Luca's Story Ch. 9
Alright, there is so much I have wanted to write, and as I thought, this portion of the series dealing with Luca and Zee's being outed is going to have to be at least three chapters. There are a few twists I put in, and I promise those twists will be developed further in time.
Chapter IX--A Mixed Bag
_Where are you going? Where do you go?
Are you lookin' for answers to questions under the stars?
Well if along the way you are growin weary, you can rest with me
Until a brighter day, you're ok._
_I am no superman.
I have no answers for you.
I am no hero, aww that's for sure.
But I do know one thing:
Where you are is where I belong.
I do know, where you go, is where I wanna be._
-Dave Matthews Band, "Where Are You Going?"
Saturday was mercifully quiet for the four furres that had created such an impact at the Francis Harris High School Prom. They checked out of their hotel, hungover and subdued, and rode the train home in a tight cluster. Luca was curled up with her back against Zee, who had an arm casually slung over her shoulder, letting her head rest against his shoulder. Across from them, in seats facing their own, Harold looked oddly serene for a boy just about to hit sixteen and recovering from the onslaught of a hangover of epic proportions. He had drunk the most, getting through a fifth of hard stuff before passing out onto one of the two beds in the Netherlander suite. Beccah, however, seemed a little more out of it and spacey than she should be.
Slipping her phone from her purse, Luca texted Beccah, hoping she had her phone on vibrate. The boys seemed to be drifting off, so they'd probably be able to get along for a while before Zee made any commentary on their secret conversation.
Beccah felt her phone vibrate against her thigh through the fabric of her purse and dress. She slipped it out, shooting Luca a wondering look before checking what the message said.
U look like ur off somewhere in your head. Want to talk about it?
Beccah shook her head, giving a sweet--though sad--smile to her best friend. Luca was puzzled, but didn't press. Rebeccah would talk to her about it at some point. Probably too personal even for the boys to be around for, texting or no.
When they arrived back in Queens, Luca's father picked them all up.
"And I thought I'd never see my own father driving in the morning on Shabbat," Luca commented as she climbed into the front seat."
"It's one-thirty in the afternoon, Luca."
Luca blinked. "Holy hell," she muttered. Perhaps she hadn't realized just how drunk they had gotten the night before.
When they pulled up in front of Harold's house, Beccah had to jab him in the ribs for him to wake up and roll out of the car. Rebeccah followed him for a brief goodbye. Luca and Zee watched through the side windows of the car as Harold placed his hands on Beccah's hips. He pulled her close, and they kissed lightly. Beccah gave a faint, pretty little smile to Harold, and he looked about ready to float his way up to the front door.
"What was that about?" Luca asked as Beccah got back in the car.
"Nothing. We just really hit it off last night, if you must know."
There was more behind that statement that Beccah wasn't saying.
Once they were at Zee's house, Luca did the same. She got out and hugged him close, kissing him on the cheek before they pulled away long enough to see each other's faces.
"I'm really worried about what's going to happen Monday."
"Whatever happens, we'll be in it together," Luca whispered, hand dropping to rest on his chest over his heart. There was a slight swell there she hadn't seen before. Maybe he was right about his breasts trying to grow in. She'd have to make a note not to make comment on it. Their lips met in a much slower, much longer kiss than what Beccah and Harold shared, and Luca giggled slightly as she heard and felt Zee purring. The two of them parted slowly, regretfully, their fingers touching together for one last lingering moment before Zee made his way up to the door.
Getting back into the car, Luca sighed heavily. "You two are such an awesome couple," Beccah said, leaning forward so that her head was nearly parallel with Randal and Luca's.
"Yeah..." Luca said dreamily. Her father only seemed perturbed by this, but he didn't say a word. She was thankful for that.
Pulling up to their house, Luca felt herself relax. She hadn't even realized that she was tense the whole way home. Beccah seemed to do the same. They got out, purses in hand, hair disheveled, dresses slightly wrinkled in places from sleeping in them, but mostly they made it home intact and drama-free.
When Luca got into her room and Beccah followed, she stripped her dress away almost immediately, and got into her pajamas. Flopping onto the bed, she watched as Beccah did the same. She felt the pang of envy she always had when she saw another girl--a natural girl. She sighed heavily, purposefully turning her eyes to the ceiling.
After a few moments, Beccah flopped down beside her on the bed. "That was... an experience..." she said, turning her head towards Luca. Luca looked back at her, eyebrows raising, seeming to say and? "What's that look for?"
