WMD Ch. 04

"What have you been doing?"

"Nothing," Taliyah grew more alert and petulant. "Whatchya want?"

"I want to make sure you and that Samsonov boy are done. He's nothing, but bad news for you."

"Huh?" followed by a pregnant pause. "Not that I like him one bit, but why do you care? Besides, Rashaan has been cheating on me with Randi Leigh Upshaw -- the gutless piece of shit."

"Well ... get him back!" Dominique snapped. "He's going to be [Football] Team Captain this year. If you want to be Homecoming Queen, you need to ..."

"Mom, I don't want him back," Taliyah dug in her heels.

"Well, don't date Mikhail whatever you do," Momma Malik attempted to lay down the law.

"We don't date, Mom," Taliyah bit off which she followed by a gasp and a giggled. "HE is a knuckle-dragging Neanderthal. I swear, Brandy got the good one. Vlad treats her ... {stop that!} ... right."

"Who you with?" Dom lapsed into Ozark patios.

"Me and the girls are working through some issues, Mom," Taliyah fibbed. From long experience as her mother, Dominique knew she was getting a half-truth and thus a half-lie.

"Put Brandy on the phone."

"Hold on ... {I'm going to KILL you!} ... Here she is."

"Ms. Malik?" Brandy's voice sang out loud and clear.

"Is my daughter anywhere near Mikhail Samsonov -- right now?"

"Oh ... ah ... yes, but she is busy beating him up," Brandy prevaricated.

"She shouldn't be touching him at all," Momma Malik groused.

"But he's been touching her. It is only fair she punch him back," Brandy related events from her perspective.

"He's punching Taliyah?"

"NO! He's tickling her. She's punching him."

"Is he being ~ inappropriate?"

"With Taliyah?"

"Yes -- WITH TALIYAH! Wait, is he being inappropriate with someone else?"

"No," Brandy answered a bit too fast for Dom's taste.

"Brandy," she invoked her 'Mommy Powers'.

"He's not cheating on Taliyah, Mrs. Malik. I swear," Brandy pledged.

"Who else is there?"

The pause was deafening for a parent who wanted to 'know'.

"Ummm ... most of the Cheer Squad, Vlad and Mikhail ..." Brandy answered.

"What have you been doing?"

"Hold on, Ms. Malik. I need to go save Mikhail. He's fallen on the ground and Taliyah is kicking him -- HARD." Roughly ten seconds passed.

"Mom, I -- am -- not -- dating -- Mikhail. He's an asshole. A REAL asshole," Taliyah said. "He's ... {stop laughing at me} ... {oh, NOW you can dodge} ... {get back here so I can kick you} ... fucking annoying!"

"Okay," Mrs. Malik wasn't truly satisfied. "Don't start. Don't hang out with him at school if you can avoid it, for that matter -- or after school."

"It isn't going to be a problem ... {because I'm going to kill you} ... Mom. See you after Dance Class. Bye."

"Bye Honey," Dom signed off.

"Satisfied?" she looked across the table. She fully expected all of this to be some sick ruse on the part of Gayle.

"Give me 90 more seconds," Gayle held up one finger. "In the meantime, why don't you call," and she recited three numbers. "Those are three of the PAC's I mentioned. Tell them it is you calling."

With some reluctance, Dominique did so. The responder announced herself as one of the largest wildlife/wildland Charities in the State.

"I'm Mayor Dominique Fox Malik of Kingston ..." she began.

"Oh yes!" the person on the other end perked up. "We've been expecting your call. When can our Political Chairperson come down Kingston for a chat? They were planning to be in the Davis County area on Thursday anyway ..."

"Thursday ... afternoon ... works for me," Dominique hedged.

"Very well. Ms. Libellee could meet you ... say ... 2 pm?"

"2 pm works for me," Dominique found herself nodding.

"We look forward to working with you, Madam Mayor," then the connection ended.

Not satisfied with just a number, Dominique did a reverse phone number search and ... sure enough, Gayle had provided the correct number according to both the charity's web site and the Arkansas White Pages. She was somewhat stunned.

"I don't like you, Dominique, but I don't hate you either," Gayle explained. "You are also an enemy I don't need. We both know that is true."

True, or not, those were words Dominique wanted to hear. She was calling the second number when Gayle took to her own mobile phone.

"Brandy, this is Gayle Samsonov," she began then put her phone on 'speaker'.

"Hey, Mrs. Samsonov."

"How was the Music Room?"

"Great ... though Taliyah got to go first," Brandy moped.

"I'm sure Vladimir had a good reason for doing so and will make it up to you. Is the party still on for Saturday?"

"Yes Ma'am," Brandy was more upbeat this time. "Taliyah even invited Kaelyne and Vicky to show up as well."

