The next day was Friday. Winter prom was one week away. Chloe approached her friend Becca.

“Becca, what do you say if we went ahead and went to the prom?”

“We don’t have dates,” Becca’s replied blankly.

“Yeah, well neither do a lot of the girls. Why don’t we bunch up and all go, together? It might be fun.”

“Well,” Becca wrinkled her brow in thought. “You know, why should the Jennifers in the world have all the fun? Let’s do it!”

Becca was the official social networker of their group. Chloe let her work her magic. Soon, there was a group of about ten loser girls with no dates who were willing to go stag. Becca was bubbling. Chloe could relax and focus on getting a dress and having her hair done. Her mother was surprised but not against the idea and started calling around hair shops.

“And,” said Chloe archly to Becca, “we’ll just go to that damn, dumb party at Jennifer’s house and say the Hell with all of them!”

“You’re brave, Chloe. I don’t know …”

“Don’t be a weenie, Becca. If we do it, we do it all the way.”

“Okay,” Becca replied, reluctance in her voice.

The big day arrived. Chloe had borrowed a cute satin cocktail dress from a friend. It was a jade green color, almost emerald and went well with her skin tone. She and mom had gone shopping for heels. She got a pair of killer black patent leathers with gold bands. Her hair was done up and the stylist managed to get every single curl in place. Mom arranged some little rhinestone pins throughout the do. Chloe looked at herself in the mirror. The stones twinkled back at her. Wow! She was looking good!

Her mom was crying, her dad was taking pictures; her little brother was lurking around the corners when Becca’s dad drove up and honked. Girls were piled in the SUV, giggling and laughing hysterically the whole way.

They had gotten permission to go to the after party as long as they were home by midnight. Two girls had their own cars and followed them.

The prom was set up in the school gym. The place had been transformed into a fairyland with lights, fake snow. Big, huge silver snowflakes hung on the curtains. Little round café tables were around the edges and candles flickered in the middle. Bowls of potpourri lent a scent of apples and pumpkin to the air.

“Do you see him?” Becca whispered.

“Who?”

“Oh, come on, Chloe. Oh, look, I think they are over there.” Becca held her finger low and pointed across the room.

Indeed, a stiff and uncomfortable looking Greg was sitting in a tux with both hands holding his knees. He looked a lot like he wanted to be somewhere else. Jennifer was in a froth of pink tulle with silver stars everywhere and was gabbing busily with friends clustered in tables around her. Kiki was close by in a low cut, tight fitting deep purple gown. Her hair was sparkling with gold shimmer, and she looked bored. Chloe watched her bend over and speak to a young man at her table. The two got up as one and disappeared.

“Oh, forget them, Chlo, let’s dance!” Becca and the girls commandeered some tables and were soon out on the dance floor giving it everything they’d got. Curiously enough, some of the guys from their class started to show up and several of the girls were then dancing with guys and not just girlfriends.

Winded, Chloe grabbed some punch and sat down to breathe. The disc jockey was playing a slow song. Unchained Melody, an oldie.

“Dance, Chloe?” she heard a masculine voice in her ear. She turned and it was Greg.

“Where’s Jenn?” she asked, incredulous.

“Oh, she went outside with some of her friends. Thought I would take a chance.” He smiled down at her.

Her stomach clutching, Chloe got up and he led her to the floor. She put her arms up, he took them, and they started a slow waltz.

“Reminds me of dance class, a long time ago,” he said.

“Yes, a long time ago.” Eventually, Chloe got closer and almost leaned her head against Greg’s shoulder. We feel so right together, the thought passed through her mind.

The music ended, Greg gave her the slightest bow and went back to his table. Chloe sank into her chair and stared at the dancers on the floor. Finally, a faint smile crept onto her face.

Becca came back and sat. “Wow, you look happy.”

“I am,” replied Chloe, “and we are definitely going to that after-party.”

“If you say so, chief.” Becca fanned herself.

At about eleven o’clock, Becca made the call, her dad appeared in front of the gym fifteen minutes later, and they piled in.

“Where are the other girls?” he asked.

“Oh, some got other rides, some went home. You know,” Becca tossed out casually.

“Okay,” her dad replied. “What’s the address?” Becca pulled the address out of her purse and her dad programmed it into his GPS pad. “Ah, the posh side of town.”

Becca shrugged, “I guess.”

Chloe had met Mr. Thompson any number of times. A short, buff but nice guy, he had a low forehead, dark eyes, black eyebrows that nearly met in the front and thick, dark hair cut almost into a burr. She had to admit to herself, although she didn’t want to, how much Becca resembled her dad.

