Chapter 7
It seemed like an eternity that the group had been submerged under the water holding their breath, when in all actuality, it had only been about a minute. In this short time their pursuers had made it out of the thick foliage and were now standing fairly close to the water's edge. If they had moved much closer they would have been able to see the eight bodies just underneath the surface. The crystalline water was so clean and clear it was easily seen through. Before they were given the chance to get any closer someone burst through the surface of the water. Cari’s lungs had begun to scream for oxygen and she knew that she would not last much longer if she did not get some air. She looked around and quickly realized her mistake when she saw the three men standing nearby. She thought that maybe she could duck back down before they saw her but it was too late. They were now looking straight at her. Cari was so stunned that she could not move and didn't know where to go even if she could.
It was as if the men could read her mind when they finally spoke. “Don’t even think about moving little girl!” Anthony screamed at her. It was loud enough for everyone underwater to hear. Seven minds began to race, but JC quickly decided to surface. He had to make sure that his girlfriend was safe. One after another heads popped out of the water until all eight of them had surfaced. Everyone was silent as they all stared at the men standing on the shore. All of them stood still waiting for someone to make the first move. Finally when it appeared that no one was going to speak up one of the men on the shore decided to do so.
“You have no where to hide. If you’d all just cooperate this would be a lot easier.”
“What is your problem! Why are you doing this to us?” JC yelled out. The men ignored his question and continued to stare at the group in the water.
"Do you really think that we are going to just give up so easily and just hand ourselves over to you?" Justin asked. Their captors just gave the eight a sly grin and proceeded like they never heard Justin's comment.
Steven, Anthony and Brian looked around for the quickest way to reach their prey. Because of Brian’s ankle being wrapped up they decided they’d have to reach them by land. To do so they had to walk around the shore, which they discovered was not going to be an easy task. They first had to walk up the hill that led to the area that Lance and the guys had been jumping off earlier. It was a pretty steep hill and it was thick with foliage. The pursuers had no idea what awaited them on the other side of the hill, but they decided this was the best path and they needed to act fast.
The group in the water watched the men as they turned around and walked back into the bushes where they had come from.
“Where are they going? They’re not going to just leave are they?” Cari asked in astonishment.
“I think they are trying to find a way around the water,” Lance replied as they continued to try and see where the men had gone off to.
“Well I’m not going to sit here and wait to find out what they’re up to,” Justin replied as he turned to look at his friends. “We need to go get our stuff and we need to get some distance between us and them.” The group looked toward the opposite shore and saw their shoes and JC’s backpack hidden underneath a bush.
“Why don’t half of us go get the stuff and half of us move on?” Joey said. He was already starting to swim back to the opposite shore.
“I’ll go with you Joey,” Keeley exclaimed as she began to follow him.
“Me too,” Justin said as he followed suit across the water.
“I’ll go too guys,” Chris said as he quickly caught up with the rest.
Keeley turned around to look back at the four on the opposite side. “We’ll catch up with you guys soon. Don’t stop for anything.”
“But what about you guys?” Monica asked. She looked at her friends with fear in her eyes. She didn’t want the group to be separated, but she knew they needed to get their stuff and they didn’t want it to get wet. “You guys be really careful.” She gave a small wave and turned to step onto the sandy shore.
“Don’t worry about us, we’ll be fine. Just be careful. You guys don’t have shoes so watch where you walk,” Keeley replied. They were already to the opposite side and were gathering up their belongings. They put their shoes on and started off up the same hill their pursuers had just headed off towards.
“Guys, wait up, my ankle is killing me,” Brian exclaimed as he stopped to lean against a nearby tree.
“Damn it man, we’ve got to hurry up! They’re getting away!” Anthony growled at him, as they once again had to stop because of Brian.
“He’s just dead weight man, let’s leave him behind,” Steven said. He looked at Anthony waiting for a reaction. Brian looked up at him with disbelief.
