Young At Heart
Part One
By Carolina
super_carolina1@yahoo.com

Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me, I think you probably know that by now. Upon the success of 'Five, Six, Pick Up Sticks' I decided to write a continuation of what it would be like if the kids were in high school. All the characters in this story are around 16 years old, except Romano, who is a couple of years older. The story takes place probably around the 80's, those of you who were old enough to grow up in them probably do what I do, yup, hide all the pictures. And here it is. Hope you like it



First, let's see what our kids have been up to:

At 16 years old, Kerry Weaver had already so much leadership experience, she could probably run the American Army. The incompetence and lack of candidates from the older students at the school had given her the opportunity to be the President of the student government, of the National Honor Society, member of the American Medical Student Association, founder of the science, math and health clubs. She also organized dances, benefits, money raisers, and still had time to volunteer a couple of hours at the local hospital. Experienced as though she was in school, she was definitely not prepared when one night, while working late with John for a Cake Sale, he leaned over and gave her first kiss. The day preceding the incident she swore off men when she discovered he only did it to win a bet.

John Carter, Dave Malucci, Peter Benton, and Mark Greene had somewhat been able to maintain their friendship alive, although now instead of Super Man and Shaft, their interests had shifted towards cars and girls.

Peter and Cleo continued being good friends, and the first couple on the class. Cleo was the captain of the girls basketball team, and she had single handedly guided them to many state championships.

Mark continued his head over heels crush with Elizabeth. They weren't a couple, but Lizzie enjoyed seeing Mark melt in front of her and over time, she admitted to Kerry that she liked Mark too, although she never let him know that. Mark had punched Peter in the face when he found out he had kissed Elizabeth once. Lizzie was still Kerry's best friend and confidant, and still an A student.

If there was a definition in the dictionary for 'player', there would be a picture of Dave Malucci next to it. He began dating at 12, when he asked an older girl to go out to the movies. Him and Jing Mei had probably the weirdest relationship of all, breaking up and getting back together almost every week. None had feelings for the other, but Jing Mei still had a way of controlling Dave like a robot. Neither Dave nor Jing Mei were interested in school or involved in any activities, and both were little rebels.

John was the only one of the boys who didn't have a what could be called girlfriend or a crush. After Kerry found out about the bet, he apologized like a gentleman, but she poured a glass of soda over his head. After the incident, he kissed Abby behind the gym, this time for a completely different reason. It was around those days when John had a crush on Abby, and Abby had a crush on John. But after being a couple for a few months, their cravings were satisfied, as often happens with young love, and they went back to being friends. John was the vice-president of the student government and a member of the National Honor Society.

Luka and Abby had been best friends since the day he gave her that hair pin, which she still carried around. But as hormones began to kick in, at the age of 12, they both agreed to be each other's first kiss, mostly because they both wanted to know what if felt like to kiss someone. After feeding their curiosity, they decided to just be friends, and they were inseparable. If someone wanted to pull a prank on Abby, they had to go through Luka first. And Abby always made sure the girls Luka was dating were good enough for him. So unlike the rest of the cast, their friendship was...well, friendship.

Robert Romano had failed 6th and 7th grade. So at the age of 18, he was in the same grade as the rest. His flirting technique had caused him a couple of trips to the principal's office. He made up for the lack of charm with annoyance.



"I cannot believe old Bassett is making me stay after school, what a nimrod" said Jing Mei as she looked herself in the mirror and finished applying the rest of her make up.

"Well, you did tell him to shove his History lesson where the sun don't shine" Cleo added matter of factly as she came out of a bathroom stall and washed her hands

Jing Mei looked at her a scoffed "Since when are you standing up for the teachers?"

"I'm not" Cleo said defensive "I'm just looking at it through a different angle"

"Whatever" Jing Mei turned to leave the bathroom "Just because he said 'I expect to see you after class' doesn't necessarily means I have to be there" she said slyly

"You're skipping detention?" Cleo said in amazement.

"Dave got a car, we're going for a test ride" she said as she left the bathroom.

