29: Amendment

I looked around. Everyone who was still in the family room was a signer of the agreement. I heard the John Deere fire up and sputter as it pulled away from the barn toward the house.

"Okay, everybody. I asked you all to bring a blanket separate from your sleeping things so we could spread them out on the floor. I need you all to get your blanket and your jackets. The party is ready to begin." Everybody looked at me in surprise but scrambled to get their blankets and jackets. Anna Pratt wandered in with Mom.

"What now?" Anna asked.

"Mmm. Now we have to bundle up. It's a little chilly outside. Have you ever ridden on the fender of a John Deere?"

"You're kidding!" she said. "I'm changing to jeans. I'll be right back." Mom gave me a little smooch as I grabbed my jacket and blanket and led the procession out the back door to the hay wagon. There were plenty of screams and whoops. We live in the country, so it wasn't likely any neighbors were going to call the police.

We loaded into the wagon haphazardly and the blankets were spread out over the top of us so quickly it was impossible to figure out who was where. I just had to trust everyone on this ride to respect everyone else.

Rachel snuggled up on one side of me and asked me to keep her warm. I wasn't surprised that Candace found the other side. With our three blankets over us and straw piled around us we were plenty warm on the ride. Then I felt a hand on mine the other side of Rachel.

"Can I be under these blankets, too?" Whitney asked. "And snuggle with you?" Make that four blankets. We almost had to remove one until the tractor started sailing down the road and the wind picked up. I looked toward the front and saw Mom and Anna Pratt both huddled close to Dad, riding the axle as he drove the tractor. I really didn't know whose legs were tangled with mine from across the wagon, but no one had difficulty staying warm.

It turned out that Rhonda knew as many camp songs as Jennifer and Courtney knew. They taught them to us and we sang and cuddled as we rode the tractor for nearly an hour. I think the only reason we came back to the house was because Mom, Dad, and Anna were probably freezing.

The production line of getting people through the one bathroom was intense. Two at a time, five minute max. No showers, just wash the pits or other bits, brush the teeth and leave. Everybody figured out how to pee with someone else in the room. It still took three-quarters of an hour to get everyone through. Mom, in conference with the other mothers, had dictated the sleepwear. We all had to have pajamas. I had to buy a pair since I hadn't worn pajamas since I was ten. But the rule was no sleeping in just panties and short nighties or just underwear. We all had to have pajamas and wouldn't you know Mom and Anna inspected each of us to make sure we complied. Then we filed up to the attic. We did use the blankets the way I'd told people and spread them out on the floor to make a kind of mattress. There were still a few bits of straw stuck to them.

Once that was done, we talked.

"Is everybody awake enough for this discussion?" I asked. "It won't do to have people falling asleep and not knowing what we discussed."

"I'm not likely to sleep all night in this room," Sugar said from beside me.

"Yeah, it's way too quiet," Denise laughed.

"Okay. We are the dating group. I can't tell you how happy I am to welcome my girlfriends and my boyfriends to my bedroom. I figured I'd have to wait till I was in college to do that!" We all laughed, but we'd agreed to keep the noise down. The chaperones had tentatively gone to bed, but we all knew they'd be here in a flash to settle us if things got rowdy. If that happened, the boys would end up in the family room and the girls would be in the attic.

"God, I love you all," Doug said. I was surprised to hear from him. Overall, Doug was pretty quiet. To make such an open declaration was a real leap for him. "I confess that Rachel means something special to me and sometimes I have to remind myself of the no-jealousy rule. But you are all my best friends ever and I'm so glad we started dating each other. I know we don't all love each other romantically, but I really feel that you all care about me—guys and girls. My sister tells me every day how lucky I am and if she forgets, I tell her."

"We love you, Dougie," Liz and Denise said. I was seeing those two together more and more lately and even though they had Carl sandwiched between them, it was clear they were serious.

"I feel the same way," I said, "and I think we all do. I want to make sure that all of us, though, have a chance to welcome Jennifer and Courtney, the girlfriends from Kokomo."

