Summer Rain

[5] Hit the Lights

Dedicated to jordynbarr for being first one to comment last chapter! :)

Picture of Kaden on the right >>>>>>>
Sorry about it not being in colour, but that's the picture of the actor that matched my visualization of him the best.

Anyway, on with it....

--

It's a mad, mad world,

Gotta make it okay.

It's the perfect world,

When you go all the way.

Hit the lights,

Let the music move you.

 

~Hit the Lights- Selena Gomez

 

      Brett just looked at me with that expression. You know the one that clearly says you're-acting-like-a-brainless-moron. In my defense, it was because he said something that was incredibly hard to believe. Kaden? Liking me? I think he's insane. I think everyone's going insane now...

      "Wait, you're not joking?" I asked stupidly. Brett laughed and shook his head before grinning cheekily.

      "Nope. Not joking," he replied. Before he could continue, a whistle blew. The same whistle that started the game signified that someone had won. Brett jumped and looked around, as if suddenly remembering that we were in the middle of a game and he was supposed to be guard. Now, it was my turn to smile.

      "You know, you're a really bad guard," I told him as we started walking back to the pool. He shrugged.

      "You don't know who won the game," Was all he said. Though, he did have a point there. Not to sound egoistical like Kaden, but I suspected it was my team. Unless Clark or Kaden had played border control, Annabelle would've crossed. I guess they might've won by stealing the flag first, but Kallie, unlike her boyfriend, was pretty darn good at defense.

      As we approached the pool, I squinted and tried to see who had the flags, but the sun was in my eyes. "Who won?" I called out to Clark, who was standing closest to us. When we got closer, I saw he was frowning. Yay! I think that means we won.

      "You guys did," he admitted. I looked at Brett and poked my tongue out at him. He just rolled his eyes as a response.

      Kaden walked up to us, with Annabelle and Kallie talking about something and trailing behind him. "You," he said, clapping a hand on Brett's shoulder. "Are a horrible guard. Annabelle said she just ran over, looked for it, and ran back."

      "Yeah, well, you guys are horrible at hiding the flag," Brett said trying to defend himself. I stifled a giggle and shook my head. Immediately, Kaden's eyes snapped to me, but I looked away before he could say anything. A silence fell over us. Well, this is slightly awkward...

      "And a unicorn is born," I muttered under my breath. It was actually a different saying, but I liked this one better. The other one was just... Kind of mean.

      "There's no such thing as unicorns," Clark replied with a dismissive wave of his hand. Kallie and Annabelle had joined us now and were looking between us, amused. Why does everyone find my conversations amusing? Seriously, it's getting annoying.

      I glared at him and pouted, "That's what you think. They'll take over the world one day, and I'll be able to say I told you so."

      Clark opened his mouth to respond, but Annabelle shook her head. "Why don't we just head to Wal-Mart already?" She suggested.

      "Who are today's partners?" Brett asked, looking around the circle.

      "You and I," Kallie responded, motioning to herself and Brett. I tuned out of the conversations for a bit and looked around the backyard. As I was observing the overall perfect-ness of it, my thoughts suddenly drifted to Kaden and our talk last night.

      What had he meant by 'I wish I knew?' What did he want to know? And sorry just didn't cut it. Maybe I had been a little harsh, but it had hurt so much. I was so insecure after. I barely talked to anyone. I even pushed my parents and Kallie out of my life. All that time, I had wondered exactly how many people cared about me. I hated it. I hated being vulnerable.

      I blinked and saw Kallie waving a hand in front of my face. "Raine? Earth to Raine? You there?" She asked.

      I shook my head. "Yeah, sorry. I was just thinking about," I trailed off not wanting to continue, and slanted a quick glance in Kaden's direction. For a brief moment, his eyes met mine before I looked back at his twin.

      "Okay, then. You don't usually space out," she remarked. I shrugged. Now, wasn't exactly normal. I had a lot to think about. I looked at Kallie again, and felt a prick of guilt. She didn't know about Jared. I had just told her that we broke up because a long distance relationship was too stressful. Yeah, after about a week, Jared had moved away.

      I wish I could tell her, but I didn't want her to be worried. I was over it now, and she didn't have to know...Right?

***

      It was decided that Brett and Kallie would have to approach at least one sales person and ask them annoying and incredibly stupid questions. It was also decided that I would be the one doing the 'Code Three' thing. We arrived at Wal-Mart and got out of the car. I mimicked Kallie's evil grin and turned to her. When she saw me, her eyes bugged.

