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Authors: R. L. Stine

Tags: #Young Adult Fiction, #Horror, #Juvenile Fiction, #Horror & Ghost Stories

Can You Keep a Secret? (3 page)

BOOK: Can You Keep a Secret?
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He kept tapping for a long while, then finally looked up. “Eddie, dude—you finished?”

Eddie nodded. “Yeah. Where does the shovel go, Mac?”

Mac pointed. “Just rest it against the side of the building. I’ll see you Monday after school, right?”

“Yeah,” Eddie said. He hesitated. “Listen, Mac … I have to ask you a favor.”

Mac lowered his phone to the pocket of his gray sweatpants. He squinted at Eddie. “Favor?”

Eddie glanced at me. He was normally so confident, but I could see he was nervous. “Mac, do you think I could have an advance on my pay?”

Mac’s expression didn’t change. He kept squinting at Eddie with his narrow dark eyes. Finally, he said, “You’re joking, right?”

“No—” Eddie started.

“You just started today,” Mac said. “You dug one grave. And you want me to advance you your pay?”

Eddie’s cheeks turned red. “I’m seriously desperate, Mac. I’m totally broke. I—”

“Here,” Mac said. He pulled a ragged leather wallet from the sweatpants pocket. “Here. You know I’m a good guy, Eddie. Your stepdad Lou is my cousin, and I’ll do what I can. Know what I mean? I mean, I gave you this job, right? Because you’re blood. You’re family.”

Mac grinned at me. “You got a good girlfriend here, Eddie. She’s class, I can tell. Not like those losers Lou told me you’d been going out with.”

That made Eddie blush even deeper. He lowered his eyes but he didn’t say anything.

“Here. Take this.” Mac handed Eddie a ten-dollar bill.

I saw the disappointment on Eddie’s face. “Mac, ten dollars won’t really help,” Eddie said. “Do you think—”

“Maybe Lou can fork over some money,” Mac said, tucking the wallet back in his pocket.

“You
know
Lou is on suspension,” Eddie said. “The police aren’t paying him until after his hearing. Lou is furious about it. He doesn’t have any money, Mac. He doesn’t—”

“I’m real sorry. That’s all I got right now, dude. Pay you next week, okay? You two have a good one.” He turned and disappeared into the office.

Eddie stood with the ten-dollar bill folded in his hand. He sighed. “Oh, well. It was worth a try.”

We started to walk toward my car in the front. “I guess he was trying to be nice,” I said. “But his wallet was filled with cash.”

Eddie frowned. “I need this job. I’m not going to start complaining about Mac.”

We walked along the edge of the cemetery. The tall old trees that dotted the graveyard shimmered in the late afternoon sunlight.

Suddenly, Eddie stopped walking and turned to me. He took me by the shoulders and pulled me close. He kissed me, a long lingering kiss.

“Hey, we’ll have fun tonight,” he said when the kiss had ended. “You didn’t tell your parents what we’re going to do—did you?”

“Of course not,” I said.

 

PART TWO

 

7.

After dinner, I packed my overnight bag quickly. I knew we were going into the Fear Street Woods. But I couldn’t decide what I’d need. So I just tossed in my hairbrush, a toothbrush, a sweater, and an extra pair of jeans.

The sun was almost down, and the sky outside the bedroom window was a beautiful clear violet color. A warm breeze fluttered the curtains. I felt fluttery, too. I’d never done anything like this.

Humming to myself, I stuffed a gray hoodie into the bag in case it got colder in the middle of the night. Then I struggled to zip the bulging bag. I didn’t even see Sophie in the doorway. How long had she been watching me?

“Oh, hi,” I said. “What’s up?”

She strode into the room with her arms crossed in front of her. Her blue eyes studied me, like they were trying to pierce my brain. “Where are you
really
going?” she demanded.

I played innocent. “Huh? What do you mean?”

She lowered her hands to her waist. “You told Mom and Dad you were staying over at Rachel Martin’s,” she said. “But I know Rachel is away with her parents.”

She had this triumphant gloating smile on her face. As if she’d just won some kind of contest. “You have to learn to stay out of my business,” I said softly.

She flinched. You’d think I slapped her. Sophie always tries to confront me with things. I guess being the younger sister she feels she has to stand up for herself, or maybe prove that she’s as good as I am.

She picks a fight and then she always backs down instantly. It’s such a weird pattern, and it happens all the time. She never wants me to be mad at her.

