“Of course, sir. Truth is you really have to work hard to find trouble around here.”
“Will all those other boys be there, too?” Jon asked motioning to the posse of boys Cole was with.
Good question. That’s the kind of question I would expect out of him. Let’s see if Cole can make him comfortable that I’ll be with at least five guys, complete strangers. That didn’t even sound safe. I was hoping Jon would change his mind and say no.
“Yes, they’ll be there; girls too. There will be a lot of us from St. Anthony’s High School. I’ll introduce her around.”
“Do you need me to drop her off?”
What? He is still saying yes? I looked at Gabe. He shrugged. Jon and Cole discussed logistics.
“You could if you wanted to, but I don’t mind picking her up.”
“That would make life easier for me. Her mother is out of town, and I’d have to haul Gabe and Max along.” Cole put his hand out to shake Jon’s hand.
“See you at 7 p.m., sir. Tessa, come on over and I’ll introduce you to the guys.”
“No thanks, I’m good.”
“The-re-sa, you are being rude.”
Jon was being completely irresponsible but calls me out on being rude? What if these guys are in some crazy cult and need a virgin to sacrifice tonight? He doesn’t know anything about them, except they can swim. He motioned for me to go with Cole to meet his friends.
“I don’t mean to be rude,” I said working on an excuse, “I would just rather meet them when I’m not in my bathing suit.” Or not at all.
Jon didn’t push it, neither did Cole.
“Come walk with me, Tessa, and I’ll tell you what to bring tonight.” Cole took my hand and led me away. In a voice loud enough for Jon to hear he said, “It sometimes gets chilly at night so you should bring a sweatshirt. We usually play Frisbee and volleyball...”
“You can stop now. I don’t think he can hear you anymore. And call me Tess. Only my parents call me Tessa. I must say, you are good with the parents. Quite a performance there—yes sir, no sir, there should be safety signs, sir. I may even be out of trouble. Impressive.” I was grateful but suspicious. Something was off. My mother never would have fallen for his overly responsible act like Jon did.
Cole seemed, and I stress, seemed nice, but there’s something chilling about his friend. Now I was doomed to spend an evening with them. And when my mother found out she would skin me alive, after she skinned Jon. I didn’t want to go, but I wasn’t sure how to get out of it.
“Thank you,” he laughed and took a slight bowing. “Do you really think you might be out of trouble?”
“I have no idea.”
“I have a way with parents.”
“My mother’s the tough one.” I shook my head blinking. “She would never have said yes. Luckily, she is out of town.” Lucky me.
“Do you think she’ll make you cancel?”
“I won’t talk to her until the morning.” Maybe I should call her tonight and tell her Jon’s suffering from heat stroke.
“Where did she go?”
“Back to Savannah. She is a midwife. She’ll be back in a couple weeks. My dad is going to drive me insane by then.” Which is the only reason I’m considering going out tonight.
“Tess, you may not want to talk about your dad like that around Luke. His Mom and Dad died a couple years ago. He and his dad were really close. He has a hard time when anyone complains about their parents, since his are gone. Know what I mean?”
“Jon isn’t my real dad.” I shouldn’t have said anything, but I wasn’t thinking straight. Now I had to add the part I hated to talk about. “My dad died five years ago,” I swallowed hard, “I still miss him. I’ll watch what I say around Luke.”
Time to quickly change the subject, “Speaking of Luke, he makes quite an impression.”
“That would be Luke. He figured with the impression he made with you, along with his lack of skill with parents, I should be the one to invite you to the bonfire instead of him.”
I already knew this was Luke’s idea. I didn’t know what worried me more, that I could be the human sacrifice for the evening or that Luke thought I was his date. I was almost 16 and I had never been on anything close to a date. I didn’t even know anyone my own age. I met other teens now and then but never developed any friendships. I’m probably the only girl with a cell phone and no friends to call or text.
“Cole, this isn’t a date.” Or some cult ceremony I’m the sacrifice for. “You didn’t ask me out on a date for your friend, did you?”
“Of course not, but he’s coming with me to pick you up. I don’t drive yet.”
“So I’m getting picked up by a carload of five guys?” I held up my hand. Jon may not be thinking straight, but I am. “I’m not going.”
“Wow, you are wound a bit tight, aren’t you? Chill. We’ll drop the other guys off first and then come pick you up. Or I can send Luke alone to pick you up if you don’t want to be outnumbered.” He grinned knowing I would not pick option B.
“I doubt Jon would let me go with him. He looks—older.” And if he comes alone, I’m not getting in the car. Just the thought of being alone with him made my palms sweat. I was certain L-U-K-E spelled trouble.
“He’s almost seventeen. He looks older than he is. He’s been driving a while though. Once he had his permit, my Grandma had him do all the driving.”
I was too distracted to ask why Luke was driving Cole’s grandmother around. “I really wasn’t worried about his driving skills.”
“You don’t seem to like him, but he’s a lot of fun.”
“Oh yeah, a laugh a minute.” Like getting a skull tattooed to my chest.
“Pick you up at seven,” he said and started to walk away.
“Don’t you need to know where I live?”
“I already do. You live by my neighborhood off Indian Trail, right? The house with all the land? Your little brother already told me. Told all of us. I think the whole beach knows by now,” he said laughing while he walked away.
Good thing we aren’t in the witness protection program. We’d never survive with Max around.
Chapter 5
Since we left the beach I had changed my mind several dozen times about going to the bonfire. The benefit of having a break from Jon enormously outweighed my fears of what could go wrong tonight. Jon came and knocked on my bedroom door. “Are you ready, Tessa? It’s ten ‘til seven.”
“Just about,” I said with a pleasant voice, even though his interruption was irritating. If I was ready, I’d be out of my room and I am perfectly capable of telling time. I opened my door and smiled sweetly at him. “I just have to grab a sweatshirt.”
“Tessa, you look like you’re going to the gym instead of a date. Are you sure that’s what you want to wear?” The waistband of my shorts peeked out over the top of my oversized sweatpants.
“Don’t