Chapter 11: Getting the Party Started



It was already the night of the party. Zac had said he would get here kind of early, and Joey had spent the night so she would be here for two days in a row. I was surprised that I got this pulled off. My mom said I could only have three people spend the night, so naturally I chose Joey, Tay, and Zac. My mom had a personal talk with the parents and told them that she was refereeing, and at night the girls and boys would be separated across our large house, with her in between. Reluctantly, both sets of parents agreed. Actually I think, with huge families like they have, they were kind of glad to be short one child for a night.

"Kat, where should I put this paint?" Joey asked me as she lugged in the large cans of blue, green, red, purple, yellow and black paint.

"Um, set it on the old blanket over there so when we get it out, we won't drip. When you're done there, we need to go clean up the basement real quick. All we have to do is clear space and decorate down there. There's not a lot of stuff down there," I told her.

"Okely Dokely," she smiled. That's what I loved about Joey. Not that she says "Okely Dokely," but that she's so willing to help. Whenever I'm having trouble in math, she comes to the rescue. When I don't understand how to do something on our time-bomb of a computer, she helps me or gets help from her dad to help me. Most importantly, when I need someone to talk to, she's always there. Now I wanted to be there for her.

Joey came over to me, ready to go into the basement to clean, and I led the way. Upon reaching it, she began clearing away old chairs and putting dusty and dirty toys into boxes to stack in the corners.

"Joey, I was wondering. How's the relationship with Tay?" I asked nonchalantly. The idea of asking this wasn't all my idea. Taylor had called me the day before, asking me to inquire if there was anything wrong. Since they got together, after that one day, Joey had been refusing to kiss, hug, cuddle or have Taylor touch her in any way.

Joey's face fell after I asked the question. She had avoided talking about Taylor all night and morning. "Well, to tell you the truth....it's..... um....."

"You can tell me, Jo. We're best friends, remember?" I reminded her.

"Well, it's just... I had the most wonderful feeling that day he and I got together. Lately I've been reliving those moments, but I'm....I'm afraid to let him do it again," she admitted slowly. "Why is that?" I asked quizzically.

"Well, I just- It's stupid really. I'm just afraid that none of this will work out. We had such a good friendship. I'm afraid we'll find out we don't belong together romantically, and we'll start hating each other," Joey sat down on and old chair, rubbing her hands slowly back and forth against each other.

"Jo, I don't mean to sound patronizing or anything, but you need to take a chance. You're always scared to try new things. Always the one hanging back from making decisions. Sure, you're a daredevil when it comes to riding rides, but when it comes to admitting you're caught up in a guy, you just avoid the whole thing. Taylor really likes you. I didn't ask you this on my own, you know. He's concerned you don't like him anymore. You've only been going out a week or two-"

"One week three days. I've counted," Joey interrupted.

"Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, take a chance. Tell him how you feel, and don't back down."

"Kat, what you're telling me to do is a lot easier said than done!" Joey raised her voice slightly, but then her features softened as well as her voice. "You're telling me to throw my emotions out on the table for anyone to take a butcher knife to. You're asking me to put my heart on the line, and not even look back. Do you realize how hard that is?"



I was nearly terrified out of my mind. I was on my way to Kat's party. Taylor had insisted it wasn't fair that I got to go earlier, so we both left at the same time. As we stood on her doorstep, I felt my stomach twist and turn. Taylor looked a little frazzled as well. I could understand why, though. His relationship with Joey hadn't been the greatest and he said he was considering ending it, since Joey didn't seem to be enjoying it all that much. When Kat yanked the door open, I nearly jumped out of my skin.

"Hi, guys!" she greeted. "Everyone should be here within the next fifteen minutes, so go on in. The basement is down the hall and the second door on the right. Joey's already down there. I'll be up here. I've just got to get some things."

"Alrighty then, Super Hostess! To the Basement, Super Guest Boy!" I called to Taylor as I ran to the door she instructed and flew down the stairs. I jumped up on the washing machine and saw Joey reaching up into a corner to fix some streamers. Taylor came down a minute later and looked longingly at Joey. She turned to face him, looked at him, then looked away to walk over to the refreshments to organize them. This was going to be a long night for her, I could already tell.



