He struts down the street, still bobbing his head to the music, nodding and flashing grins to the people he passes, all of whom bow their heads respectfully in his presence. He passes the house of two elderly ladies on their front porch and calls, "What up, bitches? What up, sluts?"

"Hi, Liam!" they call, waving daintily to him. He gives them a wink and points his fingers at them, causing the older of the two to swoon instantly. He chuckles as he continues his strut.

Halfway to the school a limo pulls up beside him. Carl steps out and opens the side door. "Your drive, Mr. Scott."

"Thank you Carl," he answers as he slips inside, into the waiting arms of half a dozen girls.

"Liaaaam!" they all scream, to which he chuckles and says, "Hey there, my little coochies. How you been?"

Carl closes the door and returns stone-faced to the driver's seat. He drives in silence, hearing only the dull thump of music behind him. Soon they arrive in the school parking lot and he pulls to a stop in Liam's special parking space, directly in front of the school's main entrance. He steps out and goes to the side door, pulling it open, his ears instantly assaulted by the loud grooves. "We're here, sir."

"Excellent, Carl." Liam and his girls pile out, laughing and spilling champagne all over themselves. "You girls go ahead, I'll meet you inside."

"Okay Liam!" they giggle, and he gives them each a slap on the ass before they go. He watches appreciatively as they bounce across the parking lot, then turns to Carl. The music which surrounds him has dropped to a low backbeat.

"Carl, you've always been good at your job." He takes a fifty dollar bill, folds it in half, and slips it into Carl's shirt pocket with a smile. "I just wanted to let you know."

Liam turns to go, but Carl puts a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you sir, I appreciate it, but I was wondering... do you think there's any way you could hook me up... with a girl?"

"You?" Liam looks him slowly up and down. "Mmmmm..." He pauses for a moment, hand on chin, then says, "No. Sorry, buddy. I'd help you if I could." Liam tweeks him on the cheek, then begins to strut toward the school as Carl stands there, dejected.

A red carpet leads up the steps and a deluge of camera flashes greet him as reporters ask him, "Have you ever considered selling your sweat as perfume?" and "Is it true that you and Ms. Cantrell are more than just friends?" He waves them away with a glinting smile and theatrically pushes open the doors of the school.

Inside, the party is in full swing. A disco ball descends from the ceiling to mark his entrance, and two girls slip immediately into his arms. People dance everywhere, but stop to cheer as he walks down the hall. People in the crowd yell "Bueno!" and "Booyah!" as he passes, and one boy whispers "You're the shit, man" into his ear. Liam slaps peoples hands and mutters "Eyyy!" before finally stopping and raising his hands in the air, proclaiming, "I'll fuck this bitch, I'll fuck that bitch... I'll fuck anything that moves!!"

A loud cheer goes up, and he claps twice into the air, causing Jeff to run to his side. "I have your cane and cigar, sir." Liam accepts both, Jeff lighting the cigar. "There's some business we should attend to, if you don't mind..." Liam draws slowly from his cigar, then says, "Let's take it to the cafeteria. Come on, sluts."

He struts down the hall and the party follows suit, Jeff at his side. They arrive at his table and he sits between his two girls, who run their hands across his chest adoringly. Jeff stays standing beside him.

"Our first order of business," Jeff says, "is that the mayor wants you to attend a party at his home this evening. He's prepared to have a statue erected in your honor later this week."

Liam considers it. "No, I've never really liked that guy. Tell him to fuck off. And in fact, send someone over there to kick him in the balls."

"Yes, sir. Next we have–"

Jeff is interrupted as Elizabeth bursts through the crowd, wearing a trenchcoat, and yelling, "Liam, just what the hell is going on here?"

"What, baby? You don't like it?"

"Like it? I can't walk around wearing this!" She flings her coat off, revealing a slightly too small Playboy bunny outfit. "It's ridiculous!"

He grins as he turns his attention to one of his hoes. "That obviously didn't stop you from putting it on..."

"What?"

"Nothing, baby. Listen, what is you actually want?"

"I was hoping we could get out of this awful place," she says, looking around nervously. "I don't know what's going on, and I rented the Shawshank Redemption – I thought maybe we could watch it together..."

Liam snorts. "Bitch, please. The only reason I watched that movie in the first place was to get you in the sack. P.S." he says, turning to Jeff. "Mission accomplished!"

