Episode Nine: Cloud 99

In our last episode: Taylor donned stinky socks to woo Bethany Coulter. But before meeting up with her, he was intercepted by his bitter rival, Jacque Smythe. Jacque tried to prevent Taylor from talking to Bethany, but Taylor gave Jacque the slip and met with Bethany – who was too busy to go home with him after school, but who agreed to try after cheerleading practice. Taylor, ecstatic, ran into Jacque again on the way out and suggested that Bethany agreed to meet with him because of the deadly smelling socks, which Jacque quickly stole and ran off with, leaving Taylor…

            I laughed and headed to the bathroom to wash my hands – my mind already dwelling on the sweet fantasy of walking home with Bethany Coulter.

            To say that the rest of the day passed in a dream would do a terrible disservice to the feeling of euphoria that settled on me. It was like Cloud 9… no, better… Cloud 10? It was closer to Cloud 99… trillion. I could have been hit with a small nuclear projectile that blasted away all my skin, embedded tiny particles of salt in all my wounds, and boiled away my eye balls and I still would not have noticed a thing. My mind was wandering the byways and pathways of that particular nirvana where everything is right with the world even as you walk in the slimy pits of reality. Failed Biology exam after lunch – didn’t even notice. Getting the air knocked out of me by a not so errant line drive off the bat of Jacque Smythe – never even phased me. I even managed to shower with the rest of the PE class without the usual embarrassment. I was completely above the cares of this world. As the last class bell rang, I was starting to feel that I was incredibly lucky and invincible.

            “Hey, did you hear?” asked Brett as we began to stuff our stuff in the lockers after school.

            “Hear what?”

            “The Greenspan Club called an emergency meeting,” Brett answered.

            At that particular moment, I really had no particular cares about what the Greenspan Club did or didn’t do – but the idea of an emergency meeting of this group of business minded students did spark a vague interest in the back of my mind, as if there was something it was trying to remember even way up on Cloud 99.

            “Really?”

            “Yeah… some terrorists have seized an oil rig in the Gulf. Its causing the Oil Futures prices to go through the roof. The market is having a Class Two seizure.”

            “Class Two… that’s… bad?”

            “There’s only one worse…”

            “Mmm hmm…” I said, “Well, I wouldn’t worry about it. I’m sure the US will send in some Spec Ops types to regain control of the oil rig in a few days.”

            I knew that what I said was true, but I couldn’t quite figure out how I knew.

            “This is not something to take lightly…” Brett argued.

            “It is precisely something to take lightly,” I countered, “What do I care about some oil rig in the Persian Gulf? I’ve got to go wait for Bethany Coulter at her cheerleading practice. What could be more important than that?”

            Little did I know, at precisely that moment, assassins were making their way on to campus to answer that question for me.                   

To be continued...