Charlie picked at his cafeteria lunch with a plastic fork. "I swear I'm going to start wasting money and going out for lunch," he told John. "This meatloaf is 95% non-meat."
"It's not so bad. I mean, we've been eating it for years."
"Yeah, well--" He cut off and stared as a girl passed him. "Wow. Did you see that?"
"Must be a transfer student," John said. "She's too old to be a freshman, and I would have remembered seeing that body before."
A female voice behind Charlie said, "Enjoying the view, boys?"
Charlie, startled, whirled around. "Oh, hi, Kelly."
Kelly grinned and sat down. "I'll take that as a yes. I hear she's from Carpathia."
"They must be breeding supermodels over there," John mumbled.
"Yeah. Hey, Charlie, stop staring at that girl's chest and pay attention to your best friend. Want my loaf of almost-meat? I noticed you're actually eating yours."
Charlie turned slowly and looked at Kelly. "Never confuse starvation with preference." He poked at his lunch again.
"Speaking of preferences, have you decided on the name thing yet?"
"Nope. Of course, a bigger problem is the fact that I have no idea what I want to go to college for."
"Come on, Charlie," John said, "you're the got-it-together guy of the class. You of all people should know what you want to do."
"Just because I have a 4.0 doesn't mean I know what to do with that 4.0."
"This is true. Of course, you know what I think about the name thing."
"I don't know, John. 'Charlie' has been good for me for 18 years, but it just seems like the name of a young person. I'm not sure I want a kid's name as an adult."
"What about Charles?" Kelly chimed in. "That's a 'grownup' name."
"But I'd have to deal with everyone calling me that, and it's too formal. I need a more familiar name for people that know me well."
"Chuck?" she offered.
"No way. That sounds like the name of a guy that serves crap pseudo-food like this." He poked at his meatloaf again.
"How about your middle name?"
"What is your middle name, anyway?" John asked.
"Well, I'd rather not do that, because my middle name, as is tradition is our family, is my paternal grandmother's maiden name."
"And that is?"
"Moon."
"Ah. Definitely a bad idea."
"I can't believe this," Kelly said, as she lay sprawled on Charlie's living room floor. "A quiz already? It is, well, will be, only the second day." She frowned disgustedly at her book.
"Come on, Kelly, this is review. It's a quiz on basic energy theories. We've had this beaten into our brains from day one."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. It's still unfair."
"Hey, I know you know this stuff. Come on, just start with the first theory."
"Okay. Energy exists in solid form, in subatomic particles."
"Great. Next."
"All living things contain energy."
"Perfect. Go on."
"Solid energy can be stored and used my machines."
"Continue."
"Energy used or wasted can be re-collected and used again." She slammed her book shut, then rose and walked towards the kitchen. "And that's the farthest I'll go for now."
"Why?" Charlie asked, following her.
"I'm hungry." She opened the refrigerator and frowned. "Don't your parents ever buy food?"
"I think we're placing an order tomorrow."
"Well, what are we supposed to eat?"
"I guess we could get something quick to eat the old fashioned way. You know, walk a couple blocks and grab something from the carryout."
"Exercise? Purchase items from an actual human being?" She laughed and punched him gently on the shoulder. "Perish the thought."
"We truly have no money," Kelly muttered, peering into the small bag of groceries she was carrying. "It's like we're already in university."
"It's hardly surprising. My job doesn't pay squat, and the payments alone on my Turbo Wing are bad enough before factoring in fuel costs, insurance, and maintenance. Plus all those 'extra' expenses."
"I hear you, bro."
As they reached the corner of the next building, Charlie stopped short and stuck his arm out in front of Kelly's chest.
She grunted. "Hey, Charlie, I know you like me and all, but--"
"Shh!" Charlie hissed as he peered around the corner. "Look."
Kelly looked, and saw the Carpathian girl being overpowered by a menacing brute. She edged backwards and whispered, "I'm going to call the cops."
"All right. I'll stay here."
Kelly nodded and edged away silently, as Charlie studied the situation. The man had the battered girl pinned against the wall and told her again to give him all the money she had. She refused, and was slapped repeatedly in the face. Charlie noticed a shiny object on the ground, and recognized it as a plasma pistol. He then returned his gaze to the man and the young woman entangled against the wall.
"Now are you gonna give me your money, or am I gonna have to beat it out of you?" the large man asked. She spat in his face, and was promptly grabbed and thrown against the wall, then to the ground. She lay there whimpering in pain as he ripped the purse out of her hands. He rifled through it and, finding no money, growled and ripped her top off. "Well, well, I'll just have to take some value out of you the old fashioned way." He sat down on her abdomen, with his back to Charlie.
This is my chance, Charlie said to himself. He quickly and stealthily plucked the pistol off the ground, leveled the barrel at the thief, and said "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
The man whirled around and growled at Charlie. "And what do you plan to do about it, little man?"
Charlie said nothing, maintaining his grip on the gun and his poker face.
"I asked what you were gonna do about it, boy." The larger man rose and advanced upon Charlie, but Charlie didn't budge an inch. Come on, just a little closer.
The man got closer and closer, and as he reached out his hands to grab the gun, Charlie squeezed the trigger. The force of the blast knocked both men on the ground, and Charlie scrambled back to his feet.
"You're gonna regret that," The larger man said, grunting and slowly rising. Without hesitation the teen fired two more shots into the man's chest, and he stumbled backwards and tripped over the Carpathian's legs, landing hard on the ground.
Just then, Kelly returned and looked at Charlie. He saw her out of the corner of his eye and cast her a glance, grinning slightly and lowering the pistol but not moving from his position.
Kelly cautiously stepped over the fallen man and knelt by the head of the young Carpathian. "You blasted him, huh?" she asked, waving her hand at the attacker.
"Yeah. Three times, the first from about a foot away."
"I'm surprised he got up after the first one." Kelly noticed the girl stirring and placed her hands under her head. "Are you all right?" she asked her. "What happened?"
The young woman groaned and rose slowly to a sitting position. Kelly offered her jacket, and the other girl gratefully accepted and covered her chest.
"I think I'll be okay. He was after my money...he threatened me with that gun...I managed to knock it out of his hands, but he was just too strong." She looked up in Charlie, who was lost in thought. "I'm glad you got here when you did, I don't want to think about what he would have done to me." She shuddered.
Charlie smiled down at the girl. "It was the least I could do." He reached down and extended his hand towards her. "I'm Charlie."
She took his hand in his and smiled. "I'm Carrie."
A moment later, the police arrived to arrest the attacker. As they were questioning Carrie, Charlie and Kelly sat down on a curb and looked into the sunset.
"You know," Charlie said, "I've never been in a situation that would require any type of 'bravery'. But when I was staring down the barrel of the gun, I wasn't scared. At all. I knew, or thought at least, that I was in control of the situation. I thought on my feet, I planned it, I followed through."
"Is there a point here, Charlie?" Kelly asked, acting bored.
"Shush. Well, I think I know what I want to do with my life. I want to act for justice. I'm going to go to the police academy next year and become a cop."
"It's about freakin' time, Charlie." She grinned.
"And you know," he continued, ignoring her, "it helps me with the 'name' thing. I mean, cops go by their last name, which is 'formal' enough for me, and anyone who knows me familiarly can just continue calling me Charlie."
"Finally, the man knows what he wants. Congratulations, Charlie, you're on the road to success."
He laughed. "I know. This is definitely the start of something big."