It was cool in Torey's house, so they put a blanket on while they watched an old sci-fi movie.

Chase settled in with her body leaning against his and his arm around her shoulders. Her head rested on his shoulder.

A feeling of absolute warmth and comfort swaddled her.

Warmth and comfort were two of the best things about civilization. They were hard to come by in the woods. You had to be on guard, you had to fight hard for the things you had and harder to protect it.

But here, she could cuddle with Torey like this and feel safe. She could hug Alicia when she felt sad or lonely and feel loved. It was really beautiful, this world was. There was so much goodness in it.

She closed her eyes and just savored it. Torey asked her, “Are you tired?”

“No,” she replied, looking up at him. “Tor just feel nice.”

“You feel nice, too,” he said.

Chase watched the movie for a while. Little flying saucers were shooting lasers at skyscrapers. At the beginning of the movie, she'd been asking lots of questions. Torey had tried to explain the concept of aliens and outer space to her. But in the end she only got more confused. The idea of there being more planets like Earth, and that those white things in the sky were actually huge burning balls that only looked small because they were so far away, was all just too far fetched for her. She thought Cannibal Cruise Liner was a lot more believable. Now she was just watching the movie in silence, enjoying the special effects for what they were, but mostly just enjoying Torey's presence.

“Tor?” she asked.

“Yeah?”

“Us had sex?”

He looked at her, not sure if he heard her right. He turned slightly red. “Uh...what?”

“Lin ask if Tor and me have sex. Told her I don't know. Us do?”

“...You don't know what sex is?”

Chase frowned. “Do know! Do know what sex is!” she said defensively. “Just...not know if have.”

He tried not to laugh. “No. No, we haven't had sex.”

“How you know?”

“Just trust me on this one.”

Chase wasn't satisfied with this. “Us can do?”

“Huh?”

“Want do sex. That good for us since us boyfriend and girlfriend, right?”

Torey waged an internal battle at that moment. Finally he stated, “N...No, I don't think we should, Chase. Sorry.”

“Why not?!” she sounded mad.

“It...feels kind of wrong. Like I'd be taking advantage of you,” he said. “Find out what it is, then see if you still want to.”

Chase pouted. “Can kiss though, right?”

“Yeah, we can do that.” So they did.

….........

Later that night, Torey drove Chase home, and she told Alicia the whole story.

“So all you did was make out, huh?” asked Alicia, sitting on her bed in her rose pink pajamas. She could see Chase through her open bathroom door, as Chase finished up blow drying her fluffy blonde hair, a towel wrapped around her body. Chase set the dryer on the sink. “Well, you know what? I'm proud of you. Take it slow. That's what me and Kirk are doing!” She was unspeakably disappointed.

“Did try to have sex,” said Chase, turning off the light and leaving the bathroom.

Alicia was shocked. “What?! Really?!” she asked eagerly.

“Yeah. But him say no since not know what is.”

“Oh,” said Alicia. “I thought you were going to ask Lindsey about that?”

Chase joined her on the bed. “Not think Lin know. Her have bad grades too.”

Alicia stared at her, then shook her head. “Grades...aren't an indicator of intelligence,” she vaguely replied.

“Thought Leash would know best,” said Chase. “Please tell.”

“Well...um...”

Alicia really didn't want to, but at the same time, she recalled her conversation with Miss Robin. Even though Chase had been Alicia's protector many times, in some ways Alicia was her protector too. It was her job, more than anybody else's, to help Chase get acclimated to this world that must seem very strange to her. She had to teach Chase things. Of course, this probably wasn't exactly what Miss Robin was talking about, but it seemed to apply nonetheless.

So Alicia gave Chase the rundown.

When it was over with, Chase was shocked. “That sound yikes!”

“Yeah, well...it's not supposed to,” Alicia chuckled.

Chase shook her head, trying to rid herself of the nightmare imagery. “You do that?!”

“N-no,” said Alicia. “Not yet.”

Chase couldn't believe she'd asked Torey to do something like that. She felt she'd dodged a major bullet.

…...........

Andrea Cha was free.

She had been free for a few days now. But after decades in captivity, locked up in her cell, her habitat, deep underground in D.C., it still felt like a brand new experience to have a change of scenery. To walk down the crowded hallways of Sunnycrest High. To see other people, to be near other people.

All around her, students hung out by their lockers. They chatted, they laughed, they goofed off. Hundreds of them. So much youth. So much vibrance. Andrea could practically hear their pulses. She could feel the radiant heat of the hot young blood in their veins.

And their necks. So many nice necks... She'd forgotten this feeling...to have a neck in arm's reach...Close enough to reach out and touch...

She stopped in her tracks. Her heart was pounding. Her breathing rate had elevated. She ducked into the girls' bathroom, turned on one of the sink faucets, and splashed some cold water on her face.

Looking in the mirror, she saw her damp face was flushed and hot. She was getting too excited.

It had been hard to keep control before, around people. The last time she was free. There were times when her need was simply too great to bear. She'd felt it ever since she was a child. But this time, now that she was free again...it felt like there was so much lost time to make up for...

She splashed the water again. Don't think about killing. Don't think about necks. Don't think about squeezing. Just focus on the task at hand...

When she was sure she was calm, she reached for the brown paper towel dispenser, pulled a few out, and gently dabbed at her face with them. After tossing these into the trash, she touched up her makeup and, with a deep breath, returned to the hall.

….....

At that moment, Chase was in the school foyer with Alicia, Lindsey, and Caitlin, all of them looking bright, friendly and cheerful as they handed out flyers.

“Another fundraiser so soon?” asked Courtney Peters the tennis girl, a rather darling thing who'd dyed her hair pink, reading the flyer she'd just been handed.

“Yup! We've got so many ideas we'll be lucky to get to them all!” answered Alicia with enthusiasm.

