Bait and Switch Retype – Ch 07-08

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Chapter 07

It seems like any other Monday, except for the whispers and stares I receive as I walk around campus. In one way it’s an improvement, no one calling me dweeb, or nerd, but it’s also a little disturbing.

Did someone discover my ability? Did Gina tell someone? I remember Lindsey saying that I’m the talk of the campus, and that had been before I’d told Gina, so I doubt she’d told anyone. I walk towards a couple guys talking, to see what’s up, but when they see me coming, they flee. In consternation, I stare after them, wondering what in the world is going on.

No one seems willing to talk to me about it, and those that are willing to talk to me, don’t know. The whole thing is starting to give me a headache. The headache makes me remember old Mrs. Polkins. I walk into her office, and find her sitting behind her desk, a faint smile on her face.

I tell her my head hurts, and just need some Tylenol. I examine her as she moves around. It seems like she is moving faster, but that may be hopeful thinking. I’m certain the roots of her hair are darker, not gray, but there isn’t enough there to tell what color yet. Her cheeks sag a little on her face, but there looks to be fewer wrinkles and better coloring to her skin tone.

Checking her switches, I turn up the elasticity of her skin, as well as her metabolism, but leave her other two switches alone for now. I thank her for the painkillers, and leave her office. I’ll try to remind myself to check up on her after Winter Break and see the progress she makes.

Standing right outside Polkin’s office, is Robbie Mortensen. By the look he gives me, I know he’s been waiting for me. I decide that running isn’t an option, and besides, I should be able to handle him, as I’m feeling well rested.

As I walk up to the big jock, I notice his eyes looked haggard and sad. He looks like a man that’s been to hell and back, only he’d brought hell with him. For a moment I feel sorry for the role I’d played in that, until I remember all the bullying I’d received at his hands.

“What’s up, Robbie?” I ask, trying to sound unconcerned.

The big man examines me for a bit, arms folded across his large chest, and his brow furrowed. “You been working out?”

I almost laugh. Can THAT have been what all the stares are about? I still can’t see a difference in myself, though I do notice things seem lighter than they used to be. As I think about it, even my shirt seems a bit smaller when I’d put it on this morning. Despite this, all I says to Robbie is, “Maybe.”

“I don’t know why I’m doing this. Maybe I feel sorry about what I’ve done to you, but you don’t seem to be hurting from it.” He looks me over some more, and I know he is looking for the bruises. Bruises Lela had healed for me. “For some reason I feel like I owe you though, so I’m warning you.” He takes a deep breath, and I tense. What is he going to do, threaten me some more? Try to beat me up? “Derek means to pay you back, and make you hurt. It’s all over the campus. He seems to have it in for you.” Before I can say anything in response, he turns and walks away.

THAT must be why everyone is looking at me. They don’t want to get caught up in whatever Derek has planned for me. I wonder if they’re also supposed to keep me in the dark or if that is just an unintended side effect. Did Robbie just cross some clique boundary to help me out? I resolve to keep my ability in reserve, so that I can use it if I need to, on a moment’s notice. I don’t want to get caught unawares, or weak.

An idea occurs to me, and I recall that I can sense my switches. I walk to a quiet spot, and cast my mind out, feeling for the switches that I know are Derek’s. If he is anywhere close, I will know. I’m shocked to find him on the other side of campus. Not shocked because he is far from me, but because I can feel his switches from so far away. My ability truly is growing. I also find Gina off to my left, not as far, and Robbie moving further away. I feel others too, but concentrate on Derek. If he is over there, I’m safe.

My phone rings then, and my mind comes back to the here and now. Shanna is on the other end.

“I just heard something, you should know,” she says without preamble.

“About Derek? Yeah, I just heard. I’ll be fine though, don’t worry.”

“Oh, okay. Hey, are you working tonight?” She asks, sounding hopeful.

“Yeah, I tried to get this week off so I could study for finals, but Bradley wouldn’t hear it.”

“Great! About you working, that is. Not about Bradley. I’m working too, I’ll see you there.”

Shortly after I hang up, I get a text from Gina, warning me of the same thing, but she’s not worried either. She knows what I’m capable of, now.

The rest of my classes seem to fly by in a blur, as I concentrate on keeping track of Derek. Luckily, with my mind so preoccupied, I don’t have any finals today.

Dennis gives me the same warning when I get home, and I only laugh. A couple weeks ago, no one would have said anything to me. Today I have plenty of friends covering my behind. When he looks surprised at my response, I say the same thing I told Shanna. He doesn’t look convinced but that’s fine with me. I have a couple hours until I start my shift, so I play a few games, before getting ready.

