“Hold on,” Hope said.
Viv balanced on the little disc at the end of the rope and then gripped it tight.
Viv felt Libby and Hope pull her toward them and over a grassy bank that jutted into the water’s edge. They kept pulling until the rope wouldn’t stretch any further, and then they let loose. Viv held onto the rope but felt like she was flying.
She let out a hoot. It was so much fun! Her heart felt like it was flying too.
“Oh no!” Viv glanced toward her friends—they were running! What was happening? Why?
“Viv, LET GO!”
Keith was in the water below. He seemed frantic.
“NOW!”
She did as he said, and though she didn’t have the skill to flip like Keith had, she soared anyway. For a second, she was in the air, still floating. And then she plunged into the lake. Taking a good amount of water up her nose.
She kicked up and broke the surface.
“Wow, that was boss!”
“We gotta swim for it.”
“What?”
Keith pointed to the shore. There was Mr. Ewald, and he had a gun! He was pointing it at her friends as they ran like heck.
“It’s a BB gun, but it can still shoot your eye out. We gotta swim.”
“What about them?”
“They’re headed for the public dock, off Ewald’s spread.”
She hoped none of them got hit with any BBs, and as she thought it, a pellet zipped past her.
“Come on!” Keith said again. They swam as fast as they could, out of range of Ewald’s pellets. As they got closer to the public section of the beach, Keith stopped.
“You okay, Viv?”
“I’m great! That was great! We escaped!”
“You’re a maniac,” Keith said, and they swam, a little slower now, without the threat of losing an eye to one of old man Ewald’s pellets.
Up ahead, Viv could see her friends waving them on. Laughing, also maybe crying. Basically, all the emotions raced through them with their adrenaline.
Viv’s swing into the lake had turned into an adventure she’d never forget.
“Too bad we can’t go again!” Viv said as she followed Keith toward the public beach.
ChapterSix
Viv
Viv looked out on Lake Manitou as she remembered the leap into that water. She hadn’t hesitated. She hadn’t worried about landing or smacking, as they called it, when you belly flop.
She’d barely worried about Old Man Ewald shooting her in the eyeball with a pellet!
Oh, to be young and not have every possible bad outcome play out like a horror movie in your mind.
