By: Jacen Lambert
"Ok miss Davenport, truth or dare?" Suzee asked with an evil grin spreading across her face. Suzee, Davenport, and Catalina were playing truth or dare during their free time. Davenport sighed. She was too afraid to choose dare. When Catalina had, Suzee had sent her running through the halls yelling, "I'm an idiot!" and top it off by giving Bova a kiss. So, she took the other approach.
"Truth." She told her, with a know-it-all look on her face. Suzee's eyes seemed to grin in an evil, snake like way. She smiled.
"Is it true, that you TJ Davenport, have a crush on Seth Goddard?" Suzee asked. Miss Davenport's expression hardened. They knew that she did, well, Suzee did. She had jumped into her mind once to get the answer to a difficult math problem and had a look around while she was there. Actually, Davenport knew that the answer to the math problem wasn't what Suzee had been searching for.
"I don't find it appropriate to call me, or Commander Goddard by our first names." She told her.
"Well, whatever. Now, answer the question." She told her. Cat moved in closer. Davenport knew that Suzee just wanted a confession so she could blackmail her in the future. She looked at her wrist, so they'd think that she had a watch on, (although she really didn't.)
"Well, look at the time. Gotta go and work on the planing sheet for today." Davenport lied. Suzee stood in front of the door.
"And where exactly do you think that you are going?" Suzee demanded. "You still haven't answered my question."
"Come on Miss Davenport! Tell us! We swore not to tell anyone! Never!" Cat yelled. They both had unsatisfied looks on their faces. Davenport knew that she had to give them an answer. She couldn't lie to them.
"Well, a little crush, I guess you could say. Maybe." Davenport told them. "Now, please step aside." She said, walking out the door. No, it wasn't a lie, but then again, it wasn't the whole truth. But they had never asked for the whole truth. Davenport was satisfied with her answer. She walked down the hall.
"Hey Cat." Suzee told her.
"Yeah." Catalina answered, just getting her school clothes laid out for class, which was in a few minutes.
"Look here." She told her. She reached into her pocket and drew out a small tape recorder. She rewound the tape and played it. "Harlan has one just like it, in the game room. We decided to play a little, cupid game." Suzee told Cat.
"Suzee! We swore we wouldn't tell anyone! We can't tell Harlan!" Catalina yelled.
"We don't have to tell them anything." Suzee assured her. She walked over to her and put her arm around her. She put the recorder in front of them both. "This tells all." She told her. They both started laughing.
Harlan walked into the team room. Goddard, Radu and Bova were playing an old Earth game called Monopoly. They had found this in an old trunk full of stuff that Goddard had, which had been passed through his generations.
"Bankrupt." Bova mumbled. "Oh well, I knew that I would lose anyway." He complained, walking out the door. Harlan took Bova's seat. He couldn't tell who was winning.
"So, Commander, how are you today?" Harlan asked.
"Oh, fine." Just then, he got a chance card with the "Go to jail, go directly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200.00 "printed on it. He sighed as he moved his piece to jail. Just then, he gained suspicion of Harlan's cheerfulness. "Why?" He asked.
"No reason." Harlan answered. Radu was looking puzzled at the dice.
"That is three, Mr. Radu." Goddard told him. Radu shook his head, fairly embarrassed. It wasn't his fault that he hadn't paid attention while they were learning earths way of counting. It was the boy hurling in the bathrooms at the star academy!
"Commander, may I ask you a question?" Harlan asked.
"Yeah, sure." Goddard told him, finally getting fed up with the Andromeadans attempts and moving for him.
"You know Miss Davenport?" Harlan asked. He noticed that was the dumbest way of starting a big question.
" No Harlan, I've never heard of her." Sarcastically remarked Goddard. Harlan had felt that one coming. "Why?" Goddard asked.
"You like her, don't you?" He asked.
"No." Quickly remarked Goddard
. "Yes you do." Harlan told him.
"No I don't." Goddard argued. They argued about this for at least five minutes. Radu was stuck on the numbers on the die. Goddard finally got up.
