Weekend Read Free

day before the big game. It involved the usual bouncing through the air and spread-eagled stretching. Lena was well aware of the specifics of the routine. Though not a member of any cheering squad — she had passed such adolescent displays, so she said - she contributed, through her sister, extra twists. One of Lena's exotic suggestions was the straw that broke the camel's back, the twist that tore the panties.
    Because the song leaders' uniforms were warm, and Santa Barbara was sunk in a rare heat wave, the girls wore regular clothes to the morning classes, leaving their uniforms in their gym lockers. While on her way to the locker room at the start of lunch, Kerry was stopped by Lena, who wanted to chat. Under normal circumstances, Kerry would not have had the slightest inclination to "chat" with Lena, and now that she was in a hurry to change, she was less anxious. Nevertheless, Lena succeeded in delaying her to the point where Kerry was cutting it close. To top it off, as they parted company, Lenaaccidentally spilt her Coke on Kerry's shorts, the soft drink soaking through to her underwear. No big problem, though Kerry was mad. She was going to change into her uniform in a minute anyway. The only difference now was that sheprobably wouldn't be able to wear her underwear. When Kerry reached the locker room, she rushed into her song clothes, not having a chance to take note of any irregularities.
    The pep rally started like so many other boring pep rallies. The punchy football coach strutted to the microphone and mumbled a couple of slow lines about how smart - football-wise - their team was this year, and introduced a few key players that everyone already knew. Shani was sitting in the front row of the audience with Park. They cheered loudly for good-natured "Big Bert" — an unusual member of their unusual gang — but otherwise they were hardly listening. It was only when the song leaders came on that she sat up and took notice. Of course, three of her friends were in the group, but perhaps she also had a premonition of danger, for her stomach had begun to ache like it did when she was worrying deeply.
    Park also stirred to life. His girl friend, Robin — whom he supposedly loved very much — was the leader of the group. He had his camera primed and was clicking away the second they launched into their routine. Even then, Shani had felt that he had taken an unusually high number of pictures of Angie.
    In the middle of the skit, Kerry flew spreadeagled over Robin's shoulders and Shani thought she heard a rip. But at first she decided that she must have been mistaken, for no one else appeared to have heard anything. Then a low murmur began to spread through the audience, a sound that quickly built to loud whistles and hoots. This was an example of how fast gossip could spread, for, although she was sitting in the front, and although the song leaders' dresses were short, Shani could see nothing unusual as far as Kerry was concerned. Neither could Park — Shani asked him twice what was going on. But a few people, probably only a handful in the entire crowd, hadthought they had caught a flash of Kerry's bare bottom. Afterwards, of course, there weredozens of guys whoswore they were one of the chosen few.
    The fact that they wereall liars made no difference. Ironically, Kerry was probably the last one in the gym to know there was a problem. The record they performed to continued on, though it was practically drowned out in the commotion, and Kerry continued to swirl and twist and bend, not noticing any draught. Shani finally got the word through the grapevine of what wassupposedly happening, and then it seemed ages to her before Kerry found out. In reality, from the moment of the rip to the instant of her bewildered halting, possibly twenty seconds had elapsed. It was Angie who finally stopped her and whispered something in her ear, probably just a line to get Kerry to leave the gym as quickly as possible.
    Angie even