C.J. rolled her eyes when she listened to her messages on her cell phone as she stood outside the high school gymnasium. She had been hoping that she would hear back from the vendor that was working on her prom dress only to find out that they were out of the fabric needed to make it. The store said they would call her back with a progress report but so far...nothing.
What was she going to do?
And with prom countdown to the final 14 days, that had barely left her enough time to find a dress. She had already bought herself some shoes on sale at the trendy boutique on Pearl Street and now the dress that was supposed to match might not be ready in time for her big night.
Hopefully there would still be some cool looking gowns at the main street outlets by this weekend. She hadn't paid the other dressmaker so she still had some cash from her last 4H sale to finish out her prom getup. Hopefully in time for her date to pick her up to take her to the Grand Maguire Hotel, ground zero for prom night.
She walked over to the baseball diamond to watch her boyfriend and prom date practicing a couple of hours with his teammates. Julia sat up on the bleachers already with a couple of girls who were with her on the cheer leading squad. C.J. walked up the steps to join them as they watch the varsity players out on the field. She looked out and saw her boyfriend, Kevin out on the field talking with some other players
"He looks smoking in those tights," one girl named Kimberly said.
Julia snorted.
"Those aren't tights and don't call them that where anyone can hear you."
C.J. looked at her watch. She had about an hour before she had to head back to where she lived with her aunt and uncle outside Houston and start feeding the horses and goats. She'd be hitching a ride with her neighbor and long-time friend Matt who was also out there suited up as a catcher to her pitcher boyfriend. Her truck had been at the shop getting its radiator fixed so she'd been carpooling with him.
"Kevin's looking pretty good out there," Julia commented, "C.J. you sure know how to pick them."
C.J. didn't pay her much mind because she didn't pick Kevin as her boyfriend just because of his looks, certainly not mostly although she did think he looked pretty hot being a jock with curly blond hair and blue eyes that matched the summer sky. They met when he had needed a tutor to pass history and she had been matched up with him by the student tutoring program.
She on the other hands didn't need any help with her studies. She had a full ride to University of Texas where she planned to study pre-law and economics before heading off to law school probably back East at an Ivy League. Kevin had been given a football scholarship to Arizona State up north. It hadn't been his first choice but then his grades hadn't been that great except in history.
Kevin had asked her out on a date not long after he had passed his first history exam in a couple of years. She had been surprised that he had asked but she had accepted and they had gone out to a movie. Something about zombies running amok in San Francisco and she had a good time out with him. He had seemed interested in her and had been funny, when he asked her out again, she accepted.
And four months later, they had been an item. They walked the hallways together and sat together in assemblies and when they had lunch at the same time. And she often showed up to watch his practices when she had spare time from being president of the student council and captain of the debate team. Sometimes he'd grumbled that she was too busy to spend time to him but she'd remind him that it took two to make time for one another.
But lately she had more work to do on her uncle's ranch and spent a couple hours each night doing chores before even starting her homework. Honestly there were not enough hours in the day to do everything.
At least her friend Matt understood coming from a similar background but he had just broken up with his latest girlfriend, Crystal and didn't appear to be concerned that he didn't have a prom date.
Not that he should be because any girl on the campus would go out with him in a heartbeat because he was ruggedly handsome for a high school senior because he had worked outdoors most of his life. He'd been lanky a few years ago but had started filling out with muscle since then and had grown a couple of inches. Dark hair that didn't quite curl just sitting off of his collar…a lot of girls liked his looks.
But he was smart too mixing his athletic prowess with academic success pretty well, and that had awarded him a scholarship to Rice University…which meant he'd be going to college pretty close to her. Though they had to finish up their final year of high school first but that was mostly done, and there wasn't much on the final list to check off except the prom, final exams and graduation.
Right now, Matt was talking to the coach about the fastballs that Kevin had been sending right into his chest plate. Something about being a little low, but Kevin just shrugged it off and went back to the mound.
"What's the problem," Julia said, "They look fine to me…the players anyway."
"Kevin's corkscrews aren't working," Kimberly noted, "He looks a bit wound up."
