The First Love Of Alipang Havens

Only after breakfast did Al and Chil get properly dressed, because today they were going to be much more formally attired than was usual at Redemption Church. This, because Al was going to be among church members honored for volunteer service--actions like his going with Pete and Grant to help the elderly couple.

Despite having on good clothes, they would walk to church, it being a fine morning. Mom and Dad figured that by Melody and Harmony walking on their own feet for as much of the way as they were up to, they might be able to sit still then in the sanctuary and watch their brother on the stage.

Alipang donned a dark-green suit with shirt and tie also in shades of green: the only suit he owned or wanted. On the few occasions he dressed up, he called it his "Morpheus look"--Mom having finally let him see the first Matrix movie. As he was inspecting himself, there was a knock on his door. For once, Chilena was knocking, in case he were undressed. "All clear for Wonder Twins," he told her.

She came in, wearing a sky-blue dress that set off her long blonde hair. In keeping with Mom's never-ending panic over purity, the hem was at the mid-calf level which was the most UNattractive length ever devised for skirts in the history of clothing; but she could not look bad to Alipang. She was his Chilena.

"You look terrific, of course, Al. But leave the Morpheus dark glasses behind, okay?"

They were in his hand when she said that. "For YOU, okay," he said, and put them back on his dresser. With both hands unencumbered, he drew Chil into his arms--or rather, received her as she was already coming into his arms.

"I'd activate Wonder Twin powers now, except that I'm wearing lip gloss."

"That's okay, I'm not;" and Al kissed her on her forehead and both cheeks.

Presently the family was on its way, with Al and Chil arm in arm. The Imadas, who lived roughly on the route the Havens were walking, joined them. All arrived at church in plenty of time, greeted Pastor Stetzer, and went to their usual pew more than halfway up, in time not to miss any songs.

Five or six minutes behind them came the Tisdale family.....

 
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Some words here were written by Dayhawk in the RP

Elizabeth Tisdale, her healthy brown hair done up for the first time in months, found most of the seats taken. But Rafael Imada, who was ushering today, was aware of one lady here being already a friend of the Tisdales, and was able to obtain Elizabeth a place next to her African-American friend Mrs. Madeline Jacobs. This was the person who had provided Elizabeth with information about Redemption Church.

Kim stood in the back with Sharon, Susan and Betsy, feeling more on display than if there had been room to sit. The four sisters watched everything that was going on. Susan whispered to Kim, "Don't be mad at the guys here for not offering their seats to us; I don't think any of them have looked back and spotted us yet"--to which Sharon counter-whispered, "Xena the Warrior Princess wouldn't let a mere male give her a seat anyway."

The sermon was about performing acts of service _without_ making them a substitute for an actual relationship with Jesus Christ. Despite the absence of any Tori Amos music, it held Kim's attention fairly well.

Alipang was also listening, and not only because he would eventually be called forward. But he was also in the habit of looking around the church to see who was there. He was quick to spot the new arrivals, and still quicker to have his attention riveted by the youngest of the Tisdale daughters.

The town of Smoky Lake was large enough that everyone _didn't_ automatically know everyone else. Alipang was quite certain that he had NEVER seen the dark-haired, oval-faced, physically perfect embodiment of absolute beauty who now stood thirteen pews back from him, accompanied by three sisters who were almost as attractive as she. He would not have forgotten seeing any of them, but especially not the one who, merely by existing, was yanking his eyes out of their sockets.

Chilena, sitting hip-to-hip with Al at their end of the filled pew, noticed that he _wasn't_ returning his gaze to the front. She turned her head without saying anything, followed his line of sight...and saw that he had to be looking at one or all of the four beautiful young women standing in back. They all appeared older than herself and Al, though.

Pastor Stetzer's naming of members who had done good deeds finally recaptured Al's attention. They heard:

"...Lucinda Rockwell, Pete Gordon, and Alipang Havens, who joined in the July house-repair project for senior citizens, and similar activities during the year. Please come forward!" Grant the singer, who had also been in these activities, was already on the stage. Returning to Earth, Alipang went up with the others to be applauded. His eyes immediately sought out the impossibly beautiful stranger again, wondering if she even knew about any of the charity projects done in this town. He didn't know if this family had ever been in any need itself--though he was observant enough to detect the unfamiliar, also-attractive mature woman who looked related to the four young newcomers, and notice that there was no father in sight with that woman or with her daughters.

Kim watched as the people went up to the stage for charity work recognition. She saw a dark-skinned boy, roughly her age or maybe a little younger, with an unmistakably athletic build under his suit. She caught his gaze and smiled, though she didn't show teeth. She hated her nearly beaver teeth and never smiled with an open grin.

