The Not So Original "Tragedy" of Russell and June

A long dirt road stretched out before two cars; one a deep hot rod red and the other a shade darker than cornflower blue. Scott and Gabriel, the owners of the red car, and Anthony and Bernard, the owners of the blue car, eyed each other with pure hatred as the cars bucked forward. Beau, a friend of Anthony and Bernard, stood on the side lines literally biting his fingernails as he prayed that no one would be hurt this time. Tyresse, friend of Scott and Gabriel, stood five feet from the cars in between the space that separated the two different sides; the Morgans and the Carters.

"You know the rules," Tyresse said plainly as he checked one last time for anyone that could possibly get in the way of this race. "Whoever reaches the railroad tracks first wins. No bumpin', no distractin'. Ready?" He looked to his team, the Carters. The engine roared. "Ready?" his voice, an obvious sneer, was directed toward the Morgans. The engine roared also.

He rose his hands; Beau's heart started to speed up. He should stop this... he should stop this... but those idiots wouldn't listen to him!

"GO!" The cars took off leaving Beau and Tyresse in a cloud of kicked up dust. They watched the cars, the Carters slowly started to pull before the Morgans...

And that's when the sirens were heard. Tyresse instantly cursed and looked behind him. Two black and white cars, blue and red lights flashing, came speeding down the road causing both boys to jump into the tall grass and hide. The police didn't stop, only wanting to catch the boys that were racing illegally.

Beau jumped on his motorbike and sped away, needing to go and stop this before something bad happened. Tyresse followed just behind him on his own motorbike. If he knew his friends well enough, they were going to cause some trouble.

All six teenagers were taken in, and all vehicles were confiscated.

___

Russell Morgan sat on a sand-covered merry-go-around in the small Texas town of Valentine's park. The summer sun beat down on him, clawing at his bare, tan skin. He pushed a few stray bangs from his eyes and stared off near the swing set, trying not to become blinded as the sun reflected off the metal slide.

He heard footsteps approaching, taking this as his cue to look up. He tried to smile at his cousin, but it only came out as a grimace.

"Why so blue cuz'?" Beau asked, sitting beside Russell on the round piece of metal.

"Why not be sad? You would be if you found out that the woman you love does not feel the same for you."

Beau tilted his head; confused at the information he was being told. "The woman you love? Russell, don't tell me you're still going on about that Rachel girl."

"Oh but I am, Beau. How can I not? She is the most beautiful my eyes have ever seen!" Beau sighed at his cousin and patted him on the back.

"I tell you what, come to the bonfire tonight. It'll get your mind off of her. And there'll be even more beautiful buds there, just waiting for you to fertilize their roots." He winked, a sly look now on his face.

"Enough of that!" Russell quickly changed the subject, wanting to get away from the topic of Rachel. "I heard you and the two dolts were caught by Sheriff Pierce again. What happened this time?"

Beau rolled his eyes. Of course he would have heard about that already. Who hasn't heard of the Morgan and Carter brawls? "Just the Carters causing more trouble than they're worth."

Russell laughed. "Yeah, that's true."

___

Nina, the closest friend of the Carters, rushed through the halls of the large house. She had her hands on her hips, her deep brown hair pulled up into a tight bun, and a very unamused look on her face.

"June Joyce Carter, if you dun' get at the bottom of these stairs in ten seconds, I'm gonna come find ya, and you won't like it when I do!" She started to count out loud. There was no sound by the time she reached "zero". Where was that girl? "Alright! I'mma comin' up righ' now!"

Too bad for Nina, June Joyce Carter was long down the road, hair whipping in the wind as free as a bird with nothing but sky. She had stolen her cousin's car, wanting to go and meet her friends at the diner before they had their weekly girls' night. She had a bag in the passenger seat, it filled with a fresh clean towel, her one piece red swimsuit, and money for when she was going to eat.

Within minutes she was pulling up under the canopy of Uncle Rue's Drive-In diner. She could see her friend already waiting for her in their own cars. Kelly has her own, with Olivia and Sophie as her passengers, and Hannah was using her brother's truck with Francis and Elena in the truck bed.

"Hola mi amiga!" Maria, one of the waitresses of Uncle Rue's diner, said happily as she skated up and skillfully slid to a halt. "What can I get you girls today?"

All of them instantly began to list off the meals they wanted, making Maria laugh. They always got the same thing.

"Actually..." started Olivia as she twiddled with her fingers, "I'll have a ham sandwich with pickles and carrots. And make the malt a water." All seven girls, including Maria, stared at their blonde friend in disbelief. Olivia was the biggest eater there, and all she wanted was a nasty ham sandwich and water?

"Oh my lord, Liv, you're pregnant aren't you?!" exclaimed Francis as she jumped out of the truck and ran over to her friend. Olivia just blushed slightly and kept quiet, fumbling with the edge of her blouse. "It's TRUE!" The six teenagers gasped, Maria looked slightly disappointed.

"Who's the father?" whispered Kelly as she turned around in her seat.

"His name is Daniel Flores, he's over in Vietnam right now..." June and the rest of the girls instantly began to fire off question after question at her; what was it like? what kind of guy was he? did it hurt? how long did it last? do you love him? how far along are you?

Maria disappeared to go and give the orders while the girls continue to crowd around Olivia.

Soon enough, the questions died down, the girls went back onto their usual topics, and the food was served. They laughed and joked; the tense air around Olivia slowly, but surely, began to release into the normal talkative gossip girl she was.

