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Ijolt awake. The woods are silent around my tent, and I can’t tell what might have woken me up. But my heart is racing. “Langston?”
There’s no sound, and now my skin is starting to crawl. I sit up in my sleeping bag and rub my eyes. My phone says it’s three in the morning. I sigh and lay back down. Maybe I was just having a bad dream that I can’t remember now.
But then there’s a scratching sound on the side of my tent coming from the outside.
“Langston? Are you guys awake?”
Neither Langston or Hayden respond, and now I’m getting freaked out.
Then as I wake more, my mind clears, and I remember that I’d overheard Langston and Hayden plotting to play pranks on me. I open my sleeping bag silently and slither out of it and crouch next to the tent wall where the noise has been coming from. I growl ferociously and shake the tent like it’s an earthquake. I expect to hear them scream or giggle or something, but there’s only a scrambling sound, rustling the leaves on the ground around the tent.
“Very funny, you guys. The joke’s up. I’m not buying your spooky nonsense.”
But they’re still silent, other than more rustling.
“Jenni?” It’s Langston’s voice, but it’s not coming from near my tent. It’s coming from a way’s off and is muffled like his voice may be coming from inside his tent.
“Are you outside my tent, Langston?” I ask.
“No, why do you ask?” His voice sounds rough, like he’s just woken up. Then I hear a small groan, like Hayden’s just been woken up too.
“Uhh, if you’re not out here, then who is?”
“I thought you said Gordon the Ghoul was just pretend,” Hayden says, sleep still heavy in his voice.
“He is, but whatever’s out here is very much alive and kicking.”
“Do you need me to come out and rescue you?” Langston calls to me.
“Maybe we should all just stay where we are,” I say. The last thing I want is to have a bear attack me.
But then the scratching is back, and now I know I’m doomed. I scream, hoping the bear gets scared by it and runs off. But all I hear is laughing. And I’d know that laugh anywhere.
“Ronnie! What are you doing out here at three in the morning?” I unzip my tent to find my brother bent over laughing and Langston and Hayden standing outside the tent. Ronnie clicks on his flashlight, and I can see that Langston’s hair is sticking up in a million different directions, which is pretty cute. Hayden is next to him with a similar hairstyle, again like father, like son.
“I got you good!” Ronnie says. “I scratched on the boys’ tent first, but they never woke up. These two sleep like logs.”
“Why are you out here so late?” I ask.
He shrugs. “I couldn’t sleep, and I heard you guys were on a campout without inviting me. I figured a little revenge was in order.”
Langston’s face is full of fear in the glow of Ronnie’s flashlight. Why would he be scared about Ronnie crashing our party?
“Is that all you’re mad about?” Langston asks.
“We don’t need to talk about this in front of your kid.”
“You scared me to death, Ronnie!” I settle on a log next to the fire ring. I shiver in the night air, wishing for my sleeping bag. I’m still wearing my hoodie, at least.
Ronnie’s face is like stone in the glimmer of light being cast from the flashlight Langston’s just turned on. Could it be that Ronnie knows there’s more going on between us than just an act?
“It’s cold out here,” Hayden complains. “I’m going back to my sleeping bag.”
Langston stokes the fire and gets it going again. “I can’t believe you came all the way out here. Did you ride a horse?”
“Nope, I just walked.”
“How did you even know we were out here?” Langston settles on a log next to me.