A/N: Thanks for all of the birthday wishes! LOL! Steph and I are so glad that you enjoyed celebrating "our birthday!" ;)

Chapter 17

Friday, October 13, 1995

The last few periods of the day today were going to be used for a Homecoming pep rally, complete with the band playing, the majorettes twirling, and the cheerleaders cheering. The football coach was going to introduce the team and talk about each player, and then Mr. Marco would introduce the Homecoming court and talk about each attendant. Ballots would be passed out and everyone would get a chance to vote for this year's Homecoming Queen. The winner would be announced during the pregame ceremonies at tonight's game.

As a result of the pep rally, many teachers were having study halls or "group work time." They were trying to avoid getting way ahead in their early classes and having the last classes of the day fall behind. This worked out great for me. Connie, Lula, Mary Lou, or one of the guys were in most of my classes, and we spent the majority of the day making plans for after the game or talking about the dance.

The only class where I was by myself, without any of my friends, was my English class. And of course this was one of the few classes that I had with Joyce Barnhardt.

Joyce had been a pain in my ass since Kindergarten. In elementary school, she was a chubby girl who was angry with the world and mostly took it out on girls who she felt got more attention than she did. In first grade, she had wrapped her arms around my legs and pulled me off of the monkey bars. I had landed on her, and she told the recess teacher that I had jumped on her. I had to stand against the building for the rest of recess that day. In second grade, she dumped her milk in my lap during lunch and told everyone that I had wet my pants. She would constantly spit in my food at lunch, steal my pencils, and kick open the stall door while I was going to the bathroom.

In junior high, she grew breasts and a bigger and bitchier attitude. In sixth grade, she wrote dozens of nasty notes, signed my name, and stuck them in people's lockers. It took me weeks to convince everyone that the letters hadn't come from me. In seventh grade, she strategically dumped red paint on my gym shorts knowing that I either had to wear them like that or take a detention for not coming to class prepared. Needless to say, I took the detention. In eighth grade, she started a rumor that I was a lesbian, and every few days she left lipstick kiss prints all over the outside of my locker to prove that I had a girlfriend.

By the time we hit high school, Joyce had slimmed down and was now a large breasted, red headed sex fiend. But she was still a bitch. During our sophomore year, she snuck into the guys' locker room and wrote my name and phone number all over the walls with descriptions of all of the things I would be willing to do with my dates. Luckily, Eddie and Carl had seen it and scribbled it out before too many other people saw it. That still didn't stop Joyce from circulating all kinds of stories about me. They ranged from stories of me being easy to rumors that I was pregnant. Luckily, no one rumor can hold anyone's attention for long in the Burg, and most people didn't remember any of what she had said about me. And, to be fair, I certainly wasn't Joyce's only target. Half of the female population of Trenton High narrowed their eyes when she sashayed down the hall. She was a menace.

As soon as I walked through the door of the classroom, she turned my way, and by the time I walked over to my desk, she had caught up with me. She perched on the desk next to mine, and gave me a big grin.

"Stephanie, I've been meaning to talk to you." She began in a sickeningly sweet voice.

I flipped through my notebook, refusing to give her the satisfaction of paying attention to her. "Oh?" I asked in a bored voice.

"Yes. I just wanted to apologize for stealing Joe away from you."

My head popped up, and I let out a surprised laugh. "What are you talking about, Joyce?"

She smirked and continued. "Well, I know that you're a virgin. You know, since no man has been willing to sleep with you yet. And I know how you had your heart set on him popping your cherry."

My eyes widened. "What?" I managed in a strangled voice.

She continued. "Well, Joey told me that he stopped at the Tasty Pastry last Sunday. He said it was shameful how you threw yourself at him and practically drug him down on the floor. He said that he was horrified, and all he could think of was me and how I'd react, so he left and came to see me, even though you begged him not to." She patted my arm. "Sorry about that." She smirked.

I started laughing hysterically at her. Wiping my eyes, I watched her smirk falter for just a second.

"What's so funny?" she snapped.

"Your story!" I gasped.

She narrowed her eyes at me and crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't see what's so funny about it!" she huffed.

"Because it's all made up!" I rolled my eyes. "Like I would beg Morelli to have sex with me on the floor of the Tasty Pastry! Puh-lease! He came in and tried to get something started, but I wasn't interested. He wouldn't take no for an answer and pinned me up against the wall behind the counter. My boyfriend came out of the kitchen and drug him off of me, punched him, and threw him into the dumpster out back. When he crawled out of the trash, he must have run to you." I smirked at her. "I guess it doesn't surprise me that he was laying in a dumpster, surrounded by trash, and thinking of you."

