"Oh, come on, Maura!" Katie called from the water. "Everyone else is already swimming!"
I looked around at the boys initiating a splashing war with some of the girls. Everyone seemed to be oblivious to the fact that none of us had on swimsuits. Knowing we were going swimming, I'd brought mine…burying the garment at the bottom of my backpack so as to escape any hope of discovery by Caelyn. But once we'd arrived, Katie had informed me that everyone usually just stripped down to their undergarments. She said doing so was a kind of tradition. She'd added that even if I did go into the woods to change, one—if not all—of the boys would be sure to follow and peek. That was enough to keep me from that course of action.
Still, the thought of stripping down to my underwear, even in the rapidly-dying light, and revealing garments not usually seen against my pale skin made me a bit queasy. The time was still early enough in the year that the sun was merely fading in the late afternoon.
"It's not even dark yet," I offered in a weak, whiny voice. The way my voice came out made me feel even worse….if that was even possible.
Even from where I was standing on the bridge, I could see Katie roll her eyes. "It's nearly twilight, close enough."
My hands were shaking as I slid my jeans down, my face feverish with embarrassment. I decided to get into the water ASAP, so I ripped my t-shirt over my head and jumped in, deeply desiring its blue-green cover.
Even though the air was unseasonably warm that day, the water was icily cold… The month was only May, after all. I surfaced, gasping as my body fought to adjust to the temperature. My breaths ached up through my lungs. Katie giggled as she swam toward me.
"The cold's a total rush isn't it?" she squealed.
I couldn't find my voice to answer her. I gasped several times, unattractively, trying to adjust to the cold around me. "S-s-soooo c-cold," I finally managed.
Something flashed across her face for only a moment, too fast for me to read. Then, she shrugged and said, "You'll get used to it". She swam back toward the others, turning her back on me. My former embarrassment was at present a distinct feeling of unease. I watched as Katie swam up to Wendy, whom she'd been protecting me from, ironically enough, all week. They whispered something schemingly between themselves. I didn't like the way Wendy's eyes flashed at me before she laughed maniacally.
I, quite suddenly, didn't want to be in the water with any of them anymore. I turned back to the bridge, dog paddling numbly. My limbs were so frozen; my arm ached when I reached up to grasp the edge of the rail, beyond ready to pull myself from the chill of the water.
"Maura!" Katie was calling to me. "Where are you going? You just got into the water; you can't get out now."
"The h-h-hell I can't," I mumbled under my breath, shivering violently. But when I turned toward the sound of her voice, I saw that everyone, all our male company included, had their eyes on me. I cursed softly and dropped back down into the water.
Too bad I wasn't off camping with Ron instead. He was so much more fun…and genuine.
Katie came back toward me again. "Awww, are you cold, Maura?" Her tone was mocking.
My eyes narrowed. Up until that point, since she'd started talking to me in the first place, Katie'd been nothing but polite, kind even. She'd even defended me against Wendy's maliciousness on several occasions. She was a completely different Katie then.
"What's with you, Katie?" I asked suspiciously.
"What's with you, freak?" She sneered at me. Both of us stammered out our words between chattering teeth. Hers struck me with the force of a blow.
I couldn't say anything else. I looked at her with an expression twisted somewhere between shock and horror.
"Did you really think we wanted to be your friend?" It was Wendy who spoke then, moving through the darkening water to Katie's side. The evening was turning into a scene from one of my nightmares. I thrashed away from them toward the water's edge, desperate to escape their words. I was so confused; what was the point to it all? Why had they dragged me out there like that? I tried to think of some wrong I'd done to any of them, but nothing came to mind. I edged closer to the bank, not caring who saw my pale entirety covered only by scant undergarments.
Katie looked up toward the bridge we'd all plummeted from. "Got 'em, Trent?"
I followed her evil gaze to find her brother leaning over the railing, holding my shirt and jeans in one hand, my runners in the other.
"Yep," Trent quipped back, eloquent as always. I was closer to the water's edge, but not close enough to do anything about Trent's sudden possession of my clothing. The water came to my waist instead of my shoulders. The cold air assaulted me, making me shudder, or was my worsening situation causing me to shake so hard?
I looked up at Trent, my eyes pleading for all I was worth. "Please, Trent!" I implored him. "Please, give them back…"
"Please, Trent…" Wendy and Katie were imitating my pleading tones. I ignored them.
Trent was looking at me then, his eyes locked on mine. "Maura…" he said in a strange, faraway kind of voice, like he was down in a deep hole or something. The whole world seemed to fall away from us, like we were the only two people in existence.
"Please, give me my clothes." I didn't break my gaze, my eyes seeming to hold his. I ignored the splashing noises around me, focusing on weakening the resolve of the most important player in their sick game. To my great shock, he held my things out to me. Maybe Trent wasn't as cruel as the others.
"Trent! What the hell are you doing?" Katie's voice shrieked up at him. She sounded closer, and I realized she'd emerged from the water. Her lacy black underwear made her seem all the more malevolent. When she'd yelled at him, Trent shook his head, like he'd been asleep and someone had shaken him awake. He looked over at his twin, blinking, a confused air about his face. He must have been fantasizing about tackling someone or something.
