The High School Challenge
Things Are Always Changing
By Elizabeth
Note: Ok, this fic plays fast and loose with Springfield history. Just indulge me, will ya? ;)
Time: Michelle and Bill have just graduated from high school. Turns out they are both going to Springfield U. in the fall. Jesse hasn't appeared on the scene yet, so Michelle has never had a real boyfriend. She and Bill and a bunch of friends have gone to the beach for the week after graduation.
_________________________
"Bill!"
"Michelle, I don't want you to do anything stupid."
She is so tired of being good. Just once, she wants to be bad. Ok, not even really bad, just a little bad.
However, that's proving to be difficult because Bill Lewis, Boy Scout extraordinare, has decided that he has to "protect" her.
When Jane told her she'd been able to get a motel room at the beach for a week, and wouldn't it be fun if everyone went, she'd actually hesitated before replying.
"I don't know....a whole week...Rick probably..."
"Oh who cares what Rick thinks!" Bill had said. "It'll be fun." She glared at Bill. He was making her feel like such a baby. She'd show him. She'd turned to Jane and said "Ok, I'm in. Let's go!"
So she'd lied to Rick, told him she was going to the beach with Jane for a week. Instead, she, Jane, Bill, Hannah, and Steve had piled into Bill's Jeep and driven down here for a week-long party.
It's hasn't been much of a party so far.
She knows that Bill likes her, but his constant hovering and well, nagging are driving her batty.
"I thought you wanted to have fun" she tells him.
He sighs. "Michelle, I thought this trip would give us a chance to be alone. I didn't think there would be all these distractions..." He jerks his head over in the direction of the hot tub where Hannah, Steve, and Jane are sitting with a bunch of people they met on the beach today.
One of the girls, Shawna, Shanna?, takes her top off and throws it off the balconey. Steve and all the other guys whistle appreciatvely.
She stamps her foot in irritation. She wants to have fun, not listen to Bill talk about the romance that is never going to happen. Is it too much to want a little passion? Being with Bill would be like dating Rick. Ewwww.
"Bill, I'm tired of arguing with you. I want to have fun!" She hollers the last part and walks away from him, stalking over to the hot tub.
***********************
She is drunk.
Honest to God, totally drunk. For the first time ever.
When she'd gotten in the hot tub, Jane handed her a bottle of Boone's Farm Strawberry Hill. "You go Michelle!" she laughed, watching Michelle take a tenative sip.
The wine wasn't bad-tasted a lot like Kool-Aid, in fact. Before she'd known it, she'd had half a bottle.
She leans back against the wall of the tub and lets the jet massage her back.. Steve slides over and sits next to her.
"Hey 'chelle"
"Hey"
"I guess you lost your bodyguard"
"Huh?"
She opens her eyes and sees that Bill is now making out with Shawna. Men!
She smiles at Steve.
******************
By the time she finishes the bottle of wine, Steve is putting some serious moves on her.
She drunk, but she's not *that* drunk. Steve mooned the whole class three days ago-she just can't bring herself to fool around with him.
So she hauls herself out of the tub.
"Where are you going?" Jane calls out. "Are you gonna go to the car and get some more wine?"
"Sure"
Shawnna lifts her head up from Bill's neck. "Can you bring me my cigarettes? I left a pack in the car when we were coming back from the beach."
Bill smirks at her. She can tell what he's thinking. 'Michelle, are you jealous?'
She just shakes her head at him and calls out "I'll be back!" as she leaves the room.
******************
It's much cooler outside than it is in the hotel room and she shivers as she walks to the car, wishing she had thrown a t-shirt on over her bikini.
She opens the car door, picks up the photo album that falls out, (why does Jane have to carry the graduation photos everywhere?) and grabs the wine. She slames the car door shut, trying to release a little of her frustration.
She walks back towards the hotel slowly. Does she really want to go in and deal with Bill and Steve?
She doesn't want to go back inside at all.
