* * *
Guy looked down at the clipboard, confused. "What is it?" he asked.
"It's a petition," Aldys replied, rolling here eyes. "I would think that would be plainly obvious�" she finished dryly.
Guy studied the paper. It said 'Petition for the Reinstatement of Sam Coulson' across the top of it. So far, Aldys had about sixty signatures on it: her Denominator friends and her teachers, Guy guessed. "No�I meant�What's it for? How is that going to help Mr. Coulson and Josie?"
"Well, it was Josie's idea, actually," Aldys explained. "She thought that if the teachers and students of the school made a uniform stand in wanting Mr. Coulson back, the school board just might listen."
"You think that will work?" Guy wanted to know.
"I don't know," Aldys replied honestly, "but I believe that every little bit helps."
"Okay�but I still don't see what this has to do with me�" Guy said.
Aldys rolled her eyes at his obtuseness. "Because the school board meeting is on Friday. That only gives me three days to get everyone in the school to sign it. And, let's face it�half the school wouldn't give me a second look. I need your help if I'm going to be able to do this. If you were involved in this, people would sign it; I'm sure of it."
"So�you want me to stand around with a geeky old clipboard and get people to sign that thing?"
Aldys pursed her lips and replied tightly, "Yes."
Guy looked at Aldys skeptically. He did want to help Mr. Coulson and Josie, and although he wasn't ready to admit it to himself, he wanted to help Aldys, too. After a moment's thought, he said, "Okay�I'll help you. But�" He put up his hand to stop Aldys, who was about to say something. "�I'm going to have to delegate some of this, too. There is no way the two of us are going to accomplish this alone."
"Who did you have in mind?" Aldys asked warily.
"Well, for the jock factor, we can give some to Rob's old girl Tracie, and�I think� Matz from the baseball team. After he hit that game winning homer at the Championship game, he's been pretty popular." Guy rubbed his chin as he thought. "Brett and Sera could handle the football/cheerleading faction. I'd say you have the geek�" Guy stopped abruptly and glanced at Aldys apologetically, "ahem�I mean, the brainy crowd sewn up, and probably the teachers, too. I'm sure that Sydney Anakowski would help. For the rest, I guess it'll be myself, Tommy, Jason, and the girls."
Aldys nearly choked. "You think those vacuous sycophants you have the nerve to call friends would bother wasting their precious time helping me!?"
Ignoring the slight, Guy shrugged one shoulder and said, "They will if I tell them to."
Aldys sighed. "Okay, fine. But this is too important for them to just mess around with. This could mean Mr. Coulson's job, you know."
"I know," Guy responded seriously. "And I'm sure once I explain that fact to them, they will want to help, too. I know that none of them were exactly 'A' students in his class, but they all really like and admire Mr. Coulson. Nobody wants to see him get kicked out of school over this. And, I think that some of them will feel better knowing they are doing something to help Josie. They weren't very nice to her, and it would be nice to be able to make it up to her."
"And what about you?" Aldys challenged. "You weren't very nice to her, either."
Guy met Aldys' gaze unflinchingly as he replied, "She wasn't the only one I wasn't very nice to�"
Aldys stared at Guy for a long moment before she narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Was that supposed to be an apology?" she asked incredulously.
"Yeah�I guess it was," Guy answered with a hint of a smile. "I'm sorry about not being very nice to you. But you know�can I give you a little bit of advice?"
Aldys didn't say yes or no; she just waited.
"You aren't exactly an easy person to get to know. You tend to push people away and shut them out. I think that's part of why people made fun of you. People don't like feeling shut out, so they make fun of it to make themselves feel better," Guy offered.
"Well, if I'm so wary of people, then you guys made me that way!" she huffed.
Guy put his hands up in a soothing gesture. "Whoa, whoa�I didn't mean that as an attack, or to blame you. I know that we were partly responsible for your being so sarcastic and cold. But that's the point I'm trying to make: we were only partly responsible for it. The rest you did yourself. Maybe if you weren't such an impenetrable fortress all the time, people might have reached out more�"
"What are you trying to say?" Aldys asked. "That if I weren't so protective, people might have liked me more? Why? Would you have?" she challenged.
"Would I have what?" Guy asked, although he was pretty sure he knew what Aldys meant.
Aldys paused for a moment, as if realizing that she was about to put her feelings at risk. But after what Guy had just told her about herself, she decided to chance it. "Would you have liked me more?"
