Page 3 of The Psychic

Mel had been horrified, but Ronnie had been forced to bite her lip to keep from laughing.

Clint had howled in outrage, then chased Brandy around their house.

Brandy was quick, and clever, dashing away from him, keeping furniture between them until he calmed down.

He never caught her, which was probably a really good thing.

Lately, though, the two of them had seemed to be getting along better, so that was why Clint had agreed to bring them all to the river today.

So now their camp was crowded against the big rocky cliff where the older kids ignored the signs not to jump off into the river. They always did anyway, as if leaping into the depths of The Pond was some secret rite of passage.

Clint’s gaze lifted to the top of the rock face where a group of his friends were standing at the edge, ready to leap off. Someone had thrown a T-shirt over the sign that told everyone not to jump.

“Don’t go up there,” Brandy warned her brother. “Mom would kill you if you died.”

“Well, then I would already be dead, wouldn’t I?” Clint mocked.

“You’d be deader!”

“There is no such thing.” He laughed and threw his sunglasses down on the blanket.

Brandy wasn’t convinced. Through clenched teeth she said, “Clint, I mean it!”

“I’m not going up there.” He made a “duh” face at her. “I’m getting paid to take care of you kiddies, but I don’t have all day. You get an hour, then I’m taking you home.”

“Two hours!” declared Brandy.

“Fuck it. Whatever.”

Mel looked a little disturbed, her blond brow furrowing. “I wish he didn’t swear,” she said, looking after him longingly as he wandered back toward the base of the rock to stand next to Shana Lloyd of the big casabas. Mel, squinting, was pointing upward to the top of the rock ledge.

Ronnie followed the direction of Mel’s finger and saw one of Clint and Evan’s friends standing at the edge.

“Heart” something, she thought his name was.

He had dark hair that flopped over his forehead as he glanced down at Shana.

They were boyfriend and girlfriend, at least that’s what Ronnie had gathered from Clint and Evan’s conversation.

“Don’t let Clint’s language bother you,” Brandy advised Mel. “He always talks like that when I’m right.” She grinned and wrinkled her nose. “And I’m right a lot.”

The three of them unfolded their chairs and straightened the blanket as best they could over the rocks. Then they set up their extra cupcakes and opened the basket that was full of chips, 3 Musketeers candy bars, orange sections, apple slices and water bottles.

“Where’s the cooler?” Brandy asked her brother.

Clint glanced back, muttered something under his breath and reluctantly left Shana’s side to hike back to the SUV. Minutes later he lugged the cooler filled with sodas and juice boxes back to their makeshift camp, thumping the Igloo down on the ground beside them.

Before Brandy could utter thanks, Clint grinned wickedly and grabbed two of the cupcakes.

“Hey, wait—” Brandy said just as Evan, who’d been missing, suddenly appeared and snagged a couple more. Brandy shrieked at them, but they dashed away, grinning like goblins.

“Assholes,” muttered Brandy, almost to herself, as Ronnie settled into her chair and glanced down at her one-piece where her nipples were kind of visible.

Just barely. She felt her face flush in embarrassment and hoped no one else would notice.

Her nipples had been growing lately and she didn’t want them to show through.

Shifting in the chair, she wondered how Shana—who’d now moved to the base of the trail and was smiling up at all the guys, her breasts nearly spilling out of a tiny black swim bra—hid hers.

Ronnie had examined herself in the mirror closely before they took off, and she’d thought she looked okay so far. Nothing too noticeable.

Brandy didn’t have her problem. Her red two-piece from last year was a bit tight on her now, but she hadn’t started developing at all.

Then there was Mel … Her hot pink one-piece couldn’t disguise her booblets, which Brandy had pointed out a couple of times and which Mel didn’t appreciate. At all.

Still, the three of them were besties. If they joined the notched pieces of silver dangling at the end of their three necklaces, they would fit neatly together to make a heart that spelled out BFF, one letter on each section.

The day they’d gotten their necklaces Ronnie had announced, “All for one and one for all. That’s us. The Three Musketeers !”

“The what?” asked Mel.

“The Three Musketeers,” Ronnie told her. “You know, the swashbucklers with swords and hats with feathers? Great friends. Out for big adventures!”

“Oh,” said Mel, but she really hadn’t been paying attention.

“It’s a story,” Ronnie went on. “They fight for honor.”

Mel slid her gaze to Brandy who said firmly, “Three Musketeers is a candy bar.”

“ And a story. A story first,” Ronnie responded just as firmly. “They named the candy bar later. My mom told me about it.”

