Chapter 109

The scene reminded me of an old Western. The room got quiet as everybody turned around to look at Sara and her dance partner; the band stopped in the middle of their song. The only thing missing was a bartender diving down behind the bar. The spell was broken as two faculty members appeared from nowhere and made their way over to the two of them.

Chris was on his way in from the sidelines as Jill nudged me toward Sara. I looked at her, wondering why she was pushing me.

"Go on."

I walked over to Sara, my girlfriend a step or two behind me. Chris put his hand on Sara's shoulder but she shook it off, turning into me and burying her face in my chest. My arms found their way around her with no conscious effort on my part.

I hadn't realized it but Miss Beevers was the female faculty adviser who had come over. She was dressed more appropriately for a teacher than she had been in class earlier. She had one arm on the senior's right arm, the other resting between his shoulder blades. He was still bent over, holding his balls, kind of rocking back and forth and moaning. Miss Beevers looked like she was having trouble keeping a straight face.

Sara was not crying, in fact I don't think she was upset at all. I think she just wanted to hold on to someone she felt safe with. Chris was standing a yard or two behind her and he didn't look happy. I noticed that Sara's costume was ripped.

"Did he do that to your costume?"

"Sort of. He stuck his hand down inside it and was grabbing my tit. I yanked back and that's when it ripped. I kicked him after that. It was over before I even thought about it."

The male teacher had been standing around looking lost and perked up when he heard that. He lifted up the boy's face.

"Mr. Ferguson, did you have your hand in her top?"

He was able to give him a "Yes" through gritted teeth.

The teacher looked at Sara. "Do you want to file a complaint?"

"No. I don't know what good it would do. And I don't think he'll mess around with me again."

Miss Beevers muttered "I'll say," as they led him away. I heard the male teacher say something about suspension. The poor kid practically had to be carried out of there.

Miss Beevers told the band leader to play something as they passed by and they got back to the song they'd stopped in the middle of earlier. Kids started dancing again and within a minute it was as if nothing had happened. Except that I knew every conversation in the room was probably about what had just gone on.

I eased my coat off and placed it around Sara's shoulders. No easy trick when you've got a girl clinging on to you. She pulled the front of it closed around her, holding it together, not bothering with the buttons.

I felt Jill's hand on my shoulder.

"Let's go home, Jack."

I looked at Sara and she nodded her head. I handed her over to Jill and turned to Chris.

"Hey, Chris. Come on. We're leaving."

"I'll find another way home, Jack."

"Come, on, Chris. Why are you being like that?"

"If you don't know, you're stupider than I thought." He turned and walked away from me.

We made our way out to the parking lot, Jill on one side of Sara, me on the other, each of us with an arm around her shoulders. Sara kept both arms around my waist.

I got the coats out of the back seat.

"Uh, Oh. Chris needs his coat."

Jill said, "He'll do fine without it."

I opened up the passenger door and started around the front of the car to my side. I caught something in my peripheral vision. Not quite a shoving match, but something between the two girls. It was more of an impression I got than anything I could describe. By the time I turned around to see what was going on, Jill was sliding over to her normal position in the car. Neither of them looked like anything was amiss.

Once we were on the way, I looked over at Sara.

"Are you OK?"

"I'm fine. Stupid jerk."

"I hope you aren't referring to me."

"No, that idiot Sean Ferguson. I was already pissed off at Chris for not keeping his hands off me, so when he asked me to dance with him I figured it would be nice to be able to just dance. Then he pulled that crap as soon as we started dancing."

"Don't you think you over reacted a bit?"

"Maybe. I don't know. I didn't even think about it. I just used what we learned last week in karate. That's what he gets for being a jerk."

"Well, I guess he'll think about it before he grabs someone from now on."

"Just as long as he leaves me alone."

It was about 10:20 when we got back. Mom was working the late shift so she wouldn't be home till after 2:00. Mary was still at the dance. I invited Sara up for something to eat.