C.J. didn't see anything wrong except that the tension that had always been there between the two players had reared up again. She didn't know why Matt didn't seem to really like Kevin that much. When she asked him, he'd never explain why.
With the players back in their appropriate positions, Julia switched to a more important topic.
"So did you get your prom dress?"
Kimberly sighed.
"My mom promised to give me her card but totally bailed. So I'm wearing my sister's dress."
Julia shrugged.
"She did win prom queen with that dress but it's so two years ago."
"Yeah," Kimberly said, "That's what I told her and she gave me some story about having to babysit for a year to earn enough money for her dress and shoes...back in her day."
Julia turned to C.J..
"What about your dress?"
C.J. kept her eyes focused on Kevin who was throwing some more warm up pitches to Matt.
"The dressmaker couldn't get the fabric in time so I'm going shopping this weekend."
Julia shook her head.
"There won't be anything left…the truly desperate wait until the weekend. You should be combing the shops right now."
C.J. shook her head.
"I can't…Houston's taking me back home. I got chores I got to do."
Julia chuckled.
"I could think of worse things than sharing a car ride with that guy," she said, "He's sexy if you like outdoorsy and he hasn't got a date to prom since that blowup with Crystal so that puts him on the market"
Kimberly made a face.
"You know how badly Crystal wants to be prom queen and she'll do anything to get that tiara. Even try to get back with him."
C.J. didn't think that seemed likely because Matt hadn't been all that distressed about the breakup and truth be told, he was better off without Crystal who complained about everything when he had brought her to a couple of the barbecues at his father's ranch.
She had gotten sick of the Crystal's whining too and had wanted to smack her a few times. Matt had this habit of hooking up with high maintenance chicks who constantly asked for his approval. Hopefully, the next girl he met up with would be cut from a different mold but she doubted it.
Matt looked up at her almost as if he knew he crossed her mind and she gave him a smile. He nodded and put his catcher mask back on and crouched for another punishing pitch by Kevin.
"I might ask Matt out," Kimberly said finally, "If Derek doesn't get his act together."
C.J. wondered if that was likely considering that as shortstop, he had made two errors just during practice. But Matt could do much worse than Kimberly.
Julia turned towards them.
"I've got a great idea…why don't we all head to prom together…rent a couple of limos and head on out?"
Kimberly nodded.
"That might work as long as we don't leave together."
Julia smirked.
"Pete's already booked us a room on the top floor of the hotel…for after prom activities."
Kimberly giggled.
"I'm planning to do the same with whatever leftover I snag if Derek doesn't call me back."
C.J. remained silent but she had her own plans with Kevin after the dance wound down and yeah, it involved booking a room at the hotel. She would tell her uncle and aunt she was staying in town with a friend. That's what she usually did when the two of them got together.
That plan would work…if she could just find the perfect dress.
Across the street from the school, a SUV with some fender damage sat parked while a lone man sat in the car watching the women watching the baseball players. He would have to ditch this car pretty soon as he had been doing the past couple of days since he walked out of lockup at a facility a couple hundred miles away from Houston.
As he watched the women in the stands watching the baseball players in the field, he thought of his own plan to set in motion.
On Prom Night, two weeks away.
Baseball practice did finally end and C.J. had a few moments to spend with Kevin before leaving for home. He had tossed his hat on the mound and had been in Matt's face, over some signal that the catcher had shown him 30 minutes earlier. Sometimes C.J. felt that Kevin should seriously take a chill pill and move on. Matt just stood there patiently chewing his gum until Kevin had finished and then told him he'd think about it and get back to him.
Kevin shot a look and C.J. stepped in front of him and said that he could waste his time getting on Matt about something done or he could steal a few minutes with her. She saw Kevin's face tense in indecision and then smile, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.
She turned her face to Matt and winked.
"Meet me at the car and I'll be there in a moment."
They walked to the corner of the gymnasium ignoring the first baseman and second string cheerleader making out behind the staircase and she leaned against the wall below the school mascot and wrapped her arms around him as he spit out his gum and kissed her on the mouth.
Kevin could kiss, or really he could if he treated the act as something different than a sporting event. Maybe if he had been a bit less than 100% jock, she wouldn't have this feeling as if her mouth was like a baseball diamond and he was more intent on working his way around rather than savoring the journey.