“Plus our last fundraiser wasn't quite the earner we thought it would be...” said Lindsey ruefully. “Fucking volleyball girls...”

“That's all in the past, of course!” said Alicia, trying desperately to be a happy fundraiser promoter. She handed her a flyer. “Right now, we're just looking forward to Wednesday! One night only! Location: The school cafeteria! The fun, the felicitous...CHEERLEADER MALT SHOP!”

“Us serve pops! Ice creams! Malts!” declared Chase. They had her memorize the sales pitch. “But not just drink and eat! Dance too! Old time rock and roll!”

“Did you ever see a malt shop in some old movie or TV show and think, 'Damn, I don't even know what a malt is?'” asked Lindsey. “Well, now you can find out!”

“Do they taste like Whoppers?” asked a guy who'd stopped by to hear their spiel.

“No! They're not like Whoppers at all. We promise,” insisted Caitlin. “And there's more! Whoever wins our Ultimate Do the Twist Dance-Off will get to share a malt with a cheerleader! Two straws, one malt! Just like the teen sweethearts of old!”

“Aww,” said Courtney.

“Excuse me, Chase?”

Chase looked up. There was Miss Cha, walking down the hall toward them, smiling in a friendly way. The hard heels of her shoes clicked on the linoleum.

“Oh!” said Chase. “Hi, new teach!”

“Hi, Chase,” said Miss Cha.

“Hi,” greeted Alicia. “Miss Cha, right?”

“That's right,” said Miss Cha. “Alicia, the squad looks marvelous. Simply marvelous. I don't see how you're missing state this year.”

Alicia gave a humble laugh. “Well, thanks! We're working really hard!”

Then, Miss Cha looked at Chase. Chase looked back at her.

What Chase felt, as they made eye contact, was somewhat conflicted. Her initial, instinctive reaction was unease. But that feeling was fast and fleeting. Something about this woman's smile and the look in her eyes was genuine and caring. It kind of reminded Chase of the way her mother looked at her.

She had thought about her parents a lot since that night they'd died. But she didn't really realize how much she missed her mother until that moment.

This range of thoughts and feelings washed through Chase in less than a second. “Chase, could I speak to you alone for a moment, please?” Miss Cha asked. “It won't take too long, but it's somewhat important.”

“Oh,” said Chase. She looked at Alicia.

“That's fine, Chase,” assured Alicia. “We've got things covered here.”

So Chase stepped away from the group with Andrea Cha. They didn't go far, only out to the edge of the foyer, where benches and open space gave way to a hall of lockers. Andrea knew any further would look suspicious, and the noise of the hallway was more than adequate to muffle their conversation regardless.

Miss Cha looked Chase up and down. So this was the girl Director Abraham wanted.

Watching her on film had been one thing. It had been pretty educational in its own right. She could see how Chase moved, how she reacted, what she could do in a fight. But that information was only so useful to Andrea. Up close...she felt Chase in a way she didn't from far away. This was a girl who radiated a calm strength. A calm assuredness. And something that was rare to find in a teenage girl: a complete lack of fear.

She wasn't too different from Cha's late clone. Cha could see that this girl had what Abraham was looking for, except this girl was real. She wasn't glued together in a laboratory. Cha's clone was a piece of plywood. This Chase girl...was a board of solid oak. A strength found only in nature.

Yes, she could see how this girl could be very valuable. A potent tool of destruction. From a male perspective. But Cha's methods were somewhat different.

“Thank you, Chase. This won't take long,” said Miss Cha. “I understand you're pretty new to Sunnycrest, just like me. How are you liking it here?”

“Like much!” said Chase sunnily. “Much like cheer, feel much glad when do! Just want to jump and shout as hard as can!”

Miss Cha smiled. “You seem like a good fit for it. Did you cheer at your old school?”

Chase was confused for a second. She hesitated, then laughed. “Nope! Just start here!”

“Wow, is that so? How did you get so athletic?” Cha, feigning ignorance. “I, hmm, you probably didn't know I was there, but I happened to see you practicing with the others on the school's front lawn as I came in this morning. Some of your jumps and flips were quite impressive.”

Chase paused again. “Just learn quick I guess! Not hard to learn cheer, it much fun!”

“I bet it is,” said Miss Cha. “Anyway, here's why I wanted to speak with you. One of my responsibilities as a student counselor is to speak with the foreign exchange students, to see how you're doing and make sure you're adjusting to life at Sunnycrest.”

“Oh!” Chase didn't know what a foreign exchange student was, but assumed Cha was talking about her.

“Do you know what a student counselor is?”

“No.”

Andrea's eyes drifted to Chase's neck. She couldn't help it. “It means I'm here for you to talk to if you're worried about anything,” she said. “You can tell me anything. It will stay one-hundred percent between you and me, and I'll do my best to help you with whatever's troubling you. Does that sound good?”

It did. It sounded a lot like what Alicia was to Chase, actually. “Yes!”

Usually Andrea Cha wasn't too interested in women's necks. They were too...easy. Too soft. Too weak. Men's necks...they were tougher. More muscular. They made you work for it, so to speak. Andrea liked that.

But a girl like this, a girl this strong...her neck captured Andrea's imagination. It didn't look any different from a normal girl's neck...but Chase didn't really look any different from a normal girl, either. Who knew what kinds of secrets that neck might hold?

“Great, Chase,” said Miss Cha in a friendly, supportive way. “It's a bit late today, but I'd appreciate it if you'd come talk to me tomorrow after school. Is that okay?”

Chase thought about it. She didn't really have anything that she needed to tell this woman, but she seemed like a nice enough lady, and Chase enjoyed making new friends. “Yes! Okay!”

“Wonderful,” said Miss Cha. “Looking forward to it.”