Dedicated to SnowWhiteSwan for being awesome, and 'cause I totally owe you a dedication!
Picture of Casey and Haley -->
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I got a love and I know that it's all mine.
Take me away, a hiding place,
The sun is on my side and,
Takes me for a ride.
I smile up to the sky,
I know I'll be alright.
~Pocket Full of Sunshine- Natasha Bedingfield
"I can't believe I'm doing this," I muttered under my breath as I dialed Blake's number. I pressed the phone to my ear and looked at Kallie. "Why do we need three people again?" I asked her as the fabricated sound of ringing played in my ear.
Kallie grinned. "You shall see in time," She said in what I believe, was the creepiest voice she could manage. Everyone turned to stare at her. "What? I've always wanted to try using that voice!" She protested. I rolled my eyes and pressed the phone tighter to my ear. That's when I noticed everyone had turned their stares to me.
I pulled the phone away from my ear and covered the mouthpiece with my hand. "Uh, privacy, please?" I asked, feeling slightly awkward.
Brett looked at me incredulously. "Why? You didn't need privacy for the last few calls," He remarked. Aw, shoot, he was right. Okay, Raine, come on, you can think of something. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Kallie grin.
"She's calling the guy she went out with yesterday," She said before I could stop her. Okay, now I really regret telling her that part. Clark and Brett looked at me with wide eyes as Annabelle regarded me with a grin that was near identical to Kallie's. Oh, well, this just awkward fast. Quickly, I glanced around again and noticed a frown set on Kaden's face. When he tried to lock eyes with me, I looked away, feeling slightly self conscious and very awkward. Why was he frowning? What had I done? Ugh, why did I even care?
The ring of the phone in my ear made me jump. The room was so quiet that the rest of them probably heard the sound even though the phone wasn't on speaker. Oh god, how many times does this thing need to ring before it's either a) picked up, or b) sent to voice-mail?
"Okay, we'll, um, go hang out in the kitchen," Annabelle declared, still smiling as she ushered everyone out of the room. Before walked out, Kaden shot me a sort of look that I couldn't recognize, but for some reason, it made me feel guilty.
"Hello?" Blake's voice sounded from the phone before I could stop Kaden and question him.
"Oh, hey, it's Raine. Um, are you busy today?" I asked awkwardly.
I heard Blake chuckle and grimaced, he's probably enjoying this. While I'm here drowning in awkwardness. "So soon, Princess? Isn't there a three day rule?" He teased, more in a playful tone than a nagging one. I could almost see him smiling, from the tone of his voice. I bit my lip. How am I supposed to reply to that? How would I know, if there's a three day rule? Oh gods, they really need to make a 'How To' on this stuff.
Finally, I decided to avoid the question all together. "Is that a yes or a no?" I asked, trying to mimic his tone without success.
"Hmm, sure, why not? Where are we meeting up?" He replied. Quickly, I gave him the Fleming's address, in which he responded that he would be there in half an hour. That was good; it was just a bit after Haley and Casey were scheduled to arrive. After flipping my phone shut and placing it on the table beside the couch, I walked into the kitchen. I grabbed Kallie's arm and dragged her into a corner of the large room. Everyone else was too distracted by arguing about something to notice my reappearance.
"Was that necessary?" I asked her with a wry grin.
She smiled back at me mischievously- I'm starting to think that's her new 'look'. You know, like how Kaden always smirks, or how Annabelle always watches everything with a sweet, barely-there smile. "They'd find out eventually," She pointed out.
"I know, but," I let out a small noise from the back of my throat that sounded like a cross between a sigh and a whimper (in other words, an unappealing, whiny, sound). "It was so awkward."
Kallie laughed. "Raine, you find everything awkward."
"I know, but, ugh, still. By the way, do you know what's up with your brother? It might've just been my imagination, but he kind of looked disappointed as he left the room," I told her. I stared at her as I anxiously waited for her to just brush it off.
Instead of my desired response, she laughed again. I feel like my life is a sitcom to everyone, now. "Well, it most likely wasn't your imagination," She said. Staring at her impish smile, I suddenly remembered the knowing Brett and Clark had shared with Kaden yesterday morning.
"Wait, is everyone in on this?" I asked, gesturing to the rest of the group, who were still arguing about who knows what.
Kallie shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. Brett apparently told you about it a week or two ago, but you didn't believe him." I felt my eyes narrow as I tried to remember what Brett may have told me. There really wasn't anything, nothing out of the usual, at least. Well, there was the Kaden loves me thing, but that was a joke and it definitely wasn't that.
Right?
Right.
Then that leaves me with nothing.
"You’re probably denying what he told you," Kallie remarked, pulling me from my thoughts. She was watching me with an amused look. Dagnabit. She can actually read me really well. Hm... If she thought I was denying it, then it should be true, but that wouldn't make sense because it can't be. It's Kaden, for god's sake! He's a player, and I'm definitely not his type. Well, every girl's pretty much his type, but I've known him forever and it just can't be true. I know it isn't. Brett was probably joking, or he got his facts mixed up.