"Kevin…think you could slow it down a notch?"
He gazed at her, his hands bracing the wall on either side of her.
" I've just been thinking of you all day baby and I'm just making up for lost time."
She sighed; as she saw his eyes scan her body. Her dark hair that reached past her shoulders in gentle waves, her body that had been toned by working with horses and cattle. Sure she wished she had breasts like Crystal's but they were creamy soft and paid attention when Kevin felt them up, she just wish she spent more time on them when they were tangled up in each other.
"Okay but we don't have much time," she said, "I have to meet Houston for a ride home."
He sighed, stroking her hair off her face.
"You know I'd drive you home if I could but I got to meet the guys at Roxie's."
Oh yeah, the cozy little diner that specialized in fried food, the greasier the better and that made the best pies in town. The special recipe for the crust that crumbled in your mouth was locked up in a special compartment inside the safe.
"I've got chores to do or I'd join you."
Kevin shrugged, before he kissed her again on the mouth, tugging at her lips.
"I'll see you tomorrow in front of the school," he said, "There are going to be a pep rally."
C.J. thought she'd be lucky if she even made it on time because both she and Matt had chores to do in the morning before they could even get to school and she didn't know when she'd get her truck back.
"Are you getting your tux for prom night?"
He looked distracted, behind her.
"Yeah sure baby…I got it all under control."
She smiled at him and they kissed goodbye before she took off to join Matt in the parking lot.
They drove back down the main highway just outside of Houston before they'd turn off to travel down the smaller road toward their homes. Matt had turned on some rock music and she had lowered the window, the air striking her face as she looked out the window.
The day hadn't been too hot, just a typically sunny day commonly found in spring. She thought about whether or not there would be enough dresses still left this weekend or whether they'd all be just scraps of fabric left. She sighed thinking she hadn't been left with much a choice given that her dressmaker had bailed just two weeks before prom.
Matt drove like he didn't have a care in the world. But when she had headed to meet him in the parking lot, she had seen Crystal hovering around him again. She just rolled her eyes at the sight because she just knew that his ex-girlfriend just wanted to wrap up the prom queen title and maybe thought he'd be the best king.
She had hoped that Matt had kicked that witch to the curb, not literally of course but if he hung around her, she'd just be using him. C.J. liked Matt a lot as her best friend and neighbor and didn't want to see him mixed up with her.
But Crystal had just taken one snotty look at C.J. and had sauntered off, wiggling her ass in that way too obvious way of hers and C.J. struggled to keep from laughing. She must have not hidden it well enough from Matt because he looked at her, his brows raised.
"Hey don't look at me like that; you know how I feel about her."
He pursed his lips as they got into the truck.
"I know but I told her I'm not taking her to prom," he said, "Once warned and all that."
She felt relief flow through her at his news because Crystal would just burn him again and not care at all, if it got her what she wanted.
Matt turned down the familiar road, which wound around a glen of old trees until he reached her uncle's ranch. He parked in the spot near the barn.
"So when you getting your wheels back?"
She shrugged.
"Don't know. Joe said it would take a few days to fix it."
"I can give you a ride to school and back until he's finished with your truck."
She smiled at him.
"Thanks…I'm going shopping for a prom dress on Saturday but Julia's going to pick me up."
He raised his brow.
"Julia's actually going to come out here?"
She nodded.
"I know difficult to believe isn't it?"
"Try impossible."
She shifted her position in her seat, the leather squeaking.
"Oh come on, she's not that bad," she said, "She's just not ranching folk."
"Crystal and I doubled with her…and Kevin."
C.J. remembered that time when Julia and Kevin had been a hot item for about five minutes before breaking up and then not long after that, she had began tutoring him.
"That sounds like fun."
"Actually I think that was the beginning of the end," Matt noted.
"Are you going to prom?"
He shrugged.
"I doubt it."
Her eyes blinked.
"You mean you don't even know?"
He looked at her evenly.
"The person I would ask is already with some other guy."
That surprised her.
"Oh…well there's plenty of other fish in the sea here, as they say."
"I suppose but I think I'll pass."
