It was obvious to Charlie that Teresa was in a bad way.  Not only
did she have Jane tormenting her, but Valerie seemed to be going out of
her way to tweak Teresa's nose, so to speak.  And then there was their
dinner guest, Bob, who was gently flirting with all of them.  Charlie
could handle it better now, and Valerie of course was running with it
full blast like she always did, but Teresa looked like she wanted to
cry.
     Something impinged on Charlie's awareness, and he glanced at Bob,
who was smiling already and looking at Charlie, and talking about-
     "- swing dancing classes?"
     "Oh," Jane remarked in that I-have-a-new-torment sort of voice she
used sometimes, "that sounds like a wonderful idea."
     "Swing dancing?" Valerie asked.  "Like, forties big-band stuff and
everything?"  She sounded intrigued.  When Bob nodded in confirmation,
she literally bounced in her seat and clapped.  "Oh WOW that'd be GREAT
please Jane can we?"
     Teresa was looking pale, Charlie noticed.  REALLY pale.

     As if everything that had happened up to this point wasn't bad
enough, Julio had to watch as the little bitch lesbo tried to stick HIS
pantied ass into a DANCING class, for God's sake.  And SWING dancing,
which was like slow dancing, and it would certainly have GUYS in it, and
he'd have to SLOW dance with them....

     Tucker looked over in time to see Teresa slide off her seat and
thump on the floor.  There was a general rush, and eventually Bob's head
appeared over the edge of the table and pronounced her in a faint.
     Tucker looked over at Charlene, and asked, "Was it something I
said?"

     Charlie couldn't restrain himself any longer, and smacked Valerie
in the head.  "Duh!" he hissed.  "Leave her alone!"
     "Fuck YOU," Valerie whispered back before Jane's head appeared
along with the rest of her from where she had been tending to Teresa.
They both shut up, but kept glaring at each other for the rest of
dinner.

     After Jane had led Bob to the parlor and dismissed the 'girls' for
the evening, he sighed and relaxed into his chair.  "So?"
     Jane sighed, and swirled her brandy around the snifter.  "Well,
Teresa is working out like a charm."
     "I could tell," Bob grinned.  "Though she's still a little rough
around the edges."
     Jane shrugged, still staring at the liquid going around and around
in her glass.  "She'll get better in time.  She's really doing rather
well at this."
     "And, your problem case?"
     Jane sighed, and shook her head slowly.  "I did," she finally said,
"determine the best way to control her."
     There was a long pause, until Bob finally had to prompt, "And?"
     Jane looked up at him, and smiled a tired little smile.  "Strangely
enough, the same things that worked on me when I was roughly her age."
     "What?"
     Jane shrugged.  "Grounding, revoking of privileges.  Keeping her
from her friends and those activities she enjoys."  Bob's brow furrowed.
"I know," Jane went on, forestalling his next question, "the same things
that any parent of a teenager does.  Nothing else seems to work."

     Charlene was helping Julio to get ready for bed, and he was trying
to explain his embarrassing reaction at dinner.  "I mean, what if they
figured it out?  I, they'd KILL me!"
     Charlene smiled at him in the mirror, and paused with a curler in
one hand.  "You don't have to worry about it.  Jane said you weren't
going, remember?"
     "But I didn't know that at first-"

     "I can't imagine why..."  Bob trailed off as the seeming
impossibility of Valerie's behaviour overwhelmed his mind.
     Jane shrugged.  "Neither can I.  Sooooo..."  She sipped at her
drink.  "So I have no real choice but to go with what works.  I hope it
will explain itself later on, but I really can't complain about her
following my program.  She's doing quite well in that regard."
     Bob's head was still shaking.

     Charlie had put Teresa to bed, and gotten ready for bed herself,
but she hadn't seen Valerie since they had all left Jane and Bob in the
parlor.  She wasn't in her room either.
     Charlie wondered for a second if she had taken off, and mostly
managed to dismiss the possibility from his mind.  *She wouldn't do that
for something this small,* he told himself, several times as he looked
through the house for her.
     Finally, a movement outside caught his attention, and after staring
out the window for several seconds, he could just make out the
silhouette of her head, sitting outside in the porch swing.

     Tucker was seriously enjoying the quiet and solitude when,
naturally, the door opened and someone came out.  He thought about
pretending that he didn't notice, but that plan went out the window when
Charlene walked directly in front of him.
     "What are you doing?" she asked in an accusing tone.  Just the sort
of thing he wasn't in the mood for right now.
     "Nothing, Char," he sighed.  "Just looking at the stars, listening
to the wind..."
     After a long moment of silence, she replied, "Oh," in an entirely
different tone of voice.
     Tucker tuned her out after a few more moments, and sat there
listening to things that were miles away.
     "Can I sit down?" she asked quietly, still managing to shatter the
sense Tucker was trying to create.
     "Sure," he sighed, and made room for her on the swing.  She sat
down, her clothes rustling loudly in the quiet darkness, but she finally
settled down and all was quiet.

     Charlie had enjoyed sitting outside with Valerie, in the calm quiet
of rural night, but now his bladder was complaining, and he couldn't
ignore it any more.  Besides, it had been a looooooong time.
     "Valerie?" he whispered.
     "Mmmm?" she whispered back.
     "I think it's time to go inside...." he mentioned.
     Valerie didn't reply, but a minute later, he felt the swing shift
underneath him, and she slowly stood up.  She stretched a little, and
then said to Charlie, "Let's go to bed, I guess."
     She held out a hand to help him up, but she didn't let go as they
walked inside and up to his room.  Charlie could feel the warmth of her
arm against his, and it made him feel like he should do something, but
he didn't know what.

     Jane knocked on Charlene's door when she hadn't woken up for
breakfast.  As she halfway expected, Valerie was in bed next to her
other student.  She sighed.

