My Share of Sand (A Calabasas Fable)...Slightly Revised Edition

15-Another One Rides the Bus (....sorry)...revised

Thursday, September 14

"Did you get a chance to sit on the bed?"

Darius and Genefer were practically shaking in the eagerness to hear all the details about Wednesday from Colinda at lunch, but leave it to Gen to cut straight to the point.

"I saw the bed, but I got the feeling that the main living space in the bedroom was off limits, so we stayed in the closet."

Genefer said nothing. She just sounded off a dirty little chuckle.

"What necklace was she wearing?" Darius asked.

Colinda widened her eyes a little bit. She hadn't even noticed! Between being overwhelmed for the first half of the visit, and falling for Templynn's mom in the second half, she was too distracted to notice a thing that would normally have commanded so much of her attention. "I don't know, actually," she had to admit. Her sudden distance on the subject of Templynn did not go unnoticed by the others.

Feeling like she had to save face and deliver some kind of juicy tidbit, as a souvenir of the experience, Colinda thought for a minute, then disclosed one of the big revelations: "She seems like she has a crush on Jaxon Self. She was going off on how smart and good-looking he was and all that."

"And she was serious?" a shocked Darius asked?

"She doesn't seem like a liar, or a troll, so yeah."

"Who's this?" asked Genefer, who'd never had the pleasure of meeting young Master Self.

"Arrogant know-it-all twerp," said Colinda.

"Guy who thinks money is a substitute for charm," Darius added.

"His dad owns a swimming pool company," Colinda further explained.

"Ohhhhhhh," Genefer moaned in recognition. "I think I've seen his car in the parking lot. Just one look at it and you think, 'wow, this guy's an asshole'."

"I mean, Holden is bad, but Jaxon is ten times worse," huffed Darius.

"We should save her from both of them, shouldn't we?" Genefer proposed.

"But who would end up with Templynn?" asked Darius.

With a raise of her brows, Genefer whispered "We'll cross that bridge when we come up to it."

###

Darius had a more immediate concern connected with Templynn's love life: he really needed to get his duo assignment with Holden started. Up to this point he may have been hoping that some miracle would occur and Holden would initiate things, but the clock was starting to wind down. So, when he kept his usual watchful eye on Templynn and Holden in the cafeteria, he was really waiting for a moment to get Holden alone. Sure enough, once they finished eating and the Power Couple kissed, followed by Templynn walking off with one of her cheerleader friends, Darius, who'd told to the girls that he was going to stay behind in the cafeteria, quickly discarded his tray and rushed into the hallway. "Holden!"

Holden stopped and turned around.

"When can we get together to do the assignment for first period?"

"When I say we can," Holden spat.

"Templynn and Colinda Quarles already started theirs," Darius revealed.

"I know."

As Holden began walking away, Darius gulped. He didn't want to have to play this newly-acquired ace so quickly, but Holden forced him into it: "Did you know that Templynn says that Jaxon Self is hot and really smart?"