She turns and walks down to the beach instead, opening the bottle and drinking the wine as she walks.
*********************
It is really dark outside.
She didn't notice till she was on the beach, away from all the lights. There's not even a moon.
Still, it's quiet and peaceful, and she sits down with a sigh. Some of the wine sloshes out of the top of the bottle and she realizes that she is drunker than she thought.
What is she going to do about Bill?
There's a flash of light next to her, and she realizes that she's not alone.
"Who's there?" she says curiously. Did Bill follow her down here?
All she can see is the tip of a cigarette.
"I hate these things" the voice says. It's a male voice, but she doesn't recognize it.
"Then why are you smoking?"
"I have no idea."
She cocks her head to the side, trying to place the voice. "Do I know you?"
The voice laughs. "I doubt it."
"Did you go to Springfield High?"
"Nope."
"Oh," she says, and wraps her hands around her knees. "What are you doing here?"
"Family meeting."
"Like a reunion?"
"Sort of."
She smiles. "My family *sort of* does the same thing every fourth of July. The annual barbecue. You know, come and gawk at our family, that sort of thing. It's so boring."
"Sounds nice."
She snorts. "Oh yeah, real fun."
He sighs. "My family meetings aren't quite as casual. Pretty formal affairs actually, but I couldn't stand to stay this time..." his voice trails off.
"How come?"
He sighs. "Let's just say that what I want to do isn't what my mother wants me to do."
"What do you want to do?"
"Finish college"
"What does your mom want you to do?"
"Come home and run the business. My brother isn't doing a very good job, so Mama has decided that I get to be the future leader."
"What sort of business?"
He laughs, but the sound is so empty and miserable that the hairs on her arms stand up. "Import/Export."
"Oh" she giggles. "Isn't that always the front for mob operations?"
He laughs again. "What's your name?"
"Michelle"
"Well, Michelle, I'm going to tell you something that I've never told anyone before. It is a front. I'm supposed to leave college and come home to be a mob boss in training."
Her eyes widen. She shakes her head, then realizes that he
can't see her.
<>BR "Are you kidding?"
"Nope"
"Wow"
"Yep. You know, this is the part where you are supposed to get up and run away. That's what most people do when they meet a mobster."
"I would." she tells him. "But I've been drinking, and all things being equal, I'd rather take my chances with you than with all my drunk friends upstairs." She picks the wine up, and waves it in his direction. "Besides, I think you need this more than I do."
His hand touches hers as he takes the bottle.
She can hear him drinking. "What is this stuff?" he asks.
"Boone's Farm."
"First time drinking?"
She blushes.
He puts the cigarette out and rolls the empty bottle over towards her.
"Thanks."
She hears him stand up, and can see the outline of his shilloutte. He's taller than Bill is, and he's leaner. He starts to walk away.
"Wait!" she calls out. He stops and turns. She can barely make out his profile.
"What?"
"Would you uh.....like to kiss me?"
He's so quiet that she becomes embarassed. God, she is such a idiot. Make that such a drunk idiot.
"I don't think I should" he finally says.
"Why not?"
"I have a feeling...." He pauses, and she can hear him take a breath "I have a feeling that you are the kind of girl that would turn my world upside down."
She laughs. "Now you have to kiss me! Does that line work on all the girls?"
He sinks to his knees in the sand, facing her. "Usually. But I meant it this time."
He cups her face in his hands. His fingers are long and strong. His mouth brushes hers briefly.
This is what she's been waiting for.
Her stomach knots and her hands tingle from just the touch of his mouth. She kisses him back eagerly, opening her mouth, running her tongue over his lips.
He pulls back with a groan. "You're drunk and I'm feeling sorry for myself. I don't want to hurt you." He stands up, starts to walk away. At the edge of the beach, he turns and she can feel him looking at her.
She watches him go, still stunned by her reaction to his kiss. When she can't see even the vaguest hint of a shadow, she stands up and sighs.
Things are always changing.