Disclaimer: TC Williams High School and its environs belong to the City of Alexandria, VA. The original Titans, Jimi Hendrix and James Dean belong to themselves. The fictitious characters from the film Remember the Titans belong to Disney. I also realize that I have neglected to mention that the towns and high schools mentioned in this story thus far were culled from the area map of Alexandria on www.yahoo.com and again from the Disney movie.
This chapter is named after the 1972 song by the Staple Singers. The name "Coke" belongs to the Coca-Cola Company, "Charger" to the Dodge Company, and Barbie and Ken to Mattel, Inc. The song sung by the Titans in this chapter is entitled "Baby, It's You," originally (to my knowledge) by the Shirelles. Tamsin's "Don't do anything great…" remark was taken from another great football movie, The Replacements. The idea to dress Blue up as a giant eyeball came from a post on the Halloween costume thread on the www.sugarquill.net message boards, while Tamsin's cookies were inspired by a recipe appearing in Diane Mott Davidson's delectable culinary mystery The Grilling Season. I only own Tamsin, Jonathan, miscellaneous Titans and TC Williams students, the Flemings' house, Thurman Reed and his poetry.
Author's Notes: Thanks to Just A Girl for the philosophical review ;) and to everyone else for all the encouragement. It really means a lot.
Have y'all seen Blue Crush yet? It's only begun showing here and I'm planning to see it, once I've recovered from my hellish workload of these past few weeks. Kate "Emma" Bosworth is in it! She's so pretty! I hate it that Emma gets a bad rap in RtT fics. She obviously made a turnaround in the film. Just for that, I've got a little plot bunny going about her at Gerry's funeral. It's going to be a while before you see that, though, because it's going to contain spoilers for this story! Anyway, on with the show…
Chapter Six — I'll Take You There
The game against Rosemont proved to be a battle every second, but the Titans eventually won, 42-31. Ronnie, having scored two touchdowns as well as setting up the plays for the rest, was acknowledged as the hero of the night. Two days later, people were still congratulating him.
"Hi, Sunshine!" someone called as he walked Tamsin to English that Friday afternoon. Tamsin recognized the voice as belonging to Lisa; and sure enough, she saw the brown-haired girl standing in the hallway, waving energetically.
Ronnie groaned. "Not again," he muttered.
"Don't do anything great if you can't handle the congratulations," Tamsin told him, chuckling. Her voice was still a little hoarse from all the screaming she had done at the game.
"Can't you distract her or something?" he pleaded. "She's your friend."
"Correction — she's Emma's friend." She dodged away when he made a grab for her arm. Ronnie shot her a disgruntled look as she left him at Lisa's mercy.
Tamsin smiled brightly in reply before slipping through the crowd into Uncle Jon's classroom. Ronnie didn't mind the occasional well-wisher or two or twenty, but Miranda and her friends had been fawning over the Titans around the clock since they got back from Rosemont last Wednesday night. His patience was obviously wearing thin.
She was in the middle of some last-minute reading when someone tweaked the little braid she had made in her hair that day. Ronnie gave her an I'll-deal-with-you-later glower as he stalked past. Alan, walking behind his teammate, gave her a little smile before joining the rest of the Titans in the back row.
Uncle Jon walked in just as the final bell rang. "Afternoon, everyone," he greeted them pleasantly as he shut the door. "I trust you read the selection I assigned last Wednesday? Good!" He smiled at the half-hearted affirmatives that followed his question. "Now, I have some bad news and some good news regarding your assignment. The bad news is that you're having a surprise quiz!"
"What?" Ray Budds screeched. Apparently, he wasn't one of those who had read the assignment.
"The good news," Uncle Jon went on over the general protest that met his announcement, "is that you will be working on this quiz in pairs. Is that better?"
"Just a little," the girl next to Tamsin grumbled as the teacher began to pair them off.
Tamsin's partner turned out to be Alan. Fortunately, he had read the assignment and answering the quiz questions was easy. They finished with plenty of time to spare.
She caught Ronnie looking at them when she took out a fresh sheet of paper upon which they would rewrite their answers. He stuck out his tongue at her. Tamsin laughed.
"What is it?" Alan asked.
