2

"Janus!" I snap towards the voice to see him coming straight towards me. He makes the kick.

I jump to the side as the ball flies right at the tip of my fingers and into the net behind me. Ron screams, "And the Terminator loses again to the skilled Buron!" Silo laughs as Karen shakes her head.

"You really need to practice on your goal keeping skills, Janus. Laia isn't going to let you off easy." She raises her chin towards Ron, which causes a 'Hey!' to fly out of his lips. We laugh at that.

We regroup together in the middle of the soccer field, Ron and Silo coming from the other end of the field from ours. Silo chuckles. "When are you actually going to take this seriously, J?" His nickname for me leaves me unfazed as I look to Karen before she rolls her eyes at his question.

I shrug. "When I find a reason to stop not taking it seriously."

He sighs. "So we should be expecting around fifty more goals from Buron before Term will take it as a challenge, right? Or more?" I flinch at my surname. Too many memories come from just one word.

Karen notices. "Really, Lika? Are we seriously going to start going by last names now? Because I think it would be fun to call you from across the hallway." Silo gets the hint and stays quiet.

"So what should we do now? Since Jay doesn't care about passing Soccer this year." Ron asks and Karen shrugs.

"First off, why do you two keep calling me Jay?" I ask, interrupting Karen's answer.

Ron shrugs this time. "Short for Janus, which is your full name."

"Still doesn't make sense to why you call me Jay. I'm a tomboy, not a guy."

"Girls can have guy names. Some girls have names like Jay, Kyle, Alex... Andy. Andy has a boy name and she doesn't even care." Silo says in defense.

I scoff. "I'm not Andy, and I wouldn't care if someone else called me Jay. You two, on the other hand..."

"Hey!" Ron whines. "But we've all been best friends since we were 7. You can't do that to me and Silo."

"I don't know. " I turn to Karen. "What do you think Kyle?" I call her by her dad's nickname for her.

She taps her finger to her chin in thought. "I think we can, Jay." The boys stare at us both in disbelief as Karen wraps her right arm around my shoulders and I do the same under her arm with my left.

"Say goodbye to the quad and say hello to the new duo." We turn and walk away a few feet before the boys start their cries.

Ron slides down on one knee and raises his hands. "Will you marry me?" I slap his hands away as Karen snickers, flicking her dark haired ponytail to the side.

Next comes Silo. "I'll keep your secrets." He kneels in a praying position in front of her, and I hold in a laugh when Karen tightens her hold on my arms before walking around him.

Ron says, "I'll bring you presents!"

Silo catches on and turns to Karen, his light yellow eyes bright. "I'll pay you every day."

Karen turns to me as if in thought and I shrug. We sigh in unison, copying the boys' antics. "I guess we could..." Karen starts.

"...stay for a bit." The boys' faces brighten and we both laugh, our serious faces melting to laughter. "I can't believe you feel for that!"

Ron crosses his arms. "We don't do that to you two! Why would you even suggest breaking the Quad Squad?"

Karen shrugs, mirth in her bright brown eyes. "Well with your grammar alone we could give up on you two."

While they laugh, I see a figure in the tree line. Seconds later, it vanishes.

Silo picks up on my change of mood. "Hey Janus, why don't we go to that party everyone's talking about? It's supposed to be in the woods, and I hear it's gonna be lit." The way he phrases his words pulls me out of my reverie.

I shrug. "Sure. It'll give me something to do."

Karen smiles and Ron whoops. "That's the spirit! Now let's go if we want to get there in time. We still have to go change before going to the party."

With that, we leave.

Three hours later

I laugh when i see what Karen is wearing for tonight. A long blue dress with no straps. Her dark brown hair is in a bun, each hair delicately placed. Red lipstick covers her lips, and if it isn't for her olive skin I'd call her a vampire. She wears blue heels with it all, which leaves me rolling my eyes at her. When it comes to parties, Karen goes all out.

"Enough about me, it's your turn." I shake me head as she pulls out different clothes she thinks I should wear.

"I am not letting you touch me this time, Beauty Queen."

She sighs. "Fine, but at least get something nice on."

I again shake my head. "I'm just wearing my usual jeans and a T-shirt, Kay. I don't need all of that makeup nonsense you people love to wear." I brush my black hair before I tie it back into a ponytail. I raise my hands on either side of me. "Done."

Karen whines before we get out of her house and into the car, Silo driving while Ron keeps turning back to look at Karen, his brown eyes glowing every time he looks at her.

