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Emma
“Let’s go for a bike ride!” Mary Sue suggested.
“I don’t have my bike,” Isabelle said.
“We have loads of bikes. You can borrow one of ours.”
Isabelle looked at the old, banged-up bikes scattered around the Puddys’ lawn and scrunched up her nose. “I don’t want to ride one of your bikes.”
“Do you want to play Hide and Seek?” Mary Sue tried.
“Hide and Seek is for babies.”
Mary Sue gave Emma a tired look. She had suggested over a dozen activities, and Isabelle had pooh-poohed every one of them. Why had she come? Emma had been right on the edge of having actual fun for the first time that summer, and then Isabelle had reappeared like her personal poltergeist.
“What do you want to do?” Mary Sue asked.
“Do you have the Hollywood Life app on your phone?”
Emma wanted to slap her. Isabelle knew that Mary Sue didn’t have a smart phone.
But Mary Sue didn’t appear to be hurt by Isabelle’s barb. “Nope, sure don’t.”
Isabelle rolled her eyes and looked at Emma. “Did you bring your phone?”
“We’re not going to play with our phones, Isabelle.”
“Fine. Let’s play Truth or Dare.”
Mary Sue looked uncomfortable, but she agreed.
“Great! Let’s go into the woods!” And before they could argue, she ran toward the trees.
Mary Sue took off after her, and Emma grudgingly followed.
Night was falling, and the mosquitoes were thicker when they got into the trees. Isabelle dramatically slapped at her legs. “Ew! Bugs are so gross!” She looked at Mary Sue. “Truth or dare?”
Mary Sue slapped at the back of her neck. “I’m going back to the yard. Come on, Emma.”
Beyond grateful, Emma followed Mary Sue back to the yard.
“Supper!” Mary Sue’s mom called from the doorway and then popped back inside.
“Oh, good. I’m hungry.”
Emma followed Mary Sue inside to find most of her family already seated around the giant table.
“Wash up, girls.” Her mom looked toward the open doorway. “Where’s Isabelle?”
“In the woods,” Mary Sue said nonchalantly.
“The woods?” Her mom headed toward the door. “You left her in the woods?”
Mary Sue scowled. “It’s not like she’ll get lost. She was like ten feet from the lawn.”
Her mom scanned the property and then said, “Victor, go find her.”
Victor popped up and ran for the door.
Hoping Isabelle was lost for good, Emma washed her hands and then followed Mary Sue to the table. She was starving, and the food smelled amazing.
Everyone was seated, but no one was touching the food, and Emma realized they were waiting for Victor and Isabelle. Now she hoped her nemesis would be found, so that she could eat.
Sure enough, Isabelle came through the door glaring at Mary Sue. “I got lost out there!” she accused. “And it’s dark out!”
It wasn’t dark out, not yet, and there was no way she’d gotten lost, unless it had been on purpose.
“She was still ten feet from the lawn,” Victor said, and some of the little ones giggled.
Isabelle’s face turned red with fury, and her hands tightened into fists.
Emma glanced at Mary Sue, a bit worried about the revenge that Isabelle would soon rain on Emma’s new friend. But Mary Sue was oblivious to the threat, and Emma had a new thought: What could Isabelle do to Mary Sue? She couldn’t embarrass her because Mary Sue didn’t care what Isabelle’s people thought. And she couldn’t affect Mary Sue’s social life because Mary Sue didn’t have one. Emma almost snickered at the thought. One thing was clear: she needed to be more like Mary Sue.
Mary Sue’s father said grace, and then they dug in. The food was amazing, and Emma finally got to try goat milk. It was delicious. Isabelle hardly ate anything, claiming to be a vegan, even though this was a total lie. No one seemed offended by her impromptu veganism; the Puddys enjoyed their meal around her little single-actor play.
Emma ate till she was full and then ate some more. Then she followed Mary Sue and her father back to the tent with Isabelle trailing behind. Emma didn’t know why Mr. Puddy was along until he started to build a fire. Emma actually got excited about this and sat down on a rock to watch the process.
Soon, the kindling was crackling, and the flames were leaping. “Have fun, girls. Let us know if you need anything.”
When he was out of sight, Isabelle said, “Finally! Now, Mary Sue, truth or dare.”
Mary Sue rolled her eyes, but the prospect of playing this game seemed more exciting in the dark.
“Truth, I guess.”
Without hesitation, Isabelle asked, “Who do you have a crush on?”
“Do not answer that!”
Isabelle’s head snapped toward her. “Why would you say that? You can’t say that!”
“She will tell everyone.”
Mary Sue winked at Emma. “I don’t mind. It’s not a secret. I have a crush on Richard Bastille.”
Emma giggled. Richard Bastille was an eighty-something-year-old who sat in the back row of their church.
“Who?” Isabelle cried.
Mary Sue started giggling too, and Isabelle grew angry.
“Emma!” Isabelle snapped. “Truth or dare?”
For some reason, this made Emma laugh even harder. Was this possible? Were she and Mary Sue ganging up on Isabelle? Had anyone ganged up on Isabelle before? Was that even possible? How was it that here in the middle of nowhere on a weird farm with a weird family that Isabelle had no power?
“Fine! You choose truth. Emma, tell the truth! Do you know that your pastor father is having sex with Jason DeGrave’s mother?”
