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School Days' characters (c) Krezz Karavan, used with permission.

This story was once on the Palcomix Forum on the School Days Thread.", "writing": "Chapter 61: New York City Summer Girls. (Saturday Afternoon)\n\nThough the SUV parks in front of Fernando’s house, the girls head to their homes and prepare for an afternoon at the pool. Dr. Leary enters Fernando’s house and asks to use the bathroom. Unknown to them all, she changes her underwear for a string-tied bikini in a shade of dark beige that its almost brown. As she changes, she removes the pad and wipes herself down there, checking how dry she was from before. She was dry enough to put in the bikini without a pad.\n\nIn fifteen minutes Fernando, Dr. Leary and the girls gather down stairs in living room with their swimming things: carry bag, soap, towel and fresh change of underwear. In a couple more minutes they were out by the SUV waiting for the others. First Grace, then Rachel R with her sister Francis, and Wandaline came out of their homes ready to go. Juanita was next to arrive. They discussed for the plans for the rest of the day: sun and fun at the pool.\n\nMary and Tonya were next to arrive, followed by Juanita from the other direction. The twins eventually arrive on their own time, making the group complete. They get back in the car one more time and head down to the park and the pool. It only takes more time to look for a parking space than it takes to get there.\n\nThe girls go into the their locker room, as Fernando walks into the men/boys locker room. It only takes him less than the girls to change out of their clothes. He walks out onto the deck of the pool, finding the place with just a few patrons. Most of those who would be there were probably shopping for their school things with their parents, so Fernando thought. But the one person he wanted to not deal with was there. He notices her heading to his direction as he was putting down his towel to establish base camp.\n\nHe sits there and waits for them, wondering why it takes them so long. A male Siamese cat walks in front of him and blocks his view of the locker room doors. Fernando could understand if he was there for a few seconds. But he notices that the cat was looking down at him.\n\n“You mind? I’m waiting for my friends to arrive from the locker room.”, Fernando tells him.\n\n“Are you Fernando?”, the male cat asks.\n\n“Depends on who’s asking?”, Fernando asks in answer.\n\n“You will find out who I am one day. Right now I’m here to give you a warning. Leave Lucy alone. Got that?”, the cat tells him.\n\n“Then you tell her to leave me alone.”, Fernando tells him, “And I will warn you, the last idiot who gave me a warning, threat or other verbal trash, I made that idiot alligator Rodriguez kiss a fire extinguisher.” Fernando looks up at the cat from his glasses without needing to turn his head. “I see you know him. Go find him and ask what I can do if provoked. But I’m not the one you should be worried about.”, he adds.\n\n“Is that a threat?”, the cat asks.\n\n“No. It’s a warning because I can not control the actions of others and I do not want to see you get hurt.”, Fernando answers.\n\n“I see.”, the cat replies.\n\n“I hope you do, because I don’t.”, Fernando says, sliding his cane forward a bit to catch the cat’s attention.\n\n“I was told you can see.”, the cat says.\n\n“See depends on how you take it. At home, I don’t need this cane. I know every step, every place and every where things are and where I can get to them. I act as if I don’t need it because of the map in my head. Out here I have to learn a whole new world, although I learned this pool well enough to not need the cane. And when you lose one sense, the others take over to do more than make up for the loss, cat.”, Fernando explains.\n\n“How you know I’m a cat?”, the male feline asks.\n\n“You smell like a cat, and you sound like a cat, so you must be a cat.”, Fernando answers, repeating, “When you lose one sense, the others take over to do more than make up for the loss.”\n\n“Hmmm...”, the cat says to himself.\n\n“If you don’t mind, my friends are coming.”, Fernando points to a group of squirrel girls exiting the locker room doors.\n\nThe cat nods to himself as he sees the girls gathering together before walking towards the pool. “We’re not finished here. You stay away from Lucy.”, he finally says before walking away.\n\nFernando yells in his direction, “You tell her to stay away from me!”\n\nThe cat does not give a respond as he walks away. The girls arrive a minute later, all of them asking questions, \"Who was that?\"\n\n“Just a friend of Lucy’s saying hello.”, he answers back in an annoyed tone.\n\n“I can get him if you want.”, Mary says.\n\n“You’re not getting no one.”, Fernando tells her. Then he tells the others, “Sit down and relax. We got a long afternoon.”\n\nMost do as they say. Mary does not as she watches the cat disappear in the distance. She then looks down at the others before setting down her towel and sitting down on it.\n\n“You are not getting no one.”, Fernando tells her again.\n\n“I was just wondering where he was going.”, Mary tells him.\n\n“Where is he going is none of your business.”, Fernando says to her sternly.\n\n“Figuring out what threats might befall on my Alpha is.”, Mary replies.\n\n“Figuring out whether I can survive such a threat is my business, Mary. Not yours or of the other girls here. And he is no threat to me or anyone here.”, Fernando explains sternly.\n\n“What about his friends.”, Mary dares to ask.\n\n“They’re nobodies.”, Rachel lets out before he does.\n\n“What do you mean by that?”, Mary asks.\n\n“What gangs are here do not add up to what we faced in New York.”, Rachel answers.\n\n“They are idiots who wants power without owning up to it.”, Jorgina-Daisy adds, “They try to see if you would be too scared to act but if you do act, they run away.”\n\n“Hmmm...”, Mary says to herself.\n\n“Don’t even think of doing anything.”, Fernando tells her.\n\n“What...”, Mary asks.\n\n“Don’t even think of doing anything, Mary. In fact you are to do nothing to them even if they hit you. You are to come to me and I will deal with it.”, Fernando explains.\n\n“But...”, Mary tries to complain.\n\n“No butts. You have the right to defend yourself if there is no way out of it. But if there is and they if do, then leave it alone and tell me. I will deal with it.”, Fernando tells her.\n\n“Anything more?”, Mary asks.\n\n“Yes.”, Fernando answers, “We are a group. We all represent the other, we all help each other. We don’t fight, we don’t argue. If there is a problem, we solve it. Got that?”\n\n“Yes, I got it.”, Mary replies in an annoyed tone.\n\n“What about homework?”, Tonya asks.\n\n“What about it?”, Fernando asks.\n\n“Well... most of you are eighth grade I’m in the sixth grade.”, Tonya tries to explain.\n\n“So is Jorge, Francis and Rachel. And if it is something you don’t understand, we will help.”, Fernando explains.\n\n“We all ready decided that we will all be doing homework together at his place.”, Grace throws in.\n\n“So if anyone of us misses out on school, they can still do homework and study with us, and the rest of us will bring it in.”, Rachel R. adds to it.\n\n“You girls need to make friends and know the people here.”, Fernando says.\n\n“What for?”, Mary asks.\n\n“You ladies maybe part of my group but I’m not stopping you from having a life outside of us, unless that life begins to involve drugs, crimes or what ever... then you are out of this group.”, Fernando tells her.\n\n“I’m a changed squirrel.”, Mary states.\n\n“Sure you are. You still are Mary. Only your situation has changed. Lets see how you handle it.”, he tells her, then adds, “Enough of this. You girls do what you want. I’m tired.” He turns around on his towel and lays down on the towel.\n\n“Well... if you want it that way, lets go Tonya.”, Mary says.\n\n“But I don’t want to leave.”, Tonya rebels in a complaining tone.\n\n“Alright, have it your way. But this aint Burger King!”, Mary tells her before walking away.\n\nFernando pushes himself up from the floor, taking his cane and gets himself up, “Everyone do not follow us. I need to talk to her in private.”\n\nHe finally gets up and walks quickly to her, catching up with her at the pool’s mid way point where the shallow water ends and the deep water begins to sink downward. He takes her by her arm and steps in front of her.\n\n“What’s going on with you?”, Fernando asks as he folds back up his cane.\n\n“You.”, Mary tells him.\n\n“What do you mean, me?”, he asks her, trying to hold back his anger.\n\n“You. What is there to explain?”, she answers and asks.\n\n“Then explain because I can not explain myself.”, he answers her.\n\nMary lets out a defeated sigh, then tries to recompose herself, taking in a breath to explain her answer.\n\n“Its you. Everything since the first day I saw you was the first day I gave my heart to anyone. Then all this shit happens, with the gangs, being forced into a situation I did not want to love another but had too. And then now that I can finally have you that I have to share you with others, and have to wait weeks or months to share my personal intimate time with you. Its not fair...”, she explains trying not to break down or lash out.\n\n“All this is not my fault. It is you females that allow yourselves to be put into those situations we lived out in the past. You say its not your responsibility as to what they did, and that might be the case but there are a lot of dead furs out there because of the people you involved yourself with. Again, you say its not your fault. You fought and fucked your way to keep you and Tonya safe in their world. But who knows what you might have caught from them? And you are too used too that situation where you get want you want through sex even if you did it for your survival. You have not changed, but your situation has. You do not need to bend your ass over for me to give you something you want. You do not have to fight your way to get me. But you have to tone down that mean girl act you are living. The Mary I knew was a nice girl who shared her crayons with me, who in her way taught me each colour of them. Yes, she had a temper and a jealous streak, but if she waited two years, then she could have had me, for you know what happened. Right?”, Fernando explains.\n\n“Rosita got sick and died. I remember. I was there with the rest of us when it happened.”, Mary answers.\n\n“And why did you not go after me when she was gone?”, he asks.\n\n“It was already too late. Ricky and Alphonso were already making their moves on me.”, she answers.\n\n“I could have protected you from them.”, he replies.\n\n“How? They live on the same block with me, you were two blocks away.”, she responds to his words.\n\n“Don’t know how, but I would have.”, he answers.\n\n“They would have killed you.”, she replies.\n\n“Ricky is in some mental ward not knowing who he is or how he got there, but he had the gun, and I had to nearly drowned him like the dirty rat he is. Alphonso is no better off, in a wheelchair for the rest of the his life with a new face I gave him with my fists, and he too had a gun pressed to my temple. They think they can win in a fight against me, even in fighting dirty against me, I won. I won because when it comes to my life, I fight as dirty as need be in order to win because to lose means for me to die and I am not having that happen to me. Like I do for myself, I do for my family and friends. Jorge, Rachel, Grace, Rachel and her sister Francis, Wandaline, the two Cathy’s, Juanita, you and your sister Tonya.”, he explains.\n\n“Me and Tonya?”, she asks.\n\n“Yes, you and her. Because you two are what’s left of the friends I had. All the males, guys Jorge and I you could say we bonded with are gone. Only you girls remain. I swear...”, he answers her.