© Sweetslover8 2014. It is illegal to copy and/or steal.
~Uploaded April 14th, 2014
I didn't scream. I didn't make a sound as I rolled off the chair to the patio and flattened myself to the ground, a million thoughts racing through my head.
How did they find me? No one in Springfield knew where I was going. Heck, even I didn't know at the time. Only Zach and Jonathan knew I was leaving when I did.
Okay, breathe, Dani. Take a deep breath and think. First, you have to get out of here.
I was ten feet away from the patio door leading back into the inn. I could make it if I was quick. The blood was pumping so hard in my head I could barely think. I relied on instinct and training to turn myself around, still flattened to the patio, and push myself up into a push-up while using the chair as cover. My legs up in a runner's start, I was about to bolt when I heard another gunshot. I frowned then.
That wasn't a real gunshot. The sound was quieter and shorter in a way, and it didn't echo. All of the guns I knew of always echoed after being fired. The gun fired again and I saw something red splatter against the inn's outside wall and slowly drip down.
Blood?, I thought in a panic. Then I took a closer look; the consistency was different and the red was much too bright. No, not blood. Paint. Someone was firing another damned paintball gun. I sighed heavily and my heart rate slowly returned to normal.
"Dude! Do you think we hit her?", a new male voice called out. I snapped my head in the direction but stayed down. I wasn't sure if they were a threat yet.
"If you hit an unarmed girl, that's on your head, Luke!", another male called out.
"Yeah, yeah", someone who I guessed to be Luke said back. "Excuse me? Anyone there? I'm sorry if we hit you." Slowly, I stood up from behind the chair.
Three teenage boys, about my age, stood at the edge of the property bordering the woods, all holding the biggest and most badass paintball guns I had ever seen in my life. One with black hair, the others' being chestnut brown.
"Hi", the black-haired one spoke from across the yard. "We didn't hit you, did we?" He narrowed his concerned eyes as he and his friends approached. I stayed where I was, but was ready to leap over the railing and hide if needed.
"No, you didn't." I kept my tone light while carefully reaching my hand behind my back to my holstered gun. Just in case, I reassured myself. "You caught me by surprise, but you didn't hit me. Thankfully. Those things hurt." If I really thought about it, I could still feel the sting of a paintball when it caught me on my neck. It was the one part of me that had accidentally been exposed under the protective gear the last time I had gone full-out with paintball. That welt stayed on my neck for two whole weeks and annoyed me every single day it lasted.
"Ouch. You've been hit by one before?", Black-Haired Boy asked, still walking closer.
"A couple of times. Are you guys part of one of the paintball teams?" What else could explain them running around with those things? I'm pretty sure they couldn't paint a house like that. Unless, that is, someone wanted their home painted like a Jackson Pollock.
"How'd you guess?", one of the brunettes asked. He was tall and as thin as a beanpole. I had no idea how he could even lift the gun.
"I'm on the other paintball team. You know, the one with the McCades?" I assumed they knew who I was talking about.
"Oh, sure. With Dylan and his sister Andie, right?" I nodded. "Yeah, we know them. Hey, aren't you the new girl who moved into town a couple of days ago?"
"That's me." Deciding these guys weren't a threat, I released the gun, moved from behind the chair and walked down the steps. "I'm Dani. And you are?"
The black-haired guy introduced himself first. "Luke Sanders. Nice to meet you, Dani. These are my friends, Sean and Aaron." Or as I called them, I thought as the two boys waved back, Beanpole and Caveman. That's what they looked like to me; tall and thin as a twig vs large and bulky. Luke on the other hand... Well, let's just say that since I had gotten a better look at him, I had concluded that no male actor or singer had anything on him.
The first thing I noticed, other than his impressive height, were his eyes. They were the most beautiful and pale blue I had ever seen in my life. Like Damon-Salvatore-from-Vampire-Diaries blue. Charming and magnetic, but hiding a mischievous and possibly darker side. His dark hair fell in messy curls around his face that he kept brushing back from his forehead. And when he smiled- Holy shit.
He had dimples.
Dimples!
