Decisions Ch. 06

"Stasi, Stasi, Stasi, no, no, no, DON'T!" I cried. Too late. She flushed the toilet, bathing me in scalding hot water. "Aaaargh!" I yelled.

Stasi was absolutely beside herself, cackling like a maniac. "Chris?!" She laughed. "Chris, what happened? Why'd you scream?" I didn't give her a reply. "Chris? Zaichik, are you ok?" She giggled, coming closer to the curtain, trying to peer through the thick fabric. I still didn't give her a reply, deciding to remain silent.

She rapped her knuckles on the curtain, still trying to look through. "Chris?" She repeated, slightly worried now. "Chris, say something." Her hand trailed to the left and appeared at the edge of the shower curtain, pushing it slowly to the side. That was all I needed. I grabbed her wrist tightly and pulled her into the shower with me. "AH!" She yelled in surprise.

One moment I'm by myself enjoying my morning shower, and the next, Stasi's in here with me, trying to tug off the tank top and sweatpants she wore to sleep, which was rapidly clinging to her body from the water.

"Chris!" She yelped, quickly stepping out of her now sopping wet sweatpants and tossing it out of the shower, where it landed on the ceramic tile with a loud 'plop'. "What have you done?!"

"Me? You should've seen it coming. Look at me, I'm as red as a lobster because of your stunt with the toilet!"

"That was funny." She sputtered. "This is not!"

"This is definitely funny. You shouldn't worry too much, it'll wash out." I cracked a humorous grin. Even though she sounded pissed, I knew she wasn't. I had a feeling that she was just looking for an excuse to hop in the shower with me.

"Of course it'll wash out, dummy. It's water! Water doesn't stain." She moaned. "Now I have to take everything off."

"I'm not complaining." I said, cheekily.

"Of course you aren't." She mock glared at me, finishing her little impromptu strip session by shimmying out of her wet tank top. "But you're going to be when I make you wash all my clothes. Ugh."

She chucked the tank top out of the shower, and just like that, my beautiful vampiric best friend turned girlfriend, was naked. My jaw dropped slightly as my eyes roved over her.

"Close your mouth. You'll catch flies." She grumbled.

"I'm sorry. It's just... wow. You're gorgeous." I focused on everything, every blemish, every contour, every inch of smooth alabaster skin. Her taut stomach and full breasts. Everything. I was a man dying of thirst and her body was all I could drink in.

"Thanks, Chris." Stasi shivered under my gaze, wrapping her arm around herself self-consciously. "Now are you going to share the shower? Geez! Move over, lyubov! I'm freezing over here."

"Oh. Sorry." I said, sheepishly, stepping to the side and sharing the shower head with Stasi. She stepped forward and ended up recoiling back.

"Oi! No wonder you're so red. The water is absolutely boiling!" She cried. Oh right. Vampires had lower body temperatures than humans so they must've registered temperatures differently. I reached for the knob, turning the heat down to a point where we were both comfortable. Her more than me. I liked my showers hot.

"Now you know how I felt." I remarked, wrapping my arms around her.

"Yeah, I guess I do." She giggled, pressing herself into me. I ran my hands up and down her back. As my hand traveled lower, she gently brushed it away, smiling softly at me. "Although I want to, oh god how much I want to, we shouldn't. We can't spend too much time in here, lyubov. We still have to make breakfast. Then we have school."

"I know." I murmured.

Although we couldn't have sex because of time-related reasons and because my parents were down the hall, neither of us were willing to say no to a nice good old fashioned cleaning session. By the time she finished washing my body (specifically my cock) with her soapy hands and I finished lathering up her breasts, stomach, butt, and pussy, we were not only clean, but we were both breathing rather heavily. This was going to be something that was going to leave me hot and bothered for the rest of the day.

We left the shower, missing the sight of each other's body as we dressed. For me, it was jeans, jacket, and maroon button up. For her, it was black leggings, miniskirt, and white blouse. Her long raven hair brushed and flowed all the way down her back. Her face was blotted with sunscreen, but not as much as she would've put on it had it been June. Even though it was the winter, she could still get a sunburn if she wasn't careful.

"You feel better though, right?" Stasi asked, worriedly as I shrugged on my jacket.

I blinked, not realizing that she had said something. "I'm sorry, can you say that again? I wasn't paying attention."

"Your head." She huffed. "It's ok, right?"

