New Girl in Town Pt. 25

"Jake's not one for tea parties huh?" Rick chuckled.

"Oh no, he's had several with my little sis," she shared. "He's just sulking because he thinks that we're making him miss out on the cookies and other goodies."

"From what I'm smelling, I'd be sulking too!" he grinned.

"We're saving some just for you guys," Jessica told him. "I promise. So feel free to join the boys. There will be plenty of goodies for when we start the movie."

"All right, I'll hold you to that," he grinned. "I guess that I'll join the other guys and tease Jake about singing and dancing in front of the whole school."

"Hey, I have to sing and dance too," Somer nudged him with a laugh then swept her hand toward the others in the kitchen. "As does Jess, Twanda and Shelly. Even Jamie is going to be so you just watch yourself, mister."

"I'm confident that y'all will do great," he said as he held up his hands in submission. "Does that mean that I shouldn't pick on Jake?"

"And break with tradition?" Shelly asked. "Never."

"Bobby, Ray, Antoine, and Javier have all beat you to that but I'm sure that some new teasing will be welcome," she told him then nodded at Somer. "I think Jamie is being quiet about it so he's not included in the ribbing as well. Follow me and I'll show you how to get back there."

Jessica led them to the kitchen where Shelly, Jody, Roxie, C.C., Marybeth, Marie and Twanda chatted as they made final preparations for the tea party.

"I think that you know most everyone here," Jessica said. "Oh, do you know Marie? She's a friend of Jenny's, goes to Winn and is Jamie's girlfriend."

"I've heard a bit about her... I mean you," Somer said. "Hi Marie, it's nice to meet you and finally put a face with the name."

"Hey, Somer," Marie greeted her. "It's nice to meet you as well."

Somer introduced Rick to the ones that didn't know him while Jessica glanced around the kitchen.

"We seem to be missing the head of this tea party," she said. "Where did Sarah get off to?"

"Jake just popped in for some waters and she followed him outside to hang with the boys for a minute," Jody told her as Roxie checked the cookies in the oven.

"Hopefully they'll help her burn off some energy," Jessica said. "You know, before she fills back up on those cookies."

"You only have yourself to blame, Jessica," Roxie said. "I suggested bringing brownies but no. Some Tall Girl, who shan't be named..."

"Whom you love though," Jessica said in a sing songy voice.

"True enough," Roxie nodded. "Wanted my patented peanut butter cookie recipe."

"I needed it, Rox," Jessica said as she stepped over and hugged her from behind.

"What you need to do is go corral our lil' Sar-bear so I don't burn something here," she swatted at Jessica's arms.

"Please don't burn anything. Those smell too great to die a horrible death like that, Roxie," Rick commented. "I was promised leftovers so I hope there are enough to go around. I'd hate to have to pull seniority on your guys out there to get some of the ones that are ready."

"We've made plenty to go around, Rick," Shelly assured him. "The ones Roxie and Jody are working on are strictly for you guys."

"Of course you can have one, Rick. It can be our little secret," Jody smiled.

As she pushed the cookie sheet toward him she also pushed her boobs together making more cleavage that drew Rick's eyes, but her eyes didn't leave his until Shelly gave her a subtle nudge. She nodded toward Somer and Jody quickly brought her arms down and looked away.

"Thanks, Jody, but I really should pass for now," he said. "If Jake smells these on my breath he'll storm in here and demand his share."

"Let me round up Sarah and we'll see about getting things started," Jessica said as she steered Rick toward the door. "Someone tell Somer what to do to help."

She paused for a moment then looked at Roxie.

"Not you, Roxie," she said with a wink and a grin.

"Hey!" Roxie shouted then muttered. "I was gonna be nice. For once."

"We know you were, Foxy Roxie," Staci giggled. "Come on, Somer, you can help me make sure we have enough chairs. Jess, you go get your mini trouble maker so we can get this party started!"

****

As Jessica and Rick exited the rear of the house, Jake stepped back and launched a pass to Ray who caught it then tossed it back.

"It's just that easy, Sar-bear," Jake said as he handed her the ball.

"Don't let him mess with you, Sarah," Rick called out. "It took him years to get that accurate."

"You're calling that accurate, Rick?" Antoine chuckled. "Man, if you say so."

"Well, ya know, accurate for Jake," Rick answered. "How have you guys been doing?"

"We're all good," Antoine answered. "Missed playing against you but Jake here stepped in nicely."

"I missed you guys, too," he said. "Getting hit by the pair of you, not so much. I'm glad Jake stepped into that role."

