Julie looked over at Pete and said, "Do you want me to help you, too?" His eyes went wide and he shook his head rapidly.Then, almost nonchalantly, she...then said, "You know, after four or five hours, there is permanent damage. The pain from release gets worse until it's too late. Then, it doesn't hurt but it doesn't matter either." She looked over at the rest of us and grinned. "Maybe, if you're good and promise to let any of us do anything we want, I'll release you and not pour water over you.". Goldie smugly sat in a chair, crossed her legs and lit a cigarette. "Before we get started," Goldie said, "let's just make sure that everyone," she arched her painted eyebrow at Kelly, "agrees that we are going to share and share alike." What do you mean?" Stevie asked. Kelly, her stomach suddenly sour, just looked at the floor. She knew what Goldie was getting at."Share and share alike," Goldie repeated.Kelly nodded silently. She had no idea how she would feel when it came time to share Bud.. I spent the rest of the week worrying about every little detail and imagining every little thing that could go wrong and was just about to throw in the towel by Friday.But it turned out that I wanted to go more than I wanted to stay safe. For some reason I was excited about this trip with my classmates, and I think I was also a little tired of always missing out on what looked like fun to me.Anyway, Saturday morning finally came and Karen and "the gang" showed up at my house honking horns and. This is a big empty house and it may be fun to have other people here. Come on Mum; show us where our new lodgers will be staying."And so it was settled. Simon was every bit as thrilled with their new home as Babs had been, and soon everyone was chatting about décor and organising where their furniture would go. I wondered how Leanne would take it, she can be a sulky little cow when she wants, but even she was now enthusiastic about the arrangements. I think she was glad she at least knew Simon.