East and West. West and East. Opposites. Rivals. Captains, shooters, defense, jumper, dog.
Okay, you probably don't get the last parts. I'm not talking about the directions (although it pure coincidence that the two teams are East and West). I mean, Team West and Team East, the two teams made up of twelve-year-old kids.
Here are the rules: All of the kids have to be the same age, every team has to have a golden retriever as the dog, everyone has to wear swim suit that are their team's color, it has to be in Lake Dark and well . . . it's very important. So important that I started training when I was four.
Team West is made up of four twelve-year-olds. We have a small specially crafted black boat. It's like a canoe, but has a flat back, is wider than a canoe and has a ladder so the jumper can climb back in. The captain of the boat is Beck Oliver, the hot guy with fluffy hair and great acting skills. The shooter is Andre Harris, talented and dedicated musician and songwriter. The defense is Cat Valentine, the ditzy redhead with a passion for singing. And I, Jade West, am the jumper. I love acting and singing, and hate, especially Tori Vega (you'll learn about her later) with a growing passion. Hell, I've hated her since I was old enough to talk.
Another member is the dog. Our dog is Maple "Alpha" West. My dog, obviously. Although we usually call her Maple or Alpha, we all call her Ster, short for her "full" name (my father insisted on putting it on the papers) Mapster. She's playful and spunky. She has gorgeous, long (but sleek) golden fur.
The Team West color is black. I insisted. Our boat is black and we all have black swim suits. Even Maple wears a black color made of a special fabric.
Now . . . Team East. They have a boat like ours, but it's rounded on both ends. They have no ladder. The team is made up of four twelve-year-olds. Robbie Shapiro, captain. Surprisingly, he's a very good captain. He has a stupid puppet that sits on the seat next to him. Danny East is the shooter. Trina Vega is the defense. And (ugh) Tori Vega is the jumper.
The dog is Breezy. She's a small golden retriever, but is afraid to get her head wet, but she is very obedient.
Team East's color is purple. A deep purple that stands out. While "The West" (our boat) slices through the dark water almost invisible, you can see "The East" coming from miles ahead. Stupid people.
Now the boring part. A captain steers and is in charge. A shooter shoots water, water balloons, ect at the other team's boat. A defense defends the boat and on Team West, Cat (defender) puts out the ladder and pulls it up for me (jumper). A jumper has the hardest jobs. They jump out of the boat and swim to the other boat to distract and try to win the war. The dog will swim with the jumper sometimes and will do odd jobs like chewing through rope, breaking water balloons, fetching supplies that went overboard, ect.
"Jade, wake up. We have a war in two hours," Cat shakes me awake.
Grumbling, I pull myself out of bed. Cat hands me my sleek black one-piece suit. She's already wearing hers, but the back says "Cat Valentine, Defender" while mine says "Jade West, Jumper" instead.
Maple wanders in. I pet her sleek, soft fur. "You ready for a war, Ster?" I ask and she barks in response, wagging her tail.
I eat a light breakfast. A breakfast burrito and a cup of coffee. A jumper can't eat too little or too much. I've perfected the balance of eating.
The weather is perfect. It's muggy out and is already 80 degrees out and it's only eight. Wars start at nine, but we like to be there by eight thirty.
At eight thirty on the dot, we're ready. Ster is so excited; she's jumping up and down. Finally, Team East shows up at five minutes to nine.
Nine on the dot. A voice blares over the loud speakers.
"Time for a surprise war! Team West vs. Team East. Now presenting . . . Team West! Mr. John West, in charge of all those fierce little Westers, all dressed in black! The mike is yours, John."
"Thank you." My father's voice is strong and businesslike. "All you Westers in the crowd, thanks for coming."
People (lots have a black shirt that spells out "Westers" in the same fancy font as the one on the back of my swim suit) stand up and cheer.
"I'm going to make this short, so I'll get on with the names." People laugh. They love my father, who always knows what to say. "Captain, Beckett "Beck" Oliver!"
Beck steps out and tips his captain hat. The crowd roars and he steps back into place.
