The Protagonist System

229 A Hazy School Daze



229 A Hazy School Daze

I was tempted to have the first album released that morning when we woke up and Paige convinced me not to. There was still some work left to do, with a piano track on a few of the ballads, maybe a horn instrument, and adding a base guitar and perhaps a snare drum to a few of the metal songs.

“You're such a perfectionist.” I joked and kissed her.

“I let your other songs go almost a cappella because they worked better that way in those versions.” Paige said. “If we had more time to rework it, we could make your first song stand out so much more.”

I took out the sheet music for the various instruments and then handed her the lyrics of the entire song for 'I Would Do Anything For Love', with her sections marked and where to sing it. I had altered them only slightly to let them make sense with my own slightly altered lyrics and to ease her doubts about my pledge, and where to copy the chorus I sang and arrange it all to work together.

“Why don't you have some fun fixing it into what it could have been if we had more time?” I asked as I handed them to her. “I'll be busy at school for only half the day and then I'm going back to New York for my work placement.”

Paige took the pages with a small frown, as if I was going to ruin the perfect take I had made, and her eyes widened as she saw the pace of the music matched what I sang. Her parts fit in after what I already recorded and she could piece in my words from the clean take easily, since the guitar strums were easily removed, thanks to her professional equipment recording it on a separate track.

“I love you, Greg.” Paige said, her voice firm. “I knew you were the one for me after you saved me, then you do things like this and make me realize I really have made the best decision of my life.” She said and stepped close to kiss me tenderly. “You continue to surprise me and I thought you couldn't make me happier, and you... you...”

I gave her another kiss. “I need to pop home to...” I paused and touched the power I copied from Clairvoyant. “...make that go over to Lady Photon's to visit with mom and have breakfast.”

Paige nodded. “Let them know what we did and how far along we are.”

“If you get your parts done with that and release it before lunch, I can ask Dragon to play it over the cafeteria's intercom.” I told her.

Paige smiled. “We're not going to use it as the premiere track for your first album?”

“We are.” I said and equipped a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. “We can have my guitar version as the lead in song and tack the combined one at the end.”

“It's going to add another 8 minutes to the total time.” Paige warned me.

“I think we can still squeeze it onto an LP.” I mused and then chuckled. “We can shuffle off a track or two to the second album to fit it on, since you're finishing off the other songs anyway.”

“That's a good point.” Paige said and looked at my t-shirt to read it. “If you were Harry Potter, you'd be the best Harry Potter?”

“I would totally rock the wizarding world.” I said proudly and did the same hero pose I did as Baby Harry. It wasn't as goofy or impressive with a full size body, though.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Paige laughed and shook her head. “Only you, Greg.” She said and gave me one last kiss. “I'll text you when I finish the song.”

“Thanks.” I said and turned around and took a step and ended up in Sarah's kitchen. “Good morning.”

“Morning.” Sarah said and dished out eggs to her husband and son, both of whom nodded in greeting to me. “The other pan's almost ready.”

“I'm not in a rush.” I said and kissed her cheek as her husband and son dug into their much larger plates of food and had most of the plate of bacon added to their plates. “Thanks for inviting my mother to stay over last night when I couldn't stay at home myself.”

“It was no trouble.” Sarah said and put the dirty pan aside and checked the other eggs to stir them. “She should be ready by now.”

My mother walked into the kitchen wearing a blouse and skirt that fit her, so they were hers and not borrowed. “Good morning, honey.” She said and hugged me as she pecked me on the lips. “How did subverting the law go?”

I chuckled at that as Sarah dished out the second pan onto plates for me, my mother, and herself. “We managed to record the vocals for about four albums worth of songs before the injunction arrived.”

My mom let out a bark of laugh at that. “I bet you timestamped everything, too.”

“You bet we did.” I said and held her chair for her and she smiled and let me help her sit. I sat beside her and grabbed a couple pieces of toast and plopped several pieces of bacon onto them. “We're also going to use the injunction to help advertise the first album's rushed release.”

Sarah barked a laugh this time as she sat beside my mother. “Carol's going to have a fit if you announce that you have a whole album ready to go.”

We all started eating and I didn't respond until my sandwich was gone and half of my eggs were in my stomach.

“We still have some background music to add to each of the songs for the first album, like a saxophone and a piano for one of the ballads, and Paige is finishing off singing additional parts to my first song while also adding more music to it.” I told them.

“There's more to it?” Eric asked, surprised.

“Yeah, there's a whole section of female vocals trying to counter mine and almost doubles the length of the song.” I answered. “It'll take a bit more for her to record her singing, since it has to go through the anti-master filters first.”

“Whoa.” Eric said and gave me an odd look. “You didn't think it was good enough the way it was?”

