Lily (part 5+)

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1:15 p.m.
Still my Room

Sorry, TV distraction. Before I go on, I must include one last final detail. We all wore long trench coats to cover our appearances. But it’s fall, so no one noticed because of the chill in the air. Anyway, after Ana and Ben took our picture(s) they drove us to the school. When we arrived we handed in our tickets and stepped into the coat check, we were obviously fashionably late, so there was a long line. We took that time to admire how the room had been decorated. Recently we had an expansion added onto our school just for these types of occasions. But I think it’ll be explained as I go through this so, I’ll give you colors. The theme was pretty much just funkadellic, with blacklights and purple-ness everywhere. When we finally got to the front of the line we smiled at the attendant, Shane (an old friend of Lori and me), and we all removed our coats at once. (I know, it sounds corny and all, but we were doing it for show.) He shouldn’t have been so shocked he knows what we’re like. However, he nearly dropped the coats in his arms.

“Hey Shane.” I said before moving on w. the others “You gonna come out to the dance floor later?”
“Um..Uh..I..Um..” he who is the suave speaker was stumbling “Sure.”
“See ya out there then.” I smiled at him.

As I jogged over to join the others I didn’t even need to turn around to know everyone was looking at us. When I finally caught up, everyone was grinning, and exchanging discreet high fives.

“Don’t make a big-deal.” I reminded them

Rose stood on tiptoe looking around for Tony, her BF. She’d told him they’d meet up here, I couldn’t wait to meet him. Oddly enuf though, Terri and Joy had kept quiet about him even when we prodded them for info. Finally she found him as we neared the stairs up to the balcony.

“There he is!” Rose shouted over the music “The guy in the punk-ish outfit.”

He had black hair and piercing brown eyes. The added “ish” to punk was completely needed. If anything he looked more like a posier, only his attitude told you otherwise. He found Rose and sidled up next to her, Rose smiled.

“This is Lily, Frisco, Eve, Molly, Dragon, Willow, and you might remember Lori Anne.” Rose introduced us quickly “Everyone, this is Tony.”
“Pleasure to meet you.” I said smiling at him.
“Of course.” he drawled

It was at this time that I noticed Joy and Terri’s faces had clouded over and Lori looked as though she’d had a jolt of shock upon recognizing him. All of us others just smiled and said hi before he whisked Rose off onto the dance floor. We then continued up to the balcony. We claimed 9/10 of the chairs at the “bar” and grinned at the current waitress, Amelia. We chatted idly w. her about her pool party the next day and drank down our sodas. As more people started pushing up against us we said good-bye to Amelia and went over to the railing to await Rose’s signal.

“So,” Terri said “What song did you tell her to request?”
“At You Funeral.” Joy replied “It fits perfectly and it’s by Saves the Day.”
“That group rocks!” said a voice behind us “Sorry, but I heard Saves the Day and couldn’t help myself.”
“No problem.” I said checking him out.
“Joy?” he looked quizzically at her “You look great!”
“Thanks,” Joy murmured “Guys, this is Matt Nealen from Tiger Valley.”

We all exchanged pleasantries, then he spotted some one below us and said farewell. Him gone, we all looked over at Joy expectantly.

“He’s hot.” She looked over the railing, avoiding our eyes

She was right. He’s a couple inches over 6', has wavy brown-ish hair and the most adorable lisp. For a couple minutes we just stood there watching people file in and a small group on the dance floor, then Rose gave us the signal. We all crammed down the stairs and rushed into the front center of the Floor, grabbing Rose on the way. People were beginning to come onto the dance floor and we felt ourselves getting jostled from every which way.

“How long do we have?” Dragon screamed over the heavy bass.
“Next song.” Rose screamed back
“Get into formation.” Frisco yelled loudest of all.

No one noticed us as we got into our respective groups. Then, the song, and even if people were watching us, none us cared, all that mattered was dancing. We ended with the song in five groups of two. A lot of people on the floor had gathered around us and we got a huge round of applause. When the new song started we stayed with our partner and continued with our own separate dances ( as in just went w. the flow ). Willow and I went crazy w. the music. About halfway through the song though, we noticed the most of the guys seemed to be concentrated in one area. Will and I went to check it out, and we SO should have expected it too. In the center of the throng were Terri and Dragon, completely lost in their movements and the music. We watched as the guys moved in closer and closer until the two finally had no space to move and realized what was happening. Dragon yelped and Terri cowered.
“Hi.” Dragon said to the throng “What can I do for you?”
“Give us her number.” once voice cried out.

