Edward Lichen walked through the gates of his new school and sighed, doing a slow spin and looking up at the gray, seamless, cloudy sky. The gates of the school were two brick columns with iron gates attached, students flowing through like cattle in a pen. The school building was old weathered red brick that looked more brown that anything else in the light of the day. A warm wind caught the tassels of Ed’s jacket and the dangling straps on his backpack, signaling rain as it playfully poked fun at him. Ed sighed, let his head hang and walked into the school.

He hated moving. It was never a bad thing; he was a good-looking guy, standing six foot even with black hair and green eyes. He was fairly built from all the jobs he’d had around the states. He was an athlete, though not publicly. He made friends easily. All in all, he was pretty average. But when it came down to it, he was the subject of whispers and bad luck more than anything else. After all, there weren’t many kids with his situation.

Ed trudged into the office and stood in front of the secretary’s desk waiting for her to notice him. It gave him time to look around the room: gray carpet, white walls and columns on which various pictures and mementos of the past hung. Several people ran about in the large space, all bustling to finish their jobs for the first day of school. Ed sat quietly until the girl on the phone was done. She looked at him with a frantic expression.

“Edward Lichen?” Ed nodded and rubbed at the back of his neck. The girl was maybe eighteen, long blonde hair and blue eyes and a deer in the headlights expression that meant she was smart but out of her depth. She was senior, most likely; one who didn’t want to work but knew that it was her best bet. This all flashed through Ed’s head and got filed away in less than a second. She smiled and it all went through his head again, this time with an attachment: she’s pretty. “All right, here’s your schedule, here’s your pass book, here’s your pass just in case you get to any classes late and here’s your complementary pencil. She handed him a plastic bag full of paper and a black and white pencil. Then she smiled.

“My name is Amanda; if you have any questions, just ask if you see me around. ‘Kay?” she smiled and waved a little girlish wave as he walked out. Ed saw. He thought about it. She wasn’t ugly. She was a bit high profile for a new kid to go after, but Ed figured he had a shot.

He wound his way through the rush of students, trying not to bump into anyone as he found his first period of the day: study hall, room 201. He found it with little trouble and sat down in the back, setting down his bag gently and sitting back lazily, giving the appearance of being bored. He watched as people entered the room and recorded everything that he saw about them plus his initial observations. Finally everyone sat down and the bell rang. Just a second alter a student, a blonde guy with the devil’s eyes and a troublemaker smile, darted in and headed for the back. Ed sat up and looked around. Silently he screamed. He had re-started at a new school enough to know that this kid was trouble on his first day. The only empty desk left was next to Ed, and the boy promptly filled it. He wasn’t fast enough.

“Mr. James!” the boy’s ears perked up and his smile broadened.

“Yes, Mr. Carrot?” the class laughed and Ed groaned to himself, keeping quiet and looking at the desk in front of him.

“All right, funny man; call me that again and you get lunch detention. Next time it’s In School Suspension for disrespect, and after that…”

“Yes sir. It won’t happen again.”

“Good. Now that that’s settled and you’re marked tardy on my roll sheet, we can get down to business.” The boy next to Ed let out a low, breathy laugh at the teacher’s banter. Ed knew he could care less about a tardy. It would just make him try again. “Mr. Edward Lichen! Front and center please!”

Ed’s blood froze and he stood up. He heard the muttering and sighed, letting his shoulders fall limp for a second before he walked to the front of the room. He knew that he would make a good first impression; a black and brown leather jacket with a few tassels and a fair bit of wear, a black t shirt, a worn pair of jeans and tennis shoes. He was ordinary, but as soon as he reached the front he knew that he was out of place. The rest of the students were dressed in regular clothes, except for two students. T shirts, vans and sneakers, shorts; nothing as rich as Ed’s clothes. They looked at him as an alien. He shoved his fingers in his pockets and looked around, trying to act somewhere between sheepish and brave. The teacher had other ideas.

