The Notebook
VI
Bert
Girard exited the classroom and headed for the nearest stairwell. The overweight senior and self-acknowledged
nerd went down the flights of stairs to the ground floor of the main building
on the
Scott Hansen and Todd Walker sitting on the floor discussing their plans for Christmas break when he entered. Todd was saying he might tag along with his dad to see if the security business was something he was interested in. They stopped talking upon seeing Bert and stood up. “Hi, how has the exam?” Scott asked.
“It wasn’t good, it wasn’t bad, but with it finished I just have one semester to go. Do either of you have exams tomorrow?”
Both shook their heads before Scott said, “Both Rosa and Anna Marie have the same one tomorrow.”
Opening his locker, Bert asked, “Any major plans for break?”
Todd repeated the information Bert had heard when he walked, but beyond that his break would be somewhat uneventful. Scott then replied, “Besides my parents leaving on a business trip that turns into a short vacation starting next week, Anna Marie and I aren’t doing anything except going to church.”
Bert was stuffing his locker then he asked, “They aren’t leaving before Christmas are they?”
Todd answered, “They’ll leave Sunday night and won’t be back until the weekend before school restarts.”
“They’re missing Christmas? When are you going to exchange gifts?”
“We exchange gifts on Christmas Eve, celebrating Jul.”
“Jul?” the overweight senior said, “What’s that?”
“A Scandinavian tradition my family still keeps.”
“Which is an interesting addition to his family being Orthodox,” Todd added.
The last statement made Bert stop and look at his friends, “As in Greek?”
“As well as Russian, Armenian, Romanian, Finnish, and many others.”
Bert finished stuffing his locker with his books and then produced the notebook. He handed it to Scott, “I didn’t know you were partially Eastern European.”
“I’m
not. My great-grandfather converted
shortly after arriving from
Bert looked at him with a blank face. “Well that’s an interesting combination.”
“Yeah,” Todd said, “What’s even stranger is no one on his family tree is from a traditionally thought of country with an Orthodox tradition, they all converted.”
“Except for my uncle,” Scott added.
“Oh yeah, the one your aunt married.”
“But anyway,” Scott said to change the subject, “What are your plans?”
Bert shrugged. “Well, translating the rules. I hope to borrow the notebook for a day over break.”
“Besides that, how are you and your father celebrating the holidays?”
“My dad’s agnostic, but we exchange gifts. I might get something from my mom, but I usually don’t.”
“Sorry to hear that,” Todd said.
Bert shrugged, “Don’t worry about it, I’m use to it.”
A feminine voice said from behind, “Hi, Bert!”
The three of them turned to see a smiling Autumn Morgan, dressed in a low-cut sweater and a tight pair of blue jeans. She had several cardboard boxes in her hands. Bert smiled and nervously answered, “Hi Autumn,” then walked over to her.
“I’m glad I caught you before you left,” Autumn said, “I had time this week to bake and thought you’d like some goodies.”
“Uh, sure,” Bert replied and grabbed the top box from her stack, “I appreciate it.”
Then Autumn put the other three boxes of baked goods on top of the one in Bert’s hands, much to his surprise. Bert almost lost the boxes, but Autumn helped steady them until he was able to comfortably put his arm under the stack and against one side while pressing them against his body. After Bert had secured the stack Autumn took her hand away, brushing against Bert’s stomach as she did so.
Scott and Todd glanced at one another before the latter whispered, “That’s the second time I’ve seen her give him food.”
“Same here,” Scott whispered back.
“I hope you enjoy them,” Autumn said, “Don’t share them much though,” she added.
The three young men watched the black haired beauty turn and walk out of the alcove into the hallway, but not before turning back to take another look at Bert. Todd turned to Scott and said, “You think someone might have a little crush?”
“I don’t have a crush,” Bert said, “Autumn is just nice.”
Todd and Scott looked at one another wanting the other to say something.
After finishing their last exam for the semester, Rosa Garcia and Anna Marie Zelman were headed to their respective cars. The two big beautiful young women were talking about their plans for break when they passed a group of girls giggling amongst themselves. Then from behind came a loud voice that carried over the half empty parking lot, “Speaking of New Year’s resolutions, maybe Isabel’s should be getting the heifer that lives with her looking more like a normal human being.”
Both
Anna Marie and Rosa turned back as Tonya Winters and a few other girls roared
with laugher while
Anna Marie and Rosa exchanged looks before turning back towards the direction of their cars. Looking irritated Tonya shouted, “What no comeback fatties?”
The remark only made one of the young women in the group laugh, though Isabel couldn’t hide her smile. Tonya turned to see that it was Alexia Rogers snickering. The head cheerleader then clapped her hands together and said, “Okay that’s enough talking, we’re spending too much time around school as it is. We’ll meet up later tonight.” The young women headed in various directions in pairs or groups. Alexia motioned for her posse to leave her said, “Tonya, could I have a word?”
The junior walked over to the cheer captain who was leaning against a car. Alexia then said, “I know you’re looking to be head cheerleader next year and with it the undisputed top position of the social ladder. However, if you want the position you’re going to have to come up with better material. Especially when talking with the likes of Anna Marie and Rosa, who while clearly aren’t in our league, know how to take a shot and give one back.”
“What do you suggest?” Tonya replied indignantly.
“Well first off don’t look like you’re pandering, take charge of the group. Second, be creative. If you keep on giving them the same stuff they’ve always heard they’ll just get use to it. And third, don’t try to challenge me for leadership while I’m still here or I’ll put you down like I did with the jayvee squad members when I selected Isabel over them,” Alexia then gave Tonya a smile and walked to her car letting the blond haired junior take in the words.
The Hansen home was a buzz of activity as the three Hansens and Anna Marie rotated either taking a shower or eating breakfast, a process made easier with two different water lines. Scott was the first to finish and after drying his hair he went outside to get the ice off his car windows. After coming back inside, Scott helped bring down his parents luggage to the garage with his father. Once that was completed, the two men changed for church.