"That would make a great song," Brenda laughed, between Sugar and Whitney.

"Okay, I now can print copies of the agreement and we'll all get a chance to sign all the copies so we all have one that is signed by everyone. We've got some questions that have come up, though, and part of the reason for all of us being together is to talk about what is working and what isn't."

"And who wants to join," Brenda added. I looked at her.

"Why don't we start there? Right now there are sixteen of us on the agreement and two, sadly, live seventy-five miles away. Courtney, Jennifer, I'm so glad Anna brought you both down for the party. We've got to find ways to get together as much as possible."

"I'm liking the rest of my boyfriends and girlfriends," Courtney said, hugging Lionel's left arm. Candace was glued to the right. He looked like he was in heaven.

"Well, let's talk about whether we want more people in our group. Keep in mind, we can all date outside the group if our dates agree to keep the rules. So we don't have to let more people in."

"That's a problem, though," Rose said from my right. "Guys will say they will agree, but they don't understand we're serious about the rules. They're not as bad as that Chad character, but they just figure the rules are there to get us to go out with them, not to actually follow."

"Sort of like Mercedes did tonight. You handled that great, Brian," Candace agreed. "They don't think we're serious. It might be even more pronounced among the guys that ask me out because they figure they've advanced a long way past where the freshmen have."

"We need some more guys," Rachel said. "I know I have hardly made it through the ones we've got, but the guys have to go out with three girls every weekend in order for some of us not to have to sit home or date outside the group. It has to be stressful both ways. I don't like to sit home every night and I know that you guys must have limits on how much you can spend in a weekend. We need to all contribute to the dates."

"Let's talk about that when we talk about the rules," I suggested. "Three people asked me explicitly if they could join our group tonight. Another kind of got volunteered. What do we think about others joining?"

"I'm okay with it," Jennifer said. "But I don't have to live with them every day." We laughed.

"Take them one at a time, Brian," Whitney suggested. "Who asked?"

"Okay, boy first. My old friend Geoff from two doors down asked to join. Geoff and I have been friends since before most of you would have anything to do with me. Most of the girls he's asked out have given him an excuse like they can't date until they're sixteen. Which is valid, but rejection hurts. He knows that joining our group doesn't guarantee that everyone will go out with him but he feels like at least he'd be part of something on nights like tonight. Geoff's a good guy. Some of you have been sitting with him at our lunch table. He just kind of migrated in this year."

"I like Geoff," Brenda said. "It's funny he never asked me out."

"Sweetie, may I kiss you?" I asked Brenda. She leaned across Sugar and we kissed lightly. "I want you to know that I love you, Brenda, and I feel like the luckiest guy alive just because you invited me to join your lunch table—what—four years ago? I couldn't believe it. The prettiest and most popular girl in our class asked me to sit beside her. I could never have asked you for a date, anytime in the past four years, if you hadn't done that. I think Carl is the only guy here who had the balls to ask you out first. That took guts."

"You're saying I'm intimidating," Brenda said. "I never even invited Geoff to the year-end party." She sighed. "I guess I'm all boobs and no brains." Sugar and Whitney turned to Brenda and both had her wrapped in a hug that cut off the self-recriminations.

"I vote we include Geoff in the group," Liz said. "Like Rachel said, we need more guys." Everybody agreed.

"Okay, the next one isn't unexpected. She's been hanging around with us ever since that disastrous dance when she dumped Chad so publicly. Renee has asked if she can be part of the group. She understands that the guys might not want to date a senior, and that's okay. She just wants it on record that she's signed our dating agreement and expects anyone who asks her out to follow the rules. She believes we'll all think she's a slut."

"I'd date her," Lionel said. "I don't mind seniors."

"How come you never asked me out?" Candace said, slapping his shoulder lightly.

"Uh... 'cause my brother would kill me?" Lionel said sheepishly.

"Really? Tonight you tell me all about that and tomorrow, you tell your brother you slept with me."

