[In progress] A lower-YA novel inspired by the Dolly Parton song "Wildlfowers" about the joy of finding your best friend, the heartbreak of saying goodbye, and all the wild adventures in between.
When 13-year old good girl Violet Wilson moves to a...
Poppy's hands are pressed firmly against my eyes so I investigate what's in front of me with my right foot. The ground drops off into empty space. Gasping, I take a quick step back.
"Jump." Poppy nudges me forward.
"I can't jump!" I practically yell.
"Yes, you can." Her hands squeeze tighter against my brow.
"But there's nothing there!" This time I am yelling.
"Do you trust me or not?" Poppy speaks softly in my ear. "Keep your eyes shut and just jump out. Or down. Or whatever."
"Or whatever?"
"Trust me."
Trust. The word reverberates through my clenched teeth and down into my bones.
When Poppy releases her hands, my eyes stay closed. I hone in on every sound: wind rustling the plumes of grass around us, a jet rumbling overhead, and the whoosh of Poppy breathing, slow and steady behind me. There's also the sound of my own heart thudding in my chest.
Can she hear it too? I take a deep breath and gulp down my fear.
Then, I jump.
Two seconds of free fall stretch into eternity, but then the splash of water all around startles me and I'm sinking under the cool surface, the soles of my shoes crashing against rock and silt, and my breath bubbling through my nose. I push up into the air and open my eyes, doggy paddling and gasping for breath. The sunlight is blinding gold and the water is glossy silver. Poppy is a blur of purple and blue falling from above in a cannonball, sending water spraying into the air as she disappears into the darkness below. She surfaces, wiping her raccoon eyes, thick with mascara stains, cackling with laughter one second and howling like a wolf the next.
Then she notices me paddling and her deep-set yes almost pop out their sockets. "Oh, God! You can swim right?"
"Maybe you should have asked me that before I jumped?"I roll my eyes and laugh.
Wait... I should be angry. No, I should be furious. What if I couldn't swim? What if I had my phone on me? I should be telling her off.
Instead, I can't stop laughing. My voice is whooping and howling and my body is thrashing around in the cool water. "I can't believe I just jumped without even looking. Would you believe I've never swam in a creek before?"
"Nah, really?" Poppy flashes me a sarcastic smile which widens into laughter. Her musical voice echos a little off the steep rocks towering about above us on either side of the creek. "Feels good, right?"
"Great, but how do we get out?" I look around for an exit, but we're sandwiched between limestone walls.
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'We'll just wade down the creek. It gets shallow up there," she nods her head to the right. "Plus, there's more."
