The next day Lizzie brought her planned out new routine for the cheerleading program to school with her. She got the idea for most of it at Doyles last night. Both Harry and Kevin had a little too much, and were doing an awful variation of the chicken dance. It was funny but she knew Lauren, who seemed to be dating Harry at the time time, looked like she wanted to crawl under the bar and die.
She had also brought a few mementos from her high school. A yearbook, and a video tape of her at the state
championships senior year. The girls would get a kick
out of it. They'll surely laugh, she knew but last night
she looked at it for the first time in years. She would
have racted the same way.
She was there an hour before school started. In her
current residence, a motel room that made hotel 6 look
like a palatial paradise, had no shower. She wasnt about
to take a sponge bath in the sick either. The hotels
owner looked like the Normal Bates type, with a peephole
in every room. The thought of someone watching her in her most intimate moments made her shudder.
She recently discovered the faculty shower. It used to be an handicap access restroom before current state regulations forced it to be no longer used because the facilities were out of date, and unusable. The idea for the faculty shower had come from Lauren, Lizzie found out. Lauren previously had choice but to use the student locker room showers, because, she had explained, her apartment bathrooms plumbing was a nightmare.
Lizzie went into the bathroom. It was huge, but of course Winslow had several individuals who need the specialized facilies. There was originally five bathroom stalls. Two had been transformed into shower stalls. There was an old smell of rat in the air, she noticed, but she needed a shower. There was no need for the coach to be sweatier and stinker than her charges!
She disrobed and climbed into the stall. She closed the door, the door that was originally there. The grafitti on it was still there. As Lizzie lathered up, she read several interesting ones including "For a good Time call Jenny- 867-5309" And "Guber Blows". There was a reply
to the last one, "We know!" Lizzie found herself laughing. She then thought she heard the door open. She froze in her spot, letting the now lukewarm water wash over her. She looked at the door. It was a large door that started at the floor and stopped just below the ceiling to let the steam out. She then held her breath as she thought she heard footsteps in the room. She leaned toward the door. In her mind, she tried to say her "hail marys" but stopped after she knew she forgot the second line. The door suddenly flew open, the flimsy "lock" doing nothing to help it from being opened." Lizzie closed her eyes and screamed.
Whoever it was didn't stick around too long, she heard feet running toward the door, then out it. After she stopped screaming she slowly opened her eyes. No one was there and the door was wide open. She wrapped a towel around her and went to the door. She looked out of it, up and down the hallway. No one seemed to be around. She sighed in semi relief. Whoever was at her shower stall, was scared away by her hysterical screaming. She closed and locked the door.
Down the hall about 200 feet Scott was breathing heavily while leaning against a wall. His face was beet red. He was simply walking around the lower part of the school doing his daily stroll of the school before he went to his office. He thought he heard someone in the new faculty bathroom. Lauren had been part of getting that for everyone who wasnt able to shower at home. She finally complained enough and got what she and a whole bunch of other teachers wanted. She had spunk, she did. No wonder Harry was so crazy about her. But as much as he tried to think about other things, his thoughts kept coming back to what he had seeen in the bathroom. He had checked the other stalls to see if anyone was there. He simply meant to knock! Thats all! But he probably didn't know his own strength and knocked hard enough to open the door. Then he saw her, Lizzie, almost completely naked except for the light blue wash cloth she tried to cover herself with, but with little success.
"Don't!" He told himself sternly. "You cant think of her that way. She was a student!" But another part of his mind told him. "Shes not a student anymore, its all right isnt it?" He was so confused.
He thought he heard steps behind him. He ducked behind a door behind to an abandoned classroom. He peeked out as Lizzie walked by. Her hair was dripping wet, but was wrapped by a towel. She smelled a little bit like strawberry almond shampoo. Since smelling Laurens hair one day, hes suddenly become an expert in hair scents. He stayed there till he was sure she wouldnt see him pop out of nowhere. He already scared her once, he wasnt going to do it again.
One thing for sure. He wasnt gonna be able to look at Lizzie the same way again. Not after the shower scene.
Harrys place
Later that night Lauren and Harry sat together on his
couch and watched "Grease" together. They were under a blanket and had a bowl of popcorn propped between them.
"If you could be any character in the movie, which would it be?" A question posed before the commerical asked.
"Thats an interesting question." Lauren said. "Who would you be?"
"Me?" Harry asked. "Kenickie. For sure." He said getting up. He grabbed the bowl with his left hand. "We need a little more popcorn salt."
"Why Kenickie?" Lauren asked as she followed him. She was wearing Pjs while he had t-shirt and a pair of boxers.
"Well, I dunno about you, but it seems to me that the bad boys are always more interesting that the so called good guys." Harry said. "Danny is a so called good boy cause when hes away from the gang, he can be free to be mushy with Sandy. But hes also in the t-birds which forces him to be two things. One he isnt really. Kenickie knows who he is." He said stopping by his computer. He turned it on and gained access to the internet. "Who would you be?"
"I dunno. I can't decide." Lauren said. "No one I knew really fit into any of the archetypes that the movie presents. The good girl, the bad boy, the cheerleader...."
"If it were up to me, you would be the coolest Sandy around." Harry said looking at her.
"Really?" She smiled at him. She looked over his shoulder. "What are you doing anyway? We're gonna miss the big dance scene."
"My daily check on holt45.com to make sure I'm not on it. Any new rumors." Harry said. "Looks like our new cheerleading coach has already been named in the place of honor." He pointed. One page showed Lizzie and Scott with the caption "Connection?" The next was the famous animated sequence. There was a likeness of Lizzie in full uniform doing a special perfomance to a mystery man. His face was blacked out, but whoever it was enjoyed the perfomance. The question "Whos getting
private cheering lessons?"
"Record time, two days." Harry said. "Rumors are already flying."
"I wonder if Steven has seen it yet?" Lauren asked as she turned off the computer. She went to the couch and sat crosslegged.
"I get the feeling he already has." Harry said as he
joined her.
