Love, Isla (Wattys 2016)

5 | challenging

***

I s l a
I stare at Jenny, frowning. "Aren't you too young to go to a blind date?"

Jenny raises a brow, "No. I am not too young. And who cares? Your such a goody-two shoes, Penrose. You need to man up and live life."

"I'm good with living life happily with my books and TV Shows, thank you very much," I say, slapping back against the bed beside Jenny who was lying on her butt, throwing her phone and catching it every now and then. "And I'm actually not as much as a goody-two shoes as you think I am. Im can be badass. I think."

"Yeah, right. Fine, you think your badass? Let's prank Callum," she says, looking at me with a challenging smile.

"No! Are you crazy? You saw what he did to me!" I say, huffing a stray piece of hair away from my face.

"Buck! Buck! Buck! Oh, you are so badass Penrose. Buck! Buck!" Jenny taunts, rolling her eyes. She continues bucking and I smack her in the cheek with a pillow, giving up.

"FINE! Deal, whatever, let's prank him."

"Yay! Hey, do you maybe happen have waterguns?"

***

"How exactly do you know how to unlock a door without a key?" I ask, tugging a piece of hair under my YMCMB snapback and staring at Jenny. She sticks her hairpin in the lock and twist it around numerous times.

"Er..." She sticks her tongue into the inside of her cheek and squats to peer in the keyhole. "Practice. Experience. I don't know, I just do."

The door doesn't budge for a few more times until she finally kicks it open and peeps inside, lowering her beanie. I pass her her water gun and she mutters,"coast's clear, Subject B."

My eyebrows fuse together in confusion. "Subject B?"

"Code names, idiot," Jenny hisses, tugging me into the hallway of the Hayes' house and drawing me into thier recognizable diner and then up thier staircase.

"Why am I Subject B? I want to be Subject A."

"No, I'm Subject A, I'm the one who thought of this."

"I'm the one who agreed!"

Jenny stops midway through the media room and stomps her foot hard on the ground, glaring at me stubbornly. "Well, I'm the one who made you agree, you big-headed, selfish, greedy little pig - "

"Um, who are you? Is that you, Isla?"

I froze. So did Jenny who's eyes widened in shock, her mouth falling slack. Tanya stood, half her body peeking out of her bedroom's ajar door, the other half in.

Shit.

"Oh, hey, Tanya...I was just - er - er - just going for a walk at Beacon Hill's Park and got...a little...erm lost?" I laugh nervously.

Her eyes narrowed a little and she stares at us for what seems like forever before she asks, "with water guns?"

"You know, it's hot so we thought it would be helpful?" Jenny suggests, smiling hopefully.