Chapter 30

"Hey, Mimi!" Jason ran up to catch up with her in the hall.

Pausing, she looked up from her latest script. "Hi, Jason. What's up?"

"You've talked to Chloe, right?"

Her brows drew together in puzzlement. "Uh, yeah. You were there this morning, remember?"

He grinned, "So, what's the dish? I know you chicks talk. What happened with her and Phil this weekend?" It had to be good. Why else wouldn't his buddy want to brag? And how could Jason not capitalize on the ribbing potential of this sensitive information?

Her head tilted in surprise. What a weird thing when a boy wanted to know gossip. And what was this sudden interest in Chloe and Philip? "What? Didn't Philip fill you in inbetween grunts?"

He shrugged. There was no point in trying to explain the mysteries of male-to-male communication. Or rather, the lack thereof. That's why God invented females - nature's fiber-optic cables. "So, Gossip Queen, what's the scoop?"

She pursed her lips. "How about you ask the questions, and I'll decide, whether you get an answer?"

"Fair enough. Where'd they go, anyway?"

"My God, you didn't even get that? That's sad." She shook her head.

"Hey, he's gonna tell me sooner or later. I voted for sooner, so I'm asking you." He flashed his pearly whites, guaranteed to charm. "Come on, Meems."

"What, my dear lady Disdain!"

Mimi turned from those disarming green eyes to see her friend Brian approaching with a ridiculously smug look about him. She smiled, as Signior Benedick swaggered up to her.

He set one hand on the hilt of his imaginary sword and the other cockily on his hip. "Are you yet living?"

Her lines gathered to the forefront of her brain. Mimi pulled her shoulders back, while her hips shifted into an indignant strut. Their surroundings diminished, replaced with a 16th-century Italian villa. "Is it possible Disdain should die… while she hath such… meet food to feed it, as signior Benedick?"

His lips formed an impossibly pompous smirk. "But it is certain, I am loved of all ladies, only you excepted: and I would I could find in my heart that I had not a hard heart, for I truly love none."

Her eyes laughed at him. "A dear happiness to women… they would else have been troubled with a pernicious suitor…" Her lips curled in derision, as she remembered the next lines. "I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow… than a man swear he loves me."

"God keep your ladyship still in that mind! So some gentleman or other shall 'scape a predestinate scratched face."

Now, this line was easy. She tossed her hair back and cocked a brow. "Scratching could not make it worse, an 'twere such a face as yours were."

Mimi faced Brian now, as Beatrice dared the cavalier Benedick for a worthy retort. They stared each other down for several intense moments. Then, a twinkle came into his eye and his arrogant façade crumbled into laughter.

"Boy, Mimi, you really love that line, don't you?" he chuckled.

She smiled, letting the brassy Beatrice fade from her features. "Hey, it's the only one I understand. The rest of the time I don't get what this Shakespeare guy is trying to say."

"Just let Benedick have it in the first act. You think he's a big time prick and he thinks you're a mouthy bitch. And underneath it all, we really dig each other," he grinned, wiggling his eyebrows. He finally noticed Jason standing nearby, idly watching the entire scene. "Hey, you're Jason, right? We met at the party."

"Uh, yeah. What's up?" His face carefully cool, Jason nodded to skinny drama dude, while holding his bookbag more securely on his broad shoulder.

The bell rang.

"I'd better get to Physics," Brian said.

"Wait up. I'm going the same way. I've got Chem. See you later, Jason."

"Yeah. See ya," he muttered, watching the two head to class.

"'…He that hath a beard is more than a youth; and he that hath no beard is less than a man: and he that is more than a youth, is not for me; and he that is less than a man, I am not for him…'" Mimi growled in frustration, "Can't these people make sense? What the heck does that mean?"

"I think she's very… confused," shrugged Belle. Curious, she poked at the mound of slop, posing as mashed potatoes. Inedible, yes, but perfect media for three-dimensional artwork. With a happy hum, she molded the claylike substance with her fork.

"Hey, ladies," greeted Shawn, before laying a wet sloppy kiss on Belle's neck.

"Shawn!" she giggled, her fork bouncing onto the heart-shaped, though somewhat lop-sided mashed potatoes.

"Hmmm…" Shawn smacked his lips, his eyes roaming upward in tasty assessment. "Strawberry. When'd you start rubbing fruit on yourself, Perfect Girl?" he winked.

Trying not to give him the satisfaction of seeing her blush, she speared her vegetables and took a dainty bite. "Did you get back your Lit. test?"

