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No Foolin'

By Sasha Zarya Nexus

Chapter 8 ~ Two Bits

 

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No Foolin'

By Sasha Zarya Nexus

Chapter 8 ~ Two Bits

The alarm went off in my earpiece in the night.  I woke because I needed to go down and help Mrs. Rogers.  I got out of bed carefully so as not to disturb Phoebe.  I was able to make my way downstairs and into the pod to the medical bay just before the countdown timer reached 0:00.  We wanted Mrs. Rogers to wake when she was finished changing so there was no stasis field applied this time.

I noticed her stirring and spoke to her.

"Mrs. Rogers, how do you feel?"

"I feel wonderful!  Am I a Silurian now?"

"Yes, you are, dear.  You'll be able to get up in a moment.  I need to implant the device that will allow you to appear as human to everyone else."

"Go right ahead, Gail"

The last of the implantable bands was already in the medical insertion device which would replace a little fatty tissue under the skin with the band which would feel just like her body. I triggered it and the implantation was done painlessly.

"You can go ahead any time, Gail"

"All done. You can get up now."

"I didn't feel anything.  Your medical technology is wonderful."

"Thanks.  You can get up now." I touched a place on the wall and made a mirror for Mrs. Rogers to see herself. I helped her up and guided her over to the mirror.

"I look rather striking as a Silurian.  I guess I'll have to get used to it."

"I would imagine so.  I'm going to activate your camouflage now." I activated the band and Mrs. Rogers looked her old self.

"Now that's more familiar. What's next?"

"We would like to either inhibit or shut down, Phoebe's magic.  Inhibiting we found out happens when an adult is in the vicinity of a child, any child.  She's a good kid but for an adolescent the magic tends to slip out unintended no matter how well she is guarding herself not to do so.  She's just not mature like you are to exert the proper control.  The scans of Aunt Emma indicate that for a family member, a child can be cut off from absorbing magical energy until she is mature enough to control it.  The physiology suggests that it can be invoked by a kiss on the lips."

"That feels right to me somehow.  When I think about cutting off Phoebe's magic, I get the impulse to kiss her."

"That much we can go ahead and do.  I'd rather we do it in the medical bay so both of you can be monitored and we can confirm that it worked."

"That sounds good to me, Gail.  If you like, I'll wait here while you bring her down.  Even if it means waking her, the sooner this is done seems best to me."

"To me also.  I'll be right back, Mrs. Rogers."

I went out of the pod cabinet and into the basement then up the stairs and into my room.

"Wake up, Phoebe!"  Phoebe stirred and looked at me. 

"I'm awake.  What's going on?"

"Your mother is awake and the transformation was a success.  She already looks like herself again.  We are ready to try something to solve the accidental magic challenge.  I'd like it to happen in the Medical bay so we can monitor both of you."

"Sounds good to me, Gail.  Let's go!"

Phoebe followed me down to the basement and into the pod.  I led her to the medical bay where her mother was waiting.  They hugged and Phoebe greeted her, "Good Morning, Mom!  How do you feel?"

"I feel fine, my daughter.  Are you ready to get rid of that pesky magic problem?"

"Am I ever? Gail, where do you want me?"  "I'd put both of you on beds if I could but you could not touch if I did that.  It seems to me most likely that Phoebe might have some after effect and that she should be on the biobed.'

"How does that seem to you, Mrs. Rogers?"

"Let's get Phoebe on the biobed.  I should be fine."

Phoebe obeyed her mother and got on the biobed.  I stood over next to Mrs. Rogers so that I could ease her down to the antigravity stretcher lying on the floor if she felt off feint afterward. 

"Okay! Ready!"

Mrs. Rogers went ahead and kissed Phoebe.  The monitors showed that the mother was absorbing all of the magic stored within her daughter.  Phoebe looked fine, blissfully sleeping, but Mrs. Rogers looked like she was about to pass out.  I eased her to the stretcher on the ground.  Once she was secure, I moved the stretcher up and over to the other biobed and transferred Mrs. Rogers to it.   

I breathed a sigh of relief as Mrs. Rogers seemed to be okay only exhausted.  Her eyes fluttered open and she looked up at me.

