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Author's Chapter Notes:

A full blown chapoter with the Ferrand returning to school, discovering more of the cast there !

Chapter 26: Kris and Vanessa

The stares made Alejandro feel really nervous. Somehow, he had expected that the rumors concerning his relation with Shannon Matthewson wouldn’t have spread widely and wildly among the student body. He had been dead wrong. All the MAJORS were whispering and looking at him, side glancing for the most polite, staring directly at him for most of them, and looking worried, curious, disappointed, even disgusted or angry for one of two of them. I don’t want to be there, he realized, his ancient fear of crowds resurfacing.

It was only Wednesday, and his second day at school, and already he could feel how the atmosphere had changed. He realized that his parents had been right to warn him that High School was probably not a good environment for him. His Mom had made quite clear that the official position of the school board didn’t mean that all the students, nor even the majority of them would share it. But he hadn’t listened. Hadn’t wanted to listen, really.

A part of him longed to be part of the world, even if he was utterly terrified by it. The crowds in the hallways, the throngs of students rushing from one class to another, towering over him, was intimidating by itself, after all. But now, they were rushing and judging him in new ways. He felt as if something was constraining his chest, making breathing an act of will instead of something natural. The Minor recognized it for what it was, fear overcoming his mind, and he did his best to keep it under control.

“Hey, how are you doing?” suddenly asked a voice at his level.

Alejandro jumped a little in the air, startled by this sudden interaction. Turning on his heel, he faced Kris O’Donnel. The other Minor looked at him, puzzled, before beaming a wide smile and then laughing heartily. Somehow, this simple thing managed to bring a smile of Alejandro’s face and crack the wall of fear surrounding him. Talking to someone his own size, or close to it at least, even has legs, torso and knees passed by made the day a lot better.

“I… I’m not doing so great” admitted the young Ferrand, even as he noticed Lindsey giving him some space, at least for the time being.

“Really? I wonder why?” joked Kris. “I mean, it’s not as if you were the reason for the whole MAJOR culture and society in the U.S. and, more largely the world, being upended and thus forcing a lot of those huge bullies to reconsider their privileges” he added, pointing over his shoulder at Vanessa.

“I would like you to not lump me with the rest of the MAJORS Mister O’Donnel” intervened the blond bombshell.

Alejandro was surprised at how deep and yet musical her voice was. It was almost masculine, but not quite, and she sounded like a second away from breaking into a song about building a snowman or how her life in a tower was so boring. She also sounded somewhat tired, and he guessed that it wasn’t the first time that Kris alluded to her being part of the problem over the solution, or at least implied that she was among the MAJORS not too happy with the changes in their world, which was surprising since they were always together, as far as he knew.

“Oh, I know this look” laughed the other Minor. “You’re wondering why I’m acting like that with my bond-mate, uh? Well, truth been told, Vanessa has been assigned to me by Miss Matthewson, as a way to make sure that I don’t step beyond the politically correct line… or get into my pants to achieve it I guess.”

“Once more, Kris, I’m interested in you not because of some orders to keep you out of troubles, or avoid you putting my employer’s campaign into jeopardy…” sighed the blonde titaness, shaking her head, which made her huge breasts all the more mesmerizing.

“Oh, now we’re back to Kris, uh? Make up your mind Miss Pelas” taunted the Minor, perhaps a little too aggressively for Alejandro’s liking.

“Uuh… aren’t you… a little too harsh here?” he blurted, not taking the time to word it better.

“What do you mean by that?” asked Kris, furrowing his eyebrows in a portent of potential anger.

“Well… I don’t know either of you, and I’m sure that Shannon can have a lot of… let’s say, not really sympathetic practices even in this campaign for our kindred’s rights… But wouldn’t it be better to, I don’t know, at least put your keeper in your pocket, so to speak, if you want more freedom?”

Kris blinked, as if he had never considered it and Alejandro noticed how Vanessa bit her lips, clearly liking what he had just said. It made him feel strange rebuking at least partially the idea of a Minor who wanted more rights for their kin and supporting a MAJOR who had been imposed on him. But on the other hand, what he did had to help Kris in the long run. At least I hope it does, I don’t want to have tensions with both him and Shawna

“I see… I had never considered it… But quite frankly… I don’t trust MAJORS…” bluntly revealed Kris. “And I don’t think you do either, am I right?”

