Out on the basketball court Reese finally made it out for practice. “Look who decided to join us, boys?”

Denny said sarcastically.

“Come on, Denny, stop knockin’ him,” Kyle Meyers said, tossing the ball to Reese. “If I had a hot girlfriend like he does, I’d be late too.”

All the other guys chuckled as Reese threw the ball back to Kyle. The coach blew his whistle signaling the practice to begin. “Okay, boys, enough chit chat. Let’s play.”

Denny took the lead being captain of the team. By the time practice ended everyone was hot and sweaty. Denny looked up at the girls’ dorm. He thought he saw a girl watching from the window. He looked up quickly and saw whoever was in the window quickly ducked out of sight. He realized that was Jenny Wilson’s window.

“Hey, Denny, what’s going on?” Reese asked him.

“Nothing,” he said. “Let’s hit the showers.” He looked back at her window but didn’t see anything.

The locker room was bustling with noise with teenage boys teasing each other and talking about the dance. “Hey, Den,” Kyle said, putting an arm around his teammate. “So who’s the lucky girl you’re taking to the dance?”

“What?” Denny said distracted.

“The dance, man, with all the hot chicks in this school, I bet you got your pick of anybody.”

“Except maybe Jenny Wilson,” Evan Lyles joked. “Who would ask her out? Much less bang a girl like that.”

“Hey, man, shut your mouth up about her,” Denny shouted. “A girl like her wouldn’t touch your dumb ass.” He grabbed Evan by the collar and slammed him against the lockers. Denny shot him a look of death and walked off.

“I was just kidding,” Evan shouted at him. “Why do you care about some freak girl anyway?”

“Evan, don’t you know when to shut your mouth?” Reese said, ready to finish the job Denny started. “Jenny’s a good friend of mine. Say anything like that again, and I’ll kick your ass.”

Reese walked off to find Denny. He had already entered the shower. Reese decided to enter the stall to clean up. He had a date with Cree that evening, and he wanted to be fresh.