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hug.
    Tristan and Derek gave each other the “guy nod” in lieu of saying hello and then we all got down to our bowling business.
    “Hey, who’s Gumby?” Pete inquired upon looking at the scoreboard above us.  
    I think Jeff is responsible for all the nicknames being used tonight because Tristan’s is Peter Pan. Just the idea of him in tights is hysterical in itself, but that’s not why Jeff chose it. He’s teasing Tristan by drawing a parallel between him and the author of the book, J.M. Barrie, who supposedly got married and then became celibate, having never consummated the marriage. And we all know this because we had a discussion about him in English last week.
    “Oh dude, you totally missed it! Camie, show him what you can do,” Jeff said in an effort to get a rise out of Tristan.  
    I also think Jeff is just about the only one who can get away with baiting Tristan the way he does. Tristan doesn’t have a whole lot of patience nor does he put up with much crap from anyone, but there is very little Tristan will get truly upset with Jeff over.
    “Yeah, go ahead, Baby…show him,” Tristan told me with a wink and a wickedly cocky grin.  
    Tristan then stretched his legs out in front of him and put his hands behind his head, waiting to see what I’d do. I’m not sure if he would’ve tried to stop me, but I’m not stupid. I know that he knows that we have four nights coming up in which I’m sure he’ll find some way to re-script the rules if I’m not careful.
    “Sorry, Pete, you should’ve been there…it was a limited engagement and there was only the one show…no encores are planned at this time,” I said sympathetically.
    “Chicken,” both Tristan and Jeff said together.
    I smacked Jeff in the arm and then stuck my tongue out at Tristan who only came right back with, “Is that an invitation or a promise for later?” So of course, I had to smack him too.
    Now I should probably take a quick minute to explain something. It might sound like Tristan is constantly pressuring me to go further than where we agreed to draw the line, but precedent was set long ago and it’s just how we play with each other. Not that he doesn’t take full advantage of any leeway he might happen to get, but for that to occur; I have to give him the leeway in the first place, which does happen from time to time. For the most part, though, he does a really good job of toeing the line even if it frustrates the crap out of him to do so. Anyway, I just thought you should know.
    Being that it was a week before Thanksgiving, Kate had made a declaration at the beginning of the night that she would buy the first person to get a turkey (that’s three strikes in a row) whatever they wanted from the snack bar or a souvenir t-shirt from the pro-shop. So with that competition going on and not having school for a week, on the whole, everyone was having a lot of fun and totally goofing off. Honestly, I was picturing the bowling scene in Grease 2 almost the whole time—minus the dancing and breaking into song of course. Also, even though MaryAnn is our Varsity Cheer captain and she’s going out with Derek, we weren’t really socializing with them and his group of friends, being from opposing schools and all. However, at one point he called over to me when I had a mouth full of chili-cheese fries…
    “Hey Shark Bait, you gettin’ geared up for next week?”
    I couldn’t answer verbally without allowing food to fall from my mouth, but I did nod in the affirmative.
    “Alright, that’s the like third time I’ve heard him say it and I’m dying to know…why does he call you Shark Bait?” The question came from Jeff, but I could tell that pretty much everyone in hearing range was curious now that attention had been brought to my cousin’s unusual nickname for me.
    Crap.
    Apparently Kate never explained it to Jeff, which would’ve been fine for her to do now that we’re together, but Tristan never asked me about it either. And