Backboard Fever by Clair Bee

Author:Clair Bee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: B&H Publishing Group
Published: 1999-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chip was elated after calling his mom. She'd been released from the hospital that morning, and Karen Browning was staying with her until he came home. When Chip arrived at Grayson's, everybody was buzzing about the big Christmas dance that night at the University Hotel and Convention Center. Soapy was waiting for him in the employee lounge area, scrubbed till he shone and wearing his best blue suit. Fireball was a sight, too, in patent leather shoes and a black tuxedo. He grinned sheepishly when Chip looked him up and down.

"Heavy date, Chipper," he said, explaining the tux. "First time in my life I ever had to drag excess baggage to a dance."

Soapy leaped to his feet. "Excess baggage! Who asked her first? Who you trying to kid? She's my date! We're letting you go along because you couldn't get a date for yourself. Besides, Chip's going with us too."

Fireball laughed. "All right, handsome," he said, "you win! You asked her first and that's that. We'll just wait and see who has the last dance."

Chip wasn't as easily pacified. "What did you say, Soapy?"

"I merely said you're going to the dance too."

"That's what you think!"

"No, Chipper, my beloved pal, that's what Mitzi thinks."

Soapy was right. Mitzi had a few words with Chip. To no one's surprise, he was ready to go at 11:15 that evening. Five minutes later, Mitzi, devastatingly beautiful in a black evening gown and accompanied by two ardent escorts and a reluctant one, left Grayson's. George Grayson himself was on hand to open the door of the car and wished them a happy evening.

When the foursome entered the ballroom at the hotel, it was like going outdoors following a snowstorm. The motif was winter with festive decorations for the holiday season. There was white cotton for the background effects, other decorations of holly, evergreen, green and white serpentine, and balloons of all colors floated here and there, hovering near the ceiling.

The dance was well underway when they arrived, but the Grayson foursome's entrance was startling enough to attract a lot of comment and attention. Not because of the devoted attention of the athletic escorts, but because Mitzi was easily the most eye-catching coed in the room. Fireball and Soapy were as proud as peacocks, but it was Chip who led her onto the floor.

During the rest of the evening, hundreds of eyes watched the quartet with mixed emotions. The boys watched because they couldn't break through the three-man defense. The girls watched because of Mitzi's overabundance of escorts. Who had ever heard of a girl coming to a dance with three guys? Especially three freshmen athletes whose names were already becoming bywords on the campus?

Mitzi loved to dance and had a way of making her partner feel he was the best dancer on the floor. Strange as it may seem, none of the three escorts made an effort to dance with any of the other girls, and this was as much a surprise as their original entrance.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.