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

saying, “Have fun tonight. Don’t stay out too late. Love, Cora.” I ate the sandwich in my room and listened to music until Eric showed up.
    Eric blew his car horn right at 8:00 p.m. I ran down the stairs and out the front door, just in case Cora had changed her mind. Eric was sitting in his Beetle with his music blaring. The base was thumping and rattling his little car. After five minutes in there, I couldn’t take it anymore. I turned down the music.
    “How do you still have your hearing after listening to music so loud?”
    “Did you say something?” he asked, pretending like he couldn’t hear me.
    He turned the music back up again and started to head bang. He definitely had the right hair for it. His long brown hair danced around to the beat of the music. I wished he’d pay more attention to the road than the music.
    We spent the drive listening to the deafening rock music. When we got to the first gravel road outside of town, right off the main street, Eric turned down the radio. There was a worn out wooden sign that read, “Filler’s Quarry.” Eric pulled out a piece of paper. On it were handwritten directions and a crudely drawn map.
    “What’s that?” I asked.
    “Directions to the party.”
    “You need a map?”
    “Yeah, there are over a hundred roads throughout the quarry and as many entrances. This makes it impossible for anyone like parents or cops to crash it without a map, even though almost everyone in town knows we’re having the party tonight. These quarry parties have been going on since my dad played football. I think my dad was jealous. He would have come if I’d invited him or if he’d found the map. I had to hide it in my boxers. He’s having a midlife crisis.”
    We drove up and down gravel roads that all looked the same for ten minutes. Never once did I see a sign of another car, but just when I thought we were completely lost, I saw the glow of lights up ahead. There were at least a hundred cars parked all around a lake. Eric turned up his music again and we rattled into a parking spot. I got out quickly.
    A group of JV football players were standing next to an old wooden dock that reached to the middle of the lake. This was no average lake that you would find out in the woods. It had been dug out and filled with water over time. The lake was enormous. There were a couple hundred people surrounding the lake next to the parked cars. There were several large lights on poles around the lake and some stretched over the water. The water was grey and murky. There were piles of rocks all around the lake, blocking all of the other possible entrances. There was only one way in and out.
    Eric and I walked up to the group of JV guys at the end of the dock. Eric blurted out, “So what’s the rite of passage and who did he challenge?”
    A guy I barely recognized from the team spoke up.
    “Oliver challenged Chad, and you will never believe what they have to do! Oliver got an old car and they are going to drive down the dock. The last one to jump out before the car hits the water wins!”
    “No way!” Eric said. “The dock will barely fit a car. Where are they supposed to land when they jump?”
    “They are going to jump into the water.”
    “No way!” Eric said again, even more excited. “Where did he get the car?”
    “He bought the car from the junk car dealer in Alexandria. You know, the one with the big chicken out front.”
    In an even louder voice, Eric shouted, “This is going to be the best rite of passage challenge ever!”
    By the time it was 9:00, it looked like most of the school had shown up. I stayed with the pack of JV guys who were standing close to the dock, so I wouldn’t be noticed in the crowd. All of the varsity squad was standing where the dock connected to the gravel road. It was incredible that this many people were here.
    “Eric, what do we do now? Are we just supposed to stand around and wait for this challenge thing?” I asked.
    He looked at me