"Yeah. I did ok. Thank God, we're done with poetry. All I got was Emily Dickinson had some serious psychological problems." He ripped opened the stack of ketchup packets and squeezed the flood of red goop onto his burger and fries.

Philip set down his tray across from Shawn's. "Don't forget weight training after school today, man. First game's in four weeks."

Jason chuckled from behind him. "Yes, sir, mon capitaine." He plunked down in between Phil and Mimi. An equal opportunity omnivore, he surveyed his lunch tray then dove in. "Cheerleaders are practicing in the gym today, right, Belle?" he asked with his mouth grotesquely full.

"Yeah," she confirmed, after stealing a fry from Shawn's plate. "Competition's in a couple of weeks."

Jason gulped down his food. "Gonna do any throws today?" he asked with a sly grin.

Mimi rolled her eyes and returned to her script.

"Yeah, we're doing an adapted version of the pyramid with some spicy hip hop," replied Belle.

"Then, I'll definitely have to drop by," decided Shawn. "Hey, do I get to see you in a little skirt, too?" he whispered in her ear, chuckling when Belle elbowed him in the ribs.

"Hey, dudes!" Their teammate ran over to the table. "Eagleton's drinking milk up his nose."

"Seen it," answered Phil, casually chomping away at his limp fries.

"Yeah," agreed Shawn, ignoring Belle's sound of disgust, "He did it last year for the championship dinner, remember? Right in front of Principal Cohen. Think his mom fainted or something."

"Naw, he's snorting chocolate milk this time, man. Hey, Jase! You in?" asked their zealous teammate.

Jason shrugged. "Sure, dude." He picked up his burger and munched, as he trailed behind his teammate toward the spectacle.

"Euuu. That is so gross," grimaced Belle.

"You should see him with slurpies," grinned Shawn.

Belle could only shake her head and exchange a look with Mimi. Boys.

Hoots and howls came from the jock table. Mimi watched, as a boy turned into a human fountain. Blech, she thought. That was your brain. That your brain after beer binges, endless tackles, microwaves, and cell phones. Any questions?

A band of giggling girls then approached the jock table and gravitated toward their preferred targets. As usual, a bouncy blond with eye-popping endowments eased herself under Jason's arm. Mimi's eyes narrowed. Little Mermaid. Still chomping away at his burger, Jason laughed with his friends, while the girl was content as an attractive but relatively obscure hood ornament. Every jock's dream, right? thought Mimi with unbeknownst disappointment.

She sighed and looked back down at her script. She recited, "'Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more… Men were deceivers ever… One foot in sea, and one on shore, To one thing constant never… Then sigh not so, But let them go, And be you blithe and bonny; Converting all your sounds of woe Into-'"

"'Hey nonny, nonny,'" smiled Chloe, who just arrived with her veggie burger and fries.

"Hey, beautiful," beamed Philip, as she chose the seat across from him. Her hair streamed unadorned in lush waves down her back. He liked it best that way, so he could imagine running his fingers through it. "Bet you're just dying for a good ole hot dog right about now, huh?" he winked.

Stifling a giggle, Chloe deliberately looked over to Mimi. "Shakespeare. What's the occasion?"

"New script for Drama Club," Mimi replied, flipping through what seemed like endless pages of Elizabethan garble. "'Much Ado about Nothing.' I'm Beatrice, niece of Leonato and Benedick's main squeeze."

"The best part," commented Chloe, before she started in on her lunch.

"The squeezing?" grinned Philip, expertly dodging the balled-up paper napkin, which his amused girlfriend hurled at him.

"So, Mimi, what you just read. What's it mean?" asked Shawn, before he wolfed down half his burger with one bite.

"That guys suck," grinned Mimi, "And we girls should party on."

Chloe and Belle laughed.

A messy clatter from the other side of the cafeteria drew Chloe's attention. Her friends went on to talk about baseball practice and gossip, while she focused in on a pack of muscle-bound boys, who chuckled and jeered at the sight on the floor. A runty boy sat in a puddle of milk and mashed potatoes. His curly brown hair had traces of the creamy mixture. Andrew.

An old wound stung. Chloe was about to stand and go to him, when the barrel-chested assistant principal with clipboard in hand marched toward the crowd. "You all there. What is going on over there?"

The teens made a hasty retreat, before the uncomfortably starched Mr. Skinner could take down any names. Andrew, meanwhile, managed to gain his feet, avoiding all eye contact, as his schoolmates laughed around him.

