Pity and Passion

It was a hot summer day, and the students of Bayville Secondary School were sweating profusely as the school had yet to install central air conditioning. This however did not stop young Darren Liu from smiling; it was his last year and he already had received conditional acceptance letters from many ivy league universities, where he planned on studying software engineering. He was very confident that he would keep his 90s average going into the finals, was excited to return to a summer in the US naval reserves for a brief tour of duty, and was extremely thrilled to finally be graduating and leaving this phase of his life.

Darren was a typical American-born Chinese boy with strict immigrant parents who pushed him to study hard to get a good job. Although this was typical with most immigrants, his high school was primarily Americans descended from the original English settlers. That, along with his below-average height, general ugliness, and lack of fashion sense, made Darren stand out like a sore thumb.

As Darren walked to his next class, he was abruptly knocked down to the ground by the tall, handsome captain of the school basketball team, who angrily told him to stay out of his way. Darren picked up his backpack and glasses, and retraced his steps, realizing that the basketball captain deliberately changed his path to push him. Being the school nerd, Darren was frequently the target of bullying; another reason why he was looking forward to the last few months.

Darren quickly decided to focus on the future, and got to his calculus class in time, taking his usual seat at the front of the class. Soon the class started, and Darren carefully took notes and listened to every word from the teacher. Near the end of the class, the teacher announced there would be assignments that would be done in pairs, and that the teacher would pair the students off.

Darren's heart sank. He was the most unpopular student at the school, and the last thing he wanted was to partially depend on another person for his calculus grade. He was scoring straight 90s in calculus and didn't want to be paired with a student that would bring his grades down. He shivered in his seat as the teacher announced the pairings one at a time. About five minutes through, he heard his name called out.

"Darren Liu, you are assigned to work with Sarah Brown," the teacher commanded.

Darren almost fainted from fright. His face turned pale and he looked over his shoulder to Sarah Brown, who sat near the back of the class.

Sarah Brown was the popular captain of the school cheerleading team. She had golden long blonde hair that she usually wore straight or in a bun, a beautiful radiant face that made every student and teacher in school smile when they saw her, and a lean fit body that could stop traffic. Today she let her hair run straight down beyond her shoulders, wore a tank top that accentuated her small but firm breasts, and a pair of casual short shorts that displayed her long, lean and athletic legs. She was the most beautiful woman in school and the long-time girlfriend of the captain of the basketball team.

Sarah looked in his direction but didn't acknowledge him, which terrified Darren even more. He was paired with the leader of his school's ruling elite, the self-proclaimed popular caste who went out of their way to make his life miserable. Darren began shivering in his seat and couldn't wait for class to end.

When the teacher dismissed class, Darren quickly grabbed his books and jogged off to his locker to grab his things and hopefully catch the bus home. He never participated in any extracurricular activities since he was constantly bullied throughout his years at Bayville, and just wanted to return home to the safety of his family.

Later at home, Darren was happily completing a programming assignment when the annoying alert popup window appeared on his browser that was opened to Bayville's collaboration website. Frustrated at the annoyance, he quickly looked at the alert to just close it, but when he saw who triggered the alert, he froze in panic. It was Sarah Brown, and she was requesting a video call.

Darren knew he had no choice, as the assignment was done by the teacher. Of all the people he could have been paired with, he had to be stuck with the leader of the Karens, who would never work hard because she had too many man-bitches willing to do everything for her. All he wanted to do was escape the hell hole that was Bayville and work for a technology company where he would hopefully be surrounded by people who appreciated him. However, his evil socialist teacher just had to screw him over one last time for being a capitalist and a member of the US naval reserve.

The alert went off again, and Darren knew he better answer else he risk the wrath of his teacher if Sarah reported him. He quickly tapped the Star Trek: The Next Generation communicator badge he was wearing and the browser opened the video channel.

It took a while for the channel to fully stream the video, but when it did, the picture on his screen both terrified and aroused him. There was Sarah Brown, beautiful face in full view, with her long blonde hair tied behind her. To his shock, she was wearing glasses. So sad, thought Darren, that she was so beautiful on the outside but likely a Karen on the inside. She always hung out with that clique of egotistical bullies that made his life miserable, so even if she hadn't done anything directly to him, as far as Darren was concerned, she was guilty by association.

