Tara sprung back against the wall, still sitting on the messy bed. Tommy immediately jumped up and sat on the ground, cursing himself for his flushed cheeks and keeping his dazed appearance in check. The nob jiggled some more and then Jessie entered, slamming the door shut behind him. He made a beeline to his bed and collapsed while he asked, "Tara, what are you doing here?"
Tommy breathed an internal sigh of relief that Jessie was too tired to take in the actual situation and explained to him the video game deal.
Jessie yawned and nodded and said, "Well don't let me ruin your fun then."
Tara blushed while she remembered and again a faint flush crept over Tommy's neck and face. He looked over at Tara
"Want me to walk you back to your room?"
She nodded silently.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------thenextday------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The next day proceeded much like the previous. Tara woke up, went to the gym, and ran. She showered grabbed a muffin at the cafeteria and ran into Jessie again at the soccerfield. They met up with Christy and Tommy and goofed off for a while. Tommy and her just acted like yesterday hadn't happened, I mean everyone has teen desires right? She went back to her room and took a nap. Tara changed and her, Christy, Beth, and Grace hung out.
She went back to her room and changed, ready for the challenge.
Tara pulled her thick black hair back into a high ponytail and pinned her bangs up. She pulled on a black tanktop and rolled up the golden basketball shorts that she'd nabbed off of Jessie so that they were mid-thigh. After finishing off with knee-high black socks and adding a bit of bling (a set of golden mardi-gras beads) she put her phone in her pocket and headed out.
She met up with Grace, Henry, Rebecca, Stephen, Tommy, and Lindsay who was stuck to Tommy's side in front of the girls dormitory. They marched as a group towards the field, all clad in a variety of sports shorts, t-shirts, and tank tops in colors ranging from orangey-yellow to gold, with a few colors mixed in of course. Everyone had on tennis-shoes, except for Lindsay who was clad in a pair of strapless golden rompers and flip-flops.
As Tara approached the woods she struggled to see what was going on. The slowly fading evening light revealed all the groups gathered with their advisors. They each received a flashlight and wrapped a ribbon around their waist in their team color. It looked like they were up for a game of good ol' capture the flag. The objective was to have three flags in your position; your own flag counted because in the case it was captured, you'd have to grab three others. The teams could choose their own flag placement. The members "put in jail" were to return to the front of the woods as their captors kept their waist-ribbon. You could only send someone to jail if they were within approximately 20 feet of your flag. The teams divied up and discussed strategy.
Reagan leaned in and formed a group huddle. She quickly assessed the strengths of each player. Lindsay was assigned to guard duty along with Jonathan, Parker, and Stephen. Rebecca and Henry were decoys. Tara and Tommy were flag scouts. Grace and Jenni were flag grabbers and runners. They developed an efficient system of both communication (phones were banned) and orders. Each team received a flare to send up when and if they won.
"Time's up guys. Do your best to win. Fight a little dirty, but not too dirty. Break on three. 1...2...3....WOOH!!"
They ran into the woods.
Tara and Tommy began to follow members of the purple team, their biggest rivals and walked around them. They left marks on the trees and slowly watched as the purple team members switched around.
