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Sammy gets ready to go.

Sammy stared long and hard at herself in the mirror as her sister added the finishing touches to her hair.  "Perfect," said Stephanie.  "Now stand up and look at yourself in the mirror on the door.  And quit looking so serious, like you're going to a funeral or something!  This is Homecoming!  You're going with a cool Senior!  Have fun!"  Sammy followed her sister's instructions, forcing a smile onto her face while doing a slow twirl that caused the skirt on her classically styled dress to lift ever so slightly.  Stephanie, elegantly coiffed and gowned herself, smiled back encouragingly.  "Don't be nervous.  You look perfect.  It's going to be a perfect night."

She's right.  It's all perfect.  I can only hope it still looks good after the dance is over.  She couldn't shake the feeling of impending doom that filled her everytime she thought about the dance, and what Bee-boy might try to do to her or to Elrod.  We have to get him soon.  He's ruining everything.

She followed her sister down the stairs, stopping halfway when their mother squealed "Wait, wait right there, I have to get the camera!" and made them pose together on the steps, and in front of the fireplace, and together on the living room sofa.  Dad smiled and muttered something about needing to clean his shotgun, and found an excuse to disappear for a moment.

Steph's date showed up, there was another furious photography session, and the two of them left to join some other friends.  Sammy wondered if she ought to run back upstairs and sneak a pair of shorts and maybe a tshirt under the dress, just in case she needed to do a quick costume change.  The doorbell rang.  Dad called out, "Samantha!  Your date is here."

Elrod's long and often unkept hair was groomed and pulled back.  His t-shirt and leather jacket were replaced with a suit that could only be tailor made it fit so well.  His shoes looked like they could blind you if the light hit them right.  "You look fabulous."  He said, and Sammy noticed his voice was different.  He articulated every word in a refined way that made the listener more attentive.  "I have this, but it just wont do you justice."  He held up a box that would normally hold a corsage.  It instead holds a broach that is a design of flowers set with colored stones.  "Flowers look nice for a little while.  You deserve something that will look nice forever."  He takes it from the box and carefully pins it to her dress.

She realizes that it looks like a bunch of flowers, but as she looks at it she realizes it's a stylized rendition of the picture she gave him, the flowers being the flowing tendrils of fabric that was her outfit and the center piece a carefully concealed likeness of her.

A quick gasp of pleasure escapes her as she recognizes the subject of the brooch and admires its beauty.  "It's beautiful!" she exclaims, "and it won't crush like real flowers do, so I can do this."  She moves in close to embrace him, and to hide the sudden dampness of her eyes.  She closes her eyes and holds him tight for a moment, then breathes a heartfelt  "Thank you" into his ear.  She quickly spins away to show the gift off to her parents.  "Mom!  Dad!  Look at this!  Isn't it gorgeous!"

Mom and dad offer smiles and approving sounds and mom gets Elrod and Sammy to stand together for pictures.  "If I could get copies of those, that would be great Mrs. Jameson."

"Of course, your folks will want some."  Sammy's mom says.

Elrod just nods.  "If you're ready, we should get going and pick up the others."  Elrod says.

"You two be careful."  Dad says.  Sammy can tell he's almost on the verge of tears.  "Have fun."

Aw, dad...  "Hold on a second, El."

She steps over and gives her father a hug.  The hug says a million words of comfort and reassurance, but the only words spoken are a soft "I'll be careful.  Love you Daddy."

Stepping back to El, she grabs his hand and says "Let's go."  Together they walk out to the waiting limousine.

"So, who all are we picking up? " Elrod says, "And are we all going to do something after the dance or is there no official plan?"

"Just Sarah and Colin.  Everybody else already had plans."  Sammy lets herself be helped into the limo, and hands her camera to the driver.  "Can you take a picture of us sitting together?"  Picture taken, she leans back into the seat and looks around at the vehicle's interior.  "If there are plans for after, I don't know what they are.  Is there anything you would like to do?"  A thought of Bee boy passes through her mind.  "We don't have to go at all, you know.  We could drive around town all night, hit some clubs,  go to dinner somewhere nice."  She looks skyward, and gestures with her chin. "We could go dancing in the starlight..."

