Author's Note: Whee! More reviews! Thanks to JuhFreak, CATgrl, and JediPirateElfyDude. And here's a new chapter. Sorry for the wait. .
When her last class let out, Samantha walked out in front of the school to wait for Terry. Today had been a fairly good day. She had met another friend who was in both her Zoology and Calculus classes. Turned out Max was a really good friend of Terry's, so they had yet another thing in common. She had gotten along really well with Max, something she was pleased about. Also, Dana had sat by her in history. The two of them had talked a bit, too. So, all in all, good day.
"Hey Terry!" She called as he approached. "How was your day?"
He blinked at the question, seeming surprised that she was asking about him. He then responded with several tales of incidents in his classes that lasted most of the way to their apartments. He then asked her about her own day. She told him her stories as they rode the elevator up.
"Just have to stop by my place and pick up my book." Terry told her.
He unlocked the door to his apartment and stepped inside, motioning for her to follow. Matt was sprawled out on the floor, watching cartoons.
"Hey, twip." Terry greeted. "Where's Mom?"
"Next door talking to What's-Her-Face." Matt replied without looking up.
"'Kay." Terry said, then turned to Samantha. "Be right back."
Matt looked up as Terry disappeared into his room and Samantha smiled at him.
"Hey." She greeted as if she was talking to another teenager. "I'm Sam."
"Matt." He returned. "You dress funny."
She laughed. "You bet. Who wants to look normal?"
He smiled at that and stood up, peering into her eyes. "Isn't splicing illegal?"
She grinned at him, then crouched down so she was at eye-level. "Can you keep a secret?"
He looked at her and nodded solemnly.
"My mom got spliced before it was illegal." She told him. "Then she had me, and this is how I came out. But you can't tell anyone, or she'll prolly get in trouble."
"Wow." Matt said. "Neat. I won't tell."
"I knew I could trust you." Samantha said, standing.
The front door opened and a woman came in saying, "Terry, honey…" She stopped when she saw Samantha, though.
"Hi Mom!" Matt greeted, jumping up. "This is Sam. She's real nice, can we trade her for Terry?"
"I heard that." Terry commented, coming out of his room. "Mom, Sam lives a few doors down from us. We're working on a school project."
"Nice to meet you, Mrs. McGinnis." Samantha said politely.
Mrs. McGinnis smiled at her. "You too, dear. Terry, I'm sorry, but I need you to watch Matt."
"Mom!" Terry and Matt protested at the same time.
"I don't need a baby-sitter!" Matt insisted.
"I have to work on this project, Mom." Terry agreed.
"Umm…" Samantha said softly. "Why don't we just work here, Ter? Maybe Matt can help us."
"Yeah!" Matt voiced. "I like that idea."
"Are you sure you don't mind?" Mrs. McGinnis asked.
When Samantha assured her that she didn't, Terry's mother gave a few instructions, then left.
"Great." Terry muttered under his breath.
Samantha nudged him slightly. "Won't be that bad. Have an open mind, you. Hey, Matt, wanna help us pick out which play we're going to do?"
The three of them sat down in the living room. Terry had to sit in one of the chairs because Matt plopped himself down next to Samantha on the couch. Terry had to admit it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. In fact, he was enjoying himself when his cell phone rang.
"Oh, man." Terry muttered, then answered it. After a moment, he hung up with a sigh. "Crud. What am I gonna do?"
"Go ahead." Samantha told him. "I'll hang with Matt."
Terry looked up hopefully, then shook his head. "I can't ask you to do that."
"You didn't ask." Samantha pointed out. "I offered. 'Sides, Matt can help me with my lines. Right Matt?"
"You bet!" Matt agreed.
"Thank you." Terry told her quietly as she walked him to the door. "So much." He couldn't help thinking what Dana would have done in this situation…
"No prob." She replied, then, on impulse, gave him a hug. "I'll see you when you get back."
He hugged her back, perhaps a little longer than he should have, then hurriedly pulled away, nodded. "Right. Thanks again." He told her, rushing out with a whole lot of new thoughts now on his mind.
Samantha shook her head slightly as she closed the door and turned to Matt. "You wanna read Terry's lines?"
Matt picked up the script Terry had dropped on his way out, then hopped up on the couch. "Sure."
They had picked a fairly old play, but not as old as Shakespeare or Miller. The play was called The Killing Dance and was by a Laurell Hamilton. It was about a girl being courted by a guy who she refused, despite being attracted to. As she got closer to accepting his offer, she met another man who she fell in love with. The first man got all pissed off when he heard this and told her if she didn't keep dating him, he'd kill the second man. The smart thing would have been to tell the police, but the girl was stupid and didn't tell anyone what was going on for fear the guy would kill her boyfriend. The scenes they had chosen was a confrontation between the girl and the guy she loved, the guy realizing what was going on, and the ending happy love scene.
