If You're Reading This

by Trent Reedy

  Finally, I thought I heard something, a whoop or a scream, maybe laughter. Soon the sound of music echoed toward me, getting louder as I approached. I stepped out onto a much smaller stone bridge.

  This bridge crossed a little creek that ran through a clearing surrounded by tall oaks. In the middle of the clearing, people talked and drank as they sat on logs or wooden stumps around a fire pit. A new guy in my class named Hunter Thorson played guitar and watched the sparks rising from the fire up into the dark.

  “Don’t do it! You’re too heavy. It won’t hold you.” Nicky Dinsler laughed from somewhere.

  I followed the sound of her voice overhead to where she and Eddie Bracken stood in what was left of an old tree house. Long ago, someone had built a large platform about a dozen feet from the ground around a tree that had grown up in three tall trunks. One of the tree house’s walls had fallen away and most of the roof had collapsed, but the remnants of a whole room were up there.

  Eddie walked a few steps out onto the plank floor of a shaky old rope bridge. Then he ran across the fifteen feet of rattling bridge to a second, smaller platform in the branches of an oak.

  Cody Arnath was in the trees too. He went from this second platform along a solid bridge to another decaying tree house in a third tree. He grabbed a rope that hung from one of the top branches. “Roughriderrrrrrrs!” he shouted. Then he jumped, wrapped his legs around the rope, and swung out away from the platform. “Mount up!”

  Chris Moore waded out into Wolf Creek with his jeans rolled up. “The water’s way too cold.”

  Erica Larson, still wearing her cheerleading uniform, stopped midstream, the water just above her knees. She drank from a can for a moment, then wiped her mouth. “Would you toughen up? Just give yourself a chance to get used to it.”

  Sarah Carnahan finished rolling up her jeans on the bank and then stepped out into the creek. “It’s freezing!” she screamed. She laughed and joined Chris, gently rubbing his back when he put his arm around her. Chris and Sarah seemed pretty happy together. “Erica,” Sarah said, “if Coach finds out you wore that uniform out here, she’ll kill you.”

  “She won’t find out. Anyway, we got to wear these more. Be proud! Cheer it out, girl!” Erica pounded the rest of her drink and dropped the can in the water, waving as it floated downstream.

  Nature Spot. I’d heard so much about it, but now that I’d arrived, what should I do? What did people do at parties? Just talk and drink? I felt completely out of place. Nobody seemed to have seen me yet, and for a moment I thought about turning around and going back home. But I had a mission to complete for Dad. He and his fellow soldiers didn’t always know what they were doing in Afghanistan, but they never turned around and went home. It wasn’t the Cowboy Way.

  Careful not to slip on the loose gravel, I slowly shuffled down the slope from the tracks. Chris nodded to me from the water. “Mike! You made it. Cool.”

  “That was a great catch there, near the end,” I said. “You saved us.”

  Chris laughed. “Yeah, same to you!”

  Cody’s swing wound down and he skidded to a stop on the ground. “Wilson!” He reached out his fist and I bumped it. He pointed to a crowd of people gathered around a wooden plank suspended over two fifty-gallon barrels. “Drinks over there. Get ’em while they’re cold, dude.” He slapped me on the back and ran toward the tree houses with the rope in hand.

  I tried to walk casually, like I knew where to go and what to do. A bunch of these people weren’t on the football team, and though I’d seen them around school and knew most of their names, I didn’t really know them as people. By the time I reached the edge of the group by the drinks, I had begun to wish I’d never come. I’d gone through all this trouble to get out here, and for what? To stand around like a helpless, unwanted idiot.

  “Hey, Mike, good to see you.” Raelyn and Ethan stepped up beside me. I fought to hold back my laugh, both because I was so relieved to have someone to talk to, and because of the ridiculously happy look on Ethan’s face.

  “Thanks,” I said. “This place is great. But I’m kind of surprised to see you here.”

  “Why?” she asked a little sharply. Ethan fired a death stare at me.