"Except we told your folks we were going, and to break from that would surely be an insult to their trust.  Besides, There aren't that many dances during a school year, and I want to take you to as many as possible."

"Nice dodge around the 'We each have cells, we can call them and tell them what's changed' play.  OK, you win.  We'll go to the school dance and spend the night arguing about who has the better date, me or you.  I'm pretty sure I win either way."  She wasn't really arguing all that hard for not going; she just wanted to leave that possibility open.  She reaches over to hold his hand and her free hand drifts up to finger the brooch.  "This is really nice, El.  I'm guessing you designed it; did you make it too?"

"I drew the crude sketch from the beautiful picture.  A nice old chap in town actually did the making part.  It's true what they say about old world craftsmanship."  Elrod leans over and kisses Sammy gently on the lips.  "Actually, I win.  My date can fly."  he says softly.

*dissolving into sugary goo* "No, I win.  Because I can fly AND you're incredible AND my date believes I'm the best, when I know for a fact he is the best.  It doesn't get any better than that.  Maybe someday you can introduce me to the maker, so I can thank him myself.  People ought to know when their work is appreciated."  She squeezes his hand again, and feels herself leaning in for another kiss.  Knowing how she reacts to kissing and cuddling with him, and how it just makes everything so complicated before too long, she forces herself to break away from that path.  "I'm thirsty.  Are you?" she asks as she opens the refrigerator compartment.  "Do you have the stuff to make one of those special fruit drinks you shared with me?  Those were really good."

Elrod takes a breath and licks his lips.  "The bar is fully stocked with all the bits to make a variety of drinks."  He slides over to the bar and starts to put a drink together.  "We should keep the passionate embraces to a minimum with other people in the car."  he says with a smile, "Wouldn't want to make them uncomfortable."

"No.  That wouldn't be good.  Besides, we might scorch the upholstery."  She accepts the drink he prepares for her.  "So... I guess you didn't make any solid plans for after the dance?"

"Nope.  I thought we'd wing it.  See what kind of leway the others have."

"That works.  There's bound to be something going on somewhere.  If not, we can always go out for a late pizza and some bowling.  I've never been bowling in formal wear before."  She shifts her position, causing the crinolines to make noticeable rustling noises beneath the ivory colored satin skirt.  Patting at the skirt, she gives El a lopsided grin.  "Noisy.  That's the price of being a pretty princess.  But the skirt has nice lift when I spin."  Fearing that saying the word 'lift' in the same sentence as 'skirt' will steer the conversation back to the place that they have to avoid, she rushes forward to a new topic.  "So!   Are you working on a song list for the summer tour?  If you want me to play a different horn, I'm going to have to practice sooner than later."

"I think some of us need to sit down during the week and work up a list.  Stuff we like, stuff we think we can play without sucking."

"Cool.  Let me know if you want me there.  Even if for whatever reason I don't get to go next summer, I can help you to rehearse before you go.  This is going to be the summer of Elrod, you know, the golden summer you'll always point back to when you talk about your good old days, the summer that gets turned into a movie.  So pick some good tunes, since they're going to be part of the soundtrack.  I'm not sitting through some movie with a sucky soundtrack."

Elrod laughs.  "Ok, deal.  No sucky soundtrack."

"Excellent."  She looks at his face, memorizing the moment, and sighs.  "I wish I didn't keep worrying about the Bee Guy," she finally says out loud.  "Do you have a plan for yourself if something happens?  I mean, if you're attacked I'm going to be right there fighting for you, but if something else happens, you need to have an idea of what to do.  I know I'm heading for the sprinkler system or the showers if things get too out of hand.  Those insects don't deal well with water."

"Well, I thought I'd run around waving my hands and screaming 'help me help me', but it's still a plan in development."

"Well at least you have a plan," she mutters, "even if it is a silly one."  She fixes him with a solemn gaze.  "Promise me you won't try to do anything too stupid if there's a swarm?"  She touches the brooch again, and some vulnerability peeks through. "Please?"

"This is that moment in the relationship where honesty counts."  He says, taking her hands in his, "I stand to inherit tons of money.  I'm not about to let myself get killed by a stalker with a herd of bees."  He smiles, "I'll pay people to do that."

