Chapter 11

Alice checked her watch as the sun began to set behind the scoreboard on the West end of the football field. The sky was illuminated with reddish hues of color setting the perfect scene for the first football game of the new school year.

“I swear I don’t know how you can stand to sit in these bleachers,” Alice scowled in Shane’s direction. “Don’t they hurt what little ass you have?”

“My ass is fine,” Shane said with her eyes focused on the football teams in front of her warming up for the game.

“It’s insane how flexible these young kids are,” Alice said as she watched the teams finish their stretching routines

“Jealous?” Shane asked smiling.

“No it just makes me hate football even more.”

“If you hate it why don’t you just watch Angie cheer when she goes to those competitions on the weekends?”

“Because I am her Earth Mother, and as such, it’s in some sort of bylaws or something that I attend all of her activities.”

“And?” Shane questioned.

“Kristen is working late.”

“And?” Shane prodded again.

“Fine,” Alice said exasperated. “I wouldn’t miss seeing this Tracy girl for the world.”

“Please,” Bette rolled her eyes as she sat down and handed Alice a cup of coffee. “Don’t make it worse then what it is.”

“Would I do that?” Alice asked innocently.

Tina sat down shaking her head and laughing as she handed Shane a cup of coffee as well.

“What time is this starting?” Bette asked Tina as she rested her hand on Tina’s thigh.

“They should be running out there in about 5 minutes.”

“Thank God we’re not late,” Helena said walking up the bleachers out of breath with Dana following close behind.

Helena placed a soft cushion beneath her and settled into a comfortable position.

“Where did you get one of those fancy things?” Alice asked stunned that she didn’t have one. “Do they sell them here?”

“No, I bought it for the field hockey tournaments Jung Li had when she played.”

“Damn,” Alice squirmed a bit more in her seat. “My ass is numb and we haven’t even started yet.”

Tina smiled as the band began to walk onto the field playing the school fight song. Close behind the band followed the cheerleaders.

Angelica was the first to make her way out to the field shaking her pom-poms enthusiastically followed by her squad. Alice stood up and howled in Angie’s direction to show her support. She pulled Shane, reluctantly, to her feet and nudged her when Shane’s enthusiasm consisted merely of just clapping.

“You need a cowbell or blow horn,” Alice pointed out to Shane as Dana and Helena stood behind them hollering for the home team. “Even Helena screams louder then you do.”

Bette and Tina were standing as well, their eyes following the pattern Angie was making on the field, her squad following close behind. Alice watched Tina’s expression hoping for a sign when Tracy appeared on the scene. When she couldn’t read Tina’s facial expressions, she knew she would have to settle for asking what she wanted to know.

“Which one is she?” Alice asked Tina.

“Who?”

“Bette’s girlfriend,” Alice teased receiving a scowl from Bette, making the comment even funnier.

“She’s two down from Angie on the right,” Tina snickered as the squad took their position on the sidelines to begin their cheering.

“She looks like trouble,” Alice mumbled back to Tina. “She looks like she belongs in college.”

“She acts like it too,” Tina added.

Angelica began calling out cheers as the squad followed her lead and joined in the practiced routines. Alice tried to imitate the choreographed hand movements, but failed miserably causing the group to laugh at her.

“If Angie sees you massacring her dance moves,” Bette said laughing, “You’re going to get a lecture.”

“And you know this how?”

“Experience,” Tina said laughing. “Bette can probably imitate, without flaw, the look Angie would shoot you.”

Alice looked over at Bette who did, indeed, do a flawless imitation of Angelica’s favorite annoyed look. Shane chuckled, struggling not to spit her hot coffee out of her mouth as she laughed.

“And the Oscar for the best portrayal of a pubescent teenager goes to…” Alice smirked in Bette’s direction.

“Elizabeth Porter!” Tina finished gently massaging Bette’s thigh inconspicuously.

“Make your acceptance speech,” Dana said laughing. “Just make sure you mention me first.”

“Not on your life,” Tina smiled at Dana. “She better thank Angelica first for the inspiration or she’ll cascade over the edge into pure anger and the talented eye roll.”

The game began and Angelica expertly led the squad through their numerous cheers, some recycled from last year, and many newly developed ones from summer vacation.

“What’s the halftime routine going to be?” Bette asked as she tensed seeing Angelica do a round-off, back handspring combination to celebrate a field goal, the first points of the game.

