We found Brian in line for The Indiana Jones Adventure "Temple of the Forbidden Eye" ride, putting Nick in a headlock.
       "Say uncle!"
       "No!"
       "Say uncle!"
       "NO!"
       "Say uncle!"
       "UNCLE!"
       Brian let go of Nick. The blond boy's face was red and his hair was disheveled. Brian had not intended on that, but he realized this way Julie could see Nick in a different state and know that Brian had won.
       "That's still not mature," Jenny commented with a smirk.
       "Whatever, missy," Brian replied.
       When the ride had first opened, visitors had been handed inscription cards that had symbols representing letters. We had found out why we had received them once we got into the 'ancient' temple; all over the walls were phrases written in the strange language. The point of the cards had been to keep people busy decoding the phrases while they waited in the long winding line. They no longer gave out the cards, but I had happened to save mine from my first trip on the ride oh so long ago. Brian saw it and grabbed it for a second.
       "Look, that says 'a girl named Julie is very pretty'," Brian pointed out.
       Julie rolled her eyes but said "Why thank you, Brian." Brian beamed at her recognition, handing the card back to me.
       "Well that one says 'I am utterly bored to death and at the moment I wouldn't even mind being one of those skeletons hanging over there'." AJ said, bluntly pointing behind Julie, who abruptly screamed in shock, not knowing they had been hanging behind her.
       "You girls are so antsy," Nick commented as he put his arm around Julie attempting to comfort her.
       "Not me, " Jenny proudly stated. "Those two are wimps."
       "Excuse me?" I raised an eyebrow at her.
       "Well, Julie is...Anyway, talking about boredom, how about we play a little game?" Jenny asked.
       "Like what?" AJ inquired, liking the smirk on Jenny's face.
       "Oh, I dunno...how about.....um...Truth or Dare?" she evilly grinned.
       "Yeah, cool, lemme go first!" AJ said as he decided for everyone that we would play it. AJ put his hand holding his chin while in deep thought, looking at all of us, preparing to choose a victim.
       "Sa...no...Ke...no...Ni...no...Ju...no...Br...no...Ho...no...I know, JENNY!" he finally decided.
       "What! Humph, then just ask me already," she grumbled,; she hated being picked first.
       "Truth or Dare?"
       "Truth," she grumbled again
       "Damn, woman,  why do you have such an attitude all the time?"
       "What? Oh, I dunno. It's just me. My life is sarcasm, just like it is with Julie and Sarah, and they take everything I say lightly. I, well, I just am who I am. I'm Jenny, so deal with it." She looked like she was finished, but continued, "and besides, I don't have such an attitude with my FRIENDS." Shooting her eyes at AJ with a little smile
       "Ouch, you're killing me here," he said clutching his chest.
       "Save it, AJ," both Jenny and Howie said at the same time.
       Howie continued, "It's getting old." AJ made a face and ended his dramatic acting.
       "My turn!" Jenny realized with glee. "Hmmmm" she thought, "Sarah!" I flinched. I despised truth or dare. I never had the guts to do a Dare, and I didn't like the Truth part one bit.
       "Fine, ask, get it over with."
       "Truth or Dare?"
       "Truth"
       "Okay then...hmmm....well, Julie and I know the answer to this question...."
       No, I thought.
       "But I bet the Boys would love to know..."
       No, please Jenny, don't, more thoughts.
       "Which Backstreet Boy do you LIKE?" she gleefully finished. I glared at her as she innocently smiled back.
       "Um," I turned to the Boys and hesitated, "Would you believe I like all of you the same?"
       "C'mon Sarah, I know you know I mean which one you have a crush on..." Jenny urged.
       "I don't have a 'favorite," Jenny! Stop acting like I'm 13," I snapped.
       "Well, then, you used to have a 'favorite,' did you not? C'mon, spill it! You chose truth!!" she replied. I sighed.
       "Fine, I..I..I liked Kevin, okay? Happy, Jenny?" I glared at her then looked at my shoes, not wanting to catch anyone's eyes.
       "That's cool, don't fret about it," AJ assured me. I wasn't sure about Kevin though; he was silent.
       I broke the ice, "Um, now it's MY turn." I looked around. "Julie, Truth or Dare?"
       "Truth."
       "Since Jenny put me in such a position, I know ask you the same question, who do you have a 'crush' on?" She looked at me with pleading eyes. She gave a sigh identical to my        previous one.
       "Okay, okay....I feel odd saying I have a 'favorite' cuz my problem is I 've never been able to decide between Nick and Brian..."
       "Cool!" Nick said. Brian beamed.
       "My turn, " Julie realized. "Nick, Truth or Dare?" Nick pondered for a moment.
       "Everyone has picked Truth, so I'll pick Dare"
       "Okay...um....I dunno....uh, I dare you to sing something."
       Nick smiled. "Aw, that's easy." He said as he began to sing a quiet version of "I Need You Tonight"  to a blushing Julie. Their eyes locked for a few moments and they seemed to be in a different world throughout the song. I noticed Brian wasn't too happy with the incident.
       "Cool, now I get to go!" He jumped with glee when he finished the song. "Hey, Frick, Truth or Dare?"
       "Um, Truth."
       "Do you have a crush on anyone in this group?"
       "Nick, stop with this stupid subject, will you? Be original."
       "Hey, it's my question!"
       "Crush sounds juvenile. Fine. If you're asking if I'm interested in someone here, the answer is yes."
       Nick's eyes lit up. "Who?"
       "Sorry, Nicky-boy, only one question, and you used yours!" Brian smiled with satisfaction.
