Page 15 of Unhinged Kallie

“I’ll still come,” Becca said and smiled at Troy.

“Okay, let’s go.”

Troy took the lead, and I was behind Becca as we walked toward the back of the farm and into the forest. Even with the bright sunny day, the woods were chilly and much darker.

“Where are we going,” Becca asked as she smacked at a mosquito.

Mosquitos were hard to pin, but I finally got one to stay, and my board was almost finished with all the local insects.

“You’ll see when we get there,” Troy said, jumping over a branch that had fallen across the trail. I knew where we were heading, but I didn’t know why Troy wanted to go to the one spot we weren’t allowed to play. Daddy said the stream was dangerous and we shouldn’t play near it.

I heard the water as we got closer, and when we walked out onto the pebbly beach, it was easy to see that it was higher than normal. It had rained a lot the last few weeks, and the fast water looked deep and cold. Troy turned and followed the stream, stopping only to pick up a handful of stones.

“Here, toss one,” he said to Becca, handing over a few smooth rocks. It didn’t look like he was going to share with me. He smiled at Becca, a bunch, and every time she smiled back. I didn’t know what he was doing. Troy never smiled this much.

I scooped up my handful of rocks and tossed them in when they did theirs. And even though mine went the farthest, Troy laughed and pointed, saying that Becca’s stone had. I glared at my cousin’s back. This wasn’t any more fun than the tea party.

The sound of the water got louder and reminded me of something roaring. I had never been this far before. The stream looked like it disappeared when I looked down the beach.

“Look, that’s so cool!” Troy yelled, grabbing Becca’s hand and taking off. I ran behind them, not sure what he was looking at, but annoyed that I came at all. All he wanted to do was hang out with Becca, not me.

She was a stupid girl, with her pretty blonde curls and blue dress that matched her eyes and the ribbons in her hair. I didn’t like her. Talon always wanted to play with her, and now Troy wanted to play with her over me. It wasn’t fair.

I almost ran into Troy when he stopped and pointed at a group of large rocks that stretched from one side of the water to the other. They were tall enough that they weren’t wet, but you would have to jump from one to the other to get to the other side. The ground got very steep on either side, and we all moved slowly to look over the edge. Wow, it was a long drop. I had no idea this cliff was here.

“There are blue flowers over there that match your dress,” Troy said to Becca, and I scrunched up my nose, annoyed with my cousin. “I think we should go get them, and you can take them home.

Becca backed away from the edge of the cliff and shook her head. “No, I don’t like heights.”

“No, we don’t go down that way. We go that way.” Troy pointed to the stones in the water, very close to the waterfall’s edge, which was the reason for the roar.

Becca shook her head again, her eyes wide with fear. Something sparked inside of me as I looked into her blue eyes. I liked that she was scared. I wondered just how scared we could make her before she cried.

“But your dress is so pretty, and we can pick some for your hair. Your mom will be so happy, and Talon will be very jealous that she didn’t come.” Becca sucked her lip into her mouth, chewing on it. Her eyes darted between the rocks and Troy.

“Come on, Becca, don’t be like Talon. You know she’s a scaredy cat over nothing,” I said, joining the fun. “Troy will go first, and I’ll be right behind you. We’ll make sure you don’t fall.”

“You promise you won’t let me fall?”

I looked at Troy, and I just knew what he was thinking. I could feel it in every part of my body.

“I promise,” we said together.

She giggled. “You two are funny.”

Troy never let go of her hand, and even though she was still hesitant, he jumped to the first rock not far from shore. It was big enough to hold all three of us, and Becca hopped up behind him as I followed. The next jump over the rushing water was a little bigger, but Troy made it easily. Becca laughed as she followed. This was fun. My stomach was full of butterflies with each jump. The largest rock was in the middle. Troy jumped and held out his hand to help Becca and me across.

“That’s so cool,” Troy said, his mouth dropping open. He was trying too hard to seem impressed, but I had to agree with him. We were looking out over the tops of the trees at the bottom of the waterfall, and it felt like we were floating with the water moving all around.

“It’s okay, I guess,” Becca said, wrapping her arms around herself. Her eyes were scared, and more excitement raced through me as goosebumps rose on her skin. Grabbing her arm, I gave her a tiny shake, and she screamed.

Becca glared at me as she gripped Troy’s arm. “That wasn’t nice. You said you’d make sure I didn’t fall.”

“I didn’t make you fall. You’re standing right here. Lighten up. It was just a joke,” I said.

“Yeah, Kallie, that’s not very nice of you,” Troy said but winked at me over Becca’s head. “You can let go of me now. Kallie is done being mean. Right, Kallie?”

“Yeah, I guess. You two suck.”