\n\nMary lets out a sigh, not finding the words she wanted to say.\n\n“Look, its not your fault so don’t apologize. They were the one who started it all with that idiot gang shit and their stupid crimes. Look, because of what happened, there are a lot of broken children out there, us included. Now I had my hand in repairing a few of them, including myself but you are still broken. Tonya too. Its not an easy job to fix yourself, even if you can try.”, he explains.\n\n“The condition of my condition is of nobody’s business unless I let it be their business.”, she retorts at him.\n\n“Problem is, you have made it my business when you came here and joined this little group. Now what, you want me to leave it alone?”, he says and asks.\n\n“No. But I don’t want it to be their business either.”, she answers.\n\n“Why not? In this group, we share everything to make sure we are all alright. There is no hiding of things that would harm you and the rest of us. We help each other out because we are all in it together. If you do not want that, then you can leave.”, he replies sternly.\n\n“I’m not leaving because I want you, but I don’t want to be last to a bunch of losers.”, Mary tells him.\n\n“You’re last until you deal with this situation you are in better than you are now. There are things for you to build with me and trust is one of them. Every time you fall in line in your own way, you say or do something to throw yourself off that line. Until I can trust you with my life and being, trust you in doing the right thing for not only me but for the other girls too because it is not just you and me, its we and it includes them. And you need to gain their trust as well as mine.”, Fernando tells her.\n\n“*HMPH!*”, she relies, crossing her arms as she does.\n\n“Its not your fault for the things you did, and you did what you had to do in order to survive in the gang, but the gang is responsible for the crimes they did, including the death of all the boys in order to get the girls. That is blood you can not wash off you hands, for Ricky and Alphonso admitted to me that they wanted me dead because they did not wanted you to be with me.”, he tells her.\n\n“That is not true!”, she replies loudly as she drops her arms in frustration.\n\n“How would you know what they said before they tried to kill me?”, he asks, then adds before she could answer, “You were not there in either event. In fact you were only there after the fact when I beaten the crap out of Alphonso. And when I was not looking, his gun disappears. Makes me wonder if you had something to do with it at the time.”, he responds sternly, then throws at her, “We are not here for that. For me you have a lot to answer for, and that can only be done by what you do and how you do it in the situation we are in. If I see that you are doing what you can within your ability to properly deal with this new situation, then maybe your so-called ranking can go up from last place to somewhere further up the line.”\n\n“Maybe I don’t want to change.”, she tells him, crossing her arms again.\n\n“I’m not asking you to change. I’m telling you to choose to do the right thing when there is a choice of doing right or wrong. You have a history of habit of choosing wrong when things don’t go your way because it’s the easy way out. That needs to change because now things will be getting better for you.”, he tells her. She just gives him a stern look. “Don’t get an attitude with me.”, he continues, “There is no way I’m going to allow you to be part of this group if you invite danger to harm us. I am the Alpha, and I am the protector of you all, as long as you do not deliberately go find it and you are not going to bring it to us for me to take care of. I’m not saying that you cant be independent, I’m say that you cant be stupid and independent. You can choose your friends outside of this group, but you are still part of this group no matter where you are on the line and I have no control over you. Now if you have anything to say about this, say it now or don’t ever open your mouth on the subject. The others will be alerted to what you and I say.”\n\n“You said that I would be forgiven...”, Mary complains.\n\n“I said that I will forgive but I will never forget. And like I said, you will start at the bottom and be able to work your way up if you don’t bring in any threats, challenges or dangers to the group. And if you do bring any threats, challenges or dangers to the group, I will deal with it to eliminate it, and eliminate you with it. Don’t trifle with me. I like a peaceful existence where we work for each other in supporting one another, including you. I will not allow anything that gets in the way of that, including you.”, Fernando warns her, then asks sternly, “So, between you and I and between you and us, what do you want?”\n\nShe takes a step towards him as she uncrosses her right arm from the left, and points to the bulge in the groin of his tight Speedos bathing suit. “If you love me as you say you do to us members of the group, then love me as you say you would. Take me and have sex with me like nobody would. Do me lovely and show me that you care. Make me love you as you said you would to us all. I want you here and I want you now. Plain and simple Fernando, don’t play with me, don’t disrespect me. I will give you what ever you want from me.”, she tells him.\n\n“Had what you had to say?”, he tells her.\n\n“Yes. And I want an answer.”, she throws back at him.\n\n“Your answer depends on the return of your SIV/SAIDS Test. I already know that right now that you are negative – not infected as far as a test can register, but that is all it can do and we have to wait. Now nothing says that we cant be friends and perhaps intimate ones as well, but its not just you and me, its you, me and them. If you infect me, I’ll infect them and I cant allow that to happen.”, he answers her coldly.\n\nShe lets her arms drop as she bows down her head, as if in defeat. Though she holds to her emotions hard and well, it does not stop the tears from dropping on the floor one by one. He leaves her alone for a moment to let her do what she does in pouring out her emotions but only sees what few tears she let out. He takes a step to her, measuring the distance until they were toe to toe. He closes his hand into a loosely closed, putting the side where his thumb and index finger made a circle under her chin and slowly pushes her face back into view. \n\nShe looks at him in anger for a second then becoming unsure of what to say, or do on what is going on. All she can do is to let it happen as he leans towards her slowly until their lips touched, he puts his right hand to the back of her head and neck, holding her there. He takes a step closer, needing to put his foot on the floor between and past hers, making her lean back away from him. She puts her hand on his chest to push him away but she does not push as he got closer. Instead his body presses against hers as their kiss got more involved. She can feel a hard bulge in his Speedos against the top of her pubis mound. Her mind fights with itself whether to allow it to happen no matter where it goes or to end it there and now.\n\nBut moment was not the time to stop it. She tries not to breathe heavy through her noise, though she was getting tired of holding her breathe. Maybe another 10 seconds past as she slowly closes her eyes, and another three before she gets enough strength to push him away from her. She manages to take a couple of steps away from him, keeping an arm up to keep him at length away as she bends over panting for air. It takes her a moment to catch her breathe.\n\n“Why you did that for...?”, she holds back from yelling at him.\n\n“If you don’t know why then maybe you should not be part of the group.”, he answers.\n\nMary just releases a sigh as her mind searches the words she wanted to say. It takes her more time than she expected. “Look. Don’t ever question me and my wanting to be part of the group because I love you. Don’t question that love I have for you. I just want to know why you kissed me, especially like that.”, she explains while holding back her anger.\n\n“Would you have questioned me if I pulled down your bikini bottom and fucked you instead?”, he asks sternly.\n\n“No...”, she begins, “Because I told you that I wanted you too.” Before Fernando could say a word in reply, she gets in a couple of words as she bows down her head, “I’m sorry.”\n\n“Sorry for what?”, he asks.\n\n“I don’t know. Its that now I feel like I do.”, she answers.\n\n“Don’t be.”, he tells her.\n\n“Why?”, she asks.\n\n“What do you have to be sorry about?”, Fernando twists the original conversation, “You got a new life in a new place away from the violence and gangs of the city. You don’t have to do those things anymore. They are not here to go after you. And you got me.”\n\n“Forgive me if I don’t believe you on that last sentence.”, Mary comments and then complains, “Having to take a SAIDS test and need to wait three months if I’m lucky is just the tip of the iceberg. But I’m clean. I know I am. I did not do drugs, and took SAIDS test often to get myself checked and they all came out negative.”\n\n“That’s great. But an SIV/SAIDS test only measures infection at that point in time not the future, so you have to take it to make sure you are not infected later in life. I’m not throwing you out of the group on the results of the test, I will if you lie about it. Until then, I’ll wait, and you remain part of this group. If you want to leave this group, that’s on you but I would like you to be part of it.”, he explains, “Now, if you don’t mind, I have to return to the other girls.”\n\nFernando takes a half step back about to turn around when Mary tries to get his attention, “Fernando?”\n\n“Yes?”, he replies.\n\n“Can I have some alone time with you?”, she asks.\n\n“One day, but not anytime soon since we’re getting ready for school and studies. But when all this school stuff is calmed down, I don’t see why not.”, he answers. Somewhere in her uncertainty, she smiles slightly. He then adds, “I just want you to do me one thing.”\n\n“Say it and I’ll do it.”, she replies.\n\n“That nastiness and anger you constantly show to the others, I want it gone.”, he says to her.\n\nMary finds herself lost for words for the moment, replying, “I’ll try.”\n\n“Look. If it’s a situation where you need to be tough to defend yourself against others outside the group, I can understand if you do to get out of it. But trying to be a tough bad girl might back fire on you. I’ll have the other girls back you up if that happens, and you will have to back them up when it happens to them. In truth, I doubt it because this place is quiet and the gang I ran into is nothing like what we were used too in New York. In short, they are stupid and cant fight. Its nothing I cant handle, and definitely with you girls we cant handle. I still want you to be nice as possible and to be friends with the rest of us first.”, he explains.\n\nShe gives a tiny nod.\n\n“Then lets go back to the others.”, he says to her before turning around.\n\n“Fernando?”, she calls to him meekishly.\n\nHe turns back to her asking, “Yes?”\n\nMary takes the couple of steps to him and gives his a peck on the lips before turning around and running away.\n\nAll Fernando could do is watch her run away, running around the perimeter of the pool to the far side. He wonders what she is up to if anything. Last thing on his mind is a squirrel challenge; where the female has the male chase her or out-do her in the challenge. To him she is running away to keep her emotions in check. Either way he should check up on her. He unfolds the cane and gently puts the tip on the floor.