Enterprise High

being a high school AU of ST: XI

with many hijinks

and much angst

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Chapter Two: This Side of Paradise

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Kirk showered, brushed his teeth and hair, and dressed with a smile on his face. He'd moved back to San Francisco only two days previously, and for more than three weeks before that, he had been busy helping his mother pack up their house in Iowa. So he hadn't had any fun makeout sessions in about a month, which was definitely some kind of record for him. At the age of seventeen, he was infamous for having slept with the majority of his class. He wasn't regarded as a slut, exactly, but he was the go-to guy for quickies. Back in Riverside, though, the choices had been limited. His high school only had four hundred people, so he got bored easily, and had nearly gotten expelled a few months ago for moving from students to teachers. It was one of the reasons his mother had decided to accept the promotion Starfleet had finally offered her and move back to San Francisco.

He was pretty sure Bones wasn't going to be speaking to him when they got to school. Bones had always been sensitive about little things like kissing. But really, it wasn't like Bones had objected. Kirk had secretly rewired the air conditioning so that it wouldn't turn off and convinced Bones that he was freezing alone in his bed. One thing led to another, and was it Kirk's fault that Bones had made those blissful noises as Kirk had sucked on his neck? Oh, it was good to be back in the game.

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"I—am going—to kill—Jim."

It was Bones's morning mantra. Usually his morning mantra was something like, "I will do well on my physics test," or, "I will work up the courage to talk to Yolande Saunders today," but as soon as he saw his neck in the mirror, he changed it from "I might have to kill Jim" to the more accurate current version.

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Uhura had spent the night at Scotty's house. She had known him for all of her life; their parents had been good friends before they were born. She knew Scotty's one true passion was engineering, so she felt safer around him than she felt around most people. Her other friends were all sex-obsessed, and she didn't feel like getting caught in the hormonal crossfire tonight, not after what happened with Spock.

"I made an absolute fool of myself, Monty," she told him, flopping down on his bed the next morning after taking a shower. "I chased after him when everyone could tell he was all shaken up and tried to talk to him. I said, 'What do you need?' and hugged him and it was just horrible, he didn't even try to hug me back. All he said was that he needed everyone to continue performing admirably. And the look he gave me, it was like I was a bug. I've never felt smaller in my life."

"Ah can give him a piece of my mind for you, if you'd like," said Scotty, frowning down at her. "Or a piece of my fist."

"Oh, no, don't do that," said Uhura. "He wasn't rude." Scotty relaxed. "He was just—Spock. Which, I know, I know, I should have expected."

"Well, ah suppose you should've," said Scotty. "Now turn around, ah've got to put me clothes on."

"I might as well, too," said Uhura. Facing away from each other, Uhura dropped her towel and Scotty pulled off his pajamas. "Do you think Mr. Pike managed to put our schedules together?"

"Oh, 'tis likely. He's got influence, he does."

Uhura zipped up her skirt, then studied the two tops she had brought with her.

"Red or gold, Monty, what do you think?"

"Ah'm a mechanic, not a designer."

"Just answer."

"Alrighty then, ah like red better."

Uhura pulled the red shirt on.

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Sulu took thirty whole minutes to shower the next morning. He hadn't been able to talk to Chekov much after the meeting, mainly because the boy turned out to be almost painfully shy when not talking about physics. As Chekov cycled home, Sulu sat in his van in the school parking lot and breathed heavily, trying to calm himself.

Sulu's house was empty by the time Sulu was dressed for school. His parents were never home. They were particle physicists at Stanford, absorbed in their work, dismissive of their three children. Hikaru was the youngest. His two sisters were out of college. Miko, the oldest, was a photographer in Seattle. Inoue had moved to Theta V, where she was a school principal. Only Hikaru had inherited his parents' interest in science, but not in quite the way they preferred. He was planning on joining Starfleet. His parents were pacifists and disapproved of any military organization, even a peacekeeping force. But all Sulu wanted to do was fly a starship.

