Beatty & The Beast

SEVENTEEN: Where the Beast Kisses a Prince

A few days later, early May

Keefe was amazed that he had butterflies in his stomach. He had actual, honest-to-God butterflies flopping around his gut like they were in the midst of the biggest sugar high.

He was so nervous! More than he had been about any of the other FTMs that had come to pass.

The idea for this particular one had come to his brain early on and was, in fact, one of the first ideas. Because he wasn't sure how she would react to it, he inevitably kept pushing it back.

Now he argued with himself over it. He had to remember who he was dealing with here. She wasn't a squeamish person, and so she shouldn't be offended or disgusted.

But would she like it was the question.

He wasn't sure. She could be hard to read sometimes. There were moments where he could swear he knew her thoughts clearly, see her actions before she performed them, finish her sentences before she uttered them. Then there were times where she would be completely unpredictable and, though he loved that quality about her, it didn't stop it from being frustrating.

It wasn't that he feared an angry outburst from her or threats to beat his head in. It was indifference that he feared. He really wanted her to like it ... especially since it hadn't been an easy experience.

This particular Moment had been difficult to set up and keep secret. Keefe knew he had to spring it on her at the end of the school day, after seventh period, but the essence of the plan wasn't exactly something he could shove into his locker and leave for the entire day. He also couldn't carry it around since he and Andie spent every second they could together, and he couldn't break their hang-out routine because she would know he was up to something. No matter what his excuse, she seemed to always be suspicious that he was up to some "fairy taling" as they called it.

Luckily he had Oscar, his "friend in low places" (Tenderfoot's joke, not his. The little guy laughed his head off when he thought it up), and Ms. Penbrooke to help out. Penbrooke let him hide what he needed to in her classroom, promising to look over it during the day while Oscar either distracted Andie or moved the essence of the Moment around when he, Keefe, was in her company.

It had been a little stressful, but they had successfully gotten through six and a half periods without Andie having an iota of suspicion. The next part was the easy part: getting out of seventh period early to prepare for the big unveiling.

Luckily, seventh period meant Computer Science which meant his left-by-her-cheating-husband-and-so-was-caught-up-in-her-plans-for-revenge-instead-of-concerning-herself-with-her-students teacher, Ms. Swindleton. To get out of class a mere fifteen minutes early with any other teacher – save Ms. Penbrooke, because she was just that cool – he would have to either throw up right there in class or come up with some story of having a horrendous – and highly contagious – disease. VHS was strict about cutting class and the teachers generally didn't want to risk getting chewed out by Principal Watatooka or Dean Mulberry.

And though Keefe had a stunning – and highly detailed – back-up story of a tapeworm currently living in his stomach and causing a feverish case of explosive diarrhea, he knew it would not be necessary. Ms. Swindleton wouldn't care if he flat-out told her he just wanted to leave early, wouldn't care if Watatooka came in red-faced and furious, wouldn't care if a meteor the size of Texas struck the town, unless that meant it would seriously maim her cheating ex-husband and his mistress. She'd let Keefe leave without any problem, without the need of a case of feigned diarrhea.

So Keefe escaped with fifteen minutes to set up before the final bell rang. Getting into her locker was no problem either (those lock-picking tutorials he had found on YouTube during past CS classes had come in handy over the last few months.) Past that, set-up took about ten seconds.