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The con debate team for Oak Park performed well (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=812383) against Proviso West.  Laura Chapman, the team captain, was very excited at the end of the debate, but shook hands with the other team and was very polite.

After the meet a few of the student politician types come down to congratulate Laura and the team.  The staff advisor congratulates them also.

Megan was very happy with the team’s performance as well, politely thanking the other team for such a great debate and shaking their hands along with Laura.  She was dressed in a dark charcoal grey suit, with skirt that went down to just above her knees, a white silk dress shirt, pantyhose and heels that matched her suit.  When the other Oak Park students and their advisor comes to congratulate them, she is warm and friendly as she thanks those she speaks with for having come and for their congratulations.

After the crowd moves out some a boy comes up and offers some congratulations as well, "Laura, I'm Jonathan Elliot, we traded some emails."

Laura's eyes light up some, "Oh, John.  I'm glad you could make it."  she turns to everyone and smiles, "Guys, this is Jonathan Elliot, he's going to be attending Oak Park and there's a good chance he can be an alternate for us."

John shakes everyone's hands, and pauses a little longer when he shakes Megan's.  "Megan Howell, you're on the cheerleading squad right?  We might be seeing each other, I'm going to be trying out for the football team.  It seems they're a little short handed this season."

Megan gives John a smile.  “That’s right.  Nice to meet you John.”  She replied as he sought to confirm she was on the cheerleading squad.  When he mentioned trying out for the football team and it being shorthanded, she nodded and kept her smile, partially because his comment that they ‘might be seeing each other’, had a meaning he likely did not intend.  “That’s great, they have lost several players for various reasons.  It’s been a pretty strange time all around really.  I have heard so much about people thinking of transferring out of Oak Park, nice to hear some others are willing to transfer in.”

John looks around, "Would you like to grab some coffee or something, unless you have plans with the others already?"

Laura smiles and shakes her head, "We didn't have any plans.  If you guys wanted to go somewhere.  Megan could tell you about the school, she's a Freshman too so you'll likely be able to get more from her about the teachers you'll likley have and such."

John turns back to Megan, "My treat, if that's okay?"

Megan kept her smile in place, but glanced over at Laura, Brendan and Brian, knowing they had wanted to finalize the plans for catching the photographer.  Laura did not really give her the ability to say no, so she replied.  “Sure, that would be great.  No need to worry about treating though.”  Looking back at the others, she said.  “I’ll see you all tomorrow night then?  Over at my house, like we planned?”  Her gaze fixed on Brendan, her eyes serious and firm, trying to tell him that the plan was still a go.

Brendan nodded.  "We'll be there."  he nodded good night to the others and headed out.

Laura and Brian said their good nights and left as well.

"So, where to?  I'm still trying to find my way around."

Megan said good night to Laura and Brian and then started towards the exit with John.  “Well, there are a couple of places not to far from here.  A Barnes & Noble that has a coffee place or a small local coffee shop.”

"I yield to your native preference.  I still just drink coffee flavored coffee, so it can be pretty bad and I can cover it up with milk and sugar."

Megan chuckled at his comment about covering up coffee as she lead him a couple blocks from the library to the Cozy Corner Coffee Shop Incorporated.  “Like I said, very close.”  She said with a grin.

(OCC this is a real coffee shop in Oak Park, doesn’t have a web site, but Yahoo maps says its only a couple blocks from the public library)

John orders plain coffee and a blueberry muffin and waits for Megan to order, then pays the tab.  "I know you said I didn't have to pay, but it's only fair.  I may try to enlist you to be my native guide at school, so think of it as a bribe!"

Once they have a seat he asks her some questions about various clubs at school, her opinion on teachers and other staff.  He has a copy of his schedule and has her look it over to see if she can tell him anything about his particular teachers.

Megan ordered herself a lowfat mocha and grinned as John mentioned paying as a bribe to get her to be his guide at the school.  “Then you might want to think about a bigger bribe, my father was a partner at a major Chicago law firm before becoming the mayor of Oak Park.”

After they get their drinks and sit down, Megan does her best to answer his questions on things, or at least come up with the name of someone else that might be able to better answer.  As she looks over his schedule to see what she might know about any of the teachers, she asks, “so, I guess you just moved here?  Where from?”

"Maryland.  My dad worked in D.C. and mom worked in Baltimore, so they split the difference.  They've retired now and we moved here to be closer to family and I plan to attend the University of Chicago, so the folks wanted to live close for that.  So, your dad is the mayor?  He have political plans beyond that or is he planning on sticking with local politics?"