The assignment was only two scenes, but Samantha had insisted on putting the last one in there so it would have a happy ending. Terry hadn't minded, since it would get them extra credit and he apparently needed it.
She and Matt were almost done with the lines when the phone rang.
Samantha reached over to pick it up, answering, "Hello, McGinnis residence."
There was a pause, then a female voice asked, "Um, is Terry there or is he still at work?"
"He's still at work." Samantha replied. "Can I take a message?"
"Uhh…yeah." The girl said. "This is Dana…Who is this?"
"Oh, hey, Dana. It's Sam." Samantha greeted.
There was another pause. "Sam?" Dana asked. "What are you doing at Terry's house?"
"We're neighbors." Samantha answered. "Mrs. McGinnis had to leave, so I'm watching Matt."
"Oh." Dana sounded relieved. "Can you tell him I called?"
"Sure." Samantha agreed. "See you tomorrow."
She hung up, frowning slightly. Terry hadn't told Dana they were working on a project together. He probably thought Dana would get the wrong idea. Of course, half the time boyfriends thought their girls would get the wrong idea was because it really was the wrong idea. She shook her head. She wouldn't confront him about it, yet.
"Hey, Sam?" Matt asked. "I'm bored. Can we play a game?"
"Sure, hon." Samantha told him. "What do you want to play?"
Matt picked out several board games and the two played until they heard a key in the lock and the door opened. Samantha stood when Mrs. McGinnis walked in.
"Hi, Mrs. McGinnis." She greeted. "Terry had to take off for work, so I stayed behind with Matt. Hope that's okay."
Mrs. McGinnis smiled at her. "Okay? It's wonderful. Thank you, sweetie. And call me Mary." She told her. "Would you like to stay for dinner? It's the least I can do."
"As long as it's not too much trouble, I'd love to." Samantha replied. "Thanks."
"We have to have something without meat, Mom, 'cause Sam's a vegetan." Matt informed them.
Mary looked over at Samantha, who smiled a bit. "Good for you, dear. I tried that for awhile but I had to give it up. Pizza okay?"
"Pizza's awesome." Samantha replied.
"Good, I didn't feel like cooking." Mary commented. "What do you like on it?"
"Honestly?" Samantha asked, grinning a bit. "Pineapple. But plain cheese is good, too."
Mary smiled delightedly. "I love pineapple, too! My boys always make fun of me for putting it on pizza. All right, then, I'll get one pineapple and one pepperoni."
Mary went to order the pizza and Matt turned on the TV, flipping around until he found a scary movie.
"Yay!" He said happily. "I love this one. Watch it with me, Sam?"
"Sure." Samantha said, sitting down next to him on the couch.
Mary came back into the living room. "They said it should be about two hours."
"Sam's gonna watch the movie with me, Mom." Matt informed her.
Mary looked at the screen and winced. "I think I'll pass, if you don't mind sitting with him, Sam?"
"No problem." Samantha agreed.
"I'll be in the back if you need me." Mary told them, heading out.
As the movie progressed, Matt crawled into Samantha's lap and rested his head on her shoulder. Samantha smiled, ruffling his hair a little before going back to watching the movie.
After about forty minutes or so, Matt had fallen asleep. Samantha grinned at him, then looked up as she heard someone opening the door.
"Hey, Terry." She greeted.
Terry blinked, looking surprised. "You're still here? My mom's not home yet?"
He sounded worried, so she nodded. "She's home. She invited me over for dinner, so we're waiting for the pizza guy to come."
"Oh." Terry replied, then noticed Matt in her lap. "I see the twip's gotten attached to you."
Samantha smiled. "He's cute. Sweet, too."
Terry laughed. "When he wants to be. I'm gonna go tell my mom I'm home, then I'll join you."
"'Kay." Samantha said, turning her attention back to the TV.
Later that night, after the pizza had come and gone and Samantha was getting ready to leave, she pulled Terry aside.
"Dana called." She told him softly.
Something in his eyes flickered. "What'd…"
"I told her you were still at work and that I was baby-sitting." Samantha interrupted.
"Thanks." He replied.
She nodded. "What are friends for?" She hesitated.
He frowned slightly. "What? Everything okay?"
She smiled, shrugging. "Fine. Never mind. I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Yeah, sure." He agreed, looking at her suspiciously. "I'll pick you up."
