SAILOR MOON: 1987
THIS IS YOUR FRIENDLY AUTHOR HERE, REMINDING YOU THAT NAOKO TAKEUCHI CREATED SAILOR MOON, AND I AM NOT NAOKO TAKEUCHI.
EPISODE 31: VICTORIA
MARCH 16, 1987
EL DORADO HIGH SCHOOL, PLACENTIA, CALIFORNIA
7:35 AM
John McCoy pulled into the student parking lot, and parked next to Chris Forney's 1969 Plymouth 'Cuda. As he walked onto the main campus, he noticed her. The pretty blonde with the blue-gray eyes, she was wearing a designer outfit, her hair, makeup and nails were immaculate. Everything about her screamed money. John also got the vibe that she was used to getting her own way. As he walked by, he sensed she was looking down her nose at him, which she kind of was. However, she did think he was kind of cute.
Melvin Matthews was your stereotypical nerd. A fashion sense out of style, highwater pants that were a couple inches too short, pocket protector, he even wore "Coke bottle" glasses, with lenses so thick John once commented Stevie Wonder could see out of them. Melvin was also to the student body of El Dorado High School what Bear was to the homeless community. Melvin knew all the goings-on, he knew about everybody. It could be said that if you died, Melvin Matthews would know about it before you did. Melvin was in John's first period art class, along with the new girl. "Hey Melvin," John said. "Got any 411 on the new girl? I've seen her this morning, and from what I can tell, she's more Miracle Mile than Skid Row. I mean, did you see that outfit she was wearing? I bet you a million dollars she didn't buy that at K-Mart."
"Her name is Victoria Hunt," Melvin said. "And you are right, her parents are pretty well off. Spoiled, too. I bet her parents never told her no. Just do me a favor and stay away from her, she's definitely bad news."
"Bad news?" John asked.
"I'm not at liberty to go into detail," Melvin said, "but I will say this. The reason she's here at El Dorado has to do with an incident at her old school that her daddy's money couldn't buy her out of. She's the kind of person who always gets her way, no matter who gets hurt. You get mixed up with her, I have a feeling you'll get hurt."
"Thanks," John said.
As class began, John and Melvin took their seats in the back row, next to each other. "Hey nerd," Victoria said to Melvin, "move it or lose it."
"I believe this is my seat," Melvin said.
"Not anymore," Victoria said.
"Miss Hunt,": Mr. Wright, the art teacher, said, "Please take any unoccupied seat preferably the one up front here. Anyways, if you think I'm going to let someone with your reputation sit in the back of the class, you've got another thing coming. I wasn't born yesterday, you know."
"See what I mean?" Melvin said, as Victoria took a seat up front.
"Too bad her daddy's money couldn't buy her some class," John said. "I have a feeling that girl's going to be trouble with a capital T. Anyways, you got any plans Saturday morning?"
"No," Melvin said. "Why?"
"Some friends and I are going to make breakfast for the homeless Saturday morning," John said.
"Count me in," Melvin said.
"Molly Hogan will be glad you said that," John said.
"Molly's going to be there?" Melvin asked.
"Of course," John said.
At lunch, John sat with Molly Hogan, Mina Webb, Rae Hinowski, Ami Andersen, and Usagi Tsukino. "Anyone have any classes with that new girl in school?" Mina asked. "she's in my history class."
"I have a couple classes with her," John said.
"I have English with her," Usagi said.
"Fortunately, no," Ami said.
"Rae and I have her in History," Molly said.
"Is it just me," Usagi said, "but does anyone but me get bad vibes from her?"
"So Melvin wasn't just blowing smoke out of his ass when he told me she was bad news," John said. "Rich and spoiled, used to getting her own way, you know the type. I'd almost find it entertaining watching her learn the hard way how the real world works, how daddy's money can't buy her way out of everything."
"I heard she got expelled from her last school for something her daddy's money couldn't buy her way out of," Usagi said.
"That's what Melvin said to me," John said.
"Does Melvin really know everything that goes on at El Dorado?" Ami asked.
"Let me put it this way," John said, "if you dropped dead, he would know about it before you did. Anyways, don't forget about Saturday morning. I recruited Melvin, did anyone have a chance to talk to Mary Ann?"
"I have Mary Ann in my next class," Mina said. "I'll ask her."
"Ask me what?" Mary Ann Kino asked, as she heard the conversation.
"We're making breakfast for the homeless on Saturday," Ami said.
"Whose house are we meeting at, and when do you want me to be there?" Mary Ann said. "You know I'm in."
