Grease
Danny stretched out on the sand as Sandy ran to splash around in the waves. His coyote dæmon padded away from him slightly to watch her as she splashed water up at her own dæmon.
‘Lieta’ He said, propping himself up on his elbow. ‘Stop staring.’
Lieta finally looked away, but didn’t move any closer. ‘They’re going away, we’re going away and we’re never going to see them again.’
Man and dæmon looked up as Sandy started laughing, Anugata having apparently swooped at her and made her fall into the water. A smile tugged at Danny’s lips and he shook his head to make all the sappy romantic thoughts go away.
‘Might be for the best. I’m not sure they’d like how we are at school.’
Lieta sighed, finally moving back to his side. He sat up as she sat down, his hand coming to scratch her ears. ‘That would be fine, people at school like us.’
‘People at school think we’re cool.’ Danny chuckled. ‘There’s a difference.’
Lieta started to argue but Sandy came running towards them and they forgot about their worries. Danny stood to meet her, sweeping her off her feet. They would keep enjoying their summer.
Anugata flew around Sandy, looking her up and down. Frenchie had done a very good job, she looked stunning but she didn’t look like her. The eagle landed on the back of a nearby, tilting his head.
‘Do you like it?’ Sandy said, eyeing herself in the mirror. She ran her hands along the fabric, looking almost confused by how tight it was.
‘You look lovely, Sand.’ Anugata said. ‘But why did you have to change so much?’
Sandy paused, one hand pushing a stray hair out of her face. There was so much hairspray, she was surprised a strand had broke free. ‘Danny’s changed too, we’re meeting halfway.’
‘Looks like you’re going all the way to what he wants. How has he changed?’
Sandy finally turned to look at her dæmon, sighing slightly. ‘He’s been really trying. He even started doing track.’
‘Oh, the boy starts running and suddenly he’s back in your good books.’
Sandy chuckled. ‘Maybe. But let me ask you, don’t you want to see Lieta again?’
Anugata felt his wings flutter at the mention of the coyote. Damn it, he was just as in love as her.
‘Now.’ Sandy smirked. ‘Let’s go get our man.’
‘We could be worse.’
Rizzo sighed, leaning against the the pillar and holding her books to her chest. Pitjor was staring across the school car park, watching Kenickie getting his car ready for Thunder Road. Rizzo didn’t want to look, knowing that if she looked, she might not be able to keep herself in place.
‘Betty? We’re not bad people, right?’
Rizzo shook herself out of her musings, half-smiling down at the jackal. He wasn’t looking at her but his tail swept out to wrap around her leg.
‘We’re not bad, no. But you know he can never about it, you know that.’
Pitjor finally looked up at her. ‘The pregnancy? I think everyone knows.’
Rizzo rolled her eyes, scratching his ear. ‘Not about that. He can’t know we care.’
Pitjor chuckled, hitting her leg with his tail. ‘You’re too proud, Betty.’
She looked around the pillar watching Kenickie pull away. ‘He can’t know how much we care because then he’d know how much we’ve been hurt by this. He can’t know we’re upset, that we’ve cried. That would be the worse thing.’
Pitjor nodded, looking away. They’d be strong and no one would know how good they were.
Kenickie ran his hand along his new car, marvelling at it. Sure, it was a broken rust bucket but it was his and that made it amazing. He’d just have to get it cleaned up so everyone else realised how amazing.
‘Nicky, you’re drooling.’
He turned, scowling at Rayo. The wolf laughed from the hood of the car, tail lolling from side to side.
‘Don’t act like you’re not in love with her.’ Kenickie said, rolling his eyes and going back to looking at his car, making a mental note of all the work that needed to be done.
‘Her?’ Rayo said, jumping over the windscreen to stretch out on the seats. He smacked her leg and she started to scratch them up. ‘Getting a bit obsessed are you?’
‘This ain’t a joke Ray. It’s our car, our beautiful Greased Lightning. It’s everyone else who’ll be obsessed!’
Rayo laughed again, the sound shifting into a howl towards the end. The other T-Birds and their dæmons looked up, almost as if they were expecting a fight but Kenickie waved them away with a shrug.
‘Think maybe you’re getting too excited?’
Rayo jumped up, tail wagging. ‘Who cares? It’s Greased Lightning!’
Doodie stared across at Frenchie, looking all pretty with her new blonde hair. Not that she didn’t look pretty before, just not she looked extra pretty, beautiful even, like a beautiful blonde-
‘Breathe, Doods. It’s just a dance.’
Doodie nodded at his dæmon’s words. He was getting all flustered and Frenchie couldn’t even hear him. Matsenga chuckled, patting his cheek with her tiny paw. Frenchie was dancing with Putzie, laughing as she did and Doodie was happy to just sit and watch her have fun.
‘You could dance with her, you know? She did say yes to coming with you.’ The flying squirrel on his should said, in her most encouraging voice.
‘She didn’t seem to enjoy it too much, last time.’ Doodie shrugged, almost dislodging her.
‘That’s cause you were too busy counting to actually have fun with her. Just let me do the counting, I’ll tell you if you’re off.’
Doodie frowned but it quickly melted away as Frenchie walked towards him, Dontho fluttering around her shoulders. ‘Hey there. Wanna dance?’
He grinned, standing up and taking her hand. Matsenga laughed on his shoulder as he pulled Frenchie back into the fray, spinning her round in his arms.