She closed the gap between them while I watched, horrified, ripping my clothes out of his hands. I knew I was seeing the real Katie then and that there would be no swaying her. She didn't appear to have any mercy I could appeal to. They must have been planning their cruel prank the entire time. The realization clicked in my head that they'd befriended me—elaborately—only to be cruel to me. I couldn't exactly wrap my head around the idea, how any human being could be so mean to another one. It wasn't even like I'd tried to steal her boyfriend or started a rumor about her; Katie was being mean to me because, and only because, I was different. My eyes filled with tears, and I was frozen in place, even though I knew I should be doing something, anything, besides just standing here half-naked and crying.
Most of them had piled back into their cars, and Katie was turning to leave, wrenching Trent along by his elbow. He staggered clumsily when she pulled at him.
The world around us had grown pretty dark, the last edge of the sun sinking and leaving behind a weak, rosy half-light.
"How am I supposed to get home?" I called up to them in a hoarse voice, not that I thought Katie would care about that.
"I guess you'll have to hitchhike," she said in a voice full of nonchalance. "I'm sure your outfit, or lack thereof, will attract someone interesting."
Her words played out a dangerous scenario in my head. I was more terrified than I'd been in my life. "How can you do this?" I screamed at her through my tears. The fear was laced around the edges with rage. I didn't want to add to her twisted amusement but couldn't stop myself from crying out, "Please don't leave me here!"
"Have fun getting home, Maura." Katie remained unaffected by my desperation, the anguish in my voice. "I��m so glad we didn't miss this opportunity before you moved so far away." How long had they been plotting some cruel way to torture me?
I watched her disappear around the back end of the Mustang, and that put my body into motion. I knew, logically, it was too late to catch her, to somehow rip my clothes out of her harpy talons and at least be able to cover my pale, frigid skin. But I still had to try; doing anything was better than doing nothing. I fought against the cold water, scrambling across the rough rocks under my feet, trying to break away from its numbing grasp. I heard the Mustang start, then the spray of gravel as Trent initiated their escape.
"NOOOOOOO!" I screamed out, too late to do anything to help myself. I lurched forward, slipping on the ever-shifting rocks under the water. I fell awkwardly to the side, my head connecting with something hard. The water was pulling me back then. I felt the glassy surface slide cold and smooth over my face, like the night that was advancing too fast, stealing my sight.
I was dreaming, of that I was certain. My cheek lay against something warm, and a different kind of heat was radiating against the other side of my face. I thought it'd been very cold, and there was something else—a very terrible something—gnawing at the edges of my memory. What was the tragedy which had occurred?
I thought I heard someone's voice and felt surprised to find the sound belonged to a male. Shouldn't Caelyn's voice sound in my ears if I were just waking up?
My mind crawled farther up toward consciousness, and I realized my cheek was against someone's bare skin. I forced my eyes to open and could see I was resting against someone's chest…a boy's bare chest! What was the horrible thing I could almost remember happening to me? Didn't it involve my being in my bra and panties? I shot up, trying to struggle into a sitting position, looking down at my body. My muscles didn't want to obey the commands my mind was giving them, but I could at least see that I was more covered than my memory was telling me I had been. Although my legs, extending from the bottom of the red flannel shirt partially covering me, were glaringly bare.
My mind was all muddled, and I couldn't make sense of the shirt, my state of partial undress or the flames I was catching out of the corner of my half-opened eyes.
"I think she's coming around." The unfamiliar male voice sounded again.
I looked up to find eyes I did know.
"Ron?" I breathed. I noticed my head was throbbing.
He looked relieved. "Yeah, Maura, it's me." But that emotion was all mixed up with something else. His eyes relaxed a bit when I'd spoken, but his mouth was all wrong. He looked furious. I noticed more and more as the seconds went by. Ron was cradling me against him, and it must have been his shirt I was wearing. But the other boy standing over his shoulder, wearing an anxious expression on his face, was bare-chested too. Had I done something very bad? My mind was so cloudy... No! The bad thing had been…Trent, Katie! The memory of their deviousness came flooding back. But how was Ron here? And the other boy, wasn't his name Shane?
That's right. Ron was going camping with Shane that weekend. I tried again, without success, to sit upright, making out the shape of the tent over Ron's other shoulder. I couldn't figure out why I was here with them.
"Why…am I camping with you guys?" My confused mind couldn't put together the part that led from the awful scene at the bridge to their peaceful little campsite in the woods.
Ron rolled his eyes; he was holding onto that air of being extremely agitated. "You're not camping with us, Maura. You were with your other 'friends,' remember?" His voice had an edge that made me cringe away from the comfort of his warm, bare skin.
"They…aren't my friends." My voice cracked when I spoke. "I'm sorry… I just don't understand how I ended up here." I could hear the inevitable crying creeping into my words.
That softened Ron right up. "You hit your head." He subconsciously moved the hand that wasn't cradling my back, to dab at my temple with a huge wad of white cotton. That must have been Shane's shirt.
Since he'd mentioned it, I could sort of remember that. I started to put everything together but still didn't understand how Ron could have been there when he was away camping.