"Malucci? A Car? Oh brother" Cleo left the room and caught up with Jing Mei "I don't know what you see in Dave. You know John has a car. A very nice car. One he probably won't end up using to deliver pizzas for the rest of his life."

Jing Mei decided to ignore her athletic friend and kept walking down the hall, passing Kerry and Elizabeth on the way "So I thought that this year for the prom, instead of making it a theme dance, we can just have a normal dance. That way everyone can wear what they want. What do you think?" Kerry turned to Elizabeth

"Right. Isn't this something you should be discussing with the student council?" Elizabeth fixed her hair and looked at her reflection in the mirror hanging from her locker

"Well, I just came up with it and I wanted to see what the common man thought" she said excited

"Kerry, you are the president, whatever you say, goes" Liz adored Kerry, but sometimes her lack of confidence drover her crazy. "You know, you have to be more aggressive. You're an authoritative figure, people are supposed to fear you as you walk by. Use your brace, smash it against the walls and lockers once or twice. After you go crazy a couple of times I assure you, everyone will respect you" Liz closed her locker and walked away.

Kerry looked at her friend and walked to the opposite direction, whispering to herself "Be more aggressive, be more aggressive..."

At the same time, Mark Greene stepped out of the men's bathroom wearing his tight jeans, a Star Wars t-shirt, and his geeky glasses. With his books on one arm and his back pack on the other. He looked around to see if Elizabeth was near, when he didn't see her, he walked to Dave, John and Peter, who were hanging out in front of their lockers. "Hey guys" he waved to his friends.

"Whoa" said Dave as he fixed his new 'Menudo' hair cut and tried to get some air into his snug jeans.

"What?" Mark looked concerned

"Look at the size of that pimple" Dave pointed to Mark's face

"Nooo!" Mark dropped his books and ran back into the bathroom. The others just laughed.

"When did Mark became so gullible?" Dave said in his new manly voice.

"Since that time when you gave him a mega wedgie and pushed him into the girls changing room in the gym?" John said sarcastically.

"Oh yeah, I still have the pictures." Dave laughed.

"You're such a child." Peter said to Dave before he noticed Cleo and walked over to her. Dave and John looked at them as they held hands and walked down the hallway.

"Those two make me wanna puke" Dave said as he opened his locker.

"They're pretty serious about each other." John observed.

Dave closed his locker and gave John a funny look. "Do you think they've... you know" he raised his eyebrows.

"Is that all you think about Dave?" John shook his head.

"Day and night!" He looked at John, "Oh come on. Don't tell me you don't think about sex too."

"As much as the next guy. But I don't have to talk about it every 5 minutes."

"So you haven't done it." Dave assumed.

"Nope." John began to walk to his classroom.

"Not even with Abby?" Dave followed him.

"Nope." John said. Dave gave him a look. "Oh, and you have," John said sarcastically.

"Hell yeah." he lied.

John stopped him, "Oh yeah, with whom?"

"You don't know her," he began to walk again.

"You're full of shit Malucci." John followed him down the hall.

The cheerleaders were practicing their cheers on the football and track fields while the football coach went over the last game with his team. On the bleachers next to the tracks sat Abby, who was concentrated on her Math book, and Luka, who was watching the cheerleaders jump up and down.

"So, what did you get for number 27?" Abby asked Luka without looking up from her notebook. When she didn't get a response, she raised her head "Luka," He still stared into the field "LUKA!"

He jumped up and turned to her. "Yeah. What?"

"I said, what did you get for number 27." She spoke louder.

"Oh," He looked at his notebook. "Um, 495" He seemed to be out of his trance now. After all these years in the states, Luka still had that accent which drove all the girls crazy.

"Thanks," She wrote down the answer and gave him a weird look. "What were you looking at?"

"Um, nothing." He tried to change the subject "Listen, do you wanna get some pizza after school?"

"I can't. I have track today, remember?" She said

"It's not Wednesday." He replied

"Yeah but the coach says that with the summer coming up we have to 'run, run, run'" She mocked her coach.

Luka laughed "Ok, well, I'm going to Spanish now, cya later." He stood up and threw his back pack over his shoulder.

