Tom & Sue & John & Debbie

Chapter 16

SALLY SEDUCES TOM; SUE LEARNS THE STORY OF TOM & MARY ANN

Thanks for reading my series, 'Tom & Sue & John & Debbie!' If you haven't read Chapters 1-15, please do so before reading this chapter, otherwise, you're going to miss a lot of the details as each chapter builds on the previous chapter. The series, 'Tom & Sue & John & Debbie' is a story about sports, sex and romance. The story plot centers on the adventures of two high school girls during their senior year and continuing through their freshman year in college. The girls are best friends but come from different social and economic families. Sue is a star basketball player from the poor side of town while Debbie is a cheerleader and comes from an upper class social family. The girls fall in love with two star State college athletes the summer before their senior year and the roller coaster rides begins. The two best friends eventually go their separate ways, establishing new relationships—Debbie at University and Sue at State. Chapter 10 gives the readers a 'hint' as to what will eventually happen to our characters, but how they get there is an adventure in itself.

DISCLAIMER: All characters, appearing in the series 'Tom & Sue & John & Debbie' are fictitious, as they do not exist. Any resemblance to a real person, living or dead, is purely coincidental, and should not be construed to associate a real person, living or dead, with scenes or events described within the series, 'Tom & Sue & John & Debbie.'Reverse Cowgirl

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The six of us, laughing and giggling, entered the front door of the Maroon & White. Brenda and Mary Ann were spittin' images, virtually dead ringers, sporting tight fittin' jeans, showing off their buns in a most mouth-watering way! Mary Ann may have been married, but University's head cheerleader was still one smoking hot, foxy lady, and once inside the Maroon & White, she'd definitely be turning heads!

Beverly, Nancy, and I followed wearing our vintage ripped Dukes, while Sis tagged along in a pair of Nike gym shorts, barely concealing the little moons of her sexy Italian booty!

Nancy giggled, asking me, "What'd you think Roomie? It's awesome isn't it?"

I replied, "Oh My Gosh—YES! I mean five big screens, a dance floor, bandstand, jukebox, tables galore, and three buffet smorgasbords—this place is bigger than State's football field!"

Debbie was laughing, "I was the same way Sis, when I saw it the first time during rush week! The buffets are loaded with every kind of pizza and sub you'd ever imagine, along with burgers, fries, rings, tots, chips, sodas, tea, flavored waters, and to top it off, on Sunday it's all free with your student ID!"

We were standing in line waiting to show the doorman our student IDs— everyone was chit-chatting with each other when Mary Ann pulled me aside asking me, "How are things going at State?"

I smiled, "Mary Ann, school is good and basketball..."

Mary Ann quickly butted in "Sue, that's not what I meant, and I believe you know it.

"Debbie told me you and Tom are going through some rough times because of what happened this summer which led to you turning down his proposal. Just remember what I told you the first time I met you before the University and State football game last year—didn't I tell you, 'Don't make the same mistake I made,' and what did you say, 'I don't intend to'—remember?"

I sighed, "I remember... things were different back then... I mean..."

Mary Ann interrupted me saying, "Sue, I'm sure you've heard bits and pieces about the story of Tom, John, and me during our high school days at Dragon High—haven't you?"

I looked Mary Ann in the eyes, "Not really. Ma told me quite a bit about how Tom and John grew up being treated as outcasts and both used athletics as a way to get away from the slurs of not only their classmates, but closed-minded adults within the community.

"Ma told me it was Pop, who instilled this burning desire not to fail in Tom at an early age. This intense never-fail attitude is what has gotten Tom to where he is today. It actually brought a few tears to my eyes yesterday when Tom walked onto the field at Irish Stadium, representing his teammates as their captain. And even though we're going through some awful hard times right now, I still have strong feelings for Tom deep in my heart. Right now, though, I just need some space to sort things out. What happened that night—didn't have to happen. It was not only heartbreaking, but traumatic as well. None of it should have ever happened."

Mary Ann sighed, "I know what must be going through your heart about now because the same thing happened to me. Of course, what happened to me was under altogether different circumstances, but the end results were the same—heartbreaking and emotionally overpowering.

