Morbid - 178 What They Are Up To

Annie was once again surprised when Arnold showed up early. “You sneaky little bugger! You’re supposed to call!” She exclaimed and hugged him tightly.

“Only when I can’t make it.” Arnold said with a slight smile.

“Cheeky, too.” Annie said with a chuckle and gave him a quick kiss. “I’ve had supper slow cooking for a couple hours, just in case.”

“You knew.” Arnold said.

“I suspected.” Annie said with a slight twinkle in her eye. “Thank you for confirming it.” She gave him another quick kiss and led him into the living room. “Now sit and tell me all about your week.”

They sat and Arnold told her all about the things that happened in class and the lab.

“Ewww! Chickens!” Annie laughed. “Please tell me they were plucked first.”

“Completely clean.” Arnold said.

“That’s a relief.” Annie said. “I can only imagine the mess you would have while trying to work with all those feathers and things around.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe you’re starting at chickens!”

“The professors pushed me to the third year in Biology and Chemistry.” Arnold reminded her.

“That’s absolutely amazing, Arnold.” Annie said. “Those extra lessons during the summer must have really boosted your understanding of both subjects.”

Arnold nodded. “Professor Power said that she regretted that our lessons had to end.” He said. “She also said that she couldn’t give me the rest of the course credits, because I needed to log in enough actual lab time and file the course reports to qualify.”

Annie nodded in understanding. “You definitely need physical proof to show the professors that you actually know the work.” She said. “That is, I meant the other professors. I can only imagine what Hamil and Felicia’s peers are saying about you having two years of their credits for summer lessons!”

*

“I can’t believe you actually got away with that.” The sociology teacher said to Professor Felicia Power during the evening faculty meeting.

“I didn’t ‘get away’ with anything.” Felicia said with a stern expression. “I performed several oral examinations on the young man and he proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he knew the course work and the proper indexing for the formulas required.”

“Actually, he knows the formulas as well and not just the index.” Hamil said, a little proudly.

“That’s not possible.” The sociology teacher said. “I admit that he seems intelligent…”

Felicia, Hamil, and several other professors and teachers let out barks of laughter.

“Lissa, you need to listen to the people that have spent the last three months in his company.” Miss Josephine, the Liberal Arts professor said.

“It’s Alyssa.” The sociology professor corrected. Her grey hair was done up in a complicated bun and she wore a nice conservative business suit and skirt, even though it was after school hours.

“That’s what I said. Lissa.” Miss Josephine said with a smile. “He is a remarkable young man.”

“His mind is invigorating.” The physics professor said. “Did you know he’s taking both the first year Physics class and the Quantum Mechanics class? I honestly didn’t think that was possible.”

“That was my fault, I’m afraid.” The Dean of Sciences said and they all looked at him. “When he was accredited with the first and second year biology and chemistry courses, his elective choices were expanded automatically.”

“Then I’m surprised he didn’t take full advantage of that.” The sociology teacher said.

“Arnold doesn’t think like a typical nineteen year old.” Hamil said. “I’m sure that most would have tried to dive head first into taking as many new courses as they could.”

The sociology teacher nodded her head.

“Arnold only took what he thought he could benefit from.”

“How in the world does quantum mechanics benefit a biologist?” The sociology teacher asked.

“The same way that advanced chemistry does.” Felicia said with a chuckle. “It gives him ideas as to why some observable and non-observable phenomenon contradict what is supposed to be happening.”

“Exactly!” The physics professor said. “It’s more erroneous data for him to collect, even though he’s not as invested into it as much as his other courses.”

“Oh, I understand that.” The sociology teacher said with a sigh. “He does volunteer occasionally; but, he pretty much just sits there and writes.”

“I assume you saw what he’s writing?” Hamil asked with a smile.

“He was doing his statistics homework.” She answered and the statistics teacher laughed.

“He still answered your questions when you asked, didn’t he?” The statistics teacher asked.

“Unfortunately.” The sociology teacher said and everyone else laughed, too.

“He is definitely not fitting the normal student profile.” The Dean of Sciences said and tapped the small folder in front of him. “I’m actually tempted to fill his free periods with other courses, just to see if he could handle a normal student workload.”

Hamil chuckled. “He’s handling the normal workload expertly, Neil. Have you looked closely at the specific spacing of his free periods? He’s given himself time between classes to complete as much of the work as he can, before he goes to the next class.”

“That’s kind of the problem I have.” Neil, the Dean of Sciences said. “He’s not taking the work back to his dorm and studying.”

“He doesn’t have to study it, not if he’s had time to read through the book.” Felicia said. “His mind is like a sponge.”

“Not really.” The physics professor said. “He had to read a particular passage from my text book twice before he could tell me what a quark was.”

Hamil thought about that. “Ah, I understand. You said it yourself. He’s not that into the subject. It’ll take him longer to adjust or assimilate the information.”

“His chemistry knowledge is well above par for my class.” Felicia said. “He’s also read every book in my private collection.”

“Mine, too.” Hamil said, a little surprised. “I’m actually having a hard time digging up good periodicals for him to browse through.”

Felicia laughed. “I know! He can get through one in half an hour and knows it inside out! It’s amazing.”

Neil, the dean of Sciences held up his hands. “All right. I can sign off on him having such a skewed education for now, until he messes up.” He looked at everyone and most of them nodded. “Now, about these rumors…”

Hamil sighed, the physics and math professors perked up, and every single woman in the meeting had slightly red faces.

“I see that quite a few of you have heard them.” Neil said and a couple of the women blushed more. “I was willing to overlook them, then this police incident happened.”

“It was completely swept under the rug.” The sociology teacher said. “How, might I ask, did that happen?”

“You’re the sociology teacher.” Miss Josephine said with a sexy smile. “Wouldn’t you know already?”

