‘Ok, Dollbaby, I’ve narrowed it down to two.’ Vanessa sat down beside Rex on the grass by the rugby fields. A group of students prepared to play a casual game of cricket during their lunch break. Vanessa had no clue how to play, in fact she found it boring to watch, but with Rex around it was bound to be fun. She placed her tattoo catalogue down in front of him. ‘I want either that butterfly there or a dolphin. What do you think?’
She kept her eyes locked on his as he glanced down at the catalogue. If she could, she’d stare into his magnetic deep blue eyes all day long. She wanted to grab him and start kissing him right there and then, but knew if she did, he wouldn’t be able to tear himself away and his friends would have to play cricket without him. She didn’t like to monopolise him when the others were around. She’d promised herself she never would, because she didn’t want to be seen as the girl who took Rex away from them.
‘They’re both neat.’ Rex’s eyes returned to meet hers. ‘Of course, me being a guy, the dolphin appeals to me more, but then the butterfly is definitely more feminine, which would suit you, seeing as you are femininity and beauty personified.’
Vanessa gazed into his eyes, wanting now to kiss him even more. ‘Maybe I should just go for a Playboy bunny?’
‘Mmmmm. I like that.’ He smiled. His voice became quieter and his eyes remained locked with hers. ‘Are you sure you should get one at all? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to discourage you, but the modelling agency might prefer you didn’t have one.’ His face moved closer to hers.
She lowered her voice too. ‘Stuff the modelling agency. If they don’t like it, I don’t care.’ She moved her face nearer.
‘You are so hot.’
‘And I just want to melt into you.’
‘Go for the butterfly.’
‘I think I will.’
Their lips locked together. Next thing they knew they were lying on the grass, embraced in each other’s arms, kissing passionately.
Vanessa only heard one last voice before the outside world became completely shut off from her mind. ‘Oh, no... I guess that’s them out. We’ll have to play the game without them.’
Nearly three quarters of an hour later they were rudely interrupted from their temporary utopia and forced to attend English classes. Vanessa wanted to stay there on the side of the field with him, but knew that she would just have to wait till later for more.
‘You go on ahead,' Rex said. 'My mouth is dry after all that. I’ll get us a Coke from the dairy, seeing as the canteen will be shut now.’
‘Ok, Dollbaby. Don’t take too long.’ Vanessa planted one last kiss on his mouth. ‘I’ll miss you like crazy.’
Rex grinned and jogged away.
She joined the others and three minutes later, sat in class, waiting for their teacher, Ms Cann, to arrive. The classroom was almost full. She didn’t bother saving a desk for Rex. He rarely ever sat at his own desk, choosing instead to grab a chair and share with any girl he felt like sitting with. Most teachers had gotten used to it.
‘I can’t believe those juniors,’ Jacqui grumbled from two desks away. ‘The way they stood around gawking at Vanessa and Rex. It made me sick. You’d think they’d never seen a couple make out before.’
‘Well they are only juniors,’ Holly said. ‘Maybe they haven’t?’
‘Hey, look, what’s Mr Franklin doing here?’
Mr Franklin, for most of Vanessa’s classmates had been their English teacher the year before. He was an aging gent, normally quite popular with the students. Certainly a lot more liked than the cantankerous Ms Cann.
‘Afternoon!’ he said cheerfully. ‘Ms Cann’s ill, so I’ll be standing in today.’ He made his way to the desk, rummaged through a draw and pulled out the roll book. ‘Best do a quick roll call to see who we have here. Adams!’
‘Present sir.’
They all knew the drill. Mr Franklin was the old-fashioned sort, the type who liked to be addressed formally.
‘Aitcheson.’
‘Yo sir!’
Mr Franklins delivered Frank Aitcheson a dirty look, but continued. ‘Ashley.’
‘Present sir.’
‘Campbell.’
‘Present sir.’
‘Cassidy...’ He paused momentarily to look around the class. ‘Late as usual. I wonder where he is.’
Vanessa said nothing. She would leave it to Rex to make that revelation when he finally arrived. She was sure that he would handle it in a more humorous and clever manner than her.
‘Cook.’
‘Present, Sergeant Major, Sir!’
‘That’s enough! This is not Mr Harris’s PE class, it’s English. The next person who says anything silly will be in serious trouble, is that clear?’
He continued to read the roll and those he called continued to reply in the appropriate manner. Vanessa sighed and peered over at Maggie. She was already gazing in her direction and delivered Vanessa a radiant smile. She was a real sweetie, there was no doubt s about that, but Vanessa couldn’t help but worry about her boyfriend, Shawn and whether he was as loyal to her as she seemed to think.
‘…Lovecroft.’
‘Present sir.’
‘Maverick.’
‘Hi de ho, good neighbour.’
Vanessa tried not to laugh, as did most of the others in the class.
‘Look!’ Franklin glared at Mav. ‘This is the last warning. I mean it! The next one who doesn’t respond to their name in the appropriate manner will be put on detention.’
‘Mmm mm mm mm mm mm mmmm,’ Mav said. ‘You didn’t say that sir.’