After her own quick breakfast, Anna Marie had started preparing for church as well. Her family, though Lutheran, weren’t weekly attendees with her parents making it to about one service a month but always attended on Easter. Anna Marie usually remained at the house when the Hansens went to church except for Orthodox Easter and the Sunday before Christmas. The fact that her boyfriend’s family was Orthodox always made her nervous as she prepared to go with them, because what was appropriate in an easy-going Protestant worship service might not be at a more conservative Orthodox service.
Anna Marie was applying the final touches of the small amount of make-up she planned to put on, abstaining from her full on Goth look. Having already dressed, she checked herself in the mirror as Scott walked in, fiddling with his tie. He looked at her for a moment before she straightened his tie then asked, “Well? Am I going to cause a scandal?”
He shook his head no before saying, “You look nice.”
“Sure?” she asked before saying, “Is the button on the back of my dress done?”
“Yes.”
Anna Marie then looked into the mirror and took herself in. Her auburn hair was pulled back from her face, contained in a black-laced net that fully exposed her pale skinned face. In contrast to her skin was her dark green, long-sleeved gown that went almost to the floor. Before she had been fattened, the gown had been loose and gave no hint to her figure except her breasts, now it was a different story. The gown while having grown to accommodate her larger size had become very figure revealing. Anna Marie’s breasts and the sides of her belly were prominently outlined in front while her butt’s width and depth were contoured for the world to see.
Going into her room, Anna Marie took a pair of black laced gloves off the clothes cabinet and putting them on. She then took a triangular piece of cloth off the cabinet and walked back into the bathroom. She unfolded the cloth then put it over her head and let it drape down to her shoulders. “Does my kerchief look fine?”
“I guess,” Scott shrugged.
Anna Marie turned and gave him a slight glare. Turning back to the mirror, she adjusted her kerchief slightly while Scott fiddled with his tie again. Mrs. Hansen then appeared in the doorway and asked, “How is it coming Anna Marie?”
The fat young woman turned to the plump older woman, who was in a long red coat and wearing a kerchief over her head. Mrs. Hansen looked at Anna Marie’s kerchief and gown before saying, “Good, very good. I know you’re nervous since this is the first time you’re coming with us as Scott’s girlfriend. Paul’s mother had to help me when I first attended.” Mrs. Hansen then straightened Scott’s tie before continuing, “Scott be a gentleman and help Anna Marie with her coat.”
Scott seemed a little insulted for having to be total to do something he was already planning on doing. He helped Anna Marie with her long coat and then put on his own before heading out to his car. Starting it up with the heat set on high, Scott waited a few minutes before hitting his horn. Moments later, the 288-pound young woman headed to the Sundance just as the air blowing into the car’s interior became warm.
For a while they travelled without saying a word until finally Anna Marie spoke up. “Okay, anything that I need to be aware of now that I’m your girlfriend who happens to be Protestant and not just your friend that happens to be a girl?”
Scott shrugged. “I wouldn’t think so. You’re the first girlfriend I’ve taken to church, but you’ve been there as just a friend so you already know the decorum. Depending on if my parents, well, my mom has informed other congregates about our relationship or just confirmed it when ask and that information has spread, I don’t know if people will know we’re dating beyond us arriving together and sitting apart from my parents.”
“Are you sure? Because the Hansen family has this history, tradition, which people might expect you to continue, your aunt not withstanding. Making a first good impression as your girlfriend is pretty important.”
“I don’t think anyone will bring that up unless we were engaged,” Scott said with a smile before it disappeared, “On second thought, don’t talk to Mrs. Elkin.”
“Mrs. Elkin?”
“Father Jerome’s wife.”
Anna Marie looked at Scott before asking, “You want me to avoid the wife of your Priest? I might not attend church that often, but that doesn’t sound like a smart thing to do if I want to be a future parishioner.”
“Well you said you were nervous about doing something wrong, the worst possible person to do that in front of is Father Jerome’s wife.”
Anna Marie blinked and thought for a moment. “Good point.”
St. Andrew’s Orthodox Church was located on the other side of the county and as a result it took nearly an hour to get there. Arriving just before the service started, both Mr. Hansen and Scott dropped off their respective passengers. After parking their cars the two hurried into the church and met up with Mrs. Hansen and Anna Marie. While the Hansens sat closer to the front, Scott and Anna Marie sat towards the back.
After the Liturgical service, the congregation followed Father Jerome out of the nave into the vestibule. As the parishioners started conversing with one another, Scott and Anna Marie made their way to a corner while waiting for Mr. and Mrs. Hansen. Several parishioners came up to say hello to Anna Marie then and congratulated Scott on how his season was going.
Slowly the parishioners started to collect their coats and leave while Mrs. Hansen continued talking. Scott attempted to signal his father about the time and their flight when Father Jerome walked up to him. “Scott, I was hoping you would be attending during break. We haven’t seen you since school started.”
“Yeah,” Scott paused, “I’ve had a lot of things on my plate.”
“Now Scott, you remember what I counseled you about this last summer. You’re entering the years in which you set your priorities in life and remaining committed to God should be at the top of that list.”
“Yes Father Jerome.”
The middle aged man then turned to Anna Marie, “Ms. Zelman,” he then paused, “I want to say Anne?”
“Anna Marie, sir.”
“Ah yes, but please Father Jerome is fine,” he said with a smile, “I met your father and his partners recently. We’re planning to renovate our auxiliary building next door. He informed me that the two of you were dating, I have never met a father so proud his youngest daughter was dating a young man.”
Scott and Anna Marie exchanged looks.
Father Jerome continued, “The thought of my daughter dating,” he sighed, “Is something I’m a few years away from having to seriously think about.” The priest looked away for a moment before speaking, “Well I believe your parents are waiting Scott. I hope to see the both of you soon.”
