The lost boys, p.6
The Lost Boys, page 6
Michael didn’t know what to say.
She turned and walked down the Boardwalk. Michael hurried to catch up. He couldn’t blow this now. This was his chance to get to know her!
“What’s your name?” he asked as soon as he reached her side.
She smiled at him again. “Star.”
Star? Well, he shouldn’t be surprised.
“Oh,” he answered. “Your folks, too, huh?”
Now it was her turn to be surprised. She looked at him with her big beautiful eyes.
“What do you mean?”
He laughed. “Ex-hippies. I came this close to being called Moon Child or Moonbeam or something.” He looked back into her wide eyes. Her face was only inches away.
“But Star’s great,” he added after a moment. “I like Star.”
She smiled the sweetest smile that Michael had ever seen. “Me too.”
“I’m Michael,” he added.
Star nodded her head. “Michael’s great. I like Michael.”
Michael found himself smiling as well. She was teasing him. That was fine with him.
He didn’t know what to say next.
Star broke the silence a moment later.
“I guess you’re new around here.”
Michael shrugged. “Sort of. We used to come here summers when I was a kid. Now we’re here on a permanent basis.”
Her smile broadened even more. She must like him too! Michael couldn’t believe his good luck.
But what should he say to her next? He couldn’t exactly ask her out, right here and now. Could he?
“Are you hungry?” he asked after a second. “Want to get something to eat?”
“Okay,” she replied.
This was going even better than he expected. But where to go? He had passed a neat-looking pizza joint on his way down the main road to the Boardwalk. It meant a short ride on his bike. Was that okay with her?
Star said it was fine. They walked together out to the parking area. Michael decided he liked it with her walking by his side. He hoped that sometime soon he could hold her hand.
Four motorcycles turned from the beach road onto the Boardwalk. Their engines roared as they approached Michael and Star. Even in the darkness Michael recognized them. It was the bikers from last night.
“The Lost Boys,” Star told him.
The one with the punk blond hair pulled close to Star.
“Where are you going?”
“For a ride,” she replied curtly.
The Lost Boy looked at Michael. His face wasn’t angry. If anything, it was amused.
“With him?”
“Yeah,” she answered, looking away.
The Lost Boy gunned his bike. It was a Triumph, a machine big enough to make Michael’s Honda look like a toy. He eased up, letting the engine rev back down.
He smiled at Michael.
“I’m David.” He pointed, one by one, to the other three.
“Paul—” He indicated the boy farthest away, with a broad face and long blonde hair.
“Dwayne—” The fellow with the long face and jet black hair to his shoulders stared silently at Michael. The kid Star had been with the night before sat behind him.
“Marco.” The skinny guy with curly brown hair and the embroidered jacket nodded.
“Hi!” The young kid waved from behind Dwayne. He was wearing a deep blue military jacket, the old-fashioned kind the Beatles wore on the Sgt. Pepper album. He smiled and brushed the hair from his face. “I’m Laddie!”
“This is Michael,” Star added.
Nobody said anything for a minute. Michael realized they were all watching him. What did they expect?
Well, if they wanted him to make the first move, he’d be glad to oblige. Michael walked over to his own bike. He turned to Star. “We still going?”
“Honda 250, huh?” David asked.
“That’s right,” Michael replied. Were they going to make fun of his bike now?
“C’mon, Star.” David nodded to the girl, twisting his head toward the seat behind him. “Climb on.”
“Star?” Michael began.
She looked at Michael with a sweet, sad smile, then climbed on behind David.
David grinned in Michael’s direction. Michael wished he could push in David’s teeth.
“Know where Hudson’s Bluff is? Overlooking the point?” David gunned the Triumph again.
Michael realized that this was a challenge. And there were four of them on their massive, customized street hikes against him with his little Honda. But David had taken Star away, just as she and Michael were getting to know each other.
Michael wanted her back.
lie kicked back the bike’s kickstand and threw his leg nvcr the seat. He started up the Honda, the smaller en-jjlne’s roar lost beneath the noise of David’s bike.
lie stared at David. Michael was ready.
“You don’t have to beat me, Michael,” David said, mil grinning. “Just try to keep up.”
David took off with a yell, followed by the other Lost Boys. Michael took off, too, shifting up quickly and pushing the throttle as far as he dared, just to keep up with them.
David turned his bike away from the main road, straight down the Boardwalk. Michael realized David was leading them to the beach.
They hit the main part of the Boardwalk at full speed. People ran out of their way, cursing them as they passed. Michael had to swerve to miss an elderly couple. He wondered if scaring pedestrians was David’s idea of a good time. But then David turned, bouncing his bike down the broad, wooden steps that ended on the beach. The Lost Boys were right behind him.
Well, if that’s what they wanted, that’s what they were going to get. Michael clenched his teeth as he steered the Honda down the stairs. The lurching motion threatened to rip the handlebars from his grip, but he held on to follow the others as their wheels sprayed sand. David was weaving his way through the evening bonfires, revving his engine as he went. People stared as they passed. It wasn’t as crowded out here as it was up on the Boardwalk, though, and people were staying out of their way. Michael could concentrate on catching up with the others.
