Pink Face

A pleasant, silent room filled with a giant bed and piles of pillows found its peace and quiet shattered when an intruder hopped onto the blanket-covered teen. An “Oomph” escaped his lips, along with his breath. Getting the wind knocked out of him woke Sean up. At first, he wondered about his whereabouts as he stared at the off-white ceiling. Then, a pair of light-brown eyes appeared, gazing into his eyes with a familiar impishness before the bane of his existence around the Gibble home broke into a mischievous grin.

“Damn, which cheerslut wore you out last night, Tarver?”

“Nobody wore me out last night,” Sean replied, already feeling annoyed. It didn’t help that the girl on top of him slid her body forward to straddle his groin.

“From the lack of what I’m feeling, I’m nearly positive that a pair of pom-poms exhausted you. Or was it two…three?” Iona O’Hara inquired, nearly raising a fourth finger until Sean grabbed her hand.

“Roar! I don’t think we’d get far, but if you want to flip me over and ravage me, then go ahead, Lion King,” the relentless tease suggested, mimicking a claw clutching forward with her right hand.

A highly competitive, hyperactive soccer star, Iona had a wavy, dark brown bob, light brown eyes, medium-sized breasts, and an incredibly toned ass. That ass barely covered by the shortest pair of Umbro shorts delighted and tortured Sean every summer. As of this moment in the middle of a cold winter, that unreal ass found itself encased in a pair of tight jeans while the bouncing girl wore an oversized hooded sweatshirt with the Frontier A&M logo on the front. One of the three colleges she still kept waiting for her signature, Iona swore she’d narrow it down to two by today.

The brunette made Sean feel uncomfortable for many reasons. First, her teasing personality often led to frank, sexual comments directed at him. Second, Iona's pushing of JoJo to be more sexual with her attitude and outfits in the past had now gone full-blown with his best friend’s recent sexual awakening. A change that made him uncomfortable and queasy as the teen sought to put that toothpaste back in the tube, while continuing to view JoJo as just one of the guys. And finally, Sean found Iona to be hot. Real fucking hot.

“Uh…hmm…uh-huh, yes, there it is! I’m feeling a stirring in the ****!” Iona cheered, practically dry humping him at one end of the school commons. “Damn, I guess my own brand of CPR worked. Perhaps I should consider taking after your mom and pursue a career in lifesaving. What do you say?”

The image of Iona doing what Bridget did for Sean in every single way lost the Battle of the Erection. Groaning, Sean felt his sail rise to full mast, which his bratty tormentor clearly felt.

“Damn, you like that idea,” the bouncing brunette cooed. “I deeply regret and apologize for not wearing a sexy nurse uniform last Halloween. But we can always role-play Sherlock handcuffing Nurse Io for interrogation.”

“Would you stop? People have to be watching,” Sean pointed out, too afraid to turn his head and check.

“Don’t be a party-pooper, Seanie,” Iona admonished, lightly slapping his cheek. “This O’Hara plans to corrupt her Tarver first. I want bragging rights over Eoin.”

“Please don’t bring that up,” Sean begged, referring to his older sister and her older brother.

“I got it! Once your cast is off, we can plan a double date, and I have the perfect place,” the soccer star turned bronco rider teased. “That drive-in theater up in Grassy Valley.”

“I think it’s far too cold to watch a movie in the car,” Sean replied.

“I’m sure we can heat the car up, and the foggy windows wouldn’t allow you to ignore all the fucking,” Iona cackled. “Hmm, maybe we can add Jo and—”

“I think that’s enough, Miss O’Hara. Remember that we are on school grounds,” a voice interrupted them.

At first, Iona froze, but once she recognized the voice, she carried on verbally.

“Sorry, Miss Zee. This stud gets me sooo soaked that I can’t help myself.”

“I highly doubt that Mrs. Vutcher would consider that an acceptable excuse,” Wanda Zee stated. “Now, why don’t you get off your injured classmate before more eyeballs forget about our bake sale?”

The current school nurse and Sex Education teacher, the thirty-three-year-old had long, reddish-brown hair with small curls, green eyes, medium-sized breasts, and a toned ass. A former Sugarbee in her high school days, the redhead not only maintained her athletic figure but also took over as dance coach. A short, attractive woman with a spunky attitude, the notorious flirt left her male coworkers and students often speechless.

