Emily floated on her back and smiled. She couldn’t help it: she gobbled up Maya’s compliments like cheesecake.
Maya squirted Emily with water through her cupped hands. Some of it squirted right into her mouth. The creek water tasted gooey and almost metallic, nothing like chlorinated pool water. “I think me and Justin are going to break up,” Maya said.
Emily swam closer to the edge and stood up. “Really? Why?”
“Yeah. The long-distance thing is too stressful. He calls me, like, all the time. I’ve only been gone for a few days, and he’s already sent me two letters!”
“Huh,” Emily answered, sifting her fingers through the murky water. Then something occurred to her. She turned to Maya. “Did you, um, put a note in my swim locker yesterday?”
Maya frowned. “What, after school? No…you walked me home, remember?”
“Right.” She didn’t really think Maya had written the note, but things would’ve been so much simpler if she had.
“What did the note say?”
Emily shook her head. “Never mind. It was nothing.” She cleared her throat. “You know, I think I might break up with my boyfriend too.”
Whoa. Emily wouldn’t have been any more surprised if a bluebird had just flown out of her mouth.
“Really?” Maya said.
Emily blinked water out of her eyes. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
Maya stretched her arms over her head, and Emily caught sight of that scar on her wrist again. She looked away. “Well, f**k a moose,” Maya said.
Emily smiled. “Huh?”
“It’s this thing I say sometimes,” Maya said. “It means…screw it!” She turned away and shrugged. “I guess it’s silly.”
“No, I like it,” Emily said. “Fuck a moose.” She giggled. She always felt funny swearing—as if her mom could hear her from their kitchen, ten miles away.
“You totally should break up with your boyfriend, though,” Maya said. “Know why?”
“Why?”
“That would mean we’d both be single.”
“And that means what?” Emily asked. The forest was very quiet and still.
Maya moved closer to her. “And that means…we…can…have fun!” She grabbed Emily by the shoulder and dunked her under the water.
“Hey!” Emily squealed. She splashed Maya back, ripping her whole arm through the water, creating a giant wave. Then she grabbed Maya by the leg and started tickling underneath her toes.
“Help!” Maya screamed. “Not my feet! I’m so ticklish!”
“I’ve found your weakness!” Emily crowed, maniacally dragging Maya over to the waterfall. Maya managed to wrench her foot away and pounced on Emily’s shoulders from behind. Maya’s hands drifted up Emily’s sides, then down to her stomach, where she tickled her. Emily squealed. She finally pushed Maya into a small cave in the rocks.
“I hope there are no bats in here!” Maya squealed. Beams of sunlight pierced through the cave’s tiny openings, making a halo around the top of Maya’s sopping wet head.
“You have to come in here,” Maya said. She held out her hand.
Emily stood next to her, feeling the cave’s smooth, cool sides. The sounds of her breathing echoed off the narrow walls. They looked at each other and grinned.
Emily bit her lip. This was such a perfect friend moment, it made her feel kind of melancholy and nostalgic.
Maya’s eyes turned down in concern. “What’s wrong?”
Emily took a deep breath. “Well…you know that girl who lived in your house? Alison?”
“Yeah.”
“She went missing. Right after seventh grade. She was never found.”
Maya shivered slightly. “I heard something about that.”
Emily hugged herself; she was getting cold, too. “We were really close.”
Maya moved closer to Emily and put her arm around her. “I didn’t realize.”
“Yeah.” Emily’s chin wobbled. “I just wanted you to know.”
“Thanks.”
A few long moments passed; Emily and Maya continued to hug. Then, Maya backed off. “I kind of lied earlier. About why I want to break up with Justin.”
Emily raised an eyebrow, curious.
“I’m…I’m not sure if I like guys,” Maya said quietly. “It’s weird. I think they’re cute, but when I get alone with them, I don’t want to be with them. I’d rather be with, like, someone more like me.” She smiled crookedly. “You know?”
Emily ran her hands over her face and hair. Maya’s gaze felt too close all of a sudden. “I…,” she started. No, she didn’t know.
The bushes above them moved. Emily flinched. Her mom used to hate when she came to this trail—you never knew what kind of kidnappers or murderers hid in places like this. The woods were still for a moment, but then a flock of birds scattered wildly into the sky. Emily flattened herself up against the rock. Was someone watching them? Who was that laughing? The laugh sounded familiar. Then Emily heard heavy breathing. Goose bumps rose up on her arms and she peered out of the cave.
It was only a group of boys. Suddenly, they burst into the creek, wielding sticks like swords. Emily backed away from Maya and out of the waterfall.
“Where are you going?” Maya called.
Emily looked at Maya, and then at the boys, who had abandoned the sticks and were now throwing rocks at each other. One of them was Mike Montgomery, her old friend Aria’s little brother. He’d grown up quite a bit since she last saw him. And wait—Mike went to Rosewood. Would he recognize her? Emily climbed out of the water and started scurrying up the hill.