Taking The Class Pt. 01

She perused the recipe bookmarks in her web browser. Something...a bit spicy. But not too much. Mom can make it spicier when she eats it if she wants. She closed the browser. Too tired to buy ingredients for any of this. What do we have...

She went through her mental inventory of their pantry and refrigerator. And the spice cabinet. General Tso's Chicken again? I think I still have rice vinegar and hoisin sauce from when I made it last month, and it came out pretty good then...

She got up and started heading out of her room and downstairs, stopping on her way to the kitchen in order to lock the front door.

* * *

"You okay, A?"

Lunchtime, Wednesday.

Alaina pulled a plastic zipper storage bag out of her lunchbox, then unsealed it and took out the sandwich she'd made. General Tso's sauce seeped out from the sides of the Kaiser roll, and her mouth watered in anticipation. She broke her longing gaze and looked up.

"Yeah, why?" She took a small bite of the sandwich. It was every bit as good as the night before, even cold. Even in this noisy hellhole.

The cafeteria thrummed with the energy of hundreds of teenagers. I'm remembering why I usually eat in the SC office. A paper airplane sailed overhead, coming to land in—was it?—yes, right on another student's pasta with meat sauce. Tremendous. A cheer erupted from somewhere behind her. I'd thought a corner table away from the door would be a bit more private. I guess I forgot how busy it is here.

"You don't seem okay," Ayanna said, picking the paper airplane out of her tray, crumpling it up, and hurling it back the way it came. She raised her middle finger at someone behind her seated friend, a wide grin on her face. There was a whooping from somewhere, indicating that her friend's athletic skills had been put to good use. "You got the whole I hate my life thing going that I'd expect if you had food poisoning—which I'm not buying, by the way, because I've had it and you're way too chipper for having spent your day shackled to a toilet—but you've been more...intense today. Like, way more intense." She shoveled a forkful of pasta into her mouth, barely chewing before she swallowed, her eyes locked on Alaina.

"And then there was English before this. You spent most of the period eye fucking Will White," Alaina started, and her friend pointed with her fork. "Yeah, you totally did! And it wasn't a good eye fucking either, like when Ken is sitting on the other side of the room and we're plannin' a trip to pound-town later in the day. No, this was out of character for you, A."

Another big scoop of pasta disappeared from the lunch tray. Alaina followed pace with another dainty bite of her sandwich. I didn't even notice I was doing it. Fuck, I hope nobody else noticed.

"That's ignoring the black eye Will mysteriously got between yesterday and today, by the way. You hear the rumor? Supposedly he got in a fight with some guys at a nightclub over a girl." Ayanna laughed, a hearty belly laugh that set her black braids bouncing. "Who comes up with this shit? Nah, the way I see it, something happened when he went to drop off some papers yesterday and you socked him," she mimed a slow motion punch, "right in his face. It was weird enough that he volunteered for it, you know how he is. But I'm not a detective, so that's all I got for that part."

The black eye was nice, I didn't realize I'd gotten him that good. I wish I'd broken his nose instead though.

"Put that all together yourself, did you?" Alaina said with a wry grin. "The bouncer story sounds more likely to me. Look at me, I'm not a fighter. I'd probably hit myself by accident if I tried to punch someone like that."

Ayanna stared at her, fork paused halfway to her mouth, brow furrowed. Did I oversell it?

Her friend completed the motion towards her mouth, chewing more than once this time before swallowing. She took a sip of her water.

"Nah, you can probably bullshit anyone else on this with your drama club shit, but not me, A. C'mon, you're eating in the fucking cafeteria. If that's not a cry for help from you, nothing is." She took another big bite of pasta, talking while she chewed. "And you forgot your eyeliner. You might forget anything else, but I know how much your image means to you here. I've known you forever, A. I get why you're tellin' everyone else you got food poisoning, but why you gotta lie to me?"

Shit shit shit. Ayanna looked genuinely hurt. She's right, I should have told her first. I'm such an idiot. This whole thing has my brain turned inside out.

"Um, excuse me? Alaina?" a new voice interrupted their conversation, and a vaguely familiar girl made her presence known to the left of the student council president, looking down nervously and not quite meeting her eyes when she turned to see who it was.

"Oh, hi..." Alaina responded, affixing a smile onto her face and trying to recall the girl's name. She glanced at her friend.