They high-five and Elizabeth's face turns red. She starts to storm away, outraged. Liam springs to his feet, grabbing her by the hand. "No, wait sugar, just wait..." He puts an arm around her. "Just let me get close to you..."

"Fuck you!" she yells, grabbing a nearby glass of water and throwing it on him.

"Aw shit, my threads! They're ruined!" Elizabeth takes the opportunity to disappear back into the crowd, and Liam calls out, "Lenny!"

Lenny appears at his side. "Yes, sir?"

"Go get me a bathrobe or something, man! Damn!"

Lenny scurries off as Liam removes his shirt, to the cheers of the surrounding ladies. He hands it to Jeff and says, "Get these washed. I gotta stop by the office."

"Certainly, sir. And sir? May I speak with you a moment?"

"Sure, what you want?"

Jeff leans in close and whispers, "I was wondering, sir... could you, by any chance, hook me up with some of these girls?"

Liam lights a new cigar as he looks Jeff over, then takes a deep drag and says, "Nope. Now get to the goddamn laundry."

He turns and begins to strut bare-chested toward the office. Jeff watches him go and thinks, "As much as I hate that man right now... you've gotta respect that hat."

Liam arrives at the office, his girls and entourage in tow, and says, "I'm ready to make my morning announcements." The staff activate the school P.A. and hand him the microphone, directing him to his large and comfortable Announcement Chair. He takes another drag from his cigar, then says, "Are there any pimps up in this house?"

A resounding "Yeah!" echoes throughout the school.

"And do you pimps feel like working today?"

"No!"

"Good! Because today will be nothing but partying, and if I catch anybody studying anything that's not related to partying, I'm gonna personally beat their sorry ass! So, without further ado, let the party... BEGIN!!"

A gigantic cheer erupts throughout the building, and Liam smiles. He clicks the microphone off and turns around. "Send for Jennifer, and get me Lenny in here with my damn bathrobe. The rest of you can get the hell out."

The room quickly clears, and a moment later Ms. Cantrell walks in, closing the door behind her. She smiles.

"Come on over here, baby," Liam says, gesturing to his lap. She walks over and sits down, and he runs his hand gently across her leg. "Give me a kiss." She leans down, and their lips meet.

Just then the door opens and Lenny walks in. "I got your robe, sir."

"Yeah, yeah, great, just leave it over there. We're trying to make out, here."

"Really?" Lenny inches closer, and almost whispers, "Can I watch?"

Liam shrugs. "Yeah, sure, what the hell."

"Liam!" Jennifer says, looking angry.

Liam mirrors her look of concern and says, "No, Lenny! Now get out of here!" As soon as she turns her head he gives Lenny the thumbs up and gestures toward the next room, behind the one way mirror. Lenny gives him an a-ok and steps out the door. Liam and Jennifer resume their kiss as he moves a hand slowly up the side of her body. A moment later a loud thumping sound comes from the next room, followed by some coughing. "What was that?"

"Nothing baby. Come back down here." He guides her head back toward his, and gives a silent thumbs up to the mirror.

At that very moment the phone rings, and he stops her. "Just a sec, honey." He picks it up.

"Hello? Yes, this is he. The President's house this evening? Well certainly, I wouldn't want to miss the evening of my own inauguration combined with the ritual boot-fucking of all other people in office. The jet will be here at 6:30? Beautiful, beautiful...

Slowly, Liam's eyes begin to open. He tries to fight it, but soon he finds himself rolling around sleepily in his bed at home. After a moment, a smile crosses his face. "Oh, man..." he mutters. "I've gotta put that one in the dream journal..."

At school he finds Elizabeth sitting at their table in the cafeteria, reading a book. "Morning!"

She looks up at him, scowling slightly, then returns to the book.

He sits down next to her. "What's the matter?"

"So..." she says, deliberately putting the book aside. "What was it like having sex with Ms. Cantrell?"

"What?" He breaks into a large smile. "Where'd you hear that?"

She looks at him accusingly. "Is it true?"

"Of course not. Who'd you hear it from?"

"Jesus, it's all over the school. It's practically an urban legend already."

He glances around proudly. "Oh yeah?"

She furrows her brow at him.

"Look, it's not true. We just took off yesterday afternoon and talked for awhile. I'm surprised the rumor has spread at all. And I'm even more surprised that you were so quick to accept it."

"I wasn't, but, well... Why didn't you tell me?"

He grins to himself. "She said you might be jealous, so I decided to keep it to myself."