Sukulu sulked on Sonny’s shoulder. All the other T-Birds were crowding around Zuko, mocking him to make him say more about this mystery broad he’d met over the summer. Typical, Zuko could have any girl at Rydell without trying, and he goes and gets one from another damn country. All Sukulu gets from girls is a sneer and look like she’s vermin or something.
‘To be fair, Suk,’ Sonny muttered to his rat dæmon. ‘You are sort of vermin.’
She bit his ear, strong enough to feel it down the link. ‘I may be vermin on the outside, LaTierri, but don’t forget, that makes you vermin on the inside.’
‘Eh, that’s probably why the girls won’t go for us.’
Sukulu smirked slightly, knowing the girls didn’t even have to see her to be put off by Sonny’s awful pick up lines and overpowering cologne. He’d tried to spray her with it once, she’d almost bit off his finger.
‘Yeah, well, I’m sure once these lot start getting broads, those broads will have friends and they’ll have to go out with us.’
Sonny raised an eyebrow. ‘Oh, yeah, how’s that?’
Sukulu’s tail drooped slightly. ‘Sucks to be lonely, doesn’t it?’
‘I can’t see anything.’
Partij tried to get taller on Putzie’s shoulder, standing on her back legs and half crawling up his head. The two drivers were so far away and so close together, she couldn’t see who was in front, who would win. It was very frustrating.
‘Shut up.’ Putzie said, one hand pulling on the possum’s tail slightly. His other arm was stuck in Jan’s grip and Partij knew if she was on the ground, Mwezi would be all other her.
‘I wanna know if Lieta’s okay.’
‘She’ll be fine, stop distracting me.’
‘If I’m worrying, you’re worrying, stop pretending.’
‘Well, if-’
Jan suddenly screamed and they looked up, not even realising they’d turned to look at each other. The Scorpion’s car was in a ditch, Greased Lightning pulling ahead easily. The T-Birds and Pink Ladies all cheered, running towards the car. Putzie let himself be pulled by Jan, faster than the others because she didn’t care about being cool. Partij clung to his jacket, barely able to hold onto. They jumped onto the car, Partij and Mwezi falling onto Lieta as Putzie and Jan hugged Danny.
They’d won, Grease Lightning won. The T-Birds always won!
Dontho tried to fly after the others, tried to pull Frenchie along but she just reached up and pulled him out of the air. They’d just seen a pretty spectacular fight between Rizzo and Kenickie but Frenchie hadn’t wanted to go after their friend, to check she was okay. Something was up with her.
‘Come on, French, shouldn’t we talk to her?’
Frenchie shook her head, pulling her hair out of her scarf. It was bright pink and the dye wasn’t completely even but Dontho didn’t mind it too much. It at least would stop people from looking at the hummingbird’s flittering about.
‘How am I meant to talk to them looking like this?’ Frenchie shrugged. ‘We don’t even go to the same school anymore.’
Dontho flew in front of her face, wings fluttering. ‘Doesn’t mean we’re not friends with them.’
Frenchie paused, running her fingers through her hair. ‘I don’t want to realise how bad I am.’
Dontho landed on her shoulder, brushing his wings against her cheek. ‘It’s fine, we tried and now we go back to Rydell.’
‘Go back, like drop out?’
Dontho nodded, knowing in his heart she agreed. They’d go back to where they belonged.
Marty lounged on the bed, watching the others screaming and laughing about Sandy. She found it funny, of course, but Verhuurder was stretched out next to her and rolling his eyes. The black cat, sleek and refined, had grown up a lot quicker than Marty herself and was always unhappy with their friends being silly and having fun. So Marty had to act like she was as well, so they both appeared cool.
‘Come on Ver, have a bit of fun.’ She muttered, as Rizzo grabbed a wig, jumping back and forth of the bed. Marty slid off gracefully, her dæmon curling in her lap.
‘This is fun, I suppose.’ He smirked. ‘Watching them all make fools of themselves.’
Marty giggles slightly, scratching the back of the cat’s neck. ‘They’re not making fools of themselves.’
‘No, true.’ Verhuurder stood up on her lap, peeking over her shoulder. ‘They’re making a fool of her.’
Marty turned her head just as Sandy walked out of the room. Frenchie glanced at the others before heading after her. Verhuurder shook his head, curling up again and looking up at his lady.
‘Try not to mess up again. At least, not while I’m not watching.’
Jan screamed as the ride spun her around, Mwezi clinging to her dress with all her might. The ride finally stopped and they stumbled out, into Putzie’s waiting arms. Mwezi scrambled onto Jan’s shoulder so he wasn’t squished and Partij reached across carefully to bump noses with the chipmunks. Everyone was cheering, everyone was happy, even though everything was ending.
‘Aww, cheer up, Mwezi, it’s the summer.’
He frowned as Putzie ran off to hug the other T-Birds, the cool kids uncaring about being cool for just one day. ‘But summer means everyone is leaving, what if we never see them again?’
‘Oh shush.’ Jan took him off her shoulder, holding him out in front of her so she could smile at his face. ‘We’re going to see them again, we all go together too well to stay apart forever.’
Mwezi finally started to smile, looking around at all their friends and classmates laughing, and saying goodbye in the best way. There couldn’t be a better send off to Old Rydell.
‘Hey Jan?’ He grinned and she grinned back. ‘Wop ba-ma lu-mop!’
She laughed, running towards their friends as her dæmon cheered her on. ‘Wop bam boom!’