“You never get use to that do you?” Tina asked having felt Bette’s thigh muscle tense.

“No, Angelica flying through the air will always cause me stress.”

“Look at that Tracy,” Alice mumbled to Bette. “She just winked in your direction.”

“Oh she did not!”

“She really did,” Helena agreed. “She seems to be focused solely on you Bette.”

Tracy turned around and did a hip gyration to the beat of the drums coming also from the sideline. The drum section was lined up near the squad and playing a faster beat for them to freestyle dance to. Angelica was pleased that all the squad participated and although it wasn’t choreographed, it flowed nicely.

“Did she just shake her ass in your direction?” Tina asked shocked at Tracy’s boldness.

“She did not.”

Tracy ground her hips once more and then turned and looked over her shoulder in Bette’s direction. She had a sly smile on her face and a suggestive eyebrow arched in Bette’s direction as a challenge.

“What’s the halftime routine?” Bette asked again ignoring Tracy’s slightly flirtatious ways.

“A tribute to dance,” Tina recited what Angelica had told her this morning. “I think its all set to Janet Jackson’s music.”

“Oh she’s hot!” Alice exclaimed. “I have a ton of her music on my list.”

“What list is this?” Helena asked.

“You’ll be sorry you asked,” Dana mumbled under her breath.

“My ‘sex songs’ list,” Alice proudly announced. “She has at least 2 songs in my top 10.”

“Do I even want to know the rest?”

“No,” Shane said quickly. “The less you know the better Helena.”

The second quarter began with little chatting among the group unless Tracy made an obvious advance in Bette’s direction. When the squad knelt in respect for an injury on the field, Angelica made a point to walk to the stands and ask Tina for a Gatorade.

“How does the squad look?” Angelica asked enthusiastically.

“It looks great Honey.”

Angelica took a sip of her Gatorade and handed it back to Tina with a smile.

“Halftime is almost up. It’s going to be our longest set outside of the competition routines.”

“We can’t wait,” Tina said with a smile on her face.

The injured player was assisted off the field and the clock ticked down to only seconds left. The crowd cheered, thankful the player wasn’t seriously injured, and the game continued with a snap of the football and the quarterback running it a few yards to run the clock out. The teams ran off the field in the direction of the school to have a team meeting in their respective locker rooms. Many people rose to their feet and stretched, some began to walk to exercise their muscles and alleviate the numbness in their bodies, given the uncomfortable seating accommodations.

The group remained sitting and focused on the field. It wasn’t too long after the marching band vacated the field that they heard the unmistakable sounds of dance music.

“This is it,” Tina announced bursting with pride.

The first song was “Nasty” by Janet Jackson and the beat of the drums were accompanied by the same dance moves that Janet had done in her video before Angelica was even born. Bette smiled remembering Angelica watching a Janet Jackson DVD collection of her videos to learn the dance moves.

“I can’t believe she taught herself all of those dance moves,” Bette said proudly to Tina.

“She’s talented.”

The music easily blended into a different Janet song, changing the routine to a military style of dance. Angelica was in the front of the line “marching” in place as Janet had in the video of Rhythm Nation.

“I love this song,” Alice said with a smile. “We are a part of a Rhythm Nation…”

“God please don’t sing,” Helena begged. “You’re already foolish enough for trying to emulate the dance movements, don’t torture us further.”

“I’ve seen worse,” Shane defended Alice causing her to smile.

“Barely,” Dana added. “But worse.”

“Those in glass houses Dane,” Alice warned having made fun of Dana’s dance style for years.

When the next song began, the squad moved closer to the stands to encourage audience participation. Angelica easily got the crowd clapping to the beat of the drum as the song began. The song “So Excited” began to blare to the crowd and they all clapped along.

Angelica began her dance moves, causing Tina to scowl at the sexiness of them, coupled with what she thought was suggestive lyrics if she was making them out correctly.

“This is on my top sex songs!” Alice announced beginning to sing along. “Get me so excited, I’m hot, come on…”

Bette looked at Alice shocked at the words coming out of her mouth masking as lyrics.

“My body is in overdrive dying to have you inside me Baby,” Tracy was mouthing the words as she completed her sexual dance move adopted from Janet Jackson. Tracy glanced in Bette’s direction and then looked away as she turned around and shot the crowd, in general, a smile. “I’ll open my spot for you so anytime you want me to…”

“Did I just hear what I think I did?” Bette asked Tina who seemed to be lost in watching their daughter perform.