"You'd like to ask, 'Is Phoebe okay?'  She's fine.  She's sleeping right now.  It's you that I'm concerned about.  How do you feel?"

"Exhausted!  Did it work? Was Phoebe cut off from her magic?"

"Yes it worked fine.  We can't try to change her back yet.  You need to rest before you'll be up to it since it is physically demanding even to the person not changed.  There is a slight chance that Phoebe is more female than you and changing in your state could be life threatening.  Phoebe can spend one more day at school as a girl.  She really is taking to it well.  Anyway we need to have Aunt Emma around at the same time we try it so she can undo the change to reality she made for everyone to know Phoebe as your daughter and for them to know Kevin instead as your son."

"Sounds good to me.  I had already cleared today off with my office anyway just in case."

"You should try to go to sleep.  If anything happens to you while we are gone, I'll be paged.  The biobed does lifesaving things automatically so you are in good hands."

"I will, Gail and thanks."

Mrs. Rogers went right to sleep while I went over to Phoebe's biobed. 

"Phoebe, Wake up!"

"I'm awake! Did it work? How is my Mom?"

"Your Mom is fine.  She just needs to rest for a while.  It worked.  You can't do magic anymore till you mature."

"I'm glad that Mom is okay and that the magic is taken care of.  When do I change back?"

"We'll see if your mother is up to it after school.  We'll make an appointment with Aunt Emma so she can change reality back at the same time so you will be known as Kevin when you appear as Kevin."

"Good plan.  I guess its time to get ready for school then."

"Let's go back to my room, Phoebe,"

I helped her off the biobed and led her out of the pod closet, into the basement then up the stairs into my room. 

"You can shower first.  I'm going to go check on Aunt Emma."

I heard stirring in the kitchen so I went there.  Aunt Emma was making breakfast again.

"Hi Gail, how did things go last night?"

"They went well.  Mrs. Rogers is now a Silurian and she was able to shut down Kevin's magic supply.  It is something only a relative can do.  It took a lot out of her so she is going to sleep for a while."

"That's good news, what is next?"

"I believe we are ready to let Barry go.  I'll get Leo who is impersonating Barry to come here and we'll implant the memories of what Leo did as Barry along with some fake memories to cover up what Barry discovered about us into Barry. I'd like for you to go cloaked to watch over him at school.  Once he gets home you can go visit his father and get acquainted so you don't have to spend all your time cloaked."

"That seems good to me.  Anything else?"

"I'll lure Barry over to our house after school.  While I keep him busy you watch after Mrs. Rogers and Phoebe attempting to get Kevin back.  If it works you can change reality so Kevin is known again." 

"Okay.  Good luck with that and I will do my part."

"Great!  I'm going to go signal Leo and get ready for school."

I left, signaled Leo, and went to my bedroom where Phoebe had finished her shower and was dressing.  I took my turn and when finished I came out to get dressed myself while Phoebe was putting on her makeup.  Phoebe finished up and watched me as I applied my makeup and we both were ready to go to school. 

Aunt Emma had breakfast for us.  We were eating when Barry came in the door but once inside, we saw Leo instead.  "Leo, how are things going?" said Phoebe.  I looked carefully at her and saw all the signs leaping out.  Phoebe had a crush on Leo!

"Hi Phoebe! Things are going well.  I'm glad to be me now instead of impersonating, Barry.  Hopefully soon things will get back stable even if they never get back to 'normal'"

"What is normal? Normal is overrated!"  Phoebe giggled and Leo laughed.  Could Leo have a crush on Phoebe too? Talk about star crossed lovers.  Phoebe was due to turn back into Kevin after school.  It was a fact that I was happy about, since I was getting my boyfriend back.  Poor Leo!    

"Aunt Emma and Leo, would you like to help me get the real Barry ready for release?"

"Of course, Gail." They agreed.  Aunt Emma, Leo and I went downstairs and into the Pod Cabinet to the control room.  Leo copied everything that he experienced while impersonating Barry into the computer which made a template of memories to impress upon Barry so that he would have a complete set of memories and ready to be released. 

"I have a little magic to enable Barry to sleep walk into place where we can wake him up.  Leo can walk with Barry to school to make sure he gets there." said Aunt Emma.

"That's just perfect, Auntie.  He's all yours.  I have it set up for him to wake when he's in position."

