Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2006 17:30:18 +0100
From: Chris Angel <moonknuckle@hotmail.com>
Subject: Smells Like Sapphic Spirit, chapter two

**********

Sonata Two: They Like To Call Them 'Foundations'

**********

"Miss Mitchell? Miss Mitchell?"

Bonnie awoke with a startled and alarmingly cute little snort. Well,
actually, a kind of hybrid between a snort and a gasp. The sound of an
authoritative voice knocked her out of the deep throes of what seemed to
be a rather welcomed dream. But before Bonnie even began to dwell on whom
those dreams revolved around, she was forced to deal with the ire of the
older woman standing before her.

Miss Diane Edwards, pillar of the English department, stern-faced, hard
assed and middle-aged. She wasn't exactly popular with most of the kids
at Saffron-Jameson High, but not specifically for those reasons. She was
known to be tough in dealing out detentions on bad behaviour, late
assignments, cutting class, etc. She also had an annoying habit of
calling people by their second names, hence 'Miss Mitchell'. But most of
the students here resented Miss Edwards for her 'favouritism'. That came
in the form of leniency towards students that her class considered her
'favourites', usually the ones who went out of their way to succeed.

Bonnie was thought to be one of them.

Miss Edwards stood with a disapproving frown before the desk that
Bonnie's head had come to rest on. Just as she realized this she noted
that the class itself was empty. All the other kids had gone on to their
respective classes. The blonde knew she had a free period directly after
English class but she couldn't help but feel guilty. Not only had she
arrived late and slept through class but she'd also made Miss Edwards
upset, judging by the look on her face.

Seeing that, Bonnie lowered her head remorsefully and pressed her palms
into her lap under Miss Edwards' glare. It was one thing to fall asleep
but for a teacher to look as though she were about to scold her? Bonnie
wasn't for that. After what seemed to be a very prolonged silence, Miss
Edwards sighed and rolled her eyes in frustration, muttering. "Finally
awake?"

"I'm sorry, Miss..." That was all Bonnie could say.

The older woman shook her head and perched herself upon the wooden desk
directly ahead of Bonnie's one. "I just don't understand this, Miss
Mitchell. You've never fallen asleep in my classes before and you're
rarely ever late. You've always been such a model student. In fact I
consider you to be standard that my other students should aspire to in
this class. So what's happening here?"

"I don't know, Miss Edwards," Bonnie whispered, "I'm sorry..."

Miss Edwards sighed. "Please don't let it happen again. I expect this
kind of behaviour from some of the others but never from you. You've got
too much potential to simply waste by not paying attention to me."

"I... I understand..."

"I'm glad you do. And I'm sorry, but... I'm going to have to give you
detention for this."

Bonnie's beautiful silvery eyes expanded with both alarm and surprise
when she heard that. Detention? She'd never had detention in her life!
The innocent girl looked up at Miss Edwards with that startled
expression, which struck a chord with the slightly remorseful look about
her.

"I'm sorry, Miss Mitchell. But I can't have this in my class. This kind
of thing can get out of hand if not nipped in the bud. And I wouldn't
want someone of your talent to fall into that trap. Perhaps this will
remind you of that."

Bonnie was almost at a loss for words. In all her years of life and all
her years as a student, she'd never gotten detention before. In fact she
couldn't even recall being so much as chided by a teacher for talking in
class. As fragile as it made her sound, this punishment for sleeping
through class -- detention -- was a complete three hundred and sixty for
her. The closest thing she had to being in trouble before was a late term
paper in History. It was a 2800-word essay on the causes and consequences
of the Rwandan Genocide, a topic selected by her herself out of a choice
of eight. In the two weeks she had to write it her mom got the flu. So
Bonnie was forced to take care of her for most of the time. If not for
the explanation of the lateness for that paper, she would have been in
trouble then. But this was the first time it was actually happening to
her. Needless to say, Bonnie didn't feel pleased by it. Even Miss Edwards
found herself wincing at that crestfallen look on her student's face. But
being the 'hardass' she was; the teacher wasn't about to relent on the
issue.