“What Babe?”

“The lyrics to this song…”

“That’s why it’s in my top 10,” Alice smiled seductively and wiggled her eyebrows.

“It is so not appropriate for high school kids,” Bette said causing the group to smile.

“Babe, I agree, but please don’t ruin this for Angelica,” Tina pleaded.

Tracy continued to sing along with the sexual lyrics and make eye contact occasionally with Bette. Typically, Bette looked away when Tracy would glance in her direction. It quickly became a ‘cat and mouse’ game between the two. Finally, Bette had her fill of the suggestive looks and moved closer to Tina. She ran her hand up Tina’s thigh, closer to her center, without looking away from the field.

“What are you doing?” Tina asked quietly.

“Getting annoyed.”

“Is this really how you want to deal with an innocent crush?”

“There’s nothing innocent about it,” Bette shot back. “She’s overly expressive in what she wants, which I find completely inappropriate.”

“So running your hand up my thigh and exciting me is going to do what?” Tina asked.

“Besides prepping you for tonight?” Bette smiled at Tina as her eyes began to darken.

“That’s right,” Tina smiled and dropped her voice an octave. “We have the house all to ourselves don’t we?”

“Yes we do Babe.”

“We can finish our discussion about a baby then,” Tina said quietly.

“Not exactly what I had in mind,” Bette muttered as she stopped moving her hand on Tina’s leg. “I thought we did finish discussing that.”

“I wasn’t aware that we came to any decision.”

Bette chose to simply answer through silence, no longer wishing to discuss the topic of children until she had further time to contemplate all that it would encompass.

The routine ended and the crowd cheered loudly for the effort the squad displayed in entertaining them. Bette and Tina rose to their feet and cheered loudly at their daughter’s accomplishment.

“I don’t like her,” Bette muttered to Tina regarding Tracy.

“Babe,” Tina looked in Bette’s eyes. “I can see what she sees in you. If I thought it was more then just an innocent crush, I’d be angry at her blatant attempts to get your attention knowing you’re married.”

“Just because she’s young doesn’t make her innocent. I can’t stand the way she stares at me.”

“I can’t believe you’re rattled by her,” Alice broke into their private conversation. “But you aren’t the slightest bit worried about Megan.”

“Megan?” Bette seemed shocked at the mention of her name. “What does this have to do with Megan?”

“Only that she’s more a threat then some silly high school crush.”

“She isn’t a threat. She knows I’m married.”

“The points say differently,” Alice said quietly.

“I never bought into your silly points system in the first place,” Bette said.

“I knew you were bloody mad to think Bette wanted you to devise a points system regarding Megan!”

“Helena,” Alice began. “Its fool proof and I think we can all say that we at least know where Bette stands now.”

“You didn’t need a system to see she’s attracted to Bette,” Shane said.

“I’m sure she understands where I am regarding it, given Tina’s display this morning.”

“Do you blame me?” Tina asked surprised by Bette’s comment.

“Not at all. I just didn’t know when the day started that I’d be metaphorically pissed on to mark your territory.”

“I thought it showed class and confidence,” Alice shot back.

Bette’s focus was drawn away from the discussion at hand when she saw Angelica and Tracy approaching the group and the game had finished.

“It’s over already?” Bette asked Tina.

“It looks like they won,” Tina said shrugging.

“Hey Boo,” Bette smiled at Angelica and tried her best to ignore the smile that Tracy shot in her direction. “You were amazing as always.”

“I saw you stress out at my stunts Mama B.”

“I can’t help it,” Bette said as she felt herself blush.

“You were great Angie,” Tina kissed her and handed her the rest of her Gatorade.

“Is it ok if we just leave from here to go to Tracy’s house? I have my stuff all packed and in my gym bag.”

“I suppose,” Tina agreed. “What time are we picking you up or are Tracy’s parents dropping you off?”

“I’ll call in the morning, but it won’t be too early.”

As the group gathered their things and shared a few words with Angelica, her other friends joined them and received praise for a job well done. Cathy stood next to Shane and made it obvious she wasn’t happy with having Tracy join their group. At one point, Dana thought she saw Renee giving Tracy a dirty look that went unnoticed by the recipient who was lost staring into Bette’s eyes.

“Did you like the halftime show Bette?” Tracy pushed.

