My Chemical Pencey Prep

Erin walked in from school, grabbed the laptop of her bed, turned it on, and logged onto livejournal.

Friday 14 January 2007. 3:38 pm.

Well, what can I say? I haven’t posted here in over a week. It’s been a busy week. A lot has happened, which makes it feel like longer.

On Monday, I started my new school; Pencey Prep. It really is horrible, filled with jocks and mean girls, but I really like it due to some amazing friends I’ve made. It feels like I’ve known them a lot longer than a week. Surprisingly, I don’t miss my old friends at all. Except for Adam. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get over him.

My new friends are really nice. I’d only met Cassie and Courtney once, and even that was a few years ago. We’re really close, and we all are into the same things. We also are in a band together, but we haven’t thought of a name.

There’s also this guy, Gerard. I like him. A lot. The problem is, so does Cassie. I don’t want to mess up my friendship with either of them, but Gerard and I, we just click. He’s also hiding something. I can always tell, I’ve often used the same techniques.

It’s Cassie’s Birthday soon, and to celebrate, we’re going camping. My parents weren’t too happy at first, when they heard there was going to be guys there, but they gave in, only on the condition there were 2 tents. There will be, but we don’t intend to keep to the guys and the girl’s tents.

Anyway, I’ve got to go get my stuff ready. We’re camping down by the lake, and have to be there before 4 to get everything set up, before Cassie comes down at 4.30.

Until next time -

Erin
Xoxo

Erin set it to private, submitted it, then closed the laptop down. They were camping for 2 nights, and that day during science, right under the teacher’s nose, Courtney and Erin had made a list of everything needed; tents, mats, sleeping bags, pillows, food, torches, iPods, portable speakers, more food, clothes, swimsuits… the list went on and on. Erin grabbed a backpack out of her cupboard, and started filling it up, mainly with clothes, then packets of skittles and other sugary substances. Once it was done, she grabbed it, her sleeping bag, pillow, and mat, and went downstairs to the basement. With much difficultly she managed to get the tent out, and get it on to the lawn where it would go in Courtney’s mom’s car, because she had agreed to drive them there. With a few minutes they Courtney and her mom arrived, put the stuff in the car and were on their way.

“Okay, so are you girls sure you have everything?” Courtney’s mom asked again as they arrived. Both girls nodded.
The car park was a bit of a walk from the place they intended to camp, but Frank, Bob and Ray were already there, and helped Erin and Courtney with their stuff, and the tents they had both brought. After everything had been carried down, mainly by the guys, Gerard and Mikey turned up. They then decided it was time to put the tents up.

“HEYYYY!!” Ray exclaimed as Frank started poking his hair with a tent pole.
“Sorry” Frank replied before running away with the pole. Courtney chased him around and the two returned when the work was done, and Bob was holding up the place where the pole should have been. Once the final pole was put in, they carried the stuff inside, and within seconds made the tent a big mess.

“What the hell are you doing?” enquired Courtney. She was sitting next to Erin, who was fiddling with the laces on hers and Courtney’s shoes. She watched as Erin tied both their converse together with the laces.
“Cass! Cass! Cass! Cassieeee!!!” Frank started screaming a second later. Everyone jumped up and raced to the entrance to the tent, but Erin and Courtney fell over because their shoes were tied together. Everyone else forgot about Cassie and turned around to look.
“Shit” Erin and Courtney both said at the same time. Everyone started laughing, but Gerard rushed over and pulled the still joined shoes off them. Courtney crawled over to the others with one shoe on, while Gerard helped Erin up, who had fallen onto a bag and was laughing too hard to move.

“Hey guys!” Cassie said as she came in.
“Cassie!” yelled Frank as he ran and hugged her. The others followed and hugged her, except for Erin, who was last.
“Umm… guys…” she started, looking down at her top, which the others noticed was wet. “Who’s bag was that I fell on?”
“I think it’s mine” Gerard said, going over to the bag in question, and picking it up. Liquid poured out off it.
“I TOLD you not to bring that!” Mikey exclaimed.
“ummm yeah, well…”
“Man, where did you get that?” Ray asked.
“Yeah, is there some for me?” Bob asked.
“There was…” Gerard said, taking the dripping bag outside. Everyone followed. Only one bottle remained intact.
“Oh shit. Sorry” Erin began, starting to get upset that she had wasted nearly all the booze Gerard had brought along.
“Aw. It’s cool” he said hugging her. She looked happy and hugged him back.
“They look so happy together” Cassie thought. She still liked Gerard, but she also liked Frank. And she couldn’t steal Gerard from Erin. That would be too mean, and something as low as the mean girls at school would do.