Grinning, Dragon dug into a hidden pocket of her dress and smiling, began to hand out small business-like cards. Terri, eyes wide, didn’t move. Rose skillfully wove through the crowd and grabbed Terri away before anyone noticed. Eventually the boys dispersed and we all met up back at Amelia’s bar. Terri glared at Dragon.

“Explain.” Was all Terri said.
“Gladly!” Dragon replied, “Remember last year? When you said and I quote “If you can think of any way to get me less, shy or encourage people to interact w. me you go right ahead, and w. my blessing.”

Terri groaned and buried her head under her arms. We conversed for awhile-longer w. Amelia. Then, we heard the crackle of the mic and everyone quieted down. We rushed to the railing. A strange man was on the stage.

“Ladies and Gents,” he said “Before I introduce myself, I would like to begin this night of surprises by bringing forth your Headmistress, and Principal. Please, give them a warm welcome for this dance.”

We applauded unenthusiastically, but remained where we were out of curiosity. Our darling Head P. walked on stage with Mrs. Tellonia, Tiger Valley’s Principal. This would be where they announced that we were to have today off for good-behavior(hahaha). These surprises of the night came as a surprise to EVERYONE including those on the dance committee. Then the guy came back on stage.

“Alright, now then.” he cleared his throat, “I am here to introduce, all the way from St. Oliver’s...” here he paused for a drum roll “THE BOYS!!”

Dozens of boys streamed in from either side of the dance floor. All of us girls erupted in cheers. It was great, there was a stunned silence then, a couple claps from us, then WHOOSH! As the cheering slowly died down, the man on stage grinned.

“I am the Headmaster of the fine young men, Mr. Liam.” he shook his head as his “fine young men” whooped “And now as a ‘Thank You’ to your Heads of School, Michael Miller, Jack Blather, Jake McGarity, and your own Jeff Peters would like to perform a few of their songs.”

And of course, us being us, we split up the responsibilities of who would scream whose name as they came on stage. As the curtains came up we all screamed our collective parts. Jeff stepped up to the mic, shaking his head, but grinning, he was grinning, amid the applause from everyone else.

“Thank you.” Jeff said “And thank you ever so much Lori and Lily and whoever else you recruited.” Lori screamed down ‘No Prob!’ and he continued “First off, we are a real band. We go by the name of Outcast Jocks. And now we’d like to play one of our own songs.”

Jack tapped out the beat, and Jake started in on the bass line. Soon enough the place was rocking.

“Come on!” I yelled over all the noise. “Let’s dance!”

Rose once again disengaged herself to find Tony and on the way down, Terri agreed to dance with a very cute St. Oliver boy. The rest of us pushed and shoved our way to the front of the band. The song was still playing...

“But when she looks into my eyes; All I can see is her beautiful smile.”

There was a huge cheer as the song ended. Lori and Willow, being dramatic, pretended to faint. They played a few other generic songs before the curtains closed and we had, once again, a DJ. Most of us, ‘cept Rose and Terri, slipped to the stage exit and waited. When they finally came out, we literally pounced on them. Eventually we disengaged ourselves and they brushed themselves off.

“Well, that was a pleasant surprise.” said Jack
“Loved the cheers.” said Mike
“What the hell are you wearing?! Even my sister?!” Jeff asked
“Where are the other two?” Jake asked politely
“OK.” I said, taking a deep breath. “Thank you and thank you. Now then, where the hell do you get off insulting what we choose to wear?! And the others are off dancing with guys. And that is precisely what we mean to do. So move your tail feathers, we’ve given enough of a break as it is.”

We all lasso-ed our respective partners and the remaining four just latched onto whoever was closest to help us escort them out. Once on the dance floor, though, we forgot all about who we were supposed to dance with and, well, just danced. I remember when we first started dancing, the guys looked shocked, and then the music took over my brain. After about five songs, my body forced my brain to remember that I was human. I bumped, twirled and slithered my way over to one of the bars, saying “Hi!” to anyone I recognized as I went. As I sat down at the bar, I noticed all of the guys were already there, hangin’ with their buds. I let them be, and chugged nearly an entire bottle of water. When I looked up, Willow was weaving through the crowd and I waved her over.
“Whew!” she plopped down next to me “Good way to burn calories, that dancing of ours.”
“You can say that again.” I rotated my shoulders to keep the muscles from tightening up “Lori and the others still out there?”
“Yeah.” she grabbed a bottle of water and chugged some down “I can’t believe you’re not tormenting the boys over there.”
“You want to watch?” I grinned “I’ve had a good five minute rest. Mind you, I’m not doing much.”
“Sounds like it’ll be a good show anyway.” she lifted her water to me in a toast.