Megan nods as she listens to John explain where he moved from and why.  “Wow, retired?  Did they have you a bit later?”  She asked.  When he brought up her dad, she nodded.  “Yeah, in fact he does.  He has been out of town meeting with campaign financing people about trying for a run at the US Senate.”

"Yeah, I came along later in their lives.  They wanted to be able to spend time with me and have solid careers."  When Megan mentions her father's possible senate race his eyebrows raise, "Wow.  I should introduce my folks.  They've been thinking of getting involved in campaign stuff now that they have extra time."

Megan feels a slight feeling of jealousy at John’s mentioning his parents seeking to balance career and family by having children later in life.  “Hmm that is nice.  My parents went a bit different route.  My dad went right to work on the career, my mom focusing on being the homemaker, as a result my dad has not always been there that much.  My mom is now going to be doing some things outside the home, even though she doesn’t need to, as I am the youngest and she doesn’t need to be around as much all the time.”

As he mentioned his parents possibly helping with her father’s senate race, she smiled.  “That might be a good idea.  I am sure my father would value the input of people that have been in the mix of things in DC.”

"That must have been kind of rough.  Mom and dad both travelled some, but they were there for the most part.


"I can mention it.  They did spend a lot of time inside the beltway, so they certainly know people."

After a few more sips of coffee John leans a little closer to Megan, "So, the wierd stuff that was in the papers.  Is that all true?  The drug that gave people super powers and the girl with ice powers that attacked another student?  My mom was a little freaked out by the whole thing, but I sort of figured it was a little exaggerated in the papers."

“Yeah, it has been.  But it something my sister, brother and I just got used to.  He did provide extremely well as far as our financial futures go, but who can really say if the trade off is worth it.”  She replies with a slight shrug.


Megan was almost a bit surprised by John leaning a bit closer until he asked about the weird things that had taken place as school.  Reluctantly she nodded.  “It is all true actually, very little exaggeration.  The drug, which everyone is calling ‘Superman’ makes the user really strong and faster than normal.  I have twice seen people on it.  Once was during the football game against, ironically enough, Proviso West’s team, where players on both sides had taken it to improve their performance.  That is one of the reasons the team is a bit short handed.  The first time was at school, where two boys on the drug were bullying another who somehow was able to fight back by turning into this big red monster like thing.  But somehow when the boy being bullied returned to normal, he had a heartattack and died.”

She paused a moment and then continued.  “And as for the ice girl thing, that is also true and I saw it first hand.  She attacked one of the female gym coaches and some girl that had picked on her in the past.  In fact, I was the one who stopped her.  Pushed a ball cart into her while she was focused on attacking the girl she was mad at.”  Megan had a slightly proud smile as she mentioned how she had first used her powers.  Then the smile faded.  “But there have been other things to.  Someone stealing things all over the school, even right out of people’s hands and no sigh of who it might be.  A photographer that has somehow managed to get pictures of some girls in the showers of the girls’ locker room.  We also recently had a boy that went on a bit of a shooting spree with some sort of high-tech raygun thing.  And there are other, somewhat more minor things as well.”

“Like I said, a few students have left for these and other reasons.  My father has twice thought of pulling me from the school and sending me to Fenwick, the first time I managed to talk him out of it, the second time my mother did.  But Fenwick and some of the other nearby schools have had similar problems, but we seem to have had more, and more serious ones.”

At the end of the debate, Donnie kept sitting, writing notes. He saw the Oak Park team shaking hands with the other team and thought it would have been a good photo op. He watched as Laura introduced soem guy to the team, and then the new guy and Megan went off together.

Damn that dude moves fast.

He then chuckles to himself over the irony of his statement. Perhaps he might be able to keep up.

He finishes his notes and calls his mom for a pick-up.

"Well, I'm glad you and your mom were able to convince him to let you stay."  John says with a warm smile, "Otherwise I'd never have met such an able native guide.  Hey, you have plans for Saturday?  I could take you to a movie or something."  He smiles again, "Since you're far too worldly to be bribed with a simple cup of coffee.  You could show me around Chicago maybe?"

Megan returned John’s smile as she felt just a slight feeling of panic at his question about her plans for Saturday, given the plan to try to catch the photographer.  But she managed to keep her outward appearance calm as she replied.  “Well, sort of.  Saturday is a home game, so there is going to be an after game party that will mainly be the football team and a number of other students that are what I guess is considered the ‘popular’ crowd.”  She paused for only a moment and then said.  “We could go to that for a bit, but would not have to stay too long and then do something else.”

