Senior Year Memories Ch. 45

She said this with a plainness that was familiar to me, even if it was enough to set me on my heels.

"Drama kids talk a lot, don't they?" I asked.

"Some of us. But those that do, talk tons," Doreen admitted, stretching her arms out on the backs of the seats on either side of her. "Zahra and Amy? Totally complimentary of you, btw. And Chloe? You should see the way she's been smiling. It's like you changed her batteries and reminded her she's a real girl all in one! I'd say it's amazing what dick'll do for you, but... well, it actually is amazing what a little *quality* dick'll do for ya."

"I'm happy to hear I've gotten good reviews," I said. "But please stop making it sound like I'm working my way through the drama club, this isn't-"

Doreen squeezed my shoulder playfully. "Relax, Ryan. I'm not accusing you of that. Us drama girls are horny bitches and we're all tired of being objectified by Micah, so you getting dropped in our laps was pretty much like a cow being dropped into a pit of piranha. We were hungry, and you, well, you're yummy. So I'm told. But I'd like to find out!"

She smiled that broad, confident smile again, and I couldn't help but be a little impressed with her. Doreen was plain and direct, and definitely fucking cute. I had thought of her on a couple occasions and what it might be like if we were ever to hook up, and I could tell that she would be one hell of a fuck.

I shook my head. "I'm here to report on the assembly. If you want to talk later-"

Doreen laughed. "I mean, if you call having your hand up Sophie Cusack's skirt reporting (great work, btw, she's a hot little number), then bully for you. But if you're actually here to report on something, well, I have good news!"

"What?" I asked.

Smirking, she nodded toward the stage. "Watch this."

Our shop teacher, Mr. Byrd, was on stage, introducing our school's "champion" baseball team, all of whom stood there smiling and looking vaguely awkward, as if they understood that the last time this team had been champions had been well before any of them were born. Mr. Byrd stood there rambling about how important baseball was, stroking his beard and reminiscing about his time on the team in his youth.

Doreen sighed. "That would've been a lot more dramatic if what I'd wanted to happen had happened right after I said that."

"It probably would've been," I agreed.

She rolled her eyes, annoyed. "I had this whole speech for you and everything about how I knew you were hard-pressed for a story in a boring assembly like this, and how I was happy to give you one, and then- ah, there it is!"

With a dramatic flourish, a banner unrolled on the stage behind Mr. Byrd and the baseball team as he hopefully begged for us all to be filled with the spirit of 'PUMA PRIDE,' which the banner was no doubt meant to enforce.

Fully unfurled, the banner read, 'GO GRIZZLIES GIRLS SOCCER!'

Given that the Grizzlies were the mascot of Blair Valley High School, and Blair Valley High School were our dreaded rivals in any and all sports, this first got some gasps, then a fair bit of laughter from the assembled audience as the baseball team and Mr. Byrd looked up in confusion.

I was with the laughing part of the audience, turning my attention to Doreen. "I see what you mean."

"Thanks," she said, taking a bit of a bow in her seat. "I mean, it would be a lot more topical if it had been about the Grizzlies' baseball team, but this was what I could get from my Blair Valley contacts on short notice. It got the point across. And don't even ask me how much trouble it was to switch it out and get it up there and... yeah. So, does it liven your story?"

Doreen's smirk was infectious, and licking my lips, I replied, "Considerably."

"Awesome," Doreen replied, getting up from her seat and brushing herself off. "I sometimes crash in the library after I eat lunch. Find me there today, and we can do the talky part of your interview. Or the other part if Mrs. Sullivan and Marie are distracted enough. Or both parts. I'm there either way, 'kay?"

By now, I was kind of enjoying how confident she was that the two of us would have sex, and I had to admit that I was thoroughly down for the prospect. Doreen Bell was hot and had an energy I liked, and considering how I couldn't stop smiling since her prank... yeah, I could see us having a good time together.

"I'll be there," I replied.

Doreen's face lit up with what might have been surprise, a pleasantly goofy look that took over her entire face as her eyes brightened and her smile threatened to cut her face in half.

"Really?" she asked, trying to hold back loud laughter. "Oh, that's great, because I really needed you there to..."

Cutting herself off, she instead leaned down and quickly kissed me on the lips. It was a light, playful gesture, and quite good as quick kisses went.

Standing back up, Doreen smiled and said, "You won't regret it."

