chapter thirty four

"No babies. I'm too young to be a granny."

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Character pic: Sophia

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dying rn

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"I'm not pregnant," Allie bursts out laughing, slapping her thigh with her hand as she started choking she was laughing so hard. "Oh my god, some people really don't have a life? It's not hard to believe I was pregnant, but after I just came out as a freaking lesbian, they're still going on about it?"

I had never seen Allie laugh so hard in her life — other than the time that I fell face first off the bleachers, but we don't talk about that anymore.

"With Hayden, as well? I would rather eat the cafeteria's most horrible meal than do anything with him," Allie's face is so red I'm pretty sure she just turned into a tomato overnight.

I laugh gingerly; Emily on the other hand is resting on her crutches with her mouth open catching flies. "What the hell," Emily mouths to me. I nod vigorously, trying to hold back the giggles that are threatening to explode.

Oh, I can't wait to tell Clark that the person he is getting 'one hundred percent correct rumours' from, is as trustworthy as trying to eat soup with a fork.

After lunch, Emily and I started walking to our lockers to get our books for the next two classes, when Allie came up to us along with Sophia — who, might I add, is also pissing herself laughing — and told us about the rumours going around.

I was shocked that Allie could just come up and start joking around with Emily and me, because last time I checked, we weren't on the best of terms.

"I want to say thanks for accepting my sexuality, though," Allie composes her and shoots me a smile, "Even though, you, Emily, were snoring your head off, and missed the whole damn thing."

"I just don't want to hold grudges," I shrug, "Life is so much better when you don't have to tiptoe around people." The only grudge I hold that will be there forever is one against my excuse of a father. "Are you two...?" I point to Allie and Sophia.

"No," Sophia speaks up. Sophia is pretty quiet, but she isn't a royal bitch. She may come off like one — same as Allie — but that's what's been drilled into all our heads all of our high school years. "We aren't dating, if that's what you're asking," Sophia and Allie shake their heads simultaneously.

"But, we are having a Christmas party," Allie hands me a sheet of paper with loopy, girly handwriting scribbled all over it. "It's a costume party, I'm sure you and your friends would all be coming?"

I nod, skimming over the details of the party invitation. It's not this weekend but the next, which is good timing since we have camping this weekend.

"Depends," Emily says stubbornly, "Are you going to keep lying about things?"

"Emily," I hiss at her.

"No, it's fine," Allie waves her hand, "I see where you're coming from. And no, my deepest, darkest secrets have already been shoved around the school."

I can tell that she is affected by that, but I don't say anything in return. Allie may seem like a monster, but when your secrets are thrown around the school like a hot potato, you would get pretty angry and down in the dumps.

"Awesome," Sophia adjusts her baby blue skirt, "Don't forget to dress up." She and Allie give us a two fingered wave, walking off with their handbags hitched on their right shoulder.

"Plastic bitches," Emily scoffs. I give her a look that says 'be nice, bitch' and she puts her wrists up in defence as she's too busy clutching onto her crutches like her life depends on it. "Let's get to class then, shall we?"

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I finish packing one last hoodie, Tyler's in particular, into my duffle bag. I zip it up, lifting up the heavy bag and throwing it over my shoulder. I grab a pair of flip flops and some ugg boots, throwing them into a bag along with my hairbrush and shampoo and soap.

I quickly throw on an old pair of low top black and white converse on and start to make my way down the stairs and into the kitchen. Austin is waiting for me, a pop tart in his mouth (like always) and two large bags of food. We had to go shopping last night along with Emily, Nate and Tyler to get food for camping.

Clark is going to pick up Brandon, Eloise and Eli, whereas James — Nate's asshole of a brother who invited himself — is driving his own car and taking the barbecue and all the sleeping gear in it. Nate is using his dads four wheel drive and taking Austin, Tyler, Emily and me and all of our baggage and the food.

Clark is in charge of taking the huge esky cooler up there as his Jeep has heaps of room in the back and the fold up chairs and table. Clark and Eli are sharing a tent along with Brandon and Eloise, James and Austin in one (much to Austin's disgust), Tyler and I in one and Emily and Nate in the last. We all planned this out at lunch this week so that it wouldn't be all disorganised and we wouldn't forget anything — which is usually very likely, we are horrible at remembering everything.

"All aboard," Austin yells, throwing the food and his bag into the back of Nate's father's car. I throw mine in after him, going back in to get the food that goes in the cooler which Clark has. Riverina has no power so we have enough ice to last the weekend.

I vaguely hear Emily complain about how she won't have any Facebook or Wi-Fi for the weekend, making my laugh my ass of at poor Nate trying to convince her that she doesn't need any because he's there and that's the only hotness she needs. They're the funniest couple, those two, and I'm pretty sure that they were made for each other.

