held. Then she went to park it in the
bank lot across the street.

I went in the building quickly. I had to keep my word
concerning Kevin, but I did not want to have Tiffany there.
Even if I have managed to explain why I did what I did with
him, it does not mean that she's going to be happy to be
around him.

There are times when even the legend they perceive me to be
cannot do all that I want done.

Anyway. I tried to go in quickly. Unfortunately too many
people noticed my bandaged hand. For the first time since I
declared for a political party there was unquestioning
support from everybody there.

It seems after all that they can move beyond political
snapping. Could it be possible that despite bitter feuding
inside the meeting, how is it that outside they are able to
put those feelings aside and be friends?

An interesting picture on humanity. Perhaps a lesson I
should learn. Maybe I should care to get involved in the
affairs of other high school students with as much ability
as they accuse me of having. After all, their entire
existence is not bound up in the moment that they pissed me
off.

Well, well... talk about a lesson learned. Even if Tiffany
had not got involved, with what I just learned, I probably
would have pardoned everybody but Kevin and Koke.

Finally I made my way into the precinct. I told them of my
decision.

A few of them thought I was crazy.

The police chief even asked if I was crazy.

I asked how many sane 15 year olds dabble in politics.

They conceded the point and Kevin was released as Tiffany
came in.

Talk about bad timing.

Fortunately for all involved, Kevin quietly walked out
without saying a word.

Tiffany honored my wishes by not attacking or causing a
scene.

Excellent. Trouble avoided. Now for the council meeting.

Tiffany and I went up the stairs to the courtroom where the
town meeting was being held.

"Tiffany, what are you doing here?" Mrs. French sounded
somewhat irate.

Oh great. I should have expected her to be here.

"Mother, don't you see his hand? With all the bandages, he
needs help flying the Dutchman. Plus, according to him, the
doctor's said he's to try to use that hand as little as
possible."

I told Mrs. French, "The doctors told me that I needed to
watch the hand until Monday, at the very least."

Tiffany's mother sighed and nodded reluctant assent. "Did
Jacob ask you for anything else?"

"Not yet, but since you are going to be visiting relatives
in New York after the meeting, you're not going to be able
to pick me up. So I've already suggested I sleep in the
guest bedroom at his place."

Mrs. French did not like this at all. She started to go red
in the face.

Tiffany quickly whispered, "Remember where you are. More
importantly, this was my idea, not his."

"I see." Tiffany's mother accepted this grudgingly. "This
time I'll trust you. But next time I'll want a lot more
warning."

"Tiffany, can I have a few words with your mother?"

"Sure, Jacob. I'll grab us a couple seats."

"Jacob usually sits over there."

"Thanks. I'll see you there."

I decided to preempt the fifteen thousand and five questions
she probably had about Tiffany and myself. "This meeting is
not for personal issues. I have a feeling more than enough
time will soon be dedicated to that."

"You can bet on that."

"I need a favor politically. As you are aware, I'm working
with the town Recreation Committee on the annual festival
next summer. We need a staging area for festival workers.
The Republican Club's back yard is located perfectly for
this. It would be very useful for the festival workers to
have a convenient area to change in and out of costumes.
Also it would be a good staging area for supplies as well.
Is there anything you would like that I could fairly offer?"

Tiffany's mother didn't hesitate. She said "Yes."

Ut oh. Trouble. She agreed way too fast.

I warily asked "What?"

Tiffany's mother laughed a little. "Relax, this will not
even be political. Tiffany needs a partner in the science
fair for the 4H club. Science, however, is not my strong
suit. It looks easy enough to you. Ask to see it this week
sometime and offer hints or, come to think of it, you are
trying to date her... offer as much direct help as your
ethics permit."

"Done." I said.

After that I found the council meeting itself to go
smoothly. It probably says something about my experience
when I am starting to get somewhat blasé about things in the
meeting. I consulted the agenda, just to make sure. The farm
side booth-banning plan is up for debate tonight? I thought
that was next month. Well, I suppose what I know now on the
subject should be just enough to fight a holding operation.

The mayor opened the meeting to the public.

I put my hand up.

