The Bonding Chronicles Ch. 07

By the time lunch had concluded everyone was happy and energized, ready for the second half of their school day. Between the warm food and the fun conversation Andrew was excited to see where his day would take him. After settling into Calculus his excitement faded when he saw Dr. Blake sitting behind his desk.

The class fell into the same rhythm as Physics had; Dr. Blake starting off with a heavy assault on Andrew's knowledge before settling in for an infantry rush of less advanced questions on the jocks and students who struggled with these topics. Andrew was beginning to understand that Dr. Blake liked to watch the students struggle, only to fail in the end. He was remarkable in his ability to determine what level of understanding a student possessed, and designed his questions to be just beyond that level.

Andrew was beginning to think that this may be the worst teacher he had ever seen, and as Zack stumbled his way through another incorrect answer Andrew knew that the teacher was. The bell dismissing class came as a relief to Andrew who struggled with his desire to put the teacher in his place.

"You OK, Andrew?"

Seth's voice came as a surprise to Andrew who was packing his unused notebook into his rucksack.

"Yeah." Andrew looked at his friend and smiled. "Thanks for checking." He looked at Dr. Blake pointedly before slinging his pack on his shoulder and saying, "Just frustrated by bullies, that's all."

The warm chuckle that escaped Seth was a nice relieving balm for Andrew's frustration. Andrew shook his head and looked at his friend.

"No, Andrew. Some bullies are just out of reach. Even for the boyfriend of Sara Mitchel."

Andrew found himself standing with more pride at Seth's statement. He considered his friends words and realized that he was absolutely right. Unless Dr. Blake took things further there was nothing that could be done. The teacher was well within his rights to teach his class how he saw fit as long as the students weren't being abused. Much to Andrew's frustration he knew that the teacher was spreading his venom around enough that no one could claim unfair treatment.

Zack, Andrew realized, may be the only student capable of making that claim, but he knew the jock would never do such a thing.

"Yeah, you're right." He admitted with trepidation as they made their way out of the class.

The two friends parted with laughter at Andrew's brief moment of insanity, and headed in opposite directions to their next class.

Sara looked amazing as she stretched in her seat. Her languid pose pulled her shirt up just enough to expose her athletic midriff. They shared a brief hug and Sara made a point not to comment on how Karen had been watching him since he entered the room. While she would love to watch him struggle with his mixed emotions she decided to try and be better about keeping her word.

European History passed in a flash, and Andrew realized that this was becoming one of his favorite classes. Karen's knowledge on the material, and her ability to tie everything together so beautifully was awe inspiring. He wondered how many of the events she may have actually witness and regretted the fact that he may never get to ask her. His attraction to the teacher throughout class both fortified his resolve to deny the bond's will, and strengthened his desire to be with Karen.

Her matronly dress, unassuming makeup and accessories did little to hide her feminine charms from him. Sara savored the arousal she could smell coming off of Andrew as he watched the teacher, and she was disappointed when the bell rang and shook him from his fantasy.

"Saved by the bell." She whispered to Andrew as she kissed him on the cheek. He blushed while they packed their belongings. They shared a hug and passionate kiss after leaving class, well outside of Karen's view.

"Meet at the car?" Sara's voice was rich with desire as she shivered against a burst of need.

Andrew smiled as he shifted the rigid bulge in his pants. His eyes were hooded with desire as he whispered, "Not soon enough, kitten."

She almost purred as they struggled to let each other go, but with great exertion from both partners they shared a farewell kiss and headed in opposite directions.

Andrew laughed as he thought about how amazing his life had become. Even with the complexity of everything going on with Karen he would not have changed a thing if it meant he had to give up Sara. She was drop dead sexy, compassionate and wicked smart when she decided to apply herself.

His thoughts were cut short as he turned a corner and ran head long into Will. As Andrew recovered from bouncing off of the jocks chest he looked up in shocked anticipation, unsure what was about to happen. All noise seemed to be drained from the hallway as everyone watched, eager to see where this was going.

Will placed a hand on Andrew's shoulder and said, "You alright, little man? You need to be more careful, never know who you might run into."