The priest walked over to other parishioners and started conversing with them. Scott helped Anna Marie with her coat before they followed his parents out. Getting in his car, Anna Marie looked at Scott and said, “I guess I should make sure you go to church. Don’t want to give Father Jerome a bad impression.”
Scott turned and said, “I’ll remember that some Sunday morning when we’re in bed.”
That drew a look from Anna Marie.
The
day after Christmas was always pretty monotonous everywhere around
Mother and daughter looked at one another for a moment before Mrs. Garcia, taking in her eldest daughter’s choice of clothing, asked, “Going out somewhere?”
“Picking up a classmate and heading to the Tucker Library,” Rosa replied, “Getting started on the next big assignment,” technically not lying.
Mrs.
Garcia nodded.
“Really,
that’s the best you can come up with?”
“Thanks,” Tonya said through clinched teeth.
The two young women stood uneasily with one another on the front porch, glancing at one another as they waited for Isabel. After several minutes the door opened and out came Isabel, dressed for the cold day. The 16-year old found herself in-between her older sister and her fellow cheerleader. “Finally,” Tonya sighed, “Isabel, I was starting to wonder if you were stuffing yourself with whatever your sister leftover in her trough.”
Isabel rolled her eyes and. Then from behind came Raquel as the 10-year old loudly proclaimed, “Shut the door, it’s getting cold.”
Tonya took the opportunity to say, “Yeah kid, if I were you take after your pretty sister and not the pig,” motioning to Isabel and Rosa in turn.
“Shut the hell up!” Isabel exclaimed.
“Mommy told you not to say stuff like that,” the little girl said making the three teenagers look at her.
“Back
inside,”
The three young women awkwardly stood there for a moment before Isabel finally started for Tonya’s car and said, “Come on, they’ll be waiting.”
Tonya
turned away from
As
As
Bert attempted to figure out the ancient language,
As they ate, Bert attempted to find a way to begin any type of conversation but kept rejecting ideas that popped up in his head.
Then
Bert
hesitated as
Suddenly
Bert realized that he had been staring at
The rest of lunch was spent in somewhat of an awkward silence, once they were both done the two headed back to the library in silence. Once there, they went back to the third floor and continued working on their respective projects. Bert quickly dove back into translating the notebook’s rules. He plugged away at it for several hours when he blinked and suddenly noticed something. Furiously Bert looked around at all of his notes and started writing as fast as he could, not wanting the inspirational moment to pass without following it through.
The
sudden burst of activity from Bert immediately drew
Instantly
The smile that filled the lower part of Bert face dimmed some as he looked away and said, “No. It doesn’t deal with reversing weight gain.”
“There is a way to call upon the creator of the notebook,” he replied, “If I translated it correctly and there is only one way to find out.”
As
she contemplated the words
Bert
pointed towards something behind her,
The overweight young man gathered up all the now useless copies of the inside cover. The sudden rearrangement of the text seemed to have made all his notes useless, however Bert hoped the letters had been rearranged like a code and if he could find that out he could be back in business. However, the disappointment in Rosa’s face with the new rule kept creeping up in his mind and he felt guilty about finding the shortest rule with the fewest amount of difficult letters. Then suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice said, “Hi Bert, how have you been?”
Bert turned to see a broad-smiling Autumn, dressed in a form-fitting sweater and faded blue jeans. “H-Hi,” Bert stuttered out.
The raven-haired young woman walked over to the table and stopped next to him. She then asked, “What have you been up to?”
Bert hesitated, “Rosa and I were doing some studying.”
“A study date?” she ask emphasizing the last word, “Or a study date?” now emphasizing the middle word.
“Just, um, just studying for various projects,” Bert finally got out of his mouth as he thought he felt her hand brush his stomach. He glanced down, only to see the notebook wide open. A flick of his wrist and the notebook was closed, followed by his hand being placed on top of it.
His movements brought Autumn’s eyes down to the table and seeing his hand on the notebook, she then asked, “This is about the supposed prank?”
Bert shook his head and said, “No, nothing to do with a prank.”
Autumn eyed the notebook again when their attention was diverted by Rosa asking, “What’s taking so long Bert,” the dyed-blond haired young woman’s voice trailed off on seeing Autumn then said, “Um, I’ll meet you down at the car,” before heading to the ladies room.
After a moment of silence Autumn asked, “Did you like the treats I gave you?”
“Oh, yeah,” Bert replied quickly packing the notebook away from view then followed by the rest of his material, “My dad and I have enjoyed eating them.”
Autumn’s smile reappeared, “Great, I hope you’ve been enjoying most of them.”
For a moment Bert thought that was a strange thing to say but brushed it off as he finished filling his backpack. “It was nice seeing you,” Bert then told his newest friend.
“Good to see you too.”
A
few minutes later,
“Are you dating Bert or are you at least trying to hook up? Because if you are please let me know.”
“Oh good,” Autumn replied, “I got concerned that I might be trespassing on another woman’s territory,” then smiled again, “I don’t want to get a bad reputation.”
The
laughter and small talk filled the large living room as Alexia made her way
through the her parents party guests. Many of them smiled at her and asked how
she was doing to which she politely smiled back or answered back. A lot of the couples her parents had invited
also brought their children, if they were at least in high school so they could
socialize with her and amongst themselves.
As a result there had been two parties at the
While many of the attendants of her party weren’t normally students she would associate with, Alexia didn’t make a big deal of it because it wasn’t worth the loss of her finely built false reputation in her parent’s eyes. Though deep down she hated chores, she knew it was worth the price of doing them as well as making sure the guest house was maintained throughout the week to keep her parents from giving her unwanted scrutiny. This manufactured perception had resulted in the guest host basically become Alexia official residence.
