Operation Bang

"I can't believe it! It's almost one in the morning and my house is still packed!" April's mouth was agape as she stared out to window looking over her own backyard.

"You're sister is a popular girl," Ashleigh shrugged her shoulders as she filled out an application on her computer. "Aren't you a little worried that Ana isn't here yet? She hasn't replied to any of our calls or texts." She checked her cell phone preserving buttons for no reason.

"God, I just can't stand my sister some times," April rolled her eyes and sat on the bed next to Ashleigh. "Just because she has the hot boyfriend, and the fun friends, and the great parties doesn't mean that it makes me the pathetic one! I can have fun!"

Ashleigh did not even look up from her computer. She tucked her glasses up and continued typing on her computer. "Oh, you can have fun, April? I'd like to see that."

"What do you mean by that?" April wasn't exactly sure if she should have been insulted by that or not.

Ashleigh stopped what she was doing. "April, you're the most paranoid person I've ever met. You can't even have the slightest bit of fun without freaking out over nothing. So, yeah, I'd like to see you have fun."

"I can totally be fun. Just wait, this summer things will change," April stood up tall and proud of herself.

"Then you need to learn to loosen up a little. Have Ana teach you. She's the actress," Ashleigh went back to what she was doing.

April was quiet and actually quite a bit offended. She sunk into the corner on the window seat. She knew her friends often doubted her with some of the things she said but she wished they would take her more seriously. April sighed and then got up walking over to Ashleigh's iHome on her dark wooden dresser. She turned on We Are Young by Fun and began singing along. She turned around to Ashleigh and she seemed to not be paying any attention towards her. April turned up the volume and danced around the bed laughing and jumping up and down singing to the song.

Ashleigh looked up, took off her glasses and tried yelling at April but the music overlapped her voice. So Ashleigh jumped off the bed and shut off the music leaving the room quiet. But April knew Ashleigh was angry.

"Are you freaking kidding me right now?! April it's one in the morning and I've been working on this application since nine! I'd like to finish it, okay? Without any interruption!" Ashleigh shouted. She stood there letting it sink in for a moment before going back to her bed. She put her glasses back on and set her laptop back on her lap. She just typed and didn't look at April.

"So what am I supposed to do until Ana comes?" April asked.

"I don't know, April," she sighed. "Go eat something in the kitchen or go party at your house. You know, since you're the fun one now," she shook her head chuckling to herself.

April rolled her eyes and walked out of the room leaving Ashleigh in peace. April continued her way down the hall peaking into the rooms that were open. She came across her brother's room, Daniel, whose door was wide open but he wasn't in there. She noticed the room was dark except for the light of the large Mac computer screen that was left on still. It looked like he was playing a video game but it was on pause. She checked the bed to see if he was sleeping but he wasn't. Maybe he decided to go to the party next door, but that wasn't like Daniel.

Daniel was Ashleigh's twin brother. He was just as smart as Ashleigh was but he was never acknowledged for it. Their parents had always favored Ashleigh because she was the girl. April never talked to Daniel, but she knew a lot about him from what Ashleigh told her. He worked at Barnes and Noble and occasionally, when the weather was nice, he enjoyed surfing.

April made it down stairs and went into the dark kitchen. She figured she would have some of the graduation cake left over from a few days before. She opened up the refrigerator only to find that the cake wasn't there. She could have sworn that it was there the day before.

"Looking for this?"

April jumped and turned around closing the refrigerator door. Daniel was sitting at the kitchen table with the chocolate cake right in front of him and a fork in his hand.

"You scared me!" April whispered loudly.

"I'm sorry," he chuckled to himself and took a bite of cake.

April breathed deep, relieved it wasn't a murderer or anything. Maybe that's what Ashleigh meant about April being so paranoid. She looked at Daniel who was in blue pajama pants and a white t-shirt. His hair was shaggy and he seemed a little tired. She suddenly found herself worrying about how she looked. She quickly glanced down and she was wearing her blue UCSB t-shirt and yoga pants.

"You can come sit down if you'd like. Grab a fork," he waved his hand towards the seat right next to him.

April felt herself get a knot in her stomach. She was nervous now. She didn't normally talk to boys. She pulled open the drawer next to her and picked a fork. She walked over and slowly moved her way into the seat next to him. They both took a bite at the same time. April sneaked a look at him and he looked over at her with a half smile while he still chewed.

"Milk?" He asked handing her his glass of milk. She grabbed it and took a sip from the glass. "So," Daniel said, breaking the awkward silence. "Did Ashleigh kick you out of her room?"

"You heard that?" She sunk lower in her chair embarrassed.

"I hear all of Ashleigh's mental breakdowns," he laughed.

"I'm sorry," April giggled along with him. "So what are you doing down here at one in the morning?"

"After playing video games and fighting zombies for a long time I get a little hungry. What about you? There's a party at your house but yet you aren't there?" He raised his eyebrow suspiciously.

"That party has now turned into my sister's instead of ours. I'm not fun," she shrugged putting air quotes around the word.

"Don't listen to what other people think. Because if one person thinks one thing about you, chances are that someone thinks otherwise," he reassured.

April thought about it for a moment smiling to herself. "That's really smart."

"I try," he shrugged jokingly. The two of them laughed together. For the both of them, everything in that moment felt right. It was a different feeling, but it just felt like it was meant to be that way. They both turned their heads towards one another and made eye contact. They smiled at each other nervously and looked back down. "Well I should go back to my game. There are zombies that I got to kill," he mimicked himself holding a gun pretending to shoot it, then he blew the tip of his index finger.

