Apocalypsis 03 - Exodus

are ya? I’ll be liable to slap some-a-you if that’s the case. Serious.”
    “No,” I said, “no weirdness here. Go ahead and flop around like a one-armed seal. I won’t say a word.”
    Everyone froze in place, probably shocked that I’d said it. But I couldn’t think of any other way to diffuse the uncomfortable feeling, and it didn’t serve any purpose to keep pretending everything was normal.
    “I can’t believe you jus’ said that,” said LaShay.
    I didn’t say anything. I was waiting for her to flop around some more and slap me. I wouldn’t have fought her if she’d decided to do it, either, since I probably deserved it.
    “That was funny as hell,” she said, smiling. “Damn, girl. Remind me never to ask you if I look fat.”
    Everyone laughed, and the tense situation was diffused. Fohi further erased the bad feelings by swimming over and saying, “We need you ladies to settle a bet we have going on over here. Who’s better-looking … me or Rob?”
    “Paci!” yelled Winky, sending us into giggles all over again.
    “Paci’s not in the contest, Winky. Shut up . It’s me or Rob, no one else.”
    Another girl yelled out, “Trip!”
    “Come on, seriously? He’s friggin’ gay. Me or Rob. Tell us.”
    “Peter!” yelled LaShay. “He’s got you all beat.”
    Fohi splashed water at all of us. “Never mind. You chicks are lame.”
    “I pick Rob!” yelled a little voice from the middle of our group. It was a smallish girl I remembered from one of my sessions. She’d voluntarily walked out instead of fighting anyone, which had been a relief to me. She was too tiny to go up against those canners without serious training.
    “Whoo hoo! You hear that, Fohi? I win!” yelled Rob.
    “You cheated,” he grumbled. “I’m outta here.”
    “Poor Fohi,” I said quietly to the girls. “He doesn’t get any respect.”
    “I actually think he’s kinda cute,” said another girl. “But we don’t need to tell him that. His stupid head gets swollen just looking in a mirror.”
    “Honest to God, I think the chiefs are the best lookin’ guys in this place,” said LaShay. “You guys musta picked ‘em for that, right?”
    “No,” said Winky. “We picked them for their parents’ positions in the tribes before. But they’re kind of natural leaders anyway.”
    I nodded. They had different styles, but both of them were effective in their own ways.
    I almost didn’t want to broach the subject, but I had to because it was niggling at the back of my mind and I knew it wasn’t going to let me sleep. “Why’d Fohi say Trip is gay? Is he just messing around?”
    No one said anything for a few seconds and LaShay let out a burst of air. She was feeling the tension just like I was apparently.
    “It doesn’t matter to me. I’m just curious,” I said, trying to shrug it off. Hopefully I hadn’t just dis-invited myself from future pool parties.
    “It’s just a rumor,” said Winky. “Nobody really knows.”
    “Oh.” I couldn’t think of anything else to say. It’s not like it was my business, really. I was starting to really regret saying anything.
    “I think he is,” said the girl who said she thought Fohi was cute. “He’s never really had a girlfriend.”
    “Yes he did, Mandy,” said Winky. “He dated that girl two years ago … what’s her name?”
    “Yeah, but they never did anything. They just went to that formal together and that’s it. Just a kiss goodnight. And it wasn’t very hot, either, from what I heard.”
    “How do you know that?” asked Winky. “He acts all manly man around us all the time. I can’t believe he gave an un-hot kiss.”
    “Seriously,” said LaShay. “The boy is hot. But that don’t mean nothin’. There’s plenty of gay hot guys walkin’ around. Like Peter.”
    I giggled. “You think Peter’s hot?”
    “Sure, in a prim and proper boy-next-door kinda way. Right? Am I crazy?”
    “No, you’re not crazy,” said another girl. “He’s adorable.”
    “They would make the absolute cutest couple of all time,” said Mandy.
    “Who?” I asked. I was totally lost now.
    “Peter and Trip, duh. Who’ve we been talking about this whole time?”
    “Yeah, but …” I shook my head. Peter and Trip? Is that even possible? I tried to play back the memory of seeing Peter meeting someone in the woods. He was tall and broad-shouldered like Trip. Could that have been him? And if it was, what were they arguing about? Whatever it was, it had