Her eyes went dull and she stuck out her lips in the pouty expression she always puts on. “Emmy, you never invite me to come along on anything fun,” she whined.

I frowned at her. Not this tired old speech again.

“It’s because I don’t have a boyfriend—isn’t it,” she said.

I sighed. “It’s because you have to have your own friends, Sophie. You know. Your own life. I like to spend time with you—”

“No, you don’t.”

“Come on. I have a right to be with my friends and my boyfriend.”

Her mouth dropped open and her chin trembled. I could see how angry she was. But I didn’t care. I hoisted the bag onto my shoulder and edged past her and out the doorway.

*   *   *

I scooted around to the passenger side so Eddie could drive my mom’s car. He was in a good mood, laughing about his first day at the pet cemetery, joking about what a horrible job he had. It made me happy to see him like that. He’s usually too serious about himself and obsessed with his family’s problems. It was so nice to hear him laugh.

He looked ready for our all-night party in the woods. He wore a maroon-and-white Shadyside High sweatshirt over his jeans, and a baseball cap pulled down over his dark hair with the words
GO, REDBIRDS
across the front.

The last time he wore that cap, I asked him who the Redbirds are. He said he didn’t know. He found the cap on a curb when he was walking to school.

He squealed the car onto the turn to Park Drive and gunned it. There were no other cars in sight. But I began to think maybe Eddie was
too
psyched for our adventure tonight.

I grabbed his wrist. “Slow down.”

“Can’t wait to get to the woods,” he said. He leaned to the side and nuzzled my cheek with his lips.

“Eddie—please!” I cried, pulling away from him. “You’re not watching the road.” I had to shout over the music. Eddie has a Metallica Thrash Metal station on Pandora that he blasts so loud your ears wiggle. Seriously.

The sprawling houses of North Hills whirred past, their window lights yellow-orange against the darkening sky. Eddie clicked off the music. “Let’s play our game,” he said.

“You
are
in a good mood,” I said. He only likes to play the game when he’s feeling good. I gasped. “You just went through a stop sign.”

“No one around,” he said. He slowed the car to make the turn onto Fear Street. “Ready to play?”

Eddie’s game is called “Can You Keep a Secret?” It’s not really a game at all. The rules are simple. Each of us reveals some deep, dark secret that the other one must keep forever.

I think it’s fun. But it’s the kind of thing Eddie usually hates. We were at a party a few months ago before we were going together, and he refused to play “Truth or Dare.” Instead, he walked out of the house, shaking his head.

I was going out with his friend Danny Franklin then. Danny told me, “Eddie hates to tell people anything about himself. He likes to keep it all to himself.”

“I think he’s just shy,” I said.

Danny shrugged and didn’t reply.

The old houses on Fear Street, set way back on tree-studded lawns, were mostly dark. Eddie slowed the car as we followed the winding road to the woods.

“I’ll go first,” he said. “Here’s my secret.”

“You’ve enrolled in astronaut school and you plan to spend the rest of your life alone on Mars,” I said.

He slapped my hand gently. “Don’t try to guess. That’s not the game. You’re not supposed to guess.” His dark eyes flashed in the light of an oncoming car. “But, yes, you’re right,” he said. “That’s my secret.”

I gave him a shove. “Seriously. What’s your secret?”

His smile faded. “I don’t have a driver’s license. I lost my license after I was in that accident on River Ridge last month.”

I stared at him, unable to hide my surprise. “For real?”

He nodded. “That’s my secret. Now you have to keep it.”

The trees of the Fear Street Woods rolled past, darker than the sky. Through my window, I glimpsed a sliver of a moon, still low over the trees. It looked just like the silver moon pendant I always wear, the pendant given to me by my Great Aunt Marta when I was little.

“What’s your secret?” Eddie demanded. “Stop stalling.”

“I wasn’t stalling,” I said. “I was looking at the moon.”

“Emmy, you can look at the moon all night. What’s your secret?”

“Well…” I hesitated. “You know how I’ve been trying not to eat meat. So … I have this huge craving for a cheeseburger.”

Eddie laughed. “Good secret.”

But I suddenly wished I hadn’t said it.
I dreamed about being a wolf,
I thought.
And suddenly I have a strong craving for meat.

That isn’t like me. That isn’t like me at all.

