The Last Girl (24 page)

“You know what I realized?” I ask calmly.

“What?” they ask in unison.

“I realized that we haven’t hung out, just the three of us, in a long time.”

“Yeah, I guess…” Daisy says, sounding pretty confused.

“What are you guys doing Sunday?” I ask.

“Nothing.” Jessica says instantly.

“I was going to study, but hell I’m willing to do anything else,” Daisy laughs. “Why?”

“We should go see a movie together,” I suggest.

“Wait, what?” I hear Jessica’s confused voice
ask and it almost makes me laugh.

“Sounds fun!” Daisy says excitedly. “But, for my mom to let me go, I have to finish all my homework tonight. I better get going. I will text you guys tomorrow. Bye!”

I hear a click and it’s just Jessica and I left on the line.

“You aren’t mad at me?” she asks surprised.

I breathe in harshly. “Nope.”

“You sure?”

“Like I said before, I’m not going to get in the way if you want to date Hayden,” I breathe out. “You guys would be a cute couple. Besides, I like Luke.”

Now I hear her breathe. “Have I ever told you that I don’t deserve you as a friend?”

I laugh, “Nope. And that’s not even true, anyways.”

“It is,” she laughs. “Thank you, Jenna.”

“No problem.” I smile even though I know she can’t see it. “I will talk to you tomorrow.” I hang up and flop down on my hard/lumpy/feels-like-home bed. It isn’t until I am in that half-asleep state, where you dream you are falling and then jump awake once you hit the ground, when my phone rings about ten minutes later. “Hello?”

“Tell me now, so the blow isn’t as fatal as it would be if you told me tomorrow.”

“Luke?”

“Jenna? Now that we know each other’s names, can you tell me?” he asks.

“Tell you what?”

“
That you can’t go laser tagging tomorrow because you have an important appointment with your bed to sleep all day.”

I laugh, “Well, for your information, I am not cancelling.”

I hear him gasp. “Hold on a second, I think you need to call me an ambulance because I just went into cardiac arrest from shock.”

“Ha ha,
you’re very funny.”

“Well, I will let you go so you can get some sleep so you won’t cancel on me right before.”

“I’m not going to cancel!” I exclaim and then laugh again.

He laughs too, “Bye, Jenna.”

He hangs up and I toss my phone on the table next to me, ready to dream and not jump awake when I hit the ground, but then I remember that I should probably study. I get up, open my Biology textbook, and try to knock Luke out of my head.

Chapter 35:
2 More Games of Laser Tag

“Are you ready to lose so hard that you will fall into a deep, dark depression that you may never be able to escape because your embarrassment of losing that badly will cause you to never be able to step into the light again so instead you will live in your dark room forever hiding your shame away under the covers?”

I look at
Luke surprised as he takes a huge gasp for air and I wonder if he had practiced saying all this earlier.

“Are you okay? Have you gone insane?” I ask laughing as I buckle my seat belt in his passenger seat.

“You’re going to go insane after I beat you so hard that-”

“If you go into another long story about my future deep, dark depression,” I interrupt, “I might kick you
.”

He puts the car in reverse and backs out of my driveway. “
Sheeese, you just love threatening to kick me, don’t you?”

I nod. “It’s a joy I just can’t seem to
get over.”

“You’re violent
already; I can’t imagine how violent you will be once you go crazy because of hard I beat- Ow!” He yells.

“I warned you that I would kick you.”

“Wanna be on the same team?”

“Why? You worried you are going to lose again?” Luke asks smirking as we type our names on the computer.

“No. I was just asking if you wanted to be on the same team.”

“Hell no.” He laughs. “I already told you that I am going to own you.” He types in “TheLukeator” like he did last time, so I type in “LastGirl”.

“I was just trying to save you from humiliation because I am going to beat you,” I say, as I pull out my card and walk towards the line outside the door. It is pretty crowded here today, meaning there will be a lot of other competition. But,
whatever. I don’t care about beating them. I just need to beat Luke.