Aunt Emma used her magic on Barry to get him to sleep walk out to the path where he usually walked to school. Both Aunt Emma and Leo followed Barry but Aunt Emma was invisible.   Barry woke and then Leo said something to him and the pair of them went on to school accompanied by the invisible Aunt Emma.

With Barry and Leo off to school, that left Phoebe and I.  I found that she had finished her breakfast and was ready to leave as soon as I gave myself the once over.  We walked out the door towards school.  Even though Barry and Leo had a head start, they were still visible and Phoebe appeared to be mooning over Leo.  Having my guy entranced with another guy was bad enough but to have the other guy be my brother was humiliating.  Of course that was only half true because it wasn't Kevin that had the crush on Leo, it was Phoebe.  I wanted my Kevin back in the worst way.

Finally our high school came into view. A sign proudly declared, "Williams High School, Home of the Waves."

When we went past the notice about the cheerleader squad, we stopped and both our names were on the list.  It also said that we were to check in the office regarding instructions for today.  Phoebe and I went to the office to see what today might hold for us.

"Phoebe and I were asked to check here for instructions.  We are on the Cheerleader Squad list." I told the clerk at the reception desk in the office. 

"You are excused from your morning classes and you are to report to the gym to pick up your uniforms and then go get dressed and report back.  You understand that this isn't the final list and that a few girls will be cut."

"Yes Ma'am."

"What are your names so I can check you off my list?"

"Gail Sands and Phoebe Rogers."

"Got 'em. You girls can report to home room.

"Thank you Ma'am." 

When we got to home room, our teacher asked us if we had checked in at the office concerning Cheerleading.  We told her that we had and we took our seats.  It was fun that even being in the list before the cuts were made gave us status with our classmates.  Of course we'd know better if we survived the final cut what they would think of us. 

When homeroom was over we went to the gym to pick up our cheerleading uniforms.  There was a uniform for each of us already laid out on the tables.  It made sense that they would have it laid out for us since they already had our sizes from the measuring they had done yesterday. 

We picked up our uniforms and went to the girl's locker room to change.  When we arrived back on the floor there were 6 of the 15 girls on the list already out there and we made 8.  In ones and twos the rest of them came out onto the floor.  Finally we were up to full strength and the cheerleader coach came out to greet us and then start to put us thru our paces.

"Shout Two Bits!

Hit it!

Two bits, four bits, hey, six bits, a dollar.

All for Williams, stand up and holler!

Yeaaaaaaaaaa!"  All of us were jumping up over and over again and waving our pom poms in the air.

Of course that was the easiest one.  We went thru all of the the routines on the hand out as well as the ones that we had read off the cards yesterday, without the cards today.  We did tumbling and dance routines.  We pretty well were put thru our paces.  I felt like both Phoebe and I did rather well.

Finally the cheerleader coach asked us to stand in a line in front of a table where the cheerleader coach was flanked by a couple of other women's coaches.  They were conferring on the cut to make to get the squad down to the size they wanted.

Finally the Cheerleader coach addressed us.

"You girls have all done excellent and I wish that I could keep every one of you.  Since I can't we have to eliminate down to the final number.  When I call your name, please step forward.  Hailey, Star, Kendra, Chelsea, Veronica, Phoebe..."

When Phoebe joined the front line my heart leapt into my throat.  We were separated and that meant one of us would make it and the other would not.

"...Excuse me Phoebe, please step back with the back line..." 

I felt a sigh of relief as the coach continued.

"...Sabrina and Dawn."  The coach paused a moment while she conferred.  She became satisfied and continued.

"Front line, thank you for trying out. Most of you are very close and I hope to see you next year.  Please change out of your uniforms and turn them in afterward then return to class."

"Back line, you are this years Williams High Cheerleading Squad!"  I was overjoyed and hugged Phoebe.  We both had beat the odds to become cheerleaders.  Looking at the girls beside us, Phoebe and I were the only freshmen to have made the squad. 

The coach went over all the details about cheerleading.  There was a lot of ground to cover and she kept it up till the bell for lunch.

"I've told you how you are representing the school when you wear those uniforms.  Today you begin that representation.  Today being selection day is an approved day to wear your cheerleader uniform to classes.  Congratulations again girls!"