As she got closer to the front door, the door bell chimed. A middle-aged man dressed in a casual suit with light brown hair and graying temples walked over to the door. Alexia looked to see who had arrived, wondering if it was one of her acquaintances and their parents. Her father stepped back from the open doorway to reveal a man around the same age, wearing a cowboy hat, dressed in a long-sleeved khaki button-up shirt and dark blue jeans. “Will, glad you could come,” her father said extending a hand.
The man took it saying, “Thanks for the invitation Tom,” before taking off his hat to reveal mostly gray hair with a smattering of black.
Alexia watched her mother walk over to the door and welcome the guest, giving him a polite hug. The guest moved out of the doorway and Mrs. Rogers exclaimed, “Autumn you look gorgeous!”
Into view came Autumn Morgan in a red, strapless, calf-length dress that perfectly fit her hourglass shape without revealing too much up top. Alexia noticed that her classmate hardly had any make-up on, yet looked flawless. And for a moment, she felt a twinge of jealousy for the new arrival.
Mrs. Rogers then asked Mr. Morgan, “You must have to chase off all the young men coming after her?”
“Well I wish I could get the chance, she likes staying around the farm and helping out after school.”
“Well,” Mrs. Rogers said, “I might have to send Alexia and her friends by to get her out of the house. Speaking of Alexia, I believe I just saw her, ah there she is,” she motioned to her only child, “Alexia!”
Alexia made her way to the front door and upon her arrival her mother instructed, “Alexia, show Autumn to your party and make sure she has fun.”
Alexia took Autumn by the hand and led her through the crowd living room towards the patio doors. Once outside, she turned to her raven-haired classmate and said, “Sorry about my mom, since I’m in a steady relationship she has to find an outlet for her matchmaking on my friends, classmates, or party guests.”
“That’s okay,” Autumn replied with a smile, “I think my dad is trying to find an older woman who’d take pity on me and transform me into a proper young woman.”
As they walked around the covered pool to the guest house, Alexia responded, “Just hope he doesn’t mention that to my mom, she might just take up the challenge.”
Entering
the guest house, their senses were assaulted by music pouring from the sound
system as a number of
Alexia watched as Autumn started to mingle then moved from the doorway along the wall. She started thinking about how much Autumn was hanging around the group surrounding Scott, primarily around that overweight nerd Bert. Alexia was mystified that someone as beautiful as Autumn could be infatuated with some so low the social ladder. To Alexia the natural order of things was being tilted out of balance and the only people keeping things from falling into chaos were envied or disliked by a majority of the school.
The head cheerleader walked up a set of stairs to the second floor then walked along the railing overlooking the main room below. Behind her came the sounds of one of her friends making out, but couldn’t tell which one. Then beside her stepped her boyfriend holding a half empty plastic cup, “So how’s the adult’s party going?”
“We got several hours, just don’t get drunk. If you or any else throws up, I’m going to be the one to clean it up.”
“Yeah, your parents don’t want you to feel entitled,” Jerry responded with a smirk.
“Whatever. They want me to be responsible, the thing is if I do all my chores throughout the week, get decent grades, and seem like a well adjusted young woman they’re content. Of course if they realized I did it all to keep them off my back and I believe that certain people are actually better than others, then they would be concurred.”
Jerry remained silent for a moment then asked, “Who did you came back with?”
“Autumn Morgan,” Alexia said while motioning to their fellow senior below them.
“Damn,” Jerry said, “She’s hot.”
“Very,” Alexia replied, “If only she realized what she’s entitled to instead being a quiet farm girl.”
“Has she ever been on a date?”
Alexia turned her head towards Jerry with an annoyed look on her face. “Why the hell do you want to know?”
“I need to have a back-up just in case Scott changes his mind.”
“Uh-huh,” she muttered then glanced towards him, “Just remember, unlike me, she doesn’t put out. Besides I’m starting to believe Scott will never come to his senses, which considering his real social position is both sad and pathetic.”
Before Jerry could respond Kari Billington appeared at the railing while Ron straddled her from behind. The cheerleader’s dirty blond hair looked messed up and some of her lipstick was on her boyfriend’s face. “I love these New Year’s parties Alexia,” she said before giggling then swirled around and pushed one of his hands, “Wait Ron.”
Jerry motioned to his fellow jock that he needed to wipe his face, as Ron did so they were further joined by Amanda Fuller and John. The African-American young woman was adjusting her top to hide her bra straps. Alexia turned and helped her fellow cheerleader then asked, “Where the hell are Kevin and Traci? I don’t want them to be found making out.”
“Who knows with those two,” Kari said with a giggle, “Whenever they get the chance they go at it like animals.”
“If Jerry had helped us score as much as Kevin does with Traci, we might have made the playoffs,” Ron said with a smile making John laugh.
Jerry glared at the two when Kari then asked, “Is that Autumn Morgan?”
They followed Kari’s outstretched hand that pointed straight to a raven-haired smiling beauty that was talking to several people. “She looks hot,” Amanda said.
Alexia roll her eyes “Yes, she’s beautiful, but what has she done with it?” The other five decided not to respond to Alexia’s declaration. The blond haired hostess looked out over her guests in silence before saying, “Lets find Kevin and Traci then keep the little people in line.”
The handsome man with combed back blond hair was casually walking past the mall’s shops. Every now and again, he would glance at some of the things in the window displays. However, most of the time he would glance at passing young women and would get many looks in return. But he was unaware of Sarah trailing him from above, down from the second floor balcony.
This wasn’t the first time Sarah had followed Roger Townsends, but it was the longest time she had spent following him. Not that she minded, considering she would have been stuck at home with her brothers or had to endure her mother’s insistence to meet eligible bachelors. From time to time Sarah would check out some of the store windows on her level before continuing to follow her quarry. Unfortunately, like the other times she had followed Townsends, Sarah wasn’t finding evidence of any questionable activity except for ogling beautiful women.
