I watched William and Chase walk outside towards the shed. They returned to the back porch with three water guns, a bucket, and a hose. Chase started to fill the bucket with water while William struggled to fill the water guns. I giggled at the little kid who was now dressed in a light blue striped shirt and dark blue shorts.
"So how does this game work?" I questioned.
"Well, everyone gets a water gun and you have to hide. Two people are zombies and one person is the zombie slayer." Chase explained.
William jumped up and down chanting, "I want to be the zombie slayer." Chase handed me a green water gun and he handed William a blue one. Chase's water gun matched mine, indicating that we were the zombies.
"Okay, when you are soaked by the zombie slayer or you give up, you become a zombie slayer and try to slay the last zombie. The object of the game is to be the last zombie alive." Chase looked at William, then at me, "Ready?" he asked.
"Sure." Chase ran in the opposite direction of me and hid behind a bush on the front lawn. I ran to the back of the yard and hid behind the shed. I saw William covering his eyes and counting to ten. When he reached ten he ran in the direction that Chase went. In a matter of seconds I could hear William screaming and laughing and Chase faking a death. It was a mixture of him begging for mercy and falling on the ground.
I moved further behind the shed so I was hidden completely and waited quietly. "Where could she be?" Chase asked to no one in particular.
I slid to the other side of the shed thinking Chase was coming from the opposite direction but was completely wrong when I felt my back become wet. I turned around and saw Chase squirting me with his gun. I squealed and ran the other way.
I ran into the middle of the yard where I was completely exposed. William was running at me with his gun pointed. I turned around to get away when I was greeted by Chase holding his gun at me as well. On instinct, I brought my gun up to protect myself and found that it was no use.
When I was distracted by Chase, William started squirting me with his water gun from behind and I knew my life as a zombie was over.
I turned around and sprayed him too. He started laughing as his light blue shirt became a darker blue. When William stopped laughing he looked behind me and his hand flew to his mouth. He started laughing again and backed up. I turned around in confusion only to see Chase standing behind me holding the bucket of water. So that's what that was for. "Chase," I backed up holding my hands in front of me, "you don't want to do that."
It was too late for reasoning when Chase lifted the bucket in the air and poured the whole thing on top of me. I screamed in horror as I felt my sweater becoming soaked. I could feel my tank top clinging to my stomach. I ran over to the hose that Chase left on. I took it and started spraying him and William.
Chase picked up William and brought him over to where the hose used to be, using him as a sheild along the way. They picked up mud, from the hose being left on, and ran towards me. My eyes got wide and I moved back. "No," I screamed as I was hit with mud, left and right. I picked up mud of my own and threw it at them. I hit Chase directly in the face and me and William both started laughing.
Soon enough, me and William were on the same team against Chase. We both ran over to him, me with the hose and William with mud. He tripped and fell to the ground landing on his back. Me and William both attacked him. William jumped on top of him and rubbed the mud on his face. I sprayed the hose in his face at the same time and we all started laughing histarically.
Chase picked up more mud and this time instead of throwing it at me, he threw it playfully at William, avoiding his face. I laughed at William's reaction, swatting at the air trying to get it away from him. Chase picked him up, and set him on top of his shoulders. Once he was in position, Chase asked, "Ready Pilot?" in a deep vioce.
"Ready," William screamed and Chase took off, running around the yard in circles. Chase held onto William's leg while William stretched his arms out to the side and turned as though he was gliding through the air like a airplane. I sat down on the steps and watched as they played together. Chase threw William up in the air playfully and caught him, putting him back on his feet. They both joined me on the steps, laughing and out of breath. I picked up the hose and held it out in front of me.
"Time to rinse off."
By the time we were all clean again, Chase and William both didn't have shirts on. I was the only one fully clothed in that backyard. Not that I was complainig. Chase put the bucket back in the shed along with the water guns after rinsing them off. Everything was caked in mud. I brought William inside. We raced upstairs, he beating me. I let him win. He changed and we walked back downstairs and met Chase in the kitchen to get a snack.
I sat him on a stool and opened the refrigerator. I took out a bag of carrots and the ranch dressing. I got a plate from the cabinet and poured the ranch dressing out of the bottle. William reached for the carrots and shoved one in his mouth. I smiled at him and watched as Chase ate them too.
