Page 59 of Dropping the Ball

But then I accidentally get interested in the movie when the plot takes a group of five college friends to their old, abandoned summer camp to find out what happened to their sixth friend who disappeared there the summer they turned fifteen. She was never found, and the camp closed after her family sued it for negligence.

Chrissy—strong freshman class secretary vibes—demands the camp director’s single suite for herself because she’s secretly been hooking up with Tuck. Tuck who was the missing girl’s boyfriend. Tuck who sneaks into Chrissy’s room, because Tuck is down to—

Anyway. Tuck refers to the missing girl as Dead Jules while Chrissy giggles. Tuck quickly loses his shirt, and Chrissy is making all kinds of breathy noises.

Exactly what kind of movie has Micah picked for us? If I see Prissy Chrissy’s “pecs,” I’m kicking him out.

Thirty seconds later Tuck does a seductive shirtless crawl up the bed to turn the heat up. No way. I’m not watching a spicy scene with Micah. Prissy Chrissy might only have lost her socksso far, but there is a logical progression here. I straighten to look for the remote.

“Micah, I’m not—aaaaaaahhhHHH!” I scream as clawed human hands erupt from Chrissy’s stomach and drive straight into Tuck’s shirtless torso to yank out his heart.

Daisy leaps into the air when I yell and lands on the floor with her back arched and tail flared. She hisses. Micah jumps too then laughs until Daisy launches herself into my lap and crouches, ready to attack whatever made me scream.

Micah’s laugh trails off. “Whoa, Kaitlyn. Are you okay?”

I point at Chrissy’s face contorted in terror as she watches the hand—gray and decaying except for a perfect shell-pink manicure—protruding from her abdomen squeeze the beati—never mind. Ew. Ew, ew, ew.

I clap my hands over my eyes.

Micah hops up. “I got it, I got it.” The sounds stop.

I lower my hands. The movie is paused, title card back on the screen.

He sits on the cushion beside me. “You didn’t know that was coming?”

“You did?” I ask, my voice shrill and not remotely cool.

He gets a concerned look on his face. “You don’t like horror movies, do you?”

“Apparently not,” I say, only half as shrill.

“Why did you agree to watch it?” he asks. “I wouldn’t make you watch something you hate.”

“I thought I didn’t like horror movies the same way I don’t like car chase movies,” I said. “They sound dumb, so I’ve never bothered. I would have passed if you’d said ghosts or something because that might freak me out for real, but when you said it was zombies, I thought it was going to be corny, not scary.”

“Oh, man. I’m sorry I laughed. I thought you were messing around when you screamed.”

“How did you know it was coming if you haven’t seen it yet?”

“You watch enough horror movies, you know what to expect.”

“Then it’s not scary,” I said. “What’s the point?”

“In the zombie genre, the fun is watching how gross the director can make each infection.”

I press my hand to my heart like the pressure will make it stop beating so hard. I pet Daisy’s back with the other one until she relaxes, stepping off my lap to sit beside me. She doesn’t lie down, but she does curl her tail around her.

“We’ll find something else to watch. A comedy. How does that sound?”

I shake my head before he’s done asking. “No. I want to finish this one.”

“It’s fine, I promise. I wasn’t that invested. I can watch it some other time if I feel like it.”

This is a point of pride now. “If you can watch this without being scared, I can too.”

“It’s not a competition, Katie. Seriously.”

“Sit back, press play, and tell me every single thing that’s going to happen before it happens.” I will not be defeated by a movie that only made him laugh.

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