"Bye." said Abby. She looked at him walk away and then at the field, trying to figure out what he was staring at. Suddenly the head cheerleader was thrown into the air landing in a perfect split, at that moment Luka lost his balance and fell down. When she realized what was going on, Abby rolled her eyes, gave the cheerleaders a look, and went back to her homework.

"Lizzie," a voice was heard as Elizabeth sat down before the Math lesson began.

Without turning around she said, "What do you want Robert?" with an annoyed expression in her face.

"I was just wondering if you have a date for the prom." he said in his red mini afro.

"Not that it's any of your business, but yes." Truth being no one had asked her yet, but this being Romano, she had to do what every other girl would do, lie.

"Oh. Well that is a shame isn't it." he gave her that look she so hated.

"Because otherwise you'd ask me?" she said in a tone of absurdity.

He laughed nervously, "Don't flatter yourself Liz"

She turned around so that he could receive her entire attention, "Listen Robert, if you want to go out with a lady, why don't you ask them nicely? No sexual harassment tone, and no threatening looks. They say you can catch more flies with sugar than you can with vinegar"

"This is the way my dad got to marry my mom, thank you very much." He opened his notebook.

"Uh huh. Doesn't your mom have a restraining order against your dad?" She smiled, he just rolled his eyes. "Besides I know someone from our class who thinks you're...not...that...bad"

"Who?" he got excited. This was a vulnerability he only showed Liz.

"Brenda" She smiled.

"The fat girl?" He gave her a disgusting look.

"She's not fat, she's big boned. And she happens to be very nice"

"Well, I'm gonna need a lot more than sugar to keep up with her, if you know what I mean" he gave her a wink.

"You're such a pig." She turned around as Mark sat next to her.

"Hi Elizabeth" He said, his silver braces shinning against the light of the room.

"Hi Mark" She always said it in the same sweet tone.

Mark looked at her nervously and then down at his notebook, then at her. "Um, I was wondering...if..." His hands were sweating, his voice squeaky.

"If what?" she asked.

"If..." He had a terrified expression in his face.

"If you'd like to go to the prom with him." Dave said after he walked in and sat in front of Mark.

"Dave!" Mark turned red.

Elizabeth smiled "I'd love to go with you Mark."

"Hey!" Romano shouted from the back. Mark gave him a victorious look, Robert an 'I'll kill you' one.

"Good Evening class" a partially bald teacher walked in with the rest of the class in tow. Mr. Chadwick was the most gullible and innocent teacher in the school, fresh meat for a teenager. "Yesterday we talked about the Pythagorean Theorem; today we are having a pop quiz" Everyone moaned as he began to pass some papers around.

Jing Mei stood up. "Excuse me, Mr. Chadwick?"

"Yes Miss Chen?" he turned to face her.

"Actually, I need to be excused because today we celebrate an Asian holiday" she said sneakily

"Really? Which one?" He asked intrigued.

"Um" She thought for a moment, "Six months into the Chinese Year?" she giggled, "Gotta get those fireworks loading."

"Oh, ok. You're excused to leave Miss Chen" Everyone looked around in disbelief "You too Xiang Pei" Another Asian student got up and left the room. "Ok, now. You have 15 minutes to complete these, after that we'll go through it together" He sat on his chair and at the same time, Jing Mei walked back in "Did you forget something Miss Chen?"

"I just saw Principal Stewart in the hallway, he wants me to make an announcement" she lied

"Oh, do tell" he smiled

She cleaned her throat "The water polo team, please report to the pool. Water polo team, to the pool" Everyone in the class, except for Kerry and Mark, followed her out the door while giggling between themselves.

The teacher looked at Kerry "I didn't know we had a pool" She rolled her eyes and began to work on her Quiz.

Luka caught up with Abby, who was walking towards the fields. "Hey Abby"

She turned around to see who it was and then started walking forward again. "Hey" she said in a monotone voice.

"Where are you going?" He said, but she gave him a 'duh' look and pointed to the fields. He tried to think of something to say, "Are you mad at me?"