‘Well I’m saying it now!’
‘Well, you know, Mr Franklin, don’t forget what the great philosopher Alfred E Neuman used to say – “After all is said and done, there’s a lot more said than done.” Oh wait… That may have been Confucius.’
‘Confucius said that?’ Franklin eyed Mav dubiously.
Vanessa couldn’t help but speak up. ‘Most of the truly inane ones were his, Mr Franklin.’
Franklin smirked. ‘Hmm. Well anyway, on with the roll. ‘O’Grady.’
‘Present sir.’
‘Pyles.’
‘That’s my name, don’t wear it out!’
‘Right! That does it. Pyles, detention at lunchtime!’
‘UubbAA! But I’m all ready on detention!’
‘Well tomorrow then.’
‘I’m on detention tomorrow too!’
‘Well when aren’t you on detention?’
‘I’m on for another two weeks.’
‘Three weeks? What did you do? Never mind. In that case you can have some extra homework. An essay… two pages on why students should listen to their teachers. Is that clear, Tucker?’
‘But I was only quoting Confucius.’
‘I happen to know that Confucius did not come up with that particular expression you used.’
‘Well Alfred E Neuman then!’
‘The detention stands!’
‘UUBbAAaaaaaa.’
Vanessa couldn’t help but snicker at Tucker’s ill fortune as Mr Franklin resumed his reading of the roll. ‘Radovich,’
‘Present sir.’
‘Shepherd.’
‘Present sir.’
‘Ulman…’
For a moment Wal just smirked and Vanessa was sure he was going to make a smart ass reply like he usually did, but all credit to him this time he refrained. ‘Present sir.’
‘Unman.’
Silence.
‘Wittering.’
Strange looks from the students.
‘And Zigo.’
‘Absent sir,’ called out one of the boys from the back, one whose name had already been called.
‘Ah, at least someone gets the joke. Someone’s read the story or seen the movie. I suppose it’s just as well that Ms Cann has chosen that play for us to begin studying today.’
‘What play?’ someone asked.
‘Unman, Wittering and… never mind.’ He returned to his ro
ll, this time reading out the girls’ names.
He was halfway through when Rex bowled on in with a bottle of Coke in each hand.
‘Cassidy!’ Mr Franklin growled. ‘Where have you been?’
‘Down at the dairy.’
‘Don’t you know that it’s against school rules to leave the school grounds without permission?’
‘I think I might have heard a rumour that was the case,’ Rex said, taking a swig from his bottle. ‘You’ll have to give me a list of the school rules so that I’ll remember them, but they’ll have to be specific because I often find ways around them. I take it you decided to make an appearance in one of Ms Cann’s classes just to remind me of this apparent rule?’
‘You know damn well about that rule. I… as well as many other teachers have told you about it many times before and I’m sure you are well aware that I’m just acting as a reliever, otherwise Ms Cann would be here.’
Rex smirked, grabbed a seat from a vacant desk, planted it down at Vanessa’s desk and sat. He handed her, her bottle and she delivered him a radiant smile.
Mr Franklin continued, ‘You also know from last year that I don’t appreciate people coming in late. It disrupts the class.’
‘Well, I figured I had a few minutes. Ms Cann usually takes about fifteen minutes to read the roll anyway and if last year is anything to go by, I had even more time when it comes to you. About half an hour by my reckoning.’
‘Well it wouldn’t take half an hour if people answered correctly and students didn’t turn up late, interrupting my reading of it!’
‘I’m sorry Mr F. I really must apologise.’
‘I should think so.’
‘Absolutely thoughtless of me. It was an impropriety on my account, not realising that the roll was the most important part of the English curriculum. I overlooked the fact that the reading of it was intended to improve my listening skills. I neglected to realise that the rest of the period was to be void of educational value.’
‘Very amusing, Mr Cassidy. Despite your sarcasm, you continually amaze me at your grasp of the English language. You adequately expressed three different ways of telling me you had made a mistake. I hope that the rest of the class were listening and picked them up.’
‘You know what, Mr F? There’s one thing that really bugs me about you.’
‘What’s that, Mr Cassidy?’
‘The irritating way you use me as an educational tool. Sometimes I think that you actually end up getting the better of me at times.’
Mr Franklin grinned. ‘I’ll take that as a compliment.’
In some ways Vanessa hoped Rex would hassle Mr Franklin further, but she realised he had a lot of respect for the man so would never take things as far as he did with others like Mr Sanders. He didn’t get the chance anyway, because a knock came at the door
Miss Towcher, the senior mistress entered, along with a stunning brunette Vanessa had never seen before. There was something about her though that seemed familiar, but she couldn’t pinpoint it.
‘Ah, Mr Franklin. I’d like you to meet a new student starting tomorrow, Nadia Harrison. I’m just showing her around the school. This will be your English classroom, Nadia.’
‘Hello, Nadia,’ Mr Franklin said.
‘Hi everyone.’ Nadia smiled and waved to everyone in the class. Her eyes stopped when they came across Rex and her smile became broader.
