Watch and Learn_(0)

“Are you sure you know where you’re going?” asked Jen as Kevin turned off the highway onto an old dirt road.

“Quite sure,” he replied. Kevin is my older brother. He met Jen at school and they’d been seeing each other for a few months now. Summer vacation had just started and he said he knew of a nice place to go swim for the day to beat the heat. It sounded like a good idea at the time, but as we go further down this road, the woods aren’t the only thing that’s looking shady.

I look over at Cathy, sitting next to me in the back seat. Cathy is Jen’s younger sister; she’s the reason I’m along on this trip. She convinced Jen that it would be better to bring her along than leave her alone all day at home. I was brought along to keep her company.

My name is Mark. I’m the same age as Jen. Due to the oddities of the school districts, we went to different schools even though we live down the street from each other. It’s another oddity why Kevin and Jen didn’t bother to introduce us earlier.

She is looking around at the deep woods and the decrepit roadway. Then she notices me watching her and gives me a nice smile. I grin back. I’m never sure how to act around girls anymore. Last year, I could just ignore them. Now, I find the shape of their bodies and movements fascinating while at the same time being scared to death of interacting with them. Maybe that’s why Kevin never mentioned Cathy to me before.
“We’re here,” Kevin says as he drives his Jeep into an open clearing.

“Oh, wow! This is beautiful,” gasps Cathy as she looks around. The old dirt road we had been following opened up into a grass-covered clearing. Off that clearing is a still lake with a tall waterfall crashing into it on the far side.

“This used to be an old campground a dozen years ago, but it closed down and was forgotten,” Kevin explained. “It’s a nice quiet place, and the water is cool and good for swimming. A friend told me about it during graduation.”

As we all got out, Jen walked over towards Kevin and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Well, this is beautiful,” she said and gave Kevin a deep kiss.

I glanced awkwardly around and went to the back of the Jeep to pick up the basket and towels. Cathy turned towards the water on the other side of the clearing. She peeled off her shirt and shorts, revealing a yellow bikini. The color complemented her sandy-brown hair and her light skin nicely. I also noticed that she was curvier than I first thought. She looked back at me and shouted, “Race you to the water,” and took off towards the shore.

Kevin and Jen immediately striped down to their swimsuits and took off after Cathy. I was stuck holding the blankets watching them run off. I tossed the blankets in a pile in the middle of the clearing, peeled off my shirt, and ran after them. By the time I got to the edge of the water, Cathy was half-way across the lake, while the other pair was splashing water at each other in the shallows.

I swam out towards Cathy but when I got near the middle of the lake and lifted my head up, she was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, I hear a “Got you!” from behind me as Cathy jumped on my back from behind, pushing me down under the water.

I tried to turn around and get back to the surface.