"Good evening, ma'am," Darren began nervously, afraid to offend the Queen Karen.

"Am I supposed to call you sir?" teased Sarah.

Darren shook his head obediently.

"Then please, just call me Sarah," she said.

Darren nodded obediently.

"You don't have to be so polite," giggled Sarah.

"So how do you want to do the project?" asked Darren nervously; he could feel the jittering in his teeth.

"Are you OK, Darren? Are you sick or something? You look very pale," noted Sarah.

Darren just shook his head.

"Look, tomorrow night I have cheerleading practice, but Friday night I'm free. Let's meet at my place and talk then," suggested Sarah.

"Sure," replied Darren.

Sarah texted her home address and mobile number to him.

"I just put my address and cell phone in the meeting chat," said Sarah.

"OK, I will see you then," said Darren.

With that, Sarah ended the video call and Darren quickly turned his attention to the tiny erection in his shorts. He hated his life so far: while he worked hard and strived to do the right thing, he was relegated to having to jerk off while lazy spoiled men spent every weekend getting laid.

Far away, Sarah could not help but wonder why Darren seemed to be so intimidated by her. She was used to men constantly catering to her every whim, and overly enthusiastic to see her come by. The way he looked at her seemed as if he was afraid for his life.

Sarah took a moment to review what she knew of Darren in her head. Nobody really knew him, and a lot of the other students, including herself, often made fun of him; she however was discreet enough to keep it behind his back. Perhaps he knew?

Sarah dismissed the possibility as highly unlikely, as everyone in the school noticed he was always by himself. Well, given he always made the academic honors list, she thought Darren would be smart enough to see who she associated with and make the connection.

Sarah thought back to earlier in the day when she was surprised by the reaction of her social circle when they heard she was teamed with Darren for the all-important calculus team project. Her closest girlfriends, whom she could confide with, were thrilled, which shocked her. They did make two very important points: her calculus needed to improve if she wanted to get into college, and since Darren seemed to be a genuinely nice genius, he might be able to help her get her grades up.

The others, especially the men, felt otherwise. They just wondered how she was going to put up with that loser nerd that nobody wanted around. Up until this year, Sarah had felt the same: that she was better than everyone else around her because of her beauty and school social status. However, life changed dramatically for her family in the past year.

Her father was a senior steelworker who worked at the big steel mill at the far end of town, and a petty officer in the local naval reserves where Darren also served. This year, the steel mill was shut down, and her father was let go, with severance that didn't compensate for his length of service with the company. Since her stepmother was a housewife, this impacted the family severely. Her father managed to switch to full-time service in the navy, but the pay was less, and her stepmother had to get a job to make ends meet. The saving grace was that Sarah didn't have to move and start over at a new school because her father's severance was enough to cover the mortgage.

However, money was harder now for the Brown family and Sarah couldn't hang out with her friends as much as she used to. This life-changing event instilled in the Brown family the importance of higher education and working towards a goal, and that life was a lot bigger than just high school.

It was with this new outlook on life that Sarah Suzette Brown had taken a more careful evaluation of Darren's behaviors. She wanted to know what motivated the ugly Chinese nerd to focus so hard on education, why he never went to any parties, and why he was like this at such an early age. Her father had mentioned him a few times over family dinners, and he always spoke very highly of Darren. She decided she would quiz him Friday evening.

Darren was nervous throughout the past few days at school, being extra careful to avoid the clique that Sarah socialized in. He did accidentally cross her path in the hallways; he always acknowledged her presence politely but she seemed rather indifferent around him. He also realized that she wore contact lenses to school every day.

However, Friday evening came upon him quickly, and after finishing dinner with his family, he hopped on the bus to get to her place. The overall ride was long, but finally, he arrived in her neighborhood.