Betsy. Ayanna mouthed the word with a sullen expression still on her face. Keeney.

"...Betsy. What can I do for you?" Alaina finished.

"Um. Well. Sorry to bother you," the girl looked up briefly at Alaina's eyes, then at Ayanna, then at the ground, "but I saw you in here, and I wanted to ask if you'd seen my idea for Senior Day yet?"

If a person could make herself disappear out of shyness, this girl would be gone a long time ago. Betsy Keeney... Senior Day idea... not ringing a bell? Aloud, she said, "I'm sorry, Betsy. we've actually gotten a rather overwhelming number of responses for that, and it's taking us quite a while to get through all of them."

"Oh. Um..." Betsy said, sounding dejected.

"But," Alaina continued, keeping a warm-ish smile pasted to her face and speaking with her best soothing tone, "I promise that I'll keep an eye out. It might take us a while, but we're going to look at all the submissions, regardless of who they're from. I really appreciate your passion in helping us find the best ideas for Senior Day, thanks so much!"

The timid girl lifted her head, a small smile now on her face. "Okay," she nodded. "I understand, you're always so busy. I just thought maybe... Well, nevermind. Sorry for bothering you."

"No, it's fine," Alaina quickly reassured her, trying to make eye contact to show sincerity. "You can always come to me if you have something you want help with."

The girl's grin blossomed. "Thanks, Alaina. Um. Thanks!" She scurried away before Alaina could say anything further.

"Wow, A," said Ayanna after a moment, a sad frown still on her face. "Great timing on that interruption, huh? Must be nice..." She stared down at her pasta.

"Okay, alright, you're right," Alaina said, taking a big breath. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have lied to you, Ay. But it's pretty fucked up, and I'm not going to be able to tell you all the details in the," she checked the clock on the wall, "thirty-five minutes we have left. So you're gonna have to settle for the short version for now. Cool?"

Over the next few seconds, Ayanna transformed from being hurt and grief-stricken at the thought of being lied to and propped her elbows up on the table, cradling her chin in her hands. Her eyes were eager, her mouth turned up in a grin.

Alaina's eyes went wide. "You big faker!" she said. I can't believe she played me!

"It's the same look I give the brats when they fuck up. Never fails. Now spill!"

"You—" Alaina sighed in frustration. "I guess we're even-ish now." She took another bite of her sandwich, chewed, and swallowed. "You should have tried out for drama club though, we could have used your talents."

"Yeah, yeah, enough of that, the school newspaper is already printing up a review. What's going on with you?"

Alaina gestured her friend to come in closer. She refrained from looking around, not wanting to draw more attention as Ayanna slid her chair around the small table to sit next to her. Her palms were sweating and her stomach churned. Well, here goes. If my best friend can't love me as an [Onahole] then it's going to be a rough rest of my life.

"It started Monday. I got my Class." She said, her voice barely a whisper. Ayanna had to lean in even closer to hear, ending up nearly ear-to-mouth. "And um, Will was there when I got it? Which will make sense when I tell you what it is..." she trailed off, unable to continue.

"Alaina," said her best friend of almost ten years in a soft voice. "You're my best friend. I don't wanna get all emo, but you've always been with me. When my parents split, you were there. When Colin joined up and I was a mess, you were there. And then when he came back, and...and it was worse, you were there then, too. That time we almost got busted drinking my dad's gin a few years ago? Yeah, you were definitely there," she grinned, and Alaina forced out a grin that she wasn't feeling in response. Ayanna put a hand on her skirt-clad leg and squeezed. "I don't care what's going on with you, I'm gonna be right here." She patted the same leg. "So tell me. Let me in."

Alaina's eyes watered. She sniffled, then dabbed carefully at her eyes with a napkin. She took a deep breath. Then another. She leaned over to Ayanna, nearly touching her friend's ear with her lips.

"My Class is..." she whispered, "[Onahole]." Alaina pulled back a little, watching for a reaction. Waiting for rejection.

Ayanna had a puzzled expression on her face. She opened and closed her mouth a couple times, then put a finger to her lips, thinking.

This is actually the worst wait of my life.

At last, after enough waiting that Alaina felt like she'd physically aged, Ayanna leaned in and whispered, "You mean like...the sex toy?"