"Yeah, my shoulder makes a clicking noise now so thanks so much for that," Jake grinned.

"That doesn't happen," Jessica said.

"I sure didn't hear a click with that pass you just threw," Rick chuckled. "I did hear that you're going out for the lead in the last play the school's putting on this year. I'm thinking of skipping out on classes that day just to see you up on stage singing and dancing."

"Do I get to skip class to see you both onstage, sissy?" Sarah asked.

"No, you do not," Jessica told her. "Remember how you came with mom and dad to the last one?"

"The Beauty and Beast one?" Sarah gasped. "She was Belle!"

Before anyone could ask what she was talking about, Sarah turned and bolted into the house.

"Any idea what that was about?" Bobby questioned.

"I'm guessing that she finally realized where she recognized Somer from," Jessica answered. "I swear If she has any more sugar this afternoon we are going to have to walk her up and down the stairs of the drive-in about a dozen times before she'll be halfway tired enough for bed, Jake. I hope you've got your bag of protective gear in your trunk."

"I can always go grab it," Jake said. "Provided I have some sugar."

"Are you asking for cookies or kisses?" she asked as she beckoned him with her finger.

"Kisses," Jake smiled as he jogged over to her.

"You know that it's both, Jess," Ray called out with a laugh.

"I totally do, Ray," she answered then gave Jake a soft, quick kiss which the guys hooted at. "That'll have to do until after the tea party though. Have fun with the boys. I am going to go back inside and rescue the girls from my sister. Wish me luck."

Jake wished her luck with a kiss then watched her butt as she headed inside.

"Still got it so bad for her, dude," Bobby laughed from his seat atop the picnic table.

"What Bobby said," Javier grinned from his seat beside him.

"Seems so," Rick laughed. "Let's see how good that arm of yours is nowadays."

Rick jogged away from Jake then made a cut toward Ray. Jake took a step forward then lobbed a pass that landed in Rick's outstretched hands.

"Not bad, not bad," he said as he tossed the ball back to him. "I gotta say that it's nice to see you well on the way to recovering."

"Yeah, mostly," Jake said and nodded down toward his brace. "I got another week or two before they check me again to see if I can lose this thing for good."

"Are you good?" Rick asked. "I guess I mean, what's the brace for?"

"I might have kind of rushed getting it off the first time and my leg muscles weren't quite ready for all that," Jake explained. "I almost took a header down my stairs. This is just to make sure that I don't fall on my head if it decides to give out again."

"It'll be a shame when he gets free of it," Bobby said. "I kinda want to see him hobbling around on stage with that thing on while trying to sing and dance."

"As long as you blind the audience by shining a spotlight on it, I'm good with keeping it on," Jake said.

"Jake, I hate to tell you, but your brace is black," Javier said. "That's not gonna shine."

"You could let me have hope for, like, five seconds, Javi," Jake sighed.

"Jake's so full of it," Antoine said. "We've been pushing him hard in the weight room so he'll be ready for that thing to come off this time around. We aren't about to let down that Wildcat of his. She would kick our butts."

"I have a hard time picturing Jessica kicking anyone's butt," Rick shook his head.

"You have no idea," Antoine laughed as he mimicked a swipe at Jamie who dodged away from him. "She's a wildcat all right. Claws and all."

"Jess? Your Jess?" Rick asked. "That girl is nothing but a sweetheart. There's no way that you're seriously calling her a wildcat."

"You haven't had her spike a volleyball at your head," Jamie chuckled then took a sip of water. "Once she fires one of those at you then you'd delight in calling her a wildcat as much as Tank here does."

"I've heard about those spikes of hers," he admitted. "You say that she fired one at your head?"

"I'll just say that she and I didn't start off on the right foot," Jamie said. "Makes me glad that I'm on the right side of things now. Dodging another one of those nasty serves of hers is not something I want to try again. I got lucky once. I'm too big to be nimble enough to dodge another."

"You better limber up then, big man," Antoine said. "All the dancing that you're going to have to be doing up on stage you have to put on a good show for us."

"Thankfully the parts I'm going to try out for don't include that much dancing," Jamie said. "Well, one kind of does but I'm supposed to be bad at it so that works in my favor. Poor Jake there has to be good right from the jump."

"Wait, so it's true, Jamie? You are trying out?" Rick asked. "I didn't think that Drama was one of your things."

"It wasn't but when a couple of my recruiters said it would look better if I got a few more extracurriculars, I needed something," he answered. "My girlfriend, Marie, suggested that I try drama. I was hoping to hide in the background like Jake did but I made a deal to at least try out so here we are."