She raises an eyebrow slightly. "She said that?"

"Yup."

Surprised, Elizabeth says, "What a bitch..."

"Hey, c'mon, give her some credit. She's the best teacher at this school."

Elizabeth rolls her eyes. "Yeah, it is pretty impressive how she manages to keep her ass covered by those little skirts day after day."

"Jesus, you really are jealous!" Elizabeth furrows her brow and turns away from him, and he says, "Hey, come on. You could out-sex her any day, if you wanted to. If you wore one of those nice baby-T's, no bra, some cut-off jeans... oh yeah, you'd blow her out of the water..." He pauses for a moment, deciding to keep the Playboy bunny suit idea to himself. "Plus, think of all the guy's who'd ask you to the dance!"

She glances at him. "I think it's time to change the subject – You're getting that glossed-over look in your eyes."

He grins and nods slowly. "Yeah... So, what are you reading, anyway?"

As soon as he says it she promptly throws the book in the garbage. "Nothing. The title's not even worth mentioning. Some knob-headed friend of mine recommended it to me." She turns back to him. "Why is it that some authors go out of their way to make characters that are annoying? Do I really have time to sit around reading about these unlikeable people?"

At that moment Steven appears at the side of their table. He looks down silently for several long moments, waiting to be acknowledged, until finally Elizabeth looks up and says, "Yes?"

"I thought you might need the notes you missed from science class. You can borrow mine if you want."

"Why would I need them? Have you ever seen me copy a single word in that class?"

"I hadn't really noticed..."

"Yeah, sure. Thank you, but no, I won't be needing them."

"Okay." He hesitates for a moment. "Sorry."

She winces. "Look, don't apologize, just... I'll see you in class, okay?"

"Okay. See you." He turns to go, without acknowledging Liam's presence at all. Once he's gone Liam says, "Well, that was certainly interesting."

She puts her fingers lightly against her temples and says, "I don't think I'm as over this cold as I thought I was." She glances toward a window. "Let's just get out of here for awhile."

He picks up his bookbag and they walk out of the cafeteria, toward the nearest exit. A teacher stops them in the hallway. "Where are you two going?"

Elizabeth says, "Outside."

"Are you aware that classes start in 5 minutes?"

"Yes, we're aware."

The teacher looks them over slowly, then says, "All right. Make sure you're back in time for the bell."

"Oh, we will." They keep walking down the hall, and the teacher watches them as they push open the door and walk away.

Once they're out of view of the school Elizabeth stretches her arms out and twirls slowly around, her eyes closed, her face to the sun. "It's amazing how you can wake up some days just feeling bad about things, listless, not sure where you're going in life, and then you have to get up and go to school, which just makes it worse." She breathes deeply. "But sometimes all it takes to fix it is a little sunlight and fresh air." They walk silently for a moment before she says, "It's funny how they try to convince people that staying in there will benefit their future, when being out here helps a whole lot more. There's going to be a big backlash soon, I'm sure of it." She puts her hands in her pockets and says, "Or maybe not, I don't know. I can never tell how people are going to act."

"I don't really get that kind of broad, aimless depression very much. I usually know exactly what's pissing me off."

She looks up at the clouds as they walk. "Yeah, me too, it's just that the problem is too general. I was thinking this morning about how I have to handle almost everyone I know with kid gloves. Besides you and my mom, I always have to be careful with what I say around people. Not to avoid offending them, 'cause that's easy; when they don't value anything in particular, people are pretty willing to roll with whatever punches you throw at them. But if I were to tell them 'You're completely spineless and you bore the fuck out of me', they'd be hurt. And it's not that I even really care if I make them feel bad or not, but I've learned to keep my mouth shut because it just makes things easier... except that it's not easier, it drives me fucking nuts some days. I just want to... fucking skip school and go for a walk."

He smiles, and they walk in silence for awhile. Eventually he asks, "So, we heading anywhere in particular?"

"We're near the pond, let's go sit there for awhile."

"Sounds good. And I never did manage to get you naked last time."

"You know, you've gotta stop talking about getting me naked. I'm not getting any nakeder."

"I'm pretty sure that's not a word. But it's your loss," he says as they approach the water, kicking off his shoes. "'Cause I'm going for a swim."

"What? In the pond?"

"Sure." He drops his bookbag and pulls off his shirt. "It's getting pretty hot already, so what the hell?"

