First Impressions

Never in my life have I actually realized that prancing around in the nude could be disgusting. I honestly made this verdict when Trev said that we should play chicken. You know the one where you get on someone else's shoulders? There is no way I'm getting on either of the guys' shoulders and Shale is not putting that part of her body anywhere near my head.

Totally not going down with it.

So, we didn't do the overly used course of fun in the water and instead played Marco Polo. Guess who Marco was.

"Marco!" I shout, get very irritated. The lake is so damn huge and they sound so faraway that it's ridiculous! I've been shouting Marco for the past half hour.

"Polo!" I hear all three of the shout back. A feminine sounding voice is closer than the others, probably fifteen feet away. I smirk and dive underwater, trying to refrain from opening my eyes. I pop back up and slap my hands around in every direction before it comes in contact with something.

"Ow, Autum! Why'd you slap me?" Shale screeches, signaling for me to open my eyes. My pupils reveal to me a glaring Shale who is holding her head up top. I just grin.

"Your turn."

Then I swim away quickly, laughing so hard I was struggling to stay above the surface. I end up somewhere in the middle, treading water. Just for the confession of sanity, I'll let you in on a little secret.

I'm terrified of being in any body of water by myself.

Sometimes even the bathtub.

But now I'm slightly worried, even with Brad, Shale, and Trev with me because this is a larger amount of water with only three other people in it. What if there's an alligator swimming below me, getting ready to strike?

Ironically, at that moment, I feel something clap onto my ankle.

"AAHH!!" I jump up and start thrashing around fiercely, trying to rid myself of the evil creature.

Trev comes up, sputtering water out of his mouth while laughing. Shakily, I glare at him and start swimming away, dismissing the game of Marco Polo.

"Aw, come on, Autum. I was only joking."

I ignore him and stick my nose up in the air while I doggy paddle towards the shoreline. Of course I'm not mad, just a little shaken up. The bonus part of Trev doing that was that I have an excuse to get out without seeming like a wimp. My pride is way too important to get out under any other circumstance.

I trudge through the water before my feet hit the grass, making me turn around and wring the water out of my hair. Shale, Trev, and Brad have also started coming towards me, calling it quits. I turn away from them and start searching for my clothes, and that's where I realized that something was wrong.

All of our clothes were gone.

"Trev, did you hide our clothes so we could be naked longer or what?" I ask, my eyes scanning across the ground for any sign of the cotton fiber. They all come up beside me, looking for any of their garments.

"No, I was in the water the whole time." Trev says, a little confused. Shale agrees and says that the last ones in the water were Brad and me. I look over at Brad who has a serious look on his face, but staring back at me none the less.

I even allowed myself to be hypnotized for a little bit, taking in his wet demeanor with his black hair plastered to his forehead, his sparkling silver/gray eyes staring at me, his nose twitching ever so slightly that it reminds me of a bunny. I look away from him and decide to face our problem head on.

"Well, then we're obviously not here alone anymore." I say, looking around. Without even covering myself up, I take a couple steps ahead of the rest of my friends. "Okay, ha ha. Game's over."

There are a couple of chuckles and then four boys come out of different places: out of a bush, a tree, behind a log, and another bush. I didn't recognize any of them, so they were probably from a different school. Each one of them was holding one of our clothes, and as much as I'd hate to admit it, they didn't look like the creepy weird kind I was expecting. Instead, they all looked like party boys, frat boys, which didn't look that bad. I glare at them despite this.

I hold my hand out to the brown haired guy holding my clothes.

"Can I have my clothes back now?" I ask even though I say it in a demanding voice. A smirk forms on his face while his eyes trail up and down my nude self.

"Maybe in a little bit." He says arrogantly, making me roll my eyes. "I'm enjoying the view."

"You know they sell porno magazines at the books store for fifteen bucks, right?" I retort, spitting the comment out like spoiled milk. I see Brad step up beside me out of my peripheral vision, glaring at the guy.

"Yeah, but I don't think they have you in it." Interjects another guy holding Shale's clothes.

"Oh, well would you like me to strike a playboy bunny pose while you masturbate?" I hiss.

"Please."

"Give me my fucking clothes, jackass." I grunt, lunging for the bundle in his arms. He just laughs at my dismay and holds them above his head.

"Jump for it." He demands, the cockiness showing in his eyes.

Cue light bulb here.

I just smile sweetly at him, even though I disgusting myself mentally. He raises an eyebrow before letting his self-righteous smirk appear on his stupid face. I curl my finger at him, signaling for him to come closer. Just as expected, he bends down and leans in towards me before I sock him right in the face.

"Jackass!" I yelp, grabbing my clothes out of his hands when he stumbles back, cursing under his breath. I quickly slip on my underwear and bra before stepping back up to him. Brad appears beside me, apparently getting his clothes back because his plaid blue boxers are beaming out at me.

"Go away." Brad growls lowly. The guy looks up at him with a bloody nose. "And never ever make suggestions to my girl or you'll feel the burn."

It was the combination of words and attitude that scared them, making them scramble away into the forest to wherever their camp is set up. I shout at them as they run away.

"Yeah! You better run!!" I punch the air and hop up and down excitedly before facing Brad with a grin on my face. I hit him lightly in the arm, flicking parts of my hair out of my face.

"Good role playing!" I give him thumbs up before gathering up my stuff. When I look at Shale and Trev, they're both shaking their heads at me while putting their clothes on. "What?"

"Nothing." Trev says, even though I know something's up. I just shrug it off and walk back to camp, not bothering to put my shoes on or anything. Brad follows closely behind me.

"What's up?" I ask. He really looks like he needs to talk, so I figure that I'll him start it out.

"Autum, have you ever liked somebody?" He asks bluntly. I stop walking and blink at him once.

"Well, I had a crush on Bobby Delunquet in sixth grade, but that only last for a couple of hours because then I saw him picking his nose." I say with a grimace. "Why?"

"So you've never known anyone who's liked you?" He questions, looking down at me. His hair looks so good when it's wet, stringing across his forehead while the tips of it brushes into his eyes.

"Well, there was this one guy at my other high school. I think he was the quarterback for the football team, I can't remember. He asked me out." I shrug. "But that was only to hang out."

"What's the difference?" Brad asks. He sure is full of questions today.

"Well, when somebody asks me out I think of it as just going someplace and hanging out. When somebody asks me to be their girlfriend, that's completely different. Do you get what I'm saying?" I ask, starting to walk again. He nods. "But I turned the guy down because he is a total meathead. He was pretty much known for jacking off in a candy bar wrapper during class. Sick."

I stick my tongue out, making Brad chuckle.

"Why? What's with all the questions?" I ask quixotically.

"Just wondering."