"Ronnie's mad at me," she chuckled, "because I left him all alone with Lisa earlier."
"He wasn't alone — he grabbed me to keep him company."
"He shouldn't have any reason to be mad at me, then."
"Anyway, Lisa wasn't congratulating us. She was inviting us to Miranda's Halloween party."
"I didn't know Miranda was having a Halloween party."
Alan looked confused. "Don't you hang out with her crowd?"
"I must have missed them talking about it." She did that a lot, since she barely listened to them talking anymore, anyway.
"Lisa said Miranda wanted to make sure Sunshine was coming," he confided.
Tamsin didn't blink. "That's no surprise. Miranda still likes him."
"They don't know you're going out with him?"
"We're not 'going out,'" she clarified with a blush. "We've just gone out."
"OK, so they don't know that you've gone out with him?"
"Only Emma does. The rest of them think I've gone out with one of the black guys. Don't ask me how they came up with that one."
"Why don't you set them straight?"
Tamsin shrugged. "I don't feel the need to. Ronnie's not, you know, my…boyfriend or anything. You can't mark your territory when there's no territory at all, right?"
"Right…" Alan looked at her dubiously. "But then Sunshine's obviously interested in you. Don't you think Miranda's kind of making a fool of herself still tailing after him?"
"I don't care what Miranda does," she said. The thought of Ronnie being "obviously interested" in her was making her feel giddy again. "As far as I'm concerned, she's letting him know that she's still interested. If he wants to take her up on the offer, well, I can't stand in his way."
"Even though you want to?" He grinned when she didn't answer and went back to work. When he spoke again, it was about something else entirely. "Now, what's this I hear about make-out music reminding you of your mom?"
* * *
"I can't believe you told them that!" Tamsin exclaimed.
"Sorry." Ronnie grinned at her, not looking the least bit guilty. It served Tamsin right for leaving him at the mercy of Miranda's friend, whose name he still couldn't remember. "They were asking for details, and I had to tell them about the cop, right? It was an important part of the story!"
She narrowed her eyes at him and stabbed violently at the cream cheese in her mixing bowl. "Well, at least you were telling the truth, instead of lying that you'd scored," she grumbled.
He blushed. "I don't lie about things like that."
"Good. Now, how about slicing up that asparagus?"
He eyed the bright green spears dubiously. "You know, when you invite people to dinner, it's customary to have the food already prepared when the guests arrive."
"It's also customary that the girl does the inviting and the girl's mother does the cooking," Tamsin retorted sweetly. "In this case, the girl's uncle would have helped with the cooking, but since he has been on the phone for the past half-hour, guess who's left?"
"Hey, I've already helped with the cooking, in a way. I brought dessert, didn't I?" Ronnie did — a homemade peach pie, compliments of his mother.
"Aw, is big bad Ronnie Bass afraid of a few pieces of asparagus?" she teased. "Tsk, tsk. And here I thought you were a liberated male in touch with his feminine side."
"Very funny."
"Put on an apron, Ronnie."
"Is this some kind of feminist thing?" he asked as he obeyed, putting on an apron with the words Teachers do it correctly printed across the bib.
She grinned. "Don't make me put you in the yellow apron with the ruffles."
Ronnie chuckled and kissed the top of her head. "You're lucky you're cute."
He was slowly but surely slicing his way through the asparagus intended for that night's pasta when Mr. Graham finally got off the phone. "Your mother says hi," he said to Tamsin as he checked on the noodles cooking on the stove, "and that there is a black hole in her heart from missing you so much."
"That was Mom?" she asked, sounding and looking hurt and surprised. Ronnie's heart wrenched sympathetically. "Didn't she want to talk to me?"
"I'm sorry, sweetie. We had a lot of business to discuss and she was rather tired when we finished. She promises to call you tomorrow." Mr. Graham grinned at him then. "Diana's also sorry she missed the chance to talk to you, Sunshine."
He grinned back self-consciously, feeling his face flush. "Oh, man."
"How is she?" Tamsin wanted to know.
"She's fine," her uncle assured her. "She had a good day today."
* * *
"Superman, for two!"
