Kyle helped Sera down from the counter, trying hard to suppress a grin as she smoothed out her

skirt. She tossed him a nasty look as they exited the eraser room.

Kyle and Sera walked down the hall with Ms. Madison; Kyle was trying to charm her into letting

them go with an admonition. Sera started to intervene on behalf of the bumbling Kyle but Ms.

Madison held up her hand as she stopped in front of a door. Sera glanced up and noticed they

were standing next to Principal Forrester's door.

Ms. Madison knocked and from somewhere inside both teens could hear Forrester's voice.

"Come."

"Sir."

"Eileen, Mr. Valenti. Ms. Davidson."

"I found them in the eraser room."

The usually pleasant smile quickly vanished from Mr. Forrester's face.

Ms. Madison crossed to Mr. Forrester's desk and spoke in a hushed tone to the principal.

"Indeed? Thank you Ms. Madison. I'll take it from here."

Ms. Madison left the office, closing the door behind her.

Sera and Kyle looked at one another before Mr. Forrester cleared his throat.

"Sit down, please."

Sera sat first, Kyle sat next to her and exhaled loudly.

"Principal Forrester." Sera began.

"Sera, I believe your mother is a professor at the University." Sera nodded. "Well, that's a

bit too far away for her to come in today. But we can certainly call her. He punched a button

on his intercom. "Mrs. Griffin, please dial the work number of Sera Davidson's mother.

And get Sheriff Valenti's office on my line please."

"Certainly sir."

Mrs. Griffin's voice sounded on the intercom moments later.

"I have Sheriff Valenti on the line for you."

"Jim, its Gil. Could you come down to the school? We need to talk. No, no things are OK.

We just need to have a discussion. Thank you.

"Principal Forrester? Ms. Davidson's mother is in class at the moment. Her assistant wants

to know if its an emergency and should she interrupt?"

"Tell her that's not necessary, just leave her a note to call my office when she gets out of

class. Dial Ms. Davidson's step-father's work number please."

Sera closed her eyes and said a silent prayer of Thanks to anyone listening.

//OK Mom's in class, and if it started at the top of the hour I've still got thirty minutes to call her

office and tell Julie to rip up the note, she's cool she'd do that for me. Mom's assistant or not, she

knows what its like to sneak off somewhere with her boyfriend. Besides, it will sound much

better when I explain it than it will coming out of my principal's mouth. Man, I'll bet Rachel has

to walk on pins and needles around her dad at home.//

Sera looked up to find Kyle staring at her strangely.

"What?"

He nodded toward Principal Forrester.

"Sera. Your step-father would like to talk to you." Principal Forrester was holding the phone

toward her.

"Hello?"

"All you all right honey?

"I'm fine. Its uh.Kyle and I kinda skipped class. And well, there's a lot more to explain

but I'd rather do it with you here. Mom's in class."

"But you're OK."

"Yeah, Principal Forrester just needs to talk to you."

"I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Thanks Charles."

**************************************************************************** **

Twenty minutes later Jim, Charles, Sera and Kyle walked out of Principal Forrester's office.

Sera looked at her stepfather and started to say something.

"Let's talk about it tonight, when your mother gets home."

Sera sighed and nodded.

"You two get to class. Kyle I want you right home after school."

"We have a pep rally after school Dad."

Jim cleared his throat. "Fine. I'll see you after that. Sera."

"Bye Sheriff."

"Same goes for you. Straight home after the pep rally."

"I understand."



The bell rang; Jim looked at both kids.

"Well, go on, the last thing we need is for both of you to miss another class."

Each of them turned, quickly said goodbye to their parents and dashed for their lockers.

They grabbed their Government books and raced to class, entering the door just as the final bell

sounded. Ms. Madison gave them a stern look as they passed.

Walking to their seats they were greeted to smirks from their friends.

"Little too much time in the eraser room?" Maria asked.

"Hardly." Sera said as she sat down. "Madison busted us and sent us to Forrester's office."

"Are you serious?"

"Jim and Charles had to come down and talk to Forrester."

"More things you and Lizzie have in common!"

"What?"

"I'll tell you after class."

Michael leaned around Maria and passed Kyle a note.

Did you really get caught in the eraser room?

