Friday evening, Vern walked over to the happy little St. Peter home to walk to the school with Tabitha and Libby.

"You two look pretty," Vern said when they came to the door.

Libby personally thought that she looked like a freak of nature. She'd allowed her sister to do be her beauty advisor. She was even wearing stupid wobbly shoes. "So do you," she piped up. "The thoughts in my head that I'm having of you would make a nun scream."

Vern and Tabitha smiled at each other and shook their heads.

"She's crazy," he whispered.

"She's adopted. I hope she is anyway." Tabitha shuddered. "She's like oneof those flies that you can't kill but they just keep on buzzing and buzzing and--"

"Hey, Tabby, you don't have a date," Libby announced.

"What's your point, Buttlick?"

"Neither does Vern."

"Shut up, Libby," she growled.

"Well, I'm sorry that you two have NO ONE, whereas I have a hottie date." She hugged her sister. "But I love you like I love cheesecake."

"You hate cheesecake, you moron."

"Yes, I do hate cheesecake, actually. It's too sweet. Just like you!"

The school gym was packed when they got there. It was a sea of bodies in motion. The lights were low and distracting and filtered through decorative paper.

Libby and Teddy had caught up to each other in the lobby, and they were holding on to each other's hands to keep from being separated. Even though his hand was sweaty (although her hand was probably sweaty to him), she was quite delighted at the fact that her night was only just starting and she was already having the best time with him.

She had to yell to be heard. "This so called BAND the school hired sound like their instruments are killing themselves!"

Teddy shouted, "WHAT?" He bent down to her height so he could hear.

"THIS MUSIC SUCKS!"

"Ahh," he said, nodding. "Sucky music is what makes the whole night so grand."

Abby's shoulders sagged as she took in the numb, mindless teenage conformity. She yelled to Gordie, "Let's hit the punch bowl, Gordo."

Tabitha asked, "Can I come? I like to experiment with punch."

Gordie smiled in that tender way he had. "Tabitha's a looooser. You can be my other date tonight. I'm already escorting Abby out of kindness, but there's room for you. Does that sound intriguing?"

"Very. I can hardly keep my dress on." Vern followed behind Tabitha loyally, and Delia left to mingle. Andie and Chris were already dancing together.

Teddy told Libby in a confidential voice that was begging to be overheard, "Chris dances like a lumberjack, hey?"

"Yeah, like a lumberjack who's cut off his own leg," Libby agreed. grinning as Chris glared at them.

"I don't see you out here making a fool out of yourself," Chris said.

"THAT'S because I'm a worse dancer than YOU, but at least I KNOW that and don't parade around like a pixie embarrassing myself." She smiled, sweetly innocent.

Andie grinned. "Ignore them, Chris. You're a lovely dancer." She laughed and knocked her head against his shoulder. "Anyway, shut up and keep doing whatever the hell it is you're trying to do."

Teddy cackled, grabbing Andie away from Chris and began doing a frightening swing dance, scaring the people around them. At one point, he accidentally swung her too enthusiastically and sent her flying into Libby. "Sorry Libby!" he yelled. "I was just showing Andie what dancing is REALLY like."

Libby smirked, not thinking to be jealous. "I think she's all swung out. Don't kill her. The night is young and so is she."

Teddy linked arms with Libby. "Wanna polka?"

"I'm not wearing my Austrian trousers though!"

Andie laughed. "You two suit each other. You're both crazy."

"You could polka WITH us if that would stop the rude comments," Teddy offered.

She put up a hand and leaned into Chris when he put his hands around her waist. "No thanks, Teddy. You'd polka me right into a wall, I know how that twisted mind of yours works."

"You have no idea," he said, and twirled Libby in a circle, making her laugh and stumble around like a drunk.

"You're fun," she giggled. "But you're making me dizzy."

"It's the lights, really!" he promised with a huge playful grin. "I'm not PURPOSELY trying to make you all 'weeee!' so I can take ADVANTAGE of you or anything like that."

She nodded. "That's good." A new song started, and she whirled around in the direction of the band. "This is evil trying to seep into my brain through crappiness!"

"That's very tricky," Teddy said approvingly.

"Food now?" she asked.

"Yep. We'll see if Gordie and company have moved away from the food yet."

She followed him to the refreshments table. Apparently Abby, Gordie, Tabitha and Vern had not ventured away from the punch bowl. "My sister!" Libby cried, running to hug Tabitha.

Tabitha screamed in fright and ducked under her arms to avoid contact. "Demon!"

"So, are you buzzed yet?"

"Nope."

"The punch is bad?"

"Yep," she said. "Damn faulty punch. The chips and dip I liked. I highly recommend the chips and dip."

Libby nodded contemplatively. "Thanks. It was nice doing business with you."

"If you ever come near me again, I'll gouge out your eyes with a Popsicle stick." She smiled brightly, tilting her head in a borderline comical manner. "I love you, have fun! I won't have fun though. Vern won't dance with me, which is sad. I hate guys who won't do what I ask them to. Except for Vern, I seem to like him an awful lot..."

Teddy grabbed Libby's arm and she turned her attention from Tabitha, not that she was really listening anyway. "I'll be back okay, Lib?"

"Where are you going?"