"Yaaaay!" Tamsin applauded when Gerry's shot went cleanly into the basket. It was a crisp, sunny Sunday afternoon at the Burg and some of the Titans were playing a friendly game of basketball with the local boys. Of course, boys being boys, they needed an audience, which was why Tamsin, Emma, Sharon and a few others were courtside, watching them show off.
"He's on the other team!" Ronnie told her as he jogged past, dribbling the ball.
"I'm neutral!" she called back. Actually, she had no idea which boy was on which team and had been cheering every time the ball went in.
"I didn't bring you here to be neutral!" He laughed and sidestepped one of Big Julius' friends to sink a perfect three-pointer, winning the game for his team. "Now you can cheer!"
"Yaaaay!" called Emma. Tamsin laughed.
"No fair," Ronnie grumbled to Gerry as the players went to towel off, "you got the louder one."
"Sorry, Sunshine," the other boy laughed, "but women dig guys with wheels."
"Well, it was still a sweet shot," Big Julius consoled him. "So, what do we do now, y'all?"
"I could use a Coke," Alan suggested, "and maybe something to eat."
"You're hungry again?" Blue exclaimed, looking at his wiry friend. "Man, where do you put it all?"
"Well, regardless of where Alan puts it, I think it's a good idea," Sharon agreed, grinning. "Watchin' y'all show off is thirsty work!"
They had Cokes and sandwiches across the street from the basketball court, in a small diner that smelled of brown sugar and melting butter. Aside for the Titans and their friends, there were a couple of white-haired old men playing cards in a corner booth and a few younger black boys hanging out.
One of the boys said "honky" quite loudly as Alan passed them on his way back from the counter. The blond boy reddened but walked straight back to his friends. "It's OK," he told Blue and Big Julius, who were about to get to their feet. "I don't mind. Sit down, you guys."
"Well, they shouldn't be callin' you names, brother!" one of Big Julius' friends told him. "You here with us, so you obviously cool!"
"It's all right," Alan repeated, taking his seat. "I'm sure they get called names, too."
Ronnie shook his head. "Man, I thought the race thing was all over already."
"It's far from over," Gerry sighed. "If the news got it right, they still got it in California, even with people like you livin' there."
"And it's going to take more than a winning football team to get everyone in this town to trust each other," Sharon added sadly. "I think it's going to take a long time, too. But we're trying, ain't we?"
Emma smiled at her. "We sure are."
* * *
It was just getting dark when they brought Tamsin home. "That was fun," she said as Ronnie walked her up the front path to her house. "Thanks for taking me along."
"You're welcome," he said, "even though you didn't cheer."
"If you wanted someone to cheer for you, you should have brought a cheerleader."
He laughed. "Uh, no, thanks."
They stepped onto the porch and Tamsin began to hunt for her key. As Ronnie watched her fish around in her pocketbook, her face scrunched up in a comical expression of intense concentration, Petey's question rang in his mind. You going to take her to Homecoming?
If you are, he told himself, now's as good a time to ask her as any.
Just then, Tamsin pulled out her key. "Here we go. So," she said to him, "I guess I'll see you in school tomorrow."
"Yeah." Ask her, you idiot! "Uh, hey, listen…" Ronnie cleared his throat. "Before you go inside…"
"Yes?" she asked, looking expectant. Was she hoping he would ask her to the dance?
"Well, I was wondering—"
Beep! Beep! "Sunshine!" Gerry called from Alan's car, which was parked along the curb. "Hurry up with the good nights already! If you ain't done soon, you're walking home!"
Tamsin giggled, then looked back at him. "You were wondering…?"
"I was wondering—" Just ask! "—if we could do this again sometime." Great job, Sunshine.
"Oh." She smiled, not looking the least bit disappointed. "Sure. That would be nice."
Beep! Beep! "Good night, Tamsin!" Alan's raspy voice floated up to them.
Tamsin laughed and waved to the others. "Good night, guys. Good night, Ronnie."
"Good night," he mumbled. Ronnie made sure that she was safely inside before finally walking back to the car. "You guys are going to get it," he growled as he jumped in.
"Well, sorry to have interrupted your good night kiss, man, but my mother's waiting dinner for me!" Gerry said. "What was so important that you had to hang around there forever, anyway? Were you gonna ask her to Homecoming or something?"
"Actually, yes."
