Forsaken World (Book 3): Rite of Passage

by Watson, Thomas A.

  Taking a deep breath, Jennifer nodded and Ian spun around. Running across the shop, Ian stopped beside Lilly talking for a second and grabbed her arm, yanking her outside. “This is truly the last thing I ever expected Ian to ask,” Jennifer admitted to herself as she turned off the shredder and put the scoop down.

  Walking over to Lance as he watched the CNC cutting away on a bar of steel, Jennifer stopped and picked up a hammer. “Lance,” she said, moving behind him and Lance held up his hand.

  “Hold on, have to make sure the bit doesn’t break on this part,” Lance told her, staring at the jets of fluid hitting the bar as the bit cut grooves.

  “Lance, pause it or I will,” Jennifer said, turning sideways behind him.

  “Arggh,” Lance groaned, tapping some buttons and the CNC stopped. He turned around with a glare, “What?”

  Jennifer reared her right arm back, holding the hammer high. “Relax, I’m going to kiss you,” Jennifer snarled.

  “Ewww,” Lance shivered, shaking his hands. “I can’t kiss you, you’re a buddy.”

  “Then, after I hit you with the hammer, I’m dragging your ass outside and Ian I are kicking your ass,” Jennifer warned, holding the hammer back.

  Looking from Jennifer’s face to the hammer, “Let’s talk about this,” Lance offered, trying to step back but the CNC was behind him. Trying to move to the side, Jennifer’s left hand reached out, grabbing Lance’s hair at the back of his head. “Ow,” Lance cried out.

  As Lance reached for her arm, “Touch my arm and I hit you with the hammer,” Jennifer snapped and Lance froze, seeing Jennifer’s short body tense up to swing.

  Slowly, Lance held his hands up. “Okay, chill,” he said.

  “Relax,” Jennifer demanded, still holding the hammer back and try as he might, Lance couldn’t relax.

  “Okay, I’ll kiss you,” Lance finally said and leaned to Jennifer, opening his mouth and putting it over hers. Before Jennifer could lower the hammer or even move, Lance pulled back. “There, I kissed you,” Lance said proudly.

  Letting her right arm fall to her side still holding the hammer, “That wasn’t a kiss, you just put your mouth over mine!” Jennifer cried out, still holding a handful of Lance’s hair.

  “Jennifer, I’ve seen movies,” Lance grinned. “That was a kiss. How was it?” he asked in a gloating voice.

  Seeing Jennifer raise the hammer again, the smug look dropped off Lance’s face. “Relax,” Jennifer said, pulling Lance to her. When their mouths met, Lance pushed her back and turned his head to the side, spitting.

  “You stuck your tongue in my mouth!” Lance cried out, sticking his tongue out and wiping it off with his gloved hands.

  “Hey,” Jennifer snapped, pulling his hair and Lance stopped wiping his tongue off as he winced. “That’s kissing,” Jennifer said, pulling his head back to her. “Relax and do what I do, because I’m only doing this once.”

  Cutting his eyes to the hammer she was holding high, Lance felt his face pulled to hers and closed his eyes with a grimace. Each shivered in revulsion as Jennifer showed Lance how to kiss. When she broke the kiss, Jennifer dropped the hammer and spun away jumping up and down while doing a cootie dance, shaking her hands rapidly. “That was so gross!” she cried out. “I felt like I was kissing my sister!”

  Holding his mouth open, Lance ran across the shop to the sink and put his mouth under the sink faucet, turning it wide open to rinse his mouth out. Pulling in a mouthful of water, Lance stood up and leaned his head back, gargling. Spitting the water out, he turned to see Jennifer still doing the cootie dance.

  “That’s why Sabrina tried to stick her tongue in my mouth at the Fall Formal?” Lance cried out and then refilled his mouth.

  Stopping her cootie dance, Jennifer turned around and looked at Lance with revulsion as a shiver ran down her spine. “Yes, Lance. That’s kissing,” Jennifer said as the shiver returned. “Now, you’ve done it.”

  Spitting out the water, Lance glared at her. “You’ve kissed Ian, and that means I just kissed him!” Lance cried out in horror.

  Thinking about that and trying to find the logic, Jennifer shook her head and ran to the sink putting her mouth under the faucet. Spitting out a mouthful of water, she stood up and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Is that why you pushed Sabrina at the dance?” she asked.

