Prologue
The music was playing quietly in the back ground, and somehow it was comforting. Or maybe what was actually comforting was the stifled laughter of the kids on my team as we played games throughout the night.
“Truth or dare Birdie?” Eden questioned me.
She was fifteen and a lot more innocent then I ever was when I was her age. Knowing this, whatever dare she gave me wouldn’t be that bad.
“Alright Eden give me a dare,” I hummed while drumming my nails against the back of my phone.
It was only the eight of us in the downstairs part of the gym; everyone else was sleeping peacefully upstairs. Coach would be mad if she knew what we were doing. She wasn’t a fan of our shenanigans, at least, that’s what she called them.
“I dare you to let Declan go through your phone,” she said in her normal arrogant tone, most likely thinking that she had just come up with dare of the century.
I rolled my eyes at her and called Declan who was mildly lost in his own little world.
With nobody asking him anything he was getting bored.
“Yo, Declan,” I called, bring his attention back to the game.
He looked up quickly and I threw my phone at him. He caught it and began to type in the password that he had memorized like the back of his hand.
He scrolled through for a bit before he bursted out into laughter, “what’s with the slutty Santa picture?”
My eyes went wide slightly and I ripped my phone away.
“No questions asked little boy!” I shouted with narrowed eyes.
Declan gave me one of his oh so infamous smirks and sent a not so sly wink in my direction.
“Calm down there tiger,” Kendyll hummed, “You’re only fourteen and Lark is seventeen. Not to mention don’t you have a girlfriend?”
Declan’s eyes went wide and we all bursted into another controllable fit of giggles.
We were sprawled out on one of the mats, sharing blankets and hugging our pillows. All of our phones had been forgotten as we played our game and snacked on whatever we managed to hide from the small kids.
“Aight, aight, it’s my time to ask,” I said when we all finally calmed down from our laughing,”truth or dare Gavin?”
Gavin awkwardly pushed his glasses up onto his nose and I leaned forward ruffled his hair.
“Truth,” he muttered while snatching another piece of chocolate from the junk food pile.
I paused for a slight second and bit the inside of cheek. We always struggled with coming up with truths since we all knew each other so well. I guess that’s what happens when you go to the same gymnastics gym for years.
“Ever been kissed?” I asked and he blushed slightly before looking down; his glasses falling back down his nose.
Gracie, one of the younger ones in the group even though she was thirteen, gasped.
“Gavin you’re almost fifteen and you haven’t had your first kiss!” She squealed while holding back laughter.
Gavin chucked a pillow at her face and she flew backwards.
That little dickwad. He threw my pillow.
“Oh shut up Gracie!” He growled out, “it’s not like you’ve ever been kissed.”
It was Gracie’s turn to blush. We all sent each other a knowing glance. We had an idea for the next dare.
“Okay we’re done. It’s not pick on Gavin time anymore. Larkin truth or dare?”
I made that strange face of confusion that I often made and dropped my mouth slightly.
“Okay why is everyone suddenly picking me for this?” I asked and Sarah just rolled her eyes.
“Just pick!” Everyone whisper shouted at me and I threw my hands up in surrender.
“Okay don’t get your pink undies in a twist you guys. I’ll do truth this time,” I said while trying to stifle my loud laughter a bit.
Everything seemed funny to us. Maybe it was the amount of sugar we had been eating or maybe it was the fact that it was four in the morning, whatever it was, I was just happy to see everyone smiling.
“How many different guys have you sent booty pics to?” Declan shouted and I whipped my head in his directions.
“Declan!” I squealed causing us to burst into another fit of giggles.
Gavin looked at me, “Okay now we have to know.”
I pouted a bit, but quickly gave in. I was too lazy-- and too tired-- to argue with them.
“Ten give or take,” I mumbled and Eden nearly started to choke on her water.
“Larkin!” She shouted in an obnoxiously high pitched tone.
I didn’t even pay attention to her. I just rolled my eyes.
Eden… bothered me and that’s saying it nicely. We only got along when our coach was around and even then we still weren’t exactly nice. Most days we just tried to ignore each other.