Sarah got distracted by a great looking dress that was on sale before remembering why she was there. Glancing down to the floor below she didn’t seem him, then started to turn her head left and right to find him. She started hurrying along the railing looking for him before coming to the end of the open area. Sarah went over to the next balcony opening and walked along the railing, not watching where she was going when she crashed into someone.
“Excuse me?!” came Todd’s voice.
Sarah turned her head coming face-to-face with Todd for several seconds. The young woman moved a step back, “Hi Todd, sorry about that.”
“No problem,” he replied before looking down to the floor below then turned back to her, “So what are you doing?”
“Just, um, looking, uh, around,” she stammered out and saw that he didn’t believe her, “Fine, I’m observing someone.”
Todd looked at her then asked, “Who?”
“Roger Townsends.”
Todd thought for a moment and said, “I vaguely remember that name.”
Sarah was looking down to the floor when she finally spotted her target, sitting next to an escalator. “He was Mrs. Nelson’s secret partner.”
Todd followed Sarah’s gaze and spotted the man his friend had been following. He then slightly shifted his gaze from the blond haired businessman and to something else on the floor below. He then said, “So you’ve found something on him and need further evidence or just looking?”
“Nothing yet, but come on he teamed up with Mrs. Nelson in a very nefarious scheme and his role didn’t get exposed. He has to be up to something that we might have to deal with.”
Sarah could see that Todd was listening to her, but his focus was down on the floor though not towards Roger Townsends. She finally followed his gaze to see an overweight woman with her black hair in an unattractive bob-cut that showed off her chubby cheeked, fat-swollen face. “Just can’t lay off looking at the big ladies can you?” she smirked.
Todd glanced at her then said, “Well for one thing, she’s a tad older than what I’m interested in. Another thing is that if you see what she’s concentrating on, you’ll notice the little boy and girl that look like they’re twins in the play area, which basically ends any interest because frankly she has a husband. And he is a dentist.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because that’s Mrs. Nelson,” Todd said looked to the lower level, “You know the first person we decided to write in the notebook.”
Sarah looked at the former school board member and noticed the woman, while focusing on her kids was also quickly taking glances around the entire area but mostly in the direction of Roger Townsends. She thought back to when Mrs. Nelson had arrived at school the morning of her fattening then what she looked like now. “Its hard to believe it’s the same woman. But why are you following her? Did you uncover her plotting something else?”
Todd turned to her with a worried look on his face then asked, “Sarah, when was the last time you looked at Karen and Monica when they arrive at school or while they’re in their study room at school? Have you even looked to see how their lives are now or how it’s affected their family?”
She admitted she hadn’t.
“While
I fully accept my guilt for fattening up
Sarah looked at Todd then glanced down at the blond haired man headed towards a retail store. For a moment she wanted to follow, but reconsidered after thinking about what Todd had said. She remained silent for sometime, though from a distance it seemed as if she was watching the floor below in reality she was essentially staring into space in thought. Then out of the corner of her eye, she saw Todd shift as if to look at something better. “Mrs. Nelson is heading off; I’m going to follow her a little bit more before checking out some stores I got gift cards for. Want to come along?”
Sarah shrugged and joined him. They watched the former school board member window shop to before going into a small boutique. After waiting a few minutes, Todd was about to walk off when Sarah observed, “Isn’t that Tonya Winters and some of the jayvee cheerleaders?”
“Yeah.”
As they watched, Mrs. Nelson was in line to make a purchase and was distracted by something her children had done when Tonya pass by the overweight mother and dropped a piece of merchandise into her purse. The blond haired cheerleader smirked and held her hand to her mouth to keep from laughing as she walked out of the store with her entourage following close behind. The group waited as Mrs. Nelson paid for her item and headed out of the establishment when the alarm sounded. The cheerleaders started snickering as Mrs. Nelson looked befuddled; Tonya seemed to have her phone in a position to record the proceedings. For several minutes, Mrs. Nelson endured getting looked over until the merchandise in her purse was discovered. By then the overweight mother was getting numerous stares from onlookers as she grew exasperated. Eventually she was allowed to leave after she questioned her children.
As Mrs. Nelson headed towards the nearest exit, Tonya and the younger cheerleaders walked off in the opposite direction and started mocking the former school board member. Sarah and Todd watch them leave before exchanging looks. Todd finally asked what was undoubtedly on both their minds, “What the hell was that all about?”
The sun shown bright in the afternoon sky, but the constant wind kept the last Sunday of the year barely above freezing. As the council members arrived at the Hansen home, they emerged from cars bundled up and walked as quickly as possible to the front door. Whereupon reaching their destination they immediately went inside as instructed by to the note posted on the door.
Instead of meeting downstairs in the room off the small patio, Scott had rearranged the living room so they could spread out more and sit in comfort. Once everyone had arrived and shed their winter gear, they talked first about what everyone had been doing. Anna Marie related how Scott got lectured the week before at church and how he had been roped into supervising the younger children by Father Jerome that morning after someone had vandalized nearly everyone’s cars outside the church then what transpired making everyone laugh. But the tone turned serious when Sarah and Todd related what they had seen Tonya do at the mall. And finally, the mood turned to business when Todd had asked Bert how things were going.
“Well,” he sighed, “What I’ve been doing is basically the reason we’re here,” then produced the notebook from his backpack and then motioned to Scott, “You start or me?”
“You made the discovery, it’s your meeting,” Scott answered.
With everybody watching him Bert then opened up the notebook and said, “Well, since we started I’ve been trying to decipher the language that the notebook’s rules were written in. And last week I was able to decipher a rule, but when I wrote the rule in the notebook a problem developed.”
Bert took a moment to hold up the notebook and one of his photocopies for everyone to see them continued. “While it probably is the same language, after I wrote the rule and the cover rearranged the characters of the unknown language were jumbled up as well and so I have to essentially start over.”