Bette stared at her, with a less then pleased look on her face, but before she could answer Tina broke in and diplomatically defused the situation.

“We thought it was amazing,” Tina held onto Bette’s hand tight. “I’ve always loved Janet’s songs and to see her incredible dance moves in your routine made my day.”

“Thanks Mom,” Tracy said causing Alice to laugh.

“I didn’t know you had more the one child Tina.”

“I don’t Alice,” Tina answered pointedly.

“OK, we’re all going to go,” Angelica signaled her friends it was time to leave. They seemed reluctant to follow her to Tracy’s house. Helena fought to push a feeling of dread down in her stomach.

“Cathy,” Helena reached out and stopped the last of Angelica’s older friends before she walked off. “Is everything ok?”

“I suppose Miss Helena,” Cathy answered as she hung her head low following the group.

“What was up with that?” Shane asked.

“You saw it too?” Dana added.

“It’s like they don’t want to go to Tracy’s house,” Helena said.

“I’m sure it’s just a bonding thing, not wanting someone new on the squad.”

“I can’t say I blame them Tina,” Bette said. “She made me feel like crawling out of my skin.”

“She has impeccable taste in beautiful women,” Tina shot back.

“She’s in high school and as far as I know not a lesbian.”

“Don’t forget it’s creepy that Bette is her friend’s mom,” Alice said shaking the image out of her head. “I have to side with Bette on this one, even though it means I can’t tease her about the crush. It doesn’t seem too innocent to me.”

“Did you devise a point scale to test your theory?” Tina asked sarcastically.

“You’ll wish I had,” Alice said holding her own. “Are we all going to The Planet for a drink since you’ve been sprung of mommy duty?”

“No,” Tina grabbed Bette’s hand once more. “We’re going to head home and have some quality time.”

Bette and Tina said their goodbyes before beginning to walk down the bleachers. Neither of them looked back when they heard Alice calling to them.

“If you want my list of top 10 songs call me!”

Angelica arrived at Tracy’s house with the rest of the squad and a majority of the football team. She was holding hands throughout the ride to Tracy’s house with Darren, who was eager to begin the party. He walked in and immediately went to the bar area and stood behind the bar opening bottles.

“Can we have what we want Tracy?” Darren asked.

“Anything,” Tracy smiled. “I have someone that will buy me more to restock it.”

“I’ll have to thank that person personally,” Darren said smiling. “Lemon drops for anyone?”

A few people crowded the bar, but Angelica and her older friends stayed back. It wasn’t until Darren called Angelica up to the bar that she reluctantly went. He thrust a shot glass in her hand and tapped his against hers with a smile on his face.

“To us Angie.”

Darren wasted no time in throwing his shot back while Cathy and Renee watched in horror as Angelica tried to do the same.

“Want a cigarette Angie?” Tracy asked, lighting one for herself.

Angelica shook her head no as she coughed from the powerful shot she had just consumed.

“How about another round?” Darren yelled over the blaring music as the crowd cheered. He, once again, thrust a lemon drop in Angelica’s hand and she drank it making a sour face.

“Ugh that’s awful,” Angelica said as the room began to spin slightly.

“Have a beer to chase it down,” Tracy handed Angelica a cold beer and opened one herself.

“This can’t be good,” Cathy muttered to Renee. “What are we even doing here?”

“Besides not fitting in?”

“Exactly.”

“We’re babysitting Angelica,” Renee said in anger.

Angelica quickly polished off her beer and asked for another one.

“I like beer much better,” Angelica said slightly slurring her words.

“Did she even eat before she got here?” Renee asked.

“Even if she did, she’s never drank before so she’s got to be feeling that.”

“God this is going to be bad news,” Renee said as she watched the horrible scene unfold before her eyes. “Should we stop her?”

“She won’t listen to us,” Cathy said. “Unfortunately, Angie has a way of ignoring what she doesn’t want to hear and having to learn lessons on her own.”

Angelica started to struggle with standing still, her body swaying as the music became louder and her head began to spin at an alarming rate.

“Ugh,” Angelica threw back a lemon drop easily causing Cathy to be even more concerned. “I have to go to the bathroom.”

Angelica stumbled on her way, but eventually made it into the bathroom and sat down on the floor. She laid her arms on the toilet seat and rested her head on her forearms. After a few minutes of standing there hearing Darren talk to the group around the bar about taking Angelica upstairs, Cathy and Renee went on a search for their friend.