The Lost Boys yelled to each other up ahead as they weaved their bikes in and out of the surf. They probably did this sort of thing all the time. They were having a great time. Michael wished he could say the same. It was all he could do to stay close enough to make it look like a race. He was glad, though, that they had left the bonfires behind. He had had visions of losing control of his bike and ramming headlong into either the crowd or the flames. It was easier going out here at the edge of the surf.
Then he realized they were headed for the underside of the pier. There was a lot of weight on that pier with all the shops and restaurants, and the platform was supported by huge wooden pilings, each one maybe four feet across. The pilings were close together, too, with only maybe a couple of yards between each. The whole thing reminded Michael of a dense forest, with the platform of the pier where the leaves should have been.
David was heading straight for it. Well. Michael thought, at least he could catch up when David slowed down to get through those pilings.
Instead, as David got closer, he sped up.
This was suicide! Michael skidded on the sand and slowed his Honda down.
The Lost Boys screamed as one and sped into the space between the pilings. As soon as you got away from the bonfires, it was pretty dark out here in the dunes. But there was no light at all under the pier. It looked like the inside of a cave.
The last set of taillights winked as the fourth bike raced behind the pilings. Michael would lose them if he waited any longer. He still had to follow them in.
He could see the gang in front of him, doing hairpin turns across the tree trunks, speeding back and forth, crisscrossing each other’s paths. David cut off Paul, who barely avoided Marco as he rode close behind Dwayne. Somehow they weren’t running into each other or the pilings. Somehow they weren’t all dead.
Then Michael saw the light of bonfires up ahead between the last of the pilings. They were all going to make it through this alive.
The bikes came out on the other side of the pier. The beach changed up here. It was no longer flat but rolled in gentle dunes. There were fewer bonfires out here, too, one large one nearby and a couple smaller fires in the distance. Michael guessed that this part of the beach was too far from the main action.
David rode his bike to the base of the biggest dune, just beyond the main bonfire, pausing for the others to join
him. Michael was the last to pull up. Was it time for more fancy tricks? This didn’t look like Hudson’s Bluff, the place David had mentioned when he issued his challenge. Well, Michael had kept up with the rest of them so far. Where could they go that would be worse than driving through those pilings under the pier?
David gunned his cycle and took off straight up and off the top of the dune, flying through the air right into the bonfire.
David landed on the other side. He spun his bike around and stopped to wait for the others.
Marco went next, accelerating up the hill and out into space, plunging through air and fire to land next to David. Paul and Dwayne followed quickly. Paul’s takeoff from the dune was fast and high, but Dwayne was a little bit slower than the others. He screamed as he fell through the air toward the fire. Michael thought for sure that Dwayne would land in the flames.
He landed at the edge of the burning wood and went to join the others.
Now it was Michael’s turn.
If he decided to do it. He had come this far on the Lost Boys’ joyride. That should prove he could take it. He kept up with the others off the Boardwalk, over the beach, and through the pilings. Just how far did they expect him to go?
The Lost Boys watched him from the other side of the fire. Dwayne almost fell into that fire. Why should Michael risk his neck for a stupid challenge like this?
He saw Star watching him from the back of David’s bike. Even at this distance he thought he saw her smile.
That made it worth his while, after all. He’d prove to Star that he was as good as David or any of the Lost Boys. All four of them had gotten safely through the flames, after all. David’s trick was probably one of those showy stunts that looked a lot more dangerous than it actually was. That had to be it. Why else would all four of (hem have jumped through the bonfire, especially when a couple of them were carrying a girl and a ten-year-old
boy?
Well, it was his turn now. Michael revved his engine and took off as fast as he could. His bike was smaller than the others. He’d have to push the Honda as far as he could. If he was any slower than Dwayne, he would land in the fire. He didn’t want to think what would happen to him then.
He cleared the sand dune in half a second. Michael felt his wheels leave the ground. He felt more like he was floating in air than falling, like he was some sort of butterfly being drawn toward the bonfire’s flames. The fire rushed to meet him. He closed his eyes.
He opened them a second later to find the ground rapidly approaching. He felt the bike leaning to one side as the back wheel hit the sand. He didn’t want to fall, not now! He shifted his weight as the front wheel came down and gunned the cycle forward. The bike righted itself, and he rode to join the Lost Boys.
All of them smiled at him now. Still, the best smile of all came from Star.
Michael remembered to breathe. David laughed and took off on his bike with the others close behind.
What else could Michael do but follow?
Eleven
This was getting better and better.
After they left Santa Carla, David had waved for Michael to bring his bike up and ride next to him. Michael figured he must have passed his initiation. It was a beautiful night, late enough so that the five cycles had the back roads they traveled on all to themselves. David led them over a trestle. Michael glanced to his right and saw the ocean in the distance, the surf crashing against tumbled rocks. They must be coming out to the bluff David had talked about.
Once off the trestle, they turned onto a dirt road that led toward the ocean. David pulled a bit ahead, and Michael found Star by his side, her long hair blowing in the wind. She twisted her head to look at him and smiled, then reached out her hand toward his.