“You guys can’t just leave me here!” Brian’s voice began to rise as he was hit with the realization that they might actually leave him there alone. He hobbled over to Anthony and stood in front of him as he grabbed his shoulders and tried to look him in the eye. “Anthony man, be reasonable!”
“Steven I think you’re right. And I am being reasonable, you’re just slowing us down and if we ever want to catch up with them we’ve gotta leave you here.” Anthony said as he avoided Brian’s eyes. He pushed Brian’s hands away with a shove. Brian stumbled back and fell onto the island floor.
Anthony looked over at Steven and motioned for him to follow. “Come on we’ve gotta try and catch up to them. The two started off again up the hill in front of them. As they walked away they could hear Brian’s shouts fading away.
“Who would’ve ever thought that sand could hurt your feet?” Monica said to no one in particular. They had been walking barefoot for at least an hour. The ground was feeling harder and rougher with each step they took and she was yearning to stop and take a rest.
“I know what you mean, I will never look at a sandy beach the same way again,” Cari said as she stopped and raised her sore foot to rub it.
“Man JC I wish we had your backpack, I’m thirsty!” Lance said as he wiped the beads of sweat off his forehead. He leaned over and placed his hands on his thighs. He was starting to feel the effects of their surroundings as well. He was hot, tired and his feet were starting to burn. He sat down on a nearby rock and lifted his foot and placed it on his knee. He examined the bottom of it and discovered several little cuts. He touched them carefully and winced when pain shot through his foot. “I hope they catch up with us soon. I don’t know how much more of this my feet can take!”
“Why don’t we just stop for a sec and take a rest,” JC replied as he too sat down to examine his sore feet. As he stared down at the ground thoughts were racing through his mind. He thought about his friends that they had left behind. He thought about his home and his nice warm bed waiting for him. He thought about his family and whether or not they knew what had happened, and he thought about whether or not they were going to make it out of there alive. He didn’t understand why any of this was happening to them. He looked around at his friends and sighed. He was just as tired as the rest of them, but he didn’t want to make the atmosphere any gloomier so he kept his thoughts to himself. Besides, he knew that wasting time on negative thoughts wouldn’t help them get out of there any faster. He wished the others would catch up with them soon. Things didn’t feel right with them gone; he was worried about them.
Keeley, Justin, Joey and Chris were making pretty good time as they headed over the hill. They had shoes on so they were not slowed down as much as the other group, but they had the task of keeping up with 4 pairs of shoes, some clothes, and JC’s backpack all the while trying to dodge the thick foliage that they had come upon.
“I hope that the rest of the group is doing ok,” Chris said as he dodged a limb that almost hit him in the face when Joey accidentally let go of it.
“Wonder how far ahead of us they are,” Keeley thought out loud as she concentrated on the path in front of her.
“I don’t know, but I bet they are probably running like heck where ever they are.”
“I don’t know Joe, you have to remember we have their shoes,” Justin said as he dangled Lance’s Doc Martin sandals in front of Joey’s face. “I bet the ground is hot as hell, and I don’t even want to think about all the rocks they are stepping on,” he continued as he looked down to examine the ground. It was rather rocky where they were, he hoped the ground where the rest of the group was looked nothing like this.
“Hell I don’t even know where they are,” he thought to himself. The whole situation was getting to him. He and the guys had just wanted to spend one week away from the hectic world that had taken a hold of their lives and would not let go. The girls needed the break also. School was getting to them, but most of all they had to go through everything that the guys went through and then some. No, they were not the ones that were physically out on stage, but they had to put up with the guys when they were tired and sore from practice. They had to deal with the fans throwing themselves at their boyfriends and they were powerless to stop them. They were the ones that had to put up with the fans harsh behavior toward the guys for even having girlfriends in the first place, and the even harsher behavior directed towards them. The eight of them were supposed to be relaxing and working on their tans. Instead three mad men were after them and now that they were split up, it was going to be even harder to protect each other. Justin was so busy thinking to himself that he was not watching were he was going and slammed into someone for the second time that day…third if you count Cari.
