Junior

"Okay, he is not ready to drive!" Freddie announced as he came into the house with fifteen-year old Jason at his heels.

"What are you talking about? I did fine!" Jason argued.

"Fun driving lesson?" Sam smirked, looking up from her magazine.

"He is a speed demon!" Freddie exclaimed. "Do you know how fast he was going around the block?"

"I never got past fifteen miles, mom," Jason said, rolling his eyes.

"Exactly!" Freddie said. "I told you ten miles an hour!"

"There were little girls on tricycles passing me!" Jason defended. He turned to Sam. "Next time can you take me driving?"

"Oh no," Freddie said at once. "Both of you in the car? The road isn't ready for that. When we try this again, Jason, we're going to have to really teach you about obeying the speed limits. Remember my motto; too fast will get you in a wreck, but too slow will keep you in check."

"Oh jeez, it finally happened," Sam sighed. "You started the rhyming like your mom."

"I can't believe you let him get his permit," Freddie mumbled as Jason headed upstairs.

"Come on, he's super excited to finally drive," Sam said. "And I'm sure he's not as bad as you're making it seem. Besides, he just started. And maybe if you let him actually take his foot off the brake…"

"I'm just trying to make sure he becomes a safe, defensive driver," Freddie said. "Is that so bad?"

"No," Sam chuckled, leaning up to kiss him. "Just try not to be such a dork about it."

"Ha, ha," Freddie said dryly. "So…what did you do today? Anything exciting?"

"Actually, Carly and I took the twins and Clarissa to the mall to buy some dresses," Sam said. "And you'll never believe this new store I found. It sells back massagers that-"

"Dresses?" Freddie repeated. "What do they need dresses for?"

"That dance thing this weekend," Sam said. "Anyway, these back massagers-"

"Dance thing?" Freddie frowned.

"Yeah, the junior high dance," Sam nodded. "I told you about it weeks ago. It's their first school dance."

"Oh, right," Freddie nodded. "Guess I tried to block it out. Man…I can't believe it's starting."
"What's starting?"

"First it's school dances," Freddie sighed. "Then it's parties, and dates…soon, before we know it they're running around going to all these things and they won't even have two seconds for us."

"It's a middle school dance," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "It's in the gym, there's going to be cheap punch and cupcakes and bubblegum pop music. I don't think you have to start worrying about them quite yet."

"Well…okay, yeah, I guess you're right," Freddie nodded. "Those junior high dances were always kind of lame when we were kids."

"Oh how would you know?" Sam said. "You never went. You'd spend three weeks begging Carly to be your date and then you'd spend the night crying when she'd wind up going with some other guy."

"I went to one, thank you," Freddie snapped. "Remember? We were thirteen and you and I spent the entire dance at the snack table while Carly danced with a whole line of guys."
"Oh yeah," Sam said softly. "I was bummed because-because that was after that whole Jonah thing, and I was supposed to be there with him."

"That's why you were bummed?" Freddie frowned. "I thought you were just upset about me being within fifty feet of you."

"Nah, you actually made the night somewhat enjoyable," Sam said, giving him a small smile. "I-I was actually kind of glad you were there to keep me company."
"Really? I didn't pick up on that while you were busy throwing brownies at me," Freddie chuckled. He stepped over and wrapped his arms around her. "And here I thought our first official school dance you didn't want to just shove my head in a toilet at was the senior prom."
"Oh, prom was fun," Sam smiled nostalgically. "Remember how we spent the whole night dancing together, even though you were horrible at it? And we had hacked into the program that scheduled the nurses shifts at the hospital and we gave your mom the graveyard shift so we could rent a hotel room for after?"

"How could I forget?" Freddie grinned, kissing her. "That was the best night of my life."

"Mine too," Sam whispered.

The two were silent for a moment.

"None of the kids are allowed to go to their prom," Freddie finally spoke.

"After what we did? God no," Sam agreed.

…..

"So Clarissa's coming back here with the twins after the dance to sleepover," Sam told Freddie the day of the dance as she sat on their bed, eating a bag of pork rinds. "You know you've got to be at the school at nine to get them."
"I thought you were getting them," Freddie said.

"No, I'm dropping them off," Sam said. "Jeez, am I supposed to do everything?"

"Fine, fine, I'll pick them up," Freddie said.

Just then Emma and Ashton, already dressed in their dresses, came into the room.

"Wow! Look at you girls!" Freddie smiled. "You look beautiful. Both of you."

"Thanks," Ashton said, spinning around in her pink dress. "I've been waiting all week to finally wear this."

"This dress isn't as bad as I thought," Emma said, adjusting the strap on her blue dress. "It's actually kind of comfy."

"I've got to get some pictures of you two," Sam grinned.

"We're not done getting ready yet," Ashton said. "We were wondering if you could help us with our makeup, mom."

"Makeup?" Freddie sputtered. "Oh no…you guys are eleven!"
"But it's our first dance!" Emma begged.

"Well…maybe they can just wear it for tonight?" Sam said, looking over at Freddie. "I mean…it's a special occasion."

