"Wow," Slater admired, "you girls look great!" He grinned flashing them his dimpled smile. Kelly, Lisa, and Jessie smiled back as they entered Ox's house.
"Lisa made these togas for us," Jessie informed him.
"Well, you would have made Caesar proud," Slater complimented.
"Hey, guys!" Zack greeted them. "Let me give you a tour! This is the dance floor," he told them motioning with his hand. He led the girls into Ox's living room. The room had been cleared of most of its furniture. The couch was pushed to the back wall directly under a banner that read "Go Bayside! Class of '93." A couple of football players were tossing a football back and forth. Music was blaring and people were dancing all over the living room.
"And Ox's parent's are ok with all of this?" Lisa asked a little impressed with the trust his parents seemed to have in their son. "I mean, you rearranged their house."
"Of course they're ok with it," Zack shrugged.
"What he means is they don't know about it," Slater explained.
"Right," Zack added, "And if they know nothing about it, how can they not be ok with it?" Zack asked. Slater nodded in agreement.
"A criminal mind in action," Jessie retorted. Zack gave her a mocking look.
Kelly and Lisa smiled and shook their heads.
"Fellow seniors and not so seniors, please welcome Bayside royalty!" Zack yelled over the music. Someone was kind enough to turn it down a little. He continued, "Introducing our former queen Miss Kelly Kapowski, and our new homecoming queen, Miss Lisa Turtle!"
Everyone in the dance floor area cheered and clapped.
"This really doesn't get old, does it?" Lisa whispered to Kelly.
Screech came running over with four laurel wreath crowns on a pillow. He put a crown on both Kelly's and Lisa's head.
"And of course, football royalty, our homecoming king, AC Slater!" Zack announced.
Slater pretended to be modest about the honor. Screech put the third crown on his head.
"Screech, why are there four crowns?" Zack whispered.
"We've got two queens, so we need two kings! And you just so happen to be the most royal of us all because you've dated both of them," Screech informed him with a wink and an elbow.
Zack looked at him a little puzzled, but then shrugged and let Screech crown him. He hooked his arm around Lisa's and Slater looped his arm through Kelly's and Jessie's as they lead them to the kitchen area. Pizzas, sub sandwiches, chips, sodas and punch were laid out in a spread across the kitchen.
At first, Zack and Slater looked proud, but when they saw the look on the girls' faces they knew they hadn't done as good of a job as they thought.
"We've never been in charge of party food before," Slater explained sheepishly.
The girls could see the boys had put a lot of effort into the display, however crude. That made the spread charming. Their faces softened.
"I give you an 'A' for effort," Lisa commented.
"I think it has charm," Kelly comforted.
"Would you like some refreshments then?" Zack asked.
"Maybe later," Jessie quickly replied.
"Yeah, let's dance first!" Lisa agreed.
The five of them headed back to the dance floor.
"Queen Lisa, can I have the honor of this dance?" Ox asked as he rushed toward with a bow.
Lisa glanced over to Zack, who gave a shrug of approval.
"Why sure, Ox," Lisa said a half amused and half surprised. They went to the middle of the living room and began to dance. Ox danced clumsily as Lisa looked back and smiled at her friends.
Screech joined in dancing around flapping his arms like a chicken. Jessie and Slater made their way to the center of the floor and before long Lisa and Ox could hardly be seen through the crowd of dancers.
"You wanna?" Zack asked Kelly as he motioned toward the dance floor.
"Sure," she smiled, and they danced their way toward the group.
"Great party, Slater!" Moose yelled over the blaring music.
"Yeah, man! This is the best party yet!" Ox smiled as he twirled Lisa around.
After about half an hour of dancing, Jessie and Zack made their way to the sidelines of the dance floor.
"I think I've danced with every guy here!" Jessie grinned.
"Yeah? So has Lisa," Zack chuckled.
"Except she hasn't danced with you yet," Jessie observed.
"Yeah, well," Zack replied. "She's been celebrating."
"You ok?" Jessie asked him a little concerned.
"Yeah. I'm fine. You'd think I would be a little disappointed," he paused.
"But you're not," Jessie finished.
"Is that bad?" Zack questioned knowing he would get an honest answer from Jessie.
"Maybe it means that you trust her and are secure in your relationship," Jessie told him with a reassuring smile.
Zack nodded.
Ding. Dong.
Saved by the bell, he thought. I really don't want to get into this with Jessie, not tonight.
"Sounds, like we have more guests!" Zack forced a grin. "Excuse me." Jessie watched as he headed toward the entry.
"Meet me at the back door," Steve whispered as Zack opened the door.
"But, you can get in this way," Zack reminded him as he motioned to the entryway.
"We parked at the back 'cause we got a special delivery," Steve explained giving air quotes as he said the words special delivery.
"O-kay," Zack raised his eyebrows and waved goodbye at Steve. Then, he closed the door and raising one eyebrow at Jessie.
