Don't have many notes to present here, but I'd like to thank Bitter (however reluctantly, hee hee), for prodding me to get this chapter out in a timely manner. Just don't poke so hard, girl! rubs arm that's starting to bruise Criminy.

So anyway, without further ado, here it comes:

FAST TIMES AT DUANE STREET HIGH

Chapter SIX: This Way to the Party

Stagey walked across the parking lot to Jack's car, which had become a familiar mode of transportation for her. She'd always felt weird about just assuming that she was getting a ride with him, but he constantly insisted that it was just fine.

This time, as she leaned against the hood of his car, smiling at his approaching figure, he had a distinctly blue sheet of paper in his free hand, his other hand snagging his car keys from his pocket.

"What's that?" she inquired, tilting her head to get a better look at the flier.

Instead of letting Stagey skew her perception to see it, Jack merely handed it to her. "I got it from Blink… apparently there's some rockin' party going on tonight."

This statement at least piqued Stagey's interest. "Party?"

He nodded, smiling fondly at her. Ever since the whole Sarah scandal had dropped before him, and after the cast list posting for Romeo and Juliet, Jack felt a bit drawn to this Stagey kid. It was like they needed each other. Though, despite encouragement from Blink to get "on the rebound," he didn't seek any more with Stagey than he would with any other friend.

"So," he said, giving her a slightly indifferent shrug, "if you want a ride…"

Stagey couldn't help but to give him an inquisitive grin. "Is this a date?"

"Date! Uh, no… nothin' like that."

"Right—that was dumb of me to think…" She barked out a laugh. "So, um… how's about nine-thirty?"

"Deal."

-

Spot, for the first and probably only time in his life, was worried. He paced with perfect timing like an aggravated. Raven and Bitter, perched on the couch like inquisitive songbirds, watched him intently, both wearing amused smirks.

"This is bad, Bitter," he tried to reason with his sister. "I can't trust you with a party!"

"And why not?" For some reason, Spot's little gal-pal Raven was siding with Bitter. Why was she siding with Bitter? Right: the free booze.

"You stay out of this!" Spot jutted a finger at Raven, moving it back to his sister Bitter. "If Mom and Dad find out about this, they're going to fry you and me…"

"Pffsh," Bitter tossed her head dismissively. "Like that ever concerned you before when it was you throwing the party." Her eyes flashed playfully, and it was as though her already electric-blue hair lit up with mischief.

"Just trust me."

-

The first people to make it to the party would have been the braniacs—after all, they were totally the punctual ones—but Bitter knew that if the jocks saw the nerds at the party, they'd totally make a 180 and just bring the keg to Skittery's or something. Bitter was no fool; she had this planned. She told the nerds to come to the party an hour after she knew everyone else would have been there: at 10:30.

It was 9:30 now, and right on time, a punctual ding-dong echoed through the Conlon household. Bitter casually sauntered to the front door and threw it open with an appropriate nonchalance.

"'Sup, guys!" Sapphy's bright blue gaze flashed excitedly on the other side of the doorframe, trying to outdo the azure hue of Bitter's coiffure.

Race was jogging up the driveway right behind her. "Bitter!" he greeted almost wearily. "How you livin'?"

Bitter smirked. "Not bad, not bad."

Sapphy nodded to Race and turned to Bitter with an excited clenching of her teeth. "I'm here with him tonight." The reason for Sapphy's bright-eyed glow was now apparent. "Alone."

Bitter gave a cordial smile. Not like she'd totally care, but hey—she had to keep her guests happy. "Awesome," she cooed with appropriate excitement. "C'mon in, guys… you're the first ones here."

They weren't the first for long. The next few moments played out like a scene from one of those passé teen movies from 1999. It initiated with a screech of tires to a grinding halt as a freshly polished Hummer parked right behind Race's Mazda Miata.

In a fashion that was reminiscent of clowns emerging from a tiny car, the entire football team seemed to leak out of the parked Hummer. Skittery leapt from the drivers' side with an excited whoop, followed quickly by Mush and Eve, joined at the hip and already riled up enough to pass on the excitement to the party. Oscar brought up the rear, protectively clutching Sarah's waist.

Bitter chose to say nothing. She just watched the events unfold as the back of the Hummer opened and another five people leapt out.

"It's like a partymobile," Race murmured in awe.

As the crowd cleared out of the rear of the Hummer, the piece de resistance was left over: a great big, cylindrical, stainless steel, icy-cold keg of Budweiser.

The excitement of the keg revealing was enough to completely overshadow the meek and mild entrance of the resident bookworms, headed by David Jacobs. He nodded knowingly to his sister, trying to be a part of her seemingly cooler clique.

Dutchy's eyes widened. "Uh, David?" he squeaked as he caught sight of the keg. "Are you sure this is the right party?"

"Outta my way, Four Eyes!" Skittery elbowed his way through the cluster of the bookish kids. "MAKE WAY FOR THE KEG!"

Bitter snorted out a laugh. This was going to be one hell of a night.

TO BE CONTINUED NEXT CHAPTER!

Review if you want a timely writing of the next chapter! You know you want to. I mean, all the cool kids are doing it.