Night Prowler Part One

by Samantha Steele

“Actually, Sam totally made the first move,” I said. Evan looked at me questioningly. “She asked him to the Sadie Hawkins Dance.”

  “And he said no?” Evan gawked. Bryce let out a low whistle.

  “He was working,” I said. “And she asked him the day of.

  He couldn’t exactly ask for time off. Besides, you know Zac. He’s a workaholic.”

  “Yeah, seriously,” Evan said.

  “I don’t really know Zac, but I’ll have to thank him sometime,” Bryce laughed. “Cami’s hot.”

  “They’re all hot,” I laughed.

  “Why are you so chipper?” Sam asked when I got back to her seat. I sat down and handed her a soda.

  “Oh, nothing. It’s just that, like four guys asked if I was with you,” I said, eating some popcorn. Sam cocked her head and stared at me.

  “They all wanted to bang you,” I laughed.

  “Aw, Mitch! I didn’t need to know that!” she said, punching my arm. I grinned and managed to squeeze a kiss out of her.

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  “That was the worst movie I have ever seen,” Sam said.

  “I wanted to slit my wrists the whole time.”

  “Like the girl at the end?” Bryce asked.

  “At least somebody had the right idea,” Annika said. “I hope that actress really did commit suicide. What a horrible movie to have on your resume.”

  “I still don’t know what the point was,” Sam said. “Was that guy her dad, or her boyfriend?”

  “I think he was her brother,” Evan said.

  “Ew!” the girls all cried at once.

  “Incest at its best,” Sam said. I laughed.

  We went to dinner at a new Italian restaurant, and it felt weird to be waited on. I was unusually polite to our waiter, knowing if I pissed him off it wouldn’t be far-fetched for him to mess with my food. I know the waiting business well.

  When it came time to pay, all three girls pulled out their wallets, and after ten minutes of arguing, we agreed for the guys to split the bill and the girls to split the tip. None of us liked letting them pay at all, but Sam is stubborn, Annika is even more stubborn, and Cami’s a brick wall.

  “It’s only eight,” I said, checking my watch after dinner.

  “If you guys want, we could go to wharf and hang out on my dad’s boat. It’s docked and I’ve got the keys.”

  “I don’t mind driving,” Bryce said. “You girls up for it?”

  “Of course! I love the Mantel yacht,” Sam said.

  “It’s not a yacht, it’s just a really big boat,” I said. Sam shrugged and entwined our fingers.

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  Evan Cage

  We walked down the dock to Mitch’s dad’s boat, Mitch and Sam leading, Annika and I trailing behind. I tried desperately to keep my eyes and hands to myself, but I couldn’t help it. I knew Annika was wearing Sam’s clothes - there’s no way she owned anything that tight - but she was so undeniably sexy tonight I could hardly think.

  She was wearing tight black leather pants, a red studded belt, a snug, long-sleeved black shirt with a wide collar, and of course, her worn-out old hi-tops.

  “Please stop staring at me,” Annika said shyly.

  “Sorry,” I grinned, noticing her scarlet cheeks.

  “Sam made me wear this stripper outfit,” she said. I shook my head.

  “That’s a pretty mild stripper outfit. I was thinking more… eighties rocker chick?” Annika grinned back at me.

  “She said that’s what it looked like.”

  We all got on the boat and lay out on the deck, looking at the stars and randomly chatting. I got a text message from Austin about thirty minutes after we settled down. After I read it, I busted up laughing.

  “What’s funny?” Bryce asked.

  “Macy pierced her own nose!” I cried. “Austin said it’s oozing pus and she’s freaking out! She asked him to prom and he said no, so she came to his house a little bit ago in nothing but a robe and tried to seduce him, but her nose started leaking pus. Oh, wait, there’s more!” I read the next message.

  “Oh, God, Macy would do something like that,” Mitch said.

  “Oh, she pierced her bellybutton, too! And it’s green!” I choked between bouts of laughter. Sam propped herself up on her elbows and glared at me through the night.

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  “She needs to take all the rings out and clean the holes with alcohol or peroxide or salt water and let them heal. She may need to go to the doctor for antibiotics if they’re truly infected,”

  she said. “I had trouble with my bellybutton healing.”