With Chilena filling his life with affection just short of the romantic, Alipang had nicely survived never having anything remotely like a girlfriend, though of course he had valued female FRIEND-friends, notably Summer Heron and Kaitlyn Katon. Not only were his parents as protective of his purity as if he had been a girl in Norfolk near the Naval base, but the boy's own serious and responsible nature had always kept him focussed on family, work, church, homeschooling and Escrima training.

So Alipang, who had fought off physical attacks by boys twice his size, found he had no defense against what was hitting him now: the unknown princess near the back of the sanctuary had looked him in the eye and smiled at him. It was all he could do to stand in place until they were dismissed--and then all he could do to return to his parents, rather than do what he wanted to do, which would be to make an idiot of himself stampeding to make that girl's acquaintance.

But Al's chance was coming. As the service ended, Madeline Jacobs, a good-hearted lady in her late forties, had the Tisdale sisters meet everyone...down to the last infant. They came to the dentist's family, and Mrs. Jacobs made sure each Havens was accounted for.

Mrs. Jacobs did not fail to notice that Alipang was already in the magnetic field of Kim's dark eyes.
 
Kim's three older sisters, and their mother when she joined them, also saw the effect Kim was having on this young man of the church--as did Summer, who was not far off. Once Kim shook Alipang's hand, he unconsciously kept hold of her hand for as long as she permitted him, and she permitted him for awhile.

"Hi, Miss, um, was it Kim?...I'm Al Havens, er, I, I guess you heard, you heard my name, up there I mean...It's really Alipang, that's a, that's a Filipino name, I'm adopted, all of us are adopted, I mean, I mean us Havens kids...This, this is my sister Chilena...Are you at East High? We've been homeschooled, I mean my sisters and me, but tomorrow we're starting at, um, at East; we'll be sophomores--not Melody and Harmony of course..."

"Yes, I'm at East," Kim informed him, waiting to see his reaction when she added, "I'm a senior this year." It seemed to her that the news made little difference to the boy; so probably he _wasn't_ zeroing in seriously on her, despite his obvious admiration. She was glad, anyway, that he was keeping his eyes on her eyes, rather than scoping her out all the way down.

"Do you, um, do you like Filipino food?" the boy stammered on. "It's, it's like Chinese food in some ways....I'm at the, I mean I work, I work at..."

Rafael Imada came to Alipang's rescue, telling the Tisdales about the Pansit Paradise, and saying that sixteen-year-old Al, who about a year ago had moved up from busboy to waiter, "practically ran the place." Rafael invited the new family to have a free lunch at his establishment, where Al would wait on them. Though not overly fond of Asian food, Elizabeth accepted for them all--the more willingly for being told that many Redemption members ate there frequently; it was a chance to socialize with people who were collectively making a good impression on her.

Kim did not appear to Al to be greatly thrilled about Asian food either; but when her mother and sisters filed out ahead of her, and Mrs. Tisdale called for Kim to follow, Kim did take Al's hand once more before going, while rolling her eyes to accompany telling him, "Parents can be pushy. I'll see you at your place in a bit." Though it made him uncomfortable to hear disrespectful words about parents, he could not help revelling in her having included him in a sort of confidence.

In the afterglow of meeting Beauty Incarnate, it took Alipang some time to register that Chilena was tightly gripping his left arm with both of hers. When their eyes met, hers were woebegone. "Didn't take long for the Wonder Twins to be split up by Wonder Woman."

But there was nothing false about the kiss he gave her in response. "We'll never split up, sweets; we'll just conquer new territories. But I don't think that Kim's interested in ME that way; how could she be, she's a SENIOR."
 
(This scene was largely Dayhawk's work in the RP)

Driving to the strip mall where the Pansit Paradise shared anchor-business status with a pet-supply store, Mrs. Tisdale made Kim sit up front with her. Patting her youngest daughter's knee, the mother said triumphantly, "Haven't I always told you that you've got the stuff, Kimmycocopuff? That dentist's son has a crush on you already."

"Aahhh, he does NOT," grumbled Kim. "You _always_ think boys have a crush on me."

"Because usually they DO," said Baeline/Betsy from directly behind Kim, trying to be supportive. "You just need to encourage them a little. I mean encourage the _decent_ boys, not the self-worshipping stud-muffins."

Kim looked back, trying to glare; but she loved Betsy too much to glare very convincingly. Still, she spoke defiantly. "You mean Junior Dentist? If I ever did encourage _him,_ it wouldn't be because his family has money. It would have to be because of...."

