The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

On Monday, Sherry made it a point to be with me before History class.

“I had a great time at Vaughn’s. Your girlfriend is a really nice person.”

I smiled at Sherry’s noticeable change in attitude about Kristen, since it wasn’t that long ago that she had hated Kristen with a passion.

“Yeah. There’s a lot to love about her,” I agreed.

“The cheerleaders posted the winners today. I was on top, just as they told me. There was also a junior and two seniors.”

I smiled at Sherry. “I guess it’s an honor to be picked.”

“I didn’t think so a few weeks ago,” Sherry admitted, “Cammy and Lynette aren’t your typical dumb blondes, though. They’re both deadly serious about cheering, and I’ve heard people say that they are both A students.”

“I know for a fact that Camille makes herself look a lot less serious than she really is.”

Sherry agreed, “Yeah. I got that feeling, too.”

The class bell rang and we got into our seats.

At lunchtime, I was looking forward to spending the period once again with my lovely blonde Goddess. However, when I looked at our usual table, she wasn’t there. Patty was, though.

I put my tray on the table and asked Patty, “You see Kristen?”

Patty nodded, and indicated toward the back of the cafeteria. “She’s over there.”

I looked for a moment, and finally saw Kristen’s lovely blonde tresses. “Oh, yeah.”

She was talking to some other student—nobody that I knew—so I went on the lunch line to get my daily ration of swill.

When I returned from the lunch line, I was a bit surprised to see Sherry as well as Kristen sitting at our table. Sherry was talking animatedly with both of my friends.

“Hi, Sherry!” I said, as I put my tray at my place.

“Hey, Jim!” Sherry answered. “Kris just introduced me to Patty.”

“Price of fame,” I said, grinning. “You’re a cheerleader. Now all the best people want to know you!”

Most people around the table laughed at my comment.

“Better not let Camille hear you say something like that,” Patty said.

“Oh, I think Camille has a sense of humor. She looks at me as a friend, doesn’t she?”

Kristen was one person that didn’t like hearing my self-deprecating sense of humor. She responded by simply kissing me on the lips. It wasn’t a sensual kiss; she just wanted me to shut up.

I watched Sherry interact with all my friends. She was truly a nice girl and it was difficult not to like her. I wondered why I hadn’t noticed her interest in me a year or so earlier.

The week passed swiftly, and Amy showed up for jazz band rehearsal on Thursday. When Kristen entered the room that afternoon, she greeted me with “Hi, Oogie!”

I could feel the entire band heave a sigh of relief—I think they considered Kristen to be my muse, and the fact that we weren’t fighting anymore seemed to make the entire band feel better.

After rehearsal, I asked Amy and Kristen to stay a few extra minutes. Both girls looked surprised, and Amy looked at Kristen for support.

Kristen just shrugged at Amy, and looked at me. I saw her eyes grow wide as I opened up my attaché case—I think she thought I was going to pull out my roll of tickets.

Instead of my tickets, I pulled out a present for Amy. “Here, Amy. You’ll probably recognize the tune.”

Amy took the sheet music that I had taken a few days to copy by long hand and she looked at it curiously. “Linus and Lucy?” I saw her squint, and she added, “From the comic strip?”

I nodded. “Yes. Try to play it.”

The student opened the sheet music and put it on the stand on the piano. The first few bars were just bass notes, and she fumbled with the first bar until she recognized the tune. She looked up at me.

“It’s from the Peanuts Christmas special,” I said. “It’s a good number to practice for getting the feel of the genre.”

Amy was silent, and simply looked down at her hands. Finally, she asked, “By myself?”

“No,” I promised. “The original score is a trio. I believe it was a string bass, piano, and drums. Let me have Sam and Derek work with you. The song is more closely associated with Peanuts than Christmas, so it might not be a good number for the Christmas concert. We could add other instruments, though, but the song really focuses on the piano.”

There was another long pause. “Can I practice it over the weekend?”

I smiled. This was the most that Amy had said to me at one time, ever. “Take until next Thursday. You may be able to find the song at the record store if you need to hear the original. If you need help, please let me know—or Kristen.”

Amy looked from me to Kristen and then back down at her hands. After yet another pause, she said, “Thank you.”

Kristen offered Amy a ride home, but Amy lived close enough to the school that her walk was only a couple of minutes.

“That was very thoughtful of you, Jim,” Kristen said.

“Thank you, Kristen,” I said. “I’ve been meaning to ask you how you manage to get Amy to speak to you when she very rarely says anything to anybody.”

“You’ve found the secret, Jim,” Kristen answered. “You just need to talk to her.”

I nodded. It sounded so simple and obvious hearing Kristen’s explanation. Seeing Amy’s face light up in recognition of the tune reminded of the reason that I loved performing myself. I loved seeing how I was able to make people happy just by playing instruments or leading a band.

