The Loop by Shandy Lawson

Author:Shandy Lawson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction - Young Adult
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

IT’S BEEN TEN MINUTES of speeding along this back road, no light at all except our headlights. No moon, no streetlights, nothing but pitch-black inky night.

We’re actually making headway, and we’re far enough out of the loop that the sick feeling doesn’t get to us.

But of course, the moment that I think it, the very second that I realize we’re really getting somewhere, it happens again.

We barrel around a tight bend in the road and suddenly we’re bathed in blinding light. White flood lamps on tall metal tripods, blue and white spinning lights on the roofs of police cars, white and red lights from an ambulance. My pupils can’t dilate fast enough to keep the brightness from being completely overwhelming.

Maggie stops the car behind a police cruiser, pulling up close enough so our license plate isn’t visible. “Hold on a sec,” she says, and steps out into the whirling red and white glare.

She talks to the cops for a few minutes, then returns to the car. “Good news and bad news,” she says as she pulls her seat belt back on.

I swallow hard. “I’ll take the good news first, assuming the bad news isn’t that we just got busted for stealing this car.”

“Hmm. Well, there’s no real good news. I was just trying to soften the blow.”

“Soften the blow?”

“Yeah. This accident is going to take at least until morning to clear off the road. We only have one option.”

I knew it. I just knew it. “We have to go back the way we came.”

“Yup. Cop says there’s no detour, no side roads from here to get us around the accident. Back the way we came and then take another road near that gas station to get us headed south again.”

“You’ve got to be kidding.”

“Sorry, Romeo. But hey, it’s only ten minutes wasted, right? Could be worse.”

I know full well that it could be worse. What is worrying me is that the loop is just not going to give an inch.

“What if we went back to Alexandria, spent the night there?” Maggie asks. “Maybe catch some Z’s in a parking lot or something…”

I stare out at the dark blur rushing by my window. “That would mean we’d be driving north. Past that gas station and toward Shreveport. You cool with that?”

Maggie is silent. I know what she’s thinking. There are a million ways we could fly right past Alexandria and move on to our meet-up with Roy.

“I guess we should go back a little ways and try to get around this accident. Alexandria just feels like too much of a risk. Tempting as a good night’s sleep may be.”

“Okay,” I say. “But I drive.”

“You’re on. And I say we still look for a spot to get some rest. If we find a safe place to park for the night, we should grab it.”

I nod.

“It’ll be fun, Ben. We’ll have a slumber party, just the two of us.”

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