Andrew studied the muscular boy's face and could still sense a bit of conflict. He realized that for Will this must be like getting sat in front of a well cooked filet mignon and choosing not to eat it. Andrew was impressed with Will's resolve, and appreciated the tremendous effort that his once bully was making.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I'm good, thanks." Andrew's voice showed his nervousness.

Will laughed and dismissed Andrew with a casual wave of his hand as if he was a teacher or something. Andrew shared in the jocks laugh, though for completely different reasons as he skirted Will and his gaggle of friends.

By the time Andrew arrived to Art class his nerves had managed to settle.

Andrew had brought his soldering iron and the few other accessories he would need to start on his prototype. Within minutes he had everything setup and was ready to begin. He told Seth about his encounter with Will and the two friends joked about the incident while they worked on their projects. Andrew was happy to spend this time with Seth and found the distraction from the monotony of soldering welcome.

Many of the other students had come over to watch for a brief time while Andrew worked, finding his task fresh and exciting. Soon after they began watching they would walk away, realizing that the smell of the burning solder was less than pleasant and understanding just how boring the activity was. Allison thought it was interesting but wondered how Andrew was ever going to give it any kind of artistic value or meaning.

When class was near to being finished Seth interrupted Andrew's work by asking, "How the hell do you do that so fast?"

Andrew looked at his friend with a confused expression. "What do you mean?"

Seth laughed and picked up the small prototype, looking it over before saying, "This looks like you are almost done. That's crazy, man. It would have taken me at least four or five hours to get all these welds in place. I've been watching, and I think you only messed up once."

This observation surprised Andrew who was forced to consider what Seth was saying. As he thought back he realized that he wasn't normally this fast. He remembered that he had budgeted four days to complete the construction of his prototype, and until Seth had said something he hadn't even realized how far ahead of schedule he was.

"I don't know, practice?"

They both laughed at the grin and uncertainty on Andrew's face.

"Shit, if you are not already planning on going to college for electrical engineering you really need to consider it. You have some serious fucking talent, Andrew."

There was genuine admiration in Seth's words and Andrew was pleased that his friend didn't seem to have any hint of resentment towards Andrew's skill.

"Thanks, man. It's definitely something I have thought about in the past, but now.. Yeah, might be worth really looking into."

"You should. That's a serious gift man, you need to do whatever you can to build it up."

Andrew again thanked his friend and expressed his appreciation for his support. While they continued to talk something about their previous conversation stuck with Andrew, gnawing at the back of his mind. Just as Andrew thought he was about to realize what was bugging him the bell rang and he sighed in frustration. Whatever it was had slipped from his mind.

While he packed his project into his locker and stowed his supplies he wondered if the administrators had scheduled the bells to interrupt him when he was in the middle of something. Because if they had, they did a hell of a great job all day.

***** Just Another Williams *****

The William's house was almost finished with the first round of renovations, and as the family sat around the small dining room table Andrew was amazed at how much his parents had completed. Dave leaned back in his chair, chewing a large bite of macaroni and cheese. A wide grin was spread across his face while he rubbed his wife's back and listened to Sara talk about Andrew jumping like a scared little girl while they watched the horror movie the night before.

Both couples exhibited a comfortable rapport as they ate their meal and enjoyed each other's company. Andrew still found the overt affection between his parents a bit uncomfortable, noticing a few more signs of sexual tension between the older couple. Nothing too obvious, a resting hand on the small of the back here, a wistful look of endearment cast across the room there. Small things that when added up showed how infatuated his parents were with each other, and hinted at the things that they would rather be doing in that moment.

As he laughed with his family and stewed on these thoughts he came to the realization that he was behaving much the same way with Sara. If anything, Andrew and Sara were probably far worse, and as he chuckled along with a story from his mother he looked at Sara and winked at her. She beamed a broad happy smile at him before returning her attention to Michelle and shoveling a large mouthful of pasta into her eager mouth.

Andrew and Sara took care of the dishes while his parents went outside to drink a beer, determined to enjoy the last few days of tolerable weather before they returned to active duty. His father had warned him that they would be training once they had finished their homework, and to everyone's surprise Andrew's response had been an enthusiastic, "Awesome!"