Except
for
“I believe it’s the same language it’s just the characters, or symbols, for each letter have been jumbled up. I’m pretty sure that it was divided into two groups, vowels and consonants. I believe I’ve figured out the new characters for most of the vowels but the consonants are going to be harder. I’m going to have to use my dad’s program and maybe even a decryption program to figure it all out. I’ll have to keep you updated.”
Then Scott spoke up, “So what was the rule you discovered?”
Bert passed the notebook to Todd and stated, “Those that use this instrument of justice may call forth its creator for a certain time,” then watched as the notebook was passed around with each person reading the new rule.
The notebook made its way back to Bert, who looked lost about what to say next. There was silence for several moments until Todd asked, “So you got any clue about how we call her, it, so we can ask questions?”
Bert shrugged and said, “The last time it was because we took an oath on the notebook. We didn’t know it would attract her, it, to our meeting. We could try doing something similar or we can just write that her presence is requested.”
There was silence again until Scott took the notebook and put his hand on it, “Could the entity that created this instrument of justice please join us?”
They waited for several minutes before Scott grabbed a pencil, “I guess it has to be written.”
As
he was about to write
“Okay,” Scott replied and then spoke as he wrote, “The presence of this notebook’s creator is requested.”
They sat looking around then all of them blinked their eyes simultaneously, they observed a figure draped in a black hooded robe standing in their midst with only a mouth visible. They were all taken back until a feminine voice inquired, “Why has my presence been requested?”
Five pairs of eyes shifted their gaze to Scott who instantly said, “Bert you had a question about the character shifting in the rules?”
Bert’s face looked like an animal caught in the headlights as the figure focused on him. He stammered out about how the characters had changed when he wrote the rule in the notebook and then asked why it had happened. The figure replied, “If only others had been able to consult or be guided by artificial creatures that have so simplified your lives during their quest to understand all the powers of my book.”
Bert blinked before saying, “Ah, technology gives me an advantage even with the characters changing. Seems reasonable to me, whose next?”
There
was silence. But the figure turned its
attention towards
“Does one of those still hidden rules relate to releasing an individual from judgment if they are found reformed?”
For
a moment the figure was silent then replied, “There is,” a delighted expression
crossed Rosa’s face at the answer, “But attempting too many times to get the
correct wording will have consequences,” instantly
Todd then cleared his throat and asked, “Do you have a name?”
“Do you wish to possess me?”
“What?” Todd said taken aback, “I meant only when we ask you questions or request your presence it would be more polite to say your name or title want then just saying the impersonal and potentially demeaning ‘creator of this book’ like that is all you have ever done.”
The figure approached him then said, “If I were to pronounce my true name in my true tongue the result would be a chain reaction within your bodies that would cause the very cells in your body to replicate and die at such a rate that by the time I had finished you would either have died of old age or would be begging for the release of death.”
The silence in the room could be felt as everyone traded looks before the figure then continued, “Since that option is clearly not acceptable, I would consider any title you would propose.”
The six young adults looked around at one another, before slowly drifting in Scott’s direction. However, Scott didn’t seem at all interested in giving the figure an answer and motioned for the rest of the council to give the figure some answers. Finally Anna Marie then said, “Considering the notebook scales the dishing out of justice based on karma and that scales reminds me of one of the signs of the zodiac, I propose Libra.”
The figure looked at Anna Marie for a moment before stating, “Your suggestion could have been worse, it might have been the name of that usurper,” the figure seemed to be spitting out the last few words.
There was silence again then Libra turned her head in Sarah’s direction, like she was awaiting a question. Nervously Sarah asked, “If the notebook is used a reckless manner, what would be the result?”
“That individual’s karma would become severely unbalanced resulting in a judgment just as severe.”
Sarah nervously nodded and then glanced over at Todd, who simply looked back at her.
Libra turning around the room to face Scott, “Unless there are more questions, I will not remain amongst you any longer. Call upon me whenever my assistance is required, but I warn you I have little tolerance for spurious or incessant questioning.” Then just as suddenly as the figure had appeared within their midst, it vanished.
The councilmember exchanged glances with one another before Scott spoke, “Well that was, interesting.”
“No kidding,” Sarah replied, “Why didn’t you ask anything?”
“Because I didn’t have any questions, besides we’re in this together. I shouldn’t be the only one talking to the supernatural figure dressed in black.”
After a brief pause Bert spoke up, “I have all the copies I need of the rules, so I won’t need the notebook back. So I’ll continue figuring out how all the characters changed so I can figure out more of the rules.”
Scott nodded before saying, “Okay, anything else?” to which there was no reply and then he said, “Okay, meeting adjourn. Now what do you want to do?”
There were suggestions about ordering something, however several others had to leave because of family obligations and those that did not decided to leave as well. After Todd helped Scott move some furniture back, Scott and Anna Marie were alone in the Hansen home again. The young couple fixed themselves dinner and ate silently in the kitchen. After cleaning up, they went to do their own things.
Scott headed into the office and began staring at his computer, attempting to write one of his stories. Almost two hours later Scott left the office grumbling and turned on the night’s football game only to turn it off after the first quarter when the home team had scored their fourth touchdown. He returned to the office grumbling and continued slowly to chip away at the writer’s block obstructing his literary efforts.
Meanwhile, Anna Marie had brought her drawing materials with her and had set herself up in the kitchen. Pulling her hair back into a bun, she began working on her latest endeavor. Throughout the evening, the young artist diligently sketched then began inking a piece showing a black hooded figure that was clearly feminine with only the individual’s mouth and chin exposed. Only drowsiness prevented Anna Marie from finishing as she could no longer hold off the need for sleep.
Having given up on his writing for the night, Scott was already in bed. Making her way downstairs, the 288-pound young woman remained as quiet as she could as she went into the bathroom. She stripped to her bra and panties then let her hair down before messing it up with her fingers. After taking off her make-up, she turned off the bathroom light and walked into her bedroom.
