The Unicorn's Forest

Heathcliff sighed. While things with the Rivers girl had calmed down,

Other things were popping up considerable that were out of his experience. Such as the… whatever it is that they'd extracted from the lungs of one of the arachnoids. All he could say for certain at the moment was that it was a parasitic lifeform and used magic in its own way.

Then there was what he'd agree with the Rivers girl and her friend about offering to be of what help he could be to the government in relation to the gates and whatever might lie beyond them. They accepted his help and had some 'experts' looking over the documents he'd shown them. He hadn't given them all of the documents he had, after all, they were with the government. He'd be a fool to trust them as blindly as the media seemed to want people to.

The last piece was that because they accepted his help and knowledge about the gates, he was placed in charge of helping the government communicate with the centaurs. He had absolutely no idea how to go about that, so he has to study the little progress that had been made on that front.

Most of which was about that the centaurs did in fact each food that regular people ate, thought they did tend to need more food than the average person, but that was hardly surprising considering how much more mass they had than humans did.

He'd briefly considered bringing the Rivers girl with him to speak with the centaurs, but there was the problem that he wouldn't be able to explain how she was able to communicate with them without having learned their language. Not without revealing more than he would like about magic and everything that went along with it.

Although, he wondered if it would be possible to get the centaurs to come to his house, and have Charlie work out a bit of dialogue with them so as to begin a clear exchange of words. That way they could begin to bridge the language gap between them much faster. Then all he'd have to explain to the government idiots was that they just found a way to exchange words with each other and things began to fall into place after that. Maybe it wouldn't fully satisfy them, but it's been known to happen before. Although, the challenge with that would be to get the centaurs to agree to not let anyone know about the Rivers girl and her involvement.

He had little doubt that the Rivers girl would be interested in helping, but he couldn't be sure that he wouldn't have to give her any concessions about it. He'd underestimated her multiple times before and he wasn't eager to do so again.

Then lastly, there was the fact that he needed to start tutoring the Rivers girl and her friends in magic. He'd already decided on tutors for the friends that he was confident they'd accept, but while he'd determined to tutor the girl himself, he wasn't too sure about what kind of reception she'd have about it.

Ever since he'd been forced to make those concessions to the Rivers girl and her friend, his life was far too busy for his own liking. The only thing that he could be sure was a positive for him was the fact that the arachnoids produced a silk that was much stronger than any they had on the market on Earth, and they could produce it in such quantities that he'd be able to introduce it into the market and completely replace his gold mining business. Especially if he reveals to the government people about the gate in his basement. Though, he still needed to work out establishing communications with the arachnoids themselves.

Although, a sudden thought occurred to him. If he could develop a method that would allow him to communicate with both the arachnoids and the centaurs, then it would solve at least two of the problems before him that he currently doesn't have a solution for.

Of course, the only hitch in that idea was the fact that he'd still need the Rivers girl's assistance. For some reason, everything kept coming back to that girl. He doubted she had any idea about this, but it was almost like fate, or whatever directed things in life, had decided that the Rivers girl would be a central figure in it, whether or not she wanted to nor if anyone else would want her to be.

He'd at least gotten the contract with the Rivers girl's father signed, so that was one item off of his list. All that was left was to get the Rivers girl to communicate with him.

He was pretty sure he knew what the best course would be. It would risk exposing some of the assets he had around that girl already, but it was worth the risk, especially since he doubted it would make much of a difference if she knew about any of the assets he currently had around her.

After all, she wasn't openly hostile towards him. So, it should be fine for her to know about some of what he already had around her before she ever even encountered the unicorn. Back before she was even on his radar. Back when things were moving in the direction they should have been.

Finally, he finished sorting and filling out the papers that he needed to take care of to get things moving again. The only thing that never seems to change is the abundance of paperwork for anything to get done.

A knock on the door to his office brings him out of his musings. "Sir?" One of the interns says as they open the door. "There's someone here to speak with you. Says she'll only speak to you outside. She's still in her car."

Heathcliff chuckled. He was pretty sure who it was, not really surprised that she hasn't changed at all. Still the same untrusting individual around him, but still easy to get what he wanted her to do. The best part is how necessary she was for what was coming next for him.