"Bitch!" she growled.

"Whore!" I hissed back.

She flipped her dyed red curls over one shoulder and narrowed her eyes at me. "Well, you just make sure to keep your eyes and your hands off of him in the future."

I grinned back innocently. "But he asked me to save him a dance at Homecoming."

Joyce looked like she wanted to grab my hair and start an all-out cat fight, but just then our teacher, Mrs. Martin, walked in. Joyce glared at me and stalked back to her seat. Good riddance!

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I was so excited for the Homecoming game that I thought I might burst!

At pregame the majorettes did a ribbon routine to "Total Eclipse of the Heart," and Terri Grizzoli was crowned Homecoming Queen. Surprise, surprise. Like I had told our group at detention, the winner needed to be someone blonder and bustier than me, and Terri was definitely both of those.

The first quarter flew by, with half-time drawing nearer and nearer. I kept looking around for my mom. She was supposed to come down to the edge of the field and hold my fire baton containers for me. When the fire routine was over, I needed to shove my batons in the case, grab my regular baton, and head back out on the field to finish the half-time show.

Carlos sat in the stands, watching me look around. About halfway through the second quarter, he finally came down onto the edge of the track and waved me over. I pretended to get a drink so that I could talk to him.

"What's wrong, Steph?" he asked, concerned. "Who are you looking for?"

"My mom." I said, dejected.

He tilted his head to the side. "Were you expecting your parents to come tonight?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I wanted them to see the fire routine, but also because my mom is supposed to be my helper."

He raised an eyebrow. "Your helper?"

I sighed. "Yeah. She's supposed to soak and light the batons for me while I march across the field to the first song. Then she's supposed to hold the cases for my fire batons. When the song is over, I need to have someone who can help me get them into the containers quickly. Then she's supposed to close and cap the containers and make sure that the batons are extinguished so that I can get back out on the field to finish the half-time show."

Carlos looked at me seriously. "I'll help you if you want."

I just raised my eyebrows at him and looked at him like he had two heads. "What?"

He grinned. "I like fire. It doesn't scare me. Plus I've come to all of your practices. I've watched how you guys light them and put them out. I can do it."

I gave him a huge grin and a peck on the cheek. "Thank you!" I squealed. "Let me tell my advisor that you're going to help. Then you can just follow her around the track to your spot on the field."

Mrs. George nodded when I told her that Carlos would be my helper. I assured her that he knew what to do, and I ran to line up with the other girls. I chewed my lip while we waited to march out onto the field. Where on Earth were my parents?

As always, the fire baton routine was a big hit. As soon as the lights went out, the crowd starting cheering and screaming. At the end of the song, I ran over to Carlos. He was holding out the canisters at the perfect angle, standing nice and still. He let me toss one end of the batons in, and then I grabbed my regular baton and ran back out to my spot. I watched as he shook the containers, trying to get the batons all the way into the canister. When they were finally in, he put the lids on and handed them over to my advisor. He sat on the sidelines, watching me do our fight song routine as we marched off of the field and back to the bleachers.

The band had the third quarter as our 'break,' so I headed over to Carlos. "You were awesome, Babe!" he congratulated me, giving me a big hug.

I smiled. "Thanks! And thanks for being my helper!"

He slid an arm around my waist. "Anytime, Babe! Anytime."

We headed over towards the concession stand, and I spotted Carlos's parents sitting in the home team bleachers. "They came just to see you." Carlos whispered.

I turned towards Carlos, surprised. "Really?" I squeaked.

"Really." He confirmed.

I raised my hand and smiled, waving at them. Mrs. Manoso waved back, a big grin on her face, and gave me a thumbs-up. It was so sweet, and I couldn't help but wish that my mom was more like her. Immediately, the Catholic guilt kicked in, and I muttered an apology to my mother under my breath.

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Earlier in the week, Lula had taken me up on my offer of sitting with us at lunch, and not surprisingly, she and Tank had hit it off. They had gone out a few times this week, and he had picked her up for the game tonight. They weren't sure whether or not they were going to the dance Saturday. Mostly because Lula wasn't sure if she could find something appropriate to wear. Tank had bought tickets just in case and assured her that he was fine with whatever decision she made. Either way, they were planning on spending the evening together.

