Getting to Know You
Simon and Jeanette's story
Part XIIX A
Previously, our heroes went out on their first real date. After seeing the light show, they went out to the field in the park and stargazed. Well, that and some other fun… anyway, after dropping Jeanette off at her house, Simon went home and crawled into bed dreaming of what they would do the next day together. Meanwhile, Jeanette was also dreaming of what tomorrow would hold for them; let's take a look at what happened the next day at Simon's house shall we?
Simon woke up at about ten in the morning, early for a Saturday. After rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he got out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom to do his morning routine. He nearly had a heart attack when he looked in the mirror and saw a stranger staring back. After a few deep breathes, he remembered that he now was sporting some white streaks in his hair. He passed a finger along one of them curiously and was amazed to find that it didn't feel any different from the rest of his hair. It looked strange, but it felt like it was just a natural part of his physical appearance. He briefly wondered how he would explain the new look to his family before deciding that he would worry about that when they asked.
When he climbed out of the shower, he went immediately to the mirror to check and see if the stripes were still there. They were and a grin spread across his face at the thought of having a token from his date with Jeanette that he could actually show people. "Maybe I should wear the clothes I bought last night?" he said out loud, "No, that'll wait until Monday."
"Talking to yourself?" Someone said from the doorway, startling him out of his thoughts.
Simon spun around to see who had just spoken and was pissed to see that it was his older, though much more immature brother, Alvin, standing there with a smug look on his face, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes closed as if he was respecting Simon's privacy.
"What are you doing up this early?" Simon commented, "I thought you slept in until noon on Saturdays?"
"Yeah, I usually do, but I decided to get up early and see how your date went last night." Alvin retorted, laughing as he cracked an eye open and scanned Simon's hair before continuing, "I wasn't expecting to find you with a bunch of stripes in your head. Dad's going to flip."
"I hope so, he's been saying for years that I need to get out and try new things right?" Simon mentioned, turning his attention from his brother to his reflection as he brushed his teeth.
"I don't think he meant for you to go out and get a dye job though." Alvin pointed out, "Though I do appreciate the company."
"What company? Did you and Brit have a fight last night?" Simon asked, a little bit concerned. He might get annoyed by Alvin on a daily basis, but he was still his brother and they both knew that the other was always there for them.
"Nah, nothing like that, it's just nice not to be the only troublemaker in the family now." Alvin said, quickly dodging a bar of hand soap that Simon had just sent flying at his head. He then took off down the hall laughing to himself.
"It's way too early for him to be unleashed on the rest of society…" Simon remarked to himself before going back to his morning routine and going to his room to get dressed.
When he had gotten dressed and eaten breakfast across from his surprised younger brother and dad, Simon pulled his shoes on and started walking over to the girl's house. When he finally got there, he knocked on the door and was greeted by Eleanor. She invited him inside and he sat down on the couch while he waited for Jeanette to finish getting dressed. She finally came down the stairs and smiled at him before inviting him into the kitchen for some food. Thought he wasn't actually hungry, he still was glad to be included.
"So what did your mom say when she saw you last night?" he asked, trying to make some conversation.
"She actually was excited to see me in something that wasn't purple." Jeanette commented, grinning at the funny memory.
"She took it that well?" he inquired, surprised that the conservative Miss Miller would be so relaxed about the Goth look.
"Well, the way she sees it, as long as I don't start dressing like that every day, she's alright with it." She clarified, "What do you want to do today?"
"I wasn't planning on anything today, why? Did you want to do something?"
"I wanted to actually go back to that store and see if I could get a couple more things, there's a bunch of clothes that are getting worn out and need to be replaced. Plus, I was hoping that I could model them for you." She answered, emphasizing the modeling part.
Simon smiled and said that he'd like that. Jeanette smiled back and rushed through her breakfast before scooping her keys off the counter and hurrying out to her truck, Simon in tow as they went off to the mall.
The rest of the day for Simon passed by in a flurry of clothes and new styles that just kept getting further and further away from Jeanette's normal look. Sunday passed much the same way, except for the fact that they also ended up making out in the changing room on Sunday. Simon really liked that part of the whole weekend shopping spree and felt that Monday came up on them way too soon. Nevertheless, he found himself getting up at five thirty like always with only memories of the time he had spent alone with Jeanette to get him out of bed.
For the first time in months, the boys rode into school together. Sure Alvin was squeezed into the back of Theo's van, but that just made it all the more fun. They coasted into the school parking lot with Turn Up the Radio by Quiet Riot blaring from the tweaked speakers and chilled inside the van until it was over. When the song ended, they climbed out and walked up the steps and into the main hall of the school where they found the girls waiting for them impatiently.
"What took you so long to get here?" Britney interrogated, glaring at Alvin like he had just thrown off her whole day.