Following the dulcet tones of the GPS voice, they arrived in the north side of town not long after. The SUV glided to a stop in front of a large, two-story house with immaculate lawn and flowerbeds; lights blazing from every window.

“What do her parents do again?” Mr. Thompson asked craning his neck toward the home.

“Oh, ah, I think her mom sells real-estate and her dad works at a bank downtown,” Becca chirped.

A white coupe with a black rag top was parked in the drive. The license plate read ‘Klassy.’ A  Cadillac SUV was parked next to it.

“Hmm,” was his reply “must be doing darn well.” He leaned back over the seat, “Give me a call when you’re done Becca, and don’t be concerned about the time, ‘kay?”

“Look there’s her mom now,” Chloe added. A blonde woman with a dazzling smile, much like her daughter’s, was standing in the front doorway waving.

“See, Dad, told you her parents would be home.”

“Okay, then.” Her father seemed placated. “You two git.”

The two girls emerged from the vehicle and walked up the broad driveway to the door.

Jennifer’s mom was a trim 40+ something with beautiful hair, teeth and ensemble. “You’re some of Jennifer’s friends. Come in, come in!” She welcomed and waved again at Mr. Thompson. He waved back and the SUV glided off. The two went into the brightly lit room and saw a number of adults standing around having drinks. Chloe was thrown for a minute.

“Alright, girls. We are having our little soiree up here, but the kid’s party is downstairs in the basement.” She walked toward some stairs and pointed down with a big smile.

Chloe and Becca both smiled uncertainly and moved down the stairs toward the very loud music. When they got there, they were greeted with banging music, a flashing music ball hanging from the ceiling and a ton of teens. Some, Chloe knew and some she had never met before. They walked around a bit and headed for the food table.

Chloe picked up a small paper plate and was putting little sandwiches on it when she heard “Chloe, Becca! You made it!”

Next thing she knew, Jennifer was spinning her around and gave her a big hug. Chloe held the plate up hoping to not spill anything, her other hand clutching her small bag.

“So, good of you to come!” Jennifer was effusive and her eyes wide and bright. “I have to get you something to drink. Would you like punch?” She had to yell over the music.

“Sure, sure,” Chloe replied, “punch, great.”

“Okay, then. Wait here.”

Becca followed Jenn’s movements a moment and then looked at Chloe.

“Is she …?”

“High?” Chloe replied, “Totally.”

“Geese, I wondered what those guys were doing leaving the prom and going out the back door,” Becca stated.

“Well, so now we know, huh. We can just stay a little while, Becca. I didn’t think it was going to be like this, so loud and so …”

“Yeah, so everything,” her friend replied.

Jennifer returned bearing two red cold cups brimming with liquid. She handed them over. “Drink up! I got to go and find that Greg again. He keeps disappearing.” She flashed another fabulous smile and wove her way through the throng of dancing bodies.

Becca took a sip of her drink and almost spit it out. “What the hell?”

Chloe tasted hers. “Ah, this tropical punch has a real punch. Wow! What did they put in this stuff?”

“Do you think her parents know?” Becca asked and sipped some more punch.

“How could they not, they’re right upstairs?” Chloe answered looking around for something else to drink. There didn’t appear to be cokes out that she could see.

“Let’s just eat something, make the rounds and call your dad.”

“Okay,” Becca replied. “I hate to have him drive all the way back when he just dropped us off.”

“He told you not to worry about it.”

Becca sighed and popped a small sandwich in her mouth.

They made the rounds, both sipping the punch and noshing. It was after the second turn around that Chloe realized with a pang of discomfort that she didn’t know most of these people. They were teens but some seemed a lot older and almost all of them were either very high, very drunk or both. They passed Kiki in one corner, busy snogging another individual. Chloe couldn’t tell if it was a male or female.

Greg was nowhere to be seen. Chloe was about to tell Becca to call her dad when there was some shouting and a bunch of people started to run up the stairs. “He’s going to jump!” she heard.

Curiosity got the better of her and she followed the crowd up. A bunch of people were clustered at a side window, looking up. There was an outside patio above their heads, on the second floor. Jenn’s home was close to that of their next-door neighbor. Chloe saw to her horror, the neighbor had a pool and apparently, one of the young men from the party was on the patio and was going to dive into the neighbor’s pool. There was a momentary hush, then, a figure flew past. There was a loud Splash! Everyone cheered. Luckily, the kid landed in the pool. Almost immediately, the back door light at the neighbor’s house came on and Chloe could hear a man come out and scream at the kid in the pool. The wife came out in her slippers, a hand-held phone to her ear, talking.

