They finished getting ready just as Kirk arrived. When they heard the front door open, and his cheery voice greet Alicia's parents, they quickly finished their makeup and hurried downstairs. He was being congratulated by Alicia's dad for the previous night's game when he saw Alicia on the stairs.

“Wow, Alicia!” he grinned, craning his neck to look up at her as she descended. “You look great!”

Alicia put the last few steps behind her, and met him with a big, eager hug. “Thanks!” she piped. “You do too!”

“Glad you made it out of Lawman Creek in one piece. Sounds like it got pretty dangerous, with those weird cheerleaders they have over there.”

Alicia was surprised. “Oh! You heard about that?!” she asked hopefully.

“Yeah, you know how this stuff gets around,” grinned Kirk. “Sounds like a real crisis was averted, they can be seriously bad news. I'm sure it took a lot of guts to stand up to them.”

Alicia looked a little embarrassed. “It...it really wasn't that big a deal, you know.”

Kirk shook his head and grinned. “Aw, c'mon, don't say that. I thought it sounded really brave. Really cool.”

He looked at Chase next. “Speaking of which, there she is! The woman of the hour! Way to show those Swallered Opossum girls who's boss. 'You not hit Vic.' That's great.”

Alicia missed a beat. “Oh...” Then, she rolled on. “Uh, right, yeah! Brave and cool, that's Chase to a tee!” she said, with forced pep.

“Oh, I not do much! Leash do much more,” downplayed Chase, waving her hand briskly. “Leash stand up to big eyed girl all by self. Her no fear! Big brave girl, fight tough!”

“Yeah, I heard about that. It sounded pretty reckless,” agreed Kirk, putting a caring arm around Alicia. “Thank god you were there to protect her, Chase. I couldn't stand it if something happened to her.”

“Aw, well that's...so sweet!” said Alicia, feeling a lot of conflicting emotions.

“You look amazing too, Chase,” said Kirk stupidly. “Did Alicia buy you that?”

Chase, equally stupid, turned back and forth to show herself off. “Yes! Leash buy! She so nice!”

Kirk shook his head in reverence. “Wow, Alicia. Your sense of style just continues to amaze me. I swear Chase looks more beautiful every time I see her.”

“Haha, well, that's the idea!” said Alicia brightly. “I can't take all the credit, of course! I have a great model!”

“Yep! I look nice in all things!” agreed Chase.

Torey showed up a few minutes later. “Tor!” shouted Chase, hugging him. “It good to see!”

“Good to see you too! Wow, you look cool,” he said. “Nice jacket.”

“Now, you kids be safe,” said Alicia's dad in a dadly way. He looked at Kirk and Torey. “I'll expect you to have my daughter and her friend back by ten, understand?”

“Yes sir, Mister Alcott,” said Kirk. “As a future stable, dependable family man, it would be an honor to treat your daughter with the same respect I hope someone will one day give my own daughter.” Alicia sighed lovingly. This was the sexiest thing she had ever heard.

Alicia's dad looked from Kirk to Torey. It seemed unlikely that Kirk was the one he was worried about.

“Oh, sure. The movie doesn't go nearly that late,” said Torey. This seemed like a satisfactory answer, so they departed, Torey and Chase in his car, and Kirk and Alicia in Kirk's.

…..........

The afternoon was bright and clear as the two cars arrived at the Sandman. The group paid for their tickets, then parked next to each other. The movie wouldn't start for another fifteen minutes, so they got out of their cars and hung out as a group for a bit. A roller waitress took their orders for concessions (thankfully, Maxine was not working that day) and a few minutes later, brought them their food.

While they snacked, they chatted with each other merrily. Chase loved it. She so rarely had the chance to hang out with both Alicia and Torey, and it was a real treat. In her opinion, the only thing that would have made the double date better would be if Lindsey and Caitlin had come too. She was having so much fun that she failed to notice some observers she would otherwise have detected.

Since the Sandman was on the outskirts of Sunnycrest, woodland surrounded it in most directions. It was from one of these directions that Mary Rose and a small posse of her cheerleaders emerged from a patch of underbrush, trying to stay low so as not to be seen.

“Aha, finally! There they are!” remarked Mary Rose, looking through a pair of binoculars. “Mahty considerfied of them ta all group up together like that!”

“Reckon it's a beautiful day for huntin',” said Lila Jean, adjusting her cap.

