Altered realities II
Note: the part II at the end of the last "Altered Realities" story is actually "Part II.5" as I came up with this idea later.
"And then he paid Josh?" Monique said in shock. "Monkey Fist paid Josh?"
"Yep." Kim grinned, pulled her stuff from the locker underneath Monique's. "Paid cash."
"So cool—when are you going to have Josh buy you a car?" Kim laughed at that.
"Not ever—Not only did it give Josh a rep, his mom and dad offered to match that money—he has his full first two years tuition at the New York College of the Arts, now." Kim's smile got wider, if possible. "Josh has wanted to go there, since forever."
"Why? He's pretty good…" Monique said, as they closed their lockers and headed for the class, Kim wheeling along beside her friend. Kim chuckled at the comment.
"Yeah, he is…but he likes art, Monique. Even if he knows everything he needs to know, he'd want to go there, just to learn more." Kim's smile got softer. "He's happy when he's going that."
"As happy as when he's with you?"
"Different kind of happy, but yeah." Monique laughed.
"Well, that's good—Brick has the same kind of thing…well, only its when he's watching football."
"You watch football." Kim said.
"But I don't get so over excited I try to tackle the TV."
"Get out!"
"That's what his mom said…." At that, the two teens laughed as they entered the class, Monique heading to her seat and Kim rolling over to hers. Kim sighed. Josh hadn't taken this class, and so she was going to have to suffer through World History alone…especially since it was taught by a traditional male teacher who seemed to think the only history had come out of the barrel of a gun.
Surprisingly, during the class, Tara was ahead of everyone else. The blond cheerleader seemed to remember every fact, every date, every miserable little piece of trivia about the difference between Swedish and British organization… Which was really surprising. Monique and Bonnie saw it to, and they looked at Kim, who looked back and then they all nodded. After class, Tara found herself surrounded.
"So Tara…" Bonnie drawled. "Decided to date a history geek?"
"No!" Tara giggled.
"Decided to date the teacher?" Monique added.
"Ugh!" Tara said, gagging.
"What's up guys?" Ron said, as he and Josh joined the group.
"Tara has a boyfriend…" Kim said. Tara blushed.
"What, only one?" Ron said. "Isn't that down from last week?"
"Hey!" Tara said, offended. "I only had one boyfriend last week."
"So, you were only doing serial boyfriends instead of having a bunch at once." Monique supplied.
"No… I was… just checking them out." Tara said.
"And you discovered?" Bonnie asked.
"That yes, I think I should do the serial boyfriend thing—since no single boyfriend is up to my speed." Tara replied, virtuously. Bonnie, Kim, and Monique all made gagging noises, and when that was over, Kim took the offensive.
"But seriously—how were you managing to answer all those questions? I was about to pass out."
"Smart pills!" Tara said, pulling a small bottle of blue pills from her purse. The other teens looked around at each other.
"Tara…" Kim said. "This wasn't something to keep you up studying was it?"
"Not even—they're a special type of vitamin, and they're also approved by the FDA!" She said, showing Kim the seal. "But ah…don't' tell anyone, ok? I heard from a friend that if schools found out about it, they'd ban them because they don't want people to get away without studying—but I remembered everything I read—the first time."
"Those aren't pills, they're miracles in a bottle." Bonnie said in an undertone. Tara stuck her tongue out at her. Kim and Ron both looked a little disturbed. Tara blinked, looking at the two.
"What?" Kim shook her head.
"Are you sure they're just vitamin pills?" Tara blinked.
"You're not going to tell, are you?" Kim sighed.
"No Tara…but could I have one?"
"Why not go get them? They're selling them really cheap."
"At the drug store?"
"On line." Alarm bells started going off in Kim's head, as her reporter's instinct clicked in.
"Well, give me one, and I'll hit the website later." Tara nodded, and then, giggled, looking down at an attractive boy.
"Well, I'd better be off now!" she said, an expression like a shark scenting blood on her face.
"Vitamin pills." Bonnie said.
"Maybe."
"Hey, I take vitamin pills, and so do you." Bonnie pointed out. Kim nodded. She had to, given her injury.
"I know, I just…" Kim shook her head, as both Josh and Bonnie looked confused. Kim continued. "After I was hit by the car, I was in pain… a lot of pain." She said, "So I had to be drugged, and well, I got…addicted."
"Didn't your mom know?" Josh asked. Kim nodded.
"Sure, in fact she told me what was probably going to happen, but it was a choice between going nuts from pain and getting addicted. Then the doctors and mom helped me fight the dependency." Kim remembered the first days of cutting down the dosages—you had to stop taking the medication at some point, but the pain felt terrible, coming off of the artificial pain relief the drugs brought—and still more terrible knowing that there was a medicine that could make it stop. She'd woken up more than one night whimpering in pain and trembling, with her mom and dad beside her bed, unable to do the thing that would have brought temporary relief, but with such a price attached. "It's…" She paused, "Nothing I'd wish on anyone."
"You think these are drugs?" Josh said. He paused, "Kim, if someone were to think that…" Kim shook her head.
"I know—I'm not about to wheel up to Mr. Barkin and start screaming that Tara's a drug fiend…but I mean, if this works, why not sell it to college kids? They can pay a lot more."
"Because…" Bonnie looked over where Tara was ambushing her prey, "College kids might realize that it's just some vitamins and caffeine? Kim, you know they always brag about what vitamins can do." She paused, "Besides, this is Tara—every other week she has a new craze, you know?"
"Mmm…" Kim said, and slipped the pill back into her pocket.
"In any case." Ron said, "I wouldn't mind it if they could condense the wisdom of the ages into a pill."
"So you would take, which pill? Martial arts? Cooking?" Ron smiled at that.
"Bonnie, I'm a master at both of those, even before I became…" He waggled his eyes dramatically, "A master of Monkey Kung Fu."
"So?"
"Talk sense into my girlfriend." Ron continued, "the one art that eludes me."
"That's because your girlfriend is always right." Bonnie said, "And that means that we'd better head out to cheer practice, or she will be late and it would be your fault."
"What about Tara?" Monique asked.
"Oh, she'll be there with her latest conquest." Kim said. Everyone laughed, as they headed towards the Gym.
But Kim made certain to write down the internet address.
TBC.