Chloe and Becca pulled away from the window. They were both laughing and saying, “Can you believe it?” Becca was trying to call her dad but between the noise and the being jostled by others, she was having a difficult time.

Suddenly, there were loud sirens coming right down the street toward them.

I wonder if they are going to arrest that guy? Chloe thought to herself.

There was some loud banging on the front door; Jenn’s mother answered it to what looked like a phalanx of cops.

Very much to Chloe’s surprise, she got arrested for being an underage minor consuming alcohol. Also, a number of other people at the party got arrested to include Becca, Greg, Jennifer and Jennifer’s parents.

Two hours later, they were sitting in the hallway at the police station. They had had to give breath-a-lizer samples to the cops.

It was a grim-faced Mr. and Mrs. Thompson who both came to pick-up a sobbing Becca. “I didn’t know, Dad,” she kept saying over and over, as they led her out the door.

Chloe called her parents, and they were on their way to pick her up. Greg eased down into the plastic chair next to hers.

“Some mess, huh?” he asked without looking at her.

“I’ll say,” Chloe, replied, she was still clutching the little pearl evening bag.  “By the way, where were you that whole time that guy was jumping into the pool?” She turned and looked at him. She had picked up a water at the front desk. She played with the cap, opening it an closing it nervously.

“I was on the balcony trying to talk him out of jumping. I kept telling him he could fall short and kill himself. But no, he’s on the school dive team. Said he knew he could make it.”

“Well, he did,” she answered.

“Yeah, he did and now he’ll probably be off the team after a stunt like this.” He leaned forward, resting his big arms on his knees.

“And you?” she asked.

“Well for starters, my dad already told me when I called him, to kiss the car goodbye.”

“Oh, wow,” Chloe stared at him.

“That’s for starters; then this arrest could cost me the water polo scholarship I was almost sure to get. My dad may have to have one of the attorneys at the firm bail me out of this thing.” He stared morosely at the floor.

“Oh, sorry.” Chloe also stared down at the floor. There was a pause. “Greg, did you know there was going to be alcohol at the party?” She glanced over at him.

“Oh, sure. Jenn’s parents have these kinds of parties all the time. Their philosophy is they want their kids drinking at home and not off somewhere else. Why do you think the cops showed up so fast? That neighbor of theirs has just about had it with them and had complained before.”

“Oh, well. That explains a lot of things, I guess.” Chloe leaned her arms against her legs too. They were both quiet for a time.

“And you know the crazy thing?” Greg turned and looked at Chloe.

“What?”

“I don’t even like Jenn that much. She is all about Jenn and her friends, all the time. I doubt she even knows who I am.”

“So, why go out with her?”

“Well, she is cute …” he said carefully, glancing at Chloe, “popular.”

“Hmm.” More silence.

“And her parents do have a killer house.”

“Ah.”

“But, clearly,” he stretched his long arms up and out, “that isn’t everything.” He waved around the station and let out a short laugh. He leaned one hand on the back of her chair.

She nodded still looking at the floor.

“Chloe, I know this is an odd time and maybe the wrong time, but …”

“Yes?” She lifted her head and turned to look at him.

“Would you like to go to a movie or something, coffee?”

Chloe smiled at him. “I really think, Greg Dudenhoeffer, that a movie with the likes of you is going to be a definite No in my household for a while. But coffee? That’s probably doable. She smiled again, and this time she really smiled. He smiled back.

“So, coffee?”

“Starbucks.”

“What day?”

“Wednesday is good.”

“After school?”

“Yes, after school.”

Greg let out a sigh. “Well, you’ll know me as the very tall guy on the bicycle.”

“I think I can hold onto that visual image.” She smirked. He smirked.

Greg was reaching over like he would give her a hug when her father showed up with a face like thunder.

“Greg, Greg Dudenhoeffer? You too? Jesus. What next? Come on Chloe, time to go home.”

Chloe got up to follow her dad. She turned at the last minute before they went out the door to give Greg a little wave. He waved back.

Yes, she thought to herself, this is really going to be my year!

Her mom was waiting in the car and Chloe let herself in the backseat. Her mom started firing questions at her, but her dad put up a stopping hand.

“Phyllis, enough time for that tomorrow. Let’s just get the kid home.”

The kid sat in the back seat wrapped in a warm, fuzzy glow.

The end.