Eddie pulled the car into a cul de sac at the edge of the Fear Street Woods. He cut the engine and turned off the headlights. The thick tangle of trees in front of us disappeared in a thick, inky blackness.

The crescent moon had faded behind low clouds. I had my window rolled down. There had been a soft, warm breeze, but it seemed to stop here. The air grew still and heavy.

I shivered. I’m not afraid of the dark, but this darkness felt eerie, as if it went on forever and would never lift. I leaned toward Eddie and he slid his arm around my shoulders.

He turned and pulled me close. I raised my face to him and he kissed me. A soft kiss, tender at first, but then more urgent, more needy. A long kiss that made me breathless.

I pulled my head back and pressed my cheek against his. We sat like that for a while, not speaking, not moving. Then Eddie raised my face with both of his hands, such warm hands, and we kissed again.

I shrieked and jerked my head back as blinding white light filled the car. And then a voice boomed into the open window: “Step out of the car slowly—and keep your hands where I can see them.”

 

8.

Blinking in the bright light, I squeezed Eddie’s hand, so hard he cried out. The light disappeared. I stared out the window, stared at Danny Franklin, a pleased grin on his face.

He stuck his head into the car. “Scared you,” he said, still grinning.

I heard laughter behind him. My eyes were returning to normal. I saw Callie Newman, his new girlfriend, behind him, enjoying Danny’s joke.

Danny tugged open my car door. “You should have seen the look on your face,” he said.

Eddie shoved his door open, leaped out of the car, his fists curled. “I’ll pound you!” he threatened, only half-serious.

Danny backed away, both hands raised. “You know I’m nonviolent. Peace. Peace!”

Yeah, right. Danny is a joker, but he’s also hot-headed and impulsive, and gets in fights all the time. He’s a strange combination of a fun guy who can turn angry in a second. A guy who loves to play jokes on other people but who always has to win.

Eddie says it’s because Danny has red hair. “It means his head is on fire,” Eddie explained once. We both laughed. We knew that wasn’t very scientific.

“You two were totally getting it on,” Danny teased. “Better save something for later.”

“Danny, give them a break,” Callie said. She grabbed Danny from behind and tugged him away. “You’re about as funny as stomach cramps.”

Danny laughed. “Did you just make that up?”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re not the only funny one here.”

“Funny looking,” Eddie muttered.

Danny
is
kind of funny looking. He has his red hair shaved real short, and he has big Dumbo ears that stick straight out, light freckles on his cheeks, and a little pointed nose, with his brown eyes real close together. He’d look exactly like an elf, except he’s the tallest one in our crowd.

I don’t know Callie very well. She transferred to Shadyside last year. She seems really nice, and she can be funny, and she’s very good with Danny. I don’t blame her for stealing him away from me. Danny and I weren’t getting along, and I think we were both relieved when we broke up.

Callie is very pretty, with straight straw-blonde hair, bangs across her forehead, pale green eyes, high cheekbones like a model, and a really warm, friendly smile.

She was wearing a T-shirt under a satiny black jacket and straight-legged black denim jeans that showed off how thin she is.

Eddie and Danny were having a pretend fistfight on the grass in front of the car. I gazed over Callie’s shoulder and saw our two other friends at the back of Danny’s SUV.

Riley Jeffers and Roxie Robinson were leaning into the hatchback trunk, pulling out camping equipment. “Hey—somebody give us a hand,” Riley boomed. He’s big, I mean huge, built like a middle linebacker, which he is, on the Shadyside High Tigers.

Eddie says that Riley does his strength training by crushing beer cans in his bare hands. It’s true that Riley likes beer and partying, which could get him tossed off the football team. But he’s also good at not getting caught.

You have to be eighteen to drink beer in Shadyside, but it’s not like I know anyone who obeys the law. And now I watched Riley unload a case of Bud from the back of the SUV.

I followed Callie across the grass to greet Riley and Roxie. It’s a riot to see them together, mainly because Roxie is half Riley’s size. I mean, I’ve seen him actually pick her up and carry her around.

She likes it. She calls him “Teddy Bear,” which makes the rest of us gag. But Riley smiles every time she says it.

Roxie is okay, but I think sometimes she’s a little
too
cute. She has a funny lisp. She can’t pronounce her
s
’s. and it makes her sound even more cute, sort of like a character in a Bugs Bunny cartoon. She looks a little rabbitlike, actually, with two front teeth that stick out and big, round brown eyes.

BOOK: Can You Keep a Secret?
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