Free Please Don't Tell by Laura Tims

More distance between us. Or I can become a girl who gets high test scores and sneaks out at midnight. Who reads philosophy books and does drugs.The kind of girl every musician boy wants. An interesting girl.
    I sit up straighter. “No, it’s fine. Maybe. The drinking, I mean. Possibly. We could try.”
    â€œYes!” Joy punches the air. “Mom and Dad are gonna be so pissed that I’m leading you into a life of sin.”
    Is this just a way for her to get back at Mom and Dad?
    â€œAnd you’ll have stories to tell Adam on your first date with him—”
    I stare at her. So much for secrets.
    â€œWhat’s the look?” she adds, then gasps. Mimes zipping her lips. “Sorry. Sorry.”
    â€œYou like Adam Gordon?” November hardens.
    A beat. Then I shake my head.
    Pathetic.
    But November doesn’t soften. There’s an awkward silence. Then she stands up. “Actually, I was only swinging by for a minute. Gotta pick up a prescription.”
    â€œThat’s fine! I’ll text you!” My sister’s a puppy, bouncing all over her.
    The bell above the door rings as November leaves. Then the air’s less intense.
    â€œI’ll make up for that.” Joy grabs my arm. “I’m gonna personally make sure you and Adam hang out this summer. This is your first crush. It’s important.”
    She hooks her ankle behind mine and tugs my foot. She’s always touching people without thinking. Trying to drag them into her world.
    Maybe this summer I’ll let her.
    A week later, it’s the three of us again. I’ve only been to the quarry once before, during the day. It belongs to the town, even though it’s close to Mr. Gordon’s property, but everyone knows he doesn’t mind. Mom and Dad took us for a picnic once when we were nine. They talked about the first time they kissed here, under the moon. That was before everyone started saying how someone might fall.
    Now, at night, it’s so dark that you can’t see the bottom. The quarry is an inverted sky without stars. People took what they wanted from the earth, and this scar is still here, even though they’re gone.
    â€œGrace, come here!” Joy’s sitting with November on a blanket scavenged from the back of her car. Close to the tall dark pines.
    â€œAre you scared?” She laughs at me. “Remember how you used to be afraid of the dark?”
    â€œShhh!” I hiss.
    She pokes my cheek as I sit on the scratchy wool. “I’ll protect you, baby sister. The dark doesn’t scare me.”
    â€œThis was all I could steal from my dad’s cabinet. Fair warning, it’s gross.” November pours a tiny glassof liquid. I can’t see what color it is in the dark. She holds it out to me. “Youngest first. I’m not drinking, I drove here. And I want to be very sober in case one of you pukes.”
    â€œShe’s not gonna puke.” Joy wraps her arm around my shoulders. The breeze tangles her hair with mine. “Try it, Grace. It’s not that bad.”
    â€œHave you ever had it?”
    â€œWell. No.”
    How many calories are in this? I drink it. It sears my throat and I cough. Joy laughs and the quarry swallows the echo. The aftertaste stings hard.
    â€œYou like it?” She jostles my shoulders. Throws her legs over mine. She’s touching me so much tonight.
    A normal girl would like it. “Sure.”
    She shrieks in delight.
    â€œDon’t scream, you maniac.” November glances at the pines.
    â€œWhatever. The Gordons can’t hear us.” Joy grabs the bottle and swigs. It looks badass until she gags and sprays liquid all over the rock.
    â€œThat’s what you get.” November stretches out on the blanket and pops one earbud in.
    A normal girl wouldn’t have to like it. Everything Joy does is what a normal girl would do.
    I stop drinking before she does. She keeps it up until