The Best Year - 25. Chapter 25

By the time we finished the ride and after we tossed the ruined sandwiches, we were late for homecoming. Luke didn’t seem to mind though and if I had my way we would be on our way back to my house for more privacy that a conveniently empty house provided. Not that I was brave enough to do anything, and the ride and the carelessness of us being alone was addicting. It wasn’t a stolen moment out beside my house, but something together and without the fear of prying eyes that we would have to answer to.

We both seemed jittery on the ride over to the paint arena. Luke said that his uncle did some improvements to the place after the soft opening. When we walked through the door, the lights were dimmed and people were darting around in the dark. Stepping further inside the first person we walked into was Cindy. Seeing us she broke from where she was standing and started walking in our direction.

“Mom,” Luke said, his voice tense. She didn’t seem to notice as she stepped past me barely giving me any notice, although I thought that was on purpose.

“Where have you been?” She asked as I took a step away from Luke. He was already trying to inch himself away from me.

As my eyes adjusted, I saw that the walls were no longer bales of straw anchored together, but actual walls. People were barely loud enough to be heard over the sound of the thumping music and when I looked up at the booth where the music seemed to be coming from, I saw an actual person manning the station instead of a sound system. The sound itself seemed more crisp and clear and the lasers bounced off a large metal ball that sent rays of sparkling light everywhere.

“Hey!” Someone yelled from behind. Jumping, I whirled to see Tim carrying what looked like a load of pizza boxes. He seemed to be struggling under the bulky weight of the stack so I reached out and he gladly let me take some off the top. “You’re late!”

“Yeah,” I said as I started following him around the chaos of the maze to a small clean alleyway that led to a door and a small room. He shimmied the door open with his pinky finger and then his toe and held it open for me. Stepping inside, the room was brightly lit and a bit suffocating. Blinking until my eyes adjusted once again to the light I followed him to a table where he sat the pizzas down.

“Staff at the food bar can’t keep up with you guys,” he said laughing as he picked up a phone. He quickly pressed a series of buttons and told someone on the other line that the pizzas had arrived and hung back up, “I saw Cindy and Luke having a one sided conversation, what’s that about?”

“Don’t know,” I mumbled, my face getting hot as I tugged on my shirt collar.

“Well what do you think of the place now?” He said grinning, the youthful excitement that actually reminded me of Luke a little, was back.

“I like it,” I answered smiling.

“Let’s get back outside it’s hot as hell in here,” he said as he turned and led the way back outside.

“We also went to a strictly water based paint, so it isn’t as thick,” he explained as he walked along. “We clogged the pipes, the city wasn’t very happy with us.”

“How long do we have the place?” I asked as we walked back up the ramp to the front entrance. Cindy was gone and Luke hovered right by the door. He was scanning the place and not paying any attention to us, he was frowning and his cheeks were flushed.

“Midnight,” he answered, “then I gotta kick you guys out and let the cleaning crew get at it.”

“Nice,” I said looking at Luke and wanting Tim to see something that needed attending to so that I could talk to Luke without him overhearing. Seeing Luke at the door though, Tim sped up and when Luke turned his head our way his frown disappeared as Tim wrapped him into an awkward bear hug and tossed him around. He ended the hug by messing up Luke’s hair and nearly knocking him over when he clapped him on the side.

“Don’t let your boring mother ruin tonight for you,” he said as Luke half heartedly shoved his uncle and tried to smooth down his hair. It was short, so it didn’t mess it up too much, just a few cute strands refused to go back down and I would have smiled if being around Cindy’s family didn’t make me nervous, even if it was Tim.

“She’s your sister,” Luke countered no longer looking like he was too bothered.

“She gave up on me when you popped out,” Tim argued grinning. “Look at this place, isn’t it awesome!”

“Yeah,” Luke said and I squinted trying to see through the darkness and the flashing light to actually take it all in.

“No straw, the paint guns have an enclosed battle area now just through there, we expanded, we have a food bar now,” he explained pointing quickly to the various places as he talked. “By next summer we want to have mini-golf and laser tag.”

“Damn,” I offered feeling excited even though I had nothing to do with the project. I had to admit it sounded like the most fun a person our age could have in all these boring assed small towns we lived in and around.