“Yo! What is up wit you people stopping and,” Justin started, but soon a hand flew up to his mouth and tightly fastened itself there. Justin continued to talk as he tried to pull the hand away, but the hand that was connected to Joey’s arm would not budge. Finally he shut up when he realized that everyone had just stopped and were staring. He wondered what they were looking at and followed Joey’s line of sight. Sitting nearby on a small patch of dirt was Brian. They could tell his ankle was wrapped up. Joey finally unclasped his hand from Justin’s mouth and the four began to look around for signs of the other two men. There were no where to be seen. None of them knew what to do and so they just stood there being extremely quiet as they watched Brian.
The blonde man began to play in the dirt nearby. He had a stick and was tracing patterns in the sand. He looked so lonely. The foursome figured that Steven and Anthony had left him behind because of his ankle. He must have been slowing them up too much.
“Aw man he is hurt,” Keeley whispered, her caring, mothering side coming out. Chalk it up to natural women’s instinct. The three guys turned and looked at her, the expressions on their faces made it clear that they couldn’t care less. “You guys maybe we should help him some. I mean he has to be in pain!” Justin put his hand up to Keeley’s forehead as if checking for a fever.
“Baby have you COMPLETELY lost your mind?!? That is one of the guys that have been stalking us!” Justin was to the point of almost getting above a whisper but he tried to contain himself. He knew that if he got much louder Brian would hear them for sure.
"Keel, you have got to be kidding me!" Chris said with an astonished look on his face and a confused tone in his voice. "Please tell me that you had a temporary lapse of sanity there for a second."
"Go ahead and say something Joey. I know you want to," Keeley said to him as he stared at her with a dazed expression.
"I…I don't even know WHAT to say," Joey answered. "Except to ask if you ever thought of the fact that if Brian sees us he will scream. And if Brian screams and Anthony and Steven are nearby they are going to come after us!"
While the group was arguing over whether to help Brian or not, Brian sat in the sand and continued to draw. The noises they were making hadn’t caught his attention yet. He began to sing in a childlike voice.
Nobody likes me
Everybody hates me
Think I'll go eat worms
(What kinda worms)
Big, fat juicy ones
Little tiny skinny ones
See how they wiggle and squirm
First you bite the head off
Then you suck the juice out
Then you throw the skin away
(Unless of course you like it)
Nobody knows how I eat worms
Three times a day!
The group of four stood in awe as they listened to him sing. They turned and looked at each other and they all began to giggle. Hands went up everywhere. They were all covering each other’s mouths. They knew they needed to get as far away from there as possible before one of the burst out laughing. They left the singing Brian behind and continued their search for their friends.
Keeley thought about how long they had been walking. In her mind she began trying to calculate how much farther ahead their friends could be.
‘Well they were probably about 45 minutes ahead of us because of our little detour. But we have shoes, and they don’t so that means we are probably going a lot faster than they are. We should catch up with them pretty soon.’ Just as she was finishing her thought she looked into the distance when movement caught her eye. She stopped dead in her tracks as the realization of what she was seeing hit her. She reached in front of her and grabbed Joey and Justin’s shirts. They turned to her to see why they had been stopped so suddenly. She placed a finger over her lips and with her other hand she pointed off into the distance. Fear flowed rapidly through them all as they realized what was going on.
About 20 yards ahead of them they saw Anthony and Steven along with the rest of their friends. As they crept through the foliage they were able to get a better look at what was going on. Anthony had hold of Monica’s foot, and even with the distance between them they could see the sheer terror in her eyes. The fear that had raced through them moments before was turned into anger as they saw the scene unfold in front of them. ‘Who the hell do these guys think they are? I’m sick of running. They are NOT going to mess with my friends anymore,’ Justin thought to himself as his eyes began to narrow.