I felt myself freak out mentally. Dimples were my weakness when it came to facial qualities in a guy. I really have no idea why. On the right guy, they looked so damned cute I could hardly resist. I forced myself to calm down, even as my heartbeat quickened and I fought down the urge to play with my hair coyly. Or maybe run my fingers through his. The sun made the black hair look so thick and silky soft-
I gave my head a hard shake. "Nice to meet you. So do you guys always play target practice with girls caught unarmed and unaware?" Maybe saying that would distract them while it gave me a minute to dig my brain out of the gutter.
Luke laughed lightly, the sound sending pleasant little shivers down my spine. And there goes my brain again, I thought numbly.
"Not always. Sometimes we do it with little squirrels." Haha. So funny. Note the sarcasm.
"I'd hate to be a squirrel then."
"Can you fire one of these?", Caveman-I mean, Aaron-asked suddenly as he lifted his gun up higher for me to see.
"Obviously." I rolled my eyes. "Otherwise, I wouldn't be on a team."
"She has a point", Luke said. "But just for curiosity's sake, how well can you fire?" My lips twitched up into a smirk. Why are people always asking me that? I held my hand out for a gun. Luke handed me his without question.
"Give me a target", I told him as I hefted the gun.
I recognized it as a US Army Alpha Black paintball gun. It was designed like an M-16 rifle, and had an above average accuracy, much more accurate than the little Azodin Kaos I had used at tryouts the day before. But it was also much heavier and bulkier than the Azodin, giving us an advantage over them. Let's face it; even the strongest of all of them couldn't go on forever carrying a gun that was four to five pounds in weight versus three pounds. That one pound could make all the difference.
"How about..." Luke looked around the yard. "That electric pole? From the edge of the fire pit?" That was thirty yards away. Easy.
I stepped up to the pit, pressed the gun against my shoulder, aimed down the barrel and fired. The recoil would've knocked me back if I hadn't been using the proper stance. I fired a half dozen times at the tree and painted it red.
"Easy." I blew a strand of hair out of my face. "Got anything else?"
"The top of the volleyball net pole", Beanpole challenged as he pointed at the narrow target. Then he whispered down to Caveman not-so-subtly, "There's no way she'll be able to-" I stopped listening after that. People really shouldn't underestimate me. It only got on my nerves.
Before Sean/Beanpole could finish his sentence, I fired at the top of the pole across the yard, turning it red within a matter of seconds.
"You were saying, Sean?" The boys gaped at me, except for Luke, who only raised an impressed eyebrow with a small grin. "What? You've never seen a girl fire a paintball gun and not suck at it before? I'm not the only one, you know."
Why was I getting a strange sense of déjà-vu? Oh yeah, because the exact same situation happened with Dylan. Brody, Nolan, and Garrett and the soccer thing. Geez, this town had a serious lack of kick ass girls.
"Dude, that was awesome!" Aaron raised his hand in a high five and I returned it.
"Guess I underestimated you", Sean said. "Nice job." I thanked him as well.
"I have to say...", Luke spoke up, drawing my attention to him immediately. "That was some pretty good shooting there, Dani. You've got a nice aim." I crossed my fingers that I didn't flush pink at that compliment.
"Thanks, Luke. That's nice of you to say. But if you'll excuse me, I have some things to take care of." I didn't really; I just wanted to get out of there before Luke's piercing gaze made me want to kiss him. Did I just think that? I needed to take a cold shower.
I thought I was in the clear, until I heard, "Dani! You here?" I turned towards the side yard and saw Dylan and Andie come around the inn. They froze on the spot when they saw who I was talking to.
"Hi guys." I gave them a small wave as they cautiously walked over. "What's up?"
"We came over to ask you to lunch. Brody's mom's cooking. You didn't answer the door and your truck was still in the drive", Andie said as she eyed Luke, Sean and Aaron carefully, like she would enjoy skinning them alive. That surprised me. The three boys just stayed calm and collected. "What're you guys doing here?" She crossed her arms defensively, following her brother. Their whole behaviour screamed hostile.
"Hi to you too, Andie", Luke said smoothly as he casually hooked his thumbs through his jeans' belt loops. That simple move should not have seemed so sexy. Make that a cold shower and a dip in the lake. "How have you been doing? It's been a while."
"You mean a while since you loaded our guns with whipped cream and use me to pull it off? Yeah, I guess so." It felt like the temperature had dropped twenty or so degrees, even though the sun still shined brightly.