"Please, daddy?" Ashton said, looking up at him with her big, brown eyes.

Freddie sighed. "Alright, fine. Just for tonight!"

"Thanks, daddy!" Emma said as her and her sister threw their arms around him.

"Here, sit down and I'll put it on you," Sam said, grabbing her makeup bag from her dresser. "Let's see…I think maybe just some blush and mascara will work. You don't want to take away from your natural looks…or distract from your dresses. Here, I know a nice natural look that you two will look good in."

"Natural look?" Freddie said as Sam began to put a light layer of blush on Emma.

"Yeah; it makes them look like they're not wearing makeup," Sam said.

"Oh," Freddie said. "Well then by all means do that…"

"Why wouldn't you want to make it look like you're wearing makeup?" Ashton asked. "Isn't that the point?"

"Not always," Sam said. "See, you can use makeup to just sort of highlight your features. I mean you both have really beautiful eyes, so why would you want to hide them behind seven layers of eye shadow?"

Freddie couldn't help but smile as he watched his wife with their daughters. Who knew Sam could give advice about makeup?

"Do you wear makeup every day, mom?" Emma asked.

"If I'm going to work," Sam shrugged. "Not if I'm just relaxing around the house."
"Clarissa said her mom wears makeup all the time," Ashton said.

"Well Aunt Carly and I have always had different styles," Sam chuckled. "But that's okay. Some girls are more into makeup than others."

"Oh," Ashton nodded. "That makes sense."

"There," Sam said as she finished their makeup. "Look in the mirror and tell me what you think."

The girls hurried into the adjoining bathroom.

"Whoa! We look so pretty!" Ashton said excitedly.

"Yeah, I like it!" Emma nodded. "But what are we supposed to do with our hair? Do we have to make it fancy?"

"Not if you don't want," Sam shrugged. "Do you?"

"Yes," Ashton said as Emma cringed and shook her head.

"Alright, well, Ash, come here," Sam laughed. "I can do something…It's not super fancy, but I think you'll look good with it."

"Since when do you do hair?" Freddie asked, somewhat amused.

"Well I've had my own since I was born," Sam smirked. "So that's given me twenty-five years to practice with it."

"Twenty-five?" Freddie repeated, raising an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Watch it, baby," Sam warned as she worked with Ashton's hair.

"Hey, mom?" Emma said. "What-What are we supposed to even do at this dance?"
"What do you mean?" Sam asked, taking a bobby pin from her dresser and sticking it in Ashton's hair.
"Do we have to dance?" Emma mumbled, looking down at her feet. "With-With boys?"

"Oh man," Freddie moaned, sinking down onto the bed.

"Excuse your dad, he's being a drama queen," Sam said, rolling her eyes.

"Well do we?" Ashton asked.

"You don't have to ever do anything at any dance that you don't want to," Sam said. "Look…you guys are in sixth grade. That means that the boys are probably going to be grouped up on one side of the gym by themselves anyway. But that's okay…dances don't have to be about dates and boys and all that. They can just be about having a good time with your friends. I didn't have a real date for a school dance until prom."

"Oh, prom!" Ashton said excitedly. "I can't wait for-"

"No!" Sam and Freddie said simultaneously.

"So I can just hang out with my friends?" Emma said. "I don't have to even talk to any boys? Sweet! All the boys in my grade are losers."

"That's my girl," Freddie grinned, high-fiving her.

"What about Quincy?" Ashton pointed out.
"He's the biggest loser of them all."

"Just have fun tonight," Sam told them. "If you spend the whole night worrying about whether or not you need to be doing anything just for the heck of it, you won't enjoy yourself nearly as much. Alright, Ashton, what do you think?"

Ashton looked at her hair in the mirror. Sam had put it in a braid and twisted it behind her head into a small bun.

"Whoa! I look hot!" Ashton grinned.

"Okay…never say that again," Freddie said. "But…you do look very nice, Ash. You too, Emma."

"Alright, you girls all set now?" Sam asked.

"Yup," Emma nodded. "Thanks, mom."
"Yeah, thanks!" Ashton said. "You're the best!"

"Well…yeah," Sam beamed. "Okay, go ahead and go down to the car and we can head over to pick Clarissa and Quincy up."

As the girls ran out, Sam turned back to Freddie. "How many pictures do you think I can get of them before they get annoyed? A dozen?"

"Try for two," Freddie smiled. "Hey…I-I never knew you knew about makeup and how to do hair and stuff."

"Well, in case you haven't picked up on it yet, I happen to be a girl too," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "I can give my daughters first dance tips."

"Yeah, I'll say," Freddie nodded. "You were great back there. The girls…They-They're really lucky they have someone like you to teach them all that stuff and look up to."

"Thanks," Sam said. "To tell you the truth, I-I've always kind of dreaded the day when they would come to me about that stuff because, well, I'm not the most typical girl. But you really think I did okay? I didn't screw them up for all their future dances or makeup experiences?"

"No, you did just fine," Freddie assured her. "If those two grow up to be just like you, well, then-then they're going to be fantastic young women."