Best Friends (Until Someone Better Comes Along) by Erin Downing

Author:Erin Downing
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin

Chapter Thirteen

We had to sneak out of the cabin very quietly. Not because of Ava’s dad, who apparently wore earplugs at night (the sound of the crickets chirping in the woods kept him from falling asleep), but because I knew Coco was a super-light sleeper, and my trusty puppy would totally give us away if she thought we were going out on an adventure without her. She was probably curled up, fast asleep, on Madeline’s pillow, but we didn’t want to risk it. So we all tiptoed out the screen door and down the front steps of the cabin.

The moon was nearly full, so the pathways were somewhat visible in a smattering of places. But the trees hung low in other sections of the path, choking out any kind of light at all. “This is really creepy,” I whispered as we picked our way toward the clearing that housed the communal fire pit area. There, the trees opened up into a big circle where the moon could shine through. Brennan’s family’s cabin was down a long path on the other side of the fire pit. About as far away from Ava’s cabin as you could possibly get.

“Abort mission?” Bailey suggested, when we were only about ten feet away from Ava’s front steps. “More lies and truths instead?”

“No way,” Ava said, leading us down the path. “Let’s see what Bren looks like when he’s asleep. I wonder if he snores.”

I giggled quietly. “What if he sleeps with a blankie?”

“I really hope he does,” Ava said, laughing along with me. “That would make this mission totally worth it.”

We stopped when we reached the fire pit. “It’s that path, right?” Ava asked, pointing into the darkness. “Or that one?”

In the dark, everything looked totally different than it did during the day. I could see the Cardinal cabin from one of the benches that surrounded the campfire. It was dark inside, so my parents were obviously asleep. I wasn’t even quite sure what time it was—probably close to midnight.

“It’s that one,” Bailey said certainly. “But I’m not going first. It’s really dark.” The sound of a stick cracking nearby made us all jump and huddle together. “What was that?”

“Just a squirrel, probably,” Ava said, but she didn’t sound very sure of herself. “Or a raccoon, coming to get you.” She held her hands in the air like claws and wiggled them in Bailey’s face. Bailey yelped.

We stuck even closer to each other as we walked toward the path to Brennan’s cabin. I grabbed Bailey’s hand and tugged her along behind me as we stepped onto the wooded path. “Why are we doing this?” Bailey whispered.

“Because it’s fun,” Ava said. She turned back to look at us, her face barely illuminated by the moonlight. Leaves cast long shadows on her skin, making her look sort of spotted. She reminded me of a pony, all skinny limbs and wild hair and wide eyes.

We crept down the path, almost tiptoeing because we were stepping so carefully. Periodically, one of our feet would land off the edge of the path just the littlest bit.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.