The next weekend, Kristen and I decided to spend two days in Madison. Although Madison was an hour further away from where we lived than Chicago was, it was smaller and seemed a bit more friendly to us. It was also much more scenic. I had gone there a couple of times with my parents, but after last weekend’s overnight trip, Kristen and I were starting to think of Madison as our own special spot.

Kristen and I arrived quite late Friday night, and we had McDonald’s on the road for dinner. We found a cute little lodge just outside the city where we crashed for the night.

We didn’t have much time the previous week to really check out the city, and we had never gotten around to visiting the Madison Art Center, which is where Kristen really wanted to go, so that was our destination on Saturday. I wasn’t as fascinated by the exhibits as Kristen was, but the two of us still had a great time together, and I found Kristen to be quite knowledgeable about certain of the artists currently featured at the museum. I actually managed to learn a few things about Kristen’s favorite artistic style, called impressionism.

After the Art Center, the two of us had wine, ginger ale, and cheese at a little pub that had a fire burning in its fireplace. Later on, we had some excellent schnitzel and potato pancakes at a place called Wein und Käse that, unfortunately, is no longer in business today.

Saturday night, we made love like infatuated bunnies back at that lodge outside of town. We spent Sunday morning at a park near one of the lakes, and drove home Sunday afternoon.

Our lives proceeded quite nicely into October.

Neither I nor Merry wanted to go trick or treating this year, since we figured it was for younger kids. Kristen solved our problem by deciding to have a costume party at her house and invited all of our friends, including Merry. Kristen also decided that costumes had to be of famous people throughout history, so the Incredible Hulk and Frankenstein would not be included.

On the Monday before the party, Camille approached me.

“Hey, Jim! I haven’t seen you around for weeks! What have you been doing with yourself?”

“I’ve been doing fine. You are coming to the party on Friday, right?”

“Of course! I wouldn’t miss it for the world!”

“Cool!” I exclaimed. “By the way, have you heard from Wendy lately?”

Camille nodded. “Yeah. We have a couple of classes together. I guess you haven’t seen her much, have you?”

“No. Kristen takes up most of my free time.”

“Don’t I know it?” Camille pointed out. “I’m glad the two of you got over your bump in the road.”

I wasn’t going to pass over this opportunity to thank Camille once more. “Cammy, if it wasn’t for you, Kris and I would probably have been past history. I didn’t realize how I was acting, until you put an ugly mirror to my face.”

Camille smiled, and said, “I’m glad you guys were smart enough to be able to deal with it. You two are so much in love, and I know that you’re a good person, Jim. You may not be perfect, but then I don’t think anybody would be able to stand somebody who was.”

I nodded. “So, what’s up?”

“The football team has a bye the day after Halloween. We’re going to initiate the rookie cheerleaders that afternoon.”

I had no idea what happened during those initiations. My mind started thinking about the reports of fraternity hazing that happens at colleges. “Sherry won’t get hurt, will she?”

Camille laughed. “No pain involved, Jim. I promise! The juniors and sophs will have a separate initiation from the seniors, which is a bit more rowdy.”

My mind reeled with thoughts of a rowdy initiation for the seniors.

“It’s easy to read your mind, Jim,” Camille laughed. “It’s not that bad!”

I laughed. “So, isn’t the initiation supposed to be secret?”

“It usually is, but I think I can trust you.”

Those words touched me for some reason. “Thank you. Would you mind if I told Kristen? We don’t have too many secrets from each other.”

“Sure,” Camille smiled. “I trust her as well. Besides, Sherry will probably tell her all about it on Monday.”

I sighed. “I’m glad you’ll be at the party. Kristen and I both owe you big time.”

Camille moved over and kissed me. It wasn’t an innocent kiss, nor was it quite a romantic kiss. I found myself enjoying every second of it. In my mind, I flashed back to an image of Camille completely nude at my birthday party. I found myself getting excited, but managed to hide my reaction.

After Camille pulled away, she smiled and said, “I’ll see you on Friday night.”

I watched Camille walk away afterward, and thought about Wendy. I realized that I might want to start paying more attention to my friends, rather than spending all my free time exclusively with Kristen.

A few days later, a dark haired and dark complexioned girl approached me.

“Jim Crittenhouse?”

“Yes?” I answered. The girl looked a bit familiar, but I couldn’t place her name at all. I only knew that she was a junior.

“I’m Jackie Lombardi,” the girl said.

Lombardi. Isn’t that Camille’s last name? It was! “Are you Camille’s cousin?”

“That’s me!” Jackie answered, flashing me a radiant smile that made me stare at her face a few seconds.

“So, what’s up, Jackie?” I finally asked.

