But it was senior year, and from what he could gather, Marian had stepped up the pressure. Suddenly, Lani was drinking much more than usual.

“Hey cutie,” she said, pointing at Lorraine. “Here alone, huh? You better get busy if you want to find a bed for the night!” Then she laughed hysterically.

Lorraine said nothing. Normally, she wouldn’t let something like that go by. Especially from Lani. They had been in several fights at school that year. They weren’t really fights, just a lot of hair pulling and plenty of refrains of “You’re a bitch!” “You’re a tramp!” “I heard you…the whole school” and other such things. For a while, a girls’ bathroom war raged that featured an exchange of nasty graffiti purporting to document the wild, and completely unbelievable, sexual gymnastics of both involved in the feud. It took two people to separate Lani and Mickey at lunch one day when Mickey asked David if Lani was really willing to… Well, he was really rather shocked by the question, and found himself thinking how imaginative some girls were when it came to such things. He reminded himself that such things existed only in the realm of insults and general taunting. Stephanie told him about what was unfolding on the walls of the girls’ bathroom. He was skeptical at first. Then Lani didn’t show up out back of the science building one Friday after school. He saw her in 6th hour, so he went back into school only to find her and Lorraine waiting outside of Mrs. Lowery’s office. Later that evening, she explained that she was threatened with suspension if she engaged in any more vandalism. Apparently, Lani and Lorraine had to scrub down the walls of the girls’ bathroom as Mrs. Lowery watched over them, lecturing both about the proper way for ladies to behave at school.

“It wasn’t my fault, David! It’s that tramp Lorraine’s fault! Besides, I only told the truth!” she said, and then broke out laughing.

Lorraine Lockhart

Lorraine is the daughter of Lawrence and Jeanette Lockhart, her father being a prominent lawyer who is known for his support of liberal causes. Lorraine lives a few house down from the Marlowe residence. David meets Lorraine in 10th grade at a party at Marty Marsden's house. Lorraine is the girl with the most diffuse relationship with David. Unlike Stephanie, Mickey and Lani, Lorraine is never considered one of David's girlfriends. But she is a close friend of Mickey and they were often found together at school and parties. She knows Jean Marlowe and shows considerable sympathy for Jean's situation.  Lorraine is also one of Lani's sparring partners, although she prefers to incite confrontations between Lani and other girls. Lani suspects that it is Lorraine who is responsible for spreading salacious rumors about her at school. So it comes as no surprise that she starts a "Bathroom Wall War" with Lani that entails the two girls writing obscene things about each other on the walls of the different girls' bathrooms at school, not to mention the girls' locker room. This goes on for some time, with the students regularly checking to see the latest claims about the wild sexual antics attributed to Lorraine and Lani. This war comes to an abrupt end when Lani walks into the girls' bathroom next to the 17th Century French Literature 101 classroom to find Lorraine writing out the latest installment of the "Lani likes to..." saga. Jean enters the bathroom and a three-way confrontation erupts. The bathroom next to the 17th Century French Literature 101 classroom must have had a bizarre magnetic effect that day as Mrs. Lowery is suddenly drawn into the same bathroom. Jean quickly leaves and Mrs. Lowery proceeds to take Lani and Lorraine on a tour of all the girls' bathrooms in the school, forcing them to wash the graffiti off the walls. For good measure, Mrs. Lowery lectures the two girls about the proper behavior and deportment of young ladies at school, including the importance of refraining from speaking about wicked, inappropriate, and nefarious subjects that a lady doesn't need to know about until after she is married anyway. Being so caught up in her sermon, she doesn't notice that Lani and Lorraine kept looking over at each other, laughing the whole time. Lorraine had a particularly strong attraction to the Anti-War movement, and during her Berkeley years, she became an outspoken opponent of the Vietnam War, garnering considerable fame as a highly visible figure in the Counter Culture.

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Lorraine was looking toward the sliding glass doors that opened out to the backyard. Then everyone else did. Just outside the door, Jean was on her hands and knees facing away from the house. Lani had just hammered down another shot. Then she laughed.

“Hey look! Jean’s good to go! She could at least go to one of the bedrooms upstairs!”

It wasn’t clear at first what was wrong. Then some kids opened the door to enter the house, and they heard the unmistakable sounds of Jean vomiting.

Frank looked concern. “Hey David maybe you should…” Lani cut him off.

“What do you mean ‘hey David maybe you should’?” she asked angrily, glaring at Frank. He quickly looked away. Pete got up and left.

Then she turned around and looked at David. “She started early! You’d think a lush like Jean could keep it down!”

David gave her a dirty look. “Give it a rest, Lani.”

Before she could respond, Lorraine looked at her. “She hasn’t been drinking, Lani! So shut your mouth before I…” Lani cut her off.

“Before you what?”

Suddenly, Jean appeared in the kitchen and sat down at the table next to Lorraine.