"The kegs have arrived! Let the fun begin!" cries Kiri Heyward as she enters Marianna's house. She is followed by two swarthy young men bearing a keg apiece.

"Why did you invite her?" hisses Doreen.

"Aw, geez, Dori," groans Mari. "Me and Kiri go 'way back, to our days at the Pilgrim Bodega. She's only going to be in town for a few weeks, anyway, for the Science & Gourmet Food Festival at the Layla:) Civic Centre. I thought it would be nice to give her a warm welcome." Marianna wades through the sleepover supplies on her living room floor to reach Kiri.

Doreen glares. "Don't you remember that she tried to steal Frogman from me?" she asks no one in particular.

"But that was a long time ago, and besides, you don't even like him anymore. Can't bygones be bygones?" a soft voice says behind her. Doreen whirls around to focus her glare on the truth-speaker, but finds no one there but her shadow on the wall.

One of the keg-boys, en route to the kitchen, bumps into Doreen. "Sorry," he calls over his shoulder. She is about to yell at him, then reconsiders as she watches his backside. She follows him into the kitchen.

"Heh. Looks like Doreen's on the prowl again," comments Suki. The other keg-boy walks by. Suki's eyes light up. "I think I'll see if they need any help in the kitchen..."

Dream twists her mouth into a half-frown, but isn't able to keep up her disapproving demeanor. She's been much too happy the past week to have any negative emotion for long. Even when she isn't around UPChuck, she carries her love for him in an obvious glow around her. It's actually rather sickening! She looks over to where Marianna is doubled over laughing. Kiri must have said something funny- no, she has a basket over her head and is butting into people, walls, and the potted banana tree by the door. Quite odd, thinks Dream. I'm not sure what to think of this Kiri... Doreen has never had anything nice to say about her. Then again, Doreen isn't the best judge of character... She walks over to where Marina, Pollythene, and Mari's sister Pandora are sitting. Right now, the 'younger set' seem a little safer than Marianna and the rest.

"I really think it's unfair that Mum is giving all the credit to Dava. I mean, I did all the actual work! Could either one of them have found a lion- and managed to bring it to the alley?" Polly declares angrily as Dream reaches hearing range. "I don't think so!"

"What exactly was Dava's role, then?" asks Pandora. "I wasn't there, so I have no idea what happened."

"He found the location of the time tear. Yeah, sure it was important!" she says, noticing the Looks surrounding her. "But I did the spell, I knew what we needed to do it. I'm not even a Sorceress yet, I'm just in training, but since my three weeks of classes, I think I'm more capable than either of them!"

"But Polly," says a soft voice. "Wouldn't it be good for the Wizard's political career to let him have this credit? And if the Board of Wizards and Sorceresses finds out you used your powers without proper authorization or certification, you might never become certified."

Pollythene whips her head around looking for the owner of the voice. "Who said that?" she whispers harshly. "Who said that?" She peers into the faces of Pandora, Marina, and Dream, hoping one of them had spoken. "Who said that?!" she cries, her voice becoming shrill. Dream shrugs- it wasn't her, and as far as she could tell, it wasn't either of the others. "I want to know who said that!" cries Polly. "You all heard it, too, right?" They nod in affirmation.

"Maybe it was one of the potted plants," says Pandora jokingly, trying to lighten the mood.

"Or maybe it was someone who's learned to throw their voice," contributes Marina, hoping Polly won't go berserk tonight.

"Yeah... someone learned to throw their voice..." Pollythene says, a wary, wild look in her eyes.

On the window seat at the front of the house, Christianne sits and watches Polly. "That girl is weird. Look at her jumping around and shrieking." Tianne looks at Ellie, sitting next to her. "Maybe if Marianna had bothered to take her to church once in a while, she wouldn't be so crazy."

"Oh, I don't think church could calm down Pollythene. She's only five years old, after all. We were all hyperactive when we were five." Ellie runs a hand through her newly cut hair. "Do you like my new haircut? I sorta miss my hair, since I had it so long for most of my life."

"It looks good. Do you like my new dress? I wasn't going to get it, because it's white, and white is supposed to make you look fat. But then Marlboro said that white was a great color because it's pure and it represents good and God and light and stuff."

"It's a beautiful dress. Where did you get it?" Ellie asks, admiring the plain cotton fabric and simple design.

"I found it in a store downtown, when I was walking back to my car after church with Marlboro. He saw me look at it and insisted I go in to try it on, and then he insisted I buy it, and then he insisted I let him pay for it. I don't think he loves me. Do you think he loves me?"