“That’s true” mumbled Alejandro. “And wrong in the same time. I don’t trust MAJORS as a whole. But I trust my twin brother, my little sister, my parents and… well, Shannon, for all her flaws” he added a little more firmly.

“Really? You’re lucky then… well, perhaps not lucky lucky, if you get what I mean but” corrected the other Minor while looking at his prosthesis.

“Eh, I do, don’t worry” smiled Alejandro. “But are you implying…”

“Let’s just say that it’s not a subject best discussed in the hallways between classes” cut him of Kris. “Say what, do you have a 45 minutes break after the first period today? Most first years have but not all of them.”

“We do have one” intervened Lindsey, perhaps a little coldly. Alejandro knew that she disliked Kris because of his outburst in the first Minor class, she found it unbefitting of one of their kin to act that way, she had told him so.

“Great, then meet me at the library if you want to discuss it further. And good luck for your first true day of school mate!”

“Thanks, I think I’ll need it” replied Alejandro, just as Kris darted toward his own classes, followed by the slow and ponderous walking of Vanessa, whose hips were quite sensual, the Minor admitted.

“When you’ll have finished perving out on her, can we please go to our first session of biology together?” grumbled Lindsey, snapping him back to the present.

“I want leering!” corrected Alejandro, his face turning bright red.

“Of course you did. But you can give up on her, she’s interested in this O’Donnel. Plus I think that Shannon would kill you if you ditched her for a blonde super-model.”

“And I don’t want to ditch her, not for anybody” dryly corrected the older Ferrand. “And she wouldn’t do that, not in a million year!”

At least I hope she wouldn’t.

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Lindsey listened to the teacher, a small old MAJOR man, balding and with wide glasses, droning about phenotypes, atavism and what they were expected to know by heart at the very end of this month. It wasn’t really that hard, she had spent her childhood reading her Mama’s books on such matters and many more, and she had understood all of it over the years, pestering Ofelia to explain everything to her. She was far more concerned by her ‘Rando, who was struggling to take notes of everything the teacher was saying.

The fact that he was connecting with that Kris O’Donnel distressed her, even if she did her best to hide it. She wouldn’t want to hurt her brother, after all. But first that Shawna, now him… both were destroying the image that she had of Minors. They were supposed to all be friendly to her ‘Rando and allow him some much needed joy in his life which didn’t rest on MAJORS handing him out some crumbs… And she was afraid it wouldn’t happen now, she had seen how her brother had had to search his words to talk to one of his kind.

It left her feel sorrowful and dirty. Even if she was just a First Year, her parents had taught her much about the Dark Age, possibly even all of it, like they had done to Alaric when he had reached ten years, deducing that they would be mature and caring enough to understand all the implications of such a terrible course of events. If her oldest brother had had to live a solitary life, if he had lost his arm was, in the end, the result of the Dark Age. Had there been more Minors around, then Mac Ferlan wouldn’t have destroyed him as he had.

“Excuse me?” asked a masculine voice to her left. “Is everything good with your brother?”

“What? What do you mean?” replied Lindsey with the same tone. Her brother seemed just fine.

“Well, he’s noting everything done, I was wondering if he was, you, not feeling too well or something” explained the other youth.

Lindsey looked at him with bulging eyes. He was cute, probably a WASP from his skin tone, blond hair and blue eyes, a well-proportioned noise and the most sympathetic look of concern she had ever seen on a boy’s face, but she couldn’t help to stare at him as he had had three eyes. Doesn’t he know that Minors mental abilities aren’t equal to ours? They can’t remember everything the teacher said without writing it done! Then it hit her that he probably didn’t knew, since Minors were a rarity, courtesy of her forefathers’ atrocious acts.

“He needs it to work on it later. Minors can’t do everything we can, you know?” she explained.

“I… well, I heard it but I thought it was, you know… propaganda by the conservatives. I didn’t expect you… uuh, I mean… you see?”

“No, I really don’t” replied the young girl, confused.

“Well, your brother is a minor and with everything the both of you said during the first day of school, I… I didn’t expect you to say that it was true…” revealed the other First Year.

“I can’t deny the facts” said Lindsey, more harshly that he wanted, and she smiled apologetically at the boy to try and reduce the sting of her words.

