The Candy Shop War
Page 37

normal-sized clouds? You know, here and there, a little at a time. You might even be able to get out of the way if you stayed on your toes. But nope, all we get is some megacloud that blankets the whole state. I bet you couldn’t even get out of the way in a Ferrari.”
Nate glanced sideways at Trevor, who raised his eyebrows. Pigeon scratched his scalp. Summer stared at her feet.
Gary let out a prolonged sigh. “Well, I have a bunch of stuff to do.” He jangled his keys. “Going to be a soggy ride home. Hope your mom stashed a life raft in the trunk. Keep it real.” He sauntered away down a covered walkway.
“Is that guy sane?” Nate asked in a low voice.
“Gary’s nice,” Trevor said. “He can be kind of odd. There’s Mom!”
Trevor’s mom was driving along Oak Grove Avenue in a dark blue sedan. She turned into the parking lot and pulled up alongside the curb. Trevor climbed into the front seat, while the others piled in the back. His mom had curly dark hair and a darker complexion than her son. “It’s really coming down,” she said.
“Thanks for picking us up,” Summer said.
“My pleasure,” Trevor’s mom said, pulling out of the parking lot. “Nate, you’re on Monroe?”
“Right,” Nate said.
She wove around a slow-moving pickup. “We all live so close we should carpool in the mornings!”
The wipers were on high mode, pushing away each new bombardment of raindrops an instant after they splattered against the glass. Nate found himself entranced by the motion, and wondered how Trevor’s mom kept her concentration on the road. The sedan splashed through the edge of a huge puddle, sending up an impressive fan of water.
“Awesome,” Trevor said.
They went to Summer’s house first, pulling into an empty driveway. She waved and used a key to let herself in. They returned to Main, hung a right on Greenway, and turned into the Presidential Estates, the rain still pouring. After dropping off Pigeon, they swung around to the other side of the circle and let Nate out.
Simply running from the car to his porch, Nate got surprisingly damp. He did not carry a key, but knew where the hidden spare was tucked away. He tried the knob and found the door unlocked. Nate swiveled and waved, but Trevor’s car was just pulling out of sight.
“Mom?” he called.
“In here,” she answered from the family room.
Nate found her on the couch in front of the television. “Where were you?” he asked. “I tried to call, the rain had us trapped at school.”
“I’m sorry, honey,” she said. “I wasn’t thinking. Looks like you found a ride.”
“Trevor’s mom.”
“I was looking into joining a health club. Did you know I’ve put on six pounds since I started eating your fudge?”
“Maybe you should stop eating it,” Nate said.
“I can’t,” she said, making wide, guilty eyes. “Neither can your dad. Cheryl eats her fair share as well. It’s like we’re stuck in a fanatical fudge phase.”
“Did you join the club?” Nate asked.
“No, they kept pressuring me. They wanted me to sign a two-year contract. So I went and got a few exercise DVDs instead. I got back not five minutes ago.”
“Okay. I’m going to go change. I’m supposed to meet Pigeon.”
“Doing homework?”
“We have an assignment to finish.” Nate rushed upstairs.
*****
As rain pattered against the yellow hood of her raincoat, Summer brooded about the injustice that she had the longest walk to the Nest. Unless the creek was really low, she had to go all the way over to Greenway, up to the jogging path, and back to the bottom of Monroe Circle just to reach their hideout. It was even less fair on a rainy day like today.
Fishing a sealed sandwich bag of Moon Rocks out of her pocket, she decided to take a shortcut. She turned down a side street that granted access to the strip of wilderness along the creek, and squelched through the weeds to where the water was rushing at a much higher level than normal. It would be a long jump, even with a Moon Rock, and if she messed up, she could get swept away. She hesitated, reconsidering the longer route, then decided she was being a sissy and popped a piece of candy into her mouth. Her body swiftly felt lighter.
She had picked a spot where the far bank was only a little higher than the near bank. Crouching, she sprang forward. For a moment, instead of merely jumping, it seemed like she was soaring up into the rainstorm, rising like a superhero, the rain noisy against her coat, but soon she reached the apex of her leap and began curving down toward the far bank. Her galoshes plopped down in the oozy mud.
“Now, that was an incredible jump,” said a familiar voice.
Summer whirled. Denny came out of some bushes wearing a hooded camouflage slicker. He appeared to be alone. “Jump?” Summer said, playing dumb.
“Yeah,” Denny said. “I wanted to see how high the rain had made the creek. Imagine my surprise when I see you walk up to the edge of the water, eat something, and jump across. I mean, a huge jump, like you were flying.”
“You must be seeing things,” Summer said.
“Kind of like how we were seeing things when Eric got all hairy and Kyle was puking root beer? Kind of like how I imagined that I was pinned to the ground by a massive force? What’s going on, Summer?”
Summer pretended to sneeze and spit her Moon Rock into the weeds. Her body grew heavier. “I don’t have time to stand around talking,” she said. “Let’s just say, if I were you, I wouldn’t mess around with us anymore.” She turned and walked away hurriedly.
“Love the threat,” Denny laughed. “Fine, go fly away to play with the magical geek squad. You don’t scare me. I have my eye on you guys.”
Summer did not look back. She kept her pace quick and found the others waiting on the path above the Nest. Trevor and Nate wore hooded ponchos. Pigeon had on a thick winter coat and carried a black umbrella.
Summer bit her lip. Part of her wanted to report what Denny had seen, but she felt too embarrassed that she had been so careless. They already knew Denny was suspicious of them because of the trick candy. She decided there was no need to humiliate herself by sharing what else he had witnessed. “Do you have the telescope?” Summer asked.
“Of course,” Trevor said.
They started down the path together. Summer checked periodically over her shoulder to make sure Denny wasn’t tailing them. It would be easy enough for him to deduce that their candy was coming from Mrs. White without their actually showing him. By the time they reached Greenway, she felt confident that Denny was not on their trail.