Chapter 18: Pool Fun

Later, when Allison returned home, he took her aside, out of hearing range of Brit.

"So how much of that was scripted and how much was accidental?" he asked her.

"If by 'scripted' you mean that I had it all figured out days ago, very little was scripted. On the other hand, I'll admit that I was looking for opportunities, and made the most of them when I saw them. For instance, Kari tickling you was a stroke of genius, if I do say so myself, and Kari falling on top of you was pretty clever as well, although in hindsight it was probably a little risky. You might have hurt yourself."

"Well, whatever you're doing, you're doing it right. Kari and I went from zero to good friends in one day."

"Just remember, ninety percent of it is you. I'm just giving you and her a little nudge. It's really because of the way you act with her that she likes you so much."

"I don't know..." he mumbled, but he enjoyed the compliment.

"Jeff, don't you see? You're wonderful with girls. All you needed was an excuse to meet her, and your charm and good looks did the rest."

"I suppose you're right," he smiled, suddenly feeling great.

That mood lasted all the rest of the day, and into the next. When he met Kari at her place in the morning, she seemed to be in just as good a mood. He hoped it was because she felt the same way about him as he felt about her, but maybe his cheerfulness was just contagious. Either way, he was glad to see her smiling at him.

Again she accompanied him into the weight room. Her father sat him down and brought out his notes of Jeff's favorite machines from yesterday. Using that as a guide, the two of them worked on organizing a workout routine that would keep his heart rate up as he went from machine to machine. Kari threw in some helpful suggestions, like making sure that he didn't do back-to-back sets that worked the same or similar muscle groups. Fortunately there were about the same number of machines for working out the arms as for the legs, so they alternated upper-body and lower-body exercises.

Once they finished drawing up the plan, Allen had him go through it once to see if he liked it or whether they needed to make any changes. It turned out to be just right, so they agreed that that would be his routine from then on.

Unfortunately, he didn't give Jeff and Kari any time alone together that morning, but stayed for the whole workout. Jeff went through the routine several times, only doing half-sets and taking it slow as he memorized it. By the time he was through, he had it down perfectly.

Jeff had actually broken a sweat this time, so Allen showed him where the bathroom was so he could take a quick shower before heading home. He stripped out of his gym clothes, cleaned himself off in the shower, and dressed in his everyday attire.

When they arrived back at the Primdale house, Lissa greeted them at the door.

"So this is the infamous Kari," she grinned.

"Infamous?" asked Kari.

"Yes. I know all about your father's fiendish plan to transform Jeff from a weakling to a strong hunk of a guy. You're obviously his partner in crime."

"Ah, but you're too late," Kari grinned, playing along. "We already have an accomplice right in your own home. Your stepmother."

"Dang!" Lissa said. "You've corrupted her too? Who's next?"

"Well, I've had my eye on little Brit," replied Kari. "I think I just need to get her together with my sister Crystal and she'll be turned to the dark side in no time."

"I guess I've been defeated. Well, you know what they say. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. So do you mind if I join the cause? Oh, I'm Jeff's big sister Lissa by the way."

"I kind of figured that. He mentioned he had another sister. So I figured you must either be her, or some other mysterious girl that he keeps locked up in his house for his own diabolical purposes."

"Hey, I got out of that business two months ago," Jeff complained facetiously. "Besides, it was just a hobby. Do you see me talking bad about your hobbies?"

"Okay, now I'm scared to come inside," Kari grinned. "If I do, maybe I'll never come back out."

"Well, that was the original plan," he joked, "but since we're going to put some new equipment downstairs in the rec room, we'll need to move some things into the lab, which leaves no room to work in there. So that puts an end to my experiments for a while. You're perfectly safe."

Kari laughed. "Good," she said. "Because I really do need to get my math scores up." She headed inside, followed by Jeff.

They met Allison downstairs, who handed each of them their tests back, graded. As expected, Kari's score was quite a bit lower than Jeff's.

"I've taken some time to analyze where your weaknesses are, Kari," Allison told her.

"Just tell me how dumb I am and get it over with," said Kari.

"Dumb? Oh, you're far from dumb. In fact, I'd say you're pretty bright. It's actually just what I suspected right from the beginning. I saw this over and over again when I taught school. Did you know that you're not any worse at math than Jeff is?"

"But you saw my score!" Kari protested.

"Yes, and furthermore, I saw exactly which questions you had problems on. Let me explain it to you. Everyone has problems in certain areas of math. Everyone. Even Jeff, even me. For most people, those problems are fortunately at a high enough level that they're able to still achieve reasonably good grades. You just happen to be unfortunate enough that your problems are in some of the fundamentals, so it holds everything back. It's not that you're not as smart, or that you're worse at math. It's just that you haven't quite grasped some of the basics. Once you do, I wouldn't be surprised if your score jumped ahead of Jeff's."