She gazed at him wondering what had possessed him to not go to prom. One of the pinnacle events of their final year in high school but he figured he must have his reasons….because seriously this guy could go to the dance with nearly any girl in school.
And none of them would deny an invitation to finish out the night in a suite either because he wasn't handsome like the other boys in school; he had a quiet maturity around him that came from working most of his life when he wasn't in school or doing sports.
If she wasn't with Kevin maybe…but no point in thinking about it because she had her boyfriend and their relationship if not perfect, kept her satisfied.
"I'd better get going," she said, after a pause.
"See you in the morning."
She smiled and got out of his truck and headed back to the house.
Matt watched her move, built slim but curvy in the right places, and the most amazing pair of eyes like emeralds under the light. When had she become so beautiful? Most of his memories were of her being skinny and dressed in work clothes that hung off of her. Her hair in braids, sometimes wrapped around in a bun that sat above the nape of her neck, a serious expression on her face except when he laughed and her face became animated.
He watched her disappear into the house and then took off with a sigh. C.J. had a boyfriend already and she had picked Kevin of all guys. Matt had known Kevin since they were in kindergarten and had never liked him because he had always seemed cocky and Matt guessed that he kept some details of his life from C.J. Like the way that he had joked in the locker room and walked with a swagger when talking about the girls liked him.
Odds were that Kevin was getting some action somewhere on the side that C.J. didn't know about but Matt couldn't prove it and besides what if C.J. decided to blame the messenger for the bad news about her boyfriend? No, C.J. was a smart girl, she'd find out on her own soon enough without help from him or anyone else.
A thought that lingered with him as he drove back to his own house.
Sheriff Braddock stood as king in his own office, inside one of the town's older buildings as he listened on the phone to some doctor who said that one of his patients had walked away from a mental institution.
"What are you telling me," he said drolly, "That this guy could be a serial psycho killer?"
A doctor just sighed on the other end, clearly thinking he was processing the information too slowly.
"That's precisely what I'm saying," the doctor said, "He could be the worst killer the state has ever seen on the loose."
"Who is he?"
"He's Boone Carlton, he's been locked up 15 years since he killed 10 people in a high school prom including the king and queen."
Braddock just sighed. He had been getting enough phone calls about prom as it was from adults worried about the town's children getting drunk and fornicating at a school event. Not exactly any of his concern really because he had to keep the peace and as long as those attending prom were not out in the streets, then he didn't worry about them.
Until the news of this psycho killer who escaped from a mental institution had reached him…then the guy suggested what he thought he should do.
"You need to call the National Guard and get them down there," the doctor said, "and also the civil defense unit in your town."
Braddock frowned.
"I don't think we have one."
"You'd better recruit one quick and deputize them."
"Oh no…no way I'm not arming up the yahoos in this town to go out and face off with some psycho killer. They'd shoot each other first."
The doctor sighed.
"You don't have much time. He might already be there."
The sheriff doubted that, else he'd know because he knew the faces of everyone in Houston and an interloper would just stick out.
"I don't think so but I'll send some of my deputies out to look around and see if they can spot anything unusual."
The doctor sighed and Braddock just didn't know how to help him. He didn't need some quack stupid enough to let a psycho killer escape from his padded cell telling him how to run his sheriff's department.
"Look I'm on my way there to render my assistance," the doctor said, "I might be able to talk some sense into him if I can find him before it's too late."
"Now hold on a moment, I'm law and order here in Houston," Braddock said, "If he's as dangerous as you've said, maybe you'd letter let myself and my deputies handle it."
But the man had already hung up and Braddock shook his head. Maybe the man was a crank and that's the last thing he needed with prom night being two weeks and counting.
C.J. really wished she had her own wheels back but Joe had left a message on her cell phone that it was taking longer to get the replacement part than he had anticipated. If only she hadn't broken her truck…but too late to worry about that now and besides Matt had been nice enough to pick her up and take her to school and occasionally giving her a ride home.
He had been at her house bright and early and she had climbed into his truck and they had driven off. In his regular wardrobe of jeans and a faded shirt, she wished she had dressed casual herself but she had a student council meeting that afternoon and so she had chosen a smart wardrobe of dress pants and a blouse. She hadn't worn them doing her early morning chores in the barn but she looked far removed from ranching right now.