“Well that’s good to know” huffed Alejandro from below, making her redden faster than street light.

“I didn’t meant to…” she started, but the teacher cut her off, finally noticing what was happening.

“Miss Ferrand, Mister Engelworth, perhaps you have something to share with the rest of the class? Something about minors and MAJORS’ genetic differences?”

His tone was bitterly mocking and while the young boy let his head hung in shame, Lindsey rose to the challenge. She almost jumped on her feet and started to explain how MAJORS’s genes had diverged early on from the original branch of Manking which had remained relatively the same, albeit with the natural effect on evolution alongside taller and far more aggressive cousins. She then went on to explain how Minor’s gene could reveal how often their people had managed to remain free of MAJORS’s presence, with some glaring differences in the way bone and muscle structures developed among the two a blatant example of such diverging evolution.

“That… that will be enough, thank you” interrupted the teacher, clearly embarrassed as the class seemed to hesitate between raucous laughter and impressed silence, before settling for the former.

“Show off!” taunted Alejandro as she sat out, beaming with pride.

“You’re just jealous is all” she replied, smiling at him. “You just want to be the one able to do that!”

“As if! You’re the one who’ll become a renowned scientist. I’m just the arm candy” laughed Alejandro, perhaps a little sadly.

“Don’t say that. If Sha… she makes you feel like it, you can tell us and we’ll deal with it together” she said, correcting herself mid-sentence.

“I know” smiled her brother. “Anyway, you’d better be ready for some time in the library after this period. I hope you know where it is?”

Lindsey sighed but nodded. There was nothing she could do about it, and she knew it. She would have to risk her brother interacting more with Kris. Hopefully they would learn more about him.

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This place was simply incredible. Alejandro had never seen so many books. Just from the entryway, he could see the two huge wings of the building filled to the brim with books. If the plan was correct, on his left were everything related to the arts, while to his right rested his discovered paradise: rows after rows of book about History, Geography, Philosophy… He wanted to rush in and read all of them, no matter how improbable it was that he would live long enough to do so even if he did just that all day long for the rest of his life.

“So, where are we supposed to meet them?” grumpily asked Lindsey, breaking his bubble without even noticing it.

“I don’t know” replied Alejandro. “I… I idn’t thought it would be this big…”

“Hey, over here!” he heard from the central portion of the Librabry.

As if on cue, Kris and Vanessa were waving at them, enticing them further into the building. The siblings walked toward them, Alejandro with noticeable enthusiasm. Here, with the books, he could forget about the dozens of MAJOR students strolling around. They were hidden, basically non-existent, and forced to remain relatively silent. It was really a great opportunity to discuss with a fellow Minor, to understand why he has flipped like that on Shawna, even if she was nerve-grating.

“You hadn’t too much difficulty finding the library?” asked Kris when they were close enough to not have to shout. “I know that most MAJORS are more interested in physical activities” he added, glancing sideways at Lindsey, now chatting with Vanessa.

“I assure you that Lindsey is just as interested in books as weight lifting” asserted Alejandro. “Anyway, we aren’t here to talk about them MAJORS, right?”

“Straight to the point, eh?” smirked Kris. “Well, you’re right. You wanted to know why I don’t trust MAJORS, and still became an ambassador for The Matthewson, sorry, your childhood friend, nonetheless? It’s a rather short but grim story, so I hope you’ve got the guts.”

“I’m missing an arm, have been since I’m eight years old. I think I’ve got the guts” dryly joked Alejandro.

“Fair enough. Well… To put it bluntly… my parents, my whole family even, are… I mean, sorry, were drug addicts. I’m like their fifth children, sole Minor of course, and in such en environment, I either had to become tough or totally subservient. And believe me, when I saw what my older siblings and my parents did to get their fix… being subservient wasn’t an option…”

“Did they….” Started Alejandro before stopping himself, unsure of what he truly wanted to say.

“Did they touch me? No, never. Somehow, I was their calming medicine. When they tried to remain clean, they went to me, talked and talked, said how sorry they were and all. They gave me my education, because they wanted me to succeed as best I could, to do better than them and all. And when I was twelve… my older brother was killed in a gang war. That’s when social services realized that there was a Minor living inside one of the crack houses of Dixon, one of the poorest neighborhoods…”

“You were taken away from your family” realized Alejandro.