I chuckled at what he was implying. “According to Paige, my version was perfect and the second version is going to make it even more perfect.”

“Well, she is the music expert.” My mother said and I nodded.

We all finished eating and Neil and Eric left the house after saying a quick goodbye.

“Why didn't you go with Eric to school?” Sarah asked me as soon as the door closed.

“He's a third year and I'm a first year. We are nowhere near the same social circles.” I said.

“Then how are you still friends with Vicky's friends?” Sarah asked.

“I kissed and hugged my way in, of course.” I said and wagged my eyebrows at her. “None of the guys appreciate it for some reason.”

“Yes, it's some unknown reason.” My mother scoffed, making Sarah softly laugh, and we helped clear off the kitchen table and then spent the next fifteen minutes helping Sarah wash the dishes.

Sarah's eyes kept darting to me and to my mother as we worked and she didn't say anything until we were done. “You're both going to be late if you stay here any longer.”

“Instant travel time.” My mother and I said at the same time, then we both laughed.

“Still...” Sarah said and then sighed. “Am I really so easy to read?”

“No, we just assumed you wanted us to hang around until we absolutely had to leave.” My mom said and hugged her. “Unlike a few other people we won't mention, we know what you have to do to keep both your family and the team running.”

“And we appreciate it.” I added and kissed Sarah with a hint of passion and a lot of restraint, because we did have to leave.

Sarah felt the difference, too. “You have work placement today, too.”

“Only that, though. I used up my volunteer hours this week and need to wait for the weekend for the full hospital tour.” I reminded her.

“We can do some team building exercises after supper.” Sarah said, her voice full of hope.

“I have no problem with that.” I said and gave my mom a kiss, too. “Quick costume change?”

“Please.” My mother said and I transfigured her clothes into her cape costume. “That always feels so weird and wonderful.”

I chuckled and let Sarah go. “See you later.”

Sarah nodded and I took a step with my mother and we reappeared beside the Brockton Bay General Hospital's parking lot. I had already kissed her goodbye, so she went inside with a wave and I took another step and ended at the corner of Arcadia High School's main building and walked over to the front doors.

My t-shirt made a few people laugh when they saw it. One person called out 'Neeerrrrd!' and I was tempted to flip them off with a middle finger, except I knew I was being recorded from a few different sources. I didn't want to hurt New Wave's soaring popularity, so I only waved and thanked him for his opinion.

I entered the school and went to my locker to keep up appearances and then met up with the popular crowd. The awe on their faces was a little concerning, then Brittany jumped on me and kissed me soundly.

“My dad's an air force pilot.” Brittany said with a serious tone and her usually bubbly attitude was absent. “I would have had you yesterday if you had shown up and now the moment passed and we both missed our shot.”

I wasn't sure how to respond to that for a second, then I did and put my arms around her and gave her a very slow and tender kiss, as if she was the love of my life. “We'll always have the memory of how good it could have been between us.”

Brittany blushed from both the compliment and from embarrassment for being kissed like that in front of everyone, and she wasn't the only one. Both Amy and Vicky had felt what I said was a specific jab at them and what happened between us, or more accurately, what wasn't happening between us. It was also something they couldn't help thinking about after seeing me lift the Statue of Liberty and several hundred tons of seawater.

After Brittany breaking the tension like that, everyone seemed to go right back to how they treated me before. That let me hand out normal kisses and hugs to those that wanted them and fist bumps to the guys. The group broke up when the bell rang and Jensen met me down the hallway.

“I didn't want to interrupt.” Jensen said and took my hand to bring me to Physics class.

I gave her a raised eyebrow and she whispered that she switched schedules with another girl that had a jealous boyfriend. I raised the other eyebrow, remembering the only girl I had talked to in class. Jensen smirked at me as she sat beside me and she slid her hand under the desk and started to lightly stroke me through my jeans.

“I think you would make a great Harry Potter, too.” Jensen whispered just before the teacher entered the room and started teaching.

I was glad to have enough control over myself to not blow my load a few minutes later after her gentle ministrations. She felt me twitching and stopped, gave me a pointed look, then smiled smugly. She spent another minute working to silently open my jeans and put her hand inside my underwear to discover how much I blew for her, only to frown when she found nothing.

“Two can play that game.” I whispered and she sped her hand up as I worked my own hand under her skirt and gained access to her dampness. I started to finger her and she had to clamp her lips together to stop herself from crying out with pleasure as I rubbed her engorged clit.

“I thought I had you this time.” Jensen whispered back as she leaned against me and both of our hands kept moving, our arms as still as possible, so no one else could tell what we were doing to each other right in front of them.