"You are going on a business trip?"
She shot him a look.
"Yeah right Matt…and you're going out to rope a cow?"
He shifted the gears. She liked watching how his strong capable hands nursed the truck into picking up speed on the highway. The town limits sign whizzed by and he headed towards the exit ramp.
"Did you study for the civics test?"
C.J. nodded.
"Not too much…it's not that tough. How about you…?"
He shrugged as he turned off into a side street.
"Yeah I did…two hours…not all of us are as sharp with book learning like you."
She rolled her eyes at him.
"Don't play with me like that Houston," she said, "You're one of the brightest guys in school."
"What's that saying exactly," he said, "Not many in our class are even going to college."
She watched as he deftly turned into the parking lot which was spilling over with cars and students walking in throngs to the main school building.
"You are Houston…and so am I," she said, "We're both going to get out of here."
He parked the car and they both got out of it. They rode in the tide of arriving students into the building. Julia waved to them and sidled up next to C.J..
"Kevin's looking for you."
"Oh…well I'll see him at lunch."
Julia lowered her voice as they reached their lockers. C.J. waved goodbye to Matt whose locker was on the other side.
"Hey I just saw some cops in the principal's office," she said.
"Who got arrested this time I wonder?"
Julia groaned.
"Probably Devin, for bringing a knife to school again," she whispered, "He pulled it on some freshman for his iPod."
C.J. shook her head.
"That never happened," she said, "The way I heard the story, it was just a pocket knife."
Julia shrugged.
"Who knows the truth here anyway," she said, "It gets so twisted here."
C.J. opened her locker and put some of her books inside of it, then shut it.
"Yeah, I never believe most of what I hear."
They walked to their first class and passed the principal's office where the door had been open…enough for C.J. to see two cops, one with his arms folded listening to Principal Walker speaking. She paused to look but she couldn't hear what was being said.
Then the bell rang.
"Come on, we'd better get to class," Julia said, "We got that test."
Walker stood inside the office listening to of Braddock's deputies relate to him the news about the escaped mental patient.
"So you're telling me that this Boone character is wandering around out there?"
One of the deputies nodded.
"His doctor called this morning to alert us," he said, "We've been advised to activate the National Guard."
Walker pondered that, his eyes widening.
"You know what this means don't you?"
The deputies being young guys didn't have a clue…and looked at each other to see who'd be the one to ask. Finally the redheaded one spoke up.
"What sir…?"
Walker shook his head impatiently.
"It means that this deranged madman might be targeting our upcoming prom."
The redheaded deputy nodded.
"Could be sir…Mayor Wheelock will be calling a meeting later this evening on how this situation will be handled."
Walker sighed…of all the times for Boone to pull a stunt like this. The guy had been one of his brightest students years ago before he had gone psycho killer on that long ago prom night and snuffed out all those innocent lives. The town had taken over a decade to put that deadly rampage behind it, even erecting a statue to serve as a memorial to the lost lives in the courtyard at City Hall. If it had been up to him, he would have seen Boone fry in the electric chair and even would have thrown the switch himself.
After all, he had been but a history teacher himself back in those days. He had been assigned to oversee the prom but one by one young students wandered off outside the established perimeters of the prom and disappeared…still it wasn't until later that they realized that they had been lured to the lair of the murderous psychopath and their bodies…what had been left…Walker put his hand over his mouth at the memory of walking into the stench of the hidden room in the crow's nest where the walls had been splashed by blood from one end to the other.
The blood of innocents…ten lives snuffed out before they had really begun.
"You okay Principal Walker?"
He recovered enough to just nod.
"I'm fine deputies…I will be at the meeting tonight," he said, "We must discuss the emergency steps we need to take to contain this threat…and we must decide what to do about prom."
Of course the prom itself wasn't the only attraction and threat to the safety of his students. Prom night had proven to be just as dangerous…what happened after the students paired off and left the dance floor to slip away into the darkness to engage in illicit fornication.
Every much a tradition with prom as the dancing and dangling disco ball itself. In fact, he had been alerted to attend the student council meeting that afternoon when some troublemaking student had dared introduce the distributions of condoms at the prom as an agenda item.
