Shoving in the last book, Sarah closed the locker door, and sighed with relief. She had scored an A on the math test. While a few math problems were taken from other sections, most of the points were for one main word problem. And that problem came from section 3.5. She chewed a piece of bubblegum thoughtfully. How had Bent known? Was it just intuition? Maybe Dr. Frost had tipped him off? Yeah, that had to be it. She was about to head down the hall, when Elly and Trish caught up to her, and bumped her shoulder playfully. “Hey, Chica,” Elly said. She wore a white zip up jacket with a short black skirt. Trish had on a jumpsuit that looked eerily similar to the one Sarah had worn to the bonfire. She had never seen Trish in a jumpsuit like that before. It was curious. Elly tossed her long braid over her shoulder. There was a red ribbon in her hair. Bent had been toying with that ribbon all during math class. Sarah tried not to glare at the red ribbon. It wasn’t the ribbon’s fault. Elly was talking. Sarah hadn’t heard a word. “…it’s tonight. So can you be there?” Elly and Trish both put their hands on their hips. They waited impatiently for her answer. They had field hockey practice to get to. And Coach Mars was not to be trifled with for players who showed up late. Late meant extra sprints. Sarah shook her head to clear it. “I’m sorry. What did you say?” That darn red ribbon!Elly groaned. “Earth to Saaaaara.” She pretended to knock on Sarah’s head with her hand. “I’m having a slumber party tonight. Come!” Trish propped her sports bag higher on her shoulder. “It’ll be fun. Seriously. You don’t have other plans, do you?” It was more of a challenge than a question. And knowing Trish and Elly, the warrior goddesses of Red High, no one could really turn them down. At least not without paying the price for it later in an ‘accidental’ concussion by their body guards on the football team. Sarah nodded. “Sure, okay. Sounds good.” She didn’t really feel like going. She’d wanted to hang out with Erin and Pam and talk about their new boyfriends. But then she remembered that Pam worked Saturdays so she likely had her date with Patrick tonight. And Erin, well Erin did what Erin wanted to do. Trish and Elly exchanged smiles. “What should I bring?” Sarah asked as the girls made their way to the locker room to change. Elly placed her finger on her chin as if to think. But of course, she already knew the answer. “Alcohol?” She and Trish stared at her without blinking. Sarah cleared her throat as they pushed open the locker room door. “I don’t think so,” Sarah said honestly. “My parents literally count their bottles to ensure I haven’t gotten in to any of them.” Well, her father could care less. He never drank. But her mother would definitely notice.Elly giggled as she dropped her bag onto the bench and unzipped it. She started to undress. “I’m kidding, girly! Just bring yourself! I ordered food. We already have a guy who gets us hooked up with drinks.”Trish clicked her fingers as she slid her jumpsuit off. She pulled on the field hockey practice uniform. “Well, there is one rule you must follow,” she said mysteriously.Sarah looked at her curiously as she tied her turf shoes. “You have to wear a sexy nightgown,” Trish said. “You have one of those, right?”Sarah actually had to think about that one. Yes! She did have one. Her grandmother had secretly given her a special, super sexy nightie for her last birthday. Sarah’s mother would have had a fit, had she known. Elly jumped to her feet, now dressed for practice. She stuffed her mouth guard into her mouth. “Ooh, rrrrigght,” she said through the mouth piece. “Sthexy is a muthst.”Later, as the girls ran sprints around the field hockey turf, Sarah spotted Bent’s well-defined, shirtless back. He was running drills with his teammates on the soccer field. As the girls’ team ran past, the boys’ soccer team wound up running in parallel with them. Sarah glanced over and saw Bent jogging in the lead with one of the senior captains. Their sweaty bodies practically oozed sex appeal. The field hockey girls, mainly Erin, started to catcall the boys because she had no shame. She was really targeting her new boyfriend, Trevor. But her jeer got the boys’ attention.”You can run shirtless. But why not pant-less?” she hollered. And, of course, Trevor was the one to retaliate. “After you, hot stuff! Take it OFF!” As the players all cracked up together, Sarah snuck a peek at the front of the boys’ line. And this time, she caught the boy with the beautiful name staring back at her. Aww…the cuteness. There’s something quite magical about feelings beginning to blossom. Hopefully it lasts.