"There are rules to this game people!" Kat called above the crowd of teenagers as they got situated in a circle on the floor. After we had come, a considerable amount of people had joined us. Apparently Kat had about sixteen close friends, other than me, Tay, and Joey. I had successfully remembered all their names, after playing a name game where if you forgot a name you had to tell something embarrassing about yourself. There was Amanda, Martha, J.W., Chris(a girl), Drake, John, Misty, Isaac(not our Ike), Julia, Jason, Brianne, Jeremy, Whitney, Jerrie(a girl), Jesse(a guy), and Jamie(a guy). We were all talking and finally, Kat yelled to get our attention.

"EVERYONE SHUSH!!!" Kat screamed. The room finally hushed. "Okay. Sorry. Now, there are rules to Spin the Bottle, believe it or not. Here they are--these are Kat's rules, by the way. Rule number one: In the first round you have to kiss whoever the bottle faces--whether it be a girl or a guy. You may have to kiss your own gender. I'm sorry. It only has to be a kiss on the cheek, though. Round Two: The kiss has to be on the lips of whoever the bottle faces--girl or guy. Round Three: The kiss has to be full on the lips for ten seconds at least, and it doesn't have to be who it faces. The next closest person that is the opposite sex will do. Round Four: Anything goes. That's all I'll say."

"Who goes first?" I asked.

"I will," Kat volunteered. She got the ketchup bottle and placed it in the middle of the group, spun it and returned to her spot. I closed my eyes and wished it was me. When I opened them, it landed on Joey. They laughed, approached and pecked each other on the cheek. Joey then spun it. I wished it would land on Taylor. It didn't. It landed on Jason. They kissed, and it was Jason's turn to find a kisser. I prayed it would be anyone but me. When I opened my eyes, the head of the bottle pointed my direction. I got up, and we barely brushed our cheeks in a kiss, then we both wiped our mouths in disgust. It would be a long game.



After a lot of awkward moments between girls and guys, through all the rounds, Kat announced it was the last spin. It was my turn. I prayed silently it would be Kat. We had only gotten to kiss once in the second round. When I looked at the bottle again, it faced none other than Kat herself. I got up, smiling smugly and then approached her. We met in the middle, embraced and kissed. We tried to make it quick, noting that no one would want to watch us kiss for too long, but it was still great. When we finished, we got a standing ovation.

"Thanks, sweetie," Kat whispered.

"You're welcome," I whispered back.

"So, what now?" Taylor asked. Kat parted from me and stood on a crate.

"Now....we play......drum roll please!" Kat instructed. Everyone pounded on something to create a drum roll. "Seven Minutes in Heaven!" She announced. She then quickly brushed us up on the basic rules. No standing a round or just talking in the closet. The ones who make it to Seven minutes go to round two, unless no one else makes it, then the longest time wins. Kat then g ot out the two bowls with the girls and guys names in separate ones. "The first couple is....Taylor and..."



"...Joey!" Kat smiled. I knew it was wrigged. Kat had been urging me to talk to him, and this was the perfect time. I approached the closet and met up with Taylor. We went inside and the door was shut and locked from the outside.

"Joey, I-"

"No, dont' say anything. I need to tell you something," I took a deep breath and prepared to put all my cards on the table. "Taylor, I'm sorry I've been so restrained for the past week. Since we've gotten together, I've been afraid of losing our friendship. I'm already afraid none of this will work out. I'm afraid I'll lose you."

"Joey, you have to give this a chance. Don't suspect that you might lose this, unless you have a real reason. You and I are a good couple now and that's all that matters," Taylor spoke softly and touched his hand to my cheek. I turned around and put my back to him and took a deep breath. I felt his arms come around my waist as he put his face into my neck and lightly kissed me. I tilted my head, giving him more room. He then turned me around and backed me up against the wall. He kissed me tenderly at first. I felt his tongue on my closed lips and I opened them slightly. Soon, his tongue made itself familiar with my mouth. Our breath quickened and became heavier as we kissed more aggressively. He pushed himself against me harder, and let one of his hands wander from my waist to on top of my shirt and farther up the front. I gently pushed it away.