While she left me to ponder what exactly that meant, Doreen ran off and made a quick escape. Still pleasantly stunned by the kiss, I turned my attention back to the stage where Mr. Byrd and several of the baseball players desperately swung bats in an attempt to tear down the Grizzlies' banner. Every clumsy attempt they made was greeted with laughter from the audience, which I had a hard time not joining in, under the circumstances.

It seemed that most of the school were fans of Doreen Bell, and I now happily counted myself among them.

***

You'll notice I said that *most* of the school seemed to be her fans. No prank ever gets a 100% approval rating, and the Grizzlies banner was no exception. While much of the school seemed to be abuzz over the joke, there was at least one person who was quite vocal in her dissatisfaction, which was kind of an issue considering that she was also one of my girlfriends.

"It *wasn't* funny!" Brooke King pouted as she walked alongside me toward the library.

My petite blonde girlfriend with her shoulder-length hair up in a pair of bouncy pigtails was usually a ray of sunshine, about as cute and sweet and enthusiastic a person as you were liable to find, well, anywhere. It was unusual to not see a perky smile on her cute face and her big green eyes being one of the brightest beacons in any room, but she could get as mad as anyone else if the occasion called for it. The way she was building up a head of steam right now, you'd have thought her much bigger than her 5'1" height would indicate. Not one to see her get angry very often, I had to say, it was kind of a fun look on her.

"It was a *little* funny," I replied. "I laughed. A lot of other people laughed."

"Yeah, well, like, some people will totally laugh at anything," Brooke replied, still fuming.

"I mean, if it's funny... yeah?" I proposed.

Looking up at me, she shot an angry little glare. "People can think a lot of shitty things are funny. Doesn't mean they're right."

"Fair point, fair point," I replied.

Having spent most of my life before this year on the receiving end of a slew of cruel "practical jokes" and "pranks" that were simply poorly disguised harassment and bullying, I couldn't argue Brooke's point there. I couldn't exactly agree with her in this exact instance either, but I could understand where she was coming from.

"Everybody seems to think it's all just some big joke, having a little bit of Puma Pride!" Brooke continued, annoyed, looking down at her blue and white cheerleader uniform as she tried to rein in her feelings. "Like it's a crime for those of us who love this school and all it's done for us. Like, I know it's not perfect, and that there's totally plenty of problems that need fixing, but I don't think having a little pride for it is hurting anyone. And the baseball boys! I know they're not, like, the best, and only seem to be getting worse, but they really try! They try because they love the sport and they love this school and they have a lot of fun doing it, and what's so wrong about that! I just... I just think it sucks that some people totally think it's okay to give anyone a hard time who's only really guilty of having a little Puma Pride. I'm not asking for, like, blind obedience or anything like that, but... just don't give us shit if our crime is only a teensy bit of school pride?"

I wrapped an arm around Brooke's shoulders and pulled her in close. "Well, for you, I can have a little bit of Puma Pride."

"Better be more than a little," she said, smirking mischievously up at me.

There was the Brooke I knew and loved. "More than a little it is, then. It might have to wait until after I talk to Doreen, but I can have some *big* Puma Pride for you."

"Don't you mean until after *we* have a talk with Doreen?" Brooke corrected, blinking up at me cutely.

Right. That.

Brooke could have been doing any number of other things for lunchtime during a spirit week, but had chosen to accompany me instead so that she could give our resident class clown a piece of her mind. As someone who was generally averse to conflict (and really needed the interview with Doreen), I tried to talk her out of it, but when she really wanted to be, Brooke could be a true force of nature, and I couldn't stop her here.

Much as I would have liked to make some more efforts at smoothing things over before we wound up meeting with Doreen, I kept quiet as Brooke and I made our way into the school's library. As ever, it seemed a ghost town, save for the understanding that Mrs. Sullivan and Marie couldn't be that far away.

We found Doreen hanging out by the study tables, and while she looked a little surprised to see Brooke with me, she waved us over enthusiastically all the same.

"Thanks for dropping by," Doreen said as we sat down opposite her. "You brought backup?"

"That a problem?" Brooke asked, defensive.

Sensing the tension, Doreen gave her an easy smile and spread her hands out on the table. "Nope. It actually makes me feel a lot less guilty, since I invited someone else too that I was going to spring as a surprise on Ryan here."

