“Nik. Nik. Nik.” The sound of gentle rapping on the loose window frame disrupted Mr. Quesenberry’s class moments before a young gentleman cracked open the door and sticked his head inside. “Sorry to interrupt,” he apologized, “but they sent me up from the office to let Joshua Campbell know his sister is here to pick him up early.”

“Me? My sister?” Looking confused, Joshua started to pack up his books. As far as he knew, he didn’t have any doctor’s appointments or anything today, and even if he did have, his sister wouldn’t be the one to come pick him up — his father would be the one to come get him! Hell, his sister couldn’t even drive yet, but that still didn’t stop him from packing up all his stuff. He certainly wasn’t going to miss out on a rare chance to get out of math class early!

“Page 114 and 115 for tomorrow,” Mr. Quesenberry told him, as he patiently waited for them both to leave, before starting up his lesson again.

“Got it,” Joshua assured him, as he awkwardly strolled past all the envious gazes of his classmates, and eased out the door, softly shutting it behind him. Finally, able to address the messenger directly, Joshua had to ask, “Are you certain it’s me, you’re looking for? It’s my sister?”

“I dunno,” the other guy shrugged uncaringly. “I was just down there dropping off an absentee note for Mr. Conner, and they told me to come up here and pass along the message. I wasn’t going to pass up the chance to take my time getting back to shop class,” he smirked, shrugging his shoulders noncommittedly.

“Whatever,” Joshua laughed. “I’m just glad to get out of math class.”

“I hear you, bro!” The boy smiled back and gave him a conspiratorial thumbs-up. “The less I have to sit through class, the happier I am!”

“Amen,” Joshua told him piously, before flashing a thumbs-up in return. Going left, Joshua headed down the nearby steps to the first floor, while the other young gentleman – he really didn’t know the other boy’s name – casually strolled down the hallway in the other direction, whistling happily.

“Pssstt! Josh!” At the bottom of the steps, Oliva waved and motioned quietly to catch his attention, before opening up the side door at the end of the hallway and waving for him to follow her.

“What the heck is going on?” Glancing down the long hallway towards the office, Joshua scurried to the exit and hurried outside. “Olivia! Olivia,” he called softly, be careful to hold the door cracked open with one hand as he looked around. The doors at the far corners of the building tended to automatically lock from the outside during class time, as some sort of safety message against intruders, leaving the main entrance as the only means into the building.

“I’m here,” Olivia laughed, sticking her head around the corner of the building. “I don’t want to get caught,” she told him, flashing a smile as if she was having the time of her life. “You need to hurry down to the office and act like everything’s normal,” she informed him. “That’s Maria in there, pretending to be your sister. Go along with her – we’re making a jail break this evening!”

“Jail break?” Blinking a few times, a large smile quickly formed across Joshua’s face as he realized what she was saying. “Got it,” he laughed happily. “Give me a moment, and we’ll be right out with ya!”

“Then go,” Olivia stressed, laughing lightly as she eased completely around the corner and pushed him gently back inside the building. Olivia waved lightly, before skipping quickly down the sidewalk and across the school’s parking lot, as Joshua turned and hurried down the hallway to the office.

“Someone’s here for me?” Joshua asked, as he quietly pushed the door open to the office.

“Grandma’s sick,” a surprisingly young woman, dressed in a thick fur overcoat, told him. “Mom wanted me to come pick you up early so we can all go see her this afternoon.”

“I’m ready,” Joshua nodded, lifting up his backpack.

“Not yet you’re not,” the unknown woman told him. “You still need to hurry to your last two classrooms and get any homework assignments for today.”

“Wait?! Do I got to?” Sighing heavily, Joshua’s slumped his shoulders several inches. Even when someone was helping him to play hooky, he still had to get his homework first? That hardly seemed fair!

“Wellll….” Looking back at the secretary standing behind the office counter, the young lady bit her lip slightly.

