C-R-U-S-H = Taylor?

"So, now you sent the picture to your mate, where do you want to go?" Taylor asked. I had recently let go of his hand and had completely forgotten he was still with me.

Right now? Home so I can go call Chloe and squeal like those KPOP fangirls. (It was a phase! They're cute!!) "Uh... There's a park close by." Why'd I say that? Kevin and his bitch-ass friends (and Harry) hang out around there. "There's a movie theater up the road too. We could go to the cafe. Dolly's in there and she makes the absolute best turnovers." I knew I sounded so fat as soon as that had escaped my lips. "If you like fluffy dough and apple filling I mean."

Taylor laughed and smiled. Where'd he get such pink gums? I have been scrubbing and scraping at my browning gums and haven't made a dent except for the excessive bleeding. "Please just be yourself around me. Don't be like all of those other girls I've met."

"Gee thanks. Compare me other sluts you've been around," I murmured. Wait, did I just say that out loud?

"See?" Taylor said. Oh fuck, I messed up. "That's what I like in a girl. One who speaks her mind, doesn't bite her tongue like all these other girls do." Doesn't he know that if I'd been speaking my mind this whole time, I would've been jumped by now? "Keep talking."

"About what?"

"Anything. What did you think of that girl in the library? I think her name's Amanda. What do you think of her? Should I waste my time with her?"

Oh great. One sly remark and I'm his love guru. Well, at least I can ruin everyone else's chances. "Mandy's a bitch. She's arrogant and just disgusting. She shakes her head and I swear the dust mites get snow. Which is just gross. Plus, she insists on calling me Samantha even though everyone in this whole shit-hole knows I hate that damn name and then she gets pissed at me for calling her Amanda. That girl's just un-fucking-believable."

Taylor laughed so hard that his whole head turned red. "Oh my gosh! I'm not the only one that noticed her head?"

"Everyone does. She calls it psoriasis. I call it the need of shampoo. Bleah!"

Taylor was holding his chest, struggling to breathe through his spurts of laughter. "What about the girl, Veronica? She was chatting Aubrey. She seems like a bit of a twat."

"A what?"

"I think you guys call them fools..."

"Veronica's a nice girl if you count spitting, biting, and cussing at people nice. She's the preacher's daughter and a demon child. Veronica thinks she's such a sweet girl and really tries to play that off in front of guys but she isn't. Veronica's a mean, self-absorbed bitch."

"So she's a git."

"Please speak English."

"I am..." Taylor smiled at me and put his arm around my neck. Okay, fine. I'll go with it. "You're a nice girl."

I bit my tongue hard to not laugh at the irony of that. Taylor was asking me to badmouth people then said I was a nice girl. "Is nice British for something awful?" I asked him.

"No. It means nice just like it does here."

"HEY!" a loud voice called. We were near the park. Shit. I looked over at Harry Thomas, Kevin's best friend. He was holding a basketball under his muscular arm and looking right at us. "Hey kid! I need to ask you something."

We needed to run, now. I wanted to turn and sprint as quickly as my short, stubby legs would allow me but Taylor's arm was around my neck so I was stuck. Taylor stood bravely as Harry came over to us. "Hey dude. I'm Harry. Me and the guys were wondering it you wanted to play some ball with us?"

"Sure. I haven't played in a while so I might be slow at first."

We followed Harry to the court. His little brother, Damon, and Sage Kingsley were playing Rock, Paper, Scissors. Jerry Tomlin was on the ground looking at the clouds nonchalantly. Kevin was stretching over by the water fountains. The awkwardness began to set in. Taylor didn't seem to realize. "Do you want to play?" he asked.

"I only watch the NBA because there are tall men in there and i's cool to see them dunk it," I admitted. "I'll just watch."

"I can't dunk but I will break my leg again trying just to impress you," Taylor said, making me blush. Did he like me? Really? "Alright the game's starting.."

"Alright," I said. Kevin was looking at me. Shit! "I'll be on the swings."

As soon as Taylor had his back turned, I sprinted with a whole-hearted effort over to the swings. It was still a little soggy from last night but I would manage. I sat on the swing and attempted to propel myself. The toes of my Converse sunk into the deep mud. I looked over at the court. They were playing Shirts vs. Skins. Just to spite me, I bet. Taylor, Damon, and Sage were shirtless. I tried not to seem like a creepy pedophile as I watched the game. Most people would argue that just because Sage and Damon were a year younger than me didn't make me a pedophile but I have morals and watching slightly nude dudes that were younger than me felt like it was hitting my morals with a bloody axe.

I watched as they ran up and back. The game had just started but there was already sweat droplets making their way down their pecs to their pants. Harry's back already looked as if he'd backed into the Niagara Falls by accident. It looked like Jerry had pissed his pants even though he was twelve and insisted that twelve year olds don't to that anymore. I glanced at Kevin, saw him gazing at me, and saw a pebble that seemed much more interesting. Would he quit it? I could've sworn he was done with me so why does he keep staring? I made another sad attempt to swing, got stuck again, and looked back over at the court.