Darren took note of the character of the neighborhood as he walked from the bus stop to her house. She lived in a subdivision primarily of bungalows, split-level homes, and some semi-detached housing. He was surprised that his family lived in a better neighborhood; he wondered what her parents did for a living.

As he approached the Brown residence, a quiet bungalow in the middle of the street, he noticed a car parked in the driveway, and three people standing on the porch. The three seemed to be disagreeing on something, so he decided to approach quietly and slowly.

As Darren made his way up the driveway, he stopped to look at the car parked there. It was a family sedan and likely one of the three had borrowed the family car to drive here. He stopped to look at the car briefly when he heard someone call out:

"Hi Darren!" shouted Sarah.

Darren turned and waved politely. However, he became very afraid when he recognized the three people arguing on Sarah's porch: Sarah, the captain of the basketball team, and one of the basketball teammates. The two basketball players were much taller than him, so he stood little chance against the two of them combined; this was looking to be his worst Friday night ever.

The two basketball players jogged over and shoved Darren to the grass. The captain of the team stood over him and warned:

"Stay away from my car! And don't upset my girlfriend!" he said threateningly.

"Stop it! I invited him because we have a calculus project to finish together!" explained Sarah.

"Why do you even let this loser hang around?" asked the captain of the basketball team.

Suddenly, an older, powerful voice boomed above them all:

"You two get away from that boy right now!" shouted Chief Brown.

Chief Brown! Darren recognized the voice immediately of Chief Petty Officer Brown, one of his mentors and favorite enlisted sailor at his reserve base. Then he registered the connection: Chief Brown was Sarah's father.

"Who cares?" asked the captain of the basketball team.

"I'm warning you! Don't ever touch that boy again! And get off my property! You are never to come near this property or that boy again!" commanded Chief Brown.

"Sarah, take Darren inside right now. I'm getting rid of these two," said Chief Brown.

Sarah jogged over, helped Darren to his feet, grabbed his backpack, and pulled him quickly inside their house.

As Darren and Sarah removed their shoes, a tall and attractive young Japanese woman approached them. She had long straight black hair hanging below her shoulders and a gorgeous face. She wore a tight sleeveless top that accentuated her beautiful firm breasts, and her short shorts just showed off her gorgeous legs.

"Is everything OK?" she asked.

"Yes...the guys were roughing up Darren, so Dad's getting rid of them now," Sarah reported.

"Are you all right?" asked the woman.

"I'm fine," lied Darren. He was hurt but didn't want to show it.

"No, you're not. Those jerks give you so much trouble and this is at least the second time they touched you," remarked Sarah.

"Sarah, I agree with your father, I don't want you going out with a boy like that," said the woman.

"Mom, he's like the most popular guy in school. He's the captain of the basketball team, and we were elected Prom King and Queen together," Sarah pleaded with the Japanese woman.

"We will have this conversation later. Take your friend to the family room; you can do your homework there," replied Sarah's stepmother.

Darren unzipped his backpack and began taking out his homework supplies when Chief Brown returned.

"You all right Darren?" asked the Chief.

"Yes, Chief Brown. I'm fine, thanks to you," replied Darren sheepishly.

"Sarah, your mother and I need to have a quick conversation with you upstairs in our bedroom. Darren, please make yourself at home; I promise we'll be quick," said Chief Brown with a big smile on his face.

Darren watched as the two pairs of gorgeous legs, one yellowish-tanned like his, the other caucasian white, followed Chief Petty Officer Brown up the steps. He felt his penis stir but calmed himself by reciting calculus integration patterns in his head. When he had laid out his calculus notes and his laptop, Sarah came back down the stairs; he tried to focus his thoughts on the project instead of the beautiful thighs and model face approaching him.

"Sorry about that, Darren," apologized Sarah; her eyes seemed very sincere to him.

"It's OK. I'm used to it. Want to get started?" Darren said proudly, refusing to admit how humiliated he felt.

They brainstormed together and came up with a good real-world use of calculus they would leverage for their project. When Darren inquired how they would divide up the work, Sarah countered by stating they should do everything together to ensure there was consensus, and that their answers were correct. Darren was impressed with her interest and intention on succeeding at the project but worried she was being devious and taking advantage of him to do all the work. They agreed on another group work session the following weekend to start pulling things together.

