My face feels hot as I tap the shutter button with unsteady fingers.
As we stand there, River slowly takes his arm from my shoulder.
“Edit it. Nobody needs to see my whole face,” is all he says as he leaves. A dark spark crackles in my chest. Why doesn’t he want anyone to see his face? In this case, is it only my dad, or is he afraid I’ll post it somewhere?
I crop his face to his nose but make sure to show how attractive his smile is. I pressSend.
Finally, I read the message from Mr. Spock:
Stardate 7:50: My Big Five for life would be simple: love, work, laugh, sleep, and The Big Fuck, i.e., fucking. If loving and fucking are one and the same, which I hope they are, I’ll add ‘partying with friends’ to my list. However, that would require having some first. My arm is feeling better. Thanks for asking.
New message:Kansas? Are you okay?
New message:Where are you? Are you in trouble?
I’m here, I text quickly. Again, he didn’t get a message from me this morning. Am I like Jenny, who forgot about me as soon as she suddenly had new friends and was a size zero? I feel bad, thinking I should tell him the truth.
I write:I’m never going back to that fucking hell Kensington.
That is at least partially true. Mr. Spock is offline, but I assume he’ll write this afternoon or evening. I should ask River to drive to Oklahoma City so I can meet a Milford Holloway. On the other hand, I don’t even know if that’s really his name.Tai nasha no karosha, I type quickly in Vulcan. Live long and prosper.
We’ve just passed Mount Rushmore and are driving through the Black Hills when I notice River is constantly looking around.
“This dirty Camaro has been stuck to us for an hour,” he curses at one point, taking the next curve so sharply that I fly against the door. My shoulder throbs.
“Sorry, Tucks.”
He accelerates, and the Porsche flies across the narrow asphalt as if it were shot from a bow. In fact, it’s the narrowest road I’ve ever seen; two cars can barely pass each other without one having to pull onto the side of the road. There are only trees on the right and left, nothing else.
I rub my arm nervously, turn, and see a dark sports car behind us. Its headlights look like the evil eyes of an ancient, fire-breathing dragon, and it’s moving fast. As fast as we are.
For a split second, I’m afraid it might be Chester because he installed a tracking device on the Porsche—but then I dismiss that thought. If he had installed a tracking device, he would have appeared much earlier.
I glance at River, but he’s watching the road as intently as a Formula One driver. I can’t possibly shove a text message in his face. That’s why James almost ran him over the day before yesterday.
Maybe he’s running away from the people he was talking to on the phone.It’s hell there, Zozoo.
“Tucks!”
What?
River presses the accelerator, and the engine roars. Trees and low-hanging branches fly past us at high speed.
“Hold on!”
Oh my God!I glance at the speedometer—he’s driving over ninety miles per hour. I anxiously cling to the door handle with my right hand and nod, but he doesn’t see it. The wind grabs my curls, whipping them across my face.
Suddenly, a thought pops into my head. What if he just goes full throttle and drives us into the next tree? On impulse? What if he decides in the next second that he can’t wait until the end of summer?
The wordsdying companionshaunt my mind.
After a killer corner, River continues to step on the gas on the straightaway, and the Porsche zooms forward like a jet on a runway. He shifts up instead of down, and the next curve appears in front of us. It’s sharper and faster than it looked from a distance. River curses. The tires slide, and it smells like a mixture of exhaust and oil.
I open my mouth in a silent scream. The engine roars at the same moment the car fishtails, and my eyes lose focus. Somehow, I notice River pulling the handbrake and steering against the momentum. The seatbelt squeezes the air out of my lungs as I grip the handle even tighter.
We spin like a top until we stop in the direction we were traveling.Oh-God-oh-God-oh-God!
Unable to think straight, my heart pounds in my ears.