     Julio was timorously eating breakfast, wondering if he should eat
enough to fill him up or if he should hold back in case he had to do
something else upsetting today.  He'd found that being full wasn't a
good idea when Jane decided to do something 'new' on him.
     "Charlene, Valerie," Jane said after finishing a slice of melon,
"since you seem so enthusiastic about taking swing dancing lessons..."
Julio was looking at Charlene when Jane said that, and she looked
anything but enthusiastic about it.  Jane continued, "...then we will
need to get you some appropriate clothes."
     The two girls looked at each other.  Finally, Charlene dared to
speak up.  "Um, where would we go, Jane?"
     "The Style Shop," she replied with just the ghost of a smile on her
lips.
     Valerie started, "Isn't that where-" but apparently Charlene's
groan answered her question.  "Oh, no," Valerie moaned, shaking her
head.
     "Oh yes," Jane openly smirked.  "And I will be going with you
today, Valerie, to prevent a repeat of your performance last time.  On
the other hand, if you two behave like proper young ladies, then perhaps
we can go shopping for clothes elsewhere afterwards."
     *What performance?* Julio wondered.

     *Oh, boy, what a reward,* Charlie sighed to himself silently.  *If
we put up with shopping for girl's clothes, we get to go shopping for
more girl's clothes.*  What was hitting him was more the irony of the
situation than anything else.
     Then again, watching Jane fight Valerie on clothing issues might be
interesting...

     Julio's heart lept into his throat, and he was glad he hadn't eaten
more.  "Uh?" he squeaked, and everyone turned to look at him.
     "Yes?" Jane finally asked him.
     "Uh-h-h," he forced out, but that was the best he could do.
     Charlene came to his rescue, and said, "I think Teresa is saying
she doesn't feel comfortable about going shopping with us today, Jane."
     "I should say not," Valerie commented, and shot Julio a sneer.
     "Valerie," Jane warned, and then answered Charlene's statement.
"Teresa will be staying here today, and practicing under Marie until we
get back."
     Julio didn't know whether to be relieved or depressed.

     Charlie desperately wanted to know what Valerie was planning.  She
hadn't argued at all about going to Miss Franson's dress shop; she'd
just dressed nicer than usual and she'd been extremely quiet the entire
way into town.  Charlie kept sneaking looks at her, and it looked almost
as though she was asleep, with her eyes closed, but she was sitting
straight upright in the back seat, so she couldn't be sleeping...
     When they pulled into a parking spot and stopped the car, Valerie
got out and started walking towards the shop without even waiting for
the two of them.  "Valerie," Jane warned, but she didn't even slow down.
Charlie would have sworn, too, that somehow she had grown taller, during
the car trip, even though he knew that was impossible.  He and Jane had
to hustle to keep up with her.

     Jane knew something unpleasant was going to happen in the shop, but
she was almost paralyzed by a feeling of inevitability about the entire
situation.
     And, she didn't want to admit it to herself, but a sliver of her
wanted to see what Valerie was going to do.
     Valerie opened the door to the dress shop herself, and Charlene
caught it in time to let the two of them in.  Valerie was standing in
the middle of the entryway, looking stiff and formal in a way that Jane
had never seen her stand before.  When a salesgirl approached and
started to say something, Valerie focused on her and interrupted, "I
need to speak with Miss Franson immediately, please.  Tell her that
Valerie is here."  She said it with an impeccable upper-class British
accent, also, which raised Jane's eyebrows.
     "Um," the salesgirl said, looking baffled, then retreated behind a
subservient, "Yes ma'am, right away ma'am," and she scurried off towards
the rear of the shop.
     Valerie waited almost exactly one and a half heartbeats, and then
followed the girl.  Jane shrugged mentally, and beckoned Charlene to
come along as she walked after Valerie herself.
     Betty Franson was speaking to one of the summer residents when the
salesgirl approached her and whispered in her ear.  She said something
to the woman she had been talking to, and turned around just in time to
come face-to-face with the freshly-imperious Valerie.
     Without waiting, Valerie spoke, "Miss Franson, my associate,"
which sobriquet caused Jane no little amusement, "has had pleasant
dealings with you in the past, and she has convinced me to attempt to
deal with you one more time.  If you find that you can keep a civil
manner about you, then I suppose I am willing to patronize your shop.
At her insistence.  However, I do not wish to go through the...
unpleasantness, I witnessed during my last visit.  Is that understood?"
     Jane wondered, as Betty gaped, why Valerie hadn't shown such
command of manners before this.

     Charlie was having so much fun watching Valerie that the usual
routine of trying on half a hundred dresses hardly bothered him.  Jane
was being unusually quiet for a change, and Valerie had stolen center
stage from all of them.  She was polite enough to the girl, Beth, that
was helping them, but towards Miss Franson she was icily correct,
somehow managing to convey a sense of contemptuous superiority without
actually doing anything which he could point to as being rude.  Even
when she suggested things for Charlie himself to try on, it was so much
a part of the act to discombobulate Miss Franson that Charlie did it
just to see what Valerie was going to do next.
     At one point, in the showing room which was only semi-private,
Valerie complained bitterly about the lines of one dress and wriggled it
off right there where anyone could see her standing in her underwear.
She glared at Miss Franson for the several seconds it took her to take
the offending garment away and for Beth to bring a different one.  Jane
was shaking her head solemnly, but didn't say anything at all.

     Tucker managed to hold on to his trance state long enough to
supervise the transfer of some ungodly amount of clothing out to the
Lincoln, and get rid of the salespeople, before he lost it and almost
blacked out.  "Shhhhhhit," he breathed as he slid down the outside of
the door to rest on the concrete.  He noticed his hands were shaking as
he held his head, trying to press on the headache that had developed.
     "Valerie?" Jane asked, but it was Charlene who touched his
shoulder.
     He looked up, and the two of them had concerned looks on their
faces, as best as he could tell in the blinding glare.  "I," he
breathed, "I didn't think it would take that much out of me.  To keep it
up that long."
     "Keep what up?" Charlene asked him.
     "The mask.  Acting like that...."  God, his head and neck hurt.

     *Every time,* Jane mused as she watched the two of them eat, *every
time I think I have her figured out, she shows me a completely new facet
of herself that I never would have suspected.*  Valerie had almost
completely stopped shaking, but she was still pressed firmly against
Charlene as if for warmth or comfort.  Charlene speared a mushroom and
held it to Valerie's lips, and she ate it and smiled wanly at Charlene
before putting her head on Charlene's shoulder.  When she finally
swallowed the mushroom, she moved slightly upright, but it was Charlene
who actually pushed her into a sitting position again.
     Jane held her sigh in.  *I really, really, do not wish to have to
talk to the two of them about their relationship, but I believe I am
going to have to, and most likely this evening.  This is getting a
little too intimate.*  She filed the thought as something to do later,
and turned back to her chicken-and-pasta dish that smelled so delicious.

