Chapter 44

“Come on,” Chuck said. The circle tightened.

“We won’t tell our parents. We ran away!” Kevin said.

“Kevin!” Ash and Dayna shouted.

The others fell silent. An owl hooted.

“You did what?” Chuck asked.

“He’s just pretending,” Dayna said shakily.

Jessie pushed Chuck a step back. “Do you guys need help?”

“No. We’re just camping out. We’re new around here,” Ash said. “We’re really sorry.”

A couple of the guys began muttering.

“You’d better not be lying,” Chuck said.

“We’re not,” Ash said.

“Tell us the truth. Did you run away?” Jessie asked.

Ash looked down at Dayna and Kevin. She couldn’t read their expressions, but they were both shaking.

“Do you need me to take you somewhere?” Jessie asked. “I have a car.”

Ash turned to Jessie immediately. “We need a ride to the nearest store. We did run away.”

Dayna gasped. Kevin whimpered.

“Okay, here’s the deal,” Chuck said. “We won’t snitch on you if you don’t snitch on us.”