Summary: Momentary glimpses, tricks of the light, whispers in the dark. All her life, Jenny has known there was something different about her. Julian has been watching from the shadows... and now he wants to drag her down with him.
"No."
Jenny batted her eyes persuasively, rocking back and forth on the heels of her flip-flops.
"But our friends are here and they're expecting us."
The guard folded his aesthetically displeasing arms in front of his equally disappointing chest. "No one is allowed past this point without a wristband."
A warm breeze whistled through the trees, blowing silken ends of hair into Jenny's eyes. She reached up to brush back her ponytail and repressed an impatient huff.
She'd found the envelope Audrey had left on her porch a few days ago. It contained two waterproof wristbands. Jenny wore hers and had given the other one to Summer a few hours before they left for the library. Now, the man at the entrance was claiming they were fraudulent.
Jenny met the guard's gruff, narrowed eyes.
"But Six Flags isn't even open; we're here for Audrey Myers's party." She gestured to the petite blonde beside her. "I'm sure she mentioned us. This is Summer Parker-Pearson and I -"
"Unless you have the wristbands, I can't let you through," he interrupted.
"But we do!" she said desperately, reaching for Summer's tiny wrist and holding it up beside her own. She had a sudden urge to shake them for the man's benefit.
He frowned.
"I've already told you that we don't issue black bands. This is an amusement park, not a death-metal concert."
"I-" Jenny started, when a lively voice rang out then from across the parking lot.
"Benvenuto, i miei amici belli!"
The stony-faced hulk blocking their view grunted roughly as the girls edged around him, revealing the fashionable redhead swaying toward them.
"Excuse me, is there an issue here?" Audrey asked when she'd reached the booth, leaning over the guardrail to speak to them. A solid black strap peeked out from beneath her terrycloth cover-up.
"N-No issue, Miss. Myers."
She raised an auburn eyebrow doubtfully.
"My friends were supposed to meet me twenty minutes ago. Don't tell me you've been keeping them here, Reginald."
The guard's lips opened, but no sound came out.
Audrey smiled wryly. "There's a box with my name on it in equipment shed 4C. If you could be a dear and fetch it for us- you know where we'll be- I wont be inclined to tell my father that you've intentionally sabotaged our celebration."
Jenny bit back a laugh at "Reginald's" expression. He didn't seem to enjoy being ordered around by a teenage girl.
With one last irritated glance, the guard stalked away from the ticket booths and left in the direction of the shed, mumbling under his breath.
"Thanks, Aud," Summer smiled lightly and tugged on the hem of her pastel purple dotted top.
She laughed good-naturedly and gestured behind her at the entrance of the park.
"Care to join us?"
Summer grasped Jenny's hand in her small fair one and Audrey hooked elbows with her on the other side.
It felt easy and natural as the three of them ambled up the sidewalk ramp, in carefree spirits… with no knowledge of what lay ahead.
XXX
"Woah." That was the only word for it.
Dozens of slides in all shapes and sizes spanned out and twisted before her, the metal arcs of roller coasters glinting in the distance. Cheerful flowers in large mahogany pots dotted the walkways, and birds chirped merrily from their perches on the newly planted trees. Jenny tilted her head back. The sun shone down on her face warmly and she smiled in the heat of the light.
From beneath her hand-visor, she scanned the tops of the red and white striped umbrellas in the distance, reminding herself to settle underneath one when Audrey returned with the boys.
Stacks of blue and yellow inner tubes lined the benches as she continued to pace slowly up the walkway. This was such a huge park… surely someone would get lost if the six of them didn't stay together.
Excitement had erupted throughout the group when Audrey told them that her father's roommate at Yale University was the developer of Six-Flags Great America. They'd just finished renovations over the summer for the new attractions in the Hurricane Harbor waterpark, and when Audrey and a few of her "well-mannered friends" asked to try them before school started up again, it was a done deal.