"And, yes, I shed a tear or two yesterday, too, when I watched the one guy I let get away proudly walk on the floor of Irish Stadium, on national television no less, representing his teammates. Trust me, Tom is, and always will be, one very special guy. Don't make the same mistake I made and let him slip through your fingers because of what happened this summer. Forgive and forget, erase those nights from your memory, they're in the past... dead and gone."

I quickly changed the subject and looked in Mary Ann's direction, "Mary Ann, you have to remember, I was a just sophomore when you, Tom, and John were seniors. I only heard bits and pieces about you and Tom's relationship. Although when I questioned Tom about you on our first date, he told me, 'Mary Ann and I had a real special relationship for a little over two years' and 'I made love to one very special girl.' Of course, I was just being nosy thinking perhaps Tom was just playing me along, until you came back into his life. And, well, it eased my mind when he told me he'd heard you had gotten engaged. "

Mary Ann only smiled, nodding her head, "We did. It was a very, very, very special relationship. But then like a nitwit, I didn't listen to what my heart was telling me—instead, I paid attention to what everyone else was saying and I let the best thing I ever had walk out of my life forever..."

I really can't explain it, but for some reason, I felt like Mary Ann and I were now bonding together. I noticed Mary Ann getting somewhat emotional, so I butted in, "I never heard much at all about you and John when y'all were at Dragon High. Remember, Coach kept Cathy, Donna, Lois, Vicki, and me on the JV so we could mature athletically instead of only playing part time on the Varsity since the Lady Dragons had five senior starters. As Coach put it, 'Ladies, the five of you are 'late bloomers,' but great things are on the horizon for Dragon High by the time you're seniors. Trust me, I didn't get to where I am without learning a few tricks of the trade.'

"Anyway, I was considered a 'tomboy,' never given the time of day, because I was barrel racing Dusty in rodeos and living in the gym shooting hoops.

"Even as a junior and an All District Lady Dragon, I always had to settle for Debbie's leftovers, her second or third best—just to go to homecoming or to the prom. Things changed when I met Tom and the whistles and bells went off for the first time in my life the summer before my senior year. And in a way, I guess, our relationship was a carbon copy of you and Tom's before..."

It was Mary Ann's turn to stare into the tears welling in my eyes and butted in, "Well, times have changed haven't they?

"Even though I may sound like a 'broken record' at times, it's about time you knew the whole story, so you won't make the same mistake I made. What I'm about to tell you, I don't want repeated. You need to know what happened that turned my life upside-down and I ended up losing the best thing I ever had. Like I've told you numerous times before, 'Don't make the same mistake I made.' You and Tom need to work it out, bring back that loving feeling that you two shared. If you don't, you'll regret it for the rest of your life—just like I have.

Mary Ann took a deep breath, slowly exhaled and said, "John and I started kindergarten together in Dragon, even though I was three months older than him. Right from the start, John was labeled an outcast from the rest of us. John was Native-American and Swedish being raised by his Swedish Mom, who worked as a waitress at Dragon's Truck-Stop Diner. They lived in a one bedroom trailer on the outskirts of Dragon, between the sewage plant and city dump. We all poked and fun of him, me included, calling him a half-breed or breed along with saying, 'Where's your Daddy, breed? You ain't got a Daddy.' John was never invited to any birthday parties or any other outside the classroom activity. No one even gave him a Valentine's Day card at our first grade classroom Valentine party. Literally, John didn't have a friend in the world, until the second grade.

"It was during the second grade when this new boy showed up in school. He was Native-American and Italian being raised by a single Mom, who worked as a bookkeeper for the school district. Everyone started harassing, poking fun at him, and calling him names, just like we all did John. We called him Breed and half breed along with saying, 'You ain't got a Daddy.' Those were all our favorites to make both of them feel inferior to all of us. But something was about to happen that would alter both of their lives until they graduated from Dragon High.

"John was a leap year baby, and for John's 7th birthday, the last Saturday in February, John's Mom, Oliva, invited the whole second grade class, twenty-five of us to a party at Dragon's Teen Center. Oliva had ordered pizza, ice cream and cake, along with favors for everyone, but no one showed up except the new boy, and that was the beginning of John and Tom's friendship. From that day forward, they were like brothers, inseparable, always covering each other's backs. The two of them fought back against all our slurs, bad-mouthing and ridiculing remarks—more or less taking a stand, and for lack of a better term, it was like 'us against them.'

