Copyright © 2026 by Julien Gregg
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The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.
THREE
We were called up to dinner after that, and our conversation was over. Mary had made roast beef with potatoes and corn. We had a good meal. Then she gave us two pumpkin bars apiece. She even had cream cheese frosting on them. They were good. Then we were in the basement watching our movies. The first was just a movie about a boy who learned that he had the power to move things with his mind. He used it to save his father from a fire, and to save his sister from a rapist. It was a good movie. I liked it. The second was about a dog who rescued a boy. It was a heartfelt movie, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. After that it was almost time for bed. Richard went upstairs to shower. April asked us if we really wanted to go to Maxwell Academy.
"Yes," I said. "We can't spend another year in the school here," I said.
"You could come to Radison," she said.
"Radison doesn't have the classes to challenge us," Kevin said. "Maxwell does. They tailor the scholastic experience to your intelligence level."
"Okay," she said. "I just thought that Killian would use his time travel experience for more than a prep school."
"What?" I asked.
"You boys aren't as sneaky as you think you are," she said. "When you go off to talk, I hide and listen. I know what you've done. Thank you for keeping us from the accident. I'm glad I'm not all busted and broken. But you need to do something more than going to the prep school."
"I've done something more," I said. "I got us away from Hank and Mom, I gave Grandma the winning lottery tickets, and I told Richard about the accident. He was planning to have us all at the lock in at Family Fun Center, but Kevin broke his nose with the red rubber ball. That effectively had us at the hospital until the accident had already happened. Now I'm going to the prep school to hopefully make enough friends who are nearly as smart as we are, so we can go into a business venture that will make us filthy sticking rich."
"Okay," she said. "As long as you doing something. You were given this chance for a reason."
"Well, I wished on every birthday cake, first star I saw, and wishing well to come back in time to save us from the accident," I said. "I've done that. My changes are almost over."
"When you say it like that I understand," she said. "I'm not as mundane as you think. I'm pretty smart. They are talking about moving me up a grade at Radison."
"That's awesome," I said, smiling. "Good going, April. I never thought you were mundane. I just didn't know where your intelligence level was. Now I do. I'm proud of you."
"Thank you," she said. "I also know that I'm going to marry Jesse Addon. I'm sorry that he didn't like you. He does right now, and I'll work to keep it that way."
"Don't worry about it," I said. "If you love him, then be with him. It won't make much difference to me. Honest."
"Okay," she said. "Well, I'm going to bed."
"Goodnight, April," Kevin and I said at the same time, making her smile.
"Explain this business venture to me," Kevin said.
"Well, I want to open an electronics store," I said. "We'd only sell things we make. I'd have to open a factory and hire a staff to create the stuff that I draw up in the drawing room. We need coders, computer people and engineers. We'll find them at Maxwell Academy. We'll make friends with the right people and make this a reality. I'm going to use future tech to make the things that we make amazing to the people of this time."
"Sounds good," he said. "Just as long as I'm involved, too."
"Of course you're going to be involved," I said. "You're the other half of me, Kevin. I would never do anything the left you behind. I came back in time to save you after all."
"Yeah," he said. "Let's get ready for bed."
We went up to bed, and didn't talk anymore. I was asleep almost as soon as my head touched the pillow. The next morning we did something we'd never done. We went running. It turned out that we were very good at it. We ran a mile that day. Then we went home, took a shower, and had breakfast. Richard wanted to know where we'd gone. I told him that we'd been running. We ran a mile. He nodded at this. He asked Grandma if we could get a weight set in the basement. She thought it was a great idea. She left with Richard to purchase the weight set. Kevin and I read books.
They came home with a home gym. Richard spent some time carrying it in. We helped. Then he was setting it up in the unfinished section of the basement. It had a weight bench, dumbbells, and incline board, and a stationary bike. He put it all together, and then he worked out for a bit. We left him to it. He promised to show us the right way to work out tomorrow. He took a shower and then headed out to be with his friends. Kevin and I played Chess. We read books. We did all that we could think of to make the day seem not so boring. We were successful after a while. We took the movies back and got more. This time we got three. They weren't movies that were showcases or anything. They were the ones that the critics said were flops. I had assured Kevin that those were the movies that became cult classics in later years. He said we'd watch them.