  “You have your bellybutton pierced?” Mitch asked huskily, sitting up to lean over her. Sam rolled her eyes and pushed him off.

  “Seriously. I don’t like her but no one deserves an infected piercing. They’re a bitch to deal with,” Sam said with concern. Cami sat up, too, and looked at Sam excitedly.

  “You should pierce my bellybutton!” she said.

  “Mine, too!” Annika called. “I don’t want to be left out!”

  “Won’t your moms like, kill me?” Sam asked.

  “They don’t have to know,” Cami said sneakily. Mitch leaped up and went into the cabin on the boat. He came back with a tackle box.

  “We’ve got all kinds of needles and stuff in here,” he said.

  “And there’s matches and candles below deck.” Mitch grinned and bounced his eyebrows.

  “I do have some spare bellybutton rings. I always take them with me in case mine falls out. Why do you want me to do it, anyway?” Sam sighed.

  “Because your mom can fix us if you screw it up,”

  Annika said simply, standing up and going below deck. Mitch handed her the tackle box and dragged Sam downstairs. Cami grinned excitedly.

  “Sam’s going to pierce my bellybutton!”

  “Okay,” Sam said, the needle in her hand. Cami was holding an ice cube on her belly button. “This didn’t hurt that bad when I got it done, but then again they used a mechanical needle-thing and a clamp and all that.”

  “Sounds kinky,” Mitch said with a smile. Sam gave him a look and he quieted, but not without a hand motion for only me and Bryce to see.

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  “Okay, Anni, pinch Cami’s bellybutton up so I can see the black dot,” Sam said, poising herself to poke Cami with the needle. Annika pinched Cami’s bellybutton and pulled it up as high as she could.

  “Ouch!” Cami said.

  “Sorry. The clamp hurts more than the piercing,” Sam said. “Ready? One.”

  Before she finished counting, Cami cried, “Ouch!” again and Sam stabbed the needle all the way through and out the other side.

  “Ring,” she said. Mitchell handed her a silver bellybutton ring and Sam shoved it through.

  “OUCH!” Cami screamed. Sam stood back with her hands up, and Annika let go.

  “All done,” Sam said. “Sorry, I forgot to tell you putting the ring in would hurt. The ring gauge is bigger than the needle.”

  Cami glared, but then she looked at her stomach and grinned.

  “Happy?”

  “Very happy,” Cami said. “It doesn’t hurt so bad, I guess.

  It was quick.”

  After ten minutes of coaxing Annika (she saw Cami’s pain and decided being left out wasn’t so bad), I finally grabbed her shoulders and told her I wouldn’t take her to prom if she didn’t let Sam pierce her bellybutton. A little peer pressure never hurt anyone.

  A defeated look on her face, Anni lay down and let Cami pinch her stomach. She didn’t cry out as much as Cami did, but her face contorted with pain.

  “See? Now your stomach is decorated,” Sam said proudly. Annika looked at her bellybutton, and then at Sam.

  “It does look pretty awesome,” she said with a small smile. She sat up and winced. “Ouch. It hurts.”

  “Sitting can be a little awkward for a
bout the first week,”

  Sam said. “But once it heals, you don’t even feel it. I pierced yours shallow like mine. They’re less likely to get infected that

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  way. At least, that’s what the girl who pierced me said. And dear god did she have a lot of piercings!”

  Annika reached up to pull her shirt down, but I stopped her.

  “You don’t want to get your shirt caught up in it,” I said quickly. Sam grinned and laughed silently.

  “Actually, he’s right,” she said. “It might uh, pull on it.”

  We took the girls home after that. It was a little awkward dropping them all off at the same house. Mitch, being the only official boyfriend, thought nothing of taking Sam to the back door and making out with her before saying goodbye.

  Bryce opened Cami’s door and gave her a quick hug and a peck on the lips, a normal thing to do after a first date.

