Natural Selection

Disclaimer: My apologies to those who attempted to review my first story expecting a quality masterpiece. I am a fledgling novice with only two stories now to my tally. I have no narcissistic illusions of grandeur. A better writer, I am told by many, could tell my story in a much better and abbreviated version. Of that, I have no doubt. If you eschew long tales, please skip this one. I did include chapter markers this time as requested by several. To those of you who offered this bumbling fool helpful, encouraging, or kind words of praise for my first attempt, I express my sincere humble and heartfelt gratitude.

As before, no willing cucks here. In addition to the requisite cheating wife, this story has brief elements of handcuffed non-consent, interracial and mature components and hopefully some drama along the way. Expect a foundational character buildup. Sorry, no reconciliation this time.

Prologue:

Vance Rayle had been told all of his life by everyone he admired and whose advice he respected that if he worked hard, kept his nose clean, was honest and loyal, it would pay off. What a fool he was to ever believe such tripe, he thought. If he had only told some lies, cut corners and taken the easy path instead of nearly working himself to death, he honestly believed that he wouldn't be in jail right now having lost everything that was important to him and facing the bleakest of futures.

Just a couple of weeks ago, everything he had worked for his entire life seemed well within his grasp. He had a lovely, loving wife, a burgeoning and most promising career and a guaranteed profitable future in the bag. But now he had come to believe that he had a wife who not only cheated on him, but betrayed him in the absolute worst way possible, complicit in the charges he was facing which landed him in jail. His bail was set at one-half million dollars. It might as well have been a billion. He was going nowhere. He'd had plenty of time to think about how he landed here. That blonde-headed bitch MUST have something to do with this, he thought. She had always been the rudest person he had ever met and he didn't even know her name. But curiously, he had never seen the blonde-headed bitch a single time since he and his wife had arrived in the big city.

He wanted nothing more than to extricate himself from this mess, but every piece of hard factual evidence proved him guilty of all of the charges he faced. It was basically an open and shut case. Hell, if he didn't know for certain that he was one hundred percent innocent in every way, he'd convict himself based upon everything he'd been told. Even though he hadn't seen her in over nine months, he just knew that blonde-headed bitch must have had a hand in his downfall. Vance contemplated his hard road to 'almost' success and his dismal crash and burn.

Desperate not to surrender to the morass of depression he was staving off with the last of his collapsing will, he repeatedly listened to one song over and over again using the one luxury afforded him in his jail cell, his MP3 player. Martina McBride was singing her song 'Anyway' as if she were singing it just for him. It inspired him to hang on by his fingertips. He thought back to the time the blonde-headed bitch first entered his life as he desperately sought clues as to how and why his life was turning out to be an abysmal failure and whether or not she could be the driving force behind his demise.

Chapter 1 -Nine years earlier....

Vance Rayle was an average to below-average student graduating from the eighth grade in his junior high school and was all set to go into high school in the fall, grades nine through twelve. He was a popular athlete, having done very well in football and basketball. Being top dog of the in-crowd, most of the girls swooned over him and wanted to go out with him. His conservative parents, however, would not allow him to date until he turned sixteen, so group activities were the only way for him to sneak kisses from a girl. He was too young to settle on any one particular girl anyway.

His parents seemed unusually happy to see him achieve this early milestone in his life, but for some reason, seemed distracted while he was informing them where he would be with his graduating class so they could search out the best seats. He was thinking that perhaps they were just relieved that he'd made it this far. He'd pretty much skated through school, even taking advantage of a few nerds to 'help' him produce some of his project papers just to keep his grades barely up to average.

His parents, Carl and Mary-Beth Rayle were very supportive and wanted the best for their only child, just as any other loving parents would. They were frustrated at times during his junior high school years because he never seemed to apply himself, as if just barely getting by was good enough. They applauded proudly when he received his diploma and afterwards took all the requisite pictures. His dad was driving as they left the school together for the last time. Summer was about to begin and Vance was telling them about all the time he was planning to spend at the community swimming pool and hang out with his buddies. Then he noticed that they were not going home. Home was west and they were definitely headed north.

"What's up dad? We're not heading home? It's too early to go out to supper isn't it?"

His dad chimed, "We'll tell you all about it when we get there, son. Just be patient."

"When we get where? What's goin' on?"

His mother turned around in her seat and put her hand on his, giving him a nervous smile. "It's gonna be okay Vance. Please, no questions until we get there." She said comfortingly.

Vance was puzzled. His parents had never been so cryptic except at Christmas and that was six months away. Then he got to thinking that perhaps they had arranged some kind of special graduation gift for him and they were taking him where it was and his excitement rose. Five minutes later they pulled into the parking lot of a luxury hotel and pulled up near the entrance. Once parked and all was quiet, his dad and mother both turned around to face him in the back seat. But instead of the appearance of excitement, their faces wore concerned expressions.

"Vance, your mother and I have some very serious things to tell you today and we want you to listen very carefully to every word we have to say. This could very well be one of the most important days of your life and we want to do everything in our power to encourage you to make the right decision today. Please don't let us down."

"I won't dad. I promise. I want to make you and mom proud of me."

