Roses Are Red [SAMPLE]

Teaser 4

Deacon pointed at me. "See, you're trying to change the subject again."

I grabbed hold of his finger and got close to his face. "No, I'm not."

Deacon smirked. "Yes, you are."

"I wouldn't pull that if I were you, Isla," Jonah said as he passed us.

"Ew," I said as I quickly let go of Deacon's finger.

"Bro," Deacon said.

"What?" Jonah said, looking back as he continued to walk behind the silent Sarabeth and Barrett.

"That's gross," Deacon said.

"I know, that's why I warned her before anything happened," Jonah said.

"Um, guys?" I said once I noticed Ozzie and Macey had veered off the dirt path we were on. "Where are you going?"

"The place we saw is this way," Ozzie said as he and Macey stopped walking.

"But we're supposed to stay on the marked paths," I said.

"It's not that far off the path," Ozzie said. "We'll be able to find our way back no problem."

I looked at Deacon, who just shrugged. "I don't know, guys."

"Oh c'mon, Isla," Macey said. "If we stay on the path like everyone else, the people ahead of us are gonna pick up all the good stuff and we'll never find any firewood."

"Or roasting sticks," Ozzie added.

"If we don't find any then we don't find any," I said. "We're just gonna be tossing them into a pile with everyone else's anyway."

"Yeah but we should still contribute," Macey said.

"What we should do is stay on the path," I said. I wished that there was someone around to back me up, but there wasn't. I could hear Cien's voice telling me to stay in control of the situation though, and that was good enough for me.

"Just relax," Ozzie said as he started walking again. "I've got this under control, so everyone just follow me."