"'Special delivery' at the back door," Zack mimicked Steve's air quote to Jessie.
Jessie, knowing the raised eyebrow was a signal for something fishy, followed Zack to the back door in the kitchen.
Zack opened the door to find Steve and Animal each dragging in four large coolers.
"Need more refreshments, dude?" Animal asked with a laugh. He popped open a cooler and showed Jessie and Zack the beer inside.
Jessie's eyes widened.
"Animal, what were you thinking?" Zack scolded him through gritted teeth. The kitchen was empty except for the four of them since everyone had been dancing.
"He was 'thinking' that this is our senior party and it needed to be kicked up a notch," Steve told Zack using air quotes again.
"What is it with you and air quotes?" Zack asked frustrated. Steve shrugged stupidly.
"How did you get this anyway?" Jessie asked.
"I used my brother's I.D.," Animal admitted proudly.
"We've got to get rid of this," Jessie told them, her voice escalating as it always did during situations she deemed were crisis. She paced back and forth in the kitchen with her hand on her forehead.
"I agree," Animal grabbed a beer and tossed it to Steve.
"We'll 'get rid' of of two cans right now!" Steve said using air quotes. They both grinned and gave each other a high five.
Jessie glared at them repulsed by their joke.
Zack gave a mocking applause to Steve's correct use of air quotes in this instance, then, put his hand on his head in thought. He decided, however, ridiculous it was, to try reasoning with the two jocks. "Guys, look, we get you were trying to plan an unforgettable party," Zack began, "But tomorrow's the big game. How are we going to win if our entire football team has a hangover?"
Steve shrugged, "The game isn't until the afternoon, Zack. Besides, it's just a few beers. We just want to have a little fun."
Zack glanced at Jessie. He knew this wasn't a good idea, but before he could say anything else, Animal and Steve dragged two of the coolers into the living room.
"Are you ready to party?!" Animal yelled out over the music. "There's more in the kitchen!" Then, he and Steve began passing out drinks to everyone.
"I'd like to make a toast!" Steve told the room full of teens. "Cheers to the best football team in the county!" Then, Animal tossed one a beer to Slater. Slater caught it and looked a little torn. "I don't know, guys. I want to be in good shape for tomorrow's game," he grinned.
"Boo!" Steve jeered.
"Drink! Drink! Drink!" Animal began chanting soon some of the others joined in watching for Slater to join. Slater pulled the tab, raised his can, and took a drink.
Jessie marched over to the quarterback. "Slater, what are you doing?" she asked concerned.
"Jessie, relax, I barely even took a drink!" Slater assured her, shaking his can slightly.
Steve, noticing Jessie's tension, made his way over to Jessie trying to hand her a beer.
"No thanks," she told him pushing his hand away from her as she headed toward the front door. "This isn't right. I'm getting out of here! Lisa? Kelly?" she asked realizing the two girls were not following her lead.
"I'm not finished celebrating!" Lisa told her. She was holding an opened can of beer.
Kelly, hesitating, looked from Lisa to Jessie. When she took a step toward Jessie, Lisa grabbed her arm.
"Stay here, Kelly," Lisa begged, "I don't want to ride back alone with a bunch of sweaty, toga boys," she scrunched her nose in disgust.
"Ok, I'll stay here," Kelly said a little uncomfortably. Jessie's eyes silently questioned her, but Kelly just shrugged letting her know there was no way she could leave Lisa.
"Well, if you need me to come back, just call me," Jessie told Kelly seriously. Kelly was the only one that was left paying any attention to Jessie's exit. The rest of the gang had went back to join the party. Kelly nodded, biting her lip. Jessie's response to the party had caused her to feel nervous about staying. "Ok," she assured Jessie. She watched Jessie head out the door, then, returned back to the living room.
Across the room, Slater had finished his second can of beer.
"This stuffs not that bad once you get passed the smell," Slater informed Zack as he crushed an empty can in his hand.
Zack nodded.
"You tried any yet?" Slater asked curiously.
"Nah," Zack replied.
"Oh, come on, preppy. All the things you've tried and you won't try a beer," Slater joked.
Zack smirked; it did sound a bit funny.
"Steve!" Slater called out to his teammate, "Toss me a couple!" Steve grabbed two cold, dripping cans from the cooler and tossed them to Slater, with a goofy grin on his face. Slater handed one to Zack, and kept the other for himself. Zack just held the can, reluctant to open it.
"Zack, we're in a house. You're with your friends. There are no parents and no Belding. It'll be fine," Slater assured him.
Zack studied him for a moment. It was true he'd broken rules- even the law- before. And lots of teens drink underage. It's the driving that's bad right? He wasn't sure how he felt about consuming something that might make him lose control of the best thing he had going for him—his mind. He'd have one beer and that would be it. He popped the tab. Slater grinned and held up his can to Zack.
"Beat Valley," Zack clanked his can against Slater's.