Still, she didn’t want to get into all of the details with Dr. Kelley whom she barely knew really. “Just thought I might be able to get some help with a project is all,” the heroine said.

“Well,” the scientist replied, “there is a Dr. Henderson I’ve consulted with before.”  She reached for a notepad.  “Let me jot down an address for you.”

“Great!” Lodestone said.  “I’ll try to go by then soon and visit him.”

“Him?”  Dr. Kelley finished writing down the notes and handed the sheet to her.  “Dr. Cleo Henderson is a woman,” she said.

“Oh,” Lodestone said surprised.  “Sorry.  I just made an assumption…”  So much for the chance Henderson was Eddie/M.E.C.H.’s last name.

“No problem,” Dr. Kelley said. 

The alarm on her digital watch started to buzz. 

“Oh.”  She glanced at the time.  “Is there anything else you need, Lodestone?  I don’t want to cut you off short, but I have to leave work on time this afternoon.  I have a party this evening that I have to go and get ready for.”

Party! Lodestone thought to herself.  I almost forgot!

“No, this is good,” the young woman said as she folded the paper and slipped it into an opening in the backpack.  “Thanks for the reference.  I do appreciate it.”  She headed for the window and started to climb back out onto the ledge.  “Enjoy your party.”

“I will,” Dr. Kelley said.  “And you’re welcome to drop by any time.”

“Thanks,” Lodestone nodded before she flew off across the Victoria, Georgia, skyline, heading north.

***

In a large but modest home in Ashebury, a residential community north of Victoria, Clare Harper rushed through the kitchen backdoor.  Once she got close to home, she found some place private to slip out of her Lodestone costume and back into a pair of jeans and a long sleeved T-shirt.  Her parents, Beverly and Kyle Harper, were watching the 6pm evening news in the family room when the seventeen year old blonde went running past them and headed for the front stairs.

“Clare,” her father called out.  “Where’s the fire?”

“Sorry, Daddy, no time to talk,” she said as grabbed the wooden end banister post and whipped around it like a race car taking a sharp turn.

“Clare, Anita called…” her mother started to say.

“I know, Mom, I know,” Clare cut her off as she took the steps two at a time.  “She and the others are picking me up soon, and I still have to get showered and changed.”  The high school senior’s voice trailed off as the headed for her room upstairs. “I’m running so late.” 

“But…” Beverly was about to call out.  She then heard the bedroom door close rapidly.  She paused for a moment and then looked at her husband inquisitively.  “That was our daughter, right?”

“Don’t ask me, honey,” Kyle Harper said with a smile.  “Remember, I’m the one that doesn’t get her all the time.”  He made finger quotes in the air as he said ‘get her’.  “I’m just the lone bastion of testosterone in this household of estrogen.”

Beverly gave her husband a playful punch in the upper arm.

“Ow, you brute,” the man joked.

Twenty five minutes later, as the front doorbell rang, Clare came bounding down the steps once more.  She was now dressed in a pair of tan bellbottomed pants and a multicolored polyester shirt.  The shirt was unbuttoned at the top to reveal a necklace of pooka shells.  She had teased out her hair, using a lot of hair spray to poof it up and to feather it back.

“Oh, honey,” Beverly exclaimed.  “You look great.”

Kyle smiled too.  “She looks more and more like you every day, Bev,” he said softly to his wife.

“Thanks, Mom,” Clare said as she turned the doorknob.  “I hope Anita…”  She stopped mid sentence as she opened the door and saw her friends standing there.

Anita Hanson and Cynthia Brekmann stood on the front porch, both dressed in stylish business suits with short skirts.  The later one was holding a plastic baby doll in a simple white diaper.  “You ready to go, Harper?” Cynthia asked.

“Girls, come in,” Beverly called as she got up from the couch.  “Let me see your costumes.”

Kyle cocked his head as the two girls entered the house.  “Costumes?  They look like the young women who work on the third floor of my office building downtown.”

The brown haired Cynthia smiled.  “Perfect!  That’s just what we’re going for.”

“Huh?” the father asked.

“Honey, haven’t you ever seen Ally McBeal?” Beverly asked.

Clare pulled her African-American friend back and whispered, “What’s this?  I thought we were doing the 70’s thing.”

