B0075M2D1U EBOK (9 page)

“
Hey Ruby! What’s up? Somethin’ wrong?” Jeremy’s smiling face turned to a frown while he watched my disheartened self walk behind the counter. “Nah. Not really,” I replied as I climbed up onto the stool behind the cash register and slumped over to rest my elbows on the counter. “I was hoping you were someone else.” I let out a big sigh.

“
Ahhh. Nick?”

I nodded. Although that was part of it, I couldn’t really tell Jeremy all of the other stuff I was worrying about with regard to Anya and Brennan and the circumstances surrounding their sudden trip home. I wasn’t even entirely sure of the circumstances myself! “Plus,” I continued, “I didn’t sleep very well last night and today has been the day from hell. I am so ready to get outta here.” Jeremy sympathetically nodded in agreement. “So, what’s up?” I asked.

“
Welllllll,” Jeremy lingered it out, as if he wasn’t quite sure how to continue on, “I was wondering if you wanted to head up to the lake tonight for some
night swimming
?” Jeremy winked as he said it, nervously glancing around the store to see if anyone was nearby who would’ve had heard him. “Night swimming” was his code word for going skinny dipping in the lake. I’d done it a hundred times before with Jeremy. It was no big deal. Jeremy wasn’t into girl parts and he definitely wasn’t into me in that way or anything, so it didn’t really bother me.

“
I don’t know about tonight, Jer,” I sighed, “I am really beat. It’s been a sucky day, and I hardly got any sleep last night. How ‘bout tomorrow instead?”

“
Fine,” he huffed. “But don’t even
think
about blowing me off for pretty boy Nick if he calls. There are a whole slew of new campers that just pulled in today, and I wanna check out the attractions. You need to be my wingman.” I rolled my eyes. Oh brother. Jeremy was really on the prowl since school let out. “Yeah, yeah,” I shook my head, waving my hand at him. “I promise. I won’t blow you off. What time?”

“
Well, not ‘til dark. How ‘bout the usual spot around 9:30?”

I nodded my head in agreement, “ ‘Kay. It’s not like Mr. Hotness has called anyway,” I complained. “Well,” Jeremy said, “You two sure looked like you were getting’ cozy the other night.” “Yeah,” I answered, “but it’s not like we’ve made any other plans. I just hope he calls me.”

“
He will. He definitely will,” Jeremy said with utmost certainty. “Okay then. I’m outta here. I’ll see you tomorrow, right?”

“
Right,” I nodded and I watched Jeremy turn and walk out the door. I hoped he was right about Nick calling me. I finished up my closing duties and locked the front door.

I walked around to the back of the building and unchained my bike from the light post. It was so dark already that I was glad for the small halo of light I was standing under. Thank goodness the storms we’ve recently been having seemed to have subsided. With the sleepless night I had, and the awful day at work, I did not need to pedal home in the middle of a rain shower. I really need to get a car. I looked up at the clear midnight blue skies and breathed a sigh of relief. Not a cloud in sight.

And, if I hadn’t looked up just then, I wouldn’t have seen what I saw.

Chapter 11

As I stood there next to my bike, glancing up at the clear skies, something caught my attention. I only caught a glimpse, and it only lasted about a half of a second, but I most definitely saw
something
. Over towards the lake, just above the tree line, I caught sight of a dark shadowy…something…that swished just over the top of the trees. I couldn’t make out the shape – it was too far away. It didn’t look quite like a bird…it seemed too big for a bird.

I was too far away. I suppose it probably
was
a bird diving down towards the trees, but that would have to be an awfully huge bird. Perhaps it was a small water plane? There were one or two weekenders who lived on the lake and owned water planes. I shook my head and blinked my eyes. It was so dark. I could barely see three feet in front of my face. The only reason the shadowy shape was even visible was because the bright light of the moon was behind it. I shook my head. Things are getting so weird around here.

And it creeped. Me. Out.