"Ah..."  One eyebrow goes up, and Sammy struggles not to show any amusement.  "All right then.  When you eventually become the benevolent dictator of a small island nation with a small but effective army at your beck and call, make sure your national anthem isn't sucky either, or I won't come to visit."  She leans over so her face is close to his.  "And if I ever die for you, remember it was because I believed I was doing something necessary, and not because you bought me off.  No sucky music at the funeral or the wake either, or I swear I'll come back and haunt you."  Leaning back into her seat, she finishes.  "Not that you need to worry, because I don't intend to die any time soon."

"Good.  Dieing might ruin that dress, and your mom would probably hate me if I let your dress get ruined."

"Oh, yes.  She probably almost definitely wouldn't let you date me anymore either.  She's funny like that."

Eventually they get to Sarah's house, and the limo is parked out front where all the neighbors can see and admire it.  "What's the protocol here?  Do we call from the car, or just send the driver to knock at the door?"

"Well, My suit is less easy to wrinkle, so I guess I'll go knock."  Elrod exits the car and goes to the door.

Free of laughing senior eyes, Sammy proceeds to play with the buttons in the limo.  She's enjoying some music when the doors are opened for Sarah, Colin, and Elrod.

"Their loss."  She waves hi to her friends as they pass by, but lets him lead her wherever he'd like to go, stopping whenever he'd like to stop.

Elrod led the way into the dance, and made sure that certain people were treated to the sight of Sammy before taking her onto the dance floor.

"We have all night to mingle, but we should dance before we're too tired."

"I'd rather dance anyhow.  I can talk to my friends anytime." 

Elrod takes Sammy out onto the dance floor and they spend some time moving with the music.  Slow dances, fast dances, they spend several minutes together on the dance floor.  "This is nice.  This is the first one of these I've come to.  Not  as cheesy as I thought it would be."

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself.  How come you never came to one before?  There are a lot of girls who'd be thrilled silly to go out with you, even just once, even just as friends."

"Well, most of the time it was to not be near my sister.  She had to go to all of the school events.  That, and I never found anyone I wanted to go with.  Until now that is."

Sammy smiles at the compliment.  "Well, I'm flattered.  I'll do my best not to ruin you for other women, aside from setting the standards bar really really high."  She looks around at the crowd.  "Wow.  Some people really clean up nice."

"Dave is here somewhere.  Lisa paid him to be her date so she could get in."

"You're kidding me.  She paid Dave?  Why'd she have to pay anybody?  She doesn't seem like the kind of girl who'd have any trouble at all getting a date anywhere she wanted to go, for free.  And Dave?  I didn't think he was interested.  It must have been a lot of money..."  She cranes her head around looking for the anomolous couple but doesn't spot them right away.  "Oh well.  I guess we won't be hanging around with Dave tonight, unless the deal was just to get her in the door then go their separate ways."

"Well, she's actually had a sort of thing for him for years, but it got back burnered after he went slacker.  That and I made sure that no one else would be available to take her so she'd have to resort to Dave as an escort."

"Punk."  She punches him lightly on the shoulder.  "Hello? Can't resist meddling, can you?  You say you want to get away from being her keeper, then you turn right around and set this up when you really didn't have to."  She draws closer and kisses him on the cheek.  "You're hopeless.  Do I have to save you from yourself?"

"Hey."  he says when she punches him.  "It's habit.  Besides, can you imagine what she might have done to some poor kid that wasn't ready for her.  That's like letting people into the tiger cage without posting signs."

"And Dave knows how to deal with tigers?  Or does she like him well enough to only maul him a little bit?"  Sammy rests her cheek against Elrod's shoulder and keeps dancing.  "I just hope that it doesn't somehow backlash on you.  Its a dangerous thing to stick your nose into people's love lives.  It makes them grumpy.  Trust me, I know."

"This isn't a match up my dear.  This is making sure the guy taking my sister to the dance wont cave into her every request.  Dave is my spy, not Bachelor Number One."

"I hope you're right."

She grabs his hand and pulls him off the dance floor.  "I'm thirsty.  Let's get something to drink, okay?"