"Well, Tianne, he bought you a dress!"

"Maybe that's because he doesn't like the clothes I already have. He never says he loves me. Don't you think there's something wrong with that?" Christianne looks at Ellie with a desperate need to be consoled evident in her eyes.

"Darling, there's nothing wrong with that! He's a guy! Guys are afraid of saying 'I love you' because they think that after they say it, they have to marry you and settle down. I mean, look at me and Zachariah. We've been going out for months, almost as long as you and Marlboro, and he has yet to say he loves me without me saying I love him first! We can't pressure them, Tianne, or they'll just run away from us. Don't worry about it."

"Are you sure? I bet he doesn't love me because I'm fat. Do you think I'm fat? Do you think I'm pretty?"

"Tianne, I wish you wouldn't ask things like that. You're a beautiful young lady, you have moral standards, and your only real problem is that you don't have faith in yourself." Ellie patted her on the back maternally. "Let's go meet some of these people that Marianna invited- Kiri, Rhiannon, Joce, Traci-Bob, Steffi..."

"Okay!" Tianne bounds away with Ellie, thrilled at the prospect of new convert material.

"So, there I was, just reading my email, when it occurred to me. Hadn't June 30th been a week ago? Yet, here I was, reading mail dated June 30th. Again." Marianna is sprawled on the futon, gesturing wildly as she relates her story to her closest friends. Kiri has led a more party-happy group to the beach behind the house. "So, I figured it was similar to what'd happened with the Crossover. The only problem was, how do I fix it? So I asked Dava, and he only found out where the tear was located... And in the meantime, Dream's being all weird and stuff and..."

Dream blushes and buries her head in her pillow as all heads turn toward her. She mumbles something, which can either be taken as "Leaf meets cone" or "Leave me alone!" Mari picks the latter, since it actually makes sense.

"So, what's everyone else been up to?"

Suki cat-stretches, exposing her stomach. She is wearing boy-style shorts and a lace-up bodice-style top in blood red satin. "Well," she says, reseating herself next to Mari, "it looks like Brian is back in town." Wolf-whistles fly across the room, then the ladies burst into laughter.

"You going to get back with him, Su?" asks Marianna.

"Eh. Maybe," she shrugs. Then, eyes gleaming: "Yeah."

"Where's he been, anyway? I'd heard he'd left Surf Strip, late last year." Marianna plucks a Himalayan kitten off her shoulder, the runt of the litter Polly's cat gave birth to a month ago. The kitten meanders over to Dream as Mari brushes fur off of her t-shirt. "Ugh, cat fur all over my favorite t-shirt. Remember our class trip to the Sphere Archipelago? I got this shirt then... can you believe it's lasted nearly eleven years?"

The entire group rolls their eyes in unison, and Suki continues her story. "Him and Otto were in Brazil, filming nature shows. Actually, Otto was filming. Brian was trying to forget me. He told me all this tonight before I came over... that's why I was a little late." She flushes.

"Ooooh!" giggles Marianna. "Having fun, are ye?"

"Yup!"

"But Suki," Doreen says innocently, "didn't I see you in the kitchen with a keg boy?"

"Didn't I see you in the kitchen with a keg boy?" Suki teases back. "I know you're getting serious with Neil!"

Daniela suddenly stands up and stalks out of the room, a few feathers falling off of her outfit and floating to the floor. She is wearing a chocolate brown halter top and short skirt, a pajama set, trimmed in cream-colored feathers. She heads to the back of the house, presumably to join the party on the beach.

"Geez, what's her problem?" asks Mari.

"Um... I'm sort of dating a guy that, depending on your timeline, she was dating three days ago," says Doreen.

"Oh. Yeah. I knew that." Marianna looks around comically, darting her eyes from one face to the next and raising her eyebrows in question: you believe me, don't you? "Alright," she sighs. "So, who's next for story-telling? Dream?"

Dream holds Marianna's kitten in her lap and shrugs. "There isn't that much to tell. I'm just engaged, is all."

Various snorts and laughs come from around the room. "Yeah, sure," says Doreen, "that's all there is to it, and I'm the Queen of England."

"Do I have to tell how it happened?" Dream squirms under the intense scrutiny. "Stop staring at me!"

"At least they aren't staring at me," says Lynette, finally coming in from the keg party. The former members of Girl Sprout Troop 3947 remember Lynette's problems with being stared at by their leader, and grin, to the puzzlement of the others present. "By the way, Mari, your sister's really getting smashed out there."

