The Pearl of the of Sea

Chapter 18

A month passes by and it's the night of the homecoming dance. Jeff is helping Tom get ready for the dance and he steps back as he finishes dressing him up, "Wow, who's that handsome fella?"

Steve looks at Tom, "Not bad, he looks just like me when I went to my homecoming dances."

Michelle knocks on the door, "Is Tom ready yet?"

Tom turns to the door, "Yeah, you and Annemarie can come in now."

Annemarie comes in the room with a dark green dress and her hair up, "So you want to get going now?"

Tom smiles as he sees how beautiful she looks, "My God you're gorgeous!"

Michelle walks up to Jeff in a brown dress with her hair up too, "Alright, Jeffery are you ready to go to the dance too?"

Jeff nods his head, "Yeah, mom!"

Steve crosses his arms and wrinkles his forehead, "Um, Jeff, you're taking your mom to the dance!?"

Michelle blushes, "Yeah, my son can't get a date so I have been taking him to every homecoming dance and I even took him to his Junior Prom."

Neenah then walks into the room, "Hey, Bruce, and I are going to get ice cream. Can you lend us some money?"

"Hey, Neenah!" Steve then grabs Neenah's hand and drags her over to Jeff, "Why don't Jeff take you to the homecoming dance?"

Neenah frees herself, "Dad, no, I'm going out with Bruce tonight and besides, you know I hate school dances! Too many stuck up people go to those functions."

"Yeah, but at least you won't get raped!" Steve pushes Neenah back over to Jeff.

"Dad! Bruce isn't a rapist!" Neenah crosses her arms, "Besides Jeff is Tom's friend, I can't date him!"

Michelle puts her hand on Neenah's shoulder, "Please take my son to the dance, all these years I had to take him to every dance because he couldn't get any girls to go with him."

Neenah looks over at Steve as he's nodding his head, "Alright, I'll go with him."

Michelle hugs Neenah, "Oh thank you so much!" she then walks over to Tom, "Yeah and we got you a new wheelchair Tom."

Jeff runs into the living room and comes back with a new wheelchair for Tom, "Here you go buddy, we all chipped in and got you a new chair."

They place Tom in his new wheelchair and he smiles, "Thanks guys you're really awesome!"

Annemarie then rolls Tom out and Neenah and Jeff follow. After they all leave Michelle turns to Steve, "So our sons are going to the dance."

Steve raises his eyebrow, "Yeah, what are you trying to say? Do you want sex or something?"

"No, I think that since your daughter and my son are out on a date we should maybe go out on a date ourselves, you know like to a bar or something."

"Alright, we'll go to the River Rock."
Meanwhile, at the high school, Jeff, Neenah, Annemarie, and Tom all enter into the gym where the dance is. The music is blasting and each doorway of the gym has an arc of gold and green balloons. Everyone is either wearing a tuxedo or a dress and there are a few tables with chairs against the walls. Vanessa walks by with her boyfriend and Jeff grabs Neenah's hand, "Hey look, Vanessa, I got a date who isn't my mom!"

Vanessa stops and gives him a snotty look, "Oh so you took your sister instead?"

"No, but she's my best friend's sister!"

Vanessa then rolls her eyes and walks away, "Yeah, ok whatever!"

Jeff looks over at Annemarie and Tom, "I bet she's so jealous!"

Tom nods his head sarcastically, "Yeah, I bet she is."

Annemarie then pushes him onto the dance floor where she dances in front of him.
Neenah walks up to one of the tables and sits down. Jeff then sits next to her, "What's wrong you don't want to dance?"

Neenah crosses her arms, "I hate school dances." Neenah then points over to the pretty girls dancing, "I mean look at those girls, they think they're so pretty!"

Jeff looks over to the girls and back to Neenah, "I think they're hot, what's wrong with that?"

"They're sluts! I hate sluts! They all think they're better than me."

"I kind of know how you feel, their boyfriends think they're better than me! They're man whores! I hate man whores!" Jeff slams his fist on the table.

Neenah laughs, "Well I guess we're not too different than."

Jeff smiles, "Yeah, I get it from my mom, where do you get it from."

Neenah shrugs her shoulders, "Probably from being really ugly."

Jeff shakes his head, "I don't think you're ugly. I mean you are better looking than me."

Neenah hugs Jeff, "I don't think you're ugly at all, I think you're cute."

A slow dance song goes on, "Hey, you want to at least dance to this song?"

Neenah gets up, "Ok, but just to this song." They go onto the dance floor and slow dance together.

"So Bruce didn't want to take you to the dance?"

"No, I don't like dances and even if I did Bruce couldn't take me anyway, because he be violating Megan's Law."

Jeff's jaw drops, "Yikes! No wonder your dad hates him!"

Neenah puts her finger on Jeff's lips, "No, Bruce made one mistake and he promised he changed."

Tom is holding Annemarie's hands as she swings side to side. Tom then looks over and sees Angela making out with Jesse, "Oh, God, look at them, they should get a room."

Annemarie sees them kissing passionately, "Yeah, I'm not a fan of public affection, I mean holding hands is one thing, but jamming your tongue down someone's throat or having sex should be kept in the bedroom, not in public!"

Tom is still watching Angela make out with Jesse so he lets go of Annemarie's hands, "I'm sorry, I got to go." He then rolls himself out of the gym.