We hear the voice over the speakers say that the next round is starting and the line starts to move.
Luke and I are the lasts ones to make it in the room before they shut the door behind us.

“I want to be blue this time,” I say to him.

We rush off to opposite sections of the room to take our different colored vests. I slip mine on quickly, scan my card so that “LastGirl” pops up on the screen of my gun, and manage to be in the very front of the blue door.

I will be one of the first ones in.

The voice speaks over the loud system once again, “Attention! You will have exactly 60 seconds to explore the maze before we turn on the guns. After that you have ten minutes to get as many points as possible. Every time you shoot someone, their vest will flash green and their gun will be turned off for ten seconds. You will get ten points for hitting the stomach or back targets and 15 points for the shoulders. If you hit someone on your own team, you will be deducted ten points. Each team has a base on either sides of the room. Every time a person from the other team hits your target they will gain 50 points, so keep it well guarded. Please no hitting, shooting people in the eyes, physical contact, or covering the targets on your vests. Please be civil and keep language appropriate. Thank you, and have fun!”

The voice must be a recording.

The buzzer rings in our ears signaling the doors to open. I run in as soon as the crack in the door is big enough for me to fit through. I charge to the opposite end of the room to claim the tower right next to the red team’s target. Usually the red team claims it, but if I can get there first and defend it, I might be able to rack up some major points.

I run up the ramp to
the tower. Once at the top, I look through one of the cut out windows and see that I have a perfect view of the red target.

I wish I could just shoot it now. I would get 50 points every time!

I see some people in red vests below make their way to the tower.

Don’t come in. Please just walk by. Don’t come up here.

The group of three guys start to make their way up the tower.

Shit.

I kneel in a corner facing the entryway, ready to shoot.

Come on, vest, turn on!

“Ten, nine, eight…” I hear the women’s voice in the air. It feels like she counts down so slowly.

The
guys’ footsteps get louder and louder each time the woman says another number.

“Five, four, three, two…”

One guy rounds the corner right as my vest springs to life. I hit him in the stomach and his vest goes out just as fast as it had come on.

“What the-?” His eyes land on me huddled in the corner. “Guys, get her she’s in the corner!”

“Who?” The second guys appears from behind the corner and I shoot him as he is still looking around.

“Ha! You guys already got shot?” The third guy finishes his sentence right as his vest goes dark. “Aw, man.”

Guy #1’s vest comes back on and I shoot him as soon as it does. “Screw this. I’m leaving,” he says as he turns to run back down the ramp.

“You’re good…” guy #3 pauses to look at his gun, “LastGirl. You come here often?”

“Not really,” I say as I shoot guy #2 in the stomach again. He whistles. I then shoot guy #3 in the shoulder and he laughs.

“Well, don’t worry, we’ll be coming back for you,” guy #3 says as he turns to leave.

Guy #2 follows, “Watch your back, LastGirl.”

“I could say the same to you!” I call after them. They laugh.

I breathe out to lower my heart rate, because for some reason, the first few minutes of laser tag always get me a little nervous. I turn around and look back out the window.

Time to shoot the target.

And for the next few minutes, that’s what I do. I watch as the red team look around in confusion because they have no idea why their target is flashing so much. It takes so much effort to try to contain my laughter. I am sticking just my gun and the top of my head out the window, so even if they found me, they wouldn’t be able to shoot me unless they came up here. I see Luke appear next to the base and look around, just as confused as the others. He looks down at the name on his gun because whoever is shooting your base pops up on the screen. I see him laugh.

He knows it’s me.

“Well played, Jenna!” he calls, knowing that wherever I am, I would be able to hear him.

“Guys!” I see guy #3
, who I had shot a few minutes ago, yells. “I know where she is hiding! She’s in that tower!” He points right at me.

I shoot him, guy #1 and #2,
Luke, and two other guys standing out there in the open in the shoulder targets. They all look up, shock apparent on their faces. I giggle to myself and I know that I have to leave this tower because there is no way I will be able to last that long in here now that they know where I am. I run quickly down the ramp and push past the group of guys whose vests are all black at the bottom of the tower.