"Quiet now," commanded the assistant principal with moderate success, "Now…" The galactically straight-laced administrator flipped through the pages of his clipboard, which apparently contained the name and record of every student in the school. "…Mr. Auerbach. Be so kind as to explain what happened here."

Andrew looked away and said nothing.

Mr. Skinner huffed, "Who were the perpetrators?" Obviously, this boy's stature and demeanor made him susceptible to bullies.

The boy only rubbed the back of his hand across his nose, his sunken brown eyes downcast, as a passing group of girls pointed at him and giggled.

"Very well. Come along, so we can get you cleaned up. Ms. Johnson," he said to a heavy-set lunchlady behind the counter, "Call maintenance in here to mop up the mess. Thank you." He then led the silent boy out of the cafeteria.

"Hey."

Jolting, Chloe turned her attention back to Philip.

His warm hand enveloped hers, while his eyes flashed in concern. "You alright?"

She drudged up a smile and returned to her lunch.

After lunch, the students hung out in the hallways before the start of afternoon classes.

Chloe reached to pull out her lab book from her locker. "So, I guess you'll be in the weight room after school today then."

"Yeah," answered Philip, slipping his arms around her waist from behind and pressed a kiss to her fragrant neck. "You could drop by…"

She smiled and turned in his arms. "Maybe. After choir rehearsal."

"Skip it. You sound perfect to me," he grinned.

"You," she began, poking a jovial finger at his chest, "Philip Kiriakis, are a bad influence."

"Oh, yeah?" Dimples winking, he leaned in for a kiss.

"Sweet Beatrice, would'st thou come when I called thee?"

To Philip's disappointment, Chloe diverted her attention to Mimi's Drama Club buddy, who bowed graciously before Mimi. Sweet Brian was doing his best to help Mimi learn her lines. Chloe shook her head in sympathy. Opening night was three weeks away and the original female lead, who would play Beatrice, had a nasty case of mono. Thus, the pressure was on for understudy Mimi to channel her natural spunkiness into the part. Now, if she could just memorize her lines. But first she had to understand what the character was trying to say. Shakespearean English was, suffice it to say, different from modern American English. To Mimi, it was another language.

Mimi sighed heavily. "Sorry, Brian. I haven't got that scene down yet. I don't even know what scene it is."

Brian smiled, patient as a mother. "Act V, Scene II."

Jason, who'd finally detached persistent Little Mermaid from his person, joined his friends. Skinny drama dude again. Shit. Didn't this guy already have a girlfriend?

"You could try it," encouraged skinny drama dude. "Sweet Beatrice…"

Jason felt like puking. Dude, get a life.

Brian continued, "Would'st thou come when I called thee?"

Mimi scrunched her face, trying to remember the next line. She sighed in defeat. Damn, this was impossible.

Chloe slipped out of Philip's arms and walked over to place a supportive hand on Mimi's shoulder. "Yea, signior… and depart when you bid me."

Mimi looked up at her friend, who lifted her chin in encouragement.

Shawn and Belle drifted over to watch.

"O, stay, but til then!" Brian said in reply.

Chloe smiled. This vivacious character fit Mimi perfectly. Chloe squeezed her friend's shoulder and recited, "Then, is spoken; fare you well now…"

With an outrageous grin on his face, Brian leaned toward the two Beatrices and said, "And thereupon I will kiss thee-"

"Whoa, whoa," Philip said, stepping between Chloe and skinny drama dude. Even he understood that line. "That's enough of that."

Chloe laughed. Here was her own irresistible Benedick. He looked so adorable, when he tried to defend her honor. Forgetting their audience, she hugged him from behind. "But for which of my good parts did you first suffer love for me?"

Philip, on the other hand, felt his face heat, sandwiched between his girlfriend's body and his friends' chuckles. English Lit. had never been his favorite subject and Old Shakey was definitely not his forte. "Uh…"

"Suffer love…"

With surprised expressions, everyone turned to Jason, who still leaned casually against the lockers.

"I do suffer love, indeed… for I love thee against my will," Jason finished. Those evergreen eyes met Mimi's for a split second, before the bell rang. The magic dispelled.

"I guess we'd all better get to class," Mimi stuttered and headed for Trig.