"Maybe because of his having good qualities _inside_ him?" Betsy put in. "Oh, I dunno, like maybe the qualities of a boy who has a father he can be proud of, a boy who already works at a steady job AND makes time to do charity activities for his church?'

"And who is so bowled over by our Kimmy that he can hardly form a sentence when she's looking at him?" said Mrs. Tisdale, almost laughing now.

Kim crossed her arms. "Hmmph! Just watch when we go to the restaurant. You'll hear him talk to everyone the way he talked to me. One thing I picked up is that he was adopted late, he's only known English for a few years. All that stammering was just a perfectly understandable second-language problem--not his fault, but _certainly_ not proof that he's madly in love with me!"
 
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Like a Broadway director encouraging a new actor backstage, Rafael Imada gave Alipang a pep talk as the boy changed into his waiter clothes in the kitchen area of the Pansit Paradise. Chilena had also changed in the ladies' room, and would be covering two booths; a full house was expected this lunchtime. But "Uncle Rafael" had made sure to reserve a large, centrally placed table for the Tisdales; and since the number of seats at this table permitted it, his wife Carmen would eat her own lunch there with the Tisdales, trying to make them feel at home.

"You have nothing to be bashful about, son," said the restaurant owner. "You are good enough for ANY girl, and if a girl thinks otherwise, she has no taste and SHE isn't worthy of YOU."

"But Mr. Imada, I only just barely met her!"

The gray-haired Filipino grandfather smiled benevolently. "Have to start somewhere. I have a good feeling about you and that Tisdale girl. As a matter of fact..."

"What, sir?"

Rafael switched to speaking in Tagalog. "Mrs. Jacobs at church knows the new family, and she told me that they've been having money problems for as long as she's known them. On food stamps much of the time. Not their fault, just rotten luck. But you know how this restaurant gives our still-good leftover food from each business day to some needy family? Since I've said you practically run this place, I'm going to put you in charge of outreach to new recipient families; I'll just bet you can think of a new family _someplace_ that could use a little food aid."

Alipang looked away. "Oh, great, what a way to get a girl to fall for me: 'Hi, they tell me that you're a starving peasant, so in my noble superiority I'm going to help you, and I expect you to crawl before me with gratitude.' Forgive me, sir, I don't mean that YOU have any attitude like that in helping people; but I think that Kim Tisdale would resent any _hint_ that I was trying to _bribe_ her for attention."

Rafael returned to English: "You're not a wise guy in a bad sense, Al, but you are a wise boy. Still, our helping the Tisdales doesn't necessarily have to _ruin_ your chances with Kim."

Alipang sighed. "And what chances do you mean, sir? The slim, or the none?"
 
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Carmen Imada's presence at the Tisdales' table did one thing if nothing else: it prevented Elizabeth from being the oldest woman seated there. In the crowd filling the Pansit Paradise to capacity, there were men old enough to notice Elizabeth at least fleetingly; and with Carmen there cheerfully bearing the "I'm The Oldest Here" stigma, it could be more clearly seen that Elizabeth Tisdale still was a beautiful woman herself.

Alipang, though, felt as if there were more eyes on him than on even all the Tisdale women combined. The special paranoid lobe of his brain imagined that all Redemption Church members present--and on this occasion, they constituted the majority of diners--had come here specifically for the purpose of seeing him crash and burn in the radiant presence of the most gorgeous female he had ever seen or even imagined.

But waiter training kept him from losing all his marbles. He explained menu items to the ladies, and urged them to try a family-size combination sampler, which besides soup and salad consisted mainly of several flavors of the Filipino foods best known to Americans: the eggroll-like lumpia, and the noodle dish pansit.

At one point he had to _remind_ Mrs. Tisdale that they were eating as Mr. and Mrs. Imada's guests, not having to pay for anything. Good, they're _not_ accustomed to demanding handouts as a right, he thought. Not like that woman who was so snotty to Dad the other day with her You-owe-me-everything-I-want attitude.

It was true that many eyes were on Alipang--for his boyish stupefaction upon his introduction to Kim had been witnessed by many in the church foyer. But none looking were wishing him ill. One who in particularly was mentally rooting for him was a slightly older girl, a junior named Jennifer Williams, another of Al's female friend-friends. She had seen several younger girls _really_ crash and burn with no-good boys; and she wanted _some_ girl to benefit by the kind and honorable qualities that she knew her friend possessed.

