"like sands through the hourglass... so are the...Days of our Lives"

Christyne's "The Teens"  
Fan Fiction Site

Chloe could feel all the eyes in the room boring into her as she walked quickly to her table in the back. She had just entered Lifeskills and was, for the fourth time that day, enduring her classmates’ stares and whispers. She knew some of them were talking about the Last Blast and what had happened there. She knew others were assessing her new wardrobe. And others were talking about what was going on with her and Philip Kiriakis…

Nothing! she thought. Absolutely nothing is happening with me and that James Dean wannabe. She didn’t know who exactly she was trying to convince of that fact, but she knew it was true, damn it! She practically ran to her seat in the back, avoiding eye contact with everyone. Philip entered the room not long after Chloe. He had been trying to get her attention all morning to talk to her, but she’d been too fast for him. This was the first class they had together and he was going to make her talk to him. He saw her sitting in the back, trying to shrink away into oblivion. Several people in the room were staring at her, and he could see why. She looked stunning. Her violet sheath with pale pink flowers set off her naturally dusky skin perfectly. Her long brown hair had been straightened and hung softly down her back. He could see those amazing blue eyes of hers all the way across the room, despite the new wire rim glasses she was sporting. Philip kept the gulp down in his throat and took a second to compose himself before heading towards her.

Chloe had pulled out a book and had begun to read. Philip sat down on the stool next to her and watched her, enjoying the chance to study her openly. Chloe tried to ignore him the best that she could. She’d almost forgotten how devilishly handsome he was. He wore a navy blue Polo shirt that darkened his eyes and jeans that showed off his muscular legs. Chloe’s eyes kept going from his thighs to her book.

Philip cleared his throat to attempt a joke. "You’re reading again. How novel."

Chloe didn’t even crack a smile and continued to read her book. "Get it? Novel?" Philip asked weakly. The silence continued.

"So…what are you doing?"

Chloe sighed. Philip was definitely persistent, if nothing else. "It’s called work. I’m not surprised you didn’t recognize it. W-O-R-K," she spelled slowly. "You can look it up. It’s in the dictionary."

Philip reached across her to turn the book to see the cover. Chloe let out a small gasp when his tanned arm made contact with hers. Philip stopped what he was doing and slowly turned his head towards her. His face was only a few inches from hers. He had a smug smile on his face. So much for her ignoring him. He loved knowing that she was as affected by their physical contact as he was. Philip stayed right where he was.

"You know," he breathed, "There is something so sexy about a smart woman."

"Yeah," Chloe scoffed. "That’s why there are so many scientist centerfolds. Guys really dig brains."

"You may be right," Philip conceded. "Maybe it’s not the brains so much as the…" he paused to look her up and down, "…other hidden assets." He flashed her one of those mind-numbing dimpled grins.

Chloe tried to glare at him. "You should be locked up in a lab somewhere and studied." She tried to move her head back, but there really wasn’t anywhere for her to go.

"Only if you promise to be the one to study me," Philip whispered as he returned to his own space, reluctant to move away from her.

Chloe tucked her hair behind her ear and said in her best airhead impersonation, "Well, I do know that studying isn’t nearly as important as sports, which would make you the most important person in Salem High, Philip."

Philip grinned and leaned against the table. "Thanks, Chloe. I’m flattered."

"No, you’re dense. I meant it sarcastically. You know it will be the nerds that rule the world, right? Pen mightier than the sword and all that?"

"Depends on the size of your sword," Philip said in that husky tone of his. Chloe’s eyes widened and then dropped to his lap, and he laughed as she hurriedly looked away.

Mrs. Morris moved to the front of the room to command the students’ attention. Shawn slipped in the door at the last minute. He walked over to where Belle and Mimi were sitting. He grabbed an extra stool and sat next to them. "Hey guys," he said.

Belle didn’t even turn around to look at him. Mimi gave him a dirty look and then pointedly looked ahead. Shawn was taken aback. He had waited all day yesterday for Belle to call, and she hadn’t. He’d been sorely disappointed. Now she and Mimi were acting cold? Maybe Belle didn’t like her eggs sunny-side up.

Mrs. Morris directed some students to switch seats. "Joey, you over here please, and Susan, could you move over here with Frank, and Mark, back there with Ashley please." Mrs. Morris looked over the room again. "Take a good look at the person next to you. This is going to be your spouse for the next week."

"Our what?" someone called out incredulously.

"Your spouse. Our final project for the year is to see what it would be like to be married with children. You will be given budgets and will have to figure out how to pay bills, divide household responsibilities as well as the responsibilities for your babies." Mrs. Morris turned around and picked a baby doll out of a large box. "Each couple will be assigned a child to care for. The baby must be tended to around the clock. It can’t be left alone. If you go out, you either take the baby with you or find a babysitter. Each baby is programmed to cry intermittently until it is picked up and consoled, and the attached pacifier is placed in its mouth. The babies contain microchips that will monitor how long the child is left to cry. Your grades will be based on the care you give your child, and your completed handwritten portion on how your marriage will function."

Shawn raised his hand. "So am I married to Belle or Mimi?"

"Both, Mr. Brady. We have one more girl than boy in this class, so I’ll have to ask you to be a bigamist for the next week," Mrs. Morris smiled.

Shawn managed to look mildly embarrassed as several of the guys in class let out hoots and hollers. Belle placed her head in her hands. Now what was she going to do? She’d felt her anger noticeably abate since Shawn had made her that breakfast. Now she was going to be forced to be in close proximity with him on a regular basis. Mimi gave Belle a reassuring pat on the shoulders.