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, it is. Definitely. Way better than yesterday. The steam did me some good. Bright lights will probably give me some trouble, but nothing too serious. I'm good enough to go to school. Thanks for asking."

"No problem." She tucked her sunglasses case into her backpack. "I'm just worried about you, lyubov. I don't want you to go through any pain today. If you want to spend the day at home, I'll stay with you. My parents will understand."

"No, they won't." I laughed. "You don't need to sacrifice your perfect attendance. That won't be necessary, Stasi." I leaned over to her, giving her a quick kiss and making her face flush. "I promise, I'm feeling fine to go to school. Now, I'll go make us breakfast so we can eat on the way to school. Can you drive?"

"Sure. Let me just finish packing." She muttered, sifting through her backpack. "I think I may have misplaced my government notebook."

"Meet you downstairs." I left my bedroom, plodding down the steps to the kitchen. My parents were already in there, ready to go to work. "Morning, dad. Morning, mom." I greeted, walking over to the fridge and opening it.

"Good morning, sweetie. It's good to see you up and about." My mom, replied. "Do you want me to make you and Annie some breakfast?"

"No, we're going to make some bagels and eat on the way to school. We've wasted enough time already." I pulled out a tub of cream cheese, examining the expiration date. January 30th, 2017. We're still in business! I carried the tub to the counter, setting it down. My mom handed me two bagels from her side of the kitchen. "Thanks, mom."

"You're welcome, Chris." She said, warmly. "Are you sure you're good to go to school today?"

"Oh yeah, I'm fine." I reassured her. I picked up a knife and dipped it into the cream cheese, pulling out a nice big glop of it. I began to smear it onto the bagel, making sure to add extra, just the way that Stasi liked it.

"You know, Chris..." My dad began, looking up at me from his tablet. Newspapers were so out of fashion. We were a tech family. "I heard some peculiar noises from your room this morning."

The kitchen got so quiet that you could've heard a pin drop. "Uh..." I began.

"Good morning, Robert. Good morning, Susan!" Stasi chirped as she walked into the kitchen, bright eyed and bushy tailed. "How are you two, this morning?"

"She did it!" I pointed an accusatory finger at her.

"Wait, what?" She sputtered, bewildered, as my parents looked like they were trying to hold laughter.

"She did it. She flushed the toilet while I was in the shower and burned me. That was why you heard the screaming. I have the burns on my shoulder and back to prove it. She's guilty!"

"I was talking about your computer." My dad chuckled. "Don't leave it on running overnight."

"Oh... right. Sorry." I smiled sheepishly at Stasi, who was glowering at me.

Chapter 4:

There was a fairly large crowd of kids about in the lobby when Stasi and I arrived at Belcourt. Way more than normal. It was December in San Francisco. It was freezing. When it was cold, people preferred to migrate inside to the toastiness of the buildings, but there were always some that seemed impervious to the frostiness and preferred to stay outside in the quad. Today, there were an exorbitant amount of students milling about in the lobby and pretending to be involved in conversations. It was obvious from the sidelong looks that the both of us got when we walked into the lobby that they were all there for the same reason.

"HEY!" Someone shouted from the front desk. Everyone turned to look at Ms. Casarano. "It's almost time for the morning bell! If you're not here on business, then I need you to either go to the cafeteria, classrooms, or the student lounge, and to those who don't know, the front office is not a student lounge! Yes, Neville! Don't look at me like that! You have to go too!"

With lots of grumblings, the students that were in the front office to gawk and gossip all filed out. Ms. Casarano huffed, before smiling at me from behind her desk. "Well, look at you!" She said. "You missed class yesterday."

I waved to Ms. Casarano with my free hand, walking over to her and taking Stasi along with me since I was holding her hand. Despite having the Stasi Witch Trials in my kitchen earlier this morning, Stasi wasn't as mad as I thought she'd be. As a matter of fact, she thought it was pretty hilarious because of how defensive I got.

"Yeah, well. I'm here now." I grinned.

"Yes, you are." She smiled, appreciatively, making her cat ears flop. "Head ok?"

"Never been better, thanks to some attention from this girl." I gestured with my head towards Stasi, who had the graciousness to blush. "She's the absolute best."

"You two are so cute." Ms. Casarano squealed. "Favorites for this year's yearbook's 'Cutest Couple' superlative. I guarantee it." She gestured to the empty seat next to her. "I missed you yesterday, you know. We were pretty busy because of all the people who got back from break."