"You know that was just a joke, right? It didn't do any real harm. No bones were broken and no one died." He sounded so casual as he shrugged off the prank Dylan had warned us about yesterday, not even denying it. Luke was the one who did that? Did he do all of the other pranks too? My image of him started to deteriorate.
"Not yet", Dylan spoke for the first time since arriving in the yard. His voice was low, threatening, and downright chilling. "Now keep walking, Sanders. We don't need your arrogant ass in here. Especially corrupting our new teammate." I noticed how Dylan avoided using the word "friend".
"Wouldn't want that now, would we?" Luke turned back to me and gave me a grin and slow wink. I damned my female hormones for reacting to that, but didn't move. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Dani. I'm sure we'll see you around. Come on, guys." He turned back around, followed by his lackeys, and disappeared into the forest as easily and quietly as he came, practically melting into the shadows.
"What was that all about?", I asked the siblings as they kept their gazes fixed on the woods, as if Luke and his friends would suddenly materialize out of there and attack us. You didn't need a genius to figure out what was going on but I asked anyways. "Some sort of rivalry?"
"No kidding", Dylan said, his tone still cold. "Luke's team has been the one responsible for the pranks on our team for the past couple of years. We don't trust them." He turned back around and started walking back towards the front of the inn. "Come on, let's go. And I don't want you talking to them again." I stopped walking, a small bit of rage rising in me. How dare he tell me what to do?
"Why would I listen to you?", I snapped at him. "You're not the boss of me. Whatever he did to you guys doesn't involve me." Dylan turned to me sharply, eyes blazing. I didn't back down from my statement. He was being a drama queen about the whole thing.
"Don't you get it?", he demanded. "Of course it involves you! From the second you joined the team to the second you leave it, you share our rivalry against his team. We can't get all chummy with them."
"Well then maybe I should quit." Dylan and Andie looked shell-shocked. Why did I say that? I thought about taking it back but it was already out there and my mouth seemed to speak without my brain's consent first. "I don't need all of this bullshit drama in my life. It's the entire reason I left BC. Now I get caught in the middle of some reality tv show feud?" I laughed bitterly. "No thanks. That's not for me."
"Fine", Dylan said tightly. "Leave. Go try out for Luke's team for all I care."
"Maybe I will", I snapped back, even as a small pain started to bloom in my chest. I pushed it back down. "At least he treats me with a shred of respect." Dylan matched my bitter laugh.
"Respect? Luke doesn't know a single goddamned thing about respect. He just tramples all over you the first chance he gets."
"In that case, it sounds like the two of you have more in common than I first assumed." I think I struck a nerve, because Dylan took a giant step forward and stood right in my face, hand raised as if to slap me. But he wouldn't. As much as an ass he was, he wouldn't dare hit a girl. "Go ahead", I told him with my eyes locked on his. "Prove that you're the big macho man on campus and do it. What're you afraid of?" Oh how I loved pushing buttons.
Dylan's hand was hovering out of the corner of my eye, hesitating. I noticed that Andie wisely wasn't saying anything. The battle between slapping me and not flickered in Dylan's eyes, his jaw clenched so tight that I could see a muscle twitching there, and his nostrils flared while trying to control his temper. Finally, his hand lowered to his side and clenched into a fist.
"If you're going to stay on our team, then let me know by the end of the day. Otherwise, I don't want to see you again." It wouldn't be the first time I'd heard that.
"Fine", I said between clenched teeth. We turned away from each other and stomped away, him towards the road, and me back to the inn's backyard. Stupid, arrogant, big-headed, stubborn, no good-
"Alright! That's enough!" I turned back around to see Andie hauling her brother by the ear towards me as he muttered, "Ow, ow, ow..." The scene would've been funny if it weren't so scary. Nah, still funny. She let go of Dylan's ear and pushed him with surprising force towards me. He stumbled to catch himself.
"I have had it up to here with your useless bickering!" Andie raised her hand above her head as far as she could reach it. "You guys are arguing over absolutely nothing! You're just bickering for the sake of bickering. Brody and his brothers have argued less during their entire lives than you guys have in three days, and over more important things too. Now you can either stop arguing and talk it out, or I'm going to call the guys over here and make sure you cooperate." Andie's nostrils flared as she tried to control her breath from her outburst. "Because you are not leaving this team and you are going to stop being a pain!" Andie pointed to each of us in turn.