"Drinking we should be able to accomplish."  he says, following her to the refreshments table.

The punch is cool going down, and certainly not enhanced with anything as far as Sammy can tell.  She can find Kel and Brianna, as well as John and Megan in the crowd, and certainly Colin and Sarah.  She sees Heather and Jim also, dancing.

Sammy waves hi to Heather, glad to see her there and happy with Jim.  She waves at Kel, at Megan, at John, at Colin, at Sarah, at her sister.  She points out to Elrod the decorations she hung up high in the gym.  "I got to check things out that way too.  Not that I saw anything important."  She watches the crowd a little bit. "I guess we ought to go and socialize."  She doesn't sound all that thrilled about it.  "Is there anybody you want to talk to or hang out with besides me?  For some odd reason I'm feeling reluctant to share, but just tell me if there's anyone you want to visit.  Otherwise..."  she gestures at the dance floor. "There's music and a dance floor, and I'm wearing dancing shoes."

"Eh.  I see them all the time.  Let's dance."  Elrod takes Sammy back out onto the floor and they spend some more time dancing.  As the second dance ends and a third begins someone interrupts, "Mind if I cut in?"  Sammy vaugely recognizes him from her history class.

Elrod looks at Sammy and smiles, "It would be rude to keep her all to myself I suppose."  He says, "It's really up to her though."

OOC: Concentration check DC 12 to remember his name.

Sammy can't remember this guy's name even to save her life.  Funny that.  She hesitates a moment, then smiles brightly at him to mask her confusion.  "Sure!"  She squeezes Elrod's hand.  "I'll see you a little later, okay?"

OOC:  Concentration roll (1d20+2=4) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=1208248)

"Okay.  I'll be at the table."  Elrod says, pointing to where they had taken a brief rest earlier.  As he walks away Sammy can see him reach into his pocket, and the faint light of his phone.  High School teaches a person many things.  Most important of which, right this second, how to send a text message without looking at your phone.

The boy slides into Sammy's arms and they begin to dance to the music.  "You look really nice.  That dress makes you look like royalty or something."

The boy is pleasant looking, and he's dressed in a nice tux.  The basic black is accented by a smart yellow tie and cumberbun.

"I was hoping I'd see you here.  I wanted to ask you to the dance, but by the time I got the nerve you were already going out with Elrod.  Well, you know what they say.  You snooze you loose."  he chuckles uncomfortably.  "So, having a good time I hope."

Sammy smiles  back at him.  What is his name? she wonders.  Non-committally she says, "Well, there will be plenty of other dances.  But so far I'm having a great time at this one!  Everybody looks so nice, and so different from normal!  Even the gym is transformed.  I helped to put up some of the decorations..." She politely chatters on about the decorations and the music, hoping the small talk will trigger something that will help her to remember this guy's name. 

"It's nice.  With everything that's been happening I'm glad to have gotten a chance to dance with you.  I was afraid they were going to cancel the dance, after that wierd day we had a few weeks back. 

OOC: Another Concentration Check DC 13 to remember his name.

OOC:  Concentrate again. (1d20+2=14) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=1208364)

"Yeah, I know what you mean," she says.  "I was never jealous of home schooled kids until this year."

OOC: Bruce Pernell.  He sits a few seats behind you in history, and you know you've seen him in one of Heather's science classes, biology maybe.

Bruce!  aha!  Bruce starts with 'B'...

"So, Bruce, have you started working on that big history paper yet?  I have my outline done, but I'm way behind on my reading.  I'm really going to have to push to hand in a decent first draft by Thanksgiving."

Bruce stops dancing for a second, then when he realizes it he picks up again.  "Ah.  No, not even an outline yet.  I've been sort of busy at home."  There is a pause, "I didn't think you knew my name."

Sammy looks down at her shoes, slightly embarrassed.  "Remember how I said everybody looked so different tonight?  You were one of the everybody.  It took me a minute to match you now to the way you always look."  She looks back into his face, shrugs apologetically, then smiles again. " Sorry, but its not my fault that you clean up very nicely...  but yeah.  I know who you are.  You sit pretty close to me in history.  If I remember right, you're in a class with my friend Heather too.  Biology, maybe?"

please don't be Bee-guy... I don't want to know anything about my stalker, I just want to smack him down without feeling bad about it, without feeling anything close to pity or compassion...

