Caught in the Middle - Chapter 1

Caught in the Middle

Chapter 1

“I can’t believe I agreed to do this.”
“Dude, come on,” Corbin said, “This may be the best thing to ever happen to you.”
Zac raised an eyebrow. “Really? How do you figure?”
“Who knows? Maybe you’re about to meet your one true love,” Vanessa said with a smile. “Anything can happen.”
“She’s right,” Carol said, entering the room with a box of video tapes. “You never know.” She set the box down on the table, pushing the remains of their Taco Bell lunches aside. “Okay Zac, ready to meet your future wife?”
Zac rolled his eyes as Carol, Corbin and Vanessa all laughed. “That’s not funny.”
Ashley, Lucas and Monique burst into the room. “Good, just in time to grab a good seat,” Ashley said, pulling up another chair while Monique sat on the floor and Lucas leaned against the far wall. “Let’s roll the footage!”
Zac sighed as Carol walked over to the TV, put the first tape in, and pressed play.
What followed was the scariest and most random hour of Zac’s life. He sat in that chair and watched dozens of tapes of girls actually pleading to go out with him. It was any guy’s dream, but he didn’t want dreams. He wanted sleep…lots and lots of sleep. And some Wheat Thins.
“Okay kiddies, last one,” Carol said.
“Thank God,” Corbin muttered. “This is beginning to freak me out.”
“At least you don’t have to pick one,” Zac said. “What was up with the red head and that hamster?”
“Zac, be nice,” Vanessa said. “They’re fans.”
“Hey, pay attention,” Monique said. “It’s starting.”
The screen was dark for a few moments, and then lightened to what looked like a bedroom. There were three girls, one black girl sitting on a bed, and two, a set of blond twins, on the floor. The one on the bed smiled. “Hi Zac…and whoever else may be watching this. My name Tori, and the Barbie twins are…”
“Hey, I resent that,” the twin on the right said indignantly.
“Why?” her sister asked.
“Maybe because my brains aren’t in my boobs?”
“Hey, Huey and Dewey, we’re on camera here!” Tori exclaimed.
Twin #1 turned back to the camera. “I’m Kendra, and this is Kalista,” she said, motioning to her sister.
“It means ‘most beautiful one’,” she said, tossing her mane of blind hair over her shoulder and smiled. “Obviously.”
“I’ll say,” Lucas said with a grin.
“Shh!” Corbin urged, scooting closer to the TV.
“Everyone just calls me Kali. Anyway, you’re probably wondering why all three of us are in this video. Before you get all excited, no, we don’t want to share you. I prefer taller men.”
Kendra gave her a light slap on the arm. “Way to insult the guy, Kali!”
“Oh!” Kali exclaimed. “No offense!”
Zac cocked an eyebrow as Ashley and Vanessa laughed. “I like these girls already," Vanessa said.
“The reason we’re making this tape because we think that our best friend and fourth Musketeer Janelle is the perfect girl for you," Kali continued.
After a short pause, Tori jumped in. “Well, maybe not perfect. She hates Wheat Thins…and health food in general, but that’s just a minor thing.”
“For the rest of the video, we’ll be showing you a glimpse into Janelle’s life,” Kali said. “Which is creepily similar to our lives, but that’s understandable. Here we go…” She leaned forward and pushed a button off camera, then the screen went dark again.
“This should be interesting,” Monique said as the screen came up again. This was obviously unedited, shot with a hand-held camera. Someone was holding the camera and was focused on Kalista as she and Tori walked across a courtyard of sorts.
“Okay, here we are, bright and early on Monday morning at Sea Ridge High School where we and Janelle are seniors. Ooh, there she is.” The camera panned to the left and focused on a very large tree. Where the trunk ended, you could just see tendrils of long dark hair floating in the breeze.
“She always hangs in the Court before class. She calls it her ‘morning chill’ time,” Kali saidwith air quotes. They and the camera moved closer until they circled around the tree. “And...action!” Kali said.
The girl leaning against the tree looked up from her book in surprise. She looked into the camera, and then cocked an eyebrow. “What are y’all doing?” she asked suspiciously while pushing a wayward lock of hair behind her ear.
“Whoa!” Corbin exclaimed.
“Oh my god,” Lucas said slowly.
Zac sat forward in his chair, speechless. He only saw those big, bright, sultry green eyes.
Carol saw the look on his face and smiled with a sardonic twist to her mouth. “Well, it looks like we have a winner.”