The patio is thrashed after their party last night. PJ & Kyle are the only ones up this morning to clean up. "I don't think I could drink enough coffee to wake me up all the way," Kyle jokes. "Some jobs are better done half asleep anyway," PJ laughs. "Our friends are such slobs." They gossip a little about the party, about Hayley taking the new neighbor, Coby, up to his room during the party, about the goth chick Coby invited, and how she & Coby disappeared together for awhile. And the goth girl's weird friend that slapped Dulce...what was up with that?

They run out of things to say, and as they often do, find themselves standing together, smiling, looking at each other. "PJ, I have these free passes to the Medieval Times Castle Park, do you want to go with me?" he asks. It's been like this for two semesters, like a dance, he steps forward, swings her around and then backs off. She goes to all his fraternity formals with him, they go to movies, dances, parks & bars, but he always shies away from actually being romantic. Every time he asks her out now, PJ still holds out a hope when she says, "Sure, I'll go with you, Kyle," and touches his arm flirtatiously, but that hope is fading fast. They are both free tomorrow, so they decide to do it right away, before finals. And then they get down to cleaning up.

Hayley wants to believe that Coby really was just showing his goth friend his apartment when they were gone so long from the party. "And was he just showing you his place when you were gone with him, Hayley?" PJ asks, and continues, not waiting for a response, "I don't think so. When are you going to learn that sleeping with a guy you just met only gets you hurt?"

"What would you know about it, PJ? You're still a virgin. That's why Kyle never bites for you," Hayley says bitterly. PJ holds back her words, but she thinks, she'd rather be a virgin than be a slut...but neither is really fair. PJ isn't a virgin, she had sex with her high school boyfriend since the middle of senior year. But she'd gained a reputation as a 'virgin' in her sorority freshman year after she refused to put out for a frat guy she dated for a month, and PJ has done nothing to clear it up, letting everyone think what they want. And Hayley isn't really a slut, she's just over enthusiastic about the guys she likes & ends up in bed with them too soon. But what Hayley just said about Kyle, could that be true? Does he not make any moves on her because he thinks she's a virgin?

"Do you want to play games first, or mini golf?" Kyle asks as they walk up to the Medieval Times Castle Park.

PJ is positive he lets her win. There is no way his aim is really that bad, or his grip that weak.

The arcade is loud with games & laughter. PJ usually loves games, but she's not playing well today. Kyle is talking about an upcoming physics exam, PJ just wonders why he asks her out all the time just to hang out. "Have you thought about where you'll go, after graduation?" she asks him, thinking ahead another year. Kyle is the Bruins' star quarterback, there is little doubt he'll be a professional football player, the question is, which team? "Well," he says, drawing it out a little, "I don't know that I want to go pro after college," he says quietly, like he's admitting some grave crime. It is a great shock to hear him talk of rejecting an opportunity other guys would die for, and PJ turns to face him, abandoning her game. "What would you do if not football?" she asks, somewhat incredulous. His eyes widen & he rocks back on his heels, "I don't know, PJ, I have another year to figure this out...what about you? More beauty contests?" PJ's head ducks in shame & she blushes deeply. "My mother made me do that, Kyle, I never wanted to be Miss Teen Missouri," she says. Her mother, a former beauty queen herself, pushed PJ into a life of pageants from a very young age, but she never was comfortable with it. "I'm not just a pretty girl, I don't want that to be my life," she says, looking at the floor, embarassed. She's thought these words many times, but never said them out loud. All of her friends are pretty girls...

"I'm sorry, PJ," Kyle says, hugging her suddenly, "But you are really pretty, you know, I hope it's okay for me to tell you that." Hope flares anew in PJ's not quite virgin breast.