The Cale Storyline Story 13 Chapter 2

Attention: Generation X and their villains, as well as any other mutant mentioned in this story, is property of Marvel Comics. The character Richard Cale is named after family relations. Any other reference to anything copyrighted is a chance happening.

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Win Some, Lose Some

Chapter 2: A New Partnership (updated)

Quinn walked through the complex that belonged to her boss’s new partner. She still wondered about why her boss had sought out the help of this man. She had to admit that this Tom fellow had a very nice place, and well equipped. She wondered if this Black Tom fellow was planning some sort of attack on a large scale. When she finally reached the room where her boss was, she said, “Ma’am, can I ask you a question?”

She watched as her boss turned to face her and said, “What is it, Quinn, and you may call me Claudette.”

Quinn felt honored that her boss insisted that she call her by her name. “Yes Claudette. I was wondering why you have teamed up with this Black Tom fellow. I don’t understand what his connection to Richard Cale is.”

She saw her boss smile and say, “Sit down, Quinn, and I’ll give you an account, as my sister and I was told.” She did as she was told and Claudette then said, “You see, a month after Richard joined Generation X, Black Tom attacked the school. During the fight, Black Tom struck at Penance which sent Richard into a fit of rage. The result ended in the apparent death of Black Tom. However, I figured that if Black Tom had cloned one of the Generation X members, he had also cloned himself.”

She now had an understanding on why this partnership was formed. She then said, “So you teamed up with this Black Tom because he hates Richard as well.” She felt a rush as she thought she had figured everything out.

She was almost started when Claudette said, “Not exactly, Quinn. You see, I have another reason for working with Black Tom.”

Quinn was almost in shock. “You mean to say you didn’t just team up with him to attack Rich?” She didn’t know what other reasons there could be, and then she started to wonder if it was related to clones at all. This Black Tom fellow seemed to have prefected working with them.

She watched as her boss sat back and said, “I know what your thinking, Quinn, and you’re right.” She motioned to her left, and Quinn looked over and saw the clone for the first time. Claudette then said, “You see, in this body, I am both myself and my sister. Imprisoned in my mind is my sister, and if she breaks free, I’m trapped.”

Quinn quickly put two and two together. “So you are creating the clone so you can be permanently seperated.” When her boss nodded, she started to think about one thing and said, “But won’t the clone have the split mind like you do?”

She watched as her boss just smiled. “I didn’t forget about that. I’m already taking steps to make sure we don’t have to worry about that. Now, we must get going. We have a kidnapping to plan.” Quinn smiled at that thought. She would love to see what Black Tom had in mind for capturing Yvette Cale. She even hoped that she could cause the girl some pain.

Black Tom waited for the rest of their little group to show up. So far, only one of Claudette’s group had shown up, and the others were all they were waiting for. As they waited, he hear Cain say, “Are you sure we can trust them, Tom? I mean that one was one of your cousin students.”

Tom looked over at Cain and said, “Obviously, you don’t keep up with current events. That lad over there, and the gal Claudette brought in were part of a group that terrorized Richard Cale’s company. Plus, I can judge when someone is being honest about this stuff.” He stopped talking when he noticed that Claudette was entering the room with her other team member. He stood up and said, “Hello Claudette. I hope you are ready for the planning session.”

He watched as Claudette sat down and said, “I’m ready. I even did some thinking of places to pull off the capture.” He had to admire the gal’s knack for planning.

He just leaned forward over a map of Snow Valley and said, “Alright, lass, where do ye recommend the kidnapping take place.” He had a few ideas, but he was hoping this gal could come up with something that could help his idea.

He watched as Claudette pointed to a spot on the map. “There. It’s a comic shop in town that Rich and Yvette have gone in a few time. He gets his comics there. I figure Yvette will probably head there.”

Tom glanced at the map and smiled. “It connects to a back alley. Alright, here is the plan. Claudette, I want ye to tell Q. T. and Golden, to go in and tip off Yvette. I doubt she’ll try anything like using her powers in public. Once she comes out the back door, Cain, I want you attack her, and at the last moment we’ll set lose the secret weapon.” He saw Claudette smile. “You like this plan?”