She turned around and stopped him. "Why do you think that?"

"I don't know. I mean it's not your time of the month," she gave him a disgusting look, "you didn't fail any tests, and you didn't have another fight with your dad. So I thought maybe I did something to make you cranky?"

"Cranky?"

"I heard it from Dave" He looked down, "So you're not mad?"

"No" She said rather quickly. One of the cheerleaders walked pass them and gave Luka a sexy look, he smiled. Abby looked at the girl and then at Luka. "Do you think I should get a perm?"

After he came down from cloud nine, he looked at her. "A what?"

"A perm, for my hair?" She showed him a lock of her hair.

"I like your hair the way it is. Besides, I heard that perms damage your hair and then you can never have it back the way it was." He said.

"Oh, that's an old wives tale. Besides, they look so cool"

He looked at her again, "Nah, don't do it."

She grew thoughtful, "What if I dye my hair, like Madonna's?"

"That's just stupid" The head cheerleader walked by, "I have to go now, I'll call you later"

Abby rolled her eyes "That's just stupid" she said in her best Croatian accent and walked away.

"Hey Peter, wait up" Carter chased after his friend.

"What's up?" Peter turned around

"Hey, wanna have dinner at my house tonight?" He tried to keep his books from falling out of his hands

Peter knew him too well "Your parents are in town" he nodded

"Yeah" John dropped his head

"Sorry man, I got a job" he began to walk away.

John followed him out of the school, "Really? Doing what?"

"Some fast food restaurant" He knew John would never make fun of him, he looked outside "I gotta go, good luck" And he walked away.

"Damn" John muttered as he began to walk back into the school. Jing Mei and Cleo were waiting outside for Dave to show up with his infamous car. They heard a loud thunder and looked up to the sky, expecting to see some rain clouds, there was a blue sky instead. They heard the thunder again, and this time an old car pulled up in front of them.

Cleo began to laugh hysterically "Oh my God!"

Dave walked out of the junk car and stood in front of it, "So, what do you think?" he opened his arms.

"THIS is your car?" Jing Mei stared at the olive green car in disbelief. She walked closer and read a print on the back of it, "Fat Lady?"

"That's right, she's my Fat Lady" Dave gave the car a small kick, the automobile coughed.

"Oh, this is too good" Cleo said, still laughing.

Dave put his arms around Jing Mei's waist "Come on babe, let's go for a ride"

"Forget it Malucci. Let's go Cleo." She untangled his arms from her body and began to walk away.

Dave chased after her "Hey, hey, what's wrong?"

She turned around abruptly "You expect people to see me in that piece of junk? You promised me it was gonna be a nice car"

He opened his arms "What did you expect from me!?"

"Ughh!" She walked away

Dave mocked her in his best feminine voice "I don't wanna be seen in your car, Malucci", then went back to his normal voice "Chicks." He walked over to his new old car and looked at himself in the side mirror, fixed his hair and winked at his own image. A couple of girls walked by and he leaned his body on the opened door "Hey ladies" the door gave in and he fell down with it. The girls giggled and walked away.

John Carter sat on the bleachers next to the school field. The football team was practicing as well as the track runners. He spotted Abby from his seat and waved hello. She looked around and ran out of her track, grabbed a bottle of water and went up to seat next to him, gasping for air. "Hey John"

"Hey" he handed her a towel that was sitting next to him

"Thanks. What are you doing here" She said while fixing her pony tail and tugging her sleeves under her pits.

"Nothing, just thought I'd hang out after school" he looked into the field

"Right" she looked at him "Your parents came home, didn't they?"

"Yup" He smiled "Hey, who's that girl" he pointed out to one of the runners. He'd had had his eye on her for a while.

"Vanessa Banks? Forget it, she has a boyfriend" she took a sip from her water.

"Damn" he whispered

Abby looked at the girl he was looking at, blonde, tall, probably a C cup, she was gorgeous. She turned around to face John "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Shoot" he said without looking at her.

"Why did you go out with me?" She asked without a hint of shame.