Luca shrugged. "You're not telling me something. So spill it."
Beccah put her hands over her face, groaning. "Why the hell do you read me so well?"
Luca giggled slightly. "What kind of a BFF would I be if I didn't?"
Beccah sighed, dropping her arms to her sides heavily. "Fine! If you must know..." she hesitated, then said something under her breath and as quickly as she could. It sounded like. "Harolnmeshfftether."
Luca gasped and sat up, eyes wide and maw gaping open. Had it been anyone else, they wouldn't have been able to decipher what Beccah said. But Luca heard--or read, which was more accurate--exactly right. "You and Harold!?"
"Shutup!" Beccah said, turning her back to Luca and curling into herself.
"No, Beccah..." Luca said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I just... I never thought you were interested in him like that. He was your fail-safe, right?"
"Yeah... but when he went marching out with us, instead of leaving me as the third leg to the freak show tripod--no offense--it meant a lot to me. He was really brave to do that..." she said, her voice dropping down to a whisper as she turned towards Luca again.
"Well, quick reality check, how much of you sleeping with him was liquor, and how much was just you?"
"It was just me. I think the liquor was an excuse for me to loosen up enough to actually tell him anything."
"Well, I'd say you succeeded."
Beccah stuck out her tongue, some amusement finding its way back into her eyes.
"What was it like?" Luca asked, curling her knees to her chest like a child at story time, eyes riveted on her best friend at this point.
"Well... Bigger than I expected," Luca said, scratching the back of her head. "Are all boys supposed to be like this long?" She asked, holding her palms nearly eight inches apart.
Luca bit her lip, giggling and shaking her head. She reached out and pushed one hand closer to the other, to a more accurate length.
"Oh..." Beccah said. Her white fur betrayed the blush that came to her cheeks. She bit her lip with a bit of a giggle. "Well then I guess I got lucky with Harold." Luca nodded in agreement. "Anyways, I snuck into the bedroom after you and Zee passed out on the couch. He was drunk, but less so than I expected."
"I hear hyenas handle their liquor really well," Luca said with a confiding kind of tone. Beccah simply nodded in agreement.
"He didn't need me to wake him up. He said he'd been awake like half an hour, but was just staring out at the cityscape. His glasses were glinting the moonlight and the city lights off the frames. It was so..."
"Romantic?" Luca teased slightly. She knew how much Beccah hated heart-felt romantics.
"Yeah," Beccah said, looking down guiltily. She shrugged. "I guess I'm more a girl than I care to admit. So sue me. Anyways, I sat next to him, he put his arm around me. And for the longest time all we did was talk. There was no pressure, no desperate groping. He was so stoic and yet radiated this deep undercurrent of emotion. I felt so connected to him.
"Then I turned to him. He turned to face me. His face was all, like, dramatically lit from the window, half in the light half in the dark. I couldn't help it. I kissed him, right then and there. It wasn't a simple little kiss, but it wasn't some sloppy teenage Frenching. It was passionate and yet directed in a way that I thought only happened in the movies. It was incredible."
"What about the sex?" Luca said, eyes even wider, face more awe-struck. She wanted so terribly to know about what it felt like, how Beccah felt as they did it. She almost felt ashamed about how much she wanted to know, but Beccah's look showed she understood.
"Well, I can't really say it was everything I expected," she said in a warning tone. "So let me put it this way: If you measure it against every romanticized concept you have applied to it, it'll fall short. But if you go into it abandoning those preconceptions, simply as one raw creature bonding with another, it is more than anything you could have imagined, and in ways you wouldn't have expected."
"Whoa..." Luca said, biting her still makeup-stained lip. "That sounds wonderful." She looked down, taking a deep breath, steadying herself. Her eyes drifted to that particular unwanted bit of anatomy between her legs, hidden away under her pajama pants.
Beccah reached out and hugged Luca close. "I'll always be here for you, hun. I wish I could wave my magic wand and make you and Zee share this experience together as you should."
The two girls passed out on Luca's bed together several hours and a couple of old movies later. Susanne had come up to fetch them for dinner, saw them asleep, and let them be. She called Beccah's mother and informed her. Beccah's mother simply assented without any protest. She was simply happy that her daughter had found such a close friend.
It wasn't until just after dawn that the pair was woken up by commotion at the front door.
Luca was the first up, and stood at the top of the stairs hearing someone questioning her dad furiously.