  “Um … no reason.” How could I mention the Chris Moore thing delicately? I was stupid for starting to bring it up. On the other hand, maybe I could take the fall to help Ethan. “Just … so I guess you and Chris —”

  “I swear, if one more person mentions that tonight, I will explode,” Raelyn said. “Yeah, I used to come out here because me and him were going out, but I’m not going to stop just because we broke up.” Ethan sneaked a thumbs-up at me from behind her, but snapped his hand down when she turned to him. “Come on, Ethan.” She led him away.

  “Mike!” Laura pushed through the crowd, almost dropping the bottle of whatever cherry-red stuff she’d been drinking. She threw her arms around my neck and squeezed me. “I’m so happy you could come!”

  I patted her on the back. “Hey, Laura.”

  She backed away from me a little but kept her hands on my shoulders. “Seriously” — she shook her head as she said the word — “it’s awesome you’re here. You were totally” — she wobbled a little — “awesome tonight.”

  Laura pulled me close to her side, kind of hanging on my shoulders with her arm draped around me as she walked us around Nature Spot. “Isn’t this place great?” She pointed with her bottle to show it off. “Just hanging out, celebrating the win, and having some drinks with friends.”

  Cody whooped as he swung from the rope again.

  “And swinging from ropes out of the tree houses,” I said. “Who built them, anyway?”

  Laura laughed. “Nobody knows. They’ve been here forever. Come on, let’s get you a drink!” She dropped her arm from my shoulder and led me through the crowd. All sorts of different bottles occupied the wood plank. I also spotted the cooler that had been outside the school.

  “Just a Gatorade would be great. I’m kind of dehydrated after the game,” I said, hoping I didn’t sound completely lame.

  “What?” Laura frowned. “You sure?”

  “Yeah.”

  She shrugged and handed me a red Gatorade. Over by the fire, people clapped as Hunter finished a song. A few people asked him to play another one. He chugged the rest of his drink before crushing the can and tossing it in the fire. Then he went back to strumming his guitar, launching into the introduction to Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here.”

  “I can’t believe it,” I whispered to Laura. “I know this song.”

  “Yeah, I think Hunter’s really talented.”

  He let the introduction roll off his guitar for a moment before he started singing. After a couple lines, Dozer came back from the trees to stand next to Hunter and McKay. He held up his drink and joined in.

  This was awesome. I joined the guys, who were swaying back and forth as they sang, and I added my voice to the mix. Dozer put his arms over each of our shoulders. Laura followed and slid into the huddle, and then a few others, including quiet Sullivan, completed our swaying, singing circle.

  As I belted out the lines, someone’s fingers rubbed the back of my neck. For one second I looked at Dozer, but when he swayed away, he nearly fell down, so I knew it wasn’t him. I turned to Laura, who grinned at me with her eyes half closed.

  When the song ended and the group broke up, I took a seat on a log with Laura, Dozer, McKay, and Sullivan. Hunter pointed his guitar toward me. “You really knew the song, man.”

  “My dad left me a bunch of CDs,” I said.

  “You’re still listening to CDs?” Rhodes said as he came into the circle and sat on a rock across the fire from me.

  “Yeah,” I said.

  “Stone Age,” said Rhodes.

  “I got a bunch of CDs in my car,” said Sullivan. “Anyway, who cares about that? What I want to know is did anyone see that explosive hit Moore put on number seventeen in the third quarter?”

  “Dude, t
hat was awesome,” said Hamilton. He held up a finger in a wait a second gesture, burped, took a long drink, and then continued. “I’ll admit that I messed up and missed my tackle right there. I was mad about that, but then boom! Moore comes flying in so fast, I didn’t even know who hit the Traer guy at first. That guy just said ‘uuuh.’ ” Hamilton laughed. “Just like that, like, ‘uuuh,’ and then he went down.”

  We all laughed. Everything that Dad had said about having fun with great high school friends made perfect sense now. I had something in common with people. I only wished Isma could be here with me.

  Laura pulled on my arm until I stood up and followed her. She led me away from the fire and whispered, “Let’s get you something better than that Gatorade.”

  “I’m good, seriously. I just —”

  She tripped and nearly fell, but I caught her just in time. She had one hand on each of my shoulders and pulled herself up until her face was close to mine. I could smell her drink on her breath. Her eyes were half closed again as she smiled. “You’re really cute.”