"Bright and early Saturday morning," John said. "We meet at Julie and Traci Brewster's house. Usagi, Mina, and I have been there before, we can tell you how to get there. Anyways, we're going to meet there, and take everything downtown, over by the Mission, where we're going to cook it. We're doing scrambled eggs, Spam, hash browns, and pancakes, along with coffee and orange juice. Most of what we need to do we'll do there, but there is a little prep work we need to do Friday night."
"Mina and I will be helping with the prep work on Friday night," Rae said. "Everyone else meet there Saturday morning."
"Did I hear correctly?" Victoria said, as she passed by the table where the gang was sitting. "You losers going to spend a Saturday morning making breakfast for the homeless? You wouldn't catch me doing something like that, I have better ways to spend my time. Why are you doing it, anyways?"
"Let's just say I have my reasons," John said. Of course, John thought to himself, If you would actually dare to meet any homeless people, you might hold them in higher regard than something Artemis leaves in his litterbox.
"You probably regard the homeless the same as you would regard something brown, squishy, and smelly you stepped in," Mina said.
"Actually," Rae said, "That's about how the average homeless person would regard you if they met you."
"Like I care," Victoria said. "It's not like I'd be caught dead in that part of town, let alone making breakfast for the people who live on the streets there."
"I could see her lending a helping hand at the Mission one of these days," John said.
"What makes you think she would help out at the Mission?" Usagi asked.
"Because her lawyer would cop a plea where she'd get community service instead of jail time," John said. "Nine times out of ten, when someone around here gets sentenced to community service, they wind up at the Mission."
"True," Usagi said.
Saturday morning, John had arrived at Julie and Traci's house, along with Chibi-Usa, Sammy, and Usagi. They were met there by Rae, Mina, and Ami, while Mary Ann showed up with Molly and Melvin. "Thanks everyone for coming out this early," Julie said, Traci adding "Let's get everything loaded up and get going."
They loaded up Julie and Traci's Jeep, which they bought surplus from the United States Postal Service, and modified with a bench next to the driver's seat, to accommodate their conjoinment. Once their Jeep was loaded, everyone went to the Mission, where they set up, and began cooking breakfast. As John had spread the word, they had a pretty large turnout. "Hey thanks for coming out," John said to Melvin and Sammy.
"Pretty worthwhile way to spend a Saturday morning," Melvin said. "Helping those less fortunate than myself."
"Thanks for asking me to help," Sammy said. "But I wish I could do more to help."
"What you're doing might only seem like a drop in the bucket," John said, "but you add enough drops, eventually the bucket will be full. Besides, you're doing more than some people I know."
"I heard," Sammy said. "The kids at Tuffree know about Victoria Hunt. Too bad her daddy's money can't buy her some class or a shred of decency."
"Hey John," Jackrabbit Slim said. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Sure," John said.
"There's something a lot of people have been wondering lately, Jackrabbit Slim said.
"I still come around as often as I always have," John said.
"I know that," Jackrabbit Slim said. "But lately, you've only been coming as John McCoy. I realize your dual identity is pretty much common knowledge around here, but it's been a while since you came incognito, if you know what I mean."
"Golden Hawk is in semi-retirement," John said. "Ever since I threw my lot in with Sailor Moon, I've dealt with stuff I didn't even know existed. I fought literal demons from Hell itself. Trust me, compared to demons from Hell and other dimensions, fighting your garden variety street thug is kind of boring. Besides, I think people relate to me better as John McCoy. As Golden Hawk, I'm a symbol, something to rally around, but it's not exactly something kids can realistically aspire to be when they grow up. But John McCoy, guitar teacher and aspiring rock star, that's more realistic. Of course, it will involve playing the guitar a lot. But "I grabbed my trusty Les Paul and practiced until the blisters on my fingers had blisters" is a lot more accessible than waking up one day and discovering I can tap into an energy field from another dimension. But that doesn't mean Golden Hawk's gone for good, if something goes down that needs his attention, he'll come in with guns blazing."
Meanwhile, Sammy was helping Julie and Traci load up their Jeep. "So what's it like for the two of you?" Sammy asked. "You know, being Siamese twins?"
"To be perfectly honest with you," Julie said, to which Traci added, "We have no idea what it's like not being Siamese twins."
"I never thought about it like that," Sammy said. "But to be honest, I didn't even realize at first you two were Siamese twins. But I did start noticing how you two move around, like you're glued together or something. Of course, it all made sense when you bent over to grab some pancake batter, and I could see where you're joined. I almost didn't want to say something, I thought you might think it was rude of me or something."