"It's a suprise is all.  Thank you for the compliment.  I hadn't realized how different I must look."

As the song ends Bruce steps back.  "Thank you, the dance was very nice.  I hope the rest of your night is enjoyable."  He smiles and moves off into the crowd.

Sammy watches him move off, and some pent up tension releases from her shoulders.  phew.  Is the whole night going to be like this, suspecting any guy who even smiles at me?  She scans the close-by crowd, looking for any friendly, familiar face.

It was at that moment that Megan, followed by John, arrived.  Though the guy had left, Megan kept the "act" up.  “Ohmygod!”  She called out as she came over to Sammy.  “You look totally fabulous.”  Giving the other girl a hung she whispered, “Everything okay?”

Sammy returns the hug and whispers back.  "I think so.  I hope so."

She says, more loudly "You look incredible too, Megan!"

“Thank you.”  Megan said with a smile as she moved to John’s left.  “Where is Elrod?  I can’t wait to see him in a tux!”  She said with a grin, taking John’s left arm so Sammy could take the right and they could head off the dance floor together.

"Wow, John!"  Sammy looks around.  "Last time I saw him, El was headed that way.  He probably didn't go too far unless he went looking for Lisa."  She points and takes John's arm.  "Lead on, m'dears."

Elrod is at the table he'd indicated.  when he sees Sammy he gets up and comes over to her.  "Well, you're in one piece.  Everything went okay I take it?"

He looks at Megan and John, "Very nice, and you even got the quarterback in a tux.  Impressive."

Sammy moves closer to Elrod.  The only indication that she might have been nervous is the intensity of her grip on  his hand.  "I think its okay.  I think he was just a boy who wanted to dance with me."

Megan smiled at Elrod as he commented about getting John in a tux.  “This from the king slacker.  I think between you and Dave I’ve seen all the surprises I can handle for one night.”

Her smile faded slightly as Sammy went back to the issues at hand.  “Yeah, hopefully that is all it was.”  Then an idea came to her.  “Maybe we should see if someone can keep an eye on him?  See if he is here with someone or alone?  If he is alone…well, that seems a bit more suspicious.”

"Maybe not," Sammy says quietly.  "Turns out he wanted to ask me to the dance, but El got there first.  I don't know if he asked anybody else, but he did say he had come to the dance hoping for a chance to dance with me.  He didn't seem creepy, just gawky and a little nervous, and he was really surprised that I actually knew his name.  His name is Bruce Pernell.  He's in my History class, and I think he's in a class with Heather too. "  She looks at Elrod apologetically.  "Sorry for discussing the competition in front of you, but more information is better, right?"  Sammy thinks for a moment.  "If you want to keep an eye on him, all you have to do is turn on the popularity machine, like El did for me.  I took him halfway there, you can finish the job.  Ask him to dance with you, Megan, just once, and act like you're having a good time.  It'll give him a pretty cheerleader's seal of approval, and other girls will wonder what is so special about him, and they'll ask him to dance too.  Its just the way it works.  If he is Bee-boy, he'll be too busy dancing to get up to shenanigans, right there in the middle of the dance floor where people can watch him, and if he isn't, you'll have done a really nice thing for a shy guy."

“Hmm, I guess that could work.”  Megan said after a brief moment’s thought.  “Bruce you said?  Okay, lets see if we can set this up.”  She looked up at John with a smile and to see what he might think of the plan, giving him a little tug to start off once more.

She then focused back on Sammy and Elrod, she smiled.  “You two try to focus again on having fun.  We’ll let you know if anything comes up.”

After they move a little away from Elrod and Sammy John says, "It's bound to work.  It worked for me."  He says, putting his arm across her shoulders, "I was an unnoticed geek until I came here and started dating you."

Sammy tugs on Elrod's hand.  "Dance? or do you want to disappear with me into a shadowy classroom and bring down the wrath of Bee-boy, just to get it over with?"

Elrod smiles.  "As much fun as getting stung on the privates might sound, let's just dance."  He takes her hand and leads her back out on the dance floor.