Sara was really starting to understand the concepts from her Econ homework, and as she finished her last compounding interest calculations Andrew watched her with a doe-eyed fascination. Just when he thought she couldn't possibly get sexier she had to go and bust out a calculator and start doing math.

"What?" Sara looked at him with a nervous smile. "Did I miss something?" She began scanning through the numbers looking for anything that was out of place.

Andrew gripped her hand and with a warm loving smile he stated, "You're doing perfect, baby."

She leaned across and they shared a long and tender kiss. They both struggled against their pent up sexual needs, and with great regret they parted. Their breath came in shallow husky gasps while they focused for a couple of seconds and smiled at each other knowingly. *Soon.* They both thought.

They finished their assignments in what felt like record time, and were soon stretching in the driveway of the house. Dave and Sara were wearing protective head gear while Andrew was still equipment-less. His mother stood across from him stretching out while wearing padded gloves. Andrew would have thought she looked silly if he wasn't so nervous about this session. He could tell from the way his mother was looking at him that she was not going to be taking it as easy on him.

"OK, Sara. Since you don't have a mouth guard I won't be hitting you in the head. I will be pulling my punches, so don't worry about taking a hit. But don't hold back, I can take it." Dave's voice was calm as he delivered his instructions. Dave put his mouth guard in and popped his neck as part of his pre-combat ritual. Michelle recognized the look on her husband's face and moistened at the strong determination she saw in his bearing. She had always found him most attractive when he was about to enter a battle, and somehow this was no different.

Andrew could tell that Sara was annoyed at Dave's cavalier attitude, and as she squared off with the larger man she was determined to make him regret giving her special treatment. Andrew and Michelle watched with rapt interest as the two gladiators stepped up and touched gloves.

Sara bounced and danced away from Dave, sizing up the larger man who stood stoic and poised. His eyes never deviated from the athletic woman, and as she closed the distance he side stepped her clumsy kick, and blocked her wide right cross. Despite his shock at the sheer force of her ineffectual blow, he still managed to land a soft hit to her stomach. As Sara brought her arm down to block the blow that had already landed Dave tapped her in the side of the head with a left cross and as Sara's shocked eyes looked at her opponent she saw his large gloved fist closing the distance to her face. His jab stopped short, sending a gust of wind into her gaping gaze as Dave faded away from her.

Dave kept his eyes glued to his target as he sized up her reaction and was pleased as Sara rebounded from his stunning attack.

Andrew and Michelle laughed and turned their attention to each other, leaving the warriors to their pissing match. Michelle ran through a few more practice runs of the right and left cross blocks and was pleased to find that Andrew had retained the skills she had beat into him the day before. If anything, she was surprised by how well ingrained the lessons seemed to have been instilled into his muscle memory.

By the end of an hour Andrew had learned the many blocks that his mother had wanted him to pick up. She was happy to see her son enjoying himself as he bobbed and moved his upper body in anticipation of her incoming blows. She was no longer calling out her punches, and while Andrew took a few hits here and there he was doing a remarkable job predicting her attacks. He had even managed to slip a few punches within her flurry of attacks.

They stopped and relaxed, enjoying the feeling of their sweat cooling on their tired bodies while they watched Sara and Dave spar. Sara was much more careful than she had been when they had first started. Dave was pressing his advantage as Sara ducked and dodged his attacks. Andrew was amazed at how seldom she actually needed to block, instead focusing on avoidance. His father took a different tactic, instead focusing on absorbing Sara's attacks. As Sara attempted a kick from one of her martial arts movies Andrew understood why his father favored this technique.

Dave caught her leg under his arm and planting a punch with enough force into Sara's midsection that Andrew and Michelle both heard it. Michelle had been so focused on training with Andrew that she had failed to realize how intense the sparring match had become. As she ran towards Sara the young woman raised her gloved fist and gasped a breath through the tensing muscles in her abdomen.

"Ohhhh, I'm fine, Michelle." Sara's face was split with a broad and happy grin. Sweat dripped from her hair and her shirt was sticking to her damp body as she took long deep breaths. She looked at Dave and said, "I thought I had you that time, you bastard!"

