[Spirit of Lust 2] Chapters 260 & 261. (Patreon)

Chapter 260: The plan.

“Oh, by the way,” Sarah continued. “Alice and I were talking on the phone last night and we had a pretty amazing idea.”

“Hm? And what idea is that?”

“We were brainstorming for a while. I was in the hot tub and we were talking for so long that my skin got all wrinkly. But it was worth it. I think we have a pretty solid plan, save for some caveats…”

I nodded. “Okay, but what’s the plan about?”

Sarah grinned. “We want to start a new club.”

“Oh. That’s… Huh.”

That was a pretty good idea, actually. At our school, students could start their own clubs so long as they met some conditions and filled the necessary paperwork. In fact, there were probably more after-school clubs at our school than in any other around simply because groups of friends would start one as a way to hang out and kill time.

“I asked Alice what we’d need to start one,” Sarah said. “Turns out it’s even less than I thought. For starters, we need four people. Alice and Noelle can’t technically join, since they’re in the student council, but Mila, Grace and I aren’t in any clubs and neither are you. And if we start a club…”

“We’d get our own club room,” I said, guessing Sarah’s main goal with this.

“Exactly.” She smirked. “I want to talk about it with the others, but I’m sure they’ll agree. What do you think?”

“...” I held my chin as I pondered. “It sounds like a good idea, but there are too many issues we’d have to work around.”

Sarah shrugged. “What do you think we have Alice and Grace for?”

“I’m hearing my name already, and I’m not sure that’s a good thing,” Grace said, entering the classroom all of a sudden.

“Speak of the devil…” Sarah said.

Grace ignored that comment in favor of walking up to me to peck my lips as a morning greeting.

“She’s saying you’re the smartest person she knows,” I told Grace.

“Well, duh.”

“Excuse me, I didn’t say that.” Sarah pouted and crossed her arms. “If I had to bet on who’s smarter between Grace and Alice, I’d bet on Alice.”

“Oh? On what grounds?” Grace asked.

“She’s nicer to me.”

“She’s got you there,” I told Grace.

“Please, I little banter never hurt anyone. But that aside, what do you need my brain for?”

“Alice and I had the idea of starting a club,” Sarah told her.

It seemed like those words had a huge impact on Grace, because she looked completely stunned for a moment. She blinked, looked down at the floor, then at the ceiling. She crossed her arms in thought and tapped her foot. My mind reading decided not to work right now, but it didn’t need to. I could almost hear Grace’s brain running on full power.

“You’re a genius, Sarah,” Grace praised, casually nodding her head. “And what’s the club going to be about?”

“We… didn’t quite get there,” Sarah admitted, her shoulders dropping.

“Any preferences, Oliver?” Grace asked me. I shook my head. “Alright. Give me until next recess.”

Sarah looked at me and shrugged again. “Told you.”

***

That recess, Grace grabbed me, Mila, and Sarah and dragged us to look for Alice and Noelle. Isabelle was with them in their classroom, so she ended up tagging along out of curiosity.

It was a big, weird group, but somehow, with Alice and Grace leading the way, it seemed to make some sense to those watching.

“So four people to start,” Grace said. “Recruiting isn’t obligatory, right?”

“It’s not,” Alice answered. “People CAN still submit an application, but the club president is free to refuse them. It’s a bit more complicated than that, but you shouldn’t have troubles with that.”

We went down the stairs, from the fourth floor to the third and were making our way down to the first.

“What’s necessary to keep the club going?”

“You need to show some sort of proof that the club is working on its intended purpose. For the sports clubs it’s easy since they go to tournaments. The music club puts on a performance, and the theater club does the same.”

Grace nodded. “The club room… Does it need to be one in the west wing?”

Alice smiled. “That’s the question, isn’t it?”

It was honestly kind of amazing to watch them bounce off each other like that. It was like they were in sync, or like watching professionals having a meeting.

“What got into you all?” Isabelle asked me, almost whispering. “Why start a club at this time of the year?”