"Mr. Reingold, how do you feel about your daughter being outed at Harris High?"
Then another voice, more distant than that.
"Has the school provided a counselor for the two transg--"
The door shut, and Luca's father walked to the foot of the stairs. Beccah joined Luca, looking bewildered.
"What the hell is going on?" Randal asked. Luca swallowed hard.
An hour or so later, Luca and Beccah were sitting across from Randal and Susanne at the kitchen table. The room was dead silent. Randal and Susanne had simply accepted the story and just seemed to be processing it.
"Luca, go check if those reporters are still camping out up front," Susanne said.
Luca went and checked. There were several furres standing out by the front lawn, including a devastatingly cute otter male with a notepad that had Advocate.com plastered across the front. Returning to the kitchen, she confirmed they were still out there.
"How about you girls go to Luca's room. We'll figure out something to report to the press and then get them the hell out of here," Randal said.
Luca and Beccah slinked away, looking and feeling guilty, and for absolutely nothing. Once in the room, Luca moved to the window and opened it. Sticking her head out and looking to the side, she saw Zee sitting on the roof against the outer wall of her room. He was just barely hidden by the little alcove in which the window was set. "Been waiting long?"
"How'd you know I was here?"
"I can smell you from a mile away," she giggled. Zee climbed into the window after she pulled back.
"So apparently the paparazzi has inundated your front yard too," Zee said, seating himself on Luca's bed after giving her a light kiss.
"Yeah," Luca said miserably, plopping down beside him. Just then, there came a knocking at the back door. Luca could hear her mother go to it. Then she heard her mother coming up the steps, accompanied by a second set of footfalls. "Get into my closet," she hissed to Zee. "Quick."
Zee disappeared just in time for Susanne to knock at the door and then open it. Harold was behind her. "This young man was looking for you two," she said sweetly. She then looked around the room, then at the window. "And hello Zee. Good morning."
"Good morning, Mrs. Reingold," came Zee's muffled voice.
Luca gave her mother a "how did you know?" look.
Susanne simply smiled. "We gave you a room that anybody with some decent upper body strength could climb to and get inside of, and your window is open even though it's dropped to fifty degrees this morning. Oh, and some of Zee's fur is on your windowsill."
Luca pouted. "Great, there goes that secret."
"Honey, it was hardly a secret. For me, at least," Susanne snickered. "Your father is oblivious. Let's see he stays that way? I don't need him going off about your boyfriend sneaking into the house." As she spoke, Zee guiltily came stepping from the closet. "Anyway, your father and I think it would be best if you all made yourselves scarce for the day. So we're going to turn a blind eye as you guys sneak out back and hit up Coney Island or wherever else in New York for the day." With that, Susanne laid a small stack of twenties on the bed and turned away. "You better get a move on. Your father is going to stall them in a few minutes with an impromptu press conference. You can hop the fence out back while he's talking them to death."
Just as Susanne was stepping from the room, Luca ran up to her. "Hey mom." She turned to face Luca. "Thank you," she said, and hugged her tight.
After sneaking out of the house, the four went to the station. "Where are we going?" Zee said as they waved their passes through the terminal.
"New Haven," Luca said. The three others stopped dead in their tracks. She turned around, looking at them impatiently. "What?"
"Why the hell would we want to go into Connecticut?" Beccah said incredulously.
Luca shrugged. "I have a hunch about Ronnie."
Zee looked at Luca oddly. "Luca, I thought we'd given up on that. All our leads dried up weeks ago. He could be in Cali by now, for all we know."
"I know, but there's one place we swore we'd go together when either of us got our first car," Luca said.
"Where?" Harold asked, arm snaked around Beccah's waist fondly.
"Louis'."
The group had spent half the money Luca's mother gave them when they got to the Amtrack station for the connecting train. Once aboard, Zee couldn't help but stare out the window the entire way. "You know, there's not much to see out there," Luca said with a giggle.
Zee smirked and turned to her, shrugging. "I know. I've just never been outside of New York or Jersey before."
Luca giggled. "Wow, never met a New Yorker that hasn't invaded my home turf to look at the leaves."
Zee stuck his tongue out at her. "Hey, we're not all a bunch of stupid leafers. And isn't New York part of New England? It's all our turf."
"You must be from another planet, hun, thinking New York City is part of anything else around it," Beccah laughed.