I went upstairs and Bozo shot out of the door. The girls went right in so I followed him back downstairs and said hello to Queenie while he did his thing. Dino was also in the back yard and started whining to be let out. I let him out and he and Bozo headed back up to the apartment. It seemed like my major purpose for the past hour had been to open up doors and gates.

Sara and Jill were sitting on the couch when I got back. There was a plate with some crackers and sliced cheese on it and three mugs of hot cider sitting on the coffee table. Each of them was leaning over, petting a dog. Sara was wearing a pair of Jill's shorts and one of my T-shirts. Jill had changed, too. Neither was wearing her wig. There was a gap on the couch between them so I stepped over Dino and sat down.

"Boy, that was quick."

"What do you mean, Jack?"

"You got out of your costumes and changed in a couple of minutes. But if you were wearing exactly the same clothes to the mall, it would take at least fifteen minutes."

"You don't know what you're talking about, Jack. Why don't you go change, too?"

It sounded like a good idea. I wasn't a big fan of wearing a suit, especially one sixty or seventy years out of date. Hard to believe the Marx Brothers had made their films that long ago. It just goes to show that good comedy is timeless.

I thought about what Jill had said. I sure couldn't see any difference in the way she was dressed now and the way she might dress to go out. What did they do, put on some special mall underwear or say a prayer to the savings gods that took the extra ten or twelve minutes?

I put some shorts and a T-shirt on and went back to the couch, again sitting between the two of them. Both leaned into me. When I voiced my difficulty in getting anything to eat, they took turns putting cheese on crackers and feeding them to me.

I'd started the day off tired and by midnight I was having trouble keeping my eyes open. I went into the bedroom and called the house. It rang four times then the machine got it.

I hung up and went back outside.

"Sara, I called and it doesn't look like Mary's back yet. You're welcome to sleep here if you want."

"With you?"

"Don't be silly. Here, on the couch."

"That's OK, Jack. I'll be fine in my own bed. Will you walk me home?"

"Yeah. Sure."

Dino followed us as we walked down the stairs and across to the kitchen door. When we got there, Sara turned around, held on to me, tilted her head, closed her eyes and leaned forward. I took her shoulders and kissed her on the forehead.

"Don't I get a real kiss?"

"Those are for Jill."

"Rats."

"You're crazy, Sara."

I opened the back door, shoved her through and closed it behind her. Dino snuck inside as soon as he had room.

Jill was still on the couch, absently stroking Bozo's head.

"So, did you kiss her?"

"Yeah. On the forehead."

"I'm sure she was disappointed."

"What are you talking about."

"I'm not stupid, Jack."

"I don't get it. What are you trying to say?"

"You really don't know?"

"Know what? I wish you'd just come out and say what you mean."

"That girl is in love with you. She's got it bad. Almost as bad as my father had it for your mother before she shot him down."

"Come on, Jill. Sara?"

She stuck out her tongue and made a face.

"Yes, Sara. Come on, Dear. Let's go to bed."

We took the empty mugs and the plate into the kitchen. Jill gave Bozo the couple of crackers and scraps of cheese that were left and he cleaned off the plate while she rinsed the mugs and put them in the dishwasher. She picked up the plate and rinsed it off. In the meantime, I put some dog food in his bowl and topped off his water when Jill was done with her rinsing. We headed into the bathroom and I brushed my teeth while she peed. I tried to do the same but my bladder wouldn't work while she was standing a few feet away from me.

"Poor Baby." She left the room and I was finally able to pee.

Jill was wearing her flannel nightgown when I got into the bedroom.

"I thought I was going to get lucky tonight."

"That was before you dragged your girlfriend into our house, Jack."

"She's not my girlfriend. And I didn't drag her into our house. I just thought she didn't want to be alone down there. And you didn't seem to be too disturbed, with your cider and your snacks. Do you really think she feels that way about me?"

"Oh, Jack. You are so innocent. Your really don't see it. Everybody else does. Why do you think Chris acted the way he did when she went to you instead of him? Why do you think she was so shook up the other day when you were joking about taking her in the bedroom? She would have been thrilled to go in there with you. But she loves you and knows you are taken so she fights it. And she knew damn well I could see right through it when I was here."