Dodge Mason // Mystery Boy

6

*screeech*

—

*rrrring* I pull my phone out of my pocket and see it's a call from Heather. Dodge looks at me and I answer it while still looking outside.

"It's the signal," she answered. "It's beginning."

"Text me and we'll meet you there?"

"Sounds like a plan," she replies.

"Who was that?" Dodge asks.

"Heather. It's Panic. That's the signal," I say looking at the fireworks. "I told her we'd meet her there."

"Okay, yeah, I can drive us," he responds.

"I'll explain everything in the car."

—

"So every year the judges send out a signal. It's different every year and until then we kinda just forget about it," I explain from the passenger seat of Dodge's car.

"Why?"

"Because we're not really supposed to talk about it. The cops know about it now because two kids died last year. You could get in trouble for just watching."

"So then how do you play?" he asks.

"It's a series of challenges and the judging is different based on each one. Sometimes it's a point system, other times it's a pass or fail. Since we're headed to the lake I think we're doing the jump," I say trying to hide my nerves.

"How do you know so much about the game if it's only for high school graduates?"

"I've lived here my whole life. Small town."

"Well maybe we should team up," he suggests.

"What?" Shocked, I turn my head to look at him.

"Well when it comes down to it, one of us has to lose. So what if we just worked together and split the money," he explains. I mean that does make sense. I can't guarantee that I would win if I went up against Dodge. Nor would I wanna see him lose.

"Deal," I confirm.

"Really?" he asks surprised looking at me for a split second.

"Yeah, guess you got yourself a partner now," I say with a pretty good southern accent if I do say so myself.

"Wouldn't have it any other way," he responds in the same accent making us laugh.

—

We make it to the lake and see the crowd of teens. On our way there, Dodge and I stopped by my house to pick up some swimwear so I could have something to wear for the challenge. Dodge settles on saving time and jumping shirtless in his jeans. We park and get out of the car shedding our top layer of clothing. I watched as Dodge took off his shirt and noticed how built he was.

"Take a picture," he teased bringing me to realize I had been staring at him. "It'll last longer," he jokes. I roll my eyes and I throw my shirt at his face. "Heyy!" he exclaims as I laugh. We toss our clothes into his car and start our mission to find Heather.

Eventually Dodge spots her and points her out, and we walk over. "Hey," I say putting a hand on her shoulder. She turns to me tearing up a bit. "Hey what's wrong?" I ask bringing her into a hug.

"My mom," she sniffles. "A-and Natalie."

"Hey just breathe," I say pulling away putting my hands on her shoulders and taking deep breathes with her.

"My mom. She took the money I had been saving up for college. So now my only way out of here is winning this bullshit," she says freaked out. "And now Natalie's mad at me because she thinks I'm doing it to prove something or some shit."

"Hey, it's okay," I interject trying to stop her from overthinking. "I'm sure Nat just misunderstood. But right now, we gotta get past this first challenge." Heather nods and focuses and we look around to find where we enter the first challenge.

We find our classmate, Summer, sitting at a table, and we make our way over to her through the crowd. "Jumping off the cliff? You need a number!" we hear her chant.

"Hey," I say watching Dodge put his hand out for her.

"Number 10 okay?" She tells him as she writes it on the back of my hand with a black marker. "Take a flare and best of luck!"

I do the same and watch as Heather follow ai end up being 11 and Heather 12.

*screeech* "May I have your attention!"