*Friends will save you; True Friends will save you from yourself *
Getting Xavier's phone was pathetically easy. After his morning run, he spent thirty minutes in the home gym. It was his routine every day. While he kept the phone close by, he didn't always keep in the same room. All Toni had to do was scroll through the calls of the past few days. Only one set of calls were at all strange. He had been in contact with Ms. Pieper several times. He called her right before his date on Friday night. Toni was trying to understand what kind of trouble she must be in for him to take time from his date to talk with the Hag.
Needless to say the next day when she heard that Ms. Chloe Pieper had been replaced by an actual human being it was shocking to not only Toni, but the entire student body. Someone even thought she had a hickey. Everyone speculated what kind of desperate fool would resort to dating the sentient version of rope burn.
When Toni walked into the class and sat down, Ms. Pieper looked up at her saying, "Hello Toni," but the expected verbal beat-down didn't follow. Ms. Pieper went back to her work without further comment. Toni's jaw dropped. When several classmates looked at her for an explanation she could only shrug helplessly.
When class ended Ms. Pieper asked her to stay for a moment -- asked not ordered.
"Ms. Walker, how is your home situation working out? After my talk with your uncle I want to keep in touch and make sure things are going well for you," Ms. Pieper asked.
"Things are going ... well Ms. Pieper. He's taking extra care with me. This weekend he helped me work on prepping on my midterm projects," she informed her teacher.
"Well," she smiled in a way that Toni found creepy, "let Xavier know I'm keeping tabs on you."
"Yes ma'am," Toni agreed. Xavier? What the hell was she doing calling her uncle by his first name?
"And Ms. Walker, feel free to call me Chloe."
"Yes ... Chloe," Toni gulped.
"Hurry to your next class Toni. We don't want you to be late." Toni fled from the room. She didn't know what to make of that conversation. Wasn't she already in contact with Uncle Xavier? Back in the classroom, Chloe reveled in the doubt and confusion she'd sown.
At the bank Gloria took a few minutes to go over Xavier's work. Outwardly, everything was up to his impeccable standards, but inwardly she could tell he was disillusioned. He'd loved to come to work, he'd love to work for her and under her, and now something or someone had taken that away.
The thing was she couldn't understand what weakness he had. He didn't drink, gamble, or do drugs. She was pretty sure he'd only dated her. That didn't leave many options. She felt compelled to ask around. She knew some people in law enforcement. If he was in trouble, she needed to know about it -- for the bank, of course.
"Gloria, you asked to see me?" Xavier said after he knocked on her door.
"Sure Xavier; how are those Nikkei numbers?" she asked.
"We are looking at a three percent increase over this week alone," he informed her. She had to smile. Xavier had predicted this and the bank had invested based on his information.
"I miss you," she let slip. He looked at her with pain in his eyes.
"I've never stopped thinking about you," he confessed. He sounded so vulnerable and honest. She didn't know how to respond to that. He clearly wanted her and her companionship, but some unforeseen force was keeping them apart. "I need to get back to work," he sighed. She nodded and he was gone. Gloria was uncertain about what to do next.
That evening as they were eating yet another successful attempt of Xavier's at stir-fry, Toni remembered her earlier conversation.
"Ms. Pieper wanted me to let you know that she's pleased you're looking out for me." Her uncle stopped eating.
"She did?" Xavier asked softly, barely above a whisper.
"Yes, the crazy bitch wants me to call her Chloe," Toni continued.
"Don't refer to someone as a 'crazy bitch'," Xavier told her.
"I tell you, the woman's turned the bend. Worse, I think some poor desperate fool is banging her ass," Toni persisted.
"Toni, talk about people the way you would want them to talk about you. Ms. Pieper is not crazy, and I'm sure her sex life is none of your business," he instructed her.
"Fine Xavier; all I can only say whoever is doing this is doing the school a favor, still I guess if she is willing to leave me alone, I should leave her alone," Toni conceded.
"Please don't give her any reason to change her opinion of you," Xavier urged.
"I don't know," Brad snickered. "I hear she's the biggest bitch in all middle school and I don't go there until next year."
"Brad," Xavier cautioned, "don't start. The important thing is we get Toni through this year." Toni wondered what had gotten into her uncle. He normally let her brother and her speak their minds. It was one of the really cool things about him.
The next day at school was almost as weird for Toni. Ms. Pieper was seen going down the hallway and 'ignoring' several obvious infractions ... almost like a normal teacher. Not to be outdone, Toni approached Ms. Pieper at lunch. In front of the whole cafeteria she came up and said,
"Hello Chloe, my uncle says he appreciate all the special attention you've been giving me."
The closest teacher cringed and gave a pitying glance to Toni, thinking the student was about to get beheaded.
"Why thank you, Toni," was Chloe's serene reply. "I have an update I want you to give your uncle. Pick it up at the end of my class." The teacher nearly fell out of his seat. Toni was an immediate celebrity among the student body. For Chloe it was a matter of building someone up so they could fall farther.
That evening Xavier read the note when Toni handed it to him and re-read it in the study once the kids were safely around the TV.
-Call me this evening and ask me to make dinner for you at my place. --
Xavier didn't have to be brilliant to understand he would be totally vulnerable at her house. Strangely the one saving grace he could find in the matter was that it was a school night. She could only hold him for so long, which was good because he had no idea how long he could hold her off.
"Hello?" Chloe said in a far less hostile tone than last time she'd answered the phone. Xavier figured she was expecting him.
"Chloe, it is Xavier. Our last date was memorable, but I wonder if we could have dinner at your place tomorrow night?" he managed to ask in a civil tone.
"Wow, that is a bit forward, but I agree that our last date was memorable. I'm remembering it right now in fact," she teased. "I'd be happy to make you some of Thai Fried Oysters. I'm sure you'll love it. When can I expect you?"
"Eight o'clock," he informed her.