\n\nMary could have ran into the female locker but didn’t, instead going for a seat at the seating area of the concession stand. He continues to follow her with his eyes and slides the cane in her direction until she reaches her destination, making him think as to her actions. His concentration break at the sound of someone else voice.\n\n“So she’s the tough one?”, the voice says. He recognizes it as Lucy.\n\n“I’d advise you to leave her alone if you don’t want your fur singed.”, he tells her though he does not turn around to see her.\n\n“Really?”, she replies in question.\n\n“Yes, really.”, he answers her sternly.\n\n“I see. Murder, arson, assault, she is going to be in a lot of trouble if she tries anything like that on me.”, Lucy says as she counts on her fingers.\n\n“Let me explain it to you this way: one- you can’t be tried for murder if there is no body found, two- better to be in trouble than to be dead, and three- two words: self defense. If a judge sees her diary and it says that she’s been harassed and bullied here by you and your friends at the time of your murder, all charges are going to be dropped and she released. Now which shall it be, we living in peace here with maybe a few extra friends or we being released on counts against us on you and your gang friends murders because you all went after us?”, he tells her.\n\n“I don’t believe a word you’re saying.”, Lucy says to him.\n\n“Believe what you want. The world is flat, the sun, moon and stars revolve around the earth, and we are the center of god’s universe. Ignorance is bliss, but it is no excuse for breaking the law. We can be nothing to each other,, we can be friends or we can be enemies and at worst – you being chipmunk flambé.”, Fernando tells her.\n\n“You heard that, Marco! He Threatened Me!”, Lucy gets loud.\n\nFernando takes a slow and cautious turn to face Lucy and her friend. Though he can see him through his dark glasses, he takes a sniff. “Hmmm... cat. You again. So your name is Marco. How very interesting.”, Fernando says to him.\n\n“I heard you threaten her.”, Marco tells him.\n\n“I did not threaten anyone. I did warn her if she decides that we’re no better than the crap you scrape off the bottom of your shoe that some of us will react more violently than others. And Lucy, as a reminder, my grandmother has the x-rays of my injuries you gave me and still wants to arrest you for what you did that day at the locker room doors. And my doctor there also wants who did it arrested, and that means you, Lucy. I’m sure that the courts will like to see you explain why you assaulted a blind kid for no reason.”, Fernando explains to Marco and then Lucy.\n\n“How much will it cost to end this?”, Marco asks.\n\n“How much will it cost? Oh wait. You think this is blackmail?”, Fernando asks in return.\n\n“What else would it be.”, Marco tells him.\n\n“Lets see... my family has a sugar cane plantation in Puerto Rico where we get twenty percent from the Domino Cane Sugar profits from the sugar cane we sell them every year plus what we make on those sales, and on top of that I get a one-hundred-twenty thousand dollars every year from the Spanish Royal Family for being a relative of theirs, so money is not an issue with me. Even if it were, you would never be able to afford it. So this is not about blackmail as you see it. Its about respect. I did favors for her these past weeks, like showing Rodriguez the heavy end of a fire extinguisher, she has yet to return on that favor. She also insinuates that I’m doing my little sisters which is hard to believe since I have that little group of fluffy tails to choose from and as for they being a gang? Bub, I can tell you a story that will tell you why we are here. It involves me, them, a gang with guns and crime which involved a couple hundred squirrel boys because they wanted the girls at any cost possible. Needless to say, most of them are in jail with a couple of them dead because they put a gun to my head and I refused to die. So for witness protection, I, my family and the girls are here, Marco. Want to make this a federal case? Because I already am a federal case. And as for my friend I was with here, she’s a very nice girl when you get to know her. Until then, you will know that she was bitten by a rabid dog as a toddler and contracted Rabies. Though she has over 100 needles shoved into her belly button as part of the Rabies Cure, she is slightly rabid in her emotions. Get her mad and she’ll turn on you like the rabid dog that bit her. Make her happy and she is your friend for life. I try to help her with all her emotions are at extremes because of Rabies, and its on her record so she’s immune to any crime she makes. She also likes fire... so take that as a hint.”, Fernando explains. He then turns to Lucy and calls her by asking, “Lucy?”\n\n“You said that she turned States Evidence!”, Lucy says out loud.\n\n“She did, and my family and I were the ones used to trap the gang to capture them. But I also said that she is insane in the membrane. She makes your average serial killer with voices speaking in his head normal by comparison. Black Widows and Praying Mantises are calm and peaceful in their mating ritual practices compared to her. Throw in Rabies and now you know why she is like I explain. And to believe that I am protecting you and the rest of Pouncefield from her and you want to destroy me. Why? Because you think I’m going to take over Pouncefield? You can have it. I already got New York City if I were to return to it. I just want a little respect and a few friends I can win here. The same goes to my girls, they too want a little respect and a few friends here. If they join the soccer team, or the cheerleading squad or the softball team, or what ever, they will do the best they can to win and I respect them for that. I hear you’re on the soccer team, is that right, Lucy?”, Fernando explains and then asks.\n\n“Yes I am.”, Lucy answers.\n\n“If any of my friends or sisters try out for the team, I’m not asking for special favors, just a fair chance to try out.”, Fernando replies.\n\n“Everyone gets a fair chance. If they are good enough then they get on the team. If they are not good enough then they don’t make it on the team. Its that simple.”, Lucy tells him.\n\n“Fine by me then. Anything else before I go to my friend?”, Fernando says and asks.\n\n“You and your friends got me in trouble.”, Lucy complains.\n\n“You got yourself in trouble, Lucy. You got caught in a lie trying to implicate my friends in a gang action against you. That is so further from the truth when they are my squirrel group and I am their Alpha. At best they were protecting me from you since you have a habit of hitting me. At worst they would have defended me against what actions you took. Thing is, Lucy, Mrs. Trousers knows this about us squirrels and squirrel society. You have not learned that about us yet. Too bad Chipmunk Society Rules are not the same as Squirrel Society Rules or you would know this. That’s why she turned on you.”, Fernando explains.\n\n“So all of those girls are your girlfriends?”, Marco asks.\n\n“Except for my sisters and the grown up who is my doctor, you can say that but in truth, they are my life partners. Life partners in that they help me in my life and I in theirs as a group. We are emotionally attached to our needs and we do not take advantage of one another so we’re more than friends but not quite family. So to answer your question, that depends on who and what level we are on. Its not like we are having sex all the time just to have sex. There is a reason to this mass relationship.”, Fernando answers him.\n\n“Well, I can understand that.”, Marco says just loud enough to be heard.\n\n“If you don’t mind, I have a friend to catch up too.”, Fernando tells them.\n\n“Wait a minute...”, Marco says before Lucy could.\n\n“What.”, Fernando replies in an annoyed tone.\n\n“If this is a misunderstanding then one of us is going to apologize. But if this something more sinister, then somebody is going to answer to me.”, Marco tells him.\n\n“What ever , Marco. You got her as girlfriend, you deal with her as the male you are and put her in her place. There is nothing worse than a female who thinks she’s above a male.”, Fernando tells him.\n\n“Of all the stupid prejudice things I ever heard...”, Marco begins to say.\n\n“Males and females are supposed to be equal but different, not one over the other. When the female begins to think and act that she is above the male, then he is to put her in her place one way or another. Lucy thinks that she is above any male I have seen thus far, but since she is your girlfriend, I’ll leave it to you to have her in her place. Because Marco, if she hits me, touches me in a way I don’t want or in an attack, I will defend myself by what means necessary to end it.”, Fernando tells him.\n\n“Like what are you going to do...”, Lucy tells him, stepping up to him and pokes him on the chest with her finger. Fernando manages to grab her finger she poked him with and twists it backwards enough to make painful for her. “OW! LET GO OF MY FINGER!”, she yells at him. But Fernando slowly turns her around so her back was at the pool. Lucy grabs on his wrist with her other hand trying to claw on it to make him let go. Instead he takes her other hand with his and gives her a slight shove as he lets her go. She steps back to the edge of the pool, finding it wet an slippery. Her foot slides off the edge’s corner, and in slow motion she falls into the pool.\n\nLucy breaks out of the water, holding herself up by the edge of the pool while still in the waters of the deep section. Fernando looks at her, “That is what I will do. Friends, enemies or nothing. All I’m asking for is some respect. Its better to have me as a friend, Lucy. I don’t have enemies, for they all are getting bonked up their tail holes in jail or are all pushing up daisies with their chests. As a friend I can be very generous with what little I have.”, he tells her. He turns to face Marco for a second, “Excuse me Marco. I need to see my friend.”, as he points the long way around.\n\n“Why don’t you take the short route?”, Marco asks.\n\n“Going the other way means that I would need to pass by the girls which I am not ready for. Consider it one of my quarks – not repeating my steps unless I need too.”, Fernando explains. Marco just looks at him more confused than anything else. \n\nFernando takes a step around Marco and starts his walk around the pool. Marco could only look at him walk away, not helping Lucy get out of the pool. Fernando makes his way to the other side and continues his way to where Mary was seated at the concession stand’s tables. He does not see or care that Lucy has gone back to the first aide station. He takes the seat in front of her as Mrs. Trousers steps out of the first aide station. Marco also starts to walk in their direction. He times it so he would hopefully intercept Mrs. Trousers.\n\n“Excuse me if I get things wrong. “, Fernando begins to say to her, “I know why I kissed you and even told you why after our little war on words. Why did you kissed me?”\n\n“If you don’t know why then maybe you should not be my boyfriend.”, Mary tells him\n\n“Only you can give me that title, just like the others did.”, Fernando replies.\n\nMary just sighs.\n\n“Is there a problem?”, Fernando asks.\n\n“Just that, only I can give you that title. I think I did a long time ago but it was never reciprocated. “, Mary tells him.\n\n“You know the history of why it happened the way it did.”, he replies.\n\n“I know. It’s a hard feeling to shake off.”, Mary says almost to herself.\n\n“Its called remorse.”, Fernando explains, “But you have a second chance. I don’t want you to waste it in doing something stupid.”\n\n“I agree.”, Mrs. Trousers says as she approaches their table but Marco gets in between them and her.