"That's nice, Brandy. You did a good thing today and I won't forget it."

"Thanks ... it was kind of nice for me too."

"Oh, how are Taliyah and Mikhail getting along?" Gayle inquired.

"Ugh," Brandy snickered. "They are in love. He always pisses her off, she beats him up, knocks him down, then they kiss passionately until we have to tear them apart to go to class. It is kind of neat, actually."

"Vlad isn't neglecting you, is he?"

"No Ma'am," Brandy sighed happily. "When I feel left out, I pout and he comes right on over ... just like you said."

"Good for you. Take care, Brandy. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Sure thing. Later."

Dominique was left staring at Gayle and even more uncertain than ever since it was clear she didn't know what was going on. She was definitely getting one version of events while Gayle Samsonov was getting another, but who was getting closer to the unvarnished truth?

Worse, Dom had agreed to leave their kids be ... for the time being. Also, as bizarre as it sounded, if Taliyah did 'love' that young boy ... that could be serious trouble and yet useful to her at the same time. All Dominque Fox Malik knew for certain when Gayle Fonteneau left her office was she had to be more alert than ever.

[THE END OF THE DAY]

Alondra joined Brandy and Taliyah, plus Noémie, Amber Lee and Misty Dawn in the group of cheerleaders who congregated in the basketball bleachers toward the end of practice that Tuesday afternoon, signaling her move from Randi Leigh's faction over to theirs.

Now they had enough votes to stop any legitimate takeover by either Randi Leigh, or Sultana. Technically, Mrs. Hagman, the Cheer Coach, could do so, but she was unlikely to do so right now with the school's hierarchy in turmoil ~ or so Mom predicted.

Somewhat amazingly, Kaja did NOT like this -- especially the attention being directed Mikhail's way. The rest of the team basked in what they thought was the rising prominence of the Basketball Squad over that of the now somewhat rudderless Football Team. I didn't see a need to bust their bubble. A few tried to 'play' with the cheerleaders. Brandy and Taliyah 'played' right back.

We were in good spirits as we were dismissed. Our weasel of a coach had decided Alexander had four weeks to be able to 'suit up' before he would be replaced, thus effectively keeping him on the team. We considered that another victory for the Samsonovs and fair play. After all, it wasn't Alexander's fault he'd had the crap beaten out of him.

On Monday's, Wednesdays and Fridays, Alexander would peel off independently to make his way to Ms. Blanchard's Augmented Benchmark Examinations (ABE) Retest Group. Since Mikhail and I had trounced all her rowdy students' asses, we felt a wounded Alex, armed with crutches he knew how to wield, was safe enough.

Otherwise, per the new norm, we three had Shaquille McGregor, his lady, Monique Williams, the other White teammate, Steven Astor (with his rich mother), plus Vicky Orem and Kaelyne Harlow as an integral part of our posse. Vicky and Kaelyne's buddy, Leone, had a Goth boyfriend and had retreated to safer pastures. Steven was a rather decent sort, if a bit dull, and definitely dense about deadly undercurrents whirling around the school.

As we transitioned from the locker room via the short bit of hallway to the Parking Lot, a problem developed. Three ladies 'collided' on Mikhail: ... Taliyah, Alondra and Kaja. Kaja had suddenly decided she did mind him being around other women and she had the physical confidence to make an issue of it.

Alondra, being clueless to the shit-storm she was in the midst of, actually did help a tiny bit. I was able to 'rescue' her by pulling her close before Kaja put her into a wall. Taliyah, on the other hand, neither wanted nor would have accepted my aid, so I didn't bother.

"You got a problem?" Taliyah postured.

"Ya. You're a coyote -- latching on to a better prospect now that you've finally realized what a fraud your previous boyfriend was," Kaja spat.

"I'm standing on my own two feet, Kaja," Taliyah snapped back. "I don't need any man -- certainly not this ..."

"Cretin?" Mikhail offered.

"Yeah -- cretin," Taliyah grumbled, then snuck a nasty Charlie Horse on him.

"OW! Shit," Mikhail squalled. "What the ..."

"Don't interrupt me," Taliyah stated ... then Kaja shoved her halfway across the hall. She almost went tumbling down.

Shaquille wrapped up Kaja from behind while I raced to put my body between the two, facing Taliyah.

"This is not happening," I commanded.

"Get out of my way," Taliyah snarled.

"Let go, damn it!" Kaja hollered. From the sounds of thrashing, Shaquille wasn't listening to his enraged cousin.

"Ow, ow, ow ... shit, that hurts," Mikhail complained. "Really ... fucking ... hurts."