The snow is lightly falling as I drive to the restaurant, and I can’t help but smile as I think about the last time Shanna and I had worked together. The snow is still piled high on the sides of the road from that storm, though the power is likely to stay on tonight. Darn the luck. Of course, if push comes to shove, I could still turn off the power myself. . .

Shanna greets me with a smile as I walk in the back, and I give her a quick wink. I suddenly wonder if this is Shannon, and realize the only way for me to tell them apart is when I’m sleeping with one or the other. I can use my switches though, to tell them apart. I easily make a small switch that will make her happy when I move it, and notice that it’s already on. In fact, with the way it’s shuddering, I’d have to say she’s pretty giddy. There, that will do it, I think with satisfaction.

Despite it being a Monday, it’s a busy night. Shanna and I have little opportunity to talk. Bradley seems to be on a rampage, as he bellows out orders, and chews one cook out for being too slow, then chews a bus boy for moving too fast, and not being careful. He leaves Shanna and me alone, though, so I don’t mess with him. I need to save my strength for whatever Derek has in mind. I can just faintly feel him off to the east somewhere, at the edge of my awareness.

When the restaurant finally closes, Shanna waits for me in the parking lot with a smile. We kiss for a while in her car.

“We need to stop,” she tells me breathlessly after a bit.

“Why,” I ask, cupping her cheek in my hand, and pulling her face back to mine.

“Because my sister is home, and I’m getting pretty horny and I don’t want to do it in the cold car!” She laughs her wonderful little laugh as she pulls away from me.

“We can go to my place,” I whisper.

“Didn’t you say you needed to study for finals?” She tries to sound serious but I can see the mirth and desire in her eyes.

“Sure. How about we study anatomy together?” I suggest, smiling wickedly. She giggles again, and I feel her long lashes against my cheek as she hugs me tight.

“Another night, I need to do some studying as well,” she tells me, and I feel let down.

Reluctantly I let her go, horny as hell, but unwilling to manipulate her into having my way. I really should study anyway.

I end up playing on my computer, instead, until I go to bed.

I wake up immediately, when I feel Lela’s switches close to me, and everyone else’s switches vanish. I don’t even realize I’m still monitoring all the switches, until they are gone. Where did Lela taken me that is outside of my newfound range?

“Have you been practicing?” The dual-tonal voice of Lela asks me as I’m bathed in the tiring/strengthening white light.

“No,” I tell her honestly, “I have been saving my strength. Something has come up that I need to be ready for.” I don’t want to tell her about Derek since it’s a personal problem.

“More important than your entire race?” the question hurts all the more because it’s said with almost no emotion.

I know she is right, but what am I to do? Derek plans on hurting me somehow, and I need to be ready to deal with him, but at the same time, the human race is depending on me too, though they don’t know it. If Derek beats the crap out of me, Lela can heal me. If I’m not ready to face the demons when they arrive, we’re all doomed.

“I’ll keep practicing,” I promise her.

And what better way to practice than right now? I flip the newest switch in the pink alien with a little effort, the one I hope will put her in heat, and watch as her eyes grow large, and her ‘horny’ switch flips hard to full blast.

She makes a loud strangled noise, that sounds like two different voices sounding at once, saying two different things, but neither intelligible, before reverting back to English after a pause. “What have you done?” For once there is emotion in her voice. Unfortunately, it’s terror and despair.

I know there is no way for me to deny it. She knows what I can do, and if she is in heat when she isn’t supposed to be, the only rational explanation will be because of me.

“You said to practice,” I try to explain, knowing how lame I sound. “I need to practice on aliens as well as humans. How else will I know what I’m capable of?”

She screams something that I realize must be her natural language, and it doesn’t sound pretty. “Weren’t the physiological changes you were making in me enough? You don’t understand. I was chosen for this mission because I’m not supposed to mate for many of your solar cycles. Offspring in our race has always been planned with genetics in mind.”

“Okay, I’m sorry,” I tell her, getting defensive. “I’ll just turn it off.” But the switch won’t move. It refuses to even budge. I press against it harder, groaning with the effort and feeling a headache coming on, but to no avail.

“It can’t be turned off. I have to mate within two of your days, or I will die.” Lela cries, and then screams again in her language, and I’m fairly sure I don’t want to know what she’s saying. “There isn’t a mate-worthy male on this side of the galaxy. You have killed me!” She returns to yelling in her own tongue.

Complete and utter shame floods through me. This intelligent alien has helped me develop my ability and as trying to help me save the human race. But in my ignorance, I have doomed this kind and trusting creature; and all because of my sexual curiosity. I truly am a failure and a pervert. The human race is doomed, because I’m not worth saving.

