“DAMMIT!” JOSH SHOUTED FROM THE TOP of a ladder after he had accidently hit his thumb with a hammer while trying to hang up a band of multi-colored party streamer flags.

  As the flags floated down to the ground floor of the massive, multi-level Cabin, standing at the bottom of the ladder with her hands placed on her hips was Amber Swanson.

  “Everything going good up there, Superstar?” Amber playfully asked Josh as he sucked on his sore thumb to soothe the surging pain.

  Pulling his thumb out of his mouth, Josh said from standing on top of the ladder, “Urgh… Yeah. I’m fine, Amber. I just popped my thumb with the STUPID FUCKING hammer.”

  “You’re supposed to be hitting the nails with the hammer, Josh… NOT YOURSELF. Heh, heh, heh…”

  “REALLY??? You don’t say?!”

  Josh then smirked at the cheerleader as she smirked back at him in return.

  Breaking up this brief ‘moment’ between the two ‘friends’ was Amber’s arrogant boyfriend, Brent Fuller.

  “YO, J-RUSS!” Brent thundered. “I just got off the phone with Greenberg’s older brother, and he said that he’ll have the kegs delivered over here in like half an hour.”

  Pulling his eyes away from Amber, Josh looked over at Brent and said, “Oh, uh… Alright, man. Cool. Did you get some pumps?”

  “Pumps?”

  “Uh, yeah??? PUMPS, Brent. Y’know ‘keg pumps’ so we can, like, ‘pump’ the beer out of the kegs and into our cups? OR ELSE IT’S JUST GONNA STAY IN THE TANK AND GO BAD.”

  Narrowing his bright green eyes, Brent spurred, “I know what keg pumps are, Josh. I’m not an idiot.”

  “Well then, Brent,” Josh started as he climbed down the ladder. “If you know what they are then why don’t you have them with you right now?”

  “You never told me to get any pumps, Josh. I’m only on ‘KEG DUTY’, bro.”

  “Okay… So, if you’re on ‘Keg Duty’ then why don’t you have the KEG PUMPS Brent. I told you several times this AND last week when we were planning this whole thing to make sure that you had to get the pumps BY TODAY. Don't you remember?”

  “URGH… YES, JOSH. I fucking remember.”

  “Well, if you ‘remember’, Brent, then WHY didn’t you get them like you were SUPPOSED TO???”

  In a feeble attempt to cover his ‘shirking of duties’, Brent fumbled, “WELL, UH… I… I told SHAW to get them. YEAH! THAT’S IT! Shaw was supposed to take care of getting the keg pumps… NOT ME.”

  _

  Down on the Cabin’s first floor back deck were the ‘numb-skull’ Varsity Football Players Dirk Shaw and Sean Greenberg.

  Currently, they were setting up a ‘homemade beer pong table’ that was crudely constructed out of plywood and gray duct tape. It was also painted purple and white (in honor of K.H.S.) along with a big purple and white ‘K’ logo etched at its center.

  “SHAW!!!” Brent then suddenly cried out from inside of the Cabin up on its top, third floor.

  “Ugh… Shit,” Shaw sighed. “The fuck does he want NOW?”

  “Better get in there before B-Money has a TOTAL MELTDOWN, bruh,” Greenberg warned out of fear of Brent’s wrath.

  Shaw sighed again as he lugged himself inside the Cabin with Greenberg following from behind.

  _

  “YEAH, BRENT???” Shaw asked after he had met back up with Brent, Josh, and Amber inside up on the Cabin’s second floor.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  “WHERE ARE THE PUMPS, YOU FUCKIN’ IDIOT?!” Brent BLARED in Shaw’s confused looking face.

  “Huh? PUMPS???” Shaw huffed. “What ‘pumps’, B?”

  Josh then rolled his eyes as Amber looked off to the side irritably.

  “THE FUCKING KEG PUMPS, YOU DUMBASS!!!” Brent raged. “The ones that I TOLD YOU to get for the kegs for the party TONIGHT!”

  Shaw had no idea what Brent was talking about because it was an obvious lie.