     Tucker was seriously wondering about taking a nap when Jane
commented, "And now, what do we do about the rest of the afternoon?"
     "Hmmm?" was his comment, but Charlene grinned.
     "How about," she said, "we go do some of that other shopping you
mentioned?"
     Jane sighed, and patted her lips with her napkin.  "I can see that,
but I need to get back to Teresa.  Marie can only keep her 'entertained'
for so long."  *Ugh!* Tucker thought before he remembered who she was
talking about.
     "Maybe you could, um," Charlene trailed off.
     After a moment, Jane grinned.  "Let you have the Visa again?"
Tucker stuck a fingernail into his leg so he wouldn't break out into a
grin at the idea.  "Since one of you proved so facile with forging my
signature," she speared Tucker with a glance that let him know in no
uncertain terms just who she thought was responsible for THAT, "I can
understand why that appeals to you.  However, I feel as though I need to
keep the two of you in line somehow, or I don't believe that one car
will suffice to carry everything you two will purchase."
     "Who, us?" Tucker managed to contribute.  Jane's look that time was
enough to shut him up for a while.
     "Which is why," Jane continued, "I am going to call Marie to come
out and watch the two of you during your shopping, while I return to the
house with Teresa."
     After a few seconds, Charlene asked, "WITH Teresa?"

     As they pulled into the parking lot, Marie mentioned, "If you can't
manage to look interested, try looking bored.  You'll stand out less."
     Julio was grateful for any suggestion that would keep people from
looking at him.
     She drove all the way to the front door, and Julio tried to slide
down in the seat a little more, but the seat belt held him too tightly
for him to go more than a few extra inches.  Marie told him to stay
where he was, *Like I'm going to get OUT?* and got out of the car,
leaving the engine running.
     He was concentrating so hard on the dashboard of the car and on
trying not to attract attention that when someone tapped on his window,
he almost screamed as he jumped sideways.  It was Valerie and Charlene,
again, and Valerie was saying something to the other girl with a grin on
her face, something he just knew had to do with making fun of him.
Charlene motioned for him to roll down the window, and he did, wondering
all the while if they were going to expose him right here in front of
everyone in the restaurant.
     "Jane's taking you back home," Charlene said, smiling at him, "and
we're gonna be shopping for a while.  So relax, okay?"
     "Yeah," Valerie added, "I mean it'd sort of be nice to take you
with us," she said, the tone of her voice saying it would be anything
but nice, "but you still have to pass your lessons first."
     Charlene put in, "Keep studying and maybe you can come with us, one
of these days."  Her smile at him almost made him wish he was going with
her now.  He already knew that Jane wouldn't be as easy on him as Marie
had been.
     As if his thought had summoned her, Jane slid into the driver's
seat and shut the door.  When he looked over at him, she smiled back,
giving him a chill that went up and down his back three times before he
shook it out.
     "Bye, Tereeeesa," Valerie drawled, and laughed as the car pulled
away.

     "You're a sadist," Charlene told Tucker as they followed Marie back
into the main concourse of the mall.
     Tucker shrugged.  "I guess.  But I'd rather have HER," he
emphasized the pronoun, "than HIM, any day.  No question."
     "Would anyone like some ice cream?" Marie hinted.  Tucker thought
it was a good idea, even if he was mostly full already.

     Charlie felt like a beached whale as he sat on the bench, staring
at the last bit of ice cream cone in his hand.
     "Are you two just gonna sit there forever?" Valerie complained, and
he thought about kicking her, but it would have required moving, and
that was too much effort at the moment.

     Marie felt the cotton gauze dress shift gently around her, and was
possessed with a sudden desire to fall on the ground and writhe within
its embrace.
     "See?" Valerie commented with a knowing smile.  "Told you it was a
sensual experience."  Charlene, also in a gauze dress, just sighed and
grinned in agreement, and wriggled for several seconds before starting
to giggle.

     They finally ended up with FOUR bags of clothing from the Cotton
Spott, which Tucker thought just might be enough for a while.  *Darn, I
wish I could get Debbie up here.  She'd love this place.  Especially
with Jane's Visa.*  Money might not be able to buy happiness, but it
could sure open up a lot of pleasant doorways.
     "I think," Marie said, "that we should place these in the car
before we do any more shopping."  Tucker had no problems with that; his
arms were already tired.

     Marie had privately considered it foolish to allow the two of them
out shopping on their own, without any 'help' in the form of Jane's
usual circle of assistants, but as the day wore on, she began to realize
that her fears were groundless.  The two of them laughed and chattered
like any other pair of teenage girls out shopping - although few of the
girls in the mall were buying quite so much - and the only people that
gave any of them second looks were other teenagers.  And Marie
recognized the competitive appraisals from both girls and boys for what
they were.
     In fact, it had been a long time since she had so much fun with an
outing.  Usually, she was stuck at home doing the housework, instead of
taking Jane's students out, but these two had the sort of enthusiasm
that Marie had only seen a couple of times in Jane's students.  They
kept challenging each other, making sarcastic or demeaning comments to
each other about their choices, but it seemed to be working, and Marie
watched as the two of them picked up items that even she considered a
bit daring, and acted like wearing them would be a pleasurable
experience.

     "I see some clothing and I want it painted black," Tucker sang
softly to himself as he looked over the sable lace creations he'd found
at this little gothic clothing place.  "No colors anywhere, I want them
to turn black..."
     "Jeez," Charlene commented, "this looks like the prop department
for a vampire movie or something."  Which was sort of what Tucker had
had in mind.  They had leather, too, and Tucker was sure that a) he
could sneak at least one miniskirt home with him when he left Jane's,
and b) that Debbie would look fabulous wearing one.

     "A pedicure?" Charlie asked.
     Valerie shrugged, which looked sort of odd considering how
enthusiastic she was.  "Sure!  See, they also offer a foot massage.  And
mine hurt, thankyouverymuch.  And it's only twenty dollars...."  She
looked at Marie hopefully.
     "It's been a long time since I had a pedicure," Marie said
musingly, and Charlie knew that he was going to have someone playing
with his feet.

