Silhouettes (Finally! A new story!) Part 1

I knew we shouldn't have gone inside.

It was a small cottage – crumbling, abandoned. The roof was thatched, but had huge holes in it, and there was no door. Just a black hole of darkness.

They say a witch used to live there.

Ash was determined to test that theory.

There were six of us: Ash and Harry, the daredevils; Gary, the wiry, nerdy kid; Tara, the pink-loving Barbie girl whom none of us actually like that much; Delilah, the emo with an attitude; and me. Stephanie. The shy one.

It had been Ash's idea – obviously. He was always the one with these ideas. Harry was just his idiot sidekick, agreeing with everything he said and occasionally pitching ideas, which Ash dismissed and then later claimed as his own.

It was hot day in August, and we were all over at Tara's house. We were really only friends with her because she was totally rich and had a swimming pool in her garden, which was great for cooling off.

Delilah and I were sunbathing – well, I was. Being Delilah, she wants her skin to be as pale as possible, so she was wearing combats and a long-sleeved t-shirt while sitting under a huge umbrella that had been pushed into the ground by Ash.

Speaking of Ash, he was in the pool, and Tara was obviously oggling him. I felt a pang of jealousy – I had always fancied Ash, but was too frightened that he would reject me to drop hints. I'm not a flirty kind of girl; I'm extremely shy and can't talk to boys without stuttering or saying something idiotic.

Tara was sitting on the side of the pool, the water just coming up to her ankles. She wore a blue bikini that was WAY too tight on her, and I stared at her body enviously. She was perfect in every way. Why couldn't I be like her?

“CANNONBAAAAALL!” yelled Harry, jumping in. Tara squealed and Ash shouted as he landed heavily in the water, splashing them all.

Gary and I laughed and Delilah raised an eyebrow, a smile flickering on her lips.

“You idiot!” growled Ash, running a hand through his now not-so-perfect jet black hair. “My hair's all wet.”

“Ninny,” Harry replied, sticking his tongue out at him. When Ash reached out to grab him, he disappeared under the water.

“Boys,” Delilah tutted, flicking through her Kerrang! magazine and saying, “PHWOAR!” really loudly at a picture of Andy Biersack. I rolled my eyes and my heart fluttered as Ash walked over and grabbed a towel.

“I'm bored,” he complained. “Can we go down the forest?”

“I'm comfortable.” Delilah said flatly.

“And I don't care,” smiled Harry, wrestling with Ash for the towel.

“I'll go down there,” Tara said flirtily, appearing behind Ash and resting her head on his shoulder. He shrugged her off and rolled his eyes at us. She pouted.

“I'll come too,” I squeaked. Ash smiled at me.

“See?” he said to Delilah. “Steph's gonna come. C'mooooonnn!”

“Fino,” sighed Delilah. At the moment she's very into Spanish, so she speaks it sometimes. Fino, the Spanish word for “fine”, is her favourite word so far.

“Everyone in?” Ash asked, looking around. “Stick your hand in the air like ya just don't care if you wanna go down there!”

Tara laughed – her laugh is the only unattractive part of her; she sounds like a horse – and threw her arms up above her head. Everybody else reluctantly raised their hands, and Ash smiled triumphantly.

“Off we go then,” he said, striding off.

“Wait!” Tara shrieked. “Let me get my wrap!”

More? What do you think?