The mayor promptly ignored me.

I kept my hand up. Those charges that I am stubborn are true
after all.

The mayor still ignored me. He picked on people whose hands
were not as obviously up as mine.

Then I remembered something that explained this. The mayor
was heavily for the farm side booth-banning plan. Somehing
about his son being fired over eating an apple without
permission. Or some story like that.

Beside me, Tiffany raised her hand.

Behind my usual political face I was flabbergasted. Tiffany
wants to speak at one of these meetings??

The mayor recognized her as Mrs. French's daughter. He
called on her.

Tiffany stood up, took a few self conscious breaths, then
said, "Your honor, I yield my time to Jacob Stone."

Where in creation did she learn about that trick???

I stood up quickly to take advantage of the momentum caused
by everybody's surprise. "Ladies, and gentlemen, a comment,
then my thoughts. One, this is public session, is it not?
Considering that everybody on this side of the banister is
considered the public, I consider the mayor's desire only to
call on those who share his views to be a shameless abuse of
power given by those who voted him in. We on this side are
the public, and we will be heard."

The mayor had a glare on his face that freely translated,
said, objectors should be seen and not heard.

Then I continued with the comments I originally planned. "As
this is supposed to be discussed next month, I can only
present some basic points. There are quite a few benefits to
having those booths out there. First, a higher percentage of
the farmer crops are sold. This increased income produces
more tax income to the town. Those stands provide an
excellent training opportunity for those who would be
farmers, as will as an ideal part time job for those in
school. That means more youth with money available to spend
in the town's stores. Those future farmers are the future
feeders of us and our children. We have much to gain by
working to insure that they get their interest and training
in the practical parts of farming as quickly as possible."

I sat down to the applause of those farmers in the room.

Tiffany whispered, "Good speech," in my ear.

The mayor looked unhappy as he looked around the room. "Any
other comments?" He looked like he did not want to have my
comments as the final comments for this session. He was glad
to see Tiffany's mother raise her hand. "Mrs. French."

"As usual, Mr. Stone has several good points, but the
problem of unregulated road side booths has been growing far
too long."

I saw Tiffany's mother looking at us sitting together.

I looked back with the careful attention I always gave my
best opponents,

Tiffany was watching us both with a look of 'can't we all
get along?'

Mrs. French surprised us all. "Perhaps," she says "we can
get some sort of reasonable regulation on the subject?"

The vote was heard next. The council voted five in favor to
three against.

The mayor said, "I still think there is reason to act.
Perhaps an informal poll on whether the council is
interested in following Mrs. French 's idea?"

The vote was four in favor to four against. The mayor
abstained.

I returned the favor.

Just loudly enough to be heard, I said, "Should such a
proposal be accepted, those who support me will be glad to
help make it fair for all."

One of the councilmen decided to change his vote. Now the
poll passed by one vote.

The mayor accepted his partial victory with as much good
grace as he could muster. He assigned the project to a
councilwoman who promptly asks Mrs. French and Mr. Stone to
help her.


Chapter 33: Tiffany

I put my hands on the controls and started to play them like
a piano. Again I was astounded by how smoothly the ship
worked. Everything my friends ever told me about sports cars
paled in comparison to this.

By the time we were half way to the Stone farm, I was
hooked. I was never going to dream of a sports car again.

"By the way Jacob, what plans do you have for the weekend?"

"This weekend?"

"Yes. As in the day after this Friday."

"Saturday I'm going to rest, do some reading and test the
density drive."

"What about the game?"

"I've no interest in sports beyond my friends. Easier it is
for me to understand high science than what happens on those
sports fields."

"I'll be performing at the football game."

"For that reason alone would I go. But I'm not yet sure I
should attend the game. They have been forced to make peace.
That does not mean they want me there."

"But I do. You are my boyfriend. You have as much right to
go to the game as any other cheerleader's boyfriend."

"Ok. I'll do it."

"Great. What about Sunday?"

"Nothing. What have you got on your mind?"

"That's a loaded question. You remember that my father is a
preacher."

"Actually Tiffany, you never told me that."

"I should have. I have scary parents, don't I?"

