Chapter 40
Ben tapped anxiously at the door to the auditorium, hoping someone was close enough to hear it over the general din of the protests going on.
As he awaited a response, he turned to Addison. “Hey, where were you before, anyway? Back when I was at the Project.”
“Ziggy pulled me out,” she replied, frowning. “Said something about diagnostics? I dunno—I went and had lunch.”
“Weird,” Ben said, scratching his head before trying another knock. “Well, you missed some things. Ziggy had me cornered and really wanted to tell me about some therapy session Sam was having. She sure is… intense, huh?”
“Therapy session?” Addison screwed up her nose. “Why would Ziggy want to tell you about something like that?”
“I know, right? Seems like private doctor-patient stuff. But I can’t help but wonder if it was something to do with me.” He stared at the unmoving door another moment before sighing. “There another way in?”
“Yeah, around the side.” Addison bobbed her head to the left, and Ben followed the direction, moving around the side of the building where there was a fire exit.
“Has, uh, the other Sam spoken to you today?” Ben asked. “I mean, besides the psycho-synergy talk earlier.”
Addison shook her head. “No, why?”
“I don’t know, something just seemed to be bothering him when I saw him before. I just wonder if it’s related to what’s happening on this side.”
Ben knocked loudly at the fire door before turning back to Addison.
“Well, everyone’s a little tense here, since we’re rewriting parts of their history as we speak.” Addison said. She snorted. “And mine too, but I don’t remember this version anyway, so who cares, right? Long as I stay in good health. I guess I’m the only one who has nothing to lose.”
Ben gave a resigned nod. “Well listen, maybe if you get the chance, ask him if anything is the matter. Something in my gut’s telling me there’s something he’s not saying.”
A change in Addison’s eye line made Ben turn around, as the door clicked open, revealing a bespectacled woman in her thirties.
“Oh? Janis, what are you doing here?” she asked in a puzzled tone, eyebrows high. “Prom’s not for five more hours.”
“Oh, this is—” Addison checked her handlink, “—Miss Wilma Harris, she’s your French teacher.”
“Oh, uh—salut, Mademoiselle,” Ben said. “Je dois parler au directeur, s’il vous plait?”
Wilma waved a hand. “Oh, it’s my day off teaching, save your French for the speaking exam, Janis. Though that was some competent pronunciation, I have to admit.” She stepped aside. “Come on in, Principal Curtis is just hanging a banner right now.”
“Merç—uh, thank you,” Ben stammered, heading inside to find a sneak peek of the prom decorations. Several teachers were working in the auditorium, all absorbed in their tasks. The principal was atop a ladder, affixing the corner of a banner to the rafters. A roll of tape was wedged between his teeth.
Ben peered up at him, hands clasped behind his back. “Mister Curtis, do you have a minute?”
Ron’s eyes flicked down to Ben, and although he was already baring his teeth biting down on the tape, Ben could still detect a grimace.
An indistinct grunt came from the otherwise-occupied principal, and he held up an index finger.
“I can wait,” Ben said, and rocked on the balls of his feet as he let Ron finish his task and descend the ladder, finally removing the roll from his mouth.
“Miss Calavicci,” he said in an unhappy tone. “What was your first name again?”
“Janis.”
“Right. I meet hundreds of students every year, you know. Difficult to put names to faces sometimes.”
“That’s quite alright,” Ben said, acting his most professional.
“Now, Janis, I did tell your friends out there to leave, didn’t I?”
“Yes sir, and I’m sorry, but we won’t be going anywhere until you can guarantee that Kat and I will be allowed to go to prom. Those people out there, they have nothing to do with this school—they’re nothing but pot-stirrers. And I won’t let them steamroll you, sir.”
Ron wearily rubbed his eyes. “Janis, that concerned parents group, whatever they want to call themselves—they’re threatening to call in the national media. I can’t let that happen; it’s liable to ruin the lives of every student at this school.” He shook his head sadly. “I’m sorry Janis, but I am afraid I’m going to have to bar you and Kat from the event. This is beyond my control at this point.”
Ben felt his stomach twisting inside of him. “But sir, you can’t just let bigotry win like this. Please. We can turn the media coverage into positive publicity for the school district. Believe me, more people want queer-inclusive schools than the conservative media would have you believe!”
Ron looked defeated, but not in the way that Ben was hoping to see.
“I’m sorry, Janis. Please go and tell your… ahem, girlfriend… that the two of you may not attend the festivities tonight. We will do what we can to make up for this. Maybe my wife can whip you up some cupcakes for Monday in apology.”
“Cupcakes…” Ben spat, his cheeks burning with anger—perhaps not his own. “That’s all you have to offer, huh? Some lousy cupcakes? I suppose you won’t compensate us for the money spent on our tailored outfits, or the emotional damage you’ve inflicted on us to protect some virulent homophobes, will you?”
“Ben, cool it!” Addison snapped. Ben barely heard her, and the part that did was swallowed by the rage.