     Tucker couldn't keep the smirk off his face as he watched the girl
carefully shape his toenails.  Charlene's moans of pleasure from the
next cell sounded almost obscene.  He was seriously looking forward to
his own massage.  If they could make Charlene make sounds like THAT....

     Julio groaned as he lost the book on his head, and Jane sighed from
behind him.

     "EARRINGS!" Valerie shrieked as she sped up towards the jewelry
store in front of them.
     "Oh, dear," Marie sighed softly.  She wasn't quite sure how much
Jane usually spent in one day, but this was going to be close to it, she
knew.  If not severely over it.
     "Look!" Valerie commanded, and Marie did without being able to stop
herself.  She was holding a pair of lapis-and-silver creations that
looked absolutely BEAUTIFUL...  Marie drifted a little faster towards
the display table in front of the shop without noticing.

     "Oh, my... God...." Tucker breathed as he stared at the full-kit
maid's outfit in the costume shop window.
     "What?" Marie asked in amazement.
     "Debbie.... she would look fanTASTic in that," Tucker said
absently, still lost in his imagination.
     After a few seconds, Charlene asked, "And you expect to get her to
wear it?"
     Tucker sighed as he came crashing back to reality.  "There's no way
on earth I could get her to actually wear the thing.  Jeez, if I wasn't
careful, she'd make ME wear it for even suggesting it."  That made
Charlene and Marie laugh, but Tucker still wished there was some way....

     Julio was more than relieved when the girls came home and he was
drafted to carry bags of clothing inside the house.  Not only was Jane's
'program' a torment in and of itself, but it strained his body in ways
it wasn't used to, and that _hurt_.  It almost felt good to be lifting
bags and carrying them up the stairs.  The first two trips, anyway.
     "How much did you two get?" he huffed to Charlene as he carried the
third set of bags through the hallway.
     She shrugged.  "Lots.  We spent all day..."  She trailed off as she
slogged up the stairs with her load.

     When Marie presented the handful of charge slips to Jane, she was
impressed.  "They bought ALL of this?" Jane confirmed.  When Marie
didn't answer immediately, Jane looked up at her.  She was slightly red
in the face.
     "Well," Marie explained, "you know, I need to exercise more, to
keep in shape, and Valerie has been giving me lessons on her skates?"
     Jane sighed.

     Tucker looked at the bags of clothing, sitting around the room, and
then at the closet.  "That stuff is gonna have to go," he said to
himself, looking at the overly-young fashions already hanging up.

     Charlie was trying to figure out what to do with the stupendous
amount of clothes that he had accumulated in what he was beginning to
think of as an attack of insanity when someone tapped on his door.
"Come in," he called, turning to see which of his fellow students it
was.
     Valerie slipped into the room and sighed.  "I think we're gonna
have to put some of this stuff up in the attic later," she announced.
"Or wherever they keep stuff.  And I am too tired to do it now, what
about you?"
     "I'm not doing it," was Charlie's instant protest.
     Valerie rolled her eyes.  "Wasn't asking you to," she said gently.
"I was thinking more like a nap?"
     A nap sounded to Charlie like an excellent idea.

     Jane sent Julio to find the two girls, and he had looked all over
downstairs, even peeking out the front door to see if they were skating
or something.  No luck.  He sighed as he carefully mounted the stairs,
being careful to walk as Jane had taught him.  He had already found out
that she was around far too often when he forgot.
     He tapped on Charlene's door, and heard faint snoring instead of a
reply.  He gently opened the door, and instead of Charlene in the bed,
they were BOTH sleeping, wrapped around each other like his stepfather
and his girlfriend.
     He shut the door in confusion, and wondered what to tell Jane.

     Tucker shot a questioning look at Charlene as they sat down in
front of Jane's desk.  Charlene shrugged in reply.  Apparently she
didn't have any idea either.
     "What I wanted to speak about with you two," Jane started as she
seated herself behind the desk, "is the relationship you two are
developing with each other."
     "Huh?"  Tuck had absolutely no clue what she was talking about.
     "I've noticed," she added a subtle emphasis on the last word, "that
the both of you have become unusually close over the past two weeks."
Tucker looked at Charlene, to see if she knew what Jane was talking
about.  Judging by the expression on her face, she had no more clue
about it than Tucker did.

     Charlie's breath stopped when Jane got explicit and actually told
the two of them what she was talking about.  *Dating?!* his mind raced,
*But she- I-*
     "WHAT?!" Valerie shrieked, voicing what Charlie couldn't.  "Are you
NUTS?  DO you know what Debbie would DO to me if I pulled something like
that?"  Charlie stared at her.  *She's worried about her GIRLFRIEND?*

     Jane sighed as the two teens left her office, and leaned back in
her chair.  The signs had been there, in profusion, but there was no
mistaking the shock that both of them had expressed over the idea.
     As she was deliberately stretching the tension out of her neck, an
errant thought current delivered, *I wonder if Valerie is doing all
this simply to drive me insane.*  A further thought added that it was
probably in revenge for all the torments she had served to hundred of
boys over the years.
     "Don't be ridiculous," she told herself sternly as she got up.  "It
was simply time, statistically speaking, that I find someone who
confounds most of my usual tactics."  And Valerie was definitely the
one.
     She deliberately sighed again, and went to change for dinner.

     Marie had made a pasta dish, instead of one of her more usual
belly-stuffing concoctions.  Tucker was about to ask her why when she
explained, "You two are going to a dancing class tonight, remember?"
*Wha- oh.  Yeah.*  He'd forgotten all about it.
     "So Jane and I thought that it would be a good idea if you two did
not eat so heavy tonight, and perhaps had a snack after the class if you
are still hungry."  That made sense to him, he decided.  But when had
she had time to cook?

     *Oh, God,* Charlie thought wearily, *I forgot all about that.
Damnit!  And all I want to do is laze around some and go to bed.*  He
sighed.  Apparently, Jane had taken Valerie's comments seriously...
     As if summoned, Jane appeared through the doorway, dressed for
dinner.  "You realize," she announced to both Charlie and Valerie, "that
you two will need to change again before you go to the swing dancing
class tonight."
     *Oh, no, not again!* Charlie moaned mentally.  *I'm TIRED of
changing clothes!*  Jane shot him a sharp look, and he wondered if he'd
said it out loud.