Sage was dribbling. He was doing tons of fancy unnecessary crap like dribbling between his legs and faking shots. He passed it to Damon, who was practically being hugged by Jerry. I could tell there were high tensions since Damon kept shoving Jerry backward so that they didn't appear to be hugging. Meanwhile, Taylor came up and set a pick, which means that he stood super still like a wall so that the defender ran into them (thanks Dad), and Damon rolled around them and went for a lay-up. The net did an awesome jellyfish effect and the ball fell out. Taylor hit the ground and suddenly the whole game was cancelled.

It always amuses me how quickly guys get mad. They're like a Coke bottle. You shake it, try to release the tension, get a huge explosion, and then sweet relief. At first, Taylor just stood up and brushed it off like it was nothing. Then, Damon got mad and started yelling at Jerry. Jerry, who wasn't willing to back down, pushed Damon. The other guys tried to talk them down but Damon just pushed Jerry so hard that he fell onto the pavement. Then, like his Spidey senses were tingling, Elliot came as if to fuel the fight. Then, next thing I knew, Damon and Jerry went from preparing to punch each other in the face to laughing and shaking hands.

Maybe their testosterone just evens out quicker than girls because we get mad at each other and don't speak to that bitch ever again. Not even on their death beds will we make amends. When my paternal grandma died, my Aunt Glenda came to the funeral and said, "Told ya you were going first," and then left. Just like that. They's been in a feud for years and didn't even know why. Nana had told me that all she knew was that she hated that bitch and that was the end of the damn story. It wouldn't even surprise me if Aunt Glenda still went back to Nana's grave every year, spit on it, and danced on the plot like she was young and had her original hips even though she had no idea why they were fighting.

Eventually, the game was over. Taylor walked over to me and the other guys began to shoot around and chase after the one with the ball and smack it and all types of weird shit. "Alright, we're done," he announced.

"How's your arm?" I asked. It was beginnning to bruise. "Do I have to kick Jerry's ass?"

Taylor laughed, shook his head no, and put his arm around my waist. At least he was courteous. Kevin would play all day, see me, and put his arm around my neck like he was trying to kill me. "Did you ever get the swing to work?"

I blushed. Was he watching me? "What?"

"I asked if you ever got the swing to work. You seemed to be having a hard time there."

"I was distracted."

"By?"

"The fact that some asshole had pushed you," I said. THAT wasn't what had distracted me. What had distracted me was giving Taylor a death stare like I have never seen. "Can we go now?"

"Why? We just got here." Before I could think of a good reason why besides the truth, the clouds gave a terrifying roar that shook the ground. Taylor looked up at the darkening clouds and over at the court. The guys were slowly beginning to walk home. "Come on, we can walk with them."

Before I could object, Taylor and I (unfortunately) began walking towards Kevin and his friends. Kevin saw me and Taylor and smiled. "Sweet moves bro," he said and he and Taylor had this weird guy moments where they did spirit fingers and made ape noises. "Where you learn that?"

"Had one of my friends teach me while we were living in Madrid. I was getting tired of all the guys at school beating me."

"Madrid? Is that in Florida?" Kevin asked.

"No stupid," I said. "It's in Spain."

"Well, well, well. Look who's speaking?" Kevin said. He grinned slyly although I could see the happiness in his blue eyes. "You enjoying our new friend?"

"More than you will ever know," I said to him.

"You're pretty much dating, huh?" Kevin's sarcasm made me ball my fists in fury.

Jerry and Damon noticed that I was about to beat the crap out of their friend and stepped in easily. "So, you lived in Madrid? That had to be cool!"

"Maybe if I were good in Spanish. My mum didn't tell me that English wasn't the first language for Spain. Like in France, you could get away with not knowing French because a lot of people spoke English but in Spain, there were a lot less English speakers in my classes and stuff so I always ended up looking like a moron for not knowing anything."

"Dude, I could teach you," Jerry said. "My mom's from Spain. You could come over my house sometime and ask her. My mom don't mind. I have people over all the time and all she does is come in, tell me to clean this shit up and go do whatever, unplug the game, and say hi to my friends."

Damon and Sage nodded. "Every time. Dude, did you ever take out the trash?"

"Nope. She's going to come home and say the whole house smells like shit, I'm a disgusting pig, and she's telling Dad when he gets home. Then he gets home, looks at me, looks at the trash and takes it out. Easy."

"You are awful to your mum," Taylor said.

"Don't do that annoying speech about how I need to take responsibility and try harder because she's all I got, we're family, blah blah blah. I have three older brothers, an older sister, and a younger sister. Surely one of them can be of assistance."

"I wasn't going to say that," Taylor said. "I was just going to say my mom will beat my ass if I ever try that."

"I'm saying," Sage said. "I tried that and my mom went outside, brought in a huge branch, and beat the shit out of me."

"Dude, that's nothing," I said. "One time, my mom came in at three o'clock in the morning with a belt on a Monday and beat my ass because I didn't put the food up and she saw a stinkbug and thought it was a roach."

All the guys started laughing. We were nearing my house. The rain had already come and it was beginning to sprinkle. We had approximately ten seconds to get inside before it got heavier. "Alright, we'll see you later," Taylor said.

"Bye," Damon said. "Don't let him get a home run in the first inning, Sammy." (It was better than Samantha but Damon was the only one allowed to call me that.)

"Alright. Bye you guys."

"Shall we run?" Taylor asked. I nodded and we sprinted to my house as the rain began to fall.