Freddy, Summer, Zack and Katie sat in the back of Mrs. Brown's car. They were coming over for the rest of the day. They were all excitedly chattering about the gig.
"Can you believe it?" Katie questioned Zack while coming home from practice.
"It's so awesome!" Zack replied.
"What's going on?" Mrs. Brown asked.
"Summer got us a gig at a local club," Katie told her mother.
"Which one?" Mrs. Brown inquired, knowing that certain clubs were not the right place for 14-year-olds to be.
"The Pirate's Den," Summer told her.
"Oh. Is just Dewey going with you?"
"I dunno probably."
"I'm going to have to talk to him. He might need a little help."
"You aren't going to chaperone are you?" Katie pressed.
"Probably. I might go just for the performance but I'll most likely chaperone," Mrs. Brown sighed.
"Ugh," Katie said with disgust.
"What? You're mom's pretty cool! At least it's not my parents who will be there!" Freddy said with a laugh.
"Thank you, Freddy," Mrs. Brown said happily.
When the four teens got to Katie's house, they got into their bathing suits and went in the pool.
Before they got in the pool, Summer noticed Katie's leg.
"Ohmigosh, Katie? What happened!" she asked nervously.
Katie chuckled at the memory. "It's nothing, It happened two nights ago."
"Oh okay then," Summer said, not taking her eyes off the scratches.
Katie jumped in the pool, followed by Freddy and Zack. Summer simply sat on the side, her feet dipped in.
Katie began swimming laps while the guys stood at the end of the pool talking. Summer eavesdropped a little.
"I don't get why you don't say something to her!" Freddy told Zack.
"Well, how do you know that I haven't already?" Zack said suavely.
Freddy cocked an eyebrow. "Did you?"
"Well, sort of. I haven't really asked her out yet but I did kiss her, and she didn't resist or anything so I dunno of we're a couple or not."
"That's probably what she's thinking. If you ask her out, I think it might make it official. And you basically skipped two steps in the dating game, the asking out part and the first date part. That's daring," Freddy joked.
"Yeah I know," Zack replied, laughing. "So I guess I should backtrack and do the other two steps then huh?"
Freddy nodded.
Summer held in a rather large squeal. She stood up and walked over to the end of the pool where Katie was swimming.
"Hey, Katie, I need to ask you something about my digital camera. And you'll have to get out of the pool for me to ask you," Summer announced.
"What the? Sum, why is that so urgent that I get out of the pool this very moment and help you?"
"Just get out of the damn pool!" Summer demanded.
"Fine, fine, here I come!" Katie said as she swam towards the edge and lifted herself out of the pool.
Summer dragged Katie over to the place where she had the towels and picked up her digital camera, pretending to show it to Katie just incase the guys were watching.
"Zack's going to ask you out," she said in a barely audible tone.
"Huh?"
"I said, Zack is planning on asking you out," she said a little teeny bit louder.
"Ohmigosh! That's so awesome!"
"So what's the deal with your camera?" Freddy asked, knowing something was up by the ecstatic look on Katie's face. He wrapped a towel around his waist.
"Oh, nothing now, Katie helped me fix it. See?" Summer said as she snapped a picture of Freddy and Zack.
"Tink! You know Freddy hates taking pictures when he doesn't have at least 90 pounds of hair gel in his hair!" Katie joked.
"Shut up Brown," Freddy laughed as he picked Summer up and walked towards the deep end of the pool.
"PUT ME DOWN!"
"Take her camera," he said to Katie. She snatched the camera from Summer's flailing arms and prepared for a photo op.
"FREDRICK DAVID JONES, I SWEAR IF YOU DO NOT PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!" Summer screeched.
"If you insist, my good lady," he said to his girlfriend.
Just as he was about to set her down, he easily threw her delicate body into the water as Katie snapped a picture. She didn't come up right away to yell at him and he lent down towards the water, which was mistake number two. Number one was throwing her in the pool in the first place. Summer suddenly emerged and pulled Freddy in with her.
"Eh, that's Freddy and Summer for ya," Katie noted.
"Yup, can't live with 'em."
"Can't live without 'em," Zack and Katie laughed in unison.
And that's when Katie noticed the wind picking up. She had been oblivious to the sky but the wind was forcibly noticeable.
"Time to get out you two!" Katie shouted.
Freddy, who had already been on his way out, replied, "LOOK! She soaked my towel! Now what am I supposed to use to dry off!"
"Haha! You deserved it!" Summer said triumphantly.
"You have a ton of strength for such a petite figure," Freddy noted.
"Surprisingly, I work out," Summer declared.
The four teens went into Katie's home. Katie gave Freddy another towel since he wouldn't stop complaining about his wet one. After drying off, they changed back into regular clothes.
"What shall we do now?" Summer asked.
"Movie fest?" Zack suggested, noticing Katie's enormous selection of movies for the first time.
"Well, we have lots of stuff, Comedy, Scary, Romance, Adventure, Chick Flicks, Drama, Disney, and my personal favorite, Tear-jerkers," Katie listed.
"Why would tear-jerkers be your favorite? They make you cry!" Freddy said obviously.
"Well, duh, that's the point!" Summer responded.
"But why would you want to cry?" Freddy asked his girlfriend.
"Well, it's fun to—" Katie started.
"Cry? It's fun to cry? That's dumb since it isn't fun to cry," Freddy said.
"It's a complicated thing, dude. Just nod and pretend you understand," Zack said quietly.