I chugged the rest of my water and sauntered on over to the boys. They were serenely unaware of my approach. I dipped my hand into a bucket of ice, and slid up behind Jeff and Mike. When I put my hands of their necks they became painfully aware of my presence.

“Yeow!” Jeff yelped
“What the..” Mike jumped

They turned around to glare at me, only to roll their eyes.

“What?!” I asked “Can’t a girl get any attention around here?!”
“And who might this be?” one of their gang asked
“One of my sister’s friends.” Jeff sighed
“Excuse me?!” I took on an affronted tone “Are you gonna gave that same introduction to Willow too?!”

Jeff rolled his eyes once more.

“I’m Lily.” I smiled and turned to Jeff “Don’t think you’re getting away with that.”
“Lily..” Mike began as I turned to walk away “Is my girlfriend.”
“That’s much better.” I turned back “But it doesn’t mean much to me.”

I looked at the guys seductively, some of whom blushed, including Jeff and his friends. I tried to contain my glee.

“Excuse me, for a moment.” I said, tight-lipped

I walked back over to Willow and laughed silently into my arms. While I was shaking with laughter, Willow took her turn with the boys, and I saw her walk off with one of the friends back onto the dance floor, glaring good-naturedly at Jeff. Willow eventually came back and we hung back, drinking our water. As we reclined, Jeff and Mike eventually came over.

“I’m sorry,” Willow said soberly, “but it’s so hard to resist.”
“Really,” I said, “it’s nothing personal.”
“Yeah, I know,” Jeff looked perplexed. “I expected that from you Lils, but Willow?”
“She’s changed, dumb-ass.” Lori joked as she came off the dance floor.

Just then a slow dance began. The 2nd to last in fact. We’d been dancing a LONG time. Jake came over and pulled Lori away, Jack went out to find Joy, and Jeff collected Willow.

“However,” Mike said, “no matter how embarrassing you are, I’d still like to have this dance.”

He offered his hand and I took it graciously. I slid off the stool and onto the dance floor. When the song ended, all us girls took a quick bathroom break to check if we needed any touch-ups and to fill in on the evening thus far.

“So,” Rose said casually “who was that guy you were dancing so much with, Terri?”
“He is cute isn’t he.” Terri grinned.
“Uh, yeah,” Lori looked away from the mirror, “but who is he?”
“Adam Hunter.” Willow said. “He’s another of Jeff’s friends.”

I looked over at Willow.

“What?!” she asked. “I was curious!”

After we were assured that our outfits were still in good condition, we were back out. All of us were too exhausted to truly dance. Instead we watched other people, leaving the guys to their own devices. (A dangerous thing, I know.) Rose perked up once when she saw Tony dancing with another girl.

“It’s probably just one of his friends,” she responded to our questioning looks.

The DJ called for the last song, a slow one. We switched around our partners just for the heck of it. Jeff came to me.

“For old time’s sake?” he asked, offering his hand. Obviously I said yes.

As we danced on the floor, talking, we passed Adam and Terri, Dragon and some guy, and Tony. Tony, dancing with someone other than Rose. After that dance our Heads of School said because of our good behavior, we get Monday off. Then, we headed over to get our coats. Rose looked really upset. Her face was almost entirely closed off. As we got nearer the front, Tony passed by. Rose’s eyes flared to life.

“Could you guys get my coat for me?” she asked lifelessly, then started walking after Tony.
“I’m following her.” Joy said looking worried.
“Me too.” I piped.

Jeff and Jake tagged along after us, the others volunteered to get our coats. Joy and I hurried after the swiftly moving Rose. After she passed through the doors into the outdoors, Rose began moving even quicker.

“TONY!” she yelled, expressionless.

Tony turned to her.

