What happens after Trey

Chapter 8

"I'm starving!" I groaned as I slammed the fridge door closed.

"You're always hungry," Perry pointed out. I pouted and leant against the arm of the couch, letting myself fall back onto his lap. He protested as his book went flying. I stared up at him with my best puppy-dog eyes and batted my eyelashes. "What exactly would you like me to do about that your highness?" He asked with a frustrated sigh.

"I don't know, let's ride to the general store," I suggested sitting upright. He groaned dramatically.

"You seriously want to ride up that massive hill?" He asked incredulously.

"The exercise will do you good chubby!" I teased, jumping up before he could react and running up the stairs. I threw Perry's faded flannelette shirt over my singlet and slipped into my lace up boots. I emptied my wallet and stuffed the money into the pocket of my jeans, shoving a piece of mint gum into my mouth. I had to practically drag Perry out of the house.

"We have food inside you know!" he whined and huffed when he got no reply. "By the way, do you have something against wearing your own clothes?"

"Well, if you did the washing every once in a while..." I started and he rolled his eyes. I pushed my bike into the street, jumped on and took off down the street. This was another of my favourite summer pastimes. I was always dragging the boys off on rides. The thrill of racing down the dusty streets with the wind flying at you just filled me with something. It might have also had something to do with the fact that I was ten times faster than the boys. I glanced back to see Perry, metres behind me and puffing as he pushed himself up the hill. What happened to all those new muscles? The hill was pretty steep and it was constantly sloping upwards all along the main street. The funny part was, this wasn't even the one he had been dreading, that one came on the way back. I had my own special trick for facing the hills, one that I refused to share with the boys. What can I say, I like watching them suffer. But my trick was simple: fool your mind. I just keep telling myself the hill's just up the road, evening when I'm already going up it and soon enough it's behind me. It works every single time and I barely even get tired. Perry on the other hand, looked like he could pass out any minute. I dropped back so I was level with him and urged him forward with my semi-helpful encouragement. We came to the point where the dust and dirt gives way to cracked and faded tar road and began our race down to the bottom. I swerved expertly to avoid parked cars and beat him with plenty of time, continuing on up a narrow closed road. We dismounted and pushed out bikes along, trying our best to avoid puddles, rocks and potholes.

"Bloody hell, I'm stuffed!" Perry said, out of breath.

"Who's weak now?" I laughed. He bumped me with his shoulder and I stumbled, falling to the side and landing on my bum beside my bike. He burst into a fit of hysterical laughter, sounding somewhat like a seal on steroids. I fought to keep the glare plastered on my face as I stood up and dusted dirt of my jeans. "You better not have scratched my baby!" I warned as I picked it up and pushed it on ahead.

I cursed the heavens above as we rounded the corner. Perry's eyes narrowed scarily and his hands balled up into fists. There, sitting at the table, was the devil himself. Freddie and company were seated at their usual table out the front of the Needle Cove General Store. There were the usuals of course; Freddie, the twins and their girlfriends, Georgia and Lauren O'Connor, and Tommy Richards. The last guy, sitting next to Jake, was a complete stranger to me. He was cute, that was the first thing I noticed. He had shaggy brown hair and a fringe that stopped just over his eyebrows. I figured he was new since he wasn't as involved in the pointless conversation as the others. He glanced up and caught me staring. I looked away quickly and stared down at my feet, with one on the pedal and one on the ground. I swung my leg over my bike and pushed it over to the stands, hearing Perry behind me doing the same. The stands were all occupied by modern mountain bikes with flashy features so I parked my blue vintage beauty against a light pole.