"An activist mother and a preacher for a father. Most
boyfriends would think so. I suppose then that you go to
church on Sunday?"

"My dad would crucify me if I didn't."

"A painful fate that is. We better make sure you are there.
You can borrow the Flying Dutchman so long as you remember
to pick me up on Monday. I doubt your mother will let you
spend all week in the guest room."

"Don't you go to church?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because church and science rarely agree."

"Huh?"

"In other words, it is hard to have faith given the fact I
think so much."

"You can come to my church if you want."

"I don't know. I'll only know you there. I do not want to
risk embarrassing you."

"It's a church. Embarrassment is not likely."

"I've heard stories." Jacob muttered under his breath.

I was going to park the Flying Dutchman in a large barn. It
seemed large enough from the outside. I learned better when
I pulled up to the barn doors.

Jacob leaned over my shoulder and pushed a button.

When the garage door opened I saw what looked like the set
from a mad scientist movie. However was I going to park this
in the middle of that without scattering things in every
direction? "Ah, Jacob, are you sure you want me to park
inside there?"

"Don't worry, you can do it."

"How?"

"Remember, it is a small space. We are not dealing with the
rest of reality. Just concentrate on that small space.
That's all that is important."

I looked at him.

Then I looked at the small, uncluttered area.

After looking at that for a moment, I looked back at Jacob
doubtfully.

"Try less power to the hoverjets."

"Ok." I turned all the knobs to their lowest powered
setting.

THUD.

I nearly fell from the chair.

That was not what I had planned.

Jacob muttered something under his breath as he grabbed the
armrest of the command chair with his good hand. "Ok,
Tiffany. That was a landing. I'll give you that. Perhaps you
should increase the power to the hoverjets up a notch, and
then move in very slowly."

I did so, just putting enough pressure on the controls to
have forward motion. Barely.

"See that wasn't so hard, now was it?" Jacob asked with one
of his little grins.

I wondered how fast I could shut the ship down. He deserved
to be smacked for that comment.

We exited the ship.

"Welcome," my occasionally annoying boyfriend said, "to my
project barn. Would you like a tour?"

"Sure."

"Ok. Here, as you have learned, is the parking place.
Against the wall on the other side is a wall of testing
instruments to run the testing equipment. In front of the
systems is a ground based engine unit. This provides power
to the barn. It also supplies power to the ship for testing
purposes before the engine systems were installed. Over here
under the loft is the work area. Where the stalls used to be
are a bunch of filing cabinets and computer storage. That's
where all my notes are. Be careful going near there. The
security system there can be frightening." Jacob gave me an
evil grin at that. "The rest of it is simply parts and
supplies scattered all over the place around the workbench.
That huge cluttered table in the middle is my workbench.
Over there, the table covered with plans is my sketch
bench."

Jacob led me over to his sketch bench and moved some papers
around. Then he pulled out a large sheet and flattened it on
top by using a couple of odd-looking devices. "This is my
design structure for the command chair interface."

I looked at it. As far as I was concerned, it might as well
have been in Sumerian. Mind you, I've never seen Sumerian in
my life. Still I was certain it could not be harder to read
than the notations on that sheet.

Jacob moved his hand over the sheet in some indecipherable
pattern. Then he stabbed his finger down at a particular
point. "I was going to do this wiring work here."

I took his word that that indicated wiring work. I took it
on faith that whatever he was pointing at was not gibberish.
Because without serious translation help, there was no way I
could understand it.

He moved his finger to a different part of the plans. "And
here is how I planned to connect the command systems to the
center chair. Or at least, those where the plans I had
before the knifing and the fact that you are spending the
night. For at least one enjoyable reason, the finishing of
the Flying Dutchman will take a bit longer than planned."

"I can be your hands." I turned on the barn light to make my
point.

Jacob gave me a penetrating look. "Yes, you can. But I
thought you were eager to get fucked."

"I am. But we have all night to fuck. If I'm going to be
your girlfriend, then I must care about all the parts of
your life." I gave him a short laugh. Even those parts I
doubt anybody else could possibly understand.

"I must be the luckiest man in existence. Not even college
science majors understand half my work and you are willing
to postpone you own pleasure to indulge me."