Mary Rose had seven cheerleaders with her in total, all of them armed with guns. One of them, a freshman with dark hair and stripes of eye black under her bright brown eyes, cocked her rifle eagerly. “Just say the word, Mary Rose! Just say th' word and they're done for! Ooh, my first killin'! My first killin' an' it's a fourfer!”

Another one spoke up, a tan-skinned cheerleader with two brunette pigtails hanging down the back of her neck, a cowboy hat, and a holstered knife strapped to her right thigh. She was the only one who wasn't bothering to crouch down. “Don't be stupid, kid,” she said. “What good is that gonna do? How's Mary Rose gonna seduce a dead man?”

“Ah mean, Ah probably could, but still,” bragged Mary Rose, adjusting the focus. “Hepzibelle, you oughta listen to Junie Grievance. She knows all kahnds o' stuff, she's been held back more'n any of us.”

She watched Kirk take a bite of his burger. “Mmm mmm mmm,” she declared, focusing again to get him as clearly as possible. “Just lookit that big ol' hunk o' maskyalinnerty. Ah don't know what it is, but there's just somethin' so much more allurin' about a taken man.”

“Let me see! Let me see!” said one of them eagerly, a twiggy bottle blonde.

Mary Rose handed the binoculars over. Almost as soon as she did, her smile depreciated into a frown of annoyance. “It's enough ta AGGERVATE a girl. These delicate, frail li'l city gals...they wouldn't know what to do with a man like that! Not even if you told 'em! That Kirk is wasted on that Alicia, absolutely wasted! He's a REAL man, an' a real man like that deserves a real woman! Somebody he can take for a roll in the hay without her saying: 'Ew, gross, no way! I bet there's bugs n' snakes in there!'”

Through the binoculars, the twig girl saw Alicia feed Kirk a spoonful of her banana split, smiling playfully.

“Ugh, just look at her, carryin' on, all full of herself. Throwin' herself all over that man, ain't she got any shame? Gals lahk that make me sicker than undercooked badger meat,” the twig girl said bitterly. “An' the way she's wearin' them pretty clean clothes. Ah suppose she thinks she's just the height of fashion. Well, guess what, ah could wear that outfit ten times as good. Ah'm a natural beauty. Or at least ah could be, if ah could afford it. Too bad we can't all be born on a pile o' them big city dollars. Showoffin' little-”

“Now, now Jefra Mae, no need ta get insultin',” said Mary Rose, taking the binoculars back. “Sure, she's a pampered, cocky good-for-nuthin' with a high 'pinyin of herself, but there ain't nothin' wrong with her a good man-stealin' won't fix.”

.....

“So, did you ever play basketball, man?” Kirk asked Torey, taking a bite of his burger. He and Alicia were sitting sideways on the hood of his car so they could face Chase and Torey, who were doing the same. Though the sun was out and the sky was clear, the light fall breeze felt cool and comfortable.

Torey and Kirk hadn't said much to each other yet. One being a scary kid and the other being a jock, there was sort of an awkward rift there they weren't immediately certain how to cross. “Uh, well, a little bit when I was a kid. I was never on a team or anything, though, if that's what you mean,” said Torey.

“Dude, you should be. You're huge,” Kirk remarked.

Torey didn't expect to be complimented by this guy. “Thanks, but I dunno, it's not really my thing...”

“Hey, it looks like your thing from where I'm sitting. You should try out. The season starts pretty soon.”

“What bass ball?” asked Chase, eating a couple sweet potato fries.

“Oh, it's another sport, like football,” said Alicia. “You've seen people practicing it in the gym sometimes. You know, with the orange ball?”

Chase remembered. “Oh! Yes!” She pictured it in her mind.

“Once their season starts, we'll cheer at their games too,” explained Alicia. “But that's still not for a couple months.”

Kirk finished his burger and put the empty wrapper aside. He put an arm around Alicia's back, rubbing her shoulder on the opposite side. “You know, you'd probably be pretty good at basketball too, Chase,” he said supportively. “If you weren't already on the cheerleading squad, I'd suggest you try out for the girls' basketball team. You can jump high and run fast, you have a really athletic body. Plus you're so...what's the word I'm thinking of...”

“Tall?” asked Alicia.

“No, not tall...It's like tall, but more...vibrant and exotic.”