Anthony and Steven had just walked through some dense bushes when they heard the sound of people talking. They stepped through the greenery and were faced with the site of four of the eight they were after climbing a steep hill. “Shh.” Steven turned to Anthony and moved close to his ear so he could whisper.
“How perfect is this, we get these four and we can use them as bait to lure the other ones! This is going to be a lot easier than I thought!”
They made their way closer to the unaware group as quietly as they could. When they stood below the foursome Anthony and Steven sprinted up the hill and caught up to the group with-in seconds. Anthony reached out in front of him and grabbed the leg of the girl closest to him. She let out a scream as she fell back.
“You really thought you could get away didn’t you?” Steven asked the group with a cocky grin on his lips. He moved in closer to the two couples in front of him. He crossed his arms as he looked from one scared face to another. “It’s really too bad your fans can see this side of you! You all look like you’re about ready to wet your pants!”
Monica was getting tired as she started to lag behind the rest as they climbed the steep terrain ahead of them. She was past the point of trying. They’d been walking for what felt like hours without food or water, and with barely any rest. She knew that she wasn’t the only one who felt that way. The looks on the rest of their faces told the entire story. She also knew that even though she was tired, and things seemed helpless, they had to push on. She figured the other group should be catching up with them any minute, and then they would have their shoes back. ‘Shoes’ she thought, ‘What a lovely invention, and there are all kinds of shoes too!’ She thought about all the shoes she’d collected, that sat lined neatly in her closet at home. She thought about her red sling-backs, and her black knee high boots. He mind drifted to her Adidas that had been her comfy running companions for months and her mind fell to her pink bunny slippers she’d had for years, they were so comfy and cozy. What she wouldn’t give for her bunny slippers right then! She could almost feel the little clouds of heaven better known as her “pillow shoes”, on her feet. A small smile crept to her lips.
Her thoughts were broken when she felt a hand clamp tightly around her ankle. She let out a scream as she turned to see who had grabbed her. She came almost face to face with one of her pursuers. She felt as if she would pass out right then and there with fear.
Lance, JC and Cari turned around quickly when they heard Monica’s cry. Lance’s face ran white as he realized what happened. They’d been caught. He had no idea how they were going to get out of this one. Even though they out numbered their captors two to one, he didn’t want to make any wrong moves and put his girlfriend’s life in any more danger. He raised his hands as if to say we surrender.
As one of the men started barking out orders the group complied. They all moved closer together, as if it would help reassure themselves or make them feel stronger. It wasn’t working. The fear was evident on their faces as they helplessly followed their instructions.
Justin and his group crept up on the hijackers. Their backs were turned away from them so they hadn’t been spotted yet. They hid behind a bush near the attackers. He put his arms around his friends near him and pulled their heads in so that they could discuss a plan.
“Look guys, somehow we’ve got to get those guys away from the rest of the group,” Justin said as he looked around trying to think of a plan.
“Well if Keeley had her hair dryer she could just blow them away…” Chris started but Justin turned and gave him such an evil look that he decided he had better be quiet. After Chris had shut up, Justin went back to thinking up a plan. He continued to look around. His eyes soon landed on the 4 extra pairs of shoes the group was holding.
“We could have used the shoe laces to tie the guys up if everyone here wasn’t wearing sandals!” he thought to himself. Then his eyes fell upon a nearby coconut tree. There were several coconuts on the ground that had fallen, and several more that were in his reach.
“That’s it!” Justin exclaimed but quietly enough only for his 3 close friends to hear.
“What’s it J?” Joey asked trying to figure out if Justin had suddenly lost his mind also. He was still reeling that Keeley had even mentioned helping Brian.
“You see those over there?” Justin asked. The group nodded. “We need to go and stockpile on those coconuts.”
“J, look I know you are hungry but now is not the time to think about food!” Chris berated him.