“Yup. And placed in foster care while they searched for any other living relatives. Who happened to be Vanessa’s parents, my mother’s second cousins or something even remoter… but it took them like five years to discover them” explained Kris.

“Then, you spent all that time in foster care?”

“Yes. And let me tell you that for a minor, it’s Hell on Earth… all those MAJORS vying to get their hands on you! But they don’t give a ruck about you, or your aspirations… They just want to be able to parade with a little guy in the house, and the car, and everything… But I was too willful, it displeases them greatly, and, well… I guess being a minor means that I least I got serious supervision from the social services but still… I’ll give it to Vanessa and her parents, they at least support my goal to make a soccer team of minors.”

“I get why you was angry with Shawna then… but didn’t you overreact when you pushed her? I mean, I don’t like her, at all, but violence against another Minor…”

“She deserves it! She’s a pampered bitch, always trying to shoot down those of us who wants to be more than just freaking accessories to MAJORS” seethed Kris. “Anyway” he added after taking a moment to calm himself, “now you know my past, and yours… well, I guess I’ve already found it online, sorry. But with your name, and the fact you lost on arm… it wasn’t that hard to search. At least on some specific websites.”

Alejandro couldn’t help but chuckle at the mention of the secretive websites used by Minors, for Minors only. It was hard to protect this secret, it would be even harder if Shannon and he had more of those unintended bonding events, but it was great to meet in person another user. Somehow, it made those achievements, however small they may have looked to their “superior” cousins, but Kris made all those cases of being allowed to stay at home and not be forced to go to the theatres, or the paintings and all feel more real.

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“So, you’re family and you want to fuck him?” bluntly asked Lindsey, shocked as never before.

“We’re really distant relatives. Genetically, it’s actually a perfect match to have more kids, and healthier too, you know. Plus, let’s be honest, it would be good for my career” she added with a predatory smile.

“You… your career?” repeated Lindsey.

“Yeah. I always wanted to work in a big company, I want to succeed in life and I’m pretty sure that taking over from old losers too sure of themselves. And I’m pretty sure that Fire Brand and the other companies that Miss Matthewson possess are filled to the brim with old shits who are just waiting to be overtaken.”

“But… then you don’t love Kris?”

“Honestly… I don’t know. Don’t get me wrong, if he opened up to me, it would be great, he has some serious need for someone to be with him and make him happy, I bet you can tell it from the emotions he displays, right?”

“I… um…” stammered Lindsey as Vanessa flashed her a knowing smile. “I’m a Tier 2 yeah, so I kind of feel how he feels but…”

“Then you know that behind all those stupid ideas about him wanting to build his soccer team and all, he just want someone to take his life into her hands. And I’ll be that someone, since I’ve managed to be tasked with monitoring and protecting him officially. It’s not everyday that you can stumble upon a key to your future so cute. If only he wasn’t so stubborn, I would have already popped his cherry and we would be going our way to even higher success…”

Lindsey wanted to punch the blonde bombshell in her perfect teeth. She was utterly despicable behind her stunning appearance. She saw the Minor she was supposed to help grow into a wonderful ambassador for his kind, someone able to change the world’s perception of those supposedly “inferior” humans, who, to her at least, were so much like rare gifts which had to be preserved and helped in a renaissance where none would face a life as the sole of its kind in even a small town, where no MAJORS would think that it was acceptable to kidnap one and hurt if, leaving scars which would never truly heal…

“Yeah, I’m sure it would have helped you both a lot” she lied between her teeth.

“I’m glad you’re thinking it. I don’t expect that you would put a good word for me with Miss Matthewson? She’s your brother’s friend, if what I heard his right…”

“Sure, don’t worry” promised Lindsey.

It was probably the hardest thing she ever did but she managed to hide her true feelings until her brother and she had to return to class, English before lunch and then the Minor class on a normal period instead of the special one for the first day. She even waved at Vanessa before turning and showing her teeth in a hateful grin. You’ll regret revealing so much, and you doesn’t even realize it. I’ll give Shannon a word, yeah, and I hope you’ll lose your position over poor Kris. We’ll see how you like someone hijacking your dreams and hopes. Bitch.

 

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