The Protagonist System

204 The Newest Wave Part One

Transferring to Arcadia had been the best thing for my career and my new friendships. I also didn't really look like Greg Veder anymore. The cleaned up and nicer haircut really did let everyone see how handsome I was, just like mom said, and a lot of the girls in the school gave me a look, then a second and a third look. The jeans and tight t-shirt might have helped with that, too.

“Greg! Over here!” Vicky's voice cut through the air and I turned to look, as did everyone else in the hallway. Like me, she wore jeans and a t-shirt, only she wore both with style and panache that really caught everyone's eye. They also looked painted on and damn, she looked good.

I walked over to the group of people she was with and gave Amy a quick hug first, as was her right. She grumbled something about not even trying to keep things on the down low, which made Vicky laugh and she hugged the both of us and kissed our cheeks.

“Let me introduce you around.” Vicky said and proceeded to do so. It was a mix of boys and girls, who were also a mix of Wards and civilians, which also gave me a preview of who the main click of Arcadia High was.

I greeted each of them with a word or a nod, because teenagers did not usually shake hands or did more than that when they met. The girls Vicky had around her gave me long appreciative looks and the guys seemed okay with adding me into their group with no complaints.

The surprising thing was that they all had accepted Amy's new look with barely a blinked eye and a single comment about how the blonde hair suited her more than her normal brunette look did. That was it.

Vicky excused herself from the group and took both Amy's and my hands and led me to the front office. I could have found it on my own, except she was in a helping mood and I wasn't going to disappoint her by saying I didn't need it. Plus, it let everyone know she was pretty much claiming me on the very first day I was there, even though Amy was my official girlfriend.

Neither Amy nor I minded, since Vicky was so happy to become a tour guide and led us all around the building after I received my class schedule and locker assignment. Luckily, I had arrived early enough that we all made it to our respective first classes without being late. Vicky had Cape Studies, Amy had World History, and I had Chemistry Lab.

My lab teacher was a very short and cute brunette with glasses and she wore a tight sweater and very tight denim jeans. They looked painted on, just like Vicky's were. I almost laughed when every time she turned around to write something on the board to explain the lab assignment, every guy's eyes dropped to her shapely ass and every girl in the class looked disgruntled at that reaction.

I didn't let my own eyes do that, though. I wrote down what the teacher was writing instead and one of the girls noticed. She whispered to her friend and it was passed along, and soon all of the girls were ignoring the guys as they watched me as I didn't watch the cute teacher's ass as she moved around the tables to coach the students in setting up the experiment.

Funnily enough, the teacher also noticed I wasn't caught admiring her. I was sure she was upset by it, because she tried to entice me a few times by doing the little tricks that girls usually tried to get a guy's attention. A compliment here, fluttering eyelashes there, a fake blush when she touched my hand 'by accident', and then the classic 'dropped pencil' to get me to look at her ass.

I didn't fall for any of it. By the time the double lab was done and had taken up most of the morning, I left the completely frustrated teacher behind and all of the girls looked impressed. The guys hadn't noticed anything except the pretty teacher's ass and they kept talking about the class being the best lab they had all year with how much the teacher had showed them.

Most of the same students went with me into Physics class and only a few of the guys had gone off to a different one. I had to wait for everyone else to sit before I could find an empty seat without causing a confrontation or having someone asking me to move. A few of the girls gave me appraising looks and understood what I had done and the whispers quickly spread and a lot of smiles came my way.

The class was a quick one, being just before lunch, and the teacher pretty much walked us through a single example from the book and then told us to read the next chapter for the next class. When he did't say anything else, I gave the girl in the seat next to me a questioning look.

This is the easiest class we have because the teacher doesn't assign homework.” She whispered.

Okay. I thought and nodded to her, then the bell rang and it was lunchtime. The teacher was out of the classroom before the students and none of them thought it was weird or commented on it, so I had to assume the man always left that quickly.

I was not surprised to see Vicky waiting by the lockers where mine was and she had her fangirls around her as they chatted. Amy stood off to the side with her arms crossed, so I figured we were both going to be sucked into eating at the table set aside for the popular kids. I dropped my things off and barely shut the locker door before Vicky had both Amy and I by the hand and she dragged us to the cafeteria.