Alaina pressed her lips together and nodded a single time.

Her friend drew back to a more normal distance. "A, I don't want you to take this the wrong way. You're not fucking with me?"

In response, Alaina blinked slowly, her lips still pressed together.

"Aight, aight." Ayanna got up and dragged her chair back around to the other side of the table. She dug in to her pasta again, finishing it off. "Really?"

Alaina blinked again.

"You're seriously not fucking with me?" asked Ayanna once more.

"No, Ay, I am not fucking with you."

"Aight. Okay." Ayanna looked around, searching for something as she spoke. "I want you to know in advance that I'm accepting this and you're still my best friend and that's not gonna change." She made eye contact with Alaina. "But I want you to give me about a minute here and ignore everything I do. You gotta give me a minute here."

Her best friend took a deep breath. And then she began to laugh.

Chapter 3: Wednesday Afternoon, 12:14PM -- Negotiation

Ayanna laughed for an entire minute. It started out with the same full laugh as before, then changed to a sort of hysterical, high pitched laugh which turned heads, and finally tapered off with a wheezing, weak laugh as she caught her breath.

Alaina sat in her chair, stone-faced, and finished her sandwich. Once she was done, she sulked, unable to get mad because of who was laughing. It's not funny. It's definitely not funny.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Ayanna barked a cough. "But c'mon, A. It's funny. It's funny because it's you. And this is like... the most not-you thing that could ever happen. I mean, there's you and you-know-who, which was kinda shocking at first, but that's not even close to being on the same level. More like the other way around, if you think about it." She stifled another laugh.

She's right about some of it, at least. I should have known she'd laugh, though.

"Okay, but seriously. You were right, that is fucked up. So yeah, okay, I see why you'd need a day off after that. But then what happened with—oh wait, you said—but...no!" Ayanna looked scandalized. "You didn't! Tell me you didn't do what I think you did!"

Alaina smiled weakly again. "There were circumstances?" She said, cringing visibly. Please don't ask, please don't ask, please don't ask, please don't ask...

"Oh. My. God." Ayanna's eyes were wide, her mouth hung open. "This is so juicy! I gotta know, I gotta know. Before we go any further, are the rumors true? Does he—Is—If you had to give a grade, what would it be?"

Alaina covered her now-blushing face with her hand. I should be upset. If it were anyone else, I would be furious. But somehow, when it's Ay, I just can't.

She peeked out between her fingers. Ayanna was staring at her like a kid stares at a birthday present. "I really don't want to talk about it," she said.

"I can't tell if that's really really good or really really bad! C'mon, A, you gotta give me something. Anything! I promise I won't ask again, but I gotta know. Everyone's heard the rumors. Everyone."

Ugh. I don't want to lie to her again, but it feels wrong...

Her mind tried to recall parts, fragments, of Monday. The feel of the desk under her, her hair falling around her face like a curtain, the heat between her legs, the rhythmic pistoning, in and out, like a machine, always going at exactly the pace she wanted, hitting exactly the right spot...

She shook herself back to reality and blushed even harder behind her hand. She lowered it and made eye contact with Ayanna, giving a sheepish half-smile and nodding with her reddened face. Fuck.

"Aaaaaaaaaahhhh!" Ayanna actually gave a little shriek at the response. "Are you fucking kidding me? Holy shit, A, if you're the one having this kind of reaction I can't even imagine. Wow. I have so many questions now! Argh! Why the fuck did I promise not to ask! Curse this brain of mine, forcing me to be a good friend against my will!" She clutched at her head in comic fashion.

Alaina covered her mouth and choked off a giggle before it could escalate. She was smiling now, though, a genuine smile. "Your brain has always been the better friend," she said.

Ayanna grinned, her green eyes sparkling. "Okay, wow. This is not how I expected our talk to go. Wow, I can't even—So okay, that happened on Monday," she waggled her eyebrows, "and then yesterday you—"

"Well of course I fucking did!" Alaina interrupted. "It's his fucking fault I'm..." She deflated in her seat a little.

"Hold on, wait a sec, A. How is it his fault? Nobody can choose a Class for someone else, right?"

Alaina began tapping a finger on the table. "You know about those studies they've done, Ay. The ones where they had people focus for the whole day on what they wanted to do with their lives? And how there was a direct correlation between what they were thinking about and the Class they got?"

