Crumpet and Varian

Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

 

Varian had me up at 6:30 to get ready for school. When I was showered I had to look at what to wear. I had ruled out the outfit I'd suggested with Dana, but hadn't replaced it. I decided to wear my dark grey docs with a matching wool tartan skirt and jacket of purply rose and charcoal and a white silk shirt with ruffles at the neck. I made the costume change because when I thought of it I knew in high school you could be a Rich Kid and a Priss. Or a Computer Geek and a Drama Kid, or a Band Geek and a Punk. You could even be a Jock and a Brain, rare but it could be done. But if you got the label Slut, that would be all you would ever be allowed to be. And I knew it was a constant challenge to be sex positive at all at this age without being labeled a slut.

I looked down at the clothes I wore and thought of the woman who’d worn them first. Was this the outfit of a Crumpet? Was anything except the stripper superhero togs I’d rejected. I wasn’t a muffin or a Victorian strumpet. I was a force of nature. A woman to be reckoned with and admired, like the woman these clothes had originally been made for. However it was one thing to dream of being Miriam Lily Daicev and quite another to be her. But when Varian called up to me I immediately flashed to our Kudzu/Dandelion flower chat and suddenly I knew I was Lily. I knew it more than I had ever known anything.

We sat at the table to eat some pumpkin cream cheese scones he had made and discuss our next step. “This weekend was wonderful, just what we needed, I think. But we still need to sort out what name we're going to use.” Varian said with an encouraging smile.

“Actually was just thinking of that very thing.” I broke down what I’d been thinking. “And I still will probably use Crumpet as a nickname. Crumpet Malagua-Daicev. And as time goes on and I no longer feel the pure joy of being the opposite of Josef Bravatten perhaps I could unhyphenate.”

“That would be fantastic. And I know my family would be proud. Perhaps we should just register you as Crumpet M Daicev. You can tell your teachers there wasn't room to hyphenate on the form. You sign your papers as Crumpet Malagua until you feel like changing, if you ever do. It's normal for some hyphenated kids to only put one name on their schoolwork. And when and if you choose to move on you can just find an M middle name you like. I suggest Mary-Sue in honor of your awesomeness. But I thought this was an emancipation, not an adoption.”

“It is. It is an emancipation that will free me to be anyone I want. It just happens that this is who I want to be.” I said.

“Heard and understood.” V. said. “But I told the court I'd call if I wasn't going to be in by eleven. So we ought to head in and get this sorted.” He took the Spyder without me even asking, which I appreciated.

The local high school did not impress me immediately. But it actually disappointed Varian. “This place is a pit. And when did they change the school colors to purple and silver? It's gross. And could they squeeze more trailer classrooms on campus. Why not build an addition, it'd look a lot classier. And they have plenty of room. My god it looks like a minimum security prison.” He said all this kind of fast and more than half to himself. He turned into the driveway and got into a line of cars waiting to go past the security kiosk. He looked at me and said, “Welcome to Saint Mark California's Regional High School, where twenty one years ago an innocent and naive boy became entangled in the web of the manipulative shrew, Autumn Killion.”

Now this was interesting. “This was your high school?”

“Indeed. It's not officially the school assigned to my house but it's only one or two over, and I figured it was too good to pass up. Your mother only went here for a year, little less I think. Then her parents decided she was a bad seed and put her into the Charter System of teen treatment facilities, followed by another school. Having blamed her problems on me. She was the first of several people who quit school rather than be around me. I'd be hurt if they weren't so fawning when I saw them outside, in the real world. But I apparently possessed a charisma that made people unable to concentrate on their work.”