They were on the road before Julia had really had a chance to do much more than get her seatbelt buckled. Now that she had that done, she looked around and saw there were two other girls in the car besides Kate. The girl in the back seat was looking at her already and when they made eye contact, Julia managed an awkward “Hi.”

Kate jumped right in.

“OK, everyone this is Julia. Julia,” she pointed to the girl in the passenger seat “this is Sarah. And that’s Jill sitting next to you.”

Everyone exchanged hellos and it was just like any other time Julia had met anyone, except for the fact that these girls presumably were all wearing diapers just like her.

Sarah and Kate started chatting. “Do you know if Sam is coming today?” Sarah wanted to know.

“I think so. I’m pretty sure she was getting a ride with Rick or something. I’m glad too, I haven’t seen her in a while. We might have a good turn out today for a change.” Kate stole a glance in her rear view mirror and caught Julia’s eyes. “Sometimes not many people make it out. Last month I think it was only 5 of us.”

Jill was using her cell phone. She spoke up, “Yea, Sam is coming she says. They are just ahead of us I think.”

The other girls kept chatting and were talking about people Julia didn’t know so she just sat and listened. Soon enough Kate turned into a strip mall parking lot and they parked the car in front of a Panda Express. Everyone got out and headed inside.

High school lunch was at 11:30, so the place wasn’t really packed yet. Julia got in line behind the other girls. She had been here before and was actually happy to be back. When it was her turn she ordered herself a Panda bowl with orange chicken. Kate was in front of her. When Kate had finished paying she turned to Julia and said to come towards the back when she was done. Soon enough Julia picked up her tray, turned the corner and started heading in the direction of Kate.

As she turned, Julia saw that people had stuck a couple of tables together and were all sitting down together. She counted 9 people already there. She walked over and took an empty seat next to Jill from the car. Julia started eating and looking around. There were 4 guys and 6 girls including herself, and she didn’t recognize any of them other than Kate and the 2 girls she had just met in the car.

A few minutes had gone by when a guy sitting across from Kate (an attractive guy Julia quickly noticed) spoke up. “OK, everyone, thanks for coming, it’s a pleasure to see you all, I’ve missed you greatly. I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to see you all again.” Julia didn’t know the guy but even she could tell her was just playing around. A few people chuckled. His voice changed and Julia now knew he was being serious. “Anyways, not tons of time and lots to do today, so let’s get to it. Kate?”

Kate smiled and nodded. “Thank you Tom. Well said as always. So, we have a few new folks with us today and we will get to that in just a minute. But, as we do on occasions like this, a quick reminder of the ground rules for everyone here.

Kate took on a more authoritative voice here and her presence in the room seemed to grow. “First rule of D club” Kate said quite seriously, “is that we don’t talk about D club.” Julia instantly saw why Kate was the Captain of the volleyball team. She wasn’t joking around. “The second rule of D club. WE NEVER TALK ABOUT D Club!” Kate brought her hand down on the table to add emphasis to this. The table shook a bit from the force of Kate’s hand.

The room went dead silent. Julia suddenly felt really awkward and didn’t know what to do. She saw Kate glaring across the table at some poor girl who just withered under her stare. Tom was sitting there stone faced and looking serious to the point of threatening. Julia quickly looked at her bowl of food and was grateful that nobody had stared at her. The silence dragged on for another few seconds. And then another few seconds. Julia began to think that this had been a very, very bad idea.

And then Julia heard somebody trying to stifle a laugh, but failing. Others heard it too and there were suddenly a few snorts, and then laughter broke out everywhere. Julia looked up from her bowl and saw Tom covering his mouth with one hand and pointing across the table at Kate with the other. Kate was laughing really hard. Tom finally managed to speak.
“Oh my God Kate, I think that might have been the best ever.”