They all went back inside the tent, and spread out. Courtney was trying to untie her blue shoe from Erin’s purple one, not aided by Frank who was trying to tie it back up, while Cassie and Ray were eating his skittles and talking about guitars. Bob was trying to find some food in the pile of stuff in the corner, helped by Mikey, while Erin and Gerard sat in the middle of the tent, deep in conversation about Green Day.

“Let’s play hide and seek!” Mikey announced. The others all cheered and
Gerard and Erin looked up. “As long as I’m not in!” yelled Cassie, running from the tent. The others decided that since Mikey was the one who suggested it, he could be in first.
“One skittle, two skittle, three skittle...” Mikey started counting as the others ran from the tent.

Gerard was the first to be found, not that he had made much of an effort hiding. He just lay down in the long grass behind the tent. Mikey found him as soon as they came out. Ray was a bit more difficult to find. He was hiding behind a tree, and his hair was a bit of a giveaway when he was peeking out. Erin was hiding in the bushes, and was looking the other way
when Gerard, Ray and Mikey snuck up behind her, so she screamed. Bob then came running out of the bushes. He was surprised when he saw Erin sitting there, covered in leaves, laughing with the others.

Meanwhile Cassie and Frank were hiding down by the lake together.
"Frank what are you doing?" said Cassie looking down at Frank.
"Hiding in the sand" replied Frank as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
"Well you're an idiot face and you missed a spot" said Cassie before kicking sand over his face.
"Ahhhh!!! I'm going to fucking get you!!!" Frank yelled running after her.
"No Frank, no!" squealed Cassie as Frank headed to dump her in the lake. "put me down"
"Okay", said Frank before ducking under the water taking her with him.
"Ah dude, now I’m wet"
"And your shirt is see through" Frank giggled, looking at her chest.
"Shut up, stop looking and give me your shirt!"
"But I like the view"
"Hand it over"
"Okay" said Frank, reluctantly taking his shirt off. Cassie continued to stare at his bare torso as she slipped his shirt over her head.
"Like what you see?" Frank smirked noticing her staring.
"Give me a piggy back" Cassie said ignoring the question jumping on his back. Frank piggy backed her up to the shore line of the lake before flopping down.
"Oomph" Frank made a sound as Cassie landed on him before propping herself up with her elbows still on his chest. Frank snaked his hands around her back before pulling her in for a kiss. They both moaned as their lips locked.
"Hey Frank! You can’t hide under Cassie!" Gerard’s voice broke their kiss as they both looked up.
"Yeah Cassie, hiding in Frank’s mouth isn’t the best idea, honey" Erin called.
Cassie rolled off Frank before helping pull him up.
"Frank, put a shirt on" said Bob as they walked back to the camp area.
"Can’t, Cassie's shirt is see through" Frank grinned at her while Bob rolled
his eyes.
"So where we’re the last to be found? Asked Frank

“Hmmm” said Mikey. “I think that’s everyone”
“Courtney?” Bob cut in
“Oh, true”
“Let’s go, go like we’ve never gone before!” Erin said, linking arms with Cassie and Frank and dragging them along with her. The others followed them into the bushes.

“AAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!”
“What was that?” Gerard asked suddenly. Everyone instantly stopped and was dead silent.
“I have no idea” Mikey said softly a few seconds later.
“It came from that way” Bob said, pointing deeper into the bushes.
“What was it? Frank asked.
“I dunno” Cassie said.
“Courtney” Ray said.
“Oh shit” Erin said.
“Let’s go” Bob said, as everyone ran in the direction of the scream.

“There it went again” Bob exclaimed, stopping. By this stage everyone was worried, but especially Bob. He thought of all the girls, especially Courtney, as his little sisters.
“This way” Ray said pointing further into the forest.
“No. This way” said Frank, pointing a little more to the left of where Ray was.
“Let’s split” Gerard said, everyone agreeing. “Mikey and Bob can go with Ray. Cassie, Erin and I can go with Frank.” With that they split up and ran through the trees.