Not much of great note happened in the course of the lunch; but it was worth something to Alipang that, as the Tisdales rose to leave, Mrs. Tisdale took care to thank him...and Kim caught his eye and waved to him on the way out. As she turned then and exited, with her eyes no longer visible to entrance him, he did after all notice consciously that she also existed below the neck.
 
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Summer was there also; and at the first opportunity after the Tisdales' exit, before she also left, she sidled up to Alipang and whispered, "I think you have a chance there, Al. And I think her mother will approve."

Chilena would have approved more if Summer had acted jealous of Kim and had made a bid to become Al's girlfriend herself. She wondered if the reason Summer _didn't_ do any such thing, when she so clearly _liked_ Al greatly, was because of the wheelchair-shaped shadow of the crippled Mr. Heron, who was now at home full time. Summer was the only child her mother had to help care for the unfortunate man; it might be a long time before the faithful daughter could allow herself to think of becoming a mother herself.

Work went on for the Havens siblings, and on; the Pansit Paradise was cursed with steady popularity for its combination of good food, reasonable prices and friendly atmosphere. But around 3:00 p.m., things finally subsided enough that Chilena could get away with beckoning Alipang out the back door into the seldom-visited alley between the strip mall and a warehouse.

There she said no word, but threw her arms around her brother and squashed herself against his shirt front. She didn't want to have to ASK him to hug and hold her in return; and she didn't have to ask. That was all there was to it, not even any kissing on this occasion--just that he would hold her and hold her and hold her. Which he did. With nothing said, least of all anything about Kim Tisdale.

Then it was back to work.

In view of school opening tomorrow, Rafael released Al and Chil from work an hour and a half before closing--after slyly mentioning to Al that Mrs. Imada was fourteen months older than he, and that her age had not stopped him from courting her back in Manila.
 
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There was a bit of daylight left, so Alipang and Chilena changed back into their church clothes (the work outfits could be left at work) to walk home hand in hand. This was feasible for Chilena because, by Mom's rule, she was not wearing high heels.

Making a good pace, Alipang judged they could afford a brief detour onto the grounds of one of the town's grade schools. There was a bench he knew of, out of sight of most possible bypassers. "Here, Chilena, let's have our first _outdoor_ downstairs meeting."

This evoked the first real smile Chilena had smiled since her brother had been conquered by that _senior_ girl's darkly lipsticked smile. "You mean the second one! Remember, in the treehouse last year, after the July Fourth fireworks?"

This brought on his first hug to her in the current meeting, before they even sat down. "Oh, Chil, what a memory! You're definitely the brains of the Wonder Twins!" And the Wonder Twins reference redoubled HER hugging of him. With a glance, then, she conveyed that she was waiting till there would be a proper lap for her to sit on. He was quick to provide this lap; she was even quicker to claim possession of it, her arms passing around his neck with the proficiency of long practice, and her face leaning to meet his.

They kissed as emphatically as their protocol allowed; then Alipang breathed into her left ear, "The meeting will come to order."

Chilena raised an eyebrow in mock haughtiness. "It will? Then I _order_ you to kiss me again.'

"Provided I get to give the next order." He gave her a second kiss, a bit lighter than the first, then said, "Now I order you to tell me what's bothering you, sweets."

She relaxed in his embrace, and said, "It's begun even quicker than I was ready for, Alipang. I feel like you're already leaving me, and school hasn't even started. Even with you holding me, I miss you like you're already far away."

"Oh, Chil, haven't we gone all over this? You're hoping for a good boyfriend, aren't you? And you know I won't be jealous of him, don't you? Besides that, Kim Tisdale _isn't_ my girlfriend, and I wouldn't bet a stale almond cookie on my chances with her."

In every one of their lap-sittings, there was always a point when Chilena snuggled in still closer--whether in happiness or otherwise. This time it was clearly "otherwise." "But you're already as caught up as if she _were_ your girlfriend! At church, after worship, when you were with HER, you didn't even see me or feel me, when I was right _there_ hanging on to you!" She put her forehead to his and rubbed noses. "Do you feel me here now, at least?"

Another kiss answered that; but Alipang added words too. "Sis, honey, remember you've got about six years' head start on Kim at having my attention...."

"So you're tired of being with me?" She was closer to crying now.

"Never, sweets! But remember what I said about us not splitting up, just conquering new territory? Even if I ever have a chance with Kim, _that_ will be new territory: a different thing, not competing with what you and I share."

"You _say_ that; but what if Kim starts wanting to be out with you every night you're not at your job? When will there be any time left for ME?"--and the word "me" was the detonator which set off the crying bomb. There was nothing for it but to disarm the bomb with lots and lots of back-rubbing, rocking, squeezing, hair-stroking, kissing--and reminding her that she might acquire a new boyfriend before he had his first girlfriend.

