Amber, Jessica, and Brooke are feeling pretty smug about the fun they had at Kylie’s expense. They giggle and chatter about what they did to her as they walk away from the park, Amber rolling Kylie’s hat, mitts, and boots in her coat. She fingers the tear in the coat caused in the struggle, waggling her fingers through it to peals of laughter from all three.
“We should have taken the rest of her clothes too,” Amber sneers nastily, “and stayed to watch.” She starts limping and groaning, holding herself in a mockery of how Kylie must have made her way home.
“Oh, I am so cold,” she mock wails and then breaks into laughter.
“It would have been much funnier if we left her in only her underwear,” Jessica agrees with a nasty laugh.
Brooke laughs too, her laugh and smile faltering a little. She had been caught up in the moment, enjoying tormenting Kylie just as much as the other two, but now she’s not so sure.
She keeps her feelings guarded, not wanting the other two to know that she is having doubts about what they did. She feels the painful bite of the cold through her own mitts and boots and feels bad for making Kylie walk home with nothing to protect her from the severe cold. And stuffing snow down her pants and in her shirt, she cringes inside, imagining how much more painful that must have made the cold walk home.
“Maybe we shouldn’t have done it on such a cold day,” she thinks to herself. She glances at the other two, who are oblivious to her lack of enthusiasm. “I can’t ever tell them about my doubts. They’ll turn on me and start doing these mean things to me. You never show weakness to anyone who treats others like this, and Amber would definitely see my secret doubts as weakness.”
As they walk back to their homes together Amber realizes they can’t bring the clothes back with them. How would they explain them to their mothers? They would be in a lot of trouble, both for stealing and for leaving Kylie to walk home coat and bootless in this cold.
She smirks at the painful bite of the cold seeping through her own mitts and boots, making her fingers and toes burn and tingle with the cold. “Hah! Serves her right,” she thinks nastily, though if you asked her she could not have told you what it served her right for. There is nothing Kylie has done to deserve the abuse other than just being there. Amber also would not be able to explain why she hates Kylie so much, she just does. She doesn’t need a reason.
She pauses, turning to her friends. “We have to get rid of this junk.” She raises Kylie’s clothes for emphasis.
The other two nod. They know what she means. They will all have some explaining to do about the clothes if any of their mothers see them.
“Where?” Jessica asks.
“First place we see,” Amber says.
They walk on up the street, watching for a good place to stash the clothes.
Amber stops with a cruel smile. “There!” She spotted a trashcan next to a garage.
The others follow her as she darts to it. The lid is frozen and she has to work at it, but it finally comes off and she shoves the clothes inside and puts the lid back with a satisfied smirk.
“We better hurry,” Brooke says, eyeing the trashcan and feeling bad for throwing Kylie’s clothes in the trash. “She’ll never get them back now, that’s for sure,” she thinks.
She has more urgent things to worry about right now. They were only supposed to be out for a little while and all three have to get home soon before they get in trouble.
“We’re going to be late,” Brooke says.
The other two nod and they hurry off down the street.
THE LATCHKEY KIDS IS AVAILABLE ON KINDLE AND IN PAPERBACK ON AMAZON
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