Chapter 8: Spring Semester 1983

With the spring semester, which began on January 4th, David was once again taking the Ministry/Leadership course, rather than the standard Religious Education course. The rest of their classes remained the same, with the only other big change being they both landed spots, again, on the basketball teams. This time, Meri pursued a place on the Lady's Varsity team and made it. She was coming out of her shell more and more. David had advanced at this point to Cadet Ensign (C/ENS) and it looked like he would, very likely, make Cadet Lieutenant (C/LT) before the end of their Junior year.

School was pretty much a known quantity, for them. They studied, did their required work, but always turned in college level papers; something they got Mona into, as well. They went out on dates, which became easier when David reached his seventeenth birthday, which meant that it was legal for him to drive after dark. This in turn lead to more dates in the evenings on weekends. They enjoyed the occasional movie, but mostly went out to meet with friends, like Mona, and go bowling, or skating, and such. They did not spend all their time with their noses in their books. They did take time out to enjoy life, too.

On the last week of April, David was officially promoted to Cadet Lieutenant, and there was talk of him being promoted at the start of the new school year, partially due to the loss of this year's Senior Class, partially due to his hard work and determination. He spent a lot of time talking with their instructor about courses he should take with the goal of him going into EOD in mind. The instructor did research for him and helped him determine what he would need in order to get the best chance of getting into EOD, though he was surprised that David wasn't going to apply to any of the Military Academies, but was set on going to a civilian school, when he knew David would be a shoe-in for a position.

Our young couple did well on the basketball court. Their teams made it to the State Playoffs, but no further. One person, on each team, can only do so much. Besides, the other teams had larger pools of talent to pull from. There was no shame in how they placed. They were happy, and when their team mates asked why, they were told that what mattered was that they gave it their all. As long as they did that, they should be happy. If they'd won, and went all the way to the final play off, but didn't put their all into it, and just goofed off ... well that would be a disappointment.

Finals came and went; David and Meri were once again on the Dean's list with perfect grades. Their parents were happy, but not at all surprised. The first year of their attending NDHS had cured them of any surprise at how well their children did. It would have been a surprise if they hadn't done so well.

Mona White graduated, and they threw a party for her at David's home. They had about fifteen friends, in all, come over. The young adults were well known to Sandy, so she felt no need to watch over them; that and she knew David wouldn't allow any drinking, or such happen in her home. One thing that was a surprise was when David got Mona alone for a few minutes and gave her a kiss that left her knees weak. She was worried that David intended to mess around behind Meri's back, but when Meri came up behind her and hugged her and told her it was alright, she relaxed. Knowing Mona was confused about the situation, Meri explained to Mona that they'd talked about it. They both really liked Mona, and had agreed that David could do this, this one time. Then, with a smile, Meri placed a condom in Mona's hand and went back to the party. Mona blushed, but half an hour and one condom later, she and David were back at the party, carrying in more bottles of soda and bags of chips and other edibles. The party lasted until 9pm.