Pleep was very excited when Kate invited him to the Shawnee Mission Northwest High School Homecoming game. It was his first high school football game and Kate was also in the running for homecoming queen. Peggy hadn't been to a high school football game since high school (which was more that just a few years ago). Pleep was very excited when SMNW got off to a big start scoring two touchdowns and recovering a fumble all in the opening minutes. By half time with the score 27-0, Pleep was taking credit for being the lucky monkey. He started lobbying the crowd to name him new mascot rather than the cougar.
At halftime, all the girls who were competing for homecoming queen were walked onto the field by their dads. Pleep was very excited and joined the Cascone girls, Kate's grandparents and friend in cheering very loudly when she walked out. He thought the band should have given her a bigger drumroll. When they announced the winner, Pleep was very disappointed that it wasn't Kate. He thought she was by far the prettiest with the best dress. Plus, she was the only girl there with her own monkey cheering squad.
As halftime ended, Kate came up in the stands to join her crowd and watch the second half. It started badly for SMNW with an onside kick and immediate touchdown. Peggy warned Pleep that it was shaping up to be a repeat of the ND-USC game from her college days. As things played out, the opposing team quickly ran up several touchdowns and had tied the game by the end of the thirds quarter, 27-27. The bad defensive play continued and they went ahead 34-27 early in the 4th quarter. Pleep decided to turn his attention to Kate and lobby for an invitation to the homecoming dance on Saturday night. Kate politely explained that she already had a date and he was the quarterback. At that point, Pleep decided it was time to head out in search of adult beverages and the Cardinals baseball game. Kate sent Pleep a text later in the night alerting him that SMNW did end up winnning the game in overtime.