“All I have is suspicion and conjecture.”

“Oh? Didn’t you send one of your students out to investigate?” Felicia asked, a little snidely.

The sociology teacher sighed at being caught so easily. “I did, and he reported that Arnold was actually the subject of one of my third year students.”

“This should be good!” The physics professor said and leaned forward in his chair.

“You know I can’t discuss a student’s dissertation before it’s judged.”

“Miss Kinneson, I know it is under review by you, your assistant, and the previous sociology teacher.” Neil said and she nodded. “I won’t ask you for details or ask for a preview of what the paper will be graded as.”

“Thank you.”

“I will ask you for a general overview, and possibly the introduction the student herself wrote.” Neil said. “Assuming that she never mentioned the subject by name.”

Miss Kinneson was quiet for a moment. “She didn’t.”

“Then, please. Enlighten us.” Neil waved at the other people in the meeting.

Miss Kinneson saw all of the expectant faces. “She observed the subject for nearly three months. During that time…” She started the story of everything that the girl at the end of the lunch table had written in her dissertation about Arnold. Everyone’s attention was held firmly, even after the mention of the multimedia component that consisted of a presentation with both photos and video.

*

“You know that you don’t have to come all the way out here to pick me up, right?” Leann asked after she put her overnight bag into the trunk and climbed into Francine’s car.

“You mean, just like you don’t have to come home every weekend to spend it with me?” Francine responded with a smile.

Leann gave her an intense look for a moment, then she leaned over the center console and kissed her.

“Homework?” Francine asked as she pulled out of the parking spot.

“I didn’t have that much to do, so I brought it with me.” Leann said. “Maybe a couple hours on Saturday.”

“Good. I’ve got a tour that I have to conduct for a business that wants to donate a good chunk of money for a loan of one of the central pieces.”

“Oh?” Leann turned slightly in the seat to look at her. “I hope it’s not one of the nice ones.”

Francine chuckled. “If you promise not to say anything to anyone, I’ll let you in on a little secret.”

Leann leaned in close to whisper. “I… promise.” She lightly pressed her lips to her girlfriend’s cheek.

Francine blushed a little. “I’ve been meaning to rearrange the main gallery for a few months, so I can bring out some of the other pieces that are sitting in storage.”

“Ooo, sneaky.” Leann said and leaned away. She didn’t want to distract Francine while she was driving. Well, not too much.

“It’s not sneaky.” Francine said and her blush went a little deeper. “It’s just good business sense and…”

“Make sure you add in the costs of replacing the main display when you do up the loan contracts.” Leann said with a big smile.

Francine gave her a quick glance and saw her huge smile. “Tease.”

“I am not.” Leann said and leaned back over. “I’m doing my best to not distract you while you’re driving.”

“It’s not working.” Francine said and gave her another quick glance.

“Eyes on the road.” Leann said. “Unless you want to pull over and…”

Francine put on the signal and took the first turn that came up. She pulled over and parked, then wrapped her arms around Leann and kissed her.

After only a few minutes, they had both gotten each other off, had the windows of the car steamed up, and had made a mess of their clothes. They looked at each other and then down at themselves, with their breasts hanging out of their tops and their pants half off, then they looked back at each other.

“We… have to… wait.” Francine panted.

Leann licked her lips. “Just one more.”

“Okay.” Francine agreed immediately and started kissing her again.

*

Kelly was in her dad’s car and was trying her best to ignore his grumbling about the traffic. She had wanted to stay at the college, then made the mistake of telling her mother that she didn’t have a lot of homework to do. She joked in her head that her father had set an all time speed record coming to get her and it made her smile. She closed her eyes and relaxed as she remembered her dad’s bright red face as he walked down the dorm hallway.

Every single girl screamed and covered herself up, even if she was wearing normal clothes, They cursed, threw socks and towels and things as he passed, and made him feel the lowest of the low for coming into the dorm unannounced. Kelly had stayed completely quiet, even after Kenneth had reached her room. His head was ducked down and he stared at the floor, with three socks on his head and shoulder, and a pair of clean panties comically stuck to his back.

Kelly had handed him her bag and books, then she quietly handed back the things thrown as they walked back down the gauntlet. She also mouthed the words ‘thank you’ to each and everyone one of them. Each of the girls had nodded and smiled in satisfaction for the successful, and appreciated, hazing. Her father was definitely going to think twice about coming to get her like that.

Kelly fell asleep with her head against the window and a smile on her face.

*

Heather rode the bus and wondered where every one of their circle of friends were. It was a little odd for her to be the only person leaving the college that weekend, even though she knew that both Arnold and Kelly had little to no homework. She hadn’t seen the other girls Kelly was friends with, either.

Maybe I should have asked them? Heather asked herself and then shrugged.

She suspected that it wouldn’t be the only time she would be riding the bus, especially if Eric kept screwing up and getting himself more homework and messing up their weekend plans. She sighed and rested her head against the window. Little did she know that pretty much all of the others had taken some other form of transportation and even the bus, except at different times. It was a long two hours for her to get home.

*

Detective Olivia Tanner now had three different people lined up for the weekend to monitor Arnold and his last victim, Kevin. The Thomas girl had been absolutely vicious when she had learned what some of the circumstantial evidence against Arnold was and had spilled everything she knew, what her mother knew, and what all of her friends knew. She was a treasure trove of gossip, conjecture, and insinuation.

Olivia couldn’t have been happier.

She didn’t know that her efforts would be in vain. She would waste all of their weekends as they tracked Arnold while he enjoyed the sights and events with his mother. Kevin didn’t need to be tracked, because he sat in the detention cell at the station. The thing that gave her relief was that Kevin would be moved at the end of the month and it was on a Wednesday, which meant that Arnold wasn’t going to be around to possibly mess things up.