ROSEANNE PARK’S POV

Skyler had decided to join us, I felt kinda excited being with her. We waited in the lounge as the current teams were still fighting. I looked over at Skyler, we made eye contact before she turned her head, looking flustered. How did I not notice how vibrant and soft her eyes were, it’s kinda seductive in a way? Thoughts about her invaded my mind and I felt a nauseating feeling with a fuzzy warmth. Am I in love with her? Am I….gay? Now my feelings felt anxious and I started to panic, but regained my composure. Only one way to find out. I have to kiss her! I looked at her and then her lips, they looked soft and were a soft pink with peach lingering. NOPE. MAYBE NEXT TIME.

They called us in and I walked in, glad that I could get Skyler off my mind with some paintball. They went over the rules with us and gave us 20 seconds to run off and hide. Skyler was on the opposite team. Great… 20 seconds ended and the air was filled with paint splattering and the noise of footsteps and breaking plastic filled the atmosphere. I used my height to my advantage and inside of a log. It has a hole that I can see out of and see the sidelines where people who got hit stand. I noticed that everyone except for 1 person from each team was out. That leaves Skyler and I. Everyone from the other team started cheering since they could only see one person from the other team. Poor Summer. She must be so disappointed in herself since she’s so competitive… I crawled out and went into a bush, scanning my surroundings.

I felt a slight push against my back and the feel of cold metal. Skyler. I froze. I braced myself to get hit,but she was hesitating. I used this stalled time and moved from her aim, aiming at her. We both stood there, not wanting to shoot. I started to bring myself to pull the trigger, but I heard a bang and felt something hit my stomach.

I looked down at my shirt,which now had a splatter of paint. Skyler’s team cheered and ran out with her. I feel betrayed. I dropped my gun and walked out of the arena, as the next team waltzed in.

“ROSE,YOU IDIOT!! WHY DIDN’T YOU JUST SHOOT?! ALL YOU DO IS AIM AND SHOOT!!” Summer started yelling at me immediately.

“SHUT UP SUMMER, IT’S A STUPID GAME. I KNOW HOW TO PULL THE STUPID TRIGGER AND AIM. I DIDN’T SHOOT BECAUSE…” I hesitated at the last word as tears stung in my eyes.

“OH MY GOD ROSE!! I WAS THE LAST ONE FOR OUR TEAM AND THERE WERE LIKE 8 PEOPLE ON THE OTHER TEAM!! I DIDN’T SEE YOU OUT SO I THOUGHT YOU HAD MY BACK SOMEWHERE BUT NOO! YOU WERE HIDING IN A LOG!” Summer continued yelling.

“CAN YOU MAYBE TAKE MY FEELINGS INTO CONSIDERATION AND ACTUALLY CARE WHY I DIDN’T SHOOT FOR MY EMOTIONS AND THOUGHTS, INSTEAD OF THE STUPID COMPETITION. I’M SORRY I DISAPPOINTED YOU IN THIS STUPID GAME!” I yelled, running off with tears streaming down my face. I didn’t look back at all, I ran to a restroom stall and locked myself in there,crying from the stress. I heard someone else walk in and tried to make myself quieter.

“Rose? Are you in here?” I heard a familiar voice asked, quietly.

“Go away.” I said,aggressively. I don’t want anyone to see me crying..

“What happened?” Skyler asked, knocking on my stall door. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine go away!” I repeated. I didn’t hear anything after that and assumed she left until I saw a head of black hair from under the stall door. “Oh my God why are you crawling under the stall door?! What if I was using the bathroom?! You pervert!” Skyler made it all the way and was inside the stall with me now.

“Ok, you obviously weren’t and you weren’t gonna let me in anytime soon so I had to.” she explained, standing across from me.

“I just need some space, I’m overw-" I was interrupted by Skyler,pulling me into a tight hug.

“I’m sorry, was it because I shot you? I knew I should’ve just let you win..” she said into my ear. I can’t tell her I like her.

“I guess Summer’s just being an asshole. I was already stressed because I got a few insults from those sexist jerks before and I was just really stressed.” I lied.

“Ah,okay. Well..how about you and I go do something that’ll take your mind off things?” Skyler suggested.

“Like what?” I asked, curious as to what she was going to say.