The sun set, painting the sky orange, pink, purple, and red with the everlasting blue, and Hannah spoke up.

"Over at Lake Say-Hi is a bonfire tonight. My brother is gonna be there, that's how I found out. You girls wanna head over there? We can change into our swimsuits when we get there." She suggested, Kelly being the first to agree before the rest followed. Olivia was the last to agree, seeing as she wasn't feeling good, and said she would go to the bonfire but would stay away from the water.

After that, they set out, happy to stay away from home even later than usual.

___

Marcus Welch was a very close friend to the Morgan family; in fact, he was as close as any one person can get to two adults. He was in his very early twenties - only twenty-one or so - and very well liked by all the Morgan family girls. Handsome, you could say, but that was all he was. Behind all the dark farmer's tan skin, cropped black hair, and dazzling green eyes that no one as dark as him should have, he was just a ladies' man.

But that is not important to this story. What is important to this story is how close he was to the parents of Russell Morgan. To answer that question; he was so close, that they believed anything he said about their only son; which came as a huge advantage to Russell.

"NO! I will not lie to your parents, even if you do have tickets to a Johnny Cash show!"

"Please Marcus? I'll even throw in that Nina girl that you got your eyes on!" Russell wasn't going to give up.

Marcus narrowed his eyes at the younger teen. "How do you know about Nina?"

Yes! Russell had found his weakness. He grinned wickedly. "I have my ways..." There was a pregnant silence after that. Marcus's body language was not what Russell wanted to see, but the bright green eyes gave it all away.

Marcus sighed. "Fine." Russell immediately jumped with joy, knowing that he had definitely won this one. He jumped on the motorbike hidden behind a large bush (yes, Russell knew that bringing up Nina would work, or he would just have to sneak out) and turned the key. Beau had been kind enough, meaning Russell made him, to let him borrow his bike.

"But this is the only time!" Marcus called after him, knowing Russell wouldn't be able to hear him over the roar of the motorcycle. Marcus sighed, mumbled about annoying teenagers, put on a cheesy smile, and began walking toward the large ranch-styled house only fifty feet away from him. How was he going to explain this one?

Russell really didn't care. As long as his story was very truthful and would let him last the whole night with his friends, he was perfectly okay with that.

On his fast, yet slow, ride to Lake Say-Hi, Russell could only think of one thing. Rachel. Would she be there? Was she a friend of the other girls? Most likely, there were supposed to be lots of girls there. Was she as beautiful as when he first saw her?

The motorcycle kicked up pebbles and dust as he neared the glittering lake. The last rays of sun reflected off the mirror-like surface. He could see a group of other teens building a large pyramid-like pile of branches with logs surrounding it. That just caught his eye for a moment before they moved over to the group of giggling girls near the shore, pushing each other to go in first. Of course, one of the other guys had to go and get the idea of a cannonball and get all of them wet.

Mmmm...cold, wet girls in skimpy pieced swimsuits. Oh yes, this was going to be a good night indeed.

___

June happily sat off to the side chatting with a few of her friends, some of the guys that sat beside her, or just watched the flames disappear into floating ash.

When she heard everyone finally start gathering around the fire, finding a spot on the logs, she knew something was going to happen. What it was, she didn't know, but she knew it was going to happen. And going to happen very, very-

"Mind if I sit there?" She looked up, instantly making eye contact with the guy in front of her. Everything disappeared. She completely forgot about church in the morning, about her parents, about her uncle and his friend being in town, about how she looked so stupid staring up at him with her mouth opened so wide a rat could crawl in and make a nest.

Oh, it was love at first sight, she knew that. He knew that. But she didn't know that he knew. And he didn't know that she knew that. Teenage love is confusing, isn't it?

Usually, June would have wrapped her towel around her tighter, embarrassed of her body like every other girl there that ate a few extra servings more than she should; but she wasn't. June actually let her towl slip off her shoulders and fall at her hips, resting on the log. She smiled at him and turned her gaze to the across the fire where an older guy was starting to tell a ghost story about the town; his gaze lingered on her bare skin and she could feel it.

"Back in 1941, the town of Valentine struck oil - but the place they struck it would forever cause an eternal fight between two families." June tensed up, Russell doing the same beside her. "The Morgans and the Carters were two very close families; some even say they were related very distantly. But on May 16th, that friendship broke apart.

"Luke Morgan and Rafe Carter opened landed directly beside each other, but in between the two lots was a foot of no man's land. There, oil sprouted from the ground. Now, you would think that they were such good friends that they would share the money for it being so close to each other's property, but you all thought wrong.

"The two fought long a hard before it became a battle that Luke and Rafe’s children had to continue on, and now their grandchildren must take up the batting plate. Who do you think will win? Russell Morgan or June Carter?"

June stood up, causing all the attention to fall on her. "I think the Carters will win, after all, girls rule boys drool." This caused Russell to jump up beside her.

"Yea right. All you women are good at are making food, babies, and headaches!" There was a response of "OOOH"s and clicks of teeth.

The Carter stood up in front of the Morgan, staring him deep in the eye. What she saw was true apology for what he said, and lust; oh was there lust in there. What he saw was hurt and forgiveness, but he also saw want.

"Hey, it's June Carter and Russell Morgan!" One of the guys from the group shouted. That instantly set all of them into a tense silence.

"I'm out of here," both enemies spoke and turned away to walk off to their cars, or motorcycle in Russell's case. This night had not turned out like they thought it would.