“Why?” she asked when she reached him. All of us just in hearing range.
“Why what?” He leaned against a pillar.
“Tell me why.” She said, the anger becoming more apparent in her voice.
“You’re boring and tame. I think we should see other people.” He replied calmly.
“You little…” Then she took her opera gloves off, and with them, smacked him clear across the face.

Tony looked back at her. He started towards her but she swung her clenched fist into his gut and seemed about ready to do worse, except for the fact that Jeff and Jake took the opportunity to pull her away. Tony sat on his heels, gasping for breath

“You want tame?! I’ll show you tame?!” Rose hissed. Jake and Jeff were struggling to hold her.
“What happened?” Jake asked incredulously.
“Seriously she always seemed so calm.” Jeff looked at her wonderingly.
“This is Rose when she’s pissed.” Joy said serenly.

I walked around the guys and looked into Rose’s eyes. They were orbs of fire. That’s the only way I can describe it. Her Hazel eyes were ablaze with hate and anger. It seriously looked like there were pits of fire in them.

“Yikes!” I yelped and jumped away from her.
“What?” Jeff’s grip on Rose loosened and she nearly lunged for Tony again.

Jake pulled Rose over to him and lifted her off the ground. She stopped struggling, but the fire in her eyes, only grew more vibrant. Tony, finally regaining his breath, took one look at Rose and fled.
Eep, time for Dinner. I’ll eat quick so I can finish.

Later
Ok, that’s all for the Dance. Onto the Pool Party. When Rose and Joy arrived after the rest of us, Jeff and his buds were a tad bit scared of her, but she was in a better mood than I’d ever seen her. A bit evil, but she seemed free. Tony was there as well, Rose had invited him before.
Anyway, for the first 20 minutes, Rose sat in a deck chair near the side of the pool. When Tony jogged by, her foot ‘accidentally’ ended up tripping and pushing him into the pool. ‘Oops!’ Was her innocent response, after which she stood up, shed her soronge, and dove off the diving board.
Eventually, we tired of swimming and sat out to dry and listen to the steady flow of music over the sound system.

“Hey, everyone!” Amelia said over the Karaoke microphone. “The Karaoke is now open to the public.”

Terri being brave was the first one to get on stage. She told Amelia the song and cleared her throat, as though a well-known speaker about to address her public.

“Hi,” she said into the mic, “I’m Terri. And I’d like to dedicate this song to Tony, for Rose.”

Tony looked flabbergasted. Terri after glancing at us and grinning began to sing ‘Get Gone’ by Fiona Apple. She earned a ton of applause and a Tony leaving the building in disgrace. After that we just sat around listening for awhile, then left. You know what, everything else was boring from then on in. I’ll just jot down a few general things, then go do my homework.
The boys are leaving tonight, I’ve already said my good-byes to one and all of them.
I have decided on my Halloween costume: a girl in a cat-suit, complete with ears.
Ok, that’s it. I’m done. Farewell, my lovely.
~Lily

Tuesday, November 1st
12:16 p.m. History
Well, haven’t written in awhile. Just filling in. Went to a Halloween party. Dragon and Terri got LOADS of dance partners. Invited EVERYONE (by everyone, that includes, Jeff, Mike, etc.) over to my Uncle Bert’s mansion for the week long Thanksgiving break we get this year. Ok, gotta go, actually important work to be done. All relationships still A-OK.
~Lily

