“There’s a point where it’s actually scariernotto be found,” Syd said. “When you’re out there in the dark, and you know more and more people are hunting for you.”
Two of the freshman girls shivered in fear.
“You,” Syd said, pointing to the boy who’d been talking earlier. “You’re It.”
He turned around obediently and began to count.
“Louder!” Syd said. “We’ve got to be able to hear you.”
He raised his voice, and we all took off.
The high school fields were wide and green and ran into each other, lacrosse and soccer and baseball, different white lines sprayed onto the grass. Where to go? I was giddy, the stars were bright pinpricks of light. The smell of grass surrounded me and my breath came fast. I saw a shadow as Syd and I sprinted along the edge of the chain-link fence.
“Baseball dugout,” she said, reading my mind. We raced toward it, shooting across the field and into the concrete structure. Inside, it was pitch-black.
“Uh-oh,” Syd said. “We’ve got a follower.”
“What?” I asked, confused.
She jerked her head at a figure racing across the baseball diamond toward us. It took me a moment to recognize the shape.
Ella.
“Sorry!” Ella stopped a couple of steps away, didn’t sit down on the bench next to us. Her whisper carried into the cool concrete enclosure. “I didn’t plan to follow you guys! But I couldn’t think of anywhere to go and I panicked!”
“It’s totally fine,” I said, grabbing her hand and pulling her closer to us.
“If anyone saw you coming, we’re dead.” Syd tucked herself farther back into the corner.
“I don’t think anyone did.” Ella sounded chagrined.
At that very moment, Syd let out a long, froggy, absolutely-on-purpose belch.
“Syd,” I hissed, but a guffaw was bubbling up in my throat. Next to me, I could feel Syd shaking with suppressed laughter, her arm right up against mine.
And there is nothing funnier than laughing when you’re not supposed to laugh. On my other side, Ella began to giggle.
“Shut up shut up shut up,” Syd said, but she was still laughing, too.
“I saw someone come over here.” A voice. Male. The boy who was It.
We all went silent in an instant.
He was close. Closer. I could hear the scuff of his shoes. And the thrill of almost being found, the sheer terror of being discovered in the night, of waiting, brushed a chill along my back. I held my breath.
Three girls in the dark, hearts pounding.
“Do. Not. Move.” Syd whispered, so quiet that I didn’t even know if I heard it, or if I just knew what she would say. Thethree of us sat rigid on the bench, playing rigor-mortis dead. Would the boys’ eyes adjust to the dark? I felt like our sneakers, our teeth, our bones inside us, were all gleaming white, asking to be found in spite of ourselves.
“Okay,” Ella whispered, out of nowhere. Her voice was so soft I could barely hear it. “I’ve got this.”
Fast as a shot, as if a starting gun had fired, she darted out of the dugout.
“Hey!” The kid took off after Ella, who was making good time across the grass.
“Oh my gosh,” Syd said. “What is she thinking? This isn’t tag.”
“Maybe she’s going to hide again.”
