Prologue
Summer had never been very good to really any of us, which I guess was what brought us together. It had always been full of sucky relationships, lies, and drama which while it pissed us all off gave us something to talk about. Since we were 5 we were each others’ summer. The same people and same drama you could expect every year, except when we got older everything changed. When the relationships started coming from inside our little summer-suckers circle. And all hell broke loose…
Chapter 1: Truth or Dare.Taylor
I never thought summer could get any worse than the last one. I also never thoughtTodd could be any more of an asshole but well here we all are. This summer was supposed to be the best summer ever since I’d had a full school year of recovery from my break-up withTodd after he did what he did. I don’t really know what I expected to happen. I knewTodd and I weren’t going to get back together, but I never realized he’d be sitting right in front of me making out with my best friend while I watchedSasha build her magical fortress of dominos.
We did this every year, except for the making out part. Campout. It was kind of like the grand finale to a year of crap and hatred by just having a night of stupid and reckless fun. It had gotten a little out of hand the past 2 years but it was tradition. You went along with what’s going on and that’s that. No questions asked. There weren’t any rules, you just have fun and wash all of your worries away. The only guidelines for our “team,” I guess you could call it. Of course washing all of our worries away always ended with giving us more worries that are just totally unneeded.
The main people that continually keep coming back have been doing this for about 5 years with the same problems every summer. There’s the ongoing relationship drama of Todd, and the love triangle between Minnie, Jason, and Lianna. Todd, the man-whore that I reluctantly fell in love with last summer, can actually be a nice guy when he’s not slutting it up with every girl he meets. Minnie, ironically, is the tallest and probably prettiest girl I have ever met. Her short black hair and green eyes made practically every guy fall for her and usually she went along with it. I’m not saying she’s a slut but she went through guys faster than I could even say “Hi” to them. Her on and off again Bieber-like boyfriend, Jason, tried way to hard if you know what I mean. They were kind of an odd couple since he completely countered her looks. He was at least 4 inches shorter than her with blonde hair and blue eyes that always looked like he was hiding something. There was just something about them that didn’t look right. Then, of course, there was that continual tether betweenJason and his former lover Lianna. She was probably my best friend next to Vinniah.Jason and Lianna’s looks fit perfectly together, which scared some of us a little bit.
Then there are those of us in the group that have no chance of any form of relationship outside the occasional campout not exactly “hook-up” but just make-out.Kyle had always kind of stayed to himself but would always sort of be there if we ever needed him. He had never had a girlfriend which is kind of depressing seeing as he hangs out with our group. The one thing you never want to do is to putMinnie,Kyle, andJason in a room together or bad things will happen. Vinniah, my best friend, is that type of girl that guys want their parents to meet and they want to marry but not the type of girl they think is “do-able.” She is also the kind of person that is not afraid to and will do anything to get back at someone that has done something to her.Sasha is in a league of her own. As the best friend ofMinnie, she had a big reputation to follow, but never pursued the same path as her and everyone wondered why they were best friends because they never seemed to have anything in common.Sasha had been in love with a boy named Pauly who had been on our “team” for 7 years before he left with no explanation of anything and completely destroyedSasha. She really had never been the same but acted almost fake-ly happy since.
And that brings us back to me. The one with a secret. The one that did something I regret so badly I want to cry. I didn’t actually notice I was crying until I felt a heavy breath in my ear.
“Are you okay?” I hearKyle’s deep voice in my ear as I feel Lianna’s arm on my shoulder. I hastily wipe the stupid, useless tears from my eyes and shake my head.
“No, but I will be,” I reply and grab the beer from Kyle’s hand and chug it completely. Just clear your mind, I thought to myself. “Let’s do Truth or Dare!”
Vinniah pushesToddoff of her and throws a pillow at his crotch before getting up to toss a beer to everyone else.
“Who’s first?” She asked with a smile. I tossed my beer bottle on the ground and spun in. I guessMinnie’s first.
“Dare, obviously.”
Toddsmirked, “Kiss all of the guys in the room and rate them. With tongue.”
Lianna snorted and muttered something along the lines of “well, we all know she’d rather kiss something else.”Kyleobviously heard and tried to hide his chuckle in his beer. It was known that those two thought she was the biggest whore on the planet.
Minnie shot them a dirty look and proceeded to snog every guy in the room, ultimately naming, oh surprise,Jason the best kisser and once again the bottle was spun this time landing onSasha.
“Truth.”
“What do you sleep in?”Toddoutburst. Everyone looked at him like he had five heads. Never had we ever thought evenToddwould be that freaking creepy.
“What the hell, mate!”Kylelooked like he was going to punch the living crap out of him. He stared him down while the rest of us laughed our asses off at how much of a loserToddwas being.Sasha, however, just sat there staring sadly in no particular direction.
“What does it even matter anymore?” She choked.
“Good god, someone get her another beer,”Jasonsaid, trying to stop the oncoming drama. WhenMinniehanded her one she just swatted her away.
“We shouldn’t be doing this anymore,”Sashaconfessed. Okay, now I’m confused.Sasha, the founding member of this tradition saying we shouldn’t wash away our worries by getting wasted? What the hell? Of course, she had always seemed a little dubious of our playing ability with a hangover. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. Our “team” plays in a Parks and Recreation League for baseball.Sashawas always the one that drank the least even if we weren’t in Championships the next day. She always said something about it affecting our chances in “playing the game.” Whatever.
“Sasha, we’ll be fine. We aren’t even playing in Championships, the little kids are on the other side of the park in their own tents, and this is LIGHT beer,”Minnietried to convince her.
“But it will affect our chances of playing the game,” She replied simply. See what I told you. “But go on, if you must.”
And once again the bottle was spinning. It’s victim: me.
“Dare,” I tried to say in the most “I’m not scared of you voice” I could but the truth was, I was terrified. I’ve seen some of the dares we’ve done and I really didn’t want to make that mistake again. Ever again.
Toddspoke (shoker) again, “Let Jason lick whipped cream off of your stomach.”
Okay, not so bad. I laid down and lifted my shirt and let Vinniah spray some cream on it. The closerJason got the more evilMinnie’s glares were. The more evilMinnie’s glares got the louderKyle and Lianna laughed. The louder they laughed the more tense I got. Slowly, but surely,Jason’s tongue whisked all of the cream off of my stomach and was back toMinnie after she grabbed him and randomly started making out with him. I just had to cough *whipped* into my fist.
A collective “ohhhhhhh” was heard asJason blushed andMinnie stared daggers at me. I just shrugged and took my place next to Lianna as she offered me a celebratory high five.
It was then that I noticed things started spinning and wouldn’t stop, but at the same time it felt amazing. These were the times that I wanted to keep happening. So none of us would have to face the real world or our futures.
