Backdated to August 1st

[first_pink_lady]

By golly, she was nineteen.  Nineteen and on a tropical hunk of rock in the middle of the ocean.  Then again, it wasn't all that grim- nIneteen wasn't that landmark of an age, anyway, and the island wasn't so bad when she wasn't playing fetus-babysitter or stuck in a month-long monsoon.

If she'd been home, they would have graduated by now - most

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[since_1997]

"I've got a surprise for you."

She'd let it slip that it was her birthday soon and Paul's the sort of guy, the good sort of guy, who remembers this stuff. He's genuinely fond of Rizzo, thinks of her as a friend, and that means one thing: birthday presents. Dressed in board shorts and a t-shirt that he's pretty sure is Tom's, Paul crouches down in front of her and grins sunnily.

[first_pink_lady]

Rizzo's face lit up with a genuine smile, the kind that reached her eyes that she was barely conscious of. The kind she used to do more of when she had the Pink Ladies, but found herself doing less of these days, surrounded by mostly strangers. With aqaintances she tended to tease, or flirt, or do both - and it was a negotiation of her image with her vulnerable emotions, a near constant act. She never thought she'd miss Rydell this much. Jesus Christ, she was lucky she had Paul.

"Really? What?" She asked delightedly, but not too concerned. Empty presents she'd had a lot of in life, thanks to her daddy-o, but that he remembered at all was enough to fuel the sudden loss of her aloof, cool cat act.

[since_1997]

She looks gorgeous when she smiles like that and, for a moment, Paul just revels in that, just watching her. He holds out both hands, fists lightly curled and tilts his head on one side.

"Don't get excited. It's nothing amazing. But pick one."

[first_pink_lady]

She just barely keeps herself back from a quick game of 'eeny, meeny, miny, moe' because even if she didn't mind being juvenile sometimes, she had told Jan that you didn't gotta flaunt it. "Don't rain on my parade, Pauly." She chided almost gleefully. She didn't notice her hands were clasped together at her chest until she reached out and tapped the knucles of his right hand. Right being right, and all that.

[scotsfriction]

Amy had never been the sort to judge people by their habits. Her own were strange enough to limit her circle of close friends growing up and her tendency to go for a laugh first and foremost had kept them easily at bay. It wasn't personal, it was simply easier to laugh and play up being the joke than worry what others truly thought.

Stepping outside the Compound, she pushed her sunglasses onto her face looking about before starting down the steps. This weather was gorgeous and no one looked twice at her or gossiped about the length (or lack thereof) of her skirts. Ever.

"Pardon me," she said, stepping around the girl as she stepped onto the ground turning slightly to give an appreciative nod at the girl's outfit. "Nice skirt."

[first_pink_lady]

"Thanks," Rizzo smiled, and wished she could hear what Principal McGee would say about the sky-high hemlines around here. Her enraged propriety had been gut-busting enough when she'd worn pedal pushers to science class, so she could only imagine the hilarity of this new outrage. Rizzo, truth be told, couldn't wait to give the new style a try - but flimsy bathing suits were one thing, and she hadn't yet gotten up the bravado to wear out something that she couldn't bend over in. But as much as she loved her go-to skin-tight pencil skirts, it was hotter even than California around here, and she couldn't wonder around in a leopard print bikini all the time.

"Yours ain't nothing to throw a stick at either." She said generously, and was momentarily jealous of the other girl's long red hair. She was like a pin up waiting to happen. "You ever worry about someone taking a peek at your panties in that thing?" She asked curiously.

[scotsfriction]

"Sometimes." Shrugging her shoulders as a lazy smile slid onto Amy's face, she paused her walking. Carrying on a conversation while walking from someone wasn't exactly easy and she wasn't up for that challenge.

Her mum had always commented on the length of her skirts, suggesting something a bit more appropriate. But skirt length had come with the territory as had lectures about her job and how she was wasting her potential. Oh, those things would be missed for certain but for now Amy was relishing the utter freedom. "But if someone wants to go for a look, they're welcome. It's not exactly subtle walking about on your knees looking up a bird's skirts."