Once the game had ended, our group followed Tank and Lula back to Tank's van. He had agreed to be the designated chauffeur for group outings from now on as long as everyone chipped in for gas money. The main motivating factor was that Bobby had two flat tires after cramming the six of us in his car a few weeks ago. He tried to play it off, saying that the tires were old and needed replaced anyway, but I wasn't buying it. The two back tires were the ones that needed replaced. Tank, Cal, Lester. Cough, cough. That's all I'm saying!

Carlos and I headed for his car, which was on the other side of the parking lot.

"We'll meet you there!" Carlos yelled, waving at the large group in Tank's van.

Lester smirked. "We'll be timing you!"

I narrowed my eyes at him and gave him a less than ladylike Italian hand gesture which only made him throw his head back and laugh as Tank pulled out of the parking lot.

We both climbed into Carlos's car, and I slid across the bench seat and snuggled up next to him. He put his arm around my shoulders and pulled out of the parking lot wincing. "These sequins are a little scratchy, Babe!"

I smirked at him. "Really? I never noticed that before, Batman! Thanks for pointing it out!"

He grinned at me. "So do you want me to pull over and find a secluded place for you to change, or do you want to wait 'til we get to Burger King and change in the bathroom?"

I shrugged. "Whichever."

Carlos drove towards Burger King, but pulled into the parking lot of an office supply store that was already closed for the night. He kept going and circled around to the back of the building, parking near their loading dock and turning the car off.

He unbuckled his seat belt and turned to pull me onto his lap, leaning up and kissing me hungrily, nipping at my lips. His hands reached up to my neck and slowly lowered the zipper on my sequined outfit.

My breathing hitched, and I looked at him with wide eyes as he drug it down from my neck to my waist. His hands reached underneath the outfit and slowly slid it off of my shoulders. Wordlessly, I pulled my arms out of the top, and my uniform fell down to my waist, exposing the black leotard that I had on underneath.

Carlos groaned and fisted his hands in my hair, pulling me in for another deep kiss. I pulled back panting, and he gently placed both of his palms on my stomach. His eyes locked with mine, and he slowly moved his hands up my torso until he was holding one breast in each hand. He slowly massaged them with his palms and fingers. His thumbs teased the nipples through my bra and leotard, and when he tugged gently on them, I arched back, thrusting my chest against his hands.

"Easy, Babe." He whispered against my neck.

I fisted my hands in his shirt and pulled it out of the waistband of his jeans. Sliding my hands underneath, I traced over his perfect chest and abs with my fingertips.

He growled and lifted me off of his lap, trying in vain to yank my uniform the rest of the way off. I slid back onto the seat next to him. Lifting my hips, I drug the sequins down over my legs, leaving me in just my leotard, tights, and boots.

He reached for me, but I smiled ruefully and pulled out my warmup suit. "Everybody's waiting for us." I whispered.

He gave a frustrated sigh and leaned over to nibble on my ear. "Let's go through the drive-through and take it somewhere to eat. By ourselves."

I laughed and swatted his arm playfully. "They're waiting for us! Can you imagine the ribbing we're already going to get for taking so long to get there?"

Carlos ran his hands up and down my arms. "That's what I'm saying." He said huskily. "They're horrible friends. Who wants to spend time with them? Let's get our food and ditch them. Go somewhere private."

I reached up and kissed him. "Tomorrow." I promised. "Tomorrow after the dance, I'm all yours." I leaned back and looked in his face. "Unless you planned on us doing something with the guys."

He smirked. "Not gonna work, Babe. You get no clues until tomorrow night."

I stuck my tongue out at him and pulled my pants on. Carlos winked and started the car again as I pulled on my jacket and zipped it up.

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As predicted, the guys (led by Lester) tortured us for getting there 20 minutes after they did. I squeezed Carlos's hand and gave Lester a wide eyed, innocent look. "There was construction."

He snorted. "Oh yeah? In October? At 9:00 at night on a Friday?"

I grinned. "Yep. Lots and lots of construction."

Seeing that he wasn't going to be able to embarrass me, at least not tonight, Lester gave up and started joking around with the other guys.

Lula, Connie, and I were laughing at Cal's impression of Mr. George, the band director, when Lester came back from the bathroom. He leaned across the table. "Beautiful, go empty your majorette duffel bag onto the backseat of Carlos's car and bring the bag in."

My eyebrows drew together. "Whhhhhyyyyyy?" I asked suspiciously.

Lester gave me an innocent look. "No reason."

Carlos raised an eyebrow at him. "What are you planning?"

I glared at him. "I am not going to get my bag until you tell me why you need it."