Once there, Luca led them on excitedly to get a taxi. Crossing the 34 and US 1, the group was gazing around at the old town. Up ahead, on the very road they were on, was Yale, and Beccah chattered excitedly as she gazed at the majestic buildings.
The group piled out of the taxi once they arrived, looking at the small shop. Luca stepped forward and inside Louis', the very place at which the burger was born, and the first road trip she and Ronnie were supposed to take. Going up to the counter, Luca slid the picture of Ronnie they had been showing all around New York City. The old salt-and-pepper cat behind the counter shook his head slowly. "Nope, sorry miss. Wish I could help you."
Luca sighed, returning to her party of friends. "No luck," she sighed heavily.
"Well, it was worth a shot," Harold encouraged. Always the optimist, it seemed.
Luca nodded. Just as she began making her way to the door, it opened, letting the brilliant midday light in. When it closed, there were two figures standing there. Luca went speechless. Right there before her, staring right back with the same dumbfounded expression, was Ronnie, accompanied by some large brown equine.
"Ronnie?" Luca whispered. As if that had lit a fire under his ass, Ronnie gripped the strange horse's wrist.
"Ray, run!" he shouted. The horse didn't hesitate, and dashed out after him.
By the time Luca pushed the door open and got outside, she saw the two of them jump into a Toyota that looked about ready to crumble if you so much as stared at it hard enough and speed away.
"What the hell?" Beccah huffed, standing alongside Luca.
Luca simply shook her head. "I don't know... but at least he's alive."
The rest of the day, the group consented to Beccah's constant pleas to see Yale. The walk around the campus was long, and gave them time to debate what had just happened, and how amazing it was that they had timed this little excursion so precisely. Ultimately, however, they boiled it down to simply being thankful they knew he was alive, even though he obviously did not want to be found. Not yet, anyway.
On the return home, the dread of the day they faced loomed ahead of them. Each of the four members of the group laid down in their respective beds, stared at the ceiling, and prayed for sleep to come after hours of tortured anxiety.
It was Monday morning. Students thronged together by the front entrance. Harold, Beccah, and Luca all met up at Zee's, since his was the closest house to the school. The march towards their fate seemed to stretch out before them like an eternally long road to redemption. The closer they got, the louder the crowd seemed. The first things they saw were news vans. Then the outside of the fence of the school. Then there was the crowd.
It seemed every student was out there. Atop the steps leading into the high school stood a graying timber wolf of massive stature. He very nearly outmatched Mr. Carmichael in height, even. His shoulders were broad, and his half-moon specs only made him seem more powerful. That was The Principal, Dr. Garret.
"I don't like this," Zee said, his ears laying against his skull. He brushed some of his black hair from his forehead.
"Don't worry," Luca said. She only wished she felt as confident as her voice sounded. She took Zee's left hand in her right, and then Beccah's right in her left. Beccah took Harold's hand in her left one. Together, they formed a chain of solidarity that provided them with at least a little comfort.
As they crossed the street, a group of protestors suddenly spoke up. They were out on the sidewalk to one side, held back by cops. Signs were being held that read such classics as "Abomination" and "Jesus loves you, REPENT!" Their shouts and screams seemed so very un-Christian.
To the left, reporters surged forward, including that oh-so-cute otter Luca saw outside her house the day before. Inside, the students spread apart at the order of the Principal, leaving a way for the four students to get to Dr. Garret. The four slowly approached the steps, looking up at the aging wolf meekly. He gave them the lightest touch of a smile, and that made all their hearts swell immensely. It was incredible, the reassurance they felt by such a tiny, nearly imperceptible gesture.
"Luca Reingold, Zee Polaski. Step forward please." The pair approached timidly, hands tightly clasped. "I would like to announce that--finally--we shall be able to crown the new Duke and Duchess of the Harris High Homecoming prom!"
Several students broke out in whooping applause. Zee looked back, seeing that, for the large part, it was the general outcasts, mostly grouped along the back of the crowd. The rest of the students looked on in stunned silence.
"Contrary to what had been said at Homecoming, there is no specific rule or guideline in any of the School Board's dictates that says the Homecoming Court positions must be represented by a specific gender. Technically, any boy or girl who wants to wear the crown or tiara has the right to do so. Since Luca and Zee won the Duke and Duchess race by five votes, they are hereby crowned Duke Zee Polaski and Duchess Luca Reingold."
Applause broke out again as Dr. Garret produced a crown and tiara, placing each on their respective heads. Luca grinned over at Zee. Zee's face, however, seemed rather un-readable. Eventually, however, the applause gave way to the chants and shouts from the protesters outside the campus grounds.
