It was Sunday and Jade was till thinking about revenge. Dr. Kripke probably didn't realize that he came across as a misogynistic jerk, telling her how surprised he was that a girl as attractive as her could be a physics Doctorate. He had also implied that she had the name of a stripper. It probably was not intentional, but it still wazzed her off. Dr. Cooper was a self-centered gank who could not conceive that he was wrong about anything, but at least he treated Jade the same as he treated anyone else. Jade would teach him to respect her work later, especially if she could get a shock collar in his size. She was sure he would change the batteries on schedule if she asked nicely. Now Dr. Kripke, she had heard, was a practical joker. She needed to teach him not to mess with her immediately to avoid any future problems. No one messes with Jade Augusta West, PhD. And soon they would all know.

She was deep in her planning when she heard the distinctive sound of breaking glass telling her she was getting a call. Caller ID told her it was Dr. Gablehauser. 'Oh my chiz, what the fuck does he want now?' jade thought. "Hello, you have reached Dr. Jade West. If you wanted a recording please go jank yourself."

"What? Oh, it's you Dr. West. I was wondering if you could help me. I realized late last night that you are used to a fairly busy schedule, and as such thought maybe you could cover a couple of classes for the Summer Session. A little overload to help out the school?"

"Do I have to?"

"Yes."

"Let me call my dad's boss to go over my contract" Jade said. She knew enough to double-check this kind of claim. People lied to you all the time, especially in the entertainment business.

"What I mean is you do have to teach an occasional course due to your title of Associate Professor. However, we would be compensating you, of course. Put some hours away to use in the future so if you need to take some time off you could just go on sabbatical" He said.

Jade knew how sabbatical worked. Teaching faculty would bank extra classes against sessions where they might not get a full time schedule, since their contracts required them to cover so many units of class per year. Extra overload classes were either paid additional income or banked for taking paid time off. A full time schedules worth could get you a session. Caltech was a quarter school, so that meant three months. Enough time to make a movie and possibly a guest appearance on a TV show. It was tempting. "What do you need me to teach?"

"We have a couple of classes. First is our undergraduate Applied physics class, which is required for all engineering students as well as Physics majors. We had to add a second class for the summer session, and we really need someone who understands the material to teach the class. Since you love acting, you should have no problems speaking in front of a full class."

"When is it scheduled for?" Jade was thinking about it. Making the lives of a room full of desperate nerds miserable appealed to her. She would be the center of attention. The class would probably be a couple of hours each weekday.

"We just added it, so lets say Monday through Friday, 9AM to 11:30AM?"

"And the other Class" Jade wanted to know her options. Hopefully she could still do summer type stuff around this, as well as her research job.

"For a long time we've been hoping to add a graduate Seminar on whats currently happening in Theoretical physics. Unfortunately up until now, the only people who were qualified to teach the class either would never do it or just could not relate to the students. Dr. Cooper was arguably the best choice we had until you joined our team. You understand the material, are good in front of people and the class would be just a couple of hours per week. Lets say Mondays from 2 until 5." Jade did the math.

"That's almost a full time schedule with office hours. Round it up and I'll do both."

"If you agree to do the seminar twice per year going forward and we have a deal. Full time teaching banked for the summer, and 40% per quarter you do the seminar. It's give you time off when you need it providing you let us know in advance." he seemed to give in too easily, but jade was not the negotiator in her family and decided to let it drop. She had no idea how much prestige that seminar would add to the school, or that they would be uploading it on their web sight and showing off to other schools. However, Jade always needed to do things right, almost compulsively. To do it right meant advice, so she decided to talk to Sikowitz.

Jade decided since she had something to do beyond everything else on Monday she should figure out now the strange texts she had been getting since last night congratulating her on her win and letting her know that they "voted for her". Almost all her friends had texted, so no one choice was better than any other. She called Beck.

"Hay babe. Whats up" Beck could be so cheesy sometimes. Jade swore she used to love it.

"What's up with all the strange texts I've been getting? What did I win?" Jade should have dealt with this yesterday, but images of beating the Chiz out of Kripke had distracted her. Revenge and writing both could take her out of her the traps in her thoughts. It was one of the reasons she loved both.

"Oh, that. Nothing big. Just the student body showing their respect and love for such a talented and popular girl. It's really quite an honor, since I don't know if it's ever been done, Still..."

"JUST TELL ME ALREADY! Or do I need to go over there with pliers and drag it out of you." Jade's frustration was fueled by fear. 'Beck used to be fearless. If he's avoiding it, afraid of how I might react, then it has to be bad. Maybe I should have called Cat.'

"You won. Prome Queen. A-and Prome King. Never been done before. Someone had started a roomer that you wanted it and could check the voting to see who didn't vote for you. So naturally it wasn't even close. But it's a good thing, right." Jade growled in response, so Beck continued. "Part of winning are these neat crowns I'll bring by later. Oh, you also get to go to the post Prome dinner with the Prome committee Tuesday night. Were going to some place called the Cheesecake Factory in Pasadena. I heard it's pretty good. Apparently we had some gift cards from that particular location donated to the school, and we would get the most value out of them at that location. It''s not that far. Please come. I promise that if you don't kill anyone tomorrow we will make it worth you while. Please." Beck never begged, well hardly ever.

"Take me out to eat today. Spend some time with me. Maybe I'll forgive the school, if you make it up to me."

"Sure. I can do that, then we can go to Tori's for poker and a little hot-tubing." Jade was less than thrilled by the idea, but let it go as something that was probably planned last night. She could accept being with her friends now. Let them know her working hours for the summer.

