Keri almost spits out her beer. “No way.” She turns to Carlos. “Herrera didn’t die, did he?”
“So casual with the D-word.” Ginny sniffs.
Kenny leans in and grins. He has a talent for making himself at home with new people; I’ve relied on it since college. “I wouldn’t say weplayedthe Bash as much as blew up the Bash.”
“Oh, man,” Carlos says, staggering to his feet. “I need a beer for this.”
Keri widens her eyes at me. “What’d you do?”
“Okay, remember how Ginny had that epic plan to lose her virginity after her Fall Bash?”
“Still can’t believe she held on to her V-card until senior year.” Keri shakes her head. “What a prude.”
“Late bloomers are nothing to sneer at,” Ginny protests. “I more than made up for it in college.”
“I’m sorry, but having a plan to lose her virginity after a school dance sounds like the plot of a teen sex comedy,” Theo says.
“Oh, it was better.” Kenny snorts. “Banana, remember how she called you and demanded you pick her up?”
I flash back to Ginny’s irate phone call that night and laugh. “So, Ginny’s senior year,” I tell Theo, “I was already a freshman at Cal State with Kenny and Rip. Ginny and her date had this plan to lose it on the beach with candles and flowers, real romantic—”
“Don’t say another word or I’m knocking your toothbrush into the toilet tonight,” Ginny says. “I’ll use ghost powers.”
I ignore her. “But when they got to the beach, he couldn’t get it up because he drank too much at the dance. So they decided to go skinny-dipping to get sober. Nothing like the freezing Pacific Ocean to clear your mind, right? Only they came out of the water and Ginny’s clothes were nowhere to be found.”
A laugh bursts from Theo and I meet his eyes. His wide smile causes warmth to wash over me. “So while Ginny’s looking for her clothes, her date proceeds to pass out, like dead-to-the-world asleep, leaving her stranded. She obviously couldn’t call a taxi naked and there was no way she could’ve called my parents—my mom would’ve eaten her alive. So she called me.”
“All of us drove an hour to get her in Bowie’s old Bronco,” Ripper says. “We found Ginny on the side of the road—naked, wet, and fuming.”
“To this day,” I finish, “she has no idea where her clothes went.”
“Proving my theory that beach sprites exist,” Ginny insists.
“So we wrote a song based on her night,” says Kenny. “Called it ‘Too Drunk for Love’ after that Dead Kennedys song, ’cause Ginny was punk rock like that.”
“I one hundred percent thought the song was a joke.” Theo gives Kenny a look. “I’m pretty sure you told me it was.”
Kenny ignores him. “We played it as our closer tonight.” He raises his fist. “And wenailedit.”
“Are you serious? In front of Hererra?” Keri’s mouth drops open.
“He must’ve gone postal.” Cheese swigs his beer. “He wouldn’t even approve sex ed classes ’cause he didn’t want to ‘give us ideas.’”
“Oh, he fully chased Hannah out of the auditorium,” says Ripper. “I’ve never seen a silver fox run that fast.”
“I think I twisted my ankle somewhere near the science lab.” I bend over to rub it. “I might be getting too old for pranks.”
Theo’s shining eyes reflect the firelight. “I had to stand next to the guy all night. I heard about the tapir.”
“Oh,no.” Carlos cackles, bending over to slap his knee. “I forgot about the tapir.”
“I still can’t believe Cheese found that thing at a gas station.” Ginny shakes her head.
Keri thrusts her finger at Guppy. “It washisidea to put it under Herrera’s desk.” “See?” I give Theo a look. “I was an angel in high school. I just got blamed for everyone else’s bad decisions.”
“Bullshit,” Guppy coughs into his beer.
Theo grins. “Sure, Jan.”
