The plan is simple: Lali and Peter will hold the ladder while I go up. Once I’m at the top, Sebastian will climb up after me with the can of paint. I place my hand on a rung. The metal is cold and grooved. Look up, I remind myself. The future is ahead of you. Don’t look down. Never look back. Never let ‘em see you sweat.
“Go on, Carrie.”
“You can do it.”
“She’s at the top. Ohmigod. She’s on the roof!” That’s Maggie.
“Carrie?” Sebastian says. “I’m right behind you.”
The harvest moon has transformed into a bright white orb surrounded by a million stars. “It’s beautiful up here,” I shout. “You should all have a look.”
I slowly rise, testing my balance, and take a few steps to get my footing. It’s not so hard. I remind myself of all the kids who have done this in the past. Sebastian’s at the top of the ladder with the paint. With the can in one hand and the brush in the other, I make my way to the side of the roof.
I begin painting, as the group takes up a chant below. “One…Nine…Eight…”
“NINETEEN. EIGHTY—” And just as I’m about to paint the last number, my foot slips.
The can flies out of my hand, bounces once, and rolls off the roof, leaving a huge splotch of paint behind. Maggie screams. I drop down to my knees, scrambling to get a handhold on the wooden shingles. I hear a soft thud as the can hits the grass. Then…nothing.
“Carrie?”The Mouse says tentatively.“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.”
“Don’t move,” Peter shouts.
“I’m not.”
And it’s true. I’m not moving. But then, with excruciating slowness, I begin to slide. I try to jam my toe into the shingles to stop, but my sneaker glides right over the slick spill of red paint. I reassure myself that I will not die. It’s not my time. If I were going to die, I’d know it, right? Some part of my brain is aware of the scraping of skin, but I have yet to feel the pain. I’m picturing myself in a body cast, when suddenly a firm hand grabs my wrist and drags me up to the peak. Behind me I see the tips of the ladder fall away from the edge, followed by a whomp as it clatters into the bushes.
Everyone is screaming.
“We’re okay. We’re fine. No injuries,” Sebastian shouts as the wail of a police siren rips the air.
“There goes Harvard,” Peter says.
“Hide the ladder in the barn,” Lali commands. “If the cops ask we’re just up here smoking cigarettes.”
“Maggie, give me the booze,”Walt says. There’s a crash as he throws the bottle into the barn.
Sebastian tugs on my arm. “We need to get to the other side.”
“Why?”
“Don’t ask questions. Just do it,” he orders as we scramble over the peak. “Lie flat on your back with your knees bent.”
“But now I can’t see what’s happening,” I protest.
“I’ve got a record. Don’t move and don’t say a word, and pray the cops don’t find us.”
My breath is as loud as the pounding of a drum.
“Hello, Officers,”Walt says when the police arrive.
“What are you kids up to?”
“Nothing. Just smoking some cigarettes,” Peter says.
“Have you been drinking?”
“Nope.” A group answer.
Silence, followed by the sound of feet squelching around in the wet grass. “What the hell’s this?” demands one of the cops. The beam from his flashlight slides up the roof and into the sky. “You kids painting the barn? That’s a misdemeanor. Violation of private property.”
“Yo, Marone,” Lali says to one of the cops. “It’s me.”
“Whoa,” Marone says. “Lali Kandesie. Hey, Jack. It’s Lali, Ed’s girl.”
“You want to take a look around?” Jack asks cautiously, now that he’s being confronted by the boss’s daughter.
“Nah. Looks okay to me,” says Marone.
Jack snorts. “Okay, kids. Party’s over. We’re going to make sure you get to your cars and get home safely.”
And they all leave.
Sebastian and I lie frozen on the roof. I stare up at the stars, intensely aware of his body a few inches from mine. If this isn’t romance, I don’t know what is.
Sebastian peers over the side. “I think they’re gone.”
Suddenly, we look at each other and laugh. Sebastian’s laugh—I’ve never heard anything like it—is deep and throaty and slightly sweet, like ripe fruit. I imagine the taste of his mouth as being slightly fruity too, but also sharp, with a tang of nicotine. Boys’ mouths are never what you think they’re going to be anyway. Sometimes they’re stiff and sharp with teeth, or like soft little caves filled with down pillows.
“Well, Carrie Bradshaw,” he says. “What’s your big plan now?”
I hug my knees to my chest. “Don’t have one.”
“You? Without a plan? That must be a first.”
Really? Is that how he thinks of me? As some nerdly, uptight, efficient planner? I’ve always thought of myself as the spontaneous type. “I don’t always have a plan.”
“But you always seem to know where you’re going.”
“I do?”
“Sure. I can barely keep up with you.”
What does that mean? Is this a dream? Am I actually having this conversation with Sebastian Kydd?
“You could always try calling—”
“I did. But your phone’s perennially busy. So tonight I was going to stop by your house, but then I saw you getting in Lali’s truck and followed you. I figured you were up to something interesting.”
Is he saying he likes me?
“You’re definitely a character,” he adds.
A character? Is that good or bad? I mean, what kind of guy falls in love with a character?
“I guess I can be…sort of funny sometimes.”
“You’re funny a lot. You’re very entertaining. It’s good. Most girls are boring.”
“They are?”
“Come on, Carrie. You’re a girl. You must know that.”
“I think most girls are pretty interesting. I mean, they’re a lot more interesting than boys. Boys are the ones who are boring.”
“Am I boring?”
“You? You’re not boring at all. I just meant—”
“I know.” He moves a little closer. “Are you cold?”
“I’m okay.”
He takes off his jacket. As I put it on, he notices my hands. “Christ,” he says. “That must hurt.”
“It does—a little.”The palms of my hands are stinging like hell where I’ve scraped the skin. “It’s not the worst thing that’s happened to me though. One time, I fell off the back of the Kandesies’ truck and broke my collarbone. I didn’t know it was broken until