Asher looks over at me, to where I have one arm draped overEdith. “What were youdoing?” His face is so close to mine I can feel his breath.
I scrunch up my nose in mock disgust. “Brush your teeth next time there’s potential that we’re trapped next to each other.”
“We wouldn’t be trapped”—he rolls his eyes as he says the word—“ifyouwould have just waited to hear the plan.”
“Because you’re the leader?”
“Youaskedme what to do!”
He’s right, but I can’t give him the satisfaction. Across the yard a door slams, and we both freeze. Through the gaps of the bush I can make out a silhouette in front of the house.
“We have to leave,” Asher mutters.
Obviously.I get up slowly, hunched over so I stay below the tall bushes.
“This way,” Asher says, jerking his head at the water.
“You want toswim?” I shake my head at him. “That’s how people die, Asher. You don’t swim across a lake in the dark, are you nuts? We should at least take a canoe or rowboat and go that way.”
He shakes his head, looking at me like I’ve completely lost it. Maybe I have. I’m feeling very Bonnie and Clyde right now, like we’re standing on the edge of a cliff, being closed in on by the police.I think that’s what happened.Except the police are Nadine and the sirens are her yippy little dog circling the yard on its leash. The cliff is this lake I love so much, and I’m so worked up right now, I’d swan-dive off the edge for drama’s sake if I wasn’t sure I’d break my neck in the eighteen inches of water along the shore.
“We’re not swimming. And we’re not stealing a boat.” He mutters what sounds like,Are you kidding me?“We’re going to walk down a few houses”—he says it slowly, like if he talks too fast I won’t comprehend any of it—“and then we’ll circle back up to the road.”
“Oh.” That’s a much better idea. A much simpler and safer idea. He doesn’t need to know that.
“Follow me.”
“So you can run ahead and leave me to get snatched?”
“Snatched?Bywhatexactly?” His eyes are wild. “We’re not going to jail tonight, Sidney. I mean, unless you decide to go rogue again.”
“Fine, let’s go. Lead the way, Oh Wise One.”
Asher looks down at my feet. “We can’t just leave it here.” He’s eyeing the squatty little statue still lying on the grass.
“I can’tstealit.”
“Oh, so jacking a boat for your big escape is fine, but tacky yard sculptures is where you draw the line?” He rolls his eyes. “Can you just stop arguing with me for ten seconds?”
I start mouthingone… two… three…
“We’re not stealing it. We’ll bring it back when we can actually put it where it goes.” He waves his hand toward the house. “It was sort of hidden behind that bush, I doubt she’ll even notice it’s gone.”
I squat down and secure Edith under my arm again. “Fine. Let’s go.”
Asher
Along the lake, everyone has a dense crop of trees that divides their property from the next. They’re great for privacy and crap for walking through. My legs are getting torn up as we make our way through the long patch of trees and undergrowth a few houses down from Nadine, cutting our way back to the road.
Maybe it’s the branch that cuts a thin slice along my knee that finally pushes me over the edge. “Just pretend I’m someone else.” I can hear Sidney behind me, swearing under her breath as she probably gets her own cuts and scrapes, but I don’t lookat her. I’m tired of the scowl she’s had permanently plastered on her face all night.
“Excuse me?” she says, her voice aimed at my back like an arrow.
“I’ve seen you talk to people like a normal human being. I’ve seen you be nice to Kara, to Caleb, to a random person who checks out your groceries.” My voice is level. “I know you’ve got it in you, somewhere deep down. So when we get back to the house, just pretend I’m not me…” I hold a branch up to pass under it, and let Sidney go ahead of me. She gives me a skeptical side-eye glance as she passes under it. As if I’d snap her with a freaking tree branch. The look on her face makes me want to. “… if that’s what you need, to make this truce work.”
“Is that whatyou’redoing?”
“I don’t need to.”