"It was about a month later, the first Saturday in April, Tom had just turned seven on April Fools' Day, and instead of being embarrassed by having a party where no one would come, Tom's Mom gave Tom and John the money to go to the movies together.

"We were all standing at the concession stand dressed in our fancy little sundresses with bows and ribbons in our hair, just chit-chatting away. Everyone was waiting to receive their order of large buttered or caramel popcorn, the premier soda, Coca-Cola, for our drink along with gummy bear candy before going into the auditorium for the Saturday matinee.

"We all snickered at John and Tom as they approached the concession stand each dressed in their typical soil-stained white T-shirts, old worn-out, faded Levis with holes in the knees, and scuffed up cowboy boots. We all laughed and snubbed them in our classical snooty sort of way, when they ordered a small bag of regular-flavored popcorn along with a small-sized RC Cola.

"Everyone was snickering and hee-hawing as they emptied their pockets with pennies, nickels, and dimes just to pay for their popcorn and RC Cola—both of which were much cheaper than our pricey popcorns and sodas. But what was about to happen was a rude awaking for all of us.

"Three fourth grade bullies began to poke and make fun of Tom and John as they walked toward the auditorium. The three repeatedly called them 'breeds,' 'half-breeds,' and 'Where's your Daddy, breed?' until the worst of the bunch, Jerry, took it a step further—slapping the popcorn and RC first out of John's hands, and then Tom's. What happened next was so quick, if you'd blinked an eye, well, you'd have missed it. Tom walloped Jerry up the side of the head, Ronald was next, and John kicked Gerald in the seat of the pants as he ran into the theater's auditorium with Ronald following right on his tail.

"Tom and John grabbed Jerry around the neck—the two of them were punching his lights out while dragging him into the boy's bathroom. We all stood in disbelief when we heard the bathroom's toilet flushing. It wasn't long afterwards Tom and John came out laughing and walked side by side into the theater's auditorium. Jerry came out a short time later—his face looked like it had been run through a meat grinder. His nose was bleeding, his lip was busted and his eyes were reddened and swollen. His head and shirt wringing-wet and one could definitely smell the scent of fresh urine in Jerry's hair and on his shirt."

I giggled, "I heard just a bit about that little episode the night Tom and I went into that sleazy bar on skid row to pull John out. John was so high on booze and drugs he had no idea who Tom and I were. From what John said that night, Tom held his head in the stool while John peed on it. Both of them were laughing when Tom flushed the toilet and they walked out of the bathroom."

I was laughing, "John even mentioned the two of them called you an ol' lady."

Mary Ann smiled, "Tom started that the night of my eighteenth birthday. The two of them teased me the rest of our senior year calling me ol' lady every chance they got— just to embarrass me!

"Now, let me continue. Of course the name calling and ridiculing didn't stop, but after what happened in the theater, anyone harassing the two made sure they kept their distance—hastily retreating after poking and making fun."

I giggled, "I can see why! Not too many second graders would fight back to bullying fourth graders by holding their head in a toilet and peeing on it!"

Mary Ann laughed, "I guess you're right! Like I mentioned, they were inseparable with an attitude of 'us against them.'

"It was the summer before fourth grade when Anne, or Ma as you call her, remarried. Anne was definitely a good-looking, charming, intelligent young woman, and in high school, a majorette in Dragon's band. Everyone in Dragon was knocked off their feet when James Sanders, a successful insurance agent, and a highly respected individual in Dragon's community married a woman not only with excess baggage, but with a half-breed son to boot. James, or Pop as you call him, was a head-strong individual and ignored the slurs, going a step further and adopting Tom, raising him like he was his own.

"School had just started our fourth grade year when Oliva got the ball rolling, getting involved with the owner of a cocktail lounge in Baytown. It wasn't long afterwards that Oliva accepted a second job as a waitress in his lounge. James and Anne looked after John while Oliva worked 'double shifts' at the cocktail lounge on Friday and Saturday nights, usually not returning to Dragon until sometime late Sunday evening. Shortly thereafter, hearsay around Dragon was Oliva had a sugar daddy or two—I guess in order to make ends meet.

"In junior high, Tom and John began to grow, getting cuter and more muscular year by year. Tom was a star in football, basketball, and baseball, while John was a stud on the wrestling mat, also running track and performing gymnastics.

"Stories began to surface about how Tom was a 'chip off the old block' in athletics, just like his Dad once was during his days at Dragon High.

