Free Acting Out by Katy Grant Page A

much about what had happened. Lance didn’t need to hear that. No one needed to hear that.
    â€œIs it true?”
    I spun around to see Katherine beside me. “I heard you and some guy got caught by the Porch Patrol.” She gave Lance a quick look and then sneered at me.
    â€œYeah. So?” I did not feel like dealing with Katherine right now.
    â€œSo what you were doing?” she asked.
    â€œKatherine, if you want the latest news, check the headlines every day.” I stomped off through the crowd of dancers. Lance ran up behind me.
    â€œSorry about that. I didn’t know we’d get in trouble,” he said.
    I slowed down as we weaved in and out of the people on the dance floor. “It’s okay. I don’t mind,” I told him over my shoulder. Poor guy. He’d put up with a lot tonight. “Anyway, it was my idea to leave the dining hall in the first place, remember?”
    We moved over to the edge of the dance floor and sat in some chairs along the wall. “Thanks for hanging out with me tonight. I had a great time,” I told him. “Too bad we couldn’t have played a few levels of Destroy All Humans.”
    â€œYeah.” Lance nodded. He sat with his feet sticking way out, and a couple of people stumbled over them as they walked by. He was tall and goofy, but I still liked the guy. He really was a good sport. “I’ve never met a girl who knows so much about video games. I didn’t even want to come to this dance, but it turned out pretty okay.”
    By now everyone was slow dancing, and we sat there and watched them. Now I was wishing I hadn’t made all those comments about not liking to dance. Lance would be okay to slow dance with. He had beautiful gray eyes and he was fun to hang out with, and he’d followed me all over the place tonight.
    Maybe at the next dance. Hey, if I could convince him to leave the dining hall, it couldn’t be that hard to figure out how to get him out on the dance floor.
    When the dance ended, everyone crowded through the doors to go outside.
    â€œSorry I got us in trouble,” I told Lance. “Maybe I’ll see you at the next dance?”
    â€œSure. See ya later!” He’d found David and Mike, and they were dragging him away, asking a bunch of questions. I wondered if he would tell them what we were really doing. Probably. He didn’t seem to have a clue what the Porch Patrol was really there for.
    When I walked up to the truck that would take us all back to camp, everyone swarmed around me.
    â€œSo you really got caught?” asked Mei. “Was it the guy with the glasses?”
    â€œWhat were you doing?” Lauren asked.
    â€œJD, you have to tell us what happened!” said Courtney.
    I plastered a huge grin on my face and said, “I don’t kiss and tell!” Then I refused to say another word, even though they kept pumping me for more info.
    It would’ve been a perfect night if it hadn’t been for Brandon Matheson. It was bad enough that Lance had witnessed that little meeting. What if one of my friends had been with me when I ran into him? Or Michelle? Almost every day Michelle asked me more questions about Justin and Adam. I wished she’d never even seen those pictures of them playing football. There was no way I could tell her I didn’t want to talk about my own brothers.
    â€œClimb in!” yelled Jerry. He was Pine Haven’s hiking guide, and he’d driven the white truck we had to ride in. We all piled into the back and sat on the benches that lined the sides and the back of the truck.
    â€œSo, are you going to tell me about it?” whispered Courtney.
    â€œI will, but not now,” I said. At least Brandon hadn’t called me Judith. Maybe he didn’t remember my name. I was only Justin’s kid sister to him.
    The truck rumbled down the road, and everyone laughed when we passed under the Camp Crockett sign, because