As she closed the door, Anna Marie heard Scott shift in bed. She walked to the nearest side of the bed and got under the covers. Anna Marie kissed her boyfriend on the cheek that he seemed to acknowledge, though it was hard for her to tell. As she got comfortable, Scott’s hand came across the bed landing on the exposed skin of her belly then started to stroke it. Smiling to herself, Anna Marie put her hand on her boyfriend’s arm and rubbed it as well. After a few minutes, Scott shifted again taking his arm away. Anna Marie turned on her side in his direction to find him on his stomach. She put her hand on his back and started to rub it, his muscles at first were tense but soon relaxed as he let out a sigh.
As they lay there, Anna Marie thought about the week before when they had decided to tone down sexual aspect in their relationship. Personally, she had become concerned about the potential of their relationship to flame out by spending more time having sex then anything else. Surprisingly Scott expressed his concern for the same thing before she could and they had decided to sexually slow down. They would still feel the other up or snuggle, but that was it. Looking at her boyfriend, Anna Marie knew it was too soon to think about living the rest of her life with Scott but she couldn’t help it. Closing her eyes she slowly drifted into sleep imagining herself as a plump, white haired granny sitting next to Scott with a long flowing beard.
As she walked around covered pool of the Roger’s home, Tonya Winters led the parade of other cheerleaders to the guest house that Alexia used as her own. The junior entered the guest house to see Alexia along with the other senior cheerleaders talking amongst themselves. As the other varsity and junior varsity cheerleaders entered behind her, Tonya saw Alexia motioning for her to head over to the staircase. Nodding, she waited as the captain walked towards her.
“Let’s go somewhere private,” Alexia said before walking up the stairs.
Tonya smiled as she followed. Since her talk with Alexia the last day of exam week, she had been trying to find ways to show the cheer captain that she was the only choice to succeed her. Alexia motioned to a small couch against the wall of the second floor foyer that overlooked the main room below. Taking a seat, Tonya smiled as Alexia sat next to her.
“Rumor has it that you’ve been the cause to come very interesting situations around town,” the captain said.
“Well I hoped some of the younger girls would have spread the word discreetly about some of the fun we’ve been responsible for.”
Alexia looked at her with a wry smile before saying, “Well I must admit some of them have been very good. Like how you caused that mother to get embarrassed at the mall last week, high risk but definitely worth it.”
Tonya smiled and sat up straighter upon hearing the compliment.
“But,” Alexia said, “Some weren’t all that inspiring and merely juvenile, like what you did to the parked cars next to that church. But from what I’ve heard you’re moving in the right direction.”
Tonya couldn’t help but smile broadly. “Well, someone has to assume your place once you graduate and frankly besides me who else is there?”
“Well, there is a reason I’ve been captain for two years now. My freshman and sophomore years, I gained the place on top of my classes’ social ladder and got onto the varsity squad as a sophomore. From there I divided and conquered my way to being voted in as captain over the juniors, without them knowing that I was playing them all off one another. So if I were you, I would start getting votes and making sure any serious threat is neutralized mainly by getting a very unlikely candidate to appear as your only opposition. If you want to be on top, you’ve got to get yourself there.”
Tonya nodded and started thinking about all the other cheerleaders that would be seniors next year. “I see. Thanks for the advice, Alexia. I’ll keep that all in mind.”
Alexia then got up and headed down the stairs as Tonya started thinking about which one of her fellow cheerleaders was the greatest challenge to her becoming captain. The blond haired young woman joined her fellow cheerleaders downstairs, eyeing each one with suspicion as Alexia took charge of the gathering. As Tonya stayed towards the back and thought about each of the other young women, she didn’t notice the sly smile on Alexia’s face as she talked.
The mall was busier than usual for the middle of the week, but with the last weekend of Christmas break coming up people were looking to get anything needed before returning to their regular schedules. That was the story with Todd and Bert as they walked the second floor concourse, each with a bag in their hands. The pair had been in the mall for an hour with each getting the things they needed, but not having anything better to do they were just aimlessly walking.
For
Bert the trip had allowed him to clear his head after days of trying to
translate the remaining rules. It didn’t
help that every time he did that the image of
“Something seems to be on your mind, anything I can help you with?”
Bert
was silent for a bit then asked, “Remember the day when the council was formed
and I told my crush on
“Yeah,” Todd replied.
“Well, every time that I start translating, I see her disappointed face because I haven’t found a rule to help her and because I have these feelings for her that starts to distract me. I don’t know what to do, should I tell her or just keep it to myself?”
“Well, unless you express to her how you feel, you’ll always have that question in the back of your mind. I mean it’s better to get shot down and move on then to never try at all,” Todd said looking at his friend.
Bert sighed. “I think I already knew that, but I just needed someone else to tell me so I would stop being a coward.”
“Don’t say that,” Todd said stopping him, “How many times before have you talk to a girl about feeling something towards her?”
“None,” Bert admitted.
“Exactly,
you haven’t done it before. It’s
nerve-racking; I know I’ve done it before.
Besides, even if
The last comment made Bert ask, “What do you mean there’s always Autumn?”
Todd looked at him with a weird expression on his face, “Well Scott and I didn’t want to get involved, but you do realize that Autumn has a crush on you.”
“What?” Bert laughed, “Someone who looks like Autumn wouldn’t have a crush on me. I’m a nerd, overweight, and not really someone of note.”
“While Autumn is hot, has she ever seemed to conform to a stereotype or accepted that someone else is a stereotype? I mean she could have been a cheerleader, if she wanted to, or gone into the drama club and instantly been the frontrunner for lead actress roles because of her looks, and a whole lot of other things. Instead she’s just a normal student, who treats everyone friendly,” Todd said, “Sure, she could be too good to be true, but she’s giving all that food to you, not anyone else.”