“What are you two waiting around for though?” He asked wrapping his arms around both our shoulders as he stood between us. “Get your asses down there and start pelting people with paint.”

“We don’t have to wait for another round to start?” Luke asked and I glanced up to see there wasn’t a countdown ticking down the time.

“Nope, open warfare,” he said handing us both a pair of goggles, “the only place that has breaks is the paint guns when a team wins. There are trap stations, I’ll tell you one is just down and to the left, you’ll find a hidden door, behind it there is a ramp you walk up where you can see over the wall and give people hell.”

“Nice,” I said as Tim let his hands fall back to his sides.

“Just watch out for the pressure plates that dump slime on you,” he said swelling up proudly as Luke and I both looked at one another. Tim really had went all out on the place.

Running down the ramp into the fray, it didn’t take long for us to get hit by a stray balloon. The watered down paint was cold and I swore under my breath as I followed Luke towards the attack zone Tim pointed out. We snuck around blind corners and standing up against the wall when people darted past us chasing one another. Luckily no one gave us more than a second look, I half expected the guys to round a corner and attack us any moment.

“Where do you think it is?” Luke yelled over the sound of the music.

“Don’t know,” I answered stepping across the narrow alley between the walls and felt along the opposite one. “Watch my back.”

“With what?” Luke asked and I smirked as both of our hands were empty.

“Here it is!” I yelled finding a slight indentation in the wall where I could hook my finger in and pull. When it didn’t budge I took a half step back as Luke stood beside me. When my foot landed, it sunk in by about a half inch and a loud warning siren pierced through the music.

“Oh, that can’t be good,” Luke said then he disappeared in a wall of neon green slime. He took a more direct hit, but the second wave covered my face and as we tried to bolt out from under it we both slipped and fell over one another. We were still squirming on the floor when we heard laughter on either side of us. When we looked up, half the class came to see what had happened.

“Hey guys,” Olivia said as she elbowed her way through the upperclassmen. Followed closely behind her though, was Connor and everyone else. All of them were a different, but colorful, state, the girls’ hair plastered to their neck and face.

“Hey,” I said giving up on standing and just laying flat on my back staring up at the ceiling.

“You found one of the plates,” Connor said as he stepped into my view offering his hand. Taking it, he helped me to my feet as Toby helped Luke to his. Now that the slime was seeping through the drainage holes in the floor and the sirens stopped people started throwing balloons and running around again, leaving just our friends clogging that part of the maze.

“Where have you guys been?” Derek asked as he aimed a balloon at me his arm cocked and ready to fling it.

Glancing behind us I saw Tim doubled over, supporting himself by holding his knees laughing in our direction. Shaking my head trying not to laugh as I swung my arms, slinging slime on everyone else. Lily darted behind Derek, and by the time I was done they were all dotted with neon green mixed with their color stained wet clothes.

“I can’t believe he did that,” Luke said still dripping slime where he stood.

“You gonna tell us where you’ve been?” Derek repeated and Lily leaned around him looking curious. “Why are you walking like you’ve got a stick up your ass?”

“Wait no,” Toby hissed his eyes wide, “do we even want to know?”

“We went horse riding,” I answered hearing a click beneath my feet as the pressure plate reset. Taking a quick step off it, I hated that they were all staring at us. We were also still clogging a corner of the maze and people were darting around the corner pelting balloons at us before turning around and escaping.

“Horse riding?” Ally asked standing next to Bailey a pink balloon in her hand.

“Yeah,” I answered shrugging.

“With Luke?” She asked and I hated that she pointed her finger towards him when she said his name. Now everyone turned to see Luke still standing beside me, but I didn’t turn to look. Instead I heard a quick shuffling at my side before the blaring sirens went off and as I jumped out of the way of a second drowning by slime I saw Luke laughing as he turned the corner.

Everyone scattered after that to keep from ending up in a slimy mess on the maze floor and I kept running until I found a padded barrel full of balloons. Grabbing a handful and making a makeshift pouch with my t-shirt to hold more I took off running.

“Guys against girls!” Toby yelled as he joined me at the barrell. Hearing him, the girls screamed and took off in the opposite direction.