     "Come on, Char, it won't be so bad," Tucker mentioned.  "Just eat
light, and we should get out in a couple of hours."  *Wonder if I can
get her as a dancing partner,* he thought.  With any luck, there'd be a
lot more girls than boys in the class, and they would pair together as
the latest arrivals.
     *Not like I'm interested in her or anything,* he reminded himself.
*I'd just rather dance with her than anyone else.  That's in town,* he
sighed, thinking of Debbie.  *At least I should be able to teach her a
few things, next time I see her.*  The idea cheered him.  He knew what a
little private dancing lesson with Debbie would lead to...

     Charlene sighed as she saw what Jane had in mind for the two of
them to wear to the dancing class.  *I should have been more suspicious
when we went to Franson's,* he decided.  The dress was gorgeous, but had
too much hint of petticoating to allow him to be truly comfortable in
it.  And, sure enough, when he glanced next to it, there were two or
three pettis on the bed too.
     "At least I got some flats today to wear," he sighed.  "No way am I
going dancing in heels too."

     Tucker looked around the dance floor and bit his lip.  He had
thought that swing dancing would be a neat thing to do with Debbie; he
hadn't considered who ELSE would be in the class.  Everyone, apparently.
There was at least one couple in their sixties, and a whole lot of
successful twenty- and thirty-somethings talking it up with each other.
Tucker flushed as he realized what sort of company he would be in, and
how he was dressed compared to the rest.  *This is the last damn time I
listen to Jane when she tells me to wear something,* he fumed,
transferring his embarrassment to anger at the older woman.

     Charlie was feeling a little out of place when the teacher came up
to them and started telling them about the class.  She complimented the
two of them on their clothes, and Valerie groaned quietly.  Charlie
wasn't sure if the teacher had heard it or not, so she slammed an elbow
into Valerie's ribs just to make sure she'd stay quiet.
     The teacher led the two of them through some of the crowd, who were
giving the both of them admiring glances.  Charlie felt kind of
embarrassed; it was one thing to have a teenage girl tell him he looked
good, it was another thing completely to have older, married women
smiling at him the same way.
     When the teacher finally stopped, it was to introduce them to their
dance partners.  Charlie had managed to put that part of things out of
his mind so far, but his worries all came rushing back when he saw the
two teenage males in front of them.  Then he sighed with relief; one of
them was Doug, the nervous one from the party.  *At least he won't be a
problem,* he thought, until the teacher told VALERIE to partner with
him.  Which left HIM with...
     "Brad," said the taller, dark-haired teen in a well-fitting suit.
He smiled, and stuck out his hand.  Charlie automatically replied,
"Charlene," and curtsied for him, and started to curse himself for the
automatic, anachronistic gesture, when Brad took his hand and lifted it
to his lips...  *No WAY!* his mind gasped, but he did indeed kiss
Charlie's hand before letting go.

     Tucker was kind of amused to be partnered with Doug.  *It figures,*
he grinned to himself when no one was looking.  *I could probably handle
Brad without any problems, so I get stuck with the easy one, and
Charlene has to handle Brad.*  At least he didn't seem like the kind of
guy that would 'take liberties' with Charlene, and in the middle of a
dance class would have been an incredibly stupid place to do it anyway.
So she was safe.
     So, in Tucker's mind, all he had to worry about was learning how to
dance with, or around, someone who was almost totally inept.  He winced
as Doug once again tried to mash one of his toes into pulp.  "Sorry," he
whispered, as he always did.  Tucker just smiled faintly, and tried not
to limp.

     Charlie was more than relieved when the teacher declared a break,
and Valerie came over and whisked them to the bathroom.  Until he found
out how incredibly crowded it was.
     "So how's Brad working out?" Valerie asked as she re-powdered her
nose in the mirror.
     "He, I, I mean, it..."  Words failed him.  Valerie gave him a look
in the mirror, and he flushed.
     She leaned over and spoke in a low tone.  "Look, you don't need to
worry about him.  Not him, and not here.  He wouldn't dare try anything
in the middle of class, and Jane's waiting to take us home, so we don't
have to worry.  Alright?  So just relax and have fun tonight."
     Charlie stared at the girl as she went back to her primping.  It
was obvious she had absolutely no clue.

     Tucker was about to exit the bathroom when an older woman stopped
him.  "Um," she said, "did you know your seams are twisted?"
     *What?*
     "I mean, on your stockings," she added after a few moments.
     *Oh.*  "Are they?" Tucker replied, twisting around to try and look.
It was impossible, of course.  "I can't tell..."
     "I could adjust them, if you wanted," she offered, and Tucker
nodded gratefully.  Maladjusted seams was just the sort of thing that
Jane would yell at him for.  As the woman reached under his skirt, he
remembered adjusting other girls' seams, and sighed, wishing he was back
home instead of stuck in this strange place...
     "There you go," the woman said, standing up again.  "They look so
good on you, and so period..."
     "Oh, thanks," seemed called for, so he said it.  "It just seemed,
you know, swing dancing..."  They both nodded at each other.
     Tucker realized that only a year ago, the idea of having an older
woman, probably married, fondling his legs, would have seemed a whole
lot less probable than the idea of him having sex.  But, here he was...
     His life had gotten strange since he met Debbie.

     "Am I bothering you?" Brad asked, and it took a moment for Charlie
to realized what he was saying.  Before he could think up an appropriate
way to say it, though, Brad was noddding.  "Look, it's just dancing," he
commented.  "I'm not gonna drag you off and molest you or anything."  He
sounded tired when he said it.
     Charlie stared at him, and realized that he was being overly
paranoid again.  *Like everyone said, he's not gonna try anything in the
middle of a dance class, and we're leaving right after, and he seems
like a nice guy anyway.*  So he put a smile on his face, and nodded, and
replied, "I know, it's just hard to remember sometimes."

     After a few too many tries at a spin, all Tucker wanted to do was
stand still for a minute and let his inner ear settle down.  "No," he
told Doug as he grabbed Tucker's hand for another try.  "I'm getting
dizzy," he explained as Doug's face fell.  *God, he is SO damned
sensitive,* Tucker thought to himself.  "I just need to stand here for a
minute, okay?"  He squeezed his hand and smiled brightly at Doug, who
nodded enthusiastically, like he'd just gotten a reprieve or something.
*What a dweeb!*  Guys were just too easy to manipulate, especially when
they were practically begging for it like Doug was.