The bench meeting had served a good purpose, for Chilena's feelings could not be left to fester; but they had to get on the move again for home before the affection session felt really finished.

Consequently, much later that night than was usual, and after Alipang had made a certain important phone call, he and Chilena sneaked back downstairs to their meeting-couch and had a regulation _indoor_ downstairs meeting after all, with the hugging, kissing and cuddling counters all set back to zero as if the outdoor meeting hadn't even happened.

But the truly odd thing for Alipang, bothering a corner of his mind all the next day, was that, when he finally said his prayers and got to sleep, he dreamed vividly...about making passionate love...to Kim Tisdale's MOTHER.
 
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PART SEVEN: HELLO TO THE CROWDS


Monday morning, it was Melody and Harmony, still in their pajamas, who were first into Chilena's room, babbling something about the SUV "getting all broken," and that Chil-Chil simply _must_ come see. So she groaned her way downstairs and outside, to see--

--her parents standing in front of an unfamiliar compact sedan, shouting, "Happy early birthday, Chilena!" Dad advanced, handed her a set of keys, accepted a hug, and said, "What's the use of having earned your license if you don't have wheels?" Then everything was all hugs for awhile--including for the babies, who were as thrilled with their part in the surprise as if they had bought the car themselves. But suddenly Chilena's head snapped up.

"Where's Al?"

"He jogged off to school already," Mom told her. "Said something about scouting the ground. But he knows you're getting the car, and he'll see you in first-hour English, which you and he have together."

===================

Larry Edward Mannering, an African-American student at East who had already been held back for two years, had achieved at least two things in four semesters of refusing to study: he had convinced Principal Flora Lewiston that his problem was "not loving himself enough," and he had coined a street name for himself in keeping with the _boundless_ love he _really_ had for himself. He called himself Leopard Man. And like a leopard, he had smelled out a victim in the minutes before East High's doors opened.

The victim was a fellow black: freshman Sammy Ashton, of whom Larry Edward had heard that he was a top-scoring student in eighth grade. In Larry's gangsta-wannabe view, this made Sammy "too white;" and if that boy was going to side with The Man, then he deserved what The Man deserved. Which, by a remarkably convenient coincidence, would entail the "economic justice" of Sammy's money going into Leopard Man's pocket.

The redistribution--at knifepoint, behind a utility building--was going as planned, when an unfamiliar voice exclaimed to him: "Thank you for posing! That'll be a great photo!" Whirling around, Leopard Man saw a brown-skinned boy, scarcely taller than Sammy, Mexican maybe, holding up a picture-taking cellphone. Meeting the robber's gaze, the intruder said without humor, "Now give him back his money, or your picture's going to be _very_ famous!"

This was a violation of Leopard Man's cosmic balance, a balance which naturally perched him on top of everything. Spewing obscenities, he rushed blade-first at the brown boy--which was the _last_ thing to happen by Leopard Man's will that morning. His supposedly skillful knife-lunge was casually deflected by a startlingly powerful open-handed swat to the back surface of the attacker's wrist. The same defending arm turned into a serpent, coiling around Leopard Man's right arm, twisting it painfully, and suddenly forcing the bully face-down to the grass.

Alipang kicked the dropped knife out of its owner's reach, then barked into Leopard Man's right ear: "Now, you _will_ give him back his money, or I'll _really_ hurt you!" With sudden fear overruling rage, the young thug realized that the hands gripping him were stronger than any he had felt in years. His consequent whining did nothing to add to his macho image.

"I give up! I give up! He can have his ________ money, just let go of me!"

"Say please." Alipang twisted the captured arm harder.

"Please! Please!" The armlock was released, and Leopard Man meekly returned Sammy's money.

"I'd better take _this_ to the Principal's office," remarked Alipang, retrieving the switchblade. "If you keep out of our way--" (he made the "our" understandable by laying his left hand on Sammy's shoulder) "--I probably won't remember how I found it lying around." Leopard Man took the hint, and took to his heels, left hand clutching at his aching right arm.

"Are you in the lifetime-friendship market?" asked Sammy.

Alipang grinned. "Sure, provided you back up my story about the knife, just to keep things simple."

"Deal," said Sammy. "It's perfectly true that we met here, and that we both saw a knife lying in the grass."
 