I licked my lips as we paused our kissing then whispered, "Let's not take this too far, okay?"

"Whatever you want," he whispered back. His arms went back around my waist and mine around his neck as we kissed gently, our mouths dancing together in a game of love. As his lips went down to my neck, I realized he had forever put their print on my skin...and my soul.



The night proved to be eventful. By ten-thirty, everyone who wasn't spending the night had left. Me and Zac were sitting talking in bean bag chairs. Our conversation was very lively since we were both hyper. I finally looked at Joey and Taylor. My heart immediately turned to mush. Taylor was sitting on the couch with Joey leaning back against him. They were gazing into each other's eyes and talking in hushed tones. Their hands were linked and Taylor currently twisted Joey's silver rings on her fingers. I saw Joey sigh gently and Taylor then moved to kiss her. I looked over at Zac who was also watching the romantic scene between the two people.

"That is so sweet. I wish I had that," I said out loud. Then I looked at Zac who looked puzzled.

"I thought we had that..." he cocked his head and stared at me.

"Zac, no offense, I love our relationship. It's a lot different than theirs, though. They're older than us. They're ready for more mushy stuff. What I meant to say was I wish I could stand that enough to have it. I'm too active. I'm not ready to just sit there and do nothing and stare into your eyes. I mean, we have our moments, and they're sweet, but I'd rather be running and going to water parks and playing softball than laying on a couch and talking about philosophy or something," I explained.

"I'm right with you on that one. That's what we can have. Then, when we're ready, we can have that," he motioned to Joey and Taylor. "But until then, we can be hyper and childish, but still have our sweet moments." "Zac, you are so.....you care for me a lot, don't you?" I asked softly, moving towards him. He simply smiled and nodded. I kissed him lightly, then smiled back.

"Thanks," I sighed. It was nice to be loved by a boy.



We sat on the couch that night, with Zac and Kat across the room in bean bag chairs. Joey looked up at me momentarily and we talked softly.

"Thank you for caring for me," she said.

"It's my pleasure. You're way too beautiful not to care for," I informed her. She then moved her lips toward mine and we exchanged a sweet kiss. After that, she simply laid her head on my shoulder, closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment. I lightly kissed the top of her head and then laid back. The position seemed so comforting that I never wanted to move, but it seemed that we hadn't been there for more than a minute when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I opened my eyes to see a smiling Zac by my side.

"What?" I asked.

"Hmm?" Joey moved her head with her eyes still closed.

"It's Zac, Joey. What do you want, Zac?" I asked, kind of mad that Zac had to disturb us.

"Let's go do something," Zac said.

"What?"

"Anything. We could....TP a house," Zac suggested.

"Nah. That wouldn't be fun unless it was yours," Kat came up behind Zac.

"Okay, we could....take a walk," Zac said.

"Fine. We'll take a walk," I agreed reluctantly. Joey sat up and pulled herself to her feet and then helped me up. I smoothed out my pants a little and pulled Joey's scrunched shirt back down for her. Zac and Kat led the way up the stairs. Kat stopped momentarily to tell her mother where we were going, but then rejoined us and we stepped into the cool night air. It was early June, so the night was still warm, but the breeze cooled it slightly and made it less humid. I put an arm around Joey's waist and she put one around mine as we walked. Zac and Kat ran ahead, jumping off of fire hydrants and such.

"Hey, guys! Get back here! I have an idea!" Joey suddenly yelled at the two. They came racing back to us and then stopped in front of us.

"What?" they asked simultaneously.

"Come here," Joey led us out into the deserted street. It was brand new, an the housing developers hadn't built onto it yet, so the traffic was nilch. "Okay, now everyone put your arms over each other's shoulders, in a line," she instructed. We did as we were told every time she told us to do something. "Now, everyone step up and right. Cross over the other people's left foot. Good. Now lift your left foot over the person's right foot to step up and left. Good. Just like that. Now we sing a song with it."

