The Emerald City Trilogy
Book 2: The World According to Paul
By J.S.A.M.
Copyright © 1997, 1998 J.S.A.M.—All rights reserved.
This story may be freely distributed and archived, so long as no charge is levied against the reader for access to it.
ADULT CONTENT WARNING: This story contains adult situations, coarse language and violence.
Chapter 7: Obtaining the Cheerleader
Paul stood under the bleachers with the entranced cheerleader. She had been instantly mesmerized by the dangling pendant Paul held before her. She was unable to tear her gaze away, even if she had wanted to. Which she didn’t. All she wanted to do was give herself to the emerald and let it take all her cares and worries away.
The brunette teenager was dressed in a tight blue, long sleeved sweater with a large yellow “D” in the centre, and a short, crinkled white skirt over long smooth legs and white tennis shoes. He was asking her who the virgin was on the squad.
“Rebecca Stanfield,” she spoke dreamily in her trance.
“But she’s pretty, right?” he asked.
“Yesss,” her mouth hardly moved with her glassy eyes locked on the pendant.
“You are alone under the bleachers. You can not see anyone and you do not remember how you came to be here. You will follow Rebecca out of the locker room when she leaves and accidentally bump into her,” he said sternly. The glowing pendant strobed in her face and then the light receded back within.
The cheerleader blinked, life coming back to her glassy eyes. Shaking her head from her side to side, she looked down at her feet and lifted a hand to her forehead. She looked around, puzzled. “What the heck I am no doing under her?” she asked herself. Turning, she ran back into the gymnasium toward the locker room with the rest of the cheerleaders.
He walked out a moment after her. The school’s basketball game had ended a few minutes before and the crowd above him in the bleachers was almost completely gone. He circuited his way out of the gym and around to the back entrance of the girl’s locker room.
A few pretty girls later and then an absolutely stunning blonde, perhaps eighteen, walked out still in her cheerleader uniform along with a knapsack. Behind her came his previously entranced cheerleader, who tripped and fell into Rebecca. There was a few moments of apologies, then each girl broke away.
Rebecca didn’t stand a chance when he walked up a moment later, holding out the pendant in his palm and asking if she knew who it belonged to.
The 5′11 blonde beauty gazed down at the glowing pendant as he held it before her. Her mind instantly entranced by its power—infinity more powerful than his pathetic old ring.
“Do you have a boyfriend that you trust?” Paul asked curiously.
She nodded helplessly under the gem’s influence.
“What’s his name?”
“Derek,” her small voice whispered. Her mind lost in the depths of the green pendant.
“When you look at me you will see Derek. When I speak, you will hear Derek’s voice. I am Derek. Do understand?”
“Yes,” she barely whispered.
The gem stopped strobing in his hand and he replaced it around his neck. She continued to stare off into space, her face blank and passive. He reached up and snapped his fingers in front of her eyes.
She blinked and looked at him. A second later, a broad smile formed in surprise. “Derek! What are you doing here?” she asked excitedly, looking around as if someone else should also be there.
“It’s a long story. I’ve got a present to show you.”
She looked around for it, then back at his face. “Where?” she asked as she moved forward, put her arms around him and hugged him warmly.
She kissed him lightly and stepped back a bit. “Well,” he began, “I’ll have to take you there. It’s a surprise. Come on.” He put his arm around her waist and they walked arm and arm out of the school. She looked happy and content with his arm around her. But Paul was no longer thinking of her. He was thinking much farther ahead.