"Out for a smoke." He left the gymnasium quickly.

Chris came up to her. "How can you eat that? Everyone double dips."

Libby stared at the chip she had just licked the salt off of. "Tabitha, come eat my chip!"

"What did you do to it?" she snapped maliciously.

"Nothing!" she yelled back defensively.

"Did you drop it?!"

"No!!"

"Did you sneeze on it?!"

"NO!!!"

Tabitha resentfully ate the chip.

Libby beamed. "I just licked it." She hid behind Chris, using him as a shield. When Tabitha lost interest in trying to kill her, Libby said, "So, Christopher, you appear to be Andie-less."

"Yeah, she went to the girls' room." He smiled. "Girls pee a lot."

Appearing thoughtful, Libby said slowly, "Heeyy...that's weird! AUGH!" she squealed. "DELIA! You move too stealthily! You scared the bejeebus out of me!"

Chris and Libby didn't know how long she'd been there, but suddenly Delia stood between them. She smiled hello.

Chris said, "Deelie, you should wear bells on your shoes. That was sneaky. And startling. I'm going to go see what Gordie's doing, unless you need something?"

"No, it's okay," she told him. When her brother was gone, Delia took Libby by the arm and pulled her away from the group. "Libby, I just saw something not good."

"Was it a vampire?"

"...No."

"Was it a banshee?"

"No--"

"Was it something that didn't have a head?"

"No, it was Teddy and Andie."

"Excuse me?"

"Teddy and Andie are making out by the vending machine."

The moment that Libby stared at her lasted for a long time. "That's pretty low, Delia."

"You think I'm lying?" she demanded. "I wouldn't lie about this! It's my little brother that's going to be crushed. And I wouldn't make up something that would hurt Chris."

For the first time, Libby saw something weird in Delia's eyes, and it took her a while to realize that it was concerned compassion. Suddenly, she could tell how much Delia cared about her brother. Usually it was the brother that was ultra-protective of his sister, but it was the other way around with Delia and Chris. Libby grumbled to herself for awhile, because she found herself trusting Delia even though everything in her mind was telling her not to trust Delia--Everyone hated her, so why should she believe her? It was the purely genuine worry for her brother that Libby trusted though, and she believed her that her maybe-maybe not boyfriend was playing tonsil hockey with Chris' girlfriend. "This is the second time Teddy's pissed me off."

"You can't really trust his apologies sometimes," Delia said. "He's a great guy, he's just got a lot of growing up to do. He's had a rough time, Libby."

"I was stupid to think that I could help him change," she muttered.

Delia looked up at her helplessly. "Chris has been in love with Andie since they were kids. When it stopped being unrequited, he was so happy. I'm worried about him. Do you know how sad he's going to be?"

"I won't say anything."

"Neither will I, but it won't make this go away."

Sighing, Libby looked around, seeing Andie and Teddy still hadn't returned. She turned her rootless eyes back to Delia. "You don't look like you're having a good time. Is anything else wrong?"

"No, I'm good." But she looked miserable. "I think I should have stayed home though. Not my scene, I guess."

"Lonely?"

"I don't get lonely, I get bored," Delia said, putting her barrier back up again. "Teddy's back. Have fun."

"Did you miss me?" Teddy asked playfully, putting his hand on the small of her back.

Trying her best not to glare at him, she told him indifferently, "Delia kept me company."

"Delia CHAMBERS? When did she decide to crawl out from under her rock?"

"She hasn't been living under a rock," Libby snapped. "You'd be surprised how much she knows." Suddenly she squealed. "Look! Tabitha! Vern! Dancing! Together!"

Tabitha, evidently, had convinced Vern to dance. Both of them were awkward, but they had matching purely happy smiles, and their fingers intertwined sweetly.

As she was watching her sister's night be made, Libby began to listen to the words of the song playing.

"I'm longing for love and the logical

But he's only happy hysterical

I'm waiting for some kind of miracle...

He's soft to the touch

But frayed at the ends

He breaks

He's never enough

But still he's more than I can take..."

She found herself looking at Teddy as the words of the song's truth washed over her, making her feel ill. Suddenly, Libby felt humiliated and let down. There was something she saw in Teddy that was so vulnerable and sweet and she wanted to have him for her own. But obviously, he didn't seem to see enough in her to let that happen.

Andie's innocently laughter rang out as Chris dipped her unexpectedly, and she held on to his arm tightly, trusting him not to let her fall. He brought her back up effortlessly and just held her, smiling happily and carefree.

Libby watched out of the corner of her eye. Andie would never have to worry about Chris letting her fall. She could always trust him. And he was so blissfully content with her, thinking that she would always hold on to him. Chris was such a nice guy. And he was going to get burned. She was mad at Teddy for hurting her feelings, but she was especially mad at him for potentially hurting Chris. And she abruptly was filled with an overwhelming hate for Andie. Because, even knowing that Chris was in love with her, she would let him fall.

(Author's Note: Sigh, I am making myself feel bad for Chris..Anyway, the lyrics I used are from Beautiful Disaster by Kelly Clarkson (yes I know she wasn't around in the sixties, i'm using anachronism or whatever it's called)...so I highly recommend downloading this song, it reminds me so much of Teddy! And it's pretty.)