“Good morning–ooh! Um, you also better sit up,” Wanda suggested, once his bulge came into view.

“Don’t you see why I needed to be on top of him?” Iona challenged. “There are virgins all around us.”

“I think your morning would be better spent supporting my girls. They do make delicious treats,” the dance coach noted.

“I’m more interested in learning if Sean’s homemade glaze is as tasty as I suspect,” Iona countered.

“Iona, can you please treat me like you would any other teacher? It would be a nice gesture,” Wanda responded.

“But you taught this innocent, naive girl all about sex, Coach.”

“I know that’s a lie,” Nurse Zee shot back before focusing on her other student. “What do you say, Sean, up for a few treats?”

“Um, I already got some,” Sean admitted, holding up the familiar cookie tin. “But I guess one or two more for later wouldn’t hurt.”

“That’s the spirit! Besides, Yumi isn’t a dancer, although I appreciate her mother’s thoughtful gesture…every single time,” Wanda said, gesturing for the pair to get up.

Understanding that Miss Zee wouldn’t leave until they got up, Iona rose first. Sean checked his bulge before getting up with his backpack in front of him. Immediately, he struggled to pick up his cane and the cookie tin.

“Give me your bag,” Iona offered, taking it while Sean lowered the cookie tin to cover for his shrinking predicament.

“With that settled, I haven’t seen you in my office this week. How are you feeling?” Wanda inquired in her role as the school nurse. Hearing a vague reply, she added, “Remember, you can visit anytime. I promised your mother that I would help. Not to mention that Principal Manske has made it quite clear to the staff that Whitney Diamond’s rescuer is to be given preferential treatment while he recovers.”

“Talk about some rich-ass bullshit,” Iona muttered.

“Uh, thanks, Miss Zee. If I feel, um, in pain, I’ll be sure to stop by,” Sean responded.

“You do that,” the redhead said, smiling. Leaving them to get in line behind Howie Cline and Chet Ragg, a pair of juniors on the football team.

“Gawd, Jo is totally right. You’re so milking this out,” Iona declared, elbowing his side.

“What? When did JoJo say that? I’m not milking any—Damn, you O’Hara,” Sean said, realizing that she’d lied.

The hyper soccer player kept up a string of comments for the next seven minutes while they waited in line. Used to her ramblings over the past years, Sean mostly ignored them. A few grunts, yeahs, and whatevers only passed through his lips until they stepped forward to face a junior-year dancer.

“Hi, Olivia,” Sean greeted. “What’s the selection this morning?”

A seventeen-year-old with long, honey-brown hair, green eyes, medium-sized breasts, and a toned ass, Olivia Barin could be considered to be almost a shoo-in as next year’s Sugabee captain. A former Babybee, Whitney often lamented about losing Olivia over her cheer captain predecessor’s overly peppy ways. Despite an effort to maintain a truce between the two squads since the start of the new year, Whitney often plotted over how to steal Olivia back as her replacement.

“Morning, Sean, Iona. Let’s see: We have Rosita and Tandy’s half a dozen varieties of cupcakes, Jasmine’s brownies, the twins and I baked nearly all the cookies, while Ariel and–”

The likely future dance captain found herself bumped to the side by the current one: Bianca Zuccaro.

“I’ll handle this dashing customer, Liv,” Bianca announced.

A senior with olive-colored skin, medium-length black hair, green eyes, large breasts, and a toned ass, Bianca was Sugarbee royalty. A fact that often caused discomfort for Sean, as his family had been cheerleaders, and because of the generational rivalry with the women of the families who currently made up the Strattons and Zuccaros. The son of a cheer captain had long heard about the evil, villainous ways of Teresa, Bianca’s older sister and rival of Lana Stratton. Sean had also personally witnessed many of the attempts by the girl standing before him to steal Austin Rusk away from Lacey Stratton.

Still, during a fight on New Year’s Eve, Bianca had been the one person to put on hold her hatred of cheerleaders to check on Sean after he took an accidental blow to the head. Additionally, Bianca and Teresa showed empathy toward their hated rivals after the corruption allegations against Clive Stratton were dropped. Furthermore, after Lacey dumped Austin, Bianca humiliated him even more by coldly rejecting his advances in front of a large crowd.