“Angie?” Cathy knocked on the door quietly not wanting to embarrass their friend. “Are you ok?”

“Help,” Angelica choked out as she felt the saliva in her mouth increase exponentially. She spit it into the toilet and waited for the inevitable to happen, her being sick to dispel the alcohol in her stomach.

Cathy and Renee opened the door and quickly closed it seeing the state Angelica was currently in.

“I knew we should have stopped her,” Renee said.

“She wouldn’t listen anyway.”

Cathy wet a washcloth and held it to Angelica’s forehead until it became evident she was going to be sick. They backed up, while still rubbing her back, so that Angelica could have room to vomit.

“Oh no,” Cathy saw the liquid coming out and even hearing Angelica throwing up made her own stomach turn. “We have to get her out of here if we don’t want her to be embarrassed.”

“How?”

“Call someone with a car,” Cathy suggested shrugging her shoulders. “My sister’s out and I don’t want to get busted for being here. I say we call her moms.”

“Oh I’m not making that call,” Renee said fishing Angelica’s cell phone out of her back pocket and handing it to Cathy. “You’ve known them longer.”

“There’s no way I’m calling,” Cathy pushed the phone back. “I might consider it if we knew for sure her Mom would answer and not Mama B, but there’s no way I’m taking that chance.”

“We can call one of her aunts?”

“Good idea!” Cathy grabbed the phone and began to scroll down in her phone book. “Shane would be the best one to call.”

“Agreed,” Renee held Angelica’s hair back as she once again got sick and rested her head on the toilet seat cover.

Cathy hit the call button once she selected Shane’s number and frowned when the call was dumped immediately to voice mail. She hung up and shrugged her shoulders.

“Next one?”

“What happened?”

“I got voice mail,” Cathy explained. “Which one should I call next?”

“Alice?”

“No she’ll blab and I don’t want Angie to get in trouble.”

“It’s a little late for that,” Renee pointed out as Angelica threw up once more. “What about Helena?”

“No because she stopped me after the game and I didn’t tell her what was going on when she hinted that something might be wrong. I feel like I lied to her.”

“That leaves Dana or Kristen.”

“Kristen is with Alice,” Cathy pointed out. “That leaves Dana.”

Dana jumped when her phone rang distracting her from her horror movie. After one drink at The Planet, everyone managed to go their separate ways and Dana was happy to oblige given her recent movie rental that she had been looking forward to watching. She paused the movie and frowned at the name scrolling across her screen.

“Angelica?” Dana answered puzzled at why her niece would be calling her late at night.

“Um,” Cathy stuttered. “Miss Dana?”

“Cathy?”

“Yeah it’s me,” Cathy looked frightened. She looked at Renee with huge eyes as Renee kept offering her support and urging her to continue.

“What’s going on Honey?”

“Um, promise you won’t be mad?”

“I can try,” Dana said hesitantly. “What is the matter Cathy?”

“It’s Angelica,” Cathy said. “Tracy threw a party and Angie…well…”

“Well what? Is she ok?”

“She had too much to drink,” Cathy said quickly, as if ripping off a bandage instead of easing it off to avoid plucking out hair. “She’s sick and we’re in the bathroom.”

“Drink as in alcohol?”

“We’re afraid to call her moms,” Cathy explained. “But she needs help.”

“I’m afraid to call her moms,” Dana mumbled in agreement as she hunted for her shoes. “Where does Tracy live?”

Cathy explained where Tracy lived by giving directions from the high school. She cringed, but felt she needed to ask the next question to prepare.

“Are you coming or sending her moms?”

“Why?”

“Because if you’re sending her moms I wouldn’t want to be here when they get here,” Cathy said seriously touching Dana’s heart.

“I wouldn’t do that to you,” Dana chuckled. “Not when I don’t want to face them either. Hang with her in the bathroom and I’ll be there in about 10 minutes.”

“Thanks Miss Dana,” Cathy shut the phone and leaned down to talk in Angelica’s ear. “Your Aunt Dana is on her way to come help.”

“I don’t feel so good,” Angelica’s body began to shake as she experienced her first dry heave of the evening. Cathy thought it was a good sign that the alcohol seemed to be out of her stomach and flushed away for now.

“I can only imagine how badly you’ll feel when your moms find out,” Cathy muttered feeling dread creep into her own stomach. “Now we just need to wait for Dana.”