As children, we were naïve and playful, condescending of the adult world. We didn't know that boys and girls at a seven year old sleepover would be considered inappropriate if we were just a few years older. We didn't know that in just years from now, we'd have to be separated. We didn't know that our lives would take a turn for the worst.
"Duck, duck, goose!" I shouted, screaming and giggling in jovial laughter as my best friend jolted out of his seat and began to chase after me. He had always been faster then me, and I should have known better then to choose him.
He tackled me to the ground and playfully flicked my cheek with his fingers. "Gotcha." he smiled down at me innocently.
We didn't know that years from now, this would have been scary--even dangerous for me.
I pushed him off of me and frowned, crossing my arms. My bottom lip stuck out in a pout. "That isn't fair, Tanner! You're supposed to go easy on the girls!" I whined as he helped me stand up.
The other children started giggling. The boys, Tanner's friends, shook their heads in disagreement. "No way, Raene." Dakota responded bitterly.
One of my friends stood and pushed her blond bangs from her eyes. "I think boys should play nice." she agreed with me, and Dakota sized her up.
I grinned. "Thank you, Selene."
Selene gave me a thumbs up and Tanner rolled his eyes. "Okay, well, my turn!" he said happily, and playfully shoved me into his old chair.
"I'm late! I'm late! Auntie! I'm late! Where is my bag?!" I cried out, running back and forth from the living room to the staircase in a frantic frenzy. My first day of my junior year and I was already going to be tardy. What was worse was that my English teacher, Mr. Barr, kept the door locked after the bell rang and didn't allow students in after a certain time.
Aunt Opal appeared in the kitchen holding my black backpack in front of her. I gasped in delight and grabbed it. Then I kissed her cheek. "Where did you find it?!" I asked happily.
"By the front door, where you left it last night after you finished packing your school supplies." she told me, raising an eyebrow. I blushed and grinned foolishly.
"Sorry. Well I'm off!" I bid my goodbyes and she wished me luck.
As I ran down the sidewalk, anxious to get to Mr. Barr's class before he shut me out, I thought over my previous years.
The first day I had entered high school, Tanner showed me around. He was a year older then me, and entering his senior year now. We had only one class together, and it was last period--math. I had college-level math, because I loved it.
Tanner had been my best friend since kindergarten. How we first met was pretty fuzzy. We used to hang out nearly everyday during middle school. But when high school came around, my parents were murdered my freshman year.
That was when I started living with Aunt Opal, the coolest aunt in the world. But her attitude changed when her sister died, and I was left with her. She became a lot more serious and kept me on a pretty short leash. I was the only family she had left, and she was the only family I had left.
Which meant I could only hang out with my friends on the weekends and I was never allowed at any of their houses. Not to mention Tanner got a girlfriend the year before, and they were pretty close.
Lana was nice and all, but she was way too pretty. Her skin was pale but not ashen, and her eyes were the brightest blue--you'd think you were looking into two summer skies. She had the perfect heart-shaped face and petite little body. Her hair was wavy and sunburn brown, which shimmered in the sunlight.
When I arrived at school, the first people I saw were Lana and Tanner who were walking up the stairs to Pascack Valley High School. I shoved through the students to get to them.
"Tanner!" I yelled, and nearly half the student body turned to stare at me strangely. Yep, that was me, Raene Lazuli. Otherwise nicknamed, Rae--The Loser of Pascack.
Tanner and Lana turned with the rest of the students, and Tanner's solemn face broke into a smile. He let go of Lana and nearly jumped off the steps to lift me up into an intense bear hug. I laughed and hugged him back just as tight.
"Hey Rae, you made it. I thought you would be late!" Tanner teased, and set me to my feet. I rolled my eyes and hefted my bag over my shoulder as Lana walked up.
"Hey there Rae!" she hugged me so gently, I thought she thought one of us was going to break.
"Hey Lana! How was your summer?" I asked, pulling away after the embrace. I was naturally a nice person. I didn't even think there was a mean bone in my body. Plus she was nice and beautiful--both the things that Tanner definitely were and hopefully always will be.
"Great, actually. I just learned how to hunt with my grandpa." she laughed halfheartedly, and I gave Tanner an awkward glance before smiling at Lana.
"Animals, right?" I asked, and Lana broke out into full laughter.
"Yes, Rae. Animals."
We laughed, but it was short-lived when someone grabbed my waist from behind and pulled me into the air. I gasped in shock and my bag fell as I was put onto someone's shoulders.
I looked down at the crown of blond hair, and smirked. "Well, hello there Dakota." I pulled a bit of his hair, and he moved his head back to grin up at me.
"Hello, Raene girl."
