Teenagers

Prologue

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are a product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2014 by Rie Elaine

All right reserved.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Prologue ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

"You may now kiss the bride." A little voice said with mock sincerity as he held up a comic book instead of the Bible. The officiant of the wedding, also known as my good friend Josh, told me his mother wouldn't allow him to bring his Bible outside in fear of it getting dirty.

In reaction to hearing those glorious words I squeezed my eyes shut and puckered my lips in anticipation. However, instead of a kiss I received the heart wrenching words that no eight year old bride ever wants to hear.

"Eww!!! I don't want to kiss her! That's so gross." said the spiky haired boy in front of me. My eyes flew open to see him scrunching up his face as if he had just eaten a lemon.

"Oh come on Adelix, you don't still believe Dahlia has the cooties do you?" said Josh

"No." the kid with the porcupine hair named Adelix retorted "I just like older woman."

Josh rolled his eyes and flipped his blond hair at that comment.

"Addie you're ruining the game." A girl with big chocolate saucers for eyes and two long brunette braids softly whined.

At that moment I knew that he would have to cave and give me the smooch I deserved. Adelix always had a soft spot for Valentine, but I suppose in a way we all did. Valentine was the youngest in our group and the most adorable; therefore she was entitled to the baby treatment. She was the only one allowed to call him Addie and he always gave her what she wanted, even more so than her older brother Vaughn.

"Fi-" he started to say, but a quiet voice cut the word leaving his mouth in half.

"I'll kiss her." Vaughn said calmly as he looked up from the sidewalk.

Our heads swiveled in unison as soon as he spoke. I was surprised that he even wanted to butt into the game. He had spent the entire summer afternoon avoiding it by drawing characters with his sister's chalk, because in his words the game was "too girly" for him to play. Adelix first raised an eyebrow questioning and then, as if he realized he would no longer be forced to kiss me, grinned.

Vaughn coolly stood up, wiped his hands on himself (which left rainbow streaks on his blue jeans), and subsequently pushed his wavy dark tresses behind his ears.

"I'm not gonna kiss her right here though. We'll go over there so you guys can't see." He said firmly, well as firm as a nine year olds voice can get, as he pointed to the secluded area.

Then he seized my small hand in his and yanked me over to the side of the apartment building.

"Hey Vaughn-"

"Shh!" He said rudely while still tugging my arm until we were far enough away for them not to hear us.

It wasn't enough to be hidden from sight. We had to take cover from their eavesdropping prone ears as well. A teeny-weeny thought tip-toed inside my mind that maybe he was doing all of this because he didn't want to be seen kissing me. My throat tightened as it worked to shove down the salty lump that was quickly emerging. I would not cry outside and embarrass myself.

"Hey Vaughn," I said again when we were safely out of earshot and had stopped walking.

"Don't worry Doll you don't need to kiss me- I mean if you don't want to. I just said that so you wouldn't have to deal with Adelix."