I pulled me out of my thoughts to see that everyone had stopped talking and was staring at me and Kallie with a slightly confused, I-wonder-what-they're-talking-about expression.
"Do I even want to know what you guys are talking about?" Brett asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, actually-" Kallie started. The sound of the doorbell cut her off.
"Oh, someone's at the door!" I remarked lamely to keep her from finishing. Before Kallie could even open her mouth, I grabbed her wrist and dragged her towards the front door. After letting go of Kallie's arm, I flung open the door to reveal Casey, who what two chopsticks in her mouth and was in the middle of tying up her long, dark hair. Haley stood slightly behind her, looking slightly awed. I didn't blame her; the Fleming's house (or more like mansion) was massive.
"Hey, come on in," I said. Casey pulled a hand from her hair and held up her index finger. She flipped over and finished tying her hair before standing upright again and beaming at me. Haley followed in behind her. I moved to shut the door, but before I could, the very loud and very familiar roar of a motorcycle reached my ears. It was loud enough to draw the guys and Annabelle out of the kitchen.
"Was that a motorcycle?" Annabelle asked, looking around, slightly confused. I grinned inwardly, not a lot of people came around to the Fleming's neighborhood, and even if they did, we usually couldn't hear them because of how far we were from the road. The only way for us to be able to hear a motorcycle would be if one was pulling up the driveway, which was probably exactly what Blake was doing. As it on cue, he rode up, stopped his motorcycle and parked it behind Casey's car.
"Is that Blake?" Casey asked with wide eyes. She answered herself before any of us could open our mouths. "Yeah, it is, that's his motorcycle. So, what are we doing?" She asked, looking around as Blake came up the steps.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kallie grin. "You guys are going to be helping two people learn how to make Iced Caps without a machine. Then, you might be able to throw them at people, or you'll watch them being thrown at people," She explained.
"I think I'll watch," Haley volunteered, looking part nervous and part amused.
Kallie clapped her hands together, looking slightly like an excited kid about to go on a playground. "Great, Blake, you can join the guy's team. Casey, you can join the girl's. Come on!" She didn't wait for our reply, instead just headed for the kitchen. Slowly, we trailed along after her, all of us slightly nervous about what was going to happen next.
"Do I even want to know?" Blake asked from beside me, his breath tickling my ear.
I considered it for a moment before shaking my head. "No, probably not," I replied, rolling my eyes and looking around. I accidentally got Kaden's eye and immediately looked away from his unwavering gaze. This reminded me of the conversation Kallie and I had this morning. It wasn't true, it couldn't be. That was just ridiculous. Thank god Casey had arrived before Kallie could tell them what we had been talking about.
Saved by the bell- or should I say doorbell.
***
"Welcome to the war room," Kallie said, and hour later, in a very creepy voice. We had finished making the Iced Caps and were now going to establish a base.
As Kallie had explained earlier, we were to have one person for each partnership explain to us how to make Iced Caps, then the two people would more or else compete against each other to make Iced Caps. There weren’t any points for this, but you wanted more Iced Caps than your partner, because it would equal more ammo. The actual fighting part, was me, Kallie, Annabelle and Casey against Kaden, Brett, Clark and Blake. Haley would be watching the time and us from an unknown place, she was the judge. When an hour went by, we would all have to put everything down and come out into what Kallie calls 'the Loading Zone'. We would get into the partners (Casey and Blake would partner up for this), and she would decide which of the two people were more clean. That person won a point. I have a feeling that this won't go too well.
The war room was huge. Well, everything in the Fleming's house is huge, but honestly, the war room...It was just unbelievable. There was a giant open space in the center, a sort of circle shape, then there were walls and twists and turns, it was almost like a maze. The walls were thick and dark, with bright splatters of paint across them. Kallie was right, it was a lot like a laser tag place. The room was dark enough that you could only see a couple feet from you, which meant everyone would be relying heavily on their hearing. Fake smoke drifted from some machine tucked in the corner and there was a cold, damp sort of feeling that gave you the chills. I think Kallie intended that.
"So, here's the plan," Kallie whispered to us as we walked along the paths. She had told us earlier that our base would be more or less across from the guys'. "Casey and Annabelle, you're going to defend. Make sure they don't steal any of our Iced Caps, cover, stuff like that. Raine, you're the distraction. Knowing the guys, they're going to also have two people guarding. You're going to distract them. Get to their supply and use it against them. You're going in empty handed, but I'm covering you. I'm going to be back up, and the sneaker. I'll get in when needed and sneak attack everyone," Kallie instructed. I nodded to show her I understood. We couldn't see Annabelle and Casey because they were pushing the cart of Iced Caps, but we assumed that they had heard. If they hadn't we could just explain again. It was silent as the four of us focused on moving the heavy load of ammo. After making all the Iced Caps, each team had loaded them onto a cart to drag into the room.
