Teenage Dream

21

            After dancing in the huge crowd for awhile, to avoid being spotted, she saw Hunter, Kyle and Derek over by a keg of beer.  She went over, taking Hunter’s drink and finishing it.  His eyes widened a little, but he didn’t’ stop her. 

“Hey boys” she said with a smile.

“Surprised to see you here Charlie” Derek spoke up. 

“I’m on a date” she said, crossing her eyes and wrinkling her nose playfully, causing the boys to smile. 

“With who?”

“Jackson” she answered, taking Kyle’s drink, and finishing it off too.  Why she couldn’t just get her own? She was glad they didn’t ask. 

“Jackson?” Hunter asked, his jaw tensing a little when she nodded. 

“Man, if Logan didn’t have that scholarship, that dude would be six feet under.” Derek said, shaking his head, before taking a drink.  Kyle shot him a look, and Charlie wondered what he meant by that, but didn’t ask, pushing the thought to the back of her head. 

“Where is Logan?” She asked, “and Ben” she took Derek’s drink this time, but Hunter took it away before she drank it.

“Logan doesn’t come to parties, and you shouldn’t drink too much.  Jackson won’t hesitate to take advantage”

“They’re here.”

“What?”

“Logan, and Ben, they’re here somewhere.” As if on cue, the two boys made their way through the crowd, both holding red Solo cups.  Ben’s had beer, but Logan’s was just a Diet Coke.  There was no way he was going to let something happen to her because he was too drunk to stop it.

            Jackson had given up his search about 20 minutes ago.  Taking satisfaction that she wasn’t with Logan or Ben in the kitchen was enough for him to take a break, and grab a drink.  Then the temptation to get completely smashed with his friends overpowered his desire for the feisty, clever brunette.  He’s powerful, and manipulative when it comes to actually speaking to her, he got her here, right? But his motivation to miss out on booze to search for her was lacking.  

            After more beers than he could count, Jackson had forgotten about Charlie.

            Safe for now.

            Pretty sure that Jackson had given up on his search, Charlie relaxed, she drank one more beer, and spent the next few hours dancing around with her five favorite guys.  She felt a little guilty that Kayla wasn’t there to enjoy this with her.  Especially since drunk Kyle, was even wilder, and more adorable than sober Kyle. 

            “We’re leaving for break in ONE WEEK.  That means 2 weeks of you pansies laying on your lazy asses in front of the TV eating left over Turkey legs and stuffing with a side of cheesecake.  Let me tell you right now, that is UNACCEPTABLE.  I expect you to keep up some sort of exercise.  The first game when you come back is against the Pirates, and we WILL NOT LOSE! When the Spring season starts we are gong to annihilate all those mo-fos, and to do that we need intimidation! And NO ONE is intimidated by a bunch of flabby, breathless, GIRLS that can’t even beat the PIRATES in pre-season!” Coach yelled as the boys did sit-ups.  They’d just finished running 10 laps. 

“100 Push-ups! DANIELS! COUNT THEM!” he yelled, as his phone rang.  He started walking off as he answered. 

“1!.. 2!..3!” Ben called, as the boys lifted themselves off the ground.  Practice had been going on for over 3 hours.  They’d run over 50 laps, done 100 sit ups, and had run around, actually playing soccer for well over an hour.  Coach was in kill mode, and the boys were exhausted.