Philip had to resist running to the front of the classroom and planting a big kiss on Mrs. Morris’ forehead. She had just given him the perfect excuse to spend time alone with Chloe, to be working with her side by side, to maybe be alone with her in her room…Philip had to forcibly redirect his sexually charged thoughts back to the visibly surprised Chloe.

Mrs. Morris began walking to the various tables and handing out baby dolls and packets that contained proper care instructions as well as the budgets the students would be operating off of for their marriages.

"So, where should we do it? Your place or mine?" Philip teased gently. When Chloe looked at him with eyes widened in surprise at his obvious innuendo, he added, "The project? Where should we do it?"

"Oh, I…I guess my place would be fine," she replied. She took the packet from Mrs. Morris as Philip took their doll. "Do you want to take the baby first or should I?" Philip asked.

"I’ll take it," Chloe said.

"Look, we just worked out our first custody arrangement," Philip smiled. Chloe could hardly hear what Philip was saying because of the blood that was rushing to her ears. Philip was her partner, her fake husband, and the fake father of her fake child. Chloe would try to do as much of this project by herself as she could. She didn’t want to have Philip hanging around her constantly with his irresistible face and too-charming personality. She didn’t know how much longer she could withstand his subtle advances. A small voice inside of her asked why she was resisting in the first place. She told the voice to shut up.

The class flew by as the students chattered amongst themselves, looking over the packets they’d been given and playing with their dolls. Moments before the bell was supposed to ring Philip leaned in to Chloe and with his mouth a hair’s breadth away from her ear, he asked, "When do you want me?"

Now! was Chloe’s first unbidden thought. "Want you?" she croaked.

"To come over," Philip added smoothly. He knew exactly what this was doing to Chloe because he had physical evidence of what it was doing to him. He could hardly wait until he could coax Chloe into being a willing participant.

"Right after school would be fine," she replied weakly.

The bell rang. "It’s a date," Philip said with the now familiar twinkle in his eyes.

"It is not a date!" Chloe yelled after him, but he apparently hadn’t heard her.

********

Belle tried to run from the classroom as soon as the bell rang. Shawn ran after her and grabbed her arm. "Belle, what’s going on? Why won’t you talk to me?"

Belle turned with angry tears in her eyes. "Why won’t I…why won’t I talk to you?" Did he really not know?

She looked up at him fiercely. "You, Shawn Douglas Brady, are a total, total…a word has yet to be invented to describe how totally whatever-it-is you are, but you are one. And a total, total one at that."

Shawn stood there stunned, not knowing what to say. Belle picked up her fallen purse and faced Shawn again. She said angrily, "I never want to see you again."

Mimi went to follow Belle until Shawn grabbed her arm. "Mimi, please," he said softly. "I need your help."

This ought to be good, she thought. "What?"

"Why is Belle so mad at me? What have I done?" he asked, with a defeated tone of voice.

Mimi struggled for a second with her conscience. Shawn sounded truly mystified, and truly sad. She wanted to help him. Would Belle be mad at her for saying something? But if it all worked out for the best Belle would be glad, she rationalized. At least one of them should be happy. "Well, you saying kissing her was a mistake is a good place to start."

"When did I say that?" Shawn asked, his eyes snapping.

"Saturday night. Belle and I were going downstairs and we overheard you, Brady and Philip talking. You said that you enjoyed kissing her but that it was a mistake. Belle was devastated."

Shawn quickly tried to remember saying that, and the memory of it came rushing back to him. "Did you bother to listen to the rest of the conversation?"

"No, hearing a guy saying that kissing you is a mistake really dampens the desire to hear him say anything else," Mimi sarcastically replied.

"If you guys would have stuck around you would have heard me say that the reason it was a mistake was because of how much I care about Belle. I was upset because I know she doesn’t feel the same way about me, and now that I’ve kissed her I know what I’m missing out on," Shawn lamented.

Mimi straightened up when Shawn said that. "You like Belle?"

Shawn nodded miserably.

"You two are such idiots," she laughed, putting her hand to her mouth. The situation was so pathetic and full of misunderstandings that she had to laugh.

"Now she never want to see me again," Shawn said dejectedly, wallowing even further in his misery.

"No, she wants you to chase after her."

"She does not! I very clearly heard her say that she never wants to see me again," he replied.

"And you believed her?" Mimi asked incredulously.

"That’s the funny thing about me. I tend to hear the actual words being spoken and accept them at face value."

"You are so stupid," she sighed.

"See? I accept that."

"What do you have to lose by going after her?" Mimi asked.

"My pride. My freedom," Shawn paused and then sighed, rubbing his hand on his chest. "My heart."

Mimi grabbed Shawn’s shoulders with her hands. "Shawn, you have to trust me. Belle wants you to go after her. Get out there and figure out a way to fix this."

Shawn smiled a hopeful smile at Mimi and ran out into the hallway. Belle was there in the main hall, along with half the population of Salem High. It was nearly lunchtime and everyone was gathered around their lockers grabbing their lunches and catching up. Belle was at the opposite end of the hallway talking with their math teacher.

How was he going to fix this? He suddenly remembered something from the party. What was it that she’d said exactly? It was nagging in the back of his mind…then the words came floating to the surface…

It was something Shawn would never do. He hated public displays of affection, guys who were so whipped that they made idiots out of themselves. But if it meant the difference between having Belle and not having Belle…There was no question.

"ISABELLA BLACK!" Shawn roared down the hallway.

to be continued....

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