“Didn’t Olivia tell you?” I asked as I watched him snatch up a lot of balloons as well.

“No,” he answered wriggling his eyebrows. “Just that you would be late, we didn’t really expect your ass to show up at all.”

“Ass,” I said as I smashed a balloon over his head laughing as blue water streaked down his face.

“Friendly fire, you fucker,” Toby groaned as I ducked a balloon feeling it glance off my shoulder but not bursting.

As we were about to leave to hunt the girls, Derek turned the corner with Luke behind him. He was ducking as Luke kept hitting him with balloons laughing. They both slid to a stop at the barrel and I looked around to see if anyone else was with us.

“Girls against guys,” Toby said holding up a second balloon ready to defend himself from more friendly fire. “Got it?”

“Yeah, but Connor is fair game,” Derek answered smirking. “He found a super soaker and now I can’t keep my balls from sticking to my leg.”

“Alright, let’s go,” Toby said and we fell in line behind him. Taking this seriously, he stopped before we rounded any corners holding his hand up beside his head.

“Just fucking go,” Derek hissed after the third corner. “This isn’t Call of Duty.”

“No, this is real life,” Toby countered and I heard Luke laughing behind me. “Clear.”

Walking around the corner I saw that Toby was leading us towards the center of the maze. More of our classmates still darted around us, but we saved our ammunition. By the time we even saw a glimpse of one of the girls I was dripping wet and most of the slime had been washed away from all the balloons flying through the air. I had no idea how Tim kept the battle field stocked with them, but as we approached more barrels and bins all of them still had plenty of balloons in them.

“There’s Ally,” Toby said, “on your six.”

“Six?” I asked having never really played, ‘Call of Duty’, before in my life.

“Just point where you want us to look,” Derek groaned about to step around Toby and take charge.

“I’m the leader,” Toby growled. Then as he turned to push Derek back into line behind him I saw his eyes widen and his mouth fall open, “run it’s a trap, it’s a trap!”

After he disappeared around a corner I turned only to be blasted with a super soaker and balloons. The girls had recruited more of their friends and I couldn’t see where I was throwing by the time I recovered enough from the surprise attack to start throwing balloons back at them. Derek, Luke, and I were running into one another trying to get away from the bombardment and when it finally stopped all I could hear was the sound of music mixed with a loud roar of female laughter.

“Cheaters,” Derek yelled as I pulled my goggles off and shook the colored water off them before sliding them back on. The water from the squirt guns was cold and my teeth chattered as Derek held his arms out from his body and started stomping towards the girls. He was about halfway between us when Toby rounded the corner and balloon warfare erupted again with the three of us caught in the middle without anything to retaliate with.

After Toby was soaked and defeated the girls all high fived one another and dispersed leaving just Ally, Heather, Olivia, Connor, and Bailey Ashton still standing. Glancing at Luke I saw him still watching Ally, but she had returned to secure herself at Bailey’s side as he draped his arm around her, his normally gelled hair sticking to his forehead. We were all pretty drenched and the girls were all smiles still.

“Dude,” I said looking at Connor, avoiding Bailey’s eyes completely. “You’re a damn traitor.”

“Yeah,” he said laughing.

“It was his idea,” Olivia said smiling as she sat her gun aside. “To round up all the girls and really get you guys.”

“That’s what you get for turning against us,” Lily said as she walked up to Derek and tip toed to kiss him on the cheek.

“None of that Miss Henson,” Welker coughed as he rounded the corner. Like everyone else, he hadn’t escaped the odd balloon, but he was nowhere near as wet as we were. Hearing him, Lily stepped away from Derek offering Welker an apologetic smile. I noticed that Bailey had nearly stepped three or so feet away from Ally and she had her arms crossed clearly embarrassed that her dad was there at all. Welker kept on walking though and when I noticed that Connor was still holding a balloon I quickly grabbed it and just as Welker was about to step around the corner to another part of the maze I cocked my arm back then let the balloon fly. People were already laughing even before the balloon sailed through the air and exploded on the back of Welker’s head. When he turned around we all bolted laughing.

