CHAPTER 16: LEECHES!

I walked with the boys further, before we came to a large puddle of water. I mean, it was so big, it could have been a lake. "Well, how are we going to cross this?" Vern asked.

"We use you as a raft," Teddy responded.

"Oh, haha," I said. Chris grabbed a branch off of a tree and tested the water. "You know, it isn't that deep. We can walk across." We all walked into the puddle. Of course, we walked about a foot before we fell into dirty, muddy blackness. I started gasping for air as I struggled to get up to the surface. As it turns out, my foot was caught in Vern's sleeping bag, and I couldn't go up to the surface for air. I finally untangled my foot and came up, soaked through to the skin.

I saw all of the boys gasping for air. "Is everyone ok?" I asked, nearly out of breath.

Gordie nodded. "We're fine."

Vern stared daggers at us. "Told you we should have stuck to the tracks," he spat out. Literally. He got some on me.

Teddy slowly turned to him. "Is it just me… or are you the world's biggest pussy?"

Vern smiled sarcastically. "I suppose this is fun for you!"

Teddy replied, "No. But this is!" With that, he stuffed Vern under the water and laughed that Teddy Duchamp laugh.

"WILL YOU GROW UP?" I yelled at him as I pulled poor Verno up out of the water.

"Yeah, come on, man, act your age!" Chris scolded him.

Teddy replied, "This is my age! I'm in the prime of my youth, and I'll only be young once!"

Chris rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but you're gonna be stupid for the rest of your life."

We all went, "Ooooooh!" and Teddy yelled, "YOU DIE, CHAMBERS!"

After that, four of us, except for Gordie, ended up in a pile wrestling in the lake. Chris noticed Gordie inching slowly away from us and yelled, "Hey, where are you going, LaChance?"

Gordie responded, "You guys, I'm not really up for it."

We all looked at each other and screamed at the same time, "PILE ON!" We piled on top of poor Gordie. He kept yelling, "Come on, you guys, knock it off!"

"Sleeper hold! Nobody gets out of the sleeper hold!" Vern cackled evilly.

Gordie looked up at Vern and said, "Hey, Vern, there's something on your neck!"

Vern laughed, "I'm not falling for that one again, Gordie!"

We all looked at him and realized that Gordie was right. "No, Vern, there IS something on your neck!" Chris said.

"It's a leech…" Teddy murmured. He then shrieked, "LEECHES!" and we all dashed out of the water, screaming and crying. I quickly ripped off my shirt, unzipped my jeans and started ripping the leeches off of me. I heard Chris say, "Joe, hold on, there's some on your back!"

"Well, get them off, man!" I yelled as I turned so he could get the leeches off. I felt them come off my back, and Chris asked, "Are there any on mine?"

I nodded and said, "Just hold still." I managed to get all of the leeches off of his back when I couldn't help but think, "Wow, Chris looks pretty smoking without his shirt on."

I then turned to Gordie, who went, "Oh… Oh, Chris… Oh, shit, Chris."

I turned to Chris. "Do you think he has…"

Gordie then reached into his boxers and pulled out the biggest, bloodiest leech any of us had ever seen. Gordie took one look at the blood on his hands and fainted dead away.

We all ran over to him and tried to revive him. "Maybe he's dead," Vern gasped.

"He's not dead, he's still breathing, you idiot," Teddy chastised him.

"Well, I don't know!" Vern replied.

"Hey, hey, cool it, you guys, he just fainted," Chris silenced them.

A few seconds later, Gordie came to. He kept staring at my chest for some random reason. I mulled it over and then, it occurred to me that I was in my bra and underwear… more to the point, in front of Chris. I immediately ran away from the boys and hid behind a tree.

Chris yelled, "Joe, what are you doing back there?"

I yelled back, "Can you just throw me my clothes please?"

I could hear Chris sigh exasperatedly. "Come on, Joe. What's the matter, you embarrassed or something?"

"Um, YOU THINK?" I said angrily as I put my knees to my face. I had never in my life been so embarrassed!

I then heard the sound of footsteps coming over to me. Chris sat down and put a hand on my shoulder. "Joey? Joey, come on, look at me," Chris said as he took my face in his hand and turned it to him.

"Chris, don't look at me, please," I whispered.

Chris said, "Joe… I know why you're so embarrassed. It's no picnic for me being shirtless in front of you."

I looked at him confused. "But… but you look so GOOD without your shirt on."

Chris raised his eyebrows at me. I mumbled, "Sorry, I couldn't help it."

Chris laughed. "So, are you willing to come out and face the boys now?"

I rolled my eyes. "I knew that I would always regret the day that I made friends with a bunch of perverts."

Chris took me by the hand and led me over to the others. I let go of his hand and spun around in front of the boys. "Well," I finally said, a tad bitterly, "this is a once in a lifetime moment, gents." I grabbed my clothes and nodded to them all. "I hope you've enjoyed it." With that, I ran behind the tree again and got changed. As I changed, I could hear all the boys, except for Gordie, arguing.