[first_pink_lady]

"I knew a cat who'd slide on his back across bleachers to get a look at a gal's white ones." She said wryly, and she suddenly missed that numbskull Putzie in a way she never thought she would. "I think subtlety ain't a major concern." And she kinda admired the chick's attitude about it.

"Smoke?" She asked, sliding another of Guy's rolled smokes out of the dilapidated pack she kept them in and proffering it out the redhead with the hand not busy taking a drag of her own.

[hbicheer]

"Do you mind putting that out?"

Ordinarily, the voice wouldn't be asking but commanding. There wouldn't be a tone of weariness but iron hard sunshine.

But that's not where Quinn's head is these days, and so she's making the request, only words away from the most dangerous word of all: please. "I'd rather not have a kid with pre-blackened lungs."

[first_pink_lady]

If it'd been anyone else, Rizzo would've given her a hard time about it. Maybe tease, maybe snort in derision or roll her eyes, but she probably would have done it eventually if solely for the reason given. She may be dumb in a lotta ways, but she'd never purposefully hurt a baby.

But for Quinn, she immediately dropped the cigarette to the ground and snuffed it out with the toe of her black slingback. She'd been in the other girl's shoes - in the most unfortunately literal way possible - and knew far too well how it all felt to deny her anything as petty as a cigarette.

"How're you gunna keep peanut away from weeds when it's old enough to blacken them itself?" She asked with a titled smile and a raise of her eyebrow when the obvious so I guess you ain't popped yet was too, well, obvious.

[hbicheer]

"Threats, punishments, all that stuff parents use," Quinn says warily, suddenly aware that this woman knows her. "I think the lack of gas stations and convenience stores will help."

She leans against the doorframe, arm curling under her own swollen stomach. "Do I know you? I feel like I should know you."

Apart from the whole Grease thing, which wouldn't have been fair to bring up.

[first_pink_lady]

She pointedly moved her eyes to the huge belly, then back up to blondie with a knowing smirk, making it clear she knew that whole threat of parental authority clearly hadn't stuck with her, either. She didn't know a whole lot about Quinn, but she'd got the whole knocked up cheerleader scenario.

"Sure, I was landlord of that baby-wagon of yours during the whole Invasion of the Body Snatchers thing." Rizzo said, ignoring the mixed metaphors and waving a hand vaguely, as if that could possibly encapsulate all the insanity and chaos of that weekend.

[patriotqueen]

Guy came from inside the Compound and - seeing a kindred spirit - sat down beside Betty. "Hullo, my fellow outkast, paria of this island," he said, with a charming smile.

He hadn't been kicked out of the Compound as such (people on this island were far too annoyingly kind for that), but he had been kindly requested to take his smoking outside. It was, in his opinion, a ridiculous demand.

[first_pink_lady]

"They sure do have a complex 'bout lighting up around here, don't they?" Rizzo said, with enough irritation lining her voice to indicate her own thoughts on the matter. Sure, she'd been thoroughly informed by various docs around here that she'd meet a horrible and untimely death if she continued to smoke like it was going out of style, but she'd never really caught on to listening to authority figures with concern about her welfare.

[patriotqueen]

"Somewhere in the future people will suddenly become thoroughly boring about all indulgences," Guy complained. "I fail to see why they feel the need to bring their obsession to the island." He took the cigarette from his chest pocket. "Light?"

[first_pink_lady]

"They're a pretty boring bunch all 'round, magic and fictionality aside." Rizzo agreed, twirling her cigarette in her fingers, but she supposed it was partly nostalgia that had her missing a good rumble, shimmying down drain pipes and scandalizing freshmen in the ladies' room. Christ, that was full of shit, aspects of her life back home had been fun, even if she had other freedoms around here she didn't back then. "Thanks," She smiled, leaning over with her smoke for a light.