Not in his watch would that happen. But first these two deputies had to finish briefing hin on the issue of Boone's escape and no doubt his plans for revenge.
"We're going to post some extra officers around the campus just in case," the redheaded deputy said, "It's possible that Boone might be lurking in the area."
Kevin sat down with his lunch tray with a bunch of jocks after the last class before lunch let out. Ron joined him and they dove into their Sloppy Joes and tater tots.
"So you reserved a suite dude?"
Kevin nodded in between bites.
"Sure did…but she's gone all hot and cold on me…if this doesn't work…"
Ron laughed.
"She's got taste."
Kevin shot him a look.
"I mean I broke it off with Julia to get it on with her because she's so hot…but it's like her legs are glued together or something."
Ron chortled.
"Come on dude, you are the man…if you can't open them up no one can…I mean I'd try but I don't want to poach on your Astroturf."
Kevin flipped the top off his cola.
"Well I got the got the second best suite in the hotel," he said, "I don't know who got the best one…the hotel manager wouldn't tell me even when I slipped him some cash."
Ron shrugged.
"As long as it has a bed, what does it matter…and sound proof walls."
Kevin laughed and they did the bump with their fists. Matt walked by then and sat down with his food.
"Hey man, that was some test wasn't it," Kevin asked.
Matt shrugged as he reached for his burger.
"Not as bad as the last one," he said, "But then I studied."
Kevin sighed.
"I didn't have enough time," he said, "I had to fill out all that paperwork for college."
Ron looked at Matt.
"You got a date to the prom?"
"No…"
Both guys looked at him.
"You're not going," Ron said.
"I didn't say that."
"But you don't have a date…"
Kevin slapped Ron.
"He's still got time to find one from the leftovers."
Ron laughed at that and Matt just looked at them as if they were being silly.
"You taking C.J.," he asked.
Kevin blinked his eye.
"That's the plan…got plans for afterward too."
Ron and Kevin bumped fists again.
"Does she know your plans?"
Kevin looked at Matt, smiling.
"Of course she does…everyone knows that prom night really starts in between the sheets."
Matt had heard that adage thrown around enough to have believed it once but he didn't worry about it.
"You hurt her…I'll hurt you, got it?"
Matt had smiled when he said that but both Kevin and Ron knew that he meant it. No one wanted to mess with Matt…because though he was quiet often enough in his style, he packed a powerful punch.
Ron chortled again.
"You have a thing for her man?"
Matt picked up his burger and took a bite.
"I don't want to see her hurt, understand?"
Kevin put up his hands.
"Okay I promise…she and I have been going out for a few months…everything's cool…"
Matt didn't feel too sure about that.
C.J. sat at the head of the table with the other members of the student council and with Principal Walker sitting in the corner. He had walked into the room past the faculty advisor, saying he wouldn't be participating but just observing. But C.J. knew why he had shown up, she knew what agenda item had him worked up.
The distribution of condoms at prom…that had obviously gotten back to him.
It's not like they were handing them out like candy to all the students in attendance, they were just putting them in a bowl by the registration table. Discreet but visible enough to be noticed by students. She didn't know what the problem was because everyone knew that after the dance floor emptied and the lights went dim, students coupled off with their dates and had sex in some hotel room, suite or maid's closet somewhere.
After all, that's what she planned to do with Kevin afterward. The idea of what they had planned made her blush. But he had coaxed her into believing that it would be the memorable and pleasurable for both of them.
She knew Kevin wanted sex from her and she had been putting him off because…well she hadn't been sure of his intentions after he had gotten together with her after breaking off with Julia.
He swore to her he had chosen to be with her and only her…and after a little while to think about it, she had believed him.
But Walker had shown up to try to commander the meeting so the condoms wouldn't come up for discussion. She had tried to stand strong because she really thought if students were going to have sex…they might as well practice safer sex. But people like Walker just wanted to pretend that sex wouldn't happen on prom night if condoms weren't there to tempt them away from the path of chastity.
"Now…I knew you mean well…but have you really thought about what you're doing by opening Pandora's Box?"
She rolled her eyes believing he was being melodramatic.