He watched an evil smile cross her face. “Let’s just say that the secret weapon will totally confuse her. Also may I suggest an inhibitor collar. We don’t want her breaking free or letting anyone know about her dilemma.” He nodded in agreement. For her to tip someone off before they had her in the complex was not a good idea. They all went to continue the plan from there.

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Everett sat in the lounge next to Jubilee. Everyone was in the lounge, either working on the assignment that Rich gave, or taking part in a game of Super Smash Bros. The only two not in the room were Rich and Yvette, but he expected as much. As he looked over the problem again, he heard Angelo say, “Up and away you go, Mondo.” He glanced over at the screen to see that Angelo had sent Mondo’s character flying.

He looked back down at the problem and said, “Anyone have any ideas?” He had to admit it was a tough problem. He had been looking over the numbers for a while, and still couldn’t piece it together. Plus it didn’t help that all the problems looked different.

He heard Clarice say, “Rich said that A,B,C,D,E all represent the same numbers for all of us. We just had to figure out what those numbers are.”

He then noticed Darrett was looking over his problem and said, “There is something about this pattern. I think I saw it somewhere once before.” Everett then realized something. Pattern was the key word.

He looked at everyone and said, “Let’s all look at our problems together.” He watched as everyone laid down their papers. Everyone except for Mondo, Daria, and Angelo, who were too busy beating up their characters. He then said, “Look at that, in the problem, he changed the multiplier each time. We have 2, 4, 5, and 6.” After doing a quick count, he turned over to the three game players and said, “Hey you three, let’s see your papers.”

Daria just looked over at him and said, “Why, I don’t see why you are working so hard to figure it out. It doesn’t look so difficult.”

He placed the papers down with the others and said, “Look like Angelo had the other 5, and I’d bet that Yvette has the other 6, but look at what Mondo and Daria had.”

Jubilee just said, “They both had times 3, and look what the product looks like on theirs, ABCDE1.”

Paige nodded and said, “And Daria has E=7? on her paper. Daria, are ya shore of that?” He noticed it to, and wondered if it was a key to solving the puzzle.

Daria just said, “Not really, but it makes the most sense so far. I’m not sure if it’s right since I’m not sure if we have to deal with mutliple digits or not.”

Everett just look at his paper and then at her’s. “Daria, I think you might be right. These are six digit numbers. So, each letter represents a digit, and Daria believes that E=7 so lets work from there.”

As they worked on it for a bit, and soon they had determined the digits for D and C. They were all started when they heard Sean say, “Well, this is a change. Almost all of ye are hard at work on homework. I take it you like Rich’s class.”

He saw his girlfriend look up and said, “Yea, except he almost gave us a killer assignment.”

He turned and faced her. “What do you mean us, Jubilee. As I recalled, you brought down his wraith with that one comment. You’re lucky that Mondo answered it correctly.” She nodded. He knew Jubilee didn’t intend to get hit by that assignement.

He then saw a few more people enter. One was Monet’s father, and another had to be Rich’s other family friend. The last four were a bunch of girls, around Jubilee’s age. He heard Jono say, "So, Sean, who is everyone?"

He heard Sean said, “Well, All I can say lad, is that they are all here to see Rich. However they claim one of the gals claims to be a mutant. The gals came from Easton. Apparently, Godiva sent them up here.”

Everett then head Mondo say, “Sean, do they know about Rich’s current state?” He watched as a concerned look crossed everyones face. That told Everett that they didn’t know.

He heard the one man, a blonde gentleman, say, “Excuse me. Is something wrong with Rich?” He then noticed that Jubilee looked like she was star struck.

Before anyone could say anything, he heard a voice at the doorway say, “Nothing that can’t be corrected. In fact, it will be correct tomorrow.” He saw a shocked look cross all six of the faces, and could tell that Rich had entered the room.

Angelo watched as Yvette lead Richard into the room, with Emma right behind them. After a brief moment, Angelo finally broke the tention and said, “Don’t worry, Dr McCoy said Rich’s eyes will be better tomorrow. The bandages come off tomorrow.”

He watched as the one girl just said, “You mean he is suppose to be the one who can help us.” He wondered if she was the head of the little group of gals. She was blonde, with a figure that any girl would die for, but all the girls had figures like that. The only one that didn’t look like that was the redhead in the back.