"What song?" Zac inquired.

"You'll see. Okay, on 3, everyone step right, okay?"

"Okay," we said united.

"1, 2,...3!" As we took the first step, Joey began singing. "Here we come Walking down the street, Get the funniest looks from, Everyone we meet, Hey, hey we're the Monkeys, people say we, monkey around, But we're too busy singing, To put anybody down...."

By the second line, we had all joined in on singing the familiar song and were walking and singing down the street. Suddenly, we all forgot the words to the next verse. We burst out laughing at our screw up. Kat, always the quick one, decided quickly on a new dance and song.

"Blah blah blah blah blah, Macarena, blah blah blah blah blah Macarana, blah blah blah blah blah Macarana, hey, Macarena!" she finished, doing the dance the whole time. We all laughed at that one, but then we decided it was late and we all needed to get home. A game of Truth and maybe Dare was definitely in order.


Chapter 12: Truth Or Dare and the Behind The Bathroom Boogie



We finally entered the house and tip-toed our way to the basement, and then each found our way to some type of chair.

"I'm bored." I said, soon as my butt hit the chair.

"Zac you just sat down, how can you be bored?" Taylor asked with a slightly amused smile.

"I dunno, I just am." I shrugged.

"We could play a game." Joey suggested.

"Like what, we've played all the really fun ones." I smiled at Kat. She just sat there looking innocent.

"Well, you seem to have forgotten the most played game by teenage America," she said, leaving us all clueless. "Okay you guys, we never played Truth or Dare."

"Ohhhhhhhh...." we all felt stupid after that one. We each made five dares and five truths and mixed them up into a hat. This wasn't ordinary Truth or Dare, you got what you picked and you were stuck with it.

"Who is gonna go first?" Taylor asked, looking around the room at us. He began eyeballing me.

"I will," I yelped quickly.

"Okay Zac, step up to the magic hat." he held out the old cap of Kat's we had found in the boxes.

"Okay......" I reached in and grabbed one. The outside was marked "dare."

"What is it?" Joey asked.

"Dare..it reads.....I dare you to sing MMMBop really bad while pretending to be a Spice Girl, backslash Backstreet Boy." I was confused, I had no idea how my competition acted.

"I wrote that one," Kat admitted. "Put these on, wear this and here is some music." she was readily prepared for this one.

"Now what do I do?" I asked.

"I'll start the c.d. playing MMMBop, you dance around like it was choreographed putting up the Girl Power sign." she explained.

"Okay..." I knew I could do this, Tay, Ike and I use to do choreographed dances, and I actually knew the Girl Power sign and of course I could sing MMMBop, even really bad. Right after she started the tape, Kat got the camera she had used at the party and began to take pictures while I did the dare for 30 seconds.

"Okay Kat, your turn." I volunteered her. She got up, rummaged around in the hat, then picked one up.

"Truth....," she read, "...How far have you ever gotten with a guy or girl?"

"Guy," she was now turning the most incredious shades of scarlet, "when I was about 12, I, well, kinda', well, I almost, I mean, uh, well um, geez...."

"You don't have to say it." I relieved her, remembering the embarassment I had endured.

"Thanks Zac, but it was a truth and I always do everything in this game." I guess I gave her the gut, cause she blurted it really fast. "When I was 12 I literally came inches from doing it." She looked away not being able to face a single one of us. My mouth dropped and I looked at her unbelievingly. I think Taylor and Jo did the same. What surprised me the most is that Jo's mouth dropped open. That means she didn't know about this. Kat had just told us one of her deepest, darkest secrets. I felt loved that she trusted us, but then remembered she said she did everything in Truth or Dare.

"Kat, I'm sorry, I didn't know...." Jo said, obviously admitting being the person who wrote that.

"I know," she sniffled, "I know, but I was hoping no one would find out." she started to cry.

"Your secret is safe with us, none of us will breath a word." Taylor consoled her. He rested his hand on her shoulder and Jo sat staring at her with an 'I'm really sorry' look. I just walked over to her, gave her a hug, and kissed on of the tears on her cheek. Then I sat infront of her Indian style and gave her a soft look, it was a look to say, I'm here if you need me, without words. I think that's just what she needed. After that one, we quit playing the game. Kat insisted that we keep playing, but we all agreed, having our own little secrets, that we should quit.