"Principal Walker with all due respect…if students are going to have sex…"
He thrust a hand up.
"Don't say that…you're going to poison minds…"
She rejected that because minds had already been poisoned as he would call it, did he really think her generation were the first to have sex on prom night?
"Principal Walker…don't you think if students are going to have sex, they should protect themselves?"
He shook his head.
"They aren't having sex. They aren't having sex. They aren't having sex."
She watched him sitting there with his hands over his ears repeating this mantra and didn't know what to make of it. Principal Walker had always appeared to be a tightly wound spring.
She just sighed as she knew his drive to bring chastity back into the school would last all afternoon and so she didn't know that outside the window, a man stood there watching.
But what she did know is that the principal was being entirely unreasonable if he really believed that there was no sex on prom night. So she just left it at that for now, walking past a man standing in the back who looked at her intently as she left the room.
She headed out with Julia the next day to search for the elusive prom dress. Since her plans to make one had fallen apart, she had been left with trying to find one from what was left after the mad rush by a herd of students. Some of the boutiques they had checked out had been stripped bare of gowns already and C.J. wondered if she'd ever find one in time…or at all.
But that's not what had dominated their conversation during the search.
Julia just shook her head at her friend as they drove down the tree-lined streets.
"I can't believe you said that to Principal Walker…he must have freaked."
C.J. shrugged and sipped from her cola feeling much better in her worn jeans and even more faded shirt than she ever would in a fancy gown.
"He's got to get a reality check Julia," she said, "and I always think it's better to be safe than sorry."
Julia's mouth curved into a smile.
"So are you and Kevin getting a suite?"
C.J. looked out the window a moment.
"I…maybe…he seems to think so but I'm not sure."
Julia turned down a side street.
"Why not? He's a hot looking dude…who seems more into you than he ever liked me."
C.J. sighed.
"Look if you're not okay with him and me…"
Julia shook her head.
"No I'm happy for the two of you," she said, "Just be careful with him. He's not the most patient of guys."
"Tell me about it…but he's right. I am being stubborn and it's time to move forward."
"I didn't move along quickly with him," Julia said, "but I had to do what's right for me."
They headed to a strip mall which had a couple of popular eateries to choose from and today, they chose pizza with plenty of toppings which they picked out after a few rounds of good natured arguing.
A big pitcher of frothy root beer quenched their thirst as they dove into the pizza.
"So you really are going to take Jake?"
Julia shrugged.
"Yeah I guess so…he's not my first choice but he and I have an understanding that it's only for the night."
C.J. raised her brows.
"All night…?"
Julia rolled her eyes as she picked up another slice.
"I'm not sure yet…maybe…I plan to go with what I'm feeling."
"As long as you protect yourself," C.J. said, "I meant what I said to Walker. It makes no sense to have your head buried in the sand."
Julia chuckled.
"Because you and Kevin are going to leave earlier and celebrate upstairs right…?"
"Maybe…like I said I haven't really decided," C.J. said, "like you said, depends on how I feel."
Julia narrowed her eyes.
"You…you plan everything out ahead of time," she said, "I've never seen you as a spur of the moment kind of girl."
"Then you don't know everything about me."
Julia just tossed back her head and laughed. C.J. bristled a bit at her attitude. Yeah sure she liked to think about a situation and have a plan ahead of time before she did anything but she had her moments where she just let her hair loose and went with the flow like her friend.
She'd show her and Kevin just how much she could do that on prom night…maybe.
Julia leaned forward.
"So what about Matt, he's really not going?"
C.J. sipped her root beer.
"Don't know. He said no but Crystal's been asking him to rethink it. She really has her eye on being prom queen."
Julia nodded.
"Well Matt would be the logical king of course and she knows that. She's not going to give up you know."
C.J. sighed.
"I know and it's his business who to go with…I just wish he wouldn't take her."
"Maybe he won't…maybe he'll just pass," Julia said, "I don't get the feeling that he's really that into the whole prom scene."
"No he's not…but Crystal still has plenty of time to change his mind."
