Rachel half led, half dragged Nicole outside. Parked in front of the house was a junkyard on wheels that Rachel half-sarcastically referred to as a "car".

The rolling deathtrap had, for the last few years belonged to the teenage girl's older sister, Sarah. Their mother had got her a relatively newer car to take to school with her when she went to college. The "Model S", as Rachel had nicknamed it, passing down to her.    

The reason, the two girls suspected Sarah had gotten a new car to take to her out of state university, was because she would have been incapable of even getting the old one to the campus. This thing couldn't be driven on the highway. The only way it would ever get above 45 MPH would be to drive it off a cliff.

Rachel opened the passenger's side door, the window of which was permanently stuck open and inch or two, and helped Nicole get in. She buckled her friend end, struggling for a moment to get the belt around Nicole's bound hands.

Shutting the door with a rattle that made Nicole wonder if the door would finally just fall off, Rachel walked around and got in the driver's seat. She started the car, after some effort. The key was worn and slightly bent. The car's engine roared to life, gurgling and clanging loudly.

The tinny sound of very loud music turned down very soft filled the car. Among the cars other "features", it had been equipped, at some part in its long life, with a radio, one of the finest examples of eastern European electronics.

Its instruction manual had been lost to time and the writing on the buttons had long been worn away. Nicole and Rachel had spent many hours trying to figure out how to work it, but the only knob they'd found to consistently work was the volume control.

They couldn't figure out how to turn it off, or change the station, permanently set, it seemed, to an odd Spanish-language radio station. The best they could do was turn the radio down as low as it could go and try their best to ignore it. Which was easy enough, as it was, more often than not, drowned out by the ominous clangs and bangs from the engine.

"So, Rachel…" Nicole said, as the car lurched forward, once again laughing in the face of statistics and odds. "That's one challenge down. What's the next one?

"You'll see…" Rachel replied. "First, I've got to pick up a few things for some of the challenges." After driving for a few minutes, Rachel pulled into the parking lot of the local Wal-Mart. "This should only take a minute or two…" Rachel said, lowering all the windows that could be moved.

She got out and hurried inside. As cool as the morning had been, the day quickly heated up, reminding Nicole that summer was once again almost upon them. By the time Rachel got back, Nicole was starting to sweat. "Sorry," Rachel said, tossing her friend a soda. "Long line at the register."

Nicole pinned the bottle between her knees so she could open it with her hands. She took a long sip of the cold, refreshing drink. "So what did you get for the challenges?" She asked, glancing over at the bag Rachel had brought with her.

The teenage girl quickly hid the bag behind her seat. "It's a surprise." Rachel said. "Don't look unless you want to spend the rest of the day blindfolded to!" Rachel threatened. She started the car and pulled out of the parking lot.

After a few turns, it became apparent to Nicole, Rachel was heading to the park and the nearby community center. She wasn't surprised. Recently, the center had been remodeled a couple months back after a fire. The new building boasted indoor and outdoor pools, a gym, and game rooms, not to mention the public park nearby.

They arrived at the park and, after some searching, found a parking spot. The community center was crowded, it seemed. Nicole got out of the car while Rachel reached back and rummaged through her secret bag of goodies.

A second later, she joined Nicole. In her hands, she held a brightly colored, plastic Frisbee. "Come on, Nicole!" She said, hurrying across the hot parking lot towards the grassy park. The park was full of people out enjoying the warm weather of late spring before the scoring hot days of summer. All around the teenagers, people were jogging, biking, walking dogs or just picnicking in the sun.

Nicole got a couple stares, being tied up, but the few who asked were satisfied with her quick explanation of the wager. Meanwhile, Rachel found an open spot of ground the two could use for the next challenge.   

"Hey, Nicole!" Rachel said turning as Nicole hurried to catch up. "Catch!" She hurled the Frisbee in the vague direction of Nicole. The bright yellow disk flew by Nicole a good ten feet over her head.

Nicole sighed and trudged after the wayward Frisbee. "Come on Nicole!" Rachel shouted after her. "Right here!" Toss it right here!" Nicole obliged her, trying to throw the Frisbee pinched between her bound hands. The plastic disk tumbled a few feet before it fell to the ground about a yard in front of Nicole.

Ignoring her friend's laughter, she picked it up again and tossed it. This time, it flew a little further, coming to rest on the grass about midway between the two girls. Rachel laughed again. "I'll take that, I guess…" she jogged over and picked the toy up.

The two friends tossed it back and forth for another half hour or so, or rather, Rachel tossed the disk and Nicole tried her best to catch it as the bright yellow missile whizzed by before trying her best to get it back to her friend.

After a while, Nicole got fairly good at pinching the Frisbee between her palms and could catch it more than half the time. Throwing it, though… well at least she could get it airborne. Whether it flew to Rachel or not depending on the luck of the gods.

"Ok, Nicole…" Rachel said, walking over to her. "That's enough practice. It's time for your second challenge. We'll toss it back and forth, say ten times, and if you drop the Frisbee or let it touch the ground say, three times, you lost. Got it?"

Nicole nodded. "Oh well…" she thought. It had been fun while it lasted…

To her surprise, though, things went rather well at first. She got two easy tossed and managed to hook the Frisbee on her finger as it flew by and grabbed it between her hands. Her return throws, meanwhile, were not nearly as good, going wide or coming to a stop midway between the teenage girls. Then again, she wasn't being judges on her throws, just her catches. She just might win this one…

On the fourth throw, Nicole stumbled as she ran to grab it, letting the yellow plastic toy fall out of her fingers to the ground. She caught the next two, barely, but missed the next one as it spun between her hands which closed a second later on empty air.

"Darn!" Nicole cursed softly to herself as she picked it up and tossed it back to Rachel who ran to catch it easily. "Focus girl." Nicole thought. "That's two you've missed. Three strikes and you're out!"  She dove to catch Rachel's return throw, grabbing it just before it hit the ground. The next one was an easy catch. Only one more now…

Rachel grinned, tossing the Frisbee high into the air. There was no way Nicole could catch it as it flew by high overhead. Nicole took off sprinting after the Frisbee, but it was apparent there was no way she could catch it before the disk touched the ground…

Suddenly, a hand reached out and grabbed the yellow disk out of the air. Nicole turned and found herself looking at a young Asian girl. Amy smiled and handed it back to Nicole. "I think this is yours." She said, "oh, and if you don't mind, is there any particular reason you're tied up?"

The two girls' had seen Amy at school a couple times at school, passing by in the halls, but they hadn't spoken since Miss Jones party. None the less, they knew she enjoyed tie up games almost as much as they did. She grinned and laughed as Nicole explained the wager.

'That's 10!" Nicole said, as Rachel jogged over.

'You didn't catch it!" Rachel protested.

"You never said I had to catch them." Nicole countered. 'You just said I couldn't drop the Frisbee or let it touch the ground. Did it touch the ground?" She asked Amy. The young woman shook her head.

Rachel fumed, but gave in. 'Alright, you win this one, if only so I can have some fun giving you the rest of the challenges I've planned out. You want to come along?" She asked Amy. "It'll be fun!"

"I don't know…" Amy said, thinking. "I was supposed to meet Henry here." Nicole and Rachel nodded; they'd met her boyfriend at school a couple times. "But that was half an hour ago, so sure, why not?"

"Did you bring your swim suit?" Rachel asked as they headed back towards the community center. Amy nodded. "Good. I figured after this one we'd need to cool off a bit. We're going to the pool!"