"Now, all of you, come into my office," the Principal said, leading the four students inside. Once in his office, he had them all sit down. Alex was sitting in the first of the five chairs already. Zee looked between him and Dr. Garret, bewildered.
"What is going on here?" Zee asked, looking at Alex again.
"Zee, several members of the football team as well as most of the track team have all been expelled from any sports events, suspended ten days, and given referrals for possession and consumption of alcohol at a school event."
"What?!" Zee said, shocked at hearing this. "They're going to come down on me for thinking I ratted them out!"
"No they won't," Alex said, looking down at his lap for a moment. Zee turned to the quarterback, bewildered. "They all know I am the one that informed the chaperones."
"You?! Why?"
Alex took a deep breath. "Here's the deal. When you went dashing out, I got them to hold up. I told them I'd grab you and drag you back into the restroom. The track team wanted to beat up on you for a while, and by proxy so did the guys from the football team. What I was really doing was grabbing a chaperone so that they could all get busted before your secret got leaked. I wanted to buy you guys time to get away. One of the other guys texted his date, though. She happened to be really good friend with Pamela."
"But... you're exactly the type to be first in line to beat me up."
"That would be the image I maintain, yeah," Alex sighed. "But seeing you were... well... trans and everything. It made me want to help you out. You see... I'm gay."
The silence that followed stretched on forever. Dr. Garret simply watched on, waiting a few minutes for things to sink in, then continued to speak. "Now, there are some other matters to attend to here." He sighed, taking his glasses off and rubbing his eyes before resuming.
"First on the docket: Alex. Alex, you may have done something very honorable Friday night, and for that I congratulate you and take lenience on you. You are hereby given a week of detention, the first day to be today and the last being Friday. You can resume practice next week."
Alex simply nodded his acceptance.
"Harold and Rebeccah, you both have my personal recommendation to any university you apply to, as well as that of the Superintendant and the Mayor of New York City. You two stood alongside your friends when social convention dictated you go with the pack."
Harold and Beccah grinned at each other.
"Duchess Luca," Garret said, "Again, I congratulate you for your win. But you did assault your competitor when you punched her in the face."
Luca actually smirked with a certain satisfaction.
"As a result, I do have to suspend you for three days. Violence against your fellow students is strictly forbidden under the Student Code of Conduct."
Luca shrugged. She couldn't care less about the suspension. Every minute of it would be worth punching that snooty bitch in the face.
Zee breathed deep. He knew he was next.
"Zee Polaski. Yours, I'm afraid, is the hardest case to deal with. While you did nothing wrong, you may have to end up paying the highest price out of everyone here."
Zee reached out and gripped Luca's hand firmly.
"Francis Harris High School is now under a great amount of scrutiny and investigation into this matter of your status as a transgendered student. Particularly, we are under fire from the school board and the high school athletic association. The school board is calling for my head, the athletic association is calling for your coach's, and Coach Nemitz and I are gunning all-out for your right to remain on the boy's track team."
"Wait. Coach Nemitz is actually fighting for me?"
Garret's brows raised. "Zee, you are by far one of the greatest high school age endurance runners in all of New York State, possibly the entire New England area. The fact you were born female only makes that achievement so much more spectacular. You have proven you are more than worthy of being on the boys' track team. One of the biggest issues in high school sports has been the inherent disparity between boys and girls, physically speaking, and somehow getting past that to provide an equal basis of funding and activity level for both sexes. This could end up being the first cross-gender high school sports organization in New York."
Zee scratched the back of his head. "I'm not sure, Principal Garret. I mean, you're asking me to be part of a team because of something I've tried to not be. I'm a boy. Trapped in a girl's body, perhaps, but a boy nonetheless. I don't want to be made into a spectacle."
"Obviously, the choice is yours, Zee. I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable, and the chances are, the school board will decide against your participation. The coach and I will comply with your wishes, whatever they might be. But I do urge you not to take this decision lightly. Getting permission to remain on the team may very well change the dynamics of organized sports. It may end up allowing girls to participate in those leagues that are more to their ability, rather than their gender."
Zee sighed and stood, moving to the window to look outside at the dissolving crowd of students. The protesters still chanted and shouted slurs. Zee felt himself feeling angry at them, hateful at the kind of judgment they passed on him and Luca.
"Fine. We'll fight for my right to be on the team."