We watched the first and it was about a girl who could make fire with her mind. It was a knock off of "Firestarter" but it was pretty good. The acting was great. The effects were nice, and the storyline was good. The second one was about a boy who was afraid of the dark for a good reason. It had a spectacular finish and we thoroughly enjoyed it. The third was about a family that fell apart from secrets that came back to destroy them. It was a bit more for an older audience, but we liked it. Then we read books and talked about what we'd read. We'd had lunch, and Richard and April weren't back, so we played more Chess. We were getting good at playing against each other.
Richard and April were back by dinner time. We had a good dinner. Then we were in the basement with each other. April commented on the movies. We watched them again. We were up a bit later that night with three movies. But they enjoyed them just as much as we did. The third one was a bit out of April's comfort zone, but she sat through it. She had a few questions when it was over. We went to bed. Tomorrow they'd be in school and we'd be doing the assignments from the book.
The next morning they got up for school and we slept in. When we got up, we showered and had breakfast. Then we got the assignments done. We were working on Math when Richard came home. He watched us for a bit. Then he went downstairs and worked out. When we were done, we changed in to sweats and t-shirts and joined him. He taught us how to work out, and we had a good afternoon. April came home and watched us. She didn't have homework today. She said we looked good, but she thought we'd hurt when it was over. She was right. Richard told us that the pain would go away when we were used to working out. We believed him.
Our days were spent doing assignments and taking tests. Then we'd work out or run a mile. By the end of the book, we were running three miles every other day and working out every other day. Richard was right. The more we worked out the less our bodies hurt. We put on muscle and Richard told us we were doing great. We grew an inch over the time we'd been working out, too. Grandma had to buy us new clothes. She told us we were doing good with the weights in the basement. We worked arms, legs, glutes, lats, and delts. We used the stationary bike from time to time. That was a good workout in itself.
School let out for the summer, and our siblings were off with friends more than they were home. We worked out, watched movies, ran, and played Chess. Grandma bought us a game system, and we played video games for a while each day. It was boring but we got through it. We were happy whenever April and Richard spent time with us. We went swimming, and played baseball in the park. We had fun with them, but it wasn't an every day thing. We missed them a lot. We put on more muscle and looked good. We'd grown into the bodies of teenagers. We weren't kids anymore. Our birthday was approaching and we'd be thirteen.
We had a party at the Family Fun Center. We let April and Richard invite their friends and had a good day. Everyone treated us nice. Some of them wondered where our friends were, and we told them we didn't have friends. They thought that was sad. Grandma and Mary had baked our cake. It was huge with green frosting and blue candles. We had a great day at the Family Fun Center. They had video games, dart boards, and pool tables. Kevin was really good at pool. I was really good at darts. We had a great day.
Then we were back to running, working out, watching movies, and playing video games. It was just us a lot, and we were getting used to it. We played baseball in the park at least once a week. We showed them how good we were, and they promised to come get us when they played. It was just once a week. Richard worked out with us sometimes. Sometimes he didn't. We were alone a lot. Grandma thought it was sad, but we had each other. We didn't need the village at the moment.
Jason came over and brought us a test that we had to take for Maxwell Academy. We took it and he sent it back to Maxwell. Then he started to have barbecues at his house. We met Sarah. She was a pretty woman with blond hair and green eyes. She was petite, and she taught English at Radison. She was head over heals for Jason, so she was a good person in my book. Jason needed love. We also met Jason's nephew, Cole Summer. He was a good looking blond haired boy with aqua blue eyes. He was a bit older than us. But not by much. He played baseball in the park with us once a week. Jason thought it was great that we knew Cole from baseball. He said Cole's home life wasn't great. We understood that better than anyone thought.
Each barbecue was great. Richard and April were there, Cole was there, and Sarah was there. Jason and Sarah got engaged, and I thought it was awesome. He smiled a lot, and I was happy to see him happy. Grandma had set it up so that we could get an allowance from our trust funds. It was twenty-five hundred a month. That was great for us. Richard and April got the same thing. She had to be fair. We were fitted for uniforms for Maxwell in August. Then it was time to start packing for the move to Maxwell. Grandma was sad a lot. She told us she was going to miss us. The day finally came that we'd been waiting for. Richard was upset, because he said he'd pissed away his time with us. He'd taken April's knowledge of my time travel with humor. He told her she was a sneak.