"Shooter, Andre Harris!"
Andre steps toward the crowd and pulls out a gun. He shoots little black pins that say "Westers" on them into the crowd. People cheer. They love him and us Little Westers.
"Our redheaded defender, Caterina "Cat" Valentine!"
Cat jumped out and does a front-flip, then a no-handed cartwheel and yells, "Westers!"
The crowd yells back, "Westers, forever!"
"And last, but definitely not least, our jumper, and my daughter, Jadelyn "Jade" West and her dog, Mapster!"
I run out with Maple on my heels. I quickly scale a tree and throw rope, guns and assorted goodies down to Maple, who throws them into the crowd.
Like my father has predicted, people love us Little Westers. The crowd claps, cheers and whistles for us.
Me and my dog step back. Now for Team East's turn.
Daniel East's arrogant voice blares. "Hey, East fans! We're about ten minutes away from the best war ever! So on to the team! Captain, Robert "Robbie" Shapiro and his . . . puppet, Rex!"
Robbie walks out and yells, "He doesn't like to be called a puppet!"
That kid is so fucked up. I think.
Then Robbie makes a sloppy "E" with his body. People cheer.
"Shooter, my son, Daniel "Danny" East Jr.!" Danny struts out and makes an "A" with his body and stands next to Robbie. More clapping.
"Defender, Trina Vega!" It's pretty funny to watch Trina prance out and twist her body awkwardly into something like an "S".
"And our beautiful, talented jumper, Victoria "Tori" Vega and her dog Breezy!"
Tori runs out and stands up straight, with her arms out. The lazy dog sits next to her.
There's a lot of cheering for Team East, but most of them are cheering for Tori, I know.
It's over. Finally, time for war. Time to kick Team East's asses.
We stand side by side, waiting for the buzzer to go off.
Ten, nine, eight, seven . . . three, two, one . . .
The buzzer goes and we take off running for the boats.
We all jump in and Cat quickly unties the knot. We're off . . . at the same time as Team East! Maple growls at Breezy and I have to hold her collar to keep her from lunging.
"I know, Alpha. You'll set that Rat Dog straight later."
Beck and Andre are pedaling and Cat is rowing. We arrive at Supply Island four and a half seconds before Team East.
Everyone but Beck jumps off. We run for the middle of the island.
Tori and I are in the lead. Cat is close behind and Andre, Trina and Robbie aren't as fast. My speed, plus Cat's, is an advantage. Maple and Breezy race. Maple's faster because of her sleek fur vs. Breezy's fluffy coat.
Maple is trained to grab two buckets, and put ten packages of water bullets and seven packs of water balloons in it, then race back to Andre.
Ten feet from the supplies, Cat yells, "Go!"
I throw myself at Tori, catching her legs and yanking them out from under her. Tori's a faster swimmer for short distances (which is better than being good at long distances, like me), but I'm faster on land and am stronger and bigger than she is.
We roll around on the ground while Cat stuffs two water pistols, a water gun (for the water bullets) and a water balloon catapult, 100 feet of rope, plus ten bottles of water into our packs. Maple runs back and she attaches the bags to Maple's back.
My dog streaks toward the boat and I smile. That gives Tori is easy chance to peg my nose, but I block to blow with my arm. Ouch.
Trina and Robbie grab remaining supplies, but Cat grabs the only boogie board and 500 feet of rope.
I have Tori pinned down now and I have my hand on her throat. "Remember who's stronger," I mutter and she nods frantically.
"Jade!" Cat calls and tosses me the boogie board. I jump up, kick Tori's arm, but not very hard, and run with her.
We reach the boat and pedal to the middle of the lake, where we get everything ready. I put my black goggles and flippers on. Ready. I see "The East" and position myself. But Beck holds me back. "Not yet."
"The East" pulls out in front of us. Tori jumps out as we begin firing. Beck pushes me. "Go and bring Ster!"
I whistle and Ster jumps into the water in sync with me. We hit the water and I go under, Ster goes after Breezy for revenge.
