Dawn by McKayla Box
Chapter 31
Maddie drives Sunny and me back to Juanito’s so I can pick up my car. We are mostly silent on the way there, each of us lost in our own thoughts.
I get behind the wheel of my car and start driving Sunny back to Trevor’s house when I feel her eyes on me.
“What?” I ask.
“You’re not going to let it go, are you?” she says.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re going to go to San Rivero,” she says. “To see where they went.”
I stiffen. Am I that easy to read?
“Not tonight, no,” I tell her.
“But tomorrow?”
I don’t say anything.
“You don’t want your friends involved,” she says, “because you don’t want to get them in trouble. But you never said you wouldn’t do anything.”
“I don’t remember what I said,” I say, a little evasively.
“I do,” she counters. “I know exactly what you said. And what you didn’t say.”
I sigh and coast to a stop at a red light. “Look, I don’t know what I’m doing right now. And that’s the absolute truth. But you’re right. I don’t want you guys getting involved any more than you already are. I don’t want anyone to get in trouble or hurt or whatever. It’s not worth it.”
The light turns green and we start moving again.
“Do you want me to ask him?” Sunny says.
“Ask who what?”
“Ask Trevor what the hell they were doing down there tonight,” she says.
I shake my head. “No. Because if he’s going to get made at anyone, it needs to be me. I’m the one that put all of this in motion and he’ll lose his mind if he finds out. If that happens, it needs to be me that takes the brunt of that.”
“It doesn’t have to be,” she says. “He might go easier on me.”
I shake my head. “No. I’m the one who got us into this, so if anyone is going to ask him, it has to be me.”
We pull up in front of Trevor’s house and I stop at the curb.
Sunny looks at me. “I’ll go with you.”
“Sunny, I don’t—”
“You’re totally going,” she says. “Maybe not tonight, but you’re going. I can tell. But you shouldn’t go alone. I’ll go with you.”
“I don’t know what I’m doing,” I tell her.
She frowns at me. “You sound like my mom. When she didn’t want to tell me the truth.”
“What does that mean?”
She leans back in the seat. “I knew something was going on with her and my dad. I wasn’t exactly sure, but I knew there was a problem. I kept asking. And she kept putting me off, even though I knew things weren’t right. I could tell, you know?” She looks at me with clouded blue eyes. “I can tell something’s going on with you and that you’re thinking about going down there, but you’re putting me off.”
I glance down at the steering wheel for a second. She’s right. I am thinking about going down there. I mean what I said about not getting my friends in any kind of trouble, but I am definitely thinking about driving to San Rivero to see where Trevor and Brett went and to get a clearer picture of what they’re doing.
“Okay,” I tell her. “You’re right. I’m sorry. That’s not cool. Yeah, I’m definitely thinking about it. But I haven’t decided on anything yet. I’ll let you know what I decide.”
“And if you go, you’ll let me come with,” she prompts.
“Sunny, look—”
“Presley,” she says. “I get why you don’t want to involve everyone else. I really do. But it would be stupid to go down there by yourself. You can’t go alone. Even if all you’re going to do is drive by and come back. You shouldn’t go by yourself. Let me come with you if you go.”
She’s stubborn.
Just like her cousin.
“I’ll just camp out at your house,” she says, smiling. “I’ll watch you until you go to leave and then I’ll jump in your car.”
I laugh. “That sounds bad.”
“Just let me come,” she says. “I won’t tell you what to do or anything like that. I just don’t think you should go alone. Promise me you’ll let me know if you go.”
She’s making too much sense to tell her no.
“Okay,” I say. “I promise.”