He noticed that Rich turned to face the direction of the sound. Angelo saw the unease in the girl’s stance as Rich looked like he was facing her. He heard Rich said, “And who exactly is speaking?” Angelo could tell something was bothering the blond the second Rich faced her direction.

He then heard the red head say, “Her name is Britney. My name is Christina. My other friends are Mandy,” Angelo noticed the African girl nodded. “And Jessica,” and then the brunette gal nodded. “We were sent up here because Godiva said you could help us.”

He noticed that Emma then said, “Well, Christina, I think everyone thanks you for such a nice introduction. Godiva had notified us, but Sean was probably already at the airport at the time we got the message.” He watched as Rich nodded and then she said, “Now, Rich had gone to make special provisions for your arrival.”

He then saw Yvette nodded and said, “Yes, my husband had asked a chef from one of his companies to prepare dinner for you tonight. In fact, dinner should soon be ready.”

Angelo smiled and said, “Thank you. I thought we’d have to deal with Emma’s cooking.” He was not the only one to think that Emma needed a lot of cooking lessons.

He noticed that Sean looked at him and said, “Don’t worry lad. Ye have dish duty tonight.” He smacked himself upside the head when he realized that he put his foot in his mouth. No one had been give that task tonight, and a big meal usually meant alot of dishes.

Angelo moved when Cartier just said, “That sounds terrific. I must thank all of you. It will be a nice change from Airline food.” Angelo could probably sympathize with that. You never eat good when you are travelling.

As they all headed for the dining area, he felt someone grab his arm. He turned to see the redheaded girl named Christina say to him, “Excuse me, but how many of the girls here are mutants?” He found it a very odd question to ask.

He just smiled and said, “Every girl is a mutant here. We aren’t bad people.” He was about ready to defend himself and the others, but the girl shook her head. He looked at her and said, “Are you saying that you’re a mutant as well?”

Before she could answer his question, Angelo heard Jubilee shout, “Come on, Ang. The food is waiting.” He headed out to the dining area. He was a bit leary about this girl. Last time a mutant girl came to the school, he ended up in something like a coma.

When they all reachd the table, he was surprised at the meal that was awaiting them. It was a regular feast. He even heard Darrett say, “Man, this is a regular feast.” Darrett was right. The chef that Rich had come up to the school must has perpared a real banquet.

He then heard Yvette say, “To everyone here, especially our guests, sit and eat.” Angelo guessed that to Rich, this visit from Monet’s father was a big deal. To everyone else, it was just another day. Not really a need for a feast, but it had an upside.

Almost as soon as everyone was eating, Angelo heard one thing that froze everything. It was Cartier saying, “Richard, where is Monet? Is she not joining us?”

Angelo noticed an errie silence was filling the room as each member of Generation looked at each other. They were all thinking the same thing. They were all thinking of how to tell Cartier that Claudette had broken free. Soon enough, in a very calm voice, Rich just said, “I’m afraid to say that Monet is being detained, Cartier. It appeared that Claudette wanted to be in charge, and she still is.”

Angelo saw the look on Cartier’s face as he said, “How did it happen?” He was crestfallen. Monet was the apple of his eye. With that, Rich began the tale of when Claudette showed she was in charge.

Paige sat at the table and listend as Rich recited every detail of what lead to a devistating moment for Generation X. She was glad that she and Jono were away at that time with the X-Men. She could even see how much it hurt Cartier as Rich continued with each detail. When he was almost through the story, she felt someone tap her shoulder. She turned to faced them, and was face to face with the girl named Britney. The girl just softly asked, “Did I hear right that this Monet and Claudette inhabit the same body?”

Paige nodded and softly said, “Yes, you see, Monet sort of kept Claudette in check. They have a symbiotic relationship as mutants. The problem is that Monet and Claudette are opposites.” She saw Britney nod, as she apparently understood.

It was at that time Paige noticed the silence in the room. Rich had ended the tale, and everyone was looking at her, or if they were not looking at her, focused on her. She then heard Richard said, “Thank you, Paige, I forgot that they didn’t know that.”

She then heard the man named Gabe say, “Is that what lead to your eyes being bandaged?” Paige notice that everyone shook their head simultainously. It was a reasonable question.

Paige was almost startled when Britney just said, “You mean to say that you can’t see, and Godiva said you could protect us.” She could hear the anger in the girl’s voice.