_

Charlie sighs as she walks into the school at the start of the day on the Monday. The weekend had mostly been great, with the dance, Alex, and discussing things about Stacie and what she'd accidentally learned about magic and unicorns with her friends, and her losing her temper with Beth.

Now she was looking forward to seeing what Alex wanted to do, since they'd now essentially gone on their first date. Part of her wondered if it'd just be holding hands, part of her wondered if there would be any kissing, and another part of her wondered if Alex would have in mind when they could go on another date.

However, when she saw the principal, Mrs. Garfield, at her locker, the first thing in the morning, she didn't have a good feeling about what was coming for her. Or well, not 'at' her locker, but still close enough as she monitored the movements of the student body as they either got ready for their classes or just homeroom, it didn't strike her as the best turn of events for her.

She tried acting like it was just any other day, although, she kept glancing towards the principal. She'd never seen Mrs. Garfield in this part of the school at this time of day before, so she couldn't help but worry that it had something to do with her, just like when the principal wanted to talk with her and it turned out to be about the summer camp thing with Heathcliff.

While Mrs. Garfield might be here for another student, Charlie wasn't confident that her luck would hold out. Too much had been going on lately for her to think otherwise.

At the very least, she was fairly sure she wouldn't get in trouble because of the school dress code. Her skirt was down to her knees, her shirt didn't show any cleavage, her bra, or her midriff. She also wasn't wearing any excessive make-up, though she knew several students who were able to get away with some. Which up until that moment, she hadn't thought about make-up and suddenly started wondering if maybe she should wear some. She couldn't say why, but she knew that she was suddenly interested.

However, despite her inner musings, that didn't make Mrs. Garfield any less present, because sure enough, when Charlie opened her locker to get what she needed for Homeroom and her first few classes, Mrs. Garfield called her over.

"Miss Rivers, I would like to talk with you about an offer about your classes. If you could come to my office after homeroom, we can discuss it then. If not, I'll need you to come by my office to discuss it after school," Mrs. Garfield said.

Charlie sighed again. Was this about how Alex was rubbing her butt during the slow dances?

"Will it just be me?" Charlie asked, not sure what to expect as a response.

"No, why would it?" Mrs. Garfield asked. "Is there some reason you think there would be others?"

Charlie was partly relieved, in that whatever this was, was clearly not about that. "Just that it feels a little out of the ordinary, so I couldn't help but wonder if it was about something that maybe someone was complaining about me or other," Charlie merely replied.

"Oh no, Miss Rivers. This is an opportunity that's only being offered to you. Because of reasons which we'll discuss in my office when it's time," Mrs. Garfield informed Charlie.

Charlie nodded and merely proceeded to her homeroom, not wanting to be late. She couldn't help but think she was being drawn into something that she didn't have anything to do with and wouldn't be able to do anything to change what was going to happen. She wasn't sure she liked the feeling either.

"Charlie!" A voice calling out to her brought her out of her thoughts. "You okay?"

Charlie smiled as she walked to where Alex was standing by both of their desks. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just was asked by the principal to meet her in her office after homeroom," Charlie said, not sure what to expect Alex to do. No about the principal, but again about them now dating.

Alex smiled at Charlie and she smiled back as Alex put her hands on Charlie's hips and moved close to her. Their lips met briefly in a small kiss before the bell signaling homeroom was starting sounded.

"Maybe at our next class?" Charlie asked, amused at Alex's look of frustration at the bell.

"Only if you start it first," Alex teased.

"Getting ambitious, are we?" Charlie joked.

"Well, at least then I know you like doing that, maybe as much as I do," Alex replied.

"Well, only if you let me know just how much you like doing that," Charlie returned. "Any way is acceptable." Charlie couldn't help but giggle as she made that last statement and immediately began kicking herself for doing that.

Why did I giggle? she wailed in her mind as she took her seat. All the while, her mind on Alex and what she might expect.

She wasn't sure what the homeroom teacher said, with her mind occupied with Alex, but at least the teacher didn't notice her lack of attention. Or at the very least call her out on it if he did notice.

Then, after homeroom was over, Alex gave Charlie a playful kiss before they went their ways. Charlie was at least grateful for the opportunity to avoid her English class, or at least part of it, that Mrs. Garfield had given her.

