Wish You Weren't

Author:Melissa J. Morgan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2010-02-25T16:00:00+00:00

That night, Sarah decided to go on a night hike. It was an optional hike led by Derrick, one of the boys’ counselors, through the forest without any flashlights. The idea was that after a while, your eyes adjust to the dark and you can see much more than you could with a flashlight. They walked down an easy trail, going slowly and being careful to feel the ground ahead of them with their feet. Sarah was amazed at how bright the moon and stars were. After they’d hiked a few minutes, and they were out of range of the camp lights, she realized it was true: She could see almost everything. The trees, the ground ahead of her, even the occasional owl. It was quiet and kind of beautiful. The stars never seemed quite this bright in Winthrop.

The hike finished up at the rec hall and Sarah thanked Derrick, then waited for Brynn, who’d also come along. Brynn was beaming as she joined up with Sarah for the walk back to the cabin. “Was that incredible or what? Have you ever seen so many stars?”

“Nope,” Sarah agreed. “It was really cool.”

Sarah kept trying to quiet her restless mind. All through the hike, she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Brynn and how she’d never mentioned Darren to her before. She’d tried to think about anything else—puppies, merry-go-rounds, David’s stupid dance during the game that day. But nothing helped.

“Hey,” Brynn said after a few minutes. “You’re really quiet tonight. Is something up?”

Sarah shrugged. “No, I mean, not really. I dunno.”

Brynn gave her a sympathetic look. “Jenna said you had a rough day in sports,” she said. “Something about some dork in center field?”

Sarah shook her head. “That’s not it,” she said. She took a deep breath. “Brynn, can I ask you something?”

Brynn looked surprised. “Sure.”

“Why didn’t you tell us about Darren until tonight?”

Brynn made a funny face, like that hadn’t even occurred to her. “Well, Alex and Val and Candace and Grace already knew,” she admitted. “I told them in the social-committee meeting. And you . . .” She looked uncomfortable all of a sudden. Sheepish—like she’d been caught in a lie.

“Me?” Sarah prompted.

“Well, you just . . .” Brynn looked really uncomfortable. “You seemed like you wouldn’t want to hear about it, you know? I get the feeling you’re sick of talking about the social. At all.”

Sarah’s face fell. She couldn’t deny it—Brynn was right. She was sick of talking about the stupid dance. But she hated that it was separating her from some of her best friends in the world. With Abby around, she felt like she needed her friends more than ever, so the whole boy thing seemed even worse than it would have the year before. Last year, I felt like everybody was like me, Sarah thought. What happened to all those people? What happened to all my friends?

Brynn was still watching her, looking confused but sympathetic. Sarah could see that Brynn was honestly sorry for making her worry, but not sure what she’d done wrong.

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