“I just wanted to thank you and Kristen for inviting us to the party on Friday.”

I was confused. “Us? Do you mean you and Camille?”

“Yeah. As well as the rest of the cheerleaders. It sounds like a killer party.”

Were all the cheerleaders going to be attending the party? This was news to me.

“Um, you’re welcome. I think you want to thank Kristen. I didn’t know that you were a cheerleader.”

“I just got in during the last tryouts.”

“Oh. Sherry told me that a junior made it.”

Jackie shook her head. “Yeah. I got a nine. Did you know that Sherry got a perfect score?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Sherry was so proud she was bursting when she found out.”

Jackie giggled. “She is, like, fantastic. She does those running aerials perfectly. She’s a gymnast.”

“I know,” I said, smiling, not knowing exactly what an “aerial” was, but thinking it must be something great. “Camille figured that she’d be perfect for the team.”

There was a bit of an awkward silence. “Jim, the reason I’m here is that I wanted you to thank Kristen for me.”

“Kristen? She’ll be around any minute. I’m getting a ride home with her.”

“I figured that. However, she may not want to talk with me. She hasn’t since the beginning of the school year.”

I suddenly remembered that Jackie was a former member of Kristen’s old circle of friends. I shrugged my shoulders and said, “You should try to talk to her at the party on Friday. She has changed, but she’s a wonderful person.”

Jackie cast her eyes downward. “Yeah. We all were a bit stuck up.”

“You know that Patrice is coming, right?”

Jackie looked surprised. “She is? I didn’t know she was invited.”

“Well, Patrice is a friend of mine from way back, and she’s still friends with Kristen. Her brother Jack is also going to be there. I don’t think Kristen is avoiding her old friends, Jackie; she’s just avoiding her old attitudes. Try talking to her at the party.”

Jackie thought this over and said, “Maybe. I guess it can’t hurt.”

I watched the cheerleader walk away. She was a cute girl, a bit smaller in stature than Camille was. Jackie’s face looked a lot like Camille’s; I imagine she’s what Camille would look like with darker hair.

On Friday, the day of the party, I noticed that Sherry seemed a bit nervous about something.

“Hi, Sherry,” I said, smiling at her. “What’s up?”

“Um... can we talk in private during lunch?”

“Sure,” I said. “What’s up?”

“I’ll tell you then.”

The class bell rang and History class started. I found my seat and forgot about Sherry as I concentrated on the Holy Roman Empire.

At lunch, I saw Kristen and after we kissed, she said, “Sherry wants to talk to you, alone. I know what it’s about, and I have no problem with it.”

“You have no problem with what?” I asked.

“I’ll let Sherry tell you. But just remember what I said.”

I was confused. Kristen hadn’t said much of anything. I spied Sherry as she entered the lunchroom, and Kristen told me to go over to her.

“Hi, Sherry. What’s up?”

“Can we go, like, to the music room?” Sherry asked, nervously.

“I guess so,” I said. I was a little apprehensive, since I usually associated lunchtime music sessions with other people to have a more romantic theme, but since Kristen told me she had no problem with whatever Sherry wanted, I decided it would probably be safe. If not, I had a good explanation if I had guessed wrong.

Neither one of us said anything as we walked to the music room. A hall monitor spotted us, and I pulled out my Music Room pass, and told the monitor that Sherry and I were going to the room to practice. I figured that the monitor wouldn’t know whether or not Sherry was in the band.

The monitor gave a quick glance at my pass and let us continue.

After we got out of earshot of the monitor, I giggled to Sherry. “Probably anything typewritten on something that looks like a pass would be accepted, but I never had the nerve to try that.”

Sherry gave a nervous giggle in response.

I wondered why Sherry was so nervous. Was there something happening with Dale?

We got to the music room, and I let Sherry in.

I was somewhat anxious to find out why she was so nervous. “So, what’s up? You’ve been acting very jittery today.”

“I found Kristen yesterday before your band practice, and talked with her while my bus left. She then offered to drive me home, and we finished talking.”

I nodded, getting a bit impatient. “What were the two of you talking about?”

Sherry hemmed and hawed, and then finally said, “I need to invite a boyfriend to a thing with the cheerleaders tomorrow.”

It suddenly dawned on me that tomorrow was Saturday; the day that Camille had told me was the cheerleaders’ initiation. “Um, I’m not really your boyfriend, Sherry.”

“I know. Camille suggested that you were pretty trustworthy.”

So, both Camille and Kristen knew about this. “What do you need a boyfriend for?”

“They won’t tell us, not even Camille. She said it’s a tradition. Jim, can you keep a secret?”

“I try to.”

