Enterprise High

being a high school AU of ST: XI

with many hijinks

and much angst

x

Chapter Four: A Private Little War

x

Bones kicked the ball viciously. It slammed into the net and ricocheted back to him. He kicked again, with much greater force. The ball didn't come out of the goal this time. Undoubtedly it was afraid of him.

He heard the grass crunch behind him. He retrieved the ball from the goal anyway and kicked it again.

"No wonder you're the star quarterback and the star striker," said Sulu. "I've heard you're no good at doubles tennis, though."

"Doesn't matter," growled Bones, giving the ball another whack. "I'm best alone."

"Teamwork, my friend," said Sulu. "As a team sports boy, you should know that."

"Shut up, Hikaru. I'm tryin' to concentrate."

"No, you're trying to destroy that poor, defenseless soccer ball. Come sit down. I brought you some water."

Bones flopped down next to Sulu without protest. Sulu handed him the bottle and Bones drained it.

"Thanks," Bones said.

"Anytime," said Sulu. "Now, what's up with you and the new kid? He gave you that, didn't he?" he asked, gesturing at the still-distinct mark on Bones's neck.

Bones scowled. "I don't want to talk about Jim."

"Suit yourself."

They sat in silence for a while. It was morning. The trees were a deep amber, dyed by the light of the sun that rose behind their branches. Beams of light sparkled on the dewy grass. Their surroundings were bright and idyllic. Bones hated it.

"Let's go inside," he said.

"I have another idea," said Sulu, removing a little drawstring bag from his backpack. "You need to relax. Here." He handed Bones a neatly rolled joint.

Bones eyed it skeptically. "Would you believe that I've never smoked before?"

"You pre-med types must have no fun. Watch me." He took the joint back, placed it between his lips, and lit the tip, and puffed a little. Then he took a long drag. "It's pretty simple. Seal your lips around it and breathe in. You're probably going to cough. That's okay." He handed the joint back, exhaling the smoke. "Try to hold it in your lungs."

"At least we don't get cancer anymore," Bones said. "Bottom's up." He put the joint to his lips, pulled the smoke down his throat and held it there for a moment before breathing out. "Woah. My lungs feel warm."

"Nice job," said Sulu. "Two more hits each, then we should go inside. By the way, research never established a link between lung cancer and marijuana use."

"Yeah, but the health risks are there." Bones took another hit. "Not that they're botherin' me at the moment. You, though. How often d'you light up?"

"Twice a week, probably. I've got to keep fast reflexes for pilot training."

"Oh. Good for you. I was gonna to advise you not to smoke too much."

"Hey! You just took two hits! More like the Hypocritical Oath."

They laughed for five straight minutes.

"Tell me about Jim," said Sulu, once they could keep straight faces.

Bones made a face. "Don't know what to say. The boy's uncontrollable. I can't even understand what goes through his mind half the time. You know he's already slept with Gaila."

"Yeah, but it's not a big deal. Everybody has. Scotty had to remind me last night."

"Gettin' jealous over the Russian kid, huh? Saw y'all at Shore Leave when I came in."

"You were there?"

"It was where me and Jim had our fight. I chose to do the stormin' out."

"Oh. He came and hung with us afterwards. He did seem a little distracted."

"I'm sure he was fine," said Bones, an ugly look on his face.

"He seemed quieter than usual. Possibly. I don't know him that well yet."

"If you could get a word in edgewise, he was probably quieter n' usual."

"What happened with you two, anyway?"

Bones shrugged. "I'm not sure myself. I freaked out on him, I guess. He was just bein' so mean to Spock—"

"Like you care who's mean to Spock. You're downright rude to him most of the time. May I remind you of the time you called him a green blooded goblin while Ms. Tyvak was right behind you?"

"Okay, sure, that was bad. But he was jus' bein' aggravatin'."

"Leo. It's an aspect of Spock's character that he's aggravating. He can't help it."

"Like hell he can't. Vulcans do that to themselves, y'know. Just because a race can't keep its emotions down doesn't mean they have to. Doesn't mean they should. Aw, never mind. Boy, it's hard to keep track of what you're talkin' about."

"For the inexperienced, I guess," said Sulu loftily. Bones aimed a punch at him.

After a while, they spoke again.

"Do you like him?" Sulu asked quietly.