“Hello, handsome,” Bianca continued. “Would you care for one of my pocket pies? I can promise that they’re warm and oozing with goo for you.”

“I think we all know that her cherry has been sold out for a few years,” Iona quipped, while Sean found himself tongue-tied with the blatant innuendo.

“Man, I love when the catfights start to brew,” Linus “Digg” Digby remarked from behind Sean and Iona in line.

“Shh, don’t drag us into this,” Jesse Yegge, his best friend, shushed.

“At least I lost mine from a thick, wooden mixing spoon, not while doing the splits in front of a goalie,” Bianca replied.

“Come to think of it, it might have been the goalie who scored perfectly down my center,” Iona shot back.

“What do you say, Noble Sean? I have been saving my last cherry for a special someone,” Bianca purred, leaning on the table. Despite her uniform top, Sean found his gaze locked on the large mounds underneath.

“Oh, I think our boy is interested in my raspberry more than yours,” Iona declared.

“Wha…”

“Fuck man. I need to save a girl from near ****,” Digg mumbled.

“I think Fletcher already thought about copying Sean,” Jesse recalled from New Year’s Eve. One of Sean’s earliest classmates, the star baseball player, used his hand to prop the injured teen up from falling over in shock.

“Stop trying to start a war, Cappy,” another voice interrupted. “And stop teasing the poor guy, Io.”

“I’m helping this customer. You can deal with her,” Bianca told her co-captain with a jab at the soccer star.

“I don’t think so. Sean clearly wants my muffin. He’s loved it in the past,” Delilah O’Dell revealed.

“What? Have you been cheating on me, husband?!” Iona screamed, drawing more attention to the conversation. “You two-timing bastard!”

A dark-skinned senior with medium-length, curly black hair, brown eyes, small-to-medium breasts, and a toned ass, Delilah was the daughter of an ex-cheer captain. A friendly, serious teen, the short, athletic girl’s unique past often led the Sugarbee co-captain to play peacekeeper between the two rival, bickering squads.

With her mother, Shayla, having been one of Bridget’s protégés, the pair of offspring had a long history together. That’s why Sean’s daze immediately vanished with Delilah’s double-entendre. Flirting between the duo could always be called humorous.

“Unless you prefer my mother’s muffin,” Delilah speculated, gesturing down at the blueberry selection to her right.

“No doubt about the tastiness of your mom’s muffin, but I’d gladly spend this morning eating out the nuts from your filled muffin,” Sean stated, bringing a grin to the dance co-captain’s face.

“Sean Seamus Tarver, you cheated on me with a mother and her daughter?!” Iona shrieked, causing chuckles from upperclassmen onlookers and a few gasps from sophomore spectators. The fact that the brunette perfectly mimicked his mom’s voice caused a significant twitch in his pants.

“Nice one,” Delilah said before giggling.

“You can do that any day with me,” Iona whispered into Sean’s ear. However, Jesse’s teasing shove and demand to order already cut off any response.

“Dammit, Lilah,” Bianca growled. “Don’t ruin my fun.”

“Banana nut?” the dark-skinned dancer asked, ignoring her dancemate.

“Yep, I’ll take one, and I guess one of Bianca’s pies.”

“You guess?!” the irate dancer challenged.

“Wait, are those cake balls?” Sean inquired, looking at Delilah with a quizzical expression.

“They are. Beyza’s mom baked a batch for us.”

“I’ll take two,” Sean said, pulling out some cash.

“Two?!” Bianca exclaimed in exasperation. Still, she helped fill up the cookie tin with Sean’s new purchases.

“Rory!”

The exterior door to the school bounced against the wall with a thud. Stomping into the school while accompanied by two of his offensive linemen/lackeys, Austin Rusk scanned the open space for any cheerleader uniforms.

“Rory!”

