Disclaimer: We still don't own the Covenant, or Gilmore Girls, or Music. Bummer.
The next day was one of the hottest days New England had ever seen. Caleb, Pogue, Kate, Sarah, Reid, Tyler, and Amanda all decided to go to Scarlet Lake where the boys used to hang out when they were kids.
The twenty minute drive seemed to take hours in the 100 degree heat.
"Finally!" Reid said as the lake came into view. Even before the car had fully stopped he had pulled his shirt off, and hopped out.
"Reid!" Tyler yelled, but he was too far gone.
"Look," Sarah said, pointing to the red Viper sitting near the water. "Ash and Griff must be here too." No sooner had she finished her sentence when they all heard screams coming from the lake. Seconds later Reid came into view, grinning like a madman and running as fast as he could.
"What did you do?" Pogue asked him.
"Nothing," he said, stopping just behind him. "Let's just say I walked in on a little tanning session."
"Garwin, you... You... You..." Ash came into view, clutching a towel to her chest. "I'm going to kill you!"
"Hey hey now, he didn't mean to, Ash, calm down," Caleb said to the fuming girl.
"Didn't mean to sneak up on us? Didn't mean to attempt to take our CLOTHES?"
"Reid!"
"What?" He said defensively. "You know me, Caleb. I couldn't resist."
"What the hell?" Griff's voice sounded. Her shoe came flying in their direction, narrowly missing Tyler's head. While everyone else was distracted, Reid's eyes flashed black, and a sudden gust of wind ripped Ash's towel from her hands. She shrieked, and hurried to cover herself. Pogue rushed to catch her towel, and Tyler gave her Reid's shirt from the back of his car.
"I dunno if I want that," she said, tightly clamping her hands over herself. "It may have herpes." Reluctantly, she took the shirt, turned, and put it on. Caleb shot him a furious look, Reid simply smiled at him and shrugged.
"Got your towel," Pogue said, panting.
"Thank you," Ash said, taking it from him. "It's nice to see one of you is genuinely nice around here."
"Jackass," Griff shouted, and began bludgeoning Reid with her other shoe.
"Ow, OW, hey!" He raised his arms in defense of himself. Tyler drug Griff away from him, screaming obscenities.
"Repugnant bastard!" She finished, panting. She was clutching the strings of her bikini top, trying her best not to become exposed.
"Here," Sarah said, tying it for her.
"Thanks," Griff said, still staring daggers at Reid.
"Why don't you go and get your suit on, we'll wait here until you get back," Caleb said to Ash. "All of us." This he directed to his toe-headed friend. "You just like making things hard for yourself, don't you?" He asked him. "Why can't you just grow up?"
"Hey, as much as I'd love to stay and listen to your lecture, I..." He couldn't finish his sentence. Griff had shoved him, hard, in the chest. The wind knocked out of him, he hit the ground with a whump. She grabbed the hair at the back of his head, and brought his face close to hers. Her eyes blazed with anger, and they seemed to glow.
"Shut. Up," she said, her voice low and dangerous.
"Griffin, let him go," Ash told her, returning. Griff released her hold on Reid, but still got in one last kick as she walked away.
As Reid lay on the ground, holding the family jewels, everyone else headed to the lake..
"MARCO!" Griff called from the water.
"Polo," Ash returned, still on the shore.
"MAR...OW!" she yelled, as she had swam face first into Pogue's chest. He laughed and steered her in the right direction.
"Hey! No fair! You're not even in the water yet!" Griff yelled, opening her eyes.
"I never said that I was playing," Ash retorted.
"Good point."
"Hey, if you're gonna do that, could you at least take it to a car?" Pogue yelled over at Tyler and Amanda, who were on a blanket, heavy into a make-out session.
"Ew." Ash made a face. Tyler and Amanda got up, and left the beach.
"Oh, c'mon!" Reid called, disgusted. "Hey, Caleb, can I get a ride back? I don't want to be in that backseat until I see it sprayed with a fire hose."
Caleb laughed, "Sorry, pal, but you're on your own. I've already got a full car."
"Shit," Reid said under his breath.
"Why don't you ask Ash?" Sarah said. "Her car is here."
Ash looked at her so angrily that they were surprised lightning didn't come from the clear sky and smite her on the spot. "I don't want that asshole in my car. I might get Bird Flu in the backseat."
"What if he apologized?" Kate asked.
Griff laughed. "You're cute," she said, patting her on the head. "Ash doesn't accept apologies."
"Well, what if he really meant it?" Kate prompted, looking at Reid and jerking her head Ash's way.
"What do you say, Ash?" he asked, extending a hand. "Truce?"
Ash stared at his hand like she was about to bite it off and throw it in the lake.
