Bait and Switch Ch. 21 (Final)

The sound of a text message woke me up, and I groggily reached over to check it. Shanna and Gina had kept me up most of the night, and then when Nancy had come in… Okay, I couldn’t help but smile at the memories from last night, but I WAS exhausted. I had quite literally stumbled back through my door, and fallen asleep before my head hit my pillow. I couldn’t even remember the drive home. I was thankful that Lela hadn’t come to get me last night, or I’d be even more tired than I was now.

“Get your rest today. Tonight we will take care of the demons.” the text read, and it was from my sister. I wondered why she didn’t use the nanites.

I sat up in bed, and only then realized that something wasn’t right. I was still fully dressed, including my shoes, but my posters were gone, and someone had rearranged my room. A groan sounded next to me, and in shock I see Robin laying there next to me.

Did I get with Robin last night? I wondered, but can’t see how I had. I was still fully dressed… Then I recognize my surroundings. I’m in Dennis’s room! I must have been so tired last night that I turned right when I should have turned left…

As quietly as I was able, I tried to sneak out, but to no avail.

“Hey, dude,” Dennis murmured just as my hand touched the doorknob, “next time sleep in your own bed. You were quite the buzzkill.”

Embarrassed I made it back to my own room, and planned on going back to sleep, but after thirty minutes of just lying there, fretting about what I was going to do with the demons tonight, I finally got up, and showered.

I had intended on skipping classes today, but since I was already awake, I figured I might as well go in. Besides, it might help to distract me.

“Nick!” Someone hailed me, their breath misting in the early morning chill. “Hey, have you been studying?” The woman smiles at me, but I don’t recognize her.

“Studying?” I ask in confusion. “It’s only the second day of the semester. We can’t have any tests already!”

She laughs at me, but I still have no idea who this is. Her hair is a mousy brown color, reaching down to her shoulders, and matching brown eyes. She stood a little shorter than me, and her skin seemed a little loose on her.

“No, for math club, silly!” she informed me, and suddenly I thought I knew who this was.

“Barbara?” I asked just to be sure.

“Sorry,” she told me, her smile getting bigger, “I forget how different I look after losing so much weight. I know most people put on weight over the holidays, but for some reason I just kept shedding the pounds!”

I could see the old Barbara in her now. She could almost be cute, if she fit in her skin better. Then I remembered what I’d done for Mrs. Polkins, and turned up Barbara’s skin elasticity, hoping that would help her.

“Yeah! Sorry,” I said, happy for her, “You look great!” Then remembering how Mrs. Polkins had changed mentally, I think to ask, “How have you been feeling?”

“Good,” she said, her smile never leaving her thin face. “I’ve had a lot more energy, and have been surprised by all the attention the guys’ve been giving me.” She laughed again, and I can’t help smiling with her.

“Well, good luck,” I told her. “I’d better get to class.” I thought of Donald and Adam, and hoped that everything I’d done for them has turned out as well as it did for Barbara.

I was almost to my class, when another female voice stopped me in my tracks. This one I knew from hours of lectures last semester. Professor Frankens was standing in the doorway to her classroom, as I turned to look at her. She was dressed pretty modestly for her, with a suit jacket on, and a skirt that actually went all the way down to her ankles.

“I need to have a talk with you, Mr. Xavier,” she told me, as she opened the door wider to let me through. As I entered her classroom, wondering why she was being so formal, I saw that it was empty and guessed that she didn’t have a class this hour. My first thought was that she was after a tryst, but I really didn’t feel up to it quite yet that morning, and knew I needed to save my strength for that evening.

The professor stepped back in front of me, and led me down to her office. I was trying to come up with a way to gently turn her down, without having to talk too much, knowing that my voice still had an effect on her.

I still hadn’t come up with a way, when she sat down behind her desk and looked me squarely in the eyes. Her brown orbs bore into me for a bit, and I realized that she probably hadn’t brought me in here for sex, after all.

“First of all, Mr. Xavier, I want to thank you for being discreet about what happened between us before Winter break,” she told me, her voice stiff and formal.

I gave her a quick nod, still wary of speaking.

“Please understand that what I did was wrong,” she continued. “In my years of teaching I have never crossed that line with a student. I still don’t fully understand why I did so with you. I hope you don’t harbor any ill will towards me for what I did, or for saying that it can’t happen again.”

To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. I had truly enjoyed my encounter with the sexy professor, and even with the guilt of knowing that I’d manipulated her into it, I’d looked forward to further escapades with her. I saw that she was looking at me, waiting for an answer. I still didn’t want to speak though, and influence her unduly. When I gave her another nod, she grimaced, but continued.

