Normal Kids by Melinda Di Lorenzo

Author:Melinda Di Lorenzo [Di Lorenzo, Melinda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781459838598
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2024-04-16T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Once we’re in the woods, it’s not hard to figure out which direction to go. It’d be harder not to figure it out actually. Hip-hop blares. Kids scream over top of the music. The bonfire smell seeps into the air too.

“Do they want to get caught?” Eli asks as we get closer to the noise.

I snort. “They don’t care. It’s like five minutes of intense fun, then someone yells, ‘Cops!’ and every-one runs for their lives.”

We go around a bend and come face-to-face with two guys in a drunken wrestling match. One of them is wearing a horse mask. The other is in a skin-tight green suit. And they’re clearly doing whatever the hell they’re doing for their own entertainment, because they don’t even have an audience.

“What the hell?” Eli says.

I meet his startled look with a raised eyebrow. “Are you sure you’re a teenager?”

“I’m starting to question it,” he replies.

“Says the guy who was not drawing penis graffiti at school earlier.”

He grins in that charming way of his, and we step wide around the two guys and keep going. The music gets louder. I know the song that’s playing, and now the kids’ screams become distinct enough to understand.

Please let Seth be here.

Ahead of us the trees part. It’s the exact kind of chaos I’d expect.

A bonfire burns in the middle of the clearing. Three topless dudes are running around the fire in a circle. Someone has built a tower out of inflatable pool toys, and a group of kids are throwing rocks at it. Across the field a bunch of people are using pieces of cardboard to slide down a grassy hill.

Where are you, Seth?

“There’s a shit ton of people here,” Eli says after a second. “See your brother anywhere?”

I shake my head. There are way too many kids to make it an easy search. And Seth’s the kind of guy who blends in anyway. He likes plain black T-shirts and jeans, and he’s got brown hair that he keeps cut short. He could be anywhere in the crowd, and I might not spot him.

“Guess I’ll just look for the prettiest girl here instead,” I mutter.

Eli catches my eye, and I shake my head again, this time for a different reason.

“Don’t you dare,” I tell him.

The side of his mouth twitches. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

I glare. I know he was going to say that I’m the prettiest girl here. I’m 100 percent certain of it. But I can’t make the accusation unless he admits it. And now that he knows I know…no way is he going to admit it.

“Fine,” I say with an eye roll. “Let’s imagine what those two shitheads back there would classify as hot. My suggestion is that we just look for the chick with the biggest—”

I cut myself off as a girl with waist-length red hair catches my attention. She’s tall and slim and curvy at the same time. She’s wearing a pink dress that catches the light from the bonfire.

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