Chapter 62

8:30 p.m. Saturday

Abby Barnes had lived through what she considered to be the worst day of her young life. She had such high plans for the day when she awoke. She was going to spend the morning with Elizabeth Pena, the undisputed (if self-appointed) Queen of the School.

Abby figured that she could play nice with the stuck-up snob for a little while, get an invitation to her table at the dance – and place herself as the frontrunner for the job once Elizabeth graduated. Abby knew how to make people like her, she thought.

She had noticed boys drooling over her tight butt in her white band pants when she was just a freshman. As the year progressed, she found other ways to keep them entertained. No boy would turn down the opportunity for "no-strings attached" sex with a good-looking girl. Her mother had taught her enough about life to know that.

She was careful, though, always selecting guys that had as much to lose by telling their friends as she did. Almost every weekend – and a few weeknights – found some other girl's boyfriend between Abby's legs for a few seconds, minutes or hours. The lackluster sexual performances had also taught her the fine art of acting – which played into making the other girls like her.

To most of the junior class, Abby Barnes was a friend, a confidante or a co-conspirator. Her base was in the band but she was well-known (and well-liked, she believed) in other areas of the school. Cheerleaders had sought her out talk about guys or clothes; she had several geeks that helped with her homework in exchange for favors (sexual for the males; an increase in visibility for the girls). The only people she avoided were the blacks and the Mexicans – but all the white girls avoided those groups (except for the handful that hung out with them to spite their parents).

She thought she'd scored a major coup when she convinced Chris Grant to ask her out. Chris was the outgoing band president and the most popular kid in her main group of friends. She hinted for weeks before he finally asked her to prom. That would be enough to bring her to the forefront of the band. She would be head majorette and band president – a feat never before accomplished. Then some senior loser from the projects showed up and threw a hand grenade into her plans.

She had decided to teach Chris a lesson but that hadn't gone as she planned either. The parties started early because the college kids were home. By the time she arrived, most were baked or drunk. They couldn't even get a decent hard-on, let alone remember agreeing to take her to her dance. She was about to leave for a fresh hunting ground when Chuck Pena came strolling up the stairs.

Abby had no idea that he was related to Elizabeth Pena. A lot of the Mexicans had the last name of Pena. She'd never seen them talking at school; they didn't arrive together or leave together. They didn't look any more like the other than all the people with darker skin looked like each other.

Chuck was a dumbass. Everyone knew that. But he was the star of the basketball team and people were saying he might be the first male athlete from Eisenhower in a dozen years to earn a Division I athletic scholarship. She made her move right then, pulling him willingly into one of the bedrooms. He didn't seem to care (if he noticed) that three other guys had already left a deposit inside of her since she left school that afternoon.

He rutted and grunted (while Abby pretended he was driving her to the height of sexual ecstasy) on whoever's bed she happened to find available. She let him drive her home and she'd given him a blowjob when they got there. She thought about making him lick his own spunk (and that of the other guys) out of her twat but figured that should wait until after she'd secured him as a prom date.

That had taken all of 15 minutes. He told her that he and Erin Cooley were going to go together but they had broken up so he wasn't planning to go. She told her about her date canceling after she'd spend hundreds of dollars on a gown and Chuck had stepped right in.

"I could, maybe, you know, take you if you want to go," he'd said in his normal dumb jock way.

Abby had pretended to think it over for a moment before agreeing.

"I will rock your world for helping me out like this," she'd promised.

And, indeed, Chuck Pena's world had been rocked. Abby had been stunned to find out the day after she confronted Chris in the cafeteria that Elizabeth was Chuck's sister. She's also been stunned to find out that they apparently hated each other. She had decided that she'd play peacemaker between the two and Elizabeth would anoint her as "heir apparent."

She'd worn her usual "mall clothes" to the house that morning. She'd seen that the Mexican girls seemed to favor tight pants and small tops. Elizabeth's jeans always looked like she'd painted them on just before school. She'd been embarrassed when Chuck's mother had given her a T-shirt to "cover her cleavage." She almost asked the woman if her son had told her how much time he spent with his face in that cleavage the night before but stopped herself just short.

Chuck appeared to be embarrassed, too. He wasn't his arrogant, self-aggrandizing self and he hadn't been for a few days. He also hadn't mentioned that there was another sister in the house – who was apparently as big a prude as the mother. The girl, Lupe someone said her name was, had rolled her eyes while Abby pouted and then got offended when she heard Abby mutter something about checking the Penas green cards.

"They're from the Puerto Rico, you silly twat," the girl had said. "That's part of America. They don't need green cards. They're American citizens. For fuck sake, quit shaking your ass and sit down and read a book!"

Angered further, Abby sought solace with the only other white person in the house – Elizabeth's boyfriend (and one of the guys Abby had tried her best to get alone the year before).

Elizabeth was bustling around helping her mother and sister get ready for dinner at the Renaissance. Since Elizabeth was ignoring Paul and Chuck was ignoring Abby, she decided that it wasn't too late to see if he might have some interest in hooking up during the summer.

"You're making a spectacle of yourself," he had said the third time she had stood, her butt right in front of him, and bent at the waist to retie her shoe. "They'll be ready in a few minutes. Lupe is just getting settled in so just chill. The dinner tonight is just as important to them as the prom."

That's when Abby had decided that she and Chuck weren't going to the dinner. It might be important to the Penas but they would have to live without their son. She had told Chuck that she wasn't interested in having dinner with his family and he had readily agreed. He was no more interested in spending time with Andy Drayton than she was in spending time with any of them.

They had left the house and returned shortly after the Penas had departed. She told Chuck she wanted to get started on the world rocking and undressed right there in the living room. She imagined how his mother would react to the cum stains on the couch. The only thing that would have made it better was if she could have convinced him to do it their bed but he drew the line there.