"Jake's going to be front and center this time though," Bobby grinned.

"Dude, don't remind me," Jake sighed.

"You love it," Javier laughed.

"Somer was telling me that you're the lead," Rick said. "I can't believe that you guys are doing Footloose."

""We are," Jake assured him. "Ms. Simpson picked it out at the start of the year but held it so it would be the last of the year just in case it couldn't get approved. The play version omits some of the racier parts anyway."

"Wait, there's racy parts in Footloose?" Rick asked. "Did I fall asleep through it or something? I don't even remember any kissing in that movie."

"Just her shouting at her father that she's not a virgin," Jake answered. "That wouldn't fly in front of families so that's changed. Some of the fights are cut down too but we're supposed to discuss what we're leaving in and taking out at our next meeting."

"No fights? And here I was hoping to get to watch Jake getting knocked around some," Rick joked.

"I'm sure at least part of our football season is online," Jake said. "You can watch me get knocked around plenty in those games."

"Check the preseason game," Bobby said. "Jamie there dumped him right on his head."

"Bobby, man, can we not bring that up?" Jamie asked. "I apologized for that like a dozen times now."

"All has been forgiven, Jamie," Jake said then winked at him. "My shoulder still clicks though."

"That's still not funny, Jake," he said as he tossed the ball to Jake.

"It's kinda funny," Ray said then took off at a run.

Jake dropped back a couple of steps then lobbed a pass to him that fell into his outstretched hands. Ray turned then tossed it back to him.

"See?" Jamie said as Jake caught the ball. "I didn't hear a click. Did any of you guys hear a click?"

"I heard a creak but I'm confident that was this table I'm sitting on and not Jake's bones," Javier answered.

"Jess could tell us all about Jake's bone," Bobby chuckled.

"Dude!" Jake shouted while Bobby continued to laugh.

"I know I didn't hear anything," Antoine jumped in. "Other than Jake whining for some more sympathy."

"First of all, the click is silent," Jake said as he spun the ball on his finger. "Secondly, that was hardly whining."

"The click is silent," Jamie repeated. "Can you believe this guy?"

"Let's see if this click of yours is audible when you put some heat on one, Jake," Rick said then sprinted toward Ray.

Rick faked a turn to his right then cut back to his left. As soon as he committed Jake planted his foot and hurled the ball to where Rick would be in a step. Rick's hands went out followed by a loud slap as pigskin met human flesh. He ran a few more yards then stopped and shook his hands to ease the sting out of them.

"Damn, Jake," he said as he continued to shake his hands. "It's been awhile since I've caught a ball. You still got it all right."

"That's why Jamie and I liked being on defense, Rick," Antoine grinned as Rick and Ray jogged back over. "We get to hit Jake and he can't retaliate by trying to break our hands with his throws. You know, unless we intercept one of his ugly passes that is. Oh and Jake? There was no click."

"I just liked hitting him, until Jessica came along that is," Jamie laughed. "After that, I preferred to not have volleyballs fired at my head."

"She's a wildcat!" Antoine shouted with a laugh.

****

"What are they even doing out there?" Staci asked as she heard Antoine's shout.

"Sounds like they're being boys," Roxie answered as she twisted Sarah's hair into a braid. "Right, Sarah?"

"Loud boys!" Sarah agreed.

"Agreed," Twanda said as she went to the window to check. "They're tossing the football around so Roxie isn't wrong."

"I rarely am," Roxie said proudly. "There you go, Sar-bear. You are all ready and I believe that with what Jess and Somer just brought out, we're ready as well."

"Cool!" Sarah said then spun in her lap to face the table. "Let's get going so we can watch the movie!"

The girls were brought up to speed on all the elementary school gossip that Sarah had gleaned since the last tea party. They Ooo-ed and Ahh-ed at the appropriate places then shared the PG versions of things going on around the high school.

"So where do Jake and my sissy sneak off to kissy?" Sarah asked.

"Sarah, oh my god!" Jessica said. "We don't do that at school!"

"Not what I heard," Roxie smiled.

"Me either," Shelly jumped in.

"I'm pretty sure that I've seen them do exactly that," Jody said.

"After school activities don't count," Jessica argued. "Also, shush you two!"

"Oh they totally count," Staci said. "So, Sarah, they like to sneak..."

"Nope," Jessica interrupted. "I'm putting a stop to that right here. Staci, you stop. Sarah, you too you little instigator."

"I'm not an instant gator," Sarah said then looked to Roxie. "What's an instant gator?"

"Look it up and you'll find a picture of yourself," Roxie grinned.