Bonnie understood that very well, and stood up, gathering together her
books, her pen and her notebook. She slotted them all into the backpack
she had rested by her chair and swung it over her shoulder with a frown.
Not even willing to look her in the face, Bonnie hurriedly uttered her
goodbyes to Miss Edwards, 'I have to go now', before ambling over to the
door and exiting the classroom. Edwards sighed again and started marching
between desks to collect the residual notepapers taken down and left
behind by her class.

Once Bonnie out outside Miss Edwards' English classroom she pressed her
back against the wall. Though she didn't realize it she caught her
breath. Bonnie suddenly felt low. It really wasn't a big deal to anyone;
all her friends (as few as their numbers were) had done it before. In
fact, the very idea that Bonnie had never gotten detention before was
almost as much cannon fodder for scrutiny toward her as her tiny breasts
were. She didn't even know where the damned detention was held. But
Bonnie was neither a coward nor a guilt-dodger. And realistically, it was
no one's fault but hers. In the meantime, she tried not to think about
it. In times of concern she just liked to bury herself knee-deep in
either a hot bubble bath or a good book, as things stood now she'd have
to settle for the book.

Subsequent to taking a few moments to get herself acclimated and gain a
handle on the situation (desperately needed), the blonde girl settled on
going to the library and studying for the rest of her free period. Bonnie
exhaled and started walking down the corridor, past all the other
students walking by and chatting amongst themselves and headed for the
library. She walked to a set of doors leading up to a stairwell, pushed
past them, and ascended the steps to march up to the second floor of the
building. She passed by a couple of other kids on the way but didn't
really notice them. A second later she got up to the second floor's left
wing corridor. She turned a corner into it, and when she did, in all her
preoccupation and concern, she slammed body-to-body into a slightly
taller figure at the same time.

With a squeal, Bonnie stumbled back from whomever it was that she had
bumped into and landed on her butt, dropping her backpack. The figure she
collided with fell down just as well, loudly seething the elegant phrase
'Damnit!' at the situation. The blonde teen frowned apologetically and
turned her attentions to this person.

"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry, I..."

The sentence she was starting faded off like an afterthought when her
sparkling grey eyes adjusted to the person who was stealing their
interest. Bonnie felt her breath hitch. It was that girl from earlier in
the library, Kris Taylor. In all her glory stood (or rather sat, on her
ass no less) Saffron-Jameson's fêted hockey player with the same
smouldering, slick nuances about her person. Now Bonnie felt awkward
again. The blood rushed to her face, even more so when her eyes
unconsciously rolled up and down Kris' body with abandon. She didn't stop
(or at least bring herself to stop) until she noticed the angry
expression on Kris' beautiful tomboyish face. Yet that was short-lived.
When Kris looked up and glared at Bonnie - the angry look melted into one
of surprise.

Bonnie cast her a bashful smile. "...Hi."

Kris blinked a couple times before smiling back, albeit with reservation.
"...Hey..."

A silence descended between the two of them. Neither seemed to notice it.
All Bonnie could seem to do was stare at Kris as Kris stared back at her.
Sparkling, bashful grey eyes shook transfixed with blazing, confident
ebony ones. Though this was the second time they had come across each
other, it was almost as though this were the first time they were
'seeing' each other. And it wasn't until someone walked by that they
actually realized that they were staring at each other. When that
happened, Kris was the first to act. She swept her bangs from her eyes
and clamoured up to her feet, dusting off her denims.

She extended a hand to the blonde. "Sorry about that. Bonnie, wasn't it?"

"Yes," Bonnie took Kris' hand and allowed the taller woman to pull her up
to her feet. For some reason Bonnie gulped when she felt the softness of
that hand. "...I'm sorry."

Kris beamed another powerful, positive smile. "Hey, don't worry about it.
It's my fault. I guess I shouldn't be steamrolling around like that. But
I have to say, they're worse people I could have crashed into."