“Mr. Lichen, tell us three things about yourself: something about your intelligence, something about where you have lived before and what you like to do. And I know all of the skeletons in your closet, so don’t screw with me boy.” The class laughed and Ed felt his heart sink. He decided to go with his usual.

“I’m Edward Lichen. I used to live in Texas, a little all over the place, and before that California. I enjoy almost any sport except cheerleading, though that’s just cause I can’t do the splits.” He got a laugh out of the class on the last note and smiled, tried to walk back to his seat. Then he froze.

“You left something out Mr. Lichen, so I’ll tell the class for you. Class!” Ed’s face grew pale and he rushed back to his seat, hiding his face as the teacher literally barked out the one thing he tried to keep secret from other students. “Mr. Lichen, or Ed as I hear he likes to be called, is you’re worst enemy. His IQ was last measured at 158l; he also has a photographic memory. That makes him smarter than everyone in this room combined.” The class grew quiet and several looks were thrown back at him. Ed nearly died. The rest of the class passed uneventfully, without discussion from anyone. The rest of the day went by like that. Ed felt the stares, the whispers, the muttering, all shaking his spine like an earthquake. He saw a few people that smiled and said hi but the rest just stared at him. Word got around quickly at Hartford High.

The next day Ed arrived at school normally and everything seemed different. The weather, the school, the teachers were all the same. But the students were very different. Ed sat down in study hall and sat there, staring at his desk. Suddenly the girl in the chair in front him turned around.
“Hi!” Ed looked up at her. She was obviously a cheerleader; her muscle tone, tan lines, makeup and self-confidence gave that away. Not to mention her glances at several people entering the room told of popularity. But even then she couldn’t be stuck up. She was friendly with one of the heavier set girls in the class, so much so that they conversed readily the day before. She was also somewhat tomboyish from what Ed could gather. Her brown hair was cut short, just above her shoulder blades, and her brown eyes glinted with intelligence and happiness.
“Hey. I didn’t get your name yesterday.” She smiled at him.

“Super genius doesn’t know? Come on, you really do know don’t you?” she looked at him expectantly. He sighed and leaned back in his chair.

“Your name is Grace Elizabeth Taylor. You’re a popular cheerleader, probably top quartile of your class but you do gymnastics on the side along with dance. You just recently broke up with a long term boyfriend and you have a younger sister.” She gaped at him and Ed chuckled. “You asked.”

“Jeez, how did you…”

“Your name from roll call yesterday; Mr. Lariot is a real ass to use full names. You’re hobbies and sport from your tan, muscle, makeup, friendliness, and adaptability. Also you spoke to a lot of people in this room yesterday, except for me and the boy over there, Vance Clark. He looks at you with a bit of mixed emotion, so I figured that you guys dated. Then he tried to talk to you yesterday at lunch and you brushed him off. That means long term.”

“And don’t forget that she has more balls than any other cheerleader in the school!” The guy next to Ed piped up and Grace threw a ball of paper at him. He laughed and caught it with surprising reflexes. “Come on, it’s an Ender’s Game reference! You’ve gotta laugh at an Ender’s Game reference.”

“Shut it, Carter! You can’t even read, so how would you know!” Grace laughed and punched him in the knee. Ed laughed at their antics, adding them into his head as best friends. It made enough sense that it didn’t complicate things.

“So you really just pay attention to that much at a time, huh Ed?” Ed looked at the boy next to him and hid his shock.

“Yeah… I’m kind of supersensitive. I notice almost everything and I don’t forget. I’m pretty much a computer.” The kid next to him laughed.

“Man that’s sick! Why are you so shy about it? Dude when everyone heard we all freaked out, you’re like one of the coolest people in the school! You’ve gotta be smarter than everyone else we got.” Ed looked at the kid and smiled, rubbing at the back of his neck as he always did when embarrassed. Suddenly Grace slapped his arm.

“Don’t act all modest, you know you love the attention!” Ed just looked at her. “You’ve gotta be kidding. You’re shy? You’re a hot genius and you’re shy?”