Monday came, and Jade found that people kept congratulating her like being Prome Queen or Prome King or Prome whatever was some kind of honor. It just confirmed what she already knew, that she was the most feared person at school. Everyone wanting to be on her good side both wazzed her off and stroked her ego, so she decided to focus on schoolwork and the task at hand. She quickly had the chance to talk to Sikowitz while Lane was there in case she had to explain everything to her favorite teacher. This was the first round of judgment by someone who's opinion mattered to her, and it made her nervous.

"Ah Jade. As the faculty ad visor to the Prome, I'd like to both congratulate you on your wins and thank you for not hurting anyone today. Let's keep it that way all day, shall we? Now what brings you to me so early since you already know the class assignments for the rest of the year and I cant think of any other reason you would need to speak to me?" Lane just nodded along.

"Okay, it's like this. My summer gig has changed to include teaching a couple of classes at Caltech. You might not know this but.."

"Jade, I know all about your advanced degrees. Physics and Mathematics, right. So they want you to teach and you came to your favorite teacher for pointers. Well, I hope you have been observing me these past three years. I was trying to show you how to be a great director as well as teaching you." Sikowitz seemed confident in his answer.

"Of course, if you need practice you could help out tutoring during study hall." lane added. "A little experience will help you see where your week points are."

"Oh, You'll also need to come up with a lesson plan for each class. If it's a standard course, then they may already have one, but they expect you to make the course memorable." Sikowitz added.

"Study hall. Right. Well, I should go and see about tutoring." Jade said. She also texted Dr. Gablehauser requesting the lesson plan for both courses. He got back to let her know that the existing class would have one she could use, and he would have a rough sketch of what was wanted for the graduate seminar in a couple of days. He would email it to her.

A couple of hours later Jade walked into the peer tutoring center at Hollywood Arts. Like all arts schools, they prided themselves on a top notch (or nooch as Sikowitz's would say) academics. Jade looked around for whomever was running the program and found herself looking at Trina Vega.

"What do you want?" Trina was not happy. Jade had never had the need to come in here, so was surprised when she saw that Trina was the senior in charge.

"I need some charity hours so I thought I'd offer my help tutoring the less intelligent. I'm pretty good at hard sciences, math and Physics."

"Really? I don't recall ever seeing your name on the list for any of the science classes here. Are you trying to ruin my record for running the best tutoring period in this schools history? If your serious about helping with those subjects, first let me know how you would know the first thing about them?" Trina was one of the few people dense enough to stand her ground against Jade. The goth just never had reason to make the talentless girl pay. Besides, Jade didn't like to torment losers, they got it enough. She tormented people who were normally immune to that treatment, like Vega, and those who pissed her off since those people probably deserved it.

"My dad didn't trust the classes here, so he made me take them at a community collage. I got the High School credits." True enough, she started at a community collage. "I'm really good at science, so I'd probably be the most help there. Look, Trina, if I don't help them you will know long before they have to take any tests. You know you could do worse. You probably are."

Trina looked jade over, deciding on what to make of this situation. "Okay, since I need a science peer tutor well give you a try. I'll give you a group and see how you do. If your any good, then I'll risk more students futures. Not everyone is as smart and talented as I am" Trina smiled as she pointed to a small circle of students, mostly seniors but including Tori, that seemed to be working hard at something. "Help them. Tori will let me know how you did." was all she said.

"Wonderful" Jade mumbled as she walked over to the group. Eyes tore themselves away from books to look at her. "So I hear you need help with science?" Jade asked. They all said yes, looking at her like this was some kind of trick. Still, She managed to spend the rest of study hall fielding questions and explaining the basics of Chemistry, Physics and similar sciences to Tori and the seniors. She realized if she could last the rest of the year without killing one of these idiots for their lack of basic understanding about how the world worked she would be ready to tackle teaching a class to collage students. It would be a stretch, but she felt she could make it. By lunch she was ready for a break.

Jade found herself cuddled next to Beck at their usual spot. Tori was gushing about how good jade was at that "Science stuff". That term made Jade cringe.

"Its amazing. She just knows how everything works. Also she was able to help us remember that stuff. Even Evan is learning things, and he was deemed unsciencable by Mrs. Rothchild. I mean she really knows this stuff. I never knew anyone outside our science teachers who knew this stuff so well." Tori was gushing. It annoyed Jade.

"one time, My brother tried to build a death ray. It didn't work." Was Cats useful input.

"So Jade, where did you gain your mad science skills?" Andre asked.

"My dad made me take these classes at a community collage. I figured that if I was going to learn this Chiz, I should at least know it by heart. Besides, it's sometimes useful in planning my revenge." Jade reminded herself that Dr. Kripke was still at the top of her list. She had an Idea, but no method to implement it. At the moment, to implement her plan she would need Sinjin's help. The problem with that was getting his assistance without letting her secret out. A little research would help.

She noticed that the conversation had gone on without her, and that Beck felt smaller than he used to. She didn't like it, these feelings of distance she felt. She knew her world would change soon, but wanted to keep as much the same as possible. She held onto Beck like her best days. It felt free from her painful past and not corrupted by the future. Jade wished everything could just stay the was they were earlier this year, before the big breakup. But the world kept on changing. Physics said so. Well fuck the world, Jade had what she needed, and was not going to let go easily. Her Phone beeped, letting her know that Dr. Cooper probably sent her another theoretical equation to run, since he seemed to believe she worked just for him. Maybe she would straighten him out tomorrow during her Office hours. At least that Cheesecake Factory would be convenient. Hell, It might even be fun.

:}

Just a tad longer this time. So the Gang is going to spend a Tuesday Evening at The Cheesecake Factory in Pasadena. Sounds like a fun evening.