  “I thought she was trying to lick me,” Lance said, then groaned. “Oh man, I can’t believe I pushed her down.”

  Jennifer giggled, “Sabrina thought it was because she grabbed your butt.”

  “I thought someone else did that,” Lance cried out.

  “Yeah, you walked around the gym with balled up fists wanting to know who’d grabbed your butt,” Jennifer laughed. “Sabrina was scared to tell you it was her.”

  With a weary look, Lance faced Jennifer. “That’s what you and Ian do?” he asked as a shiver ran down his spine, shaking his body.

  “Yes, Lance,” Jennifer said, shivering with him. “It’s better with someone you like, I promise.”

  “That’s the kiss that you and Ian have been asking me to do to Lilly?” Lance asked and Jennifer nodded. “She will punch me in the face if I stick my tongue in her mouth.”

  Crossing her arms over her chest, “If Lilly does, I’ll kiss Dino’s butt,” Jennifer swore, holding her chin high and then added. “Then, I’ll kick her ass because I had to do that for nothing.”

  Taking his right glove off, Lance stepped up to Jennifer. “We never speak of this again,” he said and Jennifer dropped her arms to her side and nodded. Holding up his right hand, Lance spit in it and held it out. Looking at Lance’s hand, Jennifer looked up at his face as Lance held out his hand.

  Yanking her right glove off, Jennifer spit in her hand and grabbed Lance’s hand as they shook. “It didn’t happen,” Jennifer said.

  “Exactly,” Lance nodded, releasing her hand. Turning back to the CNC, Lance wiped his hand off on his shirt and put his glove back on. Pulling her other glove off, Jennifer moved to the sink and washed her hands.

  “He freaks about kissing and can spit in his hand for a handshake?” Jennifer mumbled, drying her hands off. Running her tongue over her mouth, Jennifer spit in the sink. “Ewwww,” Jennifer moaned remembering the kiss and grabbed her gloves, running for the door.

  She busted out of the shop into a dead run for the cabin as Ian and Lilly climbed out of the new buggy. “What’s wrong?” Ian shouted.

  “I need to brush my teeth!” Jennifer screeched, yanking her key out and shoving it in the door.

  When Jennifer was inside, Lilly glanced over at Ian to see him grinning. “What’s that about?” Lilly asked.

  With a cocky grin, Ian turned to Lilly. “She wants her mouth clean, so we can do some smooching later,” Ian said in a suave voice, waggling his eyebrows at her.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chuckling, Lilly climbed back in the buggy. “The power’s on,” she said, sitting in the driver seat. Ian moved around as he was checking things with a multimeter.

  Lilly had to admit, the buggy Ian had built was awesome. It was bigger than the hybrid UTV and looked more like a dune buggy. It had four separate seats but the two backseats faced out and not forward, so those in the back could watch the back and sides without having to turn around.

  A metal bin, running from the front to the rear, separated the seats and housed the batteries, and a big generator that charged the batteries. The buggy had more power than the UTV. The buggy had an electric motor, individually driving each wheel. What surprised her was how quiet the thing was. Lance and Ian had built shrouds over every motor. The loudest thing on the buggy was the two electric cooling fans.

  One sat on a radiator that Ian had pulled from the diesel truck they’d used to haul the excavator and track steer to the cabin. The second fan was put in the intake snorkel to cool the batteries and electric motors. Even with the generator running, you couldn’t hear it twenty yards away.

  They had only dr
iven it around the cabin, but the damn thing could go much faster than the hybrid UTV. That was the reason Ian had built it. He wanted to know that he could outrun the tigers if he had to. Remembering how fast the buggy zoomed around, Lilly thought it could probably outrun the tigers.

  “Checks out,” Ian said, turning off the meter.

  Turning the buggy off, Lilly climbed out. “This couldn’t have waited?” she asked.

  “No, last night was the first night the buggy stayed outside all night,” Ian said, lifting his chin and daring her to doubt him.

  Nodding, “Okay, so what now?” Lilly asked and Ian headed back to the shop.

  “Back to what we were doing,” Ian said with indifference.

  Shaking her head, Lilly followed. “Lance and Ian can be so smart but sometimes, they are so stupid,” she sighed.

  When Jennifer came back out, Lilly helped her grind up coins and Ian went inside and started lessons for the ladybugs. Two hours later, Ian came out and took Lance’s spot at the CNC and Lance went in to teach.

