Our Love Isn't Perfect, But It's True

"You got detention? For skipping class? With a boy?" My dad spoke in clipped questions, frowning and crossing his arms over his chest. I rolled my eyes and plopped down on the sofa.

After being caught, Tyler and I spent the rest of the school day in the Principal's office. It turns out that we had Lunch detention, since Tyler had football practice after school. Smokey and I actually went and watched. Tyler and Ethan waved at us a bunch of times, almost getting in trouble from their coach. It was cute and sweet of them.

"Oh come on, Dad," I answered, smiling. "I was with Tyler. And you can't tell me you never skipping class when you were in high school."

"Well, I....You...But," Dad sputtered, looking a bit flustered. I rolled my eyes again and stood, stretching. My dad gave up and left the room, muttering something about "teenagers and their hormones."

He never ended up grounding me, but Anne found out and she was a little pissed. I didn't really care that much. A few days had passed and it was finally Saturday. Everyone was coming over, and then we were going to a surprise location that Trent had planned.

I'm not the only one to say I'm a bit afraid of what he has in mind.

Trent first insisted that he borrow my Range Rover and gather everyone up. Even Josie. Which everyone was happy to see, by the way. Then, he drove us out of town and far into the middle of no where.

After about 30 minutes of small talk, I complained, "Where the hell are we going? Tell us already!" Tyler took my hand and intertwined our fingers, shrugging at my pouty look.

"I don't have to!" Trent exclaimed excitedly. "Because we are already here!" He had pulled into a gravel parking lot of a small brick building. I looked at Smokey, confusion clearly written on both of our features.

We all poured out of the car and walked to the brick building that didn't have a sign. "You didn't bring us all out here to kill us, right?" Kris asked, glancing hesitantly around himself.

"Oh, be serious!" Trent exclaimed, throwing open the door. "I brought us here for paintball!" He looked excited as he strode into the room and fist-bumped a bearded guy in camouflage. We followed cautiously, with me taking Tyler's hand and intertwining our fingers.

"Paintball? Wow, Trent! We haven't been here in years!" Ethan exclaimed, glancing around the room. I looked to Tyler's face, wondering if he recognized this place too. Tyler noticed my quite obvious confusion and smiled sheepishly.

"We used to come here in junior high all the time. We liked the rush of adrenaline, and being able to shoot at each other without actually injuring that badly," Tyler answered, scratching the back of his head with his free hand. He actually looked kind of adorable, too adorable not to give a peck on the lips.

"Hurry up, guys!" Alexandra called to us, since they had moved to a different room. "We're suiting up!" Tyler laughed softly and together, we walked into the room. Suiting up was awkward. We had to wear these weird helmets and armor that sort of limited your movement. I pulled my hair into pig tails, and braided Alexandra's into pigtails as well.

"Ok, how should we split up? Boy against girls?" Smokey suggested, eyeing the group. Josie shook her head quickly.

"No way. Trent, Ethan and Tyler have done this before, so that wouldn't be fair. They'd have a huge advantage. I vote Ethan, McCartney, Kris and me on one team, then Smokey, Alex, Tyler and Trent together. That'll even the teams out more," Josie proposed.

I noticed she didn't put any couples together, and thought that would help keep from distraction during the game. So we all reluctantly agreed and headed out into the forest. I was about to run off when Kris grabbed my arm and pulled me back to the group. "What?" I asked.

"We need a plan," Ethan stated matter-of-factly, as though he was an Army General. I rolled my eyes as he held his paintball firmly, where as mine was careless strapped across my back. "I'm a strong shooter, but I've never seen you three shoot."

"Josie should climb a tree and get a good angle from there. She's a pretty even shot. As for Kris and I? We hunted with my dad for years. We know how to be stealthy and aim. So us three should split up on the ground," I said with a shrug. I guess I'm the one that sounds like the General.

"Sounds like a good plan to me!" Kris said excitedly. Ethan shrugged and nodded before turning and jogging off into the forest, his footsteps silenced by the fallen pine needles. I turned to talk to Kris, but he too had already headed off.

"I'll see you when we win," Josie said with a quirky smile before turning around and skipping off, trying to find the perfect tree for her shot. I rolled my eyes went in a completely different direction than the others. Judging by the sun, it was East. The first shot sounded off, muffled like paintball guns usually sound. It had to be close for me to hear it. So I ducked into a bush and hid, silencing my breathing. Someone heavily breathing went sprinting passed. I peeked through the bushes and saw Kris. Trent was in pursuit of him, holding his gun, ready to fire with a victorious smirk. I rolled my eyes and lifted my gun to hit Trent when my phone went off.

Trent was pretty far away, but he was still able to hear the annoying ass ringtone. It fumbled with my gun and pulled the phone from my pocket, silencing it before checking the caller ID. I knew Trent had given up on chasing Kris and was slowly approaching me. But, the call was from my dad and I had to answer it.

"Hello?" I whispered, just loud enough for my dad to hear on the other line.

"McCartney!" my Dad exclaimed, his voice thick. I took a glance at Trent, who was still a good 20 yards away. "Where are you?"

"I'm kind of in the middle of no where, Dad. The girls, guys and me are all out playing some paintball, and I have to go before they find me. Trent already heard the ringtone. This has to wait until later," I muttered, peering through the bush. Trent had quickened his pace ever so slightly and was only 10 yards now.

"No, Mick, this can't wait," Dad said, his voice cracking ever so slightly, like he had been crying for some odd reason. And I haven't seen, or heard, my dad cry since Mom died. "Something's happened. They say it was an accident. But, I just..." A stifled sob echoed through the phone, and I was speechless. I stood, facing Trent, wondering what could be so horrible that would make Dad cry.

A paintball whizzed through the air, and I winced when it struck me in the stomach, the same place that had been fractured in my street-fighting times. Trent punched the air in victory, but stopped when he saw the look of pure horror on my face.

"It's your Aunt Mackenzie and Uncle Ben, Josie's parents," I listened to my father barely whisper. "They're dead."