Sherry sighed and said, “It’s an initiation for the rookie cheerleaders. The juniors and the sophomores have theirs in the morning here at the school. I’m not supposed to tell you any more than that, but I couldn’t even if I wanted since I haven’t been told anything more, either.”

This sort of fit in with what Camille told me, and pretty much explained why Camille had told me about the initiation. She was preparing me for Sherry asking me to be there with her. I wondered what Camille and the other cheerleaders were planning.

I also now understood why Kristen had said that she had no problem with it. If she hadn’t told me that, I would have declined Sherry’s invitation, since I knew that Kristen had a terrible jealous streak.

I mulled these things in my mind for a few moments, and came to a decision. “I’ll go with you.”

Sherry looked relieved. “Camille is giving me a ride, tomorrow. She said she could pick you up as well.”

This confirmed to me that Camille definitely had something in mind. I figured that I’d have a talk with her at the party tonight.

I nodded to Sherry, and she looked at me uncertainly. I moved over to her and kissed her lightly on the cheek. “Thanks for thinking of me,” I quietly said.

Sherry reddened just a bit and nodded.

I said, “Let’s go back to the lunchroom. I’ll let Kristen know about it later.”

“Before we leave, could you do me a favor?” Sherry asked.

“What, Sherry?”

“I love hearing you play. The practice rooms are empty. Could you play me a song?”

“Which one?” I asked.

“Can you play Harmony from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road?”

I actually knew that song. Thinking about it, I realized it was a wonderful song for a single piano. “Sure.”

I sat down at the piano and played the first C-major seventh chord.

Hello, baby hello.

Haven’t seen your face for a while.

Have you quit doing time for me?

Or are you still the same spoiled child?

Sherry watched me play the song, and I saw an expression of amazement on her face.

The only place where the song seemed lacking to me was near the end, where I couldn’t duplicate the vocal harmonies from the record.

“I’ve always loved that song,” Sherry said. “I’ve never heard you play that song before. I had hoped you knew the song.”

“Actually, I know the song, but I never played it before,” I admitted.

“That was your first time playing it?” Sherry asked me, now shocked. “It sounded like you’ve been playing it for years!”

I shrugged. “I picked out the first chord, and it sounded right. The other chords just followed. There are only two verses to the song and the chorus, and I have sung along with the record a few times.”

I got up from the piano and started to walk back to the lunchroom.

“Wow,” was all Sherry could manage. She followed me to the lunchroom. About halfway there, Sherry remarked, “I’m glad the song was in your range.”

I laughed. “As I said, I sometimes sing along with the album. The words to that entire album are on the cover of the record, so it’s easy to sing along. Two years ago, Roy Fennel, the guy from the chorus, taught me how to add falsetto to my range without making it sound like I’m trying to sound like a cartoon. I notice that a lot of British singers like Paul McCartney and Elton John use that technique all the time.”

“How did you know the first chord?” Sherry asked.

I shrugged. “Beats the hell out of me,” I finally admitted. “The start of that song was just a chord. I just knew instinctively that it was a C-major seventh. I know that sort of the same way you can tell that the color of your shirt is pink.”

Sherry corrected me. “It’s mauve.”

I stopped in the hallway and stared at Sherry. She looked at me confused, and then she suddenly understood what I was talking about. We both laughed for about a minute. Luckily, we were just outside the lunchroom.

There wasn’t anybody in the food service line, so we managed to get our food. I just got a juice and a small bag of chips. Sherry got a slice of pizza.

Kristen looked at the two of us and smiled. “I take it everything went all right.”

Sherry blushed and said, “Yes.”

“So, what gossip did I miss?” I asked, changing the subject.

Kristen picked Merry and me up for the party at five. We were going to be part of Kristen’s party set-up crew.

Merry had a curfew of ten o’clock, but I told my mother that Patty had to be home by eleven and, since I had to stay at Kristen’s until the party officially ended at midnight, Patty had offered to drop Merry off.

“There won’t be any alcohol, will there?” Mom asked.

“I told you before. No. Just cider and soda,” I assured my mother yet again.

“You didn’t mention cider before!”

“Kristen got a few gallons at a farm stand. I don’t think it’s going to be anything harder than you get at the grocery.”

My mother considered this and finally relented. “All right. Just make sure that you watch out for your little sister.”

“All the boys there will have dates. Merry will be fine.”

“All right.”

The doorbell rang, and the conversation ended. It was Kristen. She had a lovely “Horn o’ Plenty” filled with fruits and nuts, which was wrapped in yellow cellophane.

“Hello, Mrs. Cummings,” Kristen said. “This is for you. Happy Halloween!”

“Oh, Kristen! That looks huge!” my mother gushed.

I took the present from Kristen and moved it onto our dining room table. It matched my mother’s fall pattern tablecloth, which was apparently Kristen’s intention.