  No girl had ever told me that in my whole life, especially not a pretty and popular older girl like Laura Tammerin. Of course, no girl had hung on me quite this way either. She leaned toward me and closed her eyes.

  My mouth fell open in surprise. She wanted to kiss me? Dad had warned me about having more girls than I could handle. Why hadn’t he told me what to do about it? And what about Isma? I ducked my head to the side to dodge her kiss.

  “Oops.” Laura grinned at me with her eyes nearly closed. “I missed.”

  I helped her back to the log bench and sat her down before she could try again.

  Hailey Green had joined the circle by now. She looked completely gorgeous, wearing brown boots, jeans, and one of those sweaters that hung down off the shoulder with a tank top underneath, like she had arrived for a fashion shoot and not a party. She smiled. “That was a great catch tonight.” Was she talking to me? “Hello?” She laughed. “You okay, Mike?”

  I’d assumed she was talking to Moore. She’d barely said three sentences to me since junior high. “Sorry,” I said. “Um, thanks. I got lucky. Plus, there were a lot of plays to go around. The whole team did great.”

  “That’s ’cause we got a team of studs,” Hailey said. “So, Mike, are you, like, dating that Isma girl? Going to the homecoming dance with her or something?”

  Where did this come from? “What?”

  “I heard she’s way into you,” said Hailey.

  I didn’t want to talk about Isma and me. “I don’t know how much she likes me. And we’re not really dating. Just friends.”

  “She’s, like, weird.” Hailey tipped back her bottle of passion-berry punch and took a long drink.

  Eddie came to the circle, holding hands with Nicky, whose hair was a little messed up. “Are you talking about that Muslim girl?” Nicky said. “She’s in my study hall, always drawing pictures. Trying to be all arty or whatever.”

  I bit my lip. They had a problem with art? Why did they have to make fun of her about it? Guys could get to know each other while playing football and figure out how to get along. It seemed different with girls. Queens like Hailey Green and Nicky Dinsler seemed to have a list of rules long enough to stretch all the way back to town.

  Eddie nodded. “Her little brother is in my brother’s class. My bro says that kid is the weirdest in the fifth grade.”

  “Must run in the family,” said Dozer. He must have noticed the expression on my face. “Sorry, dude, but she is a little …” He waved his hand in a little circle. “She ain’t bad-looking, though.”

  “Gross!” someone shouted.

  “She’s not that bad,” I said quietly. I knew that even if I tried to explain what made Isma great, they’d never change their minds. So why should I make a scene and mess up this good time?

  “Do you guys realize that we only really need to win two more games to make the playoffs in our district?” Sullivan sat on the ground, leaning back against a log, watching sparks fly up out of the fire until they winked out in the night. “I got another letter this afternoon from the University of Dubuque.”

  “Another for your collection? How many does that make now?” said Hamilton.

  “It doesn’t matter,” said Sullivan. “None of the letters matter unless we make the playoffs and do really well. My family doesn’t have the money to pay for my college, so it’s either I pull off this football-scholarship thing or go into a pile of debt.”

  Karn tossed his empty can into the glowing embers of the fire. “Don’t worry about it. We’ve got this.”

  “The kid could have dropped the ball tonight.” Sullivan nodded at me. “You could have been sacked, Matt. That game was way too close.”

  “Yeah, but it worked out,” said Dozer. “This is important to us too, man. You got to trust us.”

  “I am trusting you guys,” said Sullivan. “I’m trusting you with my whole future.”

  A cold drink splashed on my head and I jumped to my feet. The freezing liquid ran down my face and onto my shirt. I wiped my eyes, tasting whatever strong stuff had been mixed with the cherry Kool-Aid that would now stain one of my best T-shirts and my only jacket.

  “Whoa,” Dozer said. “Not cool, dude.”

  Was he talking to me? Of course it wasn’t cool.

  “What? It was an accident. I tripped,” someone said behind me.

  Nick Rhodes. I spun around to see him holding an empty red plastic cup. I scrambled to his side of the log. “What is your problem?”

  “I think you know.” Rhodes gave me a little shove in the chest.