“It’ll probably be okay this time,” the secretary whispered, conspiratorially, “but I didn’t tell you guys that. Just make certain that next time you’re on his certified guardian list, or that your guys’ mother will be there to pick up the phone before you come to get him next time. We’re really not supposed to let students just go like this, but I’ll let it slide this time since it’s an emergency,” she added, in a much louder and firmer voice.

“Got it,” the young lady assured her, hanging her head slightly in apology. “I would’ve thought one of our parents would’ve added me to his list already, but I guess nobody thought about it. Dad’s usually the one who would come and get him, but he’s out in the field today at work and we still haven’t gotten in touch with him, and nobody was really expecting grandma to fall down the steps and hurt herself. That old bird is sprier than I am,” the black-haired beauty lied so convincingly even Joshua was almost tempted to believe her.

“Well, you kids get on out of here,” the secretary told them, waving her hands slightly. “I hope everything ends up being okay,” she said, wishing them the best and sympathizing. “My own mother fell and broke her hip last winter, so I know how frightening it can be, waiting to get all the results back from the doctors.”

“Thank you,” the unknown woman told her, before turning and comfortably placing a hand on Joshua’s shoulder. “Come on, Joshy-poo,” she chuckled, talking in a slight babyish voice. “Let’s get on out of here.”

Without saying anything, Joshua blushed slightly and then following along behind her, as the secretary commented to no one, “It’s nice to see two siblings get along that well together,” as they headed out the door.

“Just what the heck is going on?” Joshua whispered, as he slid into the back of the luxury van parked at the curbside. Looking cautiously back and forth; Joshua’s first thought was concern about possibly being kidnapped, until Olivia waved back at him from the front passenger seat.

Joshua’s second thought was that he’d never actually seen a van quite like the one he was hesitating about climbing into before him. Instead of being built with seats running in the normal, horizontal rows that he was used to, the seats in this van were aligned vertically against the sides, leaving a large open aisle down the middle of the vehicle; giving Joshua the impression of one of those police transport vans like you see in the movies.

“Ummm… Hi.” Easing up into the back of the van, Joshua hesitantly greeted the young lady relaxing on the luxuriously plush, crème-colored seat opposite from the sliding door which he climbed in from. At first glance, she reminded him of what could only be Olivia’s younger sister, as they shared so many features in common – the same blond hair, brilliant blue eyes that sparkled like the sunlight, the same mannerisms, and expressions…

… Except, he knew Olivia didn’t have a sister. ‘But she can’t possibly be her mother,’ Joshua assured himself, ‘she’s too young. She’s probably a year or two younger than Olivia! Just who is sh…’

“That’s my mother,” Olivia laughed, pointing back over at the barely-teen looking girl before him. “And this is Maria – she’s our maid,” Olivia introduced as the young and unknown lady who’d pretended to be his sister climbed up into the driver’s seat.

“No way!” Unable to hide his shock, Joshua stared back and forth from the middle-schooler to the college-beauty. “They’re both too young,” Joshua argued.

“Why thank you, my dearest lord savior!” The girl who Olivia claimed was her mother – and who he couldn’t think of as anything more than a middle schooler – laughed lightly as her eyes twinkled like the noontime sun. “A lady does try to hold onto her youth,” she giggled, “but I assure you, I’m old enough to be your mother. If not, then I’m only a few months from the mark! How old are you anyway?”

“I’m not that young,” the woman behind the steering wheel assured him, as she started up the van and slowly began to drive out of the school’s parking lot. “I’m twenty-six now, you know.”

“Twenty-six?” Blinking repeatedly, Joshua tried to make the math work in his head. “I thought Olivia told me you’d been working for her mother since she was born.”

“I have,” Maria nodded, as the van slowly turned onto the main road and began moving to wherever they were going. “I met Nat when I was ten, and she hired me to come work for her when I turned twelve. I’ve been with her ever since.”

“I’m only fourteen,” Olivia’s mother assured him, beaming a brilliantly radiant smile that lit up the back of the van. “I’ll be fifteen next year,” she laughed gaily.