“Gracie truth or dare?” I asked and Kendyll and Kyle just glanced at me.
They knew what I was doing.
“Dare,” She declared, far more confident then usual.
Gracie rarely picked dares, mainly because our usual game of truth or dare became dirtier the later it got.
And it was pretty late at the moment.
“I dare you to kiss Gavin,” I chirped with a slight grin on my face.
Gracie looked flustered and carefully made her way over to me.
“How do you give a good kiss,” she whispered in my ear.
I melted a bit on the inside. So sweet and innocent, but this was necessary. Everyone knew that Gavin and Gracie like each other. They were just too chicken to do anything about it.
“Here watch this,” I whispered back.
I crawled over to Kyle. It was safe to say that him and I had a thing going on and he wanted more. He wanted a steady title, a relationship. I wanted that too, but I just couldn’t move on. I just couldn’t give myself to anyone else when no matter what she was always in my mind.
I cupped Kyle’s face with my hand; everything about him was bigger then me, he towered over my petite frame.
As I leaned in, he met me halfway.
Our kiss was sweet and soft. Kind of like the ones you see in all those sappy romance movies. The ones where fireworks go off in the back of your head and the butterflies turn to elephants in your stomach.
I pulled away before the kiss got too heated and laid my forehead against Kyle’s chest. My face felt hot and I suddenly realized that I was blushing.
Declan whistled in the background and I stuck up my middle finger as a response.
What a perverted little teenage boy.
When I felt my blush fade I settled into Kyle’s lap and hid myself in the blanket that he held on his lap. He wrapped his arms around me and for a few seconds I felt safe.
“Alright Gracie it’s time for your dare,” Kendyll encouraged.
Gracie took a deep breath and sat down next to Gavin. They looked in each other’s eyes for a few seconds before Gavin leaned forward and pushed his lips against Gracie’s.
He held the kiss for a few seconds before pulling away.
We all hollered and cheered as quietly as we could. We didn’t want to wake up the rest of the sleeping children.
Suddenly there was a thud and we all stopped.
We looked at each other.
“Maybe something fell upstairs again?” Sarah whispered.
I shook my head, “I don’t think that was coming from upstairs."
The floor boards by the front desk creaked.
I held my breath.
“Declan and Kendyll, quietly go upstairs and wake everyone up. Gracie, Gavin, when they get half way up the stairs you start walking up,” I whispered.
I could feel my heartbeat in my throat and I had the sudden urge to throw up. The kids listened to me and slowly got up and walked towards the stairs. The weight of all eight of us would be too loud if we went upstairs all at once.
They crept towards the stairs and I squeezed my eyes shut as the first two started to climb.
I counted to five in my head before I saw the next pair go up the stairs. I stood up and and motioned for the rest to follow. We tip toed to the stair well and I sent Kyle and Sarah up first.
Then I turned around. That’s when the flashlight hit my eyes. There was cursing and shouting. I shoved Eden into the stairs and closed the door.
There was a loud bang and a searing pain in my stomach. I gasped in pain.
Getting shot hurts like a bitch. I don’t recommend it.
I leaned against the door and twisted the key, locking them within the stairwell. I pulled the key out as I slid down to the ground and slid it under the door.
There’s no words to describe how I felt as I pressed my hands to my stomach.
Keep pressure on the wound.
That’s all I could think and I don’t even know if that’s right.
I wish I had paid more attention when Grey’s anatomy was on.
I heard people running away and then another loud crash. Then someone was holding my head in their lap and another set of hands was pushing something against my stomach. There was more running and screaming and I think crying.
I opened my eyes and tried to focus on the person holding me. Dirty blonde hair framed their face.
Sarah.
I raised my hand and cupped her face; I felt tears fall down her face and I realized that she was the one crying, but I think I might have been crying too.
“Don’t cry beautiful,” I heaved, “I’ll be okay.”
There were sirens in the background and I suddenly realized that I had no idea how much time had gone by. Everything was moving so slow.
I felt my self being lifted and I closed my eyes.
It was so cold.
“I’m just gonna take a lil nap. I’ll wake up soon. I promise.”
