Splinters: Part One

Part One | 8

He turned off his Play Station 3 game console and shrugged on a jacket.

"So, you ready to head over to Z's?"

"Are you sure we won't get in trouble for sneaking out?"

He nodded. "I'm sure. My mom doesn't ever check on me."

Melissa wouldn't go a day without checking on me at least three times. Sometimes she'd just knock on the door and ask if I'm all right. Sometimes she'd just see if I need help on some homework and sometimes she'd just ask if I wanted to talk. Her effort to get closer to me was sometimes irritating, but I appreciated it to say the least.

Andrew conducted his plan to me.

"Okay, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to go tell my mom that you're leaving. You walk behind the house and I'll slip out my window after I tell her I'm going to bed. Yeah?"

I nodded, beginning to feel a bit uneasy.

"Okay, let's go."

Andrew and I both left his bedroom. He walked a certain ways ahead of me and knocked on a door. He opened it slightly.

"Mom?"

"Yeah?"

"Brayden's leaving, and I'm going to bed."

"Okay."

I stepped forward, trying to see Peggie.

"Um, bye, Mrs. Fredrickson."

"Bye, sweetie!"

Andrew closed the door and turned to me. "She's watching that stupid show that's called Housewives or something like that."

"I've never heard of it."

Andrew put a hand on my shoulder. "Good."

I pressed my lips together as he turned and closed his door. He advanced towards me again and pointed down his stairs.

"K, now you go out the front door and come to the back."

"Okay."

I did as he said. The air was a bit colder than it had been earlier and the sky was almost completely dark. I walked down to the side of the house, clutching the strap of my backpack. I shivered slightly, getting annoyed at the idea that it was almost the end of October.

When I reached the back of his house, he was already half way out the window. He reached his hand over to grasp the branch of a tree. I was thinking about how convenient the tree was. He had a perfect hand to help him out of his window and sneak out whenever he wanted. The only flaw about it was that the tree made loud creaking sounds so if his mom was listening, she could easily catch him in the act.

About three minutes later, he finally reached the ground and we both headed to his car. Andrew tried to stay quiet when he turned on his car, but I had a feeling his mom could hear the car start. For some reason, I knew we'd get caught, and that scared me like crazy.

"Can your mom hear the car?"

He shook his head. "Nah, she pays too much attention to that show I was telling you about."

I told him okay, but I didn't believe him.

...

The party Zech was having wasn't one that you see in movies or one that you read in books. It just looked like a get together, but funner. Andrew parked his car and got out. I followed him up the porch steps where we entered the house without even knocking. We both stepped forward, looking around. Andrew must've been looking for Zech, but I was looking for Collie.