“She will be,” Olivia nodded, smirking slightly as she eased up from the passenger seat and climbed into the back to sit beside Joshua. “What mother isn’t telling you, however, is that she stopped having birthdays when she turned nineteen. She only has anniversaries now. Next year is the second anniversary of her fifteenth birthday, so she’ll claim it as her age then.”

“I’ll be fifteen for the second time,” Olivia’s mother nodded, laughing lightly. “And if I’m lucky, this time around I’ll have me a cute price by my side for my sweet sixteenth!” Winking seductively over at Joshua, she lightly blew him a kiss.

“Quit that!” Snuggling up arm in to arm to him, Olivia protectively swatted the imaginary kiss out of the air. “You might be his concubine now, but that doesn’t mean that you get to be with him just because you’re growing older every year! Only if you play nice, and work hard, will I permit you a night with my lord!”

“Huh?” Once again, Joshua simply couldn’t keep up with the flow of the conversation. ‘I need to spend another million points in intelligence, before I think I’ll be able to figure out the first thing about a woman,’ Joshua mused to himself. “What the heck are you talking about, Olivia?” Turning his attention to the one woman who he sorta knew out of all of the ones in the car at the moment, he addressed his questions to her in particular.

“Mother and Maria are your concubines now,” Olivia answered, giggling lightly as she snuggled up tight to his arm. “Didn’t you get some sort of notification, or something, about it this morning? And why aren’t you picking up your phone?! I’ve called you eighty million times since last night, you know,” she demanded, sounding accusatory.

“Sorry.” Instinctively, Joshua apologized. “I accidently broke it last night…”

“Maria! Take my chariot to the store of electronics and make haste!” Olivia’s mother interrupted him shamelessly, while pointing down the highway as if she were a great general leading her troops off to war. “We needs to tell yon salesperson that our lord defeated the demon of the phone with the repetitive strength of the vibration of his right hand alone, whilst purveying my daughter in the full glory of her skin last night, and we require a new one of much sturdier build!”

“Of course, my lady,” Maria nodded, giving the turn signal to head towards the shopping district.

“Wait! Something there doesn’t sound right,” Joshua mumbled, trying once again to sort out Olivia’s mother’s speech.

“She’s saying you must’ve broke your phone going woop-woop, while ogling my naked body through your phone” Olivia cupped her fingers almost into a circle on her right hand and slowly stroked her arm up and down in midair to illustrate.

“I did not!” Joshua exclaimed, blushing brightly in embarrassment.

“Didn’t you?” Olivia asked, smirking slightly. “The last thing I remember was you going kaboom and jerking your hand real fast, before the screen went all white…”

“That… That was just…” Stammering, Joshua didn’t know if the truth was any better than what they were accusing him of, or not, so he just kept his mouth shut and refused to say anything. Better to be considered a pervert who broke a phone staring at a naked beauty, than admit to being an idiot who got excited and accidently slung it against the wall!

“Well next time you break one,” Olivia’s mother giggled, “you can break it while staring at me!”

“Then he’ll probably need several phones,” Maria offered, helpfully. “I’m certain if he breaks one while staring at you, he’ll break a dozen when he watches me in the shower.”

“Oh! That’s a good idea,” Olivia’s mother nodded enthusiastically. “Let’s see how much we’ll save if we just buy a couple of dozen in bulk all at once! Is there a particular model that my lord savior tends to favor the most that we should invest in,” she asked, drilling a brilliant smile over towards Joshua?

“Umm… I had one of the new uPhone models,” Joshua answered, “but they’re expensive and you don’t really have to buy me anyth..”

“Nonsense, my lord savior! What are a few shekels of coin, in exchange for the wind beneath mine feet once again?” Waving her hands dismissively, Olivia’s mother slowly, and with great effort, moved her right leg to lift it and cross it across her left. Sweat beaded up across the delicate fore line of her head, as her face wrinkled in obvious pain, but the smile that bounced from her eyes to her lips was dazzling to behold.