“Willowy?” guessed Torey.

“No, not willowy,” said Kirk. “It started with an 's.' St... Sta...”

Alicia gulped. A feeling of dread settled around her. “Statuesque?”

“Yeah, that's it! She's statuesque! Don't you agree, Alicia?”

“Er, y-yes! Statuesque! That's the word I, and anyone else who sees her only as a close friend, would use to describe her!” Alicia complimented.

Chase didn't know what this word meant, but she knew Douglas was sort of like a statue, so she took it to mean she was an unmovable creature of stony, unwavering emotional support who made people feel safe and reassured when they held her.

“That much nice, Leash! Thank you! But you most stat chu esk of all!”

“She's got me there!” agreed Kirk, kissing Alicia on the cheek. Alicia was hopelessly confused.

Kirk looked up at the movie screen. “Anyway, what are we seeing today?” he asked with enthusiasm. “Is the new Thor out yet?”

“Uh, actually, we don't really get new movies like that here,” said Torey. “We pretty much just show older stuff. Cult movies, b-movies...mostly horror.”

Kirk froze. “We're...we're not watching a horror movie TODAY, are we?” He still had an arm around Alicia's back, but there was a sense of need for security in the way he clutched her shoulder that wasn't there before.

This reaction caught everyone off guard. “Well, yes,” said Alicia, worried. “What's wrong, Kirk?”

He let go of her. “I... I can't watch horror movies,” he said, with a shiver. “They freak me out. I get nightmares.”

“Aw,” said Alicia, endeared, putting a comforting hand on his strong arm. “There's nothing to be scared of, Kirk. It's just a movie.” She scratched her head. “Besides, somehow I doubt today's movie is a real bone-chiller...”

“Yeah, it's a cheese fest. Unchained corniness,” confirmed Torey. “You'll be fine, trust me.”

“Really?” asked Kirk uncertainly. “What is it?”

Before he could get an answer, though, the screen lit up. Everyone quickly retreated into their vehicles, Kirk with some reluctance and only thanks to Alicia's fervent encouragement. He heard it often during his games and had become very susceptible to it.

Dracula Beach Party was a movie made in 1963 about the legendary vampire Dracula, who awakens in then-modern-day southern California. At first, he preys on a group of hapless surfing partying teens, but very quickly he is swayed by their carefree, youthful ways and joins the fun in a wacky, comedic, hard-PG “romp” for the whole family. It was definitely not scary.

“No daughter of mine will leave the house looking like that!” said a stern, clean-cut McCarthy-era American male with a suit and horn-rimmed glasses from a tall easy chair, folding his newspaper and setting it aside. “It's for your own good! When this ridiculous 'bikini' fad blows over, you'll thank me for stopping you from making a fool of yourself!”

“Aw, c'mon dad,” said a bikini-wearing girl with a surfboard under her arm, looking a bit languid, a bite mark on her neck. “Dracu-doggie's waiting for me. There's gonna be a big...” she yawned, “sorry, a big party down at the beach.”

“This suspense is killing me!” declared Kirk, nerves shot. “Dracula's gonna jump out any second, I just know it!”

“Don't worry, Kirk!” supported Alicia. “It really looks like it's going to be a comedy! You'll be just fine, I promise.”

On screen, the surfer girl was leaving her house. Her neighbor, an older man out mowing his lawn, looked at her attire, shook his head, and muttered something disdainful about her generation. Just as she descended the steps and started heading down the front walk, a car pulled up in front of her house and honked the horn. The doors were paneled with wood, and a couple surfboards were tied to the roof. She perked up a little bit and ran over, grinning. “You came to pick me up!”

Dracula put his elbow up on the open window and looked out at her, sunglasses on. “You know it! Bill's dad let us borrow his voodie! Now let's catch some vaves, daddy-o!”

Kirk covered his eyes with his hands. “Oh god! He's even more horrible than I imagined! They say the really scary horror movies are the ones about stuff that could actually happen... and I believe it! Brr!”

Alicia hesitated. “Well, if you're really not having fun, we can always go somewhere else...”

Kirk looked surprised. He lowered his hands and looked at her. “Really? What about the double date?”

“It's no big deal, they'll understand,” said Alicia. She blushed slightly. “I really want... this date to be something fun for you. Something you'll look back on and remember as a perfect day. Not as something that gave you nightmares.”