My mother looked at it, and complained, “We didn’t get you anything!”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. I just wanted to thank you for allowing Jim and Merry to come to my party!”

“It’s lovely!”

Merry had come downstairs when she heard the doorbell, and she gushed over Kristen’s present. “Wow!”

Neither Merry nor I had our costumes. Kristen has promised us that she’d have costumes ready for us when we got there—they were going to be a surprise. Kristen kept on kidding me for weeks about what my costume would be. At one point, she said I’d be going as Adam and wearing only a fig leaf.

One time when she had said that, I answered, “If I’m Adam, will you be Eve? If so, what size fig leaves do they have in those naughty catalogs that you have?” That remark earned me a playful smack from Kristen.

Kristen drove us to her house, and at the gate, I noticed a large pail hanging nearby underneath a miniature street lamp. Kristen looked in it and smiled. She noticed Merry and I looking at it as well and she explained, “We fill this with Hershey bars and Snickers candy. There are instructions on the bottom of the pail explaining how to contact the house when it’s empty. We did this last year. A couple of kids got greedy, but not as many as you’d think.”

“Neat,” said Merry, who ran out of the car and snagged a Snickers for herself.

We drove past the gate and Kristen parked her car in the garage.

When Merry and I got to the playroom, we both whistled at the transformation.

The entire apartment now sported a Halloween theme with cobwebs along the ceiling. The overstuffed chairs were gone, replaced by some beanbag chairs. A stereo and some large speakers were on the side of the room, and there was a stack of LP records on a record changer. In the center of the living room was an open area where people could stand or dance.

The redesign of the apartment extended into the bedroom as well; the bed was completely gone, as was the door that led to it. Where the bed had been were some beanbags, a stereo, and a twenty-one inch television that would be set to the local station that had promised twelve hours of scary movies through the night.

We had told our friends that there would be dancing and scary movies, and I was quite happy with the alterations, although I privately wondered where Kristen and I would sleep that night, after the party. I didn’t worry too much about it; Kristen seemed to have everything planned perfectly.

One of the things I realized was that Kristen’s redesign gave people few places to spend alone in private (actually, only the bathroom). Kristen had told me that she had hired some off-duty police officers to work as security guards and to ensure when people left the apartment, they went home and didn’t wander around the property.

Kristen’s parents had their own party to attend, and were already gone. However, they seemed to approve of the arrangements that Kristen made.

The three of us had a meal of turkey sandwiches that were conveniently stored in the refrigerator among cases of soft drinks like Coke, Pepsi, Tab, Seven-Up, and Dr Pepper.

In the kitchen was a fountain that had the dark brown cider bubbling inside it. There were paper cups around the fountain, and garbage bins conveniently placed all throughout the apartment.

There wasn’t much for Merry and I to do; Kristen seemed to have done a great job in the two days since I had last been at the apartment.

Our guests would start arriving between six and seven o’clock. Kristen went into the bedroom, fetched out a box, and handed it to me. “Merry and I will change in the bedroom. You can change in the living room. Your outfit is in the box.”

When I opened the box, I smiled. I knew from my History class that this was a Roman tunic. It was brown with sequins and rhinestones. There was also a cape that matched the tunic, and instructions that identified the rest of costume as being arm guards and leg guards. There was also a surprisingly heavy sword (it was very dull—I tested it!), and a very fancy helmet with a red plume on top. Inside the box was also a pair of sandals and a paper bag.

I put on the outfit and then looked in the paper bag. There was something hairy that I finally figured out was a beard and something called “spirit gum” and “spirit gum remover.” There were enough instructions on the spirit gum to indicate that I used this to fasten the beard to my face. Since I didn’t have a mirror, I didn’t put on the beard.

I look at myself. The toga fit nicely; it was apparent that Kristen had the outfit tailored for me, since she knew all my sizes.

I put my street clothes into the costume box, closed it, and then waited for the other two girls to arrive from the bedroom.

After a few minutes, I got restless. It took a lot of willpower for me to avoid going toward the bedroom, mostly out of respect for Merry’s privacy. I instead turned to the stereo and put it on. I didn’t know which record was on the bottom of the stack, so I switched it to the receiver and quickly found a station playing ”Monster Mash.”

I found the beanbag chair relaxing, and was startled when I heard Kristen’s voice.

“I see Antony has made it.”

I turned and found my beautiful Goddess dressed as Cleopatra. Her hair was black (a wig, I later found out), and she was wearing an opulent headdress made of gold mesh.

“Is that who I am?” I asked. “I thought it might be Julius Caesar.”

“Caesar was Cleopatra’s first lover. Mark Antony was her favorite.”

“I’ll take your word for that. You look divine!”

Kristen smiled. “Thank you! Didn’t you find the beard?”

