*Children must face the scrutiny of their parents*
*I have many people to thank for this chapter; readers who kept in touch, Steve and Shawhollow for editing and about a half-dozen feedback artists who told me what I was doing wrong and what more I had to add to a make the story work. Thank you all.*
(Yes, this tale is supposed to be somewhat humorous and outrageous too. While not always comedic I'd like to think it is mostly a good-natured romp.)
So, it was Friday, Homecoming Day at FFU, and several dozen of us were not doing what we were supposed to do but I wanted this headache taken care of before the rest of the day's festivities. All the Advocates were gathered as was Ms. Goodswell as a Student Advisor. Other people were gathered to observe the spectacle and guessing which way I would jump.
This first major crisis of my role as Mediator since the creation of the Janissaries wouldn't have been complete without Iona, my trusty sidekick, and Rio, my chronic pain in the butt/truest friend. In fact, Rio was the reason for this meeting. She had been given the writing assignment of 'place the writings of a juvenile/young adult story into an adult setting'. The train wreck wasn't hard to foretell.
Rio had chosen four works of the late, lamented Dr. Seuss (if he wasn't dead he would be after reading halfway through Rio's creation). Rio had attacked the project with a gusto that made Ms. Tucker, her English instructor, hopeful that Rio was finally fitting in (read: conforming). Rio turned in the pornographic Tales of a Cat with a Really Big Hat on Tuesday.
Ms. Tucker had flunked the effort and dragged Rio down to Dr. Victoria Scarlett's office but that senior educator had volleyed this time bomb into my lap. I promptly told them to pick an Advocate and get back to me after dinner. Rio Talon/Christina Buchanan's argument had been that the vagueness of the instructions allowed for a liberal interpretations of the assignment.
Athena Varna (representing the rest of Ms. Tucker's class)/Joy Jefferson had argued that the standard was what 'any reasonable individual going to a Christian school would find acceptable' as their defense, which meant that it wasn't acceptable in their opinion. Two days of mediation went nowhere and I wasn't going to let this matter fester through the weekend.
I had called all the concerned parties to join me after breakfast and received Dr. Scarlett's blessing for missing Assembly where many of the students and their families were gathered in our daily religious/social function.
"Okay, I've given the matter serious thought and I saw merit to both arguments but I found Ms. Jefferson's argument to be the more compelling," I led off. "We live in a society; each person should be free and act with freedom but that cuts both ways – we have to give our society some support to retain our harmony. This is my judgment."
"I would hope that since Rio did make an exceptional effort in her creative writing work that Ms. Tucker would consider allowing Rio one additional week to make up the assignment since this is one-quarter of her grade and her effort, while misdirected, was acknowledged as a vigorous attempt. That is my suggestion anyway," I said hopefully since I wasn't sure if I could instruct a teacher in any manner, much less order a do-over for Rio.
It took a few seconds for my words to sink in. This was hardly re-writing the Charter of the Commonwealth of Virginia but it did mean I'd ruled against my best friend and the woman I wanted to marry and several girls looked at me in some disbelief that I hadn't gone that way.
"Thank you Mediator," Joy was the first to offer me her hand – and she was still technically the enemy, being in the Traditionalist faction here at school.
"Your argument carried the day, Joy. I'm pretty sure there was no favoritism involved," I smiled.
"I will get you next time," Christina came up and shook Joy's hand. She turned and clasped my hand after that. "You were wiser than I thought you'd be," Christina winked to me.
A few people came by and went through the same routine until Rio approached last of all. She hit me in the shoulder causing multiple heads to swivel our way.
"You threw me under the bus Bitch," she laughed.
"Don't look so surprised," I rubbed my shoulder, "you built the bus I rolled over you with, ya Deviant."
Iona gave me a shy wave right before she slipped out to go meet her parents and most of the girls did likewise. Finally it was Ms. Goodswell, Christina, Faith, Rio and myself.
"Faith and I will polish off the minutes of your final decision Zane," Christina said before turning her imperious head away and leading Faith out to do what seniors do.
"So, are you two going to be hiding out all day?" Virginia Goodswell looked Rio and my way.
"I would but two dozen over-eager and overly-endowed students have asked Zane to be available to meet their ancestors or some other such cheesy crap," Rio ranted. "Besides, I'm sure there is some law or ordinance that causes the rest of you to never leave me alone."
"Yes Ms. Talon," Ms. Goodswell said with some gravity, "That is the Self-preservation Act of 1908. You are listed under 'Elements with Corrosive properties."
"Woot!" Rio hollered, "I'm a corrosive influence!"
"Thanks Virginia," I addressed my teacher and Spiritual Advisor, "like she needed more ammo."
Goodswell laughed and headed out toward the main campus while Rio and I headed for our dorm.
"I think I'm going to become a superhero," Rio teased me. "My X-ray vision will vaporize the panties off of unsuspecting stuck-up babes."
"Wasn't there a time when heroes were heroes and villains were villains; none of this gray crap?" I half-grinned.
"Zane," Rio sounded exasperated and but motherly aka Ma Barker, "you keep saving girls and they keep kicking you in the teeth."
"I look at it as opportunity to get back up again," I smiled.
"That's called masochism – look it up," Rio sneered.
"Let's go to my room," I said, rather redundantly, as we'd reached the elevator door and I'd hit the button. Rio became oddly close to me as we got on board and even let me wrap an arm around her. For me, being parentless today required I convince Aunt Jill that parking would be a bitch and I'd see her Saturday night – we had our first Marksmanship outing tomorrow morning in Kentucky so I'd would be back to have dinner with my sole family member.
Rio's parents hadn't asked Rio if she wanted them to come. They hadn't made any contact at all, denying Rio the ability to scream at her parents and tell them to 'fuck off'. Adding to the misery, Mercy's parents were here and everyone in our close circle had convinced Rio that being close to Mercy would be disastrous – in the belief that Rio had poor impulse control – imagine that.
When the end of Assembly sounded and the parents began exiting the building to join up with their kids we proceeded to my Solarium level of the dorm. The parents would meet their girl's friends, teachers the key members of their various clubs. We opened my 'vault' door and Rio led me upstairs then gave a start.
I slipped around her to see what the problem was – Cordelia Dresden. To her credit, Cordelia and her Time Lord Mafia had either been behaving or doing things in such a sneaky manner as to avoid my notice. Besides the three of us, only three freshmen girls occupied the rest of the floor, leaving us effectively alone.
"Hi Rio!" Cordelia led off, "Zane, I only want you to know you have our full support," was her cryptic statement that I was still digesting when Rio hurled herself at the slender brunette. Cordelia cried out as Rio toppled them both to the ground. Rio rose up on her knees and slapped Cordelia across the face.
"Get her off me," Cordelia screamed as she raised her hands to defend herself.
"What's the fucking secret you're hiding?" Rio growled.
"Yank Rio off me right now. Zane," Cordelia snapped as she took a second slap to the cheek. "You know what I can do."
"Cordy, Rio wants to live free or die trying so you might want to consider your next words carefully," I shrugged. "She prefers to exist free of fear. Rio, I'm going to the shake dispenser; do you want something?"
"A strawberry shake sounds good," Rio smiled as she began pinning Cordelia's wrists down.