  Two hours later, Lance came out and sent Lilly in to teach, since today was her day. The only reason Jennifer was mad was because she’d wanted to sit in on the lessons with Allie and Carrie. On Sundays, she had to get Ian to sit down with her and show her what was taught, but Jennifer really didn’t mind that.

  Before the sunset, Jennifer headed inside to start supper. Anyone else that tried to cook or do laundry without Jennifer got an ass chewing from hell. Jennifer knew she could do these things to pull her weight and told everyone else as much.

  Shutting down the shop, the boys headed inside. Ian headed for the shower, and Lance went down to the bunker. With the computers they had brought in, Lance had built a radio monitoring program over the past few weeks that recorded any strong radio transmissions on common frequencies. Close transmissions, the program could plot, including their own. Lance was working on a program to filter out their radio transmissions when Lilly had stopped him.

  “Lance, when we use a radio someone is sitting here and can use the mouse to just click ‘Stop’, and delete our transmissions,” Lilly had told him. Thinking that was crude, Lance had finally agreed, but only because the program would’ve taken a long time to write.

  Sitting down at the control desk, Lance pulled up the radio program while taking off his gloves and grabbing a notebook. With a map on the main screen, Lance saw nine transmissions marked on the map over the last twenty-four hours, complete with time.

  Clicking each one, Lance made notes as Ian came down, drying his hair off with a towel. “Anything good?” Ian asked, sitting down.

  “Yeah,” Lance grinned, pushing the notebook over. “The little dicks and the Nazis are fighting.”

  “All right,” Ian said, dropping the towel in his lap and grabbing the ink pen and the mouse. Clicking the next transmission, Ian made notes as Lance headed for the shower.

  Lilly was walking out of the bathroom, drying her hair as Lance passed. “I love showers,” Lilly grinned.

  Smiling as he passed by, “Yeah, it’s hard to sleep when you’re dirty,” Lance laughed, walking in the men’s bathroom.

  Letting the towel drape across her shoulders, Lilly moved over to Allie and Carrie, sitting at their desk. Since the desk they’d put in for Lilly was beside Allie’s, she sat down and looked over at the girls working. “Need some help?” Lilly asked, leaning over.

  “The stupid equation won’t balance!” Allie cried out and Lilly saw she was working on a stoichiometry equation.

  “Chemistry is hard but once you get the knack, it’s easy,” Lilly said, scooting her chair over.

  Taking Allie’s pencil, Lilly started to explain and Carrie got out of her chair and moved up on the other side of Allie. Setting down the plates, Jennifer moved over to stand over Allie, watching Lilly explain.

  “I got it!” Allie cried out, taking the pencil and writing before tapping the scientific calculator. “There,” she said, looking up at Lilly with a big smile.

  Hugging Allie, “Very good,” Lilly said.

  When Lilly let her go, “Why didn’t Ian show me that way?” Allie asked, putting her pencil down.

  “Because that way was easy,” Jennifer huffed. “I understood that,” she said, heading back to the kitchen.

  “Go shower, ladybugs,” Lilly said, pulling Allie’s chair back and they took off for the bathroom.

  After they ran off, Lilly headed to the kitchen to help Jennifer. “So, did you get your smooches?” Lilly asked, grabbing the glasses.

  “What?!” Jennifer cried out, dropping the silverware as she spun around in panic to look at Lilly.

  Jumping back and almost dropping the glasses, “Ian said you had to brush your teeth, so you could get some smooches,” Lilly said carefully.

  The panicked expression was replaced with a hostile one. “That son of a bitch will be lucky if he gets smooches for a week,” Jennifer snarled and Lilly cocked her head to the side with a confused look.

  Holding up her hand, “Lilly, I’m not in the mood to talk about it,” Jennifer said and Lilly saw Jennifer shiver with revulsion on her face.

  Watching Jennifer pick up the silverware, Lilly walked around the kitchen island and carried the glasses to the table. “Okay, but if you want to talk, I’m here,” Lilly offered.

  Throwing the silverware in the sink, Jennifer spun around. “I need to brush my teeth,” she said, storming to the bathroom.

  “Close the door,” Allie squealed as Jennifer walked in.

  “Shut up!” Jennifer yelled, closing the door.

  Grabbing more silverware, Lilly set the table and saw Ian come up from the basement, reading a notebook. “What’s the yelling about?” he asked, not looking up.