There was a short silence in the car as Gerry removed his foot from his mouth. "Oops," he said. "Sorry about that."
* * *
On Halloween night, the Titans hosted the Hayfield Hawks. Most of the home crowd wore TC Williams red and white, but many of the younger ones had come to the game in Halloween costumes. Some were planning to go trick-or-treating after the game, while the rest were going to Miranda Fleming's party.
"Tamsin!" Emma greeted the dark-haired girl when she arrived. "You look great!"
Tamsin smiled shyly. "Thanks. You look really nice, too," she replied, admiring her friend's black cat costume. Tamsin's mother had slipped the rose-colored cheongsam into Tamsin's suitcase so she would have something to wear on special occasions. Halloween counted as a special occasion, didn't it?
The blonde girl giggled. "Take a look at Gerry."
She looked obligingly and laughed. Emma's boyfriend, sitting in his wheelchair on the sidelines, was in his Titans uniform, complete with football helmet. "That's team spirit if I ever saw it."
The Titans made short work of Hayfield, 42-21, extending their winning streak and boosting their run at another perfect season. "Victory party, eight o'clock, my house!" Miranda announced over the din, leaping and waving her pompoms as the football team trooped to the showers.
"But it's only six-thirty," Tamsin observed.
Emma rolled her eyes. "Well, she needs time to get ready, you know," she said with a smile. "Come on, let's go congratulate the guys."
Tamsin followed her friend down the bleachers and outside the stadium, near the locker room area. They pushed past crowds of fans and met up with Gerry first. "Hey, girls!" he greeted them, removing his helmet to reveal a face flushed and grinning from the decisive victory. "Lookin' good!"
Emma smiled and kissed her boyfriend on the cheek. "Hi, Gerry! Great game tonight!"
"Thanks, sugar. Y'all ready for the party?"
"Isn't it obvious?" the blonde girl giggled, tweaking one of her furry, pointy ears.
"Well, the guys will be out in a while and then we can go."
The words were barely out of his mouth when Santa Claus barreled out of the locker room. "Ho-ho-ho!" Eddie Lindros boomed from behind the snowy white beard. "Merry Christmas!"
"You're a couple of months too early, Santa," Gerry told him.
"Don't laugh," Alan threatened as he joined them. He was dressed as an elf. "Or you're off the 'good boys' list this year."
One by one, the Titans came out of the locker room, ready to party. While most just wore ordinary clothes, a few were in costume. Petey was dressed up as Jimi Hendrix ("I borrowed this shirt off Sunshine"); Blue as a giant eyeball; and Ryan, in jeans, a red windbreaker and with his hair slicked back, masqueraded as James Dean.
"Hey, Tamsin," Ronnie greeted her as he arrived. "You look real nice."
"Hey, look at this, y'all!" Petey announced. "Sunshine and Tamsin are a Barbie and Ken matched set!"
Standing next to her in olive drab fatigues that were most probably his father's, Ronnie looked like a GI with a Vietnamese tea house girl. "We didn't plan on this," he said, looking pleased nevertheless.
"Sure you didn't," Blue told him.
"We didn't," Tamsin insisted.
"Well, y'all can argue about that on the way to Miranda's," Ryan declared. He sounded rather impatient. Tamsin remembered that he had a crush on Miranda and was probably in a hurry to get to the party. "Let's go!"
* * *
Although Miranda had said that the party would begin at eight, many had gone there right after the football game and things were already in full swing when the Titans and their companions arrived.
The music and laughter was loud enough to be heard where they parked, at least ten houses away. As she walked toward the Flemings' behind Emma, Gerry and Big Julius, Tamsin could see the house ablaze with lights. Kids were dancing, eating, talking, inside and even outside on the lawn.
Ryan grinned at them over his shoulder. "See y'all inside."
"Go get 'em, tiger," Petey encouraged as his teammate disappeared into the house. The black boy turned to the rest of his friends and swept an arm out in an elaborate gesture. "Shall we make our entrance?" he asked in a bad imitation of an English butler's stuffy, cultured tones.
"Oh, yes," Gerry laughed. "We shall make our entrance."