Wait a minute. . . A sudden thought pulls me out of the depression I am spiraling into.

“What about me?” I ask, doubting it’s even possible, but grasping at straws. My head is throbbing, and it’s hard to think through her confusing language.

She suddenly stops talking, and looks at me. Her silvery-blue eyes have turned a dark shade of green, and her slit pupils grow larger. Her breathing is heavy, and I can see a light film of liquid already running down her legs. The light fairly dances around her body in her distress.

“You?” Both tones of her voice sounded odd, ragged, as she asks me. “Our genetic code is different. It won’t work. And you are only human.” Her whole body shakes, and I can tell she is in dire distress.

“We have to try something,” I plead.

“I may have no other choice.” She now sounds resigned to the possibility.

Her hands move in the air before her, hitting her invisible buttons, and the white light around me turns to the healing greenish-yellow for a moment, restoring my strength and killing the headache, before turning off completely.

I step up to her, not sure how this works for her species, and place my hand gently on her shoulder. Or try to. An electrical shock fires through my arm, knocking me back a couple steps.

“Wait until I get undressed!” She demands after she works out the words in English. But she is already naked. . . My jaw drops in surprise as the dancing light around her body simmers, and then falls to the floor, glittering dully. The light IS her clothing! It’s not designed to cover up, but for protection.

I look back to Lela, and she looks a little different without the light playing across her smooth pink skin. I tentatively reach out my hand to touch her shoulder, and this time my fingers touch flesh. It’s as soft and smooth as it looks, and warm to the touch. This is the first time we’ve made physical contact, and it sends a shiver down my spine.

I realize she is glaring at me impatiently, and that I still have my boxers on. I quickly disrobe, and feel my face turn beet red as my limp member comes out. Filled with shame as I am, I have lost my other desire. If I’m to have a chance at saving her, though, I have to get it up.

I bring my face close to hers, and she backs away, uncertainly. “What are you doing?” She asks in alarm.

“I’m trying to kiss you,” I tell her, not wanting to explain the need for it.

“You humans kiss. We just mate. We do not need to kiss,” she replies matter-of-factly.

“Well I DO!” I say, frustrated. Pulling her to me, I press my mouth against her soft thin lips. She doesn’t fight me this time, and accepts my embrace. I lick her lips, before trying to slip my tongue into her mouth. I hear her sigh in resignation, before letting it in, but she just stands there, letting me do whatever, without returning the kiss. “You have to kiss me back,” I complain.

“You humans have weird, pointless rituals.” Despite her words, she tilts her head back, and this time when I kiss her, I feel her tongue around mine. Or rather, I feel two tongues slide around mine. One goes into my mouth, and licks around my teeth, while her other one swirls around mine. She is definitely a novice, but the different sensation is nice. I’m shocked, but at the same time, turned on. I feel my dick finally start to react, and let my hands drop down to her buttocks, giving them a nice squeeze. She does the same for me, and I guess she thinks she has to do whatever I do. I’m not going to complain.

It doesn’t take long for me to grow fully hard, and I break the kiss. “I’m ready,” I tell her, looking deep into her now fully green eyes.

“I—I’ve never. . .” She trails off.

“How do they do it on your planet?” I’m personally curious, as well as academically.

“Usually, when the mate-worthy male gets our scent, it drives them wild. They take us, and mate with us several times. I have heard it can be brutal and painful for the female. We are helpless to stop them, unless we wish to die.”

I can’t imagine what that must be like for her people; to be in heat, and possibly hurt while in the act, basically raped. I can’t be brutal, but I can try to take charge.

“Lay down,” I instruct her, and despite her earlier anger, she meekly complies. As I drop to my knees between her slender pink thighs, I can feel the vibrations through the floor. I lean over her belly, kissing the smooth surface, and work my way up to her small breasts. Her nipples are already hard, when I pull one between my teeth.

“Is this a necessary part of your human’s mating?” She asks me, but there is a slight hitch in her voice as she asks. Is she starting to enjoy this? I hope so, but can’t be sure, so hurry myself along.

I look down, and am thankful that her vagina is in the same place as a human’s (and eerily looks like one, minus any hair, and completely pink), as I place the tip of my penis against it. I can feel the heat of her sex pouring from her crotch, and as I rub my member up and down her small slit, she starts to shift underneath me. It doesn’t take long for her juices, which are practically pouring out of her, to lubricate me, and I try to push my way into her.

It’s no good. She is way too tight, and I’m too big. For a moment I’m afraid that I’m going to fail her. But then I remember when she’d shown me the holograms of her species in this room.