Guy looked down at his feet and shuffled them a little bit. "I�I don't know. I don't know if before this whole thing with Josie happened, I would have cared. But�"
Guy thought back to the prom. It had originally been meant as a joke when Guy asked Aldys to dance. But once he saw her: her silky, long, blond hair flowing free about her shoulders, and her lithe body in nothing but that cat suit, not to mention the beautiful blue eyes he had never known she'd been hiding behind her glasses, he'd forgotten all about the joke. He'd been stunned by her beauty, if the truth be told. He had no idea that such a lovely young woman had been hiding under all the 'geek' trappings. And he was still coming to terms with the incredible fact that he was attracted to her.
"�but I learned a lot from being around Josie, and from hearing what she had to say. She was right�about me�about the rest of us. We were only her friends after Rob said all those things about her. And I would have missed out on knowing someone special because of that. That really made me rethink a lot of what I thought I already knew. So�now� Yes, maybe it would have made me like you more."
Aldys looked at Guy, and he looked back. For a long moment, they just stared at each other, until Aldys dragged her eyes away to stare at the floor. Despite herself, she blushed just a little bit.
Guy, embarrassed by his staring at Aldys, cleared his throat loudly and stammered, "So�uh�when do you want to get this show on the road?"
"Right now sounds fine to me," Aldys answered, grateful for the change of subject.
"Okay," he agreed amicably. "Let me have some of those sheets, and I'll get them passed out."
"Wait a second," Aldys said, holding the clipboard against her chest again.
"What?"
"Well, I'm still in charge of this project," she declared. "How well will that sit with your snotty friends?"
Guy decided that now was not the time to take issue with her put-downs of his friends�especially since she was right. "First of all�I thought we were both in charge of this project? After all, you did come to me for help�"
Aldys made a face as Guy continued. "Secondly, I will make it clear to everyone that they are to answer to either or both of us. And if anyone gives you trouble about it, you come to me and I'll take care of it. You're right; this is not the time for that stuff to get in the way. We need to work together if we have any chance of helping Mr. Coulson."
"Fine," Aldys acquiesced. "Here�" she said, handing Guy a bunch of sheets from her clipboard.
"Okay, I'm going to go distribute these. Maybe you can hit the Teacher's Lounge while I do this and we can meet back at your locker in�say�a half an hour?"
"You know where my locker is?" Aldys asked, surprised that he would have ever noticed.
As Guy started to walk off, he looked at her over his shoulder as if he couldn't believe she'd asked the question. "Of course I do!" As an afterthought, he added, almost without realizing what he was saying, "Oh�you should wear your hair down without the braids more often, you know. It's pretty that way." Then he walked off down the corridor in search of the people he'd nominated to help with their project.
Aldys stood staring after Guy for a long moment. She was afraid to breathe. Had Guy Perkins, Big Man on Campus and the most popular guy in school, apologized to her and given her a compliment in the space of five minutes!? Turning and walking off in the opposite direction, she gave her arm a little pinch. It hurt, but still she couldn't help but think, 'No way�I have to be dreaming�'
* * *
As the gum eraser narrowly missed a ducking Anita, she sputtered, "Hey!"
Josie put her hands on her hips and stood up, towering over her friend across the desk. "Sam is my boyfriend and he is off limits, do you hear me?" she scolded playfully. A little more seriously she continued, "I've already had one woman trying to steal him away from me today, and that was more than enough, thank you."
Anita straightened up, abashed. "Sorry, Jos�but I was just kidding!"
Josie sat back down and folded her hand inside of Sam's. "I know that, Anita. Really. I was just picking on you�but I have to admit that I don't like the teasing. I'm insecure enough about Sam; I don't need any help in that department."
"Okay," Anita agreed. "I'll promise to tone it down, but that's all I can do. Sometimes this stuff just slips out, you know? Habit�" she smiled half- apologetically at Sam.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Your mouth gets into high gear and there's no stopping you. Been there, seen that," Josie laughed. "Like how you told my whole Sex Ed class about your first sexual experience? Way too much information�" she teased.
"Hey, I'd tease you back," Anita said irreverently, "but you'd have to have had a sexual experience for me to be able tease you about it�"
Granted, Josie knew that Sam was aware of her lack of experience, but she still blushed furiously about having it brought up so offhandedly. "Anita�!" Josie hissed.