“See ya!” I call, and run to the blue team’s side for a little more protection. I look down at the number on my gun.

1,000 points in the first 3 minutes.

“It’s just not fair,” Luke says, shamefully as he looks up at the score board.

There had been 100 people playing in that last round, and I had gotten first place with 1,700 points.
Luke had gotten fifth with 1,010 points.

“I asked you if you wanted to be on the same team,” I smile.

“You cheated.”

“How is getting to a tower before anyone else considered cheating?” I ask.

“It just is. Especially when you do it,” He sulks.

“Go cry about it.”

“LastGirl!” guy #3 shouts. “Well done in there!”

“Yeah, that was great!” guy #1 congratulates.

“Thanks!” I wave as they leave the building. I smirk at Luke, “I have fans.”

He shakes his head, “We are playing again.”

Before I can protest, I am pushed back into the line.

When we finally get in the room with the vests, I have decided to let
Luke win this round. You know, because he’s a guy and I’d rather not be stuck here all day. But I can’t make it too obvious that I won’t be trying because then he will know and then force me to try the next game.

Men.

I slip the red vest on slowly and walk to the door, making sure I am not the first one there. The recording of the directions play and the doors are finally opened. I let the rest of my team enter before me and slowly make my way to the middle of the room, where the border line is between the red side and the blue side. A minute later, my vest lights up and I can hear people shooting each other already. I shoot some blue vests just to get a few points to make it look like I am trying and then make my way to a corner of the room, where I am well hidden.

A while goes by and I see the timer on the wall say 2:00, meaning that there are 2 minutes left.
I turn the corner to leave my encased hiding place and at the first sight of a body, my arm flies up to point my gun straight ahead. It isn’t until a few seconds later that my mind processes that the person my gun is aimed towards is Luke. I remain standing there, frozen, looking at him standing the same way I am; gun pointed at my stomach.

“Aren’t you going to shoot me?”
Luke asks, and even in the dark light I can tell he is smirking.

“I’m thinking about it,” I reply. “
I could ask you the same question.”

“
Not yet,” he says back, coolly. And then Luke lowers his gun, which surprises me a little bit causing me to step backwards. I feel the wall against my back and I finally realize how trapped I am. My stomach does a little flip and I don’t know what to think. Half of me is telling me to find a way to escape because it thinks Luke is going to try to shoot me by tricking me in some advanced, mind-game way. But, another part is telling me to stay put, because something interesting might happen. Something like-

Luke
takes a few steps forward.

“Why did you put your gun down? Aren’t you going to try to put me in that deep depression?” I question him.

“I want to do something first; something that I have wanted to do since that first Slave Auction.”

I feel
Luke’s big hands grab me by the waist and pull me forward, causing me to drop my weapon. It takes my brain some time to process the warmth on my lips before I fully realize that Luke Parker is kissing me.

I understand
, now, why fireworks always go off in movies when the couple you’ve been rooting for the entire film finally kiss at the end- because that’s exactly what this feels like. There is a fireworks show going on in my stomach, causing me to feel the butterflies fluttering and causing me to melt all in the same amount of time it would take for me to snap my fingers. And the audience in my head just sits back and watches the show go on and all they contribute is a soft “Awe.”

Did I feel like this when I kissed
Hayden?

No. There’s no way.

I would remember something like this.

Luke
pulls me closer to him by my hips and I wrap my arms around his neck. It all just feels so natural and comfortable. And I love every second of it.

I don’t know how long we stand there kissing, but all too soon I hear a ding come from my vest and through my closed eyelids I see s
ome lights blink off quickly. I pull away and look down, only to see Luke’s gun pointed right at my stomach.

“
Luke!” I exclaim.

He smirks, “Got ya.”

Luke quickly turns around and runs behind the wall, out of sight. I continue standing there staring after him- half from shock of the kiss and half from the shock that he had used that time to shoot me. The light comes back to my vest a few seconds later and I snap back to reality. I need to focus on finding Luke. He cannot get away with that without suffering the consequences.

This means war.