“Chris…shut up before I hurt you. Now as I was trying to say. We need to get some coconuts. We can use those to hurl at those guys.”
“J, we are trying to help our friends…not make our stalkers a fruit salad.”
“Chris I swear if you don’t shut up I am going to hurt you. Now I am being serious. We take the coconuts and these extra shoes and rocks and anything else we can find and just start hurling it at those guys.”
“Oh I get what you are saying,” Keeley nodded. “If we throw things at them maybe it will distract them long enough for the rest of the group to get away.”
“Exactly! Finally someone that understands!” Justin leaned over and kissed Keeley on the forehead.
“But what about us? When the other four get away those guys are going to come after us!” Joey spoke up.
“That is just a chance we will have to take. Hopefully they will be so confused that we can run and escape with the rest of them.” When he got done talking he led the group over to the coconuts and they began to gather some up. Then the foursome quickly and quietly made their way closer to where their friends were being held hostage. The group was still huddled in a small mass and Anthony still had a hold on Monica’s foot. Joey looked up at Lance and saw the pained expression on his face. He was sitting near his sobbing, scared girlfriend and was powerless to help her. He felt sorry for the group but they were about to try and solve the problem.
“Please let go of me,” Monica begged the man that still had a death grip on her. “I promise we won’t try and run. I swear,” she continued sobbing. Anthony looked at Steve and began to chuckle. He looked back at Monica before speaking.
“I may have been born at night, but it wasn’t last night. Just as soon as I let you go, your boyfriend there is going to try and grab you and the four of you will try to make a run for it. They aren’t going to leave you here.” Suddenly there was the noise of leaves rustling coming from behind them.
Anthony and Steven didn’t even know what hit them as coconuts began careening through the air, aiming straight for their heads. Cries of surprise and pain escaped from their lips as they raised their arms above their heads to try and protect themselves from the attack.
As soon as Anthony raised his arms to shield himself Monica scrambled over to Lance. He grabbed her hand and practically dragged her farther up the hill to get away from their attackers, as well as to get out of the line of fire. When they reached the top of the hill the four turned around to see what exactly was going on. It was quite a sight indeed. Justin, Keeley, Chris and Joey were throwing coconuts and what appeared to be shoes at their attackers. Lance chuckled, “Man, they’ve got pretty good aim.” Most all of the things they were throwing were hitting their targets dead on.
Anthony and Steven retreated into the foliage to try and get away. They had no idea what was going on, but the constant pounding they were receiving from the sailing coconuts and shoes was more than they could take. Just as soon as Anthony and Steve had moved that left Cari unblocked. The attack of coconuts and shoes hadn’t let up yet. She was soon hit in the stomach with a shoe that Keeley had aimed at Anthony’s head. It would have hit it’s mark except for the fact that Anthony was now gone. Cari gasped as the wind was knocked out of her.
“You know what I said about their aim?” Lance asked. “Nevermind.” He laughed as he watched Cari try to catch her breath.
“Bastards, you better run,” Keeley muttered as she continued throwing everything she could get her hands on.
When they could no longer see Anthony and Steven they hurried over to their friends on the hill. On their way they picked up the shoes that they had thrown earlier. Once at the top of the hill, reunited with their friends the group greeted each other with hugs all around. Justin passed out shoes to their friends, and waited while they put them on.
“You have no idea how great it is to have shoes!” Monica exclaimed. The look on her face showed pure contentment.
“Yeah, you’d never realize how rough sand can be on your feet,” Lance added. He too was very pleased to have his sandals once again.
“Sorry you guys had to go on without them,” Joey said as he leaned against a nearby palm tree. He had noticed how cut up the bottoms of their feet were.
Once everyone had their shoes on and JC had his backpack secured over his shoulders, the group took off again. Even though they wanted a chance to rest and recoup from their ordeal they knew that their attackers were close by, and they would be after them again very soon.