Saturday, December 10th
10:06 a.m. My Room
Wow, more than a month’s gone by and I haven’t written. Hooray for self-control! Things aren’t tiding so well just now, but I’ll get to that later, much later. First, Uncle Bert’s. Frisco, Eve and Mollie couldn’t come up so it was just those of us I’m too lazy to list, a total of 7. Then to make life more interesting, I eventually convinced Jeff, Mike, Jack, and Jake to come along. I told them to invite two other guys to even it out. Doesn’t calculate does it? That’s because my cousin Ringo, his parents were Beatles fanatics, was meeting us up there. Jeff and all his buds had only been in contact with us either by phone, or e-mail. Even Lori hadn’t seen them. They had a weekend lock-in at their school, not the dorms, the school, last weekend, and before that they’d been switching off at all their, and their friends’ houses. So, okay, they were going to be meeting us there, too but it doesn’t sound near as drastic that way. Anyway, all my people and I got hooked up on a private jet sent by my Uncle (he was paying for the boys’ tickets on an airline). It was fabulous! I’d never been treated that luxuriously by Unc B. ever before. The trip there was SO much fun! The entire flight crew, including the pilot, was female, and it was me and all my ‘girlfriends’ (to use a rather cliché term). An entire female flight, the gossip flying around was astounding!
Oh, maybe I should tell you a bit more about my Uncle Bert. He owns, literally owns, an entire island in the Carribean. Recently, he’s updated everything, including his moat (which is awesome in itself.). For the indoors, he re-did the bathrooms and redecorated every room. For the moat, he put a purifier at the water’s entrance and changed the bottom sludge to sand. He also put in specific fish and kicked out the rest, he now only has bright, medium sized tropical fish in his moat.
My mom says he does it for our amusement, I personally think he just gets bored, and wants to spend a substantial amount of money, for once. I suppose you want to know why he has all the cash and my mom doesn’t. First off, they were rich to begin with, not that rich but rich enough to live in a mansion in Europe for their Summer Vacations and own a LARGE yacht, and…you know, a stereotypical rich family. Anyway. Unc B. and my mom and her sister got most of the money from the will pretty much evenly distributed, only some of the money went to other parts of the family, i.e. us Grandkids. So, Unc B. invested most of his money in obscure companies and mainly got lucky. Thus leading to him being loaded. Oh, he also owns a few major companies. That’s enough background. On to the important stuff.
When we landed we exchanged e-mails with the crew and then took our designated yacht transfer over to the island. Unc B’s island is a self proclaimed no-fly zone. Once there we met up with Ringo who’d arrived two days before. I hadn’t seen him in years.

“Ringo!” I screamed.
“Lily!” He yelled.

I ran to him and gave him a hug, I can get rather emotional at times. It’s a family thing. Anyway…

“How’ve you been?” I gushed.
“Ok, but absolutely marv now! And who might these fine young women be?” He asked, looking over my shoulder.
“Distractions.” I said, waving them off. “Now, where were we?”

He gave me that look. You know the one I’m talking about. The one primarily showing exasperation. The one your parents give you when you’ve said something really stupid, that one.

“Fine! Guys, get over here.” I sighed.

They all intro-ed themselves. That done, we headed into the mansion. At the door was Unc B. I bowed in greeting. Grinning, he enveloped me in a Bear Hug.

“Whoa there!” I gasped, slipping from his arms. “What’s with the sudden burst of affection?!”
“I haven’t seen you in awhile, kiddo!” he was still grinning.

See what I mean about it being a family thing? So we did intros again and then he had one of the maids show us to our rooms. Halfway up the stairs, I recognized our guide.

“Marlene?” I asked.
“Yes, Miss?” she asked, still walking.
“It is you!” I screeched.
“Ms. Lily?!” she stopped and reeled on her heels.
“Here we go again,” Willow rolled her eyes.

I swung at her. Laughing, we continued on up the stairs. When we settled, I asked Mar to give us the full tour, since it had changed so much since I’d last been. For the next day all of us, including Ringo, just explored and had fun. The second night of our stay, the boys arrived. They’d brought along Adam and another guy named Damian. Instead of running down to greet them, we sent down Ringo to get acquainted with them. All us girl watched from the roof. They seemed to be getting along just fine, none had any idea what we had in store for them, yes including Ringo. Unc B. had full-heartedly endorsed our plan upon hearing it. Anyhow, when the boys tried to open the main doors, they found them locked and no one answering. They then went through the usual of checking and banging on all other doors and windows. Still finding them locked they shrugged and sat down by the main doors. Marlene joined us then with a large boom-box. As the moon rose to it’s peak, we noticed that the boys were starting to get nervous. Perfect timing for us. When the moon reached full height, we turned on the tape of “Night Sounds of the Wild.” Marlene had preset it to start at the howling wolves, it got spookier from thence forth. The guys immediately started freaking. At the end of the tape, all of us stepped to the edge of the roof, hidden in shadows and silloheted against the moon, and Rose let loose a blood-curdling scream (pre-planned for us). On cue, Unc B. turned on all the lights inside and opened the front doors to the terrified guys.

“Oh!” He said. “There you are. I was wondering why Ringo wasn’t at Dinner.”

When the lights had turned on, all of us had sunk back down on the roof and we were still there, listening in on the convo.