She was thankful when Yvette said, “Godiva was never made aware of Rich’s current condition. It will be taken care of tomorrow. Besides, Richard knows that his teammates will help him, and Godiva knows that as well.” Paige watched as the girl’s anger subsided, and that the girl sitting next to Angelo appeared to relax. Paige wondered if Britney was going to blame that girl for all this.

It was then that Emma said, “Can one of you girls explain the problem?” Paige was wondering what had brought the four girls to ask for Godiva’s help.

She heard the one next to Angelo say, “Some monster is after us. I think it’s after me, but it’s threatening all of us.” She focused on what the girl was saying. “You see, I’m a mutant, but my friends aren’t. I have an odd power, one which they like.” Paige watched as each girl nodded.

She then heard Sean say, “But lass, if ye are a mutant, what is yur ability?” She heard everyone was wondering the same thing.

The girl just lowered her head and said very softly, “I make non-mutant women look sexy. But, that’s not all.” Paige looked around after she said that and realized that the other girls she was with had changes. They had lost some physical traits. The girl had been telling the truth.

She then heard Clarice say, “What else can you do?”

Paige could tell by the look on the girls face that she didn’t want to say. The girl finally swallowed and said, “Well, as I can give looks to non-mutant girls, I can take them away from mutant girls, and I get their physical traits. It’s not pleasent. Once they leave, everything returns to normal.”

Paige noticed that everyone had a mixed look on their faces, but Rich, Yvette and Emma had a look of fear on their faces. She didn’t know why, but she could tell. Before she could ask, she heard Rich say, “For right now, maybe all of you gals should be escorted to the girls dorm, and have a room next to one of the other gals. Paige, you and Jono take Britney. Jubilee and Everett can take Jess to her room. Mondo and Daria, please take Mandy to a room. Christina, Darrett and Clarice with escort you to a room, and I will have Yvette stop by to talk with you, alright.” She watched as the girl nodded and everyone began to file out. As they all exited, Paige turned to see that Rich, Emma, Sean and Yvette were starting to talk with Cartier and Gabe. She couldn’t help but wonder what the topic was.

Jono walked along side of Paige as they escorted Britney to the room she would be staying in. He though that the only nice thing about the situation was that he was with Paige. Something in him just said that something wasn’t right. He felt that this girl might be hiding something. He looked at Paige and said, "Sunshine. I think there is something the girls are not telling us. I just have this hunch about it."

He watched as Paige looked at him and softly said, “I don’t think they might be the only ones not saying much. Rich didn’t want us around for something. I think he has some insight on this. At least Emma insisted on having a few extra rooms ready in case of this.”

Just then he noticed that Britney was looking at both of them and said, “Do you mind if I ask what you are talking about?” He felt like he was a kid again, with his hand stuck in the proverbial cookie jar.

He then said, "We were just wondering about you and your friends?" It was a lie, but he hoped that it was convincing. "How did you all meet?"

He saw the girl smile and he relaxed. She then said, “Well, we met before High School. We basically met in 7th grade and became a clique. I was the leader of our clique. We keep up to date on the popular music of the day. What we say is in, is in. Right now, it’s that new teen queen, Sugar Kane. By the way, what do you think of her?”

He looked at Paige and then said, "Frankly, I’ve heard cats that sang better. Besides, I’d prefer my little star here." He saw that Paige was blushing a bit. He then said, "What about this monster, do you know much about it?"

He noticed she looked like she was thinking about it, and then she said, “Not much, I remember it was ugly, but it couldn’t have been man nor mutant.” He wanted to tell her that that wasn’t always the case, but she probably already had guessed on that. She then said, “To tell the truth, I hope that it doesn’t get Christina.” Right then, he felt that same nagging feeling.

Jono felt a bit better when Paige said, “Britney, this will be your room. If you need anything, I be right next door, ok.” He watched as the girl nodded and entered the room. When the door closed, he heard Paige say, “Jono, join me in my room.” He nodded and followed her into the room. When she closed the door, she said, “Love, I think we haven’t been told everything. I saw the look on Rich’s face. He was scared. I think he had a nightmare and these girls are involved.”

Jono nodded and said, "I agree, but I think I have a good idea of what they haven’t told us. All they said was there was a monster. Christina said she thought it was after her since she was a mutant. That reeks totally of Emplate. That bloody bastard is after them."

