Pete Brody met his wife, Carrie, when they were ten. She moved in next door. At first, the two were wary of each other. However, there were few children in this particular suburban area. They'd see each other every day, school day or not. They were almost exactly the same age, so were in classes together. They became friends. Of course, at school they each had other friends of their own sex. But, when the chips were down, they could count on each other. They knew that. Carrie was a beautiful girl. She was blonde, tall, with blue eyes and a pretty face. She was also quite athletic.
Pete was smallish for his age, but wiry and quick. He was just a boy, brown eyed, with light brown hair. His parents owned a grocery store in town, and made a good living at it. Carrie's parents worked for a large insurance company.
One afternoon after school, Carrie missed the early bus. The late bus was normally filled with miscreants, who were late because they had detention. When Carrie got off that bus, Pete was nearby. Two thuggish upperclassmen got off after her. She was fourteen, and beautiful. The two guys pursued her, trying to grab her.
Carrie ran. The guys were catching up, when Pete roll blocked them both to the ground. Then he started beating on one. But the other jumped him, and the three rolled around on the ground, punching. The outcome was inevitable, until Carrie started hitting the two thugs with a big stick that she had picked up. When that broke, she got a wine bottle from the ground. Between the two of them, they chased the guys off. Carrie was not injured, but Pete had scrapes and a cut above his eye that was bleeding quite a bit. Carrie took him into her house, and cleaned it up, patched it with gauze.
"Thanks," said Pete.
"You're my hero, Peter. You saved me."
"And then you saved me. We're even."
From that day on the two were fast friends. Pete was a good student, and excelled at math and science. Carrie was bright, but not academically motivated. She was a cheerleader, and one of the most popular girls in the school. She had a date every weekend, with several different boys from school. Pete was on the soccer team, due to his quickness and wiry strength. He played defense. Soccer wasn't a big deal at their school.
Although they were friends, they didn't 'date.' Carrie sometimes wanted Pete to ask her out. But Pete thought of her as out of his league. She dated all the school jocks, who played football and basketball.
When they were Juniors, Carrie got into a scrape because two of the big jocks in school both wanted her to go to the Junior prom. She spoke to Pete about it. She believed that if she picked one, the other would be angry enough to start trouble.
Pete said, "Well, here's the solution. Go with me."
"You....you're asking me out to the Junior prom?"
"Yes. Then neither one of them can make trouble for the other. Problem solved. And....we'll have a good time."
"But they both may come after you. You could get hurt."
"Nah, I'm no threat to them, as far as they know, at least. So, there's no reason for them to mess with me."
"Okay. But I hope you're right about that. I wouldn't want to be the one to get you into a mess."
Pete's father knew from an early age that Pete would be smallish, as his parents were. His mom and dad were small, but athletic, as was Pete. But being quick and athletic was not necessarily enough, his father believed. From an early age, then, Pete's dad taught him how to fight.
Dan Brody had been well trained in hand to hand combat in his army career. He knew what to show Pete, and how to have him practice. When Pete was twelve, Dan supplemented the home lessons with training by one of his army compatriots, who ran a 'self-defense' school in a nearby town.
Because of this, Pete was not afraid of school fights. His confident attitude had served him well, because he was able to avoid fighting, even though he was a small guy and there were a number of bigger bullies in his school, as there are in most high schools.
Carrie knew that Pete kicked the bag in his back yard, and took lessons of some sort. She had watched him hit and kick the bag. She also watched him play soccer. But when she watched him at the bag, she was very impressed. Even though Carrie dated a lot, the boys had not gotten past second base with her. Watching Pete, she began to wonder about him, and why he didn't ask her out. In good weather Pete sometimes worked out in tight singlets. Carrie like to watch him then.
Pete knew that Carrie sometimes looked at him with curiosity. She didn't try to hide it, much, and he was particularly aware of Carrie's moods. Still, he believed that she was out of his league. But in their Junior year, Pete took the big step. The prom situation was the perfect set up.
Their respective parents were surprised that they were going to the prom together. Well, Pete's mother, Janice, wasn't as surprised as the others. She had watched Carrie looking at Pete when he practiced his fighting in the back yard. She knew that look. The two of them were such good friends. She felt that she had to warn Pete about going too far. And she did.
Pete said, "Moooom.....okay. Maybe I do think about going too far. I won't. Carrie wouldn't let me anyway."
Carrie looked beautiful when Pete walked down to get her for the dance. She was one of the five girls who might be chosen as Junior prom queen. She wore a light blue dress, with a loose skirt, and tight bodice. It accentuated her charms. (And her mother Betty was a little apprehensive.) Pete had a pain black tux, with a matching blue cummerbund. He drove them to the hotel where the dinner and dance were being held.
Dinner was lively. They sat at a table with four other couples. Each of the girls were among the five who might be chosen. Three of the guys were also possible prom kings. Pete and one guy, Bill Miller, were not in that group, but dated one of the possible queens.
Of the three guys at their table, two were ones that Carrie had turned down to go to the prom with Pete. They were Big Jim Beatty, a football fullback, and Brady Bixler, the school's leading athlete, who played quarterback, and forward on the basketball team. He was a tall, blond fellow with an aquiline face and quick smile. Pete had never associated much with either of these two. As he and Carrie arrived, he noted that both Jim and Brady stared at him, as if they were making some unspoken challenge. The fact that they were gritting on him, caused him to be hyper aware of his situation. Brady especially worried Pete.
Nevertheless, he and Carrie had a fine time at dinner, and she didn't seem to notice the tension between the three guys. Her good friend Jane Hellman did notice. When Pete went to get another pitcher of water for the table, she walked with him. Her date was John Baker, another football guy. But she had been watching Jim and Brady, because she knew that they both had asked Carrie to the prom.
"Pete, are you going to....take some precautions about those two guys?"
"Well, Jane, what can I do? I'm sure they won't do much in so public a place. What happens after the dance -- I'll keep my eye out. Thanks for the warning. I saw that as well."
After dinner, the dancing began. Pete and Carrie danced for some time. They were both good dancers. The band took a break, and they sat back at the table. Brady took the seat right next to Carrie, where Jane had been.
"Hi, Carrie. I see you decided to bring Pete tonight. Hope you have a good time." He smirked.
"I am having a great time. How about you?"
"I'm good. Maybe I can get a dance when the band comes back."
"I'll see." He moved away.