"We heard that!" Katie and Summer said bluntly and in unison.
"So anyway, what do you guys want to watch?" Katie asked, watching the wind and rain intensify outside.
"Let's start with a classic scary film," Freddy proposed.
"Well, I have the Complete First Season of Tales from the Crypt," Katie said pulling it out.
"That was an awesome show," Zack chuckled. "Sounds good to me!"
"I'm cool with it."
"Sure."
Katie smiled and put in the DVD. She shut the blinds and since it was rather grey outside, the room became extremely dark but still light enough to barely see.
"I'm gonna go get some popcorn and soda. Any specific kinds you guys want? We have Sierra Mist, Pepsi, Coke, Orange, and Grape."
"Pepsi!"
"Sierra Mist!"
"Grape!"
Katie walked into the kitchen, grabbing a package of microwave popcorn and tossing in the microwave. She got the sodas and set them on the table. Then she noticed a note from her mom saying that her grandmother had called and Katie's mom was going over her house for the next few hours. Knowing her mom, she wouldn't be back until 10 o' clock at night. But being the good daughter she was, Katie would make sure her friends were gone by then. An alarm sounded, signaling that the popcorn was done. Katie quickly poured it into a large bowl and grabbed the sodas.
She entered the dark living room and handed everyone their sodas. Then she realized that she had forgotten one for herself. She went back into the kitchen. As she was pulling a water bottle out of the fridge, a crack of thunder echoed through the house. Katie winced. She was terrified of thunderstorms. Katie's dad had died from being struck by lighting and Katie had always been mortified by storms after that. For some people it was spiders, others heights, but thunder and lighting were Katie's fear.
"Umm, I'll be back," Katie said as she walked back into the living room. She headed up the stairs into her room. Katie pulled out one of her favorite books, River Boy by Time Bowler and began to read, hoping to sooth her nerves. But then a flash of light penetrated the dark grey sky and Katie began to quiver. Then the boom of thunder came and something loose on her desk rattled because of the vibration.
Meanwhile, Summer began to wonder where and what her friend could be doing. She delicately walked up the stairs and knocked on Katie's closed door.
"Katie? Are you in there?" Summer asked quietly.
"Yeah, come in."
Summer opened the door to find Katie covered in the blankets of her bed, staring put the window.
"Are you okay?" Summer asked.
Katie shook her head as to say no. "I'm terrified of thunderstorms."
"Oh, it's okay. You're safe," Summer comforted.
"No offense, Summer, but could you ask Zack to come up?"
Summer nodded, not hurt or offended by her request at all. She carefully shut the door and walked downstairs.
"Hey Zack, Katie's up in her room and she'd really like to talk to you."
As he stood up Summer whispered in his ear. "She's scared of thunderstorms and is trembling in her bed."
Zack nodded and headed up the stairs.
"Hey, Posh," he said as he walked in the room. "I heard you were a little afraid. Is that true?"
"Yup," she replied.
"Oh, and why is that?" he asked sitting on the bed.
Abruptly, a crash of thunder sounded and Katie swiftly wrapped her arms around Zack for security.
"It's okay. It's just thunder. No big deal. It's just sound," he said holding Katie close.
"Yeah, I know but it's the lighting that scares the shit out of me. The thunder is just the loud aftermath."
A flash of spider lightning penetrated the sky and Katie whimpered.
"You know, you're being a real baby about this," Zack said looking down at her. "If I were to tell Freddy, he'd mock you forever."
"Do you know how my dad died?" Katie asked.
"No," Zack replied quietly, knowing how much of a touchy subject this was.
"Do you know why I'm afraid of lightning?"
Zack shook his head, sensing a connection.
"Well, my dad was a construction worker. He used to operate cranes and such. One day he and his crew were working on a building in a storm. Well, lightning looks for the tallest object and at the time, that was the crane my dad was operating. The lighting traveled through the metal crane and my dad was holding on the levers at the time so he was electrocuted."
"Oh, Katie, I'm so sorry," he said noticing the tears falling down her cheeks.
"It's okay. It happened when I was 8. I've never forgotten but I do miss him a lot," she said sadly.
"Well, whenever you need someone to talk to, I promise Katie, I'll always be there. And Summer will too."
Katie looked up at him with a warm smile that melted his heart. "Thank you so much," she said as she pulled him tighter towards her, almost to make sure the he would keep his promise to always be there.
Zack kissed the top of her raven hair and smiled. "I love you so much," he whispered.
Katie looked up surprised and speechless. He loved her but did she love him? Katie tried to examine her feelings as quickly as possible so he wouldn't feel awkward but it was too late. Zack's face was flushing and he was pulling back from her. She unwrapped her arms and let him stand up and stumble backwards.
"I-I-I," she stuttered but he had already gone out the door.
Katie was a 14-year-old girl. Was love an emotion that she had yet to experience? Or did she love and not know it? Another shock of lighting flew through the heavens but Katie didn't shudder, wince, or hide under her covers. She sat on her bed looking at the sky, trying to uncover some guidance in it but found nothing.
A/N: I hope you liked this chapter. I think Katie was a bit babyish about her fear but I am proud of the way it turned out. Seven pages yall! So you best be happy! lmao. I put some hints of Freddy/Summer in there for those of you who like them as a couple. I'm not really focusing on them since Katie and Zack are the main characters. Oh yeah, I do not own River Boy, but it's a good book so if you have a chance, pick it up. And the whole construction story of Katie's dad, I did a bit of research and tried to make up a story about it.