Chapter 34: Jacob

Personal log (voice), J. J. Stone, captain of the Flying
Dutchman, 8pm, October 27th 2006.

Did she just offer to postpone a good fucking to help me
with something she has very little understanding about?

What kind of girl is this??

Somebody remind me to find out what educational path she is
on at school.

But should I accept her offer? I know she is smart, but I
don't want to overload her brain. And this could be a test.
She could be testing me to see what is more important in my
life, her or science. I've heard women love those sneaky
tests. From what I've observed, the man involved often does
not know it is a test until it is too late. Plus it is often
impossible to make the right choice. If I choose to accept
her help, she might think I love my devices more than her,
or that I think she'll put out on command, that I think I do
not need to pay attention to her desires. On the other hand,
if I act like I'm calling her bluff, she'll think I do not
think her smart enough to help me. She'll probably also
think all I keep her around for is fucking. Either way, I
know one thing for certain. High science is far easier to
understand than the mind of a woman.

I hesitated. I did not want to risk making the wrong
decision.

Tiffany grabbed a tool off of the bench. "I'm serious,
Jacob. You know that I am not a fool."

"If you are sure about this."

"I am."

"Ok. First you'll want the tool three feet to the left, and
then in the storage area, you'll see some cable. Get about
100 feet of the medium sized cable."

Tiffany did. "You do know that you are still wearing your
suit, don't you? The clothes I wore to school is ok I
suppose for this work, but that suit?"

I took off my suit jacket and loosened my tie."

"That's all?"

"Yes. But only because you are being my hands tonight."

"Ok. Now what?"

Then I sent her for two #2 control panels, a set of #8
circuits, 10 feet of trunk power wire and my tool belt.

Tiffany fetched what was needed and moved the gear inside
the Flying Dutchman.

We spent the next two hours wiring things and connecting
parts to other parts. I'll spare the readers of this log the
details that they probably have no interes t in. The upshot
is that by ten pm we had the center chair fully plugged in.
We also were able to get quite a bit more of the computer
systems interfaced and talking to each other.

In fact, thanks to Tiffany's help, I'm actually ahead of
schedule again. The only thing left to do is run tests on
the density drive and related functions. That, however I'll
wait 'til I'm alone on Saturday to do. There is no way I'm
letting Tiffany be onboard during that test. Either it's
going to work, or it's going to be the most spectacular
explosion outside of when the Death Star blew up. There was
absofuckinglutely no way in any of the conceivable universes
I wanted her anywhere near the ship if that happened. Hell,
I'm not sure I wanted her in the same state when I ran that
test.

Then my stomach growled.

"What do you want for dinner?"


Chapter 35: Tiffany

He's crazy, but I love him. The last time his stomach
rumbled, I swear it rattled the ship. Yet he ignored it.
Talk about single-minded concentration. I bet a plane could
have crashed in the back yard and he would not have reacted.
Probably he would not have cared.

I on the other hand did care. I had plans for tonight. None
of them included Jacob dropping from starvation. While he
was doing some sickeningly complex things with the
computers, I went into the kitchen and heated up some more
of the Swedish meatballs microwave dinners. I even heated up
some tea while looking for a good place to eat. The kitchen
was a possibility, but not great. It was a typical Victorian
kitchen, built small and functional. The dining room looked
too perfect. It was as if it had not been used since the
rest of his family went off to active duty. I decided it
would be bad to mess it up for two teens eating TV dinners.

The living room looked much better. It was a cross between
country charm and the most advanced entertainment systems
available. There was a cat bed by the fireplace and a big
fish tank. There was a tall case grandfather clock by the
stairs and under the stairs was a locked door. I know this
because I tried to open the door. The furniture looked
comfortable and lived in. There were various papers
littering them.

I looked at the papers. Papers for school, politics, science
magazines and farm operations were littered around, except
for a love seat across from the high definition TV, and an
antique chair by the fireplace. In that chair was a cat.

The cat meowed.

Thank god. Given whose living room I'm in, it would not have
been surprising if the cat spoke French. Not surprising, but
it would still have given me a heart attack.