Bonnie blushed again without really noticing it. There was something
about Kris. She exuded this kind of sultry self-assurance, as though she
were completely comfortable with herself. It was tough to put into words
but Bonnie couldn't mistake seeing it. There was just something about
her. The studious teen fell into another reverie because of it, but was
knocked out of it shortly when she saw Kris point at something behind
her.

"What's wrong?" Asked Bonnie.

"Your books and stuff...?"

Bonnie finally turned her attention to something other than Kris and
looked at the floor. Two of her books, as well as her pens, pencils and
rulers had been knocked out of her backpack. In her haste to leave Miss
Edwards' room she probably hadn't zipped it up properly. Looking at her
gear sprawled over the floor Bonnie exhaled, but her breath froze in her
throat when the raven-haired hockey player astride her stepped closer and
crouched down.

"What are you doing?" Bonnie asked unconsciously.

Kris grabbed her backpack and smiled. "Paragliding in the Alps. What does
it look like?"

It was safe to say that Bonnie was a bit caught up when Kris kneeled down
and collected (almost) everything that had been dropped. She put it all
inside Bonnie's bag, aside from one thick book, which Kris held with one
hand when she stood back up again. She handed the backpack over to Bonnie
and waved the one and a half inch thick book before her.

"Light reading?" She jested.

Bonnie averted her gaze, dropping her smile. "...It's for school. I-I
just..."

"It's fine you know," Kris reassured. "I don't mind. And even if I did,
it shouldn't matter what I think."

"...So... you don't think I'm... a nerd?"

The dark-eyed teen beamed. "I think it's sweet. You really wanna do well
for yourself, huh?"

There was such a rush of emotions in Bonnie from nothing more than these
comments that she could barely even bring herself to sound coherent in
replying to them. "I g-guess so..."

Then Kris smiled at her again. Any confusion on Bonnie's part about what
these rushes of emotion were based on was lifted when she felt her
breathing hitch again at that smile. It was so beautiful, so confident,
and so delightfully luxurious. Quite frankly it made Bonnie feel both
vulnerable and uncomfortable, like a coil was being tugged at in her
stomach and was threatening to break. Reluctantly she broke contact with
Kris' eyes and looked down at her shoes, painfully aware of the heat in
her cheeks.

"Thanks for what you did."

Kris shrugged. "No problem."

"But I... I think I should be going now..." Bonnie answered.

And Kris frowned a little when she heard that. "...Oh. Um, okay."

Bonnie suddenly felt as though she was doing something wrong, but that
part of her she put aside. In a bit of a tizzy, Bonnie quickly whispered
'Bye' to the older girl and walked away, her footsteps a little faster
than usual. Kris watched her go with a frown, forgetful of the fact that
she still had Bonnie's thick book in her hand.

**********

By lunch, Kris was in a lousy mood.

A few hours had past since meeting Bonnie for the first time and coming
across (or rather banging into) the girl a second time. Needless to say
the events of the second meeting had put her in a position of insane
confusion and earth-shattering confusion. She didn't make a point of
masturbating in the showers for just any girl. Bonnie was different. She
was special -- very much so -- and yet equally as problematic.

It was just so impossible to read her. She blew hot and cold like no
one's business. In one instance it seemed like she was actually charmed
by her hockey-playing admirer. And in the next it was like she was going
out of her way to avoid Kris, like she was carrying the plague. What the
hell was up with that? It was the same thing with the signals that Kris
thought she got from the blonde. Not only was Kris not sure if Bonnie was
interested, but she wasn't even sure if Bonnie was into girls. It was
that hard to read her.

All of that chalked up to Kris in a bad, longing mood.

The dark-haired teenager lay stomach-first across the emerald blades of
grass that formed the gardens outside of the cafeteria. It was a bright
sunny day today. Both Kris and her 'best of buddies since kindergarten'
friend, Emma Anderson, decided to eat outside because of that. Kris
couldn't focus on eating, however. She simply sipped on a can of coke and
watched some of the other students go about their business. Emma sat in a
cross-legged position whilst eating spicy tuna fish sandwich her mom had
made for her. It wasn't until she heard Kris groan that she realized
something was wrong.