“Um, is that something you should say out loud?” Grace looked at her friend and they laughed. Ed sat there feeling foolish for a minute before they finally got enough breath to talk.

“I’m pretty straightforward. And the only people paying attention are the ones who have nothing better to do. Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t happen today. Right, Jack?” Ed looked at Jack, his troublemaking neighbor. Jack smiled broadly.
“Yep probably. I wonder which one it’ll be?”
“What are you guys…”
“Mr. Lichen! Quiet down back there!” Ed looked at the desk and grumbled as Jack and Grace laughed. He was happy inside; he had made two new friends that he knew to be good people, in theory at least. a]As he turned to his notebook, Grace spun around and leaned over in her chair so that even Jack couldn’t hear her.
“And by the way, I wasn’t lying when i said hot genius.” She winked and turned around. Ed blinked, smiled and looked at his binder.

Ed discovered what they were talking about later on that day. He sat alone at lunch as he had the first day, but this time a few people came by and wished him well. People that he knew probably would never mean anything in the long run. He had just finished when a girl he didn’t recognize sat down at his table.

“Hi, I’m Bella.” Ed smiled at her and memorized her; shorter than average, maybe five foot in height and very thin. She had no makeup on at all, though she didn’t need it; her face was gorgeous and without any blemish of any kind. Her eyes were a golden hazel color that made her blonde hair look like gold flowing out of her ponytail like a shower. She wore her hair long, draping down to her mid back and maybe even her waist. She was dressed in a red, form fitting t shirt and a pair of black pants that hugged her hips. On her feet a pair of old school black and white vans and little pink socks that peeked up above her shoes. She was adorable and hot and sexy all at the same time.
“Hi Bella, I’m…”

“Ed, right? I kind of guessed, even though I had some pretty shotty directions. They told me ‘the hot guy that you don’t know sitting alone’. I’m glad I got it right!” Ed was puzzled at first, but then he recognized the way she spoke. She was another of the fifteen-cheerleader squad that Ed had had the pleasure of meeting along his way. Then he remembered what Grace had been talking about. And he realized that this was some sort of initiation; whether it was for Bella or Ed, he wasn’t sure.
“Yeah I guess you found me if you were looking for the new kid. So what’s up?” She smiled and nearly melted his heart. He knew why her parents had named her Bella. Then she started twirling her hair in her fingers.
“I was wondering if you’d like to hang out after school? I mean, I don’t know if you have time or anything like that, but I’d love to get to know you better and show you around town.” Ed suddenly had an epiphany. She wanted to sleep with him, or rather the squad wanted her to sleep with him. She wasn’t exactly against the idea, and neither was he; but he didn’t plan on giving in easily.
“I’d love to hang out. Here’s my address; do you drive or walk?”

“Walk. What about you?” she was hopeful that Ed had a car. He heard the rise in her happy little songbird voice.

“Sorry, I don’t drive it to school.” Her face fell ever so slightly. He knew that she had expected more, but he didn’t plan on making things easier for her.
“Why not?”

“I’ve had a few bad incidents with other schools I’ve been to. My parents didn’t mind; but they weren’t exactly happy about it.”

“Oh. How many other schools have you attended?”

“Sixteen now.” She looked anxiously over at another table and her face grew worried. “What are so afraid of? I don’t get why you’re letting them bully you into this. Or is it that guy three tables down that keeps looking over here?”