“It worked,” Olivia squealed, before leaning over and kissing him passionately across his lips. “We didn’t have the points to completely fix mother’s spinal injury all at once,” Olivia laughed happily, “but as you can see, we bought it down to the point where she can feel her legs once more, and she can move them with effort.”

“The doctors had told me that I’d never walk,” Olivia’s mother chuckled. “I told them they were idiots. Never is one thing that has never been created, you know!”

“Yeah, and we learned a lot, all of us talking together this morning,” Olivia assured him, while smiling brightly directly at Joshua. “But,” she giggled softly, “we made a few boo-boos as well.”

“Boo-boos?” Somehow her words seemed ominous, but Olivia’s laughter and actions seemed more amused; leaving Joshua uncertain how he should respond to her words.

“Well,” Olivia giggled, “you know how you were experimenting and gave me a dislike for underwear for a few trivial points?”

“Yeah, and I apologized for that,” Joshua sighed, wondering if he was ever going to be forgiven for that.

“Well, that’s not a big deal,” Olivia waved her hands back and forth dismissively, giggling lightly. “I tried to do the same thing with mother and Maria that you did, but I must’ve worded things wrongly. All I did was tell the system that they couldn’t wear underwear – just the same as you did – but somehow they ended up with full fledged disadvantages and not a minor disadvantage.”

“I literally can’t wear more than a single layer of clothing,” Olivia’s mother laughed, lifting up her dress to the point where Joshua could see all the way up to her bare hips, shamelessly.

“Watch,” Olivia giggled. Sliding back a few inches from Joshua, Olivia leaned up in her seat and unhesitantly yanked her white dress over her head, before tossing it over onto her mother’s lap. For the briefest of seconds, the cloth seemed to hover a fraction of an inch above the dress her mother was wearing, before it slid unimpeded into the floor.

Giggling, Olivia leaned down and scooped her dress up off the floor of the van – completely ignoring the fact that she was letting a boy stare at her naked body in front of her mother – and then she slid down into the floor and tried to hold her dress in place on her mother’s lap. For a brief second, it seemed as if Olivia’s plan might work, but then both she and the dress suddenly slid down into the floor, as if she were trying to wrap up a frictionless surface.

“They literally can’t wear more than a single set of clothing,” Olivia giggled up from the floor of the van. Tossing her dress over onto the seat beside her mother, Olivia eased up and once again resumed her place snuggled up right beside Joshua. If it bothered her in the least to be hanging on his arm in nothing but her sneakers, while her mother giggled lightheartedly and watched, she certainly didn’t show it.

Hesitantly, Joshua slowly wrapped his arm around Oliva’s bare shoulder, enjoying her warmth up close against his side. Even if nobody else wanted to act like it was anything unusual going on in the backseat, he was still having trouble believing that it was okay to see – or touch – a girl so casually in front of her mother.

“Here,” Olivia laughed, apparently noticing his hesitation and awkwardness. Taking his hand which was wrapped around her shoulder, she moved it gently to place it directly atop her right breast. “Feel all you want,” she offered. “Mother knows everything now.”

“Umm…. Thanks?” Squeezing gently, Joshua smiled awkwardly and tried not to blush as Olivia’s mom giggled slightly and gave Olivia a thumbs-up. “So… umm… I… I imagine it must’ve been the wording you used,” Joshua said, trying to hide his discomfort. “When I purchased the disadvantage for you, I was looking at the list of minor inconveniences and I said something like, ‘Purchase Dislike for Underwear for Olivia Davis’.”

“That must’ve been it,” Olivia agreed, laughing slightly. “I told the system, ‘Purchase Inability to wear underwear for all concubines.’ The slight difference must’ve been what distinguished between a minor disadvantage and a full one. I did earn two points for both of them though,” Olivia laughed lightly.

“Maybe I should buy you the full-fledged disability at that price,” Joshua teased. “That’s a lot of tasty points!”

“Only if you want me to completely give up on being a cheerleader,” Olivia giggled, seemingly not too concerned over the idea one way or another. “As it is, it’ll be annoying to wear spats under the uniform, but it’s not impossible. I just don’t think the school would let me participate in any practices or rallies without any though,” she smirked slightly.