The night before the move to Maxwell, Grandma tried to tell us we couldn't go. Jason came over to talk her down. He told her she'd already given him guardianship of me and Kevin. That was something we hadn't known, and that he was taking us to Maxwell in the morning. The tuition was paid, the test had been taken, and we were enrolled. We had to go. She decided that we'd go after much talking from Jason. He picked us up at four in the morning, and drove us to Chicago. We talked on the trip, and he told us that Grandma had given him guardianship so he could come and take us to dinner from time to time. We thought that was all right. He asked us if we were scared or nervous. We were both. He said we'd be all right.
It was a long drive and we were tired so we napped on the trip. Jason woke us up when we were in Chicago. Our first look at Maxwell Academy showed us black stone buildings. There were ten buildings, but some of them were dorms. He drove to the biggest of the buildings and parked his car in front of it. We had a meeting with Professor Pritchard at noon. We were a few minutes early. We walked into the building and to Professor Pritchard's office. His secretary told us he was was in a meeting and would be with us in a moment. The room was all wood. Wood panels were on the walls. The floor was hardwood. The ceiling was wood tiles like regular ceiling tiles. Her desk was a long wooden thing with many baskets of papers on it. She had a window behind her and a green plant in a ceramic planter that was red was on the windowsill.
She was an older woman with graying red hair that was to her shoulders. She was dressed in a charcoal skirt suit with a white shirt underneath. She was stapling packets of some sort the whole time we sat there. She said, "You two are the youngest students in the school this year."
"They're very smart," Jason said.
"Yes, we've reviewed their tests," she said. "Professor Pritchard was very pleased but shocked."
"Yes, their intelligence shocked me, too," Jason said. "But they're good boys."
"Oh, I'm sure," she said. "We heard about the way the school in Janus was treating them. It's just terrible that a scholastic institution didn't accept their intelligence. We will here. They'll have a wonderful education. Maxwell has sports, too. They could play baseball, football, basketball, soccer, or they could run track or swim. We're a full service scholastic institution. Our boys go on to colleges all over the country. Most go to Ivy League schools, but some go to regular colleges and excel. They're in good hands here."
"I'm happy to hear that," he said. "They're lives have been a bit rough for years. It will be nice for some stability and safety."
"Yes, I'd read about their stepfather," she said. "Nasty man."
"He's deceased now," Jason said.
"Is that right?" she said. "Wonders never cease."
The door opened and another family came out. Professor Pritchard was six feet tall with thinning dark hair and brown eyes. He wore a suite and tie. It was black with a red tie. He ushered us into his office and had us take seats. The office was just like the secretary's office and waiting area. Wood panels, wood floor, a wood ceiling, and there was a desk that was bigger than expected. Also there were bookcases filled with scholastic books. There were framed certificates on the walls, too.
"Mr. Osgood, it's a pleasure to meet you," he said. "I'm Donald Pritchard. Folks around here call me Professor Pritchard, because I used to teach Government."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, too, Donald," Jason said. "Call me Jason."
"Very well," he said. "We're here to get Killian and Kevin Flynn ready for their time here at Maxwell. I have a number of things to go over with you. Are you both ready for a day of information?"
"Yes, Sir," we said at the same time.
"Very good," he said. "Maxwell Academy opened in nineteen sixty. It was a finishing school then. Over the years the school has been purchased by many different scholastic companies. We are now a school under the Saguaro umbrella. Saguaro has a number of prep schools and colleges in the country. But the school was founded by Dr. Matthew Maxwell. His mansion is in the city. Now the students of the school sacrifice one Saturday a month to clean the mansion and give tours, answer questions, and pass out packets of information about Dr. Maxwell.
"We are a full service scholastic institution with several levels of each class," he continued. "You'll have math, science, history, and language. There are computer courses, and of course the gymnasium is open to all students. Physical Education classes are held there, and during the day no student may use the facilities. They're in classes all day anyway. There is a pool, and you can reserve time in it. The swim team has it most afternoons. So evenings are the time to reserve time in the pool.
"You'll be roommates in the Durant House dorms," he said. "That dorm is headed by Professor Grant. He's the History and Government Professor. Durant House has classes together. You will always be with your house. The houses are Durant, Pascal, Drummand, and Endors. Durant is for the history minded students, while Pascal is for the art minded students, Drummand is for the science minded students, and Endors is for the language students. You would have fit into any of those houses, but you seem to excel at history and government hence Durant House.
