Countdown
Chapter 1: Timestart
Jake Morgan was as average a boy as one could imagine; average height, average grades, brown hair and grey eyes. He sat quietly in class, gazing contentedly out the window at the girl’s tennis team. Actually, just one girl in particular: Stephanie Freeman. She was, perhaps, not the most beautiful girl in school, with auburn hair that fell about halfway down her back, and green eyes, but Jake couldn’t stop thinking about her. He sighed and turned his head back to the Economics lesson, and reluctantly began taking notes. “Maybe I’ll talk to her at lunch today…” he thought, lazily drifting off into his imagination once more.
Lucy smiled as she watched Jake daydream. “Oh goodie – He’ll need to study my notes with me now,” she thought with a slight blush as she busily scribbled down the required material. Part of her knew she shouldn’t push her relationship with Jake. After all, who would want to date Lucy Meyers – Japan freak number 1? She reached up to touch the faux fur of her cat ears and smiled a little. Everyone else might think she was weird, but at least she grabbed their attention. And she loved being the center of attention even more than Japan, if that were even possible. But Jake was different; he never ostracized her because of her passion. He hung out with her, and she’d even seen him defend her from some jerk that was making fun of her. He was her best friend, and she never wanted to lose that. “But still,” she thought, gazing at him again. “He has a great ass.”
The lunch bell rang and students began pouring into the cafeteria from their classes. Lillith Hart watched them crowd around the food line in a mass somewhat, but not quite resembling a line. She sighed and turned to her homemade sack lunch which contained a ham sandwich, a bag of chips, and a soda. Not exactly health food, but probably better than whatever the school was serving. She removed the plastic wrap from around the sandwich, and was about to take a bite when…
“Hey – You’re in our seat” Lillith looked up to see various student athletes and cheerleaders standing in front of her holding trays. “Did you hear me?” one of the cheerleaders asked. “You’re in our seat.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Lillith replied, flustered. “I didn’t know”
The cheerleader looked her over. “You’re the new girl, aren’t you?”
“Umm… yes.”
“Well, we’ll forgive this time then, because you don’t know any better, but this is where we sit, so you need to move.”
“Aww, let her stay Brittney, she’s new” Lillith turned to see a girl with reddish-brown hair in shorts and a t-shirt sit down next to her. “And we have plenty of seats anyway.” The cheerleader, Brittney apparently, looked uncomfortable with the situation, but reluctantly agreed and they all sat down. The friendly girl smiled at Lillith “Hi, I’m Stephanie. Sorry about them, they don’t play nice with others.”
Lillith laughed. “It’s ok, I don’t mind.” She put on her friendliest smile. “I’m Lillith; it’s nice to meet you”
Stephanie giggled. “Same here. I think we’ll be good friends.”
Jake watched the scene from his own seat as Lucy prattled on about some new Japanese anime she saw. He’d long since stopped listening to these lectures, since every one seemed exactly the same to him. “I guess I won’t be talking to her today,” he thought, not noticing Lucy had stopped talking “Hey!” she complained, tapping him on the head with her fist. “You listening?”
“Yeah, sorry,” he shook himself out of his daze and turned back to Lucy. “What’s going on?”
“I asked if you needed my Economics notes baka”
“Oh… Yeah, I suppose I do.”
She laughed at that. “Ok then, I’ll spend the night at your house tonight. Is that ok?”
He nodded. “I’ll have to check with my parents, but it should be alright.”
She smiled and brushed a piece of her black-streaked purple hair out of her face. “Pa-fekuto. I’ll see you at 8 then?”
“Yeah… But do you have to speak like that all the time?”
She stuck her tongue out at him and replied, “Saranari! Does it bother you?”
He sighed and chuckled, “It’s just unnerving sometimes. I never know what you’re saying”
“Watashi Moshikashitara hireki aishiteru koishii.” she giggled, blushing slightly.
“Huh?”
“It’s nothing, but anyway, about this new anime…” Jake sighed quietly to himself and settled in for a long lunch.
There was one jock that chose to skip lunch today. Adam Cooper was in the storage shed behind the school, getting hot and sweaty with an especially busty cheerleader who moaned and arched her back at every thrust he made into her. Her legs wrapped around him as he pushed in all the way and came into the condom he was wearing. The girl purred contentedly as he pulled out of her and threw away the used rubber. “That was really good,” she said as she draped herself over him and kissed him passionately on the lips.
“Yeah,” he replied, somewhat indifferently after their kiss had ended. Perhaps he should have been happy after nailing a gorgeous chick like this one, but somehow he wasn’t satisfied. He sighed to himself and moved her off of him as he began gathering up his clothes and pulling them back on. “Maybe I’m just bored,” he thought. “But what could I be bored with? Girls?” He considered this for only a moment before rejecting it. “No way. It must be something else…” Adam turned to see the cheerleader, still naked, fixing her makeup in a small compact mirror. “Put your clothes back on,” he told her, throwing her the miniskirt she’d thrown aside in her earlier haste.
