Moving Forward

Class Schedules and the Buddy System

"These are not the fucking classes I asked for," Gabriel glared at his schedule with outrage.

"We are doing the buddy system," Kota reminded him. "The classes are a mixture of both people's choices."

"But I really wanted art," he whined.

"It is not my fault that I can only manage stick figures," North grumbled. "Who knew that they would make you include a fucking drawing when you signed up for the class?"

"They should have had you paint something," Silas was smirking. "I am certain we could have both gotten into the class with the masterpiece we painted on Gabe's hair. I thought the rainbow was stunning."

"Shut the fuck up you dumb fucking ass Greek, you are lucky the paint washed out or I would be kicking your fat Greek ass." Gabe glared at him.

"You should have told me that you preferred to shit rainbows for a week, I thought you would prefer the hair over a multi-colored ass." Silas was amused by Gabe's threat.

"That reminds me, what happened with Doc?" Kota asked as slid his glasses further up on his nose, his green eyes filled with curiosity. They had all seen the video of him posing for the art class; it was just his bad luck that he had flirted with many of the ladies in the past. They, of course, were thrilled to have the handsome Dr. Green pose for them in the nude. Ms. Ripley had turned such a bright shade of red that Gabe used a fire extinguisher on her in fear she was suffering from spontaneous combustion and he did not want to lose one of his favorite students. Ms. Pamela had gotten right into her drawing as she extolled the virtues of life-art classes and that we all saw things differently. Ms. Maggie would look around and then slowly peep, trying not to look too closely at certain parts of his body; then blush as she hurriedly painted her canvas. Ms. Katy was asking everyone for a fig leaf, but when asked what size she needed, she held her fingers about three inches apart. This caused Doc to blush. Ms Elizabeth searched out Gabe, asking for private lessons with him and Doc. Ms. Kelly and Ms. Megan tried to bribe Doc to pose privately for them, promising him apple pie. Ms. Lake kept her eyes on her drawing as much as possible, only to turn tomato red every time she had to look at him. Ms. Winona adjusted her thick lens spectacles and leaned over his hips to get a better view. "My, my, it is a perky little devil, isn't it?" Ms. Erin studied him closely, her lips turned down in disappointment. "His hair, it has red in it, but only the lower half. It should be the same all over; it goes better with his freckles." "He has freckles down there?" Ms. Jessica perked up, "I want to see them." Once it was said, they all converged on him. After that, the camera only recorded a bunch of women poking and pulling at something in the middle of their circle. Occasionally you would hear Doc whimper and beg Gabe to save him from the dirty birds. Ms. Jessy and Ms. Fahdima took pity on him and chased all the others back to their respected areas, then proceeded to act as his bodyguards as they drew him at close view. While North may have gone a bit far with his prank, it had not stopped any of us from laughing. It was a prank worthy of Luke.

"He is training with Shan, getting his defense skills up." Gabe got a devilish look on his face. "He sent Mr. B in to take his place and the birds went bat shit. They shredded his suit so he could not get dressed at the end of the class and one of the birds swiped my phone and gave everyone his number. The only thing I could find him to wear was an old lady skirt and a sweater, he was not amused."

"Who modeled for the last class," Nathan asked, struggling to hold in his laughter.

"Shan did, but Fox came as his body guard. The birds behaved for once. I think they were hoping for Sven or Colt, but were happy enough with Shan." Gabe shrugged, just relieved the class was over and someone else had to keep the birds corralled.

"Everyone know who their buddy is?" Kota asked, feeling like fool for having to ask.

They confirmed that they did. "Wait; there are only five of us, who doesn't have one?" North demanded.

"I am paired with Mark of the Toma team; we are only signed up for two classes." Kota replied, "We will be helping Corey and Brandon as much as possible." North nodded his approval. "Okay guys, I need you to promise not to go anywhere on your own at the school, you must always remain with your buddy. While I cannot share the information with you, the school is extremely dangerous. Kids go missing from there; they turn up later, tortured and dead. Shan thinks we should all have a tracker device embedded in our hip, it would allow them to find us quickly if needed. I think we should let them implant it." Kota added, knowing Mr. B had not approved of the foreign objects being implanted in their bodies.

North studied Kota's face, stared into his eyes, gauging how serious he was. He could see the hint of true fear driving his friend, not imagined. "Okay, we will get the implant. Who do we see to get it?"

"Foxy and Shan," he removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hands. "You cannot tell Mr. B or Doc that we have them. They do not approve of them and have already refused on our behalf. Foxy said that they should not decide for us, that it is a decision we must make on our own. Gabe made the statement once that we are not superheroes and he is right. While we do the best we can, we are still kids and this job needs the real thing. With us unable to walk away from the job, I want us to have everything we need to remain safe."