I'm not sure how I ended up paying for everyone's lunches, though. Vicky had distracted me with the constant stream of words coming out of her mouth and asking me multiple questions without waiting for me to respond. Was she even breathing right now?

Vicky paused briefly and took in a huge breath, and then turned to one of her friends and kept going. I glanced at Amy and she rolled her eyes and nodded at the table. I followed her over to their table and sat at the far side as Vicky held court with her entourage. She was actually pretty good at keeping everyone's attention and didn't leave anyone out of the conversation, despite her being the one doing most of the talking.

I put an arm over Amy's shoulders and leaned in to whisper. “Is she always this much of a social butterfly when she's not hanging out with Dean and his friends at the other table?”

“God, yes.” Amy whispered back. “She's not as bad with the boys around. With just the girls?” She motioned to her laughing sister before she started eating. “That's why I wanted you to call and get me away from them.”

I discreetly kissed her cheek and took my arm back to start eating as well. “We're still phone buddies.”

Amy huffed and ate another french fry. “Unless you can fake a phone call to sneak away yourself, neither of us are escaping this table until we're dismissed or the bell rings.”

I nodded and kept eating as I thought about it. “Well, crap.”

“What is it?” Amy asked and kept eating, too.

“If she only hung out at the other table when she was dating Dean...” I said leadingly.

Amy stopped eating and stared at me with her mouth hanging open. “Fuck.”

“Yeah.” I said and finished off my main dish and picked up the small bowl of red jello. Instead of trying to scoop it up with my spoon and wasting time, I opened my mouth as I tipped my head back and just dumped it right in and swallowed it all before licking the bowl clean. “Mmm, cherry.”

When I put the bowl down, it was fairly quiet around me and I saw that all of the girls at the table looked stunned, as did the girls at the next table. Only Amy had resisted staring at me and started in on her own jello bowl.

“It feels even better than it looks.” Amy said and slurped up a red cube of jello.

“Oh, god.” The brunette girl beside Vicky said and let out a little moan. Vicky herself started to nod and stopped herself before anyone else noticed.

I chuckled and checked the time. “We have about twenty minutes left...”

“That's plenty of time.” Amy said and abandoned the rest of her jello as she took my hand and led me out of the cafeteria.

“I hoped he was talking to me.” The brunette said and Vicky and her friends laughed.

“We're not actually doing it, are we?” I asked as Amy pulled me into a small alcove where a drinking fountain was.

“No, because I lied. There's not enough time for that.” Amy said and kissed me.

“Not the whole thing.” I said and covered the alcove with an illusion of a blank wall.

“What do you mean?” Amy asked me.

I lifted her up into the air with one hand and then pulled her jeans down and her panties aside.

“Oh, that's what... ohhhh!” Amy moaned as I dug my tongue inside of her. She was soon dripping and I added a finger as I ate her out and played with her clitoris.

I got her off twice before the bell rang and she looked both happy to have gotten off so quickly and angry that I had to stop before she reached number three. I wiped my mouth off and cleaned her up with a cloth before I put her clothes back in place. When I tried to stand her on her feet, I had to catch her because she almost fell.

“My legs feel wobbly for some reason.” Amy grumped.

I laughed and pretty much carried her to her locker where Vicky was waiting. Everyone that saw us either blushed or looked away, so word about us had spread like wildfire. Amy grabbed her books and I walked her to class to make sure she was okay, then I ran to my own locker and grabbed the things I needed for gym class.

I entered the gym with my backpack and there were a lot more people than a single class could hold. There were also a few of the Wards there as well, which meant they were only a year or two older than me and they might even be in one of my regular classes. I wouldn't find that out until I'd gone through an entire week's schedule, though.

Since I didn't want to be ostracized or seen as unfriendly, I went right over to the two guys that had been part of Vicky's group this morning when I arrived and she had introduced us.

“Hey, Dennis. Hi, Chris.” I said and didn't offer to shake hands. I did hold a closed fist out for them to bump if they wanted, which Dennis did. “Now that Vicky's not overriding everyone else in the group with her outrageous personality, it's nice to actually meet you.”