  I however, had no idea what to do. I thought Annika was my girlfriend, but I hadn’t actually gone on a date with her until tonight and wasn’t sure if she thought the same way. She climbed out the back seat after me and I started to walk her to the door, but we saw Sam and Mitch eating each other’s faces and stopped just far enough so we couldn’t see the them. Cami, being a bit smarter than the rest of us, snuck in quietly through the front door. I assumed Sam’s parents were asleep.

  “So…” I began.

  “I had fun,” Annika interrupted. I was grateful. “Better than our usual meetings at shows and impromptu make out sessions in the hallways.”

  “Yeah, ” I laughed and stared off into the woods, strapped for conversation. Luckily, Annika is sometimes a little bold.

  “So… are you my boyfriend now?” she asked.

  “Uh, um, yeah… yeah I think I am,” I stuttered. “You know, if you want me to be.” Annika smiled and blushed a little.

  “Okay,” she said, staring at her shoes.

  “So, that means I need to kiss you, right?” I asked, feeling only a little less awkward. Annika blushed even harder and nodded, biting her lower lip.

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  I touched the sides of her face and gently tilted her head up, then leaned down to kiss her. Her cheeks were hot under my hands, and her lips were stiff.

  “Is this okay?” I asked, pulling back. We’d certainly done this before, but tonight felt different; more intimate. Annika nodded.

  “I giggle when I’m nervous,” she said, and I realized her lips were tight because she was smiling.

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  Macy Hawskins

  The drive home was absolutely excruciating. Not only had Austin rejected me, but now he (and probably everyone else) knew my nose and my bellybutton were infected. I felt incredibly stupid. I wanted to take my robe off, so it wouldn’t pull on my bellybutton ring, but I wasn’t wearing anything else.

  Why, oh WHY did I have to pierce my own appendages?

  And why, oh WHY did I have to try and seduce Austin Trowser? I embarrassed myself because Mitchell and Evan have dates for prom, and I don’t? Am I INSANE?

  I had to arch my back so my bellybutton wasn’t pinched.

  I couldn’t move my facial muscles or my nose stung like crazy, the pain shooting all the way to my eyes. By the time I pulled into my driveway, my eyes were stinging with tears and my nose was oozing white pus.

  I went inside and stood in front of my bathroom mirror, crying over my ruined face. My nose was now even more swollen (if that was at all possible) and the diamond stud was digging into my flesh, so it was bleeding, too.

  My bellybutton was green and leaking pus, and scabs had formed around the ring so I couldn’t pull it out without excruciating pain.

  “My life sucks,” I choked through heaving sobs. To make matters worse, all the crying made my sinuses congested, and now my nose was leaking snot and pus.

  Since my situation was only getting steadily worse, I finally decided to show and tell my mom. She was a nurse, so she’d know what to do. Unfortunately, she’d also yell at me for being so stupid and I would hear about it for the rest of my life.

  “I can’t believe you let this happen,” my mom chided. I was laying on the examination table at the hospital, my mom rubbing a numbing gel onto my stomach.

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  “I sterilized the needles,” I defended. My mom sighed and looked at me.

  “These aren’t real silver rings,” she said. “You know you’re allergic to nickel.”

  “Mom!” I cried, propping myself up on my elbows. “How was I supposed to know they weren’t real silver? You always wear the expensive stuff!”

  “I didn’t when I was younger!” my mom said, exasperated. “I couldn’t afford real anything. And besides, that’s no excuse! If you wanted to get something pierced, you should have told me. We could have done it for you here, for God’s sake!”

  “I didn’t want to bother you,” I mumbled.

  “Bother us?” she laughed. “We love stabbing people. I give immunizations all day long! Here, hold this to your nose.”

  I gently rubbed a cotton swab with numbing gel into my swollen nose. My mom carefully unscrewed the top of the bellybutton ring, rubbed more gel around the edges as a lubricant, and yanked the ring out. I sucked in a painful breath when the scabs broke.

  “I’m not sure how to fix your nose,” my mom said, cleaning my bellybutton and bandaging it. She looked up at my nose. “I guess I’ll just have to pinch it and use a wire cutter to snip the ring.”