The most unexpected and surprising part of the whole affair was the fact that it was all completely empty. The entire park seemed devoid of human occupation; there wasn't so much as a stranded hot dog wrapper to be seen.
"Impressive, isn't it?" a smooth voice asked behind her.
"Tom." Jenny greeted him. She felt a smile spread across her lips, and turned into the strong hands on her shoulders, calm in his embrace.
She was glad that he didn't seem angry with her for ditching him earlier. The two of them had planned to go out to lunch before driving to the park, but at the last minute Summer had called, needing emergency girl-talk pronto.
His soft cotton shirt was a startling green, and she rested her cheek against his broad chest happily, breathing in the scent of the chlorine spraying all around them.
Shhshhshhshhshhshhshh.
"Ahem." Audrey cleared her throat behind the pair, her manicured hands resting daintily on her hips.
"Where does everyone want to go first? The water slides are up there." She pointed to the trail leading to a cluster of tall ladders, and Jenny traced the beading on her hem thoughtfully before replying.
"Let's go the King Cobra; it's one of the new ones."
Where had that thought come from?
Sure, Jenny had seen the orange, black and yellow themed waterslide while she'd been waiting in the parking lot with Summer, but that kind of racing ride didn't usually appeal to her.
Zach spoke up then, his face looking pensive and his blonde hair pulled back. Michael joined the group behind him.
"Uh, we can do a couple things at once. We just need to form groups."
"Righto," agreed Tom. "I'm with the fun crowd."
Audrey nodded. "Yeah, well, before we can really start, we're going to need our box of goodies."
"What did you ask that guy to bring, anyway?" Jenny asked.
"Toys," she said coyly, and kicked off her Tommy Hilfiger sling-backs. "We'll meet up with you later, but whoever sees Reginald with the trunk, holler to the rest of us."
Without waiting for a response, she took off ahead toward the lazy river, Michael in tow. He kept glancing at Audrey, silently communicating his desire to trace the black piping on her swimsuit with something other than his finger.
Safe to say, no one else joined their group.
"So, King Cobra it is, then," Tom said easily, throwing an arm over Jenny's shoulder. He grinned at her and then threw a pointed look at Zach and Summer- a look that clearly told them they were in their own group.
Summer looked glum over the blatant dismissal, but quickly began throwing suggestions around- one of which was the SuperStriker.
Hand-in-hand, Jenny and Tom made their way through the winding paths, relishing in the 77-degree weather of Valencia, CA.
It wasn't long before they'd reached the entrance to the snake-shaped slide tower. Jenny recognized the paneled scales immediately and the sound of the water gushing through fangs filled her ears; the hiss of the spray like static.
Shhshhshhshhshhshhshh.
A plaque posted outside boasted sudden twists and turns in the enclosed portion of the slide with speeds of up to 32-miles-per-hour. The finale then plunged the riders 25 feet through the mouth of the cobra.
Tearing her gaze from the sign, she scoped out the remainder of the reptile. Something about the cobra's piercing eyes unnerved her… for an instant Jenny could have sworn she saw the yellow flash blue.
Shaking it off, she reached for a double inner tube from the pile, but Tom grabbed two singles instead. Clearly he was hoping for a race, and Jenny beamed back at him, only too ready to rise to the challenge.
Holding their respective tubes, they approached the looming green steps of the slide. Everything looked so modern from below, and the shiny metal and plastic smelled fresh and brand new.
They'd hiked to the uppermost landing and Tom moved to position their tubes on either side of the split opening. She thought he'd said something about the water, that it was "cold as ice." Suddenly, standing in front of the monstrous cobra, the air felt oddly chilled, too.
The chemical-treated water pulsed in her ears and Jenny stared as if in a daze. There was an ethereal, dreamlike feeling that had befallen her when she noticed that slide was cloaked in darkness, too. The water gushing madly looked almost black, and the echoing confines eerily created the facade of a cave. Gray-hued scales running along the snake looked slick and sharp at once, though she knew that logically they couldn't be made from anything but pressed plastic. A thick, confining sense of entrapment washed over her. Suddenly Jenny didn't want to go down. It felt…wrong. It felt separated somehow.