I nodded, and pointed to the bag. “I didn’t have a mirror.”

“Oh, poor baby!” Kristen cooed. She found the spirit gum and soon had the beard on my face. The mustache caused my nose to itch a bit.

Kristen admired her work. “It matches your hair perfectly!”

“Great,” I said. I was dying to see myself in the mirror. I was very curious about what I would look like in a beard.

“I’ve been dying to try that out,” Kristen declared.

“Try what out?” I asked.

Without answering, Kristen pulled me into a kiss. It was one of her patented erection specials. We must have kissed for a couple of minutes before we broke it off.

Kristen giggled. “It tickles!”

I swooned a bit; Kristen always has that effect on me. “Me, too,” I agreed. “Where is Merry?”

“She’s still getting ready. The shoes were a bit loose, but everything else was perfect.”

I smiled. “I figured that we would have gone as Romeo and Juliet.”

Kristen shook her head. “I told people that Romeo and Juliet were allowed, although they were fictional characters. I allowed the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses as well, since they were very real to the people that believed in them. I didn’t want us to be Romeo and Juliet because their love is doomed; I don’t want to tempt fortune.”

“Oh. I didn’t think of that.”

“You’ll probably see a couple of Juliets coming tonight. A lot of the girls asked.”

“I’ll only have eyes for Cleopatra,” I promised.

This earned me another kiss, albeit a brief one as Merry made her entrance.

“Ta-da!” Merry announced, doing a little curtsy. “You look funny in that beard!”

Merry was wearing a wig and a blue and white gingham dress. She looked like the spitting image of Judy Garland in the Wizard of Oz. The costume fit Merry very well.

“I guess we’re ready for our guests,” I noted.

“Yup,” Kristen agreed. “Wally?”

A voice came over the intercom. “Yes, Miss Swift.”

“Let me know when our guests start to arrive.”

“Will do, Miss.”

“Wally?” I asked. “What happened to Billy?”

“We give him a day off every once in a while,” Kristen laughed.

“Oh.” I had been so used to Billy that I had just thought he was wherever he was twenty-four hours a day. Of course, that was absurd.

All of a sudden, a chant came over the stereo. “Ouga Chaka!” Oh, no! Not that!

“Ooh,” Kristen said. “They’re playing our song!”

I rolled my eyes. Most of the band members already were calling me “Oogie,” thanks to Kristen. The name was starting to stick, much to my dismay. I forced a smile and listened to the song.

Merry giggled at my discomfort. Apparently, Kristen had told Merry about my new nickname and she had used it a couple of times, always when my parents weren’t around.

The intercom clicked on. “Miss Swift. The first of your guests are starting to arrive.”

Kristen answered, “Thank you, Wally. Have the security guys help our guests find places to park.”

“Will do, Miss Swift.” The intercom clicked off.

A minute or so later, Patty arrived, dressed as a cowgirl with a brown hat and a yellow bandanna. “Say howdy to Calamity Jane!”

I laughed. “You look more like Wrangler Jane!”

Patty nodded. “You’re half-right, but F-Troop is fictional. Therefore, I’m Calamity Jane. I knew that Kris was going to be Cleopatra, and I must say you make a handsome and hirsute Antony.”

“Hirsute?” I asked, not understanding the word.

“Hairy,” Kristen said, laughing.

I laughed along with them. “I think ‘hirsute’ sounds a bit nicer. Thanks, Patty!”

“And Dorothy looks divine!” Patty added.

“Thank you, Miss Jane,” Merry answered, doing another curtsy. “I need a Toto!”

Camille arrived with a boyfriend, who she introduced as Joe. She was dressed as Charlie Chaplin, and Joe was in a dark outfit. Camille had to tell us that he was Jack the Ripper, which I thought was a great idea for a non-fictional character.

Camille also brought Sherry with her, who was dressed as a vampire. “I’m Vampira, the actress from the movies,” Sherry explained. “My mom already bought this outfit for me and Kristen said that Vampira would be allowed, since she’s a real person.”

I sized up Joe. He was a tall person and didn’t look like a football player or any other kind of jock for that matter. “Hi, Joe. I’m Jim.”

“I was told to call you Oogie,” said Joe, smiling.

I must have looked very distressed because Camille said, “Oh, come on, Oogie! I told Joe the story of your present for Kristen and he thought it was cute.”

Joe nodded. “I really wish I had the talent you have with music. I just strum a guitar myself.”

“The guitar and the violin family are instruments I never got the hang of, myself,” I explained.

I told our guests where the soda and cider were located, and Kristen added that we had chips, candy, and other things in the kitchen as well.

More of our guests started arriving. Wendy arrived wearing a blonde wig. I didn’t need any guesses to know her character: Marilyn Monroe!

