The game goes on for a couple more rounds, but the bottle never lands on me or Noah again. Soon, everyone's a bit bored, and I keep my relaxed façade until I feel someone staring at my direction; there is a prickling feeling in the back of my neck. Varun stands a couple of yards behind me at the public volleyball net, wearing a black t-shirt and shorts, with a volleyball in his hands. He waves at me though I subtly shake my head.
I examine him. He's looks as if he just arrived and is playing volleyball with his friends. Before I can warn him not to, he shouts to me across the distance between us.
"Hey, Vee, you want to join us?" he shouts, and everyone hears, staring at me.
"Vivienne?" Noah asks, squinting at me. I flash everyone in the group a grin before quickly getting up, pulling Caspian with me. From the other side of the circle, Belle also rises, standing with us, while Julie stifles her laughter.
"Hey, guys," I say a little cheekily, some of the group stunned and the others getting up.
"On my mark," I tell them under my breath, while the other teenagers bombard us with questions. Some look very angry at the deception. I count down from three and as soon as I whisper one, we all bolt for the chairs, pulling our stuff with us, and we sprint to the parking lot. I slow down so Belle and Caspian can catch up, and in that moment I see a whole group of teenagers chasing us, their phones clicking, trying to catch pictures of me. Noah and Sophie lead the group; Sophie looking murderous while Noah looks determined to catch me.
"Hey," Noah yells, his voice getting lost to the breeze, "Vivienne! Wait up!" The others are all calling for us to stop and talk to them, some asking me how I changed my body in one day, and others asking for pictures.
I throw my laughter to the wind and finally reach the Jeep. I swing myself in and start the car while Caspian and Belle get in.
I drive off so fast the tires make a squealing sound and dark marks on the road before we peel out of the parking lot. We are all laughing; I keep myself straight in the driver's seat, Belle is doubled over in the passenger's seat, and Caspian is gasping for breath behind me. I look in the rear-view mirror and see one last glimpse of the group of teenagers gasping for breath and collapsing in the middle of the parking lot, the other visitors staring at them weirdly.
I drive off the main road and park the Jeep in the parking lot of a small gas station that is a little ways from the town limits. All three of us can't stop laughing.
"D-did you see Julie laughing?" Belle stammers out in the middle of her laughter.
"Yeah, but did you see Noah and Sophie's faces?" I say, giggling. We all start on another bout of laughter. After I become more sober, I start the Jeep and get back onto the main road, keeping within the speed limit while we decide where to go next. I look at my phone to see multiple texts from Julie, telling me that the kids are heading toward where we are; just outside town's south border.
"Okay, where to?" Caspian asks. I hum, thinking.
"Well, I kind of wanted to talk about what happened when Vee sent me a text saying you were about to get beat up," Belle announces in a cold tone. I stiffen and I sense Caspian tense.
As he tells her the story of how he thought the guys were a couple of his friends who he needed to confront about something, and they ended up being a couple of guys from a gang who needed money. When he refused they started beating him up, and after three punches to the stomach I showed up. Caspian goes on to explain in excruciating detail how I knocked out each of the boys. Belle gasps many times while my knuckles turn white on the steering wheel.
"Okay," I say after Belle has heard the whole story, "You know what happened, and you guys know that I can defend myself, but you cannot tell anyone, alright? If my parents catch wind of this, they'd never let me out again!" Belle chuckles while agreeing and Caspian gives a wolfish grin.
"Fine, but I want to know honestly the amount of people you've fought at one time," he says, making me grimace. I murmur something intelligible and he gives me a look. I sigh exasperatedly.
"Twelve sparring trainers, three minor wrestlers, two self-defense experts, and my dad all at once," I inform them, as I think back. It really was a nasty fight, though. I made it through each one of them after about an hour and almost took down dad, but back then I wasn't as strong or experienced, so I lost to him.
"Did you win?" Belle asks.
"That's a story for another time," I tell her nonchalantly.
"Wait, I almost forgot," Belle gasps, turning on the radio. The commentator's voice comes on, announcing the next song. "Vee, you promised one song," She looks at me with wide eyes, and I roll my eyes before seeing what song is on. Caspian cheers from the back. Ready for It? by Taylor Swift. Great.
"Okay, but you guys start," I tell them, not looking forward to singing. The song comes on and they start singing the first couple of lyrics quickly along with Swift. I join in after a few seconds. They stare at me for a second at the same time, which is kind of creepy, but instead of making me feel more uncomfortable, which they could surely tell from my expression, they go back to singing quite badly.
I imitate her voice pretty well but add my own flair to make it more like my voice. We all are laughing by the time the song is over.
"I didn't know you have such a nice voice," Belle gushes while I blush. "Can you please sing one more song for me, please, and just you this time?" I nod, finding it hard to refuse, and she hooks up her phone to the Jeep stereo. "It's called Wicked Game by Ursine Vulpine. With your voice, I think you'll ace it," I have heard the song a few times before. I look in the back and see Caspian smirking. I keep driving toward Salt Lake on the opposite side of town, a couple of miles away from the north border.
The song starts and I notice the two siblings staring at me.
"Can you guys turn around or something, I won't sing if you stare at me," I threaten, effectively making them look out the windows. The tune is a slightly mournful melody, filled with melancholy and a sense of foreboding. I start singing along and I see Caspian look at me. I shoot him a glare and he quickly returns his gaze to out the window. Instead of mimicking the singer, I use my own, truest voice, hitting all the high notes perfectly.
I love how my voice dips up every time I have to sing I don't want to fall in love. I keep my eyelids from closing since I am still driving, but I keep one hand on the wheel while unconsciously gesturing the notes with my other hands on an imaginary scale. The song ends and I take a deep breath of air.
"Wow, I didn't know you had that kind of voice," Caspian remarks, smirking at me.
"Belle, can you smack your idiot of a brother for me?" I ask her, half teasing. She turns around in her seat and I hear a thud accompanied with a groan from Caspian.
"Hey, guys, what was going on between you two during the games?" B asks, making both of us blush. I mean, sure, Caspian is attractive, but I can't think of him as anything but an older brother.
"Nothing, Belle," I start, glancing at Caspian, "You know how I was sitting between Caspian and Noah, and I'll choose Caspian over him any day, but really, Caspian, we're like siblings, right?"
"Yep," Caspian says, popping the 'p'. To anyone else, it'd seem like he is perfectly fine, but since I trained myself to notice these kinds of things, I hear the slightest tremble in his voice and notice him stiffening up. Perhaps I made him too uncomfortable in the game.
"What about you and Alex?" I question, arching a brow. Her lips slightly turn down and she seems deep in thought. "You know, he did come to me after school yesterday to tell me he has a crush on you," I tell her lightly. Her cheeks turn pink and her skin flushes.
"W-well I kind of like him, but…he's a player, so I don't really know," I nod, agreeing with her. Caspian looks enraged from the back seat.
"Calm down, Acorn, at least she knows her stuff, and I can protect her," I tell him, enjoying it when his skin becomes even redder at the fact I called him by his old nickname, Acorn. Let's just say that when we were younger, a certain someone may have swallowed an acorn whole, having to go to the hospital to get it removed.
Belle bursts out laughing, and I hold a satisfied grin upon my lips as he turns away, ignoring us. Belle plays her music while I tune everything out, focusing on the drive.