\n\n“Mrs. Trousers, I have to say that what ever Lucy told you is false.”, Marco tells her.\n\n“And how would you know what Lucy told me?”, Mrs. Trousers asks.\n\n“Because I was there when it happened.”, Marco answers.\n\n“And what happened?”, Mrs. Trousers asks.\n\n“Fernando warned Lucy not to touch him and she did anyway. And she was pushed into the pool. That was it.”, Marco explains.\n\n“Is that so?”, Mrs. Trousers asks.\n\n“Yes.”, Marco answers.\n\n“And nothing else happened?”, Mrs. Trousers asks.\n\n“Nothing happened. I was there.”, Marco answers.\n\n“Fernando. Come with me. I have to talk to you.”, Mrs. Trousers tells him.\n\n“What you need to tell me, you can tell here with the others.”, Fernando tells her in kind.\n\n“Don’t be disrespectful when I need to talk to you in private. Lets go.”, Mrs. Trousers tells him.\n\n“And I said what you need to say you can say it here in front of the others.”, Fernando tells her in kind again.\n\nSomewhere between a huff and a sigh, Mrs. Trousers crosses her arms for a moment, and then points to one of the remaining chairs. “Marco, sit down.”, she tells him as she has takes the other chair. As Marco takes his seat, Mrs. Trousers glances over to Mary before turning to Fernando. “I do not like what Lucy told me. Things about why you and your group of squirrels are here.”, Mrs. Trousers begins.\n\nFernando just looks at her as she speaks and then interrupts her, “What are you going to do about it? Nothing. Nothing because nothing is going to happen here in Pouncefield as long as everyone remains quiet about it. But if you decide that I or any of my friends and family are to be disrespected, ridiculed, dishonored, or interfered with in any way, the consequences to befall on you I will not be able to stop. So shut up and do your job before you end up with a black van full of federal agents parked in front of your house, listening and looking in from the bugs they have planted about your house, knowing which hand you use to brush your teeth and which hand you wipe your ass with after using the toilet. They will follow you about to work and to the store, what you buy to eat and what birth control you use with what men you take to bed with that you dragged from the bar. They will know when you get paid and what credit cards you used to pay your bills. And I will say this – its your left hand you wipe your ass with but right when you tickle your kitty kat and brush your teeth with. You put on your panties on before your bra and when you put on your bra, you clasp it on the front and then turn the whole thing around instead of reaching back. Your breakfast is a wheat cracker with a white cheese, a slice of tomato and maybe a bit of celery or other greens along with fruit juice, but at school you guzzle coffee as if OPEC is about to rise its price by the barrel. Now what else do you want to know?”\n\nMrs. Trousers eyes open wide open as her jaw drops. Marco was just as much bemused at the words Fernando spat out to Mrs. Trousers.\n\nFernando continues after a moment of silence, “I, my friends and my family put up our lives to remove a scourge of evil from the streets of New York City. And remove we did. I am not expecting a medal from the likes of you. I already have medals from the city, a day of proclamation and a full scholarship for Harvard, Yale, MIT, Berkley or any university I want to go to. Furthermore, we, the group, are advanced in our studies, and need something more than just to pass the state test. We already passed the New York State Exams with high marks with accredited college credits for the advanced placement courses we took. But if I find a gang in this town, if they dare raise their ugly heads and try to commit crimes against me, my friends and my family, you will be attending their funerals listening to their eulogies of ‘he was such a nice kid, he did not deserve this...’. Well guess what. Fernando Gutierez is here and he is going to clean house. Lead, follow or get out of my way because a certain alligator and their friends tried to mug and rape my little sister and our friend and I have marked them for dead. They also tried to snatch my grandmother’s purse at the shopping mall. So unless you have something nice to say, I would advise you to leave and leave us alone.”\n\nMrs. Trousers takes a deep breathe and holds it for a second or two. It takes her another second to assemble the words in her mind.\n\n“You are just a child and nothing more. So you have to respect me before anything can be said or done. I seriously doubt what you are saying about witness protection is true and there are no gangs in Pouncefield. We are a peaceful community with no crime to speak of. Anything that happens now happens because you arrived here. You are nothing more than a punk, probably running from the law. I will find out the truth and I will deal with you accordingly. Now I want you out of my pool and I will make sure that you will be out of my school.”, Mrs. Trousers tells him.\n\nFernando gets up from his seat, putting his fists on the table and leans to Mrs. Trousers. “As they say in New York City, ‘This aint Burger King, but have it your way...’ The gloves are now off and you have made yourself my enemy. I am going to prove to your ignorant tail of yours that there is a gang problem here in Pouncefield and Lucy is part of it. When I’m done here you will get on your knees and beg for forgiveness which you wont receive from me because the one thing god hates is an unforgiven sin. Mary, get to the girls and tell them and we’re leaving because the assholian administration of this pool does not want squirrels in their facility and not to give me any grief about it – go straight into the locker room, change and wait for me outside.”, he tells Mrs. Trousers and then to Mary. Mary gets up slowly and leaves the area to the other girls. Fernando then turns to Mrs. Trousers, “You think you have power over everyone here in this facility, Lucy flexes it all the time here in bullying the participants in this pool. But just wait, you want to see power, you will get power, a very vulgar display of power which I am more than capable of showing but I am not a vulgar person. You will regret me displaying a very vulgar display of power. And a word of warning, don’t touch me. If you do I will break that arm of yours in several places.”\n\n“That is a threat.”, Mrs. Trousers tells him.\n\n“It’s a warning, a conditional statement if you touch me being the condition and I will break your arm being the result. Just like ‘any asshole who dares put a weapon to my face has just signed their own death certificate with me as the cause of their demise.’ Understand the freaking difference – for my reaction to happen if there is an action before it to call it into play. And you call yourself a teacher. What a joke that is.”, Fernando tells her as the girls walk by on the pool’s deck to the locker room. “Marco, you are better than this place. You know what to do.”, Fernando adds before getting up out of his seat. In a couple of minutes after gathering his towel, he is entering the locker room to change.\n\nMarco walks up Fernando as he opens his locker.\n\n“You know you could have handled that better with Mrs. Trousers.”, Marco says as Fernando starts taking out his things one by one.\n\n“What’s it to you?”, Fernando asks.\n\n“Its because I live with her.”, Marco answers.\n\n“Along with Lucy. I already know all about it.”, Fernando replies.\n\n“You do? How?”, Marco asks.\n\n“I don’t move to a place without knowing who are those I am going to be dealing with once I get there. In short, I have six DVDs of pictures, voice prints, files and information on this part of Pouncefield. I need to due to my current condition. So what’s it to you?”, Fernando answers him and then asks.\n\n“So you know us all then.”, Marco replies.\n\n“I know enough. Like you’re one of the ones that can be trusted and perhaps befriended. But with your relationship with Lucy, things may get a little hairy.”, Fernando states to him.\n\n“Hairy, as in how?”, Marco asks.\n\n“Did you know that Lucy was coming by my door everyday, either in the morning or in the evening. And everyday she is seen walking down my block either coming or going, and I know where you live is not on the street I am on. So what’s up with her? She stalking me? And why?”, Fernando throws at him as he puts on his pants.\n\n“I will talk to her about it.”, Marco answers.\n\n“Talking is not enough. You need to catch her in the act and confront her about it.”, Fernando explains.\n\n“Well...”, Marco begins.\n\nFernando interrupts him, “You here to discuss the matter at hand or are you going to try to talk me out of something?” He then continues to getting dressed, button up his shirt.\n\n“Look. I can see that you’re an alpha with that attitude. And I have to establish mine for my tiny group to protect. Anything happens to my Lucy or to Mrs. Trousers, I will go after you. Got that?”, Marco tells him. Fernando takes out his wallet from his pants and pulls out a card, handing it Marco. Marco reads it, “New York Light House Community for the Blind?”\n\nFernando snatches the card from Marco’s hand, “Wrong card. Here.”, giving him another one.\n\n“New York City East Harlem Karate Academy...?”, Marco says to himself.\n\n“Keep reading.”, Fernando tells him.\n\nMarco looks up at him for a second before going to the card, “This card states and establishes Fernando Gutierez has reached the level of Black Belt, Second Degree in the Martial Arts Courses in Jujitsu, Kung Fu and Gung Fu Chinese Boxing.” He then looks at Fernando, “This does not mean a thing.”\n\n“If you intend to shot me, do it from 100 yards and make sure you hit me. Anything closer, or you miss you mark, start digging your own grave.”, Fernando warns him.\n\n“I don’t intend to shoot you, I don’t even have a gun but I will do what I need to do to defend and protect my group.”, Marco tells him.\n\nFernando reaches over and takes the card from Marco’s card, “Like I told Lucy, we can be nothing to each other, we can be friends or we can be enemies. I prefer for us to be friends. But I need to be respected above all else and though it may not look like it, you have mine for you given me yours. I’m just angry at the whole situation over nothing because of her.”\n\n“I can understand your anger, but its not necessary here. Look, I’ll take care of Lucy. I need you to do the same with yourself and your girls.”, Marco replies.\n\n“My girls don’t need to be taken cared of for they take care of themselves but I’ll accept your offer.”. Fernando tells him.\n\n“Good. Lets hope you can afford the price.”, Marco says and then switches subjects, “You going to St. LoveJoy?”\n\n“I’m still thinking about it.”, Fernando answers.\n\n“Interesting.”, Marco states to himself.\n\n“Why you say that?”, Fernando ask.\n\n“I figure wherever you go, they will go. So its St. LoveJoy, Columbus Academy, Pouncefield Public School or one of the private schools here. But you better hurry, school starts on Monday.”, Marco answers.\n\n“I’ll decide when I get there on Monday. Until then I do not want to bothered with thinking about it.”, Fernando tells him. \n\n“Good. Keep deciding.”, Marco tells him.\n\nFernando closes the locker door as he finished putting on his clothes. He puts his bag over his shoulder and begins to leave.\n\nMarco follows him out the locker room, “Hey! I’m not finished!”\n\nFernando ignores him. Once outside he meets the girls and leave outside the facility to the rented SUV Dr. Leary has driven to the pool entrance. They all enter the SUV before Dr. Leary drives the vehicle away.\n\nEnd of Chapter 61", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "Chapter 61: New York City Summer Girls. (Saturday Afternoon)