“Miss Calavicci, you won’t take that tone with me again,” Ron boomed, anger overtaking his formerly meek demeanour, “or there will be detention waiting for you on Monday instead of cupcakes.”
Furious, Ben clenched his jaw and spun around, storming away to the door. Behind him, Addison’s frantic cries were distant, blended with the shouts of the crowd out in the schoolyard.
Janis’s teen rage propelled him out to a trash can by a bench, which he proceeded to kick until it fell over, spilling some rotting food as the metal lid clanged and rolled away.
“Dammit, dammit, dammit!” Ben dropped to the ground, pounding a fist into the concrete. As his knuckles began to bleed, he leaned back on his heels and began to sob, his sense of self completely obscured by the raw emotions.
That cowardly, kowtowing piece of… urrgh!
* * *
“Get thee behind me, Satan!” Mary-Sue screeched, holding her crucifix pendant towards Addison.
Laughing, Addison flipped her hair behind her ears nonchalantly. “What do you think I am, a vampire? What’s your little necklace going to do to me? Do you expect me to melt like the Wicked Witch of the West?”
“Christ will defeat the demonic forces that have overtaken this city,” the woman cried, “and all those who serve the devil!”
“Lady, I’m an atheist, not a devil worshipper. I don’t believe in a devil either.” Addison wondered if she was wasting her time trying to engage with this kind of… wackiness. Yeah, that was the polite word for it. Ben had already gained access to the auditorium, so she may have been beating a dead horse on this one.
“The greatest trick the devil ever pulled—”
“Oh my god, do you say or think anything your pastor didn’t shout from the pulpit last Sunday?” Addison rolled her eyes and turned away.
“You will regret your choices when you find yourself at the gates of Hell, young lady!” Mary-Sue yelled as Addison walked away.
“Yeah, yeah—I’ll see you there,” Addison snarked over her shoulder, and as her head turned to the front again, she stopped short, almost walking straight through her older self’s ghostly form. “Whoa!” she hissed.
“Sorry,” her mature-age double said quickly. “Look, I need your help.”
“What happened?”
Adult Addison pressed a finger to her lips. “Don’t talk to me, okay? Nobody else can see me, remember? Just listen and do as I say.”
Addison closed her lips, giving a slight nod.
“Okay, follow me,” the hologram said, passing through the crowd, her form flickering like a badly tuned TV image as it phased through the other teens in the crowd. Even knowing all about holograms, Addison was still awed to be seeing such a freaky futuristic thing happening. And her own future self, no less.
She followed, towards the auditorium, and then out to one side of it. Adult Addison stopped and held up a hand.
“Uh, Ben’s just over there,” she said nodding behind herself. “Thing is, he’s doing that thing again. The psycho-synergy with Janis.”
“Oh, like this morning?”
“Exactly. And he doesn’t seem to be hearing me because of the neural interference, or at least that’s what Ziggy says. Would you be able to try and snap him out of it for me? He’s kind of… angry though. So don’t do anything that’ll upset him further.”
She stepped aside, revealing Ben—or was it Janis?—kneeling on the ground, weeping and pulling up clumps of grass before throwing them violently into a trash heap by an overturned can.
“Jeez…” Addison whispered, and slowly approached the figure. “Hey… you okay?”
“No I’m not okay,” he snapped back at her. “Kat and I were planning this for a month, and Curtis just gets to kick us out at the last minute to cater to the hateful whim of some random fundies! How is that fair?!”
“It’s not. But listen, you’re a grown man, remember? You can deal with stuff like this, right?”
Ben looked at her like she had two heads. “What?”
“You’re Ben, remember? Ben Song.”
By the blank look she received, she could tell it wasn’t ringing a bell.
“Sorry, who are you again?”
Addison frowned. “Addison.” Janis didn’t know her, she supposed.
“Well… Addison… just leave me alone, would you?” ‘Janis’ resumed digging at the grass in frustration.
So, if I can’t do anything that’ll make Janis angrier, that rules out stomping on feet or slapping. But there’s one thing that I know startled Ben pretty effectively.
She walked up to him, dropped to her knees, and planted a kiss on Ben’s lips.
Immediately, she felt him tense up, and his red eyes popped wide open.
“Whoa, whoa, stop—!” he pushed her back. “Oh my god. You really need to stop doing that, Addison! You’re sixteen and I’m…” he trailed off, brow furrowed. “I’m a grown man. Oh.”
Addison pumped a fist. “Ha! I knew that would rock your world.”
Wincing, Ben wiped at his lips. “I guess, thank you, but please… please don’t do that again.” He looked up at the holographic Addison, who was looking back at him sheepishly. “Uh. Hey. That was…”
“Inconvenient,” Adult Addison finished. “Look, forget it. We need to regroup before we fail this leap.”
Ben nodded. “Yeah.” He stood, dusting off his bleeding hands. “I think I may need medical attention. Know any good doctors?”