by Drew Hayes
Both students stayed quiet for a moment and digested his words. It was Mary who eventually reached a conclusion and spoke. “I suppose you do make a compelling case.”
“While it is not optional, I do want you both to get something out of it.”
“Right. When you put it that way, I guess my answer is yes,” Mary said. She’d played enough chess with Mr. Numbers to know when she was beaten.
“If it is official training I will gladly participate,” Chad added.
“Glad you’re both on board. You can go ahead and walk over to gym now. I’ll get you the details of what’s expected and where to be once the date is a bit closer,” Dean Blaine said. He gestured for them to stand and Mary complied. Chad, however, stayed where he was.
“I actually have another matter I’d like to discuss with the dean in private,” Chad said as both people stared at him curiously.
“Very well,” Dean Blaine accepted.
Mary took the cue and departed. Part of her wanted to linger around the area, but she knew it wouldn’t have done any good. She couldn’t read the mind of either man in the room, and she had a sneaking suspicion that Dean Blaine’s office was completely soundproof when the door was shut.
Back in the office, Dean Blaine looked at Chad curiously. “What else did you want to talk about?”
“Actually it’s still about the river trip,” Chad explained. “It really is mandatory, right? That’s not just something you said to get her to go along with it?”
“It really is mandatory. You aren’t the first reluctant chaperones we’ve had. Actually, it is more the rule than the exception since we tend to pick responsible students for the role. Ms. DeSoto was easily the most enthusiastic person to get the job I’ve ever had,” Dean Blaine clarified.
“All right then. If it’s an official HCP activity then an HCP official can explain to my mother why I won’t be coming home as expected over spring break,” Chad replied. “I took enough guilt for it last year.”
Dean Blaine’s face grew a few shades paler. “Miriam is expecting you? I assumed you would be staying here to train.”
“Nope. I told her I’d be home the whole week. I hope you’ve got a good way to make it up to her.”
“I suppose I’ll have to think of one,” Dean Blaine replied. Miriam was not a woman he enjoyed being on the bad side of, especially when it came to her son. He’d miscalculated on this one, and if he didn’t come up with something pretty damn good, he’d be regretting it.
“Good luck with that,” Chad said with a wicked smile. It was a dash of humor at Dean Blaine’s expense that would have been commonplace in anyone his age, yet it left Dean Blaine with a smile of his own once the young man was gone from the office. Before coming to Lander, Chad wouldn’t have even summoned up that small spark of laughter. Either the HCP or the people in it were having a positive effect on him, and that made even Miriam’s substantial wrath worth bearing.
Dean Blaine’s eyes darted to the phone then looked away. It might be worth bearing, but that was no reason to face it without some sort of a game plan.
125.
“That totally sucks,” Alice said, not quite whining but not keeping too far from it either. “I was looking forward to actually hanging out with you over break.”
“Especially since you couldn’t be with us last year,” Vince added.
The Melbrook group was in the common area, clustered about in various reclining positions. Mary had waited until everyone was together to break the news of her hijacked spring break plans, unleashing a small current of surprise and disappointment through their thoughts. One mind exuded phrases of relief, and it was all Mary could to do to keep from looking shocked when she realized who it was.
“It seems unfair that they’d make you do that even though you didn’t go on the trip last year,” Hershel pointed out.
“I could have gone. Me not taking the opportunity doesn’t excuse me from the responsibility tied to getting it in the first place,” Mary replied.
“This is an unfortunate turn of events,” Nick said. “However, it shines a bright light on an issue none of us has previously addressed.” Every one stared at him blankly. Nick let out an exasperated sigh that was only half acting. “What are the rest of us going to do for spring break? We’ve got, like, a week and a few days before it starts and no one has put together any plans.”
“We could stay here and train,” Vince suggested immediately. He glanced at Hershel, expecting him to agree on behalf of Roy, but found the portly young man pointedly avoiding his gaze.
“Let’s just veto that crap off the bat,” Nick replied. “Spring break is a break, not a time for more training. We’ve gone over the resting a muscle analogy before, don’t make me repeat myself.”
“I guess you’re right,” Vince agreed reluctantly. “How about camping?”
“I suppose that’s one to consider,” Nick said. “My own proposal is that we all pitch in and go rent a beach house for the week. They jack the prices up, but we should be able to afford a crappy one.”
“I hate to point this out, but those are usually all booked before February,” Hershel said. “Roy used to hang out with some kids from a local college back home, and they had to book in November to get anything decent.”
“Huh, well, I guess camping is the frontrunner then,” Nick surmised. He was actually a little surprised that beach trips required so much preparation. All the culture of Vegas was built around the idea of last minute decisions and impromptu trips. Vacations were one of the few areas his extensive training hadn’t prepared him for.
“Not necessarily,” Alice interrupted. “Between the two I’d prefer sun and sand over bugs and dirt. So I vote for beach.”
“I wouldn’t mind the beach,” Vince said. “It just doesn’t seem likely we can get a house to rent.”
“Yeah. So let’s just stay at mine,” Alice offered.