"We know you do son. We both want you to know that we love you no matter what happens today. You do know that don't you?"

"Of course I do, and I love you guys too."

"Okay, well here's the thing Vance. There's a woman here in one of the hotel meeting rooms and she wants to meet you. Your mother and I provide for you the best we can. We're not wealthy by any means but we both work hard and have managed to keep you in clothes, feed you and put a roof over your head. Our home may be one of the smaller ones in the neighborhood, but your mother keeps it clean and bright and we've always done our best to provide the best loving environment possible."

"I know we're not rich dad, but you've never heard me complain. We might not have as many nice things as some other families do, but I wouldn't trade my family for the richest family in the world. You guys are the best in my book. But what does that have to do with this woman?"

"To be perfectly honest, we're not even sure it's a woman you'll be meeting. It was a woman who approached us earlier today but now that I think about it, she never gave us her name and she said only that a representative would meet with you."

"Well what's this all about dad, mom?"

"We wish we could tell you son," his mother echoed. "But we had to agree in advance to disclose nothing until you have met with them. Listen carefully to what they have to say and always remember who you are and who you represent." She continued.

"That's right, son." Injected his dad. "Go inside past the front desk. Make your first right and look for conference room number seven. No need to knock. They're expecting you so just go right in."

"You're not coming in with me?" He asked.

""I'm afraid we can't. That's part of the deal that we agreed to. You must go in alone and make this important decision all on your own. We are forbidden to influence you in any way." His dad affirmed.

"Your father and I will be waiting for you right here. Now go on and remember we're behind you one hundred percent." She iterated.

With his head spinning, Vance exited the car and looked back at his concerned parents, right before entering the hotel lobby. He gave them a quick smile and wave and they quickly reciprocated.

It was a stately hotel, one that Vance had never visited before, but he could follow directions. He located conference room number seven in short order and turned the handle. Unsure what to expect, he walked in, only to see a single table about fifty feet inside off to the left. A lone woman was seated between the wall and the table and a single chair awaited him opposite her. As he approached, he saw, from his perspective, one of the most beautiful blonde headed women he had ever seen in his life. She was not slutty or sexy in any way, merely classically beautiful and she nearly took his breath away. She was dressed conservatively, so he wasn't going to be getting any sneak peeks but puberty was working him effectively. He thought her to be a goddess. That is until she spoke.

As he approached the table he held out his hand to shake and politely said, "Hello, I'm Vance...." She interrupted him.

"Yes I know, you're Vance Rayle." She totally ignored his congenial gesture and gave him a quick once over and exhaled a disappointing sigh. "Just take a seat boy and let me see what we've got here."

Stunned by her rudeness, he smiled and took the seat as directed, remembering his parents' instructions. She seemed to be reviewing a fairly large file.

"Says here your grades are garbage. So you're a lazy-ass good for nothing, is that about right?"

"Ma'am, I....what...well..." He struggled desperately to formulate some kind of response. He represented his parents here in this room and even though they were waiting for him outside, he was going to be polite in the face of these horrendous comments even if it killed him.

"I don't quite know what to say to that, ma'am."

"There's nothing to say moron. I'm just calling a spade a spade. And from everything I see on all of your report cards, all I see is a no good loser. Is that what you are?"

"No ma'am! I'm not a loser and I think you are being very impolite for some reason. Have we met before? Have I done something to you?"

"No. If we had, I'm sure you would have remembered me." She retorted with a smirk.

"Why am I here, Ms......?"

"You don't need to know my name. Who I am is not important nor relevant to your situation right now. From my perspective looking over your VERY unimpressive records and even seeing you now in person, I personally think you are a waste of human flesh and are not worth a second of my valuable time. However, your benefactor, for reasons TOTALLY unknown to me, believes that there is a spark of potential buried deeply in your vacuous brain."

There were two bottles of water sitting on the table. One was open and half empty sitting in front of her. The other remained unopened and directly before him. Doing everything to assuage his anger at her condescending personal insults, Vance asked, "Is this water for me?"

"Wow, we have a regular Sherlock Holmes here. Go ahead, help yourself boy."

He hated the way she was sarcastically calling him a boy. He decided to drink some water to buy him some time to pull himself together before continuing.

"A benefactor?" He repeated, hoping for explanation.

"Yes, and what the hell this benefactor sees in you is beyond me. But it's not my call. I just represent your benefactor and am here as his representative to offer you an undeserved proposition."

"Okay."

"Here's the deal. You just barely graduated junior high school today and are now facing four years of high school. Right?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

Do you have any plans for college or beyond as to how you plan to deal with and provide for your future?"

"Well, I haven't really given the rest of my life a lot of thought just yet. I'm still real young after all."

"That's what I thought. No ambition, no goals, no plan, no brains. LOSER!"

"Now just a minute...." He said.

She interrupted him. "Shut up you bumbling fool and listen. You've got one shot and only one shot. If you take it, you just might have the slimmest of chances of making something of yourself. If you refuse, you can walk out that door the same way you came in, dumb and stupid and stay that way the rest of your life for all I care."

"One shot at what?"

