"So are we gonna talk about that interesting gift?" Ricky asked casually as he drove them towards Jesse's parents' place. Amy giggled as she looked out her window.

"What about it?" she replied, equally casually.

"So is it just underwear or something more?" he asked, trying to keep the curiosity out of his voice.

"It's a thank you gesture."

"A what?" he asked with confusion.

"A thank you gesture," Amy repeated, turning her head to look at him. "I know you wanna…get more physical and I just wanted to let you know I appreciate you being patient with me." There was a slight pause as Amy smiled. "Pluuuuussss," she continued, her voice laced with amusement, "I decided you should have something special as a reward for such good behavior." Ricky chuckled as he turned down a street. "Besides, I know you're not gonna brag to anyone about having one of my bras and a pair of my undies so I'm comfortable giving them to you." Ricky smirked as he pulled into the driveway that led up to the house.

"Will I be seeing more of this new bold side of you in the future?" he asked with a mixture of amusement and curiosity as he put the car in park and cut the engine. Amy shrugged as she unbuckled her seatbelt, a demure smile on her face.

"We'll see." They headed up to the door and rang the bell. When the door opened music, laughter and the sounds of conversation spilled out of the door, where Jesse stood with a smile.

"Come on in guys!" he said cheerfully as he stepped aside so they could enter. "So here's the rundown. The basement has an entertainment system and it's where all the gamers are hanging right now plus a pool table, darts and an air hockey table," he explained, pointing to a staircase that led downstairs. "There's dancing in the living room," he continued, motioning towards the living room as he led them down a hallway. "Bathroom's here," he stated, motioning towards a door with this thumb, "and there's another one downstairs." He paused to take a sip of the soda he was carrying. "This is the den," he said, with another jerk of his thumb towards a room where a small group of people were singing along with a karaoke game as he continued leading them down the hallway. "Food's here in the dining room, pool and hot tub are out back," he explained, inclining his head towards the sliding glass doors to their left. He stopped and turned to face them, a happy smile on his face. "There's another bathroom first door on the right upstairs but other than that mom and dad don't want anybody upstairs; the bedrooms are off-limits unless someone's sick and needs to lie down. Mom and dad will come through every hour or so to check in on us but other than that they'll be up in their room." He took another sip of his soda. "Have fun!" he walked off and left them to their own devices.

"So what do you wanna do first?" Amy asked. Ricky shrugged.

"I haven't played video games in years and I'd rather not sing in front of everybody so I'm down for anything other than that right now. What do you wanna do? Maybe find Lauren or something?" Amy shook her head.

"I'm here to celebrate with you." She bit her lip nervously, a habit Ricky found both adorable and bit of a turn on. "Do you know how to play pool?" she asked. Ricky nodded and Amy brightened a little. "Would you teach me?" Ricky gave her a small smile as he took her hand and led her down to the basement. Surprisingly no one was using the pool table so Ricky racked the balls. He grabbed two cues and handed one to Amy.

"So what do you know about pool?" he asked, trying to determine how much he needed to teach her. Amy tucked some of her hair behind her left ear.

"I know someone only hits the balls with stripes and the other person only hits the solid ones and the first person to get the eight ball in wins." Ricky nodded to let her know she was basically correct.

"Do you know how to figure out who'll hit which balls?" Amy looked at him curiously.

"Don't you just pick?" Ricky tried not to smile as he shook his head.

"Someone breaks and whatever type of ball sinks into the pockets is the type of balls that person will be hitting." Amy nodded in understanding. "Do you wanna break or should I?"

"You do it. I've never played before." Ricky set the cue ball and leaned forward to break. He managed to get two solid balls in the pockets. He stood upright and leaned on his stick as he faced Amy.

"Ok. So since I sunk solid balls I'll hit solids and you hit stripes. We'll switch turns when one of us misses." Amy nodded in understanding and then Ricky studied to table to set up his next shot. Amy watched quietly as he sunk his shot and then sunk two balls on his next one. He finally missed when he took a third shot. He stepped back and Amy stepped up to the table and examined the balls. She stood near a corner pocket and pointed with her cue stick.

"How should I hit this ball in order to get it in that pocket?" she asked. Ricky leaned his cue against the wall and came to stand behind her. They leaned down together and he helped her position the cue between her fingers and line up her shot.

"Just let the stick slide through your fingers and aim the cue ball just to the side of the ball," he instructed. He quickly kissed her neck before backing away. Amy smiled at him and then turned her focus back to the table, doing as he had instructed. She grinned when the ball went into the opposite corner pocket and turned around and kissed him to say thanks.

As Amy was learning how to play pool in the basement, Lauren and Jesse were dancing in the living room. The living room furniture had all been pushed back and a small group of teens were dancing and having a blast. A slow song came on and Lauren put her arms around Jesse's neck as his arms encircled her waist. She smiled up at him.

"So how's it feel to be a high school graduate?" she asked. Jesse shrugged noncommittally, a small smile on his face.

"Actually not that different than any other day of the week. Only difference is when September rolls around I won't be going back to Grant." His smile fell for a moment. "It'll be weird not seeing you every day at lunch, and sometimes between classes." Lauren nodded sadly in agreement for a moment before a smile slowly crept back upon her face.