Kyle nodded, wrote back and tossed the note onto Michael's desk

Dad and Charles had to come down.

Michael laughed and showed the note to Max before writing back.

Bet you won't be seeing her outside school for awhile.

Kyle didn't write back, he just groaned and buried his head on his arms.

**************************************************************************** **

Government was soon over. Kyle and Sera did their best to avoid their friend's questions as they

made their way to PE.

Sera hit the locker room and was instantly greeted with catcalls.

"How did you know?" She asked as Kayla walked to her sporting a goofy grin.

"Are you kidding me? This place is rumor central.Heather French saw Madison leading

you to Forrester's office. And she did what any gossipmonger would do: she pretended

that she needed something from the admissions office and eavesdropped."

Sera shook her head. "Wonderful.so I suppose its all over school now.

"Almost!

Rachel Forrester walked toward them. "Hey Sera!"

"Hey Rach. Tell me something?

"OK"

"Is your dad like a holy terror when you bring a guy home? Cause he's got the evil eye to

end all evil eyes."

Rachel laughed. "Now you know why I don't date much!"

Kayla nudged Sera as they put their bags in their lockers. "I think someone's a little greener

with envy than usual!" she said in a singsong voice after Pam walked by them not even looking

at Sera.

"That may be worth the six month grounding I'm sure to get!"

**************************************************************************** **

Practice was simple a rundown of the cheer they were using at the pep rally, and the game, and a

quick dress rehearsal of the routine. Ms. Cannon's word choice caused Sera and Tonya fits of

laughter as they emulated Ross and Monica of Friends doing 'The Routine'.

When the bell rang for the end of school, the girls made their way outside to the stadium.

They congregated near the football players and waited for the pep rally to begin.

Principal Forrester's voice came over the loudspeaker, greeting the students.

He led them in a moment of silence for the September 11th attacks. Then the Pledge of

Allegiance, and finally asked them to get on their feet and greet their cheerleaders.

The girls ran out on the floor to a cheer mix that Amy had found in Ms. Cannon's office, that

included Ready to Go, Chinese Burn and the theme from Mortal Kombat.

The football players chose to run out to We are the Champions.

Sitting in the stands Maria found this music choice interesting.

"Champions of what exactly?" She asked looking at Liz and Max. "They haven't even played a game yet."

She quieted down when Principal Forrester handed Kyle the microphone.

"Hey everyone! He waited for the chorus of "Hey Kyle!" to die down before speaking again.

We've got a great team this year and I know we're going to take it all the way to the state

championships. And I know the whole way you guys are going to be there, coming out to the

games to cheer us on and supporting us in our championship bid."

When Kyle finished speaking, the cheerleaders led everyone in cheering and singing the

West Roswell fight song.

Principal Forrester dismissed everyone after the rally, Sera ran into the locker room to get her

bag, said goodbye to her friends and made her way to the parking lot where Kyle and Maria were

waiting.

"Amazing pep rally girlfriend." Maria said when Sera joined them.

"Thank you.I thought this one here gave a pretty good speech!"

"I kinda tuned him out after awhile."

"Gee thanks, such a supportive sister."

"I try!"

"I guess we should go. I for one am expecting to be placed under lock and key once my

mother discovers what happened this afternoon."

"Yeah, I'm sure Dad left the station early so he can make sure I get home on time."

"Juvenile Delinquents!"

"How is it that you and Michael never got caught in the eraser room?" Kyle asked his sister

as he backed out of his parking place.

"Simple.we're smarter than everyone else. Besides, I thought you would have learned

your lesson after Liz and Max got caught.

"Liz and Max got caught in the eraser room?" Sera asked turning around to look at Maria.

She's not as goody two-shoes as you thought is she?"

"I'm surprised by her everyday." Sera mused.

"You ever go in the eraser room with Liz?" she asked turning toward Kyle.

Kyle's eyes met Maria's in the rearview mirror.

"No comment." **************************************************************************** ** Kyle pulled into the Whitman's drive and parked the car as Sera cursed.

"What?"

"Mom's home."

"Well she hasn't come out brandishing any sort of weapon yet so my guess is she doesn't know yet."

"Either that or she's inside methodically plotting your slow and painful death."