I peered up at him. "But how did you get…how were you at the bridge?" Had I somehow missed that he'd been in the group swimming with us?
"I didn't trust that Katie Parker or her idiot brother…or any of the rest of that group of…" His voice seethed with anger. I would never have imagined that the easygoing boy from the other day could be so enraged as he was then. "I know you'll probably be mad, but when you told me you were going swimming with them, Shane and I decided we should camp here. I mean in the woods near the bridge."
"How did you know we would go swimming at the bridge?" I knew enough to be sure I hadn't told him that part.
"Maura." He rolled his eyes once more; they glowed red in the firelight. "Everyone goes swimming at the bridge when the pools aren't open yet."
Yeah, like I would ever know something like that.
"But why would you think I'd be mad?" My eyes were wide in awe. He'd come to make sure I would be okay.
"Well, I mean, you guys were all in your underwear and everything," Shane admitted.
Ron scowled at him. "Thanks, Shane!"
"It's okay," I piped in weakly. How could I be angry? They were the ones who'd attempted to cover me up. I was more aware of my bare legs then, though. They were so pale they glowed orange, seeming to absorb the light from the campfire.
"Nothing's okay," Ron muttered. I could feel the slight tremors running through him and realized he was so angry he was shaking. "What happened tonight, that was just sick."
"It's my fault, anyway," I squeaked. My voice seemed to have no force behind it, and my throat hurt. I must have had water in my lungs.
Ron was appalled. "Just how the hell is this your fault?"
I fastened my eyes on his, wishing I could dissolve his anger. "You even said yourself I shouldn't be hanging around with them. I should have listened to you…to my mom…my MOM! Oh my god, what time is it?" The sky was, at present, pitch-black, the moon positioned high above us.
"It's almost ten," Shane informed us, squinting down at his watch.
"It's almost ten?!" I parroted back in panic. I was so horrified; I would have sprung to my feet if the dizziness hadn't stopped me. My body's momentum carried me halfway there, but I plunked back into Ron's lap, awkwardly, as my vision greyed around the edges.
He let out a rush of air as I landed on him. "Ooof, hey, careful there! Don't worry, Maura; I'll take you home. There's no need to make yourself pass out again."
I knew I wasn't light. I was tall. He made me feel even more graceless as he struggled to get up with me still in his arms. From his sitting position on the ground, even I knew standing was an impossibility. I felt even more embarrassed—if that were even possible—at his futile struggle to rise.
"I can walk, myself," I tried to tell him.
He ignored me and flashed a look at Shane, who stoically came over to lift me from Ron's arms. My small attempts at struggle did me no good. Shane's frame was smaller than Ron's, but he was taller and maintained a wiry kind of strength in his long limbs. Shane must have been Native. His eyes were black, like his hair, his skin a pleasant brown. Though dark, his eyes held a friendliness, tinged with mischievous, that was impossible to resist. He smiled down at me, and I couldn't help but smile back…even though I was still cold, half-naked and internally wounded by the cruelty inflicted upon me almost three hours ago.
*Three hours!* I thought to myself. *I was out for a long time…*
Ron was probably holding me the entire duration, as he struggled to stand himself. "Ow! Hold on, Shane, both my legs are asleep."
I crossed my arms across my chest, irrationally agitated by the entire night, and wished I could disappear from existence. I huffed out a sigh, unconsciously.
Ron tried to joke with me at that. "I didn't mean it that way," he teased. "Holding you was anything but a burden."
Despite the hideous events of earlier, I couldn't stop myself from blushing at that. I even smiled a bit, looking down at his shirt and playing with a button. I liked that boy far too much. My mind suddenly flashed a picture of Caelyn's face at me. Her expression was furious, her eyes frightening.
I jumped in Shane's arms. "Mom is going to kill me! I promised I wouldn't be late!"
"Okay, okay, stop rushing me," Ron groaned and struggled to his feet. "Here, lemme have her." He took me from Shane's grasp, making me feel like a large child being passed around at a family gathering. I was too tired and wounded to protest, though, and decided I'd earned the comfort I'd felt before when my head had been against his chest. I allowed myself to snuggle my cheek against his bare skin. Had he just sighed? It was hard to tell with the steady thump of his heart in my head.
Shane drove—it was his car we were riding in—and Ron sat with me in the back seat. I didn't realize I was crying, silently, the tears sliding effortlessly down my cheeks until my savior reached up and wiped one away.
"I'm going to snap that Trent's neck for him…maybe even that snotty sister of his!" He shook his head, and then looked away from me.
"No, don't," I whispered hoarsely. "Don't fight because of me." I sniffled pathetically, wishing for a box of tissues. I certainly couldn't wipe my nose on his shirt.
As if on cue, Shane handed a roll of toilet paper over the back of his seat. "Here, Maura."
"Thanks." I took it and tore a piece off. They must've brought it along for camping.
Ron looked back at me, and his expression was pained. "Please, don't cry." He reached up to smooth a hand over my still-damp hair. Ironically, his compassionate words and gesture made me cry harder.
He pulled me against his chest again, and we rode the rest of the way to my house in silence.