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Spock selected his clothing carefully. He knew most of his teachers already, but he did not want to appear unkempt on the first day back. Of course, he almost never appeared unkempt, except for directly after he had awoken. It frustrated him that he was unable to keep still when he slept. While he fell asleep in the same position every night—on his back, his hands clasped over his breastbone—he would invariably wake up on his side or stomach or curled up, the sheets crumpled around him. He was glad nobody was there to watch him sleep.

He chose a crimson collared shirt and charcoal gray slacks. He packed his bookbag, put on his fixed glasses, draped his pinstripe jacket over his arm, and left for school, kissing his mother Amanda goodbye and patting I-Chaya, his sehlat, on the head as he walked out the door.

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Chekov scrubbed his teeth with one hand and pulled on his shoes with the other, accidentally drooling toothpaste all over the new carpet. Muttering curses in Russian, he wiped up the foam after rinsing his mouth and swung his backpack over his shoulders. His mother and father hugged him goodbye and good luck in his new school. He tossed himself onto his bicycle and wheeled off towards Enterprise High. He wasn't thinking about much other than what his new classes were going to be like and if he'd have to talk to people. He figured he would hang out with the boy he met yesterday, Hikaru, who was very nice, or maybe Jim, who was very attractive. He was a little afraid of Leonard, Spock, and Nyota; they seemed brisk and unfriendly. Jim, though. Chekov smiled. Jim he could get closer to.

Chekov acquired his schedule from the front desk when he arrived at the school. First period: Advanced Placement English IV with Mr. K. Maru.

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Enterprise High School was thirty years old. Wrought of stone, the outer walls curved pleasantly and the solar panels on the tilted roof shone brilliantly in the morning sun. The large entranceway arched above a single door, twenty feet wide and consisting of a single pane of blue glass edged by highly polished redwood. The doors opened each morning at seven. Students trickled in until eight o'clock, when classes began.

The property was lined by redwood trees, as tall as the school but still young and growing. Ivy and roses grew up the stone, imported from the south, twining around columns and creeping over windows. The cafeteria, a hemisphere with the diameter as a window, which again consisted of a single large pane of cerulean glass, viewed the recreational field at the back of the school, which was currently and unattractively under construction.

Kirk entered through the back doors at around seven thirty. He simply couldn't believe the number of beautiful girls and boys on this campus. The place was like paradise. His eyes were everywhere trying to keep up. The ones he stared at tended to return his lustful glances, appreciating what they saw. He collected eighteen phone numbers on his way to the office without initiating a single conversation. His ego was in danger of exploding.

He had gotten his schedule and a map and left the office when he saw Bones entering through the front door. He tried to hide but Bones spotted him and was on him in a split second, grasping his shoulder so tightly he felt sure the bone was about to splinter.

"You bastard," spat Bones, pushing him against a wall and leaning in close to Kirk's face. Kirk couldn't help but be aroused by Bones's proximity and passionate anger. "Look at this bruise. It's huge. It's the first day of school, Jim, what the hell were you thinkin'?"

"Not much," admitted Kirk. "I was focusing pretty heavily on the noises you were making."

"Just because I liked it doesn't mean I want it now! It's the first day of school," Bones repeated helplessly. "You couldn't have thought of that?"

"Definitely not my responsibility," said Kirk. "Let me reiterate, you were not objecting at the time. It's not my fault my mouth is magical."

"Your mouth is not magical," hissed Bones, earning himself a double-take from the girl passing behind him. "It projects your voice, and is thus utterly dead to me."

"You're sexy when your accent gets lost in your frustration," Kirk leaned forward to whisper in Bones's ear. "I like it."

Bones turned slightly red, but let go of Kirk disgustedly. "I sure as hell don't like you. You'll get paid back for this, I swear."

"Yeah, whatever," said Kirk. "Now, would you mind escorting me to class?" He stuck out his arm.

"Escort yourself," snapped Bones. "I've got English IV first."

"With Mr. Maru?"