“Waaaaait a minute. You have a beach house?” Nick asked.
“Not ‘a’ beach house, no. We’ve got, like, seven throughout the world. One is in California, only a few hours’ drive away. They mostly go unused; my dad likes to lend them to people he’s in business with to keep relations good.” She stopped talking as she became aware of the surprise and occasional confusion peppering the faces of her friends. “What? You all know I’m rich.”
“I guess we kind of forgot,” Vince admitted. “You don’t bring it up very often.”
Alice shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter that often. This time it did.”
“The girl isn’t wrong about that one,” Nick agreed. “I assume it’s big enough for all of us?”
“It’s got ten bedrooms and two kitchens. We’ll be fine. In fact, we should probably see if any our friends have plans yet. No offense, but with Mary gone, I wouldn’t mind the company of a few more females.”
“We can spread the word and get a headcount through the rest of the week. For now, at least we four have something of a plan,” Nick said.
“Three,” Hershel corrected.
“Pardon me?”
“Three of you. I’ve already got something planned for over break.”
Mary was gripped by the desire to peek inside her boyfriend’s mind and see what secret was motivating him to pass on such fun. Somehow she resisted. Before had been an accident: she’d merely opened herself to the room. This would be intentional prying, and going down that path was the fastest way toward an awkward breakup. At least now she knew why he’d been relieved. He wasn’t going to have to miss time with her since she’d be on the river trip anyway.
“Care to share, or is this some secret training thing?” Nick asked.
“Something like the second. Sorry, guys.”
“It’s okay,” Vince said. “We’d love to have you over break, but if you have something you need to do then we understand.”
“Thanks.” Hershel meant the gratitude, but internally his focus had shifted away from the room’s conversation. Roy was going
to notice this memory; it centered around the beach and partying, two of his favorite things. He’d want to know why Hershel turned down the opportunity, which meant the jig was up as far as keeping Roy in the dark on what they were really doing. It had been a tenuous proposition in the first place, but he’d hoped to get at least a few more days along before this happened. At least it was in the afternoon. He could talk to the HCP staff tomorrow before class started. Hopefully they would see where Hershel was coming from. Hopefully.
“So, we three will hit up Alice’s house, along with whichever of our friends want to join. Unless you need to ask permission before we roll out invites?” Nick asked.
“No, I’ll just call the staff and tell them to prep and stock the place,” Alice replied. “My dad is in Indonesia on some trip right now, and even if he were here I doubt he’d care.” If anyone heard the slight touch of bitterness in her voice that came with the statement, they chose to keep it themselves.
“Okay then,” Nick said, quickly paving over Alice’s temporary vulnerability. “I think we’ve got ourselves the making of one hell of a party week.”
126.
Professor Fletcher heard the knock at his open door and glanced up from the reports he’d been pretending to read. An unfamiliar husky boy stood a step outside, looking at the professor with a healthy dollop of fear. Professor Fletcher’s brain swept through the situation to puzzle out exactly who this kid was. It was too late in the year for any of the freshman to still be portly: three hours of gym a day had shrunk even the heaviest of them. The older students would all still be in tip-top shape as well, so this kid wasn’t a participant in the program. Add to that he wasn’t wearing a uniform, but he’d still managed to get down here and knew where the offices were. Someone who would have comprehensive knowledge of and access to the HCP, yet clearly wasn’t participating in it himself. That narrowed down the subject pool considerably.
“You’re the other Daniels boy. Hershel, right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Come on in, then. What can I do for you?”
Hershel moved through the room like a hemophiliac navigating a razor maze, eventually sitting in a chair by the professor’s desk with his back straight and his body signaling it was ready to run. “I, um, I came to talk to you about the rest of the classes before spring break.”
“What about them?”
“If it’s... if it’s okay with you, I’d like permission for Roy to miss them.”
Normally Professor Fletcher would have suspected a ploy for an extra week of vacation; however, the terror tremors rippling out the kid in front of him said clearly that asking for this was one of the last things he wanted to do. Whatever the reason was, it must have been a pretty damn good one.
“Obviously that isn’t going to fly well with all of Roy’s teachers, so I’m guessing you’ve got an explanation for that kind of request?”
Hershel nodded. “I can’t let him out until after spring break. I’ve decided to do something that will really piss- er, I mean, anger him. I don’t know how he’ll try to sabotage or stop me, so I can’t risk it.”
“Wild guess: this has something to do with the limit wall he’s been unable to break through,” Professor Fletcher ventured.
“How did you know?”
“Usually someone goes to their favorite professor with this kind of thing, or at least the one they think likes them the best. I’ve spent the most time with him, which means putting up with his ego and his badly-articulated attempt at a Southern drawl, not to mention his tendency to call me a cocksucker when things I suggest don’t work, so I think you’re smart enough to go elsewhere for favors. Unless it concerned the very reason I have put in all that time with him, which would be working past his wall.”
“I suppose that’s fair. Roy’s grown a lot, but he still doesn’t handle frustration particularly well. And yes, I have an idea for how to break through his limit.”
“I’m all ears,” Professor Fletcher said.