"Will not!" Sarah giggled.

"Will too," Jessica said. "Now I'm going to call the boys in and no more cookies for you until we start the movie."

Sarah giggled then reached for another but Roxie reached over and snatched her hand back.

"Be good, insta gator," Roxie told her as Jessica got up and shook her head at her little sister.

"I'm not a gator, I'm a Sar-bear! And in a few years I'll be a Wildcat!" Sarah said then jumped onto Roxie's lap.

"I don't think it's possible for her to be good," Jessica commented.

"She'll be fine," Staci said as she got to her feet and offered her hand to Sarah. "Come help me get some popcorn started, Sar-bear. Maybe we can fill the boys up with that and save the cookies for us."

"Yes!" Sarah said and grabbed Staci's hand.

"Staci," Jessica said with a warning tone. "I don't think that I need to point out how, if you share anything that you shouldn't with my little sister, that I will unleash an angry Roxie on you."

"Don't make me angry, Cheer Girl. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry," Roxie said.

"I'd love you, angry or not, Foxy Roxie. And I love it when you get all threatening, Jess," Staci winked at her then looked at the rest of the girls. "Someone make sure that any volleyballs around here remain hidden and I'll be fine. Kisses, Jess."

With that, Staci disappeared into the kitchen while Jessica sighed and shook her head. Roxie and C.C. got to their feet to follow Staci.

"We've got your back, Jess," Roxie assured her. "I'll distract Sarah with picking flavoring to add to the popcorn. Or I'll kick Staci in her shins. One of those has to work."

"I heard that, Foxy Roxie!" Staci called out then they heard a crash of metal pans. "Sarah, we don't even need those. What are you even trying to get?"

"Yeah, we're totally needed in there," C.C. giggled. "Jess, go get the boys while we go rescue Staci."

"Or kick her," Roxie promised with a grin. "Here we come to save the day, Staci! Hope you got some shin guards on!"

****

"Sissy, are you going to do that?" Sarah asked as the group watched the scene in Footloose where Ariel stood between her friend's car and Chuck's truck as they sped down the road.

"Yeah, Jess," Staci grinned. "Is Wild Child Jess going to play chicken with a semi truck?"

"No, she is not," Jessica said to Staci then smiled at Sarah. "The play is all on the stage, Sarah. It won't fit any car or truck much less one of each."

"I don't know, Jess," Bobby said. "We could put a couple of folding chairs on some skateboards, have Coach Pennington have his art classes help out the prop department to draw up a couple of cardboard car frames then we can just push you across the stage."

"Not happening, Bobby," Jake said. "We're not risking Jess taking a fall and hurting her wrist or that brilliant head of hers."

"Aren't you the sweetest," Jessica said then kissed his cheek.

"Does that mean that we're losing the Hagar song?" Bobby asked as he shook his head. "That sucks."

"We shouldn't lose it," Jake said. "I looked at the script online and that song is still in. The scene is just different is all."

"I'm guessing that's one of your solos?" Rick asked.

"Nope, that one is, thankfully Jonathan's," Jake answered.

"Jonathan might be our best actor but there's no way he's pulling off a Sammy Hagar song," Bobby stated. "That's one has got you all over it, Jake."

"This is why I make you look over the scripts so much," Jake shook his head. "That song is early on and it's a scene with Jonathan and Jess, not me. Besides, I've got solos, duets and a couple of group songs. One of which is yours, Jamie."

"If you're expecting me to be surprised, Jake, I hate to break it to you but Marie beat you to it," he said. "She also looked up the script and was all too excited to point out that I also have a song."

"I really was," Marie giggled.

"Is someone writing down all these songs that we have to sing, solo and not?" Jessica asked. "I want to start practicing so I don't make a fool of myself on stage."

"Going to be doing a lot of singing in the shower huh, Jess?" Roxie giggled.

"Your poor ears, Sarah," Staci teased.

"My sister sings good," Sarah said. "I hear her in the shower all the time."

"I've heard her in the shower too," Staci grinned. "Does she sound like she's screaming to you, Sarah?"

"Staci!" Jessica shrieked. "Someone go out to the garage and grab my bag of my volleyballs. The Cheer Girl is about to see how quick she is at dodging!"

"See?" Staci asked. "Screaming. You need to save your voice for the singing, Jess."

Jessica glared at the giggling Staci until Marybeth spoke up.

"I'm sure that we would all like to see that, but, we should probably finish the movie first," she said.

"It's a shame that Jody and Javier had to go," Shelly said. "They'll hate they missed Staci running for her life."