"What?" I asked.

"That's a later problem," Doreen replied, turning her attention towards Brooke. "You didn't tell me you were bringing a yummy as fuck blonde (hey, Pigtails), so I'm gonna assume coming here was her idea and that there's something that needs discussing before we get to anything close to an interview?"

"It's..." Brooke started, thrown for a loop by Doreen's sharpness and looking to make sure we didn't have Mrs. Sullivan or Marie listening in, "...look, I dunno who you think you are-"

"Doreen Bell," the brunette replied quickly, smiling and nodding. "I'm a bit of a class clown, bit of an actress, bit of an agent of chaos, I like to dabble in a lot of things. I see my reputation doesn't precede me for once? Which is weird, 'cause people either notice my reputation or my boobs first, and Pigtails here hasn't seemed to latch onto either of them. I got nice tits, you can stare if you want! God knows I've been staring at yours."

Doreen looked at me for support in her smartass remark, but I was choosing to stay out of the moment and let Brooke have her say while my girlfriend tried to keep herself composed. Between Doreen keeping her off balance and her obvious ogling (something that Brooke seemed to enjoy), composure was a challenge.

"-but I got a bone to pick with how you decided to disrespect Puma Pride today," Brooke finished.

"How did I disrespect Puma Pride? I got a lot of Puma Pride! Love watching even the games we don't lose, and I got mad respect for you cheerleaders. You gals are busting your asses out there doing more dangerous shit than most of the athletes without any protective gear for an audience who're barely interested in you for anything than trying to catch a good upskirt shot. If I'm not cheering loudly enough, lemme know, but I am *full* of Puma Pride," Doreen continued quickly, smiling a disarming and delightfully genuine smile.

"That's... well, that's cool," Brooke replied. "Folks don't, like, really respect what we do enough."

"Oh, yeah, mad respect here, Pigtails!" Doreen said, bumping her fist against her chest in playful solidarity.

"But that doesn't mean it's nice to disrespect our team like that!" Brooke continued, trying to put this conversation back on the track she'd wanted. "I know they're not the best, but those guys try hard, and it gets harder when everyone thinks they're such a joke. They just need some more support, and what you did today isn't helping them. Some of those are really nice guys!"

Doreen nodded. "And I'm sorry for the nice ones. Truly, I am. But a lot of guys up there aren't nice ones, which you should know too. A lot of the jocks up there, they're right assholes and should be treated as such. Kyle Bowman? Jason Torrance? Are those nice guys?"

Brooke replied, "No, but-"

"We got a lot of entitled jackasses in this school who think that having a letterman's jacket makes them into some kind of god, and the way they pick on other kids around school without any repercussions? Yeah, no thanks. On behalf of the picked-on of this school I *actually* fucking love, I like to give the entitled assholes a little lump on the chin sometimes. Nothing gets hurt but their pride, they're reminded they're not gods but people just like everyone else in this wonderful school, and the kids who need a laugh, get a laugh. I'm sorry for the collateral damage, I really am, and if you can tell me the guys up there who you think are actually decent, I'll be sure they get the apologies they deserve, but I don't regret shit about the rest of them. That a problem?" Doreen asked.

This... well, this wasn't quite the interview I was expecting, but it was an insight into Doreen that I appreciated. She never raised her voice, never got truly defensive, and treated Brooke respectfully every moment of her speech. I could see where she was coming from, and by the way I saw the gears turning in Brooke's head, I knew my girlfriend was thinking hard on this as well. A lot of people who saw her with her perky attitude, blonde pigtails and cheerleading uniform didn't think much of her intelligence, even if she was one of the fiercely smartest people I knew. That Doreen hadn't sought to condescend Brooke meant something, and though I waited for it, I wasn't surprised by Brooke's nod.

"No problem," she said, keeping her voice soft. "*Totally* not a problem. I've, like, known a lot of the guys you're talking about. Too frickin' well."

Doreen shrugged, laughing. "Hey, we all do crazy things when we're horny. Ask me about Micah Burke sometime."

Brooke giggled. "Oh, we can compare stories."

I raised my eyebrow. "You and Micah?"

Brooke shrugged innocently.

I continued, "Sounds like there's a story there."

"Only a short one," Brooke replied, smiling playfully.

"A *very* short one," Doreen replied, holding up her fist for a fist bump that Brooke was all too quick to return.