It was getting late, and Darren's alarm began beeping on his phone.

"What's the alarm for?" asked Sarah.

"The bus. I got to catch it or I'll have to walk," Darren replied.

Sarah smiled and laughed kindly at him.

"No way you are rushing or taking the bus. I'll drive you home," said Sarah.

Sarah grabbed her purse, phone, and car keys, and headed to the front door with Darren.

"Dad! I'm going to drive Darren home now," she reported.

"Good. That's the least you can do," replied her father.

"Thanks for coming, Darren. We hope to see you again," said Sarah's stepmother.

With that, they stepped outside onto the empty driveway. Sarah pressed a button on her key fob which opened the garage door, revealing an old station wagon and a pickup truck within.

"Which do you want to take?" asked Sarah.

"The pickup," said Darren with little hesitation.

Sarah backed the pickup truck out, and Darren eagerly climbed into the passenger seat.

Off they drove, but Darren seemed too nervous to talk, so Sarah decided on an alternate plan. Interestingly enough, shy quiet Darren seemed to have a difficult time keeping his eyes off her legs.

"Please turn left here," asked Darren politely.

Instead, Sarah drove straight ahead.

"You missed the turn," Darren pointed out.

"We're going someplace private to talk," explained Sarah, and she placed a reassuring hand on his left knee. As he was wearing shorts, Sarah was able to feel how soft and smooth his skin was, and how little his yellowish Chinese skin tone differed from her lightly tanned Caucasian flesh. For some strange reason, his skin felt so good she just left her hand there.

After a short drive, Sarah parked in a clearing up a nearby hill. The area was a favorite place for dating teenagers; the many trees hid whatever they were up to in their vehicles, and the hill was a short drive back to the suburbs.

"Come on, let's sit out in the back and talk," said Sarah.

So they both got out, climbed into the cargo bed, and talked.

Sarah soon learned Darren's entire life story and felt envious that he had started in the correct direction. She felt very guilty when he recounted how his classmates and school jocks treated him.

Sarah found herself easily and naturally communicating with him, and shared her life story with him as well, including her parents' divorce and father's recent layoff. It felt good to be able to finally trust someone she could be completely vulnerable with. As she moved her legs in excitement at how strong and how quickly their connection formed, Sarah noticed a small erection beginning to tent up in Darren's shorts.

"Sarah, I'm sorry for what happened tonight with your boyfriend and friend," apologized Darren.

"You have nothing to apologize for Darren. They have been harassing you for years and next week I'm going to report them to the principal. If anything, I'm sorry I let this go on for so long without trying to right it," Sarah apologized sincerely, avoiding his eyes in shame. So she looked down at his shorts and saw they were fully tented; for some strange reason, she was delighted she had this effect on the ugly Chinese nerd seated on her right.

Sarah rested her head on his shoulder and looked Darren sincerely in the eyes.

"Please forgive me. I should be the one apologizing, and you should be angry with me," she said sincerely.

"It's nothing," Darren just smiled at her.

Sarah smiled back, and then a magnetic attraction drew their lips together and they started kissing. Sarah felt like a butterfly and she wrapped her arms around him, opened his lips with hers, and stuck her tongue into his mouth.

Like Sarah, Darren felt as if he won the lottery, and touched his tongue to hers. As he tongue kissed, he reached across with his right hand, ran his fingers through her long blonde hair, and landed his palm on the top of her right lower leg. As he started to feel up her leg, he felt all his stress disappear, and his penis was fully stiff and erect.

Sarah enjoyed the feel of his hand on her leg and gasped in delight. She broke off their kissing to catch her breath, realizing they were exposed in the cargo bay. She didn't want anyone to catch them like this yet.

"Into the backseat, now," whispered Sarah.

"Why?" asked a confused Darren.

"Quiet! Just trust me virgin," Sarah teased.

With that Darren quickly climbed into the backseat, and Sarah climbed on top, removed his glasses, and sat on his erection, facing away from him.