Emma extended the sandwich to her. "Want a bite?"

"No thanks," Kris said dejectedly.

Exhaling, Emma tugged a lock of her long chestnut brown hair behind her
ear. "Let me guess. Woman problems?"

Kris looked at her with confusion.

"This isn't the first time I've seen you pull that expression."

Kris sighed irritably. "...Whatever."

"Okay then, Sunshine. What's her name?"

She was hesitant at first but Kris eventually replied. "...Bonnie."

Emma smiled. 'Bonnie' sounded like the name of the kind of girl Kris
would be interested in. They had known each other, as stated, since
kindergarten. In a sense, they could understand each other on a level
that no other could. Of course the differences between the two were
enormous if judged only by the physical. If anything Emma was the
quintessential scion of the anti-tomboy. Big-breasted, endless locks of
auburn stretching all the way down to the small of her back, gemstone
sapphire eyes, a light milky skin tone, and a passion for fashion and
splendour in the way she dressed. But as glossy as Emma was, at heart she
and Kris were deeply alike. The most glaring shared trait between the two
of them was that they were both girls-who-liked-girls.  That was what
allowed them to speak so freely before each other about the 'Bonnie
Situation'.

"Is she cute?" Emma asked.

Kris sighed. "Frighteningly so."

"Let me guess... you're not sure about her. Right?"

"Got it in one."

The auburn-haired one frowned. "Krissie, Krissie, Krissie. You know the
rules, baby. Stay away from the straights and bi-curious. They'll only
cut you up in the end. That's queer code number one."

"Yeah well," Kris began sardonically, "It kinda conflicts with life code
number one - can't help who you fall for."

The smile on Emma's face wavered. "...You're falling for her?"

"...Ugh. Maybe. Look, I don't know. I mean I just met her this morning.
But damn, Emma, I've never felt like this before. She's so gorgeous,
polite, unassuming. But she's so shy, too. It's hard getting anything
from her. I've met her twice and since then I just... I can't really stop
thinking about her."

Emma took a bite out of her sandwich before continuing. "Wanna know what
I think?"

"Ugh! You're gonna tell me anyway, why not just spit it out?"

"I think maybe you're still just coming hard off of Paige."

Had anyone else said that and saw the angry look on Kris' face from
having done so, they would have believed that they'd said something over
the line, but not Emma. She knew enough about Kris to know she had a
stronger licence to state the sensitive around her. Yet still Kris
frowned at both the name 'Paige' and Emma's dragging up of the whole set
of issues that that name was connected to.

"We broke up like three months ago, okay? That has nothing to do with
it," Kris stated.

Emma wiggled her nose. "Kris, this is me you're talking to. I remember
what it was like for you back then. You threw temper-tantrums at
everyone, you kept screwing up at your little hockey practice thing, and
I practically had to hold you down just to keep you from sleeping with
someone else to make her jealous. Remember?"

"Yeah, I remember. But it isn't like that."

"Are you sure?"

Kris nodded. "Yes. That whole thing between Paige and I... that was a
long time ago, Emma. She's gone her way, I've gone mine, and I got over
it. And Bonnie is nothing like her. Paige could be a complete bitch when
she wanted to... Bonnie's just sort of 'pure', I guess. She's not a liar
or a fake; she just is what she is. I like it. I like her."

Emma exhaled. "Look, I'm not trying to lecture you or anything. I just
want you to be careful, okay? I don't want my best friend getting hurt.
Who could I complain about my love life to if you're moping around all
day?"

Kris smiled a bit at that. "Thanks. So on that score, what's up with
you?"

"...Well, this and that." Emma pulled a sneaky smile. "I have a date
tonight."

"A date? And when the hell were you gonna tell me?"

