September 6th, 2010
Lila heard the final school bell ring. After a few minutes, kids began pouring from the school. Going home, for most, or to Nazi meetings, no doubt, for some. Lilly looked up as the hoard of children emerged from the school. "Are you sure she's coming out this door?" she asked her daughter.
"It's closest to her bus route," Lila replied, "so it seems likely. I'm running pattern recognition, so I won't miss her."
The initial deluge of students was ebbing and Lila spotted Taylor dash down the front stairs of the school, Emma not quite running behind her, yelling something. She really should think about building some cybernetic ears. She would have done it already if she thought she could get it by her mom.
"Stay here," Lila said as she opened her door and limped out onto the street on her crutch. "HEY, TAYLOR, OVER HER," she shouted, getting both Taylor's and Emma's attention.
She limped across the street toward the girls, and they all converged on the sidewalk.
Emma started to speak, but Lila quickly interjected, "Here to fight already?" she asked. "Okay, but I'm gimpy today, so I get to use my crutch." Lila pulled the crutch from under her arm and placed it lightly on her shoulder like a baseball bat. Anyone looking wouldn't see it as an obvious threat, but Emma did.
"Are you psycho, little bitch?" Emma retorted. "There are way too many witnesses here."
"You'll have a messed-up face, and I get a suspension at worse. Win. Win." Lila replied with what she hoped was a crazed look on her face.
"Your mother is right there," Emma pointed behind Lila at the car.
Lila looked over her shoulder and pointing at Taylor, "MOM, THIS IS TAYLOR!" she shouted, then pointing at Emma, "THIS IS THAT BITCH I TOLD YOU ABOUT!"
"Well, if you're going to kill another one, at least hide the body," was her mom's reply without looking up from her book. It was nice to have a mother who gets you.
"My father is a lawyer," Emma tried.
"What kind of lawyer? My mom has lawyers on retainer," Lila replied. "Granted only three practice criminal law, but I think we have the civil side covered just fine too. Or...," Lila offered, "you can just walk away."
Emma paused for a moment, then turned and began walking back toward a group of girls waiting at the front of the schools with a parting, "Bitch," flung back at Lila.
"COOL, THANKS SOOOOO MUCH EMMA," Lila shouted, "JUST ASK IF YOU NEED ANY MORE HELP. HOPE THAT RASH CLEARS UP SOON."
Lila glanced at Taylor to find her friend looking at her like she had two heads.
"Oh, come on," Lila said to her friend, "That's perfectly in character for me."
"Maybe, Butch," she said, "but if you keep that up, we aren't going to have to wait to get to Bolivia. Bolivia's gonna to come after us."
Lila smiled at the we, then swept her hand toward her mother's car. "Shall we?"
"Hanging around you is never going to be boring, is it?" Taylor asked, her smile making another appearance.
"Oh my god, you think this is the exciting part," Lila responded with a serious look, "you poor, poor child."
They waited for traffic to clear, then walked across the street where her mother waited for them. As they both got into the back seat, Lilly looked at Lila through the rearview mirror. "Was that strictly necessary?" she asked her daughter.
"Part three of my ten-part nonviolent plan," Lila replied. "I can do it in four if I use violence," she said with a smile.
"Nonviolent is fine," was her mother's deadpan reply, before she looked at Taylor. "You must be Taylor then. Pleased to meet you. I'm Lilly, or Mrs. Clarke."
"Pleased to meet you too, Mrs. Clarke," Taylor replied.
"Where to?" Lilly asked.
"Mom, we're going home," Lila replied making eye contact in the mirror.
"Lila," her mom said before pausing, "I didn't think you cleaned your room before you left this morning," she concluded.
"It's fine, Mom," Lila replied. "It's Taylor."
"OOOkay," Lilly said, "if, you're sure."
"Ninety-nine point nine eight recuring," was her replied.
"I guess that's pretty certain," Lilly said, "Ninety-nine point nine eight?" she asked.
"I can run you through it later if you want," Lila said with a smile.
"No, that's fine," Lilly said with a grin. "I still have a headache from dealing with your principal."
As her mom put the car in gear and began driving, Taylor gave Lila a questioning look. "So, what was that all about," she whispered. "Your mom's not mad, is she?"
"No," Lila answered at her normal volume. "I just don't invite people over often...or ever," she corrected when saw her mother's raised eyebrow in the rearview mirror. "It's kind of a surprise. But a good kind. It was all her idea anyway," Lila concluded with a smile.
"I need your email, so I can send you that study guide," Lila said, changing the subject, while waiving her phone in the air.
"Sure," Taylor replied, still looking at Lila's mom uncertain. "therbert132 at .edu."
Lila quickly typed the email address and hit send. "No non-school email?" she asked. "Check your email and make sure you got it."
"I don't have a cell phone," Taylor responded. "We don't use them."
"Oh," Lila said, "I didn't even think of that." Lila used her power to scan Taylor for any electronic devices and found none. "How about I lend you a e-reader? That way, you can study anywhere."
"You don't have to do that," Taylor said. "What if Sophia decides to break it?" she asked, a frown coming back to her face.
"If she didn't get the message with the broken foot, I'll just move further up her body," Lila said with a smile. "Plus, if she can break one of my e-readers, it deserves to be broken."
Lila caught her mother's reflection in the review mirror, doing her best not to look back at her. It wasn't quite approval for her actions in school, but it was as close as her mom was likely to give. Sometimes you had to do something to send a message. Lila dropped that thought into one of her streams of consciousness for another time.
Lila began walking Taylor through her lesson plan on her own phone. Taylor was engaged, asking questions about the plan and what she expected to learn over the next few months.
"You should be a teacher," Taylor said. "Mrs. Knott does okay, but you make it look easy."
Lila smiled at the compliment, not that she intended to ever teach. Her time could be better spent creating working to uplift humanity.
A short time later, they were pulling up to a condo building and parking in an assigned spot. Although there were other cars in the lot, there weren't any people in sight. They also didn't meet any other people as they walked to the building.
The first person they ran into was the doorman, Stan as he opened the door.
"Hey, Stan," Lila paused inside the entrance to greet him while her mother continued toward the elevator. "This is Taylor. She's going to be coming over a lot, so make sure she feels welcome.
"Well," replied Stan, "there's welcome, then there's welcome. Which do you mean?"
"Funny, Stan," Lila replied, noting the slightly confused look on Taylor's face. "The first one, obviously," she concluded.
"You seem rather personable today," Stan said, a smile forming on his face.
"You know how it is," Lila replied, "best foot forward and all."
"Right," Stan replied, wide smile still on his face.
"Well, gotta go," Lila said, tugging Taylor toward the elevator.
"It was nice to meet you Taylor," Stan said.
"It was nice to meet you, too" replied Taylor, her arm tangled with Lila's.
"Just remember," Stan shouted after them with a smile, "I can be bribed with cookies."
"He seems nice," Taylor said as they joined Lilly at the elevator.
"Yeah," Lila replied, "Stan's the best."
Lilly held the door for the girls and joined them after they entered the elevator.
Inside the elevator, Lila watched Taylor's face and saw the moment she realized there were no buttons other than the emergency stop and call button.
Lilly reached down and pushed the call button casting a side glance at her mother. "SANDI, silent mode" she said, "three for the apartment."
The elevator began moving immediately and Taylor gave Lila a questioning look.
Lila just smiled and said, "you'll see."
The elevator doors opened silently directly into the apartment and Lila said, "Welcome to the madhouse," she said with a smile, "last chance to run, Sundance."
Taylor, still obviously confused responded with, "Lead the way, Butch."