TT4.75a: Hi Anxiety

PREVIOUSLY: Glen taught Carrie how to temporally banish Mindylenopia. Frank and Luci broke up. Chartreuse fell in love with Carrie.

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PART 75a: HI ANXIETY

“Hi Carrie! I’m in love with you. That’s, like, okay, right?”

Chartreuse smiled engagingly. For about five seconds. Then she knocked her fist against her forehead several times and cleared her throat. Finally, taking a quick breath, she looked back into the mirror.

“Carrie, you look so ravishing today, and you know, for the record, I’d LOVE to ravish… okay, HELL no.”

This time, the pink haired mystic paced back and forth across her bedroom floor several times, pausing twice to adjust the straps of her dress, only then resuming her position in front of the vanity.

“Carrie, here’s the thing. I feel we have a certain, you know, bond. It’s not about powers, it goes beyond that! It’s like, sometimes when I see you – particularly when you’re cheerleading – I have this, like, overwhelming desire to run over, grab you around the waist, and bury my face in your–”

“Please, I beg of you, don’t finish that sentence.”

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TT3.57: Help Wanted

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3.10: HELP WANTED

“Lee, I’m talking to you.”

Lee jerked his gaze over towards Ms. Readman. “And I heard every word,” he assured her. “Unfortunately, my brain interpreted it as Spanish. Could you run it by me again?” A student sitting nearby let out a quiet laugh.

“Perspective drawing, Lee,” the art teacher said patiently, moving closer and indicating his empty page. “Are you having trouble understanding the assignment?”

“No, no, not at all,” Lee replied quickly. “Just spaced out for a moment, some things on my mind. I’ll get right to this.”

“Thank you, Lee, that would be appreciated,” Ms. Readman said wryly.  “Though do let me know if you’re having problems with your perspective?”

Lee nodded and watched his teacher continue her walk around the room. Letting out an almost inaudible sigh, he retrieved his ruler and began to mark down the requisite lines. A short distance away, Glen Oaks observed his classmate, a thoughtful expression on his face.

***

“Like, ohmigod!” Chartreuse breathed. “This is, you know, so totally cool! And Jeeves doesn’t even know about this place??”

“Obviously not,” Carrie said.

“Chartreuse, could you keep moving? We’re stuck in the passage,” Frank remarked.

TT3.52: Tope Springs Eternal

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3.05: TOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL

“Okay, wait, stop, hold the phone!” Carrie shouted, clawing herself back up using the bedsheets. “First things first. You’re telling me this Tope Diamond wasn’t some jewellery, but rather a person?!”

“Yeah, who knew?” Chartreuse replied. “She was heir to the Diamond diamond fortune. Of course, her mother Mother Diamond’s diamonds weren’t from the Dullsville Diamond Mine. They were mining coal instead.”

Carrie stared blankly at her house guest.

“Never mind,” Chartreuse decided. “Here’s the thing. Some people wanted to kidnap Tope and ransom her back for Diamond diamonds. Hence we Vermilions were, you know, asked to help in taking Tope someplace safe.”

“All right,” Carrie said slowly. “Assuming I followed that, when did this turn into a love story?”

Chartreuse blushed. “Right after my eyes locked with Tope’s.”

“Right after your eyes locked with Tope’s,” Carrie repeated back. “Chartreuse, this IS a girl we’re talking about here, right?”

“Yes. But when I was fourteen, I was, like, bisexual. In fact, I’m pretty sure I still am.” Chartreuse swallowed. “I guess that’s never come up. I don’t advertise. Does it bother you? Do you want me to go?”

TT3.51: The Visionaries

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3.04: THE VISIONARIES

“Luci! Guess what I got today!” Frank said as he opened the door for his girlfriend.

“The popcorn?” the young asian guessed, entering the Dijora house and looking at him in amusement. “I mean, that was our arrangement, you get the popcorn, I get the movie…”

“Yes, yes, but look what I received in the way of change,” Frank said, fumbling in his pocket for the money. He held six coins out for inspection.

Luci stared. “They… overcharged you?”

“The dates,” Frank said patiently. “Look at the dates.”

Comprehension dawned. “Oh! Two more from the current year.”

“Yup,” Frank affirmed as he pocketed them. “It’s weird, for whatever reason, we haven’t had as many recently minted coins in circulation this year. I don’t know why, but it could be a problem for when we resume time trips.”

“When? Not if? But Carrie hasn’t authorized more time trips.”

“Well, no,” Frank admitted. “But she can’t hold out indefinitely, can she? In particular, now that she’s gone out with Glen, we may want to use the time machine to investigate…”

TT3.49: New Arrival

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3.02: NEW ARRIVAL

“Welcome back to school!” the teacher announced. “I am Mrs. Haye, and this is senior English.” She came around her desk. “Now, many of you already know each other, seeing as our scheduling algorithm tries to synch you up based on your homeroom from last year. But it’s been a whole summer, and I don’t know all of you! So, as I call out your names, please tell me about something that interests you.”

Carrie Waterson tuned out the glorified roll call, choosing instead to look around the room. She noted that everybody who knew of the existence of the time machine remained in her homeroom, which was kind of nice. Though none of them had made any time trips since last year. Well, as long as Carrie ignored whatever the hell had happened – would be happening? – back on her birthday.

When the first present day minted coins had started to appear in late June, allowing for a round trip return to their present, Carrie had shut down the idea of time travel. She’d been keeping the machine under her bed since last December, wanting to be able to escape with it, if anyone came after her. Like, someone from the future, wanting to tap into her lurking demonic temporal powers.

The very thought of those powers caused Carrie to shudder involuntarily. This despite her mounting familiarity, due to the sessions she’d ended up doing with Chartreuse over the summer.

TT1.23: Rock Bottom

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PART 23: ROCK BOTTOM

Principal Dell Hunt rose, his gaze shifting away from Carrie and onto the new arrival in his office. “Excuse me…?” he said pointedly.

“It’s Chartreuse. Chartreuse Vermilion.”

“Yes, I am aware of who you are. Am I to understand that you are claiming responsibility for what was discovered?” The principal waved off the office staff member who was now standing uncertainly at the door. She nodded and left, closing the door again behind her.

“That’s correct, sir,” Chartreuse said. “Though in fact, I don’t own the drugs either. So, well, okay, like, you might want to take a seat, this is sort of complex what I’m about to say.”

Mr. Hunt slowly sank back down into his chair. “I had a feeling.” He gestured at the seat next to Carrie.

Chartreuse moved to sit down as she spoke. “See, I actually found the bag in question this morning on my way to school. I thought ‘whoa! I’d better, you know, turn these in somewhere’ so I put them in my bookbag.”

“In your bookbag.”

“Yes, sir, just temporarily. I figured I’d better get them out of the area lest the dealer, like, double back and retrieve them.”

“Indeed,” Mr. Hunt said dryly. “And where was it that you found this bag?”