Hiding a secret is hard.

Hiding a secret is extremely hard.

Scratch that, hiding a secret is the hardest thing in the world. At least, to Vincent it happens to be. As he climbs a hill that it big enough to make him slightly faint he reminds himself that he doesn't have to keep it secret. I mean, they have a right to know, don't they? Even as he thinks that, he knows that he can't tell. Why is what he can't understand.

Marie has been nothing short of awful to him since she was seven. She's been rude, hateful, and has constantly tormented him. She was the one who told his secret to the entire school. Marie had ruined his life for an entire year before they finally cooled off about him being homosexual.

"What's on your mind, Vince?" Isabel asks, her voice quiet for once.

"Nothing," he lies easily, "why?"

"Oh, come on! You can't hide a secret well, can you?"

"Not really," he admits. The he sighs, picking up his pace so she'll stop asking him questions. At the top of the hill there's a flag, one that his team and four other teams are all joining up together to protect. From the hill, he could see the other groups of five all gathering together. All in all, there's eleven hills, but only ten that are being used. He chuckles a little to himself, watching as almost everyone struggles up the hill--including himself.

Then, like the constant urge to tell everyone what he knows, Vincent starts to run to the top. He gets three fourths of the way there, then stops to catch his breath before running to the very top. There, a few trees lie, as well as several bushes. At the very center, though, lies a small orange and gray flag attached to a large stick. Next to it is a kiddy pool filled with water and twenty super soakers ready to be filled.

Marie stands by it, alongside eight other boys and girls, talking to them about strategies. Everyone else is waiting around to be told what to do or still climbing up. Vincent walks over to the others, instantly joining the conversation.

No surprise to him, Marie is talking. "I think our best strategy to winning is to leave a few people up here, the strongest and the loudest, to protect the flag. The others will be divided up into groups that will attract attention, use their water guns to spray away others from us, and those few who will go retrieve the flag during the distraction."

"What if they try to take our flag?" a short, chubby boy asks. Vincent gives him a smile.

Another girl answers for Marie, "That's why she said loudest and strongest. We'll leave them two water guns to keep them away, and they'll shout if anyone comes near."

The same boy raises his hand and speaks again. "What will they call?"

This time, Vincent beats them to the answer, eager to prove himself. "'Huzzah! We got the flag!' That way, if they call that, it'll ward off other teams and allow us to find them easily."

Marie gives him a look, but doesn't say anything. She even almost looks like she agrees with him, though he doubts that she'd ever admit it.

The others agree, and Marie cups her hands over her mouth and shouts for everyone to gather around. In the distance, Vincent can hear other people yelling at one another as well. Before Marie can finish telling them the plan and dividing the groups, the buzzer sounds.

Capture the flag has officially begun. Now, they have exactly two hours to get as many flags as possible. Anyone who loses their own flag loses instantly. Soaking others with the water guns is allowed, but hitting, tripping, and being rude will cause the person and their school to lose scholarship points. Anyone who's helpful, shows good teamwork, and scores a flag gains points. With that in mind, Vincent helps finish diving the people as quickly as possible.

"Okay!" he calls as soon as the people to be using them starts filling up the super soakers, "let's go out there and win!"

"Remember to follow the rules, everyone," Marie shouts, "otherwise we'll get in trouble! Just capture the flags and don't break formations! If you have a plan of attack or see an opening, get to me, Vincent, Alicia, Oliver, Stephen, Carl, Frank, Louisiana, Missy, or Chrissy."

Though hardly anyone knows anyone else, since Vincent and the other designated leaders are behind her he figures that they'll get the message eventually. The chubby boy--who said his name was Louisiana--stands next to Vincent, rubbing his hands together. His hair is the color of sand, along with his body, all except for his cheeks which are flushed like he's been running for miles. Louisiana turns, grins, and pats Vincent in the back. "You excited, bro?"

"I'm not your bro, but yeah." Vincent shrugs off his hand.

"Whoa, chillax! You like this with everyone? How do you expect to make any friends?" Louisiana shakes his head, then he smiles again. "Commonly, when two dudes meet they become instant friends and don't shake 'em off like stink-fish."

"Sorry," Vincent starts, but Marie cuts him off.

"Vince! We gotta go! You're on strike team, get the A's and the rest of them and follow out!" she shouts, then moves off to give orders to someone else before he can object or say anything at all.

"Talk later," he tells Louisiana.