Dave spit out his mouthpiece and began removing his gloves while he laughed. "You almost did. We need to get you a mouth guard, Sara."

Andrew and Michelle could tell by Dave's tone and inclusive statement that he was impressed by Sara, and cared about her a great deal. Sara unfastened her gloves and took them off, tossing them to Dave.

"Just wait, old man. You're going down."

They looked at each other with mutual respect, and Dave knew that given Sara's natural skill she was not wrong. He knew it wouldn't be soon, but given a few months she would be formidable. Dave chuckled to himself as he realized that if it weren't for his years of military combat training, and the extra classes he had taken with Michelle, Sara would have been way out of his league.

He walked over and clasped a hand on her shoulder. "You did great, Sara. You've just got to either cut out that kung-fu bullshit, or learn some real martial arts."

Sara smiled at him and said, "I knew you would warm up to me."

Dave released her shoulder and stormed back to his bag of equipment, a broad grin on his face while he shook his head.

"It's OK, Dave. I'm a pretty charming person. No one holds out forever."

Michelle and Andrew laughed as they realized that this was the most friendly Dave had ever been with Sara. Besides a few grateful gestures here and there, Dave had never revealed any emotion towards Andrew's girlfriend beyond suspicion or his normal stoicism.

Sara chuckled as she watched the older man organize his equipment. He would stop and stretch out his sore shoulder between tasks as if to work out a knot.

"Thanks, Dave. I appreciate you taking the time to teach me." The playfulness from Sara's voice was still there, but overshadowed by the gratitude she felt towards the older man.

"Just be careful not to hurt anyone, Sara. You really are a dangerous woman." His tone was gruff and serious, which somehow made him seem all the more endearing.

"Of course, Dave." Sara smiled at him, before looking at Andrew and adding, "Though, I make no promises if someone messes with my favorite nerd."

Dave stood and looked at his son, understanding how Sara felt.

"Just don't hurt them too bad, and if you do, we never had these lessons."

They all chuckled at Dave's statement, and were soon heading back into the house to get some much needed water. While everyone else drank from their large glasses, Michelle scrutinized Dave's upper arm. As she prodded his tender muscles Dave winced and pulled away from her with a sour look on his face. His glass never leaving his lips until the last of the water had been drained.

"Hey!" was all he said as he set the glass down.

"Ohh, you big baby. Take off your shirt, dear. You don't usually have shoulder problems."

Michelle's voice was tender but commanding, and everyone knew that she was not going to tolerate anything less than what she asked for. Dave removed his long sleeve black t-shirt, revealing his statuesque physique. Both of his arms carried some mottled bruising, and his left arm seemed to be the worse of the two. Michelle ran her hands up his sweaty bicep, and savored the feeling of his strong muscles flexing and shifting under her grasp. As she squeezed the largest of the bruises Dave again winced.

"It's nothing, sweetie. Sara hits alot harder than you would think." He flashed Sara a nod of respect and received a similar nod in return.

"You two need to knock that macho bullshit off. Right this second." Michelle was fuming mad as she glowered between them. Andrew had never heard his mother direct that tone to anyone but him.

"If you two are going to continue training together, you need to show a little goddamn restraint. You.." She slammed her finger into Dave's chest. "Could have really hurt her with that gut punch. You know better than that.

"And you..." Michelle turned and squared off with Sara who wilted from the angry woman's glare. "If you break my husband you will have me to answer to, you got that?" Michelle stared at Sara until the younger woman looked down and responded with a humbled tone, "Yes, ma'am."

"Now, which of you idiots wants ice-cream." Michelle grinned around the room, and was happy when everyone relaxed a little.

As Andrew was finishing setting out bowls he looked to his father and said, "Hey, eight o'clock and already shirtless. That's got to be a record."

They all laughed while serving up Dulce De Leche ice-cream. The tense scene from moments ago faded fast as they discussed the last bits of the renovation while savoring the cool treat. Dave and Michelle expected to have the whole project wrapped up early the next day. Andrew was talking with his mother about their weekend plans when he noticed a movement to his right.