"You'll enter the Academy as Sophomores," he said. "Your tests were off the charts, so you can't be Freshman. It just wouldn't do you any good. Now I know that you're only thirteen, and the youngest sophomores in the school, but a mentor will be assigned to you. As you're in Durant House, that would be Randy Pressman. He was our youngest student until you two came here. He's a sophomore like yourselves, but he was a freshman here and has done really well. Now do you have any questions?"
"I'll be allowed to come once a month to take them to dinner?" he asked.
"You can come more than once a month if you choose," Pritchard said. "Just call them and make sure that they don't have Mansion Duty first."
"Okay," he said.
"We go to the city with our head of house once a month, right?" I asked.
"That's correct," he said. "You have an account at the Maxwell Bank in the city. Money is placed in that account by your parents or guardian. You can access that money when you go into the city with either the head of your house or your parent or guardian."
"Are there clubs?" Kevin asked. "Like Movie Club for example."
"There are," Pritchard said. "We have movies every Friday night. You use points to get tickets. At Maxwell you start out with five hundred points. Professors can take or give points depending on your behavior and a plethora of other factors. If you lose too many points you won't be allowed to participate in movie night, or the dances. Maxwell partners with Worthington Preparatory. It's another school in Chicago, but for girls. You can have dates for the dances with any of the girls from Worthington Prep, but without the proper points you won't be allowed to attend the dances."
"What other clubs are there?" I asked.
"Chess Club, Billiard Club, and The Phoenix," Pritchard said. "The Phoenix is a social club that pairs students with the students of Worthington in a controlled environment."
"Okay," Jason said. "It sounds like a great place to learn and socialize."
"Well, we want our students to form networks," Pritchard said. "These kids will grow up together and be in business together in the future. We're preparing them for college, and they'll be with their groups through the years at Maxwell to form connections and partners in the world."
"Sounds wonderful," Jason said.
"We should take the tour," Pritchard said, standing. "Then we'll have a bite to eat, and I'll set you free in your house."
He took us on a walk through campus. Classes weren't in session until Monday, and this was Friday. We saw the scholastic buildings, and even a few lecture halls. Then we went to the gym, the art room, and the club rooms. He took us to the cafeteria and we had a meal of pizza with fries and juice to drink. Then he showed us to our house, introduced us to Professor Grant, who was a six foot tall man with light brown hair and blue eyes. He looked physically fit, and filled out his clothes very well. He also introduced us to Randy Pressman. He was a head taller than us with dark hair and grey eyes. He was a sophomore like us but a year older than us. He told us we'd be fast friends. Then we were shown to our room. Our bags were already in them. We were given a key to the room. Both of us got keys. Jason said goodbye and told us to be good. Then we were alone.
The dorm room was a hardwood floor, sheet rock walls that were painted light blue, a wooden ceiling, and two beds that were across from each other. A window was between them. There were nightstands, a desk, and a closet. We hung our uniforms and shirts in the closet. We even hung pants in the closet. Two drawers at the bottom were for socks and underwear. We put our bags in there too. Then we sat on the beds and looked at each other.
"Well, we're here," Kevin said. "What do you think so far?"
"It's different," I said. "We'll be fine. We've got Randy, so he'll show us what really goes on here."
"Yeah, it all sounded so good when Pritchard was telling us about it," Kevin said. "But we'll get the low down from Randy."
"What did you think of the pizza?" I asked.
"It was far better than what we got at school in Janus," he said. "I was pleased."
"Me, too," I said. "Want to join The Phoenix Club?"
"I think we should," he said. "It's a social club. We might find friends there."
"That's what I was thinking," I said as someone knocked on the door.
It was Randy and he took us to the club house for The Phoenix. We signed up for it on the spot. The place was nice. It had carpet on the floor that was blue. The walls were sheet rock painted light blue. The ceiling was dropped with actual ceiling tiles. There were couches and a pool table. There was a soda fountain and a snack table that was empty so far. He said we met on Saturday nights. We told him we'd be here. He took us to the art building and told us that art and music weren't classes, they were available to all of us if we wanted them. He said the school focused more on scholastic endeavors. We told him that was fine. He took us back to the dorm to the common room. There were other kids there, and he introduced us to Adam Hawn and Aaron Sears. They were both sophomores, too. Adam was from Chicago, but Aaron was from Divernon, a place I'd never heard of. Adam had dark hair and blue eyes, and Aaron had blond hair and brown eyes. Randy told us later that they were the trouble makers of the house and it would be best if we steered clear of them. I wondered why he introduced us to them to begin with.