      "Whoa. Now I know what you mean by me looking creepy. I don't have a good feeling about this," she said, looking slightly nervous.

      "Kallie?" I sung, dragging out her name.

      She gulped. "Yeah?" She replied hesitantly.

      "Can I choose the salespeople you go up to? And the some questions that you ask?" I pleaded, using my puppy dog eyes on her. She hesitated and seemed to consider it. I waited. And waited. And waited.

      Finally, she let out a sigh of what sounded like defeat. "Fine, but only because this is me saying sorry for tonight."

      What the? I looked at her in confusion. "What do you mean? What's happening tonight?" Kallie just grinned mischievously and linked her arm through mine. "Come on. I have to go win another point for us," she said leading us into the store.

      I looked around and spotted the perfect target. He was about our age, maybe a bit older, and had shaggy brown hair, tan skin and green eyes. Actually, he kind of looked like Brett with tanner skin and greener eyes. "Okay, Kallie. Go up to that guy over there, and act drunk and ask if he wants to get laid," I instructed, using Kallie's-rub-hands-together-and-look-like-Scrooge motion.

      Kallie followed my gaze and her eyes widened. "What!? No! Aw, but he's cute" Brett came up behind us in time to hear her last sentence. He coughed loudly. Kallie turned to look at him. "Yeah?" She asked raising an eyebrow, her voice teasing.

      He simply half-glared at her with an amused glint.

      I pushed Kallie forward. "You going or not?" I demanded impatiently.

      She turned to me. "Raine, why are you so mean?" She whined and pouted. I immediately looked away.

      "This is payback for every single time you shoved me into a blind date or tried to hook me up." I replied, still not looking at her. Kallie, though she hadn't believed in love, had been near obsessed in trying to match me up with some guy. I have no idea why she loved doing it, but she did. To her credit, I hadn't really mind at first. Then it got ridiculous. I swear to god, she tried to set me up with everything that talked and wasn't a girl.

      Unfortunately, while I was avoiding Kallie's eyes, my gaze met Kaden's. From one twin to another. I quickly looked back at time, to see that she had dropped her puppy dog eyes and was looking back and forth between me and Kaden, grinning madly. I sighed and ignored her smile. "Are you going or not?" I asked, pointedly slanting a glance at the guy who had begun to walk away. Kallie mimicked my sigh, but ran up to the guy. I followed her, staying a good distance away, but still close enough to hear their conversation.

      Kallie approached him and tapped in on the shoulder. When he turned around, she stuck out her chest, and a seductive expression crossed her face. She made her eyelids heavy, and batted her eyelashes at him. I heard the others come up behind me, but I was paying too much attention to Kallie and the Wal-Mart guy to really notice.

      "Heeyyy, I'm Kallie. Wanna come back to my place?" She slurred sounding drunk. Whoa. She's really good. I heard Brett growl from beside me when the guy licked his lips. I squinted at him, and tried to read his nickname. Hunter. Well, Hunter's gonna be in a lot of trouble if he accepts her 'offer'.

      "Can I-I h-help you?" He asked, stuttering slightly. Jeez, you'd think he had never talked to girls or something.

      Kallie laid a hand on his chest and Smiled up at him. "I want to get laid." She said bluntly. Brett growled again. I looked over at him and saw him shaking slightly, his hands balled into fists and his face was lightly flushed pink.

      "Er, I'm not allowed to leave," Hunter replied monotonously, as if repeating something out of textbook. Kallie fluttered her eyelashes and stuck out her bottom lip.

      "Please? For me?" She asked quietly. I saw Hunter's hand come up and brush her butt. Steam was practically coming out of Brett's ears by now.

      "Well, maybe" Hunter answered, slapping her butt. Suddenly Kallie slapped him and jumped away.

      "Ew! You, pervert!" She cried fake angrily before running over to us. We quickly stalked away, leaving a flushed, confused and embarrassed Hunter behind us.

      "Beat that," Kallie told Brett, flipping her hair.

      Clark chuckled. "Sorry to say this, but good luck with that. That performance was hilarious," he remarked.

      Kallie frowned. "I don't get these Wal-Mart people. It's like a breeding ground for pervs." She said, looking around. She turned back to Brett. "Are you going to go or not?"

      Brett smiled slightly, but walked away. His performance was funny, but Kallie won by a long shot, or maybe it's just'because Clark and Kaden like watching us, girls, nearly get raped or molested. Which, in my opinion, is completely creepy.