Tamsin watched them go in and heard a burst of applause as the partygoers welcomed the new arrivals. Apparently, Petey made the entrance he wanted. "Well, Petey, Julius and Blue made it inside safely," Ronnie observed as he came up beside her. "That's a good sign. Shall we go in?"
"You go on ahead," she replied. "I'll be along in a minute."
He gave her a look. "Tamsin, I can't just leave you standing in the street all by yourself."
"I'll be fine."
"But you don't have an umbrella."
Tamsin laughed. "I'll still be fine. Go on and make your entrance."
But Ronnie didn't move. Instead, he stuck his hands in his pockets and grinned at her. "You know what? Suddenly, I don't feel like going in."
"At all?"
"At all. How about you?"
She wrinkled her nose. The truth was, there were too many people and too much noise. She didn't mind going to parties — her mother loved to entertain and the guests would often spill out of their tiny apartment into the hallway and beyond — she just didn't want to go to this one. "But you're a football player. You're expected to be at the party."
Ronnie smiled and shrugged. "Tough."
"B-but what about the others?"
"They're big boys — they can take care of themselves. Blue brought his dad's car, remember? Come on," he said as he grabbed her hand. "They'll be cool. We've got more fun things to do."
They did indeed do something more fun — they went trick-or-treating. Ronnie produced paper bags from the Charger's glove compartment and they followed the little kids around to claim their fair share of Halloween candy. "How did you do?" he asked as they walked up to another house.
"About five Hershey bars, three popcorn balls, four apples, some fudge and a ton of candy corn," Tamsin reported proudly. "This is my biggest take of all time."
"Really?"
"We only used to go around the apartment building on Halloween," she explained, "and not all of the tenants observed tradition so you either got nothing, or something you weren't supposed to get." She giggled. "I got a cigarette one year. I think I was about eight."
"Are you serious?" He gave a shocked laugh.
"Yup. We have some pretty odd neighbors."
"'Pretty odd?' Try 'really weird!'" Ronnie rang the doorbell and, when the door opened, caroled, "Trick or treat!"
"Ronnie?" a female voice asked. A woman with pale blonde hair stood in the doorway, looking surprised. "Aren't you supposed to be at a party?"
"Tamsin and I decided to go trick-or-treating instead," he told her. "Mom, this is Tamsin Lee, a friend from school. Tamsin, this is my mom."
Your mom! She shot him a surprised look before smiling politely at Mrs. Bass. "Good evening, ma'am."
"Good evening, Tamsin," the blonde woman answered cordially, with a smile like her son's. "Please, won't you come in?" Mrs. Bass stepped aside as Ronnie guided Tamsin into a small foyer and helped her with her jacket. "My, what a lovely costume!"
"Thank you," she replied shyly.
"Bill," Mrs. Bass called out then, "come here and meet Ronnie's friend."
"Ronnie's friend?" Colonel Bass repeated as he came up behind his wife. "Where's Ronnie?"
"Hi, Dad." Ronnie gestured toward Tamsin. "This is Tamsin Lee, from school."
"Good evening, sir," she greeted Ronnie's father. He was a tall man with short, graying hair and an obviously military bearing.
The older man looked down his nose at her as if she were a new recruit, then smiled warmly and shook her hand. "Pleased to meet you, Tamsin. Now, aren't you kids supposed to be at a party?" he asked his son.
"We went trick-or-treating instead," Ronnie explained.
"I see." Colonel Bass nodded, acting as if he wasn't surprised. Uncle Jon wouldn't have been surprised, either, Tamsin thought, if she just suddenly showed up the way Ronnie had. "Well, now, why don't we all go sit in the living room?"
Tamsin followed him into a cozy, wood-paneled room and was invited to sit down. She took one of the comfortable armchairs while Ronnie sat on the sofa with his father. Mrs. Bass disappeared into what was probably the kitchen, returning with Cokes and a plate of cookies. Her husband dove for them the minute they hit the coffee table. "Bill!" she admonished. "We have company!"
"You sure you didn't put anything funny in those cookies, Tamsin?" Ronnie joked. "My dad's addicted to them."
She laughed and helped herself to a cookie when his mother offered her the plate. "No, just chocolate and marshmallows." After Ronnie came to dinner the previous Friday, Tamsin had sent him home with a thank-you note for his mother and Mrs. Bass's pie plate filled with cookies.
