Burning Hearts [1]

Gossip and Slander

Lillian, Ian, and Lip skipped class and were smoking in the bathroom, Lillian sat on the window seal thanks to Ian that helped her up. 

"Hey, Louise got an "A" on the paper you wrote for her English class. How do you keep doing that?" That was the one thing Lillian could not do, she couldn't help others in the way that Lip did for them, she could take S.A.T. test all day long if she could, fuck even some college exams, but she couldn't write on paper about anything. 

"Well, to master the art of the book report, you just take any novel, no matter when it was written, and you argue that the main character is a latent homosexual," Lip looked up at Lillian, they all laughed. 

"No seriously, now most English teachers are either gay and agree, or they're straight but too scared to disagree and get labeled as intolerant." 

.. 

Lillian was helping Ian at the Kash N' Grab, Kash and Lillian were doing inventory, Ian hadn't arrived yet, so he went to grab stuff from the truck for the store. 

Mickey Milkovich walked in and went straight to the coolers he grabbed two Gatorade and found other stuff as well on his way back, he came up to the checkout and flipped the box that Kash was counting for inventory, he set 'his' items in the box, picking them up before walking out. Mickey stops and looks back at Kash, Lillian's eyes followed Mickey. 

"Oh, heads up, man, you're out of barbecue Pringles," Mickey told Kash before walking out, moments later Ian walked in holding the things he needed from the truck. 

"Hey, did Mickey pay for that?" He looked between Kash and Lillian, but no one answered. 

"You have to stand up to him, Kash." Ian softly scolded his lover. 

"What the hell was I supposed to say?" Kash went back to counting some inventory. 

"How about "Cut ou the shit or I'll call the cops," Lillian spoke in, making both men look at her. 

"I tried that once with his father." Kash's face looked almost ghostly white, just then Mickey came back in holding the stuff he took from the store. 

"I forgot the dip." Mickey walked in, looked over at Lillian, and winked. 

"Hey, Mickey, why don't you steal from a neighborhood you didn't live in? Have some civic pride?" Ian told the black-haired boy. Lillian's smile rose to her face, she knew that his stealing was a problem but never thought that Ian or Kash would say anything. 

"You know where I live if you have a problem," Mickey called out as he left. 

..

Lillian sat next to Lip in the silence of the testing room, they both had a testing session that night. The two were almost done with the test, the test was honestly the easiest this in the world to do, the same questions were asked which was basic common sense, and you didn't need too much brain. 

Lip went up there first, the adults sitting at the table waiting to receive the test asked if he was going to use the bathroom and if he washed be escorted out of the room, he declined and handed them the finished test, and walked out of the room. 

Lillian went up a few minutes later and handed them the test, she received the same question and gave the same answer as Lip, which she then also walked out, she found Lip other by the phone booth and walked over to him, he was making a call to the student he was pretending to be saying everything went well, he cut the line before he needed to add any more money and hung it up. Lillian watched as an older man came up to them. 

"You taking the test for girls now, Morgan?" The man looked at Lip then over to Lillian.

"Or was it you?" The man's eyebrows furrowed. "Yeah, welcome to your shit show. I'm an investigator for the Educational Evaluation Service. We're the people who administer the..."Lip cut the man off. 

"Yeah, we know." 

"Oh, you do? So why don't you tell me how you two cheat?" 

"We don't cheat," Lip looked over at Lillian before looking back at the older man. 

"Oh... right." The man rolled his eyes.

"We don't," Lillian spoke out to the man.

"Uh-huh, let's see for you Phillip you got a 2,360, 2,290, 2,400, and Lillian you got 2,300, 2,240, and 2,390, and all from this crappy high school." The man looked at the school before looking back at the teens. 

"Well, I guess we both know our shit." Lip shrugged and looked at Lillian. 

"Are we in any sort of trouble sir?" Lillian boldly asked the man. 

"Well, I got a brand-new test we just finished creating, why don't we go see if you know your shit or if you guys are just full of it?" The man walked the teens back into the school, leading them into a separate classroom before seating the two and handing them one test each, he sat and watched the two the whole time writing away at the paper. 

..

"Well, Lip you missed one." The man looked at the paper and placed it on the table to show him what he missed. 

"No, I didn't, the wording is ambiguous." Lip corrected the man, which took the paperback and was in disbelief, Lip was correct. 

"Lillian it looks like you also missed the same one. 2400 you know how rare that is, hmm?" The man looked at the two students, then back down at the papers flipping through them. 

"Out of a million and a half kids who take the test every year, only 300 get a perfect score." The man looked up at the teens once again.

"How did you catch us?" Lillian beat Lip to the punch by asking the vital question. 

"Huh, well, as smart as you are, we got people working for us who are even smarter." The man chuckled at his words. 

Lip looked at Lillian, his expression wore confusion, he proceeded to look back at the man that sat in front of them. 

"So what now?" Lip asked. 

"Well, punishment or redemption... your choice." The man threw a wicked smile at the two. 

"What's the punishment?" Lip made a follow-up question. 

"You mean, you entered into this without researching the consequences of getting caught?" The man looked at Lip disbelief wrapped in his mind.

"What jail?" Lillian asked quickly. 

"No my dear, we're not usually in the business of sending kids to jail. Our only mandate is to send universities valid scores, and we invalidate the ones that aren't legitimate," The man began to pack up his things, before slipping at the card on the table. 

"Listen, I'm at the University of Chicago. Come to my office. And don't either of you take a test for someone else again or I will find you and beat you senseless. 
  

.. 

"Carl we're serious. The stakes are high, we love you, and need you in this family. In this house, you need to stop biting and punching and hurting people." Fiona spoke to her youngest brother, they all had just gotten back from Carl's conference, and a miracle had happened thanks to Steve. 

"How else do I make them cry?" Carl had looked up at his older brother, who just smiled. 

"Gossip and slander, that's what we do." Lip looked over to Lillian making Carl's head turn to her as well. Carl looked up to Lillian, in more ways than one he knew that he was strong and that made him admire her. 

"It's a better world if you use your words rather than your fists bud." Lillian smiled at the little boy before ruffling his hair. 

"You know, when I get really angry, I usually just count to ten," Steve spoke to the boy.