Dennis laughed and Chris smiled.

I glanced over everyone else for a second and turned back to face them. “So, what's up with so many people being here?”

“The school found it easier to put the lower year classes together for sports.” Dennis said.

“How's that working out?” I asked.

“It sucks donkey balls!” Dennis almost shouted.

The coach blew a loud whistle as she walked over to us. “That's ten minutes in the pit, Walsh.” The woman said and pointed at the sectioned off dodgeball area.

“Aww, crap.” Dennis said and hung his head as we walked over to his doom.

“Target dummy?” I asked and the coach and Chris nodded. “It was nice knowing you, Dennis!”

“Mourn for me, new guy!” Dennis proclaimed just as he stepped into the space and three dodgeballs slammed into his head, chest, and gut.

“Ouch!” Someone shouted and a few people clapped as Dennis crumpled to the floor.

“At least it wasn't a crotch shot.” Chris said and I nodded.

“I take it you're Veder?” The coach asked me.

“Yes, ma'am.” I said and saluted. “Reporting for duty!”

She smiled at me and waved at the locker room. “Get changed and meet me over at the weights for an assessment.”

I nodded and jogged off to the locker room and didn't miss her approving look. I did a quick change and stored my backpack instead of trusting the lockers and ran back out. The look was still on her face as I stopped in front of her.

“I know what you're going to ask, and yes, I did receive a copy of your PRT assessment.” The coach said. “I also know it's rigged.”

I raised my eyebrows at her and she chuckled. It was a pleasant sound and I couldn't stop myself from smiling after hearing it.

“Grab the biggest weights here and I'll direct you in the proper exercises to see what your range of motion is and not just how strong you are and what your maximum effort can produce.” She said and pointed at the racks of weights. “Also, don't assume you can do what I want with the heaviest weights. Even with super strength, there's no guarantee you can manipulate your body to keep using that much weight all the time.”

With that as a qualifier, I chose the 50 pound weights and not the 100 pound ones. The coach smiled and nodded, then directed me through what she wanted and how to do certain exercises properly, then she forced me into awkward positions and extensions that strained my muscles.

By the time I was done and had learned a lot about how a body can move, and ow much force and effort is needed to move any kind of weight when in those positions, I was sweating and my t-shirt was soaked through.

“Do you get it now?” The coach asked me with a huge grin on her face.

“Yes.” I said and put the weights back onto the rack and rubbed the sore muscles on my arms. “Just because I can lift a certain amount of weight when prepared in perfect conditions, that doesn't mean I can always lift it at any time.”

“Bingo.” She said and patted my back. “Ugh. Go shower and come back to run laps around the gym.”

I looked down at myself and back at her face.

“Yes, you're sweating already. I just don't want you dripping all over my nice clean floor.”

I chuckled and saluted. “Yes, ma'am. Understood.”

The coach watched as I took off my t-shirt and there were several whistles as I wiped off my face and neck to absorb most of the sweat. “Any inappropriate comments and you're going in the pit.”

“Are you talking to me or them?” I asked.

“Yes.” She said with that same huge grin.

“Ha, fair enough.” I said and jogged over to the lockers and ran right into the showers. I stored my clothes, since no one else was around, and had a quick five minute shower. It was just a lather and a rinse, no real scrubbing, and I stepped out of the group showers and dried of with a towel. I would have used magic to do it, except a few guys came in.

I pretended to go to an empty locker and pulled out a different t-shirt that had a funny saying on it and bicycle shorts this time. Both were formfitting, since they resized to fit me, and I walked back out and saw where the coach was. She was whispering to a couple of the girls and they looked embarrassed, so I assumed they had tried to go into the boy's locker room to peek at me.

I walked over behind the couch silently and held my finger up to my lips in the universal sign of quiet. Neither girl gave me away and I stood there and listened to the coach quietly berating them for violating my privacy, even if I was a huge hunk of man that any girl would love to eat.

“Amy did say I had the perfect body.” I said.

“AHH!” The coach jumped a couple inches and then swirled around as she took a fighting stance.