I was feeling a bit nervous as I hopped on my bike and began to pedal home, glancing up towards the sky every so often. My heart started thumping as I kept looking around me, making sure nothing was going to swoop down and get me…or worse yet, jump out from behind the darkened shadows. The night was so dark and quiet…just right for zombies to come creeping up behind me. Okay,
now
I was panicking. I did not want to end up on one of those
Unsolved Mystery
television shows….I could see the headlines now, “Northern Michigan Teen Mysteriously Disappears At Night.” It was eerily quiet as I peered from side to side looking for the large flying bat or monster or whatever the hell it was. The only sounds I heard were my breathing (which was getting faster by the second) and the swishing, crunching sound of my tires on the gravel. Why did the ride home seem so much longer tonight? And why did the crunching gravel suddenly remind me of a graveling-growly boogie-monster? As I got closer to my house, my heart finally slowed down its rapid beating and all of the stress and excitement of the past days’ events seemed to suddenly take hold. I took a few deep breaths. Whew. Safe at last. I was being paranoid and now I just felt drained. My eyelids felt heavy and my body felt like it weighed a ton. By the time I climbed the stairs to my bedroom, I felt like I would fall asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I barely had time to be distracted by all of the crazy events of the past week before exhaustion took over.

Thankfully, I got to sleep in late the next morning. I didn’t have to be into work until noon, so I had a few hours to lay around before I had to leave. As I padded down the stairs to get some breakfast I realized I was probably over reacting last night. Surely, it was just someone’s water plane up in the sky. Lack of sleep combined with a crappy day at work, too many horror movies and an over-active imagination had made me a little nuts last night. I felt kind of silly, now that it was day light and no boogie monster had actually jumped out at me. Since it was Saturday, my mother was already in the process of doing her weekend chores again. I walked into the kitchen and saw my mother on her hands and knees, with a big, soapy bucket and a rag washing the floor. The smell of bleach with a hint of fake pine filled the room. Eww. I suppose some people think it smells good. But living around so many real pine trees, the fake stuff just smells nasty. And why would anyone think that it’s a good smell for a kitchen floor? Somebody should make warm chocolate-chip-cookie scented floor cleaner. Now
that
would smell good in a kitchen!

I side-stepped where my mother was cleaning and walked to the pantry to get the box of my favorite chocolatey-cocoa cereal. I grabbed the box and realized it was empty. Thanks, Leo. Why would someone put an empty box of cereal back into the pantry? Ugh. Little brothers are so annoying. I threw the box into the recycling bin and grabbed the box of Cookie Crispy Crunchies (my second favorite cereal). Who doesn’t love pretend mini-chocolate chip cookies and milk in the morning? As I sat down at the table and poured my cereal, my mother sang out, “Don’t forget your chores young lady!”

“
Maaaa! I know, I know. I just got up, okay? Besides, I have to be to work at noon today. Can I just do ‘em tomorrow instead? I’m off all day.”

“
Fine. But I want them done before noon, you hear me?” She glanced back at me to see that I heard her. I nodded my head because I had just shoveled a huge spoonful of cereal in my mouth. (Crunch, crunch, crunch. Swallow.) “Where are Leo and Dad?”

“
Oh…they got up early and went fishing at Goose Lake today. They won’t be back until dinner time, I’m sure. And hopefully they’ll bring dinner too!”

I frowned as I looked down at my cereal bowl to shovel another bite of miniature cookies into my mouth. Fish for dinner. Yuck. Maybe Leo will catch the nine-foot mutant cat fish. Ha. Leo’s a dolt. I shook my head. Good thing I had to work until six today. I could easily stall around town and just grab something for myself later. Fish sucks.

“
Will you be home to eat?” my mother asked, interrupting my thoughts as if she could read my mind. How does she
do
that?

“
Nah. I don’t think so. I get off at six, but I think I wanna do some window shopping. I think there’s a new Converse color I don’t have yet. By the time I ride home, you guys will have eaten already. I’ll just make a sandwich or something.” It was so not worth arguing with my mother over the fact that I hated fish. I will
always
hate fish. And I didn’t want to eat it for dinner no matter how she prepared it.

I continued on, “Then, Jeremy and I are gonna go to the lake tonight. He met some campers he wants to hang with.”

“
Home by midnight,” my mother warned, not even looking up at me, as she continued scrubbing the kitchen floor. I finished up my cereal just as the phone rang.

“ ‘
Lo?” I said.

“
Umm. Ruby?” the deep, familiar voice said on the other end.