Kristen had started the record player, and people were helping themselves to sodas. Merry had the television in the bedroom turned to the scary movie marathon, and a few of our guests were watching with her.

I found myself absorbed by the synthesizers on Elton John’s ”Funeral for a Friend,” which I knew to be the first track on the “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” LP.

Jackie Lombardi knocked me from my reverie.

“Hello, Oogie!” Jackie said.

Damn! Now the cheerleaders were calling me that!

“Hi, Jackie,” I said, suppressing a groan.

Jackie and her date were dressed as Romeo and Juliet.

A few more cheerleaders arrived as well, some with dates. Kristen had been correct: Romeo and Juliet proved to be a popular theme.

Patrice and Jack arrived, and I greeted them both. Patrice was dressed as Pocahontas, and Jack was dressed as Charlie Chaplin. I recognized the girl that he was with as Doreen, the friend of Marla’s that the two of us had met at the park. I was amazed and happy that Doreen and Jack were still together. Doreen was dressed as a flapper from the 1920s, and told me that she was Paulette Goddard, Chaplin’s co-star from Modern Times. She looked very nice, actually.

A few minutes later, I was listening to ”Benny and the Jets,” one of my favorites from that Elton John album when Sherry accosted me.

“I knew Elton John was your favorite. Can you play this song?”

“I never really tried,” I admitted. “I don’t have the vocal range that he has. ’Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ is quite easy, though. And you know that I can play ’Harmony.’”

The two of us listened to the song as I sipped a Coke that Kristen had thoughtfully provided from the kitchen.

“I can imagine a guy on stage dressed in a mohair suit,” Sherry giggled.

“Don’t forget the electric boots!” I laughed. “It would have been a great costume... me going as Elton John!”

Camille overheard me and laughed as well.

“I see there’s another Chaplin at the party,” I informed Camille.

Camille shrugged. “I’m the only girl doing him, though.”

Later on in the party, I met Camille alone in the kitchen. There were many other cheerleaders milling about, and there wasn’t any place for the two of us to be alone; Kristen had seen to it that the party at her house wasn’t going to become an excuse for a high school orgy. Unfortunately, that meant that I wouldn’t be able to find out what Camille and the cheerleaders had in mind for Sherry and Jackie the next day.

Despite this, Camille looked at me and said, quietly, “Don’t be worried, Jim. Tomorrow’s initiation may not be as tame as this party, but we won’t get out of hand.”

I smiled at Camille. “Thank you,” I said, still wishing I could know more about that initiation.

I managed to find Jack and Doreen, and got to spend some time with them. The two of them had gone on a single date, and mostly just met at the park, which was getting chillier as winter was approaching.

Doreen left for the bathroom, and Jack finally said, “What did you do to my sister?”

“What do you mean?”

Jack wasn’t buying it. “She used to call me a dork—you, too! Now she’s changed, and you had something to do with it.”

“I just spoke to her,” I said, trying to avoid a conflict.

“Listen,” Jack said. “I’m not pissed off or anything, but she’s really changed. Even my mother noticed it. Kristen’s changed, too. I saw her a couple of times at my house, and she’d have nothing to do with me. Now she’s dating you.”

“Kristen fell in love with me before I fell in love with her,” I pointed out to Jack.

Jack shrugged. “And they call you Oogie?”

I cringed. That name was really starting to get around. “From something I did for Kristen the first day of school.”

Jack nodded. “I heard about the band and the chorus. I thought you were nuts when I heard about it. But since I’ve been with Doreen...”

I smiled at Jack knowingly. “See, people change. I did, your sister did, and Kristen did. Even you changed.”

“I guess,” Jack said, not entirely convinced. “This place is really neat. Does Kristen live here?”

“She lives in the main house,” I answered. “This is just like an apartment that she calls her playroom.”

“Wow. I’d love to see it, sometime.”

“Just let me know,” Kristen answered, having arrived and overhearing Jack. “Any friend of Jim’s is welcome here.”

“Cool.”

“But it’s not always set up for parties,” I pointed out to Jack. “This is usually just a real apartment. This room, for example, usually has a bed in it.”

“Wow! A playroom with a bedroom?” Jack said.

“You’ve got to see it,” Kristen said. “This will be back to normal on Sunday. Do you think you and your sister can make it over?”

“Shit, yes!” Jack said. He then realized his mistake and said, “Sorry, I mean, of course.”

Kristen laughed. “No offense was taken, Jack.”

Doreen came back and I introduced her to Kristen.

“Jim tells me you have a cousin named Marla,” Kristen said.

“Yes,” Doreen said. “She visited from California a couple of months ago. We met Jim and Jack back then.”

Kristen nodded. “Jim told me about her.”

