Temporal Exploring 101 - Cultural Immersion

II.16 A hug in the showers and an attempt to talk things out

"You look like you could use a hug, Hart."

I looked up to find Eunice Ndemba watching me thoughtfully.

The two of us, as well as the rest of our classmates had just assembled in the showers after hockey practice.

"Maybe so," I admitted.

I had not been feeling too good ever since that class earlier today when I had learned about Alan Turing's fate, and I was still feeling more than a bit shaken up because of that.

"Right."

A naked Ndemba walked up to me and put her arms around me, pulling me close. Somewhat awkwardly at first, I hugged her back.

It felt a bit like a shock to the system, but in a pleasant way, as if my entire body had suddenly come alive, as the length of  the other girl's warm body pressed against mine. I could feel the shape of her breasts against my chest, her nipples pushing against my bare skin.

Judging from the way she caught her breath, Ndemba felt it too. She uttered a surprised little sound.

Her right hand was on my lower back, her fingertips grazing the upper part of my buttocks. Without thinking, I shifted my position so that her hand came to rest on my rear. Her fingers moved, cupping my left butt cheek. Feeling its roundness, gently squeezing it.

Bemused, I wondered what was happening, lately. First Mallory Carmichael, and now Eunice Ndemba. Was it just me, or was everybody around me starting to feel frisky all of a sudden?

For a moment, the other girl's face touched mine, her left cheek pushing against my right cheek. It was a moment of unexpected tenderness.

Ndemba let go of me and smiled. "Don't let those little snobs get you down, Hart."

She spoke loud enough for everybody else to overhear her remark.

"I don't intend to let them get me down. Don't worry about it," I told her.

Dorothy Barnett cleared her throat. I was surprised that she actually looked embarrassed.

She turned towards Jess and Helen, who happened to be standing nearby.

"Look here, about that discussion we had in Jefferson's class. Please don't get me wrong. I have got nothing against the two of you, or against Ndemba, and of course I don't believe any of those stupid rumors." She turned on one of the showers and stepped under it. "And I would love to welcome both of you as members of the Galads. It's just that I refuse to believe that the committee rejected your application because of those rumors. I hope you understand that."

Langden and Burns exchanged a look.

"We believe you, Barnett," Helen replied. "But you know, you could be wrong in your assessment of that committee. Regardless of what you think about them, I have my doubts about their motives."

"Well yes, so do I," Ndemba vehemently asserted. "If they have got nothing to hide, they may as well communicate their reasons for turning down an application."

"Eunice most certainly deserves to be accepted as a member, and so do Langden and Burns," Erin Morgan declared.

Dorothy Barnett was applying soap to her chest and shoulders.

"What I said holds for you too, Hart," she told me."I like you, and you will recall that I already invited you to join the Galads."

"An invitation which I declined," I remarked.

"I know, but I want you to know that this invitation is still valid." She turned towards Carol Mellon. "I am truly sorry about what happened to your friend, Carol. The one who killed himself."

Carol shrugged. "I don't know if I would call him my friend. Remember, I was only four or five years old, at the time. But I recall that he acted friendly towards me, and he took me seriously which I could tell was not necessarily the case for other grown-ups when they interacted with me." She looked at me curiously. "Why don't you tell us what you know about him, Hart. Was he actually that famous?"

"You really don't know anything about Alan Turing at all, do you?" I asked.

They all shook their heads. I could not believe this. How was it possible that I, a visitor from the future, knew more about their recent history than they themselves did?

"Well, he was one of the greatest and most influential mathematicians of this age," I began.

I proceeded to tell them about the Enigma machine, the Turing test and the concept of the Turing machine.

My classmates, including Natty, appeared to be pretty impressed.

"How come you know all that stuff, Hart?" Helen asked.

"I had to write an essay on his work once, in my old school," I lied. "Also, my dad teaches math at the university."

"Will your father attend this year's parents' weekend, next Saturday and Sunday?" Barnett wanted to know. "Or your mum?"

"A parents' weekend? And you say it is this week, already?"

"Of course. Didn't you know?"

"Well no, I didn't." I shrugged. "Anyhow, I don't expect my parents will be able to attend it. As far as I know, at this time of year there are some major exams scheduled at the University of Aberdeen, so my dad probably won't be able to spare the time, and my mum is unlikely to show up at that sort of an event, anyhow."

I was making up that last part, taking cues from my real 23rd century mum who had always loathed to make an appearance at any kind of school-related event  – an attitude that had often worked in my favor, robbing teachers of the opportunity to complain about my performance and/or my behavior in class.

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A / N : Clearly, there are aspects of life in the middle of the 20th century that Cathy has trouble coming to terms with. Such as, all those prejudices and biases. This is a thing temporal explorers must be able to handle, I suppose. And something that is to be expected if you undertake a time travel to the past.

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