Dancing with the Devil

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Mac closed her history textbook and rubbed her eyes. She’d promised to have a cuddle with Lil and wondered if she was still awake. She got up from the kitchen table and stuffed everything into her pack and went to check on her sister. She peeked into Lily’s room, but it was too dark to see, even with the hallway light streaming in. She walked closer to the bed, but Lily wasn’t in it. When Mac went to her own room, she found her sister cuddled up with her blankie, fast asleep.

“Again, Lilybean?” Mac whispered. She quietly got ready for bed and then slipped under the covers. Lily moaned in her sleep, and Mackenzie put her arms around her and pulled her close, murmuring to her. 

“Kenzie?”

“Do you have another big sister I don’t know about?”

Lily gave a sleepy laugh. 

Mac asked her, “Don’t you like your own room anymore?”

“I like yours better. Please can I stay? I promise I won’t kick you like last night.”

“Or the night before?” But Mac put both arms around Lily and held her tight, and they both fell asleep without another word.

* * *

“C’mon, we have got to get some zees.” Frankie reached over and turned the clock toward her. “Groan, sob, and gasp. It’s two o’clock in the morning, Mac. How are we gonna to do thirty miles tomorrow?”

Mackenzie looked up at Frankie’s ceiling from her traditional sleepover spot on the trundle. “Thirty? Doncha mean sixty?”

“You know,” Frankie said, “there is such a thing as overdoing it. You can get too strong.”

“Funny, Franks. We’ll catch up on our sleep in the morning, skip breakfast.”

“You’re the one who always tells the club to eat right so we don’t bonk out.”

“True … but we’ll be so hungry we’ll forget about being tired, and we’ll crank to get a bite at The Stand. By then we’ll be halfway done and can come home.” She curled her hands under her hair at the back of her neck and flipped it up, making it fall over her pillow above her head.

Frankie leaned over the edge of the bed and looked down at Mackenzie. “You look like you’re scared stiff, with your hair standing on end. Make a face like you’re scared, Mac.”

Instead, Mackenzie stuck out her tongue. “Is it a plan? Shoot, I forgot. I have to stop home and give Lily her new kiss. I promised.”

“Okay, fine. And yeah,” Frankie said. “We’re good. But I’m turning the light off now, or we’re going to want to sleep until after dinner, and I hate riding in the dark, all those potholes waiting to bite my butt.”

* * *

“Wait here,” Mac said the next morning as she and Frankie stood outside her house. “I think they’re all out doing errands, but just in case, I’ll sneak in, dump my backpack, and be right back.”

“In case?” 

“You know, the usual. Do chores, blah, blah, blah. I just don’t want anyone to see me.”

Frankie folded her arms and raised her eyebrows.

“What?” Mac said.

“You shouldn’t worry about being seen, since you’re practically camouflaged in that kit. Love the subtle shade of fire engine red.”