Live, Laugh, Kidnap by Gabby Noone

Author:Gabby Noone [Noone, Gabby]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2022-03-29T00:00:00+00:00

19

HOLLY

“Should we go look for him?” Holly asked, tapping her phone to check the time. It was 1:34 a.m. They were parked on the side of the road, near the wooded hill where Dustin and Holly had snuck into the ranch before. If he was moving at the same pace they had that night, he would’ve been back to the car by now.

Zoe quickly swatted Holly’s phone down into her lap.

“What’d you do that for?” Holly exclaimed.

“Sorry. It was the glow from your screen. I just want to keep it as dark as possible in here,” Zoe said, glancing at the back window. “And no. I’m sure he’ll be back any minute.”

Holly chewed on her thumbnail. “What if he got attacked by a bear or something? Or another beam fell on his head?”

“Well, then that’s just natural selection at work.” Zoe curled up into the passenger seat and hugged her knees, staring straight ahead. It was so silent that Holly could hear Zoe’s teeth grinding over and over.

“You’re nervous too, aren’t you?” Holly asked quietly.

Zoe froze and looked at her. “No. I’m not nervous. Why would I be nervous?”

“You seem a little shaky.”

“It’s because this is my fourth Red Bull today,” she said, gesturing to a can in the cupholder. Then she splayed out her fingers, counting. “Wait. No. Fifth.”

“Jeez. Is that normal for you?”

“I don’t know. Today was my first time having Red Bull. They’ve always sounded disgusting to me, but I couldn’t sleep last night thinking about what we’re about to do and then I got up and thought: my life has turned into the kind of life of someone who drinks a lot of Red Bull. They’re surprisingly good. Is five in a day normal?”

Holly vehemently shook her head. “No.”

Before she had resorted to the pills that were not prescribed to her, Holly would just bring Red Bull to the library. Two in a night had been enough to make her feel like her heart was going to burst out of her chest.

Suddenly, the back-seat door opened. Both girls jumped.

“Hey,” Dustin grunted, sliding into his seat.

“You dumped it?” Zoe asked.

“Yep,” he answered.

“And you definitely deleted your house’s security camera footage from the app?”

“Uh-huh.”

“And then you triple-checked that you deleted the footage?”

“Yes,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“Do not roll your eyes at me, Dustin,” Zoe said, staring into the rearview mirror. “I’m just ensuring this is an airtight operation.”

Holly reached for the keys in the ignition. “Wait,” Zoe said, sticking out a finger. She leaned over and reached for a plastic shopping bag underneath her seat. “Put this on.” She tossed the bag behind her, straight into Dustin’s lap.

He opened it up, holding the bag to his face in the darkness of the car. “A wig? Seriously?”

“There’s a pair of my mom’s old sunglasses in there too.”

“Isn’t this kind of overkill?” he asked.

“It’s to be safe while we transport you,” Zoe said. “No one will know it’s you. That’s the entire point.”

“Fine,” he said through a clenched jaw. Dustin reached into the bag, flipped his head over and back up, emerging with a shiny neon-pink bob.

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