Doreen looked at me. “Marla thought that she had a thing for Jim. I mean—no offense—she thought he was cute.”

“I think he’s cute, too,” Kristen said, no trace of jealousy in her voice.

There was a bit of an awkward moment, which I relieved by saying, “We’ve invited Jack and his sister over on Sunday. Do you think your mother would allow you to come as well?”

Doreen looked at Jack, and then at Kristen. “I’d have to ask her. I’ll let Jack know tomorrow. He can call you.”

“No need for an appointment, Doreen,” Kristen said. “If you can make it, just have Patrice pick you up on her way.”

Patrice wandered over. “Me pick who up?”

I said, “Kristen invited you and Jack over on Sunday. She also invited Doreen, if her mother lets her come.”

“Oh, I can pick her up,” Patrice said with a grin. “I know where she lives and it’s not out of the way.”

Doreen looked at Patrice. “If it’s no trouble...”

“No trouble whatever,” Patrice said.

Jack gave me a “this is what I meant” look, referring to Patrice’s newly found hospitality. I just smiled in return.

Patty, Sherry, and Merry left just before eleven o’clock, followed soon afterward by Patrice, Jack, and Doreen. The party started to wind down a half hour later. Most of the people had already left, leaving Camille, her boyfriend Joe, Kristen and myself.

“Do you need help cleaning up?” asked Camille.

“No. I’ll do it in the morning.”

Joe excused himself to use the bathroom.

“I guess you want more information on the initiation,” Camille said.

“Not really,” Kristen said. “I trust you.”

“I was talking to Jim. I assured him that we don’t do any kind of hazing or torturing. Mostly, we embarrass the girls; their boyfriends, too.”

“Embarrass?” I asked.

“There’s nudity, but no sex. It’ll be good clean fun, like Kristen’s pool parties.”

“I just don’t want Sherry to get hurt,” I said.

“Neither do I,” said Camille. “My cousin will be there, also.”

I nodded, and then I thought of something. “If you consider nudity to be tame, what are you doing to the senior rookies?”

Camille grinned. “I can’t tell you that. However, I can tell you that it’s a bit more risqué!”

I turned to Kristen. “You have no problem with me doing this?”

“None whatsoever,” Kristen said, turning to our friend. “I think we owe Camille big time, and if she assures me that it’s just harmless fun, then I’m willing to trust her.”

I couldn’t argue with Kristen’s words.

Joe came out of the bathroom.

“Well, it looks like it’s time for me to leave,” Camille said. “Thanks for having us.”

“Yeah,” added Joe. “You have one sharp place here.”

Camille grinned. “I heard that Donny had a keg of Budweiser in the trunk of his car. Alice told me that he turned white as a ghost when he saw policemen showing him where to park.”

“Donny? Alice?” I asked, not being good with names.

Camille frowned. “Alice is the ditsy blonde—she gives cheerleaders a bad name. I’m still not sure how she got through the tryouts. Donny is the linebacker she was with.”

I nodded, remembering the burly guy and the girl that was with him. I saw him whispering around to others around eleven o’clock.

Joe added, “Yeah, Donny was inviting everybody for a kegger at Lake Shore Point after they left here.”

Camille shrugged. “Good. At least we kept this party legal.”

Kristen said, “That was the one thing my parents insisted on. I suggested hiring the off-duty policemen and they thought it was a wonderful idea.”

Camille smiled. “Well, we have to go. I guess Lake Shore Point is not the place for us, Joe.”

Kristen smiled. “How about Kneely Park?”

Camille brightened considerably. “Yeah. That’s an idea. Thanks, Kris!”

The two of them started to leave. I could hear Joe ask, “Kneely Park? Isn’t that closed this time of year?”

We shut off the television in the bedroom and the stereo in the living room. There were a few cans of sodas and some paper plates with chips and candy on them around as well, which we pitched into the garbage bins.

Kristen got a tiny purse from the closet in the bedroom and the two of us left the playroom.

At the driveway, there was an off-duty police officer. He whistled as he saw Kristen. “Cleopatra. I know I didn’t see you before.” He whistled appreciatively.

“I’m Kristen Swift,” Kristen said. “I live here.”

“Oh, my! I didn’t recognize you in your outfit! I’m sorry!”

“No need to apologize,” Kristen smiled. “Where’s your partner?”

“He left a minute ago to the main house. Call of nature.”

Kristen pulled out an envelope and handed it to the officer. “I’ve added a hundred dollar bonus.”

The man took the envelope and didn’t look inside. “Thank you very much, Miss Swift.”

“Kristen,” my girlfriend corrected.

“Thank you, Kristen.”

The police officer’s partner joined us a moment later. Kristen introduced herself and handed him another envelope. They waved good-bye as they left to go home.