"You're joking, right?" Christiana replied in shock.
"No, I'm not. The sad thing was this was only the beginning of the scene she caused. I thought Tasha was shouting before, but I was wrong. As soon as he landed face-first on the floor and his food flew everywhere, she started screaming at him. Her voice was so loud that everyone in the bustling lunchroom fell silent and looked at them."
"Go on," Christiana urged her friend to continue when she paused once again.
"The poor boy was down on his knees doing his best to scoop up his spilled meal with his bare hands, while she was shouting insults at him. Then she began flat out abusing him!"
"What do you mean?" Christiana asked in trepidation. Her face frowning at what she heard.
"After looking up and making sure that her goons blocked the view of the kitchen workers, she started kicking him in the thigh, the side, and finally the stomach. That's when I got involved..."
"Good for you!" Christiana exclaimed. She was proud of her friend for trying to protect an innocent person from being physically abused.
"Honestly, it didn't go over too well. I jumped up, ran up to Tasha, and placed myself in between her and her crying and cowering Brother. 'Stop it!' I yelled. 'You can't just assault your charge in public. That's not only dishonorable that is illegal!'"
"What happened next?" Christiana asked, totally engrossed in her friend's story.
"She glanced at me and stated, 'What are you talking about, brocon? I have done nothing wrong.' I immediately came back with, 'You were kicking your Brother in front of half the school! With that many witnesses, even you can't get out of this.' She simply laughed and loudly said, 'No one saw anything, right, girls?' and looked around the room. I followed her gaze and not a single girl would look us in the face. 'Listen, brocon, my mom told me not to mess with you since your Mother is the head of police here in Simmon's Town. Haven't you wondered why you have made no friends here? Well beyond your love of your Brother? It's because they know they will become my target if you ever piss me off. While your Mommy protects you two, any allies you make won't be so lucky. Just keep that in mind.'"
"Wow! What a bitch!" While Christiana rarely swore, she felt it was justified in this case. "So that's why you want me there with you. So you have someone to help you out."
"Yes, I wish you had been there. You would definitely back me up," Samantha said with a smile.
"Of course! What she did was wrong on so many levels," Christiana stated, doing her best to hold back the anger in her voice.
"Plus, you are even more untouchable than I am."
"Why do you say that?" Christiana asked, her eyes wide in astonishment at what Samantha had just said.
"Well, your House owns half the town for one. Second, you were the best athlete in grade school..."
"Haruhi-nee is just as good as I am," Christiana interjected with pride.
Samantha rolled her eyes at this comment. "Yes, but you're the kid who's taking martial arts class. So I think you can probably take her in a fight at this point."
"I'm not so sure. I have been training her and Johnathan-nii in some unarmed combat moves on the weekends. They are both making excellent progress."
"Wait!" Samantha exclaimed with a startled look on her face. "You are teaching fighting techniques to a MALE? Isn't that technically against the law?"
Christiana simply shrugged. "If anyone gets past me, at least he will be able to protect his chastity long enough for me to come to his rescue."
"I never thought of it that way," Samantha admitted. "A few basic self-defense moves might be okay. While slightly illegal, it is probably a good idea to teach Matt-oto a few holds and throws."
"You can't be with him every second of the day can you?" Christiana pointed out.
"Actually, we are," came Samantha's unexpected response.
"Even in the restroom?" Christiana inquired.
"Let me just say that all the school's bathrooms are coed," Samantha said while wrinkling her nose.
"Ewwwwww!"
"Now let's get back to the subject. I was telling you the reasons you would be the perfect ally at school."
"Oh yeah," she responded. Christiana wanted to change the topic as quickly as possible.
"The third reason is that you are a gee-emm. No-one, not even Tasha, would be stupid enough to mess with you."
"What makes you say that?"
Samantha covered her face with her hands. After a moment, she uncovered her eyes before continuing. "Did you know that the government has instructed the police to look the other way if an underage gee-emm commits a minor crime? Even if they commit a major transgression, they just take them home so their parent can punish them."
"What would they consider 'major?'"
"Murder for one."
"Huh?" Christiana's jaw literally fell open in surprise upon hearing this information. Did this mean that both she and Haruhi-nee could kill someone and not get arrested? 'That's crazy!' she thought. 'I can't accept that something like that could be real.'
"I know that expression. You don't believe me!" Samantha said, looking slightly hurt. "If you look it up, I am sure that you will be able to access the information on the network, although it may require multiple forms of biometric eye-dee."
"You're serious?"
"Deadly serious," Samantha said.
"That doesn't make any sense!" Christiana exclaimed. "Just because you are one of the Founders' geneDaughters, the basic rules of society don't apply to you? That's lunacy!"
"I did not create the governmental orders. I only know what my Mother told me when she found out that I was buddies with you and your Sister."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Christiana asked.
"I thought you knew already," Samantha responded.
"So was your Okaa-san telling you not to associate with us?"
The older girl shook her head. "No, it was more of a 'be careful' than anything else. You two never even mentioned that you were gee-emms until I asked you about it. I realized you were my friends and would never hurt me. To be blunt, you are both too nice to do that."
"Aww, thank you," she replied with a smile. During lunch and before classes began, she and Haruhi-nee spent most of their time with Samantha-senpai. Despite the slight age difference their shared interests more than made up for it. The three of them had had some interesting discussions about history over the Years. Unfortunately, they had fallen out of touch after the upperclasswoman went off to middle school.
Back then Christiana had wondered why the older girl had stopped calling her, but now she knew it was because of her friend's position as a Keeper. That's why their friendship was returning to where it had been the previous Year. Part of the reason she was working so hard to wear the Black was that she wanted to spend time with her at the academy.
"So did this Tasha person say anything else?"
"No, but then we didn't have any chance to continue our conversation. Right after she finished telling me that she would go after my friends if I made any the headmistress showed up. One of the kitchen staff had summoned her when the girl started screaming at the top of her lungs."
"So what did she do?" Christiana asked, genuinely curious as to how the principal would react to the situation.
"She immediately asked what was going on. Tasha, being the sleazeball she is, stepped away from me as soon as she heard the Principal's voice and put on an innocent look. She looked up at the administrator and said, 'I was just yelling at my Brother for being clumsy. I guess I was a little too loud.'"
"That girl is a real piece of work!" Christiana exclaimed.
"Tell me about it. What's worse is that her goon squad backed her up. Then when the Headmistress asked the crowd if what Tasha reported was true, and no-one would answer her."
"So she got away with it?" Christiana asked in horror.
"Not totally. While she could silence the students, the lunch ladies came forward and gave their account. They were able to get the girl suspended for a little while."
"Well, at least that's some form of punishment," Christiana said in relief.
"I doubt she will pull something like that again where there are adults within hearing range, but I feel sorry for the boy."
"Why's that?" Christiana asked innocently.
"How is Tasha going to 'take revenge on her Brother when they are alone at home during those days off?"