My phone rang just as Wesley walked in the room completely shocked seeing me and Chase both dripping and muddy. "Looks like you two got a little dirty." Wesley raised his eyebrows and smirked at his brother. I rolled my eyes and took out my phone. It was a call from Jason. I squealed and ran out of the room. As I was climbing the stairs I heard someone's hand meet the back of someone's head. Assuming it was Chase's hand and Wesley's head I laughed and continued into my room.
I ran into my room and slammed the door. I jumped on my bed and pressed talk on my phone. I put him on speaker so I didn't have to hold the phone the whole time. I hated that.
"Hello?" I asked in a cheery voice.
"Ellie? Hi." Jason's voice was rushed and he was speaking in a whisper. It must have been late there. I don't know what the time difference was.
"How's it going? How is everything there?" I asked.
"Everything's good. We all miss you a lot," he said.
"Yeah, I miss you guys too," I said.
"Do you think you'll ever come back? You know to visit?" He seemed really nervous and I could tell why. He was a afraid I would say no.
"You know it's tough, and I'm not sure yet. It's only been a day and I just really need your support. I'll try when I can but going back might hurt too much. I'm sorry." I closed my eyes and layed back on my bed. "Pplease try to remember that it's tough on me too. I know it's tough on you so I will try to visit, but I just need time and your support."
I heard giggling from the other line and then a girl say, "Are you ready to go Jason?"
I sat up in my bed in alarm. "Who was that?" I asked.
"Uh... it was just... my cousin. Yeah she wants me to take her...uh, shopping. I, I have to go. I'll call you later, bye."
"Bye." I heard the line go silent and knew he was gone. So much for the support.
I walked back downstairs and was greeted by Keaton rather than Chase, Wesley, and William. He was about to leave the house when I grabbed his arm and pulled him back. He hit the wall, even though I didn't pull him that hard, and his eyes went wide with confusion.
"You again. What can I help you with this time?" Keaton crossed his arms over his chest and stood up straight trying to be taller than me, but it didn't really work.
I raised my eyebrows. "Where are you going?"
He walked back to the door and opened it. "To the skate park, why?" From his annoyance in the way he said 'why' I could tell he was on to me.
"Can I come." I ran up to him and started to put on my shoes.
He looked me up and down and started to laugh. "You're a complete mess. Are you sure you want to go to the skate park looking like that?"
I shot him a glare for the insult on how I choose to wear my mud and said, "Hang on. Let me go change and then we can leave." I ran upstairs and changed into shorts and a pink tank top with a smiley face on it.
When I was finished I ran downstairs to get Keaton and couldn't find him. I walked outside and found him in the garage looking through a box of something. He pulled out a helmet and then walked to the far wall. "Holly crap," I murmured. He turned around and laughed at me.
"What? All of these?" He grabbed one of the 15 skateboards on the wall and walked outside. "I have more in my room."
When we arrived at the skate park we found that it was almost empty. I followed Keaton until he stopped to talk to his friends. He started to engage in a conversation, while I just stood there awkwardly. I looked at his friends. They all seemed to be different ages. There were two boys and a girl, not counting Keaton. The two boys looked similar. They had the same features but their hair colors were completely different. One of the boys had blond hair and the other was a brunette. The brunette was taller than the blond though. The girl had brownish red hair and brown eyes. She was small and skinny. Really pretty if she didn't wear sweatpants and baggy shirts like she was now.
Keaton walked me over to the bleachers and told me to stay there. I watched him walk back to his friends. He had passed them and walked to the edge of the half pipe. The two boys followed behind him but the girl just stood there watching Keaton. I could practically see the drool running down her chin. Huh. Someone must have a crush. "Ary, are you coming?" Keaton yelled from across the skate park.
Ary's eyes got wide and her cheeks got red from embarrassment. She quickened her pace and met Keaton and the rest of them at the half pipe.
They all took turns going down and doing tricks. I'm not going to lie, Keaton was pretty good. Not that I know much about skateboarding but he was good. He did a cool trick thing where he grabbed the bottom of his skateboard and went into the air. One of the other boys did a trick where they went off of a railing and landed back on the skateboard. The girl did a trick where she road the skateboard and then jumped up while the board spun in the air underneath her. She looked like she was pretty good at it.
