Taking The Reins - Book 1 of The Rosewoods (teen romance)

The Set Up

I returned to Kaylee with the duct tape.

“What’s wrong?” she asked right away.

Sure I was going to cry if I opened my mouth, I just shook my head.

“Are you okay?”

All I could do was nod. And anyway, it only sort of felt like a lie if I didn’t say it out loud.

“Let’s get this done and then you can tell me,” she said. I didn’t argue, but held the phone while she coiled the tape around it and the tree branch. “This had better work,” she muttered. “And I swear, if I get poison oak or something, I’m going to kill Emmie.”

I snickered.

She glanced over at me. “That’s better. You ready to talk?”

“Not yet. Tell me about Declan. How was dancing with him?”

She ripped the tape with her teeth and secured the end around the phone. “It was good. He’s super-cute, right?”

“Way super-cute,” I agreed, taking the roll of tape from her, slipping it over my wrist. “And that accent. What is it about guys with accents?”

She turned the camera on and tested the angle, adjusting it slightly.  “I don’t know. It’s so sexy, though. And he's nice, too.”

“Unlike Phillip.”

She glanced at me and then back to the phone. “Exactly. I’m not sure what I even saw in him.”

Well, he is pretty hot, I didn’t say, not wanting to remind her. Declan was obviously a way better choice.

She took out her phone to text Celia. After a minute she got a confirmation that mine was streaming to the laptop. “Perfect. Let’s go.”

We left the phone and went into the aquatics center to meet up with the rest of the girls who were inside. There were ten of us in all after Emmie had outlined the whole plan and we’d spread the word: eight of the original fourteen who’d had their panties stolen and two other girls who’d bought in.

It was almost 10:00 and the boys said to meet them at 10:45, so we had some time. We just had to sit tight and wait, which was maybe the hardest part of this plan.

“So are you excited to see him tonight?” I asked her. It was only us as we walked down the quiet hallway to the locker rooms.

“Yes. And nervous.” She gave me a pained look. “He has my underwear.”

I smirked at her. “You have his. It’s fate.”

She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. It’s still embarrassing.”

“Not as embarrassing as his tightie whities.”

“Ha! I think they’re cute. I bet he has a nice bum in them.”

I laughed. We were about halfway to the locker room when I said, “So. I ran into Brady.”

She stopped walking and looked down the hall toward the locker rooms, but we were alone. “What happened?”

I leaned against the wall. “He said he’s into me, but he can’t jeopardize his job.” I couldn’t bring myself to give her the particulars, especially about the almost kiss, which I’d been right about in the first place. It felt too private to share: just between him and me.

“That sucks, Brooklyn. I’m sorry.”

I shrugged. “It’s okay. I knew it wasn’t going to work, I guess. I wasn’t even sure I really liked him that much.” Which felt like a lie, but it was best if she believed it. Even better if I convinced myself, too.

“What about Abe? You seemed to have a good time with him last night.”

And then again today, I didn’t say. But she was right. He was funny and we seemed to get along really well. Not that I was sure he was even interested that way, but he was definitely fun to hang out with.

“Yeah,” I said. “He’s pretty nice.”

“Are you going to go for it?”

I started walking again. “Let’s get through this evening first. Come on, we’d better get down the hall or Emmie’s going to freak out.”

~♥~

The boys were early, though none of us were surprised. We figured they’d come in advance to set up or get in position or whatever it was they needed to do.

So we sat in the locker room of the aquatics center, huddled around Celia’s laptop, watching as they muddled around under the outside security lights.

“What are they doing?” Naomi asked.

“Who knows,” Chelly said. “Being boys.”

And then they disappeared into the bushes. Maybe they thought they would jump out and scare us or something. The camera was aimed at the building, so once they moved into the woods, we couldn’t see anything. Celia looked out one of the small windows but said she couldn’t see anything other than a few flashes of light. Maybe they were using their phones as flashlights, she said.

At 10:50 (Emmie said we needed to make them sweat a bit and think maybe we weren’t coming) we left the locker room and made our way quietly down the hallway to the back door. We were all excited and nervous and I bet every one of our hearts was racing like crazy. I know mine was. We held hands, all ten of us, and walked single file in our Rosewood kilts and blazers.

We stopped at the door to the outside. “Ready, girls?” Emmie asked in a whisper.

“Yes,” we all said as one.

And then we made our big entrance.