She smiles a little as she watching him pull off his pants. "I don't think it was really intended for swimming. The water probably won't even go over your head."

"Even better, 'cause I'm a shitty swimmer." Wearing only his boxer shorts he walks across the grass and into the water, then stops.

"Well," she says, "Aren't you going in?"

"I dunno, it's pretty cold... do you think there are any turtles in here?"

"Probably only the testicle biting kind. Now get in there! If you don't do it fast you'll never get the courage."

"Oh, I've got the courage, lady." With that he charges into the pond, and once he's in chest deep he dives forward, submerging himself. He comes back up and floats on his back, his teeth clenched tightly.

She sits down in the grass and smiles. "How is it?"

Careful to remain as still as possible, he mumbles, "Very, fucking, cold..."

"Maybe you better get out of there. You look like you're gonna start turning blue."

"Yeah." He wades back and tries his best to look like he's not cold as he steps back onto the grass. He goes to sit beside her, and she watches him as he shivers slightly, then mostly stops, then lays back in the grass, his arms held out. "Thank god for warm weather. If I never see snow again I'll be a happy, happy man."

"Snow doesn't seem so bad. At least you get snowballs."

"Trust me, it's not worth it. There's nothing worse than seeing it coming, when the days start getting colder and there's nothing you can do about it. Whether you like it or not, it's going to be cold for like 8 fucking months. It was awful. One of my primary goals in life was to move somewhere warm. Luckily dad did it for me."

"Why did you parents move here, anyway?"

"Just the usual. Business. Dad got offered a position higher up in the company and had to move to accept it, so he did. It's happened a few times before. He's a pretty big wheel down at the cracker factory by now."

She laughs. "Seriously, what does he do?"

"I don't know, exactly. It has to do with cars, somehow. I never really bothered to ask. What does your mom do?"

"She's a writer."

He props himself up on his elbows. "Really?"

"Yeah, she writes sci-fi books. Though they're called speculative fiction these days. They're not quite pulp, but pretty close. She's good at it, though. She puts out at least a book a year, and she's got a definite following. She hasn't won any awards or anything, but it keeps me in Corn Pops."

"Wow. You'll have to lend me some of her stuff."

"Sure, but there's a pile of them. She's been at it for a pretty long time."

"I kinda wondered why she's at home all the time. That's so cool. Your the first person I've ever met who had a parent with an interesting job. So what happened to your dad?"

"He was just some guy mom knew. They didn't even go out for very long. She was just using him for a baby. In fact, I don't think he even knows he's the father. From what she tells me, she got rid of him pretty fast. Therefore, no dad."

"I take it you're not too worried about tracking him down, then?"

"Hell no. It wouldn't be hard, she told me who he is. He lives in San Francisco somewhere. She actually told me that she picked him so her baby wouldn't be ugly. She figured I'd get all the brains I needed from her, so she just found a handsome guy to give me that little extra kick of physical attractiveness."

"Well, it must have worked, 'cause you do sorta look like a boy."

"What?" He laughs and shields himself as she tries to hit him. "Whoa, look at the feminine rage!" She breaks off her assault and looks away. He sits up. "You're lucky. I bet you wouldn't know what to do with yourself if guys didn't stare at your ass everywhere you went."

"Well I guess we'll never know, will we?"

He watches her for a moment with an eyebrow raised, then reaches for his bookbag. As he rummages through it he says, "Hey, did I tell you they're making a Ghost World movie?"

"What, that comic about the two chicks who don't do anything?"

"Yeah." He pulls out a bottle of water and says, "It was on hiatus for awhile, but I guess it's back on now." He opens the bottle and takes a long drink, then says, "Thora Birch is in it."

"Which one is she?"

"Lester's daughter in American Beauty."

She grins. "Right... of course you'd have a thing for her, with your American Beauty fetish and everything."

"Hey, I never said I had a thing for her, just that she's in it. And my American Beauty fetish is nothing compared to your Shawshank Redemption hard-on."

She smiles. "That's true."

They're silent for a moment, and he says, "But you've gotta admit, she was pretty cute in that movie."

"Yeah, but you always say that about movies you like. There are plenty of attractive people in the world, but the ones who were in movies you like get a special sheen of desirability. You do it all the time."

He considers for a moment. "Well, yeah, in a way that's true. Hell, let's take it a step further: Wes Bently was looking pretty good too, and Kevin Spacey was hot as hell."