We did not have to change! Phoebe and I picked up our clothes from our lockers in the Girls changing room and transferred them to our book lockers.  As we walked down the hall to lunch we were both very conscious of the number of heads turning in our direction.  We went thru the line to get our trays.  Leo waved us over and we came over to sit with him.  Barry also came over at the same time and sat down.  Some of the girls from our homeroom came and sat down as well.

Initially, I was not too thrilled to have Barry sitting with us.  Leo and Phoebe made goo goo eyes to each other.  Phoebe was milking her day as a cheerleader for all it was worth with Leo.  However, when I thought over Barry's behavior, it was worth considering that he did not have any evil intent but simply had a crush on me and was seeking ways to get my attention.  I'd test that theory today since I would be luring Barry with my feminine wiles home so Aunt Emma could be there to undo the reality change concerning Phoebe when Kevin was back.

We went thru our afternoon classes.  Both Phoebe and I were celebrities in the freshman class having been the only freshmen selected as cheerleaders.  Both Barry and Leo had promised to walk home with us and to meet us after school.  They were waiting for us and the four of us walked home.  I suggested that Barry come get some milk and cookies in the kitchen.  That left Leo and Aunt Emma free to get the transformation started and reality to change.  Leo and Phoebe disappeared down the stairs and I assume Aunt Emma was somewhere around.

Later, I viewed Leo coming back up stairs so I found an excuse to send Barry on his way.  Barry was smitten badly!  I had to find a way to deal with him without giving into his fantasies.  My spirits lifted when Kevin ascended the stairs.  He came right to me and lifted me up off the ground with a hug and a kiss.

"What happened?" I asked Kevin.

"Mom and I linked and I turned back to Kevin, thankfully.  Your Aunt Emma changed reality again and Phoebe's cheerleading uniform vanished.  I believe it was a girl named Marsha Watson who was the freshman who made the cheerleading squad with you instead of it being Phoebe."

"I'm glad to have you back, Boyfriend."

"I'm glad to be back.  My mom has recovered and I am going to walk her back home and then catch up with Linda.  See you at School tomorrow, Okay?"

"Okay!"  Mrs. Rogers appeared at the top of the stairs and soon Kevin was by her side and the two of them disappeared out the door.  Leo sat beside me and let out a sigh. 

"I'm glad for you sis that you have Kevin back. On the weird side there was another information dump transmission on the Silurians.  Maybe we will be rescued and I will have my pick of girls to date."

"What do you think about Barry? Is he as evil as we thought he was?"

"I can tell he has a major crush on you.  That might be the reason he was snooping around so he could get your attention."

"I wonder how he will act once it is clear that Kevin is the one dating me."

"One can never tell.  Get plenty of sleep while you can.  It may be a bumpy ride, later!"

My cell phone rung and the caller ID said it was Aunt Emma.

"Hi, Aunt Emma."

"Gail, George and I were enjoying ourselves a bit too much.  Barry has given me the slip and I've just realized it."

"Barry may be stewing about Kevin and I being together.  In the new reality where Phoebe never existed, He and I have been boyfriend and girl friend very publicly at school.  We found out that Barry has fallen hard with a crush on me.  Just a second, Aunt Emma.  Leo!  Would you like to go down to the control room and see if you can tune into Barry's band to see where he is, pretty, please?"

"Of course, Gail.  I'll lock up the pod cabinet tight and invoke the protection that we worked out against anyone but Alpha Cetians entering."

"Good plan Leo!  Okay you can go ahead Aunt Emma."

"George is worried about Barry too.  I'm going to call Mrs. Rogers and let her know about Barry being on the loose.  I'm going to get her to let Barry's sister to stay over there till this is over."

"That sounds great Aunt Emma.  You won't need the cloaking shield if you are going to be around Barry's father till ya'll find him. Please find an excuse to come by here so you can drop it off with me."

"As soon as I call Mrs. Rogers and get Kathryn sorted to stay with her, I'll be on the way."

"Thanks Aunt Emma!  See you soon! Bye."

"Bye, Sweetie."

I asked my self, how much trouble could Barry cause?  He no longer has the memories about our secrets. Somehow we were about to find out.