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Turning in the knife at the Principal's office caused Alipang and Sammy to be late for first-hour classes--not because Mrs. Lewiston disbelieved their story about finding it, but because Mrs. Lewiston pontificated to them about the MAAAAAAAAAD-ness of weapons and fighting, and about how whoever had lost the knife doubtless had a severe self-esteem shortage. As she was writing passes for both boys, the Principal suddenly said to Alipang, "You're one of our homeschoolers, aren't you?"

"Yes, ma'am. Chilena Havens, my adoptive sister, was already in Drama Club here last year; she played Nimue in Camelot."

"Ah, yes, I remember her. Well, now that you're out of that narrow little world, we'll soon make up the gaps in your education."

The barely-disguised insult to his mother from the supposedly kind and sweet middle-aged black lady before him was more than Alipang could or would swallow. "Principal, ma'am, _somehow_ in that narrow little world, my Mom did enough with us that I'm now taking Trigonometry and Advanced Biology with your _seniors_ here."

Mrs. Lewiston blinked, as if she had seen a fish in a glass of milk. "Oh, yes, so you are. You may go on to English now."

Sammy headed for Civics, after giving his cellphone number to Alipang; and Alipang went to English, where Chilena would be wondering what had happened to him. Conveniently, when the teacher decided to introduce Alipang to his other students, Alipang was allowed to respond--and he quickly told them that he had found a dropped knife and turned it in to the office.

During the rest of first hour, Alipang noticed that Chilena was exchanging frequent glances with a boy he had never seen: a handsome boy, in a relatively frail way. The one time the two boys' eyes met, Alipang gave the stranger the friendliest smile he could manage. If this guy checks out, he may be just the thing to stop Chilena feeling so neglected....

 
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(Trying to remember bit characters from early in the RP)

As fourth period of the first day was about to start, Kim Tisdale went contrary to the crowd as ever: this time, by _preferring_ a front-row desk, where she could best hear what Mr. Burdock said. Her persistent dyslexia made it vital for her to get as much benefit as she could from spoken words. Besides, three previous years at Smoky Lake East had left her with no taste for gossip whispered across the classroom aisles.

No one hurried to claim any desk adjoining Kim. Her combat boots, plus a dress only a little sexier than Granny's in "The Beverly Hillbillies," were as unalluring to the jocks and geeks as she intended them to be. One varsity football defense player named Rick Pelham, nicknamed Brickpile, did sit directly behind Kim, but from interest in two girls farther back, not in Kim. So it was that there still was a vacant place to Kim's left....

....when the moonstruck Filipino boy from yesterday came in the door, with short sleeves revealing to Kim for the first time that his arms were both hard-muscled and many-scarred. There certainly was no harm in his being well built; but what scored a point for him was his instant _recognition_ of her, despite her outfit universes removed from yesterday's plum-colored bimbo-in-church dress. His eyes locked onto hers as soon as he saw her, like the eyes of a charmed snake--a simile which reminded Kim of someone in third hour telling her that Alipang the dentist's son used to kill and eat snakes in the Philippines. But no snake, charmed or not, would radiate the undisguised ecstasy that shone out of Alipang as he beelined for the empty desk beside Kim as if it were a privileged seat at King Arthur's Round Table.

Kim decided she could more than afford to be polite to the boy who, last night, had spoken to her Mom by phone to announce that the Pansit Paradise's daily "second harvest" policy would be feeding the Tisdale household one night a week.

"Hello, Al, nice to see you again."

This much was enough that the sometime waiter seemed to quiver like a dog revelling in being petted. But his unconcealed fascination with Kim did not so greatly devastate his speech as it had yesterday. Taking his prized seat, he fished some papers out of a folder and extended them toward Kim, explaining: "This is something I prepared for you, hoping you'd be in my class--"

"It's _you_ that's in _our_ class by mistake, dinky-dweeb," interrupted Brickpile suddenly.

"Never mind the odd noises the air blowers make in here," said Kim to her new desk-neighbor, not looking at the football clod. She could already tell that what the younger boy was offering her was some form of trigonometry notes. "Whatcha got there, Al?"

"Notes I drew up from the first three chapters of our course text. My Mom was able to get mine for me early, for a head start. I always use multiple colors of ink for notetaking, to separate one piece of information from another, so my eyes will pick things out quicker when I review them later. I thought--you know--I mean, no offense--" She could see that he was afraid now that she would be angry at him for admitting that he had heard about her dyslexia; for he was obviously offering something which he hoped would help her separate words, lines and labels better with her own eyes.

Mr. Burdock called the class to order before Kim could say anything in reply; but she accepted the sheaf of notes, projected the most sugary Southern-belle smile she could manage (it wasn't really her, but she felt the kid was entitled to it), and mouthed "Thank you" to him. That satisfied Alipang, who turned his attention to the teacher and the markerboard the teacher was using.