"Oh gee thanks," Jeff said sarcastically, but he kept a smile on his face.

But Kari had a look of hope in her eyes. "Really?" she asked.

"Really," Allison responded. "The only reason you're behind in math is that the public school system can't really accommodate giving each student the attention they need. An hour of private instruction at the beginning of the school year once your problems were identified would have solved everything. Instead, you've had to suffer through a year of being behind, thinking you're not as smart as the other kids. So now instead of having to make up an hour, you have to make up the whole year. But don't worry. By the end of the summer, you're going to be caught up with the rest of the kids your age. You might even be a little ahead."

"Thank you!" Kari exclaimed, tears in her eyes.

They set to work learning some of the fundamentals of math. To Jeff, it was mostly boring, because he already knew it all. But Kari seemed very interested. She asked a few questions that Jeff thought were stupid, but Allison answered them nonjudgmentally. Even before the end of the first lesson, Kari looked a little more confident. Apparently she was beginning to understand.

That afternoon after the lesson, Jeff and Kari sat in the rec room and watched a movie on the big screen. Lissa and Allison made themselves scarce, but unfortunately Brit had to spoil things by lying down on the floor and watching the movie with them. Jeff would have loved to have some time alone with Kari, but it was not to be, at least not that day. After the movie was over Allison drove Kari back home.

That night, Greg called Allen. They talked for quite a while, then Greg headed upstairs to Jeff's bedroom to talk to him.

"We're going to put some machines down in the rec room," he said. "We'll go over to Allen Williams' house on Saturday to discuss it and make some orders on the Internet."

"Great!" Jeff said enthusiastically. Now that he had gotten over his initial fear, he was actually excited to get into shape. Of course, part of that was to try to impress Kari, but the reason wasn't as important as the action itself.

On Wednesday morning, Jeff began his new routine in the rec room at the Williams house. Kari asked if he minded if she worked in her routine with him, to which he agreed immediately. While it wasn't exactly a date, it was at least an activity that they were doing together, one that would probably become a daily event.

Allen Williams stayed with them the whole time, unfortunately, but Jeff really didn't mind all that much. He was likely to have plenty of time alone with Kari during the summer. Allen commented on Jeff's workout, offering him pointers here and there to help improve the experience.

After Kari and Jeff took a quick shower in separate bathrooms, Allen drove them back to the Primdale house, where Allison had made lunch.

As they were about to head downstairs to the rec room, they encountered Lissa in the hall, who wore her swimsuit and shorts, with a towel draped over her shoulders. "I'm heading out back to the pool," she said.

"I didn't know you had a pool," said Kari excitedly.

"Yeah, it's out back," Lissa told her. "Do you like to swim?"

"I love to swim!"

"Well, bring your swimsuit tomorrow. After you're done with your lesson, we can go swimming."

"Okay!" she agreed. "Jeff, do you like to swim?"

"Sure," he said. "We'll have a pool party."

Somehow he managed to keep from passing out from the thought of seeing Kari in a swimsuit, and Allison accompanied Jeff and Kari downstairs.

The lesson this time was much like last time, with Kari asking several question and Jeff simply content to sit there in her presence. In fact, he was picking up a couple of pointers as well.

After the math lesson, Allison said she needed to take Lissa and Brit shopping, and asked if Kari and Jeff wanted to go too. Jeff made no secret of his dislike for shopping, and Kari decided to stay home with him. The three other girls headed out to the van.

That left Jeff and Kari alone in the house together. They sat on the couch, talking and joking. To Jeff, this was a dream come true. He had always wished he had the nerve to even talk to her, and now they were sitting and talking like old friends. She was the type of person who was very nice to be with, and he was glad he had this time alone with her.

"So what's the story with your stepmom?" Kari asked him.

"What do you mean?"

"Well first of all, why don't you call her Mom?"

Jeff laughed. "She insisted on that. She says she's too young to be the mother of a couple of teenagers."

"And that's another thing," said Kari. "Isn't she too young to be married to your dad?"

He shrugged. "They don't seem to have any problem with it," he told her.

"I suppose you're right. I guess I really shouldn't pry into your family life."

"Oh, that's okay. It doesn't bother me."

"You sure?"

"Of course. Look, Allison will be the first to admit that she's not exactly conventional. And so the situation in our family isn't really conventional either."

"What do you mean?"

"Just that my so-called stepmom is more like a big sister than a mother. She and Lissa are best friends, and she likes to spend time with Brit and me too. So we call her Allison."

"She sounds like a lot of fun. I never had a big sister. Or a brother for that matter."

"I never had a brother either," Jeff smiled.

Kari laughed. "Well, I'd offer to be your brother, but, uh..."

"You're missing the number one requirement."

"Exactly."