He looked at her "What do you mean? I liked you a lot" He said simply

"Yeah, but, what exactly did you like about me" She played with her fingers

He looked around and turned in his seat to face her "Well," he collected his thoughts "You're... very nice, and smart, and fun to be with..." By the look on her face he knew that was not the answer she wanted to hear "Why are you asking me this again?"

"Never mind" She looked down.

"Miss Lockhart, when we're sitting down, we're not running" A man called from the field.

She rolled her eyes and stood up "I gotta go"

"Wait! Let me drive you home!" he called out.

"I'm running home" She said while going down the steps

"Have dinner with us tonight!" he shouted in desperation.

"Sorry John, you're on your own" She began to run again. He muttered a couple of cuz words, and forced his body to walk out of the school.

Kerry and Elizabeth were walking home when a car drove by and hunk loudly at them. "Damn Malucci" Elizabeth muttered and then turned to Kerry "So, do you have a date for the prom yet?"

"No" Kerry said in disappointment

"Why don't you ask one of the guys" Liz said excited.

"Oh, no. No way" She got a terrified expression on her face.

"Come on. I know you like John Carter" she teased.

"John Carter is a jerk" Kerry said, remembering the one he had pulled on her not long ago, and the reason why she swore she would only date potential husband candidates.

"Oh come on Kerry, that was two years ago" Liz tried to give Carter some credit.

"He ruined my first kiss!!" she cried

"Ok, fine" Liz gave up. "What about Luka Kovac?"

"I heard from Cleo, who heard from Melanie, who heard from Angie that he's planning to ask the head cheerleader."

"Wouldn't it be easier to ask Abby who he's asking?"

Kerry moaned "Besides, I'm the one organizing the dance, and I'm gonna be too busy stressing myself over the most insignificant details to actually enjoy the night" He looked over her plans on a notebook once more and then at Liz again "Do you have a date?"

"Yes" Liz walked while looking forward, a reddish hue formed in her cheeks "Mark asked me"

"Oooh" Kerry said in a weird tone.

"Oh spill it Kerry, I know you think he's a dork" Lizzie said.

"Well, he wouldn't be that bad if he combed that hair every once in a while" She said matter-of-factly as they walked into Kerry's house.

John Carter was driving down the street when he saw something which made him take a second look. Dave Malucci was pushing his car down the street, the side door resting on top of the car. John parked in front of him and got out of his. "Hey Dave, need some help?" he said in a mocking tone.

"My fat lady is upset" he said while massaging the trunk of his car, no hint of anger on his voice.

"Well, maybe she has PMS" John laughed.

"Ha ha, you must think this is pretty funny."

"Come on I'll give you a ride." Dave tried to put the door back on the car to lock it. "Dave, no one in their right mind would steal that car" John said with his hands on his hips.

"OK fine, but If we come back and my Fat Lady's not here, you're paying for it" he threatened

"Yeah, I'm sure my parents can lend me 200 dollars to get an exact replica." John opened the door to his new car and they both got in.

"By the way, if you tell anyone about this I'm gonna tell Peter you stole Cleo's bra while they were making out behind the gym"

"Actually Dave, that was you" John looked over to his friend.

They were in silence for a while before Dave noticed the road John had taken and began to protest "Hey, we're not going to my house, where are you taking me?!"

"We're having dinner with my parents" he said in a calmed voice

"What? No way, man, take me back" Dave tried to find a way out.

"Come on Dave, you owe me from rescuing you. And hey, I bet they'll let you drink some wine." Bribery was his best quality.

"Fine, whatever." A song came into the radio and Dave turned up the volume, the car began to shake. "Oh Yeah" He began to sing, "Slow Ride!" and move his head violently back and forth "Take it easy!" John just shook his head.

Cleo and Jing Mei walked down the street, a little girl skipped past them. "I swear to God If I see one more of those Punky Brewster shoes I'm gonna freak out" Jing Mei said.

"Oh, come on. They're cute" Cleo said.

Jing Mei shuffled her hair and kept walking. "I can't believe that stupid Dave, showing up in a car like that"

"Well, he was right. What can you expect from Dave" She deviated the subject a little "Are you guys going to the prom together?"

