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eart that they would stay and not leave me alone.
They were all I had left to believe in.
I heard the footsteps of a couple of boys in the hallway before they managed to open the door to my bedroom, inside the two story gray house on Sunnyvale Court. It was Saturday. I could sense it was another hot day for late September through the glare of sunlight assaulting me from the window. For me, having grown up in Illinois, I was unused to the warmth of southern summer so late in the year. The boys kept telling me I could expect summer days on through November. It seemed impossible but I’d believe it when I felt it.
The footsteps quieted by my door. The handle was twisted, the door had been unlocked. I was under the sheets and blankets on my bed, the one Victor bought for me. I could still smell him in the sheets since he’d spent the night with me. He didn’t need to, none of the boys did, but they did it anyway often enough. Marie and I were alone, but we were never really truly alone when the Academy was always watching.
I’d slept in. Seven am was late to sleep in for boys who were usually up and working at dawn. However, Victor had me up late watching a movie, and I was feeling lazy.
My skin electrified. The boys in my room were being sneaky. They were up to something and I had no idea what. My fingers clutched the blanket, ready to hold tight to it or push it back and jump up and catch them at whatever they were doing.
The edge of my blanket was collected at the foot of my bed in someone else’s grasp.
Silence. Either side was waiting for the other to strike first.
My blanket was yanked from my grasp. I raced to pop up and go after whoever it was. Instead I got a spray of ice water smack in my face. The edge of a shrill cry caught in my throat but I held it in. Screaming was pointless.
There was a rush for the door. I caught Nathan and Gabriel dashing out, large Super Soaker guns in their hands. Nathan was shirtless, his muscular, tanned body leaving me breathless. He wore red sport shorts, and was barefoot. His reddish brown hair was wet, sticking up. Gabriel’s leaner frame was also shirtless, wearing camouflage shorts. Two locks of blond hair stuck wet to his cheeks and the rest of his russet brown hair was raked back, hanging behind his ears. White crystal studs hung from each lobe, and three black rings were pierced into his right ear toward the top crest.
Sounds like thunder rumbled through the house as the two of them raced down the front stairs. They threw open the front door and ran outside.
My wakeup call had been delivered.
More footsteps rushed up the backstairs. I jumped up on the bed, moving to the wall next to my door, pressing my back to the frame. I’d gotten hit in the face once and I didn’t have a weapon. I was outmatched for speed and power by all of the guys so it didn’t matter who it was. I hoped I could wager sympathy from my new assailant.
The footsteps padded closer, slowed, stopped behind the wall.
I peeked out into the hallway.
Luke peeked back in at me. His shirt was gone, too. His khaki shorts hung low on his hips. His tapered shoulders were starting to get a little pink from sun. His longish blond hair was sloshed behind his head, tied back with a clip he’d probably borrowed from me. He grinned down at me, his brown eyes brightening.
“About time you got up,” he said. He stepped back, holding out a second Super Soaker gun. Pink. “Look what the Kota fairy got for us.”
I grinned. Kota bought us new toys. I took the pink gun from Luke, holding it in my hands and feeling the weight.
“I’m going to run out the front door,” Luke said. “Head out the back and around the house. I’ll try to get their attention. You do that super silent thing you do and sneak up on them.”
“Okay.” I didn’t know what he was talking about. What super quiet thing? Tiptoeing?
I raced back to my bookshelf, snatching up a hair clip to twist back my hair quickly to keep it out of my eyes. I checked my clothes, soft gray shorts and a light pink bra cami tank top. I was decent enough for water guns.
I ran down the back steps, listening as Luke did the same on the front steps and headed out the front door. I would have to hurry.
I ran past the side door, flew through the family room and unlocked the back door out onto the screened in back porch.
The morning greeted me with a wave of thick heat. A basketball was bouncing in the driveway and there was the echo of shuffling tennis shoes meeting the beige concrete. I closed the door behind me, jumping down the brick steps to land on the blue utility carpet.
From where I was, I could see Silas’s tall, strong frame nearly hovering as he stood on his toes over North. North might have been a few inches shorter, but the fierceness in his almost-scary face from his intense eyes and strong, two days unshaven jaw, you’d never know it.