"No sex for you," Emily pokes Nate's chest hard, making him cry out in pain and nurse his poor boob.

"What! That's just as bad as having no Wi-Fi," he yelps.

"Exactly," Emily flicks her lilac hair over her shoulder, "I have no Wi-Fi so you should have no sexy time."

"Man, they are sex addicts," I hear Tyler whisper from behind me. I laugh, agreeing one hundred percent with his point. He turns me around and swoops me into a kiss that makes my knees weak and my heart go crazy.

"PDA ALERT!" Austin screams, "STOP. NO I DON'T WANT TO SEE MY SISTER KISS HER BOYFRIEND."

Tyler and I burst out laughing, so I pull him into another kiss just to piss Austin off. I hear him groan and then slam the door of the car shut, signalling that he cracked the shits and locked himself in the car to wallow in his girlfriend-less self.

Unfortunately he is still being a pussy and hasn't asked Savannah to be his girlfriend even though they had an 'amazing' date according to both of them. Whenever I ask Austin, he just says 'I'm trying to find the right time, now leave me alone'. Funny, sounds exactly what he said about Tyler asking me out also.

"Alright, alright, break it up," my mother comes out of the house, yelling at Tyler and I. "I'm too young to be a granny."

After my father had moved out, Austin and I felt like we had our mother back. She stopped staying so late at work and started spending more time with us. She would cook us dinner every night and go grocery shopping. We watched movies all on the couch on night, and I swear I saw Austin tear up when mom hugged him and kissed him on the cheek saying, "I've missed you so much Tinny." Tinny was my mother's old nickname for him from ages ago. Not going to lie, even I was smiling through tears.

"Don't worry mom," I bite back a laugh, "No babies ... yet."

Tyler lightly slaps me on the stomach, "Stop giving your poor mother ideas."

"Whatever," I roll my eyes, wrapping my arms around his waist. "I'll see you when we come back, mom."

"Where's my hug," mom frowns.

I'm still getting used to this loving mother kind of thing, I want to say. Austin and I hug her goodbye, and then we all jump into the car to start driving to the camping grounds with James driving behind us. James was too busy packing the tents and the barbecue to come over and bother us, which is more than good.

Nate had spilled that he was going camping and James had pretty much invited himself. He said that he would take up some of the stuff for us, so Nate couldn't help but agree because we couldn't fit everything in just two cars. Knowing him, he's just there so that he can smoke in peace — and I'm not talking about just tobacco. James is trouble, and he's not the kind of person I like to hang around. Nate, on the other hand, is James' complete polar opposite. For being brothers, James and Nate couldn't be more different in personality.

"Did you hear about my dad's shed?" Nate yells over me singing Five Seconds of Summer at the top of my lungs. I shut up, knowing that it's probably important, even though I want to keep singing my favorite bands song. Tyler shakes his head, squeezing my hand which is intertwined with his. "Since dad is getting a little too old to be working under cars and everything, he's finally decided to give me an apprenticeship."

"That's sick, brother," Tyler slaps Nate's shoulder who is driving. "Proud of you man."

"Doesn't stop there, though," I can see Nate smirk from the rear view mirror, "He's willing to give you one also since he sacked a few workers."

Tyler jaw drops, and he squeezes my hand even harder. It feels like my knuckles are about to pop out of place, but I don't say anything because I know how much this means to Tyler.

"Your dad is the man," Tyler puts his hand over his mouth in shock, "When is he taking us on?"

"After this weekend is over," Nate does a victory dance in the front seat, making Tyler jam beside me also. My goodness, my best friend and boyfriend are such weirdos.

Nate's father is a mechanic, hence why Nate and Tyler are so interested in cars and spend a fair amount of time working on cars and pulling them apart and putting them back together again because, and I quote, 'they can'. He owns a shop in town called 'RE Automatics' which has been there since he was around twenty and first started the business. Eventually, it became the most trustworthy and go-to mechanical shop in small town Octavia, which is a pretty good achievement for him.

The drive to Riverina only takes ten more minutes, and by the time we get to the camping grounds — which took fifteen minutes as it was a four wheel drive track — Clark was waiting around with the rest of the group, trying to set up a shelter for us just in case it rains.

Although it is getting cold, there's a fairly warm lake right across from the camping sight with a deck that you jump off into it. The water is a clear blue/green colour, and I cannot wait until I can get in and have a swim.

Nate parks the car near Clark's, James doing the same. I jump out of the car before everyone else and quickly sprint towards the lake. I don't care if it's nearly winter, I am going swimming.