"She doesn't accept truces, either," Griff explained, all the while with a grin so wide it looked like her face would fall off. Reid's forehead furrowed in concentration, and his eyes suddenly grew misty.
"Ok, I understand why you wouldn't want to forgive me. After all I am the biggest asshole in the world, and I deserve to be eaten alive by ravenous wolves." He let out a little sob, and covered his face in his hands.
"You're pathetic," Ash replied, unsympathetically. "Especially if you think I'll fall for the little, 'I'm just an innocent little boy' act. You were right about the wolves, though."
Reid groaned in frustration and walked away from them.
"Who wants to play chicken?" Sarah asked, smiling suggestively at Caleb.
"Pogue and I will," Kate replied, tugging Pogue into the water.
"No, thanks," Caleb said flatly.
"Aw come on, baby. Please?" Sarah gave him puppy dog eyes, and pouted.
"Fine," he said, allowing himself to be pulled along. Griff looked at Ash, and her eyes said one thing. Whipped. The two girls watched from shore as Kate and Sarah battled it out atop the boys' shoulders. Finally, Sarah and Caleb managed to push Kate and Pogue backwards.
"Cheat! Cheat! Rematch!" Pogue shouted.
Six rounds later: Caleb/Sarah 2 Pogue/Kate 4.
"C'mon, last match!" Caleb pleaded.
"I'm tired," Sarah whined. "Can't we just stop for a while?"
"I'm up for one more, are you, baby?" Kate said.
"Yeah," Pogue said.
"Well, I'm not," said Sarah finally.
"Griff," Caleb said, as soon as Sarah was on shore. "Get over here."
"What?"
"You heard me," He waved her over. "Get over here, we'll kick their asses."
"Uh, okay," She said, making her way over, glancing back to Ash uncertainly.
"Ready?" Caleb asked her, while he stooped and grabbed just above her knees. "When I say jump, jump. Got it?"
"I've played before," Griff said.
"Jump." He ducked under the water, as she went up. In the proper chicken-playing-position, Griff grabbed Kate's hands, and they began their epic struggle.
Ash and Sarah cheered from the shore, as Kate and Griff squabbled for a few minutes. Finally, Griff gave a massive wrench and sent Kate flying off of Pogue's shoulders into the water.
"WHOOOOO!" Ash shrieked, and jumped into the air, punching above her head.
"What NOW? BEEAAtch??" Caleb shouted.
Griff whooped and jumped off of his shoulders. Tackling him, they both fell into the water.
Caleb opened his eyes, and looked in Griff's direction. Her hair was suspended around her face, framing it in a golden halo. She smiled at him and a small stream of bubbles escaped from her lips. He couldn't help but notice her eyes. They always seemed to glow static blue. He wasn't sure if it was a trick of the light or not.
She raised her eyes and pushed herself upward. Caleb followed.
"Alright, alright, you won," Pogue said, drying his hair with a towel on shore. "So, you buy us all dinner!"
"What?" Caleb rushed up to his best friend. "Oh no. You're definitely buying!"
"Oh yeah?" Pogue snapped his towel at him. Somehow, someway, they got into a play fist-fight.
"So, you wanna bail?" Ash asked Griff, as Sarah and Kate tried to pull the two boys apart.
"Yeah, let's go," Griff said, quickly grabbing her things and heading up to the road.
When they got to the car, they noticed Tyler's hummer was gone. Griff began laugh.
"What?" Ash looked at her and flung her bag in the trunk.
"Those two," She jerked her head to the, now gone, car.
"Oh."
Climbing behind the wheel, Ash turned the key, thrust the car into gear, and put down the roof. The second they were in motion, Griff cranked the stereo. Megan McCauley's Tap That blasted out at a deafening decibel. They both sang along, whooping and screaming:
Don't play dumb you know you wanted to
fill my cup, that's what we came to do
I'm the boss, keep that in your head
Don't forget you know I'm gonna get
YOU!
I'ma teach you how to scream my name
You're never gonna get away from me
You!
Come on over here and play with me
Let me be your tiny fantasy!
Yeah I kinda like that
I wanna tap that
You can bet I'm gonna get you!"
"YEAH!" Came a call from the backseat. Reid sat up and slung his arms around either of the seats in front of him.
"What the FUCK?!!" Griff yelled and turned down the stereo. Ash slammed on the breaks.
"You know, if you really liked me that much, you didn't have to write a song about it," he said, grinning at them..
"garwinyoUASSHOLE!!" Ash screamed. She turned and tried to pummel him, but the car lurched forward. Shrieking, she swung back around and grabbed the steering wheel.
"Ohmifuckinggosh, my life just flashed before my eyes," Griff said, her hand over the middle of her chest, as she took gulp after gulp of air.
"Sorry, Griff. WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING??" She yelled at the boy in the backseat.