We hung out and had soda. He said that soda wasn't usually available to us outside of the club house. This was a special thing. It'd be here all weekend so that we could get to know our house mates. We met a few other boys and I forgot their names. They were sophomores, too. It seemed the common room was filled with sophomores. Randy told us that this was the sophomore floor. The Freshman were a floor below us in their own common room. The juniors and seniors were upstairs in their common room. It made more sense to me when he explained. He said that if we had a problem we could go to Professor Grant any time we liked.
We followed him to dinner in the cafeteria where we sat with a lot of sophomores. We'd just eaten not long ago so we weren't all that hungry. This place was different because we could choose what we wanted to eat. They had a few choices. I got a hamburger with fries and a fruit cup. Kevin got the same thing. We got Mango juice from the plastic ice filled tub of juices. We sat with Randy and his friends. They were Peter Saltsman, Royce Henning, and Bobby Taylor. They were all right guys so far. We didn't know them. They talked about the girls from Worthington Prep. They'd be there next Saturday night. We'd find our dates for the dances there and all of that. We ate and then took our trays to the line of dishes. Then we sat with the boys until it was time to go back to our house. Kevin and I hung out in the common room, looking at magazines, and talking with this person and that person. One of the sophomores was a boy named Alex Porter. He was a dark haired, blue eyed boy who was the same height as our own five foot six. He talked to us about working out. He said he could see from our bodies that we did it. He said the gym was open all of the time, and the athletic center was always open. That was something that interested us. We told Alex that we'd work out with him. He said we could run on the off days and there was a track that was a mile long. We thought that was perfect.
We went to our room later and got ready for bed. Kevin went on and on about Alex Porter. He said that one seemed like a good friend for us. I agreed. We went to sleep in the new beds fairly quickly. Our first day at Maxwell had been a success.
Classes started and we were doing well. My first problem presented itself in French class. I hadn't wanted to take this one. We had to take a language class, but I had wanted Spanish. Professor Thiphet was the French Professor, and he was an ass. We'd been warned about him. He looked at us with contempt. We weren't allowed to speak English in the classroom. It had to be French. I was fine when I wasn't speaking to Thiphet, but when I was I shut my eyes and concentrated on my diction.
"Mr. Flynn, why are your eyes closed?" he asked me with contempt dripping from his voice.
"So I can concentrate on my diction," I said.
"I'd prefer that you look at me when you speak," he said. Of course it was all in French.
"Yes, Professor," I said with my eyes open.
Class went on. I continued to close my eyes when I spoke directly to me. He noticed. He asked me if I had a problem with him. I said that I didn't but he made me nervous. He said he would take points from me every time I closed my eyes. I just looked at him. When the class was over I was happy to get out of there. Kevin told me that Thiphet was unfair. I told him it made no difference. We went to History class. This was with Professor Grant. We would do very well in this class. He went over what we would do in the class. Reports we would write, and he gave us a syllabus. We would follow it. Of course, Kevin and I had already read the book he was using. We would show good on reports and assignments. Class discussion was a big part of the class. We did really well with that.
We also had Chemistry and Geometry. We did very well in both of those. We were told about experiments in Chemistry, and special equations on the board for Geometry. There was one on the board now. This wasn't Geometry. It was and advanced Algebra. He told us to tackle those as we would. I solved them and handed them in at the end of the class. Then we went to Computer Programming class. We both did very well in this class. Then it was time for us to go to lunch. Randy asked us how our day was going. I told him that I liked my professors, just not Thiphet. I described my time in his class. Randy told me to be very careful with Thiphet and not to give him a reason to single me out. He said that kids had dropped out of Maxwell because of Thiphet.
The next day he took fifty points from me for closing my eyes. I was livid. The most a professor was supposed to take as five or ten if you were really out of line. Fifty was a lot. He was abusing his position and it stunk. I was planning to drop his class at the end of the year. Kevin was just as upset as I was. But Professor Grant gave me fifty points for doing the assignment, and another fifty for reading aloud in class. The other kids whispered about this for the rest of the hour. Grant had given me back what Thiphet had taken from me and then some. I smiled at him as I left the room. In the days that followed five students suddenly started to get mega points from professors for silly things. These five students were being ostracized by Thiphet. He took fifty points from all of them throughout the day.