Shhshhshhshhshhshhshh.
The water spun around and down, sucked below by the pressure of the slide.
She was just about to start babbling about getting the double floaty when she caught a flash of metal from the corner of her eye.
"Tom! This must be the box Audrey was talking about."
The stainless steel crate was pushed up against the left side of the railing, sealed with airtight metal fasteners. It resembled the stage cases she'd seen musicians use in Los Angeles, except there were strange shapes etched into the sides. Jenny moved closer, squinting at the shapes. Come to think of it, she thought they looked sort of like… Jenny looked down and gasped. The symbols were the same ones printed on her wristband; squiggly and sometimes pointed, upside-down U's and M's crossed with X's…
Well, of course, she thought. It must be the theme for the ride or something.
The familiarity embarrassed her; she couldn't believe how silly she had been only moments before.
Tom glanced over at the metal box disinterestedly, tugging off his T-shirt. Dropping it on the concrete, he slid off his sandals silently. Jenny couldn't stop herself from gazing in adoration; standing in his navy swim trunks, Tom Locke was more than enough to send any girl into a drooling mess of dubious intent.
"What's…"
She trailed off at her boyfriend's expression, blank and frozen completely.
"Tom?"
His eyes were fixed on her, and when she followed his gaze down to her hand, his lips parted as though he was about to say something. Then suddenly, his features relaxed and he shook his head, turning away from her.
That was weird, Jenny thought, blinking. I must be seriously overtired. I shouldn't have stayed up so late last night on the phone with Dee.
"Uh, what was I saying?" Tom ran a yellow wristband-clad hand through his handsome dark hair, the muscles in his arm twitching as he lowered it.
"We were going to get everyone at the lazy river."
He nodded and Jenny took it as an invitation to bound back down the green steps, water hissing behind her.
Shhshhshhshhshhshhshh.
XXX
She and Tom discovered the group hanging out together by the picnic tables.
"Where have you been? It's four o'clock," Zach demanded, adjusting his wire-rimmed glasses.
Jenny gasped, sliding in beside Tom on the bench. "But we just left a few minutes ago!"
There was silence all around until suspicion clouded Michael's eyes.
"No," he confirmed. "See for yourself."
She tugged on the neckline of her maxi dress self-consciously as Michael presented his digital wristwatch. It clearly displayed 4:00PM. Strange that it was precisely four, not a minute less, not a minute more…
"Maybe your watch is wrong," Tom suggested, but Zach raised his wrist and his clock matched Michael's time.
They group had left their cell phones in the pool bags when they came in, but surely two different watches couldn't be wrong.
Jenny listened attentively while her friends explained the rest of the story. Apparently, the group couldn't remember which way the King Cobra slide was, and after searching for over an hour, they'd given up and returned to the long tourist tables by the snack shacks.
Six slushies were spread out along the table, and the two newcomers accepted theirs gratefully.
"We've been looking for you. That guy brought Audrey's pool stuff." He gestured beside the picnic tables, where, sure enough, there was a white box with The Container Store printed along the rim in red block letters.
Well, if this was Audrey's, then… the one up by the slide must have held spare parts or something, Jenny told herself.
But somehow… something wasn't right.
XXX
Audrey had brought toys. Lots and lots of them.
Tom filled hers with water from the shallow pool and held it out to her. She accepted it effusively, turning it over in silent examination.
Audrey clearly had the best party-planning skills of any of the group members and even though she was a new friend, Jenny had a feeling she'd officially been accepted by the other five- and even, she was beginning to suspect, Dee.
"OK, you've turned me over to the dark side." Jenny giggled and grinned devilishly, raising her super-soaker. She needed this. Her friends were here, safe and together, and they'd all soon be embarking on one of the biggest journeys of their lives: senior year. This summer was a defining moment for them.