After we set up, we gathered in a circle, strategizing. Kallie explained her plan again and we were just about to discuss what to do if we ran out of Iced Caps when a bell sounded.
"Starting bell," Kallie told us. "We gotta go, be careful, alright?" Without waiting a response from either one of them, she grabbed my hand, took a bag of Iced Caps and dragged me towards the way we came. I stumbled along behind Kallie, doing my best to keep up with her brisk pace. It looked as if she knew exactly where she was going, and she probably did, given that she knew about this room before anyone else. I guess it could be an unfair advantage for us, but the guys hadn't really minded so we didn't call it out. There wasn't much we could do anyway. As we walked, we alternated with who held the bag, given that it was pretty heavy. We had poured the Iced Caps mixture into those white Styrofoam cups you saw at the supermarket coffee shops and placed a lip to keep the liquid from spilling out.
Oh god, I can't believe we're doing this. It was completely crazy, but I guess crazy's what we do. I had a feeling I would regret this later, though. The caramel and vanilla syrup would be incredibly difficult to get out of my hair. After a couple moments, we arrived at the center of the room.
"Now what?" I asked quietly.
Kallie grinned. "Now, we wait. If I know anything about the guys, it's that they'll be reckless. They probably won't take a chance with the side routes, so they'll go the way they went, which is through here," She explained.
I have no idea how she knows how the guys would think, but she was right. A couple moments later Brett and Clark appeared. I stifled a laugh, I guess after the Capture the Flag game they had decided to pull Brett from guard duty. We could see them clearly, and as far as I could tell, they hadn't seen us. Unfortunately, that didn't last long. I was wearing white (I hadn't had time to change, alright) and when I shifted, they caught sight of it. This, of course, starting an all out launch attack. Kallie and I did our best to hide behind the wall, but we still got splattered. As I expected, it was really, really sticky.
Kallie turned to me. “Okay, take these two-” She paused to hand me two Styrofoam cups, “-and sneak around, get behind them, shove them down their clothes, preferably pants, but shirts work too. I’ll cover for you. As soon as you’re done, run, do your best to locate their base. The room’s almost a mirror, but remember, where we turned left, you should turn right on that side,” Kallie told me. I felt my eyes widen. She wanted me to shove to cups of sticky, icy liquid down Clark and Brett’s clothes?
“What’s shoving these down their clothes going to do? It won’t really show, will it?” I asked slightly confused. The only thing I could think about it doing is seriously distract- oh. I feel really stupid now. Kallie didn’t bother asking when she saw the realization on my face, instead just shoved toward another path. I stumbled, but managed to regain my balance.
As I moved along the edge of the center, just behind the walls, I kept an eye on the Kallie, Brett and Clark. Kallie was now returning their attack by launching a series of the cups. The Styrofoam was fragile enough that it broke on impact, and since Brett and Clark didn’t have anything they could turn to for cover, they got covered in the sticky goo. Finally, I got around to behind them. I did my best to avoid the splashes from Kallie’s throws, but I still got quite a bit on me. Getting behind them as best as I could without them noticing I did as Kallie instructed; I popped the lids off and dumped half down their shirt and a bunch on their jeans. Then I backed away and ducked behind a wall to watch.
It was hilarious. Brett and Clark did similar dances, trying to get the cold drink out of their shirts, while they were distracted, Kallie launched a non-stop string of cups, which ended up with them being covered in the liquid.
“You fight dirty!” Brett exclaimed. I laughed silently before sneaking away.
“Never said you couldn’t!” Kallie’s response was the last thing I heard before I got out of earshot. Okay, let’s see, I gotta find their stock of supplies. Kallie said it was like a mirror. So here I turn… Shoot. Curse my horrible memory. I think we went left, so that means I go right. After that, I sort of got lost, but did my best to find their base. Eventually, I did. I ended up crashing right into their supply. Don’t blame me, I was walking backwards! I somehow knocked the whole tower over, but managed to stay upright. The guys had placed all their supplies in a tiny clearing. There were three entrances to it, the one where I came from, and the other two were beside me, facing each other. I looked up from the fallen pile to see Kaden and Blake each standing at one entrance, staring at me.
Oh, well. This is awkward.
-READ ME-
Sorry for the no-early update, I wrote myself into a corner so many times with this chapter. I really hate this chapter, it just feels awkward to me, not to mention it's not as funny as I want it to be, so sorry about that. This is unedited. My Wattpad Guide's the External Link, check it out? :D
Teaser: Blake, Kaden and Raine in the same room... Alone.
Vote if you kind of want a summer like Raine's.
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Fan, if you just want Raine to get together with someone now.
~JJ :)