She smiles, and rolls her eyes. "Christ, you are so gay sometimes..."

He shrugs, smiling.

She's silent for awhile, staring out across the pond, then says, "You know, that reminds me of a dream I had last night."

"Really? Man, the planets must have been aligned for weird dreams last night."

"You had one too?"

"In... a manner of speaking. Nothing worth recounting. So what was yours about?"

"Well, I was watching tv with a girl, who I'd never seen before, but who I knew I was best friends with in the dream. It got late and we went to bed; I went to my room and she went to the guest room, and while I was lying there I felt so frustrated, because I knew that we should have been sleeping together, but because we were both girls we didn't. We just accepted that we were only supposed to be friends, because one of us wasn't a boy. But if one of us had been a boy, it would have been completely different. It seemed so ridiculous. I think that's why I was so angry when I woke up this morning."

They're silent for a few moments, until she looks over to him. "Well? Aren't you going to tell me that it's alright to be a lesbian, as long as you're allowed to watch?"

"Well, it kind of goes without saying, doesn't it?"

She smiles and looks back at the pond.

"Are you sure there's not some hot chick at school you subconsciously wanna get with? 'Cause seriously, I would be totally cool with that."

"Yeah, I bet. No, there aren't any girls. That's what makes that dream so weird."

"You know, now I've already started plotting ways that I can get you and Ms. Cantrell in the sack at the same time."

"Well, good luck with that." She glances over at him. "And put some clothes on, for christ's sake. If somebody walks by they're gonna wonder why one of us is half naked."

He gives her a quick salute. "Right away, sir."

As he walks around gathering his clothes she continues to look out across the pond. Her brow is furrowed slightly, thinking.

She leans forward and begins to crawl along the grass, until she reaches the edge of the water. Looking down, her elbows in the grass, she stares at the reflection of her eyes. Something isn't right here. She feels like looking away, but forces herself not to. This isn't something that happens to her; this is for other people. Doubting the reflection, not wanting to see it – it's silly, it really doesn't make sense to her. But sometimes there are just those days... she looks into her eyes for one more long moment, then stands. Liam is pulling on a sock.

"I was thinking that after we get something to eat, we should just head back to school. I really can't think of anything better to do today."

"There's always something better to do. But it's just as well that we're going back, 'cause I've got a test today."

"So you've got money, right?"

He smirks. "Yeah, I've got money."

They go to a nearby fast food place, and she gives the boy at the counter her best smile. She tries to flirt with him, keeping it low key enough that Liam doesn't notice, but the boy doesn't respond to her. She frowns as they take their food to a table, and once they sit down Liam says, "Disappointed that that guy didn't come on to you?"

She feels a twinge of annoyance, then says, "For some reason, yeah. But forget it; I'm just having a weird day."

Elizabeth walks into her science class just as the bell rings, sliding into her seat seconds before the teacher makes his entrance. She shuffles some papers and tries to look prepared as he lectures, but she really can't focus. She just sits quietly until he finishes talking, after which time he issues an assignment and leaves the room, allowing the class to work.

Steven takes this opportunity to turn to her. "You know, you've been gone an awful lot lately. I've had to do a lot of assignments by myself."

"And yet," she says, opening a clean page in her notebook, "Somehow... life goes on..."

Steven shrugs and turns back to his books, then smiles slightly to himself.

Ms. Cantrell sits on her desk and slowly crosses her legs. She looks toward one of the classroom's windows and says, "Everybody look outside." The students all turn toward the windows, except for Liam, who stays focused on Ms. Cantrell. "It seems like a shame to waste such a nice day... would anyone be opposed if we were to do something today which wouldn't exactly be defined as learning, per se? Something outside, perhaps?"

A murmur of acceptance runs through the classroom, and she says, "Good. I was thinking maybe we could do a scavenger hunt. The thing is, I don't have a list of things to look for. So maybe we could just all go outside for an hour, and if anyone asks what we're doing, we'll pretend it's a scavenger hunt. Does that sound good to everybody?"

Calls of "Yeah!" and "Alright!" rise from the class as people close their books and head for the door. "Make sure you're at your next class on time, everybody!" she calls after them, then turns back to the classroom to find only Liam still in his seat. She smiles. "Can you believe I get paid for this?"

He moves to a desk closer to her and sits on it. "At this rate, I'm sure you'll be fired before too long."

"Maybe, but I'm not too worried."