Though the SUV parks in front of Fernando’s house, the girls head to their homes and prepare for an afternoon at the pool. Dr. Leary enters Fernando’s house and asks to use the bathroom. Unknown to them all, she changes her underwear for a string-tied bikini in a shade of dark beige that its almost brown. As she changes, she removes the pad and wipes herself down there, checking how dry she was from before. She was dry enough to put in the bikini without a pad.

In fifteen minutes Fernando, Dr. Leary and the girls gather down stairs in living room with their swimming things: carry bag, soap, towel and fresh change of underwear. In a couple more minutes they were out by the SUV waiting for the others. First Grace, then Rachel R with her sister Francis, and Wandaline came out of their homes ready to go. Juanita was next to arrive. They discussed for the plans for the rest of the day: sun and fun at the pool.

Mary and Tonya were next to arrive, followed by Juanita from the other direction. The twins eventually arrive on their own time, making the group complete. They get back in the car one more time and head down to the park and the pool. It only takes more time to look for a parking space than it takes to get there.

The girls go into the their locker room, as Fernando walks into the men/boys locker room. It only takes him less than the girls to change out of their clothes. He walks out onto the deck of the pool, finding the place with just a few patrons. Most of those who would be there were probably shopping for their school things with their parents, so Fernando thought. But the one person he wanted to not deal with was there. He notices her heading to his direction as he was putting down his towel to establish base camp.

He sits there and waits for them, wondering why it takes them so long. A male Siamese cat walks in front of him and blocks his view of the locker room doors. Fernando could understand if he was there for a few seconds. But he notices that the cat was looking down at him.

“You mind? I’m waiting for my friends to arrive from the locker room.”, Fernando tells him.

“Are you Fernando?”, the male cat asks.

“Depends on who’s asking?”, Fernando asks in answer.

“You will find out who I am one day. Right now I’m here to give you a warning. Leave Lucy alone. Got that?”, the cat tells him.

“Then you tell her to leave me alone.”, Fernando tells him, “And I will warn you, the last idiot who gave me a warning, threat or other verbal trash, I made that idiot alligator Rodriguez kiss a fire extinguisher.” Fernando looks up at the cat from his glasses without needing to turn his head. “I see you know him. Go find him and ask what I can do if provoked. But I’m not the one you should be worried about.”, he adds.

“Is that a threat?”, the cat asks.

“No. It’s a warning because I can not control the actions of others and I do not want to see you get hurt.”, Fernando answers.

“I see.”, the cat replies.

“I hope you do, because I don’t.”, Fernando says, sliding his cane forward a bit to catch the cat’s attention.

“I was told you can see.”, the cat says.

“See depends on how you take it. At home, I don’t need this cane. I know every step, every place and every where things are and where I can get to them. I act as if I don’t need it because of the map in my head. Out here I have to learn a whole new world, although I learned this pool well enough to not need the cane. And when you lose one sense, the others take over to do more than make up for the loss, cat.”, Fernando explains.

“How you know I’m a cat?”, the male feline asks.

“You smell like a cat, and you sound like a cat, so you must be a cat.”, Fernando answers, repeating, “When you lose one sense, the others take over to do more than make up for the loss.”

“Hmmm...”, the cat says to himself.

“If you don’t mind, my friends are coming.”, Fernando points to a group of squirrel girls exiting the locker room doors.

The cat nods to himself as he sees the girls gathering together before walking towards the pool. “We’re not finished here. You stay away from Lucy.”, he finally says before walking away.

Fernando yells in his direction, “You tell her to stay away from me!”

The cat does not give a respond as he walks away. The girls arrive a minute later, all of them asking questions, "Who was that?"

“Just a friend of Lucy’s saying hello.”, he answers back in an annoyed tone.

“I can get him if you want.”, Mary says.

“You’re not getting no one.”, Fernando tells her. Then he tells the others, “Sit down and relax. We got a long afternoon.”

Most do as they say. Mary does not as she watches the cat disappear in the distance. She then looks down at the others before setting down her towel and sitting down on it.

“You are not getting no one.”, Fernando tells her again.

“I was just wondering where he was going.”, Mary tells him.

“Where is he going is none of your business.”, Fernando says to her sternly.

“Figuring out what threats might befall on my Alpha is.”, Mary replies.

“Figuring out whether I can survive such a threat is my business, Mary. Not yours or of the other girls here. And he is no threat to me or anyone here.”, Fernando explains sternly.

“What about his friends.”, Mary dares to ask.

“They’re nobodies.”, Rachel lets out before he does.

“What do you mean by that?”, Mary asks.

“What gangs are here do not add up to what we faced in New York.”, Rachel answers.

“They are idiots who wants power without owning up to it.”, Jorgina-Daisy adds, “They try to see if you would be too scared to act but if you do act, they run away.”

“Hmmm...”, Mary says to herself.

“Don’t even think of doing anything.”, Fernando tells her.

“What...”, Mary asks.

“Don’t even think of doing anything, Mary. In fact you are to do nothing to them even if they hit you. You are to come to me and I will deal with it.”, Fernando explains.

“But...”, Mary tries to complain.

“No butts. You have the right to defend yourself if there is no way out of it. But if there is and they if do, then leave it alone and tell me. I will deal with it.”, Fernando tells her.

“Anything more?”, Mary asks.

“Yes.”, Fernando answers, “We are a group. We all represent the other, we all help each other. We don’t fight, we don’t argue. If there is a problem, we solve it. Got that?”

“Yes, I got it.”, Mary replies in an annoyed tone.

“What about homework?”, Tonya asks.

“What about it?”, Fernando asks.

“Well... most of you are eighth grade I’m in the sixth grade.”, Tonya tries to explain.

“So is Jorge, Francis and Rachel. And if it is something you don’t understand, we will help.”, Fernando explains.

“We all ready decided that we will all be doing homework together at his place.”, Grace throws in.

“So if anyone of us misses out on school, they can still do homework and study with us, and the rest of us will bring it in.”, Rachel R. adds to it.

“You girls need to make friends and know the people here.”, Fernando says.

“What for?”, Mary asks.

“You ladies maybe part of my group but I’m not stopping you from having a life outside of us, unless that life begins to involve drugs, crimes or what ever... then you are out of this group.”, Fernando tells her.

“I’m a changed squirrel.”, Mary states.

“Sure you are. You still are Mary. Only your situation has changed. Lets see how you handle it.”, he tells her, then adds, “Enough of this. You girls do what you want. I’m tired.” He turns around on his towel and lays down on the towel.

“Well... if you want it that way, lets go Tonya.”, Mary says.

“But I don’t want to leave.”, Tonya rebels in a complaining tone.

“Alright, have it your way. But this aint Burger King!”, Mary tells her before walking away.

Fernando pushes himself up from the floor, taking his cane and gets himself up, “Everyone do not follow us. I need to talk to her in private.”

He finally gets up and walks quickly to her, catching up with her at the pool’s mid way point where the shallow water ends and the deep water begins to sink downward. He takes her by her arm and steps in front of her.

“What’s going on with you?”, Fernando asks as he folds back up his cane.

“You.”, Mary tells him.

“What do you mean, me?”, he asks her, trying to hold back his anger.

“You. What is there to explain?”, she answers and asks.

“Then explain because I can not explain myself.”, he answers her.

Mary lets out a defeated sigh, then tries to recompose herself, taking in a breath to explain her answer.

“Its you. Everything since the first day I saw you was the first day I gave my heart to anyone. Then all this shit happens, with the gangs, being forced into a situation I did not want to love another but had too. And then now that I can finally have you that I have to share you with others, and have to wait weeks or months to share my personal intimate time with you. Its not fair...”, she explains trying not to break down or lash out.

“All this is not my fault. It is you females that allow yourselves to be put into those situations we lived out in the past. You say its not your responsibility as to what they did, and that might be the case but there are a lot of dead furs out there because of the people you involved yourself with. Again, you say its not your fault. You fought and fucked your way to keep you and Tonya safe in their world. But who knows what you might have caught from them? And you are too used too that situation where you get want you want through sex even if you did it for your survival. You have not changed, but your situation has. You do not need to bend your ass over for me to give you something you want. You do not have to fight your way to get me. But you have to tone down that mean girl act you are living. The Mary I knew was a nice girl who shared her crayons with me, who in her way taught me each colour of them. Yes, she had a temper and a jealous streak, but if she waited two years, then she could have had me, for you know what happened. Right?”, Fernando explains.

“Rosita got sick and died. I remember. I was there with the rest of us when it happened.”, Mary answers.

“And why did you not go after me when she was gone?”, he asks.

“It was already too late. Ricky and Alphonso were already making their moves on me.”, she answers.

“I could have protected you from them.”, he replies.

“How? They live on the same block with me, you were two blocks away.”, she responds to his words.

“Don’t know how, but I would have.”, he answers.