The blue-eyed girl shrugged. "Now, I guess."

"Well who is it? Have I met her before?" Questioned Kris.

"I don't think you've met her. Her name's Summer Andrews. She goes to
Atlantic High, not Saffron-Jameson, but goddamn, Kris, wait until you
meet her. She's so hot it's scary."

Kris finished the last of her coke before saying, "Summer? Summer
Andrews?"

"Yeah... you know her?

"Not really. But I know that she's friend of Holly-Raine Johnson's. You
know her, right?"

Emma rolled her eyes. "Is there any girl left in this town who doesn't?"

Kris sniggered a little at Holly's reputation. "Well those two are best
friends. I don't know Holly all that well but we run into each other from
time to time. She told me about Summer once. The girl sounds pretty cool.
How'd you two meet?"

"We kind of bumped into each other at the mall yesterday," Emma answered
with a blush, "there was this blouse I was looking at? When I tried to
get it I saw her looking at it too. When I looked at her she smiled at me
and we started talking... after that we realized that we had things in
common so we went for a slice of pizza. After that, well, we kinda
figured out that we liked each other so we agreed to see each other
again. We're gonna watch a movie tonight, about eight thirty."

Kris grinned. "Well look at you. You seem pretty pleased with yourself.
So have you kissed her yet?"

Emma smirked at that and reached for the scarf that was wrapped around
her neck. Now that attention was brought to it, Kris found it odd that
Emma would wear such a thing in this kind of weather. But when she took
it off it all made sense. Along the tender snowdrop flesh of the left
side of her neck was a hickey. Kris glared with a smile at it.

"Result." She jeered.

Emma chuckled and tied the scarf back around her neck to conceal it. "I'm
not in it for the sex, you nymphomaniac. I like her. She's
straightforward and honest, you know? I just wanna be with her. So we'll
just see how things go tonight. If Summer likes me as much as I think I
like her then maybe it'll go somewhere."

Kris pressed her chin into her palm to prop her head up. Talking with
Emma about her love life rather than the Bonnie Situation had actually
cheered her up a bit. "Well, have fun. It's good to know at least one of
us it getting somewhere with the girl of her dreams."

**********

Detention was a drag.

Bonnie didn't like it at all. Not only did she have to rub shoulders with
some of the more rowdy and annoying kids at Saffron-Jameson High that had
been gathered here together after school for disciplinary purposes, but a
couple of people had recognized her and commented on the (as they put it)
'downfall of a goody-two-shoes'. If her meeting with Kris not happened
today, she would have taken far greater stock of what they were saying.
But right now her mind was clouded.

In the detention room, Bonnie sat by a desk in the back left corner, her
nose buried in a textbook she wasn't really reading and elbows before
homework she didn't plan on doing here. There was only one thing she had
been thinking about all day and that was Kris Taylor. After meeting the
girl in the corridors leading to the library earlier this morning, Bonnie
found herself overwhelmed by a set of emotions that someone 'married to
academics' should not have been considering. Confusion, lust,
pre-occupation, anxiety, charm; all these things had been getting to her.
And it was all a result of her contact with that girl, that beautiful
raven-haired tomboy, Kris.

Upon meeting her the first time, Bonnie didn't read too much into what
she was feeling, this welling up in her stomach, the nervousness. It just
seemed like one of those things. And yet when it happened again, there
was no mistaking that she found Kris alluring. All the strident
confidence, that silky black hair (contrasted in its shortness by those
long dangling bangs) those dark and hot eyes, tight chest, and that
smile...

Just thinking about it made shivers run up and down Bonnie's spine. Kris
had the most magnetic, warm, gentle and confident smile you could
imagine. Even now the memories of it ran through the blonde's mind like a
train stuck on a continuous loop, coming back over and over again. And
every time she pictured it she felt more entranced by it. More important
than all of that was to know implicitly the simple fact that Kris was a
girl.

Bonnie wasn't really in the dark about what she liked... romantically
speaking.