"The puzzle began to come together when everyone learned Tom's Mom and Dad were high school sweethearts, and his Dad was a high school star athlete in Dragon. Both were planning on going to Baytown Community where his Dad would play football and run track while his Mom would be a majorette and twirler in Baytown's band. However, right after high school graduation, his Dad was drafted into military service. Most of us were astonished to learn, Tom's Dad was awarded the Silver Star for bravery while engaged in combat in the Vietnam War.

"After returning from the Vietnam War, Tom's Dad married his high school sweetheart and they left Dragon to work in the coal mines of West Virginia. It brought a few tears to my eyes when we all became aware during Tom's first grade year—his Dad was tragically killed in a mine explosion in West Virginia, along with his grandfather. Now that we all knew the story about Tom, most of us felt lousy, ashamed for the way we treated him in grade school.

"Unfortunately, stories about John's Dad were not so heroic. We all found out from the stories our parents and others were telling us, John's Dad and Oliva had one of those sudden shotgun weddings when Oliva was a senior at Dragon High. John's Dad was a well-known 'rounder' and deserted Oliva when John was just a baby, never to be seen or heard from again. And, in way, we all felt sorry for John, growing up and never knowing his Dad. We all had this empty, godawful, embarrassed feeling inside the way we had poked, ridiculed, and made fun of John.

"But as popular as they were becoming, John and Tom stood alone, not wanting to associate with any of us who so blindly poked and made fun of them in grade school. Neither one went to our Junior High's eighth grade prom.

"It was during our freshman year in high school when John and Tom half-heartedly started to bury the hatchet somewhat with all of us.

"Charlotte and I were considered the two hottest girls in the freshman class. I was the head cheerleader for the freshman cheer squad and the freshman football queen. Charlotte was a twirler in Dragon's band, the 'quarterback' on the court for the freshman Lady Dragons, along with being unanimously voted the freshman basketball queen. It was considered pretty much a done deal, when the votes were tallied, either Charlotte or I would be the freshman prom queen with the other being crowned princess of the freshman prom. Charlotte and I had both turned down numerous invitations for the freshman prom—our sights were zeroed in on the two hottest guys in the freshman class.

"Tom was THE stud on the freshman teams in football, basketball, baseball, and was the captain of each team—crowning Charlotte and me as queens, simply saying, 'Congratulations' while placing the crown on our heads.

"John, as a freshman, was on the Varsity's wrestling squad and was not only competing, but winning matches. John and Tom were no longer referred to as breeds or half-breeds, but were now two of the hottest, cutest guys not only in the freshman class, but at Dragon High!

"I guess it was a week before the freshman prom when I saw John sitting alone in the commons, so I went up to him and asked, 'Mind if I sit down?'

"John glanced up and said, 'Suit yourself, no one's sitting there.'

"I smiled at him, 'Thank you. So, handsome, who are you taking to prom?'

"John looked a bit startled and answered, 'Most likely me and Tom won't go.'

"I asked, 'What? Why not? A couple handsome studs like you and Tom not going to the freshman prom is most definitely unheard of!'

"John raised an eyebrow and softly spoke, 'I believe you and all the others know why. It's just me and Tom... no one else... None of you ever gave us the time of day—remember?'

"I forced a slight grin, 'I know we were all a bunch of snooty, arrogant, stuck-up, spoiled, little brats back then. We all had the same attitude—you and Tom were inferior to us. I'm sorry for treating you and Tom the way I did, and so are a lot of the others, including Charlotte. I don't have anyone I want to go to the prom with—how about you and me going as friends?'

"John looked me in the eyes, 'You're serious? You would go to the freshman prom with me?'

"I replied giggling, 'Yes, you dumb jock, and I bet I can hook your buddy, Tom, up with Charlotte.'

"John told Tom the news and the four of us met after school at the Teen Center, talking for hours on end about everything under the sun.

"Prom night, Charlotte and I definitely turned some heads and raised some eyebrows when the two so-called hottest girls of the freshman class entered the gym with Tom and John. The four of us had a great time prom night. Dancing, laughing, chit-chatting away, and when it was announced Charlotte had been voted queen and I was princess, the four of us danced the traditional dance together while everyone else watched in envy. Freshman prom was the beginning of a special bond between John and me, not romantically, but as close friends.