"You made these, dear?" Mrs. Bass asked her as she sat down in the other armchair.
"Yep. Tamsin's a really good cook," Ronnie answered for her.
Tamsin blushed. "I can give you the recipe if you'd like," she said to Ronnie's mother.
"That would be nice." She glanced at her husband, who was reaching for his third cookie. "As you can see, we really enjoy them."
"My mom really likes them, too."
"Tamsin's more than just a good cook, though," Ronnie added. "She's smart, too. She'll probably have a Ph.D. or something someday."
Tamsin felt her face burn even hotter and laughed nervously. "You'd better stop that before my head gets any bigger."
"Well, you've still got a way to go before it gets really bad."
"Are you speaking from experience?" she blurted out, then bit her tongue. I can't believe I said that. Mrs. Bass, however, just laughed and ordered her son to stop his teasing.
"A future Ph.D. who knows how to cook," Colonel Bass observed as he took yet another cookie. "You've got to admit that is rather impressive, Betty, especially in this day and age."
Ronnie grinned at Tamsin. "I knew you'd think so, Dad."
* * *
The next afternoon, Mr. Graham took his last-period English class on a field trip of sorts downtown. "I heard that there was going to be a poetry reading today," he said as the school bus dropped them off in a section of Alexandria quite close to the Burg. "I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to introduce you guys to contemporary poetry. Don't worry, it's a safe place," he added with a smile. "Shall we go in?"
With Blue and the teacher carrying Gerry and his wheelchair, the class descended a flight of steps to an entrance below street level. The black iron door opened into a small, blessedly warm basement furnished with café-style tables and chairs. The few people already seated had their backs to the door, facing an empty stage that ran the entire back of the room.
A cluster of tables near the front had been reserved for them. Ronnie and his friends took a table in the second row. "Good choice, Sunshine," Rev teased, noting that their table just happened to be right next to the one where Tamsin and two other girls were sitting.
The other boys snickered and grabbed seats, leaving Ronnie with the one nearest to Tamsin. "Thanks a lot, you guys," the blond boy hissed. Since Gerry had brought his own chair, so to speak, it was a rather tight fit and Ronnie had to move his chair closer to the girls' table.
"Aw, shut up, man," Gerry whispered back, grinning. "You would have taken that chair even if we'd made you choose first."
"Sshhh!" Ronnie turned red and motioned for his friends to shut up as Mr. Graham, who had situated himself in the back where he could keep an eye on everyone, delivered some last-minute reminders.
"I'm afraid the waiters have all been instructed not to serve you anything other than Coke, coffee and tea," he told the class, grinning as Ray and his friends groaned, "so don't bother trying to order anything else. I also hope I don't have to remind you about what you're supposed to do when strangers offer you anything." He clapped his hands together like he usually did when he was finishing up a lecture. "All right, then! Just sit back, have fun, and don't worry if you don't understand anything."
The class laughed as the house lights dimmed, leaving the tiny votive candles on the tables the only sources of light. A thin woman in a dark sweater and Indian-print skirt came onstage to welcome everyone to the coffeehouse and introduce Thurman Reed, that afternoon's poet.
The poet walked onstage to polite applause, lights reflecting off his bald head and thick eyeglasses, and thanked the audience in a nervous mumble. Ronnie thought he looked like an accountant in a black beatnik sweater. However, when Reed began to read his work in a rich, resonant voice, Ronnie had to admit that the guy knew his stuff. Although he wasn't sure what the poem was supposed to mean, the words were highly evocative, forming fantastic images in his mind. It was like the poetry had set fire to his brain.
Once upon a time
I talked to you in my head
Like some crazy person
(Did you ever hear me?)
And I dreamed of finger-painting
A red and silver flower
On your shoulder blade
Where I hoped an angel's wing
Would grow
Ronnie heard Tamsin murmur her thanks to the waiter who had brought her tea. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched her take a sip and set the large cup down without taking her eyes off the stage. It was dark, the air was sweetly heavy with the smell of incense and Thurman Reed's voice flowed around them like a river of honey. This was certainly better than the atmosphere on her doorstep last Sunday. He just hoped none of the guys would ask to talk to him in the next few minutes and that the poetry wouldn't make Tamsin cry.