AJ and Avery both have super soakers, but the rest of them are bare-armed. Vincent grins, "You guys ready to get some flags?"

"Heck yeah!" half shout, while the other half about, "Yes!"

"All right! Once Marie's group, the guys with the rest of the soakers, go down, we'll follow them! Shove off anyone who's too close, but only in a nice way. There's fifty of us, and only nine other flags. In this group, there's ten of us. We will win, if we all work together. Okay?" He grins as everyone shouts okay back to him, a few of the girls turning to one another and repeating it like some sort of girl-motto. Girls, he thinks, so freakin' weird.

With a long, exaggerated scream, Marie's group runs down the hill. Vincent follows, his group keeping behind him as he leads them down into the fray. The second he gets down there he's soaked by passing kids, all running to and fro shouting and yelling like monsters. Most all of them seem to have no plan of action, no strike teams of any other sort of teams. Only a few sole other groups of kids are doing as they are. So much for this being for smart kids, he thinks.

Avery grabs onto him, cupping her hands over her mouth. "This way!" He nods, motioning for the others to turn right towards the closest hill. Earlier he'd seen people climbing it, so he knows there's a chance there's a flag at the top.

They circle around it, doing their best to look like a group of crazy kids squirting each other with water when possible. The second they get a free chance, Vincent motions for Avery and AJ to go up. With a nod, they do. Neither say a word, but the others with Vincent sure do. A gothic looking chick sighs.

"Ugh! I wanted to go up there!" Every word that comes from her mouth is practically a whine that he's certain every spoiled teenager has mastered.

"If we send more than two at a time up a hill they'll spot us," he tells her. "Next time, you'll go up. I swear. Just ask Avery for the soaker." He smiles, then points to an average looking brown haired boy. "You! Help her out on the next hill, okay? Strike up, look around, find the flag if you can, if not get back down and hand off your soakers to the next to."

He nods, "Sure, dad, whatever."

Vincent rolls his eyes, then goes back to waiting for the A's to get back down. He watches as AJ runs back first, a huge grin on his face. "We got it!"

"You got it?"

"Yeah!"

"Where?"

AJ points up behind him, breathing heavily but moving around excitedly. "Avery's on her way back. There, there she is."

"Good. Come on, we gotta get Marie and Alicia! They said to bring the flags to them so the soaker guys can protect them," Vincent says. "Hey! You three, watch their backs while they deliver the flag to Marie! Rest of you, follow me, we're going in for others!"

In a flash they're gone, running off into the crowd. Avery is in the middle of them, the flag stuffed inside her shirt for protection. The soakers have made their way into the hands of gothic girl and average joe, who wait for Vincent's next command.

He nods to the remaining four with him, pointing up to the sky. "Going good! Don't get soaked too bad, but follow me!" His feet hit the ground hard as he goes, weaving his way through the crowd. With so many people crashing into one another, shouting, and spraying each other, he wonders how any of the adults are going to judge them all. It's a free for all, no one here seems to be trying that hard. Looks like they just want a good time.

He bites his lip hard as someone's leg pulls him to the dirt. The tangy liquid that he tastes in his mouth shocks him, and he jumps back up, ready to take on whoever did that. "What the hell? Who tripped me?" he asks, voice raised and eyes dilated. The gothic chick grabs his arm, giving him the same look Jackie loves to give him.

"Vince, right? Let's keep moving. Whoever did it can wait, we've got a job to do," she says, voice still whiny-sounding and stubborn.

"Yeah, yeah," he mutters. Vincent starts out again, wiping little bits of blood from his mouth as he does so. It throbs, but doesn't bleed any more. Only a trickle had came out to begin with, but he doesn't care. Stupid idiots, thinking they can do whatever. We'll show them. We'll show them are. They're like Marie--spoiled, stupid, and used to winning.

At the very thought of her name his blood boils even more. He grits his teeth, moving as fast as he can through the barrage of people. Someone squirts him again, then suddenly the other four are being squirted with water as well. They shout, the gothic girl getting them back but the average joe dropping his soaker--along with himself.

"Ambush!" he shouts, "we're done for!"

"Get up! We can get through! Just keep going, everyone! They'll run out of water soon!" He pulls up the kid, gathering up the others and pushing through the chain of people that surround him. He sends the two up another hill, jumping back and fourth until they're back down, shaking their heads.