The now-finished star quarterback of Honey Hollow High, the handsome athlete had short, messy blond hair and light brown eyes. Although his attempt to take more credit than he deserved for helping in the effort to save Whitney had hurt his reputation, Austin maintained a high level of popularity around the school, with even more citywide acclaim stemming from his father’s efforts. The one big stain on him around Honey Hollow High came in the bans imposed by the cheer and dance squads on their members dating him since Lacey called off their two-year relationship.

“Rory!” the angry athlete roared for a third time, yelling his twin sister’s name. “Find her!”

Toby Lamb and Weston Parker, two of the three brutish Brawny Boys, dimly met each other’s eyes before splitting up in their search for Aurora Rusk. While Sean knew that the actress and cheerleader was down the hallway in the gym, Austin wouldn’t get the chance to confront his sister.

Delilah, one of Rory’s closest friends, told Bianca that she’d be back before sliding under the folding table. Neither Sean nor any of the other Sugarbees saw Bianca send a message to a number she’d never admit to having listed in her phone under a fake name. People parted after the dance co-captain crawled out from behind the makeshift store. If phones hadn’t already been drawn, they were now, with more of their classmates anticipating a scene.

Although the wrong combination of gold and black uniform, Austin immediately spotted Delilah hurrying in his direction. Clenching his fists, the furious young man appeared to struggle with his composure.

“Where is she, Lilah?”

“The hell?!” the dancer responded.

“Where is my sister?” Austin growled.

“Calm down, Auss. You’re not getting anywhere near her in this condition,” Delilah promised. “None of us will let you.”

“This is family business, and last I checked, that’s not you.” Austin stormed past the dancer while peering around all the people who milled around.

Sean wondered where Miss Zee had gone, or if any other teachers might be nearby. Then, a door banged loudly behind him. Placing it as one of the gym doors, the injured teen spun around, but almost fell to the ground. This time, Iona grabbed his arm to keep him upright.

“Where is she, Lace?” Austin demanded, upon spotting his ex-girlfriend sprinting down the hallway. “Is she back there?”

“Not any longer! You turn around right now, Auss, and leave Rory alone,” Lacey ordered, slamming to a halt behind Delilah, who had jumped in front of the quarterback.

“Leave her alone? I know she took that second picture. She took it and ran away last night,” Austin proclaimed. “She’s going to tell me who threw the egg. I’m going to get the name out of her.”

“She doesn’t know!” Lacey screamed.

“Your sister is not in cahoots with the Beevenger,” Delilah stated. “Don’t be a dumbass, Auss.”

“Shut up!” the quarterback commanded, shoving the dancer to the side.

“Motherfucker!” Bianca screamed.

SLAP

Watching Lacey slap her ex-boyfriend across the face caused the gasp from his shove to die out instantly. Worried about his family friend, Sean tried to move in that direction, but he’d never reach the former couple in time.

“Oh, hell, no,” a voice sounded from near Sean. The injured teen felt movement behind him before the same person shouted, “Hey, Rusk, I got Rory right here!”

Hearing his sister’s name, Austin turned in time to see Jesse rush forward until he had a clear line of sight. The star starting pitcher of the baseball team cocked back his arm until he released one of the cupcakes he’d grabbed off the table. Within seconds, the perfect throw coated Austin’s face with pink frosting.

“You’re in trouble now, boy!”

Everyone turned to see Rex Thorne appear out of thin air. A gym teacher and the head football coach, Rex had a reputation for protecting his players. Marching straight at Jesse, he grabbed his pitching arm with a vice-like grip. Swinging the teen around, he started to half-drag him out of the commons.

“Hey, what are you doing, Thorne?” Jesse questioned.

“Room 107. Time to see Mrs. Vutcher, troublemaker.”

“Troublemaker?! What about Austin?” Lacey screeched.

“He’s the victim, Stratton. The evidence is all over his face,” Coach Thorne pointed out, stopping to look over his shoulder at the cheerleader.

“He shoved Delilah!” Bianca exclaimed, marching over to get in the teacher’s face.

“I saw nothing of the sort,” Rex scoffed. “I’d back away and change your tone, missy. Or do you want to join the visit to 107?”

“Fucking football bitch!” someone shouted.

“Who said that?” Coach Thorne questioned, looking at Toby and Weston, who shook their heads in ignorance.

“Digg, pay Rosie for the cupcake,” Jesse yelled once Coach Thorne resumed dragging him down the hallway.

