Alpha Secret: Hayley, Viviana, and Carly want and idolize him.

Jerry hesitated, then with a gulp, finally scribbled into the book.

"Alpha Secret: Hayley, Viviana, and Carly want to be nice to Jerry Chumpkins."

Stopping, his heart pulse quickened to the sound of indistinct chatter in the halls. That of other young, nubile women, some guys or three, a distant laugh to someone's corny joke. Suddenly, Jerry swallowed, as his eyes seemed ready to bulge into the open. What if... what if this really did work? What if it was a full-fledged magic book, Note style?

Looking the partial sentence over, Jerry decided to erase the first part. His mind came to rest on not just the minor incident before, but the class, the hierarchy, then the school. Outside, the American flag waved generically against the breeze as fellow classmates wandered around the plaza, heading home or sitting for a chat.

This was Thatcher High: the most average, perfunctory high school in the district, and considering its principal's iron hand, at least fractionally true to its name. It was named after one of its founding contributors, Pondrick Thatcher, not the former prime minister, though.

Jerry's heart raced. If this book was serious, which it surely wasn't since life was not just some fairy tale or, beating heart be still, an erotic fantasy for the young and hormone-stricken, but if it was, the things he could change... the things he could do... it were limited only by his imagination.

With a sudden surge of conviction, Jerry's pencil began moving again.

"Alpha Secret: Hayley, Viviana, and Carly want and idolize Jerry Chumpkins."

Jerry dropped his pencil, eyes wide. Before him the text began to glow. Like a mark branded onto the human back, the words simmered until they blackened and sunk into the page. A faint tail of smoke careened up then dispersed from the surface, and Jerry slowly brought his finger to the words. They felt like a physical etching, bumping against his skin. He stood to his feet, stumbling backward. The book dropped onto the floor and the thud echoed into the empty classroom as he stared. It worked...

Hands were brought up for study, his blink tempered under a confused wrinkle.

...did it?

---

Outside, just in front of the doors to the hallway to their class, Carly, Hayley, and Viviana walked out. Carly was rolling up a fist, eyes downcast.

"I can't," she began to stammer to herself, face buried in one hand as her face seemed to grow as red as a ripe apple. "I can't..."

Suddenly, Hayley grabbed her shoulder. "Hey, hey, easy there. It's okay, Carly. He'll be fine." Viviana came to the other side of the shaking girl and patted her back.

"Hayley's right, Carly." The black-haired, curvy Hispanic girl retained an even, reassuring tone. "You just gotta have faith in him."

"How can I do that when he probably thinks... thinks... thinks something unthinkable about us?" Carly snapped at her two briskly quieted friends. "I didn't mean to just start giggling like some, some out-of-place, penalty deserving bitch! Right? You know that, right? Hayley? Vivi?"

Hayley just sheepishly looked down, hands wriggled in front of her. Viviana lightly spoke up, "Hayley actually laughed, too. It wasn't just you."

"Oh..." Carly coiled back a little as she tried to re-compose herself. "Sorry, I didn't realize."

Hayley just shrugged a bare shoulder. "It's fine," she said, barely above a whisper despite her attempt at the usual smile she had. Carly felt worse, now. She was struck by a devastating guilt, but she didn't stop to consider how painful it was for her two best friends, too.

"No, really, I'm sorry," Carly repeated, firmer this time around and with her trademark gusto as the chirps of birds filled the distance, "I shouldn't have lashed out like that. It's just, I -- us... we can't really help it when we start getting lost in whatever, you know, any thing Jerry does next, right? So standing there and just fawning over how cute he was, especially with that thin, beautiful feather of a body, and getting the giggles like we usually do, instead of helping, like we should've..."

"...or tackling Dylan and killing him six times," Viviana pointed out matter-of-factly.

"Or that," Carly smirked, shaking her head, violent thoughts toward the jock rattling away, "except that would be impossible and out of the question, of course, which is why we've never intervened anytime Tampa does go and do something stupid to..." Carly thought of the pale and stoic face of Jerry and blushed. "...him."

"I mean, he's funny, fine and a super hot hunk 80% of the time," Hayley added, "it's just, when he's, you know," she retreated into a whisper as she looked around, probably for any of Tampa's gang, before continuing, "when he's messing with our man, you just feel like strangling him. Maybe with a couple spanks for good measure, though."

Viviana shoved Hayley teasingly. "Hayley! Wash that dirty mind, chica." She had a small grin on her face that Hayley just stuck a tongue at. Carly, meanwhile, was nodding, a still solemn look draped over her.

"It's just, I thought I knew pain," she began quietly, "until I saw the way he looked at us today."

Viviana and Hayley became silent and a somber mood enveloped the trio. The glistening blue sky failed to reflect the throbbing pain that now eviscerated each girls' heart as a a lightheaded quiver suddenly coursed through them.

Finally, Hayley declared, "Let's go apologize. This very instant. Right now. To," a hint of red coloring her cheeks, "Jerry."

Viviana nodded. "Yes. I think that would be a good idea. He'll be fine, I've worshipped him pretty much long enough to know he's the realest man of them all, but... and I-I know it's selfish of me to think this way, but... I-I just don't like the thought of him..." The normally steady girl tried to clear her throat, her fingernails invisibly digging into the skin of her hand while her hazel eyes remained robotically steadfast and she threw on a strained smile below tightly shut eyes. "...having the wrong idea about us, is all."

"Yeah," Hayley started nodding, her arms wrapped around her tight body like a cold gale had suddenly passed through, "let's do it." The two girls began to turn back.