      "Kallie won. Sorry, Brett, but Kallie totally won that one," Clark announced. He turned to me. "Time for the Code Three, thing, Raine."

      I sighed, but walked up to a nearby worker. As I got closer, I saw it was a man who looked like he was in his late twenties, maybe early thirties, with brown dreadlocks and tired brown eyes.

      "How may I help you, miss?" He asked in an exhausted voice.

      "There's a Code Three alert in the warehouse section," I told him trying my best to sound professional and mature.

      He looked at me doubtfully. "There are no unicorns in the Warehouse sections. There can't be. Randy just made that up for kicks."

      I took a peek at his name tag. "Really, Steve. Randy told me to come here to tell you," I responded smiling sweetly. Steve shook his head and walked away. I headed back to Kallie, Brett, Clark, Annabelle and Kaden. They looked at me curiously. I shrugged. That hadn't been much of a reaction. Though I am starting to think that there are no normal Code Threes at Wal-Mart. First it's aliens, then it's unicorns. What is up with these people? Honestly, it's crazy. I mean I have nothing against unicorns, they're awesome and magical, and aliens, well, aliens are aliens, but it's kind of weird that they expect these to come into Wal-Mart.

      I don't think unicorns like people.

      Suddenly a voice came over the speakers. It was Steve. "Randall, there is a Code Three alert in the Warehouse Section. Randall, Code Three in the Warehouse Section. Thank you."

      Clark chuckled and looked at us, with a glimmer of amusement in his eyes. "Let's go."

***

      After finishing dinner, Kallie called us down to the living room with a scary grin on her face. In one hand she held an empty bottle.

      "Kal? What are we doing?" I asked cautiously, looking from the hand with the bottle, to her face, to everyone sitting in a circle. I took a seat beside Annabelle. Her smile grew wider as she looked at me. I sort of already knew the answer, but I wanted her to say it, and a small, stupid part of me was hoping it'd be something else.

      "Spin the bottle truth-or-dare," she answered. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. I hate spin the bottle truth-or-dare. It was like truth or dare, only if you refused to answer a truth or do a dare, you had to kiss a person (with tongue) in the circle. They chose who it was. I hope it doesn't land on me when Kallie's spinning. Her dares are brutal and her truths are even worse. "I'll start." She announced as sat down between Brett and Kaden and placed the bottle in the center of our circle. Then Kallie spun it. Pass me, pass me, pass me! I chanted in my head. It spun past me, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Then it came around again, only slower this time. And it stopped. On me.

      I felt like banging my head against a table. Why? Why? Why? I think fate hates me.

      "Truth or Dare, Raine?" Kallie asked in a teasing tone. I gulped. Okay, what to chose? If I chose truth, she'd probably ask what was going on with me and Kaden, and then I'd have to explain the whole thing. Which I really didn't want to do. If it had been anyone but Kallie or anytime but now, I probably would've picked truth, but since it is Kallie, and since it is now, I only had one option left.

      "Dare." And immediately braced myself for the next words Kallie would say. She got another impish grin on her face.

      "I dare you to Lollipop Kaden," She said. Oh god. Oh god. I hate her. Lollipop was a game we had made up two summers ago. Someone would suck on a lollipop, and someone else would sit in front of them and try and get the lollipop out of their mouth and into their own mouth. Without using their hands. I squeezed my eyes shut and buried my face in my palms. This is going to be awkward. Really, really awkward.

      "It's either that or kiss someone, and have it posted on Facebook, Raine," Kallie told me, still smiling. Wait, what?

     My eyes flew open. "What? That's not part of-" I didn't bother finishing when she flashed me a cheeky grin.

      I sighed and moved to sit in front of Kaden. Kallie handed a lollipop to him, which he popped in his mouth. I sighed and closed my eyes, then gently wrapped my lips around the lollipop stick.

 

-READ ME-

Late update, I know. I finished this Monday, and was editing the last page or so, and bam! My computer dies. And then I found out it was because a tree fell on a power line and we wouldn't have power until about 12am at night. Then yesterday, I was re-editing it, since last time it didn't save, then the internet connection breaks. So, so, sorry.
Question: How do you pronounce Raine's name? I say it like 'rain' as in rain and sunshine. But my friend read this and pronounced it like 'Rainy', so just wondering.

Anyway, please fatement. It keeps me going!

~JJ :)