He leaned toward her, his heart pounding. "Hey, Tamsin," he whispered, hoping she could hear him.
She could. "Hi, Ronnie," she replied softly.
"I was wondering…" He gulped. "I was wondering if you would like to go to the Homecoming Dance with me," he said, forcing all the words out in a single breath. There, he'd finally gotten the question out.
Tamsin's eyes widened and she was sure she had gasped. He did it. He had asked her. Or had he? Maybe the poet's voice had mixed up what she had heard. "You want to go to Homecoming with me?" she repeated stupidly, hoping the girls at her table couldn't hear. Neither of them turned to look in her direction, a good sign.
"Yes," Ronnie replied.
She felt that familiar mixture of hot and cold steal over her. "Are you sure you want to go with me?"
"Yes, I'm sure I want to go with you."
Tamsin's heart began to pound. "Well," she murmured, trying to keep her tone even, "you might be interested to know that Miranda's hoping you would ask her." As much as she disliked the other girl, one had to be ethical.
"I'm still sure I want to go with you," he told her, just managing to keep the impatience out of his voice. She could have said "yes" or "no" ages ago to put him out of his misery, but instead she had to bring up Miranda, for pete's sake.
"In that case," she murmured, glad that it was practically pitch-black inside the coffeehouse so no one could see her grinning, "I'd love to go to the dance with you."
Finally. Ronnie chuckled quietly in the darkness. "Thank you."
* * *
And so it was that Ronnie finally had a date for the Homecoming Dance. Unfortunately, he had forgotten to tell his friends the good news; and this proved to be a big mistake.
Friday lunch period began with Miranda's friend squealing loudly by the Titans' usual table, nearly causing Petey to spill his apple juice, and making a run for it. "What the heck was that all about?" Petey asked as Alan joined his teammates.
The other boy smiled. "I asked Lisa to Homecoming, that's all. I guess she's happy."
"You guess?" Ronnie chuckled. They watched Lisa (finally, he knew that girl's name) tell her friends the good news, a brilliant smile on her face. "She's over the moon."
"You sure you want to take her?" Blue asked as said friends reacted with squeals of their own, bouncing up and down in their seats. "She's pretty, but her crowd ain't exactly known for their brain power. Most of her crowd," the big black boy amended after Gerry and Ronnie cleared their throats.
"Yeah, she ain't as smart as Tamsin and Emma," he admitted, "but she's a nice girl. She likes to dance, for one thing, and I think she was hoping I'd ask her." He said this last with a flattered little smile.
"You think?" Eddie laughed. "Lisa was this close to having an 'I love you, Alan Bosley' billboard set up on the front lawn. You sure took your time coming around and asking her."
"And speaking of taking your time," Petey broke in loudly, "Sunshine, when are you gonna get up the nerve to ask Tamsin to Homecoming?"
"Oops." Ronnie remembered that he still hadn't told his friends about what had happened last Wednesday. "Guys, I forgot—"
"Man, how can you forget? You've been mooning about it since forever! Didn't Boone make you run laps again yesterday for not paying attention?"
"But—"
Petey pushed back his tray and stood. "I'm getting real sick of this, Sunshine. So sick, in fact, that we're gonna ask Tamsin to the dance for you, right now."
Ronnie gaped as his other teammates rose. "What?" The grins on Alan and Eddie's faces told him that they had something up their sleeves. "But I—"
"Sit!" Petey jerked his head in the direction of Tamsin's table. "Come on, fellas."
"But I already asked her," Ronnie said as his friends strode purposefully toward Tamsin's table.
Gerry and Big Julius, the only ones left sitting with him, laughed. "I think they'll find that out soon enough," Big Julius said.
"Tamsin Lee!" Petey called out, making her jump and everyone in the cafeteria look their way. He and his friends quickly formed a semicircle before her. "The Titans have something to ask you!"
"What the heck…?" Tamsin sputtered as the group of boys burst into song.
It's not the way you smile that touched my heart
It's not the way you kiss that tears me apart
Whoa-oh, many, many, many nights go by
I sit alone at home and I cry over you
What can I do?
