Moments later, Jason and Carter ride up on shiny new dirt bikes, not the cheap ones you’d buy at Walmart, but the kind you see in a really expensive bike store like High Gear on Main Street. They must have stolen them.

“What are they doing here?” I whisper.

Skylar presses her finger to her mouth and shakes her head.

They lay their bikes down carefully and go inside. I notice that Jason has a backpack, not something he usually wears.

We expect Rob and his friends to ask them who they are and what they want, maybe even chase them away, but instead it sounds like they planned to meet the boys.

“Did you bring it with you?” Rob asks.

Skylar grabs my arm so tightly I wince. “I told you,” she whispers.

No, no, no, I say in my head. No, no, no.

“Sure we did,” Carter says.

“It’s right here in my pack.” That’s Jason’s voice. “Good stuff at a good price.”

“The best you can get,” Carter adds.

“Where did you get it?” one of Rob’s friends asks. “You look pretty young to be dealing anything stronger than chewing gum.”

Rob and the others laugh, but Jason’s face flushes. “You think we’re stupid enough to tell you?” he asks.

“You buying or not?” Carter asks. “We can always sell it to somebody else. We got plenty of contacts.”

“What do you guys think?” Rob asks his friends.

“Yeah, sure, let’s do it.”

“It’s a deal then,” Rob says.

“Okay,” Jason says. I imagine him pulling out a bag, or whatever pot comes in, and handing it over.

“It looks good,” Rob says. “Here, take a look, Woody. What do you think?”

“Awesome,” the guy named Woody says. “You kids did all right.”

“We might use you again,” one of the others says.

“Where’s the money?” Jason asks.

“Here you go,” Rob says. “Just what you asked for. We’ll call you when we need more.”

Jason and Carter come outside and high-five each other. “Man, what suckers,” Carter sneers. They jump on their fancy new bikes. Heads down, riding fast, they disappear around a curve in the driveway.

“Now do you believe me?” Skylar asks.

I nod, too depressed to say anything. Maybe Skylar’s right. I was naive a few days ago, but not anymore. Now I know what she knows.

It’s about then that the sky turns dark and rain starts falling fast and hard. Lightning flashes back and forth, pitchforking from one cloud to the next and then plunging straight down to earth. The thunder is like someone hitting you on the head. Boom boom boom.