"Jim?" said Bones. He sighed. "I'm not sure."

"If you're not sure, then you don't," said Sulu. "I'm always sure, when I like somebody."

"Lucky you."

"Was it good, at least?"

"What?"

"Being with Jim."

"We didn't have sex," said Bones. "That would've been even worse. We just made out. For hours. Shirtless." He smiled reminiscently. "I hadn't done that in ages. Not," he added, suddenly stern, "that I like Jim. At all."

"'Course not," grinned Sulu. "The bell's going to ring soon."

"Alright, let's go in." Bones frowned. "I'm kinda hungry. Got any food?"

"We can stop by the caf," said Sulu. "God bless the munchies."

x

Spock was not as annoyed by Kirk that day. Kirk seemed much more subdued; he only occasionally swooped down to snatch an answer from Spock's grasp, generally appearing contemplative and moody. Spock noted that he did not speak to Bones, who was supposedly his close friend.

After he arrived home the night before, Spock's mother came in to his room and sat down on his bed. Spock looked over from his desk to nod at her.

"Come sit, Spock," she said gently, patting the bed next to her. Obediently, Spock left his books.

Amanda Grayson was a teacher at the elementary school nearby. She was a sweet, wide-eyed woman with pursed lips and an addiction to baking. She seemed very traditional. But she had been a lieutenant commander in Starfleet, and had the scars to show for it. When he was a baby, Spock would trace the gouges on Amanda's lower arms, the traces of an uncharacteristically vicious attack by an Excalbian. Amanda had left Starfleet to raise Spock and teach, leaving her husband Sarek to diplomacy. She cared immensely for her distant son.

"How has school been so far, dear?"

"Quite well, mother," said Spock. "I am benefiting from my classes."

"Good. You never told me how that hovercar meeting went."

"There was an incident during the meeting. While I attempted a test drive of the car, one of the members discovered a missing part. The car would have exploded had he not informed me of the mistake."

"What? Spock, are you okay? You didn't say anything about this."

"I am unharmed, mother. No damage was done and the hovercar has been repaired."

"Well now I just don't know about this hovercar program. How careless of Mr. Pike not to check it over!"

"Montgomery is a perfectly capable engineer, I assure you."

"Who noticed the part was missing?"

"A new member," said Spock evasively, quite sure that if he started talking about Kirk with his mother he would blush. As it was, his eyes flashed to the bookcase he had moved in front of the hole in his wall. He changed the subject clumsily. "I do not recall when father is returning from Vulcan."

"The day after tomorrow. I'll let you get back to your studies. Do you need anything?"

"No, thank you, mother."

Amanda smiled fondly at him. "Let me know if you do, dear. I'll be just in the other room."

x

By physiology, Bones had come down from his high. The remains of six bags of chips, a carton of powdered sugar donuts, a fourth of a watermelon, a box of fries, and three Dr. Peppers were scattered in his backpack. Evidently his munchies were epic.

Bones only had to shake his head a couple of times before he could pay attention to the teacher, little Ms. Havner, whose soothing voice lulled the post-lunch crowd more effectively than a Yardassian sleep-song. Next to him, Chapel looked bored.

"We were supposed to start talking about sexuality today," she whispered when he turned to look at her. "But she's still going on about the damn corpus callosum. We did the brain all last year, can't we move on?"

"I know how you feel," Bones whispered back. "We know too much about the brain, but so little about sexuality. I love hearing what science doesn't know, not what it does know." He was lying quite a lot. He suspected that he wasn't going to be much of an improvisator as a doctor; he was definitely more interested in what science did know. Something in him felt like agreeing with Chapel, like trying to impress her.

Almost as soon as he finished speaking, Ms. Havner turned on the projector. The title slide read, "Human Sexuality." The whole class perked up.

"Ah. Never mind," whispered Bones. Chapel smiled.

"A basic introduction, to begin," squeaked Ms. Havner, eyeing the class suspiciously. "During this unit we will discuss the sexual act in great detail. If any of you are squeamish or choose to behave improperly during this time, I suggest you consider the consequences. You will be receiving participation grades during this unit."

"So she's going to be assessing our sexual prowess?" said Chapel, making a face. "I can't wait."

Bones stifled a laugh.

