Theheat from her body was more than I could stand. Even though I knew therisks were great, if my hunch was right, Joan wouldn't run off tocomplain to ...ither her parents or the school board. My ESP told me, theperky cheerleader was ripe to try something a little bit different.Earlier in the week, I had suggested that Joan come over to myapartment to study. I told her it would be a bit more relaxed and wecould get comfortable while we cracked the books. Just to be sure, Iwore my sexiest clothes. She’s here with me.”She screamed in excitement and I was struck by how badly she’d wanted this for me. “That’s such good news, Ham!” she gushed. “Can I talk to her?”“We’re on speaker,” I told her. The two of us had gone back to bed and were curled up together with the phone in my lap.“Hi,” Lori said shyly. “Peter’s told me a lot about you,” she said.“Oh, sweetie!” Rosa said. “I’m so happy to meet you. I can’t wait to see the two of you face to face. I’ve been hoping some lucky girl would sweep. ’ She was on the verge of giggles. ‘But you brought me?’ ‘They won’t let me play by myself. I had to bring a guest. Those are the rules.’ ‘Karen,’ Ben began. He worded his next question carefully. ‘Will they let us leave if we try?’ Karen looked at the door. ‘We could go now, I suppose. They don’t even know your last name. I don’t either!’ She smiled, and this made Ben smile. She asked, ‘Do you want to go?’ Ben regarded her closely. ‘You know I don’t,’ he said. After a moment he asked, ‘How. I figured that he was just k**ding, so I laughed. Then after I had finished, I asked what the price was."Well," he started, "it's $7.50, or like I said you can blow me." He had a rather serious look on his face this time.I rolled my eyes and reached into my purse to grab the cash. I pulled out my last $10 bill. I looked it over for a moment, reluctant to part with the last of my cash. A dirty smile crossed my face as I toyed with the idea of actually taking Lamont up on his offer. It wasn't.