I closed my eyes and sniffed at the bush's direction without approaching it. A few scents caught my enhanced senses from behind the bush. Sweat and body odor with a breath of weed, enough to tell me a person was hiding there, obviously.

“Hey guys,” I whispered. “There is something here.”

Brian and the girls paused, turning toward me.

"What?" Tiffany asked in a low tone.

I pointed my finger at the bush. They glanced at the bush.

Tiffany glared at me. “I don’t see any-”

“BOO!” A fat guy in a black hood jumped from the bush, waving his hands in the air. White makeup glazed his face with black smudges around his blue eyes above his black-painted nose, representing a skull face.

The girls gasped as if a mouse ran up their dresses. I only glared, expecting the kid to pop out of nowhere. When I can smell danger, nothing can scare me off my guard.

Brian laughed. “Nice one, Rory.”

The fat kid laughed and removed his hood. He scratched his bushy ginger hair. “I scared you! I scared you!”

Malaya rolled her eyes, annoyed. “Whatever.”

“Girls, this is Rory. My favorite pain in the ass from out of town,” said Brian.

The fat kid strolled toward us while brushing the leaves off his butt. “So you are the cheerleaders from Brian’s school? Damn, he is lucky.”

Tiffany giggled and wrapped her arms around her boyfriend. “He’s lucky to have me. He is our hottest champ at school.”

“Tiffany, right?” Rory chuckled. “Brian never shuts up about you.”

Tiffany curled her lips. “He better be.” She rubbed Brian’s ear. “Because he will be in deep trouble by me.”

Brian giggled as he shivered. “Oh, baby. You know I will never stop talking about you.”

Mark told no one about me when we were dating. After he revealed his dark secret, I now understood why.

He was an immortal werewolf, keeping his distance from human civilization. If he had friends, he would have talked to them about me?

A girl feels special when her boyfriend lets the entire world know their existence. But without Mark, it didn’t matter to me anymore.

Rory glanced at me. “And you are Jessica?”

“Yeah,” I answered.

His eyes followed my curvy body. “Damn, you’re hot! How did you know I was hiding behind that bush?”

“I saw it move.”

“Really?” He scratched his belly. “Those damn bugs must be crawling all over me.”

And he totally needed to take a bath. I can smell any dirty boy a mile away.

“Rory, do you know where Kason is?” Brian asked.

Rory gazed at the trail straight ahead of us. “He’s probably waiting inside the castle. We cleaned the main hall, except the upper floors.”

“Did you explore the entire castle?” I asked.

“No, Brian told us to prepare the lower floor.”

“The castle is pretty big,” said Brian. “He won’t have enough time to clean the entire place.”

“How big?” Holly asked.

“Trust me, it is big.”

Probably big enough for anyone to get lost inside. There could also be hidden places where naughty couples could hide and make out. I know parties could totally turn wild when adults aren’t around unless the adults liked to go crazy with the teens.

“Then let’s hit the castle now.” Rory smiled at me and held out his hand. “Shall we?”

I stared at his open palm. “Shall we what?”

“Escort. It’s a gentleman thing.”

Oh, I see. Just because I’m totally hot, he thought he could score me tonight.

I’m still wasn’t in the mood to meet someone else, and Rory smelled like french fries left under a dusty couch.

“No thanks, I can totally walk by myself,” I said.

Rory shrugged. “Oh well. Maybe next time.”

How about never a next time!

Boys…..

We continued through the forest behind Brian and Rory. There better not be any more jump scares at the castle.