They try to next hill, and the next, but they still can't find another flag. It's like their luck only lasted for the beginning, and still AJ, Avery, and the other three have yet to return. For all he knows they lost the flag--or worse, got hurt and had to leave the game. To make matters worse, his group starts going slower and slower, losing their will before the game is even over.

Vincent's shirt sticks to him like honey, and smells like body odor and wet cotton, but he tries his hardest to ignore it. He tries to ignore how cold the water is, how it's moist and hot outside, and how his teammates keep falling. Tries being the key word. Because after five minutes of pushing through, he snaps. Not much, but enough to show them what's up.

"Do you want to lose?" he asks, fists balled, "because that's what we're doing! Come on! Stand up, get going! We have this! You have this! Quick, up this hill, you two. The faster you move the faster we'll be finished. Go!"

The two with the soakers freeze, then nod and start running. The hill is still five feet away, but they don't stop until they're up at the top. From the bottom, Vincent breathes deeply. To the other two there, two guys who look half bored and half interested in just watching, he gives them a smile. "Sorry, not trying to yell. I just hate when people don't do anything."

"No prob," one says, popping a piece of bubblegum loudly. He grins, "We've got this in the bag, scary boss-man."

"Yeah, but so do some of the others. We need to win this."

"Win, lose, what's it really matter? We got into this, we're already getting college credit just being here."

Vincent turns away from them, not wanting to say anything more. The two are running back down now, a flag clearly displayed in the girls grasp. Behind them are a group of teenagers, shouting and growing closer and closer. He cups his hands and yells, "Faster! Come on, let's get out of here before they catch you!"

"Coming!" the guy yells, grabbing the girls hand a pulling her down the hill quickly. The second they reach the bottom the group takes off, Vincent leading them back to their base hill. If they're lucky, that's three flags in total, which should get them close to winning.

It feels like only minutes pass as they run, grinning and giving out the occasional yell of surprise as people push past. By the time they make it back up the hill, Vincent's legs are tired. Somehow or another, they'd gotten all the way to the beginning hills back to their spot near the end. They reach the top of their own hill, and hand off the flag to Marie and Louisiana, only moments before the buzzer rings.

Over the loudspeaker, Kyle tells them to make their way to the flag pole, and that the groups designated leaders are to bring each flag they have to him. No one is to take any other flags now, otherwise they'll be docked overall points. After a glance around, Louisiana takes Vincent's flag, their own, and the flag that Avery still had in her hands.

Avery jogs over to Vincent, a large bruise on her cheek. "I got pushed down by some skinny boy with hipster glasses. You wouldn't think it, but skinny punches hurt like crap. Saw you got another flag! We would've returned, but it took us forever to get back here."

"I understand."

"I can't believe it's been two hours already! We just got started, you know? Still, three flags is better than none. That means only six others possibly have flags, so only one other team could have beaten us," she tells him as they go to the front. Avery leans on his shoulders and yawns. Her breath smells like chips, but he decides it's better not to tell her that. "I'm tired, and the day's not even close to over."

"Yeah, I know. How much do they expect us to do in twelve hours?"

She sighs, then gives him a trying smile. "I'm sure this is probably going to be the last thing."

They finally get to the flag pole, almost half an hour later. It takes over ten minutes just for adults to tally all the points. If that wasn't enough, when they do speak they start off with a speech. Vincent tunes out almost all of it, just wanting to know if they won or lost. Kyle, who's been speaking, eventually ends it by telling them how proud he is.

"So, I'm happy to announce that, with an astonishing collection of four flags, plus their own, that schools Ridgefelt, Callisworth, Wentsford, Evergreen Hills, and Lush Falls are the winners! Congratulations. In second place, with three flags, including their own, schools Westfield High, Junior-Senior High, Lichen, Kingdom Hill, and Pounds Valley are the winners. Congratulations to you guys as well."

"Westfield! That's us!" Avery shouts, grabbing his arm and jumping up and down. He laughs, grinning like a maniac. "Second place! We did it!"

"Yeah, we did," Jackie tells him. Linda, Sadie, Andy, Isabel, AJ, Marie, and Victoria are gathered around as well, pumping fists and high giving each other.

"Yeah," he repeats, grinning at each of them except Marie. He avoids eye contact with her like the plague. "Yeah we did. Not too shabby."

*

Late update, but I finally did! Thanks for reading! What do you guys think about this chapter? Do you think Vincent will continue to keep the secret?