When Ronnie spoke about her mother, her friends always grew as quiet as they did whenever she mentioned her “dreams.” She knew they felt uncomfortable around her because they had moms and she didn’t.

In truth, she didn’t remember her mom telling her about The Three Musketeers ; she’d seen pictures of her reading to her, and one of the books in the stack beside her was a kid’s version of the story.

Later on Ronnie had picked up the real deal from the library and though it was kind of hard to read, she’d gotten the gist of it.

That conversation with her friends had been about two years ago and since then, they’d made it a point to always bring 3 Musketeers candy bars with them on every adventure.

Personally, it wasn’t Ronnie’s favorite treat, but in loyalty to her friends, she pretended to love the gooey chocolate bars whenever they were together, like today.

“Uh-oh,” Brandy said.

Ronnie looked up just in time to see the “Heart” guy leap off the top of the cliff.

She held her breath as he clamped his arms to his sides and directed his toes downward …

falling, falling, falling … until his body knifed into the water far below.

She shuddered, glad to see his dark head break the surface, slightly entranced by his white smile as he flipped wet hair away from his face.

“I’d like to do that,” said Brandy, watching as Heart swam toward the bank.

Ronnie glanced at her friend. “Don’t.”

“Yeah, don’t,” repeated Mel.

“His name’s Heart?” asked Ronnie. “Like—?”

“Sloan H-A-R-T.” Brandy seemed somewhat mesmerized by him. “He’s Shana’s boyfriend.”

Ronnie looked back at Shana, who was flirting with the idea of going up the cliff. Sloan Hart picked his way across the stony beach and when he reached her, he swept her up into his arms. She squealed and laughed and pretended to slap at him but she was enjoying herself.

Sloan set Shana firmly on her feet away from the trail leading upward.

She pretended to try and go around him, but he shook his head.

He might be fooling around with her, but he was serious; he didn’t want her to go up on the rock.

That much was obvious. He said something to her that Ronnie couldn’t catch and she lifted her hands and backed away kind of sexily.

Feeling like there was a dark pit way down in her stomach, Ronnie tore her gaze from them. Brandy and Mel were both staring off to the left where Clint and Evan were pushing each other, knocking shoulders a bit, both heading for the trail.

Sloan joined them. Like Clint he had a hard, strong body. Beside them, Evan looked like a bean pole.

Brandy suddenly shrieked. “DON’T GO UP THERE!”

“I’m not,” Clint yelled back, goofing around with his friends. “Shut up, Hart,” he said good-naturedly to whatever Sloan was saying. “Let her go if she wants to.”

“You tell him!” yelled Shana, grinning.

“Hey, Shana. Show your tits!” Evan waggled his brows at her.

Shana immediately gave him the finger.

Sloan smiled, shook his head and worked his way up the trail. There was a moment of hesitation, where Clint threw a glance their way and Evan looked like he might ditch his friends and stay with Shana, then both Clint and Evan charged up the trail after Sloan.

Oh. No.

“Asshole!” Brandy declared.

Ronnie sucked in a breath and searched for Sloan. She could only see the top of his head as he got closer to the top.

This was no good.

Don’t go in the water.

That phrase. That warning. Heart thudding, she leapt to her feet, suddenly certain there was about to be an accident.

Brandy burst out, “He promised he wouldn’t go up there!”

“Oh, Clint!” Mel’s hands were at her mouth.

“We’ve got to stop them!” blurted Ronnie.

Brandy tore after her brother, hampered a little by the sharp stones beneath her flip-flops. Clint and Evan were already halfway up the trail by the time Brandy reached the base of the rock. Ronnie was right on Brandy’s heels with Mel coming up behind.

Mel was echoing Brandy. “He said he wouldn’t go up there! He said he wouldn’t go up there! He said he wouldn’t go up there!”

“Well, he did!” Ronnie threw over her shoulder.

They all charged up the dusty path. It was rocky and steep enough to steal their breath as they climbed frantically. “Wait for me!” Mel yelled.

Ronnie and Brandy didn’t.

By the time they reached the crest Ronnie’s chest was heaving, her thoughts a jumble.

The sky stretched out before her, the river a green snaking swirl a dizzying, long drop below.

Ronnie slowed and took in deep breaths while Brandy, at the cliff’s rim, was already arguing with Clint, her face red, her body taut as she yelled at him.

With one hand, she pointed toward The Pond far beneath them.

“Are you crazy?” she screamed. “You can’t jump off! Something really, really awful could happen. Don’t do it, Clint. Don’t!”