“As if.” I countered and then turned my head to kiss her cheek. “I'm sorry I missed study hall yesterday.”

“Where were you?” Jensen asked.

“I had a work-related thing to handle and was excused from class for the day.” I answered.

“And you have another half-day today.” Jensen responded.

“I'm heading to New York after lunch.” I told her.

“After...” Jensen paused and smiled. “Thanks for staying again when you don't have to.”

It didn't take long before we both finished and Jensen let out a long shuddering breath through clenched teeth. She gave me a very loving look and then glanced around to make sure no one was looking, then she took her fluid covered hand out of my underwear and froze at how much was there.

I handed her a napkin and took my own soaked hand out of her panties and let her see me lick my fingers before I used a napkin to wipe my hand off. Jensen blushed, because she hadn't tried to lick anything off her own before wiping it off. I kissed her cheek again and used a spell to clean the both of us up and then tried to do up my jeans without letting anyone see me doing it.

I wasn't successful, because the girl on Jensen's other side gave me wide eyes and then she looked down at Jensen's lap where her skirt was still hiked up and the napkin in her hand had a lot of white fluid on it. She blushed before she licked her lips, her wide eyes changed to a sultry look, and she winked at me instead of saying anything.

The class ended and both Jensen and I let everyone else scramble out of the room before we stood up and adjusted ourselves and our clothes to hide what we did. We also needed to stop in a bathroom to wash up before heading to the next class.

The same girl was in the next class as well, only in a different seat, and she kept her eyes on us for the whole period. When the class was over, she didn't look disappointed that Jensen and I hadn't given her another show to watch. She just gave us a knowing look and went off to a different class, again without saying anything.

“I have to go, too.” Jensen said and kissed me briefly.

“Meet at my locker for lunch?” I asked and she nodded before walking away.

The next class passed by without any distractions and I went back to my locker to pretend to drop off my books and things. Jensen showed up and gave me a smile as she put her own backpack into my locker, pretty much ensuring I had to stay for the entire lunch period so I could give it back to her.

“Sneaky.” I praised her and she laughed and took my hand as we went to the cafeteria. On the way, my cell phone beeped and I saw Paige had finally finished the reworked song and it even had an intro, just like my debut single had. I sent it off to Dragon and asked her to play it over the school's radio station, since it wasn't a crime or illegal to do so.

As Jensen and I entered the slightly crowded room, the new intro with Paige's voice played and she said this was what a collaboration between two artists was supposed to be like, then the song started playing. Almost no one reacted, even with the elaborate music playing instead of the acoustic guitar I had used the first time.

We all grabbed our meals as the room filled to capacity and Jensen and I sat at the popular table when the altered bridge of the song started. Nearly all of the girls seemed to catch their breath as Bad Canary belted out her part of the lyrics and my own deep singing was used as a counter to her own husky voice. It sounded surprisingly similar to the original song I was ripping off and even the guys were listening intensely.

There were a lot of red faces, on both the girls and the guys, when Paige sang about hosing her down with holy water if she got too hot. It was quite the scene as the entire cafeteria had fallen silent and stopped eating while they listened to the heavily altered song. It finally finished with Bad Canary matching my final line.

“No, I wooooon't doooo thaaaaaat.” Our voices sang perfectly in sync, then the last few notes played on a piano topped it off.

The dead silence of the students continued after the radio station resumed and started playing some other song. I looked at the faces of the popular girls across the table from me and they all stared right back at me, their faces still red.

“You need to go before you're mobbed.” Jensen whispered and pushed on my shoulder.

“Your bag...” I started to say.

“I know your combination.” Jensen said and gave me a look full of restrained desire.

I took the blatant hint and kissed her, then strode out of the cafeteria before anyone could chase after me. I still heard something after I equipped my costume and before I teleported.

“Amy and Vicky are idiots!” Brittany shouted and there were a lot of girls shouting agreement.

I held in my laugh and from one step to the next, I was on the helipad of the New York PRT HQ.

Flechette was there and gave me a warm smile. “I won the draw to greet you.”

“Uh huh, cape that can hit anything from anywhere.” I joked and she blushed. “Wait, you really replaced the real winner with your entry?”

Flechette didn't say anything and turned around to walk back inside the roof access. I didn't bother holding my laugh back anymore and let it out. She gave me a searching look for a few seconds before she joined me in laughing.

We rode the elevator down into the building to meet with her boss, Legend. I had to confirm the itinerary for my work placement session and I was happy that Flechette escorted me to the hospital, too. Our friendship was developing quickly and we had a lot in common, even an awkward break-up after a love confession had been refused by the one we were dating.

Meeting someone that fully understood how that felt, brought us even closer together.


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