Weekends are great, too. But Friday is the night 14-year-old Lauren Waggoner dabs on a hint of gold eyeshadow, hooks in her favorite silver earrings and hits Chili's with her parents.

It's date night, suburban-style.

Waggoner picks up her best friend, Ashley Overcash, on the way to the restaurant. After a meal of cheesesteak sandwiches, they meet up with boys from Alexander Middle School at the NorthCross bowling alley or up the highway at Movies at the Lake. Under the watchful eye of parental chaperones, they hang out, gossip -- and, maybe, engage in a flicker of flirting.

By 11 p.m., they pile into the family van. The evening ends with, at most, a squeeze of the hand. Shy phone conversations and note-passing in class will assuredly follow.

This is the lifestyle parents seek when they move to Exit 25 -- innocent and sweet, safe and secure. Filled with the traditional trials and triumphs of being a teen-ager. But without, parents hope, much of the danger.

``We've got the bowling alley, there's Target and a Krispy Kreme and the Disc Works and the sub shop,'' Lauren gushes. ``Soon we'll have a movie theater and an Old Navy. Then we'll never have to leave!''

Lauren is a short, pretty girl with long brown hair, silver braces and small chestnut eyes. She and Ashley, also 14, share a history -- both remember what Exit 25 was like before the I-77 interchange brought Target to town -- and several interests including school, boys and shopping.

``If you ask me, this is a great place to grow up because you don't have to worry about anything other than the typical teen-age stuff, like getting your homework done or who likes who in class,'' Ashley says.

``I don't know, some people's parents still get divorced,'' Lauren adds.

``Of course everything isn't perfect,'' Ashley answers.

``Yeah,'' Lauren grins and rolls her eyes, ``sometimes my mom is too busy to drive us across the street to shop.''

Lauren lives in Greenfarm, one of the first subdivisions at Exit 25. It sits just down the street from NorthCross, less than a half-mile from the complex's stores and medical offices.

But Lauren doesn't walk outside her subdivision. Her mom won't let her cross crowded Sam Furr Road because of the traffic.

Lauren's parents, both native Charlotteans, always had the option of moving back to the city. But the family, from her dad, Bill, to her 7-year-old brother, Trace, all agree: Big-city living isn't for them.

``We go to Charlotte sometimes, maybe to go to Carolina Place or out to dinner,'' Lauren explains. ``When I was a little kid, there wasn't anything to do here. Now if they'd just build a mall, we'd have it all.''

Or Lauren can wait a couple of years. She's already counting the months until she can get her learner's permit, already watching the way her dad steers his pickup and her mom stops to check traffic before she makes that dangerous left out of Greenfarm onto Sam Furr.

Her mom complains about the traffic, says she can't believe the speed with which this quiet farm road has turned into a backed-up highway.

Lauren, however, thinks it's great.

``Sometimes you adults have trouble with change. But for us kids, growth is good.''

Tomorrow: The farmer

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