They both look to the windows to watch the small swarm of students walking happily away from the school, then turn back to one another and smile.

"The thing with charity," Elizabeth says, her elbows against her desk and her hands gesturing as she speaks, "is that it has to work both ways. Most people just take it as a given that people need all the help they can get and that they'll take it, but that's not always true."

Steven watches her. "What do you mean?"

"Take me for example: I don't need or want help from anybody about anything, but if I did I wouldn't insist on it, I wouldn't expect it. Other people's lives are not mine to impose upon, regardless of how much I might think I need something. It's not their duty to supply things for me. You have to respect other people's right to not have to support you. Trades have to be made value for value, in mutual agreement. Otherwise one person just becomes the scape-goat of the other."

"Well, what if you're starving to death? What if you really do need food, or you're going to die?"

"Well, that's a legitimate need, sure, but the idea has spread way further than people who are actually starving. I'll bet you a million bucks that fifty years from now there'll be people complaining that they only have regular tv's while the rest of the world has 3-D hologram tv's or something like that. There's this whole class of people who just yearn for whatever the people with more money have, and they try to claim that they're not the materialistic ones. If they could just admit that they want stuff and that they have to earn it, that'd be fine, but they act like it's somehow owed to them to have the same stuff that everybody else has, regardless of who's the one pulling the weight to pay for all this shit. Like they're all fucking oppressed because they don't have a pair of fifty dollar shoes... do you know how much these cost me?" she asks, lifting her foot. "Fifteen bucks. Ah, I don't know, I'm just ranting here. Some days it's not worth even trying to explain yourself."

He chuckles. "Obviously."

She shoots him a glance and he looks away, but continues smiling to himself.

"Hey, I've got something for you," Liam says, reaching in his bookbag. He pulls out a red apple and polishes it on his shirt, then tosses it to Jennifer. "I don't know why I didn't think of it before."

She smiles, looking it over. "Thanks. You know, no one's ever given me one of these before."

"Really? Geez, these kids should watch more tv." He looks back out the window.

He turns back just in time to see her raise the apple to her mouth, and watches as her teeth sink into it with a loud crack. She chews slowly, then licks some stray juice from her lips. He shifts a little in his seat.

"My mom always taught me that no person is any better or worse than any other person, no matter what. That was the cardinal rule."

"Well, your mom was an idiot."

Steven looks down. "She's dead."

Elizabeth looks up briefly from her notebook. "Hey, I used the past tense, didn't I?"

He's silent for a moment, looking down at his books, then turns back to her. "Hey, I heard that Liam and Ms. Cantrell–"

"Nope," she says, raising a hand without looking at him. "We're not going to talk about that today."

"You know, I'm actually glad I came to school today. I almost skipped."

Jennifer leans forward a little. "How come?"

"Ah, Elizabeth was in a bad mood and wanted to leave. But then she decided that she was still in a good mood and wanted to come back. And then she was doing this weird thing where she was trying to get the attention of this fast food worker, when usually she complains about how they won't take their eyes off her."

"Does she make a habit of trying to pick people up right in front of you?"

"She wasn't really trying to pick up, just... validating herself or something. The fuck if I know. But I guess we're even, 'cause I'm always telling her how I'm trying to get you both in the sack." Liam's eyes go wide and he clamps a hand over his mouth. "Oh shit, I didn't mean to say that."

She laughs. "Don't sweat it, it's just a joke." She pauses, then asks, "Does it work?"

"What, you mean does she get riled up?"

"Yeah."

"No, she knows I'm just goofing around. It probably reassures her, actually. If I were really serious about getting down to business I'd be all secretive about it. Don't tell her I brought you an apple, though – she'd take that the wrong way for sure."

"She's kind of an odd girl, isn't she?"

He smirks. "You bet."