So, she made her way to the principal's office to see what was so important. After all, she'd never heard of this happening during the school day before. Except, of course, when it came to students who really got in deep trouble. Either fighting, vandalism, or something just as serious.

When she arrived, she was quickly ushered into Mrs. Garfield's office despite several other students sitting in the office, two of which looked like they were going to be sporting a black eye for a few days.

As Charlie sat down in front of Mrs. Garfield's desk, she waited patiently for Mrs. Garfield to arrive. It was well known that Mrs. Garfield would go to various parts of the school throughout the day, even though it was also known where she would be and at which part of the day. Her standing by Charlie's locker at the start of the day was the first deviation from that Charlie was aware of ever having occurred.

It didn't take long before the principal returned. Charlie waited for her to set herself situated, perfectly fine to wait as long as needed. After all, the longer this took, the more time she didn't have to be in her English class.

When Mrs. Garfield was settled, she looked at Charlie. "Well, Miss Rivers, do you have any guess as to what this is about?"

"You missed my company so much that you wanted me to skip part of class to spend time with you?" Charlie asked, wondering what Ralph would think of her question.

Mrs. Garfield chuckled. "It's a good thing you're not in trouble, Miss Rivers. That would be enough to get you detention otherwise."

Charlie shrugged. "It was what came to mind."

"Well, as I'm sure you remember Mr. Roberts, he has offered to tutor you in a subject we normally don't teach at this school. He feels that you would excel in this subject and has offered to tutor you during your fifth period class of the day," Mrs. Garfield told Charlie.

Charlie thought about what she was told for a minute while Mrs. Garfield was quiet. Her fifth period class was math. It was her best subject, but at the same time, she was surprised that she was being offered a chance to get out of an academically required course.

"Um, why my math class?" she asked, partially afraid of what the answer might be.

"Because it's your best subject. Your math teacher, Mr. Samuels has agreed to allow you to continue the class in a home-study manner. So, you will do your work on your own, read what you need to, collect your assignments every day from Mr. Samuels at your leisure, and turn in your assignments to him when they're due at the latest," Mrs. Garfield answered.

"Couldn't we have it as my English class?" Charlie suggested.

However, even in the middle of the sentence, Mrs. Garfield was already shaking her head no.

"Technically we could, but English is your worst subject. It was decided that you wouldn't receive as much of a detriment in your education if you do your math work as a home-study. This subject is one I can't say the school board has been well versed in, but I've given the go ahead with it for you," Mrs. Garfield replied.

"When will this start?" Charlie asked, party curious, partly suspicious about some of how Mrs. Garfield put her statement.

"Tomorrow. While it could have started today, I couldn't be sure that you would come right after homeroom, so today will be your last day during this school year that you'll be in a math class," Mrs. Garfield answered.

Charlie wanted to say more, if only to prolong the inevitable return to her English class. Yet, nothing was coming into her mind. It was mostly focused on digesting the information she'd just found out about. She wasn't sure what to do with all that information, but one thing did stand out. She wouldn't have to deal with Mr. Samuels outside of the hiking club.

"Well, since you don't have anything else to say about it, you can return to your class," Mrs. Garfield said, as she was filling out a pass and slip so Charlie wouldn't get in trouble for showing up late to her class. Then as Mrs. Garfield handed the pieces of paper to Charlie, she added, "Also, one last thing, Miss Rivers. When you're on school grounds, whether it's during regular school hours, you are still expected to behave in accordance within the school rules. That also goes for Miss Samuels as well."

As Charlie takes the papers, she merely replies, "I know, but I'm not sure what you mean." Of course she was certain what was meant, but it was certainly one of those times that you deny understanding what's being alluded to, since you could never really tell if it would get you in trouble if you admit to whatever they're suggesting.

"I'm sure you don't," Mrs. Garfield replied with a gaze telling Charlie that she knew full well that Charlie did know.

"Have a nice day, Mrs. Garfield," Charlie said as she left the office.

She noticed the kids waiting in the office that were clearly in trouble at the moment snickering as she left. She paid them no mind, but briefly wondered how much they'd been able to hear of her conversation with Mrs. Garfield.