Realizing she'd put her foot in it again, Anita breathed, "Oops�uh, sorry, Jos." She took a sneak peak at Sam for his reaction, but this news didn't seem to surprise him or faze him whatsoever. Sure, he'd read Josie's "Never Been Kissed" article and probably put two and two together, but still�it's not the same as hearing it firsthand�
Anita breathed an internal sigh of relief that she hadn't just blown it for Josie with Sam. "Well, uh�maybe I should just get going before I say anything else stupid, huh?"
Josie muttered to herself, "Too late�" but then she smiled and said, "Okay. See you later on tonight. I take it that 'Project Gus' is still a go?"
Anita actually blushed a little, thinking of how he had felt pressed against her when they had run into each other earlier. "Yes," she said with uncharacteristic shyness.
A soft smile played around Josie's mouth, seeing the tender look on Anita's face. "Okay, then�we'll see you when? Around six thirty, seven?"
"Yeah, that sounds good," Anita answered, getting up from her seat. Opening the door, she said, "See you tonight."
"Bye," Josie returned as the door closed behind Anita's retreating form.
"Sorry about that," Josie said to Sam, not looking him in the eye. She was still embarrassed over Anita's comment about Josie not having any experience, even though it was an issue they had already discussed.
"Josie�don't worry about it. I like Anita! And her kidding and ribbing doesn't bother me. I understand the light in which they are intended�" Josie still wasn't looking at him, so he reached over and tilted her chin up with his finger. "Really�it's okay."
"It's�it's just�that she is so�different from me� I didn't know if you would like her. Or if you'd like her�better."
Sam looked at Josie incredulously. "What? You mean better than you!? That's ridiculous, Jos. I'm in love with you. And, yes, Anita is different, but there is nothing wrong with that. It's obvious to me that she is a very good and caring friend. That's what matters most. I surely have friends that are very different from me�that doesn't make them bad people, right?"
Josie chuckled a little and replied, "Well, I don't know�I haven't met any of your friends yet."
"Well, that can be fixed," he replied. "I'm sure that after Sunday night, they are dying to meet you. They will all want to meet the woman who finally got me to give up 'Lara the Hun'."
Josie smiled and repeated jokingly, "'Lara the Hun'?"
Sam grinned back. "Yeah, that's the nickname a lot of my friends gave her behind my back when they didn't think I could hear them�"
Josie laughed. "Well then, I think I'm going to like your friends�"
Sam laughed, too. "Yeah, I thought you'd say that�" After a moment, he changed the subject. Looking at his watch, he said, "I know it's pretty late now, but I did originally come to take you out to lunch. Do you want to go grab something light to eat?"
Josie looked at the stack of new work on her desk and then back at Sam, undecided. But then her stomach growled loudly enough for both of them to hear.
Chuckling, Sam joked, "Sounds like someone has an opinion on the matter�"
A touch of an embarrassed blush colored Josie's cheeks, but she smiled. "Okay�but it will have to be a working lunch if I'm going to get this stuff done before five."
Sam nodded and stood, holding his hand out to her. "That's fine. Shall we?"
Josie placed her hand in his and allowed him to help her up. "Okay." Suddenly Josie pulled up short. "Oh�how does my face look? I�um�did some crying earlier�" she finished awkwardly.
"Josie�you look beautiful, as always," Sam replied sincerely. "And certainly no harm done to the make up� Although you may want to add more lipstick�" he said as he bent in to kiss her.
Josie's arms snaked around Sam's waist, and pulled him closer as he kissed her. It was soft and tender, yet very passionate. He left her with no doubts that he thought she was beautiful, smudged makeup or not.
When they finally broke their embrace, Josie sighed blissfully, her eyes still closed.
Sam leaned forward and rested his forehead against hers, "Yeah, I know just what you mean," he whispered.
Smiling, Josie opened her eyes. "Okay, then. If we're going to go, then let's do it. I really have to get that work done."
"Sure," he replied, releasing her.
Josie reached over and grabbed a black leather folio, and then she placed the new paperwork from Gus inside of it. She tucked a few of her favorite pencils and a gum eraser into her purse. Then she grabbed both the folio and her completed work and turned to Sam with a nod.
"After you," he said politely, holding his hand out before him to usher her out first.
Sam put his arm around Josie as they left the office and headed through the bullpen. Many people stopped what they were doing and stared at them as they passed, but Josie was too preoccupied to notice.
"Are they ever going to stop doing that?" Sam whispered into Josie's ear.
"Stop what?" she whispered back.
"Staring at me!" he exclaimed quietly.
