TIME & TIED: DESTRUCTION

ARC 3.1 - With Chartreuse

PART 49a: NEW ARRIVAL 1

"Welcome back to school,” the teacher announced. "I am Mrs. Haye, and this is senior English."

She came around her desk. "Now, many of you already know each other, seeing as our scheduling algorithm tries to synch you up based on your homeroom from last year. But it’s been a whole summer, and I don’t know all of you. So, as I call out your names, please tell me about something that interests you.”

Carrie Waterson tuned out the glorified roll call, choosing instead to look around the room. She noticed that everybody who knew of the existence of the time machine remained in her homeroom, which was kind of nice. Of course, none of them had made any time trips since last year.

When the first present day minted coins had started to appear in late June, allowing for a round trip return to their present, Carrie had shut down the idea of time travel. She’d been keeping the machine under her bed since last December, wanting to be able to escape with it, if anyone came after her. Such as someone from the future, wanting to tap into her lurking demonic temporal powers.

The very thought of those powers caused Carrie to shudder involuntarily. This despite her mounting familiarity, due to the sessions she’d done with Chartreuse over the summer.

More to the point though, what was the point in making any temporal trips? The future was inaccessible without coins, and the past was the past.

Carrie couldn’t even use the time machine to study up for her history class, as working out where they might end up geographically would be problematic as soon as they were looking at a trip outside of their own lifelines. Real life - it was more complicated than “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure”.

Mrs. Haye finally reached ‘W’, so Carrie gave her name, remarking on her athletic skills. She started to zone out again, only to have a knock at the classroom door pull her back. "Oh yes,” Mrs. Haye said. “And I would like you all to welcome Glen Oaks. He is a new student from out of town who will be joining our homeroom this semester.”

She gestured for the boy with the short red hair to enter. He did, smiling amiably at everyone in the room, though Carrie fancied his gaze rested a little longer on her.

"Glen, there are still a few desks free. If you'll take a seat, I can pass around the course syllabus," Mrs. Haye said.

Glen nodded, then headed straight for the empty desk next to Carrie. He turned and smiled at her again as he sat. She offered him a quick smile back, even as something about him struck her as being a bit unsettling. Why? What was it? She resisted the temptation to stare, lest he get the wrong idea.

'I’m overreacting. Can't blame him for taking an interest in me, after all. Merely shows I've still got it,’ Carrie mused to herself. Mrs. Haye began to talk about senior level English.

***

"You know Luci, it's not too late for you to switch into Physics," Frank Dijora remarked, as he joined both Carrie and Luci at the lunch table. "That would give us an afternoon class together."

"Hey, I like Drama," Luci Primrose protested. "Besides, you could always switch out of Business and into Biology with me.”

"Touche," Frank observed. "I guess we'll have to live with mornings."

"If you ask me, the both of you could stand to have some time apart at school,” Carrie Waterson interjected, resting her chin on her hand. "After all, didn't Frank's marks slip last year, after you two started going out?"

"They did not,” Frank objected. "That is... I should have studied a little harder for June exams, I misjudged the difficulty level.”

"Uh huh, suuuure. And what were you two doing instead of studying? I bet I can guess..."

"Carrie!" Luci hissed, glancing to see if they were being overheard.

"You were inventing some new thingamajig, right? What did you think I was going to say?" Carrie finished innocently.

"Carrie, enough," Frank sighed.

"All right, all right," the blonde laughed, raising her hands in surrender. “My bad. But you've been dating since, what, last December? It's not like your relationship is some big secret here."

"That's still no reason to turn it into a newspaper headline," Luci grumbled.

Frank leaned in a little closer to the young girl. "Carrie can't help it, she's jealous I picked you over her," he whispered. At that, Luci smothered a grin.

Carrie reached out to flick her fingers at the back of Frank's head. "My hearing is still excellent, you know. So let's not pretend that I ever asked for our friendship to turn into anything more, okay?"

“Fine, fine,” Frank remarked, still grinning.

"Anyway, I'm happy for the two of you," Carrie finished, reaching out to pick up the apple from her cafeteria tray. “Plus, I could still get any guy I wanted. Were I to actually try." She took a bite.

"Like that new guy in our English class, for example," Luci noted. "Glen. He seemed to be taking an interest in you."

Carrie nearly choked before managing to swallow. “So that wasn’t my imagination?"

“He tried to hide it, but I noticed,” Luci remarked.

Carrie frowned. “You would, you see everything. He's in my history class too... I'm not quite sure what to make of him."

"Well, here’s your chance to find out,” Frank said. "He's coming this way."

Carrie turned as Glen approached. The redhead waved in greeting. “Hello! Is this seat taken?" he inquired, indicating the one next to Luci and opposite Carrie. When Carrie shook her head no, he sat down.

"I hope I'm not intruding," Glen continued. "Still trying to find my way around. You're all in my homeroom, right?"

"Right," Frank confirmed. "I'm Frank, that's Luci and that's Carrie."

Glen smiled. “Of course. Actually, I'm a little surprised to find Carrie here with the two of you."

Luci arced an eyebrow. "Oh? Why?"

“Because - forgive me for being blunt - Carrie, you strike me as being more a athletic type. Less intellectually inclined.”

“Are you saying I'm a dumb blonde?” Carrie said, narrowing her eyes.

“And I’m not athletic?” Luci chimed in, equally annoyed.

"Oh, no, I don't mean that!" Glen corrected. "Just that Carrie’s athletic talents appeared superior, compared to Luci’s. Was that incorrect?"

"Well, no," the blonde admitted guardedly. "But that doesn't mean I can only hang around with jocks, does it?"

"Certainly not. I'm sorry, I'm getting off on the wrong foot here, aren't I," Glen sighed. "I fear my higher reasoning has left me, it does that on occasion when I am confronted with such overwhelming feminine beauty."

"Oh brother," Luci mumbled under her breath.

“I’m not excluding you from that remark, Luci," Glen assured. "For while you seem to have skipped a grade or two, and present as more cute than beautiful, you also strike me as a most captivating young woman. You are bound to make someone very happy some day."

Luci opened her mouth to respond, only to look over towards Frank, seeming flustered. "Ahem," Frank offered. "Not to be rude myself here, Glen, but is it your intention to hit on every girl in the cafeteria?"

"No, merely the most beautiful and intellectually stimulating ones," Glen assured him with a grin. "Which is why I chose to sit with Carrie, who I now realize is the best of both worlds. But if I am intruding on your group, you have only to say the word, and I will go."

"You're not intruding," Carrie said quickly, before Frank could speak up. "But when we know so little about you, can you blame us for wondering as to your motives?"

"Understood," Glen said. "I shall more formally introduce myself. My name is Glen Oaks, I'm seventeen, and I'm here now because my parents are planning on taking up residence in the area. I enjoy skating, acting and I am an excellent long distance runner."

“You run?" Carrie asked.

"Indeed. Perhaps we should have a race sometime."

"Perhaps," Carrie agreed, her curiosity spiking again. "You say you like acting too, are you taking Drama?"

"Last period," Glen confirmed. "Right after Art."

Carrie blinked. “We have identical schedules then."

"Is that so? Well, what a happy coincidence. I suppose we'll be seeing a lot of each other this term."

"Yes, it does seem that way," Carrie agreed, not quite sure how she felt about that.

She still wasn't sure at the end of the lunch period forty five minutes later. Glen had managed to sidestep a lot of the questions asked of him, while learning more about the rest of them in the process. It reminded Carrie a lot of the way Julie LaMille and Corry Veniti interacted with people.

Which gave her an idea.