"Dave said for us to take the same car this morning, I can't help it if Simon's new hair style takes forever to get right." Alvin remarked, much to his brother's ire.
"Actually, we're late because after eleven years of school, someone still hasn't learned that their alarm going off means you get out of bed." Simon retorted, looking accusingly at Alvin.
"Well whose car did you take in?" Jeanette asked, trying to break up the small fight.
"Mine," Theo said, "And just so you know, I have to stay late today to get in some training for the county wide competition next week so you better find your own ways home."
"Yeah, I have to stay after today as well," Eleanor supplied, probably feeling left out of the conversation.
"So, can I get a ride home from you today Brit?" Alvin asked, suddenly humble.
"Actually Alvin, I have to do some things to help the fashion show along. What they'll do for fashion advice when I'm gone is beyond me." Britney said apologetically, shaking her head in frustration at the thought of the problems she would have to work out with the sewing class after school let out.
"Isn't today the day that Susan gets out of the hospital?" Simon asked after a few seconds of silence.
"Shit you're right." Eleanor swore, "I was going to help her get settled while mom's at work too."
"I don't have anything to do after school," Jeanette volunteered, "And I can give Alvin and Simon a lift to their house if they want."
"I'd like that." Alvin admitted.
"If it's all the same, I'd like to help her get settled, there was supposed to be two of you working on her room anyway right?" Simon said.
"I don't see how that could be a problem." Eleanor admitted, growing fond of the idea, "So Jeanette will drop Alvin off at the boy's house, then her and Simon will go over to our house to get Susan's room ready."
"Sounds good to me." Simon said agreeably.
"Just remember you two, no fooling around, Miss Miller said that she'd be at the house no later than six and we don't need anyone getting sidetracked." Britney warned, as if she was any model for behavior.
"What makes you think that we've done anything yet?" Jeanette asked, flustered.
"The hickeys on your necks say what you were doing while you were out at the mall yesterday." Theo volunteered.
Both Simon and Jeanette instantly put their hand to the sides of their necks and looked at each other with horror on their faces.
"Relax you two, it's not like Dave or Miss Miller saw anything. You just have to learn the right places to do that kind of thing." Eleanor said, trying to be comforting.
"Okay, I don't know about the rest of you, but I really don't want to hear the rest of this particular conversation." Alvin said suddenly, pushing off of his locker to stand up and starting off down the hallway, Britney close on his heels.
"Ellie, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but please stop right there before I get insanely embarrassed." Jeanette interrupted when it looked like her sister was going to continue.
"Yeah, I don't exactly feel comfortable talking about this with you guys." Simon admitted red faced.
"Fine, just remember, whatever you do, make sure that no one's around or you will both get in so much trouble it isn't funny. And never on school grounds unless you have a door with a lock on it on the inside." Eleanor said quickly before Theo dragged her off down the hall and out of sight.
After a few seconds on tense silence, Simon said bluntly, "Well that was bizarre."
"Yeah, yeah it was." Jeanette agreed as they both gathered up their stuff from their lockers.
"You have English today right?" Simon asked.
"Yep, and you have gym with Bill next." She replied, shuddering slightly as she said the name.
"Don't remind me, he's been trying to start shit in the locker room every class recently." Simon said as his blood boiled just thinking about the creep he could pummel so easily.
"Well, try and play nice." She instructed him playfully, sounding for a second or two like her little sister.
He laughed tensely and promised that he'd try. They kissed quickly and parted ways to head off to their separate classes.
Simon knew he had promised to not get in Bill's way and risk fighting, but he was really struggling with that. While coach was busy helping out one of the football players from the JV team, Bill had found himself a nice quiet corner to terrorize the new kids. He would wait until they were starting to weaken, and when the bar was touching their chest, he and his little toadies would slap a 45 on each end. Simon had to help save at least three of the freshmen from being crushed. And each time, Bill would laugh and tell him to let them suffer, it would make them suffer. The little creep was asking for it so bad…
He must have seen the fury in Simon's eyes, because after he helped yet another kid up, Bill got in his face and asked him if he had a problem.
"Yeah I have a problem, you." Simon answered defiantly before turning around and trying to walk away before he did something he'd regret.
A three pound disk flew by his ear and he spun around to see Bill starting to heft another. He was seriously trying to hurt him.
The kids Simon had helped were running over to the other side of the room to get the coach, but he wouldn't do much good from that far off, Simon was on his own for the moment.
He ducked another disk as Bill threw it. It hit the wall with a sickening thud and left a dent in the cinderblock wall. Simon didn't want to think what would happen to him if he got hit by one. He had no choice but to fight back, at least for now. He stepped forward, his long legs propelling him faster than most other humans, and in the span of two seconds, he was within reach of Bill, right where he wanted to be.