Sammy smiles back.  "I hoped you'd say that."

Once back out on the dance floor, Sammy sighs.  "I hate being so jumpy.  Can you warn me about the guys you think are most likely to ask me for a dance, just so that I don't freak out about each and every one of them?  Or do we need to line up Dave's minions so that if you want to take a break, one of them will be standing by to take over so that no unknown quantities stand a chance of breaking the perimeter?"

"Listen."  Elrod says, putting his hands on her shoulders.  "If this is gonna ruin the evening I can get up on the stage and ask him to meet me out back.  Then you guys can pummel him while I wait in the lino."  He says the last part with a smile.  Otherwise, relax.    If he tries anything, you guys will handle it.  I have faith in you, and the others.  Otherwise we'd be in Paris right now instead of here."

"Paris?!  You must have really wanted to come to this dance if you wouldn't jump at even a thin excuse to go to Paris."

"Well, like I said, this is the only year at High School we'll have together.  Even if things don't work out in a forever way, I want you to get the most bang for the buck, if you follow my meaning?"

Sammy laughs in spite of herself.  "I get it, I get it.  I only hope I'm worthy of the effort."

"Well, so far I've been very pleased."  he says, giving her a kiss. 

Sammy starts to kiss him back, but she breaks away quickly, eyes dark with intensity.  "Don't want to embarrass anyone, remember?" she says breathlessly.  "We should dance some more."

<after dropping Sarah and Colin off at the carriage>

Sammy and Elrod walk companionably away from Sarah and Colin, leaving the other two to enjoy what's left of their evening.

"What now?" Sammy asks.  "Do you want to fly somewhere?  Or do you have something else in mind?"

"Well, now that the King and Queen are taken care of, let's see if we can find something to entertain ourselves for a little while."  Elrod helps Sammy into the Limo and talks quietly with Jerry for a minute, and then they're off.

About a half hour later Jerry pulls over.  They've gone into the city, and Elrod and Sammy get out.  Elrod gets a couple of long coats from the trunk and the two start to walk along the lakefront, near the marina.  "So, we got through the evening with no mayhem.  That's a relief."

"Sure is.  Anticipating mayhem is probably worse than when it really happens though.  At least when it breaks loose you can do something, not just sit there and worry about might or might not happen.  I spent a little bit too much of tonight worrying.  Its sad, but its hard not to do it."  She sighs.  "But we should be safe for now.  Unless you're Bee Guy in disguise; then I'll probably get upset again."

"Well, come on, it had to be that Bruce guy.  The yellow tie, I was almost expecting him to go Bzzz Bzzz every once in a while like a nervous tick."

"You think so?  Why didn't he do anything then?  He had me alone.  OK, I was in a crowd, but that hasn't stopped bee attacks before.  Do you suppose he was thrown off his game by something?"  She pauses and giggles.  "Maybe he was going to do something then discovered I wasn't his dream girl after all.  Maybe he's fixated on Megan now since I got her to dance with him, and that messed up his plans."

"Ouch.  As bad as I'd feel fro giving her a stalker, it would get him off you, that's the important thing.  Besides, you were not alone.  There were the countless eyes of Dave's minions watching you, and I let the others know so they could be ready."

"I know.  I felt their eyes looking at me.  It was comforting."

She starts fingering the brooch.

"But if it was him, and he knew that he couldn't attack me in a crowd... maybe he marked me somehow, so he could find me later?  Kind of like I half-expect to find a gps tracker embedded in this brooch so you'll be able to find me if he takes me?"  She puts her hand to her chest in mock panic.  "We might have to find another hospital gift shop and buy another set of sweats so I can change!"

"Oh, heavens no.  Not sweats again!"  Elrod's hands come to his mouth and his eyes open wide.  "Or, we could stop worrying.  Live our lives and let him live his and see what happens."  Elrod steps closer to her and wraps his arms around her.  "Let's try that.  Can we do the wary ralaxed thing, is that possible?"

She snuggles in tight.  "Sure." 

She doesn't feel much of a need to say anything with spoken words for a little while.  She's happy to just quietly walk along the lakefront with him.