Float

Original Edition: Chapter Ten

"I just want to make sure you get home safe."

For a moment, I felt that he might be genuinely concerned for my safety. My heart fluttered. But then I realized he had to be bullshitting me, because anyone who cares about someone else's safety would not sneak up on said person and honk their horn to make said person fall on his or her ass.

It's just common courtesy.

"Yeah, right," I grumbled and turned the corner.

"Waverly?" Blake called after me. "Where are you going?"

I could practically hear the smile in his voice, so I knew right away that I'd taken the wrong turn and was probably walking in the opposite direction of our houses. But my ego was far too fragile, so instead of admitting that I was going the wrong way, I just held up my chin and kept stomping forward.

"I know where I'm going!" I shouted over my shoulder.

Blake revved his engine.

"Fine!" he shouted back, sounding frustrated. "Have a nice walk!"

I heard him roll up his window and make a U-turn, but refused to look back and watch him drive off. I balled my hands into tight fists, suddenly wondering how satisfying it would feel to punch Blake Hamilton right in his cute, freckled nose.

I didn't need him.

I could find my own way home.

Holden was a pretty tiny town. How difficult could it be?

About half an hour later, I had the answer to that question.

Very.

There must have been three hundred different roads all within two square miles of each other, each of them tangled together like someone had thrown a clump of yarn onto a blank map to decide where to put the streets. I was hopelessly lost amongst pastel houses and palm trees.

And it was getting dark.

And my butt was really sore.

I waddled up and down the streets, praying every time I turned a corner that I'd see Rachel's house. Finally, when I realized I'd passed the same enormous, gaudy, purple house with a perfectly manicured front lawn, I gave up.

With a great big heaving sigh, I fell back onto the manicured front lawn. The grass was surprisingly soft, and within moments, I found it very difficult to keep my eyes open. I was exhausted. Would anyone really mind if I just slept out here?

I let my eyelids flutter closed.

And then, just as I felt like I would fall into welcome sleep, I was bathed in light. My eyes snapped back open and I rolled onto my side, propping myself up on one elbow as I squinted down the street. There was a car coming, and its headlights were blindingly bright.

I groaned and rolled back onto the lawn, grabbing two fistfuls of soft green grass. I closed my eyes and waited for the car to pass so I could sleep. But the car didn't keep going. Instead, it pulled up right along the sidewalk in front of me. I opened my eyes, suddenly worried that some masked man would jump out of the car and grab me. I mean, what kind of person drives their car around on suburban roads at like ten at night?

Murderers and psychopaths, that's who.

I still couldn't quite make out the car because I was still a little blinded from staring straight into the car's headlights, but I heard a car door pop open. Oh, God. Someone was getting out of the car. I was going to get kidnapped, and they'd feature me on one of those creepy television shows about murder mysteries that never got solved.