terrier hurried past us, clearly freaked by the fact that we had been in the woods, since
she refused to look at either of us as she passed by in her pink jogging suit.
I glanced at Will to see if hed noticed, and saw him grinning.
Probably thinks we were in there making a sacrifice to Satan, he said, when the lady
had power-walked out of hearing distance.
And her dogs our next victim, I agreed.
Will laughed. We emerged from the woods, and headed toward the parking lot and Wills
car. After the darkness of the forest, the last rays of the setting sun seemed especially
bright. They seemed to be setting the baseball diamond on fire. There was a hint of
. Especially, you know, if you dont want to be in the
smoke in the air, from someones barbecue. Crickets, just getting started on their evening
serenade, trilled.
Listen, Will said, breaking the companionable silence into which wed fallen. What
are you doing Saturday night?
Saturday? I blinked at him. It was true those crickets were loud. But I didnt think they
were loud enough for me to have mistaken the question.
Because it had sounded
out.
Im having a party, he went on.
Or maybe not.
A party? I asked stupidly.
Yeah, he said. Saturday night. After the game. I must have looked blank, since he
smiled and added, The football game? Avalon against Broadneck? Youre going, arent
you?
Oh, I said. I had never been to a football game in my life. You know that eating glass
thing? Yeah, Id much rather do that than watch a football game.
Unless, of course, A. William Wagner happened to be playing in it.
Sure, Im going, I said, wondering frantically what one wears to a football game.
Great. Anyway, Im having a party afterwards, he said. At my house. A back-to-
school thing. Can you come?
I stared at him. Id never been invited to a party before. Well, not by a boy, anyway.
Nancy used to have parties, but no one ever came to them except our other friends, who
were all girls. Sometimes at my old school a guy on the mens track team would have a
party and invite everyone on the womens team. But wed all just end up standing around
while the boys ignored us and hit on whatever cheerleaders had shown up.
I wondered if Wills party would be that kind of party, and if so, why hed bothered
singling me out for an invitation.
Um, I said, trying to think up an excuse why I couldnt go. On the one hand, I
desperately wanted to see where Will lived. I wanted to know everything about him.
On the other hand, I had a pretty good feeling Jennifer Gold would be there. And did I
really want to watch Will with another girl? Not so much.
well, it certainly sounded to me as if Will were about to ask me
Will must have sensed my hesitationsensed it, and misinterpreted itsince he went,
Dont worry, it wont be wild, or anything. My parentsll be there. Come on, youll like it.
Its a pool party. You can bring your raft.
I couldnt help smiling at that.
Or at the friendly fashion in Will elbowed me in the side as he said it.
Oh yes. I was that far gone that even the guys elbow seemed hot.
Okay, I heard myself saying. Ill be there. Um, without my raft, though. It has a
curfew. It has to be home by nine.
He grinned. Then, looking past me, said, Oh, hey. Want some lemonade?
I glanced in the direction he was pointing, and saw that some kidswhose small,
somewhat rundown house sat on the edge of the parks propertyhad set up a folding
table with a large hand-drawn poster hanging from it that saidLEMONAID :25CENTS .
Cmon, Will said. Ill buy you a lemonade.
Whoa, I joked. Big spender.
He was grinning as we approached the table, which someone had gone to great trouble to
decorate with a checkered tablecloth and a small, half-blown garden rose in a vase, along
with the inevitable plastic pitcher and collection of Dixie cups. The three kids behind the
table, the eldest of whom could only have been nine, perked up at the sight of customers.
Wanna buy some lemonade? they chorused.
Is it any good? Will teased the kids. Im not spending a whole quarter on it if it isnt
the best lemonade in town.
It is! the kids shrieked. Its the best! We made it ourselves!
I dont know, Will said, feigning skepticism. He looked at me. What do you think?
I shrugged. Might as well try it.
Try it, try it, cried the kids. The oldest one said, assuming authority over the situation,
Look, well give you a taste, and if you like it, you can buy a cup.
Will appeared to think about this. Then he said, Okay, deal.
The oldest kid poured a small amount of lemonade into a cup, then handed it to Will,
who made a big deal out of smelling it first, then swishing it around in his mouth the way
wine tasters do.
The kids ate it up. They were giggling, loving every minute of the show.
As, I have to admit, was I. Well, how could I not?
Nice bouquet, Will said, after hed finally swallowed. Tangy, and not too sweet. A
most excellent year for lemonade, obviously. Well take two cups.
Two cups! the kids cried, scrambling to fill them. Theyll take two cups!
When the cups were filled, Will took one and presented it to me with a flourish.
Why, thank you, I said, curtsying back to him.
My pleasure, he said, and reaching into the back pocket of his jeans, drew out a black
leather wallet, from which he pulled a five-dollar bill.
And you three, he said to the kids, placing the bill on the table, can keep the change,
if youll give me that rose there.
The kids stared, goggle-eyed, at the five. The oldest one recovered herself most quickly,
and plucked the rose from the vase and thrust it at him.
Here, she said. Take it.
Will did so, with a polite Thank you. Then he picked up his cup of lemonade, and
turned to go, while behind him, the kids tried to smother their delighted giggles and cries
of Five dollars! Thats moren weve madeall day !
Grinning, I fell into step beside Will as we headed toward his car. You know theyre just
going to spend that money on candy thatll rot their teeth, I informed him.
I know, he said, looking straight ahead, even as he did what he did next. Which was to
hand me the rose. For you.
I looked down at the roseso tiny and pink and perfectin astonishment.