Kim quickly saw how Alipang had organized the notes with color-coding. Anything graphic was done in black or purple ink, and associated numerals or symbols were in red. Words and phrases were in blue or green ink, and an occasional pointer or underline was in orange. Some of the words were misspelled, but not so badly that she couldn't figure out what was meant.

Maybe this _would_ help her. If nothing else, it was a refreshingly different way for an admirer to try to please his crush. For now there was no mistaking that she was in some degree this sophomore fellow's crush. Mom had been at least partly right about that. But it seemed a good bet that he wouldn't be obnoxious about it.
 
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Halfway through the hour, Kim found the chance to signal Alipang, by pointing at his gift of notes and then both nodding her head and giving thumbs up, that she understood what he had done for her and was grateful.

Mr. Burdock wound up the first-ever session of Trig a few minutes early, and Alipang--for whom, as for many others in the room, the next thing was lunch--asked Kim to wait. She didn't mind obliging him; and at first neither of them set any importance on the fact that Brickpile didn't leave at once either.

"As I'm sure you know," Al began, "when I called your house about, um, that delivery, your Mom said she insisted on your family doing something in return for it. Since Mr. Imada considers this a ministry for him as a church member, I told your Mom that she could speak to Kwai, our secretary, about giving some volunteer hours to the church. But now I have a different idea; and if you like it, it's what I'll propose to my boss. Have you ever waited on tables?"

"Yes, I have. Is the idea for me to, say, wait on tables once a week without pay?"

"Close. What I would suggest to Mr. Imada is that he _hire_ you in the regular sense, as many hours as you can manage; let one shift a week be without the wage, but still let you keep any tips."

Kim's expression brightened. "Why, I _like_ that! Thank you, Al!"

It was now that Brickpile made what he considered his brilliant move. "Don't build up the little nerd's hopes, Kim! Kid, she's too much for you." Then, with a football goon's cocksureness of his own impunity, he stretched forth his beefy right hand and roughly mussed Alipang's hair--

But not for long.

With surprising speed and startling flexibility, Alipang's own right arm shot back behind his own head, to the _inside_ of the offending arm, then wound around Brickpile's forearm and hauled it in close to Alipang's armpit. Bringing all his own weight to bear, swerving out of his seat as he did so, he forced the unprepared Brickpile forward and down onto the floor in a heap, like a tackled wide receiver. Before the arrogant jock could get clear of his desk which had toppled with him, Alipang was on guard in a low fighting crouch, fists ready, his face almost feral as he snarled, "DON'T you lay hands on me!"

Brickpile, awkwardly lurching up with fractured pride and no teacher on hand either to side with him or to stop him, would not have let a martial-arts ready stance deter him, if he had not just felt the strength in those brown hands which were now fists. As it was, ego fought against caution--

--until Kim defused things somewhat by saying, "That's what you get for being mean, Brickpile. Come on, Al, we both need to go to lunch." And Brickpile was left alone with his embarrassment.
 
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Kim found an excuse not to eat with Alipang before he could decide if he dared to ask her to sit with him. But Chilena was there in the cafeteria with Dan, the boy she had been smiling at in English. As a half-day student, she didn't _need_ to eat lunch at school in any case; but she clearly wanted to eat with Dan. She also wanted, at this early stage anyway, for Al to inspect and approve this potential boyfriend.

A table group formed in which, apart from Dan, most of the kids were former homeschoolers. Chilena sat across from Alipang with Dan on her right and Kaitlyn Katon on her left; Alipang had Sammy Ashford on his left, while on his right sat Callie Shore, the tall girl with light brown hair who had been on the Arlington Cemetery field trip. Kaitlyn's brother Jason happened to have been in the earlier shift for lunch.

Alipang learned that Dan's parents were divorced, and that Dan felt a friendly envy for intact families like the Havens family. Also, Dan had this in common with Alipang, that they were both on learner's permits and would not be licensed drivers for at least another two or three weeks. So far, Chilena's brother saw no red flags in Chilena's new friend.
 
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Kim's means of keeping some distance from the besotted sophomore took the form of a girl in black, a moderate Goth named Peggy Holder, who was the only member of Kim's internet forum actually living in Smoky Lake. Joining her friend at a table, Kim said, "Hi, Chicksteel."