"When people talk about big companies exploiting people, there's something definitely wrong about it. I'm not talking about countries where people are working for 12 cents an hour, I mean here. They make it sound like these company people are living the high life, not a care in the world, just exploiting the hell out of the poor working man with 12 fucking kids and a double mortgage. Even while they're denouncing corporations, they can barely mask their envy – they don't really want to work for a better life for themselves, they just want to have what those corporation guys have. But that's where it breaks down, because the life of a corporate businessman is shit. Sure, they've got some money and some expensive crap, but their entire lives are sacrificed just so I can choose from 20 different kinds of toothbrushes at the drug store. And the lack of control; even at the very top, nobody seems to be in command of things. Companies, once they get big enough, don't belong to anybody anymore. They're beasts without heads, just mindlessly doing whatever is most profitable. The thing is, I don't really have a problem with that, because what would be most profitable for everybody would be to keep things completely above board, charge a fair price and pay a fair wage. But things don't work out that way, because the modern incarnation of the corporation is ruled completely by the people, directed entirely by the masses, and the masses have no problem with buying a shoe that was put together under near-slave labor. The companies are mindless, the people are mindless, nobody's stepping up to the plate to make a few judgment calls about life. It's all too easy to stay mentally passive, and that's the whole problem. Violent overthrows, revolution, it's no good, because you're still stuck with a bunch of braindead fucking idiots everywhere. You have to get people, one by one, and show them the benefits of thinking for themselves, get them used to the idea, so they can raise their kids with the notion that it's not alright to go on cruise control all the time, that people have to make decisions for themselves. It's a ground root process, from the underground up. And one girl preaching in a high school science class..." she smirks sadly. "You just can't get any more underground than that."

A boy from the next table leans over and says, "Listen, could you please be quiet? People are trying to work here."

"Jesus, look at this," she grimaces. "The teacher's gone and all you guys are actually sitting here doing work." She shakes her head sadly. "C'mon Steve, let's blow this joint."

Steven hesitates. "What, just leave right now?"

"Yeah. Mr.Whatshisface probably won't even notice we're gone. And he does, so what? Let's go."

He turns back to his desk. "I really have a lot of work to do. In fact, I think you should stay too; half of this is yours."

"Well, consider this a lesson in the hell that is forced community while you do all the work yourself, 'cause I'm getting out of here."

She picks up her things and heads for the door. The boy who had asked her to be quiet mumbles offhandedly, "You'll be missed."

She leaves the room and walks down the hallway, toward Liam's class. When she gets there she stops outside the door as she hears his voice say, "You must have left a boyfriend when you came here."

"No, we'd been broken up for awhile," the voice of Ms. Cantrell says. "I think that's one of the reasons I agreed to be transferred here; I wasn't really leaving anybody too important."

Elizabeth peeks through the doorway and sees Liam sitting on a desk, across from Ms. Cantrell, who's sitting on her own desk. The rest of the classroom is empty. She then notices an apple with one bite taken out of it sitting on her desk. "What the hell..?" she mumbles quietly.

Ms. Cantrell says, "Oh, I forgot the tell you! That Mr. Graves guy finally hit on me this morning."

Liam laughs. "Oh yeah? What'd he do?"

"Well, he's always sorta rubbing up against me and touching my hand and stuff, and it's creepy as hell, but today he asked me if I was interested in getting together, to discuss teaching techniques. It was so sad..."

"He must consider adultery one of the minor sins. So you're doing it, right?"

She raises an eyebrow. "Yeah, right."

"I definitely don't envy your position, having the teachers and half the student body keeping their eye on you all the time." He lifts his arms and stretches, then smirks. "It must be a real pain in the ass being so damn sexy."

Elizabeth feels blood rush to her face, and walks into the room.

Liam turns, surprised. "Elizabeth! Fancy seeing you here! This is Jennifer; Jennifer, Elizabeth."

"Pleased to meet you, Ms. Cantrell." Elizabeth puts her hands in her back pockets. "Shouldn't you be teaching a class right now?"

"Oh, I sent them all outside," she says, gesturing toward the window. "From what Liam tells me, I figured you'd approve."

"And what exactly has Liam been telling you?" Elizabeth asks, glancing at Liam.

"Just that you skip school a lot. Like you're obviously doing right now."

Elizabeth looks at Jennifer for a moment, then turns back to Liam. "Look, I'm getting out of here. Do you want to come?"

"Sure. Lead the way."

He gets his bookbag, and Elizabeth deliberately takes him by the hand as she leads him out of the room. "See you tomorrow, Jen," he says over his shoulder. Jennifer answers, "Bye. See you later, Elizabeth."

Elizabeth says nothing, and drags Liam a good distance down the hall before saying, "I can't believe you call her that."

"What?"

"Jen. It's not right. She's your teacher!"

"And a damn fine one at that. And I've gotta say, this was a nifty surprise." He grins. "I didn't anticipate any catfights today."

She stops and turns toward him. "That was not a... forget it." She turns. "Let's just go."

He smiles to himself and follows her down the hallway.