"Yeah, but as long as there's no guys around, there isn't too much trouble she can get into. And as long as she doesn't try to use some passed-out-drunk's body as a surfboard..." Mari smiles mischeviously. "I wonder where I get these ideas from."

"Weren't we going to make Dream confess or something?" asks Ellie. "Not that I want to spoil the other fun, but I'm sorta curious."

"Yeah, spill it!" cry Doreen and Tianne.

"Okay, okay," Dream says as she turns red.

"Y'know, D., now that I've seen you wearing red, I'd have to say it suits you," cracks Marianna.

"Thanks ever so much... I don't know how to tell this..." Dream takes a deep breath. "I guess I was having doubts about our relationship, and after I caused some trouble for Mari, I decided I wasn't going to listen to everything anymore."

"You know, that really bothered me. I don't like being unable to reach you."

"Sorry, Mari, it was something I had to do for my own sanity. And when I finally listened to myself, I knew I had to do it. I had to ask Uly to marry me before I lost him."

"God, Dream, you could never have lost him," Marianna whispers intensely. "You would not believe how dedicated he is to you. I don't know that it would make a difference, but... he was going to propose to you a few months ago."

"Really?"

"Maybe it was six months ago or something, but, yeah. But he didn't want to pressure you."

"Wow... I had no idea." Dream and Marianna are leaning toward each other now, staring into each others' eyes. Then Marianna falls off the futon onto the floor, narrowly missing the kitten, and everyone bursts out laughing.

A faint beeping noise is suddenly heard from the depths of an overnight bag. "Aaaugh! She's gonna blow, cap'n!" cries Marianna.

"Calm down," laughs Tianne. "It's just Marlboro's pager. He lets me have it when he goes to parties and stuff. So he can get in touch with me." She dives into a pile of bags and purses, searching for her backpack and the pager. "Where is it? Can someone help me find it?" In an attempt to stop the annoying beeping, half a dozen of the girls jump into the pile to search.

"Well, that wasn't terribly romantic," says Suki as she helps the search.

"What wasn't?" asks Tianne.

"How they got engaged. Dream and UPChuck."

"And you're romantic, right?" asks Tianne. "All you ever tell us about your love life is sex, sex, sex!"

"There's nothing wrong with that," says Marianna. "Listen to me, I'm defending sex. I never thought I'd have to do that."

"The problem with relationships based on sex is that there isn't any real emotional or intellectual committment. There's no chance for a lasting relationship," protests Tianne.

"But I'm not looking for a lasting relationship!" Suki isn't exasperated so much as she doesn't like her lifestyle to be under a microscope. "I just want a guy for the moment. I'm too young to be tied down!"

"I completely understand that," says Marianna. "I mean, I didn't plan on being married until I was thirty or something. Then the whole betrothal thing came along... and I ended up running through affairs like crazy, looking for everything I wasn't getting at home. When I found Oskar, I thought I would finally have a normal, complete relationship... and really, neither of us was ready for that. It turned out just like the others, but it wasn't illegal... and it wasn't as much fun, to be honest." She frowns momentarily. "I'm sick of this talk. I think I'll join the party outside."

The noise of a motor comes from outside the house. Then the girls hear, "Hey, Rizzo, you gonna come out tonight or what?" Marianna does a double-take and a smile appears on her face. She starts to move towards the window when a glance from Dream stops her. "Don't even think about it," she says. "You're pregnant already." The elf pokes her head out the window and shouts, "Wrong house, boys... move it along!"

"Aw, geez, Dream, we was just kidding!" comes a familiar voice.

"ULY!? What are you doing?" Dream cries, nearly falling out of the window.

"Nothing... we're just trying to entertain ourselves without you girls," says Neil.

"Who all is out there?" Marianna shouts from behind Dream. ("Ouch, my ears," Dream cringes quietly; "Hey, Neil," Doreen says softly.)

UPChuck replies, "There's me, Alan, who called for 'Rizzo,' Neil, Brian, Zachariah, Inda, Dava... that's just this car."

"Marlboro's not with you?" asks Tianne. "I gotta go pick him up. See you later. Sorry, Mari!" She grabs her bag and flies out the front door.

"No great loss," she mutters under her breath. "Hey! Who's Alan?"

"I am." A tall figure jumps out of the convertible and leans against it, his eyes piercing through the darkness to stare at Marianna. She narrows her eyes, and as they focus on his features, she gasps sharply...