After they’d been traveling for about an hour they decided that they should take a little water break. Lance, JC, Monica and Cari all tried to reach for the bottle at the same time. They’d gone most of the day without anything to drink, and they were dying of thirst. JC, who’d grabbed the bottle first, tilted it back and let the cool clear liquid pass through his lips, quenching his thirst that he thought would overpower him. When he’d finished he passed the bottle to Cari who did the same thing. Once everyone had gotten some water they all sat down to relax and let their tired muscles have a break.
“You’ll never guess what we came across when we were trying to catch up with you guys,” Keeley said as an evil grin slid over her face. Justin looked at her with an identical grin. Before she had a chance to tell the others Chris spoke up.
“The blond hijacker was all alone playing in the dirt, and singing the worm song! You know the one, ‘Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, guess I’ll go eat worms…” Chris sang the song in a childlike voice as the rest of the group broke into fits of laughter.
“Are you serious?” JC asked.
“I was wondering what happened to him,” Lance added.
“Yeah, I think the other two left him behind. He had his ankle wrapped up so I think he was hurt and slowing them down,” Justin replied.
“Did you try to help him?” Monica asked with a hint of concern edging into her voice.
“I wanted to, but these jerks wouldn’t let me!” Keeley replied as she playfully shoved Justin.
“Oh come on, he was after us! Why should they have helped him?” JC said. He looked over at the girls as if they were completely nuts.
“That’s what we said, there were just too many risks. Besides, I think he was a little off his rocker if you know what I mean,” Joey said as he twirled his finger around his ear. “A little crazy!”
“Well at least now we are only dealing with two people after us instead of three,” Cari finally spoke up.
“That’s two too many if you ask me,” Chris said.
They all sat in silence for a few minutes before Joey stomach growled. “Hey, are any of you hungry?” He looked around the group as he waited for a response. The other 7 nodded their heads. It was starting to get dark and they realized that they really hadn’t eaten anything all day long.
JC slid his backpack off his shoulders and pulled out the food that had been in the first aid kit. “Well, this is all we’ve got, and it’s not much to go around since there’s eight of us.”
“Well I saw some berries back there on the trail,” Keeley said. “They looked pretty edible.”
“Hey lets go see if they’re any good,” Monica replied as she stood up. She wiped the back of her shorts off to rid them of the sand that clung to them. She walked over and offered her hand to Keeley and helped her up.
“I’ll come with you guys,” Cari added as she stood up and walked away with the other girls.
“Be careful you guys, and don’t walk out of our hearing range OK,” Justin said. He and the rest of the guys began to divide up the food from JC’s pack while they waited for the girls to return with some berries.
About 15 minutes later the guys heard rustling in the bushes. Justin looked at his friends with concern and grabbed a stick that was lying nearby. He motioned for the others to do the same. JC reached into his pack and pulled out the flashlight and raised that too. They raised their sticks up like baseball bats and waited in silence. It had gotten completely dark and they all were having a hard time seeing. The bushes to their left parted and they saw two figures walk into their little camp.
Justin was the first to react. He let out a primitive cry as he ran toward the people in the bushes. Just before he was able to swing JC flipped on the flashlight and shined it towards the bushes.
Monica and Keeley screamed when the first thing they saw was Justin, running at them with a stick held high over his head. They dropped the berries they’d been carrying onto the ground as the raised their arms up to shield their faces.
Justin stopped in mid-swing as he realized that it wasn’t their attackers, it was their girlfriends. He dropped his stick to the ground and looked at the two standing in front of him with embarrassment.
“What the hell were you trying to do!!,” Keeley screamed. She still had adrenaline pumping through her. She reached over and smacked Justin’s arm. Monica followed suit and smacked him as well.
“You guys scared us to death!” Monica said as she tried to breathe slowly to calm her racing heart.
