Bad Moonlight by R.L. Stine Page A

you.”
    â€œThen why?” Danielle asked. Secretly she felt relieved. It will be great not to have Dee glaring at me anymore, Danielle thought.
    â€œWhy else would she leave?” Danielle demanded.
    â€œI—” Billy broke off. He cleared his throat tensely. “Never mind,” he told her. “Listen, I better go. Sorry about scaring you before. See you tomorrow at rehearsal.”
    Billy pushed open the screen door and quickly melted into the shadows of the backyard.
    Danielle didn’t try to stop him. She shut the inner door and bolted it, glad he was gone.
    I’m shaking, Danielle realized. Billy scared me. He acted so strangely. I could see he didn’t tell me everything.
    What is he hiding?
    Back up in her room Danielle closed the curtain and flopped down on her bed. Useless to try to write anything now. She couldn’t stop thinking about Billy’s visit.
    And Dee.
    What did Billy want to say about Dee? He was definitely keeping something from her.
    Danielle jumped up and began to pace the room. She had the creeps, and being alone made it worse. She needed someone to talk to, to be with.
    She picked up the phone next to her bed and listened to the dial tone for a few seconds. Who should she call? Caroline?
    No.
    Kit.
    Kit, with his cool, dark-lashed eyes and his warm smile. Kit, who cared about her.
    Kit lived alone in the carriage house of a North Hills estate. It was late. But Danielle didn’t care if she woke him up. She needed to talk to him.
    Kit answered on the first ring.
    â€œKit?”
    â€œDanielle,” he replied. “Hey, I’m glad you called.”
    Danielle smiled, happy to hear his voice. “Me too.”
    â€œWhat’s up?”
    â€œNothing. I just—” Danielle paused. “I just wanted to talk to somebody. To you, I mean.”
    â€œWell, that’s good to hear. But you sound kind of stressed out,” Kit said. “Is anything wrong?”
    â€œNot really. Well, maybe,” Danielle admitted. “Billy was here. He left about five minutes ago.”
    Kit’s voice rose in surprise. “What was he doing there?”
    â€œI’m not sure,” Danielle replied. “He told me about Dee quitting the band.”
    â€œYeah. He called me a couple of hours ago with the news.” Now Kit sounded annoyed. “Nice of Dee to give us so much notice, huh?”
    â€œDid Billy tell you about the note she wrote?” Danielle asked.
    â€œYes, but it didn’t make any sense to me.” Kit sighed. “Anyway, you said you weren’t sure why Billy came to see you. What did you mean?”
    â€œI don’t know. He only talked about Dee. But I got the feeling he wanted to say something more.” Danielle shivered, remembering the way Billy acted. “He was really uptight, Kit.”
    â€œWell, he’s got a lot on his mind, especially now that Dee’s gone,” Kit reminded her. “He’s usually pretty cool, but I guess it kind of freaked him out. But don’t worry about Billy. He’s a good guy.”
    Is he? Danielle wondered. She used to think so. A great guy, actually. But now she wasn’t sure. Something about Billy really troubled her.
    â€œDanielle? You still there?”
    â€œI’m here,” she said. “I—I’m just a little messed up.
    Kit tsk-tsked. “Well, it doesn’t sound as if I’m doing much good. Hey, you want me to come over?”
    â€œI’d love it,” Danielle replied quickly. “You sure it’s not too late?”
    â€œAre you kidding? The later, the better,” Kit said. “I’m a night owl, remember?”
    â€œOkay, great!” Danielle thought a second. “But don’t come to the door, okay? My aunt’s asleep. I’ll meet you out front, and we can take a walk.”
    â€œRight. Be there in ten minutes.”
    Eight minutes later Danielle slipped out the front door.