Hunt of the Night

c h a p t e r e i g h t e e n ( a m b e r )

Previously...

I was confused. I swore I had never seen him before. What are the chances we went to the same university?

This whole situation was giving me a headache. I just decided to walk a little faster to catch up with Charlie. We walked in silence for a little while longer. I was thinking about Joey, while playing with my necklace. John was biting one of his lip piercings, and Charlie was kicking some rocks that were in her path.

The rest of the walk was silent as we came across the huge body of water.

Currently...

9:45 pm on Friday

Charlie was the first to speak, "Guys! This must be where the clue is! I bet it'll be on that dock over there." Without another word, Charlie darted off onto the dock. I glanced at John, who was already staring at me, before I followed behind the girl.

John and I hadn't really spoken since the whole kiss moment back there. I wasn't sure how to feel about the whole situation. I liked the kiss, maybe a little bit more than when Joey kisses me, but I loved Joey. If he found out I cheated on him, he would be so hurt. The fact that John and I went to the same school, and I didn't know, also baffled me.

"Guys the clue says 'To find your last prize, you have to be wise and go counter clockwise,'" Charlie said.

John spoke first, "What does that mean?"

My eyes seemed to roll unconsciously. Of course he wouldn't know. He's not smart like Joey, but he is artistic. "It probably means to go back the way we came. We've been going clockwise, so we have to go backwards," I said.

Charlie smiled, "Good call. I guess we should get going then,"

Instead of responding, John decided now would be a good time to take off his shirt and stumbled out of his jeans before running off the dock into the water.

I was in shock. The boy was not as scrawny as I thought. Instead, he was very toned, but he didn't have extremely defined abs. However, he did have a nice v-line that disappeared into his black boxers.

"Come on it, the water's great!" He cheered. Charlie and I gaped at him. Lord knows what is in that water.

"John what the hell? We're not skinny dipping!" I screeched.

He laughed after he came up from under the water, brushing his hair out of his eyes, "It's not skinny dipping if your underwear is on."

Charlie and I started laughing at him, "How about we put our feet in the water while you swim?"

John pouted, "Awe, you guys are party poopers."

"I'm very happy pooping on this party. I'm sure many animals have already done that in that water anyway." When I looked to see Charlie's opinion on getting in the water, she was gone and in her place was her jersey and shorts in a heap on the dock.

She was running sprinting towards the water, and just before she jumped, she yelled, 'Cowabunga!"

A pout grew on my face, "Really guys? You both are leaving me to sit here by myself?"

John's smirk was very prominent as he said his next words, "You don't have to be alone. Come on, take your clothes off and get in the water!"

I scoffed, crossing my arms across my chest, "I'm sure you'd love that wouldn't you?"

He laughed, running his fingers through his hair, "Very much so, yes."

I gave him a pointed look as if to say 'no' once again.

"Get in Amber!" Charlie laughed. Before I could reply, both Charlie and John began splashing me. I jumped back with a scream, dropping my bag by their clothes. I stomped my foot, closing my eyes.

I held strong, "Nope."

He laughed and turned around to try to dunk Charlie, and I noticed something on the back of his neck. I squinted, and that's when I realized it was a tattoo. It looked like it was in Mandarin or something. "Is that a tattoo?"

He turned around and nodded his head.

"What does it mean?" I inquired.

He laughed again, "Get in, and I'll tell you."

I huffed. Of course he would say that. He knows that I want to know.

My mouth began talking before I could change my mind, "Fine."

Charlie and John cheered and whistled as I dropped my bag and pulled my shirt off. I made sure to carefully remove my locket from my neck and place it on my shirt. I removed my shorts and quickly began to run.

I sprinted off of the dock and splashed into the water. I felt a rush of adrenaline as I felt the cold water encase my body. The water wasn't deep, probably only five feet so I could still stand on my tip toes.

I broke the surface, smoothing my hair back from my face, "Okay, now you have to tell me what it means," I looked at John as he bit one of his lip piercings.

He chuckled, "Screw you."

I was taken back at his extremely rude comment, "Excuse me?"

He laughed again, swimming closer to me, "No, it means screw you."

Charlie spoke first, "So, let me get this straight. You got a tattoo on your neck... in Chinese... That says the words screw you?"

He nodded.

"Why in the hell would you get that permanently tattooed on you body?" I asked, dumbfounded at his decision.

"It wasn't supposed to say that. It was supposed to say breathe. Moral of the story: Never piss off your tattoo artist." He laughed again, his eyes trailing down below my face for a second before he caught himself.

"Well, I think the real question is why would you get breathe tattooed, in Chinese none the less, on the back of your neck?" Charlie laughed, swimming to us. She raised an eyebrow at the boy as he chewed on his lip piercing.

He sent her a half shoulder shrug, "Seemed like a good idea at the time."

Before I could say another word, John was below the water again. I went to swim back towards the bank, but his hand wrapped around my ankle. I went to kick him off of me, but he had other plans. He pulled me under, and I pinched my nose as my head fell under the water. I opened my eyes under the water, watching him as he dragged his hands over my torso. He pulled me to him, moving my hand from my face. I wasn't sure how long we stayed under the water before my chest began to tighten and I needed air. When we both resurfaced, Charlie was already out of the water and another group had joined us. My face had to be red from blushing so hard, so I tried to hide it with my hair.

John and I pulled ourselves out of the water and went to go put our clothes on. We saw that Jamey was checking Chris out, but we just continued to put our clothes on, avoiding eye contact.

Jamey raised an eyebrow, "What are you guys doing?"

Charlie spoke once again, "We were just getting our feet wet before we moved on. I figure you guys showing up is our cue." She laughed a little at the end of her statement before trying to shake some of the water off of her feet. While she sat down on the damp ground to slip her shoes and socks on, her eyes seemed to rake over Chris's body.

I slipped my bag over my shoulders, as Charlie grabbed her bag. We waited for John to squeeze into his skinny jeans, I may have taken a glance or two at his ass, and watched him style his hair.

We left the other group in silence, before John spoke up, "I've never gone skinny dipping with two girls before."

"You said it didn't count as long as our clothes were still on."

He shrugged,winking at me, "I may or may not have said that just so you would get in."

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QOTC What do you think about Amber and John?