AN: Incredibly short, I know. I am sorry about that. But I couldn't get the inspiration flowing any other way than to write this little teaser chapter, and it means that the next chapter (the game) will be upcoming in the next chapter. Wish me luck and inspiration!

"Homecoming Preparations"

"No, seriously, Ads," Maurae said. "I want to invite Jesse." It was Thursday night; the JV-Varsity game was the next day, and the Homecoming dance the day after that. She, Adam, and Carrie were lounging in the girls' room, talking about the dance (Carrie had forbidden further discussion of the game and its possible outcome) on Saturday.

"Why? Jess made it clear he doesn't want to come,"

"Oh well. He's still a Duck, Ads. And I registered him yesterday, after practice. That Linda girl, the one that Charlie likes, she gave me the ticket. So now all I have to do is convince Jess he needs to come."

"Good luck!" he laughed.

"I'll bribe him, if I have to," she said. Smiling, she rolled over, so her head was hanging off the side of the bed. "Carrie's going with her friends, and Guy and Connie…so obvious. Russ wants to ask Jules specifically, and then Charlie said he was going to ask Linda. Last minute, so typical. And I'm going to have like ten dates, so I won't feel left out. Eleven, if I can convince Jess. Either way, he's paying for this bloody ticket."

Adam and Carrie laughed, and after a minute, Maurae laughed as well. Carrie blinked at her, a sudden thought occurring to her. "Do you have something to wear?"

"Um…no. Not really, no," Maurae admitted sheepishly.

"So…the dance is on Saturday, your game is tomorrow, and you have nothing to wear to Homecoming?"

"Um…yes?"

"All right. I'm getting you up at eight on Saturday, and we're going shopping."

"Can't," Maurae said, slightly triumphantly. "No money."

"No big," Carrie replied easily. "I've got fifty bucks, and I'm going to buy you a decent dress if I have to spend all my Christmas money too!"

"Carrie, I don't need-"

"We're going, and there's no way you're getting out of it, so stop whining."

"Yes, ma'am," Maurae retorted sarcastically. "Ads, you have something to wear, right?"

"Yeah. Mom reminded me about my shirt, so she's ironing it and bringing it and my slacks over before the game tomorrow."

"Lucky you," Maurae grumbled under her breath.

"Hey, what about that outfit you wore to…the Minnesota Club?" Adam asked. "You looked good in that."

"First off, I never did get the food stains out of that blouse. And second, the skirt belonged to Connie. So that'll be a no go, I think," she shrugged in reply.

"I'm doing your hair again," Carrie stated abruptly. "When I get done with you, every guy in school is going to ask you for a dance."

"They'd better not," Adam muttered under his breath, causing both girls to look at him strangely.

"What did you just say?" Maurae asked, curious. "It sounded a lot like you said 'elephant fluff,' but that's just weird, and I know you're not crazy…well, not that crazy, anyway."

"Yes, I said elephant fluff," he grinned. "And wouldn't you know it, I was talking in code. Sorry. The meaning is top secret."

"Adam, you can't keep a secret," Maurae reminded him, rolling over again so she could look at him right-side up. "You're part of a hockey team. Everybody knows everybody else's business. We can all read minds. Didn't you get that memo?"

"No, it appears to have gotten lost on the way to my hard drive," he retorted.

"You two have gotten really silly in the past few days. Ever since last weekend. Is something going on?" Carrie cut in slyly, knowing the answer to that perfectly well. Both teens instantly shut up and looked in opposite directions, making Carrie grin. "Good answer. I like Rae's better. 'I plead the fifth.' Word of advice: never answer a yes or no question with 'I plead the fifth.' It's an automatic yes."

"Shut up, it is not!"

"In this case it was, right?"

Maurae reddened. "Well…"

"See?"

"Shut up. Nobody asked you!"

Carrie laughed, Maurae pouted, and Adam looked from one to the other, completely confused. "Um…you're not going to explain any of that to me, are you?"

"Nope," Carrie said as Maurae shook her head vigorously.

"Okay." Groaning, he got up and stretched. "I'm going to see if Charlie's gotten up the nerve to call Linda yet. See you at breakfast."

"See you," the girls chorused as the door shut behind him. Then Maurae turned a glare on her friend. "You know, keeping secrets from the team is hard enough without you opening your mouth and blabbing them to the only person I specifically don't want to find out."

"Hey!" Carrie said, holding up her hands in defense. "It's not like I want him to kiss you yet! I lose all the money I won if you kiss him before the end of the game tomorrow."

"Yeah, see, I still can't believe everybody's taking wagers on when we're going to kiss. What if he and I were just best friends?"

"Are you?"

"For now we are."

"What about after the game tomorrow?"

"I don't know. We'll see about that after the game, won't we?"

"Yup. Are you guys going out to celebrate after?"

"If we win, yes. If we lose, it won't be a celebration; it'll be a pity party, but either way, Jesse's family said we've got free pizza after the game tomorrow. Hey, bet you twenty bucks I can convince Jesse to come to the dance on Saturday."

"Twenty bucks?"

"Yeah. I'll need some shoes to go with that dress you plan on buying for me." Shaking her head in a mixture of amusement and exasperation, Carrie groaned.

"You're hopeless."

"Yes, I know."