He meant it like "Rain girl" but my name was spelled differently. He called me that because every time I became sad, it always started raining. Him and Tanner joked about it all the time. Tanner wrapped an arm around Lana and smiled up at me.
"Wow, you aren't short anymore." he joked. I frowned down at him.
"I'm not short naturally, you're just too tall." I retorted, crossing my arms. Dakota kept a firm grasp on my thighs to keep me from falling.
Lana looked around suddenly and raised her perfectly sculpted eyebrows. "I think we're missing somebody by the name of Selene." she mused, glancing across the crowd.
I turned my head and stared at the hoard of students who were crowded at the front of the school. Selene was my second friend from kindergarten and a total nerd. She loved school as much as she loved her Chihuahua Tibbles--who was dreadfully annoying, by the way. Being on Dakota's shoulders gave me the sight advantage, and I smiled when I saw the bobbing blond curls running toward us.
Selene broke through the crowd and leaned forward, panting. "Oh, I almost got lost out there!" she gasped, and then stood to look up at me--way up at me.
Dakota himself was at least 6.3", and he played basketball. Tanner was probably just an inch shorter then him, but Tanner highly disliked sports. Dakota snorted. "You've gone to this school for how many years and you're still getting lost?"
Yeah, so let me explain. Dakota and Selene totally have the opposite attraction thing going on. Though neither of them will probably ever admit it, I can tell just by their cute little arguing.
Selene glared up at him and crossed her arms. "No, but every year, it would appear that the student body doubles in its congregation."
Dakota stared at her, and even though I couldn't exactly see his expression at the moment, I knew his face was clueless. "Uh, yeah, Sel, stop using all those big words. I'm already starting to get a headache."
Selene smiled triumphantly and Lana and Tanner laughed. I wiggled on Dakota's shoulders. "Let me down now, so I can give her a hug!" I ordered. Dakota went to one knee and leaned forward so I could jump off of his shoulders.
"Your majesty." Dakota bowed, and I snorted.
"Stay there and slide a penny across the concrete with your nose while you're at it." Tanner said from behind me, and I chuckled, while Dakota frowned at his best friend.
I hugged Selene tightly. We hadn't seen each other all summer, because she went to Canada for those three months. I asked her about her trip as we walked to first period together. Tanner, Lana and Dakota dropped us off at the classroom, before we parted. Selene and I walked into Mr. Barr's room and greeted him. He was a pretty cool teacher--except when he chose to ignore you knocking frantically on his door when you were two minutes late to class.
We took our seats in the middle row and chatted until the bell rang.
"Okay, so for homecoming, I think I have a good idea for the theme!" Selene told me and the gang at lunchtime. We sat at our normal table, including Lana's little sister who looked like an exact replica of her, save for the short, bright blond hair on her head. A couple other of Tanner's and Dakota's friends were sitting with us too, all of us chatting naturally.
We usually got strange looks from other people. Our table, from any other person's point of view, probably looked like a mixed up stereotypical table full of some jocks, preps, nerds and punks.
I was of course in the punk--goth--emo category. My jeans were usually ripped, or had skull badges attached to them. My shirts were a wide, strange variety of colors, though each one had a bit of black on them. I only wore converse, vans, or skate shoes.
Dakota and his friends were the jocks, Tanner, Lana and her sister Kait were the preps, and Selene was considered the nerd.
However, that wasn't how we went by. We were friends, and each one of us knew our fair share of awesome people. Stereotypes were for losers.
Selene continued talking to Kait about homecoming, and I joked around with Dakota, teasing about how much he sucks at video games.
"You know, everyday you may beat me at the Wii sports, but I'll kick your ass in real sports." he threatened me, and I laughed, faking cruelty.
"Ha! Please, I could totally dropkick you in football!" I lied, and Dakota reached over and messed up my hair. "Hey!" I complained, shooing away his hand.
"Alright, if you wanna dropkick me so bad, let's bring it to the bedroom!" Dakota smirked. The table suddenly went quiet and our friends were staring at us with wide eyes. I blushed, my mouth open in an 'o'. He usually joked like that all the time, but not in front of Tanner, Selene and his own friends. Maybe he was becoming a bit bolder?
Tanner leaned forward with raised eyebrows. "Something going on between my two best friends that I don't know about?" he asked, and Lana covered her mouth to hide her obvious laugh.
I shook my head frantically. "No way. Dakota is trying to get me to love him, but it's so hard when his feelings are unrequited." One point for Rae, zero for Dakota.
Dakota dipped a finger into Selene's applesauce across from me, and then smeared it across my face. "Hey! That was mine!" Selene gasped, and then started busting out laughing at the look on my face.
"Oh, you are so in for it." I warned, and then reached for the rest of Selene's applesauce.