He watched as Paige nodded and said, “Well, maybe for the time being, they are safe. Emplate won’t try anything with all of us here, and with Rich holding that sword of his, well.” He knew what she was going to say. Emplate would have to be nuts to challenge Rich with the sword. “Plus, with his father here, I doubt he’d try anything at all.”

He nodded and took her in his arms. "Y’ur right, sunshine. He probably won’t try anything, but still, we should tell the others what we suspect." He then thought for a minute and said, "Paige, do you think Rich paired all of us off with one gal to guard them, or to find out info on the girls?"

He looked at her as she reached up, and pulled herself up to his face and said, “Ah think, since he’s so busy, he indirectly asked us to find out some info on the girls to aleve his fears.” With her last word, she just kissed him. He did hope she was right. He didn’t want to think that Rich had manipulated them, but it did make sense if he did.

Mondo walked alongside Daria as they escorted Mandy to her room. As they headed for the girls room, he heard her ask, “What happened to Richard’s eyes, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Mondo almost shuddered at the question. He could only imagine what it might have felt like, but Yvette had a better idea of what that pain was like. He just said, “It’s a very long story. If we have time, we’ll tell you later.” She nodded and then he said, “Mandy, what can you tell us about yourself?”

He heard Daria then say, “Yea. How did you meet up with Britney, Christina and Jessica? You don’t look like you would hang out together.”

He watched as the girl nodded and said, “True. We sort of found out that we were four girls that agreed on music. Soon we became a clique, but things got tense when Christina’s power started to develop.”

He saw how Daria looked at her. There was a concerned look on her face. He then looked at Mandy and said, “Why do you say that?”

Mandy just lowered her head and said, “Well, Britney loves to be the center of attention. When she found out about Chris’s ability, she wanted to exploit it. But Chris was still better looking that Britney. She started to resent her. In fact, Britney was the main factor in a riot, but nobody knew it.”

Mondo was almost appauled but what she said. He then heard Daria say, “What happened?”

He heard Mandy gulp as she started to speak. “Britney suggested we pose as cheerleaders, but in smaller outfits that the school cheerleaders wear. Almost every guy was looking at us. Afterwords, the whole team confronted us. Britney said that our costume designer, Chris, came up with the costumes, but negleted to say that it was her design. When all the girls ganged up on Chris. We learned that most of the cheerleader were mutants.”

He then heard Daria gasp, and realized that Chris’s power must have kicked into overdrive. He just looked at Mandy and said, “You mean that Chris stole all their looks.”

He was almost started when Mandy said, “Yes, and she took on every one of their traits. Her body was almost out of control. In time, her body blocked the one hall. Guys and male teachers lost their cool. She was the fantasy woman. However, the faculty found a way to let her return to normal.”

He was totally disgusted by that. He wondered if they should tell Rich about that. They were however at Mandy’s room. He heard Daria say, “My room is right next door.” When the girl entered the room, she faced him and said, “Love, you better tell Sean, Emma and Rich about this. I think they might find it very informative.” He nodded and was off. He didn’t want to leave her, but this was important.

As they walked down the hall, Jubilee wondered how much they could find out about the four girls. She looked over when Jessica said, “This place is nicer than Easton High. It’s very homelike.” Those words really struck home. She never realized that the girls were from Easton. They might have said, but she never heard them mention it.

Jubilee looked over at Everett as he said, “Is that how you know about Rich and Godiva? Because you live in Easton?” She wondered if that was a dumb question. Almost everyone in Rich’s hometown knew who he was.

She was surprised when Jessica shook her head and said, “Not really. All I know about them was the murders earlier this year. The town was in morning for a week. The Key Club at the school still morns the loss. Rich was a member and always helped. I heard he had the gift of a silver tougue. A regular salesman when it came to getting people to try for a door prize.”

Jubilee had know that Rich was a helpful person, but never knew that. She just looked at Jessica and said, “You mean that Rich could talk people into buying stuff. I never knew he could do that.”

Jessica just shruged. “Maybe it wasn’t totally him. I do know that one of the regular helpers he had back then was another mutant. She even continued to help and did as well as he did. I’m not totally sure. However, I never thought about asking Godiva for help until my cousin mentioned it.”

She saw a puzzled look cross her boyfriend’s face as he said, “Your cousin suggested Godiva?”