She had just gotten semi-aroused from his groping and fumbling when the door burst open and the entire Pena family stood there.

The two older women had fled but the youngest stayed long enough for a parting shot.

"You really are a dumb twat," Lupe had said, shaking her head in derision. Chuck had practically dumped Abby on the floor in his haste to cover his dick (which could have been accomplished with a thimble, Abby thought maliciously).

Then it was a series of accusations and denials culminated with Mariel Pena's statement that taking Abby to the prom would be the beginning Chuck's punishment – but far from the end of it. Now they were at the dance and the first person she saw was Elizabeth Pena and some redhead girl that Abby didn't know. Their dresses put hers to shame. She looked like a little kid playing dress up next to them.

Elizabeth's politeness made it even worse for Abby. She made it a point to be cordial to her brother and to engage him conversation – while he drooled over the redhead at Elizabeth's side and left Abby standing there waiting for him.

Each time she tried to leave, Elizabeth or the other girl, Regan or Megan, would ask her a question or bring her into the conversation some other way. The two pricks, Andy Drayton and Paul Manley, stood off to the side as if they were afraid to come near her for some reason.

A gasp from her erstwhile date brought Abby's attention to the door.

"Holy shit!" Chuck said, his loud voice returning to normal for the first time in three days. Abby turned and saw Chris Grant with the two girls he'd had his picture taken with the weekend before. They were both dressed to kill and every male eye (and quite a few belonging to heterosexual females) turned them as they strolled into the gym on Chris' arm.

Abby caught Andy and Paul smirking as they walked up to Chris and greeted him like a long-lost friend. The redhead and Elizabeth made a beeline for the two female newcomers and met them with the same enthusiasm.

Chuck just stood there with a stupid look on his face as they walked toward him. Abby noticed that Andy had his arm around the redhead now.

"Chuck, I think you remember Chris Grant," Elizabeth said.

"Uh, sure," Chuck answered, his eyes never leaving Ruth's breasts. As if on cue, Joy turned around to look at the door and Chuck's gaze found its way to her butt almost instantly.

"This is my roommate at Clairborne Benedict, Ruth DeLancy," the redhead said to Elizabeth's brother – but looking directly at Abby. "And one of our best friends, Joy Dalrymple. Joy is headed to Stanford with Andy, Elizabeth, Paul and me in the fall. Ruth is going to Northwestern in Chicago. They all sort of got together last weekend."

"Cool," Chuck said, looking at Chris with appreciation.

"Well, we shouldn't keep you," Regan continued. "I hope you and Abby have a nice evening. It was good to finally meet you."

"Yeah," Chuck agreed, doing his best to look down Regan's dress. "You, too."

He caught Andy's cool gaze and looked away.

"I guess we should find a table, Abby," Chuck said.

"Can we sit with your sister and her friends?" Abby asked. She didn't want her plans to fall apart so quickly.

"Not in a million years," Elizabeth said, all cordiality gone from her voice.

"We do have one extra seat, Chuck," Chris said. "So when Abby starts to stray, you can join us if you want. Lupe said you've been acting almost like a human the past few days."

"Rico and Tomas put the fear of God into him," Elizabeth said. "But, yeah, you can join us once slut-girl there goes off to steal someone else's boyfriend. But if she's with you, don't bother."

Chuck looked at Abby and nodded.

"Yeah," Chuck said, turning back to the group in front of him but looking at his sister. "When I fuck up, I don't go halfway."

"That was a lot more fun that I thought it would be," Chris admitted as they sat at the table. Joy was on his left and Ruth on his right – and both had moved their chairs so close their legs touched his beneath the table.

"I never thought I'd say this but I sort of feel bad for the little dickwad," Paul said.

"That will only last until he reverts back to his previous behavior," Elizabeth added. "Let's forget about them and have some fun."

For the next hour, the seven danced and joked, paying little or no attention to anyone else in the room. In fact, they paid little attention to the others in the group except for their dates.

"I need a break," Joy said, wiping sweat from her forehead. She had been dancing in front of Chris to some urban hip-hop song, rubbing her butt against his crotch while Ruth pressed her breasts against his back.

"Let's go the little girl's room and fix our makeup," Elizabeth suggested. "Can we trust you boys to behave for a few minutes?"

"Probably not," Chris said with a grin. "But I'll keep them in line if you let me fulfill my freshman fantasy and have a dance with you when you come back."

"I think that can be arranged," Elizabeth said with a laugh. "But only if you keep these two in line."

She gestured toward Andy and Paul.

"They get a little wild when no one is watching them," Regan agreed. "The last time we left them alone, they were all set to tag-team Andy's skanky old girlfriend when we got back."

"That's not true... ," Paul began but stopped and shook his head. The girls laughed at him and wandered off in the direction of the bathroom.

"Where is Erin?" Chris asked.

"Probably pulling a train in the locker room," Andy asked. He hadn't seen her (but then again, he hadn't been looking for her).

"That's Abby," Chuck said. He had waited for Elizabeth to leave before approaching the guys.

It took the guys a moment to realize that Chuck was serious.

"Oh, shit," Andy said, shaking his head.

"I saw her go in with Brian Newton, Trevor Baines and Willis Holloway," he said.

"That sucks, dude," Chris said, sighing.

"We agreed that coming tonight was a terrible idea," Chuck told him. "I've just been waiting for you guys to finish dancing so I could come over and apologize. I had no idea that Abby was supposed to go to prom with you. She told me that her boyfriend had dumped her. It's the same story Erin Cooley told me so I should have been suspicious. I guess it wouldn't have mattered if they told me the truth, though. Paul's right. I'm just a douche bag."