Can't help myself—
'Cause baby, it's you…
"What are they doing?" she exclaimed, horrified. All around them, students were gathered, watching the spectacle. Even Uncle Jon, who was the lunch monitor that day, was looking on with interest.
"I haven't the foggiest idea," Emma said. An appreciative cheer rose from the Titans' audience when Petey slid to his knees at their feet, arms held out beseechingly.
"Maybe he just felt like serenading you," Sally Jane suggested.
"That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard," Tamsin grated. Why in the world would Petey want to sing to her? She shot Emma a confused frown, but the other girl just shrugged helplessly.
"It's so romantic, Tammy!" Jeannie sighed.
"I wish Sunshine would do something like this when he asks me to Homecoming," Miranda said wistfully.
"Oh, my God!" Robin gasped. "Tamsin, maybe Petey wants to ask you to Homecoming!"
Tamsin and Emma looked at each other, stunned. "But—" She was just about to tell them that she had already agreed to go with Ronnie when Rev stepped forward for a solo.
Whoa-oh, it doesn't matter what they say
I know I'm gonna love you any old way
What can I do when it's true?
Don't want nobody, nobody
'Cause baby, it's you…
"What's he doing?" Sally Jane asked. "Does he want to ask you, too?"
"No, he does not," Tamsin replied.
"Maybe they want her to choose between them!" Jeannie swatted the dark-haired girl's arm. "I can't believe you've been hiding this love triangle from us all along, you sneak!"
"There is no 'love triangle'!" Tamsin hissed as she shot to her feet. Signaling the Titans to stop singing, she marched straight into their semicircle and right up to Petey. "What is the meaning of this?" she asked in a low voice as cheers erupted all around them.
"We're asking you to Homecoming!" the black boy replied in the same low voice. "For Sunshine," he added, grinning.
"You want to know if I will go to Homecoming with Ronnie?" she asked, relieved. "You don't know that he already asked me and I said yes?"
Petey's eyes and his grin widened. "You're going?" he exclaimed, loud enough for everyone to hear. "That's great!" He picked her up and hugged her as the entire cafeteria burst into loud applause. "I'll kill him for not telling us!"
* * *
"That must be the most special thing any guy has done for any girl to get her to come with him to Homecoming," Jeannie gushed in the third floor girls' room a short while later.
"It was smart, too," Robin laughed. "I mean, if he asks you in public, you've got to be pretty cold-blooded to turn him down, right?" She smiled at Tamsin. "He's a great guy, Tamsin. I'm sure you'll have fun at the dance."
Tamsin blushed. "Yeah," she mumbled.
"Maybe you can double with Alan and me," Lisa offered with a big smile. She hadn't stopped grinning since she broke the news to them that Alan had asked her. "I mean, since Petey's a football player, it's perfectly OK."
"Gee, thanks."
"What about me?" Miranda whined to Lisa.
"OK, we'll triple-date," the other girl amended generously, "once Sunshine asks you."
"If he asks me," the redheaded cheerleader moaned.
"Why don't you just ask him yourself?" Tamsin asked Miranda. All the melodrama over when Ronnie would finally ask the redheaded girl to Homecoming had always been annoying, and after the scene Petey had caused in the cafeteria that afternoon, Tamsin was in a rather testy mood.
Miranda was clearly not in a very good mood, either. "I can't ask him!" she said scornfully. "It just isn't done!"
"This is the seventies."
"Well, if you're so smart, why didn't you ask your date to Homecoming?"
"Because he asked me first!"
"Come on, you two, don't fight," Robin broke in gently. "If you don't want to ask Sunshine to Homecoming yourself, Miranda, then you have no choice but to wait for him until he does. Or why don't you go with someone else? Hasn't Ryan asked you?"
"Yes, he's asked me," Miranda replied. "I said I'd get back to him. I'm still holding out for Sunshine."
"I'm sure he'll ask you soon, Miranda," Sally Jane consoled her. "Who would he ask if not you?"
"Who, indeed?" Emma echoed with an uneasy glance in Tamsin's direction. While Tamsin didn't care either way, the blonde girl was clearly not looking forward to Miranda finding out that the "mystery man" had been Ronnie all along.
Concluding Remarks: Up next — Miranda finds out about the mystery man!