"One of the finest educational opportunities available in this country, certainly a better education than you would otherwise be able to achieve on your own without our help."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm talking about the possibility of you getting a degree from Harvard University, young man."

"Why me? But how? I can't afford....."

She interrupted him again. "Ah, there's the rub now, isn't it? You'll have to get that degree the old fashioned way. Hard work, serious study, nose to the grindstone and all that goes with it. You can't play around and goof off like you have so far in your life. So let me ask you, would getting a degree from Harvard University, easily worth a quarter of a million dollars but at zero cost to you or your family be something that appeals to you?"

"Well of course it would. But...."

She once more interrupted him, "But you don't have a clue what to do or how to get there from here. I know that." The blonde headed bitch, as he now thought of her in his mind, slid a piece of paper over to him and continued. Here is a list of courses that you will need to take this summer, during your high school's summer session. Once you complete the summer school session, you'll be signed up for a heavy course load for your regular course work in your ninth grade school year, chock full of mathematics and economics."

"But I hate math, and economics?"

"Then I'm afraid we have nothing more to discuss Vance. I'll pass on to your benefactor that you have refused this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and will take the easy path, remaining a loser the rest of your life. Good day, young man. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out." She looked away as if she were gathering her things together now that the 'interview' was over.

Vance's cauldron was boiling over and he was about to explode. He had never felt so enraged before in his life! His parents had always told him he could be anything he wished to be for as long as he could remember. They always encouraged him, held his hand through tough times, and helped him in every way they could. And here he had just been presented an unreal opportunity and it was just going to slip through his fingers? He recalled just now telling his parents that he wanted them to be proud of him. They brought him here to meet this no-name blonde-headed bitch, knowing he would be offered this chance and he was going to just blow it off?

At that moment, something happened inside the young lad seated across from this beneficent nemesis. Something snapped inside his head and his heart, and firmly clicked into place. Resolve! His heart started racing, pumping blood as though he was running a marathon. It was as if his entire life had boiled down to this one moment of clarity and commitment. He LOVED his parents. They had given him their all for the entirety of his life. They got him here, got him to this precipice, this narrow gateway, and by God he wasn't going to let them down.

"I'll DO it!" He stated emphatically. "I'll take your damn courses. Just tell me what I gotta do."

She laughed and laughed hard at his puny spunk. "You think you have what it takes boy? You don't know the half of it yet. But maybe, just maybe there is a spark in you after all. If you want that Harvard education, you're going to have to earn it. You're going to have to work your butt off and study like you never have before. We will register you for your summer session classes which will start in just one week. Then you will take the courses we register you for, for all four years of your entire high school regimen, which will include summer sessions between each year. You can't refuse to take a single course we register you for. There will be no goofing off, not on my watch."

She continued, "And if you think that it's going to be a cake walk, listen to this. Not only will you take every class we register you for, but you must earn a grade of 3.6 or higher on each and every course. If you ever receive a report card with a grade below 3.6, then the deal's off. You will have proven me right and shown the world that you don't have what it takes, you can't cut it and that you're nothing more than a born loser. And believe you me, nothing would please me more!" She said vehemently.

Vance shot to his feet. "Now it's your turn to listen to me, whoever you are! I don't have a clue who you are or what it is that you have against me, but I'm gonna prove you wrong! You think calling me a few names will make me cut and run? Well obviously you don't know me lady. I ain't no crybaby and I ain't no quitter and you damn sure don't know what I'm made of! But I'm about to show you. I'll take every damn class you throw at me and make the grade, you can bet your life on. So lay it out for me lady and you can go tell my benefactor, whoever he is, that his faith in me has not been misplaced. I'm gonna make him and my parents proud, you can bank on that. But as for you, I'm gonna make you eat your words, lady. And I hope you're hungry when I do."

Vance looked the blonde headed bitch directly in the eye. At that instant he observed an unusual reaction in her face. What was it? Disgust? No, she'd already laid that on thick. Fear? No, she looked like she could kill him as easily as talking to him. Recognition? That seemed right. But how? He was one hundred percent certain that he had never seen her before in his life. What was it she saw in him just now?

"Then we'll just see what you're made of, won't we young man?" She slid another paper in front of him. "Just sign this acceptance form at the bottom and by the end of the day, a new bank account will be established on your behalf in the name of your parents and an account administering trustee. $400.00 will be placed into that account for now. $100.00 for each year of your high school. If you somehow miraculously achieve the grade point requirements for all of your course work and graduate with a 3.6 or higher GPA, then $100,000.00 will be placed in that same account as a start towards your Harvard education."

Vance was stunned to hear what she had just told him. This was for real! He quickly grabbed the pen sitting on the table and signed the document.

"If you ever see me again, Vance, it will be IF you graduate high school having met the requirements laid out for you today. To be perfectly honest, I believe the resolve you just expressed will fizzle out soon enough and you'll go back to your old habits of screwing around and achieving nothing. It goes against everything within me and my personal beliefs, but I am compelled by your benefactor to say the following words to you, 'Good Luck young man'." And she reluctantly offered her hand to shake. He took her hand with unease.

"Now with our business concluded, will you please leave and get out of my sight?"