“Well maybe not now, but maybe in the future,” Joshua told her, while rubbing his chin softly with his left hand – his right was still firmly clasped around her breast, and he wasn’t moving it anytime soon. “In a way, this disadvantage could end up becoming an amazing advantage, in the right circumstances.”

“How’s that?” Olivia’s mom asked, giggling freely. “I guess it gives you an advantage when you get excited – there’s little downtime required to get to the goodies! OH! And I can pee standing up now, without getting my underwear wet,” she laughed loudly.

“Well, that,” Joshua agreed, smiling in spite of himself. Olivia’s mother’s joy was contagious, and it was almost impossible not to get wrapped up in the spirt of it with her when she laughed so freely. “But what I was kind of thinking of is if someone wanted to try and capture you. I bet you’d be impossible to wrap up in a rope, or to toss a sack over your body or something!”

“Maybe,” Olivia agreed, frowning slightly as she thought about it. “Maybe not. It might depend on what the system considers to be clothing. After all, we’re wearing clothes while inside a car, so obviously a car doesn’t count against the disadvantage. Neither does a building. Would a rope?”

“I don’t know,” Joshua sighed, after thinking about it for a moment. “A blanket apparently counts at night, you said, and it’s not something you specifically wear…”

“It might have to do with how close it is to your skin,” Maria suggested from the front seat. “The blanket is touching your skin at night and covering you. The car really isn’t. If you made the blanket into a tent, you could probably climb inside it and sleep without any problems.”

“See,” Olivia giggled. “That’s kind of what we’ve been doing all morning, and why I wanted to kidnap you! We’ve been thinking and talking about things just like this, trying to sort out how they work together. Three heads are better than one, after all!”

“And now it’s four heads which are better than three,” Olivia’s mom giggled, smiling brightly over at her daughter. “Might want to put your dress back on sweety unless you plan to go streaking through the shops this afternoon. We’re almost here.”

“And where exactly are we going,” Joshua asked, leaning to look out the back glass of the van? Neither of the sides had windows, and he really hadn’t been paying that much attention out the front or back glass, so he really wasn’t certain where they were at, at the moment.

“Shopping, of course!” Olivia answered, as she leaned over and casually slipped her dress back down over her head and shoulders. “It’s still wintertime! Mother and Maria can’t wear more than a single layer of clothes now, and neither of them have any of the points in cold resistance. I offered to buy a few ranks for th…”

“Not until your mother can walk and dance and run and fully use her legs again,” Maria snorted. “I’ve done told you, I’ll happily freeze to death if I need to, so you focus on buying her disadvantage off fully first.”

“See,” Olivia pouted, sticking her tongue out at Maria’s back. “That’s why we need to go shopping. We need some thick clothes for both of them to wear!”

“And, of course,” Olivia’s mother giggled, “it wouldn’t be right to buy anything, without having our man – and my personal lord savior – along to help us choose out what he prefers to see us wearing! We’ll even pick out a whole new wardrobe for Olivia,” she promised, “and I’ll have whatever you want custom-designed and made, so feel free to indulge your every manly fantasy with her. With us,” she added, giggling happily!

“Well, I might not be able to wear everything you fantasize about out in public, or to school,” Olivia blushed, “but I’ll wear them in private for you,” she promised.

“I’ll wear them wherever you want me too,” her mother giggled, swaying slightly back and forth in her seatbelt.

“In that case,” Maria snorted, “I won’t wear them, wherever you don’t want me to,” she promised. “Public. Private. I don’t care. When you want them off me, just take them off me.”

“Hey! That’s cheating! He’s going to want you more than he wants me,” Olivia’s mom pouted.

“And well he should,” Maria chuckled, evilly. “At least I’m a fully grown woman and not some half-teen twice-child,” she taunted.

“Oh my God… What have I gotten myself in to?” Blinking stupidly, Joshua looked back and forth from one young lady to another, trying to figure out just how the heck he was supposed to proceed from here.