or I’d break down in front of everyone, and they’d never let me live it down.
5
Taggish
The Cronks had a perfect backyard for kids, complete with a swing set and toys and a miniature house. I didn’t think Mara had little brothers or sisters, but sometimes a little boy and girl played out there.
When the kids weren’t around, Mara would sometimes hang out back there. When I heard her crying and couldn’t see her anywhere, I figured she’d probably hidden in the miniature house.
It was still light enough outside that I needed to use some stealth to get to the door of the little house without being spotted. I didn’t know what Mara told her parents, but if she’d ratted me out, chances were they didn’t like me very much at the moment and wouldn’t want me around their daughter. Even if it was to apologize.
Keeping my head low, I skirted around the swing set and the trunk of the large shade tree in the center of the yard. On the other side of the tree was the little house. And it was little. Once inside, I wouldn’t be able to stand to my full height, and with Mara already in there—well, it would be a tight fit.
“Mara,” I called softly through the closed door.
“Go away,” she called back after a brief silence.
I couldn’t do that, but I figured I’d give her fair warning. “I’m coming in,” I said, pushing the door open and crawling in.
The little building was unsurprisingly well made. I remembered from when we first moved in next door, and my dad had introduced us to our new neighbors, that Mara’s dad was a carpenter. He’d obviously built the little house, and he’d obviously put a lot of work into it. One wall had built-in shelves filled with plastic toys and a handful of children’s board books. A small plastic table and two chairs had been pushed to one side, and in the center of the carpet sat Mara.
Oh, Mara.
What was I going to do with her?
I should have thought about that sooner because, being an idiot teenage boy, I said the first thing that came to mind when I spotted her tear-streaked face.
“Oh, my gosh, Mara. It was one detention, get over it.” Which was exactly the wrong thing to say.
Mara flew at me like a crazed bat, arms and claws flying, almost knocking me off my knees. “This is your fault! You great big jerk!” She punctuated each word, pounding her fists on my—everything. It didn’t really hurt, but it made it hard to talk to her.
“Mara, stop.” Of course, she didn’t.
“Why should I? Are you going to kiss me again?” I knew she didn’t mean that the way it sounded. Apparently, she considered kissing me a punishment, and I supposed that was my fault since I’d kissed her, and the result had been detention. Brilliant planning on my part. But how could I have anticipated I’d enjoy kissing her so much?
“I might if you weren’t acting like a crazy person,” I grunted as I batted her hands away.
“What? Is that some kind of threat?” She stopped hitting me, but she held my t-shirt fisted in her hands.
“No. It was supposed to be a compliment. But you’re too busy being uptight to realize it.” Also, the exact wrong thing to say. Her eyes, which had momentarily turned curious, ignited with rage.
“Don’t. Call. Me. That!” She screamed the last word, scrambling to her knees and pulling me by my t-shirt until our noses were mere millimeters apart.
Only moving my eyes, I glanced out the small window of the little house. How had no one inside the house heard her? She was making an awful lot of racket.
“Okay. Okay. Calm down.” When would I learn?
My goody-two-shoes neighbor had turned feral right before my eyes. There were only two options at this point, and only one of them appealed to me.
Temporarily using my superior strength, I pinned Mara’s arms to her side, and toppled us to the ground, pinning her gently beneath me.
She was angry. Spitting, cursing, cut-my-body-up-piece-by-piece ticked off!
She kneed me, barely missing the tender parts of me that wouldn’t appreciate her efforts.
“Mara,” I said her name softly, tenderly. She stared up at me with glassy green eyes. “I’m sorry.” I should have started with that.
She pushed at my chest. I immediately let her go.
“For what? Kissing me out of the blue?” Her eyes shot daggers as she moved to the far side of the house. “Or for