Lester grimaced and leaned across the table, whispering. "It's kind of embarrassing. Can't you just go get it, and I'll tell you why after?"

I looked at Carlos, and he shrugged. "I have no idea what he's up to, Babe."

I blew out a sigh, standing up, and taking Carlos's keys. "Fine. But I swear to God, Lester, if you put something disgusting in my bag, I'll kill you!"

He smiled angelically. "I would never do a thing like that!"

I walked out and opened the backdoor of Carlos's car. I unzipped my majorette bag and emptied it as neatly as I could onto his backseat. I checked all of the pockets, making sure I took everything out. I had no idea why Lester wanted my bag, and I wanted to be sure that I had all of my stuff in case he didn't give it back right away.

I walked back in with the empty bag, and Lester grabbed it and ran for the bathroom.

Bobby started howling. "Oh my God, Steph! You better hope he's not planning on sticking his boxers in your bag!"

I raised my eyebrows at Bobby and shrieked, "What?"

Tank started snorting. "Yeah, he did have a half dozen chili dogs at the game. He probably has the runs."

I stuck my hands on my hips and glared at Carlos. "If your cousin sticks a pair of dirty underwear in my bag, I swear to God I am going to kill him!"

The guys were laughing so hard they were crying. Carlos lifted his head off of his arms, tears streaming down his face. "I'll buy you a new bag, Babe!" he choked out.

Lester came running out of the bathroom and flew past our table. "Let's go! Now!" He hissed, running out into the parking lot. He climbed into Tank's van and began waving frantically for us to follow him.

We all looked at each other, wide eyed. Cal shrugged and picked up his tray. Dumping it, he headed out to Tank's van. The rest of us quickly followed suit.

We all climbed in, and Lester began grinning like a maniac. "Wait 'til you see what I got!" he bragged, holding up the bag.

I glared at him. "It had better not be a pair of stained boxers!"

He laughed. "Even better!"

Lester unzipped the bag and pulled out about 25 regular rolls of toilet paper and 2 restaurant-sized, gigantic rolls of toilet paper.

Bobby let out a low whistle and began rubbing his hands together mischievously. "Oh yeah!"

I gasped. "Where did you get all that?"

Lester grinned. "The supply closet was open in the men's room."

Cal looked over at me. "How many batons do you have in Carlos's car, Steph?"

I raised my eyebrows at him. "Four, why?" I questioned.

Cal grinned. "A giant roll needs a giant holder!"

I laughed and shook my head, climbing out to get my batons.

When I climbed back in, the guys were plotting where to go with the toilet paper. Lester had a piece of paper and a pen and was making an official hit list.

"Any requests for targets, Beautiful?" Lester teased.

I smirked. "Joyce Barnhardt and Dickie Orr!"

The guys laughed and nodded, and Lester added their names and addresses to the list.

It didn't surprise me at all that these guys wanted to go into the Army! They approached a simple night of toilet papering as if it were the invasion of Normandy. Bobby pulled out a map of Trenton, and Tank highlighted the approximate locations of our victims. Cal and Carlos worked out the most efficient route between targets, and Lester came up with diversionary tactics.

It was decided that I would be the getaway driver, with Connie as my navigator, for the first part of the night. That way the guys could all participate in TPing the houses they had picked. That was fine by me. As long as I got to decorate Joyce and Dickie's houses, I was good to go!

We pulled up to a stop sign a few streets over from Carlos's house, and the guys crouched down and piled out, complete with Lester giving hand signals. The only things missing were Kevlar vests, night vision goggles, and 2 way radios. The smartass in me couldn't help barking, "Go, go, go!" as they piled out. This earned me a few glares from the guys. Guess they were taking their mission objective pretty seriously!

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The guys had successfully "destroyed" their third target and piled into the van. I heard the doors close, and I took off, following Connie's directions to the next enemy stronghold.

In the back of the van, I heard Carlos start laughing hysterically and exclaim, "Babe!" The other guys joined in the snickering with Bobby calling out, "Damn, Steph!"

I flicked my eyes up to the rearview mirror. "What?" I asked snarkily. That was when I caught sight of someone running after the van. Lester. Whoops! He was yelling and running after us, a roll of toilet paper in each hand. Huge streamers of toilet paper were flowing out behind him as he waved his arms back and forth.

I snickered and pulled over to the side of the road, letting him catch up. He jumped in the van, and I took off.

"Damn, Beautiful! That was cold!" he complained.

"That was an accident, Lester! I heard all the doors close, so I took off. And by the way, you suck at extractions. You're gonna fail that part of military training!"

