A Second Chance This Time?

"So we're going, now," he sums up with us, then turns to the group at large and addresses them all, "And Emily getting this leniency is an exception to the rule, one that will not be extended to the rest of you. That's not fair and I know it isn't, but it is what it is and you're all going to have to deal with it. I don't want to hear any protests. I don't want to hear any peeps. I know that this tour of the city isn't something that all of you are looking forward to but I worked damn hard on it and this day has almost been derailed so many times already so I'm not going to let it get off track any longer."

Half-crazed, eyes wild, he stops, breathing heavily. He is practically vibrating with rage.

When he took control I was willing to look at him in a new light. Hell, might have been the fact that he was kind to me or even the lingering memories of my little indiscretion in the taxi but I was even willing to look at him in an almost attractive light.

That was before things took a turn for the decidedly more crazed.

With girl-Kim I was willing to chalk up at least a portion of her personality to an affectation. Something she put on to satisfy someone else, to lend the right appearance and be the right kind of person. But I was willing to bet that it wasn't for her own benefit, especially owing to the fact that I'd already seen her break the rules herself.

The first night? The clearing? The freshman she dragged down into the dirt and fucked?

Yeah, that was all against the rules.

But with boy-Kim it was becoming increasingly clear to me that there was no breaking the rules for him. He was a true believer, bought and bought-in and willing to hear nothing against it and when he lectured the whole damn group there...

Well let me put it this way. What he did for me wasn't fair and I was pretty certain that no one in the group was going to protest it. The look in his eye made it clear to all of us that any protest we made would be met with the full brunt of crazy simmering beneath the surface of his handsome co-ed exterior.

A crazy that quickly became disconcerting when he took a deep breath, visibly shook everything off, and immediately plastered a disconcertingly plastic smile on his face.

"Welcome to the City of Phineas!" he said, "I don't know how many of you have been here before, but this is quite the town. I know from personal experience, you know. I actually grew up in the city, only a few blocks from here. And my family has ties that go back to the history of the city, right back to the founding itself. Oh yes, I can say with absolute certainty that Phineas is one of a kind and I've organized this little tour to give you an insiders look at all of the hidden gems we have on offer. Come along, everyone, I can't wait to give you a tour of my very favorite place in the whole wide world!"

It was all so smooth and practiced, so clearly rehearsed. Even the movements of his body were so fluid as he went along with it that I almsot found myself transfixed, as did everyone else in the group. We all missed a step as he turned and started to walk without waiting to make sure the rest of us were going to follow along.

"Well he seems like a stable individual," Rachel quips at me when she passes by, hooking her arm into mine and dragging me along as we drift towards the latter third of the pack just far enough back that we can only slightly make out our disconcerting tour guide and far enough from everyone else that we can have a conversation, albeit a hushed one.

"Yeah," I return back at her, "Really inspires confidence."

"Ahn inspiration," she muses, guiding me down the sidewalk, "I do love a bit of inspiration. Inspiration like you."

"Me, inspiring?" I ask.

"Yeah, sweetie," she laughs, "Absolutely. I mean blowing some smelly old cab driver just so you can go on the most boring tour in the world? Truly an inspiration."

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