“Oh…” she looked startled. Ed didn’t exactly make it easy, shooting her with questions like that. But she recovered quickly enough. “Yeah that’s my boyfriend, but…”
Suddenly a stocky boy yanked her to her feet as three others walked up behind him. His face was twisted in rage and disappointment. He barely even gave Ed a nod.
“What Bell, you just go along with their choice? This is some sick game you’re playing with me ain’t it?” Ed saw it all at once. They hadn’t been going out for long; just one or two dates, and she didn’t like him. He was a violent little prick and she was scared. But she kept dating him because he terrified her. Ed stepped in, placing a gentle hand on the boy’s chest and pushing him back, poring soothing feelings into his voice.
“Hey no bud, calm down. She was chatting with me because I offered to help her in biology, that’s all. Just let go and back up a little bit, all right? Neither of us…” the boy pushed him back roughly.
“You think I’m stupid? You’re just trying to get your initiation out of her! I know you think you’re all hot comin’ in here, smarter than the rest of us, but you better back off! She’s mine!” Ed’s temper flared. His voice dropped to a dangerous low volume and his body language changed, making even the three guys behind his opponent back up a little. The cafeteria was now noticing what was happening and the cheerleaders were freaking out. Bella was in shock of what was happening.
“She’s not property, you little prick. She’s a girl; and she isn’t part of the initiation at all.” Now he looked confused and angry.
“I know…”

“Grace already talked to me.” Ed felt bad, but he wanted to avoid conflict not make friends. If she was upset then they would work it out later.
“Grace…? I… Bella what?” Bella nodded uncertainly. The boy was suddenly very confused and still angry. “No you’re lying! I know what this is…”

Ed felt bad about it later. He really did. But he knew this guy’s type: arrogant, foolish, stupid and angry at everything that gave him a chance to get mad. Ed had trained in three different methods of hand to hand combat. One just happened to be boxing; his right straight was so fast that the boy in front of him collapsed unconscious just as Ed’s jacket settled. He grabbed the boy and pulled him up, gesturing for his friends to take him. they were almost as confused as he was.
“Take this guy to the nurse, for Pete’s sake! You think his head could handle a simple truth, instead of just passing out like that.” They talked amongst themselves as they dragged him toward the hall. The cafeteria burst into chatter and Ed heard enough to know that very very few people had seen his lightning fast strike. Unfortunately, the wrong people did. Grace, Jack and Bella all noticed what had really happened. Ed didn’t know when Grace and Jack had moved into position behind him, but they were there, staring at him in disbelief. Jack was the first to speak.
“Dude, you just—- that was a punch, like a friggin’…” Ed fake punched him in the arm and he flinched, still staring.
“Shh. Lets sit down before we talk about that.” He turned to Bella. “Are you alright?”
“Fine… but I’m with Jack. That was a…” He sat them down at his deserted table.
“Yeah. I learned that in another school as well. But… Grace, I’m sorry…”She smiled at him.
“I don’t mind at all. You used it to help Bella here. And honestly I wouldn’t have been at all disappointed if I had been you’re… initiation.”
“Don’t worry about giving it away; I already figured it out. It wasn’t hard, after that kid– ”
“Eric. Eric Mastic.”
“Eric walked up. Plus you’re conversation earlier. It wasn’t hard to piece together.”
“Man you are a genius.” They all laughed at that, though Bella laughed nervously.
“Ed, I…”
“Bella, it’s fine. It felt good to hit that guy.” She smiled and excused herself, moving through the crowd toward the cheerleaders’ table. Grace looked at Ed funnily, as though she was sizing him up for a sports team. Ed didn’t like that.
“Did you give her your address?” Ed blanched.
“Do we still…”
“You’d better give it to me and let me give it to her. The girls are pretty relentless about this.” Ed sighed and Grace ran off with a slip of notebook paper on which his address was listed. Jack remained behind.
“Hey man, could you… could you help me out with some sparring lessons? With a punch like that…”
“ I can try, but I warn you, I’m not a good teacher.”