"Okay, back to Renee," I said.

"I say yes, and I think you should take her out, Brian," Rhonda said.

"Why's that, honey?"

"It should be obvious. It's not just that she likes our rules. You are her hero. You stood up to the boy who was abusing her. She deserves to know you like her."

"Well, I do like her. I went to a ballgame with her."

"Sorry, but Bill told me about that," Carl said. "Renee cried all the way home after they dropped her off because you were nice to her."

The vote was quick and Renee was admitted to the group.

"Who's the last one?" Brenda asked. "As if I didn't know."

"Yeah. You probably do. Cassie asked if she could be part of our group."

"How do you feel about that, Brian?" Liz asked. "It was you she dumped."

"Hey. We were twelve. I tried kissing her a little too ... enthusiastically. She reacted the exact same way Rhonda did. I'm sorry, honey. Please don't feel bad about that," I said to Rhonda. She smiled at me. "We probably did more that summer than we ever should have anyway. We were sneaking around and I hated that. Of course, I hated going to her church, too. I'm a little ambivalent about her joining the group, but I've always liked Cassie. Her parents have a real hard rule that she can't date until she's sixteen. That probably doesn't extend to group things, though, like the party tonight. I doubt she'd ever get permission for a sleep-over like this, though," I laughed.

"I hated Cassie because she hurt you," Brenda said. "Then we pretty much beat the truth out of her and eventually I understood. Not really until recently, though," she said. Rose leaned in from my right and blew in my ear. I turned and she grinned at me. "I'm okay with her in the group, but I don't imagine I'll ever really be her friend again," Brenda finished.

"Well, none of us is required to date her," Jennifer said. "That all happened in some other time and place as far as I'm concerned, but I understand a little. I think of all the friends I've lost over the past few years because of some stupid thing or other and I'm just thankful that Courtney is still my girlfriend." Courtney leaned to her left and hugged Jennifer. They looked up at the rest of us and then leaned together and kissed. There was a quiet gasp or two and I'm pretty sure a couple of boners sprang.

"I vote we say yes," Whitney said. "I was so mad I went to her and demanded Brian's fairy loop. I should give it back to her. I know it doesn't mean that much, but still, it was mean of me." There was agreement all the way around.

"Bill got volunteered by his date tonight," I said. "I really like Bill and he did a lot to keep me out of deep shit when we were younger. How would you feel about him joining, Carl?"

"As long as I don't have to date my brother, I'm okay with it." Everybody laughed.

"We should wait until he asks, though," Rhonda said.

"The points of the agreement are officially open for discussion," I laughed, pounding my fist on the floor like it was a gavel. "How's it working?"

"I was a little skeptical at first," Lionel said. "Jackson and Derek really tried to convince me that it wouldn't work and that the first time some cracker laid a hand on Denise or Sugar I'd explode. I really wanted to be a part of it, though. You guys went way beyond making us all feel welcome at St. Joe Valley. There's only like a couple dozen black kids at St. Joe Valley because of the way the district line is drawn. Denise is open enrolled. I heard what Brian did when he took Denise home from their date and I was ashamed. I couldn't have faced those gang-bangers down."

"You?" Carl said. "I'm ashamed that I just left Denise off at the sidewalk and didn't walk her to her door. I'm really sorry for that, Denise. We had a really good time right up till then."

"I never intended that you all had to abide by what I did," I said. "My mom told me when I took Cassie to Brenda's party that first time you guys set us up that I was always to go to the door to pick up my date and always to walk her to her door at the end. She said, even if I had a lousy time I had to do that. It was an unwritten rule."

"I think we all still follow unwritten rules," Brenda said. "It's pretty much like Mercedes said. We expect other people to just know. It's not fair."

"Well, it's fair if we all know them and follow the same rules," Rachel said. "Like just because I hold your hand doesn't mean I'm ready for you to kiss me."

"Or that I'll kiss on the first date," Rose said. "Though with this group it's hard to tell if it's the first date. I only use that when I date outside the group."