"I know." I said apologetically. I honestly was. "But I'm here now. Do you need me to do anything?"

I was the unofficial second receptionist for Belcourt High School. Because of it's notoriety, the school was unable to find a suitable partner for Ms. Casarano. Therefore, they turned to the only person who seemed to have enough experience to run a school without having anyone peering over his shoulder or micromanaging his work. That person was me. As if I didn't have enough on my plate!

"Um..." She hummed, looking around the cluttered desk. "No. I don't think I have anything for you. Thanks for coming in early though, even if the bell is in about two minutes. Oh!" She reduced her voice to a deathly whisper. "Is it true that you were shot in the neck?"

"Shot in the what?" Stasi and I asked at the same time.

"You should listen to the rumors more. People are saying you were shot, stabbed, attacked, hit with a baseball bat, ravaged by a werewolf. The stories are endless."

"He was hit in the back of the head by a brick." Stasi said. "That's pretty much all there is to it."

"As I thought. No way he's that heroic." Ms. Casarano replied, making Stasi clamp a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing.

"I don't know why I come in early every morning and spend my free time in here helping you." I muttered, exasperated.

"Yeah, yeah. Empty threat. You'd never leave me. I'd kill you otherwise." Ms. Casarano said, dismissively. She had me there. "One more thing before you go to class, an actual thing. Principal Finch and Ms. Euthixie want to see you during lunch. Quick leadership meeting. Something about organizing a rally."

"Sweet." I groaned.

"They promised it'd be really quick." Ms. Casarano was sympathetic.

"Right. Anything else?"

"No, that's about it. You two can hang out in here or go to class early. Whichever one you like the most." She turned back to her computer, her cat ears flopping once more.

"Alright. I'll see you this afternoon, Ms. Casarano." I rapped my knuckles on the wooden countertop. Ms. Casarano waved and I squeezed Stasi's hand, leading her out of the Administration Building to our first class of the day, AP Statistics.

"You know, lyubov, you're so busy all the time." Stasi pointed out as we walked through the quad. "I'm scared that you'll burn out or have a nervous breakdown."

"Oh come on. It's not that bad. Just a bit stressful sometimes." I smiled softly at her. She was always so worried about me that she almost never had time to worry about herself. That's what I was for, I guess. I was always so caught up in her affairs and making sure everything was going great for her that sometimes I forgot to take care of myself. We were a team.

"You know that I'm always here to help you if you need anything."

"I know, but I don't want to burden you with anything." I swooped in and gave her a kiss on the cheek, my lips making contact with her cold skin and making her blush. It was easy to do that now. Her normally pale skin was absolutely glowing and it wasn't because of the cold. It was because of the blood she had. It was truly something to marvel about. She was smiling ear-to-ear, had a little bounce in her step, and a blissful expression on her face. I loved it. I loved her.

"It's not burdening, you know." She huffed. "Not when I'm helping you."

"I know." I opened the door to the C-Building, letting her enter before me. "I still don't want to burden you."

"You're such a gentleman." She muttered, slightly exasperated. "Seriously, Chris. If you need any help with leadership, let me help you."

"Alright, you got it. Am I going to your house tonight or are you coming to mine?"

She scrunched up her face in thought. "We can come to my house. I don't think my parents want me to spend another night at your house, no matter how much they love you. I'm still their daughter."

"And I wouldn't blame them."

We walked into my math class. It was a pretty surreal experience for me on my part, I'm not sure how it was for Stasi. My classmates had no qualms against openly staring at the two of us as we made our way to our seats. I didn't blame them. Had I heard that someone was attacked in his own house, I probably would've stared too. Even Mr. Coppergut gave me an appraising nod at his podium before he started his lecture, as if he was an uncle proud of his achieving nephew. That didn't mean I liked the attention.

By some stroke of luck, I got through my first few periods of the day without anyone coming up to me and asking what happened or getting a headache. I could tell though, that a few of my teachers were letting me off easy. Even Mr. Zasor, who pushed me harder than most of his other students told me to take as much time as I needed to turn in my Thanksgiving Break assignments. Like I said, it was all surreal.

When it came time for lunch, instead of making a beeline for my table to go see my friends, I made my way to the administration building. The faster I finished my lunchtime meeting, the more time I got to spend with Stasi. I walked into the lobby, my footsteps bouncing off the tiled floor. Ms. Casarano looked up at me as I walked in and gestured to the doors behind her. "They're in the back." She smiled.