Oh, I said, suddenly consumed with embarrassment. I couldnt. I mean
He turned his head to look at me then, and I saw laughter on his lips.
But not, strangely, in his eyes. His gaze was strong and steady on mine, the way his
voice had been earlier that day, when hed spoken to Rick. It was clear the time for joking
around was done.
Elle, he said. Just take it.
I took it.
It was the first flower any boy had ever given me.
Which was why, even after he dropped me off at home and drove away, it was hours
before my heart started to beat anything like normally again.
CHAPTER SEVEN
She left the web, she left the loom,
She made three paces thro the room,
She saw the water-lily bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
She lookd down to Camelot.
As I studied up on old Arthur for my World Lit project that eveningwhich wasnt easy,
considering that Id put Wills rose in a vase by my bed, and my gaze kept straying over
to it every two minutes or soI found out a few surprising things. Such as the stuff from
the musicalCamelot which my mom loves, and has made me listen to ten thousand
timeslike how King Arthur performed all of these heroic feats, basically bringing his
people out of the Dark Ages and defending them against the Saxons and stuff? And how
he had this arranged marriage with this princess named Guinevere, and how she
eventually ditched him for his favorite knight, Lancelot (who, in turn, ditched Elaine of
Astolat, the Lady of Shalott, for Guinevere, causing Elaine to become the subject of my
moms new book)?
That stuff probably really happened.
Except that Lancelot didnt end up killing Arthur over Guinevere: Arthurs half brother
(or son, according to some translations), Mordred, took care of that. See, Mordred was all
jealous of Arthurs accomplishments, and of him being such a beloved king and all, so he
plotted to kill him and take over the throneeven marrying Queen Guinevere himself at
some point, according to a few sources
The Pendragons were way dysfunctional as far as families go. Jerry Springer would
haveloved them.
Wild horses wouldnt have gotten me to admit this in front of my parents, but the whole
Arthur thingwas kind of cool. The reason thereve been so many movies and books and
poems and musicals written about King Arthurnot to mention high schools like Avalon
named after the mythical island he eventually went to die onis that his story is a good
illustration of the heroic theory of history: that an individualnot an army; not a god; not
a superhero; just a regular Joecan permanently alter the course of world events.
.
Which is why, according to another one of my moms books, theres this whole societyI
am not making this upof people who think that Arthur, whose body was sent to the now
nonexistent island of Avalon by the Lady of the Lake, is actually asleep, not dead, and is
destined to wake again only when he is most needed.
Seriously. This band of losers calls itself the Order of the Bear, the Bear having been
King Arthurs nickname. They think that Arthurs going to wake up one day and lead the
modern-day world out of the Dark Ages and into a new age of enlightenment, just like he
did fifteen hundred years ago. The only thing keeping him from waking, according to the
members of the Order of the Bear, are the forces of darkness.
Um. Okay.
I tried not to let my skepticism about the existence of forces of darkness show in the
outline I wrote for our report for Mr. Mortons class, though.
And I definitely didnt mention to my parents that I was doing a project on King Arthur.
Because I knew that in their enthusiasm for the subject matter, theyd start chucking
source materials at me until I ran screaming from the house. Some things parents are just
better off not knowing.
Like the track thing. I never bothered mentioning to them that I was worried about
making it onto the Avalon High School womens track team. I was glad I hadnt, too,
when it turned out rumors about the speed of certain freshwomen proved to be greatly
exaggerated. I made it onto the team at tryouts the next day with ease.
Liz was psyched, and high-fived me when the coach read off my name. Although later,
while we were waiting for Stacy, another girl on the team who turned out to live nearby
and had promised to give us a ride home, Liz warned me about the initiation.
Its just this stupid thing Cathy thought up, she said. Cathy was apparently the team
captain, whom Id met only briefly. Theyll come in the middle of the nightwell, really
about tenand kidnap you, and take you to Storm Brothers and make you eat a Moose
Tracks sundae.
Since this sounded like the kind of initiation I might enjoyno cat food or raw animal
parts involvedI wasnt too alarmed.
But then Liz said theyd probably do it on Saturday.
Thats a problem, I said. Im going to Will Wagners pool party after the Broadneck
game.
Liz just stared at me.
YOU got invited to Will Wagners pool party? She sounded completely stunned.
Stunned enough that I immediately felt uncomfortable about the whole thing.
Well, I said, yeah. I mean, he invited me.
When? Liz asked, still sounding stunned.
Yesterday, I said. I ran into him running in Anne Arundel Park. Well, I was running.
He was sitting
on that rock? Liz shook her head. Oh my God. Id heard the rumors, of course. But I
didnt think they were true.
I glanced at her. What rumors?
You know, Liz said. About him cracking up.
Will? I asked, startled. Why do people think hes cracking up?
Because hes been going and sitting on that rock in that ravine in that stupid park all
summer, Liz said. Hes even skipped football practice twice to do it this week. I heard
he says he likes to go there to think. Think! Who even does that?
I knew right then that Liz would never understand about the floating thing.
But anyway, she went on. Some people are saying
What? I asked more sharply than I meant to.
Well, some people say he goes there to get away from his dad.
His dad? I feigned ignorance, not wanting to let on that Will had already confided in
me about this.
Yeah. On account of what he did.
I stared at Liz, totally confused. What his dad did? What was she talking about? Wills
dad hadnt done anything. Anything except try to force Will to go to the Naval Academy.
But he hadnt succeeded in doing that. Yet. What did his dad do?
Killed his best friend, Liz said matter-of-factly. Some guy Wills dad has known since
basic training, or something. Admiral Wagner transferred him to a combat post overseas a