     They'd been talking while they were dancing, and Charlie felt a lot
more relaxed than he'd been when he came in.  *Brad's cool,* he decided
during a noisy part in which they couldn't talk.  *I guess I don't need
to worry at all.*

     Jane put her book up as the class began to disperse.  After a few
minutes, her two charges showed themselves, chatting with their dance
partners as they gently picked their way towards Jane's seat.  "So,"
Jane heard Valerie say, "We'll see you Tuesday, right?"  Both young men
nodded, and she turned around to face Jane.  "Ready to go?" she asked.
Jane noted that she was flushed, as if from exercise, and smiling a lot.
     "Of course," she said, and rose from her seat.  She wondered which
one of the girls would remember their manners first, and not
surprisingly, it was Charlene who made the introductions.
     The one who had apparently been Valerie's partner mumbled something
which sounded vaguely appropriate, but Charlene's partner, a
well-dressed young man named Brad, caught Jane's hand in his and bowed
over it as he kissed her knuckles.  *Oho!* Jane thought with amusement,
*this one's a charmer.  I wonder how Charlene handled him?*

     "So I take it tonight was a success?" Jane asked as they turned
onto the road which eventually led to Jane's estate.
     Tucker looked at Charlene, begging with his eyes, *Please, please
Charlene, don't chicken out now...*  Charlene glanced at him, and them
smiled as she replied, "Yes, it was!"  She sounded sort of amazed, like
she was surprised by that.
     "Told you," Tucker couldn't resist saying.  "I love dancing," he
commented.

     Jane was rather happy to get home, with the prospect of a nice hot
bath looming first and foremost in her mind, but Marie pulled her aside.
"Someone called you earlier, while you were gone..." she began.

     Tucker sighed deeply as he slipped into some of the silk lingerie
that he'd bought.  It had reminded him so much of what Debbie had bought
him for his birthday that he just had to have it.  And even though she'd
had nothing to do with the purchase of this set, it still made him feel
closer to her as he slid the top over his head and settled the straps in
the right places.  "God, I wish she was here," he sighed to himself as
he opened the door to his room.  Charlene was nice to sleep with, but
nothing could ever substitute for Debbie.

     When Jane walked into the dining room for breakfast, the first
thing that caught her attention was the vaguely scandalized look on
Teresa's face.  Her attention turned immediately to Valerie.
     The girl was wearing nothing more than an overly large, plaid
shirt, with the sleeves rolled up.  While it covered her past her hips,
it just barely did so.  "Valerie," Jane sighed, "I do not find that
suitable-"
     Valerie pulled the shirt open, showing a royal blue silk chemise
and tap pants underneath the flannel.  "Those long nightgowns just get
too hot," she explained as she wrapped herself again in the shirt.
     Jane was going to reply, but Charlene snorted in amusement, and
before Jane could redirect her attention, Marie came out with a platter,
and the moment was lost.  And, Jane had to admit to herself, it WAS
quite feminine looking...

     As Tucker wiped the last of the honey from his lips, Jane mentioned
casually, "For today, I think we will stay home and practice, Teresa.
You two," she said, turning her attention to Tucker and Charlene, "may
amuse yourselves for the day, though I want to see you practicing your
piano, Valerie.  You have been notably lax lately."
     Tucker shrugged.  He'd noticed that himself, although in his mind
it had been the last couple of days' activities, rather than any idea of
his, that had kept him from practicing.  "'Kay, Jane," he replied.

     Julio hated the feminine exercises with a passion, especially when
Jane had roped Charlene into helping her torment him.  Charlene was nice
enough, giving him little smiles and other signs of encouragement, but
it was still painful for him to be doing this while the girl watched and
even corrected his 'unfeminine' behaviours.
     As if that wasn't bad enough, the maddening sounds of someone
mangling a piano tune wafted through the house as Valerie practiced.

     Valerie had volunteered to help with lunch, which had confused
Marie until the girl had admitted that her fingers and back hurt from
sitting at the piano for three hours.  "Perhaps we could do some skating
after lunch, if you and Charlene will help me clean up?" Marie offered.
Valerie enthusiastically said yes, which made Marie smile.  Having the
two of them like this made Marie's chores SO much easier.

     Charlie shook his head.  "No way!"
     "Come on," Valerie pleaded.  "Look, I'll do it backwards the whole
way, and you can do it frontwards.  Please?"
     Charlie sighed.  Why the girl had her heart set on a race was
beyond him.

     Marie came back inside, all flushed and carrying her skates, and
Julio sighed.  It was just so unfair!  The girls got to go out and have
fun, and he was stuck in here-
     "Teresa," Jane warned, and he flushed as he remembered what he was
SUPPOSED to be doing.
     "Sorry, ma'am," he apologized, and dipped a little.  "Would you
like milk or lemon?"

     "It's a bad idea," Charlene warned.
     "It is NOT!" Tucker protested as he unlatched the other skate.
"Look, we just get a temporary ramp, and then take it down when we are
done, right?  No problem.  And we do it out of the way, so people in
cars don't have any problem either."
     "Jane is gonna be really annoyed," Charlie pointed out.
     "We'll put everything back!  She'll never know!"  Tucker was
getting a little exasperated with the blonde.  *You'd think that if she
was sent here for something, that she'd be a little less lawful about
life.  Jeez.  What I wouldn't give for a teeny dab of chaos right now,
to stick under her nose,* he sighed.  *I'm not even sure the girl knows
how to do something illegal.*

     Charlie still thought it was a bad idea, and even more so when
Valerie went right up to Tom, the groundskeeper, and asked him for
supplies.  But he told her where to find them, and even helped her pick
out a suitable piece of plywood and carry it back to the driveway.
Charlie sighed.  He just KNEW he was gonna end up taking the blame for
this, at least partly, and it wasn't even his idea.