"As all of you are aware, humans are considered an omnisexual species," Ms. Havner said, going to the next slide, which had about ten definitions on it. The class started typing in their notebooks. "While offspring may only be achieved non-medically through heterosexual intercourse, the biological imperative has been found to not differentiate between males and females. It has been theorized that during the middle and late Industrial Revolution, evolution occurred in the direction of central omnisexuality, which allowed humans to transfer their sexual affections to less reproductively compatible partners in order to combat overpopulation. For most of Terran history, humans have viewed themselves as a heterosexual species, despite their obvious omnisexual tendencies. This societal barrier has, thankfully, been broken. While some humans find themselves more homo- or heterosexual, most humans—eighty four percent—say that they are omnisexual, or attracted to all possible genders in basically equal weight. In the past, a more restrictive term was used to represent omnisexuality. Who can tell me what this term is?"

"Bisexuality," said Gaila from the front row.

"Correct," said Ms. Havner. "The term was abandoned in the late twenty first century because it was seen as biased against those individuals without an established gender."

Ms. Havner went to the next slide, eliciting groans from the slower typists. She frowned at the class.

"I will be posting these notes on the Enterprise Database," she said, "but only because this will be an extremely difficult test. Please do not expect this type of thing for the rest of the year. Now, let us continue. The study of human sexuality…"

x

Another hovercar club meeting was held after school in the shop. Scotty had taken to calling it the Hoverclub, and the term had caught on.

Chekov made sure to stand next to Kirk. He wondered what Kirk would think about what Chekov had done last night. Chekov had never masturbated to the thought of another person before. And he'd never lost quite that much control over his own body. He could feel his ears turning slightly red just thinking about it. He shook his head.

"You okay?" said Kirk mildly. Chekov jumped.

"Oh, oh yes, I am fine, thank you."

"Hey," said Kirk, getting a little closer to Chekov. "What are you doing tonight?"

Chekov's mind went entirely blank. "Uh," he said. "I am not sure, James."

"Call me Jim. Listen, I just wanted to—"

"Guys, listen up," said Pike. "After the, er, event last week, I checked over the hovercar. Just so all of you know, it's completely safe now. Unless its pilot—" Pike broke off as Sulu came in to the shop, muttering apologies for being late. "—decides to steer it into a tree, no sudden explosions should occur. Now, the qualifying round is next week. We'll be going up against all of the Hoverclubs in California. The competition is in Riverside." (Kirk's ears perked up; he had lived in Riverside, Iowa.) "We'll have to get there late Thursday night in since the race begins early Friday morning. So yes, you guys get to miss a day of school."

Everyone grinned (except for Spock).

Scotty stepped up. "Ah'd like to talk about our competition for a moment. Our biggest challenger is goin' t' be Pride High on th' other side of our own city. Economy and Valor don't have Hoverclubs of th' same, er, quality as ourselves. Now, Pride is dangerous because it's got a madman at its helm." Scotty cleared his throat and turned to Spock. "D'you mind if ah fill in th' blanks for our newest members?" he asked. Spock's lips went white, but he nodded assent. "Well, 'tis also Pride's first year in competition. They started their club because we started ours. Last year, at State UIL, Spock caught a Pride student sneakin' into th' gradin' room to fix scores. He, well, he overreacted a bit and nerve-pinched the student, a Romulan lass. And the UIL governing body overreacted a bit too, and threw the whole high school out of competition, which allowed us t' sweep. We had twenty-three firs' place finishes last year.

"Now, the leader of this merry band is a Romulan lad named Nero. Ominous, I ken. He's got it out for Spock and for Enterprise. Apparently th' lass was Nero's betrothed. So ah would like t' warn all of you against any contact with Pride High students. They might try t' get you to talk about our strategies. Ah hate to be racist, but be especially aware of any Romulans you encounter, since most of them go t' Pride. So you know, this summer Nero tried to shove Spock off a balcony." Chekov gasped aloud. Everyone else looked angry. "Be warned."

"I think we should move on to the strategizing," said Spock, looking at everyone expectantly. Scotty fetched a map of the track in Riverside. They moved the hovercar out into the open and got down to business.

x

Later that day, Kirk went to the grocery store with his mother. They had no food in the house other than what came in their small emergency synthesizer. Kirk pushed the cart and Winona filled it. As they headed onto the vegetable aisle, Kirk accidentally ran in to a short, kindly-looking woman carrying a basket, knocking her into the shelving.