“Sorry, Clare,” Anita said.  “I tried calling you earlier with the change in plan.  Cynthia thought it would be cool for us to do this instead.  She’d be ‘Ally’, I’d be ‘Renee’ and you could be ‘Georgia’.  I figured since it was thanks to her that we got invited to go this party to begin with that it wouldn’t hurt to go along with her idea.  Didn’t you get my message?”

“No,” Clare said.  “I had to…uh…run an errand on the way home and was late.”

“Oh,” Anita said.  “I hope you aren’t mad at me.”

“No,” Clare said again.  “No, I’m not mad at all.”  What could she do?  She couldn’t very well tell Anita why she never got the message.  “No, it’s cool.  You look great.”

“Thanks,” Anita said.  “You too.”  She gave her long time friend a hug.

“We better get going,” Cynthia said.  “I have my father’s car, and I don’t trust the others not to mess it up while they’re waiting for us.”  She started for the door.

“Drive carefully,” Beverly said.

“Cynthia will, Mrs. Harper,” Anita said.  “She’s a great driver.  You should have seen her when we were out in California.  She’s calm, cool and collected behind the wheel.”

“Don’t be too late,” Kyle called out from the couch.  “Eleven o’clock.”

“Daddy, it’s Friday night,” Clare said.  “Can’t we make it midnight?  We can’t leave the Halloween party too early or we’ll look like babies.”

“Midnight is fine,” Beverly said.  She turned to Kyle and nodded.  He nodded back reluctantly.

“Thanks, Mom,” Clare said as she gave her mother a hug.  “See you later.”

Clare followed her other two classmates out to the driveway where Mr. Brekmann’s car was sitting.  As she climbed into the front seat with Anita in the middle and Cynthia behind the wheel, she glanced into the backseat.  “Hey gang.”

Jo Thomsen sat on the far left; her long dark hair was pinned back and she was wearing a leather warrior’s outfit.  A scabbard was attached to her belt.

In the center of the backseat, wearing an orange puffy parka was Jimmy Parker.  The bulkiness of his coat served the added purpose of keeping Jo from hauling off and smacking Keith Wills on the far right.  Keith was dressed in an orange coat with a green colored hat with earflaps on the sides, and he was zinging his usual witty barbs.  “Far out, Clare!  Can you do a few bars of Sunshine Day for us?”  There was a brief exchange of greetings as the car backed out of the driveway. 

Then Cynthia told them all to pipe down while she proceeded to drive the group to the party.  All along the way towards the lake front community in Buckmore where Michelle Kingston lived, Cynthia reminded the others that she had gotten them all invited to this party in the first place.  Further she lectured the group about not embarrassing her in front of the rest of the cheerleading squad.  She even made Keith swear to behave.

There were tons of cars parked out front of rather large white house with slate gray trim.  The two-story front porch was supported by large white pillars nearly two feet in diameter.  “Wow,” Jimmy exclaimed.  “This place looks like a country club clubhouse rather than someone’s home.”

“Really,” Jo added.  “I thought I saw tennis courts out back.”

Cynthia locked the car, straightened her jacket and proceeded to lead the group up the long front walk which was lined with neatly manicured hedges.  “There are tennis courts,” she said in a rather casual tone, “and a pool too.”

“A pool!” Kyle chirped.  “Cool!”

Clare put her hand on his shoulder.  “Easy there, cowboy,” she said.  “Remember, we’re on our good behavior tonight.”

“Harper, can you please keep him in line?” Cynthia snapped before ringing the doorbell.

When the door opened, the loud music from inside could be heard very clearly.  Michelle Kingston, dressed in a shimmering off-white camisole, answered the door.  “Cynthia,” the brown haired head cheerleader said.  “So glad you could come.”

“I couldn’t miss ‘the’ party of the year.”

“Too true,” Michelle said.  “Love the outfit.”

“You too,” Cynthia said.  “Very Sex In the City.”

“But of course.”  The two cheerleaders stepped inside and continued talking; they quickly made a bee-line to the rest of the squad who were mostly costumed following Michelle’s lead.

Clare, Anita, Jo, Keith and Jimmy let themselves in to join the party where over three dozen teenagers were hanging out, dancing and celebrating the holiday. “Let’s go find the food,” Keith said to Jimmy.  The two boys took off to the left where they could see through the clustered groups of people what appeared to be a large dining room table with various bowls and such spread out.

