Chapter 52

The good news was...

Kelly had a blast at the dance. Robbie and Tami grabbed her right after school, and as the last day before Winter break, it was only a half-day. The three of them spent the rest of the day making themselves pretty. I stopped by Tami's house about three and was told to "Buzz off!"

Whatever they did, it worked. Robbie always looked good at the dances with her long hair cascading down her shoulders and back, but somehow her shorter hair accented her body more. She was beautiful, though I refused to tell her just how good she looked. I wouldn't want her getting the idea I approved of her haircut.

Tami looked good to me even when she had the flu, so it wasn't hard to look beautiful in her new dress. But it was Kelly that amazed me. She didn't look like a seventh grader. She was wearing one of Tami's old dresses, and she looked like she belonged at a high school dance.

I walked in the dance with Kelly on one arm and Tami on the other, and they both got the stares they deserved. I thought I'd take some flack for bringing a seventh grader—you know, cradle robber, that sort of thing—but nobody said anything. I don't think anyone realized her age, at least not at first.

Several guys came over and wanted to dance with my spare, whichever one it was at the time. Larry did a slow dance with Kelly, and I saw him cop a feel of her butt. I couldn't wait to tell him he was feeling up a twelve-year-old.

Only two people recognized Kelly. The first was Mikee. She was dancing with her current boyfriend, whose name I didn't know, and did a double-take worthy of a classic TV show like Dick Van Dyke or Mary Tyler Moore. Her mouth hung open as she watched me walk her little sister out onto the floor and start dancing.

The other person was Kenny. He came over about half-an-hour after we got there. I was standing by the refreshments, Kelly's hand lightly on my arm, and we were watching Tami dance with my old friend Luke. Luke used to be my best friend, right after I'd moved here, but over the years, we'd grown apart. Or maybe Robbie grew between us, but he was still a good friend.

"Like 'em young?" I heard behind me.

I turned and saw Kenny standing there. "All the Temples are fun to be with. Except one." I felt Kelly's fingers digging into my arm in embarrassment.

"I'd think you'd be embarrassed to be seen with a twelve-year-old."

"At least she's female." I nodded toward Kenny's buddies standing behind him. They'd all come to the dance together.

Kenny turned red and his fists flexed. I waited, smiling. He stomped off.

I grinned at Kelly. "You know, I use that arm to throw with. It'd be nice to have some circulation."

Kelly blushed, and her grip eased up.

I was surprised a few minutes later when Robbie came in with Mike Rose. "What's the deal?" I asked Tami.

She looked surprised at me. "What do you mean? They've been going out for over a month."

"But I thought... I mean... her and Larry."

Tami smiled at me as if I was feeble. "That was just a fling."

"Oh."

I spent another three hours dancing with Kelly and Tami. I even got in a couple with Robbie, Paula, and Darlene.

It was a great night. My only disappointment was that Parker didn't chaperone.

The bad news was...

Kelly's good mood didn't last. By Friday, she was back to moping around her house.

Saturday, Christmas day, was the best Christmas ever.

First of all, I was in love with Tami, and Tami was in love with me, and nobody was mad at anybody. Mom and Dad gave me a new mp3 player. Not one for my soon-to-be car, but a Creative Nomad Jukebox that would fit in my pocket. Thirty gigs of music that I could take anywhere. I figured that if I ripped every cd that I, Robbie, and Tami owned I might have 5 to 7 gigs worth. I decided that I needed to expand my musical horizons.

Traci gave me a couple of computer games and I gave her a turquoise bracelet. I thought she was going to faint for a minute. She tackled me with a hug that Robbie would have been proud of.

I don't know if my grandparents understood the concepts of mp3's and ripping, but all of them gave me CDs. Lots of CDs. Granny Vickie gave me the Time-Life collection of Jazz. Granny Carol also Time-Lifed me, but with a collection of country. Grandpa John sent a dozen and a half new age cd's, including some Cusco, David Lanz, and a lot of Yanni. But it was grandpa Doug, the colonel who surprised me. Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, Leonard Skinnard, the Who. There was no way that I was going to believe my favorite marine even knew who they were, let alone listened to them.