Kim and Peggy were notorious in their online community for text-based roleplaying in which they always, always, always insisted on their characters being invariably smarter than the smartest male ever born and stronger than the strongest male ever born. Suddenly, with Alipang's laborious Trig notes right there in her notebook's front pocket, Kim felt an incongruity about this; but she didn't mention it to her fellow Xena and Buffy fan.

"Hello, Lightning. Any football jerks hitting on you yet?" Peggy, a much heavier girl than Kim, had a lasting grudge against all football players. Last year, at a time when she had not yet gotten into Goth fashion, she had stridently demanded to be allowed to play on the varsity football team. Mrs. Lewiston had forced the coach to let her try out; and only after being knocked flat in every single one of two dozen collisions with boys had Peggy given it up, still sulking that somehow it wasn't fair.

"Well, sort of," Kim told her fellow eccentric. "The one who's in fourth-hour Trig with me, Brickpile, seemed to be hinting at it, sort of indirectly."

Peggy was all eagerness. "Did you put him down? You're so good at it; how did you smash him?"

Kim glanced over toward where Alipang was eating with his sister and friends. "I didn't think it was necessary for me to do much this time..."
 
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As Alipang headed for Advanced Biology, his last class of the day, Kim intercepted him, for she had cause to talk to him before he went in.

"Al--" (She noticed him smiling at the very sound of her speaking his name; but it seemed less puppyish than before, a good sign.) "There's something you need to know about this teacher. Mr. Hayata is a teacher's union official on the side, and he hates _anything_ educational that _isn't_ under his union's influence, _especially_ homeschooling."

Alipang looked around. "Thanks....Kim." (He clearly relished addressing _her_ by name; but again, the original high for him seemed to be slacking off.) "Was he _born_ in Japan? I know they're big on uniformity of curriculum over there..."

"No, he was born here. His parents, too. He picked his attitude up from the union."

Entering the room, Kim once more found herself less than hemmed in at the front; so with a thought of Why not? she let her eyes invite Alipang to sit next to her here as in Trig. He didn't need any urging.

Mr. Hayata needed still less urging to start his campaign against the homeschooler within the first five minutes of class.

"As you all know, homo sapiens evolved as a _social_ creature. All other things being equal, there has always been a Darwinian advantage for large, coherent communities over little scattered clans. This fall we have a chance to meet some teens who have entered our community from the fragmented world of so-called homeschooling. One of them is with us right now, sitting beside Ms. Tisdale. Alipang Havens, will you please face the class and tell us a little about yourself?"

Rising, Alipang surprised Kim with just how much calmer and smoother his speech was now than when he spoke to her. "Good afternoon, everybody. I was born in the Philippines, orphaned at a young age, and adopted by an American couple who were serving as World Vis--"

"Excuse me," Mr. Hayata interrupted. "I did not ask you to discuss _religion_ here. I know they don't tell you this in homeschool courses, but here we happen to respect the Constitutional separation of church and state. You may sit down." Alipang knew, and strongly suspected that the arrogant teacher also knew, that the "separation" catchphrase wasn't even IN the Constitution; but he sat down and held his peace on that point. Hayata, though, had not finished with him.

With a glowering expression which probably had intimidated many a student, the Biology teacher said, "Perhaps, Mr. Havens, you can find some _relevant_ knowledge to share with us. For example: is a shark a vertebrate?"

"Strictly speaking, sir, no it isn't, because it lacks a complete bony endoskeleton. It is a chordate."

"Not bad. What is the difference between an infectious disease and a contagious disease?"

"Sir, if you were to draw a Venn diagram, the circle for contagious diseases would fall within the larger circle for infectious diseases. 'Infectious' means that you catch the disease _from_ something, which would include insect-borne diseases like malaria. 'Contagious' is a narrower term, referring to diseases caught from other members of one's own species."

Hayata looked exactly like a poker player who suddenly realizes that his opponent holds better cards than he had thought. But he rallied. "Why is it said that bumblebees can't fly?"

"Sir, someone long ago drew up an aerodynamic model of a bumblebee as an airplane, demonstrating that its wing area was too small to carry its weight. But the person doing this project was treating the insect as a fixed-wing aircraft, failing to account for the increased lift provided by the bumblebee _moving_ its wings. The only thing that the aerodynamic study really proved is that careless or dishonest people can sound convincing even while falsifying conclusions."

At that, Mr. Hayata folded, and resumed his normal first-day lecture. Alipang _wanted_ to see Kim looking at him with respect and approval; but he didn't want to defeat himself by looking to see if she was looking, thus making himself seem childish in his desire to impress.

He therefore did not see that Kim was looking at him with respect and approval. And she did not compliment him after they were dismissed.... but she did remember the incident.
 
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