Cronkri: I won't let you down

Chapter 6

Cronus and I had been dating for a couple months at this point. One of his friends, Meenah, was holding a pool party. All of the popular people from school (pretty much everyone in any physical sport) were invited and allowed to bring one friend.

"Sounds perfect for us, Kan. Whaddaya think?" Cronus asked after reading the invitation out loud to me. He's the only one allowed to call me by my nicknames.
I nodded. "I wouldn't mind going.. Though it would only be worth it if you were there. Meenah scares me a little bit and I'm not sure I trust her."
"Who, Meen? Aw man, she wouldn't hurt'cha. 'Specially when I'm around."
"Alright... You have a point. I wouldn't put it past her though."
He shrugged, taking my hand in his. "I'll keep an eye out for ya."
I smiled at him.
Then my dad walked in through the front door. I practically leaped away from Cronus, sitting on the opposite end of the couch and picking up a book, acting as though I had been reading it out loud to him this whole time.
"Harry shook his head and applied himself to his scrambled- Oh, hi dad! You're home early!"
Cronus played along and sat in a relaxed position on the couch, one arm draped lazily over the arm rest. "Hey Mr. Vantas!"
Dad walked past us without even glancing sideways, shifting through the mail in his hands. "Hm. Hello, Cronus," he said dismissively before disappearing into his office.
We both sighed in relief. I looked at Cronus and he smiled at me. Maybe this wouldn't be so hard to hide after all.

That Friday, Cronus and I met up so he could drive us to the party. I was perfectly capable of driving myself, but Dad needed the car to get to work. The party took place at Meenah's house, which was actually really big, a fact I hadn't known before. The weather was beautiful; the sun was shining and the sky was clear. Perfect weather for a pool party. Once we made it to the back yard, we saw that the majority of the people were relaxing in and around the huge pool.
I was hesitant to enter and socialize-- parties have never been my thing-- but Cronus took my hand in his firm grasp and I no longer had a choice.
As he pulled me toward the crowd of people, I looked around at everyone there. Most of the faces I actually recognized from school, but the fact that they were familiar faces didn't mean they were all friendly faces. In fact, they were quite the opposite. They were the kids who had tripped me in the hallways, shoved me against lockers, made me late to class, and threw spitballs at me all throughout middle school. I tried hiding behind Cronus, but he wasn't there.

"CANNONBALL!!!" I heard him shout, followed by a loud splash. Oh dear.
His shirt was on the ground by my feet. I turned around and looked at him, floating there shirtless in the water, looking back up at me. "C'mon Kan, not like it can hurt ya!"
I went around to the other side of the pool and lowered myself into the water properly, using the ladder. The icy cold water sent a chill up my spine, but it was a nice relief from the hot summer day. I kept my arms crossed over my chest to keep somewhat warm, not really enjoying the feeling of water under my arms and between my legs.
"What, not even gonna take your shirt off?" Cronus asked, walking through the water to get closer to me. He practically towered over me, even though where he was standing was slightly deeper than where I was.
I shook my head. "It's called a swim shirt for a reason. I never intended to take it off."
He made a little pouty face, as if my decision to remain fully clothed upset him. "I was lookin' forward to that~"
I blushed. "Cronus please! We are in public!"
He laughed and tapped my butt playfully under the water, causing me to yelp a little bit in surprise. This only made him laugh more.
By then, my face was obviously flushing bright red, but Cronus had wandered off to go talk to the other popular kids who were hanging out along the edge of the pool in the deep end. Many of the girls were scantily clad cheerleaders trying to get his attention, but he did a good job of keeping the conversation topics strictly platonic from what I could hear. Honestly, I couldn't blame the girls. Who wouldn't want the attention of an attractive, muscular, 6-foot-tall football star who was practically perfect in every way?

The lack of someone to talk to left me standing in the middle of the pool with the water up to my belly button, feeling even more self-conscious than usual. I tried looking around to see if any of my friends were there, but they're all the kind of people who don't get invited to these things. I sighed, then got out of the water without getting my hair wet and wandered around the yard, weaving in and out of people. I had managed to find the snack table and snag a few potato chips, keeping mostly out of the way of anyone else who came nearby.

About five minutes had gone by before someone ran out of the house and made an announcement.
"PARTY GAMES INSIDE!!!"
I rolled my eyes. Another over-enthusiastic freshman. I didn't doubt there would be all sorts of games that involved people doing things that they don't want to do.
Then Cronus showed up.
"Aren't you goin' inside?"
I shook my head. "I've heard stories of what goes on at parties like these... They aren't very pleasant."
"Aw, you're no fun."
"I am fun!"
"Not now. D'you even know how to have fun?"
"I can be fun... Just watch! I'll go in there and have the most fun!" I stomped into the house indignantly.
Cronus laughed and followed me inside.

Everyone met in the basement. It was a well-furnished basement with a carpeted floor, a few comfy chairs, a bean bag, a 30-inch flatscreen TV, and a walk-in closet. Damn rich people.
We all sat in a big circle, some people moving the chairs and bean bag into it. Cronus and I sat on the floor as Meenah took her place in the middle of the circle, holding an empty cardboard box.
"Alright listen up gills and buoys. The first game we're playin' is seven minutes in heaven. For those a you who don't know-" she faked coughed, "freshmen- I'm gonna explain it to ya. Sea this box here? All a you are gonna take one thing and put it in there. I can't stress to you enough: don't forget your item. It can be anyfin bigger than a piece a hair, really. Then everyone gets to pick from the box, startin' with me and going clockwise around the circle. Whoever's item you pick, you gotta go with that person into that there closet for seven minutes and do anything you want, in the dark, alone, for seven minutes. Got it?"
There was a murmur of agreement from the group as people searched their pockets for things to use as an item. They began putting clothing and jewelry items into the box, some even using snack foods. My item was my towel and Cronus' was his shirt.
Meenah got to choose first. She pulled out a purple t shirt with a skeleton print on it. Kurloz Makara, the one everyone knows as the quiet skeleton kid, stood up, a smile on his white-painted face.
"Aw yeah! Kurloz, my man!"
They high-fived and went into the room. Someone used the timer on Meenah's phone to make sure they were only in there for seven minutes. Now usually when the game is played, the rest of the people are supposed to wait until the time is up and not pay attention to the couple in the room. Naturally, half the people had their ears cupped to the door, trying to figure out what was going on inside. One person even had an audio recorder to get what was happening.
After the time was up, the alarm went off on the phone and Meenah and Kurloz came out of there, wearing exactly what they had worn going in. The only difference was that Kurloz's skeleton makeup was a little bit smudged, but that could've been anything.
Next was Cronus's turn to pick. He fished around the box for a little bit without looking, most likely trying to find my towel.
"Ahah!" he exclaimed, pulling a towel out of the box. But it wasn't mine. It was blue-and-red striped and covered in bees.
A high-pitched squeak of happiness came from a person on the other side of the circle. It was Mituna Captor, the strawberry-blonde kid with a mental disorder. There are plenty of rumors about what exactly he has, but no one knows for sure which is true.
Cronus casted me a glance that said something along the lines of either 'I'm sorry' or 'help me.' I patted his arm, somewhat amused by the situation.
"Have fun~" I said teasingly.
He grumbled a little bit before standing up and putting on a fake smile for Mituna. They went into the room and someone started the timer.