"Mindy, baby, I told you, I don't want to go that far yet."
"I know Duke, and I'm not ready to have sex yet, but as long as we don't actually have sex, it doesn't matter, this isn't sex, just trust me." Hesitantly, he agreed, and in about five minutes all doubt flew out the window. However, later that day little bits of guilt started to creep into his conscience. And he realized that at supper time, when his father said grace, he couldn't even look his parents in the eyes.
[It wasn't sex. They said I shouldn't have sex without being married, but it wasn't sex, so there was nothing wrong with it,] Duke tried to convince himself.
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Before anyone really knew what had happened, Homecoming was upon them. Cosmo and Lisa had finally managed to convince Carmen to go, and all the girls, Carmen, Esme, Lisa, Charlene, and Mindy were all getting dressed together. After Ike and Babsie took a million pictures, and then lectured the boys, especially Luke, the captain of the football team and Esme's date, about the rules of taking the girls out, the nine of them all left, Luke, Esme, Duke and Mindy in Luke's car, and Carmen, Cosmo, Lisa, Matt and Charlene in Charlene's car..
Everybody had fun and everybody danced, even Carmen, despite her insisting that she wouldn't step a foot on the dance floor. Luke and Esme were crowned King and Queen, which was quite an honor for Esme, since sophomores almost never made king or queen. Unfortunately, as all girls' bathrooms are, this one was a wash of gossip.
"Oh my gosh, did you see how pretty Esme is?"
"Oh I know, she's gorgeous, but did you get a load of her sister?"
"Who, that fat girl?"
"Yeah. I swear, I could never guess by looking that they're twins."
"Oh, I know, Esme's so pretty and nice, and Carmen's so snobbish, I mean, she never says hi to people."
"Oh, I know, and did you see her in that dress? Where did she get that, a maternity shop? I swear, if I was that fat, I'd kill myself."
"Oh, like, definitely. Esme had better be careful, or she's going to look just like her twin. And you can't be at the top of the pyramid of you look like a whale." Laughing, the three girls exited the washroom, oblivious to the two Hanson girls sitting in the stalls, Carmen silently crying. Not knowing her sister was in the room, Esme left the stall and studied herself in the mirror.
[Hmm,] she thought to herself, [maybe I should lose a few pounds, I don't want to be all chunky, like Carmen. Oh, I hope I never look like her!] And sucking in her stomach, Esme left the bathroom. When she got out to the dance, Luke handed her a piece of cake.
"Here Esme, have some cake, it's really good."
"Um, no thank you, I've had too much sugar today, I don't want to make myself sick." Esme said, thinking to herself, [Well, at least I've made a first step. I can't pig out like my sister if I want to be pretty.] And for some reason, not eating the cake made Esme feel good. Soon the dance was over and everyone went back home.