Underwater, everything's peaceful. The dark, cold water encloses me and I smile. I see purple flippers and pull down – hard.
Tori goes under, I surface and take three deep breathes, then dive back under.
We're punching, kicking, but it doesn't work in the water. My arm shoots out and I feel an odd desire to pull my enemy in, so I do.
Too hard. Our faces make contact and I'm suddenly kissing the girl I hate. We finally run out of breath and surface, and then kiss again.
Our lips move in sync. I nip her lip and pull her closer to me. She has her legs wrapped around my waist and my hands are cupping her face. This feels so right . . . Wait! I'm kissing Tori Vega, the girl I hate, underwater when we should be fighting!
But I don't move and just kiss her more passionately.
Team East's boat is sinking! Yes! Cat cut a hole in the bottom of it while I was . . . uh . . . making out with Tori. Everything is going right today.
But even underwater, I hear a chilling whack as the boat smacks Tori's head. She starts to sink and suck in water.
I act fast and grab her by the bikini. The top unravels and I curse, swimming to land quickly. Tori coughs up water. We hit Supply Island's beach and I carry her into the clearing.
When she finally comes to, I'm holding her hand.
"What happened?" she asks.
"We . . ." I don't want to be rude by telling her we won, but I have to. "Cat sunk your boat and it hit you in the head. I carried you to the island."
She smiles at me and our lips touch. It's a short, but sweet kiss.
"Come on, I have to go back to my team." I tell her.
"Aww," she kisses me again and I eagerly move my lips against hers, but soon pull away.
"Baby, I have to get back and you have to lie on the beach and pretend to be unconscious." I say.
Her face falls, so I give her a kiss. Five second later, I pull away.
"Why are you crying?" I ask gently.
"Because I betrayed my team!" she sobs. "And I have to leave you!"
"I'll see you around, Tor," I turn so she can't see the tears in my eyes.
She grabs onto my legs. "Don't leave me, Jade!"
My tears are falling freely. "I have to," I whisper. "Forget about me. I was never here."
"Jadey!" she wails.
I take a deep breath. "I really like you, Tori. But I have to go." I pick her up and sling her over my shoulder and carry her to the beach. I lay her down and sing her to sleep.
"I can usually drink you right off of my mind Yeah the whole thing begins Tonight your memory burns like a fire Turn the TV up loud just to drown out your voice, but I can't forget Tonight your memory burns like a fire I know that you're movin' on Tonight your memory burns like a fire
But I miss you tonight
I can normally push you right out of my heart
But I'm too tired to fight
And I let you sink into my veins
And I feel the pain like it's new
Everything that we were,
Everything that you said,
Everything that I did and that I couldn't do
Plays through tonight
With every one it grows higher and higher
And I can't get over it, I just can't put out this love
I just sit in these flames and pray that you'll come back
Close my eyes tightly, hold on and hope that I'm dreaming
Come wake me up
Now I'm all out of ideas and baby I'm down to my last cigarette
Yeah, you're probably asleep deep inside of your dreams while I'm sitting here crying and trying to see
Yeah, wherever you are baby now I am sure you moved on and aren't thinking twice about me
And you tonight
With every one it grows higher and higher
I can't get over it, I just can't put out this love
I just sit in these flames and pray that you'll come back
Close my eyes tightly, hold on and hope that I'm dreaming
I know I should give you up
But I keep hopin' that you'll trip and fall back in love
Time's not healin' anything
Baby, this pain is worse than it ever was
I know that you can't hear me, but baby I need you to save me tonight
With every one it grows higher and higher
I can't get over it, I just can't put out this love
I just sit in these flames and pray that you'll come back
Close my eyes tightly, hold on and hope that I'm dreaming
Come wake me up
Oh, I'm dreaming
Come wake me up
Oh, I'm dreaming
By the time I finish, she's asleep. "I'll be back, Tor," I promise. "I won't leave you like this." I kiss her forehead and then jump into the lake, swimming back to the Westers, where I belong.
My heart screams for Tori. But isn't this what's right? Or isn't it?