She grabbed my shoulders and kissed me softly. It felt nice and warm. We only broke the kiss to take off each other’s shirts. “W-wait, we can’t..what if someone walks in on us?” I asked nervously. Skyler stood up, went out of the stall, and locked the door to the bathroom.

“Now no one’s gonna walk in on us,” she answered me, walking back into the stall.

“I-I-I’ve never..you know..done anything before..” I said, blushing heatedly.

“So? You think I’ve done it before? It’s my first time too,” Skyler said.

“I-I..I’m sorry I can’t!” I exclaimed, quickly putting my shirt back on and running out of the bathroom, leaving Skyler there. I kept running until I was outside and I ran right into Summer.

“What the hell?! Where were you?!” Summer glared at me. Then her jaw dropped and eyes widened. “Why the fuck do you look so disheveled?! Oh God, don’t tell me you just did it with some random person!”

“What? No! I-you- No!” I stammered.

“Then explain why your hair is so messy and your shirt is on backwards and inside-out when it was perfectly fine when you stormed off after the paintball fight!” she exclaimed to me.

“Some dude tried to sexuslly harass  me and I defended myself.” I said,simply.

“Who was it?! I’m gonna kill that son of a bitch!” Summer clenched her fists. I looked around the area,desperate for an excuse or just something. I noticed two familiar people walking outside.

“O-oh would you look at that?” I exclaimed. “What a coincidence, Donny and Alex are here! Let’s say hi!” I ran over to them before Summer could stop me. “Hey, guys!”

“Hey,” Donny said. Alex waved at me.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“Oh, we came with Fern and Eury. Eury and I went to go buy some poster board for their protests. Fern and Alex went to buy..weapons..” Donny said.

“I heard weapons.” Summer said, coming out of nowhere behind me. “I like that.”

“Oh, where are Eury and Fern, by the way?” Alex asked.

“Oh, they’re probably having a makeout session. Again…” Donny said, sighing, annoyed.

“They made out in the car on the way here. Of course, it was Fern’s idea.” Alex added.

“Wow, do they even know how to keep their hands off of each other?” Summer asked.

“YOU DICK, YOU FUCKING LEFT US AT THE WATER FOUNTAIN TO MAKE OUT WITH YOUR BOYFRIEND!” Fern yelled, running up with Eury following behind.

“What we thought you guys were making out,so we left!” Donny exclaimed.

“Well, I went back to the store and Donny was gone, so I assumed he went with Alex to makeout, but then I kinda got lost and ran into Fern, who was looking for Alex.” Eury explained,calmly.

Donny glared at Alex and exclaimed, “You told me they ditched you to “have some fun” and we should “have some fun of our own”!”

“Umm..so you see, the thing was..uhh..” Alex said trying to explain and failing miserably.

“Wait, so it was your idea!? You dick, you fucking left my girlfriend, she could’ve had something bad happen to her!” Fern exclaimed. Alex started running when Fern tried to throw a punch at him and missed. “Get back here!” Fern yelled at him from behind. We heard a thud and now both were fighting on the ground. It was hard to tell who was winning.

Donny walked over to the two with a are you serious? look on his face and picked Alex up, saving him from having to get into a fight in public. Fern reluctantly staggered back over, still kind of upset. “Girls are scary..” Alex said. “How can you date a girl as scary as her?”

Eury shrugged. “I guess she makes me feel safe. She was about to beat you to a pulp just because you left me. Besides, no girl can top my girlfriend."

“Yeah right! She would’ve blacked out if Alex had hit her even once!” Donny said. Alex grinned at the praise.

“Well, if he did hit her and she did black out, I’d make sure he permanently stays blacked out.” Eury said, defensive.

Donny snorted. “Yeah right. You would’ve been dead before you even leave a scratch on him.”

“I can be calm and still kill both of you." Eury mumbled.

“I’m so scared. I’d honestly like to see you try to hurt us,” Donny said sarcastically. Eury immediately kicked him in his private area, causing him to bend over in pain. Alex jumped off of Donny’s back and tackled Eury by picking her, then slamming her on the ground and she fell unconscious.

“Oh God, babe are you okay?!” Alex exclaimed rubbing the older boy’s back. He nodded with a grimace and he obviously wasn’t okay. Fern swung her fist around to punch Alex but he just managed to dodge it.

“I’m getting tired of their bullshit,” Summer mumbled. She walked right into the fight and shoved Alex out of the way. Alex fell backwards onto his back.