"You guys!" Selene exclaimed, trying to grab her food.
I smirked when Dakota's face went shocked. I dumped it on his forehead. Okay, so maybe I had one or two mean bones in my body… Tanner whistled. "Better run, Rae." he laughed. And I did.
I jolted from the cafeteria before Dakota could even recover from his astonishment. I ran past the gym and barely managed to make it to the hallway of the girls bathroom, before Dakota had grabbed my waist and shoved me hard against the wall next to the door.
I smirked up at him. He had managed to wipe off the applesauce. "Ooh, I'm so scared." I rolled my eyes, and Dakota pulled me against him and dove in for my lips.
I giggled into his mouth and kissed him back.
Yep. Did I forget to mention this part? Oh yeah, well, there was something going on between Dakota and I. Though we chose to keep it a secret from all of our friends, because Selene liked him, and he was Tanner's best guy friend. It would probably become a little strange to him if his-almost-sister--best-friend was having a semi-fling with his buddy.
I moaned into Dakota's mouth as he hoisted me up against the wall and forced my legs around his slim waist. I felt his washboard abs press against me, and I was pretty sure I felt something else too. I coiled my hands in his slightly long hair and pulled him tighter against me. Finally, when I thought I couldn't breath, he pulled away and we panted.
I smiled down at him. "You're still a great kisser." I breathed. Dakota rolled his eyes and let me down. Making-out was far as we had ever gotten. Well--and touching, but with clothes on. We both wanted to have sex with someone we love, and we were sure nothing between us would ever evolve into that.
Not to mention just minutes later, Selene, Lana and Tanner came around the corner. Whew! Good timing! Tanner's eyes lingered on my lips for a moment, and I suddenly wondered if my lips were swollen from Dakota's and my kissing. I turned away and smiled at Selene.
"He threatened to dump my head in the toilet." I gasped and ran to her. Dakota snorted.
"Whatever. You struggle too much." he laughed. Selene hugged me and frowned at him.
"If you were to give her a swirly, I would give you nightmares." she warned him, and Dakota's eyebrows went up.
"Ooh, threatening."
I snickered, and Tanner smiled and held Lana close to him. I wanted to take a picture of them, they were just so damn cute together! The bell rang, and I sighed. Our fun had ended so soon. We parted and went to our next classes.
The last class of the day came around--math. This was where I could tease Tanner and mess around with him the whole period, because Mr. Carson was old and didn't pay much attention to the students, but more attention to the whiteboard or his computer.
I took my usual seat next to Tanner, and he smiled at me. "So how did lunch go? Getting chased by Dakota? Bet it was a great adrenaline rush." he playfully pushed me at the shoulders and I laughed nervously.
Ohhh, yeah, he knew.
"He's really fast, that's for sure." I replied.
"Yeah, well, he's in basketball. Feel lucky he isn't in track." he raised his eyebrows and grinned at me. He was a gorgeous boy. Just like Dakota.
Tanner's hair was neatly cut above his eyebrows, but hung loosely over his ears and just barely touched the middle of his neck. It was naturally straight and dark, wood brown. His eyes were a killer murky blue and they shined in the sunlight. His face was oval, with a handsome, tough square jaw and a perfectly straight nose.
His body was lean and muscled in all the right places. His skin was a beautiful pale ivory, almost like Lana's. The year before, at my birthday party, when we went to the local pool, his abs were just as sexy as Dakota's, if not sexier. But he was my best friend and I couldn't imagine thinking of him in that way.
Plus that would be rude against Lana.
"So how did your summer go?" I asked him. We had only hung out a couple times, and the other times I worked. I had to get a fulltime job this last summer to help Auntie with a few loans. Then she said I could quit at the beginning of my school year because I helped her with all the money she needed.
But then she told me that I needed to get a part-time job my senior year so I could start saving up for college.
Tanner leaned back in his chair and studied his desk solemnly. "Pretty boring." he told me. I lifted an eyebrow.
"What's wrong?" I asked, leaning forward to start whispering as the bell rang.
He turned his indigo eyes to me. "Would you tell me if something ever happened between you and Dakota?"
My heart leapt into my throat. Ah man. I should have known I couldn't keep something like this from him. I sighed and pulled back. "There is something going on between us." I murmured, and Tanner smiled.
"Then tell me. It's not like I'm going to get angry." he said.
I nibbled the inside of my cheek and peeked at him. "We've had a little relationship going on behind your back. But it's not like love-love, it's more like just making-out constantly." I whispered. Tanner's eyebrows flew up on his forehead.
"Wow." he muttered, and then dropped the subject.
"Don't tell anyone." I added. He shrugged and we both began listening to the teacher talk.