A trend started and a group was formed. It was called "The Five" and it was five students who received massive points from other professors. We ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner together. The five of us were me, Alex Porter, a boy named Dustin Flox from Pascal, a boy from Drummand named Pug Johnson of all things. The last was a junior named Robby Eastman. He was from Endors House. We showed up for our first meal together and he commented on the points war.
"Thiphet takes a lot of points from us, but the other professors are making up for it," he said. He was a good looking boy with shoulder length light brown, almost blond hair and very green eyes. He was also muscular and played baseball. He asked us if we were going to play a sport. Dustin, Alex, and I said we were going to play baseball. He smiled at this.
Dustin was the best looking boy I'd ever seen. He had dark hair that was cut short, his eyes were a certain shade of brown that I found sexy. He smiled and my pants got tighter in the crotch. Pug was a lanky boy with mousy brown hair and grey eyes. He seemed to like Robby a lot. I noticed that Robby liked him a lot, too. I wondered about those two. I wasn't going to assume that they were gay and together, but it sure looked like it.
Time moved for us. Jason came for a dinner out. He also took us into the city and we got money and paid for new uniforms. We were outgrowing the other ones. He told us that he would pay for uniforms, so we used our money to get other things. I got model cars, and Kevin got books. We went back to school and I went to the art room to put my models together. I had two of them, and I had glue and paint for them, too. I put together a 57 Chevy that was a convertible. I painted it cherry red. The other was a Dodge Charger. I painted it black and put the flame decals on it. I put them on the shelf above my bed. Kevin said they were cool.
Midterm arrived and with it my first big scare. The French midterm was all written, so I did really well on it. Kevin did well, and we left the room before the rest of the students. I took midterm exams in all of my classes and did really well with them. We were just back from dinner when Professor Grant knocked on our door. He told me to follow him and told Kevin to stay in the room. He asked me about the French Midterm. I told him it was great. He told me that Professor Thiphet was taking me before the Honor Code for cheating on the midterm.
"But I didn't cheat," I said.
"You have to prove it," he said. "If you're found guilty you'll be expelled."
The Honor Code was a group made up of seniors from all four houses. They reviewed cases brought before them and decided if the accused student was guilty or innocent. Professor Pritchard sat in on these hearings because he was the one who had to take action. We walked into the cafeteria and sat in the seats that Professor Grant indicated. Professor Thiphet was already there. He had my exam in front of him. I sat and waited for what was going to happen.
"We are here tonight to determine if a Durant Sophomore cheated on the French Midterm," said one of the boys at the front table. "Professor Thiphet you insist that Killian Flynn cheated on the midterm?"
"I do," he said. "He speaks poor French. Yet he got every question on the test right. He clearly cheated."
"Killian Flynn, what do you have to say about this?" asked the boy.
"I didn't cheat on the test," I said. "I speak better French that Thiphet seems to think I do as well."
"There is a way for you to prove that you didn't cheat," said Reggie Coleman, the boy at the end of the table. "You could take an oral midterm here in the cafeteria now."
"I would welcome it," I said.
For the next hour I answered questions in French, recited the "Pledge of Allegiance" in French and spoke about my time at Maxwell Academy in French. When I was done it was time for the Honor Code to confer. I sat in my seat and Professor Grant told me I'd done a great job. I smiled at him. The Honor Code came back to the table. They declared that I did not cheat on the French Midterm and the grade would stand. We were excused. I went back to my room. Kevin was waiting for me.
"What happened?" he asked.
"Thiphet took me before the Honor Code for cheating on the midterm," I said. I was angry about it.
"You didn't cheat though, right?" he asked.
"If they had found me guilty I'd be packing," I said. "They expel you for cheating."
"Damn," he said. "He tried to have you expelled?"
"That's exactly what he tried," I said. "The bastard."
"But you proved that you didn't cheat," he said.
"I took an hour long oral exam in he cafeteria for the Honor Code. They conferred and said I didn't cheat. Thiphet was furious," I said.
"I'll just bet he was," Kevin said. "Word of this is going to spread, and he's going to be an ass about it."
"I know," I said. "I just have to get through his classes until the end of the year. Next year, I'm doing Spanish. Fuck Professor Thiphet."
"I'll do it with you," he said. "I don't want to be in his class either."