Kirk hurried forward to help her up. "I'm so sorry, ma'am, are you okay?"

"Oh, I'm fine, thanks," said the woman. "Sorry I was in your way."

"No, no, it was all my fault, here, let me help you with that—"

"Really, it's fine," said the woman, smiling at Kirk.

"Sorry about my son," said Winona, appearing from behind the cart. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, really, I'm fine," said the woman. She smiled at Winona. "He's a strong boy."

"I know it. Gets into trouble all the time."

"I do not!" protested Kirk. Both women laughed.

"I've got one his age," said the woman. "Doesn't know his own strength. Punched a hole through his wall yesterday and thought I wouldn't notice."

"How perfect! Mothers know everything. Jim, honey, go get a roast for tomorrow night, and a package of chicken breast. Now, mine, he has to be told what to do around the house or he'll just go off into his own little world…"

Kirk scowled as he loped off to the meat department. His mother was much too fond of talking about him as if he wasn't there. Near the deli, he spotted Spock sorting through the cheese bin, looking oddly domestic with a shopping bag and a non-collared shirt. Kirk couldn't resist calling out to him.

"Hey, Spock! Fancy meeting you here."

Spock looked momentarily up from the cheese bin and then back down again. "Greetings, James."

"What do you think of my promotion to VP? A beef roast, please," he added to the butcher machine. "Still, I'll bet you end up being a more logical driver."

"No doubt," said Spock, holding a red Wensleydale up to his eye.

Kirk narrowed his eyes. Spock should be responding more.

"You studying for Maru's test?"

"Extensively."

"I bet you beat me on it."

"As do I."

"I'll do my best, though."

"I'm sure you will, James. I must go. It was pleasant to see you." Spock's tone stated differently, however.

"Oh wait, I'm done too," said Kirk, grabbing the finished roast from the butcher and snatching a carton of chicken out of a bin. "What kind of cheese did you get?"

Spock's shoulders had set resignedly. "Brie and blue Pendrashian. Why do you inquire?"

"Just curious. I'm here for meats." He held up the roast and chicken, doing his best to keep in stride with Spock's long legs.

"Meat is an unnecessary and barbaric food that I have never understood the human predisposition towards," said Spock.

"Clearly you've never had a quality filet mignon, rare," said Kirk, grinning. "It melts in your mouth, there's so much blood."

Spock closed his eyes as if in prayer. "That is disgusting, James."

"I try," said Kirk modestly. By now, Kirk had followed Spock to a central aisle, where he spotted Winona, still in conversation with the woman he had accidentally run in to.

"I found the cheese, mother," said Spock, approaching the woman.

Are you fucking serious, Kirk thought. Of course. Of course. "Uh, hey mom. Got the meat."

Spock stared at him. Kirk tried to smile nicely at him, but the expression appeared on his face as more of an apologetic grimace. "Listen, before you try to punch me or anything, I'd just like to say that I'm really sorry I hit your mom with the shopping cart, I didn't mean to—"

"You what?" snapped Spock.

"I think our boys know each other," Amanda whispered to Winona, who was watching them with avid interest.

"One does get that feeling," Winona replied. "But they don't seem to like each other, do they?"

"Oh, I think they do," said Amanda, a slight smile on her lips.

x

The Hoverclub had made plans to join up at the Shore Leave at around nine. Kirk arrived with his hands in his pockets, slightly afraid to be there considering how much Spock and Bones hated him these days. Sure enough, when he saw Bones, he refused to acknowledge Kirk's presence, as he had all day. Kirk sighed and took a seat near the back of the table Scotty and Uhura had claimed. To his surprise, Chekov sat down next to him once more. He saw Sulu's eyes narrow. Oh shit, he didn't want to get involved in this, not when everybody could tell Sulu was so in to Chekov.

Chekov leaned in close to Kirk, who saw Sulu's face go blank out of the corner of his eye. "You wanted to say something to me earlier, James—Jim," he said softly into Kirk's ear.

Kirk couldn't help but shudder a little. Chekov's dirty angel façade was quite compelling.

