The-Lucky-List-Rachael-Lippincott

27
This is exhilarating.
My adrenaline is pumping as all of us pour out of the building, tiptoeing our way through the halls
and through the forest as we find our way down to the lake. We’re near the back of the pack, Kiera
leading, Blake just behind me, the night alive around us with whispers and laughs and the sound of
twigs snapping underneath our feet.
Ahead of me, I see the light of the bonfire start flickering through the trees, and finally a whoop
echoes through the air. We made it.
I’m surprised when Blake’s hand grabs on to mine, stopping me. e feeling of her fingers lacing
through my own is familiar enough to recognize.
I look back at her in the soft glow of the moonlight as people slide around us.
There’s an uneasiness in her gaze I’ve never seen before. Something is unsettling her.
“Can I talk to you?” she whispers, an unfamiliar twinge of urgency in her words.
I hesitate as a wave of nervousness blindsides me, my excitement swallowed whole. I look between
her and the light of the bonfire, debating.
Finally, I nod, calling out to Kiera to let her know we’ll be there in a second. Kiera yells something
back to us over her shoulder, but her words blend together with the noise of the bonfire as her flipflops
fade into the distance.
Blake pulls me off the path, through the trees, a safe distance away from everyone.
And then… it’s just the two of us, the air around us prickling as Blake looks at me.
“Emily…,” she starts, her voice trailing o as she swallows. “I don’t know. I just, uh…” She looks
down at her feet, shiing uneasily like she’s working up to something. I’ve never seen Blake scared of
anything, and something about that terrifies me. “I know there’s this whole plan tonight, but if I’ve
learned anything this summer from your mom’s list, it’s how important it is to put yourself out there
and take chances. And… this right here is literally the last chance I have to tell you how I really feel.”
I freeze as the air gets punched right out of my lungs. I want to pull my hand from hers and clasp it
over her mouth before she can say it. Before she can say exactly what I want to hear and exactly what I
don’t.
She looks at me with those warm brown eyes that find their way into every single one of my