  My heart pounded so heavy, I could feel it in my ears. Dad would tell me to throttle this guy, and he’d get no argument from me. I clenched my fists. This time I’d punch him, knock him out, break his jaw. I’d throw him to the dirt like tossing a bale on the farm.

  But Isma and Mrs. Potter had both told me not to fight. And Nick had a lot of friends in this group. He’d been hanging out with these people for years, and I’d only come onto the scene a few weeks ago. If I beat up their buddy, this could be the last time anyone invited me anywhere.

  Rhodes pushed me again and I stepped back.

  “Dude, chill. Leave him alone,” said Eddie. “Can’t we just have fun?”

  “I want to know how this freak even got here.” Rhodes pushed me a third time. I shoved him back. He cocked his fist, but Sullivan rushed him and grabbed his arm.

  Dozer had stood up too and held his other arm. “Calm down, man. What’s your problem?”

  “You guys letting this loser out here is my problem!”

  Dozer twisted Rhodes’s arm behind his back until he gasped at the pain. Then Dozer swung him around and flung him to the ground. He pulled him up by the front of his T-shirt until their faces were inches apart. A little vein throbbed on the side of Dozer’s head. “Knock it off or get out of here! This is supposed to be a party.” His bulging biceps twitched. “Next time you want to fight someone out here, you fight me! Got it?” Dozer pushed him back to the ground.

  Nobody moved or said anything. A log popped on the fire. Wolf Creek gurgled as it churned through rocks by the little bridge. Rhodes rose to his feet. He glared at me, then glanced at Dozer before heading off into the shadows, up the slope to the tracks. “This isn’t over, Wilson!” he yelled back.

  A bunch of snappy, tough-sounding replies echoed through my head. It’s over when I say it’s over! Or I’ll be ready! Or Bring it on! I didn’t say any of them. Instead, I sat down on the log and tried to act casual, even though I was soaked by Nick’s drink.

  Hunter Thorson strummed his guitar. “That’s too bad. I was hoping for a fight.” He laughed. “I love a good fight.” He launched into a song, which seemed to be a signal for people to go for drinks and relax. Dozer grabbed two more drinks and sat back down while Sullivan poked the fire with a stick.

  “Hey, man,” I said quietly to Dozer. “Thanks.”

  He looked at me for a mome
nt, then chugged like a madman before throwing the empty can into the fire. He put his hand to his stomach, wrinkled his nose, and belched long and deep before blowing it at McKay. McKay laughed and punched him in the shoulder, but Dozer only cracked open another and chugged again.

  I wanted to go home and get out of my wet clothes, but nothing would have pleased Rhodes more than knowing I’d left early, so I just stayed close to the fire to get dry. The party rolled on. After a while, I got another Gatorade and sat down on the end of a log next to Ethan. “Rhodes is an idiot, man,” he said. Then he leaned toward me and whispered, “You could take him.”

  “Maybe someday,” I said. “But who cares about that? How are things with the quest? Where is she, anyway?”

  “Raelyn had to go home, but the quest is a success. I have a homecoming date,” Ethan said. “I’m getting her back. I can hardly believe it.”

  I pushed his shoulder. “That’s great, buddy. I knew you’d do it.”

  “You did not. You thought it was crazy to keep talking to her, waiting for her to come around.”

  “Well, I knew it would be good for you to be in the musical with her.”

  “You’re right.” Ethan raised a glass to me. “Hey, thanks for getting me invited to this. You’re pretty cool, dude.”

  “What? It’s mostly for football guys. I didn’t do anything.”

  “You used your influence with Laura. I appreciate it. This is fun. I like this new you. I always knew that people would like you if you only made a little effort to let them get to know you.”

  I was about to answer when Laura crouched down in front of him. “I think you’re in my seat, Jonesy.”

  Ethan raised an eyebrow at me and gave up his spot. Laura sat down. “You should have just knocked him out,” she whispered.

  “Who, Ethan? Naw, he’s a good friend.”

  Laura laughed a little more than the joke deserved and leaned against me. “You’re so funny! But you know who I mean. That was stupid what he did, and you should beat him up.” She rested her head on my shoulder.