Michael shifted his weight on his bike and put his own hand out. They touched for a long moment. The warmth of her fingers felt electric against his palm.
Then Star’s hand was gone. David turned to Michael and shouted loud enough to be heard over the cycles and the wind.
“Now we race!”
He grinned and was gone. Michael took off after him. His eyes were on the bike ahead of him, but his thoughts were all of Star. There was something special to her touch. He had to touch her again, to hold her hand, to softly stroke her cheek, and more. There was so much more.
They were out on the bluff now, high above the ocean.
There was a sheer cliff to Michael’s right. It was hard to tell in the moonlight, but he guessed there might be as much as a five-hundred-foot drop to the rocks below.
Where was David going so fast? The cliff looked like it swung around in front of them up ahead. Still, Michael did his best to keep up. He was sure David knew what he was doing.
No! David was heading straight for the cliff! There was no way he could stop in time. He would kill himself, with Star and Michael thrown in for a bonus. This wasn’t like jumping through a bonfire. They would fly off the cliff and crash into the rocks hundreds of feet below.
Michael braked as hard as he could, gripping the handlebars as if he might somehow pull the bike back from the cliff. The bike swerved. He could feel the wheels going out from under him. He was going too fast. He had to stay with it. David braked next to him as the cliff edge rushed toward them. David had stopped, his front wheel at the edge of the drop.
But Michael’s bike was still moving. The cliff was just ahead. Michael threw his weight to one side.
He slid to a stop, his front wheel still spinning out over the edge of the cliff.
Michael pulled his bike back onto the bluff. Then he started to shake. He heard the other Lost Boys arrive, but it was as if they were ten miles away rather than ten feet, the sounds of their engines barely penetrating Michael’s shock.
Then the shakes were gone, as suddenly as they had arrived. Michael looked up at David, who climbed off his bike as if nothing had happened.
That was it. Michael felt an overwhelming fury grow inside him, a fury that had a single focus. He rushed over to David and punched him in the face.
Everyone was silent. Michael was suddenly aware of the waves crashing on the cliffs below. Star’s head was turned.
looking at Laddie. Everyone else watched Michael. Michael waited, steeling himself against David’s answering blow.
Instead David smiled a big, broad grin.
“How far are you willing to go, Michael?”
He turned, and the other Lost Boys followed.
Whatever she did, it was going to turn out wrong.
Star looked down at Laddie, away from David and Michael. She was afraid that if she turned back to the two of them, she would start to cry.
Why did it have to be this way? Too much had happened, too much had changed. She knew she couldn’t go back to her parents; not after what happened. The only family she had anymore was Laddie; even though they weren’t really related, she thought of him as a little brother. Until yesterday that had been enough.
She had thought her feelings were dead. Oh, there was David, and the other Lost Boys, too, but that was different. Star had known that from the start. She was alone now. She wanted to be alone.
Then she had seen Michael.
There was something about Michael, something special.
She had been confused at first. When the Lost Boys had picked her up from the Boardwalk last night, she didn’t even want to talk about her new-found feelings. Somehow, though, David had known something had changed. There had been nothing to do then but to tell him. To her surprise David had encouraged it.
Then David told her his reasons, and she wasn’t surprised anymore. Oh, Michael! You should stay away from the gangs in Santa Carla.
Michael didn’t know what he was getting into. She didn’t know how she could tell him, either. If she said the wrong thing, he’d run away and she’d never see him again.
It had all gone much too far. If only she’d known when this had all started, there might have been some way—
Star caught herself falling too deep into self-pity. She’d known enough about what she was getting into, even from the first. Maybe there hadn’t been that many choices after she left home, but she had gotten herself into this thing. And Laddie too. It wasn’t so bad. Until now she thought she had accepted it.
Then there was Michael. What exactly did she want from him? Was she looking for a white knight to get her out?
She was afraid, when he hit David, that Michael might not live long enough to do anything. But David didn’t hit Michael back. David smiled instead and asked Michael just how far he would go.
In a way that might be even worse.
But Michael was still here. They could still have time together. Maybe she could find a way to tell him everything, to change her life and start out fresh. She knew, really, that he couldn’t be her savior. Life wasn’t like that; that sort of thing only happened in movies and books. But maybe they could work together. Maybe, even without white knights, there was a way out for both of them.
Michael had no idea there were places like this around Santa Carla. It was beautiful up here on the edge of the bluff with the ocean crashing far below. He wished Star and he could be here all alone, without any of the others.
Maybe they’d be able to come up here later, just the two of them. For now they had all become part of David’s expedition, walking along a cliffside path in the moonlight.
Then David stepped off the cliff, onto a set of rotting, rickety stairs. The railings above the top steps were covered with official-looking signs, condemned! they read in gigantic boldface type, unsafe! unlawful to go past this point!
David started down the stairs. Star and the other Lost Boys followed. Michael had gone this far. David might be a bit of a daredevil, but Michael was sure he wasn’t a fool. David always knew exactly what he was doing and how much risk was involved.