"No!" Carly grabbed them both, and they huddled by a nearby tree. "No!" She repeated through a whisper as a group of boys went by and past an opposite building, tossing around a football. "Remember what we decided on when we made our pact?"

Viviana blinked. "The 'Marry-Jerry-on-a-Green-Praire' scheme?"

"Oh, you mean the Jerry tramp stamps right? I still want the middle 'R'."

"No," Carly was like a broken record at this point, but continued anyway, "When we started the top-secret underground Jerry Chumpkins Lovers Forever club--"

Hayley giggled nostalgically. "Good times."

"Mm yeah those were. Still a corny name though."

"--we decided that we can't let him know about our undying, unconditional love for him--"

"And that adorable body," Viviana added tactfully.

"--until the Day of Commencement."

"You and your super words, Carly," Hayley rolled her eyes. "Just say it like it is. The ultimate, most mind-blowing, cock-spewing foursome. Enough to let Jerry know, really know, that we're serious... that he'd need no other woman, no other hot fox to use and , as long as we were there one slut after the other. I'd be able to sleep at his cute little side every night, and wake him up with a kiss here and lick there every morning... and he'll finally, actually, you know... let us be his eternal, lifelong... slaves." Hayley inadvertently started moaning out the last parts of her proposition, only for her eyes to go wide as Viviana started gasping uncontrollably at her side. Hayley just clenched her jeans-clad thighs together as she dropped her head between her shoulders, mumbling something akin to it not being meant to be funny while shifting the weight between her legs.

"You really should learn to control that libido, Hayle," Viviana flipped back a flurry of hair. "Besides, my Chumpkins isn't just some 'ol horndog, you know."

Hayley glared at Viviana. "What do you mean 'your' Chumpkins?!"

"Okay okay," Carly waved her friends' banter away with two arms, trying to steer the conversation back into focus. "Yeah, Hayley, you're right. And that's what we've always wanted, ever since that day." Before nearly trailing off into her own daydream, the student council member shook her head. "So we can't screw it up! I won't allow ourselves to screw it up, you get me?!" Her two friends nodded in affirmation. "It's going to be the perfect day for him. And as the leader of this association, I demand it to be nothing less!"

"You're going into tyrant mode again, girl," Hayley poked.

Carly cleared her throat, stroking her neck. "Right, sorry. But that's not what I'm getting at. My main point is that now, after today, we can't just sit here and do nothing. After nearly being denied our purpose in life just because we allowed our man to be pushed around, this mulling B.S. has got to go! It's time to take some decent honest-to-god action and actually make use of our pointless indistinguishable lives, which is what they'd be without 'him'! Who do we live for, girls?"

"Jerry." The buxom Hispanic and smoldering blonde chanted back enthusiastically.

"Who do we die for?"

"Jerry."

"Who do we idolize?!"

"Jerry Chumpkins..!" Viviana crossed one leg over the other as Hayley nearly creamed herself, one hand even reaching up to a breast before she remembered Vivana's previous remark and primly tidied herself. Meanwhile, Viviana's tight shirt had two bullish protrusions of their own poking out of her chest that the girl contently hid behind her rocking hands, a look somewhere between focus and bliss glazing her eyes.

The wind rustled the leaves of the tree above them as these three stunning high school girls felt a new energy awaken within, while also soaking in the pure ecstasy of acknowledging their treasured boy's existence. Carly felt rejuvenated, back from her previous state of grief. It felt so far away now; back then she had wanted to kill herself, if briefly, even contemplating how to do it, and what to say in the note she'd leave Him before going. But now her purpose was as stronger as ever.

After arranging plans and schedules for the next meet-up (they had a Jerry night, in which they gathered to talk about anything 'Jerry' and perform rites, games, and [Hayley's personal favorite] the masturbation ritual, once a month), flustered but in high spirits, they walked to the exit and made for lunch at a local restaurant, though Carly had to leave early; she had a lot of homework to do and engagements to foresee. As a student council official, salutatorian, and leader of the secret, official Jerry Chumpkins fan club, she was a ridiculously busy young woman.

---

Jerry was roaming down the hall when he stopped, sighed, then continued.

After allowing himself to cool down, only then did he realize his stupidity.

Sure, the book did a cool trick. Sure, he was taken by surprise. But it's not like that meant much. His uncle was a magician after all, and he knew plenty of tricks. He also had a cornrow of props -- it was pretty awesome, actually. Great for parties. Jerry looked at the book in his hand, feeling steadily more embarrassed about his earlier impulse. What if that old man was just some washed up stage magician lending him a useless prop? After all, it's not like books were the first thing people thought of when they imagine something "exciting".

He just didn't feel any different. He still felt like Jerry Chumpkins, a messy-haired, skinny wallflower that went by unnoticed, and when he was being noticed, wasn't really impressing anyone. Jerry sighed again, stretching his arms out to his sides, the weight of the backpack pushing against his sore shoulders.

Whatever. He just needed to make it home before dark, and if his uncle was around, ask him about the book. His uncle always seemed to have taken a liking to Jerry, and Jerry to him. When he was around more often, they would just sit out at the back porch 'til dusk and chat about old movies and whether stepping on cracks on Friday really led to broken spines. And at least his parents tolerated him, even if it was obvious that they always liked his older brother more, who was now off to some university across states.

Suddenly a grumble came from below, and Jerry held his stomach with a hand. Grimacing, he decided he'd stop by a nearby burger joint before going straight home. Apparently being a magician gave him quite the appetite.