“Be home by midnight,” Dad said as she walked out withCaleb. “And Ransom?” He swung two fingers from his eyes toward Caleb’s.
“Yes, sir. You know Krav Maga.”
Emery didn’t laugh until they left the cottage. “I’m sorry. He’s a nut.”
“I don’t mind, but, um, this way.” Caleb led her to his truck instead of the Beachwalk. “I hope you don’t mind if we don’t go for ice cream.”
“No ice cream?” She’d been reaching for the door handle but stopped. “Then I’m out.”
“Instead,” he said with some urgency, “we’re executing Operation Revenge on West End High. Do you want to come?”
Well, this was interesting. She’d never been one of the guys before. And she wanted to go. To be with him.
“What sort of payback? Will I get arrested?” She opened the door and climbed in. “If I get arrested, I’ll never speak to you again, and when you die, you’ll be cursed to ride a Ferris wheel for all eternity.”
“You will most definitelynotget arrested.” When he clapped his hand on her leg, it felt hotter than the noon sun. “So? You in?”
“I’m in.” All in. Too far in.
She’d only know him a little over a month, but he’d become a huge part of her heart. She barely thought of her friends in Cleveland. Yet in a few weeks—it was already July—she’d be gone for the rest of the year. Maybe the rest of her life.
Caleb cranked the radio as Kenny Chesney sang “Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven,” slowing as they stopped for the East End’s one traffic light. When it flashed green, Caleb headed out, swerving down the first side street and straight into a driveway.
“I’ll be back,” he said. “Got to get Shift.” Caleb pressed his finger to his lips with a gentle “Shhh.”
“Shift? Who names their kid Shift?”
“His name is Harvey, but everyone calls him Shift.”
A broad, stocky boy ran from the side of the house with two huge garbage bags. He tossed them in the bed, then ran back through the shadows, returning with three more huge bags.
He popped open the passenger door and climbed in next to Emery, crunching her against Caleb.
“Shift, this is Emery.” Caleb backed out of the driveway. “Emery, Shift.”
“So you’re the great Emery Quinn?” Shift leaned back and whispered behind her, “Dude! She’s hot.”
Caleb laughed. “Duuudde, she can hear you.”
One by one, Caleb acquired more teammates. They hopped into the truck bed along with their stuffed garbage bags.
One of the guys peered into Caleb’s window. “Jumbo and the rest will meet us in the West End.” Then he nodded at Emery. “Hey, Emery, Abe Hollingsworth, but everyone calls me Hollingsworth. Thanks for coming. You’re our good luck charm.”
“Am I?” She looked at Caleb. “You’ve been talking about me?”
“Only a little.”
Emery glanced at Hollingsworth. “Please don’t get me arrested.”
“We won’t get you arrested.” Chorused by Caleb, Hollingsworth, and Shift, almost in three-part harmony, so she had to believe them.
Back onto Sea Blue Way, they drove from the older, more narrow Way onto the newer, wider, multilane Sea Blue Way, with its bright lights, hotels, restaurants, and tourist attractions.
“It’s like going from the farm to Oz,” Emery said.
After a couple of left turns, then a right, West End High came into view. But Caleb went off-road, heading through thick clumps of palmettos, palm trees, and pine, where guys named Alvarez and Jennings waited, their F-150s overflowing with bags of trash.
“Jumbo parked down a ways,” Alvarez said. “He’s got his dad’s work truck and so much trash.”