     Kenneth grinned to himself as he turned down the road that led to
Jane's mansion.  "It's been a long time," he said to himself as he
adjusted his speed.  Staying with Ruth was illuminating, but it was Jane
who had really done the work in saving him from that bitch.
     And, he missed her.  Ruth was no dullard, but Jane's sharp, biting
wit excited him in a way that he missed after a couple of years.  "As
long as I come in as a guest, not a student," he qualified the thought.
     Not surprisingly, thinking of his time at Jane's also reminded him
of Darryl.  "Wonder what he's up to these days?  'Ll have to call him.
Maybe Jane would like to talk to him too, and we could do a conference
call or something."  Staying at college over the summer was not
something HE would have wanted to do, that was for certain.
     And there was the driveway he was looking for...

     Tucker spun around and accelerated towards the ramp.  *I can do
it,* he told himself as his palms grew wet under the pads.  He'd been
getting better, but 'better' was not necessarily what anyone would call
'good' at this point.  Especially when he hadn't even managed one clean
landing yet.
     A little bump at the end of the plywood, a slackening of speed, and
then he was airborne.  "Yes!" he shrieked as he pulled his legs up
underneath him, then dropped them in time to absorb the shock of
landing.  He wobbled a bit, but stayed on his feet instead of spewing
all over the driveway this time.  "WAAAAAAA-"
     *CAR!* his brain shrieked as a moving vehicle moved into his field
of vision.  A moment of calculation was all he had time for, but it was
enough to convince him that he'd better go over the hood, rather than
sliding under the wheels in a deliberate spill.
     He gathered his legs and jumped, and pushed off the edge of the
front fender with the wrist pads.... there was a moment of whirling
confusion, and then he thudded into the hood, still moving, and slid off
the other side.
     Laying flat on the ground, with a new set of bruises that were
going to hurt for days, he couldn't help grinning manically.  "I am
AWESOME!"

     Charlie was already running over to the other side of the car, or
skating rather, when he heard Valerie's triumphant shriek.  He slowed
down for half a second, then sped back up.  *I bet the twit wouldn't
even know if she was hurt, damnit!*

     Kenneth bailed out of the car and was by the girl's side in an
instant.  She was already pushing herself off the ground, and the
grin shining from her face told him that she wasn't seriously hurt.
"Sorry about your car," she panted as she rolled over and looked at him,
"I didn't see you come-"
     "VALERIE!" another girl shrieked as she bounced off the bumper of
Kenneth's car and slid to a stop.  "Are you okay?!"
     "I'mfineI'mfine, Shar.  I jumped over everything," the dark-haired
girl explained as she started to get up.  Kenneth stood and offered her
a hand, which she took and pulled herself upright.  He was beginning to
wonder if he had the wrong house, or if Jane had moved without telling
him.

     Tucker looked at the guy who had almost run over him, and sighed.
*Nice big brute,* he thought.  Though there was a gimmer of intelligence
behind those eyes.  *And what's he doing here anyway?*
     "Oh, sorry," Tucker said, realizing what would probably happen to
him if he didn't be 'mannerly' to anyone showing up at Jane's.  "I'm
Valerie, and this is Charlene," he said, smiling, and offered the guy
his hand.  He was well-dressed, though in Tucker's experience that was a
less than positive sign.
     "Kenneth," replied the guy, and he shook Valerie's hand.  He looked
a little confused.
     "So what brings you here to the middle of our skating park on a
Friday afternoon, Kenneth?" Tucker asked, smiling at him.
     "Ahhh," he started, looking at the house for a moment before
turning his attention back to Tucker.  "I was looking for a Jane
Thompson, who used to live here..."
     Tucker furrowed his eyebrows, and said, "Who?"
     Kenneth looked confused, and was about to say something else, or
ask something, or something, when Charlene smacked Tucker in the head,
which would have hurt because she used the plate of her wrist pad,
except he was wearing his helmet.  "Stop fuh, fooling around!" she
corrected herself.  Turning to Kenneth, she said, "Yes, this is the
residence of Jane Thompson."
     "Would you stop kissing his ass already?" Tucker complained, and
realized what had come out of his mouth in time to dodge Charlene's
retaliatory blow.  "You suck, brownnoser!" he taunted her, and she
shrieked and launched after him.  "Kissass suckup!" he threw over his
shoulder as he accelerated away.

     Kenneth watched as the blonde chased after the little Goth-looking
girl.  It was obvious which one was better on skates, though the blonde
made up for it with sheer aggressive energy.
     Eventually, Valerie led the other one back towards Kenneth and his
car.  He tensed a bit as she got closer, but all she did this time was
yell as she swooshed by, "SO, are you staying for dinner or what?"  She
whipped around the front of his car, reversing direction as she did so
that she was skating backwards, and made a derogatory gesture towards
the blonde girl as she did.  The blonde girl was catching up, and
Valerie swayed back and forth, trying to fake her out.  It was obvious
to Kenneth that she had to break one way or another, but Valerie slid
down into a hockey-like stop on the concrete, and the blonde went
zooming past her before she could help herself.  Before the blonde
recovered, Valerie got back up and was coming towards him again.  "Come
on in, I'll announce you," she shouted as she whizzed past, and
scrambled up the steps, something he would have thought impossible if he
hadn't seen it, caught the door just in time, and zoomed into the house.
"Jane!" he could hear dimly, "There's a guy named Kenneth here to see
you!"

     When nobody had pounded on his door by the time his breathing
slowed down, Tucker figured it would be a good idea if he took a shower
and dressed for dinner at this point.  It was sort of obvious that
skating time was over, anyway.  "Man, that jump though!" he commented to
himself as he peeled the spandex off his sticky body.  "That was SO
awesome!"

     "She is a complete monster," Jane sighed as she relaxed backwards
into the cushions.
     Kenneth took his own tea and sat next to her on the couch.  "How
so?"
     Jane shook her head, but she was smiling faintly.  "I would swear
she's done this before, I really would.  And, not like you mentioned
either."  The images of what Kenneth's 'mother' had done to him over the
years made him flush slightly, but he reminded himself that he was
beyond that, now and forever.
     "She's just, just..."  Words failed her, so she sipped at her tea.
     Kenneth waited for what seemed a long time for further comment from
Jane, which was not forthcoming.  "Just what?" he finally prompted.  "Is
she that disobedient?"
     Jane snorted.  "Oh, my, yes, but not in the way that you're
thinking.  Dresses, makeup, hairstyling..."  She waved it all off.  "She
hates it, but does it without much protest.  And then, I turn my back on
her, and she's doing something like that skating.  Never ever quite out
of character, but certainly nowhere near what I had in mind for her."
     "What about taking her out?" Kenneth asked.
     "Ohhhhhh," Jane breathed, and then leaned forward, turning towards
him with a glint in her eye.  "Let me tell you what she did the first
time we went out.  She'd been taking it too well, too easy, so I thought
a nice, 'soothing' trip to Marisha Chalet would do her good..."