“Oh. I have to tell you? I thought if you knew the reason...” Hershel trailed off as he realized he didn’t have much logic to the end of his argument.
“Look, I agree that what you’re proposing is important. More than a week of HCP training, and that’s saying a lot. From the way you’re fidgeting, I think you’re hoping I’ll be the one to explain this to the rest of the professors. Which I will - if, and only if, I believe you’re doing something that could really work and not just waste more time.”
Hershel swallowed and took a deep breath. Once he said it aloud, there was no going back. Roy would be mad, beyond mad, really. This could undo all the progress they’d made in their relationship since coming to Lander. His brother might never forgive him. But... it was all he could do. Roy was always the one who had to face the danger, always the one who had to brave the pain of battle. Hershel would never be able to protect his brother the way Roy watched over him. He could do this, at the very least. He could undertake a mission even Roy couldn’t handle.
“I’m going to see my father.”
Professor Fletcher raised an eyebrow. “I’d gotten the impression from Roy that option was off the table.”
“For him. Not for me. I’ll go and talk to him.”
“And you think he holds the secret to making Roy stronger? Because I’m not exactly new to this and I haven’t found a single thing that works.”
“I think he does. He’s the first trainer Roy ever had. No one knows Roy’s power better than my father. If there is a way for Roy to improve, he would be the one to know it.”
“I can believe that,” Professor Fletcher acknowledged. “But what if he doesn’t? What if he’s just as clueless as the rest of us?”
“Then... then I don’t think Roy and I will be advancing to junior year, will we?”
Professor Fletcher weighed his reaction carefully. The wrong phrasing could dash what tattered hope these two were still holding on to. “At his current level, Roy performs in the upper ranks of the class as far as combat. However, limitations are an issue that is considered here. If he truly can’t get any more powerful, then he wouldn’t be able to hack it at higher levels. It would be irresponsible of us to give an advancement spot to someone we know is going to fail out.”
“I understand,” Hershel said. He really did, too. Hershel got that strong as Roy was, if this was all he could do then it wasn’t enough. The fight with Coach George had illustrated the problem perfectly. Strongmen had to be able to deal damage, and against the upper echelon of Supers, Roy simply couldn’t. “That’s why I have to try to do this. I have to go see my father. If he can’t help then at least we did everything we could. If he can, well, then maybe one day Roy will forgive me.”
“For your sake, I hope so,” Professor Fletcher said. “Fine. You can miss all the classes until spring break. I’ll settle things with the dean and the other professors. I expect a full report on what you learned as soon as you get back, obviously.”
“Of course. Yes, sir.”
“Good. Now, you should probably head back to the surface. I’ve got a class coming up and you have a trip to plan.”
Hershel didn’t need to be told twice; he exited the room so fast that Professor Fletcher was left momentarily wondering if the husky kid had been concealing a super-speed ability.
127.
“Let me ask, do you have any swimsuits that don’t look like they were purchased from a nunnery?” Violet held up a truly awful one-piece that had body-masking ruffles perfectly illustrating her point.
“I like to be comfortable when I swim,” Camille defended weakly.
“And I’d like for the gentleman you’ve got your eye on to not be capable of taking his own peepers off you,” Violet shot back. “Come on, they invited us to a giant beach house for a week of surf, sand, and severe intoxication. The least you can do is offer up a little eye candy.”
Camille shuffled her feet and kept her eyes trained on the floor. “There will be plenty of girls for h
im to stare at. Half of our class is coming.”
“Oh, don’t be like that,” Violet sighed, setting down her friend’s suit. It had taken her days of wheedling to convince Camille to do a wardrobe evaluation in her dorm before setting off on the trip. “You and I both know he’s not the type to go stupid over some barely-covered breasts. Honestly, he’s so non-aggressive that if not for his history with Sasha I’d be wondering if he played for the other team.”
Camille snorted a laugh. “He can be a little a shy.”
“You can be shy. He’s just... I’m actually not sure what the word is.”
“He’s different,” Camille answered for her, an unexpected smile dancing across her face.
“I’ll give you that,” Violet agreed. “However, he is still male. Male and able to be sexually engaged. So maybe let’s at least get you something to swim in that’s cute, if still modest.”
“You’re not going to let this go, are you?”
“No, and if you don’t give in soon, I’m going to call Stella and get her involved, too.”
“Fiiiiiiiiiine,” Camille said, stretching out the word into half acceptance and half groan. “Fine. We can go to the mall. But I’m not getting anything I’m uncomfortable wearing in public.”
“Nor would I want you to,” Violet replied. “I just want everyone to be able to see how cute you really are.”
“Let’s just get this over with.” Camille hopped up from the bed and grabbed her keys. There were only a few days left until everyone departed for the beach. Better to start the hunt for a mutually satisfactory swimsuit now rather than get strong-armed into something when the deadline drew near.
* * *
“I have to say, I’m impressed with you,” Angela commented as her little brother haphazardly tossed clothes into a duffle bag. “I never would have expected you to skip a week of training to go lounge at the beach.”