“I’m hungry,” I said as our small group made its way out of the maze onto one of the entrance ramps. It was the entrance closest to the food and the smell of warm pizza made my stomach growl.

Following the smell of food, we saw tables set up behind a metal door with a glass window. It was dimly lit by candles and the glow of a television on in the corner. It looked to be televising some football game. I led the way inside, there were a few other groups of friends from our class clustered around the room so I picked a corner and pulled out a chair catching the attention of one of the girls cleaning up after a mess. I expected to hear the roar of the music and noise outside, but as soon as the door closed behind Bailey the only sounds left was the television and the voices coming from other tables.

“Pizza is all we have left,” the waitress said as she beamed at us after we all got seated. “Cheese, pepperoni, sausage, or vegetarian.”

“Can we have two pepperoni pies?” Derek asked leaning back in his seat to stretch. He sat beside me and the too small table made us all feel a bit sandwiched between people. Looking around I noticed that no one seemed to mind that fact but me. Every time Luke bumped his knee or elbow against mine it only made me very aware of our closeness. I also hated that as we seated, that we are all coupled and that we were the only two holding out hope to keep that a secret.

“Two whole pies?” The waitress asked shaking her head as she jotted it down. “Are you sure you don’t want any vegetarian? We haven’t been able to move a single slice of that.”

“Hell no,” Toby answered and everyone laughed, even the girl taking our order.

“Language guys this is a school function,” Said a woman just on the other side of the waitress. I had heard someone else enter the quiet room, but I hadn't turned to see who it was. The voice was all too familiar though and when I turned my head I saw Mom talking to the other waitress completely ignoring us again.

“Sorry, Grace,” Toby said and Mom just smiled and waved her hand. The waitress she was talking to smiled and nodded at Mom as she left through a door on the opposite side of the rectangular room. Like a good mother during a high school function though, she didn’t hover around our table ready to embarrass my ass. Instead she leaned against one of the unoccupied tables and that is when I noticed that her hair was a messy knot of a bun half falling down and that her clothes were damp and blotched with color.

“Mom,” I said turning further around in my chair. “What happened to you?”

“Retaliation,” she answered and I heard snickers from either side of me. “Before you got here two heathens decided to ambush me with balloons.”

“Who?” I asked already knowing the answer. “I’ll get them back for that.”

“Don’t have to,” Toby said, “your mother went Dwayne Johnson on our butts.”

When we all fell silent, the waitress at our table took the chance to ask everyone what we wanted to drink. After getting our orders, the waitress left, and I turned back to see Mom being handed a bottle of water from the one other waitress that was in charge of the room. I felt sorry for them having to put up with all of us, but they both seemed to be smiling and taking it in stride.

“Have fun guys,” Mom said as she gave us a small three fingered wave around the bottle of water she carried. Not waiting around for any of us to answer, she turned and walked through the doors, a brief blaring of music noting her exit.

“Oh!” Heather said after all the grownups around us were out of earshot. “I found you a date for prom, Jack.”

“You did what?” I asked as Toby barely nudged her elbow. It earned him a sharp jab in his which he grimaced and snuck a few quick rubs in. Too surprised by what Heather said I couldn’t think up a good ribbing for him being a wuss.

“I found you a date for prom, my cousin” she repeated smiling as she rolled her eyes. “I swear you weren’t this dumb when we dated.”

“You didn’t do much talking when you two dated,” Ally countered. Bailey and Connor let loose a few awkward laughs before falling quiet. Olivia on the other hand laughed loudly for a few seconds then abruptly went quiet shooting a glare at Luke, but only the two of us had felt him move his legs under the table to kick her.

“I don’t need a date for prom, I can find my own,” I said shaking my head. “Your cousin is in college anyway.”

“Come on!” Heather said, “I thought you’d be happy, you’re like the favorite for Prom King, you can’t go alone.”

“Really, we know how Jackson is. It’s not even January, he has plenty of time,” Lily said and I heard a false falsetto in her voice as she faked a laugh.

“Not really, not anymore anyway,” Ally said and this time Bailey shuffled in his chair uneasily before standing.

“I have to piss,” he grunted then awkwardly bolted from the table, no one paying any attention to him as he left.