“Hey what was that for!?” He exclaimed. “Fern and Eury started it!”

“I don’t care who started it, I’m ending it! All four of you are acting like little toddlers and I’m getting sick and tired of your bullshit! Now you’re all gonna apologize to each other in a civil manner and you’re gonna go back to being friends before I beat all of your asses.”

“I’m not apologizing to them,” Alex said.

“Oh my God, grow up!” I exclaimed. “You literally knocked someone unconscious.”

He shrugged, “I wasn’t trying to do that. I just wanted to get her away from my boyfriend. It seriously hurts to get hit down there.”

“So you tried to get her away by picking her up and slamming her into concrete, when you literally could’ve, oh I don’t know, pushed her?” I said.

Alex nodded, looking unashamed.

“Next time, I’ll make sure someone doesn’t apologize after slamming you into concrete.” Fern said.

“I dare you to do that!” Alex exclaimed. Fern took one step towards him before Summer intervened, getting between them and shoving both of them.

“This is what I’m talking about! You’re all fighting and getting sensitive like little bitches and you need to stop! Are you guys even friends anymore?!” she exclaimed angrily.

“I refuse to associate with someone like him.” Fern snapped. “I’ll call my mom to pick us up, you and Donny can go by yourselves.”

“You say that like we have to rely on you to get home.” Alex said.

“Oh God, you stupid fucking little..” Summer mumbled. “Is anyone even on my side?” Fern ignored them both and walked to Eury, she was on the phone with her mom already.

“What the hell happened to you four?! No one, not even you thick-headed people, would fight over such a stupid thing as ditching each other!” Summer exclaimed.

“Um, so that might kind of be our fault..” Donny said, sitting on the ground.

“Of course it is. Why wouldn’t it be?” I mumbled. “Typical guys.”

“So what happened was, we were in the car, right?” He started. Summer and I nodded. “So, we were talking about plans for the protest and Alex said that the girls shouldn’t have any trouble because it’s easier to be lesbian than gay.”

“Seriously? Even if it is, you don’t say that in a car that has two lesbians in it!” Summer said.

“Well, it is. I can promise you that a lot of guys think lesbians are hot especially if they makeout but when it comes to gay guys, they’re disgusting and unnatural and should never have been born.” Alex explained.

“Then you’ve been living in a rock. A lot of girls say that the gay guys are hot and super talented and sassy and other stuff.” I interjected.

“Yeah, and then those same girls want us to tell them all about what we wanna do with other guys.” Donny said.

“Oh my god, you guys are being so insensitive. I’m sorry that you feel like everything bad is happening to gays, but we all used to be friends and now it’s kinda up to you four to see if it’s gonna stay that way!” Summer said. Fern wasn’t even listening and had actually already left with Eury. “Oh my God, that fucking little..she wasn’t even listening to me! I am so done with you all! I don’t really have that much faith in Alex and Fern them being the sensitive little people they are, but hopefully you and Eury can talk some sense into them.” Summer said to Donny,who nodded hesitantly.

“Good, now let’s all go home.” I said. “I’m tired.”

“Tired from hiding in a log..” Summer said quietly but everyone still heard her. I glared at her.

“Don’t. Go. There.” I said, visibly irritated.

“Guess what? I just did.” Summer responded glaring right back at me. I stopped glaring at her.

“Y’know, you’re right. I shouldn’t have hid in a log, I guess I’m just sooo stupid for not winning a game and letting you have the satisfaction of winning, because I need to put your needs before mine.” I said.

“What needs do you even have during a game besides winning?! You even said something before about me considering your emotions! Why would you be getting emotional during a game?! Can you just be honest with me and not give me these bullshit excuses?!” Summer exclaimed, obviously still angry.

“Fine, you want to know the truth!? I like Skyler and I was busy thinking about whether or not I’m gay. There, you asshole!” I exclaimed, tears flowing down my cheeks again.

“Wait..oh God don’t tell me you had ... with her somewhere after you ran away from me? Is that why you looked so disheveled?” Summer asked, in a much calmer tone, but still angry.

“Well, It wasn’t necessarily that but it almost was.. then I ran out.” I said.

“You..you ran out?!” Summer exclaimed immediately and she took a couple of deep breaths to keep from screaming.

“Can we please just go home and talk about this?” I asked.

“Fine…” Summer said,annoyed.

End of Chapter 8, Roseanne Park’s POV