     Tucker stepped out of the shower, and went to look in the closet,
or among the other bits he hadn't been able to find room to hang up, for
something that would appease Jane, because if Ken was talking with her
downstairs, he was certain that Jane would be pissed at him.  "Wonder
why everyone gets so upset when I fall down or whatever," he mused as he
dug through a pile of clothing.  "You'd think I was made out of glass or
whatever."  Though he was beginning to get sick and tired of bruises
covering his body, now that he thought about it.
     *Best not to think about it,* he decided, and concentrated on what
to wear for dinner.

     "...and she walks back to the cubicles, as calm as you please,"
Jane narrated, "and says something to Sandy, and when she turned around,
Valerie swept the cap off her head, and of course Sandy instantly
recognized the hair coloring.  So Sandy decided that she had better
capture Valerie before she disappears again, and not surprisingly,
Valerie was prepared for exactly that, and sprinted towards the door..."
She sipped at her tea, which was almost empty.  Kenneth poured more for
her without even thinking about it, he was so wrapped up in her tale.
     "So the two of them go pounding through the waiting room, with
Valerie's new friends cheering her on, and Valerie makes it through the
front door ahead of Sandy, and does something to cause Sandy to
overshoot-"
     "I think I saw that on the driveway," Kenneth snickered.
     Jane arched an eyebrow at him, but continued, "In any case,
Valerie's next move was to turn right around and come back in, pressing
against the door so Sandy can't come back in.  And that's how _I_ found
her, sitting on the floor with her back to the door, and Sandy pushing
from outside..."

     Charlie went in to see how Teresa was doing, and found her huddled
up on the bed, barely dressed, and gasping for air.  "Teresa?" he asked,
puzzled and a little alarmed.
     The boy-girl looked up at him, and Charlie could see the tears in
her eyes.  "I, I can't, I CAN'T go out there tonight!" she gasped.
"Not, not AGAIN!"
     Crisis time again.  Charlie repressed a sigh and walked over to the
bed to comfort the panicked teen.

     "She's the kind of woman who knows the street,
      and even under pressure she's smooth and sweet.
      No complications, just attitude.
      Believe in what she got since she won't get used.
      That girl, ooh,
      that kind of girl..."
     Those lines always made Tucker think of Debbie, and sort of choked
him up.  God, he missed her.

     God, she missed him, Debbie realized as she smiled absently at the
employee she was currently paying.  The world had lost some of its
sparkle when Tucker left, somehow.  It was so weird - she would have
said she'd NEVER feel that way about a guy, but there it was.  And there
he wasn't.  She sighed.

     "You are an obsession," Tucker sang as he danced down the
staircase.
     "you're my obsession.
      Who do you want me to be
      to make you sleep with me?
      You are an obsession
      you're my obsession.
      Who do you want me to be
      to make you sleep with me?"
     It was too bad Teresa was freaking out, but Tucker figured that's
how most guys would react.  *Not like me,* he thought smugly.  *Superior
mental powers, that's it.*
     *And a half-lesbian girlfriend who thinks you're hot dressed like
this,* his irritating superego told him.
     "What EVER," he sneered back at that part of his mind, and twirled
on the last step, skirt flaring, and jumped off.

     Jane had filled Kenneth in on what the other two students were
going through, so he wasn't too surprised to see the latest one, Teresa,
show up with reddened eyes and a very nervous manner.  Charlene, the
'oldest', was as poised and graceful as he expected any long-time
resident of Jane's manor to be.
     As Jane had warned him, Valerie was the odd one.  She acted not at
all like he would have expected.  In fact, she acted more like one of
the real girls at the high school he'd attended than one of Jane's
students, even though she had dressed up nicely for dinner, in
accordance with Jane's standing orders for dinner guests.  She was
animated and lively, and not above flirting with him occasionally.
     Kenneth could see why Jane would see this one as a problem.
Especially since she could, and did, tease Charlene into acting more
like a normal teenage girl too.  Jane, he realized, would hate that.

     Charlie still felt nervous around guys, especially ones that looked
at him a lot, and Kenneth was looking at him a lot.  Valerie, naturally,
picked up on it, and she was alternately trying to divert Kenneth's
attention, and then throwing it back on Charlie with some comment or
something.  He kicked her a few times, but it barely slowed her down
tonight.

     Valerie had surprised all of them by excusing herself at the same
time Teresa did.  Jane had thought that the girl would stay up and
continue her game of flirting with Kenneth and embarrassing Charlene.
     Naturally, she was suspicious, but when she sent Charlene to check
up on her, both times the girl came back and said that Valerie was
breathing like she was asleep.

     Tucker shuddered as he reached under his pillow and shut off the
clock alarm.  He'd been caught someplace unpleasant, and he was going to
catch hell for it too...
     He shook his head to try and clear out the remnants of the dream,
and went to go fetch his laptop from its hiding place.  It was time for
him to talk to Debbie, he'd decided.

<Debbie> really?
<MrMike> i would think you wearing clothes would drive you nuts
<tucker> Deb: really!
<tucker> Mike: shut up
<MrMike> tuck: heey did i tell you what i did to the car
<tucker> Mike: no... your car?
<MrMike> tuck: no. remember that guy that ran into julia's car and
         refused to admit it or pay for it?
<Debbie> who are you dancing with
<tucker> Mike: this is not a secure channel
<tucker> Deb: depends on who's there, I guess.  I danced with this
         married woman for the first class.  Her husband wasn't there.
<MrMike> i'll email the details
<Debbie> ?
<MrMike> stay away from them married ones, tuck.  thjey get wierd.
<tucker> Debbie: not a big deal.  She thought I was 'cute'.
 
Copyright 1997-1999 Ellen Hayes, all rights reserved