Page 29 of The Haunting Plot

“A deadline… for the paper?” Summer asks.

I examine her face. Why is she asking me that? “Yeah, for the paper,” I lie. “Anyway, I was in gremlin mode when he showed up. I don’t even remember agreeing to let him help with the house.”

They all look at each other conspiratorially. “Am I missing something?”

“Levi, don’t put that in your mouth!” Lucy yells across the playground.

Summer clears her throat. “We may have told RJ to tell Sawyer that he could help.”

Lucy nods. “You were so stressed out, and we know you’ve been working so hard at the paper.”

As much as I want to lecture them, I know they have my best interests at heart, but I can’t help but think there’s more going on here. I just haven’t figured out what it is.

Bella bounces on the balls of her feet. “Can we get back to the pointy tit? I believe you were telling us about how you hang Cheez-Its off your nipples?”

“Bella, keep your voice down,” Summer scolds.

She waves a hand. “No one is paying attention to us with all these kids running around screaming.”

I glare at her. “I never mentioned it was a Cheez-It.”

Bella throws her head back in laughter. “I figured it was either that or a Goldfish since that’s all Jonah will eat.”

“It was both, actually.”

“Was Lefty the Goldfish?” Bella asks as everyone breaks into a fit of giggles.

“My breasts don’t have ridiculous nicknames like yours, and I’m not dignifying that with a response.”

“LEVI! Put that away!” Lucy scampers off the bench, chasing Levi, who is now running from her with his pants around his ankles. I chuckle as she carts him off to the bathroom. I’ve been in the same situation with Jonah. He hates using public restrooms since the toilets flush too loudly. I’ve been in too many situations with him where a toilet with an overly sensitive automatic sensor has gone off unexpectedly. One time he was still peeing and freaked out, letting go of his penis as he clapped his hands to his ears. He turned to look up at me, and since he was no longer in control of his aim, he ended up peeing all over my skirt. I now carry a change of clothes for both of us everywhere we go. And Post-its to cover the toilet sensors until we’re ready to flush.

Bella takes Lucy’s seat next to me. “One day we will be able to have a conversation without interruptions.”

“That’s what girls’ trips are for,” Summer says.

Bella turns to me as I stare out onto the playground, tracking Jonah. “So about the flashing. What were you thinking? That doesn’t sound very logical of you.”

“He was staring at my cleavage like it was a distraction. So I removed the distraction.”

“Only you would look at it that way. I retract my earlier statement. That’s definitely some Raven logic if I’ve ever heard it.”

“Did it work?” Summer asks.

Bella laughs, and I look at her. “What’s so funny?”

“You have no idea what you just did. That man is obsessed with you, and you think flashing him will make him think about your boobs less?” Bella gives me an “are you serious” look.

“I assumed he was staring at them because he wanted to know what they looked like. Now he knows, and we can move on.”

They laugh as I frown.

“It’s worse once they know,” Bella says, shaking her head.

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“When they don’t know what they look like, they can picture anything they want. Romanticize it or pretend they’re ugly if they need to stop thinking about them. Once they know, though, that’s all they picture.”

Summer nods. “I know you don’t want to hear this since it’s your brother, but it’s true. When RJ first showed up at the beach house, he accidentally walked in on me topless and stuck in my swimsuit. He later told me he couldn’t get the image out of his head.”