Half an hour later Frank, Cassie, Gerard and Erin stopped in a clearing. They had been running for ages and hadn’t found any sign of Courtney.
“Oh shit!” Gerard exclaimed. “Whose stupid idea was this game?”
“Your little brothers” Erin reminded him.
“Guts, Gee” said Frank, sitting on a low branch. Cassie joined him.
“Well, what can we do?” Cassie said. “We need to find her soon”
“Has anyone called her?” Gerard asked. No one had thought of that.
“I will” Erin said, pulling her phone out of her pocket. She found Courtney’s number, but she couldn’t get a strong enough signal to call because her phone was damaged from excessive dropping and sitting on.
“Try mine” Gerard said, handing her his phone.
“Wait, what’s that over there?” Frank exclaimed jumping off the branch and running towards a tree. The others followed. Frank held up a pair of blue converse.
“Those are Courtney’s!” Cassie exclaimed. They looked around the tree for signs that she had been there, but there was nothing, other than fallen bark at one place which suggested someone might have tried to climb the tree.
“Try calling again” Cassie said, as Erin typed in Courtney’s number on Gerard’s phone.

Meanwhile Courtney was hiding up a tree a few kilometres away, when her phone started ringing, loudly.
She groaned inwardly. The noise would give away her position as quickly as Frank gobbles skittles. She had no idea a game of hide and seek could end up like this. She had left the tent with everyone else, and ran into the forest, with Bob behind her.
After she had been running for a while, she realised he wasn’t behind her anymore. She found a tree that was easy enough to climb, but not too obvious, and took off her shoes to climb up. When she was part way up, she
heard footsteps, foot steps which weren’t Bob’s or any of her friend’s. She continued climbing up, and then when she was at the top, looked down to see a creepy looking old man, waving a spade. That was when she first screamed.

From there, she had nearly jumped out of the tree, leaving her shoes behind, and ran madly through the bushes trying to loose the man. She thought she had for a second when she was hiding in some leaves, but peaked out to find him closer, so she screamed again. By this stage she was starting to get tired, and knew she had to lose him for good or find her friends soon. She
picked up a large stick, and threw it ahead of her, causing the tree to shake, while she hid behind another tree, wanting the old man to think she had just ran past that tree. When she was sure he was a good distance away, she found another tree and hid up it, terrified the old man would come back.

“What was that?” Bob said, as Mikey and Ray stopped. They all listened, and heard an “American Idiot” ring tone that seemed to be quite near. All three boys checked their phones to make sure it wasn’t them.
“Courtney?” Ray asked, vaguely remembering that she had Green Day on her phone. They followed the noise, and spotted Courtney up a tree, curled up into a ball on a branch. They were too close to call out without frightening her, resulting in her falling out of the tree. Mikey started climbing up the tree towards her, while Bob and Ray stood on the other side in case she
fell.

Courtney sensed movement, movement around her that was not hers. The first thing she thought of was the old man. She didn’t want to look up in case doing so gave her away. She felt someone climbing up the tree, who had a different presence to the old man. This was a warm, friendly, loving presence.
“Courtney” she finally looked up into Mikey’s face, grabbed his hand, and started falling backwards, out off the tree.
“No!” she screamed, tightening her grip on Mikey’s hand, as her feet fell off. She didn’t realise that Ray and Bob could almost reach her.
“I can’t stay like this” Mikey panted. He was getting dragged over as well.
“Courtney, you need to let go” Bob said calmly.
“Yeah. Don’t worry, we’ve got you” Ray added. Courtney looked up at Mikey.
“Let go, kid” he said. Surprisingly she found his words the most reassuring. Looking into his eyes, she let go.

“Oh my god! Are you okay?” Erin and Cassie started asking Courtney when they all got back to the tents. Courtney had barely left the guy’s arms the whole time, and was lying against Ray and Bob.
“So… what should we do now?” Ray asked.
“Not hide and seek!” everyone laughed.
“LET’S GET PIZZA!!!!” Frank yelled, making everyone jump.
“Okay. But where should we get it delivered to?” Gerard asked.
“This tent. Duh!” Cassie said.
“I don’t think that would work…” cut in Erin.
“I know. How about we get my mom to get us some and drop it off here? That
way she can also bring us more food.” Ray suggested.
“More food?!?” Frank exclaimed. “Food food, or skittle food?”
“FOOD” Bob said.
Everyone laughed as Ray called his mom to arrange food.