He glared at me. "What do you mean?"

I smirked. "Well, first you missed your extraction because you were playing around. Then, deep in enemy territory, you ran screaming like a little girl, holding your weapons up in your hands, begging for us to come back and get you. You're lucky you weren't taken out by the enemy!"

The other guys howled with laughter and slapped Lester on the back, choking out things like, "She's right man! You'd be a dead man!"

Lester just glared at me for a minute before a wicked smile spread across his face. "Oh, it's on, Beautiful!"

I groaned. "No! You're already moving my car every day! I don't need more Lester drama to deal with!"

He just grinned and rubbed his hands together.

When we finished the guys' stops, Tank hopped up front to drive. I pinned him with a glare. "If Lester orders you to leave me and you do, I'll hunt you down!"

Tank just barked out a laugh. "There's no way that Lester will ever be giving me orders, Steph! I'll always outrank him!" he assured me.

I gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Good to know!"

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When we got to Dickie's house, we crept across the front yard and aimed at the house and trees. On Lester's signal, we all wound up and tossed. I have to say, that our group could probably get hired out as professional toilet paperers! Well, except for Lula. Everyone else had aimed theirs just right so that the paper unrolled as it sailed through the air. Lula was aiming for the roof, but instead managed to wing her roll into the large picture window in the Orr's living room. Luckily it didn't break, but it did set off the house alarm.

We all started cursing and took off running for the van. Lester grabbed me around the waist and tossed me into the van before climbing up behind me. As Tank sped down the road, Les grinned at me. "See, Beautiful? No hard feelings!"

I smiled back at him warily. "Uh-huh."

He just snickered.

We pulled up to Joyce's house and Cal looked at Lula. "Maybe you should be in charge of the tree this time." He suggested.

I smothered a laugh as Lula glared at him. "What're you sayin'? You don't think I can do the house? Huh? Huh? Is it because I'm black? Or just cuz I'm a woman?"

Cal rolled his eyes at her. "It's cause you have a sucky throw, that's why!"

Lula crossed her arms over her huge chest and gave a harrumph. "Well, as long as I'm not being discriminated against."

Lester grabbed my hand, and we ran over to the tree in Joyce's front yard. "Hold this." He whispered, handing me the end of one of the jumbo rolls.

I wrinkled my brow at him. "Why am I holding the end of the roll?"

Lester gave me a wicked grin and started running in circles around the tree. It took me a minute to realize that he was tying me to the tree with toilet paper. In Joyce's front yard. Gah!

"Lester Santos!" I hissed, ripping through the paper, and chasing him around the tree.

I grabbed a handful of the paper and tossed it up in the tree.

Carlos grinned and grabbed Lester, pinning his arms down by his side. I grinned back and started wrapping him like a mummy. Lester opened his mouth to scream, and I stuck a wad of toilet paper in it. Bobby bent over at the waist, his hands on his knees and howled with laughter. Connie made a bow with the end of her roll, and we stuck it on the top of his head, dragging him up the steps to the front door.

Cal laughed as we rang the bell, leaving Lester lying on the porch, wiggling around like a snake.

The house was dark, so we knew no one was home, but Lester was still panicking. Carlos and Bobby finally took pity on him and picked him up- Carlos holding his head and Bobby holding his feet- and threw him in the van, still wrapped up.

Cal started ripping the paper off of him as Tank drove away, and Lester began spitting out clumps of wet toilet paper. As soon as his hands were free, he wiped his fingers on his tongue, trying to get it all off.

"You guys suck!" he complained as we all snickered at him.

I jumped onto Carlos's lap and leaned down to whisper in his ear. "And you wanted to ditch our friends tonight! See all of the fun we would have missed?"

He licked the shell of my ear, blowing across it gently and then leaned down to nibble my ear lobe. "I still think we would have had more fun, Babe." He said huskily.

He grinned as a shiver raced through my body.

Tank dropped us off at Carlos's car, and we headed back to my house. My dad had asked for Carlos to stay so that we could all visit, but that was earlier this week. Before they didn't make it to the Homecoming game. I wondered what had happened that had caused my parents to miss it. Was everything OK? Would they still want Carlos to visit for a little while? I sighed and scooted closer to Carlos, buckling myself in. I guessed there was only one way to find out!

TBC

If my friends from high school ever read this story, they would be able to identify about 90% of it as stuff that actually happened to us. Sorry again, Penny! I really thought you were in the car! LOL! ;)

So any thoughts on what happened to Steph's parents? Why they missed the game?