AS BOTH MOUNT TOM and Kevin heated up, the pressure to do well in school seemed to increase, too. Teachers were paying more attention to me, and expecting more out of me than ever before. Whether they were for or against mountaintop removal was irrelevant. Teachers and even other kids seemed to think that somehow I now knew something about everything.
“What are your thoughts about the Articles of Confederation?” Ms. Fydenkevitz asked in history, seemingly interested in my opinion.
“What kind of atmosphere do you think Steinbeck is trying to create in Of Mice and Men?” Diaper Lady asked me in English class. Thank goodness I had read it.
Even Mister Livingston was calling on me in math class.
As much as Tom and Kevin were doing their best to distract me, I felt like I had to be on my academic game. It was all becoming pretty intense.
•
It was fifth period, right after lunch, and I was sitting in science, trying to make sense of cellular respiration when, wouldn’t you know, Kevin’s face appeared at the window of the classroom door. He motioned for me to come out.
I couldn’t help but smile. I had just spent my entire lunch with him and now, here he was, skipping class to see me again.
I had that boy right where I wanted him!
I shuffled up to Coop’s desk, clutched my stomach, and asked for a hall pass. He gave me the look.
“Girl stuff!” I said, waving my backpack and making a yucky face. “Gotta deal.”
The only good thing about getting your period was that you could use it to get away with so much stuff.
“Can’t get enough of me, huh?” I asked, putting my arms around Kevin and nuzzling his neck as soon as the door shut behind us.
For the first time ever, he took my arms off of him.
“Bad news,” he said. “Really bad.”
“What?” I asked, startled by the look in his eyes. “What happened?”
“It’s started. They’re there.”
“What started? Who’s where?”
“The logging trucks are at the foot of Tom. They’re good to go.”
“Are you serious?” I asked. I felt my breath stick in my throat.
“I am. I really am!”
“How do you know?” I asked.
“Marc’s dad texted him.” Good for Ashley, I thought. She had trained that boy well.
It was such a surreal moment. It was hard to take in all that Kevin had just said, hard to believe that it was actually true. After all the months of focusing on Tom, after all the letters and the petitions and the meetings and the march, after all the hard work we had put into KABOOM, I had never actually pictured how it would all go down. I hadn’t ever let myself go there.
But now, here we were, Kevin and I, standing outside Mr. Cooper’s classroom, reality jumping down our throats.
The logging trucks were at the foot of Mount Tom. The mountaintop destroyers were all set to do the devil’s work. The nightmare was beginning!
“What do we do?” Kevin asked again.
I nestled my way back into his arms, feeling him wrap them tight around me, feeling his heart beating nearly as fast as mine, feeling so close to him it made me want to burst. I wanted to freeze time and stay that way forever. I wanted to lose the horror and the pain and the tragedy of the real world and just be in Kevin’s arms. Kevin and me. Just the two of us. Nobody else. Nobody. Forever.
I breathed him in. In and out and in again.
“Take me there,” I said. “Drop me off. Come back and rally the troops. Let’s go.”
“Are you sure?” Kevin asked.
“Let’s go!” I said, not sure at all.
We ran to Kevin’s car.
On the way I made a brief pit stop and unlocked Ashley’s and my bikes, stuffing the locks and chains into my backpack.
“What are you doing?” Kevin asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “But they may come in handy.”
We leapt into his car and, just the way they do in the movies, Kevin backed up, and peeled out of the driveway.
“I don’t want to leave you there,” Kevin said. “Alone. I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“You have to,” I said. “You have to come back and tell everyone. Like Paul Revere. Except you have to yell, ‘American is coming! American is coming!’ Not ‘the British.’”
“I don’t want to be away from you,” Kevin said.
“I know,” I said, reaching out and taking his hand.
Kevin was driving crazy fast. At one point we almost went off the road and into a ditch. But finally, we sped around the corner and there we were.
Ground zero. The heart of darkness.
There were a whole mess of guys standing next to the logging trucks drinking coffee and eating donuts with their hard hats on and chain saws in hand. Waiting for the word. Ready to go. Ready to log the road to the top of Tom so they could blow the mountain sky high. Ready to destroy the temple of the gods.
And it would all start with the very first cut of the very first tree.
The beginning of the end.
Kevin slammed on his brakes next to a huge timber harvester with claws and saws like something from the apocalypse. A death machine that could gobble up Sugar Daddy, Bradley Beech, Sadie’s Twin, and She, take them down with one whack, and spit out logs like tooth picks.
I took my seat belt off and opened the door. Kevin scooped me in his arms, hugged me, and then, holding my face in his hands, kissed me. Kissed me hard.
“If anything happens to you . . .”
“Go!” I said. “You’re Paul Revere, remember? Go! Now!”
Kevin kept my face in his hands, taking me deep into his eyes.
“I love you,” he said. “I love you so much!”
“I know,” I said, fighting back tears. “I know! And I am so in love with you.”
“If anything happens . . .”
“Go!” I shouted.