  “Please, don’t,” I whispered, eyes wide. The numbing gel wasn’t that strong, and I could barely twitch my nose without pain. I could only imagine what squeezing it would feel like. My mom sighed, seemingly defeated, but then she perked up as if she’d just remembered something.

  “Here,” she said, moving my hand with the cotton swab a little. “Numb this spot, here. I’ll go get a needle.”

  “A needle?” I asked in a high-pitched voice. But my mom had already bustled from the room and I could hear her talking to one of the doctors.

  When she came back into the room, she was holding two large needles. I began to panic and squirm to stand up, but my

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  mom placed a hand on my shoulder and gently but firmly pushed me back down.

  “Just relax, Macy,” she said, squirting a clear liquid out of the bigger needle. “You’ll hardly feel this.”

  Mom was wrong. I totally felt it. The pricking sensation radiated throughout my face, shaking my cheekbones and rattling my eyeballs. I felt a thick coolness spread from the tip of the needle, and within seconds my sinuses, eyes, and nose were completely numb.

  “Pretty neat, huh?” I mom said happily. “This stuff is new. Great for broken noses.”

  She grabbed the other needle, which was empty.

  Although I gladly couldn’t feel it, she pricked the swollen side of my nose and I saw blood ooze into the well. I couldn’t see what it looked like, but I did feel a little pressure being released, and a warm sensation trailed down my face.

  “Oops, sorry,” my mom said, wiping my face with a cloth. “It was a lot more infected than I guessed.”

  She then took a pair of very sinister looking clippers to the nose ring. She seemed to struggle a little bit before I heard a snap and felt the ring slide out of my nose. My mom pinched my nose in a tissue as hard as she could, then handed it to me.

  “Hold that on for quite a while,” she said. “I’m going to ask Dr. Herman if he can write you a script for some antibiotics. I think you’ll be fine, but I don’t want to risk anything getting worse.”

  “Thanks mom,” I said, my upper lip becoming numb.

  “This stuff really spreads, doesn’t it?” I said with an uncontrollable lisp.

  “Yes, yes it does,” my mom laughed. Then she walked out the door and called to Dr. Herman.

  I squeezed my nose as har
d as I could with the tissue, blood and pus oozing out and soaking through it within minutes.

  Looking around the room, I saw pregnancy posters and warnings about meningitis. I remembered I hadn’t gotten my meningitis vaccine for college, and decided I may as well get it now.

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  My mom came back in about ten minutes later with a script and some pain killers.

  “Take these, Macy dear,” she said, filling a paper cup with water from the sink. It will help keep the swelling down, even if it doesn’t help the pain too much. This is your script,” she handed a piece of paper to me, “so go get it filled at Fred Meyer as soon as you leave, alright? I won’t get off until late so you’ll have to do it yourself.”

  “Thanks, mom,” I said, folding the script and tucking it in my purse.

  “You’re welcome, dear. Now, when that heals, I want you to let me take a look and maybe we’ll talk about getting it pierced for real. Sound good?”

  “Yeah, mom, that sounds great.”

  I went to Fred Meyer to pick up my script. I accidentally went to the Fred Meyer on Abbott. Dumb idea.

  Lots of kids from South get jobs at Fred Meyer on Abbott. More importantly, lots of kids who are friends with Austin get jobs at Fred Meyer on Abbott.

  I got out of my car without even bothering to check my nose, which I knew was gross looking. But I figured the pharmacist would give me less of a hassle if I really looked like I needed my antibiotics.

  Upon entering the store, I realized I had no clue where the pharmacy was, so I spent about ten minutes wandering around the perimeter of the store before I found it. I walked up to the counter and tried to ignore the pharmacist as he cringed and stared at my face.

  “I need my antibiotics,” I said, laying the script on the counter.

  “I’ll need to see some ID,” the pharmacist said, crossing his arms and staring at my nose. I nodded and dug through my purse searching for my wallet.

  I couldn’t find it.

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  “Could you wait just a minute?” I asked, taking my script and politely stepping aside, even though no one was in line behind me.

  I called my mom and asked if I’d left my wallet there. She said it was on the floor of the exam room, so it must have fallen out of my purse. Without hanging up, I walked back up to the counter.