"I thought siblings were supposed to be supportive."

"Our parents aren't married yet."

"OK. I'm going in to face the music." Sera hopped out of the Mustang. "Wish me luck?"

"Good luck." Maria said, raising both thumbs over enthusiastically.

Kyle and Maria exited the car. Kyle walked Sera to the door as Maria moved from the back seat

to the front.

"You sure you're OK handling this?"

"I'll be fine.I'm sure there will be some yelling and most likely some grounding, but it will be OK in the end."

"I could come in with you."

"NO! that would be incredibly bad! When my mother is ready to speak to you and can do so without yelling.she'll let you know."

"Thanks for the warning!"

"I'm going to go in."

"Good luck." He whispered as he dropped a quick kiss on her lips

"I'll see you tonight."

She waved once before turning into the house.

"Think I'm ever going to be allowed see her again?" he asked his almost- sister when he

returned to the car.

"Sure.Tonight. After that, all bets are off."

Kyle sighed as he piloted the car toward the Valenti/DeLuca homestead. **************************************************************************** ** When game time rolled around Sera was anxious to escape the house. Because it had been

planned for several days Nicole allowed Kyle to pick Sera up, but he had to come inside and sit

down for a talk.

"Mom. I'm 17, Kyle's 18. We don't need lectures."

"Obviously you need someone to give you a lecture you on why skipping class to make out

in a broom closet isn't proper behavior."

"Technically its an eraser room. "

"Sera. you're already on very thin ice."

"Mom."

"He comes in and we have a chat or you don't go to the game with him."

"Fine, I'll call him and tell him to come early." "Don't hang up before I speak to Jim."

"Fine."

**************************************************************************** ** Kyle arrived stood in the doorway apprehensively. Only when he had about twenty assurances

from Sera that Nicole was not lying in wait somewhere to castrate him, did he enter.

Nicole sat them down and their third lecture of the day began.

When Nicole felt she had made her point to both kids, she allowed them to leave for the game.

Kyle took a deep breath and walked out the door with Sera.

"I'd say we got off easy."

Sera smiled and quoted one of her favorite movies. "Easy? You call that easy?"

"Would you stop with the Star Wars quotes!"

"Sorry. I thought it needed to be said."

"Come on.lets get to the game before your mom changes her mind." **************************************************************************** **

West Roswell won the game 21-0, thanks to Kyle's three touchdown passes.

Since Amy and Jim began dating and Kyle had become an integral part of the group,

Maria had become his personal cheerleader.

Sera told her after the game that she was cheering louder than the actual cheerleaders.

"I was just being a supportive sister, since I was accused of failing in that capacity earlier

today." "Is that why you nearly dismembered me?" Michael asked rubbing the arm that Maria had

clutched on to after Kyle's first touchdown pass.

"You're fine stop making such a fuss."

"Kids." Jim's voice sounded behind their small group.

"Hey Sheriff."

Son, good game."

"Thanks Dad."

"What's on the agenda for tonight?"

"We were going to meet Isabel at the Crashdown."

"I should have known. Sera, Kyle, Can I see you two for a moment?"

The couple exchanged looks with each other then with their friends before following Jim.

Jim led them to an area near the track where Nicole, Charles and Amy were standing.

"Look, we know you two have plans, and we're not going to interrupt but;

we want you home by 12:30."

The duo nodded.

"That's not 12:45 or even 12:35.it's 12:30."

"We understand." Sera said not meeting the parent's eyes.

"Look, guys. We're really sorry about today."

"Now is not the time for that. You two go, and have fun with your friends. We'll deal with

the events of this afternoon, and their consequences later." With that, Nicole effectively

brought the pow-wow to an end. Kyle and Sera dashed away to join their friends.

The parents tried to contain their laughter as they watched their children retreat.

Charles regained his composure first. "Do you think we scared them enough?"

"Let's hope it will be a long time before either of them even THINK of going into that

eraser room again. Amy said, looping her arm through Jim's.

"Why do they even have an eraser room? Why can't they just clean the erasers outside?"

All four parents shook their heads at Amy's observation.

"Well, now that we've done our parental duty in scaring our children, anyone up for a

dessert?" Charles asked.

END