chapter 38- force to dance, born to cringe

"Shotgun closest bed to the TV!" Maddie called out.

I furrowed my brow. "Every day you act more and more like one of the guys."

"You just wouldn't get it. James and Thomas do that stupid bed claiming thing all the time," she said, plopping onto her chosen bed. "I'm just gonna text the gang about dinner orders while we rest up."

"We?" I questioned.

"Me and Max are handling food."

I raised an eyebrow. "Don't forget you still owe gas money from the drive up."

Maddie ignored me and got cozy under the covers. These people are such cheapskates sometimes.

I peeked in the gross mini-fridge - just those sketchy tiny milk cartons and nothing else. I may be hungry, but I wasn't brave enough to chug one of those.

Later after our takeout dinner of burgers, fries and shakes, we all crammed around the small table in James' room since he had snagged the bigger suite. Even though the food hit the spot, it didn't make up for how much gas I burned getting us all the way out here.

"You guys notice," Khaza said with a burp, "excuse me, but we're the only ones at this motel tonight?"

"Yeah I clocked that - a family was leaving right as we pulled in. Guess they don't like strangers around here" he added with a chuckle.

James got all serious again. "Look, all we are is some young people desperately seeking answers about what's happening to us. We tricked our families with bs about school projects and sleepovers, but we can't lie to ourselves - our lives are legitimately on the line here. Even if Maddie's theories are wrong, that doesn't mean we should quit now. This is too real of a threat to all our safety."

Maddie squeezed his arm. "James, you're stressing yourself out again. Like you said, we're just old teenagers taking advantage of the detour life threw us. We're not out smoking and tripping, just chilling as a squad. You need to relax."

He furrowed his brow but seemed to consider her words. We were all pretty fried from the chaos lately. Maybe Maddie was right, we needed to embrace the normal teenage moments when we could to offset the extraordinarily freaky stuff.

I found myself smiling to myself at that thought. Max caught my gaze. What you grinning about over there, Miss Socially Awkward?" Max teased.

"So we got this whole motel to ourselves, huh?" I said, trying to sound casual.

Maddie raised an eyebrow. "Seems that way. Why, what's up?"

A mischievous grin spread across my face. "Well, didn't Thomas bring that big portable speaker?"

Thomas poked his head out looking confused before breaking into a huge smile. He scrambled to dig out the giant booming speaker from his bag. Within seconds, the opening riffs of an old school rock anthem was blasting through the motel room.

"YEAH BABY, THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" I yelled over the music, jumping up on the bed and really getting into it.

The others wasted no time joining in the fun. James started wildly rocking air guitar, windmilling his arms in over-the-top 360-degree spins. Thomas went total goofball mode, dropping into a handstand and kicking his legs up like he was bicycling upside down. Even Maddie couldn't resist, two-stepping with some cringey white girl dance moves.

"Holy shit Mads, leave some rhythm for the rest of us!" I hollered with a laugh.

Jumping down, I grabbed her hands and started swinging her arms, trying to coax out her inner dance vibe. Back home, impromptu dance sessions to the latest tracks were one of my Favorite ways to blow off steam when nobody else was around.

For over an hour, we all just completely let loose - thrashing, moshing, executing terribly choreographed boy band moves - all while the deep bass pumped through the crappy motel room speakers. We were disgusting, sweaty messes by the time the "concert" ended, and we collapsed in gleeful exhaustion.

Back home, dancing freely to music was one of my favorite pastimes when nobody else was around to judge. I grabbed Maddie's hands and we swayed together, me trying to loosen her up and find the groove.

The impromptu dance party went on for over an hour before we all peeled off, sweaty but grinning, to our rooms. Motel rooms

"That was actually kinda fun," Maddie admitted, flopping onto her bed. "But I'm beat now."

"Hey, I've been sitting on my butt driving all day. That was a nice way to stretch the legs." I plopped down too, fanning myself.

"Lucky, we didn't bring any drinks, or your dorky moves would've had you doing headspins all afternoon," she teased.

I stuck my tongue out. "Please, I once landed a wicked backflip off the kitchen counter at home before my mom freaked out."

Maddie raised an eyebrow. "I pegged you more as a hip-hop head than a rocker. But I guess when you vibe with the right people, your music tastes adapt."

"Speaking of vibing..." I said slowly. "You know the high school we passed had a huge swimming pool, way nicer than this motel's lame excuse for one."

Maddie's eyes went wide. "Wait, are you saying we should sneak in for a late-night swim? That's crazy!"

I shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't know, I can be impulsive sometimes. But if you're not down, no worries."

"No, no it actually sounds kinda fun!" She sat up excitedly. "We can text the others to let them know we're just exploring, so they don't freak, and leave their lame asses here and we can have fun."

"They'll probably just think we're lesbians sneaking off together or something," Maddie joked.

I made a weird face"Oh please, says the one who keeps dropping hints to Thomas all the time."I said.

"What? That goofy dork? No way." She waved a dismissive hand. "Unless he was like, secretly rich or something, then maybe I'd consider it as a possibility. Not that I'm actually into him! But...I mean, he does have good qualities. He's strong, treats a girl right even when messing with his friends/ That old-school gentleman thing is kinda romantic, I guess...I just don't see it, well enough with me what about you and james, the group leader "her tone was with questionably forceful tone, like she wanted to know all the secrets.

She stared at me expectantly, but I stayed silent, feeling awkward. Maddie finally rolled her eyes.

"So, are we swimming later or not? I need to grab some water, let me know."

I gave Maddie a mischievous grin. "You know I'm always down for a little adventure. Let's do it!"

She matched my smile and we quickly texted the group chat to let the others know we were going exploring, but not to worry. Predictably, there were some jokes about us being a couple sneaking off, but we ignored the friendly jeers.

Once it was well darkness hit. Maddie and I crept out of the motel room, our swimsuits on under our clothes. The high school was only a few blocks away and it didn't take long to reach the tall chain-link fence surrounding the pool area.

We didn't have long, till midnight, but we still could make it there and back, just in time.

"Okay, give me a boost up and then I'll unlatch the gate," I whispered.

Maddie cupped her hands and I stepped into them, using her leverage to grab the top of the fence and hoist myself up and over in one smooth motion. I dropped down on the other side and quickly undid the cheap padlock, pushing the gate open for Maddie to slip through.

Then we entered what seemed to be a dark unlit pool.