"A, those people were focusing as hard as they could for an entire day! Wait, you're sayin' it was that good?" Ayanna smacked the table. "What the fuck, Alaina!"

Alaina blushed again, deeper this time, and stopped tapping her finger. Am I going to spend this entire lunch period doing my impression of a tomato? "N-no, that's not what I meant," she said softly. Or was it? "Um, I meant..." she trailed off. What did I mean? Uhhh... Did I just imply that sex with Will was good enough that I wanted to be an onahole for the rest of my life?

"Wow, A. Just wow." Ayanna sat there, sipping her carton of orange juice, staring across the table. Her eyebrows raised. "You weren't kidding, you're pretty fucked up."

Of course I'm fucked up! I've got this abomination of a Class, my life will be ruined after I get put in the registry on Friday, the whole school knows I'm a notch on Will's bedpost by now...

Wait a minute. Alaina replayed the conversation with Ayanna. She didn't know about it. How did she not know?

"Ay, you didn't hear about any of this before now?" she asked. "Nothing?"

"What, you mean about your Class?"

"No, the other thing."

"You mean—no, you kidding? I wouldn't have believed it if you hadn't told me yourself! I'm still not sure I do, A. I mean, c'mon, you've always hated his guts." Seeing the look she was getting, Ayanna clarified, "Well, maybe not like you do now, but... Remember when you slept over for New Year's? Weren't you the one who said, and I quote, 'I bet that useless playboy wouldn't even have run for student council this year if Ms. Perez wasn't the adviser.' I'm not gonna do the hand motionsince we're in public, but you know the one."

Alaina put her hand back up to cover her flaming face once again.

"Yeah, you remember now. Damn, A, you're on a hair trigger today with that blush!"

Alaina raised the other hand as well for full coverage. I did say that, and Ms. Perez does have amazing boobs. Does gravity not apply to them or something? I don't even like girls that way and they're mesmerizing!

"This is fun," Ayanna chuckled, breaking Alaina out of her brief and cleavage-filled daydream. "I haven't seen you be this real in public in forever, A. Even when we hang out lately it's not the same. You're always so busy being," she added finger quotes, "'The President', and doing drama club, and studying to keep that valedictorian status that it's like you forget to be a person."

Alaina blinked, losing her previous train of thought while she continued to hide behind her hands. Was I really that bad? I thought I was juggling everything pretty well. She began thinking over her schedule, lowering her hands back to the table as she moved through the days. Monday is checking in with the newspaper to coordinate with council objectives, then drama readings or rehearsal depending on how close the shows are, then home by seven-ish and bike ride with Mom if she's not at work—otherwise study more, making dinner after, study until bedtime...

She took a sip of water and continued through the days, but Monday turned out to be her lightest day. Tutoring usually took up at least an hour or two on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and she had actual student council responsibilities on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Maybe I have been a bit overloaded lately...

"Y'know, you might be right," said Alaina.

"I know you're busy, A. I'm an [Organizer]; I'm all about that time management, that self-motivated business owner-type stuff, too. But you're only eighteen. I was gonna let it go another week since Macbeth just ended, but you gotta lighten your load a bit and have some fun. Quit tutoring, those rich kids can find someone with more free time. We only got super-senior year left here, you should take some time and enjoy it instead of running the school 24/7. When was the last time you even went on a date?"

Alaina glared at her.

"Okay, maybe bad topic considering recent stuff, but still a valid question."

"If I recall," Alaina drawled, "the last attempt was the guy you set me up with who wanted dick counseling. He didn't get it."

Ayanna guffawed, slapping a hand over her mouth. "Oh my god." She snorted, unable to completely hold in the laughter. "I forgot about Dick Counselor! I can't believe I forgot! It's only been... When was that, last December?"

"Yup, a couple weeks before school break. Great way to start the holiday season—truly one of the best gifts you've ever given me." Alaina rolled her eyes while keeping a straight face, sending her friend into a fit of uncontrollable giggles. Her own facade crumbled after a few moments, the laughter being too infectious to resist, and she joined in.

"Who does that?" asked Ayanna when the laughing had begun to taper off.

"At least he weeded himself out before we actually met in person. Much better than that creep who tried to grope me at the movies on our first date." Alaina curled her lip. So disgusting.