I moved to pet the cat.

It gave me a look. A very familiar look.

No. No, no, no, and no way.

The look that has the school confused, the inscrutable look
that reveals just what Jacob wants it to, that look was
copied from his pet cat?

Nobody would ever believe me.

The cat raised its head slightly and sniffed.

"I see you've met Scotty." Jacob said as he entered the room

Scotty? I should have known.

"Yes, he is adorable."

Scotty chose that moment to start licking my hand and
purring.

Just like Jacob, he seems to choose the exact moment that
his actions would get the maximum effect.

"Yes. And he's the only one that can sit in that chair. In
our family, only the head of the family sits there, or the
oldest person at a family gathering gets to sit there.
However, they are still in the Middle East. Out of respect,
I do not sit there."

"I was not going to disturb a content cat. Scotty can enjoy
that chair. I've set up our meal by the love seat."

Jacob sat down next to me, and we watched Stargate as we
ate. If that is science fiction, then it's not as bad as the
people at the school think such shows are.

"Remember after Ms. Q's class?"

"Yes."

"Have you thought about the subject?

"Not really."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm still not comfortable being the performance
model for the class."

"Well, it could be worse. They could be recording things."

"Actually, they do. Every room in the school has security
cameras in it."

I felt a tingle.

"Well, we are supposed to discuss fantasies that turn us
on."

"That's not a subject that I've given much thought to."

"I have. The thought that somewhere there could be pictures
of me screaming in orgasm being used to turn men on makes me
wet."

"One step up from simple fantasizing, eh. Give them a visual
image to match their desires?"

"That's right."

"How do you feel about adult movies then?"

"Watching one could be a turn on, but I do not want to be in
one."

"Why not? You already admit strangers watching you turn you
on. What's the difference between that and somebody making a
recording?"

"Recordings are permanent. They can be traded to people I do
not even know about, who could do things with the videos
that I would not want."

"Ok, I can see that." Jacob decided not to mention that
school security kept their tapes for two years.

"Have you anything that you'd like to do?"

"Well, I've a few thoughts."

"Go ahead."

He hesitated. "You might get scared."

"I doubt it. It'll be good to prove that you are not some
saint in scientist's clothes.

He took a deep breath. "Handcuffs. Or tying up the girl,
teasing her until she aches for it, then fucking her until
she goes wild."

Now that was a surprise. The quiet, unflappable Jacob has a
dark side? The very thought of the fact that he had a wicked
side was really turning me on. "How about multiple
partners?"

"A loaded question that is. Every man dreams of having more
than one girl. But whether they actually have the nerve is
another thing. I even wonder if the men with girlfriends
truly want more though. If they are in a relationship, I
doubt they should. Because unless they are sure the girl
dreams of the same thing, wishing for that fantasy could
cost them the loving reality that they have now. The same
goes for orgies. A lot of guys claim interest in them. But
again, I wonder how many of them actually care to go for it.
Even in today's society, in the end, it's going to come done
to one significant other per person."

"True. But if they share that fantasy?"

"Then it can be fun." Jacob gave me a look. "What is cooking
in that sexy head of yours?"

"For tomorrow's class we can combine two of them."

"Two?? Exactly which two?"

"The fact I enjoy being watched with you getting to tie me
up. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

He thought about it. "I suppose."

"You suppose????"Don't get me wrong. Sex with you is not
what I have problems with. I will never have problems with
that."

"Then what's with the 'suppose'?"

"It's not easy to go against the part of my nature that says
sex is not an openly described action. Plus I'm too used to
being a gentleman. That means no kissing and telling, much,
much less kissing and showing. The Program can be murder on
beliefs like mine."

"In any other circumstances, I'd be thrilled that you are
like that. But the idea of us being paired is so we can help
support each other. That's why I do not get upset when we
talk about it in class. You do so very tastefully."

He listened thoughtfully. "Hmmm."

"Can you do me a favor?"

"Sure."

