The Cherry Trees

Chapter Twenty: 2013

The doorbell rang, and I was awakened from my deep sleep. I had just gotten back from New Jersey a few days ago, and was exhausted, especially since I couldn't sleep all that well from the sunburn on my neck.

As I expected, my mom was all worried that I would get skin cancer or something from the burn, but I assured her that I was alright. I was surprised to see that her stomach was swollen from the baby, and I wondered how I had failed to notice it before.

I tired to go back to sleep by shoving my face into my pillow, but I knew it was hopeless. I sighed, and pushed myself out of bed. Then I padded down the stairs to see who had disturbed my slumber. Wondering who it could be, I instinctively thought of Lexi, but then realized that she wouldn't have troubled herself by ringing the doorbell in the first place.

"Anne," my mom called up the stairs.

I made a quick descent to the front room, knowing that the visitor was for me. In the doorway stood a tall boy, tan, with blonde hair. I didn't recognize him at first. Was it possible that he could have changed that much over 2 weeks?

"Will?" I asked, a little surprised.

"Yeah," he sighed, "it's me."

"You look so different," I said, looking him over again.

He sighed again. "Yeah. My sister had a party and all her stupid friends decided to give me a makeover. Mom wasn't too happy."

I laughed. That's why he looked so tan, he had a spray tan!

"Anyways, I just came by to give this to you," he said, holding out a piece of paper. I took it from his hand and read it.

What: Laser Tag

Why: My birthday

When: Saturday, June 16 at 6

RSVP by June 13.

"An invitation for your birthday?" I asked.

He rolled his eyes. "Do I have to read it out loud for you?" Will asked sarcastically.

I smiled. "Okay, I'll go, let me just ask my mom."

"See you later," he said, walking down our front steps.

-

"Okay, so the teams will be me and Lexi verses Luke and Anne," Will said, buckling up his laser vest.

I could feel my cheeks burning, but luckily Lexi came to the rescue.

"What? You don't think Anne and I could take you?" she asked, outraged.

"Well, you are girls," Luke chipped in.

Lexi glared at him. "It's on. Will, put me and Anne on the same team," she demanded. Will raised his hands innocently.

"Fine."

"Huddle," Lexi commanded me. I came in close, and she pressed her forehead against mine. "Now, we need to beat these boys," she said, "here's the strategy. Stay back to back, never split up, and hide in places that you are safe, but where you can also easily ambush people, okay?"

I nodded, and she pulled her face back, smacking my shoulder. "Let's go," she said.

And we entered the course.

As soon as we got in, I couldn't see anything. I wasn't sure if it was due to the fog that filled the room, or the darkness, or both. Either way, I couldn't see, which was never good in a situation such as this. I felt someone skim my arm, and I screeched, but realized it was only Lexi.

"Quiet, stupid," she hissed, and she grabbed my hand and yanked me so that my back was on hers. We moved against the wall, until we could see better. The theme was a castle, and so there were many places to hide. Lexi pulled me to our left, underneath a large bridge. Then she pulled me near the ground, where I saw there was a small space dug into it. She pulled me down into it, and we pointed our guns out from either side of the bridge. She must have known about this spot in advance, because there was no way she could have seen it.

"I found a map online that showed all the best hiding spots," she said as if she had read my mind. I laughed, and she slapped my knee, pointing to two figures coming toward us, who I assumed to be WIll and Luke.

We pointed our guns, ready to shoot the targets on their vests. When they got in a close range, I aimed and pressed my trigger, sending a beam of red light straight onto the target.

"Shoot!" Will said, when he realized he had been shot.

Lexi fired at Luke, and then his gun was frozen, too.

They scrambled off in another direction, and Lexi slowly stood up, holding on to my arm.

"This way," she said, leading me up the bridge and into the castle. There we found a small room with a window that let you see pretty much the entire arena.

"There they are," she said smiling and pointing her gun. When they blinked red, we knew that they had been shot again.

This continued for about a half hour, and we hadn't been shot once. When our vests and guns were deactivated and the arena door opened, we stepped out and looked at the screen for our results.

"Yeah!!!" Lexi screamed when she saw the standings.

Luke had been shot 17 times by her and 19 by me, and Will had been shot a total of 40 times, 23 by her and 17 ny me. We high-fived, and then started laughing, seeing that neither of us had been shot at all.

"How did you do it?" Luke asked, obviously confused and a little frustrated.

"Well," Lexi said smirking, "we are girls."