"Actually, the party sounds like a good idea.  Give me a chance to see the other players and get to know some people.  That's assuming I don't totally screw up on the field that day."  the says the last part with a grin.  Megan noticed that his smile lights up his entire face and is infectious as it seems to have been passed onto the woman clearing the tables that came back to give him a refill, which he thanked her for.

"You know, the people here are nicer then I imagined they'd be.  I guess I always thought of Chicago as a kind of cold place for some reason."

“Only the winter weather.”  Megan replied with a smile at John’s comment about people in the area being nicer than he expected.  “But then we are in a bit more of a small community suburb.  In the city people tend to be a bit more anonymous as you would expect from a big city like Chicago or New York.  But I still don’t know if I would call them cold.”

She then focused back on the talk about Saturday night.  “I wouldn’t worry too much, with what all has gone on lately, you would have to probably do something like score for the other team for people to really hold anything against you in your first game.”  She said with a smile. 

“So,” she began, deciding to talk about something else he had said that had been a bit interesting, “the University of Chicago?  It’s not all that common to find a Freshman that already has his sights set on a college, is there some particular reason you are focused on that there?”

John laughed, "Don't say that, I'm nervous enough already.  you say stuff like that and I'll manage to do it somehow."


"Medical school.  I've always been really interested in helping people, medicine seemed like the way to do that."

Megan laughed at John’s comment about managing to score for the wrong team.  “I am sure you will do just fine.  What position are you wanting to play?”

When he explained his interest in the University of Chicago, Megan nodded.  “Yeah, it does have a good medical school.  A good lot of programs really.  But you were already near John Hopkins, does Chicago have some focus that was more appealing?”

"They have a parahuman physiology program and some excellent genetics programs.  Those have always interested me."

Megan luckily had her coffee cup up at her lips to help hide the tension that she felt in her lips at his reply about the medical school’s parahuman and genetics programs.  Taking a sip, she gave him a smile.  “Well, I am sure there will be a lot of good information regarding that in the years to come seeing as there are a number of metahumans appearing around here at the moment.  But really, that is great that you want to go into the field to help people.”  She adds, very honestly.

"What about you, any big plans.  Law school like dad or homemaker like your mother.  Or not planning that far ahead yet?"

Megan made a slight face at the mention of law school.  “No, I don’t think I would want to pursue that right now, but maybe someday I might think differently about it.  And I don’t think I would want to immediately focus on being a homemaker after college like my mom did.  I would like to do something for at least a few years first, maybe marketing or something similar.  But when I do have children, I would like to focus on them like my mom has.”

“As for schools, right now, the plan is pretty much focusing on getting into Princeton, where my parents met.  They have given or raised so much money for that school they have all but assured my siblings and I spots there if we wanted, unless we really messed up in grades or committed a crime or something.  My sister could have gone there, but went to Yale instead, where my dad went to law school.” 

"Wow, Princeton, cool."  John glances at his watch and frowns, "I didn't realize how late it is.  I should probably get home.  It was really nice meeting you, and I'll be seeing you aroudn school and stuff so we'll have a chance to get to know each other."

Megan glances at her watch as well, though she knows it is late.  “Yeah, it is late.”  She agreed.  Looking back at him she gave him a smile as she replied.  “It was really nice to meet you as well John.  Let me know if you do want a guide around school, I’d be happy to do so.  Here’s my cell.”  She quickly (but not too quickly) wrote her number on a scrape of paper and handed it to him.  “Be sure to let me know what position you will be playing and number you will have for the game so I can be sure to keep an eye on how you do, which I know will be great.”

John takes her number and glances at it, slipping it into her pocket.  "Oh, I'm going to be playing quarterback, so I should be easy to spot.  Apparently the guy they got to replace the senior who was suspended isn't that good, so coach told me I could have the position, apparently I couldn't do any worse then the last guy."

Megan smiles again as he mentions what position he will be playing.  “Yeah, Frank is not really the best quarterback we have had this year.  But that will make you easy to spot indeed.”  She said as she stood up to head out.  “I have to say that position hasn’t been the luckiest this year, but I bet you will do great.”

"Thanks."  John says, getting the door for Megan as they leave.  "Well, I'll see you.  I gotta run."  with a wave he turns and begins to run off down the street and disappears around a corner.

Megan returned his wave as he started off down the street as she started off in the direction of her house, not in a particular hurry to get home.  Meeting John had been a very nice finish to doing so well in the debate against Proviso West.