“They would have killed you.”, she replies.

“Ricky is in some mental ward not knowing who he is or how he got there, but he had the gun, and I had to nearly drowned him like the dirty rat he is. Alphonso is no better off, in a wheelchair for the rest of the his life with a new face I gave him with my fists, and he too had a gun pressed to my temple. They think they can win in a fight against me, even in fighting dirty against me, I won. I won because when it comes to my life, I fight as dirty as need be in order to win because to lose means for me to die and I am not having that happen to me. Like I do for myself, I do for my family and friends. Jorge, Rachel, Grace, Rachel and her sister Francis, Wandaline, the two Cathy’s, Juanita, you and your sister Tonya.”, he explains.

“Me and Tonya?”, she asks.

“Yes, you and her. Because you two are what’s left of the friends I had. All the males, guys Jorge and I you could say we bonded with are gone. Only you girls remain. I swear...”, he answers her.

Mary lets out a sigh, not finding the words she wanted to say.

“Look, its not your fault so don’t apologize. They were the one who started it all with that idiot gang shit and their stupid crimes. Look, because of what happened, there are a lot of broken children out there, us included. Now I had my hand in repairing a few of them, including myself but you are still broken. Tonya too. Its not an easy job to fix yourself, even if you can try.”, he explains.

“The condition of my condition is of nobody’s business unless I let it be their business.”, she retorts at him.

“Problem is, you have made it my business when you came here and joined this little group. Now what, you want me to leave it alone?”, he says and asks.

“No. But I don’t want it to be their business either.”, she answers.

“Why not? In this group, we share everything to make sure we are all alright. There is no hiding of things that would harm you and the rest of us. We help each other out because we are all in it together. If you do not want that, then you can leave.”, he replies sternly.

“I’m not leaving because I want you, but I don’t want to be last to a bunch of losers.”, Mary tells him.

“You’re last until you deal with this situation you are in better than you are now. There are things for you to build with me and trust is one of them. Every time you fall in line in your own way, you say or do something to throw yourself off that line. Until I can trust you with my life and being, trust you in doing the right thing for not only me but for the other girls too because it is not just you and me, its we and it includes them. And you need to gain their trust as well as mine.”, Fernando tells her.

“*HMPH!*”, she relies, crossing her arms as she does.

“Its not your fault for the things you did, and you did what you had to do in order to survive in the gang, but the gang is responsible for the crimes they did, including the death of all the boys in order to get the girls. That is blood you can not wash off you hands, for Ricky and Alphonso admitted to me that they wanted me dead because they did not wanted you to be with me.”, he tells her.

“That is not true!”, she replies loudly as she drops her arms in frustration.

“How would you know what they said before they tried to kill me?”, he asks, then adds before she could answer, “You were not there in either event. In fact you were only there after the fact when I beaten the crap out of Alphonso. And when I was not looking, his gun disappears. Makes me wonder if you had something to do with it at the time.”, he responds sternly, then throws at her, “We are not here for that. For me you have a lot to answer for, and that can only be done by what you do and how you do it in the situation we are in. If I see that you are doing what you can within your ability to properly deal with this new situation, then maybe your so-called ranking can go up from last place to somewhere further up the line.”

“Maybe I don’t want to change.”, she tells him, crossing her arms again.

“I’m not asking you to change. I’m telling you to choose to do the right thing when there is a choice of doing right or wrong. You have a history of habit of choosing wrong when things don’t go your way because it’s the easy way out. That needs to change because now things will be getting better for you.”, he tells her. She just gives him a stern look. “Don’t get an attitude with me.”, he continues, “There is no way I’m going to allow you to be part of this group if you invite danger to harm us. I am the Alpha, and I am the protector of you all, as long as you do not deliberately go find it and you are not going to bring it to us for me to take care of. I’m not saying that you cant be independent, I’m say that you cant be stupid and independent. You can choose your friends outside of this group, but you are still part of this group no matter where you are on the line and I have no control over you. Now if you have anything to say about this, say it now or don’t ever open your mouth on the subject. The others will be alerted to what you and I say.”

“You said that I would be forgiven...”, Mary complains.

“I said that I will forgive but I will never forget. And like I said, you will start at the bottom and be able to work your way up if you don’t bring in any threats, challenges or dangers to the group. And if you do bring any threats, challenges or dangers to the group, I will deal with it to eliminate it, and eliminate you with it. Don’t trifle with me. I like a peaceful existence where we work for each other in supporting one another, including you. I will not allow anything that gets in the way of that, including you.”, Fernando warns her, then asks sternly, “So, between you and I and between you and us, what do you want?”

She takes a step towards him as she uncrosses her right arm from the left, and points to the bulge in the groin of his tight Speedos bathing suit. “If you love me as you say you do to us members of the group, then love me as you say you would. Take me and have sex with me like nobody would. Do me lovely and show me that you care. Make me love you as you said you would to us all. I want you here and I want you now. Plain and simple Fernando, don’t play with me, don’t disrespect me. I will give you what ever you want from me.”, she tells him.

“Had what you had to say?”, he tells her.

“Yes. And I want an answer.”, she throws back at him.

“Your answer depends on the return of your SIV/SAIDS Test. I already know that right now that you are negative – not infected as far as a test can register, but that is all it can do and we have to wait. Now nothing says that we cant be friends and perhaps intimate ones as well, but its not just you and me, its you, me and them. If you infect me, I’ll infect them and I cant allow that to happen.”, he answers her coldly.

She lets her arms drop as she bows down her head, as if in defeat. Though she holds to her emotions hard and well, it does not stop the tears from dropping on the floor one by one. He leaves her alone for a moment to let her do what she does in pouring out her emotions but only sees what few tears she let out. He takes a step to her, measuring the distance until they were toe to toe. He closes his hand into a loosely closed, putting the side where his thumb and index finger made a circle under her chin and slowly pushes her face back into view.

She looks at him in anger for a second then becoming unsure of what to say, or do on what is going on. All she can do is to let it happen as he leans towards her slowly until their lips touched, he puts his right hand to the back of her head and neck, holding her there. He takes a step closer, needing to put his foot on the floor between and past hers, making her lean back away from him. She puts her hand on his chest to push him away but she does not push as he got closer. Instead his body presses against hers as their kiss got more involved. She can feel a hard bulge in his Speedos against the top of her pubis mound. Her mind fights with itself whether to allow it to happen no matter where it goes or to end it there and now.

But moment was not the time to stop it. She tries not to breathe heavy through her noise, though she was getting tired of holding her breathe. Maybe another 10 seconds past as she slowly closes her eyes, and another three before she gets enough strength to push him away from her. She manages to take a couple of steps away from him, keeping an arm up to keep him at length away as she bends over panting for air. It takes her a moment to catch her breathe.

“Why you did that for...?”, she holds back from yelling at him.

“If you don’t know why then maybe you should not be part of the group.”, he answers.

Mary just releases a sigh as her mind searches the words she wanted to say. It takes her more time than she expected. “Look. Don’t ever question me and my wanting to be part of the group because I love you. Don’t question that love I have for you. I just want to know why you kissed me, especially like that.”, she explains while holding back her anger.

“Would you have questioned me if I pulled down your bikini bottom and fucked you instead?”, he asks sternly.

“No...”, she begins, “Because I told you that I wanted you too.” Before Fernando could say a word in reply, she gets in a couple of words as she bows down her head, “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what?”, he asks.

“I don’t know. Its that now I feel like I do.”, she answers.

“Don’t be.”, he tells her.

“Why?”, she asks.

“What do you have to be sorry about?”, Fernando twists the original conversation, “You got a new life in a new place away from the violence and gangs of the city. You don’t have to do those things anymore. They are not here to go after you. And you got me.”

“Forgive me if I don’t believe you on that last sentence.”, Mary comments and then complains, “Having to take a SAIDS test and need to wait three months if I’m lucky is just the tip of the iceberg. But I’m clean. I know I am. I did not do drugs, and took SAIDS test often to get myself checked and they all came out negative.”

“That’s great. But an SIV/SAIDS test only measures infection at that point in time not the future, so you have to take it to make sure you are not infected later in life. I’m not throwing you out of the group on the results of the test, I will if you lie about it. Until then, I’ll wait, and you remain part of this group. If you want to leave this group, that’s on you but I would like you to be part of it.”, he explains, “Now, if you don’t mind, I have to return to the other girls.”

Fernando takes a half step back about to turn around when Mary tries to get his attention, “Fernando?”

“Yes?”, he replies.

“Can I have some alone time with you?”, she asks.

“One day, but not anytime soon since we’re getting ready for school and studies. But when all this school stuff is calmed down, I don’t see why not.”, he answers. Somewhere in her uncertainty, she smiles slightly. He then adds, “I just want you to do me one thing.”

“Say it and I’ll do it.”, she replies.

“That nastiness and anger you constantly show to the others, I want it gone.”, he says to her.

Mary finds herself lost for words for the moment, replying, “I’ll try.”

“Look. If it’s a situation where you need to be tough to defend yourself against others outside the group, I can understand if you do to get out of it. But trying to be a tough bad girl might back fire on you. I’ll have the other girls back you up if that happens, and you will have to back them up when it happens to them. In truth, I doubt it because this place is quiet and the gang I ran into is nothing like what we were used too in New York. In short, they are stupid and cant fight. Its nothing I cant handle, and definitely with you girls we cant handle. I still want you to be nice as possible and to be friends with the rest of us first.”, he explains.

She gives a tiny nod.

“Then lets go back to the others.”, he says to her before turning around.

“Fernando?”, she calls to him meekishly.

He turns back to her asking, “Yes?”

Mary takes the couple of steps to him and gives his a peck on the lips before turning around and running away.

All Fernando could do is watch her run away, running around the perimeter of the pool to the far side. He wonders what she is up to if anything. Last thing on his mind is a squirrel challenge; where the female has the male chase her or out-do her in the challenge. To him she is running away to keep her emotions in check. Either way he should check up on her. He unfolds the cane and gently puts the tip on the floor.