Of all the things everyone did to say they were sorry for having me share that secret, I think Zac's was my favorite. He didn't talk, or make me talk, he just hugged me, kissed my tear, and just sat back and let me do whatever I needed. That gave me enough strength to want to play more. They insisted that I not play anymore, but I wanted to play. They ended up winning.

"So what do we do now?" I asked, my eyes still puffy and red.

"Why don't you go to bed." My mom asked coming down the stairs. "It's past 2 am. You guys should have been in bed. Now I know that your parents wouldn't like this, but if you guys promise to behave, I won't seperate you." she said. We promised and then she came over and kissed me good night. She left, turning out the light, as we all got situated in our sleeping bags.

"Hey guys," Taylor whispered, "why don't we each take a couch, there are two down here and one loveseat. There is plenty of room, I mean, the floor is cold and hard."

"Okay," I agreed. I flipped the light back on and we each grabbed a couch. We decided it would be best to share the couches. I wandered over to the one that was kind of hidden under the steps. Zac took it upon himself to join me. They were both pull-out couches and we pulled them out and got to sleep right away. Zac scooted up behind me and wrapped his arm around my stomach.



I woke to my mom shaking me.

"Kat....Kat.....KAT!" she yelled.

"What?" I asked through closed eyes.

"The guys parents are here, get up and dressed." she left after that. We all got dressed, right there in front of each other. It was kinda' awkward for everyone else, but we didn't have time to run upstairs in our underwear. I had my reasons for not being awkward. We dressed quickly and I kissed Zac good-bye.

"I love you." I said as he ran up the stairs. He blew-kissed me back and disappeared with Taylor through the door. I sighed with relief. "You really like Zac don't you?" Jo asked me.

"Nope, of course not, how could you think that?"

"Well, the puppy-dog eyes, the dreamy look, the I LOVE YOU that you said as you watched him walk up the stairs..."

"I said 'I love you'?" I was surprised, normally I didn't say that unless I really meant it.

"Yeah."

"Jo, you know I don't say it unless I mean it."

"I know, that's why I added that in. You are hooked on this kid. Just don't go in over your head, stay in shallow water 'til he gets his swimming lessons." she advised. I kind of understood what she was getting at, but the way she put it threw me off a little bit.

"All right, I won't go further than Zac needs, in one way, I kind of already have though." I smiled half-way innocently.

"What do you mean." she demanded. We sat down on the floor and I told her the story of the "Behind the Bathroom Boogie."



"I can't believe you relieved the poor child." I sat staring unbelievingly at Kat.

"Well, after that, he relieved himself anyway. It's not like I haven't done anything like that before." she said, trying to stand up for herself, but getting in deeper.

"Well, you don't need to do that to poor inexperienced Zac! My gosh! He is only 12!"

"How the hell else can he get experienced? he has to do something before becoming experienced!"

"Kat, don't you remember last night and how upset you were about how fast everything went when you were twelve? Don't you remember wishing you could go back and do it all again--or rather, NOT do it all again? Zac is probably going to feel the same way when you break up, and yes you WILL break up sooner or later," I tried to pull her back to reality.

"This is different from what happened to me," Kat protested.

"How? Were you forced to do it?" I asked.

"No, but-"

"Then, Kat. It's not a shade different!" I accused. "Do you remember how devistated you were when you broke up with Rodney? You told me that he had taken you farther than anyone, of course that whole 'truth' was debunked after last nights game, but still. Once you go that far, it's supposed to be special--with someone you feel is right. You hadn't known Zac for a year when you did that to him. Taylor and I have barely gone beyond kissing at this point, and we've known each other as long as you guys have."

"Jo, stop it! I have the right to chose for myself how far I want to go! You have no right to think you know how much I want to do!" Kat got up and yelled at me.

I stood up calmly, and put my face in hers. "I know, and you have no right to think you know how much Zac wants to do."

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