Mom always said it’s important to be a gracious loser but it stung. Left a bitter taste in my mouth. And now I’d have to pay the price.
“So what’s the dare?” I’d show them. I’d never back down from a dare.
Chapter Two
Lila
Jude jerked his thumb over his shoulder. I moved closer to the fence and stared at the creek just over the hill. My stomach dropped and I swallowed hard, trying to push down my nerves.
“Me and Brody will go with you.” Brody bobbed his head in agreement and climbed the fence, jumping down on the other side and ambling down the hill to the creek.
“I’ll show you what you need to do,” Jude said, hopping down from the fence to stand beside me.
I looked over my shoulder to see if our parents were watching but couldn’t see them from here.
“You need help climbing the fence?” he asked.
I shook my head. I didn’t want him to think I was a big baby. With a shrug, Jude hopped the fence, making it look so easy. He peered at me through the slats from the other side. “Just crawl through here.”
“But you didn’t do it that way.”
“Doesn’t matter how you get to the other side, Rebel. Just as long as you get here.”
“Rebel?”
“Yeah. Rebel.” He scowled at me, and I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling. I liked that nickname. Made me sound cool. “Everything I say, you’re always saying the opposite. It’s annoying.”
“You’re pretty annoying yourself, Mr. Know-It-All.”
“What I know is that you’re gonna get a splinter.” He eyed my hands as I gripped the rough wood. Ignoring his warning, I pulled myself up and then I realized I had a problem. I was wearing a dress and I needed to straddle the top of the fence to get to the other side.
“Turn around,” I ordered. “Don’t watch.”
Surprisingly, he did as I asked. Using all my strength, I tried to pull myself up and sling a leg over the top like he had. But it wasn’t as easy as it looked. I was too small and my arms weren’t strong enough.
“Oomph.” The wood was digging into my stomach. Not sure how I managed to get in this position with my butt sticking up in the air and my body folded over the fence. All the blood rushed to my head and my feet were dangling down one side, my arms on the other. I reached with my fingers as if I could touch the ground from way up here.
I heard Jude laughing. “Rebel. That’s no way to climb a fence. Touch your feet back down on the other side and crawl through like I said.”
Did I listen? Of course not. Instead, I shimmied over the top, kicked up my legs and dove for the ground. Which left me sprawled at his feet with him laughing his head off and all the wind knocked out of me. He was laughing so hard he was doubled over.
When he finally stopped laughing, he helped me to my feet and I looked down at the scrapes on my knees as I dusted off my hands, hiding the evidence by clasping them behind my back.
“How big’s the splinter?”
“I didn’t get one,” I lied.
He just cocked a brow, not believing me for a minute.
“Are we allowed to be here? We’re trespassing.”
Jude grinned, mischief dancing in his blue eyes. “That’s what makes it a dare.”
“Oh. Right.” I pushed away my fears and followed him down to the creek where Brody was skipping rocks, a tall piece of grass dangling from the corner of his mouth like a cigarette.
Jude unwound a rope that was wrapped around the thick tree branch and held it out to me. “You have to swing out as far as you can over the water and then come back. Easy.”
“Watch out for the crocodiles,” Brody said, eying the dishwater brown and bottle green water. The creek was wide, the water running between two dirt banks with scrubby grass and loose gravel.
“We had a lot of rain. Sometimes the creek gets flooded,” Jude said, scratching his head as if he was puzzled about something. “Not sure how the crocodiles find their way here but they do.”
There was a loud splash and I jumped back, my hand over my racing heart as Brody doubled over, laughing, a big rock in his hand about the size of the one he’d just thrown.
“Pretty sure it’s feeding time. Snap snap,” Jude said, moving his hand like it was the jaws of a crocodile.
I yanked the rope out of Jude’s hand and kept telling myself that they were lying. Just trying to scare me. The rope was thick and knotted and I studied it in my hands, trying to figure out how to get from where I was, out over the water, and back again. I gulped, not wanting to let on that I was scared and had no idea how to do this.
“Here,” Brody said, wrestling the rope out of my hands. “I’ll show you how it’s done.”
“If you want.” I shrugged like it was no big deal. But secretly, I was relieved. Happy that I wouldn’t have to go first.
Brody backed up until the rope was stretched taut, his hands wrapped around one of the knots. Then he ran and just before he reached the water’s edge, he pulled himself up and wrapped his legs around the rope, swinging wildly above the creek with one arm raised in the air as he whooped and hollered before he flew back and landed on his butt, sending up a cloud of dust that nearly choked me.
Jude took the rope from him and I watched him do the same thing Brody just had. But Jude’s style was different. He flew like a cannonball, so fast he was a blur and then he was back by my side, both feet planted on the ground, offering me the rope. I got the feeling that there was nothing Jude couldn’t do.
I’d later learn that he was one of those boys who was good at everything and made it all look easy. Even when it wasn’t.
My hands were all sweaty and I wasn’t sure what scared me most. The crocodiles or the fear of embarrassing myself by not being able to do it.
“Can you swim?” Jude asked, his voice low like he didn’t want Brody to overhear.
I nodded and swallowed hard, tightening my grip on the rope.
“If you’re scared, it’s okay,” Jude said quietly.
I turned my head to look at him, trying to decide if he was just being nice or if he was making fun of me. “I’m not scared.”
“Okay.” He crossed his arms over his chest and smirked. “Whatever you say.”
I backed up so I had a good amount of space to take a running jump. If I fell I’d end up in the creek. In a dress. With hungry crocodiles ready to eat me. But I couldn’t back down from a dare. Not now that the boys were watching and waiting to see what I’d do.
So I took a deep breath and I ran and then I was flying through the air. The rope slipped from my sweaty hands and I hit the water with a splash and went down, down, down. This creek was a lot deeper than I’d expected. My arms flailed as the current carried me away.
Gripped by panic, I forgot how to swim.
Arms wrapped around me and my head emerged from the water. I coughed, my nose burning from all the water I’d inhaled. My body thrashed, struggling to break free.
“Stop fighting me.”
He was treading water, keeping us both afloat, hanging on to me for dear life. His grip was so crushing, it squeezed all the air out of my lungs and I was struggling to breathe.