The next day Thiphet took fifty points from me for being the last to sit in my seat after the bell. I glared at him. He glared right back. He told us to turn to the page that he was on and we continued the lesson. I spoke French to him with my eyes open. He looked disappointed. Then he took fifty points from me for not turning to the page fast enough. This was ridiculous. I was about to walk out of his classroom. Thankfully the hour ended. I got the hell out of there. Professor Grant saw that I was upset and asked me what had happened. I told him exactly what happened. He gave me fifty points for my candor and fifty more for not losing my temper. Then he taught the class. We had to read out loud and he gave me fifty points for reading aloud. I smiled at him. The day went on.
However I had trouble with Thiphet every day. He took more and more points from me and the other professor were hard pressed to give points back. We had the first dance. It was the Halloween Dance. I called the girl that I had met through the Phoenix Club. Her name was Thalia Dwyer. She agreed to go to the dance with me. She told me that her dress was orange and black. I thanked her. Then Professor Grant took us to get tuxes for the dance. I got a black tux with an orange cummerbund and bow tie. Kevin asked me why. I told him that Thalia's dress was orange and black. He didn't seem to understand this. I told him it was so we'd match. He nodded. Then he got a black tux with an aqua cummerbund and bow tie. He said he hadn't understood why Laken had told him her dress color. He thanked me for explaining to him.
I was surprised that Kevin was going to the dance. He seemed to be happy to explore the bodies of his fellow students. I cant count how many times I'd passed a boy coming out of our room with his pants undone. Kevin always had this goofy grin on his face when that happened. I knew that puberty had ramped up. I was drinking tea with honey and speaking in a lower octave to keep my voice from cracking. Plus I was hard more than not. I wasn't doing was Kevin was doing though. I had more respect for myself than that.
The night of the dance Thalia looked beautiful. She'd told me that she wasn't looking for a boyfriend, and I was thrilled that she wasn't looking for a boyfriend. We met up at the front of the gym and she hugged me. We stopped to have our pictures taken and I used money to buy two sets of pictures. One for me and one for Thalia. She thanked me. Then we were on the dance floor. We were both good dancers. I had a lot of practice in my later years, she was taking lessons from a private teacher.
"So, I hear you nearly got expelled," she said as we danced.
"Thiphet took me before the Honor Code for cheating on the midterm," I said.
"Did you cheat?" she asked.
"No," I said. "I took a oral exam for the Honor Code and they declared me innocent. Thiphet was furious."
"I've heard bad things about Professor Thiphet," she said. "Supposedly kids quit Maxwell because of him."
"Supposedly it happens every year," I said. "None have quit so far this year."
"Well, the year is far from over," she said.
"Yes, it is," I said. "I'm glad that you came to this with me."
"I'm happy to," she said. "We can go to all of the dances together. The last boy I went to a dance with got a little handsy."
"That's not good," I said. "We should respect each other and know boundaries."
"Yes," she said. "Plus you're a passable dancer." She laughed. "The last boy couldn't dance to save his life."
"There are a number of those," I said. "So, tell me about you. If we're going to dances together and hanging out in the Phoenix Club we need to know each other."
"Well, I come from Texas," she said. "I have a boyfriend that my parents think is too serious. His name is Danny Tansa. He's in Texas worried about you."
"Me?" I asked.
"Well, the idea of you," she said. "He doesn't like that I'm going to dances with other boys."
"Another boy," I corrected.
"Yes," she said. "He's afraid that you'll steal me away from him."
"Not a chance," I said. "I'm not interested in a girlfriend. I want friends."
"That's refreshing," she said. "I'm a dancer. I train with a woman named Myra Tanzik. She's a great teacher. I like computers, and anything electronic."
"I have a business idea for a little later in my life that you might like," I said. "I want to open an electronics store and make all of the things that I sell."
"Sounds good," she said. "Of course we have years to wait to do it."
"That's true, but planning is a good thing," I said.
"It sure is," she said. "Shall we dance again?"
"Sure," I said. I wondered where Kevin got off to.
We were on the dance floor when Professor Thiphet brought him and Laken back into the room. Thiphet looked furious. Kevin looked angry, and Laken looked guilty. I wondered about it but continued to dance with Thalia. She was watching them, too. She told me that this was Laken's third infraction at a dance. She'd lose her tickets to the next few if she wasn't careful. I told her that Kevin had never been in any trouble before. She said she was sorry, but Laken had probably talked him into it.