I wasn't sure whether to take her seriously or not. She was five foot four, wearing a frilly skirt and blouse and had her hair curled like a princess's. Intimidating? Not at first glance she wasn't. But if you looked at her face, especially her expressive eyes as they glared at us, you could see that she was upset. No, that was putting it lightly.
At the moment, Andie McCade was the embodiment of pure and unrestrained fury. Her delicate hands were fisted at her sides, and she looked like she was capable of stabbing us with her eyes alone. And when someone was that mad, even someone as petite as her, it was a danger to even be around them, especially to those who were the target of her fury. For the first time, I felt uncomfortable being so close to Andie, and felt safer next to Dylan, as unpleased as I was with him at the moment. Huh, didn't see that coming.
"Alright, Andie", Dylan said gently to his younger sister, his anger and temperment from just a few seconds ago completely gone. "We'll talk. We'll go inside the inn, get something cold to drink, and Dani and I will talk everything out. I promise. Right, Dani?" Oh he was still angry, that much I could tell, but he looked at me with a face that said, "Please say yes, please say yes..."
"Alright. I promise too. We'll talk, Andie." Andie sighed and the fury dimmed from a volcano to a river of lava. Less deadly if you're careful, but just as potent. We walked into the inn through the still unlocked back door, and sat down at the dining room table. Andie left us for the kitchen to get something to drink, but I knew she was keeping an ear out for any sudden arguments.
But how could you have an argument when none of us were talking? We just sat across from each other, arms crossed and clearly pissed, and only making eye contact to shoot each other a death glare, which happened quite often. Andie came back a minute later with three cups of lemonade and frowned disapprovingly when she saw us.
"You know, when I said to talk to each other, I meant to actually talk. Not to sit there like the sourpusses that you are. And neither of you are leaving this table until you come to an agreement." Dylan and I looked at her, then at each other.
"Do you like pizza?", Dylan asked me.
"Yep. Do you?"
"Yeah. There's your agreement, Andie. I'm outta here." We rose out of our seats.
"Sit back down!", Andie told us. "That doesn't count. I meant an agreement about being civil to each other." We sat back down and again didn't say anything. "I see we're going to have to do this the hard way. Fine, then. Dani?" I turned to her. "Why did you say you want to leave our team for Luke's?"
I shrugged and sighed as I thought. This was a waste of time. Why did I say that? "I don't know", I started. "Dylan was annoying me. I tend to say things like that when I'm annoyed. I don't always mean it."
"Did you mean it?"
"I guess not." I crossed my arms tighter and sank lower into my seat. "There, happy? Can I go now?"
"Not just yet. What about you, Dylan?" Dylan looked up from his drink that he was swirling around in the cup. "Why did you say you didn't want Dani speaking to Luke or his team? Just because you don't like him, doesn't mean that everyone else has to."
"He's a bad influence and he's gotten to our team before", he said simply. "I don't want it to happen again and hurt someone else I know." He avoided my gaze while he spoke. That suspiciously sounded like care. Andie nodded as if this satisfied her.
"You both heard it as well as me. None of you hate each other directly from what I'm hearing. You just both have brains and mouths with no filters. So really, there's no need for any arguing."
"If what Andie's saying is true, and you don't hate me", I asked Dylan. "then what was with the fake smiling this morning?"
Dylan narrowed his eyes at me and very intelligently said, "Huh?"
"Was that fake too? The lack of an intelligent response? Or are you full of those as well?" I leaned forward as Dylan sat back. The atmosphere felt like that of an interrogation room. Cold, pressuring and in unfamiliar territory.
"Look, I don't know what you're-"
"Keep heading in that direction McCade, and see where it takes you." Dylan closed his mouth. "Wise move. Now tell me, why is it that you don't like me? You may not hate me, but you certainly don't like me either. And let's agree to tell the truth for once, hm?" He nodded, but narrowed his eyes at me slightly, as if he were trying to figure out a particularly difficult puzzle. Not going to happen here.
"While it's still daylight outside, please", I said impatiently. Patience never was my strong suit. That was more Becca and Eric's department. Dylan sighed.
"It's not that I don't like you." I almost laughed at that. Could've fooled me. "But there was a lot of crap that happened to me before you came and I'm still recovering from it. You're not why I'm being a grouch, I can promise you that."