Attempting to reach Lacey and Austin, Sean gave up his slow trek when he saw Whitney, Caterina, and Kaitlin exit the gym to join the petite redhead. Yelena, Rosita, and Tandy backed up Delilah until Bianca could get over there. However, the person who caused Sean to turn away in confidence was his ex-girlfriend, who had just arrived at the high school. Entering with phone in hand, Beyza Baris immediately headed straight for her best friend's brother.

The backhanded whack to Austin’s head outclassed Lacey’s prior slap. So did the hard shove that sent the quarterback forward. The glancing kick between his legs didn’t cause much pain, but it accomplished its goal, sending Austin off in retreat.

“I guess we’d better get to class,” Iona said.

“Dammit, the excitement dies down as soon as I get here,” Elvis Sponder complained.

Another of JoJo and Iona’s close friends, the sarcastic jokester with short brown hair and brown eyes behind a pair of eyeglasses, was in Sean’s first class of the day. A neighbor of Iona’s, Elvis, a member of the school yearbook, also happened to be the first of Sean’s classmates to come out openly as gay several years ago. The injured teen also knew that his other best friend had turned to Elvis for advice on which girls Newt should pursue.

With Iona hoisting Sean’s backpack over her shoulder, they slowly walked down the hallway to Ms. Resto’s Short Fiction class. In the first few minutes of the walk, the pair of witnesses filled Elvis in on what he missed. Once a lull in the conversation occurred, Sean took the opportunity to ask Iona about something that had been bugging him since the car ride: namely, the name of the girl who Nosy Nectar reported to be Austin’s out-of-town date last night.

“Hey, who’s Astoria Carlise? The name sounds vaguely familiar.”

Iona shared a look and grin with her neighbor.

“Wow, you must spend a lot of free time at The Beehive,” Iona quipped, referring to the strip club located outside the city limits. “So many lap dances that just fade away as forgotten memories.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Sean questioned.

“I wasn’t even there that night, yet I know,” Elvis chuckled.

“Astoria is a Jennet from Guzzle Crossing. That’s their dance team name,” Iona clarified.

“I know that. Why do I know her name?” Sean continued to ask.

“Because Astoria and her friend were at the charity ball on New Year’s Eve,” Iona explained, causing Sean’s expression to change with understanding. “They put on enough of a show that Bianca and the Sugarbees demanded a turn on your lap to outshine them.”

“Which everyone knows they did,” Elvis added. “Jasmine still blushes in embarrassment when her role is brought up.”

“Oh, shit,” Sean groaned.

“Yep, really sad that you forgot their names, Tarver,” Iona replied. “Very Austin Rusk or Charlie Cork of you.”

“No, I meant that,” Sean clarified, sighing as Kizzy, with Harley following, stormed over to them.

“Sir Sean, what is the meaning of this?” the upset Babybee demanded to know. “This morning is our time with you.”

“Whoa, watch the attitude, Little Beal,” Iona responded, catching the disgusted look thrown her way. “The three of us have the same class. So your services won’t be necessary. Think of it as a break.”

“A break is the first step to being replaced,” Kizzy proclaimed, snatching the cookie tin out of Sean’s hand to pass over to Harley. Next, she got into a tug-of-war over the backpack with Iona.

“Just let her have it,” Sean told the competitive soccer star.

“Good. Now the world is back to normal,” Kizzy announced, dropping behind the trio of seniors. “Off to see Sir Sean’s favorite teacher.”

“Fucking psycho, isn’t she?” Iona whispered.

“Play nice, O’Hara. The Babybees and their friends outnumber you,” Sean replied.

“Hey, look,” Harley said, holding up the tin. The lid had Property of F. Witt written in bright pink marker. “Yumi made him a care package.”

“Yumi is the sweetest. Too bad she’s destined to marry Winkie,” Kizzy said, gesturing at Sean’s back.

“Yeah, Sean’s a nice guy, but I think Whitney already corrupted him too much for Yumi,” Harley speculated.

“I know! Isn’t Sir Sean going to be a legend someday?”

“Just ignore them. It’s what I do,” Sean quietly directed Iona and Elvis.