They heard the bushes move again, and a moment later Cari appeared with berries in her shirt. She was holding the bottom of her shirt, using it as a makeshift bowl to hold everything. Her eyes scanned the group with confusion. Keeley and Monica’s berries were all over the floor and the rest of the guys were holding sticks. “Um guys, what did I miss?”
“These idiots just about killed us,” Keeley replied, her anger was still very apparent.
“Baby I’m sorry,” Justin replied. “I didn’t even think it could’ve been you guys. Besides there were only two people in the bushes, and there are three of you.” He reached out his hand to pull her close to him, but she pulled out of his grasp. He walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. She didn’t pull away this time, she turned and wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Damn it Justin, you need to be more careful. We ALL want to make it out of here in one piece,” she said as she continued to let him hold her. He kissed her forehead before he pulled away to look at the others.
“Well, we’d better get these picked up,” JC said, motioning to the berries that were still on the ground.
“Yeah, they’re good too! We tried them first,” Monica said as she bent down to help.
Before long all the berries had been picked up and cleaned off. Each of them was sitting on the ground eating their makeshift meal. It was silent as they all ate. Food was their number one priority at that moment. When they were finished they leaned back with satisfied looks on their faces.
“Guys, it’s pretty late. I think maybe we should just crash here for the night,” Lance said as he leaned back on a nearby rock and pulled Monica closer to him.
“I think that’s a great idea! I’m beat!” Justin replied as he too tried to get comfortable.
They all settled down ready for sleep. As they lay there silence surrounded them. There were no sounds at all, except for a slight chattering sound. What sounded like one chatter turned into two, then three.
“What is that sound?” Joey said aloud.
“Um, that’s me, I’m kinda cold,” Keeley replied.
“It’s me too,” Monica said as she rubbed her arms vigorously trying to generate some warmth.
“I’m guilty as well,” Cari added.
“Yeah I’m kind of cold too,” Chris stated.
“You know I’ve heard that if people press together they can generate heat,” Joey said with a smile only he knew about.
“That’s true,” JC said. “Why don’t we all huddle together to try and stay warm.” Several agreements could be heard as the all scooted closer together. Finally they settled down.
“Oh baby, that feels nice,” Justin said in response to a hand rubbing up and down his thigh.
“Huh? Uh, hun, I’m over here,” Keeley replied.
“Then who the hell…Joey get your hand off my thigh before I hurt you,” Justin growled as he got up and moved over to Keeley. She scooted closer to him trying to avoid being grabbed or poked by any of her neighbors.
“Could the hand that is grabbing my butt please move?” JC said as he tried to move away from the invading hand.
“Um, sorry,” Monica replied as she reached over toward Lance. At least she knew that her hands were safe there.
“Wow, this sure is um, cozy,” Cari said. She was being squished between JC and Chris.
“Why isn’t anyone groping me?” Chris pouted.
“CHRIS!!!” seven voices said at the same time.
“Sorry, sorry! I guess I get no love!” he replied.
“Don’t touch me there!” Cari suddenly cried out.
“What?” Chris asked innocently. “If I can’t get no love as least I can share it.”
“Not with MY girlfriend you aren’t.” All was quiet for a few minutes until Justin felt a hand on his back…which was facing Joey.
“Joey! I swear to God if you don’t get your hands off my back and stop moving them towards my butt I am going to beat you with the same stick that I almost beat the girls with!”
“Um…J, I am not touching you.” Joey then placed both hands on Justin’s back at the very top. There was still a third hand just inches above his butt.
“Justin…that was MY hand,” Keeley said as she quickly pulled it away from Justin.
“Aww Keeley, baby I am sorry. Your hands I don’t mind,” he paused, “but Joey get your freaking hands off my back!” Justin yelled at him.
They all got as comfortable as they could. The body heat theory was starting to work. No more teeth could be heard chattering and no more complaints of assault were being uttered. Slowly they began to drift off into dreamland. No one knew what tomorrow would hold for them, but what ever it was, a good night’s sleep would certainly help.