Then what was the reason?, I wanted to ask. The words were on my lips, but they wouldn't take form. Something told me it just wasn't the right time to ask. Did it have something to do with Luke and his team? Or maybe just Luke? Or maybe something or someone else entirely?
"I understand", I told him instead. "And I can respect that. There's a lot on my plate too, things that have happened that I'm not willing to talk about right now." I sighed. Moment of truth. "I really don't want to fight with anyone, Dylan. I don't like arguing with people, especially people I know I could be friends with if I'm given the chance." He nodded in understanding. I was aware of Andie watching us attentively.
"So what now?", Dylan asked after a while of silence.
"Truce?", I tried.
Dylan sighed, and after a moment slowly began to nod. He held out a hand to shake. "Truce." We gripped hands and shook. That was way too easy, I thought. Maybe he wasn't such a bad guy after all, just one who didn't know how to properly deal with his own emotions.
"Have you guys called off World War III?", Andie asked.
"For now", Dylan said with a grin, a real one. "We won't be killing each other right away."
"How long's the truce going to last?", she asked warily. I looked at Dylan for an answer and only got a shrug in response as he sipped his drink.
"That remains to be seen", I replied. "I guess it depends. Only time will tell."
"Speaking of time", Andie said as she checked her watch. "We were supposed to meet at Brody's fifteen minutes ago!" She grabbed our arms, barely giving us time to put our shoes on, before hauling us three blocks down to Brody's house.
"What took you guys so long?", Brody asked us as he opened up the door and let us in.
"We ran into some... difficulties", Dylan told him as I followed them across the parlour and into the brightly lit dining/kitchen area. "Luke Sanders and his pals were at the inn."
Nolan and Garrett, who had been eating lunch as we entered the room, immediately set their utensils down at the mention of Luke and his friends. Their full attention was on us now.
"What were they doing there?", Garrett asked, carefully probing at the situation. I quickly summarized the events of only minutes before as accurately as I could.
"Anyone mind filling me in on the whole rivalry thing?", I asked as I finished. "I'm tired of feeling left out, in case you haven't noticed."
"It's a long and complicated story that is better suited for another time when I don't want to strangle him", Andie said as she took a giant gulp of a glass of poured juice from the table.
"But basically", Andie said after a moment. "Luke was the totally hot team leader of his paintball team, the Scorpions, and he asked me out last year. I accepted and for a while, things went well." I didn't miss Garrett's slight stiffening at the words "hot" and "asked me out".
"Then the morning of the tournament, I noticed my keys, including the one to the shed where we kept the paintball guns, had gone missing. I didn't know what had happened until I found the keys on the front porch with a note that read, "Thanks for the keys."
"I checked the shed and found that our guns had been tampered with. They were loaded with whipped cream and that damaged them. We were able to use them for the games but we still lost. And it's not the first time he's used a girl to get to us either. I'm just one of the poor suckers that fell for his charming persona."
"It's not your fault, princess", Garrett assured her as he put an arm over her shoulders. Princess? Hmm... Andie smiled her thanks and leaned into him. Too. Damned. Cute. And why, exactly, weren't those two dating?
Dylan suddenly spoke up, a slow grin growing on his face. "I have an idea on how to get back at him." Oh, dear lord, somebody help us.
"We all know that Luke will be trying to prank us again this year, right?" We nodded. "He always does it by getting through to a trusted person, mostly girls, and then taking their keys. He knows he can't get to Teddy and Andie. So..." I didn't miss the hinting tone in his voice as he looked at me.
"Oh, no", I immediately protested. "There is no way I'm playing damsel in distress so you guys can have a bit of revenge. It's not the answer to anything, and it just proves that you guys are as immature and illogically advanced as Luke."
"Please, Dani?", Andie begged in a whiny kid voice. "I promise it'll be the first, last and only time we'll ever ask this of you. No one will be majorly hurt, and it's to settle this thing once and for all."
"Don't you see?" I looked at each of them in turn. "If you pull this prank off, preferably without me, it'll only keep escalating. It will never end. Stop now while you're still in one piece."
"Sounds like someone's chick-" I whipped around on Dylan so fast he stumbled and fell to the floor.