Noémie, with her long, deep brown, wavy locks, golden-brown skin and sporty build, joined me in keeping Taliyah at bay. Brandy and Amber Lee moved to confront Kaja. Misty Dawn went to Alexander for no better reason than to snuggle into his warmth as far as I could tell. Monique rallied to Kaja's side of things.

"Kaja, what the heck do you mean attacking Taliyah like that?" Brandy got all feisty.

"What are you and your cum dumpsters doing showing up around the basketball team?" Monique countered.

Suddenly it made sense -- I considered Monique and Kaja both attractive in their own way, but each of the cheerleaders was much hotter. Kaja hadn't needed to worry about Mikhail and Taliyah because the cheer Co-Captain was unobtainable to him, or so she thought. In the same way, Monique hadn't worried about Shaquille's eyes wandering for basically the same reason. Now ...

I needed to be too in many places at once. Alexander was still too infirm, so I grabbed Steven by his forearm and propelled him toward Taliyah and Noémie. That traffic jam would hopefully buy me enough time to ...

"Brandy -- Amber Lee," I hefted them both up by reaching around from behind and lifting them up, forearm under their bust lines, "she didn't mean it like that."

Which was total shit. Monique did mean it 'like that'. Thankfully, Alexander was able to lurch forward between my two thrashing bundles and Monique.

"Mikhail, why don't you take Kaja home now," Alexander directed. Mikhail shot him a dirty look, yet realized this was the only alternative which wouldn't result in violence and ill will.

Alexander had to give the order because if I gave it, Taliyah would hold it against me and that would bode poorly for me and Brandy.

"Yeah ... come on, Kaja," he murmured, still rubbing his sore upper arm.

"I'd rather walk," she defied all reason.

"Shit, Kaja. It is going to suck me pushing my bike the four miles to your place then," Mikhail shot her an impish look, "but so be it."

"I don't want to be around you," Kaja yelled at him.

"Cool. I haven't a fucking clue why you are so angry, anyway."

"You're .... Grrrrrrr ... Impossible!" Kaja screamed at Mikhail. Shaquille released her and out she stormed.

"Later, gang," Mikhail waved good-bye.

"Mikhail, let her go," Taliyah simmered.

"There ain't a ring on these fingers, or in this nose," he tapped his proboscis then gave the rest of us a jaunty salute.

"Bastard," Taliyah hissed.

I took the interlude to spin around and deposit Brandy and Amber Lee facing Taliyah. I kept a gentle hold on Brandy who twisted in my grip.

"She called us cum dumpsters," Brandy frowned. Yeah ... the truth hurts. The problem was in the old school dynamic, Darius would have humiliated Shaquille and 'slutted-out' Monique for Monique's defiance -- truth be damned.

"Monique," I looked over my shoulder, "we are all working on a fresh start. Darius is gone. Let's leave him and all that sickness in the past. Please."

"Monique -- Sugar, you are still the only one I see," Shaquille moved up and put both arms around her waist from the side.

"You say that now," she turned on him, still within his encircling embrace.

"And tomorrow and next week and next month and next year too, Sugar," Shaquille promised.

"You'd better keep saying that," Monique threatened, but with less heat.

"Brandy -- let's go," Taliyah abruptly stomped out as well.

"Prince?" Brandy sent a worried expression my way.

"Call me tonight and we'll make plans," I gave her hand a quick squeeze. The other cheerleaders joined Brandy and Taliyah in their exodus.

"What was that all about?" Steven finally got around to asking.

"Steven -- we'll talk about it tomorrow when cooler heads prevail," I said. "Why don't you give Shaquille and Monique a ride home?"

"Huh?"

"Vicky and Kaelyne need me to give them rides home and with Alexander laid up, more than four is going to be a bit uncomfortable," I lied.

"Okay," he nodded.

Once he had Monique steering toward the exit, Shaquille sent a 'thumbs up' my way ~ one crisis averted. We were able to get ourselves outside, loaded up and on the road before Vicky broke the silence.

"So Vlad, what's really going on?"

"Please be more specific," I glanced into the rearview mirror. She was in the back with Kaelyne and Alexander was up front with me.

"Taliyah being nice to Kaelyne today after being a homophobic bitch yesterday, us being invited to the Cheerleaders Soiree at Miss Brandy's this Saturday, or the whole bitchfest between Kaja and Taliyah over Mikhail -- take your pick wherever you want to start," she proposed.

"Okay. I'll do my best. First off, don't call her Miss Brandy. Her name is Brandy and I'm trying to help with her congeniality. I'm not sure what is going on inside Taliyah's head. I do know Mom had a chat with her about what happened yesterday, but we boys weren't privy to it ... so, if you're feeling particularly bold, you can ask Mom."

