"Gosh, there's just so many choices!" She had no idea what to suggest.

"Want to go shopping?" asked Ralph.

"You mean there are stores right here in the building?"

"You bet!"

They went to the Forum and Appian Way shops. Natalie didn't buy much, as everything seemed so expensive, but she had lots of fun looking. "Hungry yet?" Ralph asked after awhile.

"I'm starved!" Natalie replied, suddenly realizing that it was true.

They went to the buffet, and Natalie's eyes nearly popped out of her head when she saw what was offered. Never before in her life had she ever seen such a large selection of food in one place at one time. Ralph saw her face and laughed. "Can't decide what to have first, huh?"

After a few seconds of indecision, she chose a salad, a roast beef sandwich, and onion rings. After eating their fill, they went dancing at the Omnia nightclub. Natalie was having such a good time that she didn't even realize how late it was getting to be until Ralph tapped her on the arm. "We'd better head on back to our room now," he said. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

Natalie looked at her watch and gasped.

Back at their room, Ralph disappeared into the restroom and didn't come back out for what seemed to Natalie to be a really long time. She was beginning to wonder whether something was wrong when the door opened and he stood there grinning at her. "I ran us a bath," he said.

Stunned, she didn't know how to respond. She'd been on less than half a dozen dates with Ralph, and he wanted them to take a bath together? Before she could say a word, he'd taken her hand and led her into the bathroom, where she just stared, overwhelmed.

The scent of gardenia was in the air, and red rose petals floated on top of the water in the tub. The light of several burning candles gave the scene a warm glow. "Wow!" Natalie breathed.

"Well, shall we begin?" Ralph winked at her.

She slowly began to undress, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw that he was doing the same thing. When they were both completely undressed, she gazed into his eyes, determined not to let her own wander any lower, but he allowed his to slowly gaze the entire length of her body. "Wow, you're really beautiful!" he told her.

"Thank you," she mumbled, blushing fiercely as she stared at the ground. She felt for the side of the tub with her hand but couldn't find it, took a blind step, and nearly tumbled right into the water. Ralph laughed heartily as he helped her up.

"It would help to watch your step," he remarked.

"Sorry," she muttered.

"Hey, that's OK. You don't have to be shy around me."

They were now both completely immersed in the tub, and all that Natalie could see of Ralph was his head and shoulders, so she began to relax a little. "Shall we bathe each other?" Ralph looked really eager.

"I suppose so," Natalie said hesitantly. Within moments, she was feeling much more bold as she and Ralph gently massaged one another with sponges, and by the time they'd finished, they were giggling together and she forgot to look down as they climbed out of the tub.

After drying one another off with fluffy towels, they went back into the bedroom. Natalie wasn't a bit surprised when she saw him open the top drawer of the dresser and take out a condom.

Jamie sat on the school bus on the way home, staring glumly at the envelope containing her report card. She dreaded showing it to her mother and Doug. She'd groaned in dismay when she'd seen the 'D' she'd received in science. It had never been her best subject, but in middle school, she'd struggled through and barely managed to squeak by. For the first grading period of her freshman year, she'd tried her best but found that that simply didn't seem to have been enough.

When the bus reached the corner of her street, she slowly got off it and trudged home, far behind Clay. As soon as Jo saw her daughter's face, she knew that something was wrong.

Jamie sighed and wordlessly plopped the envelope onto the kitchen counter. Jo frowned as she picked it up. She took the report card out and looked at it. "Well, it looks like you did pretty good, except in science," she remarked.

"I'm sorry, Mom! I tried to do better, I really did!"

"Well, it looks like you're just going to have to try harder," Jo replied.

More than anything, Jamie dreaded having to show the report card to Doug. He'd promised dinner at a restaurant to celebrate if she and Clay both brought home good report cards. Now he wouldn't want to go, and it would be her fault.

She disappeared into her bedroom for several hours, until she heard a soft rap on her door. "Jamie? It's me. Can I please come in?"

She recognized Doug's voice and reluctantly got up to let him in. "want to talk about your science grade?" he asked.

"Oh, Daddy, I'm sorry!" Frustrated, she burst into tears. "I tried so hard, but I just couldn't understand all that stuff!"

"It's all right, sweetie. I ain't mad." Doug embraced his stepdaughter. "I know how hard you tried. I've seen how much time you spend doin' homework. I'm wonderin' if we need to get some extra help for you."

"I just feel so stupid!" Jamie wailed.

"Aw, don't be like that!" Doug chuckled. "Just 'cause you need a little extra help every now and then don't mean you're stupid. Heck, I came pretty close to flunkin' English my freshman year. My Daddy had to spend hours with me goin' over all that verb conjugatin' an' all that stuff before I finally got it. You'll get it too, darlin'. All it takes is time an' effort, and a whole lot of determination."

"Is Clay mad at me 'cause we can't go out to dinner because of me?"

"Who says we ain't goin' out for dinner?" Doug laughed. "We're leavin' just as soon as you get your jacket on!"

"Wow, thanks, Dad!"

"No problem at all, sweetie." Doug embraced her again.