“Ok,” she smiled, all pep and perk. She was annoyingly dimwitted.
“Maybe that’s it,” he thought “Maybe I’m just tired of this shallowness…” he sighed and run his hand through his golden, buzz-cut hair. After a minute or two, he looked up at her still only halfway clothed and looking for her bra. “Hold on,” he smirked slightly and reached down to unzip his pants again. “I think we have time for one more round”
Just because they were shallow didn’t mean they weren’t still fun.
Raven Stephens didn’t move from within the sheltering branches of the large oak tree as the bell signaling the end of lunch rang. She’d decided to skip class today, not that anyone cared about the Goth girl. Well, that wasn’t entirely true – some might wonder if she’s gone out to bite someone’s neck, or whose bed she’s been handcuffed to. “Idiots,” she said to herself. Just because she dyed her red hair black and got a few tattoos and piercing, she had to be some sort of vampire sex freak. “Well I suppose the contacts don’t help…” She wore cat-eye contacts, partially because she really did need them to see, but mostly because she thought they looked good on her.
Raven’s real name was Rachel, but she’d abandoned that name when she’d run away from home two years ago. She grimaced at that thought. Her mom was a drug addict and her Dad had beaten both mother and daughter. It was a horrible place to be, let alone live. So she’d simply packed up and left without a word, and left behind her all traces of her former life.
She heard a door open and looked down to see a boy and a girl scurry out of the storage shed and run to the school. She leaned back against the trunk and closed her eyes. “Maybe I’ll catch a nap until Stephanie gets out of school…”
20 minutes into class Ian Wade rolled his eyes when she spotted Adam sneaking into his seat. He noticed Ian and gave him the thumbs up, which meant Adam had scored yet again. He faked a smile and flashed the thumbs up back. “I’m Adam’s best friend; you’d think he’d throw a few girls my way,” Ian pondered as the teacher called Adam up to the front of the class to ask him where he’d been. “I could get any girl I wanted, just like him,” he thought, watching the ensuing argument unfold. “But I couldn’t keep her. Adam would just charm his way into her pants like he does with every other girl”
He sighed and waved half-heartedly at Adam as he left the class to head to the AP’s office, smiling and waving to the class. “Maybe I’m thinking about this too pessimistically. He wouldn’t try to steal a girl I liked away from me.” The argument must have lasted longer than he’d thought it did, because soon the bell rang to dismiss the class. Ian began gathering his things and slipping them back inside his backpack. He decided to find a nice girl and ask her out. “And if Adam tries to steal her…” he smiled to himself. “It’ll be war.” Ian was contented by this idea. He should have thought of it sooner.
The sun was just setting when Lucy rang Jake’s doorbell. She smiled when she answered the door in the baggy t-shirt and shorts that constituted his bedclothes. She held up the bag which contained her own nightclothes, along with other various sleepover essentials, in addition to the notes she’d promised him. “Ready to study?”
“Not really,” he grumbled, pulling the door open and stepping aside to invite her in. She stepped inside and he closed the door behind him. “My parents went out for dinner,” he said “So we’re stuck with Instant Noodles.”
“You know I love Instant Noodles!” she grinned, licking her lips. “But come on, the faster we finish these notes the sooner we can move on to more fun stuff”
He sighed. “Alright, let’s get it over with…” The whole note-taking process only took a few minutes, which made Lucy wonder why he was so reluctant in the first place. He made the Instant Noodles for both of them, and they ate quickly. They sat together on the couch and watched a DVD of the new anime Lucy had been talking about. As usual, the anime didn’t occupy his full attention, and he was soon drifting to sleep. She poked him awake and asked if she could use the shower, to which he simply nodded. She grabbed her nightgown and a change of underwear and slipped into the bathroom. She didn’t bother locking the door; the only other person here was Jake, and she didn’t mind him seeing her naked. She giggled at the thought as she stripped down, stepped into the shower, floor still wet from Jake’s prior usage, and turned on the spray. Water rolled down her body, and she smiled and reached for the soap and began washing up.
She quickly finished washing and shampooing and rinsed herself off under the spray. She stepped out where cold air greeted her wet skin and made her shiver. She grabbed the towel and dried off. She slid into her panties and nightgown, and opened the bathroom door. She found Jake half-asleep on the couch. “Is it really that late?” Lucy wondered and glanced at the clock. 9 o’clock. “Come on Jake-kun,” she said, tugging on his arm “Let’s go to bed” He grunted in response and let her drag him to his bedroom, where he immediately fell down on the bed. She giggled and then, after a moment’s hesitation, slipped into the bed next to him. She smiled happily, cuddling up close against him.
“This is perfect,” she thought, drifting to sleep “All is right with the world.”
699 Hours Remaining
