Circle of Secrets by Kimberley Griffiths Little Page B

If I lost it, she was gonna hate me forever. ’Course, why’d I care about her feelings now? I’d been hating her all year long myself.
    Standing there on that broken bridge, all them kids staring at me, it hits me hard that I like that old-fashioned bracelet. I want it to be mine for keeps next year on my twelfth birthday. I want to keep it forever and put my own charms on it someday.
    “Here’s the deal. You get your heirloom back as soon as you take the dare and jump in the water,” Tara says. “We’ll countto ten and T-Beau will fish you out. That’s a better deal than anybody else ever had.”
    I think about Larissa and start really wondering what happened to her. Wonder about that awful scar. Wonder about the truth.
    “Never took swimming lessons,” I say, trying to keep my voice from shaking. “What if my head cracks on all them rotted planks?”
    Then I glance down, trying to hide the tears, and make eye contact with Jett, who suddenly glances away.
    “Aw, come on, Tara,” Jett says, not looking at me. “That dumb bracelet might be worth some money. What if the police come and arrest us for stealin’ the dern thing? Let’s go back to shore and go wadin’ instead.”
    Tara lays the charm bracelet across her legs, and I almost throw up as it slips and slides across her shorts, nearly falling right into the muddy water. Tara looks up at Jett, and the expression on her face wavers. Obviously, he has influence over her.
    That’s when it hits me. This is my chance.
    Do it, do it, do it, my brain chants. Before I lose my nerve, I scoop the bracelet off Tara’s lap, jump to my feet, and tear straight down the middle of the bridge, trying not to fall over the edge as the wooden planks shudder and shake.
    Leaping over the steps to the soft muddy banks, I keep running. Straight up the slope, down the road, until I reach the cemetery wall. Hoping no one’s following me, I race along the perimeter of the graveyard until I run smack into the gates. A graveyard’s gotta be the perfect place to hide out for a while. Nobody’ll think I’ve come here.
    Quick as I can, I dart inside and fall to the ground, gasping like I’m gonna pass out for sure. Overhead, the clouds jump and whirl, my eyes go dark, and then clear again as I gulp in air.
    Catching my breath, I lie there in the prickly grass listening, hoping nobody saw where I ran to, prayin’ hard as I can that they’ll think I’d never have the guts to actually go inside the cemetery. I stare up into the big old oaks and watch the flat green leaves whisper back and forth in the breeze. It’s quiet and peaceful and my heart quits jumpin’ so crazy. It’s for certain that a cemetery, even an old scary one, is nowhere near as bad as getting pushed off that bridge.
    Finally, I roll over and kneel at the old stone wall, dark green with moss. I peek over the edge and see that the road is clear. No voices or kids. Not even any cars in sight. Am I safe? Was Larissa tellin’ the truth after all? Is the bridge where she got that terrible ugly scar?
    I imagine her falling into the water, the long rusted nailstearing at her face as she hits those slimy boards. I picture Larissa bleeding, rushed to the hospital.
    The drops of blood on the pier. Maybe that blood is actually hers. Maybe that whole story of the girl who got struck by lightning is just something they made up to scare me. Scare all the new kids while they try to get you to jump in or fall in. Scare you forever just so they can keep a hold on you. Like they did to Larissa. She’s still afraid of them, all this time later.
    I lean against the rough stone wall and slowly unclench my fingers holding the charm bracelet tight in my fist. I count the charms, all eight of them. Safe, the silver clasps intact.
    Can’t help shuddering, thinking about how close I came to losing it. What would Mirage have done if her antique family bracelet had sunk to the bottom of the bayou? She’d send me away forever, maybe