“What the hell was that?!” Ringo screamed.
“What?” Unc B. asked.
“The noises…”Jeff said
“The howling…” said Mike
“The Ghosts…”said Jake
“The screaming…”squeaked Damian

Lori couldn’t hold back. She burst out laughing.

“Shoulda guessed.” We heard Jeff sigh.

We all looked over. All of the boys were looking up at us, hands-on-hips and all. Lori managed to get control back, but this time Dragon cracked. That set all of us off. And let me tell you, it is not fun to be laughing while hanging over the edge of a roof. Rose was the first to realize it. She felt herself slipping, looked over, realized how precarious she was and screamed from sheer terror. Next thing we knew, she’d flipped over the edge and was holding herself up by her arms. It was terrifying. All of us stopped laughing and started freaking. Dragon too almost flipped over, but she caught herself.

“Help me!” Rose shrieked.

The guys were below, not sure if it was real or fake. None of us could find a way to pull her back in. Jake was the first one below to realize it was no joke.

“Rose!” he yelled. “Just hold on!”

(Ok, rewind. This isn’t quite as drastic as it sounds. We were only on a second story roof, it wasn’t the highest point of the mansion, and there were lots soft fluffy bushes below, but still.)

As soon as he said it, Rose started to slip. She screamed even louder. Joy, Terri and Dragon grabbed a hold of her, but could only just hold her. Jake ran under her and was searching frantically for something to help. By that time, all the other dim-wits had realized it was no joke and were running every-which-way trying to find something, anything. Then the most terrifying thing happened. Rose’s grip and those holding her loosened and she dropped so far down that she was only grasping the roof with her fingers. Joy and Ter each took hold of an arm and tried to pull her up, this only worsened it. She fell so that Joy and Ter were leaning over and holding her by the arms only. All of us on the roof piled on those two to keep them up.

“If she falls, I’ll catch her!” Jake yelled. “Don’t risk your own safety.”
“How can you be so sure I won’t kill you?!” Rose shrieked, slipping another centimeter.
“I won’t.” Jake said simply.

Rose took a deep breath and looked up at us.

“Rose,” Joy said suspiciously “What are you thinking?”
“Let go on 3.” She said calmly.
“What?!” Terri shrieked.
“1…” she counted, breathing deep.
“Are you insane?!” Mike yelled. “What if you miss?!”
“2…” breathe in…breathe out. We breathed with her, trying to calm ourselves.
“Jake, you better be true to your word,” I hissed, “or we’ll never forgive you or ourselves.”
“Amen to that.” Joy hissed back.
“Ready?” Rose asked, the calmest of us all.

Terri and Joy nodded.

“3”

They let go. Rose free fell straight down for 2 seconds, the longest two seconds of my life thus far. Then…

“Umph.” Jake fell back a pace. “Fell a bit faster than I thought.”

He set Rose on her feet.

“Also,” he smiled, “Lighter than expected.”
“Shut-up.” Rose grinned and punched him.

We cheered. Rose spun around, happy to be on solid ground, then hugged Jake so hard he was gasping for breathe.

“Jake McGarity,” she bowed. “You are my Hero.”

About five seconds later we were all down and piled on Jake. Lori gave him a glorious kiss, enough to make him blush. After that everything seemed pretty tame, but eh, may as well go on from there. Later that night we were all sitting by the moat. All the couples together and the four singles huddled around a tree. Mike had gotten up to look at the fishies, but that done he sat back next to me. (As a quick side-track, I know I don’t talk too much about Mike, but that’s because he’s a really personal part of my life. And I still don’t trust my mom, but I will say this, I think I’m really falling in love with him.)

“So pretty lady,” Mike said, throwing an arm around my shoulders, “you do realize we still have to get you back for that nasty little trick you pulled on us.”
“Honestly Lily,” Ringo sighed, “I mean, sure you’ve told me about some of your pranks, and how you love to play them, but never did I expect to be on the receiving end!”
“Live and Learn.” I smiled, leaning into Mike, “but how can you ever top this event of an evening?”
“Wait and see,” grinned Jeff.
“See what I mean Will?” I kicked at her.
“Yeah,” she looked up at Jeff in shock, “he is evil!”

He grinned again, and pushed her. We all laughed. The singles all seemed slightly grossed out by the “mushy” aura all of us couples were exhibiting. This only made us laugh harder. Eventually we all finished our greetings and went to our rooms.