"Thanks, Ms. Casarano."

She nodded at me and turned back to whatever she was doing. I walked past her desk and into the back, pushing past the doors and walking into the office spaces, specifically Principal Finch's. Through the glass window, I could already tell that she was in there, deep in conversation with Ms. Euthixie. I softly knocked on the door, catching their attention. Ms. Euthixie leaned over and opened the door a crack, letting me pull it the way through.

"Hello, Principal Finch, Ms. Euthixie." I nodded at the both of them, politely, entering the office.

"Hello, Chris. How's the head?" Principal Finch's eyes twinkled.

"It's good. Never been better." I replied.

"Good. Now, I don't want to take away your lunchtime. I know how all you athletes are hungry during the day. Please, take a seat." She gestured to the chair next to Ms. Euthixie. I pulled out the chair and sat down. Ms. Euthixie, the dryad, turned to me.

"How was your break, Chris? You weren't here yesterday." She noted.

"Yeah, I was absent because I wasn't feeling too well, but I'm better now. My break was fine, thanks for asking. A nice rest and recuperation from school."

"That's good. It was a nice R&R for us, as well." She looked at Principal Finch. "Are we ready to go?"

"Indeed, we are. Let's begin. Chris, the reason I called you in here today was because I received from concerning information from a variety of teachers about a... ah... predicament that is gracing our school. A predicament that involves race and species. It appears that a very large demographic is planning to do something violent."

"Violent?" Confusion was evident on my face.

"Yes, violent. It appears that when people heard that you were hospitalized, a few packs of individuals were hoping to go on the warpath."

"What's that going to solve?"

"I, quite honestly, have no idea. But such an event would be highly publicized, so I believe that has something to do with it. They're supposedly going to be protesting the injustice of the D-Toss but I'm wary that such an event will only make racial tensions inflamed and violent in this city."

Attacking a human was going to make things inflamed? Gee, no kidding. "I don't think a peaceful protest would be that bad." I said, cordially.

"In the last few weeks alone, there were multiple attacks across the country from both humans and monsters alike. There has even been talks of an extreme left-wing party currently brewing somewhere on the East Coast. Although they're different from your standard Monster Rights Activists, they still stand for the same thing. People are calling them the greatest threat to national security since..." She turned to Ms. Euthixie. "What did the news article say, again?"

"I believe they said the Ku Klux Klan, but I'm not sure."

"Regardless, that's why I called you in here. We need to do something to prevent such an event from happening, while keeping the student body un-alienated from the school. If we were to have a highly publicized protest, it'd only add fuel to the fire."

"What do you suggest we do?" I asked, realizing the gravity of the situation.

"I had a feeling you'd ask that, that is why Ms. Euthixie here. Adrianna, will you please explain what you had in mind?"

"A peace rally!" She announced, excitedly. "An event we'll host at lunch this week where everyone will be able to talk and get their frustrations out where we can monitor them. A few speakers will talk and we'll have a few events. I'm still thinking of a few. You're welcome to come to my class to brainstorm."

That did sound like a... not-so-bad idea. "Yeah, that sounds like a great idea. Why don't we do it this Friday? I can come to your class tomorrow to plan it all out."

"Friday sounds like an excellent time, but while we're on the topic, Chris, it is imperative that you attend. Not only are you the student body president and a leader at this school, but in case you haven't noticed, you are the only human at this school. While you may be unknown outside of this city, to us, you are important. You give your everything to this school and it would be amazing to have you at this event. We want to show unity with humans, not a divide."

"Of course I'll be there." I replied. That was a no brainer. What else was I going to do at lunch? "I'm the school president and you can count on me."

"Excellent, I knew I could count on you. This is why you're my favorite pupil next to Anastasia and Lucille. If that's all that Ms. Euthixie requires, Chris, you're free to go. Adrianna, will you please stay for a few more moments?"

"You got it, boss." She chirped. "I'll see you after school tomorrow, Chris."

"I'll see you later, Ms. Euthixie. Have a good day, Principal Finch." I pushed my chair out and left the office, closing the door behind me softly. As I was walking back to my lunch table, my mind wandered. Was racial tension really bad across the country? I had only witnessed trace amounts of it here, but regardless, any amount of racial tension anywhere was still bad. Why couldn't everyone celebrate their diversity, instead of hating their difference. How petty is it to discriminate someone because of something they had no control over?