"The bitchfest ... I've had precisely one girlfriend my entire life. I suspect that given prior bad behavior, Monique and Kaja expect me and my brothers to behave like dogs and the Cheer Squad to behave like 'bitches in heat' at the drop of a hat without consideration for the feelings of those being trampled by the lusts of others. We should all be working overtime to make sure that doesn't happen anymore."

"We are in High School," Vicky chortled. "Good luck with that."

"So, Vicky," Alexander turned in his seat despite the pain. "Are there any guys you are interested in?"

"You mean besides you?" she smiled at him.

"Huh? Really?" he grunted.

"Well ... yeah. You're hot, intelligent, not a douche and, as far as I can tell, not currently taken," Vicky outlined her boyfriend priorities. "Unlike Kaelyne, I'm not a lesbian, or even bi-sexual. Because none of you three have had much girl experience and because of your recent full-body bruising, I'm not going to hold you missing me eye-balling you like a choice slab of meat against you."

"Wow," I chuckled.

"Gee ... thanks," Alexander murmured. "Vicky, I am sort of interested in somebody else."

"Which cheerleader is it?"

"None of them," he shook his head. "It's ... ah ... complicated."

"It's a teacher," I put out there.

"Oh," from Vicky.

"That makes sense," Kaelyne nodded.

"Can we just have sex then?" Vicky asked Alexander.

"I ... ah ..." he stammered.

"It's okay," Vicky sulked.

"NO," Alexander protested. "I'd like to. It is just so sudden. I like you, Vicky. I've simply had so many other things on my plate I'd never really thought about an 'us'."

Vicky studied him intently for half a minute.

"Fine, but don't go bragging around school about it," she demanded.

"I'm not that kind of guy," Alexander assured her.

"No; she's a 'put her name and number on a bathroom stall' kind of girl," Kaelyne broke the uneasy mood with her joke. Vicky gave her a finger-flick to the head. I caught Alexander giving me a sideways glance. I had the feeling he hadn't considered Vicky AT ALL ... oh boy.

[AND THE BEAT GOES ON ...]

Tuesday night, in the asphalt-covered rear loading area of the Wal-Mart there was a Redneck throw down. Buck Tooney was wasting no time in cementing his leadership position over the White portion of our High School. His job was made more difficult by Darius' ruthless efficiency in allowing no other organizations, no matter how informal, to challenge his dominion. That translated over to Buck having to bust more heads to bring the 'rednecks' all in line.

If that worked out, the city-Whites would be next. The problem for everyone else was the High School had been a succession of autocratic tyrannies for so long, it was difficult for the students to successfully even balkanize, much less unify. Everyone assumed another 'Darius' would eventually arise to restore a brutal school order ~ as long as 'he' was Black.

That meant Buck needed a Black figurehead to parade in front of the 'establishment' to get things done. So far, no such person existed. Rashaan not only had the mistaken impression he could resist Buck, he was the Chief of Police's son ~ so not a prime candidate to be a figurehead for a criminal like Buck. Therefore he had to get Rashaan out of the way -- figuratively speaking.

Another problem for Buck was the school already had an existing Black criminal element. Darius had not been a part of it, but like so many other aspects of school society, when he told the leaders of the school subcultures to do something, or not to do something, he expected compliance. If not -- pain would definitely follow. These characters weren't going to easily knuckle under to Buck Tooney though. After all, he'd been Darius' brother's 'boy', not the other way around.

If anyone seriously thought Buck had returned to High School to be the Black Man's Bitch (again), they were clearly high, brain damaged, and/or delusional. I wouldn't have put money on who could have taken who in a Buck vs. Darius brawl ... except Darius wouldn't have been lured into that kind of fight.

[...]

Absent Darius, the school's Black community only had two confederates with sufficient intellect and charisma to lead the forces on that side of the racial divide. Sadly for the disciples of the Almighty BBC, both were women. Not only was Taliyah's mom the Mayor, she herself was co-Captain of one of the establishment's most recognized bodies ~ the Cheer Squad.

The other was Jewel 'C. S.' Lafontanté. She was more infamous than famous, intelligent, un-aligned with any club, or activity, which awarded accolades, yet was overly endowed with a host of natural abilities as well as learned skills & talents. And, unlike Taliyah, -- absent Darius -- she felt the top spot was hers for the taking from the get go.

Step one had been to sit at the feet of her mother and father, taking their counsel on the principles of asymmetric warfare, transforming weaknesses into strengths and how to locate, isolate and exploit the weaknesses of her enemies. Step two was accomplished Tuesday night when she and the rest of the Zulu Princess Posse jettisoned their boyfriends. From here on out, the ladies would be taking whatever dick they wanted. The times ~ they were a-changing.