The first (and perhaps only) crush she had had was on an old friend of
hers, quite a few years ago. That person happened to be female too. Deep
down she knew what she was. The only problem was that Bonnie hadn't spent
much of her life addressing the issue. Her whole life up to now had
centred on making an effort in school, not because her parents pressured
her into it or anything but rather because that was what she wanted. Why
she wanted that was another question entirely; but that was the
situation. However, it wasn't as though Bonnie was entirely devoid of
sexuality up until now - she'd gotten hot under the collar numerous times
when catching the flash of a cheerleader's thigh at a pep rally
sometimes. But that was about it. Now Kris came blowing all Guns of
Navarone into her life and turned everything on its head.  It both
alarmed and excited Bonnie in ways that she hadn't known possible.

Throughout the first detention of her life, Bonnie spent all of her time
pretending to do some homework. In reality all she did was think about
Kris. About how attractive she was, how sweet she was to pick up the gear
that had fallen out of her backpack, how her smile caused that odd
sensation of butterflies in her stomach when she saw it, how strong and
confident she appeared to be (far more so than Bonnie herself). But it
wasn't until 3/4's of the way through the detention that Bonnie's
star-struck thoughts turned into bitter ones of reality. And then it
dawned on her.

What chance did she really have with someone like that?

Put aside the fact that Bonnie didn't even know if Kris was attracted to
other women. How would it have made any difference even if she were?
Someone like that was bound to have a boyfriend... right? And what of
Bonnie herself? Kris had said that she didn't see her as a nerd but
Bonnie certainly viewed herself as such. She might have been one of the
smartest girls in school but she also held the unwanted crown of having
the smallest breasts in school, too. What could a teen woman like Kris --
sporty, self-confident, gorgeous Kris -- find appealing in flatchested,
sexually inexperienced, socio-retarded nerd?

It was thoughts like that that actually depressed Bonnie a little bit.
Knowing you don't have a chance with someone because they're straight was
one thing; you could blame the sexuality issue and call it a day. Knowing
that someone was the same sexual orientation as you and still not
interested? That was a blow to the pride if ever there was one. That
meant there was something wrong with you. The only comforting thought was
to know that she wouldn't be put in that position. Bonnie remained on
that. This thing with Kris... it just would not go anywhere.

It was just an unruly crush, right?

It would pass, right...?

It wasn't like she was falling for a girl she'd met only twice in one
day... right...?

In the remaining fifteen minutes of the hour Bonnie tried to actually do
some of the homework she'd gotten throughout the day, to distract herself
from the 'Kris Situation'. Soon afterwards one of the three teachers
overseeing the thirty-strong detention room yelled out 'alright, you can
go now', which caused an upsurge of chatter and squeaking chairs. As
everyone started packing up around her, Bonnie did the same and put her
books and notes away. She couldn't finish the work she was mulling over
but she could take a crack at it when she got home. None of it was due in
until next week, anyway. The blonde girl swung her bag over her shoulder
and smoothed out her skirt before walking to the door. She awkwardly
squeezed past the other boys and girls until she made it to the door.
Once she opened it and walked out she breathed a heavy sigh of relief. At
least it was over now. Bonnie continued and made her way down the
corridors towards the glass entrance into the school. She was an hour
late getting home and had a few things to do when she did.

By now Bonnie probably should have been more careful when turning
corners. But then it wasn't like the first time was so bad, after all.
And since school had technically ended an hour ago the halls were pretty
clear. Maybe that was why fate asked for it to happen again. Bonnie
turned the final corner of the conjoined corridors and when she did she
slammed head first into someone for the second time today.

Both girls stumbled into a stop after bouncing apart from each other.
Bonnie closed her eyes carefully and winced at the ache in her head as
she rubbed. And for yet another second outing, Bonnie heard a familiar
voice bark "Ow! What the-" before silencing itself. So she opened her
silvery eyes and found standing before her the same girl she had been
thinking of all day and recently started lamenting over.

Kris.