Yeah, C.J. thought, she certainly did at that. It wouldn't be so bad if she didn't know that despite her flirtatious attitude, Crystal really looked down on Matt because of his ranching background. Oh she loved the fact that he came from money and lots of it but not that he lived in such rustic surroundings. In her mind, he should be living in some mansion in Houston's most posh neighborhood or on top of a skyscraper in a penthouse suite.
But C.J. knew that Matt didn't want to live anywhere else than in the midst of a lot of open space, fresh air and good clean living. She loved that about him because she felt the same way and he wasn't ashamed of it either. He actually moved quite freely among both the rural and urbanite sides of the cafeteria.
"So when do you get your truck back?"
"Later today…Joe's finally got the part…but my uncle had to loan me the money."
"So you won't be riding with Matt?"
C.J shook her head.
"Our schedules are pretty different right now…but he was great to offer."
Julia rolled her eyes.
"He did it because he really likes you a lot."
"Well yeah, we're best friends like you and me are too."
Julia reached for another slice of pizza, before looking back at her.
"Actually it's not the same thing," she said, "He's a guy."
C.J. just wanted to throw something at her friend. She never failed to bring out the obvious that Matt was a guy and she was a girl but she refused to believe that precluded them from being best friends. Guys and girls could be best friends without jumping into the sack, she and Matt were proof of that.
"Julia…I don't want to go into this with you again," she said, "It's just not like that with us."
As usual, she didn't think her friend believed her.
Matt and his cousin Will hung up the tack from their horses and headed back across the clearing back to Matt's huge house.
They grabbed some iced sweet tea in the kitchen and then after serving themselves, took their drinks out to the back porch where they both saw Will's father, Roy sitting there reading a newspaper.
"Where's Daddy?"
Roy looked up from his reading.
"He's left for the airport for a business meeting," Roy said, "He'll be back in about a week."
Matt just nodded because he'd grown up with his father being there at times and gone during others. His lucrative business empire that he'd built from the ground up demanded much of his time.
His uncle ran his own mysterious business that also took him out of town sometimes in the dead of night for stretches of time longer than that for his father. All he had been told was that Roy was some kind of sales man and traveled the country and around the world to sell his product…the problem was Matt had no idea what that product was and his father had never told him.
He'd just learned at a younger age not to push the issue with questions about his uncle. But right now, his uncle was in town with his aunt Flo and watching to make sure Will stayed out of trouble.
Especially after he'd spray painted a mural on a water tower on the outskirts of Houston, clearly visible from the highway of a woman not wearing very much. From an early age, it had been clear that Will had artistic talent.
"So what's going on Uncle Roy…why is the sheriff meeting with the principal?"
Roy looked at him and sighed.
"There's nothing to be concerned about," he said, "They're just being careful that you kids don't run off and get yourself into trouble."
Matt didn't believe that but what could he say if the adults didn't want to be truthful about what was really going on? Roy must have read something in his face because he looked straight at him, his eyes serious.
"They are afraid that someone who escaped from prison might be targeting prom night."
Matt looked over at Will.
"What do you mean…target prom night?"
Roy paused.
"Something happened years ago…but it's nothing to worry about and everything will be just fine this year too…Sheriff Braddock will make sure of that."
That didn't leave Matt feeling any more confident that his questions had been answered. Suddenly he really wanted to know what was going on but…maybe he'd just have to dig around for the truth himself.
"Okay…Uncle Roy if you say so," he said, "I'm not sure I'm going anyway."
Roy arched his brows.
"Why not…I thought you were going out with Crystal…"
Matt grimaced.
"We broke it off…not long ago."
"Oh… well have you thought about asking anyone else?"
Matt sighed, running a hand through his hair.
"Not really…I might just pass this time."
"It's your last prom…it can be a very special time. That's where I met Flo."
Matt had heard the story about how Roy and Flo had met at the prom and had hit it off famously even though they had come with other dates. He didn't see himself meeting the woman of his dreams at the prom. He wasn't sure there was a woman that fit that bill out there.
"I'll give it some thought…look I've still got some chores to do, I'll see you later."
He headed on outside to get in his truck to go to town to get some feed for the horses and as he drove down the highway, he noticed a dark vehicle driving closely behind him. Hugging the curves just like his truck.
But he didn't pay any attention to it.