Jason whistled. "Damn…"

Shawn could only gawk. They watched through the thick glass of the gym door, as the cheerleaders gyrated their hips to TLC. One cheerleader had Shawn's undivided attention. How could a girl, who usually resembled a guileless blond pixie, transform into… that? And indeed, she was wearing a skirt. A dangerously short one, which swooshed teasingly with her movements. When she leapt and performed a perfect mid-air split, he gulped. He took the already sweat-soaked towel and wiped his flushed face.

"Ooo." Jason angled his head to watch a long limbed brunette contort herself in a revealing Y-shape. "Now, that's what I call flexibility. What I wouldn't-"

"What the hell?" cursed Shawn, watching a boy catch Belle and raise her back up in the air with one hand. On her rump.

Jason chuckled. "Awesome job, huh?"

Shawn took calming breaths. Belle had explained it to him. It's part of the routine. Just part of the routine.

"Chill, dude. The coach would kick his ass, if he tried any funny stuff," assured Jason, who nonetheless decided he would inquire after any openings for male cheerleaders. "Come on, buddy." He swung an easy arm around his friend's shoulders. "We'd better get back, before Captain Phil blows a gasket."

They got in sight of the weight room and slowed.

"Doubt it, Jase," commented Shawn.

With a towel slung over his glistening shoulder, their no-nonsense leader was obviously preoccupied. Philip rested his hands on the wall, caging Chloe in, while he nuzzled her hair. She smiled and said something to make him laugh.

Jason grinned and asked Shawn, "You know the story behind the weekend yet?"

"I hear, they went to New York," Shawn told him, "Did the tourist thing, saw some shows, ate some food-"

"-had some sex."

Shawn chuckled, "Man, you're as bad as Mimi sometimes, you know that?"

His buddy only shrugged and raised his brows for further information.

"Hey," laughed Shawn, "It's not like I had a front row seat, ok?"

Jase shook his head. "At least, he told you all that. K-Man didn't tell me squat."

"What're you talking about? Belle told me that stuff. Phil just kept that stupid grin on his face, when I ask him about it." Shawn gave his friend a pat on the shoulder. "You just need to get off your ass and uplink to the grapevine, buddy."

Jason frowned, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Being a smart man, Shawn kept his thoughts to himself. "Hey, Phil! We in training or what?"

Philip grinned and turned back to Chloe. "You could wait around. That way I could walk you home."

"I'll be alright. Nancy left a message, wanting me to come straight home after choir. Probably for one of our so-called 'mother-daughter' talks." She rolled her eyes. Then, smiled, when he took her hand, so it pressed against his, palm to palm.

"See you later, then?"

Her cheeks pinkened. "Yeah."

He gave her a kiss on the cheek and watched her disappear out of the double doors. After an indulgent sigh, he cleared his throat and turned toward his buddies. "Hurry it up, guys. First game will be here, before we know it."

His buddies grinned. "That's the Phil we all know and love."

Securing the heavy backpack on shoulders, Chloe stepped out into the early evening sunlight. Fourth quarter had arrived and teachers piled on the assignments, as the seniors counted down the days until graduation. She sighed. She'd better work fast and furious tonight and get as much homework done as possible. Before Philip arrived. Since his amazing entrance into her life, time management had taken on new meaning, in order to maintain her top grades and still spend huge chunks of her day with him, whether that be in person or on the phone. And studying together was more together than studying. She smiled. Philip Kiriakis was entirely too addictive.

The sound of a violent fit of coughing brought her out of her reverie. Her eyes locked onto the origin. Andrew.

Obviously shaken, he picked himself off the pavement next to the now empty bike racks. His sleeve was torn at the shoulder, and as she drew closer, she saw the black eye and bleeding nose.

"Andrew?" she called out.

He looked up, like a startled rabbit. "Please… just…" Then, he backed away slowly, taking a swipe at his tears and bloody nose. Without a word, he turned and hobbled away as fast as he could.

"Andrew!" she said, running after him, "Wait!"

But he disappeared, after she rounded the corner. She looked around but to no avail. He was gone. That was the thing about being prey. One had to know how to escape and evade at a moment's notice - or else.

She felt her heart heavy. How completely alone he must feel. How desperately he needed a friend. She certainly had.

"Hey, Chloe!"

Mimi ran up from behind and was slightly out of breath, when she finally reached her. "Hey," she said, "What's up?" Mimi had just finished her time at the school newspaper and came out to see Chloe calling after that skinny boy. "Hey, do you know that guy?"

"Yeah," Chloe frowned and remembered the headless chicken on her doorstep. "I do."