I propped my legs up on the bleacher in front of me. I rested my elbows on my knees and my chin on my hands. I watched Ary as she got really self concious when Keaton stood next to her watching the two boys do their tricks. However, he was totally oblivious as to how she felt about him. She twisted the ring on her finger around and bit her bottom lip. She was so nervous. She had to have liked him.
I heard someone clear their throat behind me. I turned my head to the side and saw a guy with brown hair, dark brown eyes, and a freckle on his left cheek standing next to me. He smiled down at me, his straight teeth gleaming white in the sun. He was pretty attractive.
"Hi," he said. "Watching Keaton I see."
"No I wasn-"
"It's alright. Every girl in town comes here to watch him. I'm surprised he hasn't asked one of them out yet." The guy kind of laughed to himself and ran his hand through his hair. "Anyway I got to go." He waved to me as he ran towards Keaton and his friends.
"Hey, Jared. Man, what took you so long." They did a bro-hug thing and Jared put on his helmet.
"My car wouldn't start, sorry." He looked back at me and then continued to talk to Keaton. "Hey, uh, it looks like one of your fan girls is starting the day early." He gestures to me and then smirked at Keaton. Ary on the other hand was furious and shot me a devilish glare. I raised my eyebrows at her and focused back on Keaton.
"No, no, no. She's the girl that's living with me now, Ellie." He looked at me and smiled, then looked back at Jared. He rolled his eyes and continued skateboarding.
When the realization of who I was sunk in, Jared strode my way. I raised my eyebrows at him as he neared me. He leaned his skateboard against the bleachers and sat down next to me. "Hey, sorry about before. Now that there is no confusion, I'm Jared." He stuck his hand out.
"Ellie." I shook his hand feeling the awkward tension between us. I released his hand before he released mine. I looked anywhere but at his eyes. I just couldn't meet them. There was something about him that just kind of creeped me out. I could feel him staring at me though.
"So Ellie," he said way too casually. "How old are you?"
I felt a little uncomfortable telling him, since I didn't really know him but I told him anyway. I mean he was a friend of Keaton's. How bad could he be? "I'm sixteen. I'll be a junior when school starts."
I intertwined my fingers together nervously. "Cool I'm 17, almost 18. I'll be a senior." His expression went from friendly to thirsty in a matter of seconds. I felt really uncomfortable and awkwardly continued to watch Keaton do crazy tricks. Jared on the other hand tried to spark up our conversation that was obviously going no where.
20 long minutes later, Keaton got a text from his mom saying I needed to get home so she could talk to me. Me and Jared finished up our painful conversation and it ended with him asking for my number. I caved and gave it to him hoping I would be able to get out of there faster.
"Okay, guys I have to go, but I'll meet you here tomorrow. Same time," Keaton said. It seemed like Keaton was the one who made all of the plans around here.
Me and Keaton left. Unfortunately I didn't get away without some nasty glares from Ary. I wanted to yell to her right then and there, I don't have a thing for Keaton. He's three years younger than me. That's gross.
Me and Keaton left, him directing me back to the house since I was completely lost without a guide. "So what was Jared asking about?" I instantly laughed at the thought.
"He was asking about me and it was so awkward. He asked how old I was and how long I had been here, and strangely, what my favorite fruit was. It just came out of no where. Is he always like that?" I stopped and faced Keaton.
"Only when he see's something he wants." Keaton looked at me, hinting that I was something Jared wanted. "If I were you I would stay away from him."
"I kind of got that he was a little bit crazy when he came to the skate park and didn't skate." I kicked a small piece of concrete that had chipped off of the sidewalk. "Is he any good?"
"He's pretty good. Normally he wakes up, eats breakfast, goes skateboarding, eats lunch, goes skateboarding, eats dinner, goes skateboarding again, and leaves the park around nine." Keaton turned his head down to look at the ground. "I mean, his hard work pays off, but he's no where close to being as good as me." Keaton tossed his head back with a smirk plastered across his face.
"You have way too much confidence, kid." I hit the front of his hat and knocked it off of his head. I caught it and ran down the road while I put it on my head. I scrreamed as Keaton was gaining on me. My legs were no match for his skateboard.
He soon caught up to me and grabbed my arm. "Nice try." He snatched the hat off of my head and got back on his skateboard. "You know, I could leave you right now. Out here, you'd have no idea where to go." He acted like he was going to start skating away but he jumped off and picked his board up.