Free Secrets: The Hero Chronicles (Volume 1) by Tim Mettey Page A

like they were at a party. If Eric wasn’t my ride home, I would have snuck out the back door.
    “Keller, we have some celebrating to do. You are coming tonight, right?” Eric jumped off the bench, landing in front of me.
    “Coming where?” I asked.
    “Are you kidding? To the quarry party!”
    “What’s a quarry party?”
    “Well, it’s the party.” He rolled his eyes.
    “I know it’s a party, but what’s a quarry party?”
    “Twice a year there’s a party at the old abandoned Filler’s Rock Quarry outside of town,” Eric explained.
    “Are we allowed to be there?” I asked.
    “No, not exactly, but Filler’s Quarry has been shut down for a long time. There are over 1,000 acres of quarry, so each year the varsity football captain picks where in the quarry the party will be held. This year Oliver has picked a part of the quarry where there is a cool man-made lake with a long dock. This place is great for the rite of passage.” When Eric said “rite of passage” his eyes lit up.
    “Eric, what’s the rite of passage?”
    Before I could finish the question he started talking. He was just dying for me to ask him. “The varsity captain also picks a player from the team to compete in some sort of challenge called the ‘rite of passage.’ Last year the varsity captain, David Jones, set up a cage. He filled it with water to make mud. Then he put a greased pig in it, and the first one to catch it won. At the first party he challenged his twin brother, John Jones, and at the second party he challenged Oliver.
    “There are two of these parties?”
    “Yeah, there are two; I already said that. Come on, Keller. Keep up. One in the summer and one in the spring. At the summer party he challenged his brother, like I said. It was more like a pro-wrestling match between the brothers. But, when Oliver was challenged at the spring quarry party, it was definitely a match to see who could win. Oliver was a sophomore and David was the outgoing senior captain. The spring party is when the senior captain challenges the next possible captain, or if he is a junior captain, he challenges the next strongest player to prove he is still worthy of being the captain.”
    I looked around. Everyone was hanging on his every word, and Eric loved every bit of it. Eric continued, “When David and Oliver started the challenge they both tried to corner the pig, but when David realized that Oliver was faster, he tried to wrestle Oliver away from the pig. But David wasn’t able to catch Oliver; he was too fast for him. Finally, Oliver got past David and pinned the pig against the fence, catching it. I’m sure Oliver has something crazy in store for one of the varsity guys tonight. I think he challenged Chad.”
    Eric took a deep breath and looked back at me. “So what time do you want me to pick you up?”
    Everyone was staring at me. Unfortunately, this time blending in with the crowd involved me going to a party. If not, it would definitely draw more unwanted attention.
    “What time does it start?” I asked.
    “9:00,” Eric answered.
    “Pick me up at 8:00.”
    “Great! We need to make sure we get there early enough to get front row seats for the night’s festivities.”
    On the car ride home, I thought of how to convince Cora to let me go, that I had to go because it was the only way for me to blend in. To my surprise, Cora agreed with me with no arguing or convincing. She even threw in “Have fun at the party,” and “You did great in the game today!” I thought about asking her who she had been talking with in the stands, but instead I ran upstairs quickly to get ready, not wanting to press my luck.
    As much as I wasn’t looking forward to going, a part of me was curious to see what this quarry party was all about. I had never been to a party before except for the one that Andy and I had crashed before I moved here. But, this time I was actually invited.
    Cora prepared a sandwich and left it on the table with a note