car, and I ain’t got nothing to do with it.”
“Well, do you at least want to know why I did it?” asked Charles.
“Yeah, I’m dying to hear this one.”
“Sharron Morris,” said Charles.
“The cheerleader?” Cedric responded in a loud voice. “You stole your father’s car for a cheerleader?”
“Not just any Cheerleader, cousin. The captain of their squad,” replied Charles, his face conveying expressed accomplishment.
“You’re crazy, man,” said Cedric with a hopeless expression. “But you know, I guess Sharron does have the kind of body that’s worth dying for.”
“Yeah, she does, Cedric. She really does. But, you know, it’s kind of funny the way this whole thing started this morning.”
“What do you mean?” asked Cedric.
“The girl calls me up this morning out of the blue,” Charles explained. “I think that it’s some sort of fluke until she asked me to pick her up at her house and take her to school. Not only that, but on the way to school, she asked me if I would be her date tonight at Dollar Night on the Boardwalk. Does that sound strange or what?”
Cedric thinks for a moment, digesting what Charles had just told him. Then it hit him. “Wait a minute,” he said, his voice conveying his suspicion. “I thought Sharron was going steady with that quarterback dude. What’s his name?”
“Donald Johnson,” replied Charles. “Yeah, I asked her about that. She claims they broke up.”
“Are you sure that this is not just some kind of setup,” asked Cedric, “and she’s just not trying to use you to try and make her boyfriend jealous?”
“The thought had crossed my mind,” replied Charles. “But then I thought, how could Donald be jealous of me?”
Looking past Charles, Cedric could see Sharron entering the student parking lot area. “Her ears must have been burning,” he said. “She must have felt us talking about her, because here she comes.”
They watched as Sharon walked up to them.
“H…e…l…l…o S…h…a…r…r…o…n,” Cedric said in a playful drawn-out voice.
“Hi C…e…d…d…i…e,” She responded in kind. Looking toward Charles, she continued to speak, “I didn’t think you’d be here, Charles.”
“Why is that?” he responded, trying to sound cool in front of Cedric.
“Just a feeling I had,” she responded coolly. “So, are you ready to go?”
“Yeah, in just a minute,” replied Charles, trying to maintain the cool-guy image in front of his cousin. “Look, Sharron, I’m in the middle of an important discussion with my cousin, so if you wouldn’t mind, I’m going to give you the keys to the Ferrari, so you can go and kick back. I’ll just be a minute or so.”
“Sure,” she said. Taking the keys, she walked toward the Ferrari.
As they watched her walk away, Charles turned toward Cedric. “So, what do you think, Cedric?” he asked.
“Oh, she’s fine,” said Cedric. “And she definitely looks like she’s worth the beating that Uncle Charles is going to give you when he gets back into town.”
“You would have to spoil everything by mentioning that.”
“I’m just telling you like it is,” replied Cedric, now looking in the direction of the Ferrari. “You better be careful and watch your back, Charles.”
“I will,” said Charles. “I’ll call you tonight and tell you what happened. See ya.” Charles starts walking toward the Ferrari.
“Hey wait!” Cedric yelled, stopping Charles. “What about Dennis? I thought that you were supposed to meet him here.”
“Damn, that’s right,” replied Charles. “Tell you what. If you see him, tell him that I waited for him as long as I could.” Charles started running toward the Ferrari. “Catch you later, Cedric.”
Cedric watched as the Ferrari sped out of the student parking lot.
Part 2
“So, where are we going?” asked Sharron.
“I thought that we had already made plans to go to the beach,” Charles replied. “That is, unless you’ve changed your mind about going with me.”
Sharron sensed the sarcasm in Charles voice. “I wasn’t sure if you wanted me to be your date tonight,” she said.
“We’re in the car, aren’t we?” he replied coolly.
“Okay,” she said. “Then there are a couple of things we’re going to need to do. First, we need to go by my house, so I can pick up my clothes and a few other things. Then we can go by your house and pick up your stuff, unless you already have it in the car.”
“No, I didn’t bring anything. We’ll have to stop by my house too.”
Ten minutes later, they arrived at Sharron’s house.
“It’s going to take me about twenty minutes to change my clothes and get a few things,” she said. “Why don’t you come inside and wait in the house?”
“No, thank you,” said Charles. “I’ll just wait in the car and listen to some music.”
Sharron got out of the car and went into the house.
Charles sits in the car, listening to music. I wonder how this date with super babe is going to turn out? he thought to himself. Is she just using me to make her boyfriend jealous, or could it be that she is actually interested in me?
He looked at himself in the mirror, then shook his head. Nah, it’s just too good to be true. Whatever the case, I better be prepared for a fight with super jock Donald Johnson.
Thirty minutes later, Sharron appeared on the porch, carrying a small tote bag. Charles popped the trunk; Sharron placed her bag in, then got into the car.
Entering the freeway, they drove north on Highway 101 toward San Francisco. Charles took the Marsh Road exit into the city of Atherton. Ten minutes later, they pulled into his driveway.
“Charles! Charles!” she said, the excitement in her voice evident. “Is this your house?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s a mansion!” she exclaimed. “You’re rich!”
Charles was bewildered. “It’s not a mansion, and I’m not rich,” he explained. “It’s just a big house. Now if you want to see a real mansion, then I could show you one.”
Sharron did not respond to his voice. Speechless, she continued staring at the house.
Charles found the entire situation amusing. He didn’t understand what the big deal was. He had lived here most of his life, and to him it had always been just a big house. “Would you like to go inside?” he asked.
“Yes! Yes!” she said.
They exited the car and went into the house. Upon entering the house, they were greeted immediately by Maria.
“Buenos tardes, Señor Junior [Good afternoon],” said Maria.
“Hello, Maria,” said Charles. “Maria, this is Sharron Morris, one of my classmates from school. Sharron, this is our maid, Maria.”
“Buenos tardes,” Maria said, bowing her head to greet Charles’s guest.
“Nice to meet you,” replied Sharron.
“Señor Junior,” Maria said, “dinner will be ready in thirty minutes. Will the señorita be joining you?”
“Hmm,