  “What the hell did you do to Jennifer?” Lilly snapped, coming around the table and heading for Ian.

  He looked up as Lilly stopped in front of him, putting her hands on her hips. “None of your damn business,” Ian popped off. Seeing Lilly narrow her eyes, Ian tucked the notebook under his arm. “All I will say is, she agreed,” Ian said with a slight snarl.

  A thousand images filled Lilly’s mind and none were even close. “You better make it up to her, that’s all I’m going to say,” Lilly said, spinning around and heading back to the table.

  “What the hell is wrong with Jennifer?” Ian asked, tossing the notebook on the table.

  Not looking at Ian, Lilly continued to set the table. “Ian, I know she’s brushed her teeth like a dozen times since lunch,” Lilly said.

  “Oh,” Ian said, looking off. “Well, like I said, she agreed to try it.”

  Taking a breath as she looked up at Ian, Lilly paused and then let the breath out. “I don’t want to know,” she finally admitted, filling the glasses.

  “Good, because I wasn’t telling,” Ian sassed, sitting down as Lance walked out of the bathroom in shorts, drying his hair.

  Turning to Lance, Lilly’s face relaxed, staring at his chest and abs. About to start drooling, Lilly shook her head and headed downstairs. “What the hell is her problem?” Lance asked, sitting down.

  “I don’t know,” Ian said, then leaned closer.

  Lance’s hand shot up in Ian’s face. “Dude, you ask and I swear on all that’s holy, we go outside,” Lance declared. “I now know what you felt like when your mom made you kiss Allie after you sat on her Barbie and broke it.”

  “Aw, man, why did you bring that up?” Ian cried out with a shiver. “I forgot that for a reason.”

  “Hey, you just pecked her on the lips,” Lance said as Ian stuck his tongue out, gagging.

  Coming off the stairs, Lilly saw Ian gagging and Lance revolted. “I was around all day, what the hell happened?” she mumbled, walking to the table. Holding out a tank top, “Lance, will you put this on?” Lilly asked.

  “I’m a boy!” Lance snapped.

  “Lance, please,” Lilly said, dropping her eyes to his chest.

  A small grin tried to form on Lance’s mouth. “I�
�m a boy, I don’t have cones,” he declared and Lilly looked up at his face and the small grin dropped.

  “Fine, I’m walking around without a shirt and bra,” Lilly said, grabbing her shirt to pull it off.

  Grabbing her hands, Lance stopped her from pulling her shirt off. “You have cones,” Lance gasped, blushing brightly.

  “Let’s see how you concentrate with someone half naked,” Lilly snapped, trying to pull her shirt off.

  “Okay!” Lance cried out, letting her hands go and grabbing the tank top to pull it on. “Happy?”

  Letting her shirt go, Lilly nodded. “Yes, I can’t concentrate when you don’t have on a shirt,” Lilly admitted, holding her chin up. “We talk about what’s going on at supper and I really want to concentrate so I can help. Do you think you could contribute to the conversation if I let my boobs hang out?”

  Coughing as his mouth went dry and his mind supplied the images, Lance shook his head. “No, you’re right,” he said in a raspy voice.

  Lilly nodded at Lance with a smile and turned and saw Ian in a catatonic state. “Ian, I’ll tell Jennifer,” Lilly snapped.

  “Don’t you dare,” Ian gasped. “It took me days, the last time she flashed her hooters, to look at her without blushing. If you took your shirt off and walked around, Jennifer would, too. I don’t know if I could look in her eyes anymore.”

  Hearing the bathroom door open, Lilly sat down. “Ian, I could kick your ass for not trying harder for Jennifer. I’ve never seen someone so infatuated,” Lilly said in a low voice.

  With a towel wrapped around her head, Jennifer walked to the table with the ladybugs. Seeing the tense expressions, “What?” Jennifer asked.

  “I told Lance what I was going to do if he didn’t put a shirt on,” Lilly said, helping the ladybugs into their chairs without the towels on their heads falling off.

  Noticing Ian wouldn’t look at her, Jennifer sat down beside him. “Guess Ian figured out what I would do,” Jennifer said with a smile and Ian started coughing.

  Jennifer held out her hands and they said grace. For the entire meal, only Allie and Carrie talked. When he was done, Lance pushed back from the table. “Ian, what else did you hear on the radio?” Lance asked.