In her surprise, Kris blinked a couple times, half-startled by their
second collision and half-surprised to see her in general. "...Bonnie?"

"...Hi," Bonne said shyly, already feeling the butterflies fluttering in
her stomach.

For some reason, Kris didn't seem as confident now as she previously did.
Her dark eyes rolled from one side to the other. A small half-smile
lingered at her lips that made her look almost... uncomfortable.  Bonnie
felt a bit put out by it. "...Kris...?"

"Um..." Kris threw her thumb over her shoulder. "Could you follow me for
a sec?"

Bonnie nodded, analysing her. "Okay..."

Kris nodded back and turned around. The blonde followed her as she led a
path down this hallway into a separate one at the other side of the
building. The lockers owed to the seniors were strewn about the walls in
this area. Kris walked up to one (which Bonnie, perhaps not so
impressively, deduced as belonging to the girl) and put in a combination
with a few twists of the metal dial. It opened with a clang and Kris
reached into it, withdrawing something. Bonnie's gasped when it turned
out to be the book from earlier. She hadn't even known it was gone.

Kris presented it to her. "This is yours, isn't it? You dropped it before
and I guess I forgot to give it back. You left pretty quickly."

The Mitchell-girl winced at that. Kris sounded almost offended by the way
she'd left. But that was the LAST thing Bonnie ever wanted to do to her.
Reflexively, Bonnie stepped closer to Kris and shook her head
apologetically. "...I'm sorry."

"You are?"

Bonnie's innocent smile came back. "...Yes. I... I like you, Kris."

Perhaps Kris didn't pick on the subtext there, because she just slammed
her locker shut and pulled another of those heart-piercing smiles of
hers. Bonnie swooned a little bit and looked down at her shoes shyly
again.

"So you like mythology, right?" Kris surmised.

Bonnie dwelled on the content of the book as Kris handed it to her. "It's
part of the research I'm doing for a history project. It's about the
impact that colonialism had on the faith and belief amongst indigenous
populations of Africa and the Americas. I just wanted to bone up on some
of the background pertaining to those belief systems before I got
started."

"Oh, uh... okay..." Kris was kind of bamboozled by that until she thought
deeper about what had just been said. "Wait. Are you any good at
history?"

"I'd like to think that I am. Why...?"

Kris crossed her arms. "I have a big history exam coming up and I know
I'm totally gonna flunk it. I just find it all so boring, you know?"

"...Well to be honest, no..." Bonnie uttered, "I mean, I really like
History. I suppose certain pasts of it might seem more interesting than
others, but... it helps when you're working with other people in
situations like these."

If Bonnie possessed any obliviousness to the intended rhythm of this
conversation then it was blown away when Kris smiled at her warmly and
asked, "Then do you think maybe you could help me out in that respect?"

"I... uh..." Bonnie clammed up again, but couldn't turn away from that
smile this time. "Aren't you a senior?"

Kris' bangs shuddered when she bobbed her head. "That's what makes it
important."

Bonnie swallowed the lump in her throat and tried to ignore how hard her
heart was beating when she looked up helplessly at the taller woman.
"...I... I don't mind if you don't..."

**********

Chris Angel says,

* Well. I must say this is the longest I have EVER taken in updating a
story of mine. I wrote the first chapter of Smells Like Sapphic Spirit in
May of 2004 - more than two whole years ago. I can honestly say that I
forgot about it for a while. But upon reflection I decided that it was
worth salvaging, and this new chapter is the result.

* In the two years between chapter one and this chapter right here, I've
received many e-mails praising this story and asking for it to be
continued (even though it was only at one chapter at the time). All's I
can say is thanks for the support. I know how frustrating it can be to
find a story you like and then not have the author update it in years.
^_^

* Sorry! No sex in this chapter. I'll make up for the S-E-X deficiency in
chapter three (which I've already written by this point).

* Have any comments or suggestions you'd like to make about Smells Like
Sapphic Spirit? Feel free to e-mail me.