Brad stands up in front of us and says, “Well, I think it’s safe to say that the Homecoming after-party was a huge success. The staff loved not having to worry about or chaperone us. No one was arrested or hospitalized. And the students all seemed to have a blast. I know I did.”
Everyone starts talking about the party. About how much fun they had.
Finally, Brad raises his hand in the air. “Because of its success, people are expecting big things from our first themed weekend. I’m a little worried about it being held in conjunction with the Prospective Student Weekend. We’re going to have to keep things very clean, but still make it fun. Peyton, you want to share what we’ve got roughed out so far.”
“Sure,” Peyton says while she consults the notes on her laptop. “Saturday day will mostly be the Olympic-style competitions. Logan is working with the athletic department to organize all that. We’ll have some fun, easy games that everyone can participate in. Some events for teams.” She turns to Logan. “Logan?”
“Well, I think games that everyone can play is fun, but if we want to go authentic, there should also be a competition for our elite male athletes.”
“You do know that the original elite male athletes competed in the nude?” I say to Logan.
Not that I’ve researched that sort of thing.
Logan gives me a dirty look.
“What? You’re the one that wants it to be authentic. I’m just trying to help.”
Whitney, surprisingly, takes up my cause. “We’ll clean it up and make them compete shirtless. And they must wear white all weekend so they are easily identifiable as the elite Olympians.”
Logan looks to Brad for help.
Peyton decides to add her two cents worth. “It would impress the female half of the prospective students and give the male half something to aspire to. What kind of competitions will you have?”
Logan goes on. “In Greek history, it’s said that the Olympics were started to entertain the newborn Zeus. They had wrestling, jumping, and running competitions. I think we should focus on those.”
“Oh,” I say. “And the winner will be declared an Olympian god, and we will wear togas to the feast in his honor and celebrate with Greek food, song, dance, and, hopefully, a little mead.”
“That sounds like a plan,” Peyton says, entering the details in her laptop, which signifies to us all it’s a done deal. “What about Friday night?”
“This is sort of off the wall,” I admit. “But what if we watched the sing-along version of Mama Mia?”
Sheila, who has the lead of the Queen Mother in the school play, practically squeals. “That would be so much fun.” She looks at the guys. “If you get to be Greek gods, we should get to have some fun too.”
“The new students would just be getting here and I think it would be sort of a fun icebreaker, since it’d be interactive.”
Brad says, “Done. Let’s go get some coffee.”
I meet up with Riley and Dallas for breakfast. Apparently Camden told Dawson that he was losing tone. So he’s been on a morning protein shake kick, since, well, yesterday. As much as he likes a huge breakfast of bacon and eggs, I doubt it will last long. Plus, his brother was totally giving him shit. His tone looks very fine to me.
Dallas finishes up his breakfast and says, “When Katie and I had our little fling, I starting slacking in testing pickup lines. It’s time to dust them off and get them back out there.
“When you and Katie had your little fling, I hardly saw you. I missed you.”
He smiles at me. “I missed you guys too.” He laughs. “Okay, that’s sort of a lie. I was having fun, but I should have made time for you.”
I nod, agreeing with him “So what pickup line is up for today?”
“I’m not sure, but, Kiki, have you always been so cute?”
I look at him kind of funny, wondering what that has to do with anything. “Uh . . .”
“Or did it take practice?” he finishes.
I break out in laughter. “Oh, that’s really cute.” I smile at him. “Get it? Cute?”
Riley rolls his eyes at us. “You’re both so incredibly lame.” He picks up his coffee cup and holds it out in front of us. “Want to hear a secret?”
“I do. Is it Homecoming gossip?”
“I grind so fine, I’m practically coffee,” he says with a straight face, then busts out a grin.
“That is so lame. That has to be a Camden line.”
Riley laughs then says, “Wait a minute. Why is Dallas’ pickup line cute and mine’s not?
“When Dallas does them, like the magically delicious line and this one too, he’s giving me a compliment. In yours, you are giving yourself a compliment. Unless the guy is really hot and I’m looking to get picked up, I would probably flip you off, laugh in your face, or suggest you and your hand have their own party.”
“At least my hand never tells me no,” Riley says sort of seriously. Which causes Dallas to start laughing again.
“Dude, it’s like we’ve switched roles. You were the player and now, thankfully, I am.”
My eyes get big. “Dallas?! Did you have sex with someone else? Do I need to have a talk with you? Who else have you played with?”
“Cool your panties. No, I haven’t slept with anyone else. But I am working on it, so you can skip the sex talk.”
“How about a responsible sex talk? You know that you need to be responsible, right?”
“Thanks, Mom, but I know to wrap it up.”
“Dallas, it’s not a present. I’m serious about this.”
Dallas slaps Riley on the back as the bell rings. “I’m going to use Riley’s condoms before they dry rot.”
Riley shakes his head. “That is so not cool.”
Wet and wearing a towel.
5:45pm
I was sneaky during drama today. I mentioned to the Costume Director that I have some really cool silver sequined ribbon that would look great across the bottom of the cheerleading skirt I’ll wear when I meet The Good Prince and offered to sew it on.
I’ll sew it on later tonight but, for now, I have the costume on under a pair of Dawson’s sweats and a big sweatshirt.
He told me if I wore the skimpy thing to his room, he wouldn’t give me shit about the play. And with practices starting tonight, I want to make sure he’s fully supportive.
But, before I surprise him, I stop at Riley’s room to give him the fluffy rug. I ordered a new one last night. Everyone loves sitting on it and I think the rug is half the reason we always seem to congregate in Katie’s and my room.
But Riley earned it.
He and Dallas aren’t in there, so I spread it out in the space between their beds and head to Dawson’s room.
“Dawson?” I’m not sure why I’m calling out to an empty room, but his bathroom door opens immediately.
“Just got out of the shower.”
He’s wrapped in nothing but a damp white towel and it’s clear he hasn’t actually dried off yet. There are still beads of water sliding down his muscular chest. One is running straight down the center of his body, through his thick ab muscles and toward the towel.
I quickly move closer to him. My hand drawn to the bead of water. I catch it before it hits the towel, then run my fingertip back up its path.
“You should be wet and wearing a towel every time I stop by.”
“And you have way too many clothes on,” he replies with a grin.
I look down at his baggy sweats. “There’s kind of a reason for that.”
I run and lock his door, then stand in front of his bed, and strip the sweats off. Showing him the skimpy cowboy-style cheerleader costume.
He grins at me, drops his towel to the floor, and practically leaps across the room, knocking both of us onto his bed.
“You have play practice every night this week, don’t you?”
“Yeah, and you promised not to give me shit about it if I wore this for you.” I move out from under him.
I stand in front of the bed, to give him a good view of the costume, then slide off my underwear and toss them on his desk.
“That’s even better. You gonna do a cheer for me?”
“That’s the plan.”
“I like the plan.” He rolls onto his side and puts his arm under his head. “Go team! Go.”
I do a half cheer, half dance thing. Making sure that the skirt flips up a lot in the process.