“Connor, damn, I gave the waitress the wrong drink order,” Olivia said and I turned to see her giving Connor a toothy smile. “I’m out of the mood for root beer, I just want water, be a dear and go tell the waitress.”

“How am I going to tell the waitress?” Connor asked as he stood. I wondered if he was used to Olivia ordering him around, but he didn’t seem to mind.

“Just go open that door and tell them,” Olivia answered shrugging.

“Alright,” he said seeming to not give it another thought as he squeezed around us and left the table. Olivia winked at me as she leaned around Luke, her hair falling to the side hiding her face from the girls on the opposite side of the table. She had just as successfully gotten rid of Connor like she had Luke earlier.

“I mean honestly,” Heather said after he was a couple of steps from the table. “Ally is right, you’ve been acting funny since school started.”

“Come on guys,” Derek protested leaning his elbows on the table flexing his muscles smirking when they danced. “Let’s just have fun, paintball guns after we eat?”

“Yeah,” Luke answered.

“Are you okay, Jackson?” Ally asked scooting to fill the seat that Bailey vacated and then Connor’s. Olivia looked completely put out by having Ally so close to her, but I was thankful to have both her and Luke on one side and Derek and Lilly on the other. “I mean, about our break up?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” I asked feeling my face flush.

“Does me being with Bailey bother you?” She asked and I felt Luke’s leg slide firmly against my own. The warmth of his body on mine didn’t comfort me though. There were two people I didn’t want knowing about me. One was Ally and the other was Cindzilla. Having Ally’s large blue eyes staring me down had me wanting to make up the lame ass excuse of having to go piss and leave.

“No Ally,” I countered, her shoulders slumping and I tried to soften my tone. “I’m okay with that.”

“Okay,” she said scooting back over to her seat next to Heather. They were both still eyeballing me and I could tell they weren’t finished.

“So,” Toby said, “are we going to kick some Bulldog ass this year or what?”

Thankful for the change in topic I wasn’t going to give the guys any hell over football. Not like I usually would, but I felt myself relax when I saw that Toby had successfully pulled all the attention away from me. Bailey and Connor had both returned followed by the waitress with our drinks, he had successfully managed to get Olivia’s drink order changed. When the water was placed in front of her though, her nose wrinkled, but she didn’t say anything as she accepted her straw.

“What makes you think this year is gonna be any different?” Olivia asked before taking a sip.

“Their quarterback has a broken arm,” Derek explained rubbing his hands together. “And the coach is leaving to take a college position at the end of the school year.”

“Dad told me the coach went off the rail about something,” Ally added squeezing her lemon wedge into her diet coke. “Something about them wanting to strip his son of his captaincy.”

“Because he’s gay, yeah, I heard about that,” Heather said nodding her head. “I knew they were allways ass backwards in that shithole.”

“He’s gay?” Derek asked and I wanted to punch him in the face when he turned to glance at me and smirk.

“Has a boyfriend and everything,” Heather continued shrugging as the second waitress brought us two large pizzas. She carefully placed them in the center of the table, still in the box Toby flung open the one on the top and we all grabbed a slice as the waitress started placing plates in front of us. Everyone ignored the plates and by the time the waitress left, we were already starting on the second pizza, the box full of half eaten crusts.

After we got finished eating we left some money on the table for tips, not knowing what else to do. The school had paid for the food, so we only ever saw the waitresses return to ask us about drink refills and more pizza. Our table was a mess as I slid my chair back and slapped another dollar on the table after inspecting the carnage. Luke put another dollar down as well and we all followed Lily and Derek out the door.

“I have to pee,” Heather announced smiling as she stepped through all of us. Like girls typically did, the others followed behind her. Even Olivia left, but I suspected that she really did have to pee and wasn’t just going in there to gossip or do whatever girls did that required all of them go in at the same time.

“You should tell them,” Toby said after we noticed that Connor and Bailey were a few yards away talking to one another, “you saw how they reacted, they’ll be okay.”

“I don’t know,” Luke countered. “I think Ally still has the hots for Jackson.”

“You sound jealous, Church,” Derek joked smiling.

“Shut up,” I groaned. “Let’s make a deal, no talking about this shit anymore tonight?”