Josie giggled and replied simply, "Eventually�"
Just before they reached Gus' office, Josie stopped, placing a staying hand against Sam's chest. "I need to go in there to drop off this other stuff. I'll be right out, okay?"
"Sure," he agreed. "Just don't be long�"
"I won't. Promise."
As Josie walked in, Gus didn't even look up from the page of copy he was reading at his desk. "What do you want, Geller?" he said in greeting.
"I'm finished with the work you gave me this morning," Josie replied, unperturbed by Gus' gruff manner. "Where do you want it?"
Gus looked up from beneath his eyebrows and then extended a hand. Josie handed them to him. "Did you get the stuff I left with Anita?" he asked.
"Yes, I've got them right here�" she said, tapping the side of the folio under her arm. "I'm running out to get a quick bite to eat, but I'm taking them with me to work on."
Gus looked past her out the glass wall of his office to see Sam waiting for her. Grumpily, he warned her, "Well, don't make it an all day affair because I�"
"�need the copy by five," Josie cut in and finished for him. "Yes, I know. That's why I'm taking it with me. Don't worry, I'll get it done."
"Yeah, well�" Gus said, watching Sam waiting patiently for Josie, his hands in his pockets, surveying the bullpen with interest. "�don't forget that you've got that column to write, too. I want to see something in writing on that by the end of the day tomorrow; you got that!? I don't want to have Rigfort breathing down my neck on this one!"
Josie rolled her eyes. She'd heard that one many times before. "Fine, Gus. May I go now?"
Gus looked back down at the work in front of him and waved her off with his hand. "Go, go�just make sure I get that work by five."
Josie knew that was Gus' way of dismissing her, so she simply turned and walked back to where Sam was waiting. Looping her hand inside the crook of his elbow, she said with a smile, "Okay, Sam�I'm ready."
* * *
Aldys was just coming out of the Teacher's Lounge when she almost ran into Adam Christiansen. "Oh, Mr. Christiansen! I was looking for you�" she said with a smile.
"Really?" Adam smiled back. "What can I do for you?"
"Well, I was hoping I could get you to sign this petition for me� I know that you and Mr. Coulson often ate lunch together, so I figured maybe you two were friends�" Aldys explained.
Adam looked down at the clipboard in Aldys' hand. He read the heading and smiled. 'Leave it to Aldys Wells to think of a proactive way of handling the issue,' he thought.
"Well, you're right. Sam is a rather close acquaintance of mine, Aldys. I have to say that I'm very impressed with what you're trying to do for him, as I'm sure he will be when he hears about this," Adam complimented.
"I'd be happy to sign it," he replied, reaching out to take the clipboard and pen and signing his name at the bottom of the list with a masculine scrawl and then handing the items back to her. "How's it going with this?" he asked.
Aldys looked a little dejected. "Well, not as well as I'd hoped at this point. I did get some student assistance, but I really wanted to get the entire faculty to sign it as well. I was just in the Teacher's Lounge, but not many people were there. This part may turn out to be more difficult than I thought," she admitted.
"If you'd like, I would be happy to pass this around to the faculty. I'm sure that they would be interested in signing it, too. I don't think anyone really agrees with the school board's decision in this case."
"I know�it seems really unfair under the circumstances," Aldys commiserated sadly.
"Well, we'll do our best to change their minds then, okay?" Adam grinned, trying to lift Aldys' spirits. "Here, give me a few of those�" he said, putting out his hand to her.
Aldys complied by handing him a few sheets. "Thanks," she said again. "I really appreciate your willingness to help me with this."
"Sure, no problem at all," Adam assured her. He turned as if to enter the Lounge, but then Aldys called him again.
"Um�Mr. Christiansen?"
He turned back around to face her again. "Yes?"
"Do�do you think that maybe Mr. Kerdan will sign it? I mean�I know he is sort of the go between for the school and the board, but if he showed his support, I think that would be really great for Mr. Coulson's case, don't you?" Aldys asked uncertainly.
Adam thought about it for a second and then answered, "Well, I do think that it would greatly help Sam if Mr. Kerdan would sign it. I know that before this, he was quite fond of Sam�thought of him almost like a son, you know?"
Aldys nodded in agreement, although she didn't know this about Mr. Kerdan and Mr. Coulson before.
"So, I suppose it couldn't hurt to ask him. He might say no for just the reason that you described, but I'll give it a try, okay?"
