Like Moonlight at Low Tide by Nicole Quigley

Author:Nicole Quigley [Quigley, Nicole]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780310723615
Publisher: Blink
Published: 2012-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

JP, get your fishing pole off that gator!” Julie covered her eyes with her hands. “I can’t even watch you! I can’t bear to look!”

JP laughed mischievously and cast his line until a feathery lure dropped on to the alligator’s snout. He reeled it in before the beast had a chance to respond.

“Please, stop doing that.” Julie brought her hand down as her eyes filled with tears. “It’s too scary. He’s going to jump into this boat and get us all.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. He’s more afraid of us than we are of him.” JP turned to Julie with a know-it-all smirk and then exhaled in surrender at the sight of her trembling lips. “Fine, I’ll quit playing.”

Julie’s shoulders dropped in relief. We had convinced JP we were capable of being proper redneck girls for a day, but we broke that act the second we saw our first alligator. The two-hour drive to JP’s family cabin brought us to the center of the state, where a bass boat had been left unguarded and the lake too full of stock to remain unfished. Such a thing was against Florida religion.

Sam rummaged through a tackle box in search of a new hook, and my brother snaked iced tea through his teeth, shooting it across the black, flat water that stretched before us into swamp. The novelty of going fishing with the boys had ended within the first hour. Julie and I rolled our eyes in a consolidated show of boredom.

JP drove the boat several yards away from the gators and let it float freely in the invisible current that rose from underwater springs. “It’s cool to hang out with you, Robby. We never see you around. I haven’t really gotten to spend time with you since middle school, man.”

Robby nodded. I could tell he liked JP, which is why he agreed to come, but Sam was a different story. He had not said more than a few words to my almost boyfriend all day. Neither had I for that matter. Sam seemed perfectly contented on the lake with his fishing gear. He left me to bait my own hook, and I wondered if I was anything more than an annoyance to him. The five of us were an unlikely crew, and my brother the most unlikely member of all.

The sun beat upon us relentlessly as Julie and I leaned across the back of the boat and tried to count the gators in the far distance. Their eyes popped up from the water like slime-colored golf balls.

“The number of inches between their eyes is how many feet they are long.” Sam cast his line toward the high grass.

I squinted to evaluate. “Well, in that case, we’re looking at some six- and seven-footers.” Shivers ran down my spine. There was nothing to keep one from jumping up on to our boat. I’d seen plenty of those shows on cable television.

Robby wedged himself between Julie and me and whispered, “This is how every teen horror movie starts.

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