A/N: I've been writing roughly one chapter a night for the last few nights, and I would have posted them, but frankly, posting was getting to be a bother. So I decided to wait until I had a proper offering. Now I do: four chapters, just for my fans.

Mr Spalding - Jim- as Jenny had to remind herself frequently, met Jenny with a reserved hug, then stepped back to judge her reaction. When she gave him a small smile, as if to say, 'yes, I did mean this as a date,' he smiled broadly at her and led her to a stool at the counter.

"I hope this is OK?" he said, gesturing toward the stools as they sat down, "I've always loved to sit at the counter." In explanation, he wiggled his butt and did a little spin, coming around to face her with a rather boyish grin on his face.

Jenny laughed, delighted. This was exactly why she had chosen to ask him on her first date. At 35, he had been a teacher at Crunchem Hall for shortly longer than she had. The kids all liked him, for his sense of humor and because he was known to be relaxed, even lenient about missed assignments. He taught 5th and 6th grade math.

She also knew that he had a good heart in him. He'd done his best, which was not quite enough, but his honest best to protect his charges from The Trunchbull's worst rages. He'd have done more, except as a nontenured teacher he'd feared for his job. They all did. The Trunchbull had always been careful to dismiss or transfer teachers right before they reached tenure. The students had suffered the affects of this in constantly being subjected to new untried teachers as a result. And, of course these untried teachers dropped out at an alarming rate, sometimes halfway through the school year, under the duel strain of The Trunchbull and the children who mercilessly teased and pranked the new teachers, having no other way to work out their frustrations against an unfair system.

The other reason she had chosen him was because he had long ago made clear his longstanding attraction to her.

Miss Honey's response to the attention he paid her had been to flush and end the conversation as soon as possible, so he'd eventually stopped pressing, to the point that he never did any more. So it had been a gamble when Jenny had called him out of the blue just now.

But now she was glad she had.

Jim, knowing that the beautiful woman beside him was skittish for some reason, did his best to be both his most charming and nonthreatening self. He did not know where Jenny had found the gumption to call him (although he had noticed that she was attractively gaining more confidence every year) and now he wasn't going to ruin this chance for anything.

Buoyed by the success he had had in making her smile during lunch he asked her if she would like to go out for dinner with him the next day, a Friday. To his pleasure, she'd agreed. He nearly suggested she bring dancing shoes, but decided not to push his luck. He would pick her up at 6 and they'd go out to his favorite Italian Restaurant, one she had never been to.

Jenny had returned home quite pleased and still a little flushed from laughing so hard. She was in such good spirits that she spent the rest of the afternoon with Matilda and Shauna as they watched TV and later played cards.

For her part, Matilda was so overjoyed to see Jenny acting naturally around her that she refrained from taunting her. And so the day went by pleasantly for all.

The next day it looked like life in the Honey/Wormwood household was approaching some semblance of normal again. That is, until Miss Honey, ever so casually on the way to her shower, told Matilda that she would have to fend for herself when it came to dinner tonight.

"Why?" Matilda asked. Jenny loved to cook.

"I'm going out tonight," said Jenny. She refused to feel guilty for the alarmed expression on Matilda's face.

"Out? Like on a date?"

"Yes...." Jenny said, as if this was an entirely normal occurrence.

"With whom?" Matilda asked.

Jenny felt that Matilda had no right to use that suspicious tone of voice.

"With Mr. Spalding - Jim, I mean, from school."

"Mr. Spalding."

"He's a very nice man," Jenny said, defensive and irritated that she should feel that way.

"I see," said Matilda, her tone breezy, "He's nice and he's a man. Those are terrific reasons to date someone."

"He's also got a fine sense of humor and you have no right or reason to question me," Jenny snapped. Her good mood was falling to tatters.

Matilda opened her mouth as if to speak, closed it, scowled and went into her room, shutting the door behind her.

It's for the best Jenny thought, and willed herself to believe.

This time, her dress was light blue and had very thin straps indeed. Although she tried to avoid her, Matilda caught sight of her about 10 minutes till 6 in the kitchen. All the cabinet doors in the room flapped restlessly. Jenny pulled her light jacket on self consciously.

"So, what time will you be home?" Matilda finally asked, looking down at the floor. She sounded really miserable, and yet again Jenny pushed feelings of guilt away.

"Why do you need to know?" Her tone was much harsher that she had meant it to be.

"So I know when to call the cops," Matilda answered, reacting to that harshness. "After 10? After 12? Or should I expect you home at all?"

"I wouldn't go home with him on a second date!" Jenny said, extremely offended.

"Jim would."

"Jim is a gentleman!"

"Jim is a man."

"Yes, and you are a 15 year old girl with a crush, so you have no right to act like this."

Matilda gave her a pained look and Jenny knew she had gone to far. Or perhaps this was exactly where she should go. "Whether I come home or not is none of your business. And quit acting as if it is. I'm going to go out on my date, and when I get home, whenever I get home, I don't want you scowling at me, or slamming cabinet doors around me, or questioning me at all."

"Well, fuck if I care if you get raped then," Matilda spat angrily, then turned and ran up the stars to her room.

And Jenny felt bad, really and honestly bad. She knew the girl was worried about her, but she was jealous too, and so turned around by both emotions that she couldn't be expected to have an unbiased reaction. Jenny crept up the stars and knocked on Matilda's door.

"I don't care!" Matilda called through it.

"I'll be home before 10," Jenny said, loud enough to be heard.

Matilda went to the door, wrenched it open, yelled "I don't care!" as loud as she could, and slammed the door in Jenny's face.

Into that loud silence, the doorbell rang.

A/N: Angst, thy name is Teenager. Matilda is acting like a spoiled little brat, isn't she? But then, Jenny couldn't have handled it worse if she had tried. I bet you all want Jenny's date to go horribly, right? Mr. Spalding's nice guy act has got to be just that, an act, right? Well, that would be telling.