Aldys looked very relieved. "Thanks so much, Mr. Christiansen."
"No problem, Aldys. I'll check in with you tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay�Goodbye, Mr. Christiansen."
"Bye, Aldys."
Adam stood in the doorway of the lounge for a moment, and then decided that there was no time like the present when it came to talking to Jack Kerdan about the petition. He turned and walked down the hall a little until he got to the main office.
Mrs. Lucent's desk was vacant, but the copy machine was running, so he supposed she wasn't far away. Looking toward Jack's office, he could see that it was mostly closed, but not completely so. Deciding to check to see if Jack was in, he moved closer to the door.
Looking through the crack of the door, Adam could see that Jack Kerdan was indeed in�and seated across from a woman who was mostly shielded by the large wings on the side of the leather chair she was sitting in. But whoever it was, she certainly had legs that didn't quit, at least from his view.
Adam wasn't normally the type to eavesdrop on conversations, but he was curious to know who belonged to those gorgeous legs.
The woman was saying sadly, "I know�I felt just like that when it happened. I guess I should have seen the signs. I mean�he'd been getting more and more distant since March. I wanted to believe it was just the physical distance, but in my heart, I knew it was more."
Adam's brow furrowed as he listened. Who was this woman talking about?
"So I made plans for a surprise visit�you know, to give us a chance to reconnect." The woman laughed bitterly and then a perfectly manicured hand reached out to pull a tissue from the box on the edge of Jack Kerdan's desk. With a voice that was half-wry, half-anguished, she said, "Little did I know he'd been connecting all along�just not with me. Of course, after finding out the truth about him, I ended it." The woman's voice cracked and she sobbed, "I still can't believe he could do this to me� I loved and trusted him, you know? We were supposed to get married�Did you know that?" After a long pause, the woman mused, "And really�who knows how many more there were? This is just the one I found out about�"
Jack reached across the desk to pat the woman's hand in consolation. "I must say that I am quite distressed by the scenario you've presented in your statement. To be honest, I really didn't want to believe the allegations, but considering the evidence you've presented here, it seems I have no choice."
Adam absolutely didn't believe it. He didn't know what this woman was trying to pull, but if she was intimating what he thought she was intimating about Sam Coulson then she was way off base. He shook his head quickly. No, there was no way that Sam could have done what they were trying to pin on him: he was much too honorable. He would have resigned before allowing such an inappropriate relationship to occur. Adam was sure of it.
"I'm sorry that I didn't come to you about this sooner, but�I just wanted to make it disappear. I guess I thought that if I pretended it never happened, it would go away� And maybe a part of me was hoping that he'd see the light, you know? That he'd see how wrong it was? I wanted to believe that� Because I really loved him�" The woman sniffled and raised the hand holding the tissue, apparently to dry her eyes.
"I am so sorry for your loss. It must be devastating. But I promise you that this matter will be properly dealt with on our end," Jack assured her.
"Then you'll make sure the school board gets this?" she continued beseechingly. "It was very difficult for me to come forward, as I'm sure you can understand. It's just that I added to my pain by reopening this wound, so I'd want it to be worthwhile."
Jack said comfortingly, "I guarantee, Ms. Patton, that as soon as the photocopies are complete, I will hand carry the copies of your affidavit to the board myself."
Adam stepped back from the doorway, flinching. Patton? Where had he heard that name? And then suddenly, he put the pieces together: Patton, as in Sam's ex-girlfriend Lara Patton. He glanced again at the copy machine, knowing this had to be the affidavit Jack had spoken of.
'My God�' he thought, 'What horrible thing did she say about Sam and Josie?' A sick feeling grew in the pit of his stomach. If she'd come all the way from New York to tell her story, it was a sure bet that it wouldn't be good. Furthermore, with her background in law, Adam was sure that this woman was no idiot. If the performance he'd just witnessed was anything to go by, then he was sure that whatever she'd said would be pretty damning and very convincing.
Adam didn't have time to ponder it further, because around the corner from where he stood, he heard Mrs. Lucent opening the back door to the office area. Making a split second decision, he rushed over to the copier, grabbed the top set of pages off the sorting rack, stuck them on the bottom of the pile of petition sheets he was holding, and rushed out the front door, taking care to close the door quietly so as to not arouse suspicion.
Adam knew that what he had just done could get him fired if anyone ever found out, but at that point, he couldn't have cared less. All Adam knew was that he had to find Sam right away�he had to warn him.
* * *