extrovert

lake baylor

my parents aren't exactly what one would call "freelance" so i had to concoct a plan that would get me in and out without getting caught . luckily , my parents had some fancy dinner to attend later that night so it'd be easy to sneak back into the house with no one home . at around 4:50 , i got a message from  adonis .

adonis : gale , wear swim trunks . under your clothes .

me : for what reason ? seen 5m .... 10m ... 1 h

he never responded , so i just went with it . i put on a gray long sleeve shirt and a black bomber jacket on over it . i had to go up to the attic to find some gloves but i found a pair inside one of the boxes that we were yet to unpack . i packed a backpack full of random things i needed consisting of a flashlight and an extra jacket .

"gaelin what are you doing in the attic ?" my dad said , poking his head in the attic . i set the backpack inside of one of the boxes hastily . "and why are you wearing that outfit ?"

"uhmmm .. im playing .. dress .. up ?" i said matter of factly , trying to make my dad as uncomfortable as possible .

"i'll .. uh .. leave you to it.." he muttered as he exited the attic . i sighed a breath of relief . i grabbed the book bag and closed the attic door and ran to my   room . i put on some shoes , and turned on a christmas playlist to make it seem like i was studying . with that , i opened my window and dropped my back pack . i closed the window and stepped out of my window onto a small bit of the roof and looked down . two floors down . it was somewhat of a large jump so i grabbed onto one of the gutters and hung onto it while i let the rest of my body drop . i hung from the gutter for a second before i let it go and hit the ground . 

my heart was pounding . i grabbed my backpack and ran up the hill my driveway went through and hid in front of the bushes . i looked at google maps and noticed the closest walmart was the super center in wenatchee . and i didn't have a ride . 

me : adonis how the hell do i get there walking ?

adonis : typing ...

adonis : look down the street .

i read adonis' text and looked up to see a black jeep driving down the street with adonis in the driver's seat . i opened the door of the shotgun seat and got in . mila and avalon were sat in the back , both on their phones . 

"i think they're addicted ," i said as i buckled my seat belt . the entire drive was just us talking to each other about various topics and music playing in the background . apparently corey and sadie had gotten a drive from sadie's older sister who really didn't care what illegal activities were going to be taking place tonight . 

adonis parked in the parking lot and we all walked into walmart to see sadie and corey already inside . we greeted them and the fun commensed .

"first we're gonna go get some drawing supplies so we can draw some stuff . next ,  we're gonna go night swimming , them possible do some more coloring. okay ? okay ," avalon said and we split into three groups of two . adonis and i headed to the yard work section to look for 'coloring supplies' . i was immensely confused why we were im the yardwork section but i just went with it . 

"this will do ," adonis said , grabbing several cans of multi colored spray paint off of the shelves  and put the, under his arms to hold them . oh . oh . coloring activities . right . i helped him and grabbed a couple cans as well . all of us agreed to meet up in the bike section of the store so adonis and i headed over there . when we turned down the aisle , we were confronted my avalon riding down the aisle on a tricycle , mila in the back basket . corey and sadie recorded them .

"aDoNiSsSs LoOk aT mEeEee !" avalon yelled through laughs . he didn't seem amused so she kept on riding around with the same smile on . it was kinda funny but i just decided to keep a straight face with adonis . "im gonna make an adulthood decision and buy this ." adonis scoffed and we went to the checkout line to make our purchases .

all of us loaded into the jeep but before we left we had to wait for avalon . she was slowly pedaling towards the vEhicLeE on her newly bought tricycle .

"avalon do you need a ride or not ?" adonis shouted , turning on his jeep .

"naahhh im good ," she said , slowly passing the vEhicLeeEe . adonis drove up behind her so that her back and the front of the jeep were touching and he sped ahead , making avalon's tricycle go full speed . "ADONIS STOP SLOW DOWN THIS ISNT FUNNY STOP NOW PLEASE STOP YOURE MAKING ME SCARED ADONIS STOP ." adonis slowed to a stop and we everyone burst out laughing , adonis cracking a smile as she shoved the tricycle into the trunk . and at that , we were off . 

thirty minutes after we rode on a forest path , we arrived at our unknown destination - a small lake.

"welcome to lake baylor ," adonis said , hopping out . we all got out as well and followed him to a small fire pit with logs surrounding it . there was a small dock and that went out a little ways . "i take chicks out here every now and then , it's pretty fun ." he pulled a lighter out of his back pocket and lit the fire started at the bottom at fire . "you guys just gonna stand there orrrr ..." he    said , taking his shirt and pants off , revealing his swim trunks .

i did the same and walked over to the dock and watched adonis jump in , getting splashed with water . it . was . freezing . i immediately made my way back down the dock . 

"gale come on you'll get used to it ," adonis yelled , swimming around . i turned around and looked at him , considering it .

"fine . " i walked to the edge of the dock but before i could jump in , two tiny hands pushed me into the ice cold water . i screeched . when i came back up to the surface , i looked to see who pushed me in to see mila . on her phone . recording all of it . i splashed her and glared . she just smirked . eventually the rest of the girls got in a we swam until it was dark . "i can't see shit  , adonis . got any lights ?"

"i dunno . " i heard him say from somewhere around me  . i got out and went to the fire for warmth and light . i saw a switch on the top of one of the dock logs and when i pressed 'on' , string lights connected on all the trees surrounding the lake turned on . i smiled , it was truly beautiful . 

we all fasted around the campfire , bathing suits still on and made s'mores from the supplies that corey and sadie had bought and played t or d .

"avalon it's your turn ," corey said .

"uuhhhm, gale truth or dare ," she said before taking a bite out of her s'more .

"dare ," i said confidently as i watched my marshmallow turn a golden brown .

"i dare you to go to the end of the dock and sing the national anthem as loud as you can ," she said almost immediately , smirking . i sighed and went to the end of the dock and unleashed my 'the voice' worthy voice .

"OOOOHHHHH SAY CAN YOU SEEEE BY THE DAWNS EARLY LIGHGHTTT WHICH SO PROOOUUDDLLY WE HAILED AT THE TWILIGHT'S LAST GLEAMING . WHOSE BROAD STRIPES AND BRIGHT STAAAAARRRRSSS THROUGH THE PERILOUS FIGHHTTT O'ER THE RAMPARTSSS WE WATTTCCHHEDD WERE SO GALLANTLY STREAMING . AND THE ROCKETS RED GLARE , THE BOMBS BURSTING IN AIR , GAVE PROOF THROUGH THE NIGHT THAT OUR FLAG WAS STILL THERE . OH SAY DOES OUR STAR SPANGLED BANNER YEEETT WAAAAAVVVEEE . OR THE LAAAND OF THE FREEEEEEEEE AND THE HOOOME OF THEEEE BBBBRRRAAAAAAVV-" i sang with a proud heart and disappointed vocal cords until i was pushed into the water by mila . again . but this time i grabbed her hand and pulled her in with me . we both surfaced and i laughed my ass off at her dire expression .

we did a couple more rounds of truth or dare then went venturing and found an old rope swing that was used a couple times . we dried off then put out the fire with lake water , put our clothes back on and all piled into then jeep . we were just pulling out until i stopped the jeep saying 'wAIT' and sprinted back to the dock and spray painted "WALMART SQUAD 11-13" onto it .