"After today, I don't think so"

"Since when did you became such a shallow rebel?"

"Well it just seems like ALL of you are either nerds or A students. Someone has to be the bad guy. And of course, everything is rubbed off on me" She ran away.

Abby came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, soaked from head to toes, and humming "Wake me up, before you go-go." She closed the door to her room and walked in front of her mirror, letting the towel fall down to her waist. The reflection staring back at her made her moan in desperation. Almost 17 and she was still wearing a 32 A bra. Hidden on her desk drawer were a couple of those silly magazines which gave tips to women on how to please their men in bed, how to turn 30 at 40, and the one Abby was interested in: "How to go from A to C in 5 minutes." Nothing had worked. So she had to rely on good old tissue paper. Sure she was skinny, but that's not what guys are interested in. Not at her school anyway. Oh how she wished she had Cleo Finch's body, or even Elizabeth Corday's. Her thoughts were interrupted by someone trying to open the door.

"Dad!" She covered herself up with the towel again and pulled the door with her body. "I told you to knock first!"

"Sorry honey" He said from the other side "Dinner's ready"

"I'll be right there" Abby yelled out. If he would fix her lock she wouldn't have to rely on a chair to get some privacy. Not that there was much of her to see anyway.

Dave Malucci sat on the floor of John's room, in front of the television while his host paced back and forth between his bed and the desk. "I'm telling you man, they'll never invent something better than Atari, this is genius." Dave said while managing to get his frog to the other side of the road.

"Dave, would you please stop playing Frogger and concentrate? This is very important" John knelt in front of his friend as to beg him.

"Yeah, I get it, your parents are fancy. Let me tell you something about parents, they always expect you to do the exact opposite of what they want you to do, it's what being a parent is all about. Trust me, I've been a son for 17 years" He winked.

John just stared at him, "That makes absolutely no sense"

"John, dear" A voice came from the hallway

"Oh, no." John said.

"Is your sister coming with them? She's hot!" Added Dave. John looked towards the door in terror.

The next day. Peter is sitting in the cafeteria having his lunch when Cleo comes running towards him looking excited.

"Peter! Guess what?!" She sat next to him.

Peter almost spit his soda. "What is it?"

"I got it, I got it!" She jumped up and down on her seat.

"Got what?" he said annoyed

"I'm gonna be in this year's Romeo and Juliet, I'm gonna be Juliet!!"

Peter gave her a weird look "I didn't know you were in the drama club"

"I wasn't, but Scott Nielsen asked me to read the part of Juliet so he could rehearse and the director saw me. He said that I have a natural posse on stage and that my many expressive facial and bodily movements radiate Shakespeare. Isn't that exciting? He said they've been looking for the perfect Juliet and that this year there's gonna be a director from Hollywood in the audience. Peter!" She smiled broadly.

"Wow, congratulations. But, does this mean you're going to Hollywood?"

"No, of course not. I mean, not unless that director thinks I'm good Hollywood material" She spotted Jing Mei entering the cafeteria and ran towards her. "Jing Mei, guess what..."

Peter watched her go, shook his head, and rolled his eyes.

"Higher, higher on the left" Kerry said in desperation as John tried to hang a banner, which advertised the prom, on the cafeteria

He let out a sigh of frustration. "If you think it's so easy why don't you do it yourself?"

"OK, do you see this?" She pointed down. "It's called a skirt Einstein, and if I get up there you'll be looking up."

"I wouldn't look up your skirt if there was gold under it" He said under his breath

"What did you say?" Kerry put her hands on her hips.

"I said is that straight enough?" He yelled at her.

"It's fine!" She yelled back and walked away in fury.

"Fine!" John said as he got off the chair and walked in the opposite direction.

"Hey Jing Mei" The captain of the football team said as he sat next to her in the cafeteria.

"Hi Billy" She flirted.

"Guess what? My dad says I can rent a limo for the prom" He swung his hair.

"Wow, a limo? Really?" She said in amazement.