Well, this was unexpected. I was expecting Brooke to really lay into Doreen for a long time after what had happened at the assembly today, not for the two of them to quickly befriend one another. As a year full of surprises went, this one still wasn't even close to the top of the list, but that didn't make it any less surprising.

"So... we're all cool now?" I asked, wanting to make sure that everything was as it seemed.

"I am if she is. I mean, I was never uncool, but, I'm always happy to not have to fight a cheerleader since those girls can really scrap," Doreen said.

"Oh, totally," Brooke replied quickly. "You made your case, like, super well, or super well for me anyway, and I understand what you meant with the prank and why you did it. Just keep picking your targets carefully so you don't ding all the nice ones and your pranks harmless and I've, like, got zero quarrel with you."

"I like lacking quarrels. Life's easier without quarrels," Doreen replied, smiling.

This... well, this wasn't exactly what I expected when we began this conversation. I thought this was going to get animated, possibly involve us getting kicked out of the library, and yet here we were, sitting and chatting as if we were... well, not *old* friends, exactly, but certainly as if we were friendly and more familiar with each other than we already were. I mean, I knew I had a certain way of making fast "friends" this year, but this felt a little faster than most, and I didn't know exactly what to do with it.

"So, we're lacking quarrels, we're at peace... interview time?" I asked, reaching for a notebook in my backpack.

"Eh, not *exactly*," Doreen clarified, shrugging and smiling a little bashfully. "I might've brought you here under somewhat false pretenses. Nothing big, nothing bad, but it will all lead to an interview eventually, the kind that'll give you a lot of insight into my mind and motives and all that good stuff you wouldn't get out of a normal sit-down in a school library, so you'll still come out of this a winner if you stick by me long enough, alright?"

That was actually pretty far from alright, especially since I didn't know what she wanted from me. Still, I wasn't sensing a threat, and Brooke didn't seem to either, so I was willing to see where this was going.

"And if it all goes well, sex is thoroughly on the table for you," Doreen said to me, before turning her attention to Brooke, "And for you too, Pigtails, what the hell, the more the merrier in my bed."

Well, Doreen knew how to sweeten the pot for Brooke and I, I couldn't take that away from her. I was definitely down for some fun with our curvy class clown, and the way Brooke's eyes twinkled, I knew that she too was up for some fun.

"What kind of 'nothing big, nothing bad' false pretenses are we talking about here?" I asked, trying to keep my voice level.

Doreen straightened herself up and cleared her throat importantly. "Well, I guess a lot of it would depend on your comfort level at being an accomplice."

"I'm not going to be breaking any laws?" I asked.

"Oh, fuck, no, nothing like that," Doreen replied.

"School rules?" I continued.

She waggled her hand from side to side. "Only stupid ones."

I thought about this for a moment. "Then what do you need?"

"Well, three things, and only three things, I swear," she continued, raising three fingers for illustration. "First, someone to document this. It'll be after school lets out early today, at the Spirit Week dealie they're throwing on the quad, nothing involving any of your cheer friends or jock friends or anything, so you can relax, Pigtails, but enough so I can have an audience. Still, what's better than an audience is documentation, and in your capacity as a Puma Press reporter can I trust you to immortalize this and write a story about what goes down while holding some discretion over naming me as responsible?"

I thought about this. "Promise me that no one's going to get hurt?"

"Only my pride, and only if it goes wrong. Or I'm caught," Doreen explained.

I nodded. "Fine. I can write a nice little anonymous piece about whatever you've got going down."

"Awesome," she said, dropping a finger. "Second... what I've got planned really requires a getaway, and a quick one at that, and as it is, I don't have my license yet, let alone a car, so I was hoping you might..."

I sighed. "Sorry to disappoint, but I'm in the same boat. Unless you want that getaway to be on my bike-"

"I've got a car. That, like, won't be a problem!" Brooke interjected, smiling with mischief. "I can even pack Ryan's bike away in it in advance if we all wanna get a quick getaway together."

Doreen smiled broadly. "I could stand to stash some stuff in there too."

Brooke nodded. "Well, this totally sounds like fun. Sure!"

Doreen sighed with satisfaction, "Ah, I love it when a plan comes together. See, when I asked you here, I just thought I'd be corrupting Ryan here as an accomplice, but corrupting a cheerleader too? Well, this just makes my fucking day."