So I’ll have to be honest and tell Mandy I’m not interested, tell her I’m saving myself for somebody special. Sarah Foster is the only girl I can imagine being with. Of course, if I say that to Mandy, the thing about saving myself, Tank will wonder who I’m talking about and prod me until I tell him.

And maybe that’s exactly what I need right now. Finally.

The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. The timing will be perfect. What better time to tell Tank about his twin sister and me than right after he’s been with Mandy? I mean, he’ll be in a great mood, right, having just done it and all that? Maybe he won’t beat me to death after all.

I don’t have a watch, but Tank’s been in there close to five minutes now. The annoying sounds, combined with Mandy’s periodic complaints about the skunk that must be hiding under the deck, further sicken me.

And that’s when my stomach decides it can’t handle the stress any longer.

I bend over and vomit onto the white landscape rocks bordering the pool, the burn of bile and whiskey stinging my throat and esophagus as the puke spills out. After wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, I hunch forward and spit out several long and sticky strings of saliva. Feeling much better, I straighten and listen. Mandy and Tank don’t seem to have heard me puking. Good.

I’m about to continue my nervous pacing when a pair of hands surprise me from behind and cover my mouth and eyes. I try screaming, but only a muffled grunt emerges. Next come several more hands and arms, lifting me like a roll of carpet and carrying me several feet before dropping me onto my stomach.

What the hell?

Now two heavy people, have to be guys, are straddling my back, one of them pushing my face into the lawn hard enough for me to taste grass and smell the fertilizer Mr. Frack must have recently applied. This same person pins my arms behind my back, pushing them up at an agonizing angle. The other guy immobilizes my legs, and I’m afraid to move, afraid of more pain. I listen as a flurry of footsteps trot around me and throughout the yard. Then I hear some light laughter and whispers followed by an uncomfortable silence.

A male voice close to my ear says, “Relax, man. It’s just a joke.” The two guys suddenly decide to get off of me and I scramble to my feet, where the flash of a portable spotlight instantly blinds me. Shielding my eyes, I turn away and stumble toward the pool.

That’s when I hear Mandy Frack laughing.

“The hell’s going on out there?” Tank yells from the pool.

“Welcome to senior year, Tank,” Mandy says. “Surprise, surprise!”