“Pizza!” Ray called as he came back into the tent, carrying pizza. Frank and Mikey followed carrying supermarket bags of food and a crate of soft drink. Erin, Gerard and Courtney were singing, while Bob and Cassie took the piss out of it. They all ran towards the pizza.
“Mmmm. This is good” Cassie said.
“Tis indeed” Mikey said.
“I have skittle pizza!” exclaimed Frank. Everyone laughed at the skittles he had put on his pizza.
“And I have the last piece!” said Bob, grabbing it.
"Ohmygosh! I almost forgot" Frank said jumping up and running into the other tent before returning with a cake. "I made it myself" he smiled, while everyone else groaned.
"Oh great, no way Frank, knowing you that cake will kill us all!" said Gerard.
"You’re just jealous Gerard" Cassie said walking over to Frank. "Thank you. I think its sweet" she said before kissing his cheek. Frank blushed.
"Let me cut it, let me cut it!", Mikey repeated
"Hell no!" shouted Ray getting up and snatching the knife off Mikey,
"Knowing you, you would probably cut yours and everyone else’s arms off."
After singing Happy Birthday, Ray handed to knife to Cassie to cut the first piece.
"You touched the bottom you have to kiss the closest boy!" Mikey pointed out.
"Okay" said Cassie looking around to see who was closest, "Gerard what the fuck are you doing so close?"
"I’m not close"
"Yes you are"
"Well I’m sorry that I like to stand near people"
"For fuck’s sake, just kiss him" Bob half said half shouted.
"…and it has to be on the lips" added Mikey giving a cheeky smile. Cassie quickly kissed Gerard knowing there was no use at all arguing before flashing a look at Frank and Erin, who didn’t look their happiest.
"Argh, this cake is gross!" said Ray holding his slice away from his face.
"Well take this then!" yelled Frank throwing his piece at Ray. Soon they had all launched into a full scale cake war.
"Awww my face is covered in cake" whined Erin
"I can fix that" said Gerard licking her face.
"Oh, no fair" sulked Mikey before licking Courtney across the face and in the progress licking across her lips by what Courtney though as an accident.
"Frank, you’re a dirty boy" teased Cassie licking Frank.
"Fine, just leave us out" shouted Bob. Which was a bad idea because him and Ray where bombarded with the tongues of everyone in the group.

“What should we do?” Courtney asked after everyone had been licked about 100 times each by each person in the group. It was dark outside by now, and the only light was coming from a torch that someone hung from a pole.
“I know! Spin the bottle!” Erin said.
“Yay! I like spin the bottle!” Frank said.
“Fuck. Do I have to make out with him?” Gerard asked, pointing to his brother.
“Yup” replied Ray. Mikey and Gerard looked grossed out.
“Let’s play. Who has a bottle?” Cassie asked. Everyone looked around, but could only find cans.
“What about Gee’s bottle, eh?” Bob suggested.
“Oh yeah. But we’ll have to drink it first” he opened the flap and went outside to get it. “Who wants to drink first?”
“Um… okay” Bob said, taking the bottle off Gerard and drinking some. It was passed on until everyone had some except for Mikey and Courtney.
“Don’t you want any?” Frank asked.
“Nah, I’ve never drunk, and don’t intent to start.” Courtney said. A few people clapped.
“I don’t see how you guys can drink that shit.” Mikey added.
“Meh” said Gerard, grabbing the bottle and empting it. They all got into a circle with the bottle in the middle. Gerard spun it, and it landed on Bob. Gerard gave him a peck on the lips.
“Cheater!” Frank exclaimed. “That’s not how it works, and you know it!”
“Okay! Fine! It’s proper from now on” Gerard said. Bob spun the bottle. It landed on Cassie.
“Properly, now children” Frank reminded them as they kissed. Cassie then spun it, and it landed on Frank.
“I’m sure it will definitely be done properly this time” Gerard muttered.
Everyone else laughed, except for Frank and Cassie who were busy. After they broke apart, Frank spun it and it landed on Ray.
“Your hair tickles” he informed Ray after, as Ray spun the bottle. It landed on Courtney.
“I shall beware the fro!” she said as she moved in to Ray. She then spun it to land on Mikey.
Straight away she could feel something different. She thought Ray and Bob were both really hot, but now she was starting to have stronger feelings for Mikey. She loved Bob and Ray in a best friends/brotherly way, Mikey was that, and more.
Mikey then spun it, and it landed on Gerard. Everyone else couldn’t stop laughing as the brothers looked horrified.
“DO IT, WHIMPS!” Frank yelled. They reluctantly did it.
"Ah Mikey, you taste bad!" Gerard shouted before scrubbing his tongue with
his shirt.
"And you’re FAT" Mikey retorted before having everyone in the group throw whatever they could at him.
Gerard then spun the bottle, and it landed on Erin.
“Oh, I bet he won’t be so reluctant this time” Courtney said to Cassie in a loud whisper which everyone heard.
Gerard grinned at her before saying "This will get rid of the taste of Mikey"