“Yeah, it sounds great,” Bert said, “But she’s just so perfect, if we were some characters a in a story then Autumn might be seen as a Mary Sue.”
“True, but if I were in your position I would at least want to find out.”
Bert
sighed. “Well, I need to talk to
Todd nodded as they headed into a newly opened two-story bookstore. They walked around the top floor, but decided not to head downstairs. They returned to the concourse when Katie Hahn and Paul Bishop came up to them looking worried. They greeted one another before Paul asked, “Have you seen Tara or Tim anywhere?”
“We got separated in the crowd on the lower level,” Katie added, “And we haven’t been able to find them for almost an hour.”
“Either they’re in one of the mall’s dead zones or we’ve been,” Paul continued, “Because we haven’t been able to reach them on our phones.”
Bert shook his head, “Sorry, we haven’t seen them.”
Katie bit her lip as she looked around concerned. “We were hoping they were in the bookstore.”
“Well we only looked around on this floor,” Todd said, “So there’s a chance they could be on the ground floor.”
Paul asked Katie if she wanted to try, she nodded. They thanked the two and headed into the bookstore. Bert and Todd walked over to the railing and looking over into the crowded lower level. Todd noticed a disturbance going on just beyond where they could see, he tapped Bert on the shoulder and motioned for him to follow.
They walked to the next balcony and looked down at a confused mess just outside a chic clothing store. Mall security was coming towards the store as they noticed that the individual at the center of the controversy was a cheerleader from school. Their fellow student seemed bewildered at what was going on, especially when store associates and security attempted to look in her purse and shopping bag. Then Bert pointed out several more cheerleaders and prominent among them was Tonya. The blond haired junior showed a worried face and was whispering to other members of her group, but when the others weren’t looking seemed happy at what was going on. Todd and Bert glanced at one another, sharing the same thought as to who was behind the chaos.
Alexia
came inside and
“No thanks, I’m hoping Isabel will want to come with me.”
Isabel swung the door open with a worried look on her face, “She is?” then after a pause, “Did you or mom not give me a message that she was coming over, I’m not even close to being ready.”
“I think it’s a spur of the moment thing, just go down there and talk to her.”
Isabel
gave her a worried glare as walking past her towards the stairs.
While
she continued to hope that Bert would find a rule any day now to reverse her
situation,
Glancing
towards the book on her bed,
The
indecision nagged at her, but
As always the first day back from Christmas break had the school buzzing as everyone that hadn’t seen one other in several weeks reconnected. Normally for Alexia it was simply just another day at school that she had to take part in since she had interacted with all the people that she wanted to during break. However, Tonya was providing her with a chance to have a little bit of fun during her last semester of high school.
Alexia smiled remembering how Tonya reacted to her little pep talk and was actually impressed about how quickly she had framed one of her fellow cheerleaders for shoplifting. But to Alexia it wouldn’t be interesting if Tonya slowly maneuver her way to being voted as captain, she really wanted to make the junior earn it. If that meant she got a little paranoid so be it. And the perfect way to do that was to be seen with another member of the squad. Since Tonya seemed to like hanging out with Isabel the opportunity to be seen looking casual with the sophomore around town was too good to pass up. However, playing around with the process to choose her successor was only a nice diversion.
Alexia’s main priority was still figuring out what Scott’s group was up too. Over the break, they had met together only once and only found that out after she walked up Scott’s driveway when following Todd. As she passed the front office, she slowed down and glanced through the little window into the next room.
The two massive girls sat backs to one another doing their assignments, the sight sent a shudder of revulsion through Alexia’s body. She turned away and continued to class, but the image of the Sager sisters wouldn’t leave her mind especially when she knew something wasn’t exactly right with what she saw. Alexia thought about what The Bear Truth would have printed about the sisters before it had disappeared, which itself was a strange thought since she was sure the gossip rag would have created at least one nasty story about them in her three and a half years here. The bell rang making her curse as she hurried down the hallway while making a mental note to checkout Scott’s group during lunch.
The council members’ first day had so far been uneventful, but as they gathered for lunch in Mr. Hick’s classroom there seemed to be uneasiness amongst the group. After they had settled in, Bert spoke up, “I know this isn’t officially a council meeting, but I want to suggest that we investigate if Tonya Winters should be written into the notebook.”
His motion was met with silence, though everyone was chewing at that moment, and surprised expressions that Bert had been so bold. He sensed that he might have to give his reasons for the suggestion, “Over the last few weeks some of us have witnessed her doing questionable actions and there are rumors of things she’s directly or indirectly responsible for, but nothing tangible that law enforcement can legally question her about.”
The silence around the group was getting to Bert. Anna Marie finished chewing, “What rumors are you referring to?”
“Some of my friends overheard some of the jayvee cheerleaders talking about how they helped Tonya deflate tires and set off car alarms in front of a church,” Bert said then eyed Scott whose face twitched for a moment.
The rest of the council looked at one another before Rosa spoke, “I have a clue what Tonya might be up to and I think it would be a good idea to investigate,” she looked around as everyone seemed to be anticipating for her to divulge what she thought Tonya was up to be even she had to make sure she was right, “I don’t want to say anything more than that right now.”
Scott nodded while Anna Marie finished chewing before speaking again, “We might as well. If it turns out we can’t find hard evidence we don’t have to write her name in the notebook.”
Sarah remained silent as Scott called for a vote, to which no one objected to at least investigate Tonya. The council then returned to silence and eating their lunches while starting to think about what they had just decided. The rest of lunch period was filled with discussing upcoming assignments and other school related subjects. No one noticed that Alexia had passed the open doorway several times throughout the period, observing them before heading to her next class just before the first bell rang. As the council broke the thought of how to investigate Tonya started turning in their minds along with the knowledge there really wasn’t a time constraint, it wasn’t as if the notebook was going anywhere.