Tortured

Chapter Three: Stay True

Perry

(Summer 2012) 6 years earlier...

After slamming the cooler shut, I stomp over to Jeremy and slap him upside the head. "Hey, genius. We need ice in the cooler unless you plan on drinking warm beer all weekend."

Jeremy rubs his head and narrows his eyes at me. "No shit. We're stopping at the gas station on the way to the lake."

"Alright then" I grumble, leaning back against the Jeep.

Jeremy continues shoving last minute essentials into his duffle while eyeing me from time to time.

"What's up your ass? I thought you were excited to go to the lake for the weekend."

I flip my ball cap around and lower my shades. "Yeah, well Sloan is being a little bitch and as of twenty minutes ago-she isn't coming."

"Fuck her, bro," Walker proclaims, draping his arm over my shoulder. Jeremy tosses him a cold beer and he catches it with his free hand. He then proceeds to open it with his teeth, spilling some on me in the process. I growl under my breath.

"Sorry, man," Walker says with his signature grin. Walker is always smiling. It doesn't matter what we're doing, or how much trouble we are about to be in, you'll always see Walker standing there with a shit-eating grin on his face. I wish I had the strength to be that happy all the time.

Jeremy stops loading the duffle and looks up at me. "Okay, now I kind of want to know. What happened? You two were practically fucking against the side of my house earlier this morning when we were packing up Tess."

I light a cigarette and exhale through my nose. "Your guess is as good as mine. She was going off about some party at Johnny Tate's and how everyone is going to be there and how we never do what she wants to, and blah, fucking, blah."

"Johnny Tate is a douchebag," Tess says from behind me. She hoists her bag into the back seat and then turns to me and smiles.

"Thank you," I say, pulling her over to me. I squeeze her against my side. "I'm glad someone around here understands what I'm going through."

Jeremy rolls his eyes, but I catch something different in Walker's. Jealousy maybe?

I remove my arm from Tess and press redial on my phone. I've called Sloan about ten times in the past ten minutes, so I'm about due for another. When it goes straight to voicemail I throw it as hard as I can into traffic. We are parked along the side of the highway while we reorganize all the baggage. Apparently that will no longer be necessary since Sloan's not coming.

"Are you going to get that?" Walker asks, glancing at my phone laying precariously in between the yellow lines.

With a sigh I start to walk over to retrieve it. Right when I'm about to step on the road, a semi truck blasts around the corner, nearly knocking me off my feet. I clutch my chest and watch in horror as the wheels shatter my only means of communication. I might as well be dead.

"Great!" I cry, throwing my hands up. "That's fucking great. What if she calls?"

I face my friends as each of them avoid eye contact with me. I plant my hands on my hips. "None of you want her to come?"

More silence.

"You know what," I say, taking determined steps to the jeep. I grab my duffle from the back and drape it over my shoulder. "Then I'm not going either."

"Ah, come on man. Of course we want her to come," Jeremy chimes in while pulling his shoulder length brown hair into a bun. I fight the urge to roll my eyes. I hate when he does that.

"Yeah," Walker adds. "We've been planning this trip for weeks, and now that Tess is finally fifteen, she gets to come with us. It will be fun, with or without Sloan."

Tess is leaning against the passenger door pretending to look disinterested. Her dark hair is braided up her head and twisted into knots sticking out at the sides. For being late summer, she still doesn't have much of a tan, but the glow she does have makes her eyes sparkle against her skin.

"Um, Perry?" Jeremy says, interrupting my thoughts. "You coming or what?"

Biting down my frustration, I throw my bag in the back and climb inside. Surprisingly, Tess sits next to me. And by next to me, I mean very close. With all the baggage we are taking there are barely two seat back here.

When Walker starts the ignition, she finally looks over at me with a small smile. "I'm glad you came."

I pat the top of her leg. "Me, too."

It was meant to be a friendly gesture, but the look in her eyes and the warmth running up my arm from where I touched her tells me otherwise. Bishop. Her name is Bishop and she's a dude.

***

The Lake House, if you can even call it that, is only a thirty-minute drive. It's basically a small cabin with barely any running water and no electricity. But to us, it's the greatest thing we've ever seen. Lake Wintergreen is perhaps the most scenic lake in all of New Haven. That may just be my personal opinion, but coming here every summer is something I look forward to the most.

The houses along the lake go for upwards of a million dollars and to have a small cabin like Walker's family, you still need to spend a pretty penny. It does come with a dock, boat launch (complete with skidoos) and the infamous golf cart. It seems that no matter how hard we try; every year something happens to the poor thing. I hope this year will be different. We like having it around.

I'm sitting on a wooden rocking chair trying like hell to piece back together my shattered phone. I let off a string of profanities every five seconds until a small phone is handed to me. I turn to see Tess in the chair beside me, an amused expression on her face.

"Here, use mine."

I can't help but smile a little. "Thanks, Bishop. But calling Sloan from another girls' phone, no matter who they are, will just cause more problems."

Tess slumps back in her seat and shoves her phone in her pocket. With a sigh she says, "Well, don't let her ruin you trip."

Turning to her, I tilt my head. "Don't ever change, Bishop. Don't let some guy make you feel like you're not good enough or mess with some guys head just because you can. Just keep being you, okay?"

"Okay," she says hesitantly. "Are you okay, Perry?"

I stand up from my chair and stretch my arms above my head. "Yeah, I'm cool. I need to take a walk."

I step into the cabin to get my shoes and the bedroom door is closed that I'm sharing with Jeremy. I knock twice.

"Who is it?" he shouts through the door.

I laugh. "It's me. What are you doing jerking off in there?"

He opens the door slowly and looks around nervously before landing his eyes on me.

"You alone."

I push on his chest to move him back, but he stops me. "Yes, I'm alone. Why are you acting so weird?"

A wicked smile crosses his lips. "I have a plan."

I arch an eyebrow. "What kind of plan?"

He steps aside and I immediately see what he's talking about.

"Jer, this seems like trouble."

He pats me on the back, pride in his eyes. "Yep. A whole lot of it."

A/N: What do you think Jeremy's plan is? How are you liking it so far? Young Perry is quite different, eh? We'll see what changes that ;-)