Being released from Biology was truly liberating.  She tended to read most of the time in that class, seeing absolutely no use for the material what-so-ever.  Who cared how it all worked, so long as it did?  The day's lesson had been on ATP, mitochondria, and other energy producing parts of the body.  Honestly, she'd played Parasite Eve; she knew.  And in that vein decided to read a fiction novel about genetic mutations and society gone mad.  Well, try to, anyhow.<br/><br/>Mrs. Trellis was an older woman, and the kind of teacher that took her job much more seriously than she needed to.  Esther respected her for knowing her shit and for meaning well, but it was annoying trying to read in her class.  She'd sat Esther near the front, on the far side from the door, so that Esther could be feel her disciplinary glare at all times.  And especially as she was leaving.  It was as if Trellis was trying to break her out of being a troublesome student, and that made Esther even more stubborn.<br/><br/>She walked to the cafeteria, pulling a hard-boiled egg out of her bag as she walked and taking a bite.  Esther's disdain for school lunches was total, and if she was in line at all, it was either to get some milk or out of sheer boredom.  Today was the first type.  She was thirsty.  As she popped the second half of the egg into her mouth, she was aware of a shape out of the corner of her eye.  She slowed just a little to see Billy Weird walking beside her, smiling cockily.  The effect made her jerk away, disgusted.<br/><br/>She'd known Billy only by reputation, and by what she'd seen around campus.  Most people who were 'weird' in high-school had no idea what that word really meant.  Those Nordic Pagans in Alfheim, Colorado.. the Carnies they crossed circuits with in Nebraska.. The Scientologist Camp in Oklahoma.. and especially those DNFWs on the Rez.  Any Rez.  Those people were truly Weird, and anyone who didn't at least measure up to the sanest of them was a poser, plain and simple.  That's why Billy bothered her.<br/><br/>Billy was legitimate.<br/><br/>It was as she thought those very three words that it caught up to her.  Impervious.  Effortless.  Lazy, successful, and cruel.  He had it.  He was wearing the vision of her dream like a pair of old jeans, and boy, did he look comfy in them.  Her thoughts went back to what she knew about Billy: an untouchable man-whore, simultaneously ostracized and respected.  She hated him for being mostly what she thought every man was, and for being what she wanted to be.  She started to wonder why she wasn't friends with him, and forced the thought from her mind.  And then he told her about the voice.<br/><br/>There's a mental twinge when someone crosses the line between thinking strange things and knowing them.  Esther stood stricken as Billy crossed the line with a back flip.  She wanted to ask how he knew, but she didn't.  It wouldn't have mattered.  He knew he was telling the truth, and so did she.  And then he made his offer to her.    It took a long moment for her to answer.<br/><br/>She would tell you she was shrewdly weighing the options between this weirdo offering her something she desired, and the knowledge of what he wanted in return.  But it would be a lie.  She was having deja vu, remembering an experience from 8 years ago.  The eyes of an old man who seemed to stare into her, making her feel so naked even her skin couldn't hide her modesty.  Eyes that never lost eye contact even as her mother drew her away.  The man had seen<em>her</em>, not her soul or anything so trite, but<em>her</em>, exactly as she was to her core, making her feel smaller than she have ever imagined, and somehow drawing her to become bigger than she could withstand.  It was the same sort of feeling.  She heard her mother's words in her ear as she had pulled her away, and the scene vanished, leaving only a whisper in the back of her mind.<br/><br/>"Do not fuck with people on the Rez."<br/><br/>Maybe she should have listened.  Maybe that sort of advice was the best thing her mother had ever given her.  But as the memories of her dream came back to her, and she remembered where she had been that morning, that invincible place of effortless power, she accepted that she was drawn to it.  This Weird kid.. was very legitimate.<br/><br/>"I don't have to sleep with you, do I?" she replied.