"But we knew we'd be leaving high school eventually. You'll just be out before me." Lauren blinked for a moment as she realized something and then she laughed a little.

"What?" Jesse asked her curiously.

"I just realized that next year I get to tell people my boyfriend's in college." Lauren laughed happily again and Jesse joined her.

"So, you excited for or dreading summer school?" he asked, his face looking concerned. Lauren smiled a little to reassure him.

"It's more like I'm gonna make the best of it. I'll be hanging out with one of my best friends and it'll help my senior year be more of a breeze without multiple hard classes."

"I'm proud of you, you know that?" Lauren looked at him quizzically.

"For what? You're the one who just graduated." Jesse chuckled and leaned down to give her a quick kiss.

"I know you only agreed to go to support a friend and all, but I think it's a great idea to spend your summer doing something to help yourself get ahead in school." Lauren smiled at the compliment.

"Thanks."

"Any time."

"So what're your plans this summer?"

"My family's having a small reunion in a couple weeks and I plan to register for classes early and walk around the campus a bit to find my way around and to my classes. Then there's football practice, obviously. But other than that? Just spend as much time with you as I can," he told her with a smile.

"Good answer," she told him with a grin. They shared a chuckle as the slow song ended and faster one started pumping out of the speakers. They moved apart slightly and picked up their pace, smiles on their faces.

Out back in the pool Jack was playing water polo with a few other jocks as several girls watched and ogled them unabashedly, some shamelessly flirting as they cheered on their favorite player. Jack had a grin on his face as he felt truly happy and carefree for the first time in a couple of months. Sure he still wasn't sure what lay ahead for him in college but he was okay with that. Even better he was just having some good clean fun and acting like a teenager. Tonight his past was just that, his past. Tonight was about fun and celebrating a milestone in his life. A smile was on Jack's face as he launched the ball into the opposing goal and scored his team a point. His teammates cheered and they high-fived each other briefly before getting back into their positions.

Back inside Ricky and Amy were heading upstairs to get Amy something to drink. They headed towards the drink area of the dining room and Ricky fished them two sodas out of the cooler. They wandered over towards the den as they heard someone belting out a pretty good version of Bruno Mars' 'Just the Way You Are' and found a spot against one of the walls where they could sit down. Ricky lowered himself to the rug first and Amy sat in front of him and leaned back against him as she sipped her soda. Ricky leaned forward and kissed her temple before opening his own soda. They clapped along with the other spectators when the song concluded. Amy leaned to the side slightly so she could look up at Ricky.

"Bored yet?" He gave her a small smile as he chuckled and shook his head.

"Not really but we can go if you want." Amy shook her head.

"I don't. But we can go if you want to." Two teens stepped up to perform a battle.

"Let's stay a little longer." Amy turned her attention back to the screen and watched as the two teens sang along to the lyrics and notes on screen, watching with amusement as the game showed all the spectators just how well or badly each singer hit and/or held the required notes, and 'a little longer' turned into a couple of hours. While Ricky and Amy enjoyed the vocal entertainment for a bit before heading to the living room to dance to some slow songs and chat with a few of Ricky's classmates, Madison and Justin were video chatting.

"So you excited for summer school?" he asked her cheekily. Madison stuck her tongue out at him and then sighed.

"Not really. But I think I'd have either a mental or emotional breakdown if I was stuck at the food court all summer again. I mean I'm glad I met you there and all, I just don't think I could handle working there if I didn't have to. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Besides, this way I'll have a little more free time next year since I won't have so much homework. Hopefully." Justin nodded in understanding.

"Well, on the bright side my shift ends by the time you get outta school so we can still hang out as much as we did this year, except on Saturdays, when my shifts are a little longer." Madison sighed happily.

"Yeah." Justin chuckled.

"Well, we should probably get some sleep. It's been a long day. 'Night, Maddie,"

"'Night, Justin," she said with a smile. They blew each other a kiss and then signed off. Madison sighed happily as she closed her laptop and then rolled over to the side of her bed and stood up. She lifted her laptop and set it back down on her desk. So maybe last summer's punishment was worth it she thought with a smile as she pulled back the covers and got into bed. Only time will tell if summer school turns out to be a good thing or not.

Across town Adrian wasn't feeling quite so relaxed. Her best friend was heading off to med camp for most of the summer and come Monday she'd be back at Grant High for summer school. Part of her was hoping she wasn't the only senior there so she wouldn't feel so bad about it and have to take her classes with a bunch of overachieving underclassmen just trying to one-up their classmates by attending summer school. Okay so maybe I'm being a little unfair to them. I just don't wanna be the only senior there. Is that really so bad? Her conscience answered her unspoken question: yes. Adrian sighed as she brushed her teeth. Great she thought as she rolled her eyes and spit into the sink. Grace is starting to rub off on me and now my conscience is calling me out on my rude thoughts. She spit into the sink once more and rinsed her toothbrush. She plopped the brush into the toothbrush holder with a sigh and then grabbed the mouthwash bottle. One step at a time, right, Mercy? At least I've got tomorrow to mentally prepare myself for this.