"What?" he asked, all innocence. "I needed a ride."
"What, so you sat in the backseat until we left?" It was Griff's turn to yell. "You almost gave me a fucking aneurism!"
"Sorry," He rubbed her shoulder. "Hey can we stop to get something to eat? I'm starving!"
Ash rammed her foot on the accelerator, and he was thrust into the back.
"Hey!"
She hit 120 mph before she cooled off. "Okay," Ash said, slowing down and taking a deep breath. "I'm going to forgive the seeing-us-naked thing. I'm going to forgive scaring-the-shit-out-of-me. BUT! If we go out to eat, you're buying, asshole."
"Fair enough," he said, sitting forward again. "Can I at least pick the place?" he asked, already grimacing from the blows he knew were coming.
"Yeah," Ash said. "As long as it's Dairy Queen, Dairy Queen, OR just to change it up, Dairy Queen."
"I'm gonna have to go with Dairy Queen," he said.
"Wanna pick a vowel?" Griff asked, out of the blue. Ash laughed.
"Well then, we need to stop at my house first," Garwin said. "I need to grab some cash, oh and pants."
"Point the way," Ash said.
Five minutes later, Ash and Griff waited outside while Reid ran into his HUGE house to change.
"Little rich bastard," Ash said, staring at the mansion with contempt.
"Wouldn't you love to have that though?" Griff asked her.
"Have what? The 'I've-got-money-coming-out-of-my-ass' lifestyle and the self-restraint of a 4-year-old? No thanks."
"Said the girl with the Viper," Griff said.
"Hey! You know very well that I worked my ASS off to buy this car."
"Yeah, I know. It's just, it would be nice, to have the kind of power the Ipswich people have, you know?"
"I guess," Ash said, lighting a cigarette. "Why, what's all this? A day ago you were all for a little 'witch-burning.' Now..." She trailed off. Reid had emerged from his house and was walking toward the car.
"Ready?" Griff asked him. He hopped into the backseat, and leaned forward.
"I was born ready," he said, grinning.
"Let's go!"
Ash hit the gas, and burnt about an inch off of her tires getting out of his driveway. Griff turned the radio on again. Pressing buttons, 'Ready to Go' by Republicas blared through the speakers. She whooped, and raised her hands above her head as the lyrics started.
Reid sat back and watched them sing along. He smiled to himself. They were different outside of school, away from other people. More fun. He looked at Griff. Short, blonde, feisty. She's cute. He thought. But... He looked at Ash, who was shaking her head so her hair flung in front of her face. He noticed the red underneath the brown tones. She laughed and glanced at him in the rearview mirror. He felt a jolt in his stomach.
"What are you grinning about?" She asked him.
"Nothin'," he said, still smiling. He felt his ears get hot.
"Well," Ash pulled into the drive-thru of the Dairy Queen. "Here we are."
The voice inside the little black box prompted them to order when they were ready.
"I'll have one medium Butterfingers blizzard, and one small Chocolate Extreme blizzard. Two orders of french-fries and..." she turned around and looked at Reid. "What do you want, Garwin?"
"Flamethrower, fries, and a coke," he said into the little receiver. A random amount of numbers spilled out of the box and they pulled forward.
"Have a nice day," the acne ridden teen at the window said.
Griff tossed Reid his meal, as she dipped her fries into her ice-cream.
"Ew, why are you doing that?" He asked her, appalled.
"It's good!" she defended, taking another chocolate covered fry. "Tastes like cookies."
"Okay, Jake Gyllenhaal and Dan Radcliffe, but that's IT!" Ash said all of a sudden.
"What are you talking about?" Reid asked, confused.
"Guys who look good with chest-hair," Griff answered. "And I agree with you."
"Ha!" Ash said, triumphant. Reid cautiously peeked at his own chest. Ash saw him and began to laugh.
"Garwin, what are you doing?"
"Well," His cheeks colored.
Griff turned around and laughed too. "Wow, Reid. Just, wow!" His cheeks turned the color of an apple.
"Can you take me home, please?" he asked, very embarrassed.
"Sure." They pulled into his driveway less than five minutes later.
"See you," Griff said as he walked up to his front door. Without turning around he waved and kept walking. The girls glanced at each other and hit the road.
They drove in silence for a short while. Ash glanced in Griff's direction.
"Okay," she said, turning off the main road and onto an old cobblestone lane that lead out to the old colonies.
"'Okay' what?" Griff asked.
"What's going on, Griff?" Ash asked her.
Griff sighed. "I don't know," she mumbled.
"What?"
"I Don't Know!" She said louder.
"Are you still in?" Asked Ash.
"Of course I am!" Griff defended. "I'm not about to let something stupid come in the way of what we've worked for for so long."
"Good," Ash said, relieved. "Then let's go."