My heart skipped a beat. Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh! It was him! It was Nick! Nick was calling me! My stomach churned. That mini-chocolate chip cookie cereal didn’t feel so good right about now. Stupid fake cookies. My breath quickened and I tried to speak. Okay. Be cool, Ruby. Be cool.

“
Yeah. Nick?”

“
Yeah. Hi. How ya doin’?”

“
Great. I’m great.” Then there was a long pause. Smooth Ruby. Really smooth. Say something. Anything…

The line was silent. It seemed like the seconds ticked on forever, but in reality it was probably only about three. Finally, Nick spoke.

“
Yeah. Um. Well. Um. I was wondering if you wanna go out again tonight?”

I shut my eyes and pressed my lips together, trying not to scream in excitement. I cleared my throat, “Definitely. Yeah. That would be great!”

And then the overwhelming sense of dread washed over me.

“
Oh. No…Shoot. I can’t,” I said as I bit my lip and slumped against the wall.

“
Huh?” Nick said.

“
Well, see…I told Jeremy I would meet him tonight to swim at the lake. There’s a bunch of new campers in and he wants to go spy, I mean, check them out. He asked me last night, and I promised him I wouldn’t ditch.” I sighed.

“
Oh. Well. That’s cool. Maybe I can meet up with you guys later then? Or something?”

“
Ohhh! Yeah! Sure! Definitely.” Okay, I think I may have been overly enthusiastic. But I just cannot believe that Nick Martino is asking me out again. How did I get so lucky?

“
Okay. Cool. Well…how about…” Nick trailed off and I heard someone (sounded like Nick’s dad) shouting in the background, “Oh, crap. I gotta go Ruby. My dad’s yelling at me for something. We’ll catch up later then – ‘kay?”

“
Oh! Yeah. Sure thing,” I answered. “Bye.”

“
See ya later!” Nick said, and then he hung up.

Although we hadn’t exactly made plans, he said he would call and he called! I could not believe what a good mood I was in. After my phone call with Nick, I dreamily walked out to the garden to read for a bit. The Moon Flowers that mom and I had planted hadn’t opened yet, but they looked like they would open soon. I glanced around the yard and felt… lonely. Which was odd, because I never feel lonely in the garden. I always catch a glimpse of a fairy hiding somewhere. I didn’t see any. That made me think of Anya and Brennan again. I hadn’t seen or heard from them since Thursday night, when we went to the adventure miniature golf place. I wish I knew how to get a hold of them. Normally, I wouldn’t worry that I hadn’t seen them, but the way they looked when we dropped them off at their cottage that night was just not right.

I tried to distract myself by reading my book. It worked, and before I knew it, I had to rush to get ready for work and just about killed myself trying to get there on time, pedaling there on my bike as fast as I could. Work was uneventful and much less stressful than the day before (thank goodness) and after meandering around town, looking in store windows and such, I headed home to make a super-tasty sandwich for dinner. Not.

But hey, anything’s better than fish. Yuck.

It was almost eight o’clock by the time I made it home. Leo was out with his friends (Good, he wouldn’t harass me and tag along when I went swimming with Jeremy) and Mom and Dad were watching some show on the Discovery Channel in the living room. I made my PB&J and sat down in the living room to join them while I ate.

“
You missed a good catch Rubes,” Dad said. (Doubtful.) “Your mother really outdid herself this time. There aren’t even any leftovers!” (Oh darn.) I smiled and shrugged at my dad as I swallowed a huge bite of my sandwich. I finished my sandwich and sat in silence with my parents as we watched some boring show about meer cats or something. I glanced at the clock and noticed it was almost nine, so I got up and went to get a beach towel. “I’m going to meet Jeremy to swim,” I said as I walked by them. They didn’t need to know that I wasn’t wearing my bathing suit under my clothes.

“
Midnight,” my mother reminded me.

“
I know, Ma.” I answered as I pulled the back door shut behind me and walked out to the back yard bare-footed. I slowly walked through the woods, down the path to the lake and felt eerily alone again. I couldn’t even hear my own footsteps, because I wasn’t wearing any shoes. The path through the woods was so well-worn, it was all dirt and I knew where to step. It was too quiet though. There weren’t the usual sounds of katydids and frogs echoing off the trees. And even weirder, I didn’t see a single fairy along the way.