Initiation by Phil M. Williams

nodded. “The girls knew, didn’t they?”
    She smiled. “That’s why I was telling you to relax when they took you down to the basement. It did turn out pretty great, don’t you think?”
    He smiled for a second then his mouth went flat. “What about guys that nobody likes?”
    “We didn’t have a problem finding at least one girl to hook up with each guy. I don’t wanna give you too much of a big head, but a bunch of girls asked about you.” She grinned. “I told those little hoes that you were mine.”
    “So we run out of the basement naked thinking that we had to convince some girl to sleep with us, when really the girls are there ready to wrap us up in a jacket or a towel or blanket or whatever and take us some place to hook up?”
    “Pretty awesome, huh?”
    “Shit.”
    “What.”
    Carter squirmed out from under her. “I gotta go check on Ben.”
    “Who?” she said, sitting up.
    “Ben Wheeler.”
    She frowned. “Why?”
    “He fucked it up. He didn’t run out with the rest of us.”
    Amber put her hand over her mouth, concealing a grin. “Oh my God, he didn’t choose one of the other tests?”
    Carter nodded. “I just let them do it to him.”
    She shook her head, still smiling. “This is crazy. Nobody thought anybody would choose the first two. What did they do to him?”
    “They acted like Justin was gonna hit him in the face with his penis, but he did it with a cucumber. Afterward they told him to go back upstairs and everybody kind of looked at him like he was nothing.”
    She shrugged. “Maybe he’s a faggot.”
    He scowled. “Don’t say that.”
    “Is he your friend?”
    “He was my first friend here.”
    “Was or is?”
    “He hasn’t been talking to me lately.”
    She held her palms up. “Well then he doesn’t sound like a friend to me. I don’t know why you care. He made the choice, not you.”
    Carter shrugged.
    “He’s probably gone anyway.”
    Carter nodded. “I guess so.”
    “So why don’t you take that thing off and grab another one from my purse.”

Chapter 7: One Lie Leads to Another
    – 7 –
    One Lie Leads to Another
    Carter stood at the kitchen counter slathering peanut butter on wheat bread. He gulped down a glass of milk. Alyssa sat next to him with sleepy eyes, slurping the milk from her sugary cereal. Their mom trudged down the stairs in a long silk robe tied at her waist. Her hair was disheveled. Without makeup, her face showed crease lines around her mouth.
    “Do you need a ride?” Grace asked Carter. “I’m taking Alyssa at eight.”
    “It’s okay, Mom. We start at seven-thirty anyway. I’m just gonna walk.”
    Grace inspected Carter with a frown. “Sweetheart, do you think maybe you should wear something a little nicer for the first day of school?”
    Carter glanced down at his baggy jeans and gray T-shirt.
    “And that hat’s seen better days.”
    Carter pulled the brim of his baseball cap low over his eyes. “I gotta go, Mom.” He shoved the bread back into the refrigerator and placed the peanut butter in the pantry. “No time to change now.”
    She shook her head, turning away.
    He swiped the sandwich and his backpack, and marched to the door. “See you guys later,” he said.
    The birds chirped and the late summer sun shone through a cloudless sky. He ate his sandwich as he walked alongside the townhouses, the peanut butter sticking to the roof of his mouth. As he approached the main road through his neighborhood, he saw Sarah ahead of him. He jogged to catch up. She wore red sequined flats like Dorothy from Oz and a blue sundress with white polka dots. She glanced over her shoulder as he gained ground.
    “What up, beyotch?” she said with a smile. She flipped her pink satchel to her outside hip to give Carter more room on the sidewalk. It was adorned with a cartoon fairy. Her hair was brushed to the side, a few strands hanging over her glasses. Her face was flawless without makeup, her lips full without lip gloss.
    “Not much,”