Mary could have ran into the female locker but didn’t, instead going for a seat at the seating area of the concession stand. He continues to follow her with his eyes and slides the cane in her direction until she reaches her destination, making him think as to her actions. His concentration break at the sound of someone else voice.

“So she’s the tough one?”, the voice says. He recognizes it as Lucy.

“I’d advise you to leave her alone if you don’t want your fur singed.”, he tells her though he does not turn around to see her.

“Really?”, she replies in question.

“Yes, really.”, he answers her sternly.

“I see. Murder, arson, assault, she is going to be in a lot of trouble if she tries anything like that on me.”, Lucy says as she counts on her fingers.

“Let me explain it to you this way: one- you can’t be tried for murder if there is no body found, two- better to be in trouble than to be dead, and three- two words: self defense. If a judge sees her diary and it says that she’s been harassed and bullied here by you and your friends at the time of your murder, all charges are going to be dropped and she released. Now which shall it be, we living in peace here with maybe a few extra friends or we being released on counts against us on you and your gang friends murders because you all went after us?”, he tells her.

“I don’t believe a word you’re saying.”, Lucy says to him.

“Believe what you want. The world is flat, the sun, moon and stars revolve around the earth, and we are the center of god’s universe. Ignorance is bliss, but it is no excuse for breaking the law. We can be nothing to each other,, we can be friends or we can be enemies and at worst – you being chipmunk flambé.”, Fernando tells her.

“You heard that, Marco! He Threatened Me!”, Lucy gets loud.

Fernando takes a slow and cautious turn to face Lucy and her friend. Though he can see him through his dark glasses, he takes a sniff. “Hmmm... cat. You again. So your name is Marco. How very interesting.”, Fernando says to him.

“I heard you threaten her.”, Marco tells him.

“I did not threaten anyone. I did warn her if she decides that we’re no better than the crap you scrape off the bottom of your shoe that some of us will react more violently than others. And Lucy, as a reminder, my grandmother has the x-rays of my injuries you gave me and still wants to arrest you for what you did that day at the locker room doors. And my doctor there also wants who did it arrested, and that means you, Lucy. I’m sure that the courts will like to see you explain why you assaulted a blind kid for no reason.”, Fernando explains to Marco and then Lucy.

“How much will it cost to end this?”, Marco asks.

“How much will it cost? Oh wait. You think this is blackmail?”, Fernando asks in return.

“What else would it be.”, Marco tells him.

“Lets see... my family has a sugar cane plantation in Puerto Rico where we get twenty percent from the Domino Cane Sugar profits from the sugar cane we sell them every year plus what we make on those sales, and on top of that I get a one-hundred-twenty thousand dollars every year from the Spanish Royal Family for being a relative of theirs, so money is not an issue with me. Even if it were, you would never be able to afford it. So this is not about blackmail as you see it. Its about respect. I did favors for her these past weeks, like showing Rodriguez the heavy end of a fire extinguisher, she has yet to return on that favor. She also insinuates that I’m doing my little sisters which is hard to believe since I have that little group of fluffy tails to choose from and as for they being a gang? Bub, I can tell you a story that will tell you why we are here. It involves me, them, a gang with guns and crime which involved a couple hundred squirrel boys because they wanted the girls at any cost possible. Needless to say, most of them are in jail with a couple of them dead because they put a gun to my head and I refused to die. So for witness protection, I, my family and the girls are here, Marco. Want to make this a federal case? Because I already am a federal case. And as for my friend I was with here, she’s a very nice girl when you get to know her. Until then, you will know that she was bitten by a rabid dog as a toddler and contracted Rabies. Though she has over 100 needles shoved into her belly button as part of the Rabies Cure, she is slightly rabid in her emotions. Get her mad and she’ll turn on you like the rabid dog that bit her. Make her happy and she is your friend for life. I try to help her with all her emotions are at extremes because of Rabies, and its on her record so she’s immune to any crime she makes. She also likes fire... so take that as a hint.”, Fernando explains. He then turns to Lucy and calls her by asking, “Lucy?”

“You said that she turned States Evidence!”, Lucy says out loud.

“She did, and my family and I were the ones used to trap the gang to capture them. But I also said that she is insane in the membrane. She makes your average serial killer with voices speaking in his head normal by comparison. Black Widows and Praying Mantises are calm and peaceful in their mating ritual practices compared to her. Throw in Rabies and now you know why she is like I explain. And to believe that I am protecting you and the rest of Pouncefield from her and you want to destroy me. Why? Because you think I’m going to take over Pouncefield? You can have it. I already got New York City if I were to return to it. I just want a little respect and a few friends I can win here. The same goes to my girls, they too want a little respect and a few friends here. If they join the soccer team, or the cheerleading squad or the softball team, or what ever, they will do the best they can to win and I respect them for that. I hear you’re on the soccer team, is that right, Lucy?”, Fernando explains and then asks.

“Yes I am.”, Lucy answers.

“If any of my friends or sisters try out for the team, I’m not asking for special favors, just a fair chance to try out.”, Fernando replies.

“Everyone gets a fair chance. If they are good enough then they get on the team. If they are not good enough then they don’t make it on the team. Its that simple.”, Lucy tells him.

“Fine by me then. Anything else before I go to my friend?”, Fernando says and asks.

“You and your friends got me in trouble.”, Lucy complains.

“You got yourself in trouble, Lucy. You got caught in a lie trying to implicate my friends in a gang action against you. That is so further from the truth when they are my squirrel group and I am their Alpha. At best they were protecting me from you since you have a habit of hitting me. At worst they would have defended me against what actions you took. Thing is, Lucy, Mrs. Trousers knows this about us squirrels and squirrel society. You have not learned that about us yet. Too bad Chipmunk Society Rules are not the same as Squirrel Society Rules or you would know this. That’s why she turned on you.”, Fernando explains.

“So all of those girls are your girlfriends?”, Marco asks.

“Except for my sisters and the grown up who is my doctor, you can say that but in truth, they are my life partners. Life partners in that they help me in my life and I in theirs as a group. We are emotionally attached to our needs and we do not take advantage of one another so we’re more than friends but not quite family. So to answer your question, that depends on who and what level we are on. Its not like we are having sex all the time just to have sex. There is a reason to this mass relationship.”, Fernando answers him.

“Well, I can understand that.”, Marco says just loud enough to be heard.

“If you don’t mind, I have a friend to catch up too.”, Fernando tells them.

“Wait a minute...”, Marco says before Lucy could.

“What.”, Fernando replies in an annoyed tone.

“If this is a misunderstanding then one of us is going to apologize. But if this something more sinister, then somebody is going to answer to me.”, Marco tells him.

“What ever , Marco. You got her as girlfriend, you deal with her as the male you are and put her in her place. There is nothing worse than a female who thinks she’s above a male.”, Fernando tells him.

“Of all the stupid prejudice things I ever heard...”, Marco begins to say.

“Males and females are supposed to be equal but different, not one over the other. When the female begins to think and act that she is above the male, then he is to put her in her place one way or another. Lucy thinks that she is above any male I have seen thus far, but since she is your girlfriend, I’ll leave it to you to have her in her place. Because Marco, if she hits me, touches me in a way I don’t want or in an attack, I will defend myself by what means necessary to end it.”, Fernando tells him.

“Like what are you going to do...”, Lucy tells him, stepping up to him and pokes him on the chest with her finger. Fernando manages to grab her finger she poked him with and twists it backwards enough to make painful for her. “OW! LET GO OF MY FINGER!”, she yells at him. But Fernando slowly turns her around so her back was at the pool. Lucy grabs on his wrist with her other hand trying to claw on it to make him let go. Instead he takes her other hand with his and gives her a slight shove as he lets her go. She steps back to the edge of the pool, finding it wet an slippery. Her foot slides off the edge’s corner, and in slow motion she falls into the pool.

Lucy breaks out of the water, holding herself up by the edge of the pool while still in the waters of the deep section. Fernando looks at her, “That is what I will do. Friends, enemies or nothing. All I’m asking for is some respect. Its better to have me as a friend, Lucy. I don’t have enemies, for they all are getting bonked up their tail holes in jail or are all pushing up daisies with their chests. As a friend I can be very generous with what little I have.”, he tells her. He turns to face Marco for a second, “Excuse me Marco. I need to see my friend.”, as he points the long way around.

“Why don’t you take the short route?”, Marco asks.

“Going the other way means that I would need to pass by the girls which I am not ready for. Consider it one of my quarks – not repeating my steps unless I need too.”, Fernando explains. Marco just looks at him more confused than anything else.

Fernando takes a step around Marco and starts his walk around the pool. Marco could only look at him walk away, not helping Lucy get out of the pool. Fernando makes his way to the other side and continues his way to where Mary was seated at the concession stand’s tables. He does not see or care that Lucy has gone back to the first aide station. He takes the seat in front of her as Mrs. Trousers steps out of the first aide station. Marco also starts to walk in their direction. He times it so he would hopefully intercept Mrs. Trousers.

“Excuse me if I get things wrong. “, Fernando begins to say to her, “I know why I kissed you and even told you why after our little war on words. Why did you kissed me?”

“If you don’t know why then maybe you should not be my boyfriend.”, Mary tells him

“Only you can give me that title, just like the others did.”, Fernando replies.

Mary just sighs.

“Is there a problem?”, Fernando asks.

“Just that, only I can give you that title. I think I did a long time ago but it was never reciprocated. “, Mary tells him.

“You know the history of why it happened the way it did.”, he replies.

“I know. It’s a hard feeling to shake off.”, Mary says almost to herself.

“Its called remorse.”, Fernando explains, “But you have a second chance. I don’t want you to waste it in doing something stupid.”