"Yeah."

"What a coincidence." Kirk held out his schedule. "Me too."

"What? How'd you get into English IV? You're a damn junior."

"No, I'm a senior. The counselor at my old school told me I couldn't graduate in four years, not with 'an attitude like mine,' so I decided to do it in three. Got my freshman and sophomore classes over with the first year. Last year was a piece of cake; I figure this year won't be much different."

Bones didn't know what to say. He simply turned on his heel and walked away. Chuckling, Kirk followed him.

x

Spock eyed Bones and Kirk as they entered the classroom ten minutes before the bell. They didn't seem to be speaking; at least, Bones didn't seem to be speaking to Kirk, who was talking merrily at his friend. He watched the new boy, but briefly; Uhura had just entered, and she was proving to be rather distracting in her low-cut red blouse. He was glad that his mind had shifted away from Kirk. Of course, as soon as he thought that, his mind betrayed him again by returning to the initial subject. He looked away from both of them, trying to control himself.

Uhura, still uncomfortable around Spock, had elected to sit with her friends. Scotty was surrounded by four girls, but he was ignoring them for the recently-released blueprints of the newest Starfleet vessel. Even when Galia dropped a pencil near Scotty's desk and leaned over to pick it up, he didn't tear his eyes away, although most of the rest of the class did.

Bones headed for Uhura's group so he could sit near Christine Chapel, a girl he'd met in his medical class last year and convinced to join the hovercar club. She smiled at him as he sat down next to her, Kirk following him like a lost (but talkative) puppy. Kirk made eyes at all four girls—Uhura, Gaila, Chapel, and Janice Rand. Uhura's face closed up: she wasn't in to pushy types. Gaila, who was in to people that breathed, made eyes back. Chapel ignored him for Bones, and Janice looked askance at Galia.

Predictably, Kirk sat down next to Gaila. Nearly the whole class rolled their eyes, already having gotten the hang of Kirk.

"So, Leo," said Chapel loudly. The class looked from Kirk and Gaila to Chapel and Bones. "What's wrong with your neck?"

Bones turned bright red. "Ran into a tree," he muttered, trying to lean his chin on his hand so that his neck would be invisible to observers.

"I'm sure you did," smirked Chapel. "And what was the tree named?"

Kirk wasn't sure if he wanted to be implicated in this. He saw Bones's hand twitch, as if dreaming of grasping Kirk's throat (Probably non-sexily, Kirk thought sadly). But he was unable to resist needling Bones. He put on a yes-what-was-the-tree-named expression and stared expectantly at his friend.

"That would be my business, Chris," said Bones as smoothly as possible. He was actually going to kill Kirk after school. He was already making plans. It can look like an accident if Jim falls down a set of stairs, or happens to stab himself in the stomach with a bread knife at home…

"I never thought Leo was such a slut," Gaila said quietly in Kirk's ear, making him start. "But I can smell you are." She gave him a tight-lipped smile. "I can still smell him on you. That's pretty hot."

"Thank you," said Kirk smoothly. "James Tiberius Kirk. Pleased to meet you. Call me Jim."

"Gaila. What your species has against single names, I'll never know. Welcome to Enterprise High. Where are you from?"

"Here, originally. I've been in Iowa for the past few years; my mom worked at the Starfleet shipyard there. What about you?"

"I am from Orion, as you can possibly tell. Have you met an Orion before?"

"Have I," said Kirk, looking reminiscent.

"I see," said Gaila, laughing. Kirk could tell that she was a cheerful, dangerously clever sort of girl.

"So what can you tell me about Mr. Maru?" he said.

"He's an asshole," said Gaila firmly; she had complained about Mr. Maru before. "He's a great teacher, but a terrible human. Every year, at the beginning of the first semester, he gives us this test that is impossible to pass. We have to answer questions about the book we've just finished reading. But they're questions like, 'What is the fourteenth punctuation mark on page thirty seven?' and 'Exactly how many times does the author use the word "bell" in the novel?' Nobody gets above a forty, except for Spock, but he's never broken forty five."