She had full lips and ivory white teeth. It was certainly a spectacular smile and Vanessa couldn’t help but admire it. But still, something in the back of her mind niggled at her. There was just something so familiar about her, but she didn’t recognise the name at all.
Miss Towcher led Nadia back out, although she hesitated at first, as if she wanted to say something. Nadia’s eyes darted from Rex to Vanessa and remained fixed on her for a few seconds.
‘Nadia? Coming?’
‘Sure.’
Vanessa admired her shapely figure as she walked out. 'Ooh la la.'
‘Wow,’ Rex said. ‘She’s hot.’
‘I know,’ Vanessa turned to him. ‘I’m sure you’ll have fun getting to know her.’ She delivered him a cheeky smile.
‘There’s something about her...’ Rex said. ‘But I just can’t put my finger on it. Wait... yes...’ He frowned.
‘Yeah, I get the feeling I know her from somewhere too.’
‘She kind of reminds me someone.’
‘Who?’
Rex paused and studied Vanessa carefully for a few seconds before speaking again. ‘You.’
Vanessa didn’t really give the comparison Rex had made a lot of thought, but it certainly intrigued her, wondering who this mysterious Nadia was.
Rex wasn’t the only one who drew a comparison to her. Holly did too. ‘Reminds me of you when you first came to the school.’ School had finished for the day and the two of them, along with Maggie, sat at Holly’s computer in her bedroom. ‘You were a real enigma to all of us. We worked it out you were Rex’s ex, but there was all this… you know… mystery about you and why you and Rex split. Mandy reckons Rex was kind of… you know… freaked out when you showed up.’
‘Were we freaked out earlier when that Nadia girl turned up?’ Vanessa laughed.
‘Well no, but… you know… she turned a lot of heads like you. The boys were all asking questions about her later on and now you’re saying that Rex and you think she’s kind of familiar.’
‘I think so too,’ Maggie said. ‘It’s her smile and her eyes.’
‘Maybe,’ Holly said. ‘Maybe she’s been on TV or something. I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.’
‘Yeah, true.’
Vanessa sat at the keyboard and logged into her Facelink profile and began to issue Holly instructions, ‘You’ll see that you can create groups of friends, so that you can restrict them from seeing certain stuff in your profile. So you can set up photo galleries and only allow certain groups access. I have a special gallery that I only allow my most trusted friends to access.’
Maggie’s eyes widened. ‘Nude stuff?’
‘Nah ah. I’m not that silly. Stuff like that would soon get printed out and distributed around. I’m not that trusting, you know!’
‘But trusted friends wouldn’t do that.’
‘I hope not, but I don’t take any chances. Sometimes friends don’t remain friends; you know what I’m saying? Some people in this world can get pretty vindictive when they want to. Anyway, you know I’m not that much of an exhibitionist. My private gallery is mainly just bikini shots and sexy outfit photographs. My friends see me in stuff like that all the time. Oh, hello, more friend requests. Half of them are from people I don’t even know. If I don’t recognise their faces or names, I just delete them. Of course if they’re really hot...’ She opened one and admired the photograph. ‘...like this one...’
‘Cheeky Cherry?’ Maggie asked. ‘Who calls themselves Cheeky Cherry?’
‘It’s just a handle like mine… BootyGirl. Mmmmm, says her real name is Cherry Archibald, but I don’t know the name, although she looks vaguely familiar to me.’
‘Another familiar face?’ Holly asked. ‘We’re getting a lot of those lately.’
‘Yeah, but this one I’ve seen somewhere before, just recently too.’
‘It says she’s gay and likes butts. Sweet! Sounds like your type, Nessa.’
‘Yeah huh!’ Vanessa laughed. ‘Says she’s knows about me from someone at school. Maybe I met her once. I guess it can’t hurt to add her as a friend. At least to my ultra-restricted group where I place people who I don’t know very well or don’t entirely trust and let see only limited stuff in my profile.’
She clicked on a button to accept Cheeky Cherry as her friend and typed in a message:
Who at school are you friends with? I’m sure I’ve seen you before somewhere.
She checked out Cherry’s profile and examined some of her photographs.
‘Wow,’ Maggie said. ‘She’s beautiful. Those photographs looks s
o professional.’
‘I know.’ Vanessa checked out her profile information. ‘Likes dancing, working out at the gym, partying and going out to fine restaurants...’
‘Sounds like you two are… you know… very compatible,’ Holly said.
Vanessa delivered her a cheeky smile. ‘You think?’
‘Yep.’
‘Anyway, let’s get you set up with a profile. What’s your handle going to be?’ She logged out of her profile and clicked on “Join up”.
‘Mmmm. I’ve been doing a little martial arts lately to learn some self defence. I think I’ll call myself Samurai Sweetie.’
‘Sounds good to me.’
Before Vanessa could do anything else, her cell phone rang. She answered it. ‘Vanessa,’ he mother’s voice said. ‘You need to come home as quickly as you can.’
‘Why, what’s wrong?’
‘We have a visitor.’
‘Who?’
‘You’re never going to believe this. She claims to be your half sister!’
CHAPTER 7:
The Promised Virtual Land