"Well, I've already got two sisters and someone pretending to be a third, so I don't need any more. On the other hand, you fit in great with the rest of us, so maybe we can make you an honorary Primdale."

"Okay, as long as I can make you an honorary Williams."

"It's a deal. But seriously, you've only been here a couple of days and everyone likes you."

"Everyone?"

"Sure."

"What about you?"

"My first opinion is positive, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to wait until the next full moon to make sure."

"The next full moon?"

"Yes. In case you turn out to be a werewolf," he joked.

"Oh, you know this from experience, do you?"

"Hey, it wasn't me who brought her home. It was one of Lissa's friends. Oh, wait. I promised I wouldn't tell anyone. Oops."

Kari laughed. "Jeff, I never knew you were so funny."

"Only around potential werewolves."

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not a werewolf."

"Oh. I guess that means I have to get serious."

"I'm actually a vampire," she grinned, then bared her teeth as she pounced on him.

Jeff playfully tried to push her away, but she latched onto him too tightly. He tried to get up from the couch, but her weight dragged on him and he ended up toppling to the floor with her on top of him. She lowered her head and aimed her mouth for his neck.

She stopped a couple of inches short, then lifted her head again. "Just kidding," she said.

"Whew!" he breathed in exaggerated relief. "You had me scared there for a second."

"Either you're joking or you're the most gullible person I've ever met."

"Or possibly both," he shrugged. "You know, this is starting to become a habit."

"What is?"

"Every time you come over, you end up on top of me."

"Didn't you know? I like to be on top," she grinned.

"Uh..." he stammered, growing red.

She laughed, then rolled off of him onto the floor. "Sorry, Jeff," she said. "I didn't mean to embarrass you."

"Oh, that's okay," he shrugged. "I'm already so embarrassed by the fact that you can bench-press more than me that this hardly makes a difference."

They continued to lie on the floor for a while, just talking and joking with each other. Jeff was having a great time, and it looked like Kari was too. He wondered if maybe she was beginning to see him as a possible love interest. But no, that was absurd of course. Surely a girl as beautiful and popular as Kari had higher standards than that. Still, just being her friend was nice in its own way.

The girls arrived home a couple of hours later, and Kari stayed for dinner. Afterward, Allison drove her home, leaving Jeff excited about tomorrow.

Jeff woke up in a great mood the next day. The workout and tutoring would be the same as before, but afterward he would get to see Kari in a swimsuit.

He went through the workout routine that morning with that pleasant thought on his mind, and he hardly felt the weights. Kari of course joined him, and Allen sat by as well, but this time he merely watched; Jeff really didn't need any pointers this time.

Afterward, Jeff showered and met Kari and Allen in the living room. Kari wore a tee-shirt and shorts this time, and carried a small duffel bag. He hoped that was her swimsuit in there, or that she was wearing her swimsuit under her outfit and the duffel bag held a change of clothes. Either way, it looked like she remembered the pool.

Surprisingly, Crystal joined them this time.

"Oh, I forgot," Kari said. "Jeff, Crystal said she wanted to come over and swim too, and I said I'd ask you."

Jeff glanced down at the girl. She wore a pleading look in her eyes. He knew that look; it was the same one that Brit used on him whenever she wanted something. It usually worked.

"You know, I could be mean and tell you that you have to sit through a math lesson with us first," he grinned. "But I guess I can introduce you to my little sister and you two can go do what girls your age do."

"On second thought," said Kari, "is it really a good idea to get those two together?"

"Why not?" asked Crystal.

"I'm just thinking that could be a little..."

"Dangerous?" suggested Jeff.

"I was going to go with 'apocalyptic, '" Kari laughed.

"Oh, great. Not only are you stronger than me, now you've out-vocabularied me as well," Jeff jokingly mumbled.

"So Crystal," said Kari, "if you come over, you have to promise that you and Brit won't destroy the world."

"Oh, you're no fun," Crystal complained.

"Okay, then in that case, you have to at least wait until the end of summer."

"That's fine," Crystal replied. "I wouldn't want to destroy the world until the vacation is over anyway."

They all climbed into the car and Allen drove them back to Jeff's house. Jeff opened the door and led them inside.

"Wow!" Crystal exclaimed. "You have a nice house!"

Jeff shrugged. "Hey Brit!" he yelled up the stairs.

"Jeff, don't yell in the house!" Lissa yelled from the dining room table.

"Lissa, don't yell in the house!" Brit yelled from up in her room. Allison, who was sitting on the living room sofa, just rolled her eyes and sighed in exasperation.

Brit appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Come here, Brit," Jeff said. "I'd like you to meet someone."

"Oh hi, Crystal," Brit smiled, coming down the stairs.

"You two know each other?" asked Kari.

"I don't think we've ever met," Crystal said, "but I know who she is."

"We do go to school together after all," Brit added.