       "No!, C'mon, ugh!" Nick exclaimed when Brian shook his head and took his fingers to his lips, pretending to zip them closed.
       "Hey, Julie, Sarah, you mad at Jenny?" Brian asked us. We smiled and nodded.
       "No, don't ask me, Bri," Jenny pleaded, "Besides, I've already been asked, pick someone who hasn't been."
       "I know, I know. Hey D, Truth or Dare?" Brian hinted something to him with his eyes.
       "Dare," Howie got the hint.
       "Cool. Remember how you wanted to sing ‘Happy Birthday' to Jenny? Well here's your chance, I Dare you to!" he chuckled.
       Howie looked at the horrified Jenny and shrugged, "Well it IS a dare...." and sang to her. Jenny grumbled at Brian after it was over.
       "Smooth trick, mister," she quietly commented with a smile.
       "Hey Kev, Truth or Dare?" Howie asked, taking his turn.
       "Um, I'll choose to stay out of this..." Kev in stepped behind me.
       "Oh no you don't, you are not getting out of this!" Howie exclaimed, "So, Truth or Dare?"
       "Geeze, fine then. Um...Dare I guess," he replied, annoyed.
       "Good...hmm, what can I do?" He wondered out loud as Jenny whispered something into Howie's ear and giggled. Just because it was her idea, he used it, "Okay Kevy-Kev, I want you to kneel down on one knee and kiss Sarah's hand. I rolled my eyes.
       "Are you crazy D?" Kevin tried to get out of it.
       "No, c'mon, you picked Dare."
       Kevin came from behind me, got down on one knee, and took my shaking hand in both of his. He looked up at me, and then warmly kissed, it sending goosebumps all over me, which I skillfully tried to ignore. He got up as they cooed at us. Damn, that was stupid. I'd never felt like such a junior high kid before.
       "Yo AJ," Kevin said, "Truth or Dare?"
       "You know me, " he replied mischievously, "Dare, all the way!" Kevin thought for a moment. He wanted to get Jenny back for embarrassing me, twice.
       "Okay then..." He grinned at me then at Jenny, "AJ, I Dare you to pick up Jenny and put her on your shoulder like a rag doll, and carry her like that until we get to that sign in the line," he stated as he pointed to a sign further down in the line.
       "Now that's what I call a Dare!" AJ laughed as he headed towards Jenny.
       "Don't you touch me!" She tried to back up.
       "But it's a dare!" He pleaded.
       "I don't care!" she replied.
       "Hey that rhymes!" Nick commented.
       "Shut up, Nick," Brian warned him.
       "Noo!" she yelled as AJ finally picked her up and swung her over his shoulder. "You gotta gain some weight there, girl! You're too light!" he yelled at her.
       "Put me down!" she yelled back at him, half giggling.
       "We're not to the sign yet!" he replied; he liked the situation.
       "Do you want your arms permanently shoved up a place where the sun don't shine?!" she threatened. With that, AJ immediately, but gently, put her down.
       "Geeze, feisty lady." he said.
       "Shut up," was her only reply as she playfully punched him in the arm. She looked at us, noticing we were all laughing at the situation and the cute argument.
       That aside, it was now our turn to get into the huge jeep that would take us on the ride. It had four rows of four seats, we took up the first two rows. I sat by the driving wheel and motioned to Kev, who was behind me in line, to come sit down in the next seat. I think he was a bit happy I invited him to, I had hoped he wouldn't stay silent towards me for the rest of the day because of the whole Truth or Dare thing. Julie complained that she didn't want to be on the end of the row, like I was, so she got in next, and Brian attempted to 'bravely' sit on the end to 'protect her'. AJ started the next row behind me, and he pulled Jenny next to him with her protesting, making sure he wouldn't get stuck next to Howie like he had in the Haunted Mansion. Howie, not wanting to leave Jenny alone by AJ, sat next to her. She of course was wedged in between them and was complaining to me and Kevin about her situation. Nick sat on the end of the row, behind Brian. He was aggravated that Brian was next to Julie, so he frequently pulled strands of Brian's hair.
       "Ow, Nick, quit it!"
       "Quit what?".
       "Just stoppit."
       "Stop what?"
       "Argh.."
       Julie laughed through all of this.
       The ride started, and was jolting and exciting all the way. I noticed that Brian had put his arm around Julie to comfort her. At one point, a huge snake made a lunge for us, and I thought I actually heard both AJ and Jenny scream. When going down a hallway, air was spurted at us from all angles, this even made Kevin flinch. We also came face to face with a huge boulder. I knew half of the car closed their eyes, but then opened them and found we had somehow lived.
Afterwards, we walked out of the exit. Nick caught up to Julie and hugged her with one arm her asking her if she was okay. Brian made a slight face. Howie got the idea and attempted to hug Jenny, who blew up at him and said she was fine. That gave AJ the hint not to touch her, at least not for awhile. Kevin put his arm around my shoulder to give me a short hug too, laughing about how we survived the ride Julie despised for some odd reason. I smiled.
       "I'm hungry!" wailed Nick, kicking a rock on the pathway.
       "Me too," Brian agreed with him.
       "You two always are," AJ grumbled.
       "Hey, it IS close to lunchtime," Howie defended them.
       "You guys like clam chowder?" I asked.
       "Sure" Kev replied.
       "Well, there's this cool place down the walk way, c'mon, it's good!"
       "Okay, let's go" they all agreed and followed me as I directed them.
       "Sarah has a map of this place in her head, so she SAYS," Jenny informed the rest of the group.
       "I do too, so shut up and just follow me,"  I yelled at them as they lagged behind me.

*Chapter 6 ~ Friends In Clam Chowder*
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