The six of them spread out and let loose. Bare feet pounded on the concrete and playful shrieks rang out in response to the burning-hot ground. Even Zach, usually so withdrawn, had exchanged his solitude for a game of Marco Polo with Summer. A dragonfly whizzed past and she let out a yell, giving away her position. Zach lunged, splashing heavily and tagging her immediately.
Pushing, spraying and laughing, the group paused only long enough to re-fill their waterguns or to fish another noodle out of the tub.
Dee's absence was on everyone's mind- especially Jenny's, but she knew they were all glad for their friend. Dee had even invited them to come to her martial arts dojo when her summer camp ended. She was going to advance levels and everyone wanted to be there to cheer her on.
They'd cannon-balled and raced one another- effectively disobeying all of the no running at the pool signs.
Occasionally, someone swam over to poke fun at Audrey, who was humorously protecting her coiffeur from the "harsh chlorine." She sat on the edge and dipped her feet demurely, elbowing Michael when he suggested she jump in.
After much exercise- and complaining- Tom and Michael brought back Pringles and Cheez-It from the vending machine nearby, and the group sat in a circle and chatted as they snacked. Jenny smiled at the soggy crackers and looked around at her friends, a warm feeling spreading inside her.
XXX
Finally, exhausted, soaking, and thoroughly celebrated, they gathered their belongings and began to dry off, dodging the boys' attempts to whip them with their towels.
The sky began to turn pink as sunset approached and they walked back to the parking lot together, gossiping lightheartedly. Summer and Michael groaned about school starting the following week.
Four loose yellow wristbands fluttered in the breeze, settling on the grass only to blow waywardly once more.
The kids ambled about outside the entrance, heading to their prospective vehicles, but if Reginald, the guard from earlier was around, he certainly didn't show himself.
Zach was leaned over a sketchbook in the backseat of Tom's car, the hum of the ignition muted beneath their prattling.
Jenny hadn't ridden with Tom on the way over, Instead, she and Summer had walked across from the library where her mom had dropped them off earlier.
As the teenagers crowded into Audrey's sedan, three leather-lined doors slammed shut, and a barrage of giggling erupted from behind her. Jenny glanced aimlessly out the front windshield as Michael leaned over to fiddle with the radio, complaining about the girls' taste in Katy Perry. Finally, the channel flipping ended and a haunting beat begun, low and mesmerizing.
I would die for you. I would die for you.
"My car. My music, she heard Audrey laugh. Jenny's mind was elsewhere, though.
I've been dying just to feel you by my side.
For a moment, right before Jenny had closed her door, she could have sworn she'd seen something by the passenger wheel of the car. It was plain cutout shape, blank and white and insignificant.
To know that you're mine.
"This is garbage," Michael complained. Summer sniggered. "Literally."
Sleepily, Jenny tugged the ponytail holder from her hair, fastening it on her wrist beneath the black printed wristband. She'd forgotten to ask Audrey about the yellow ones earlier, but now for some reason it didn't seem to matter.
I would sell my soul for something pure and true,
someone like you.
She leaned back against the headrest and closed her eyes, letting the voices of her friends lull her as they drove.
I will crawl on hands and knees until you see
that you're just like me
Somehow the song made her think of the white cutout that'd been on the ground in the parking lot.
I'd sail ships for you
to be close to you
to be part of you
violate all the love that I'm missing
throw away all the pain that I'm living
It looked familiar, as though she'd seen it somewhere before.
You will believe in me
and I will never be ignored.
As the singer crooned on, Jenny's mind registered the smudge of yellow on the plain slip of paper. The two quick dots of green…
If she didn't know any better, if the idea wasn't so preposterous… she would have guessed it was a paper doll.
DISCLAIMER: "The Forbidden Game" was written by L.J Smith; all rights reserved to their respective parties. I do not own the characters, only my own original plot.
A/N: This is my first attempt at writing fanfiction again after taking a (ahem, rather lengthy) break. Please Review!