“Let me go,” I wheezed. “I can swim.”
He loosened his hold but still didn’t let go. “Sure could have fooled me. You looked like you were drowning.”
“I wasn’t drowning. Just let me go.”
No sooner were my words out when Brody came flying through the air and landed in the water with a big splash that rained drops of water down on our heads.
Jude released me and I got my wits about me, treading water while the boys horsed around, dunking each other and laughing. I couldn’t help it, I was laughing with them. All thoughts of hungry crocodiles flew right out of my head.
We took turns swinging from the rope and dropping into the creek. The more times I did it, the easier it was and the braver I got. Jude cautioned me to drop into the water at the deep part or I’d get hurt.
This time I heeded his advice.
“Jude McCallister! You have some explaining to do.”
I pushed my wet hair off my forehead and looked over at Jude’s mom, who was standing on the other side of the fence with her hands on her hips, a look on her face that said she clearly wasn’t happy. My mom was right next to her and wore a similar expression.
We were in so much trouble.
The three of us trudged to the back porch to face our punishment, creek water dripping from our clothes. We were all questioned. I kept my lips sealed. I wasn’t a tattletale so I didn’t mention it was a dare. Brody didn’t say a word, just stood there looking bored with the whole thing.
Jude stepped forward. “It was all my fault. My idea. I talked them into it.” His voice never wavered, it was strong and sure, his shoulders squared as he stood tall in the face of the four adults who were acting as our judge and jury.
“It wasn’t his fault,” Brody said, stepping forward. “I dared him to do it.”
“Nuh uh.” Not wanting to be left out, I took my place right in the middle of the boys. “It was all my idea. I wanted to see what was on the other side of the fence.” I jerked my thumbs at the boys. “They followed me.”
Jude snorted. “I’m not a sheep, Rebel. I lead. I don’t follow.”
“I’m not a sheep either, and I wouldn’t follow you anywhere.”
“Pretty sure I was the first one down at the creek, waiting on you two,” Brody chimed in.
We were so busy squabbling over who followed who that we barely heard our punishment. The boys were given chores around the house and so was I. I didn’t even care though. It was worth it.
After that first day, Jude, Brody, and I were thick as thieves. I spent more time at the McCallister’s house than at my own. Kate stayed home with the kids and didn’t work so she told my mom she’d be more than happy to watch me too.
That wouldn’t be the last time we got into trouble either. We ran wild and we ran free, and by the end of the summer my skin was tanned to a nut brown and my arms and legs were covered in cuts and bruises.
One time, Brody found a wasp nest on the side of the barn and got the bright idea that he’d squirt it with the hose. Sure enough, he angered the wasps and they chased after us. All three of us got stung and my arms and back were covered in welts.
That was the summer I learned how to ride a horse. How to skip rocks in the creek that we weren’t supposed to be anywhere near. How to climb a fence and swing from a rope. On the Fourth of July, we set off fireworks in the back yard and had a bonfire party. We stole a beer from the cooler and hid in the barn, passing it around and taking turns drinking. We’d only taken a few sips each when Jude’s dad caught us and hauled us up to the porch. My mom gave us a lecture about underage drinking and how many brain cells we’d just killed off by drinking those few sips of beer and once again we got punished.
It seemed like we spent most of that summer shucking corn, peeling potatoes, and cleaning beans while we tuned out yet another lecture.
One night in August we talked our parents into letting us camp out in a tent in the McCallister’s back yard. Brody slept with a flashlight and I got the feeling he was scared of the dark, even though he’d sooner cut off his arm than admit it. We got sick on junk food and stayed up late telling ghost stories, passing the flashlight around and holding it under our chins to make the stories that much scarier.
Halfway through the night, I woke up to the sound of thunder and ran to the house so fast, I surely would have beaten the boys if it had been a race. I dove under Jude’s covers on the bottom bunk, my body trembling, and he and Brody joined me not long after. Jude slept with his feet by my head and I complained about how smelly they were. Which prompted him to move his feet right under my nose.
Secretly, I didn’t care about his smelly feet. I was just glad he and Brody were sleeping in the same room with me. It made the storm less scary and they took my mind off it by telling pickle jokes that were so stupid all I could do was laugh.
I never wanted that summer to end.
But like all good things, it did.
Chapter Three
Jude
“Summer’s over. She’ll be coming back soon,” Brody said, trying to wrestle the suitcase out of my mom’s hands. “I don’t want her to get upset if I’m not ready to go.”
“Brody,” my mom said with a soft smile. “If your mom comes back, I’ll help you pack—”
His hands balled into fists. “Not if. When. You said if.”
“I’m sorry. You’re right,” she said. “When your mom comes back, we’ll pack up your things. But until then, you and Jude are sharing a room and we don’t need this suitcase in here, honey. How about we just move it into the attic until you need it?”
“Yeah, okay. I guess,” he mumbled. “Can I ride Maple Sugar tomorrow?”
“Of course you can. You can ride her when you get home from school.”
She tousled his hair like he was another one of her sons and not her nephew.
I didn’t know where Brody was before he came to live with us but just after Memorial Day weekend, Dad went and picked him up and brought him back to our house. Nobody had heard from his mom since then. But he kept thinking she’d come back to pick him up. Every now and then he’d pack his suitcase so he’d be ready for her. I had a bad feeling that she wouldn’t be coming back and I could tell by the look on Mom’s face that she thought the same thing.
I’d overheard my parents talking about Dad’s younger sister, Shelby. Dad said she’d gotten messed up with drugs when she was a teen and had always been trouble. He said that Brody was better off living with us and that he’d do everything in his power to make sure we could keep him here.
But I wasn’t supposed to know any of that, and I wasn’t about to tell Brody that I knew stuff that he didn’t. He missed his mom, I guess, and I couldn’t blame him for it. I’d miss my mom something fierce if she just up and left me like that. It wasn’t something I could ever imagine my mom doing. She loved us too much and said so all the time.
My mom hugged us and kissed us goodnight and Brody climbed into the top bunk which used to be mine. Mom made me give it to him because she could tell he wanted it. Not gonna lie, that had pissed me off. We had a spare bedroom that he could have moved into but Mom thought he’d be scared to be on his own so now I had to share.