"Only Rumors"?

Chapter 2: Bonfire

We heard the loud, pounding music as soon as we reached the path. I looked at Pepper uneasily, and she shrugged. “Teenagers,” she mouthed, rolling her eyes, causing me to laugh. Ella looked at me a little strangely, but I just ignored it. As we got closer, I saw that someone had started a large bonfire. The music was caused by a stereo someone was carrying on their shoulders.

“Oooooh!” Ella squealed, latching on to Ethan’s arm. “Isn’t this cool?” She said. He nodded, grinning at her. Ethan had liked Ella, well...as long as I could remember. I could never quite understand the infatuation, considering she normally got on my nerves. It was kind of cute, though, because he was always so sweet to her. Oddly, though, she never seemed to notice how he stared at her like a lost puppy. But I suppose that’s how it always is with these kinds of relationships, right?

She ran ahead laughing giddily, pulling Ethan alongside her. Andrew, Pepper and I continued to walk at a normal speed towards the bright light of the fire. My eyes roamed the crowd with a mixture of disgust and excitement. The adrenaline rush was coming back, now, as I stood before a whole bunch of teenagers I recognized from school. I’d never been to a party like this before, so this was a whole new experience.

“You remember that one idea? That one idea where we thought it just might be kind of cool to come here tonight? Yeah, well, it was a stupid idea,” I said, gritting my teeth as I saw couples dancing and kissing. Just because I was excited over my first party, didn’t mean I was excited to see all the PDA. Andrew nodded in agreement with me, his eyes locked on the ground.

Andrew was actually pretty attractive, but he was more of a brother than anything to me. We had grown up together, so I couldn’t see him as anything other than my best friend. He was usually pretty silent around other people, unless he was with Ethan, Pepper, or myself. He thought Ella was annoying, and unlike the rest of us, he didn’t even try to get along with her. The only reason any of us actually put up with Ella was because of Ethan. She could be fine at times, but she had her moments.

I sat down on a log, feeling the warmth of the fire on my face. Andrew sat to my left, Pepper on my right. “What time is it?” I asked Pepper, looking around a little, trying to appear nonchalant as I looked for Carter.

“Uhhh, 11:20.” She said. I nodded. At 12 a.m., all the teenagers that were brave enough would get on the train. I was pretty sure I would not be getting on that train. I mean, I didn’t believe in rumors, but I was just a teensy bit creeped out by what they said...

The rumors weren’t hard to believe, though. I glanced over at the creepy train next to me, and shuddered. That thing had been there for who know’s how long, which was odd considering the lack of railroad tracks. It was like it had just been dumped in the middle of nowhere.

We sat in relative silence, watching the crazy partying going on around us. “Uhhh...” Pepper started, a bit awkwardly. “I’m going to go get us drinks.” She said, nodding towards the cooler. “What do you want?” She asked.

“Uh, Sprite, if possible.” I said. I looked at Andrew and he just shrugged. “And Coke for him.” I said, knowing him well enough that he also wouldn’t want an alcoholic drink. She nodded and got up, walking away in the direction of the ice cooler.

I sighed, looked around. “I don’t even know why I agreed to come. This is stupid and pointless.” I said.

“I agree. I just came because Ethan told me he would need a wingman, though he seems to be doing just fine,” he said, looking in the direction of the two. They were both dancing together, and I smiled. Aw, how cute!

“A wingman? Please. That would never work out. You hate Ella and would never try and attempt to get those two together.” He smirked at me. “Don’t feed me those lies. Why’d you actually come?” I asked. He sighed.