“Deal,” they all said at the same time.

“Now I have to go,” Derek said knocking my shoulder with his fist before he left.

“Powder your nose princess!” Toby yelled, but ended up running to catch up to Derek, jumping on his back before both of them wrestled their way to the men’s bathroom nearly knocking over someone’s Dad just coming out of the bathroom. He looked scared to death as he adjusted his glasses, unlike Mom he wasn’t covered in shades of the rainbow.

“You okay?” Luke asked standing next to me. We both turned and scanned the arena in front of us. The walls were just high enough to hide the people running through the maze. Balloons flew through the air haphazardly and in the far corner where Tim told us about a secret door, some guys had found it and was busy soaking people that came into firing distance.

“Yeah,” I answered offering him a quick sideways smile. “You?”

“Yeah,” he said and we laughed when we both sighed. The only thing that helped was knowing that someone was fighting to keep the same secret as me. Even if there was possibly more for him to lose if we messed up.

“Hey, we’ll meet you in the paintball gun room,” Connor said slapping me on the shoulder as he passed. Jumping, I managed a nod as he laughed and led Bailey to the door on the far end of the building with a neon sign directing people to the gun room.

“I’ll be right back,” Luke said offering me another smile. “I have to go use the bathroom before we start shooting one another with paintballs.”

“Alright,” I said not having to go. Watching him walk, a little awkwardly in his saggy wet shorts still covered in bits of slime I couldn’t keep from smiling. The year was definitely not happening the way I would have ever imagined. I had plans of taking Ally to prom, being prom king, having a scholarship in my back pocket to brag about. Instead all of that was up in the air and I had Luke. A boy. Blinking I realized that I was staring at the bathroom doors, but when I turned back to the maze I saw Cindy storming around the corner. Her face was covered in blue and her hair was plastered to her forehead. Behind her a group of boys were laughing and pointing and above the blaring rock music I cringed when I heard them chanting, “Cindzilla” as they retreated out of sight.

“Those heathens,” Cindy hissed coming to an abrupt stop when she noticed me standing there. “Jackson.”

“Mrs. Clarke,” I said trying not to look at her disheveled hair and stained clothes. She glanced around before turning back to face me.

“Where is my son and your delinquent group of friends?” She asked reaching up and running her hand through her hair to smooth her bangs back and out of her face. She only managed to get them to stick straight up into the air, but her tone chased away any humor I felt. “Where were you two earlier?”

“Why are you talking to me?” I asked crossing my arms. “You made it clear you didn’t like me.”

“I don’t understand you,” she answered shaking her head. “You have no respect for anyone. What do you see in my son, it doesn’t make any sense.”

“He’s a good friend,” I answered feeling my face flush.

“Yes, but not for you,” she countered crossing her arms, rubbing them with her hands. I could see goose bumps spreading across her arms obviously cold, but I didn’t feel sorry for her. “He is nothing like you, he is not careless or reckless. Your mother was scared to death you would end up in prison or worse. I don’t want that for my son, I want him to be someone after high school.”

“He’s not any of those things,” I argued surprised at how protective I suddenly felt. “He isn’t anything like me. You don’t even seem to know him.”

“I know him,” she said, her voice cold and distant. “I know him and I know you. That is why I want you to stay away from my son. I won’t have you leading him astray any longer.”

“I can’t do that,” I countered crossing my arms.

“Why not?” She asked squinting as she studied me. I was afraid she was on the verge of everything lining up for her. That she would finally understand Luke’s inexplicable draw to me and mine to him.

“We’re both old enough to choose our own friends, Cindy,” I answered dropping my arms to my side.

“Stay away from him, Jackson,” she repeated, her voice a harsh whisper underneath all the noise and laughter beyond where we stood. “I hope I don’t have to have this conversation with you again.”

“Me either,” I said shrugging as I looked around and saw that everyone had finished in the bathrooms and were on their way back towards us. Turning to see them approaching, she gave me a smile that didn’t comfort me at all before she stepped past me.

“What did Cindzilla want?” Derek asked as they huddled around me.

“Nothing,” I answered forcing a smile as my eyes found Luke’s. “Let’s go shoot up people with paintballs.”