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“Noah!”

Hoping to scare her enough for her to turn tail, I blasted her with the force of er “What?!”

She stopped short, about twenty feet down the marked path, and raised a hand “Hi,” she said, a soft s up her face

That two-letter as a sucker punch to the gut No o away No matter how mean I was to her, she always had a smile for me

“Go away, Maren!” I shouted, taking ive me crap about it later “Go back to the campsite and leave me the hell alone!”

Te frouys right behinduntil the trees cleared and the path opened onto a rocky outcropping

Walking up to the edge, I looked down and the first pang of doubt took hold ofthe distance as best I could As good a swiht as well have been a hundred

Problem was, the desire for a cheap thrill always overshadowed common sense This wasn’t the first time––and it certainly wouldn’t be the last either

While I kicked off my sneakers and stripped off my t-shirt, Dane and Jermaine conducted their own inspection of the drop

“I don’t know about this––” Jbear, the smartest of the three of us, said first

My heartbeat was one clap of thunder after another, and yet you would’ve never known it; my thirteen-year-old pride wouldn’t let me look scared in front ofto stopme not to

“I ain’t doin’ it,” Dane seconded, kicking a rock over the side He shook his head when the sound of water splashing returned many beats later

I stopped undressing to get a good look at uised fear on their faces toldto convince them to jump

“Bunch’a pussies,” Iout at the last minute

Dane’s ansas to flip me the bird

“I don’t think you should do it,” Jerood measure but he knew the drill; once ood as done