Chapter 60

6:30 p.m. Saturday

The guests had all arrived with the exception of the Penas and Paul Manley. The only explanation anyone could offer came from Steve Manley, Paul's father, who said only that his son had told him they were running late.

The dance started at 8 p.m. and Evan wanted to make sure the young women had plenty of time to get dressed without rushing, so he decided to have the food brought out. A few looked unhappy with the offerings — light offerings designed to allow the participants to continue to mingle and talk.

Everyone had a plate in his or her hands when Paul arrived alone. Andy broke free from Collette Dalrymple and made his way over to the unsmiling man.

"What a fiasco," Paul seethed. He spotted an uneaten sandwich on Andy's plate and snared it.

"What's the problem?" Andy wondered. He had sent texts to Elizabeth and Paul but neither had replied.

"Chuck!" Paul spat.

"What did that idiot do now?" Andy asked angrily. Regan was in earshot so he didn't mention his initial suspicion — that he had made an inappropriate remark or action toward Lupe.

"I'm not sure it's really his fault," Paul admitted, finishing the sandwich and accepting a second offered by Regan. He'd been forbidden from having lunch and he hadn't eaten since breakfast. "I think it's that girl he's with. You know, they invited her to go shopping with them this morning. She showed up wearing white yoga pants and a gray sports bra — nothing else. Well, socks and sneakers, I guess. My eyes didn't make it down to her feet."

Andy nodded. He'd seen Abby Barnes in yoga pants before the school district had banned them.

"Miguel was upset but he didn't say anything," Paul continued. "Mariel did, though. She came out with a T-shirt and tossed it to her. She explained that the family had rules that included being fully dressed when in public areas. That meant no bare stomachs and no underclothing."

"Elizabeth mentioned that rule," Andy told him.

"Well, Abby was a total bitch from that point on," Paul said. "Elizabeth has kept Chris' presence here a secret. She wanted for Abby to have to change into her gown in the same room as Joy and Ruth, I guess."

"Abby's pretty cute," Andy said in a low voice. It was true. Abby Barnes had a body that seemed made to be ogled. "Her butt..."

"Believe me, I saw every millimeter of her butt today," Paul cut in. "She stuck it in my face every chance she got — and those pants were so tight I could see her meat flaps between her legs. All the butts we saw last night are just as nice — and, don't tell Elizabeth but Joy might have the best-looking behind I've ever seen."

"Oh, Paul, you say the sweetest things!" Joy said from his shoulder. "If you keep saying things like that, I won't mention it to Elizabeth at all."

"Sorry," Paul said, blushing. He was now surrounded by the group — except Elizabeth, who had yet to arrive.

"Don't be," Joy said brightly. "I wasn't kidding. It's nice to know that you appreciate my backside. I work hard to keep it looking good."

"So what happened?" Andy asked, rolling his eyes at Joy.

"Abby decided she didn't want to go shopping," Paul said, frowning again. "So Chuck went with her ... somewhere. No one really asked. When everyone got back, she said that she and Chuck would just get a separate table tonight. She thought ... I don't know what she thought but I guess she thought it was just reservations or something here. By that point, no one was unhappy that they were going to stay out of the way. We told them, 'Good Luck' and we left at five o'clock to come over."

He shook his head.

"We got maybe two or three blocks when Elizabeth remembered that she had something she wanted to put in Lupe's hair or something," Paul remarked. "They were following us and we all turned around. Mariel, Elizabeth and Lupe went inside. A second later — and I do mean a second — they all raced out of the house."

"Why?" Andy asked with concern.

"Because Chuck and Abby were fucking on the God-damned couch!" Paul hissed.

"Oh, shit," Andy muttered.

"That stupid kid," Paul added. "He couldn't wait five minutes to slip his dick into that skank. He has no sense whatsoever."

"It's probably not his fault," Chris said with a shrug. "Abby probably promised him a screw if he'd take her. I heard she didn't have much luck finding anyone before the party last Friday. She probably wanted to get it out of the way in case something better came along later on. She's like that."

"I thought my sister was bad but Noel is an angel compared to this chick," Paul told him. "I think Elizabeth was going to kick her ass."

"So, what's happening now?" Regan asked, concerned that Elizabeth might miss her senior prom.

"Right now, Mariel, Elizabeth and Lupe are taking Abby home," Paul explained. "I saw Miguel jump out of the car and I worried about burglars or a fire or something so I ran into the house right behind him. The first thing Abby did was start to cry and hint that she'd been coerced. I'll admit that Chuck took the heat. He told his dad that, yeah, he'd fucked up but that he hadn't coerced anyone. They were both willing and they were both responsible. He said he'd take his share of the blame but he wasn't going to have everything land on him."

"It might anyway," Ruth said.

"She was riding him when Elizabeth came in," Paul said, shaking his head. "Elizabeth said she had his arms pinned over his head. Lupe said the same thing — that she knew sexual assault when she saw it and that what she'd witnessed wasn't that. So, Mariel is going to explain the situation to Abby's parents."