“I’ve put in my resignation here, and have already been accepted in another college across state.” Her tone was sad now, and I felt sorry for her.

“No,” I said, before I could think better of it, and saw her shudder slightly at the sound of my voice, but I went on. “You don’t have to do that. I promise not to tell anyone, and we don’t have to…to you know…” for some reason I had a hard time saying sex in front of this older woman, despite what we’d done together. I figured it had something to do with the formal attitude she was portraying, and didn’t want to be the first one to say it.

“But I do, Mr. Xavier,” she insisted. “Even as you speak, I feel myself being drawn to you. I can’t risk losing my career over the desires of my body.” Her face grew stern, and she looked at me harder. “Make no mistake; I’m not saying that I’m in love with you or anything of that sort, only that I can separate lust from love.”

Only then did I realize that she blamed herself for what we’d done. It wasn’t her fault, and I truly felt bad for my part in it, but could see that she was determined to go, no matter what I said. If I were willing to use my switches on her, I could change her mind, I knew, but I still wasn’t willing to cross that line again.

“I understand,” I told her. “You will be missed,” and not just by me. I knew how most of the male students liked to ogle the beautiful professor, and not a just few of the females, too.

“I have already ensured that you will pass my class, this semester. I have no doubt you would have done it on your own. Professor Hallowburton will be taking over Math Club practices from now on. I will be here till the end of term, but would ask that you don’t say anything to anyone until after I’m gone.” She sounded depressed, and I wished there was something I could do for her, but short of making a ‘happy’ switch, I didn’t know what else to do.

Professor Hallowburton was an alright kind of guy, but he was no Frankens. She would be sorely missed in Math Club practices as well.

“I won’t tell anyone,” I told her again, mentally thinking other than Shanna, who I’d already told, but I felt sure she wouldn’t say anything to anyone about it.

In the end, saddened, but knowing that she was doing what she felt was best for her, I made the ‘happy’ switch, and put some effort behind turning it on. It might be that I would need that strength later, but Professor Frankens deserved it, after how I’d used my switches on her before. I wished her the best of luck, and left her office.

There was a commotion outside the classroom as I walked out, and I had to grab someone to find out what was going on.

“It’s all over the news!” the other student yelled at me, before running on, somewhat fearfully, I thought.

I had no idea what he was talking about, so pulled out my android phone, and started looking at news sites, online. It didn’t take me long to find out. Government satellites had picked up asteroids moving at a high rate of speed towards the Earth. If the objects continued on their current trajectory, they were likely to hit the planet. Estimates ranged on how much damage the supposed asteroids would cause, and which cities would be hit the hardest.

A spokesperson for the Whitehouse stated that the asteroids were moving faster than any other asteroids they’ve ever encountered, which was why they’d only came into visible range late last night, and would start impacting the Earth sometime tomorrow morning.

I read a few more stories on it, and even went to a religious link that started talking about the end of days, and the second coming. Everybody was scared, and the best advice I read stated that the smartest thing to do would be to stay home, unless you knew of a fallout shelter you could use.

The government stated that they were trying to figure out some way to disperse the asteroids, and that they were working with other world leaders to find a solution to the problem. I wished them luck, but didn’t have much faith in it.

I knew better. Those weren’t asteroids flying free in space on a collision course. They were the demon’s fleet, coming to eradicate the human race. Staying home or even fleeing to the mountains as other sites had recommended, would be useless. Fallout shelters might work, but I doubted it. No, the best hope was that I needed to come up with some sort of strategy to stop them.

I didn’t have much faith in that plan, either.

School for the rest of the day was cancelled, so that we could go home and try to be with our families.

The streets were packed, and I was thankful that I’d walked this morning, hoping the chill winter air would help me wake up. I passed a couple shops on my way home, and saw that the looters had already begun to deface property, and break in windows. If it was this bad already, I didn’t even want to think about how bad it would be tonight.

Perhaps my last night on Earth. I shook, to rid myself of the defeating thought.

Shanna called me as I walked into my apartment. “Have you seen the news?” she asked excitedly, and I could hear the fear in her voice.

“Yeah, I just found out. Did you go to class today?” I asked back.

“No, I just woke up. I saw they closed the campus. It’s not asteroids, is it?” Her tone told me she already knew the answer. “It’s your demons, instead,” she answered her own question.

“Yeah, I think it is,” my reply was short, but I couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“When are you coming to get me?” For a second I was perplexed, and then I remembered her demand to be there when I went up against the aliens.

“Shanna, you’re safer here on Earth than you will be up there,” I tried to tell her softly.

“No, Nick,” she shot back at me hotly, “If you’re going to be in any kind of danger, then I demand to be there, too.