“Well that was fun.” Dragon said sarcastically, flopping onto her bed.
“Oh yes,” Rose put in, sliding to the floor, “being forced to stay with all of you making-out couples was loads of fun for us.”
“Just because you weren’t very public with your relationship doesn’t mean you have to be jealous,” Joy said simply.
“How dare you!” Rose screeched.

Joy stuck out her tongue, only to have her face smashed by a pillow. This provoked all of us to once again burst out laughing.
Two mornings later…
Shit, someone’s at the door. Be right back.

2:43 p.m.
Stupid salesmen. Well, I guess I needed the break anyway, my hand was starting to cramp up, and my stomach had turned very fierce. Back to what I was saying before…

Two mornings later we all shared a marvelous breakfast. Ringo did his usual morning routine of trying to make us laugh, at least that’s what he says he’s trying to do. And as usual, all us girls were too tired to even try to laugh. Finally, he said the sickest joke I have ever had the discourtesy of hearing. All the guys laughed like Hyenas and we just groaned

“GOD RINGO!” Rose finally snapped. “ Would you just shut-up already! It’s 8 o’clock in the flipping morning during a supposed break meant for rest and relaxation!”
“Honestly,” I said, pumped on Rose’s anger. “Even you guys should know when you’ve gone too far.”

The guys just laughed harder. Lucky for us, Unc B. wasn’t there or he’d be laughing the hardest.
Rose jumped up, sending her chair flying.

“THAT’S IT!” she slammed her hands down on the table. “You will either shut up NOW, or I will come over there and rip-out your god-damned tongues!”

There was silence.

“Sorry.” Ringo murmured as Rose put her chair back and sat down serenly.
“Feel better?” asked Terri.
“Much,” Rose answered cheerily, then to the guys, “Guess I’m not much of a morning person.”

All us girls finally found the energy to laugh. Soon after, we all trooped outside in our suits, and jumped into the moat. Quickly, we were all splashing each other and just having a grand old time. The guys, though they seemed to be enjoying themselves, were slightly quiet.

“What’s up with you?” Willow asked pouncing on Jeff.
“What do you mean?” he asked, dunking her under.
“You’re all being awfully quiet.” I jumped onto Mike’s back.
“Why we’re planning of course.” He lifted me up onto his shoulders, which by the way, are very nice, “Chicken fight anyone?”
“Come on Will!” Jeff hefted Willow onto his shoulders.

The guys circled around each other. All the other girls got hefted up eventually and we were off. Jeff and Mike faced each other, making Willow and myself square off. It was great fun. Eventually Willow and I got a bit bored with how our guys were moving so we “danced” instead of fought. This got them kind of angry so we started to circulate around other people.

“Lily!” I heard a voice call.

I looked away long enough to almost get Mike and I out of the game, not the it really mattered, but eh.

“Time!” I screamed, silencing everyone. “What is it Uncle B?”
“You have a phone call, your mother.” He bellowed back.

I got off Mike’s shoulders and ran inside. It was the usual Q&A, how are you, what have you been up to, etc. By the time she was convinced I was alive and well, I was completely dry and everyone was coming back in.
Aww, crap, my mom just got home. I better look like I got some of the chores done.

1:03 p.m., Sunday December 11th
My Room
Whoa, just looked back on how much I wrote yesterday. I tend to write a lot when I’m on a roll. I don’t even remember where I was going with all that nonsense. I’ll just skip ahead to our last two days. Starting the day before we were leaving:
Dragon and Damian were close friends, but nothing more, Damian had a Girl Friend, though the way he was looking at Drag wouldn’t have led you to think so. Anyway, they may as well have been a couple except with no making out and such. That left Rose and Ringo, since Terri had made it abundantly clear she and Adam were now an ‘official’ coupling. I’d noticed Rose seemed very shy around Ringo at times, so when she and I were just out sunning ourselves, while everyone else splashed around, we had a chat.

“So,” I said, “do you like Ringo?”
“Yeah,” she looked away.
“But?” I tried to drag the information out of her.
“He likes Lori,” she sighed and looked out at the Moat again.
“Really?!” I looked at her in astonishment.
“He told me,” she looked up at the clouds, “he has no idea how I feel, but then when do guys ever. He just thinks we’re good buddies.”
“That would explain things…” I trailed off, “I’m sorry.”
“Eh.” She smiled at me, “it’s like I always say: God said let there be Heartache and there was Love.”