The tormentor was taken off guard and tried to club him in the back with a dumbbell he picked up, but Simon caught his forearm and twisted until he not only dropped the weight, but his whole body twisted and he was shoved against one of the pillars in the room. Simon pressed his knee to the small of his back and pressed until he felt Bill stop trying to kick him. He wouldn't do anything to permanently damage him, but he would get the message across the only way he would understand…pain.
Simon looped his free arm around Bill's windpipe and pulled back until he had him locked in a headlock. He must have been stupider than Simon thought; he was struggling and in the process cutting his own air supply off. He had to hold his head steady before he killed himself. When that didn't work, he decided to flex his bicep and cut off the blood flow to his brain. That would at least make him pass out and stop struggling. It took a few seconds, but eventually, he felt Bill's body go slack from the loss of blood and he passed out. Simon took his arms away from his neck and rolled him over on his back so that he could recover. Maybe when he woke up, he'd have figured out not to mess with Simon or anyone for that matter…
Just as the small fight ended, coach walked over and passed an appraising look at Simon and Bill, "Did he fall asleep?" he asked, not seeming to really care.
"Yep coach, he was working too hard." Simon supplied before Bill's little cronies could say otherwise.
The coach seemed to buy the excuse and walked over to the light switch, "ALRIGHT! RACK EM UP FELLAS!" he called, signaling that class was over.
Bill twitched and Simon turned to a little mousey looking guy and told him that when he woke up, have him sit up slowly or else he'd pass out again. Then he turned around, gathered his stuff, and left to head off to his next class…
By the time lunch rolled around, news of what had happened had circulated throughout the entire school, and when he saw Jeanette in the courtyard, she looked angry and worried all at the same time.
"What the HELL were you thinking!" she said excitedly, "You could have gotten suspended or worse for that. You just couldn't walk away?"
"Babe, Jeannie, please listen to me…" Simon said, trying to get her to calm down and give him a chance, "The guy was trying to crush the little guys under the bar, and then he started to throw weights at me while my back was turned. He would have seriously hurt someone if I didn't step in."
"He really did that?" she asked, wanting to believe him so bad.
"Yes, he was going to hurt someone whether I was there or not, trust me, I did everyone a favor today, and maybe he'll cool it now that he got his ass handed to him." he said, trying to comfort her and make her see the bright side.
"Well, if you say so, hey, I need to go get something from my truck, wait here okay?" she asked, worry still hidden in her gaze.
"I won't move babe, just hurry back okay?"
"Okay."
When she was out of sight, Simon was startled to hear a voice from right behind him.
"Awwww now isn't that sweet…" Bill commented greasily.
"What the hell are you doing here? Come to get your ass kicked again?" Simon asked, trying to hide his surprise.
"Relax princess, I don't want to start shit here, the principals right there, I have an offer to make you actually…" he said
"What kind of offer?" Simon asked suspiciously.
"A simple bet, after school in the park across the street, you win, I leave the school, I win, I get to choose my prize."
"What the hell kind of prize do you have in mind?" Simon asked, his sole focus on the idea of Bill finally leaving the school.
"I get a go at your girlfriend." He said aggressively.
"No deal, Jeanette isn't some kind of prize, and she isn't an object to be taken. But how about this, I lose, you get to hurt me as bad as you want and I don't lift a finger to defend myself?"
"Hmmm, I was planning on taking your girl Seville, but kicking your ass is just as good." Bill agreed, smiling evilly as he said it.
"So what's the bet?" Simon asked
"You and me, during last period, in the park across the street, we're gonna fight. No rules, and no crying when I mop the grass with your face." He said threateningly.
"Okay, just remember, I've kicked your ass unconscious. If you get hurt, don't come whining to me." Simon agreed, shooting bullets at him with his eyes.
"Cool, you may have some balls yet Seville." He commented as he slinked off toward the exit.
Simon turned around to see Jeanette standing not ten feet away, having heard who knows how much. "Oh shit, Jeanette it's not what you think." He tried to say before she turned around and ran into the art building, tears streaming from her face.
Oh Simon, what have you done? Will he be okay? What will Jeanette do? And who will win the fight. Tune in next week for the concluding section of GtKY Ch. XIIX.
I hope you enjoyed. You know the drill, R&R and I am always open to Beta requests. Tell me what you want to see happen in the Review page. Who knows, one of you may just be right…
In any case, I am sorry for the inconsistent update schedule. I have had Finals and am getting in gear for summer. There will be about four to six more chapters in the Simonette storyarc, so try not to miss any. If you liked this story, please let your friends know about it. And BE SPECIFIC about comments, I can't improve if everyone just says "great job" now take care and of course…
Happy Reading!
musicalreader