"Why does Maru do that?"

"He says we're over-privileged spoiled brats and back in his day they didn't give grades above a 5.0. Archaic, huh? It means that nobody in the school has a perfect 6.0."

Kirk froze. "Really?"

"Really. Spock's first with a 5.9989. Scotty has a 5.9892. I have a 5.9887. I'm sure it drives Spock crazy, not having an even six. I don't mind; Scotty and I have been battling for second for awhile now, and it makes it fun when there's more of a challenge."

"That's true," said Kirk, his face breaking into a grin. "You're competitive, are you?"

"Incredibly," said Gaila. "But not nearly as competitive as Spock. The one time I got a higher grade than him on a history test, he wouldn't speak to me for a week."

"That's interesting," said Kirk, filing that bit of information away. Maybe he could use it to torture Spock with; he had taken a distinct dislike to the half-Vulcan. "That's very interesting."

The bell rang.

Mr. Maru was a slim Japanese man with pure white hair. He opened the class with a reading from Antigone. In the middle of the paragraph, the door burst open and an out of breath, beet red Chekov stumbled inside and stopped stock still feet from the door, seeing that all eyes were on him.

"Can I help you?" said Mr. Maru dangerously. Sulu's hands clenched themselves into white-knuckled fists.

"Yes, sir, I was just trying to find my way around the school, and I am new, and think I am in your class." Chekov proffered his schedule hesitantly. Mr. Maru snatched it away from him and inspected the transparency.

"You're in the right place, Mr. Chekov. Take a seat, and try not to be late again. Page one hundred and sixty four."

Chekov scurried over to a seat at the back of the room, still scarlet, and opened the book on his desk. Mr. Maru harrumphed, pushed his glasses up from the tip of his nose, and continued reading.

Sulu unclenched his fists. Spock, whose eyes had been on Sulu's hands, looked away.

x

Physics with Mr. Pike was next. The club members thanked him for his influence on their schedule; Pike's talk with the counselors had resulted in all of the club members having six of seven classes together. The exception was fifth period, during which they went off to their various electives. Third period they had history with Ms. Tyvak. Fourth period was lunch and AP study hall, which meant basically that they got to hang around in Pike's room for an hour and a half. Predictably, Spock worked throughout the whole period, despite having nearly no homework. Sixth period was economics and seventh period was calculus. All of their classes were Advanced Placement.

Fifth period was unique. Kirk had signed up for a military history class that he thoroughly enjoyed. Bones and Chapel were continuing with their medical studies class. Scotty was taking shop. Chekov had elected to take another math, and Sulu was on the school's flight simulator. Spock had a computer class. Uhura was beginning Vulcan.

After school, Kirk and Gaila went to a park nearby and made out for a couple of hours. Bones went home and stared at his neck in the mirror, half turned on by his memories of last night and half still pissed. Uhura, Chapel, Rand, Scotty, and Sulu, who convinced Chekov to come, met at a coffee shop, the Shore Leave, after their respective dinners and talked for a couple of hours.

Spock studied the entire day. Late at night, he closed his book and put his head in his hands, allowing himself a single moment of weakness. No matter what he did, he couldn't stop thinking about him. He'd been thinking about him all day, ever since the dream he'd had the night before, the dream of being pinned against a wall and kissed within an inch of his life. Spock shook his head, forcing the image away. There. It was gone. He was done. There would be no more of his useless human weakness. No more fantasies, no more dreams.

His subconscious didn't listen, and he woke up the next morning covered in sweat, spread out luxuriously on his back as if he were being crushed under some foreign body. Spock threw himself into the shower, trying to wash his thoughts of James Kirk away.

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Uhura came home from the Shore Leave and got up the courage to email Spock. Her first day of Vulcan hadn't been difficult, but she knew that this was her chance to catch Spock's eye.

Dear Spock, she typed, I was wondering if it would be possible for you to tutor me in your native language…

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