"Call me a chicken, McCade, and the truce is off. I'm not doing it, plain and simple, end of story. Am I clear?" There was no way I was involving myself in more bullshit than I already had. And even more so, there was no way they were making me do it.
They all murmured disappointed "yes's" and returned to eating. I only felt half-bad for declining, but pranks were so childish. Dylan pushed himself off of the floor as a tall brunette woman in a well-fitting gray business suit came down the stairs. She had the same bright smile and warm brown eyes as Brody and his brothers.
"What is going on in here?", she asked in a slightly diluted Irish accent. "I swear, if you kids are causing any trouble-" She stopped fussing with her hair when she entered the kitchen. "Oh, hello." She smiled when she spotted me. "I'm Aine. You must be Dani. Brody has spoken so much of you."
"Did he now?" I raised an eyebrow at Brody, who was trying to unsuccessfully hide behind Andie and Garrett.
"Yes. He mentioned how incredible you were at the paintball tryouts yesterday", Aine continued as if she didn't notice her son's discomfort. "And something about how you fired better than Cole and Spencer, I believe."
"Alright, that's quite enough, Mom. You're going to be late for your appointment." Brody quickly ushered his mother from the room, picking up her purse, a folder and car keys from the counter and handing them to her. Aine opened her mouth to speak. "You look great, as always. Don't worry about a thing. I'll see you later. Bye, love you."
He pecked his mom on the cheek and closed the door behind her. He sighed audibly and slid down against the door. "What?", he asked when he caught us looking at him amusedly.
The rest of the lunch was filled with laughter, jokes and endless teasing, either Brody about what his mom had said, or about how Garrett and Nolan were practically duelling over the last slice of homemade Hawaiian pizza.
"I called it first!", Nolan declared.
"No, you didn't. I did. I only had three slices!", Garrett argued back.
"Only three." Nolan rolled his green eyes.
"I'm smaller than you guys!", Garrett continued. "I need the extra nutrition." He gestured to himself, then to the rest of the guys, showing that he was indeed smaller than them.
"Girls", I spoke up." You're both pretty. Now can you cut it out?" They both glared at me while the others laughed.
"Not helping!"
"It wasn't meant to. But if you think it's necessary to continue your useless argument, then please, go on. I'll just eat this slice of pizza in the meantime." I snatched the last slice as the two of them just gaped at me. "What? I only had two slices."
Andie laughed and pushed her last slice towards Garrett. "Here, Gare. You can have mine. I'm not hungry anymore."
"Uh, no, it's fine. You can have it. I'm good." Garrett sat back down and started eating the crust from his last slice.
"I'll take that, thank you", Nolan said as he grabbed Andie's plate. Andie shrugged and took a sip of soda.
"Hey, Dani?" I finished off the slice and looked at Andie. "Are you going to take that job at Minnie's?" I shrugged.
"I don't know. Maybe. I've worked in a restaurant once, and I was a hostess. That's not exactly waitress resume material."
"No, but you do have experience", Dylan surprised me by saying. "You're most likely organized, a quick learner, know how to calmly handle situations, and can be very friendly when you want to be." That sounded like an insult and a compliment rolled into one.
"Um, thank you?" Dylan only nodded and turned back to his food.
I drummed my fingers against my thigh as I thought. I did need a job, mostly because I needed to pay my rent, and I couldn't pull $500 out of my pocket every month like a freaking Houdini without it seeming suspicious. If getting, and keeping, a job would help with my cover, I'd give it a shot.
~~~~~~~~
Hello Wattpaders!!! (Is that even a word? Eh, you know what I mean. :P )
Here's another chapter up for you. Any thoughts?
I am driving myself nuts because I want to skip three entire weeks in the storyline just to get to the tournament, the paintballing (again, is that a word?) and the pew, pew, pew! Haha. But I can't, so boo.
So we have met a new character: Luke Sanders. Any thoughts about him? Writing about Dani's giddiness was so fun, you would not believe. She finally reacts to a guy only to figure out he may or may not be a totally hot ass. Um, relatable much? Sadly, yes.
Just as a note, I think the Irish girl name Aine is pronounced "awn-ye". Not too sure, but I love that name so darn much.
As always, thank you to anyone and everyone who's reading. I appreciate it a lot. :D
Vote/comment/fan if you can!
~Jade