"Relax and at least in class open up a bit. You've built a
legend as a defense, but you do not seem to use it. You seem
to be afraid that the legend will escape your control. Don't
be. You can control it. I'll help you. Rather than the
legend evolving into a monster, I'm telling you you're just
a few steps from your own type of coolness. Trust me on
this. I heard my mom asking you to help me on my science
project for the 4H meeting on Thursday. As easily as you can
help me with science, I can help you become cool in a way
you can live with."

He really went into deep thought at that. Then he went over
to the alcove and looked out the window. Scotty mewed. "Ok
Scotty, I'll get you your cat food." He got a fresh bowl of
moist cat food and set it down near where he was standing,
next to the water dish and dry food dishes. He made sure
both were fresh. As Scotty purred next to his leg, Jacob
looked out of the window again. Then he turned back to me.
"Ok. I'll try."

"Can you do me another favor?"

"What's that?"

"Come over here and fuck me."

"Let's go upstairs."

He led me to his bedroom.

I looked around while he was stripping. The bed was a king
sized canopy bed with a nightstand next to it. There was a
dresser against one wall and on the other side were a couple
of wardrobes. The room looked almost normal. There was a
stereo and a TV against one wall where the people on the bed
could easily watch it. The only thing in the room that made
me sure I entered the right bedroom was an advanced computer
system with a few wires leading to the TV.

Then I looked at him. He was naked. Just the way I wanted
him. Naked and wanting me.

"Strip," He said, "the sooner you strip, the quicker we can
be fucking."

I practically ripped my clothes as I tore them off. I needed
to be naked. Now.

Then we ran at each other and started some deep kissing.

Jacob must have dropped the last of his self-control. He was
kissing me as if kissing me was the only thing in existence
that mattered. Eventually he broke the kiss. "Sorry, I'm not
a lungfish. I need some air too."

I just giggled. I let us both get some air, and then I
kissed him harder. I ran my hands all over his body. About
the only thing I did not touch was his bandaged hand.

He put his good hand around my back and pulled me closer.
When he broke that kiss, he started kissing the base of my
neck.

I put my hand between his legs and started to stroke his
cock.

Then he moved his hand to and up my leg.

I moved my legs apart.

Then he licked my tits. He started at the base and then
licked around and upwards towards the nipples. I moaned. By
the time he finished doing that to my other tit, my legs had
gone weak. I slid down his chest until my clit bumped his
fingers.

I came right there and then. Then I spread my legs and slid
onto his fingers. "Finger me, please just move those fingers
in me."

Jacob held me in place with his other arm while he used his
fingers. He started slowly, then sped up. He stopped just as
I was about to cum again.

"No, oh please no! Don't stop now. I need it so bad." I
tried to get his fingers back in my pussy.

Curse him, he was not letting me get the relief my body so
desperately needed. Instead he pinched my clit.

"Yes, oh fuck YES!!" I screamed as my legs gave way. I was
on my knees before either us could prevent it. To hell with
the hand job. I started sucking on his cock like a starving
vacuum cleaner. I took him in as far as I could and just
sucked hard. Really hard.

"Tiffany, keep that up and I'm going to cum in your mouth."

I just kept sucking.

He started moving his cock in my mouth.

I paused just long enough to beg, "Fuck my face."

"I'm not going to last long at this rate."

"Give it to me! Let me have it all!! I want to drink your
cum."

Jacob fucked my face as long as he could hold it then gasped
as he came hard in my mouth.

I sucked it like I was sucking the last bit of a milkshake
though a thin straw. I got him hard again just as he flopped
back onto the bed.

He took a few breaths, and then reached for my arm. He
grabbed me, pulled me on to his bed. Then he rolled on top
of me.

I spread my legs. "Now! Do me now!"

My boyfriend must have thought he had teased me enough. He
drove his cock into me.

"Fuck yes, at last! I've been so aching for this all day...
fuck me."

He kept pounding my pussy with his cock. "I'm going to drill
your pussy. I'm going to see just how well this bed is built
as I fuck you silly!"

My screams were so loud I was surprised my mother didn't
call and demand to know what I thought I was doing. Hell, I
was surprised that windows had not shattered. "Fuck me, fuck
me all night, fuck me as hard as hard as..." I screamed even
louder as I came.

~Continued~

--
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