  “Well… WHERE ARE THEY?!?!” Brent barked.

  Glancing over to Greenberg and back at Brent, Shaw replied, “Uh… Brent, you never told me to get any keg pumps.”

  Amber looked at her boyfriend with narrowed eyes now as Josh said in enthusiastic sarcasm, “AND THE TRUTH FINALLY REVEALS ITSELF!!!”

  Caught in his lies, Brent took out his frustrations on Shaw by screaming at the top of his lungs, “DIRK, I FUCKING TOLD YOU TO GET THEM A WEEK AGO, YOU DEAF-FUCK!!!!”

  The hapless follower then lowered his head like a dog as Greenberg looked on.

  As Brent continued to verbally assault his ‘friend’ Josh sighed, “Ugh… Alright, Brent. CALM DOWN. It’s not a big deal.”

  “NO! It is a big deal, Josh!” Brent snapped back. “How in the hell are supposed to drink beer when we can’t even get it outta the FUCKIN’ KEGS?!”

  “GOD SHAW, you REALLY fucked up on this one, bro!” Brent bolstered in his subordinate’s face. “You better HOPE and PRAY that Josh doesn’t kick your DEAF and DUMB SORRY-ASS outta here on account of you being SO stupid!”

  Shaw had an obviously ‘hurt’ look on his face now after Brent’s verbal onslaught on him.

  “BRENT, COOL IT,” Josh firmly ordered. “NOBODY is getting kicked out of ANYWHERE. IT’S NOT A BIG DEAL. I’ll just run into town and get a couple myself with my fake or something.”

  “BUT WHAT ABOUT SHAW?” Brent asked after looking back at Josh. “Aren’t you pissed at him?”

  “No, Brent. I’m not… Because it was YOUR JOB originally.”

  Brent’s face now reddened as he clenched his fists.

  Noticing this, Amber stepped towards her boyfriend and ordered, “BRENTON, STOP IT… NOW.”

  Fearing his girlfriend's ‘bitch side’, Brent ultimately backed down.

  “URGH… FUCK THIS SHIT!” Brent shouted before walking off downstairs to the first level to go out and ‘pout’ on the back deck.

  “Thanks, Josh,” Shaw said in Brent’s wake. “I honestly don’t know what Brent was talking about.”

  “It’s cool, Dirk,” Josh smirked. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Brent just needs to listen to his own ‘advice’ for once and shut the hell up.”

  Amber smirked at this slight as she said, “Ugh… WELL, I better go down and check on ‘BIG BABY BRENTON’ before he has another ‘hissy fit’.”

  “Heh, heh… Yeah, you better,” Josh chuckled.

  As Amber started to walk downstairs, Josh called out, “HEY, AMBER!”

  “Yes, Josh?” Amber asked.

  “Before you go deal with ‘Mr. Emotional’, did you happen to get that playlist made up for Diego tonight for the party tonight yet that I asked you about the other day in Spanish?”

  “Yep! Sure did! Layla’s bringing it over in like an hour or so after she finishes up her shift at The Blast.”

  (The Blast was a ‘fast food drive-through’ restaurant where Layla ‘Body-Karate’ Check worked as a ‘rollerblade-sporting, car hop waitress’.)

  With an ill expression on his face, Josh replied, “Oh, uh, Layla’s coming tonight?”

  “Ah-huh.”

  “Great.”

  “OH, COME ON, JOSHY! You know deep down that you LOVE Layla! HA-HA!”

  “Ugh… Yep, sure do. I mean, how could you not?” Josh sarcastically replied.

  “REALLY???” Amber asked in false surprise. “Well then, I’ll be sure to let her know that you said that when I text her in a few.”

  Amber then started to giggle excessively as Josh waved her off.

  Realizing what she had just said, Josh’s eyes immediately widened.

  “Uh… You’re not really going to tell Layla that, Amber... ARE YOU???” Josh asked nervously as Amber shrugged her shoulders playfully.

  Running his hand through his gelled-hair, Josh said in a disgruntled tone of voice, “Ugh… Fuck me.”