Rose is a great person. I find myself striving to uncover the real her. She has so many layers, though. Anyhow, that night we played Truth-or-Dare.

Marlene: Willow, T or D?
Willow: Dare.
Lori (gasping melodramatically): A walk on the wild side!
Willow: Shut-up.
Marlene: Hmm, can I ask for assistance?
Dragon: Draw a name out of the hat.

In our version of the game, if you ask for assistance, you draw a random name from the hat, and that person will help you to the best of their ability. We do this instead of just choosing a person, that’s just too much like cheating.

Marlene: Yes! I got Lily!
Willow: Damn it.
Me: Sorry Will.

For the next couple of minutes, I took Marlene aside and gave her ideas of what she could do, then we both sat down again.

Lori: Done?
Marlene: Yes, I have the perfect one.
Willow: I hate you Lily.
Marlene: I dare you, Willow…
Me: Sorry, Will, I don’t know which one it is, but sorry.
Marlene: …skinny dip in the ‘remote-moat’.
Willow: WHAT?!

The remote-moat is a part of the moat which is completely surrounded by forestry. It’s really quiet and restfull.

Lori: I'll do it with you, if you want.

We all said we'd do it too, but she'd have to be the first one to jump in, all alone.

Joy: I'll bring the Cherry Coke!

Inside joke, disturbing, but high-larious. Any-who, we all put our suits on and went out. Willow did jump in first, suit off and all. After she jumped in, we put all of the suits into a bucket by a tree, and splashed into the water. We horsed around for awhile, then Rose and Joy became extremely self-conscious and went out and put their suits back on. The rest of us just lolled about. A couple of minutes after they got out, they seemed to tense up, we were all still laughing in the water, though.

Rose (hissing): You guys!
Willow: What?
Joy: Did you hear something?
Lori: Nooo…

We all went silent. There was a noise among the trees.

Marlene: Crap, I most definitely heard that.
Me: Shit, fuck, damn, I hate when things like this happen.

We all kept stock still. Eventually, it got so quiet we began to think we'd imagined it, or it had just been an animal. Then, the animal noise erupted all around us. Mind you, if I'd had any form of clothing on, I wouldn't have minded so much, but GAH! Next thing we know it's silent again. We were all getting slightly worried and kept ourselves, shoulders and down, in the water. Then, they broke through, screaming. We all screamed even the two one the dock.
It was the boys.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" Lori screeched.
"Jesus, Mary and Joseph," Joy was pale and gasping.
"Oh…my…" Marlene crouched lower under the waves.
"I hate you all," Willow said to us.

Rose was hyperventilating and rocking back and forth on the dock in shock and terror for us. I, myself, was in shock, barely able to keep from floating up.

"Why do you hate us?" Jeff asked.
"We were merely repaying you for the favor." Damian smirked at Dragon, who glared in retort.
"Honestly," Ringo grinned.
"Where's your sense of humor?" Adam smiled.

They stood on the beach, laughing at us for quite some time. We let them.

"So, boys," Mike said, "shall we go in and get them?"
"NO!!!" we all screamed.

They fell back a step.

"No," I said, mostly recovered "please go back to the mansion."
"What?" Jeff smirked, "Are you all skinny-dipping or something?"

They all laughed it up again. Thinking it to be a ridiculous idea.

"Ummm," Willow looked down into the water.
"Actually…" Lori said quietly.
"We are." I winced

The laughing stopped abruptly.

"Don't believe you." Mike said, "I see Rose and Joy on the dock over there."
"Really now?!" I said, getting angry.
"Really." He said, crossing his arms.

I stood up enough so that my shoulders were out of the water.

"Do I need to expose myself more?" I asked.
"You could just as easily have a tube-top on." Jake said, all the other boys nodding in agreement.

I looked around helplessly, knowing soon the boys would barge into the moat if we didn't give them proof. Rose caught my eye. She nodded. Just for what she did, I love that girl.

"You want proof?" she asked.
"Yeah," Jack said.

Rose up-ended the bucket of our suits onto the dock.

"Enough?" Joy questioned.
"I think so." Jake said.
"We'll be back in five minutes then." Damian put in
"We'll escort you." Joy said, obviously not trusting them.

Ok, well I've been writing for awhile, will pick up train of thought later.
~Lily