A guy in a dark suit with matching slate-gray monochromatic tie and shirt approached the trio of girls.  He turned to Jo first and said, “Hey, Xena!  Care to dance?”

Jo didn’t even bother to look the guy up and down.  “Sorry, you’re not my type,” she dismissed him flatly.

The guy grinned.  “Is that your final answer?”  Clearly he was ecstatic to use the famous line.

Jo just scowled at him.  “Look, buddy,” she said as she patted something attached to her belt.  “I’ve got a chakram here that I picked up at MythiCon last month and I’m not afraid to use it!”  As she let the threat sink in, she then turned and headed off to see if anyone else she knew was in attendance.

The guy dressed as the popular game show host turned to Anita and Clare.  “How about you two?  Either of you want to dance?”

“Sure,” said Clare.  “Anita?”

“Oh, go ahead, Clare,” her friend replied.  “I’ve got a cute soldier boy eyeing me.”  She winked at someone across the way and gave him a warm smile.  One of the guys in a group dressed like a platoon out of Saving Private Ryan stood a bit taller and smiled back.

“Let’s go then,” ‘Regis’ said as he took Clare’s hand and led her through the crowd to the area in the living room where the furniture had been cleared away for dancing.  They found a spot between two insects out of A Bug’s Life and another couple, a guy in a rubber mask of the President and a girl with a ‘stained’ blue dress, and proceeded to get into their groove.

It was nearly two hours before most of the friends managed to regroup.  Clare approached the guys just as someone in a long black robe and a white mask brought down a plastic scythe upon Jimmy’s back; the later was lying prone on the floor.

Kyle, who was standing nearby as the Scream killer raised up his weapon in victory, couldn’t help but yell out, “Ohmigod!  You killed Kenny!  You bastard!”  Then Kyle busted out laughing.  Others nearby joined in the laughter as well.

Clare offered Jimmy a helping hand to get up off the floor.  He undid the tightly tied parka hood and said, “Thanks.”

“No problem,” she said.  She turned to Kyle.  “Do you really find that so funny?”

Kyle grinned.  “Yup.  It never gets old.”

“Have either of you guys seen Anita?”

“Over here,” a familiar voice called. 

Clare made her way over to a couch where her best friend was sitting. 

“I think we’ve got a problem,” Anita said as she gestured down beside her.

Clare came around from the back of the couch to see Jo with her head in Anita’s lap.  “What happened?”

Anita made a silent gesture by forming her hand into an imaginary cup and tossing it back quickly towards her mouth.

‘She’s drunk?’ Clare mouthed.

Anita nodded.

Jo groaned a bit and started to raise her head.  Her eyes were half-closed and droopy.

“Easy, girl,” Anita said.

“Yeah, take it easy, Jo,” Clare said as she sat down next to her.  “We’ll find Cynthia and get you home.”

“Oh…no….” Jo said faintly.  “That’s s’okay.  We can s’stay.”

Clare shook her head.  “I don’t think we should.”

“We’re having fun…right?” Jo asked.

“Yeah, but we don’t want to overdo it.”

Jo smiled as she reached up and gently stroked Clare’s blonde hair.  “You know…you’d’ve made a great Gabrielle…”

Clare nodded.  “You’re probably right.”  She looked at Anita and mouthed ‘find Cynthia’.

Anita nodded, helped Jo to sit up next to Clare and got left the couch.  She quickly moved to the left to avoid the long tail of someone dressed in a Godzilla costume that was walking past and took off to search the house for their driver.

Anita was careful to work her way around a number of tall guys that she recognized from the basketball team.  One of them was dressed up as Maurice Jansen, number twenty-three for the Tradewinds’ Oxen.  He was getting heckled by a couple other guys who were wearing uniforms for the hometown Victoria Sky Hawks.  She knew she was on the right track though.  Where there are jock, she thought, there are bound to be…

Anita spied the some of the cheerleaders including Cynthia.  She hurried over to them.  “Cynthia, can I talk to you for a moment?” she asked.

Cynthia turned.  “What’s up, Hanson?”

“It’s Jo,” Anita started to say.  “She’s…”  She stopped when she noticed what was in the hands of the other girls standing around.  She pulled Cynthia away from the group.  “Cyn, is that a beer?”

“No,” the brunette replied.  She pulled back the napkin that covered the can to show Anita it was a diet soda.  “What’s the deal?”