“Yea, she helps out at the museum since she moved to town. She told her mother she wanted to live in Easton and since we were the only family out here, her mother allowed it. Cynthia even wanted to join the group. Britney turned her away since she didn’t have a musical sounding name.” Jubilee was startled by two things. The first was how Britney sounded, but the second was the cousin’s name.

She knew her boyfriend could tell something was bothering her. She felt him take her hand as he said, “Lee, what’s wrong?”

She knew he was concerned for her, but she had to know the answer. She looked at Jessica and said, “Can you tell me where your cousin is from? The name sounds familiar to me.” She deep down hoped that she hear an answer that she wanted to hear.

Jessica just said, “Well, she’s from South California. She use to hang out with her friend Jay alot. She never really told me much about Jay, except that they were very good friends. They use to hang out at the mall alot, until Jay disappeared. She would get letters from Jay, but then she decided to move to Easton. She said Easton sounded nicer and more down to Earth.” Jubilee knew who Jessica was talking about now.

She heard Ev say, “Jubes, why are you crying?” She realized she never told Everett about her friend Cyn-Jen.

Jubilee tried to choke back the tears as she said, “Is your cousin’s name Cynthia-Jennifer?” When Jessica nodded in shock, Jubilee said, “I was her friend Jay. If you could, can you give me her number to get in touch with her?”

She felt happy when Jessica said, “Yea. Cynthia sometimes wonders where you are and what you’re up to. I’ll write it down when we reach the room I’ll be in.” Jubilee smiled at that. It had been too long since she and Cyn-Jen had talked. She could even see that Everett was happy for her.

Darrett walked down the halls alongside Clarice as they escorted Christina to her room. He noticed that Christina tried to keep a good distance between herself and Clarice. As they continued through the halls, he said, “Christina, how did you first learn about your ability?”

He watched as she just looked down and said, “I found out about a few years ago. Britney had a sudden growth spurt, and she realized what had happened. That’s when she convinced all our group members that we should stick together and make ourselves a force in the politics in school.”

He heard Clarice gasp and said, “I don’t believe it.” He couldn’t believe it either, but something made him think it was true.

He looked at Christina and said, “You mean that Britney wanted to use your ability to influence people because of your better looks. I hate to say this, Christina, but I do believe she’d pull something like that. I once saw a girl try that here.” He thought to how Quinn tried seducing Angelo. If fact, he was sure Angelo even remembered that. He wondered if Britney was they kind of person that would betray all of them.

He then heard Clarice say, “I’m not talking about that.” For the first time since they started escorting Christina, Darrett took a good look at the girl he liked. If there was one thing he was sure of, that was that he liked her as more than a friend. When he looked at her, he was surprised. Her dress looked like it was about to fall off her. He knew she was still trying to find the right kind of outfits for this world, but she seemed to prefer dresses. Of course given the outfit she had wore when she first appeared, it was understood that she liked dresses.

As he ran over to Clarice and grabbed her collar to pull it up, he saw an anguished look cross Christina’s face as she said, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to steal your looks.” Darrett had an idea of why the anguished look was crossing her face. Her powers were adding Clarice’s looks to hers. They were close to the rooms, but he couldn’t leave Clarice’s side, nor did he want to.

Darrett finally had an idea. He started to focus on his powers, and soon, a woman with green hair, a black dress, and sunglass that looked like a musical note, appeared. He just looked at her and said, “Melodia, take Christina to her room, and stay with her until I get you, ok.” He watched as the figure nodded and walked with the girl to the room next to Clarice’s. This might not be an easy time for Clarice. When the door closed, he said, “Are you ok, Clarice?”

She nodded and said, “Yes, thanks for helping me keep my dignity.” He noticed how she smiled at him. He was sure she liked him as well. She then said, “Could you help me to my room? I think i might have to change where my bed is, and I’d hate to be tripping over my dress.” He nodded and they entered the room. He saw that Clarice had her bed on the wall that was shared with Christina’s room.

He then said, “I think we might want to wait until you get your looks back before we move that bed.” She nodded and for the first time, he looked in her eyes. He could just tell she was in love with him. Some thing told him that she wanted him to kiss her. When he did, he felt her return the kiss. Maybe the arrival of these girls wasn’t a bad thing.