“Not my idea, but I think it’s a good one. You wanted to make one too, didn’t you? But since Alice and Noelle ended up in the student council…”

“I was doomed from the start,” Isabelle said, turning to look at Noelle. “She was going to join the arts and crafts club if Alice didn’t win the elections.”

“Arts and crafts? To build model kits?”

Noelle flinched. “H-How did you know!?”

I chuckled. “A wild guess.”

We followed Alice to the first floor, then to the courtyard, then to the back of the school, some good distance away from the gym, all the way to a storage shed.

Mila poked Noelle on the shoulder and pointed at the roof of the shed. “That’s where the bullies threw my backpack back in freshman year.”

“Ah. Where Oliver got it from?”

“Yeah.”

“See, there’s this thing you can do when applying to form a new club,” Alice told us. “If your club requires some sort of special equipment or space, you can request a different room as your club room instead of those in the west wing. For example, the science clubs have theirs close to the labs, and the sports clubs have theirs in the same building as the changing rooms.”

“Aha!” Grace smirked. “So if we come up with something good, we might be able to ask for this shed as our club room.”

“Precisely.” Alice giggled. “It’s practically empty, it’s big enough to use and it’s… far enough from prying eyes.”

Next to me, Isabelle swallowed a gasp, but her eyes went wide. I made the very conscious decision to ignore it, as did everyone else.

“Yeah, this works,” Sarah agreed. “But what reason could we give to request this? It could still potentially be used as a storage room if they need it, so they could easily tell us no if we don’t have a good enough reason.”

“Hehehe,” Grace laughed mischievously. “How about telling them it’s to avoid troubling our schoolmates?”

I swallowed. “G-Grace…?”

“I have the perfect subject for us,” Grace said. “This will be the meeting place of the new Occult Research Club.”

*********

Chapter 261: Mr. Santiago Rodriguez.

“Occult research?” Isabelle asked. “Like black magic and stuff?”

“Yes,” Grace answered easily.

“Occult research…” Alice echoed. She eyed me with a faint smile. “Apt, I suppose. And a perfect excuse, too.”

“Wait, wait! Are we going to behead chickens here or something!?” Mila asked, perturbed.

“I hope not,” I said. “Do you want us to pretend to be witches and warlocks?”

Noelle chuckled. “I doubt that’s what she has in mind.” She turned to Grace. “You mean research of examples of occult beliefs throughout history, don’t you?”

“Ding ding ding! Someone’s keeping up,” Grace praised. “That’s exactly what I mean. A sensitive topic that gives us a reason to keep our club activities away from students who might feel uncomfortable at the idea of people playing with a ouija board so close to them.”

“ARE we going to play with a ouija board?” Sarah asked, raising an eyebrow.

Grace shrugged. “We don’t need to, but maybe we should have one around just for show.”

“Remember that you still need to show proof twice a semester that you’re doing activities related to the club,” Alice told her. “Though for something like this, writing a short paper should suffice.” She then let out a heavy sigh. “So far we have everything considered. Everything but one last requirement.”

“Which is…” Isabelle asked.

“A teacher as a club advisor. You can’t start one without one of the teachers acting as a sort of supervisor.”

“Oh.” Mila’s shoulders dropped in disappointment. “Then we can’t…”

“Don’t most teachers just show up once in a blue moon, though?” Sarah asked. “Of course, the coaches for the sports clubs are always there, but for most the teachers just let the students do their thing. We just need to find a teacher that’s willing to just be an advisor on paper.”

“Pretty much, yes,” Grace agreed.

“But who do we ask?” Mila said.

I winced as the image of one of our teachers came to me. If I had to choose someone, there was no one else I would’ve felt comfortable asking, but even then I didn’t want to bother him.

“You have an idea, don’t you?” Mila asked me.

“Y-Yes, but… I don’t know.”

Grace crossed her arms and frowned with a wry smile. “You’re thinking of the music teacher, aren’t you?” I flinched. How did she know? “Want me to ask him? I’m sure I can convince him.”