April adjusted herself in the seat and giggled at him. "You have fun with that," she smiled. "Oh, and congratulations, by the way. We did it." She threw her fist up in mid-air excitedly, then realized how stupid she felt doing it so she put it down awkwardly.

Daniel noticed the awkwardness, but he didn't mind. He liked it. "You, too, April," he grinned.

Butterflies fluttered all around in April's stomach when he said her name.

"Oh, and I just wanted to say," he cleared his throat and then made eye contact. "If you ask me, I think you're pretty fun."

She felt her cheeks beginning to feel really hot and she tried to hide her blushing. "Thank you, Daniel."

He nodded his head with a smile and left the room to go upstairs. April bit her bottom lip, taking a deep breath. She kept the image of his perfect bright smile in her mind even after he was gone. That was her first interaction with Daniel since the beginning of 10th grade English class and already April is finding herself crushing on him. But that couldn't be allowed, would it? Was it right for her to like her best friend's twin brother?

April's thoughts were interrupted by an opening of the back door. Ana came storming in, taking the seat next to April where Daniel just was. She took April's fork out of her hand and began devouring the chocolate cake.

"Are you okay, Ana?" April asked, placing her hand on her back.

"Yes! Everything's fine! Why wouldn't it be great? It's great!" She spoke with her mouth still filled with cake.

"Okay," April took the fork away. "Slow down. Tell me what happened."

"Stupid Ryan! He wants an open relationship," she began laughing. "What kind of bullshit is that?"

"An open relationship? That's really stupid. You deserve better than that, Ana," April rubbed the Ana's back for comfort. "I'm so sorry."

"No," Ana shook her head rolling her eyes. "I'm not gonna take that sympathy crap. I'm not even upset."

"But why not?" April questioned. She may not have been experienced as much as Ana was but she knew what it was like when a boy denied her and it had to be somewhat of the same feeling Ana was going through at this moment.

"Because Ryan is an ass. He wanted to gain experience with other girls so that our first time he would know what he was doing. Isn't that just a load of bull?" She dug her fork into the cake and shoved the huge bite into her mouth, then spoke, "I mean, why would he do that?"

April disregarded the fact that her mouth was full of chocolate cake. "I don't know, Ana. He's a confusing guy. But he's going off to college and as far as I'm concerned, you won't have to ever see him again! Now you're free to have fun this summer and not have anything holding you back."

She nodded her head in agreement. Ana was ready to have fun this summer. "You're right. This is the last summer to have fun. So why not make it last?" Ana was thinking to herself and suddenly a lightbulb appeared right above her head. "Oh my god, I have an idea."

"What?" April furrowed her eyebrows confused. Ana grabbed her hand and the two of them ran upstairs to Ashleigh's room. April couldn't help but noticed Daniel in his room when they passed but he didn't turn around because he had headphones on his ears blocking the sound. She continued to follow Ana and focus on what she was saying.

The two girls entered Ashleigh's room and hopped on her bed. Ashleigh was still going through her application not wanting to pay attention to them. Ana rolled her eyes and put her fingers in front of her face snapping them. Ashleigh groaned pulling her glasses off her face. "What is it?"

"I have an idea," Ana grinned.

"Okay," Ashleigh gave April a confused look but she just shrugged unknowingly. "Go ahead."

"This is our last summer that we are going to spend here together before we all go off to college. We're running out of time!" Ana slammed her hands on the mattress for her own effect.

"Excuse me, but what do you mean running out of time?" Ashleigh took her glasses off.

"To experience. Okay, look, college is crazy and there are crazy parties that we are going to go to and we won't know what to expect." Ana shrugged shoulders.

April and Ashleigh shared glances against still unsure of the point Ana was trying to get to. "I'm sorry, Ana. I'm still not understanding any of this. Get to the main point," Ashleigh said.

"Okay then," Ana took a deep breath. "What if the three of us made a deal? None of us are experienced in that way and I don't know about you guys but I don't want to go to college a virgin."

"Wait a minute, so you basically want us to make a pact to lose our virginities before the end of summer?" Ashleigh asked and Ana nodded her head. "I don't know, Ana."

"Oh, come on! Why not?"

"I am applying for a full time job right now for the whole summer! I'm not going to have enough time to get it on with anybody," she put air quotes around the words.

"Sure you will! Maybe you'll have a hot coworker," Ana winked.

"Oh gosh. April, what do you think?" She sighed, not really into the idea. The two girls both eyed April at the same time making her feel a little uncomfortable.

"Um," April muttered. She suddenly found herself wondering if Daniel could hear their conversation. "I don't know. Personally, I don't think I'll be able to get a guy to sleep with me by the end of the summer."

"That's the thing though! Neither of us believe that we can! So we have to step out of our comfort zones to make it happen. So in a way it'll be a good thing for us to get ourselves out there. Don't you get what I'm saying?" Ana threw her arms up waiting for some kind of response from her friends.

"Well when you put it that way," April shrugged her shoulders. "It's sounds like it may be a good thing for us." She hesitated before she spoke again, "I'm in."

The two girls high fived then landed their eyes on Ashleigh. "So Ash? What do you think?"

Ashleigh was hesitant. It wasn't like her to step out and be something she wasn't used to. But maybe it would give her a chance to do something she wasn't used to. Besides, Ashleigh really wanted to have some fun before she had to face the stresses of college. "Okay! Okay! I'm in."

"Ahh!" Ana grabbed her best friends pulling them in for a group hug. "Ladies! Let Operation Bang begin!"