"No, I said I don't." He told Harlan. He started toward the door, but stopped right before he made his exit. "And even if I did, it isn't any of your business." Goddard told him, and he walked out.
Goddard wasn't stupid. He knew that last line had totally blew it. He had meant to do that. Mostly because he didn't like lying to the kids, and he also didn't really care if they told Miss. Davenport. Hey, even if she didn't like him, it wouldn't be terrible if she found out.
Harlan and Suzee both ran toward the jumptubes closely followed by Radu, with Harlan, and Cat was directly behind Suzee. They hit the bottom, and before they could say anything, Radu and Cat came down, knocking them over and sending the recorders flying to the floor.
"Crash!" debris from the recorders flew everywhere. The four kids watched it fall. Bova and Rosie, (who had been at their posts.) Were immediately over to help.
"Oh well, at least you aren't hurt." Rosie told her.
"Yeah, but the tape recorders are busted." Suzee sighed, picking the pieces up.
"Way to go Radu!" Harlan yelled. Radu just sighed. He knew that it was his fault.
"They are just stupid old tape recorders. They weren't irreplaceable." Bova mumbled.
"Maybe not, but the stuff that was on them was the backbone of our trick to get a few free days out of class." Catalina told them.
"How?" Rosie asked.
"Because, I got Davenport saying that she had a crush on Goddard, and Harlan got Goddard saying the same thing. If we could get them together, then we'd not have to worry about class! Surly they'd want to spend a few days of free time. Or at least make our lunch period longer." Suzee explained.
"Oh well. It's time for class. Let's just all be happy!" Rosie cheered. "I'll go find Miss Davenport right now." She told them. They all slumped to class, and Rosie slumped down the jumptubes.
Davenport was walking down the hall, thinking. Would they tell anyone about her secret? Did it really matter that much if they chose to? She did like Commander Goddard, a lot, and she would like to know if he liked her too. She had totally lost track of the time, until then.
Goddard was headed in the opposite direction, thinking about the same thing. Why did it matter if she knew? He liked her. She should already know, he flirted with her all the time, although, his way of flirting wasn't that obvious.
Davenport noticed the time and started walking down the halls a little faster, not aware that Goddard was walking right toward her. They rounded the corner and ran into each other. The funny thing was that they stopped, and didn't pull away for the longest time. They just stared at each other. Finally, they snapped back into reality and back away, not very far away, but very quickly.
"I'm sorry." Goddard told her.
"No, I'm sorry, I'm the one that came flying through here like a freight train, and I ran into you." She apologized. They started laughing.
"TJ, I've been meaning to tell you something for a long time." He told her. She looked up at him with concern.
"What?" She asked.
"I- I like you. I like you a lot, not just as a friend anymore." He told her. She blushed a bit.
"I have the same feelings about you." She told him. They got closer. They would have kissed if it weren't for Rosie, coming around the corner.
"Miss Davenport!" Rosie yelled. The two lovers quickly separated.
"Yes dear." Davenport answered, not exactly enthused.
"It's time for class." Rosie told her, coming around the corner and into sight.
"Alright dear." Davenport sighed. She reluctantly followed her. She really, really didn't want to leave this time. As she neared the jump tubes and climbed in, she smiled at Commander Goddard, who returned the smile.
"I'll see you later." She told him. He nodded and she left.
The day drug on slow, but Davenport and Goddard never had time to even talk to each other. The entire day, they never even saw each other again.
That night, Goddard was reading a layout of the ships wiring system that Thelma had printed out. The doors were opening silently, but slamming shut, (sometimes on the poor caller.) Davenport slipped into his room, and sat at the foot of his bed.
"Bang!" The doors slammed loudly and caused Goddard to jump. When he looked up he noticed Davenport.
"Can I help you TJ?" He asked, laying his stuff aside.
"Actually Seth, you can." She answered.
"How?" He asked.
"By finishing what we tried to start today." She answered, very seductively. "Well, what do you say?" She asked.
"Certainly."
The End--- Hey, don't forget to compliment Jacen!!!