"It's just her mom and she won't care," Chris interrupted. "In fact, if we're all single and horny at the same time, we could grab a 12-pack of beer and a box of condoms and just show up — assuming we had twenty bucks between the three of us. That's probably all it would take to get both of them naked."

"Gross!" Ruth said, slapping Chris on the arm.

"Maybe but it doesn't mean it's not true," Chris countered.

"Miguel was ... well, I'm not sure I've ever seen him this mad," Paul added. "I thought I'd hit his limit a couple of years ago when I got Elizabeth home an hour past her curfew but that was minor compared to this. I'm not sure but I think Chuck is going to find himself in military school in the fall. That was the last I got to hear before I was shuttled off here with the bags."

"So Chuck and Abby aren't going to be at the prom?" Regan asked, clearly disappointed that Elizabeth's plan appeared to have failed.

"I think they are," Paul told her. "Abby started to cry harder because she'd spent so much money on her gown. Mariel said Chuck's punishment could start that evening — she forced him to agree to take her."

"Ouch," Andy said. "That had to sting Abby's pride a little bit."

"She wasn't happy," Paul agreed.

"I think it serves her right," Regan said. "She was perfectly content to leave Chris without a date."

"That's the other thing," Paul said, sighing heavily. "She thinks he's still without a date. She thinks he's either going to stay home or come by himself. She thinks that he somehow found out about her plans and lied about asking someone else."

"It's not like she was subtle!" Chris offered. "Of course I found out. The people she thinks are her friends are really my friends. I knew about her stupid plan 10 seconds after it crossed her feeble brain. I just didn't give a crap."

"Well, she thinks Joy and Ruth aren't real," Paul told him.

"Oh, we're real," Joy said with an evil glint in her eyes.

"And we're fabulous," Ruth added.

7:05 p.m. Saturday

The young women – and their mothers – disappeared into the room where Andy had been sleeping. Regan blushed slightly when she saw where she had spent the previous Saturday night and recalled all the things that had transpired on that bed.

For their part, Ruth and Joy exchanged grins when they glanced down the hall to the spot they had corrupted Chris so thoroughly.

The gentlemen and Yvette were left out front – along with three younger teens: Noel, 15; Lupe, 14; and John, 14

Lupe had arrived with Elizabeth and her mother and father and had been greeted with a hug from Regan – which appeared to startle the girl.

All the older girls were extremely friendly to the newcomer, which was in direct contrast to the way they studiously ignored Noel. Paul's sister made a beeline for Elizabeth as soon as her face appeared in the doorway but Elizabeth was more interested in the others who quickly approached – Paul, Chris, Andy, Regan and Joy.

Now the older teen males went out to the balcony, mostly because Evan, Robert, Steve and Miguel were talking about the differences between cricket and baseball – which interested exactly no one except for them. Chris' parents had other plans for the evening and had departed – but not before securing a promise from Evan to send pictures to them later. William Dalrymple and Brentwood DeLancy seemed happy enough to talk about business. Yvette Manley seemed content to ignore everyone else in the room – including her children. She was miffed that she hadn't been invited to the room where the young women were sorting their clothing.

It wasn't long before the young men got bored and headed out to the balcony. They wouldn't need to start getting ready for quite awhile.

"Maybe we're taking this vendetta against Abby a little too far," Chris told Andy and Paul while they leaned against the railing far above the downtown streets.

"She brought it on herself," Andy reiterated. "She's the one that went behind your back. She's the one that paraded up in the lunchroom to make a pronouncement. If she would have pulled you aside and told you, it would have been one thing. But she wanted to embarrass you. Elizabeth and the others plan to make her pay for that decision."

"And besides that," Paul interjected, "if they're focused on her they're letting us alone."

"I really didn't want to come right out and say that," Andy admitted with a laugh.

The conversation ended when the door opened and Noel, John and Lupe emerged. Lupe had dressed demurely for the dinner. She wore a blue polka dot sleeveless blouse and a tan skirt that reached her knees. John was dressed almost identically to Andy — except his Polo was gray instead of brown.

Noel, on the other hand, was dressed similarly to her mother — as though she was set to attend a state dinner. Her starched white blouse had a black calf-length skirt that billowed around her legs. She had kept her eyes on her smart phone since the evening moved from the banquet room to the suite.

Of course, John had managed to split his attention between the four older teen girls — and Lupe.

"What are you three getting into this evening?" Chris asked amiably. "Anything fun?"

"I have a date," Noel said, offering Chris her finest sneer.

"I'd be at a baseball game if the high princess didn't want the chance to tell all of her stupid friends about who she got to eat with tonight," John replied.

"I'm going to eat ice cream and watch TV," Lupe replied. There was a note of happiness in her voice that was noticeably missing from the others' tones.

"Lame!" Noel said. "Sitting at home on a Saturday night is for losers."

John turned on his sister like a viper.

"Yeah, God forbid you bother you being nice to someone who's had a thought in the past five years!" he said. "Maybe if you had a few friends like Lupe you wouldn't be such a twat all the time!"

Noel's expression turned thunderous.

"I'm going to tell Mom!" she hissed.

"Of course you are," John replied, getting in his sister's face. "I should have thought of that and call you a cunt like I planned."