When the dance was over Kevin told me that they were in the back hall making out when Thiphet found them. He took two hundred points from Kevin for being outside of the gym when he was supposed to be in it. I told him that he shouldn't have snuck off to make out. He confirmed for me that it had been Laken's idea. I told him that Laken was in trouble for doing the same thing with other boys twice already. He said that was bad. We changed out of our tuxes and went to take showers.
The next day was Sunday and The Five were in church. I sat next to Dustin and tried to will my erection to stay away. He smiled at me, and I lost that battle. This was getting serious. The preacher preached about abstinence before marriage and I wanted to slug him. Instead I sang when the congregation sang, I prayed when we bowed our heads, and I walked out with the rest of them. Kevin asked me why I went to church. I told him The Five goes to church because we're good boys. He laughed at that. He was still upset that we didn't have mansion duty or anything like that. We got more food at meals, and we were allowed to cut the line, but we'd only done that once. It had pissed off too many boys. Instead we just collected our extra food and left it at that.
After mansion duty for Kevin and the others we hung out with Randy for a bit. We played Chess in the Chess Clubhouse. We did really good. Kevin joined the Chess Club. I did not. We went to dinner and I reconnected with The Five. Dustin asked me what Kevin's problem was. I told him that Laken had talked him into going to the back hall to make out and Thiphet had caught them. He'd taken two hundred points from him. It was the standard for rule breaking at a dance.
"Your brother was sampling the boys around him the last I heard," Robby said. "What changed?"
"I think he's sampling the boys because that's all that's available," I said. "I don't really know. I haven't asked him."
"You're not playing the field," Pug siad.
"No, I'm not," I said. "I don't view things the way my twin does. I have a bit more respect for myself. When I start having any kind of sex I want to know the other person and respect them."
"Yes, you're different than your twin," Robby said. "But that's a good thing. We all need to be different than each other or we'd never get anywhere."
"So true, Robby," I said. "How are you doing?"
"I'm doing just fine," he said. "Thank you for asking. How is Thiphet treating you now that you proved you didn't cheat?"
"He's taking massive poins from me every chance he gets," I said.
"That's not good," he said. "You should go to Pritchard."
"I will if it continues," I said.
"We should do something," Pug said. "Just The Five. Go somewhere."
"We can't without a guardian or our Head of House," I said.
"That's where you're wrong," Pug said. "If we go with a respectable student we're fine."
"You get permission and I'm down," I said. Dustin and Alex nodded.
"I have a car," Robby said. "It was one of the only things my rotten parents let me keep."
"Rotten parents?" I asked.
"He lives with his uncle," Pug said.
"My parents threw me out in the street," Robby said.
"I'm sorry to hear that," I said. "My parents weren't any better. My stepfather used us as punching bags, my mom allowed it, and my dad didn't want us."
"Damn, Killian," said Dustin. "You had a rotten life."
"Not so bad," I said. "Social Services took us away and put us with my grandmother. My stepdad died in a car accident, and my mother is a paraplegic."
"Wow," said Alex. "Talk about karma."
"Yeah, my dad has a brain tumor that will kill him, too," I said. "Karma all around."
"Damn," said Robby. "What'd you do? Curse them?"
"No," I said. "It just happened to work out this way."
"Well, I'll say you're the most intersting person I know," Robby said. "I've decided to adopt you. You're my little brother now."
"Cool," I said, grinning.
"So about this outing," he said. "It can only be for four hours, and we have to be back by curfew."
"Okay," I said. "What are we doing?"
"We could go see a movie," Robby said. "One that they don't show here on Fridays."
"That's good, but what about something else?" Dustin said. "You talked about an indoor gym that had batting cages."
"We could do that," he said. "I didn't think everyone would be interested in it."
"We are," I said, grinning at Dustin.
"Me, too," Alex said. "I'm up for some batting practice."
"Meet me in the parking lot in an hour," he said. "I have to get permission."
He got permission and we went to the indoor gym. You didn't have to be a member, and we had batting practice. I was thrilled that six of mine in a row went to home run status. Robby slapped me on the back. When we were all batted out we went for ice cream and had a great time. When we got back to the school, Kevin asked where I'd been. I told him we had gone to a batting box and then for ice cream. I told him it was a The Five outing.
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