Wild Rescue (4 page)

Chapter 12

When the curtain closed
I helped get the percussion instruments back to the band room. Mr. Scarberry pulled my sister and the other two aside. I heard him say, “. . . jeopardize our performance . . .” All three girls wiped tears.

Later I followed Ashley into the auditorium.

“What happened up there?” Mom said, hugging her.

Before she could answer, Liz and Denise came down the walkway, and their moms and dads met them.

“Ashley got us in trouble,” Denise said. “She made it look like we messed up her music.”

I wanted to tell them I’d seen them switch Ashley’s pages.

Mom held Ashley close, and Dylan skipped up the aisle and hugged her legs. “I heard your fute!” he said.

Liz’s and Denise’s parents glared at us. “I’ll have a talk with that director,” one of the dads said.

“No,” Liz said. “Let’s just go.”

Sam cleared his throat and stood with his back to the others. “How about some milk shakes at the Toot Toot Café?”

Chapter 13

The milk shake helped,
especially since the owner, Mr. Crumpus, put an extra scoop of ice cream in Bryce’s and mine. Ice formed on the outside of the glass, and I scratched it away with a fingernail. I tried to keep thinking about good things, like the alpaca-sitting job, but my mind returned to Liz and Denise.

I had seen Hayley after the concert. “I’m sorry,” she had said. “I didn’t see them do it.” I told her it wasn’t her fault, but I kept thinking about the trip Friday and wishing I could stay home.

I was stunned when Mom said, “Why don’t you and Bryce rent a movie tonight?”

She didn’t normally let us stay up late on school nights, but she said, “You’ve earned it.”

Bryce gave me a look like he wanted to hurry before Mom changed her mind. While Dylan finished his ice cream, which was everywhere on his face except in his mouth, Bryce and I rushed to the video store.

We were in the new movie section when Bryce said, “Uh-oh, look who’s coming.”

My heart dropped to my socks. Liz and Denise. It was too late to duck, and they walked right up to me.

“Happy now?” Liz said. “Glad you got us in trouble?”

Before I could say anything, Bryce stepped in front of me. “Y-you got yourselves in t-trouble. Then you l-lied to your parents about it.”

“W-w-what’s the matter? C-c-can’t your sister talk for herself?” Denise said, smirking.

I felt my face turning red. “You guys can’t stand it when anybody does better than you. You had to ruin it for me.”

The man behind the counter raised his eyebrows.

Denise said, “Ashley, you’re pathetic. And your brother couldn’t keep time if Scarberry gave him a watch.”

Liz glanced out the window and elbowed Denise as her mom and dad arrived.

Denise jabbed her finger in my chest. “Better be careful Friday. Awful things can happen at amusement parks.”

After they left we went back to searching for a video. Bryce handed me an ancient one titled
Two on a Guillotine
and said we should give it to Denise and Liz.

“No matter what,” I said, “I’m going Friday.”

Chapter 14

Later that week
Mrs. Watson became sick and stayed in bed. I figured she was mostly still upset about her stolen jewelry.

By Friday, Ashley was so nervous she was imagining Liz and Denise in the barn and jumping when the phone rang.

I saw Duncan at the buses, and he asked why I had chosen to sit with Toby. Before I could think of an answer, Toby came up to us.

Duncan frowned and shook his head, walking away. “I thought we were best friends.”

Toby and I sat in the very back row where we could see everything. I saw Denise and Liz get on, but they didn’t see me.

It was cool and Mom wanted me to wear a jacket, but there was no way I was going to Happy Canyons with anything more than my swimsuit and a change of clothes. Jackets were for sissies.

Toby had his jacket. We sat there awkwardly for a while.

Finally I tried starting a conversation. “How do you like living—at your house?”

“I’ve never lived anywhere else, so I guess I like it okay.”

“How do you like the tuba?”

“Fine. I like blowing those low notes that sound like gas and making the girls turn around. It’s about the only time they look at me.”

“Yeah, those are pretty realistic,” I said.

“How long have you been playing the drums?” Toby said.

“I took lessons from a neighbor for a couple of years until I got pretty good. My drum set is in my room.”

We were past Castle Rock before I worked in my first real question. “What’s your dad use his scanner for?”

“He listens for bad road conditions—you know, snow and ice and stuff. Plus, he gets a kick out of hearing all the police calls.”

“He buy it new?”

“Nah. At the pawnshop. He traded some baseball cards for it.”

Baseball cards?
“He have a big collection?”

“Huge,” Toby said. “He’s got copies of
Sports Illustrated
signed by a lot of the people on the covers. He uses the cards every few months to trade for something he really wants or needs. Last month he traded a baseball signed by Hank Aaron for a new set of tires.”

What a waste! A valuable ball like that going for a set of Goodyears? If it was true, my case against Toby’s dad was unraveling faster than kite string.

Chapter 15

I’ve read that friends
are your most treasured possessions, but you never really possess them. True friends will walk through hot glue just to keep you company. That’s how I felt about Hayley. Even though she wasn’t a Christian, she was as true a friend as I could have wanted. We’ve had problems, of course, but I can trust her.

Mr. Scarberry had worked it out that Liz and Denise were on the other bus, and I was glad.

When the second bus passed us I looked for Bryce and saw Liz and Denise scowling out the window. They looked like those Olympic athletes who strain for one more inch on the high jump, only these two were straining to get back at me.

“I thought Mr. Scarberry wasn’t going to let them come,” Hayley said.

“Somebody said their moms and dads blew a gasket and insisted. You may not want to stick with me today. If they see us, we’re both toast.”

“It’s going to take more than those two to keep me away,” Hayley said.

“Why does it feel like we’re the Christians and they’re the lions?”

“What do you mean?”

“Haven’t you ever heard of what they did to Christians back in the days of the Coliseum?” I gave her a short course on all I knew about Rome and how the Christians had been killed by lions and set on fire as torches.

“How awful,” Hayley said. “Why would they do that to people?”

“I guess they hated them because of what they believed.”

“But couldn’t you just say you weren’t a Christian?”

“That’s the thing about believing in God,” I said. “You never want to turn your back on him.”

Hayley remained silent.

I’d done it again. I’d found a way to end a good conversation. Maybe someday I’d figure out how to talk about important things without making people clam up.