I sigh. I've always known Ron had a crush on Karen. That's why he always bickers with me and mostly agrees to what she says. Silo even picked up on it three years ago, at the start of junior high in seventh grade. Ron gave her a bouquet of flowers, and they were those blue flowers she loves, on valentine's day. I just kept on laughing while Ron couldn't stop blushing as Karen spoke excitedly about the type of flowers and all of that. Now, she is still so oblivious to his dying crush.

We arrive in a few minutes, parking the car in the lot before going into the woods, where lights and tables are set up. The party isn't supposed to start for another hour, but no one cares about that while they twirl around on the dance floor, drunk ass football players milling the girls. There's already a few people making out, the booze getting them too out of it.

I turn to Silo. "There are going to be sooo many screaming girls tomorrow, only later finding out who they lost their virginity to." He nods, eyes scanning through the crowd.

I laugh. When the other three don't understand, I point out the two making out over a table. Of course, Andy just had to get the quarterback to fall for her after she drank too much alcohol. She and alcohol never mix. Karen smiles. "You already know what trouble you'll be getting tomorrow, right?"

I groan. Andy always comes to me after waking up in her bed with a random stranger early in the mornings. I have lost many hours having to wake up at 3 in the morning just to listen to Andy tell me her problems and ask me to fix them. Since I'm a popular soccer player, aka the school's best goalie, everyone listens to what I tell them to. If a guy Andy banged for a night wanted to let it slip, I'd had already spoken with him in the early hours of morning. If he didn't cooperate, let's just say I can convince them.

We mostly stick to ourselves. Hours go by and drinks go around, but I hardly drink. While everyone else is downing beer kegs and having chugging contests, I stare into the forest, only my second beer in hand. Even with the alcohol in my system, I don't feel any buzzing in my head or blurriness in my mind. I've had some nasty incidents after drinking my tenth bottle, but my alcohol endurance is pretty high, so that means I have to at least drink five beers straight to feel the buzzing, seven and a half if I just drink them, and if I take my time, like right now, I can take maybe ten or eleven before feeling the effects.

I sense a presence, and I take a closer look in the woods. I see bloody teeth and yellow eyes, one slashed with a white line through it. A snarl is painted on the thing's face, but just as I see it, it's gone.

Someone steps beside me. "What's up, Silo?"

He sighs defeatedly. "How do you always know who it is? And what are you looking for?"

I turn away from the trees and to Silo, his gray eyes dull. He's drunk, I can tell, but I don't mention it as I answer him. "I think there's something in the woods."

He takes a minute before smiling. "You're joking. I know you don't believe in those stories, Jay."

I shake Silo's hand off of my shoulder. "I'm serious, Silo. There's something out there, and it's waiting for something."

Silo wraps and arm around me, swaying slightly. I look at him, confused. "What are you doing." I more say it than ask it, but he still takes a while to respond. I sigh. "And how much did you drink?"

Silo smiles. "Enough to get more confidence." Enough what? I turn to him to ask, but he leans down towards me. Oh shit. I turn away at the last second, so his lips get my cheek.

I shove him away, causing some people to look at us. "What the fuck?! Silo you're out of your mind." I turn away, but he grabs my arm, and most of the people around us are watching silently or watching and whispering to each other.

"Jay, I-" I cut him off with a slap. His eyes are wide as he holds the side of his face with his hand.

Now everyone is watching us, and I see Karen and Ron come from different ends as they push through the crowd. Karen pulls me back a bit and gives me a slow check. She pulls my clenched fist apart to show that my palm is bleeding, even with my short nails they somehow dig into my skin with the pressure. Ron helps Silo lean against him, while gray eyes watch me with a shocked expression. Karen speaks low and after a moment I calm down a bit, enough to speak without shouting.

"Silo, I am not a girl you can pick up off the street and have head over heels for you." I say it in a low and deadly calm voice, causing many people to shiver around us, the whispering completely stopping.

"Jay, I love you."

I flinch at the words. The words he had said to me. Blue eyes filled with passion.

I shake my head roughly, startling a few onlookers, as if a rabid dog is shaking off fleas.

"I don't give a damn what you think about me. I let go of your flirts as friendly teasing, but now you've stepped the line." I stop, Karen's quiet and soothing voice keeping me calm enough to not kill the damn bastard I used to call friend right now. "If you so much as look at me I swear on my life that I will tear you limb from limb, Lika. Mark my words."

With that I turn away, letting my fists loosen and the blood flow, red liquid dripping from my hands. I look at my right hand to see glass pressed together in my grip. Guess that beer's a waste now.

And unfortunately, as soon as my palms are open, the blood dripping out of my bloodstream and veins into the open air. That's when the damned creatures attack.

S/N: Hope you liked this chapter. I myself love it because it pulls out a bit, but whatever to others, I guess. Enjoy and please review.