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Chicken

Alana's mother had driven us to the beach and she promised, for her daughter's birthday, that she wouldn't be around and to just call her when we wanted to go home. I liked Alana's mother, she was kind and loving towards anyone. And when she got angry, it was over with. We drove over to the nice beach, where the sand was full of mostly sand, not glass or trash and the air was cooler and breezier. Yasmin and Jackie wore similar bathing suits: a one-piece with a simple skirt at the bottom. Rachel had more self-esteem and a netter body. She was thinner than all of us, including me and I weighed around 120 or so. She wore a two piece like me, with a red swirl top and bottom. She loved to show herself off and I sometimes worried about her. My bathing suit was more simple: a solid green two-piece. I didn't care much about what I wore. What separated me from the others. James had bought a pair of simple black trunks, that cost a solid twenty that he and I split. I had a little over $15 to spare for Alana. We were going to all pitch in to buy her a cake and ice cream. I was the one with the most money so I usually paid the bigger half. I didn't care.

Once we got to the each, we set up out area a bit away from the wet sand but close enough so we could find each other. Alana and Jackie went to the shallow end, both afraid to be in the deep end but love to be in water. Yasmin, Rachael, and I rushed to the deeper end, the tide pushing against us. The water was cold, more like frozen water but the air was warm so we did it quick. We all dunk in, wetting ourselves head to toe. James sat at the small chair, under the umbrella, dozing off. I would have invited him in out of pity but then what would we do? Talking was hard enough as it is.

I was dunked under the cool water more times than I wanted to but it was fun over all. Eventually after all the swim races, dunking, and splashing we went over to Jackie and Alana. They were chatting to each other, playfully splashing. "Wanna play Chicken?" I asked, grinning from ear to ear. I loved the game. I enjoyed using the upper strength I earned from boxing. Happy taught me self-defense along with the other Sons. Eventually I was always put together against Half-Sack. He was more afraid of hitting me than he was of hurting me. Happy always threatened her, if he laid a hand on me, he would loose more than just half himself.

"I don't know..." Alana trailed off, she didn't like the game a lot. More afraid of drowning than being hoisted in the air. "How 'bout I find some cute guys? Would that be better?" I could almost ask strangers, I had the sort of innocence that lured people to me. Alana blushed while Jackie and the others giggled. They all nodded, depending on me to do the most talking. All of us were pretty. We took care of ourselves. The girls followed me, Alana at my side with her head cast down when any cute boy looked her way. I finally spotted a group of for over just a little out of our way. "Excuse me?" I shouted over the yelling and screaming of kids playing. All the boys turned to me, and I felt self-conscious for a minute.

The first boy was blonde and blue eyed. He was fit, his chest hard and muscled, his legs athletic. "Yes?" He said, almost purring. I smiled and answered, "Do you and your friends mind playing Chicken with us?" He glanced at his two friends. They were all about 16 almost 17. His first friend was five foot eight, damp brown hair and hazel eyes. He was just like the other, muscled and fit. The other was five foot seven, like James. He had light brown hair but dark orbs. The last looked like the youngest of the four, he had drenched brown hair and dark brown orbs. He kept his head down, not wanting to meet out gazes.

"What do you think boys?" He asked though we all knew the answer. "Sure." We all beamed with joy, especially Alana. We swam over to an area where we could play and no one could get hurt in the brawl. The boy I had talked to was 17, his name was Jorden. The second was 16, a month away from being 17 and his name was Marcos. The third was 16 and a half, his name was Luke. The last boy, was 16, his birthday the same as Alana's. He was called Will. She was more than happy to be his partner and I could understand. Will was hot, much like his friends.

In the end, I had no partner. I saw the way my friends eyed the boys, and even as I wanted a partner, I let them have them. I sat in the water, my knees hitched up to my chest as I watched them brawl. It would have been fun, if I was actually in it. Suddenly I felt someone poke me in the back. I turned to the person and saw James. He looked bored yet...curious. "Get up." He ordered me and I just stayed on the ground, confused. "What?" He just stared at me and I finally got what he was hinting at. "Oh its fine." I muttered not wanting to get up on his shoulders, especially not his. "Come one." He grabbed my arm, literally hauling me up to my feet. He crouched a little, so I could get on his back.

I grumbled, "This means nothing ya hear!" He ignored me, as usual, and stayed as still as he could while I got up. My legs went around his neck, crossing and locking my legs. He stood, with ease, and went over to the brawl. I knew James was strong but I didn't think he was that strong. I was light but I wasn't little.

"We face the last one standing!" I shouted and I earned 9 nods. I grinned, James and I waited while the others fought. Hand locked with each other, angry and happy faces all mixed together. Jackie and Rachael faced each other while Yasmin and Alana faced. I stayed on James' shoulders, his hold not so bad anymore.

'This isn't so bad.' I thought and then I screamed at myself. What was I thinking? It was James, my enemy. But still I couldn't help but feel something other than hate flutter through me. Soon, Jackie and Rachael were dropped, their bodies hitting the water, splashing into the water with their partners. Alana and Yasmin faced, their partners grinning at each other, as if thinking of what they were going to do. Eventually, after a few minutes, Yasmin was dropped when Jorden's feet were swept up from underneath. I laughed loudly when I heard her girly scream and then the loud splash.

Finally it was our turn, Alana and I faced each other. Best friends since the 8th grade. It was awkward. "Ready?" I nodded and the fight was on. We latched onto each other's shoulders, trying to push each other down. James was aggressive, he tried to kick Will in the legs to knock him over. Alana pushed harder against my shoulder, my back arching out and we would have fallen over, if James wasn't so good at balancing.

He pushed me forward using his strength and I was able to push Alana just enough to caught her and Will off guard. They both went tumbling down, into the water, splashing everybody near. James slid me off his neck laughing. It was the first real laugh I heard from him in forever. Alana was blushing, embarrassed because she fell on top of Will.

And then just like that, everything was back to normal.

We all dragged ourselves to our resting area. All of us were laughing and chatting, all of us besides James. "Oh damn its nearly 2." Alana muttered and I stilled. "We gotta go." Yasmin said and we all nodded agreeing. We said our goodbyes to Will, Jorden, Marcos, and Luke. Packing everything took longer than we expected, mainly because none of us wanted to carry anything and we had to change into our dry clothes.

Soon, 30 minutes later, all of us emerged from the changing rooms, fully clothed and dryer. Alana called her mother and in less than 20 minutes, she arrived. I was hoping to get back before Happy got suspicious, I told him to pick us up at the store exactly at 3:30 and it was nearly 3:20 when we got out of the car in the parking lot of the small store.

Even though we were fast, Happy was faster. I watched as a Harley pulled out of the parking lot, a bike that looked almost like Half-Sacks, or Kip, as he wanted me to call him. Kip was the messenger of the Sons, not yet a full member but part of the Sons.

He would tell Happy and Tig.

We were dead.