"Uh, yeah," said Kirk. "It was actually just a warning about Gaila. I figured that since she'd taken me down, you'd be next, and I wanted to make sure she didn't try the Farragon on you, because that's some weird shit, and that's not what you were expecting me to say, was it."

Chekov frowning. "No, it was not. I thought you were interested in me."

"Oh. Well. No offense. But I'm not really your type."

"I do not haf a type, Jim."

"Er, well, I do. And you're really pretty and everything, and don't get me wrong, I'd love to fuck you sometime, but I'm pretty sure I'd get my balls chopped off if I made moves on you."

"I am sorry, what do you mean?"

God, Chekov was even closer now. His sexiness was overpowering. Kirk pulled out of Chekov's sphere, highly uncomfortable. Sulu was openly glaring at him at this point. He wanted to shout, This isn't my fault! Clearly karma was kicking in.

"I mean that I really don't think you and I getting together would be a good idea, Pavel."

Chekov stood and approached Kirk, coming to lean over him, cornering him.

"No," said Kirk, standing and putting a hand on Chekov's chest to push him back. Almost immediately, Sulu was next to them, holding Kirk's wrist in a vice-like grip.

"Get away from him," he said coldly to Kirk.

"Hey," said Uhura, leaning around Sulu. "Are you guys okay?"

"No," snapped Sulu. "Jim won't stop harassing Pavel."

"What?! I was not harassing Pavel, if anything he was harassing me—"

"As if," snarled Bones, who had also appeared. "You can't even keep off of a sixteen year old? God, what is your problem?"

"This is not my fault!" cried Kirk. "He was seriously hitting on me! Tell them, Pavel!"

"I—I was only responding to your proximity earlier," said Pavel, confused and a little frightened. He moved back next to Kirk, clutching his arm protectively.

"Yeah, okay, you are so not helping," said Kirk, prying Chekov off of him. He spotted Spock behind Bones, Uhura, and Sulu and couldn't help but roll his eyes. Uhura glanced backwards to see who he was looking at. A very still expression covered her face. She grabbed Kirk's arm and dragged him all the way out of the room, down the stairs and outside, where she pushed him against a wall.

"You have made everything worse," growled Uhura. "You have got to quit messing with Hikaru like that. I told him what you were doing before Hoverclub today. And you can't just antagonize Spock like that. Tl;dr, you can't just waltz in here and fuck everything up."

"I have done one bad thing," said Kirk angrily, "and that was conning Bones into my bed." Uhura gasped, but Kirk ignored her. "First off, Spock needed to be taken down a notch. Second, I was not hitting on Pavel. And third, I did not waltz in here and fuck everything up. Evidently all of you are pretty fucked up on your own. I'm not completely sure why everyone's been so angry lately."

Uhura sighed, backing down. "I'm not angry. I rarely get angry. I'm just telling you so that nobody else has to. Listen, I'm not as mad at you as the others are. And their reasons for being mad are pretty understandable. Spock doesn't like being shown up, and Hikaru's obviously pretty attached to Pavel. And if what you said about Leo is true, well, he just got out of a three year relationship with Jocelyn Darnell, and you shouldn't be playing with him like that."

Kirk lowered his eyes. "Okay. You're right. I'll be nicer. But the Pavel thing? Not my fault."

Uhura laughed. "Good luck with that. I still bet Hikaru's going to skin you alive when he gets a chance."

"Dammit. You think?"

"I know. Hikaru is very possessive."

"He's not even dating Pavel!"

"See last comment." Uhura flipped open her communicator. "Spock. Want to tutor me? I'm about ready to get out of here."

"I would enjoy leaving with you," Spock replied. "I will be downstairs momentarily."

Kirk made a face. "That wasn't much of a social gathering."

"I'm sure it'll be better next time. Just… try to talk to Hikaru some time, okay?"

"Okay. Thanks." Kirk smiled at her. "It was nice talking to you, Nyota."

"Yeah, you too. Now quit fucking everything up."

"Can't promise anything."

Spock exited the building. Seeing Kirk, his eyes went cold.

"Are you ready to depart, Nyota?" he asked.

"Yes," said Uhura. "Bye, Jim."

"See you tomorrow, Nyota," said Kirk. He watched the two of them disappear into the dark, wondering what on earth Uhura saw in Spock anyway.

x