"Yeah, so I was wondering if you have a date for the prom or not."

"No I don't" She said before he could finish his sentence.

"Far out. I'll pick you up at 7. See you around" He threw his football in the air and walked away.

Jing Mei ran to the table where John and Dave were sitting. "Hey Dave, we're through."

Dave looked at her. "Sure thing babe" She walked away. Dave turned to John. "So, any dates for the prom?"

"Nah" John said. "It just seems like everyone's either taken, or not up to my standards"

"And people say I'm a pig" Dave joked.

"Who are you taking?"

"Let me tell you something about proms, you take one girl, and you have to be with her all night. 'Are you ok honey?' 'Do you want some more punch?' 'Are you cold?' But! Go to the prom alone, and you can dance with whom ever you want and, you don't have to give any girls a ride" He sat back, John just gave him one of his usual looks."Why don't you ask one of the cheerleaders?"

"Why don't I fill up a balloon with helium and through a tiara on top of it. I'm sure I could have smarter conversations with an inanimate object."

"Just trying to help out." He looked around. "Why don't you ask Abby?"

John looked at Abby over by the girls table. "You think?"

"Sure, why not? You were a couple, you're friends now. You wouldn't have to worry about making conversations or awkward moments. And best of all, you don't have to impress her."

John looked at Abby again. "You know Malucci, you may be the kid with the lowest IQ and expectations in school, but every now and then that head of yours does show some signs of life." He got up from the table and walked away.

"It's all for you big guy!" Dave shouted.

John approached the girls table and cleared his throat, they all looked up at him "Abby can I talk to you for a sec?"

Abby looked around, "Sure" She got up from her seat and followed him outside the cafeteria.

Liz looked at the girls, the gossip ran through her veins. "Oohh, what do you think he wants to talk to her about?"

"Probably as her a favor, typical male behavior" Kerry said.

"Probably wants her to introduce him to some girl" added Cleo.

"He's asking her to the prom" Dave said as he sat next to Kerry and took a bite from her sandwich. All the girls gasped in surprise and giggled.

"Oh! They're getting back together, that is so sweet!" Elizabeth was a sucker for romance.

"Dave! That was my lunch!" Kerry protested.

"Oh relax. It wasn't that good anyway." They were joined by Mark, who sat next to Liz.

"It was a vegetarian sandwich! I'm trying to save some animals" Kerry said.

"Oh yeah? What do you think they made that banner you just hung from the ceiling with? Trees. How about that sweater you're wearing? Fur. So there's nothing wrong with eating meat, I'd rather eat it than wear it." He said. Kerry was at a loss of words, so she threw the remaining of her lunch into his lap. In exchange, he threw the rest of the sandwich on her head. "FOOD FIGHT!!" Romano yelled from the back and the food began to fly back and forth.

John sat Abby on a bench outside the school and sat next to her. "John, what are you doing?" she said suspiciously.

"Just hear me out." He made sure she was paying attention. "How do you feel about me and you going to the prom together?"

Abby just stared at him, and a laugh escaped her "Are you serious?"

He smiled, "Completely. Come on, we're good friends, we have fun together. You know, you're the only girl I've really been into" She had to give him credit for the choice of words.

"Are you just asking me out because there's no one else available?" She said in disbelief.

"No! No. Abby, you know me!" He said, she gave him a look. "Look, I wouldn't be asking you if I didn't want to go with you. So what do you say?"

She thought about it for a while, weighing her options. No one had asked her to the dance yet, so it was either going alone and sitting with the chess club all night, waiting for someone to ask her to dance, or going with John, one of her best friends. It was no rocket science. "Ok, fine"

He jumped up "Yes!" and gave her a kiss in the forehead.

"But! If before the prom you come to me to back down because you found someone better, I swear to God..."

He didn't let her finish. "If I do that, I herby give you the right to strip me naked in front of the entire school" He said with a smile on his face, grabbed her hand in his, and walked with her into the school again."This is gonna be the best prom ever." He added.

"I bet" Abby said sarcastically.

To be Continued...
Carolina (pronounced Caroleena)