Gangs With Greek Names: Episode 6: The Halloween Party

Excerpt:“Come on, Billy,” Jillian said. “Let's dance. It's a party.”I set my beer cup down on an old, paint-spattered table. She dragged me toward the small corner stage as Little Big Donnelly shouted out, “one, two, three, four,” and the band ripped into “Twist and Shout” by the Beatles. They paused just long enough at the end of the song for Little Big to do another four count before they tore into “I Saw Her Standing There.” We danced and danced through the whole Beatles set. I'm not a great dancer or anything. I was just kind of jumping around, but so were most of the other kids. When they played, “All My Lovin'” I thought maybe I should kiss Jillian. Did she want me to? Or did she just want to dance? Would she freak out if I kissed her? I thought she probably wanted me to, but I wasn't sure. Maybe she just wanted to dance. But, wow, I really,really, REALLYwanted to kiss her! If I kissed her and it turned out she didn't want me to kiss her, how bad would it be? It's not like it was going to break her neck or get her pregnant or something. If she slapped me, I'd apologize. Did she want me to? I wanted to. I should. I better not. Holy crap, I couldn't stand it anymore, back and forth, back and forth. Should I? Shouldn't I? I leaned in and planted one right on the kisser, as they say. I'm sure glad I did. She kissed me back. She kissed me back then pressed her fingertips between my lips, took out my fake plastic vampire teeth and French kissed me. That was about the sexiest thing that ever happened to me up to then. We kissed for like five minutes on the dance floor in front of the band as they moved on from the Beatles and started a Rolling Stones set with “Wild Horses.”Jillian took my hand and led me to the far side of the room, up the stairs and out through the side door. The cool October air was refreshing after the thick, warm, smoke, spilled beer and sweaty kid scented air of the basement. We snuck around behind the Donnelly's garage and made out against the wall. She slid one of her legs between mine and