Attracting Trouble

Chapter 8: The Crack in the Fence

"What?" I exclaim in a panic. The guard pulls a pair of handcuffs from his back pocket and takes a step toward us.

Okay, for one thing, I wasn't aware that guards kept handcuffs handy.

For another thing, I'm not fond of the idea of being handcuffed to Will. Especially right now when I'm about to freak out.

The guard, now known as Chip, cuffs my left wrist before he cuffs Will's right one. I look at Will and I don't see any panic in his eyes. I guess he's used to this by now.

"C'mon, Mr. Romano," Will says. "You told me could use the pontoon whenever."

Mr. Romano looks at Will as if he was his child. "I gave you a key two years ago, Will. When did you even get back?"

Will chuckles. "About a week or two ago."

Mr. Romano smiles and crosses his arms over his chest.

"If I wouldn't have given you a key, you wouldn't have been here that night when the boat caught fire..." Mr. Romano says, leaving us all in silence. Will looks at the ground and kicks a rocks away.

"I've made a lot of mistakes, Mr. Romano," Will admits. Our hands are almost touching now from being cuffed together. "If you do press charges, just let her go. I just dragged her along with me. She didn't know."

I stare at him for a moment. Swallowing hard, I look up at Mr. Romano who is only looking at Will.

"Just call me Silas. No more of that proper crap. Take the cuffs off, Chip." I feel my heart rate slow back as the guard unlocks me from my enemy.

"Are you sure, Silas?" Chip asks as he takes the other cuff off of Will.

Silas just nods his head while he looks as if he's contemplating something. I notice how gray his hair is even though he doesn't look as old as I thought he did.

"I'm sure. This young man is actually my hero, he just doesn't know it." With that, Silas and Chip disappear up the hill where the guard station is. I look at Will who looks just as confused as I am.

"What was that all about?" I ask him. He starts to walk towards the bank in which we made our path through last night. There is his skateboard sitting at the bottom.

"I don't know," Will says. I can tell that he's trying to think of things that may be the reason Mr. Romano would call him that.

We travel back up the bank, this time up the stairs that are just a little ways from our path, and come up on the sidewalk.

For a Saturday morning, the streets are empty except for a few cars here and there. Our whole town is pretty much facing the ocean behind Will and me - one main street and then a few others behind it for the houses in town.

We have a mall - more like a small shopping center - that brings in business, though even that doesn't work. Our town is on its last foot with population.

"Mom is going to kill me," I say suddenly as the thought crossed my mind.

Will drops his skateboard to the ground and puts his foot on it. "I'll get you home. Maybe they won't even know you were gone."

My face falls flat. "That's supposed to be a good thing?"

Will chuckles at me. "You know what I mean."

I look at the board and then ahead of us. My house isn't too far, but what if Connor or one of his friends sees us? What then?

Despite my doubts, I place both feet tightly together on the skateboard behind Will. Wrapping my arms around his torso, I rest my face on his back as he begins to kick off.