Page 92 of Tell No Lies

I hadn’t mentioned it to him since it would make him even more protective, but I was scared.

“Sorry, Mike. We all fell asleep before he got back.”

“No problem. Next time I’ll just have to stay with you.” He winked as he held out his hand, helping me out of my car.

“Yeah, right. Brandon would completely lose it if you stayed the night.” I ducked back into my car to grab my bag from the passenger seat.

We headed toward the school with the guys flanking us. It made me feel like a celebrity with a security escort. We took a seat at one of the picnic tables in the quad, and within a few minutes, the girls joined.

Talia pushed Mike over and sat down between us. She smiled at him as he glared at her. “Calm down, sweetie. You face will freeze like that.” She turned and looked out to everyone, making sure she had their attention. I was sure if she’d had a glass and a knife, she would have started dinging. “Alright people. An adventure is long overdue. What are some ideas for this weekend?”

One of the guys from the football team—I couldn’t keep them all straight—shouted out, “Party at Aubrey’s!”

Alexis laughed and shook her head. “Nate, we do that all the time. That’s not an adventure.”

Nate grunted and looked down.

The guy standing next to him spoke up. “How about Six Flags?”

Talia contemplated this for a moment. “That’s more like it, but we just went there a few months ago.”

“Yeah, but Aubrey wasn’t there.”

Talia turned to me. “Do you want to go there? I forgot you haven’t always been with us.”

I appreciated her thinking of me as a part of their group so easily, but her announcement had thrown me off, and I was still trying to figure out if this was a normal occurrence for them. “I’m okay with anything.”

Mckayla was cuddled up with Sean, and they seemed like they were in their own little world, so it was a surprise that she was paying attention to us. “Why don’t we go camping this weekend at Catalina? Don’t one of you guys have a boat we can take out?”

Bear was sitting among the other football players and pointed over to another. “Tony! Do you think your dad would let us take out his yacht?”

Tony, a brown-haired running back, looked up from his phone. “Yeah, sure. I’ll ask him and let you guys know at lunch.”

As if it was planned, the bell went off, signaling for us to head to class.

Talia popped up and clapped. “Perfect! Catalina, it is!”

I stood up and pulled my bag over my shoulder. Brandon was so not going to go for this. Who would let a bunch of teenagers take a yacht out to an island for the weekend?

No responsible adult, I was sure.

☼ ☼ ☼

I was proven wrong at lunch. Very, very wrong. Not only had everyone’s parents agreed to let them go, but since the group was so big, another dad had volunteered to have us use his yacht too. Well, he’d phrased it as, “I’ll have the crew prep it and take you kids out this weekend.” Seriously?

I had to get Brandon to agree. This seemed like more than just fun; it was a chance to feel included in this group rather than just being Mckayla’s cousin.

Word had spread rapidly through the school. People approached our table constantly during lunch, asking who could be included and if there was room for them.

Mike took the initiative as the leader, explaining to some people that they could come as long as they contributed to the trip fund, and to others that the boats were full. Apparently, it had been decided during one of the class periods that everyone who was coming should contribute to a fund for food and supplies. I was surprised that the guys would think ahead like that, until Talia stepped forward, explaining it to a few of Mike’s friends.

Yeah, that made much more sense.

I tried to ignore the flow of people to our table and turned to Mckayla and Sean. “Have people already gotten permission from their parents, or are they just assuming they’ll let a bunch of teenagers take boats out to an island alone?”

Sean smirked at me, and Mckayla just laughed. “Well, I already asked my mom and got the okay. She said she’ll talk to Brandon and make sure he lets you go too.”

And just like that I was able to relax for the first time that day. “Oh, good! I’ve been panicking about how to ask him. He’s been really chill with things in the past, but since I got the note, he’s been much more protective.”