“Great reaction time, coach.” I said and let a huge grin show on my face.

“Dammit, Veder.” She said and relaxed as she put a hand over her heart.

“Sorry, coach.” I said and turned my grin down to a normal smile. “Where am I supposed to run with half the gym sectioned off, how far do I go, and are you timing me or counting the laps?”

“Outside the basketball court's blue line to half court and then around again. Avoid or slow down if anyone crosses your path and DO NOT run anyone over or push them out of the way.” The coach told me.

“Not a problem, coach.” I said and looked at the two girls that were staring at my bicycle shorts like they held the secrets of the universe inside. “Am I... doing it... alone?” I asked, suggestively.

“No!” Both girls exclaimed.

“Yes.” The coach said and waved me off. “Go that way and keep running.”

“Clockwise. Got it.” I said and saluted, winked at the girls, and ran off.

“It's even better from the back!” One of them almost shouted.

“That's ten minutes in the pit, Jensen.” The coach said.

“Totally worth it.” She said and started walking over to the sectioned off area.

By the time I had made a circuit of half the gym, the smart girl stopped walking right on the half-court line. I chuckled and slowed down and stopped.

“Is it true?” She asked and pointed at my t-shirt that said I had saved the world and all I got for it was this lousy t-shirt.

“Several times.” I said and leaned in. “It's only better from the back because I'm not hard yet.” I whispered in her ear and kissed her cheek. “Have fun having someone else's balls hitting you in the face.”

She snorted, giggled, and then groaned. “This is going to bruise so much.”

“Still worth it?” I asked and she smiled and nodded. I put a hand on her arm and she shivered, giving me the perfect time to enhance her slightly. “Then I'll put my trust in you. You're going to do much better at dodging than you've ever done it before.”

“R-really?” She asked.

“Just remember that catching the balls lets you throw them back twice as hard.” I said and gave her another kiss on the cheek. “Good luck, Jensen.”

“Thanks.” She said and took a deep breath, let it out, and stepped into the pit. Unlike when a guy stepped in and whoever had balls in their hands took their shot at the new target, only one person threw a ball at her. “EEP!” She squeaked and stumbled back and brought her hands up, only to catch the ball that would have slapped her on the forehead.

“HOLY SHIT!” Someone yelled and everyone stopped and stared at Jensen.

“That's ten minutes in the pit, Fredricks!” The coach shouted. “Your way's clear, Veder! Get moving!”

“Sorry coach! She was in my way!” I said and started running again.

Jensen looked from the ball to the other people in the pit. “I caught it?”

“You did!” One of the other girls said and clapped.

“I caught it.” Jensen said and smiled. “I CAUGHT IT!”

“YEAH!” The others yelled. “Now throw it!” They shouted and encouraged her.

I made another lap and saw Jensen take my advice and she whipped the ball at Dennis and he yelped as it smacked him right on the butt and knocked him off his feet.

“Great shot!” A guy said and clapped.

“Thank you.” Jensen said and giggled, then she waded right into the fray and joined the fun.

I finished jogging when the bell rang after the double class ended and the coach waved me over.

“That didn't tire you out at all?” She asked me as the other students went to their respective locker rooms to shower and dress in normal clothes.

“I wasn't running full out.” I admitted and she widened her eyes. “I broke the PRT's treadmill almost as soon as I started running on it.”

The coach barked a laugh. “I won't be worrying about your endurance anymore after today.”

I opened my mouth to make a joke and she smacked my arm with the back of her hand.

“Don't make me smack you for real.” She warned me with a smile.

I chuckled and nodded.

“Go grab a shower and head on home. We're playing basketball next week.”

“I'll be ready, coach.” I said and stepped around her.

Once I was out of her sight, I cast a notice-me-not spell on myself and stored my clothes as I slipped into the shower and scrubbed myself with no one seeing me or noticing me, then I dried off and equipped jeans and a nice shirt as I left the locker room. I checked my phone and Amy was still in class, so I had to wait for school to end before I could meet up with her.

I thought about waiting outside her class, except I didn't want her thinking I was stalking her or crowding her, so I went to her locker and leaned against the wall to wait.