"Don't ever be afraid to ask us questions," Traci said. "We've heard every one a million times already," Julie added. "And the stares," they both said in unison.
"Stares?" Sammy asked.
"People always stare when they realize we're conjoined," Traci said, to which Julie added, "We don't mind, we realize most people have never seen Siamese twins in person before. We just ask one thing, though."
"What's that?" Sammy asked.
"If you're going to take a picture, ask us for permission first," Julie and Traci both said in unison.
"I don't even have my camera with me right now," Sammy said. "But I will ask before I take a picture. I can see why you want people to ask permission, it seems like an invasion of privacy to take someone's picture without their permission."
"Exactly," Julie said, to which Traci added "being conjoined doesn't change that."
Meanwhile, John and Chibi-Usa were talking to Bear. "Thanks for coming out here," Bear said. "All of you."
"You're welcome," Chibi-Usa said.
"Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen you out here before," Bear said to Chibi-Usa.
"You can trust Bear," John said. "All of us trust him with our secret identities."
"You can call me Chibi-Usa," Chibi-Usa said. "I'm training to be the next Sailor Moon."
"Usagi's training her to be a Sailor Soldier," John said, "I'm training her to be a superhero."
"I didn't realize there was that much of a difference," Bear said.
"In a way, there isn't," John said. "But I'm a little less dependent on magical attacks than the girls are. My job is to teach her how to depend more on her wits than powers or magical attacks. I'm also teaching her that being a real hero isn't just a costume, powers, or beating up bad guys."
Monday morning, during English, John was called to the vice principal's office, and the aide bringing the slip was instructed to escort him. "Just in case they ask," John said, "You have any idea what I did?"
"I'm not sure," Susan, the aide, said. "Except this time, I know you're not in trouble."
When John arrived, he was immediately escorted into the office of Miss Ford, the vice principal. Victoria Hunt was there, accompanied by a security guard, and sitting on Miss Ford's desk was an open guitar case, inside was John's Gibson Explorer. "Miss Hunt was caught breaking into your car and taking this," Miss Ford said, pointing to John's guitar. "I know you have an afterschool job teaching guitar at Cavern Music, which is why I can understand why you would keep it in your vehicle."
"I usually keep it in the trunk," John said. "But I was doing some volunteer work over the weekend, and forgot to take some things out, which is why it was in the back seat. That's why I had a blanket over my guitar, hopefully nobody would see it."
"Anyways," Miss Ford said, as a middle aged man in a custom suit entered the office, the kind of man John could see using $100 bills to light his cigars. John also noticed the man was rather upset.
"I don't have to tell you how disappointed in you I am right now," the man said to Victoria.
"But daddy," Victoria said.
"Don't "But daddy" me," her father said. "Stealing is low, even for you. And breaking the window of this young man's car, that's even worse."
"She broke my window?" John asked.
"The front passenger side window," the security guard said.
"Which is your car?" Victoria's father asked.
"I have a 1965 Ford Galaxie convertible," John said. "Red."
"I'll have someone here in a few minutes to fix the window," Victoria's father said. "If I can use your phone for a minute."
"Go ahead," Miss Ford said.
"Just so you know," Mr. Hunt said, "this will be coming out of Victoria's allowance."
"That's so not fair," Victoria said. "I was going to use my allowance to go to the beach on Spring Break."
"You should have thought of that before you decided to break into someone's car and steal their personal property," Mr. Hunt said. "Anyways, you can pretty much forget about the beach, you're grounded until after Spring Break. That is, if you're out of jail by then."
"That's right," Miss Ford said. "Mr. McCoy, I never asked, do you wish to press charges?"
"Actually, no," John said. Victoria seemed to thank him with her eyes, until he continued. "I was thinking of an alternative punishment."
"Alternative punishment?" Mr. Hunt asked.
"They're always looking for volunteers at the Nazarene Rescue Mission," John said.
"The soup kitchen in downtown Fullerton?" Victoria asked, dreading what she suspected John was about to recommend.
"I volunteer there occasionally," John said. "I know some of the upper managers, I can arrange for Victoria to volunteer there every day during Spring Break. She won't be alone, a few of my friends and I will be volunteering ourselves."
"I think that's an excellent idea," Mr. Hunt said. "I don't know if you know this, but I'm on the board of directors there. As soon as I leave here, I'll run down there, and make the arrangements. And Victoria, before you say anything, I think doing this will be good for you."
UNTIL NEXT TIME...
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