I pursed my lips. I could almost picture it. “I don’t want to guilt-trip him into agreeing. I’ll ask him myself.”

“But Oliver!” Isabelle complained. “Isn’t he the advisor for the music club? He…!”

“He tried to convince me not to leave, promised to help me fix things. I was the one who refused to cooperate,” I told her. “What happened wasn’t his fault. I’ve never blamed him. I still respect him, actually, and he’s the only one that comes to mind. Mr. Ortiz, for example, usually means well, but he tends to meddle more than he should.” I got plenty of nods and murmurs of agreement at that. “Is everyone else okay with this?” They were. “Then… I’ll ask him later.”

***

I didn’t want to waste time, so I went to look for the music teacher at the start of the second recess. I waited for him outside the teacher’s room.

One thing I learned to do more since I began to work on my own growth was looking people in the eyes. It’s surprising how much you can tell about someone when you’re not looking at their feet. That why I was surprised when I saw Mr. Santiago Rodriguez approaching. He saw me from down the hallway and almost immediately looked down. It didn’t last long, but I was able to notice. I went up to him.

Mr. Rodriguez was hispanic. Chilean, I think. His skin was slightly dark and his short black hair was curly. He was one of the shortest teachers in school, but still taller than me by about half a head.

“Good morning, Mr. Rodriguez. Do you have a minute?”

I think I caught him by surprise, but I didn’t blame him. I approached him and spoke… well, like any other normal human being would. Even back then, I didn’t speak much with him.

“Mr. Brooks.” Mr. Rodriguez smiled. “Of course. What do you need?”

“Um… My friends and I would like to start a new club.”

“Ah, I see. Come with me to the office.”

He meant one of the small rooms teachers used to have private talks with students and parents. I didn’t think this was something that would need to be talked about in private, but still, I followed.

I sat across from Mr. Rodriguez at the desk. The music teacher let out a soft sigh before he started.

“So you want to start a new club,” he repeated with a small smile. “What is it about?”

“O-Occult research. We want to study how magic has been seen historically.”

Mr. Rodriguez blinked in surprise. “Oh, really? That sounds interesting. And who would you be starting this club with? You are aware that you need at least four members, right?”

I nodded. “Milana Aliev, Grace Valentine and Sarah West.”

He nodded, but this time I saw no surprise in his face. “I hope I’m not intruding too much, but tell me, are you… getting along with them?”

“Yes,” I answered swiftly, confidently.

The teacher let out a soft, tired chuckle. “I see. So you feel ready to be in a club again?”

“Yes. I… still don’t know if I’m over what happened in the music club in freshman year, but I do know this isn’t the same.”

Mr. Rodriguez smiled. “Clearly. You’re not the same you were back then. I’ve noticed. I’ve been tempted to ask you to come back to the club. You haven’t stopped playing guitar, have you?”

I shook my head. “No. I even think I’m getting a little better, like I’m understanding what music is beyond just a pattern of notes.”

“So you’re sure you don’t want to come back?”

“I’m sure. This last year of high school… I want to spend it with my friends.”

“I see.” He chuckled. “One last question. How much of this is just an excuse to have a place to hang out in the school?”

Of course he knew. We weren’t the firsts to come up with this idea and we wouldn’t be the last. “...About half of it?” I admitted with a sheepish smile.

Mr. Rodriguez grinned.“Good. I was hoping to hear that.”

“Ah?”

“You’ve always been too concerned about other people. Sometimes you need a little selfishness, Oliver.” He nodded. “Submit the paperwork. I’ll be your club’s advisor. I’ll need to drop in every once in a while to make sure you’re not beheading chickens or performing human sacrifices, but I’ll mostly leave your group alone. If you need anything, however, be sure to come to me, alright? I’m serious.”

He got a nice chuckle out of me. “Thank you, sir.”

I… hadn’t expected it to go so smoothly. Even now, or especially now that I’m an adult, I wonder if Mr. Rodriguez felt responsible for what happened in freshman year and wanted to make it up to me. He never said it explicitly, and I understand why, but still, I wonder.