Kitty Katt 11: Alien Separation Read Online Free PDF Page B

didn’t buy it. Charles in the other universe hadn’t flipped out and, as I’d just said, they were basically the same guy. Time to treat my best friend
like
my best friend.
    I took his hands in mine. “But I do know why everyone’s acting weird around you.”
    â€œSo, tell me.”
    â€œSee, here’s the thing. Remember when Joey Tucci had asked me to the Senior Prom and you knew he planned to rape me if I didn’t say yes to having sex with him somewhere during the night?”
    â€œYeah,” he growled. “I was scared as hell to tell you, because I wasn’t sure if you’d believe me, or hate me for ruining your expected good time, but I had to.”
    â€œRight. You told me because you loved me and trusted me to listen to you. You told me I couldn’t react the way I’d want to. And I did listen to you and I didn’t go kick him in the balls or run him over with my dad’s car.”
    â€œYeah. You told him you’d gotten asked by someone you liked more and were being kind and not leading him on. Then you asked me instead.” He smiled at me. “That’s probably my favorite high school memory.”
    â€œI’m fond of it, too.”
    â€œSo, what’s the thing you need to tell me that you don’t want me overreacting to?”
    Sent a small prayer up to ACE, Algar, Naomi, and any other superconciousnesses or superpowered beings who might be listening. “We’ve figured out who the Mastermind is.”
    Chuckie was quiet for a few long moments. “No one’s told me. And everyone started acting strangely once the other Kitty was here. So, that means there was a Mastermind in the world she was from, doesn’t it?”
    â€œGot it in one. It was very
Age of Apocalypse
there. People who were good here were bad there and vice versa. People dead here were alive there and vice versa again. But some people were exactly the same, both good and bad.”
    â€œYes, we got a lot of that from the other you.” I could see the wheels turning in Chuckie’s brain. “So, the Mastermind there is someone I know here, and probably trust, because otherwise, why keep this information from me?” He looked stricken. “I’m not the Mastermind there, am I? Him, I mean.”
    â€œDude, seriously, why are you so down on yourself? No, of course you’re not the Mastermind there, any more than you are here. But to be sure of the overriding theory . . . did you participate in a mail-in chess competition before I met you?”
    He nodded. “In grade school. I won. The people who ran the contest were thrilled. They made a huge deal about it, and I told my teacher, who told the class.” His face clouded. “And that was when I learned, definitively, that being known as the smartest person around was the fastest way to being the butt of every joke, the focus of every bully, and more, all of it bad.”
    Well, that was exactly how it had gone down for the Chuckie in the other universe, so this wasn’t a surprise. It was, however, a confirmation. And the proof that my last hopeful doubts were going to be dashed. “Let’s talk about that some more. Was there anyone who might have, oh, protested your win?”
    â€œYeah,” he said slowly. “I haven’t thought about this in years, but now that you mention it, there was someone who was just a little older than me, in high school, I think. He protested my win, for quite a while.”
    â€œDid you ever learn his name?”
    Chuckie shook his head. “No. We were both minors, so his name was kept out of it. He came in second, but refused to accept, so they never shared his name with me.”
    â€œBut yours was shared.”
    â€œYes. I won and my parents and I gave them permission. What does this have to do with anything, or are you just enjoying reminiscing?”
    â€œOh, it’s really significant. Same as