Steven had in fact seen the animation of Lizzie and her
mystery man on Holts website. Ever since various teachers had been appearing on her site, he had taken
it upon himself to keep an eye on it. He couldn't expell
her, but he could at least nip whatever she was up
to in the bud.
That morning, he had her brought to the office. He debated bringing Scott in, but he to his knowlege, had not arrived yet. If he was going to do something about the site, he had to do it now. Besides, ordinarily he would not stoop to Cheryl Holts level, but if there was something strange going on, he would rather be the first to know for a change.
Cheryl was sitting in his office when he arrived. He had a laptop on his desk. He already had it on the site. He sat at his desk. He turned the laptop to face Cheryl.
"Are you responsible for this?" He asked her.
"Yes." She said.
"What is it about?" Steven asked.
"I thought it was rather clear." Cheryl said.
"I find it rather vague." He replied.
"All right. There are rumors that the new bimbo squad coach is linked to someone in this school. Not just in the past, but now too. And not just in school either." Cheryl said.
"Who are your sources?" He demanded.
"First amendmant." She said. "I don't have to reveal
anything more than I already have." She stood up. "Now if you don't need anything else from me, I need to go and do some things."
"Why don't you attend a class, the real reason you're here?" He stated, not hiding his true feelings.
"Who needs a diploma when you have a mind like mine?" She asked with a smug look on her face. "Ciao."
Cheryl went out the door and slammed it shut. Steven cursed and slammed his fist on the desk. He then got up and went to the door and yelled into the office.
"Get me Elizabeth McCarthy." He said.
Scott was down the hall in his office. He had gotten there early so Steven wouldnt know he was there. He wanted to get a chance to talk to Lizzie before Steven got her into his office. He was sure he would want to talk to Lizzie. He had also seen the vulgar animation on the holt45 webpage. Only if she showed up before Scott missed his chance. He went to the door and stood by the door. Lizzie, with her hair up in a twist, walked down the hall with her bag. She waved to Harry and Lauren, who waved back. Scott took his chance. He stepped out in the hallway.
"Lizzie?" He said.
"Morning Scott." Lizzie said.
"Can I speak to you in my office?" He asked gesturing to it with his left hand.
"Sure." She said. She entered the room. Scott looked around and then followed her in. This did not go unnoticed by Lauren and Harry.
"Looks like we might have another rat leaving the ship." Harry said.
"Think shes being fired?" Lauren asked. "Theres no reason to can her."
"Yeah, too bad, I was looking forward to winning that pool." Harry said. "I could have taken you out to dinner."
"That pool isnt big this week." Lauren said. "The most we can get is two double whoppers."
"What no happy meal?" He asked. "I need one this week. Several. If shes not being canned then what is he doing with her in there? Asking her out?"
"Somehow that wouldn't surprise me." Lauren nodded. First bell rang. Harry kissed her on the lips and headed down to the dungeon. Lauren went to her own class.
Gubers Office
"Whats this about Scott?" Lizzie asked.
"Have you heard of a student named Cheryl Holt?" Scott asked.
"I have heard of her by way of the other teachers, but I havent met her yet." She replied.
"You soon might." Scott said. "She runs a so called legitimate journalistic web site, which actually procedes to do harm to the reputations of the faculty." He directed her to his laptop computer. "Unfortuantely, you've been made the new target of the week."
"Target? What have I done?" She asked as she watched while Scott uploaded the site.
"Nothing, but I think Ms Holt operates on a different level than the rest of us." He said as he reached the page he wanted. A animated cheerleader with her face pasted on it seemed to be doing an awfully racey routine for one spectator. The spectator was a mystery
man who lapped it up eagerly.
"Oh my god!" She said.
"I thought so, too." He said.
"So what does this have to do with me?" She asked as he hit a button that went back to his homesite, a classical music webpage.
"Steven will want to talk to you about this. To see if anything is really going with you and a faculty member." Scott said. "Is there?"
"Don't be silly." She said. "I've been here two or three days. I havent really bonded with anyone yet." She flashed back to her shower incident. Should she tell him about it? "The only time a man has seen me is when someone came into the new faculty shower when I was using it the other morning." She said remembering it a
shy laugh. "Hell of an initiation, I guess." She looked at him. He was turning an almost pepto-bismal shade of pink. "Scott is there something wrong?"
"No, theres nothing wrong." He said quickly. He tugged at his collar. "Is it hot in here? It suddenly very hot, very stuffy in this room." He went over and tugged at the window sill.
"Scott its freezing outside!" Lizzie said. "Plus I don't think that window opens."
Scott stopped trying to open the window. "So it doesnt." He said. There came at knock at the door. Scott felt a big wave of relief come over him. Lizzie still had no idea that it had been him in the bathroom the other morning. It was Louisa.
"Hey, Lizzie, Stevens been looking for you." Louisa said.
"He is?" Lizzie said.
"Yeah, and he wants to see you like two minutes ago." She said. "Oh Scott, he wants to talk to you too."
"All right." Scott said having calmed down now.
"Is there any action we can take againts this Cheryl woman?" Lizzie asked once Louisa had left.
"Steven has tried, but failed when the courts came into the issue." Scott said. "Basically all we can do is wait it out, I guess. Maybe it will go away."
"Fine." Lizzie said. She thought for a minute. "Theres something I can do."
"What?" Scott asked as Lizzie went to the door.
"Oh nothing too bad. There won't be any dead bodies or anything. Trust me." She winked at Scott on the way out.
"What does that girl have in mind?" He wondered as he sat at his desk.
Teachers Lounge
Lauren was getting her first cup of coffee from the day. It was just after her first class. On her way by the office she noticed that Lizzie McCarthy was still in the office talking with Steven. He had shown the now famous animation from the Holt45.com website. He must have brought her in for that. Maybe she knows who the teacher
in question is. Lauren stood at the window and watched
the snow lightly fall while trying to keep the one
thought that shes had on her mind since seeing the
animation at Harrys last night. Who was it? Even
more important, was it Harry? She put her cup down.
She was going to have to find out herself as soon as
Lizzie left the office. How do you ask? What if Steven
asks her not to talk about it.
"I have to know." She decided. "What if it is Harry?"