“I agree.”, Mrs. Trousers says as she approaches their table but Marco gets in between them and her.

“Mrs. Trousers, I have to say that what ever Lucy told you is false.”, Marco tells her.

“And how would you know what Lucy told me?”, Mrs. Trousers asks.

“Because I was there when it happened.”, Marco answers.

“And what happened?”, Mrs. Trousers asks.

“Fernando warned Lucy not to touch him and she did anyway. And she was pushed into the pool. That was it.”, Marco explains.

“Is that so?”, Mrs. Trousers asks.

“Yes.”, Marco answers.

“And nothing else happened?”, Mrs. Trousers asks.

“Nothing happened. I was there.”, Marco answers.

“Fernando. Come with me. I have to talk to you.”, Mrs. Trousers tells him.

“What you need to tell me, you can tell here with the others.”, Fernando tells her in kind.

“Don’t be disrespectful when I need to talk to you in private. Lets go.”, Mrs. Trousers tells him.

“And I said what you need to say you can say it here in front of the others.”, Fernando tells her in kind again.

Somewhere between a huff and a sigh, Mrs. Trousers crosses her arms for a moment, and then points to one of the remaining chairs. “Marco, sit down.”, she tells him as she has takes the other chair. As Marco takes his seat, Mrs. Trousers glances over to Mary before turning to Fernando. “I do not like what Lucy told me. Things about why you and your group of squirrels are here.”, Mrs. Trousers begins.

Fernando just looks at her as she speaks and then interrupts her, “What are you going to do about it? Nothing. Nothing because nothing is going to happen here in Pouncefield as long as everyone remains quiet about it. But if you decide that I or any of my friends and family are to be disrespected, ridiculed, dishonored, or interfered with in any way, the consequences to befall on you I will not be able to stop. So shut up and do your job before you end up with a black van full of federal agents parked in front of your house, listening and looking in from the bugs they have planted about your house, knowing which hand you use to brush your teeth and which hand you wipe your ass with after using the toilet. They will follow you about to work and to the store, what you buy to eat and what birth control you use with what men you take to bed with that you dragged from the bar. They will know when you get paid and what credit cards you used to pay your bills. And I will say this – its your left hand you wipe your ass with but right when you tickle your kitty kat and brush your teeth with. You put on your panties on before your bra and when you put on your bra, you clasp it on the front and then turn the whole thing around instead of reaching back. Your breakfast is a wheat cracker with a white cheese, a slice of tomato and maybe a bit of celery or other greens along with fruit juice, but at school you guzzle coffee as if OPEC is about to rise its price by the barrel. Now what else do you want to know?”

Mrs. Trousers eyes open wide open as her jaw drops. Marco was just as much bemused at the words Fernando spat out to Mrs. Trousers.

Fernando continues after a moment of silence, “I, my friends and my family put up our lives to remove a scourge of evil from the streets of New York City. And remove we did. I am not expecting a medal from the likes of you. I already have medals from the city, a day of proclamation and a full scholarship for Harvard, Yale, MIT, Berkley or any university I want to go to. Furthermore, we, the group, are advanced in our studies, and need something more than just to pass the state test. We already passed the New York State Exams with high marks with accredited college credits for the advanced placement courses we took. But if I find a gang in this town, if they dare raise their ugly heads and try to commit crimes against me, my friends and my family, you will be attending their funerals listening to their eulogies of ‘he was such a nice kid, he did not deserve this...’. Well guess what. Fernando Gutierez is here and he is going to clean house. Lead, follow or get out of my way because a certain alligator and their friends tried to mug and rape my little sister and our friend and I have marked them for dead. They also tried to snatch my grandmother’s purse at the shopping mall. So unless you have something nice to say, I would advise you to leave and leave us alone.”

Mrs. Trousers takes a deep breathe and holds it for a second or two. It takes her another second to assemble the words in her mind.

“You are just a child and nothing more. So you have to respect me before anything can be said or done. I seriously doubt what you are saying about witness protection is true and there are no gangs in Pouncefield. We are a peaceful community with no crime to speak of. Anything that happens now happens because you arrived here. You are nothing more than a punk, probably running from the law. I will find out the truth and I will deal with you accordingly. Now I want you out of my pool and I will make sure that you will be out of my school.”, Mrs. Trousers tells him.

Fernando gets up from his seat, putting his fists on the table and leans to Mrs. Trousers. “As they say in New York City, ‘This aint Burger King, but have it your way...’ The gloves are now off and you have made yourself my enemy. I am going to prove to your ignorant tail of yours that there is a gang problem here in Pouncefield and Lucy is part of it. When I’m done here you will get on your knees and beg for forgiveness which you wont receive from me because the one thing god hates is an unforgiven sin. Mary, get to the girls and tell them and we’re leaving because the assholian administration of this pool does not want squirrels in their facility and not to give me any grief about it – go straight into the locker room, change and wait for me outside.”, he tells Mrs. Trousers and then to Mary. Mary gets up slowly and leaves the area to the other girls. Fernando then turns to Mrs. Trousers, “You think you have power over everyone here in this facility, Lucy flexes it all the time here in bullying the participants in this pool. But just wait, you want to see power, you will get power, a very vulgar display of power which I am more than capable of showing but I am not a vulgar person. You will regret me displaying a very vulgar display of power. And a word of warning, don’t touch me. If you do I will break that arm of yours in several places.”

“That is a threat.”, Mrs. Trousers tells him.

“It’s a warning, a conditional statement if you touch me being the condition and I will break your arm being the result. Just like ‘any asshole who dares put a weapon to my face has just signed their own death certificate with me as the cause of their demise.’ Understand the freaking difference – for my reaction to happen if there is an action before it to call it into play. And you call yourself a teacher. What a joke that is.”, Fernando tells her as the girls walk by on the pool’s deck to the locker room. “Marco, you are better than this place. You know what to do.”, Fernando adds before getting up out of his seat. In a couple of minutes after gathering his towel, he is entering the locker room to change.

Marco walks up Fernando as he opens his locker.

“You know you could have handled that better with Mrs. Trousers.”, Marco says as Fernando starts taking out his things one by one.

“What’s it to you?”, Fernando asks.

“Its because I live with her.”, Marco answers.

“Along with Lucy. I already know all about it.”, Fernando replies.

“You do? How?”, Marco asks.

“I don’t move to a place without knowing who are those I am going to be dealing with once I get there. In short, I have six DVDs of pictures, voice prints, files and information on this part of Pouncefield. I need to due to my current condition. So what’s it to you?”, Fernando answers him and then asks.

“So you know us all then.”, Marco replies.

“I know enough. Like you’re one of the ones that can be trusted and perhaps befriended. But with your relationship with Lucy, things may get a little hairy.”, Fernando states to him.

“Hairy, as in how?”, Marco asks.

“Did you know that Lucy was coming by my door everyday, either in the morning or in the evening. And everyday she is seen walking down my block either coming or going, and I know where you live is not on the street I am on. So what’s up with her? She stalking me? And why?”, Fernando throws at him as he puts on his pants.

“I will talk to her about it.”, Marco answers.

“Talking is not enough. You need to catch her in the act and confront her about it.”, Fernando explains.

“Well...”, Marco begins.

Fernando interrupts him, “You here to discuss the matter at hand or are you going to try to talk me out of something?” He then continues to getting dressed, button up his shirt.

“Look. I can see that you’re an alpha with that attitude. And I have to establish mine for my tiny group to protect. Anything happens to my Lucy or to Mrs. Trousers, I will go after you. Got that?”, Marco tells him. Fernando takes out his wallet from his pants and pulls out a card, handing it Marco. Marco reads it, “New York Light House Community for the Blind?”

Fernando snatches the card from Marco’s hand, “Wrong card. Here.”, giving him another one.

“New York City East Harlem Karate Academy...?”, Marco says to himself.

“Keep reading.”, Fernando tells him.

Marco looks up at him for a second before going to the card, “This card states and establishes Fernando Gutierez has reached the level of Black Belt, Second Degree in the Martial Arts Courses in Jujitsu, Kung Fu and Gung Fu Chinese Boxing.” He then looks at Fernando, “This does not mean a thing.”

“If you intend to shot me, do it from 100 yards and make sure you hit me. Anything closer, or you miss you mark, start digging your own grave.”, Fernando warns him.

“I don’t intend to shoot you, I don’t even have a gun but I will do what I need to do to defend and protect my group.”, Marco tells him.

Fernando reaches over and takes the card from Marco’s card, “Like I told Lucy, we can be nothing to each other, we can be friends or we can be enemies. I prefer for us to be friends. But I need to be respected above all else and though it may not look like it, you have mine for you given me yours. I’m just angry at the whole situation over nothing because of her.”

“I can understand your anger, but its not necessary here. Look, I’ll take care of Lucy. I need you to do the same with yourself and your girls.”, Marco replies.

“My girls don’t need to be taken cared of for they take care of themselves but I’ll accept your offer.”. Fernando tells him.

“Good. Lets hope you can afford the price.”, Marco says and then switches subjects, “You going to St. LoveJoy?”

“I’m still thinking about it.”, Fernando answers.

“Interesting.”, Marco states to himself.

“Why you say that?”, Fernando ask.

“I figure wherever you go, they will go. So its St. LoveJoy, Columbus Academy, Pouncefield Public School or one of the private schools here. But you better hurry, school starts on Monday.”, Marco answers.

“I’ll decide when I get there on Monday. Until then I do not want to bothered with thinking about it.”, Fernando tells him.

“Good. Keep deciding.”, Marco tells him.

Fernando closes the locker door as he finished putting on his clothes. He puts his bag over his shoulder and begins to leave.

Marco follows him out the locker room, “Hey! I’m not finished!”

Fernando ignores him. Once outside he meets the girls and leave outside the facility to the rented SUV Dr. Leary has driven to the pool entrance. They all enter the SUV before Dr. Leary drives the vehicle away.

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