"Last to the water is a rotten egg," I scream while I'm halfway there.

When I get to the deck, I quickly throw off my summer dress and take my shoes off so that I'm just in my purple and black bikini. I turn around to see the rest of the crew except James running towards the water full speed.

I bomb dive into the water. The water is cold, but I know that after a while I'll get used to it. I resurface, greedily taking a huge breathe when I hit the surface.

Tyler jumps in beside me, causing an even bigger wave. He wore his board shorts along with everyone else, so all they had to do was take their shoes and shirts off to jump in.

"Hey," I tangle my arms around Tyler's neck and playing with his hair with my fingers. He wraps his arms around my waist, pecking me on the lips in return. He can touch the bottom of the lake — which is not entirely deep until you get further out — while I am just a few inches off.

My teeth are chattering, but I simply dismiss them. I can tell Tyler is cold too, but he is too macho to admit it.

"First to the other side of the lake is a hairy chicken," Clark screams.

Hairy chicken? Huh, well that's definitely that's new.

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"I'm s-so c-old," I chatter as I jump out of the water. My teeth are chattering like you wouldn't believe and I'm walking around and fidgeting just so that I can warm up.

Emily, Eloise and I had been playing human water volleyball — using Austin as the ball — in the water while Clark, Nate, Eli and Tyler were jumping off rocks into the water. We had decided to get out after a few hours because our bodies were shrivelled up like an old lady and we were getting cold even though we had adapted to the water a long time ago.

"Here," Tyler hands me his shirt, "You're freaking freezing. Come on, we'll go back and get some towels."

I nod, not being able to form legible words out of my mouth. Once we are all back at the cars, we grab towels from our bags and wrap ourselves in them.

"Man that was refreshing," Emily says bright eyed and bushy tailed, "I could do that again."

"Y-you're a-a psychop-path," Austin hugs his towel and rocks back and forth in foetal position on the floor. I burst out laughing at him, hugging Tyler tighter to try and grasp his body heat. 'Stop laughing at me you cow," he yells at me, "I'm so cold."

"I'm sure James will warm you up," I nod towards James who is sitting in his car broodily while sucking on a cigarette. "But he won't share his smokes with you," I try to sound serious but it won't come out right, "He needs those life suckers more than anything."

Austin just scowls and starts grumbling insults under his breath.

A few hours later we had finally finished setting up. Right in the middle was a fire which Emily and I had made — we have pyromaniac tendencies sometimes — with our fold out chairs around it in a circle. Next to Clark's car is the cooler and a table with all our food and, shh, alcohol on it. Clark, Eli and Nate decided to sneak in two cartons of beer and some spirits, somehow, and are currently nursing a can like a baby. Tyler has a can of beer in his hand, but he isn't sucking the life out of them like Clark and the rest of them are.

Emily and I are both drinking sprite while Eloise is drinking alongside the boys. She had offered us some Vodka, but I didn't really feel like another hangover. Apparently we are going to play Never Have I Ever tonight, which includes alcohol, so I'll drink then but not now. Plus, they don't have those cherry drinks they had at Nate's party a while ago. Now they tasted good.

I'm sitting on Tyler's lap roasting marshmallows and making smores, decked out in leggings, his hoodie and ugg boots. It may be a manageable temperature during the day, but the nights out here are cold.

"Clark, you suck at making smores," Nate frowns down at the lump of chocolate, biscuit and marshmallow in his hand, "It looks like shit. Literally."

Clark just shrugs, eating his half-burnt one without any hesitation. I don't know how people can eat burnt marshmallows, they taste horrible like that. I roast mine just perfectly so that they are gooey in the middle but not burnt to a crisp.

"So, who's up for a drinking game?' Eli smiles deviously. "Unless you're all a bunch of sissies who can't handle their alcohol — ahem, Nate."

I look at Tyler with an exasperated look on my face, "Ugh, fine."

"If you're in, then I'm in," Tyler smiles down at me and kisses me. His lips taste like marshmallow and chocolate — an intoxicating taste. I tried to savour the taste of his lips for longer, but Clark pushes me off Tyler and pulls me away to where we are playing the game.

"Asshole," I scowl at Clark.

"You'll thank me later when you aren't up the duff," Clark gives me one last smile, and then plonks me down onto the cold, wet grass.

Yeah, definitely an asshole.

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Questions:

Do you think James is there to stir the pot?

Any drinking game suggestions?

I can't think of another question so....what's your favorite animal? Mines a horse, then a sloth, then a goat. (I'm weird...I know)

thanks again nuggachos! xoxoxo

LET'S GET PLAYING MATCHMAKER