Alice grabbed her bottle of beer almost instantly and chugged it down.

Shane raised her eyebrow, “Al?”

“Here she is. I’ll see you guys a little later, okay?” Dana walked toward where Lara was standing, but turned around halfway to mouth, “I can handle this.”

“Wow. Would you like at that! Who knew? So that’s why she’s talking to Paps now.” Shane gave Alice a taste of her own medicine – a minor foot-kick from under the table. She chuckled.

“Aw, shove it up your ass, Shane. You seem to enjoy this a hell lot. And don’t tell me to fucking lighten up.”

“Uh, lighten up…?” Shane was horsing around with Alice now, getting back at her for what happened during lunch.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have told you. Maybe I should have just talked to Bette and Tina about this. Where the fuck are they? I’m fucking pissed Shane. I mean, we walked into the Planet together and now, she’s sweet-talking that Lara just a few meters away from me. Christ.”

“Wasn’t my fault if you didn’t make any move…” Shane began. “I don’t know where Bette and Tina are. They should arrive any time soon.”

Three girls have approached Shane that night to ask her to dance and it wasn’t even 8 in the evening yet. She turned all of them down, and she didn’t really understand how she turned into a complete statue. She wasn’t too sluggish to move – practice had not even started that week anyway.

When Carmen came into view, she realized why. Shane was waiting for her. There was undeniably this unspoken attraction she held for her, and yet she wasn’t at all ready to come up to her and get to know her a little better. It was as if her identity was suspended in air and she couldn’t jump high enough to get it back down so she could be herself, the usual Shane McCutcheon.

In normal days, Shane would have grabbed the opportunity to take Carmen out on a date, make out, and end up in bed (or couch, or kitchen sink, or bath tub, or carpeted floor – practically anywhere inside a house, or even outside, in a more public place where anyone can catch or peep at them). But during the last few days, she couldn’t find the energy to even strike a better conversation with this new girl.