“AJ, move over!”
“Ahhh! Someone’s got my leg!”
“Okay, who let one?”
Ty covered her ears and tried to drown out the noise of the Boys and the rain that was pounding outside their cramped little tent. Everything had been going so perfectly, the guys were having fun, she was getting her feelings straight about Kevin, and the weather was agreeing with them. Then they had stopped for supper and as soon as that was done, the rain had started. And once again, they had refused to stay in separate tents, saying they felt safer with Ty.
So here she was for the second night in a row, surrounded by them, and she was ready to kill them all.
“Good God, Brian! Put your socks back on!” AJ screeched.
“Hey! My feet do not smell, so shut up!”
Just as Ty was about to scream something incredibly rude, Kevin took over.
“QUIET!” he yelled, making everyone jump.
“Yowza,” Ty breathed. “You’ve got quite a set of pipes on you.”
“This is ridiculous, guys. It’s pouring rain and there are six of us in this itty bitty tent. Now, three of us are going to set up the other one and sleep there, is that clear?”
Four heads nodded rapidly.
“But who has to leave?” Howie asked.
“We’ll draw straws,” Ty said.
Nick gave her a strange look. “And do you happen to have straws in your back pocket?”
“Not exactly. But I do have matches. I’ll break off the tips of three, and those three are the ones that have to leave, how’s that?”
“I guess that’s okay,” Brian said nodding.
Ty made sure that all the matches looked the same before holding them out. Gingerly, each of them took one.
“Damn!” AJ said, tossing his aside.
“Ahahaha!” Brian laughed hysterically, showing everyone his match with the tip still attached. “Buh-bye AJ!”
In the end, Kevin and Brian got to stay with Ty, and Howie, Nick and AJ were forced to leave. Of course, they grumbled all the way.
“This is much better,” Brian said, crawling into his sleeping bag. He yawned and closed his eyes.
“You can’t be tired,” Ty said. “It’s only eight!”
“Is there anything else to do besides go to bed?” Brian asked.
“Well, I guess not.”
Kevin smiled and pulled his sleeping bag up around his shoulders. Ty lay down beside him.
“We could tell ghost stories or something,” she suggested.
Brian shook his head. “No,” he said firmly. “No ghost stories. Not good.”
“Are you scared, Brian?” Ty teased, reaching over to tickle his ribs.
He laughed and squirmed in his sleeping bag. “I’ll get you back for this!” he threatened.
“Yeah, sure, not in this lifetime buddy boy.”
Kevin just smiled and shook his head. Ty was so much fun to be around. No wonder everyone liked her so much. If only he could make her see that they could be good together. He yawned.
Ty stopped tickling Brian and they decided to go to sleep.
“The earlier we go to bed, the earlier we can get up!” she told them cheerfully.
Brian groaned and threw a shoe at her.
“Ty, Ty! Wake up!” Kevin hissed in her ear as he shook her.
She cried out and swung her arms around. “What? What’s going on?” She instantly sat up and looked around at the four frightened faces staring back at her. Wait a minute, four?
Kevin, Nick, AJ, Howie...
“Where’s Brian?” she asked.
Kevin pointed to the opening of the tent.
“He’s out there,” Howie said. “With a bear.”
“With a what?!”
“There’s a bear out there,” Nick said, his blue eyes wide with fear. “Brian’s hiding from it.”
Ty kicked her sleeping bag aside and prepared to jump out and go after Brian. But AJ stopped her, pulling her back.
“It’s too dangerous!”
“But I have to!” she said.
Just then, a huge shadow made it’s way over one side of the tent. They could all hear a low growling sound coming from outside.
“Oh my God,” Ty groaned. “No way! No way can this be happening!”
The shadow stopped, looming over them. And then suddenly it lunged at them, poking the tent and knocking against the material.
Ty let out a bloodcurdling scream and bolted from the tent, running as fast as she could. She paused just long enough to look behind her, and stopped short. Her face turned fire engine red as she looked at the Backstreet Boys, nearly dying from laughter. All five of them. Brian, holding huge leaf covered branches and covered in dirt.
He was the bear.
She folded her arms and walked back to them. Nick and AJ were rolling on the ground, tears running down their faces.
“Haha, very funny. Okay, all right, you got me back,” she said, thoroughly annoyed at herself for falling for their trick. “Do you all feel better now?”
Kevin wiped his eyes and smiled at her. “We felt you deserved it for all the stuff you’ve done to us.”
“Thank you very much. I get it. Revenge.” She nodded and started laughing with them. Then she ducked inside the tent, grabbed her backpack and started walking.
The guys exchanged nervous glances and then took off after her.
“Uh, where are you going?” AJ asked.
“I’m leaving. You guys can find your own way back,” she said.
“But it was just a joke!” Nick yelled. “Like, like, the ones you played on us!”
“Haha, hilarious. Loved it,” she said sarcastically.
“Come on, Ty, you can’t be serious,” Kevin said, trying to reason with her.
“I’m dead serious.”
She continued walking and eventually they stopped following her. She disappeared into the bushes. The guys waited for her to jump out at them, tell them that she was joking. But after a full five minutes, they began to panic.
“Good God!” Brian exclaimed. “Now what do we do?!”
“Just stay calm. Maybe she left a map or something,” Kevin said.
“Yeah right. In the entire time we’ve been out here, Kev, have you ever once seen her look at a map?!” Nick yelled.
A few yards away, Ty was biting her lip to keep from laughing out loud. Did they really believe she would desert them?
Well, she thought. Serves them right. Don’t they know that you’re not supposed to piss off your lifeline? She decided to let them suffer another few minutes before revealing that she was still there.
“How hard can it be to navigate out here?” Kevin was asking. “All we have to do is follow the trail that we took-”
“Yeah right,” Howie interrupted. “There’s about a bizillion trails out here! How do we know which is the right one?”
They continued to argue. Just when it looked like a fight was about to break out, she emerged from her hiding spot.
“Guess you guys need me, huh?” she asked.
Silence.
“Guess you guys shouldn’t make me mad, huh?”
Still no response.
“Should I stay, or should I leave you out here?”
“Stay!” was the emphatic answer.
She nodded. “Okay, now. Who’s idea was it?”
Everyone glanced at everyone else. Finally, gazes settled on Brian.
“Traitors!” he declared.
Ty smiled. “In that case, Brian, it is your responsibilty to pack up everything.”
“Everything?” he asked meekly.
“Everything.”
Jaws dropped as some rather colorful words flowed from Brian’s mouth.
“You’re going to hell for sure, man,” AJ said, shaking his head.
