Chapter 4
Jude was getting ready to sneak out to go meet Connor, Taylor, and Daria. It's something he hasn't ever done or even thought about, besides he usually didn't do anything that put himself in a "bad" light. He worried about a bit about how he would do it and whether or not he'd be caught trying to sneak out, but he was able to do it.
He grabbed his bike, his backpack, and his helmet, and he headed out to the others. It was a short bike ride before he had gotten to them. He turned the corner of the street and rode ride into the group, stopping and looking out towards the house on his left. "Whose house is this anyways?" he asked, "Our friend Brooklyn, it's her birthday tomorrow," Daria answered, "And she hates her parents, best present ever," Taylor added, handing a roll of toilet paper over to Jude.
They moved their stuff and their bikes behind a couple of bushes, only bringing out the toilet paper to TP the house. They moved their stuff along, across the street, each of them grabbing some toilet paper and beginning to throw them over the trees in front of Brooklyn's house.
They made a mess of the trees and the yard, toilet paper hung from the tops and dragged down to the bottom of the trees skidding across the cement as the wind blew. They laughed as they tried over and over, each one of them throwing the toilet paper into the trees and then onto the house, some making it on, and others bouncing off.
After a while of this fun they went back to their stuff behind the bushes, Taylor went into her stuff grabbing some cans, "Ready to string the place?" She asked, "Dude, yeah!" Daria beamed taking a can of silly string from Taylor who then handed one to Jude, and tossed another to Connor, keeping one for herself. They crossed the street and made their way back over into the front of the house just before the side walk. They began spraying in front of them before Daria turned and sprayed Taylor which then resulted in all of them laughing spraying each other with silly string.
They laughed for a bit before Taylor shouted, "Lights, go!" The lights in Brooklyn's house had turned on. They ran to the bushes, picking up their stuff and getting onto their bikes, and riding away from the house. After a short safe distance they stopped, dropping their stuff by a tree to relax. Daria, Connor, and Taylor managed to quickly drop their stuff off and headed out to a bench near them, Jude was however a bit slow and when he had gotten to the bench only Taylor was there.
"Where'd they go?" Jude asked as he sat down next to Taylor, "Who knows, maybe they're having sex," Taylor bluntly said looking over at Jude. "They're having sex?!" Jude said raising his voice at her statement. He couldn't think of anything like that happening, especially at their age, they're fourteen and fifteen, why would they even be thinking of having sex. "Well not yet, but Daria is dying to lose her virginity," Jude turned away from Taylor, trying not to think about the fact that Daria is trying to have sex and she is currently with Connor, "At least, that's what she told me." Taylor added, bringing Jude's attention back to her.
Without any warning, Taylor looked at Jude and leaned in to kiss him. Jude leaned back startled breathing in deeply, "Um, sorry," he said awkwardly, not knowing what to say, "It's okay." She quickly stated, moving back away from Jude. They both look down, trying to ignore the awkward feeling they both had, "It's Just that-", "It's cool, It's cool," Taylor interrupted Jude, "you have a crush on Connor," she added. Jude's eyes widened, he couldn't tell how she had thought that nor how she had came up with the thought. He looked over to her wanting to say something but Connor and Daria had returned, holding hands. "Hey," Connor said as they walked over to Jude and Taylor, who had now stood up.
Jude turned around, "I should go home,", "Wait weren't we gonna-" Connor thought about what he thought they had agreed upon earlier, "We're not" Jude interrupted Connor, "Come on, my dad's got tons of booze, lets break in and steal some," Taylor said changing the subject, "You can't break in to your own house," Daria replied, which resulted in a short quarrel between the two girls.
"Come on, let's all get drunk and make out," Taylor said looking over at Jude before nodding in Connor's direction. Jude hadn't fully understood her insinuation, until after he had seen Connor's face smiling back at him, he pursed his lips thinking about the idea of getting drunk. "Come on, let's do it." Connor said to Jude as they started getting onto their bikes and riding to Taylors house.
As they got to the house the decided to go through the back door, Taylor leaded while the others followed. She used her key to open the door, "Don't worry my dad sleep's like the dead," Taylor said, "What about your mom?" Daria asked, "She's actually dead," Taylor bluntly replied, causing a look of shock on Jude's face, "Kidding," she added, looking at Jude's face, "She's just at a yoga retreat."
They walked through the house and through the kitchen, "The bars in here," Taylor said bringing everyone in her direction. Jude sighed, "This is a bad idea," Connor shrugged it off moving toward Taylor's refrigerator, "Let's get some beer," He opened the refrigerator door, Jude quickly followed closing it, "Don't!" he whispered, Connor looked confused as to why he had done that.
"Connor!" Daria called, both boys turning and walking through the hall to see her and Taylor holding what they found in her father's bar. She handed it to Connor who then took a few drinks of it before handing it to Jude, he hesitated a bit, he hadn't ever drank, or at least nothing like this. He took a sip or two, silently groaning at the taste.
"Who's there?!" a voice from upstairs called, in surprised Jude let go of the bottle, it shattered on the ground and the liquid flew over the floor. Taylor gasped "It's my dad!" She whispered loudly, following Daria who was already scurrying to the hallway. There was a sudden pause before Connor and Jude followed, Jude being the last.
Taylor's dad had quickly ran down the stairs, trying to follow them, as he turned the corner of the hallway he pulled a gun out and shot at them, one of them getting shot, Taylor turned around realizing what had just happened, "Dad!" she yelled out worrying about what had Just happened. "Taylor?!" her dad ran to her before looking down at the ground, Connor was shot, it wasn't anything completely dangerous but it had hurt a lot.
They ended up calling Stef, Jude had been caught, but it didn't matter since Connor had gotten hurt, he just needed someone to know what had happened and that they're trying to stay safe. He needed to tell them.