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Ed walked home after school and flopped down on the couch. He waited patiently for Bella, planning to dissuade her from her course of action. The doorbell rang and he sighed, slowly getting up from the couch and opening the door.
“Hey.” Ed froze. Grace stood there in front of him, dressed in a very hot blue dress that ended just above her knees and hung from her shoulders on thin straps, with sneakers worn and beat to death on her feet. Her bracelets all hung on her arm, a mixture of green and pink and blue sparkling plastic rings. She smelled like roses, a smell so intoxicating that Ed nearly kissed her right then.
“Um… I thought…”

“Bella? Well we talked and thought it might be more beneficial to all involved if I was in fact that one that gave you your initiation. I mean, you did tell Eric that…” Ed was in shock.
“But the initiation…”

“So? Just because we’re friends now we can’t take it a little further?” She was basically on him now. Her body was an inch from his, her hips thrust forward in a confident manner. Ed saw the same spark in her eyes that he had seen during lunch and realized it was lust. She wanted him badly.
“Grace, I don’t want to step on toes. It’s my second day and we’re friends…”

“Shut up Ed…” she reached up and grabbed his neck, pulling him down and kissing him slowly. He didn’t fight her; he let his arms wrap around her and pull her close to him as their hot lips met. When they pulled away she gasped for breath. “God, this is gonna be good.”

“You’ve got no idea.” She laughed and they kissed again. Ed pulled her even closer, pressing her ample chest against his body as she ground her hips against his. He felt her legs move as she kicked off her shoes and he picked her up, placing her back against the wall as he swung the door shut and kissed her. She moaned and her legs wrapped around his waist, pulling his crotch against her own. He bounced her in his arms and walked them toward the hallway, heading toward the master bedroom. She pried her lips from his and yanked his shirt off his body, throwing it to the floor and gasping for breath as she ran her hands over his chest.
“God you’re hot…”

“Hot doesn’t even begin to describe you right now, but it’ll have to do love.” She chuckled and unwrapped her legs, dropping to her feet gracefully as she slid the straps of her dress from her shoulders. Ed spun her around and slid the zipper down as fast as he could. The dress fell to the floor only to reveal Grace’s tiger striped bra and panties. Judging from the look on her face, Ed knew that she had every right to wear those stripes. He undid the clasp of her bra and kissed her as it fell, pressing his bare chest to hers and moaning at the ripple of gooseflesh that arched her back and made his body tremble against hers. They gasped into each other’s mouths and Grace moaned as ED’s hands roamed her bare back.

Suddenly they were on the bed as Grace undid the button and zipper on Ed’s jeans, yanking them down and grabbing his cock as it stood proudly. He gasped as her hands stroked his shaft and head, making his hips buck into her fingers.

“Someone’s sensitive down here…” Grace slid back up his body as her fingers pushed her own underwear down her hips and thighs, rolling onto her side and kicking them off before rolling to position herself on top of him. Neither of them could hide their labored breathing. Ed grabbed Grave’s hips as she slid down onto the head of his cock.
“Oh fuck Graccccceeeeee…”

“God that cock feels good inside me!” She slid down and took the whole thing before sliding back up and dropping down again. Ed groaned as she got faster and faster. His hands slid up her body and met her nipples. She moaned as he pinched them and caressed her flesh.
Ed pulled her down and kissed her as he rolled them over and took over, pushing his cock into her tight pussy and pulling out again, listening to her moans and watching her play with her own breasts.

“Shit, Ed, fuck me good! Oh fuck, fuck yea I’m gonna cum baby! Oh fuck yes, oh God, fuck ME!” Ed watched as Grace came, impaled on his cock and writhing under his hands as he kept fucking her sweet, tight little snatch. He felt his balls tighten up and groaned.

“Grace… I’m going to…” he came before he could say anything, pushing his cock deep inside of her pussy one last time as he erupted and shot his load into her womb. She shuddered at the feeling and moaned with every shot he fired inside of her. When he was finished Ed pulled out and lied down beside her, hugging her close and kissing her.

“I’m sorry grace, I should’ve…”

“Ed, shut up! That was the best fuck I’ve had in a long time. And I love it when guys cum inside of me.” She smiled and kissed him, pressing every part of her body to his as hard as she could and snuggling into his chest. “By the way, I, unlike Bella, don’t have a boyfriend; I hope, you know, you’re mine now.”
Ed smiled and hugged her close as they cuddled on the bed.

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