North clutched the basketball in his hand, avoiding Silas. Kota flew into view, his black rimmed glasses sliding down his nose, sweat making the hunter green t-shirt he wore stick to his back. North tossed him the ball. Derrick, a boy from up the road, raced after Kota, trying to block him as Kota aimed for the basket and tried to get off a shot. Derrick was probably the same size as Kota, wearing only a pair of cut off jean shorts that hung low off of his hips, revealing a trace outline of dark boxers underneath. Derrick was deeply tanned from long days spent outdoors all summer. He was a new face, though, as he hadn’t been there all week, when the other boys had. Word must have gotten out that the house was no longer a place to stay away from.
I was surprised, too, to find Micah and Tom, a couple of twelve year old boys, in the backyard, bouncing on top of a large trampoline. The trampoline had been something like a consolation prize from my father before he last left. He never even finished building it but North fixed it up. I hadn’t been on it yet, mostly because I didn’t want to enjoy it. I didn’t like the meaning of it. I didn’t mind the others using it. In fact, I was glad. At least someone liked it.
My ... stepmom would have had a fit seeing all these boys running around the yard, through the house, and playing with me.
I ran for the screen door in the porch that led out into the yard. I flung open the door, stepping out into the grass, feeling the heat heavy around me, the water swishing in the gun in my hands.
North stopped in mid-step, glancing over at me and temporarily distracted from his basketball game. He smiled after me, his black hair hanging in his eyes. I gave him a small wave and a wink before dashing off in the opposite direction, heading around the back of the house toward the side yard, taking the longer way around to the front.
I crouched by the bushes surrounding the front porch, glancing over them for Nathan and Gabriel.
Luke was dashing around the front yard. Nathan was on his heels and after him. They aimed their water guns at each other, spraying the other one down with a fresh blast every few seconds. The front yard was large and bare, with plenty of space for running around. I didn’t have much to block me if I just ran out there. And where was...
A spritz of cold water caught me in the back. I squealed and without thinking, started to run. I found out where Gabriel was. So much for the surprise attack.
“Oy, Trouble,” Gabriel called after me, laughing.
I flew across the yard. My cover was blown. Time for rushing in head first.
I pumped my water gun and aimed for Nathan as he dashed after Luke. I caught him in the back with the spray of my gun. He turned, spotted me and started running.
I cut across the yard, Gabriel was after me, too, taking a different angle. I ran as hard as I could toward the porch but there wasn’t much point. Both of them were much faster than I was.
Gabriel managed to cut me off before I made it to the steps. I aimed my gun at him as he started to squirt at my chest and stomach. I caught him in the face as I turned again, intending to run back around the house.
No use. Nathan caught up with me, scooping me up by hooking his arm around my waist and dropped me into a soft tackle to the ground. I landed on my back. He sat square on my hips. I aimed my p
ink gun at his face as he aimed his orange one at mine.
“Say ‘mercy’,” he warned, his eyebrows shifting above his blue eyes, a wide grin splashed on his face. Droplets of water sashayed down the ripples of his abs.
“No,” I called out. I pulled the trigger to squirt water at him.
Only I’d forgotten to pump my gun and I got the last of a trickle before the pressure ended.
Nathan made an evil-sounding cackle. “Brave words from a dead girl who forgot to load her gun.”
He fired. Ice liquid shot at my face. I dropped the gun to hold both hands up at the end of his, blocking the spray. The water still caught me against the neck and around the top of my shirt.
“No,” I squealed, laughing. “Stop.”
Gabriel came over, standing over my head, his camo shorts dripping on my face. He aimed his gun at me. “You should know better than to put your gun down.” He squirted me in the face with a short shot.
I blocked my head with my arms. The water bit into my skin with a sharp chill. “Holy crow, how is the water so cold?”
“We put ice in it,” Gabriel said, pumping his gun.
Luke flew over me, jumping over my body and aiming his gun at Gabriel and catching him in the side of his head. Gabriel shot off after him. Luke flew over the rail of the front porch, using it as a bunker as he aimed over it at Gabriel and fired. Gabriel crept around the bushes, crouching up the steps. They both shot streams of water at each other before Luke flew back over the rail, landing in the yard to fly across the grass toward the side of the house. Gabriel went after him.
Nathan laughed, aiming the gun back at my face. “Come on, say mercy and I’ll let you up.”
“No,” I squealed, giggling and pushing his gun away, reaching for mine.
