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  Matt sat in the backseat with Jake, surrounded by bedding, supplies and stacks of non-perishable food, items the Piancatos were taking out to the lodge this weekend as they worked to prepare for the upcoming busy guest season. Mr. Piancato was a large, balding man in his fifties who had the same easy-going smile as his son and a crazy sense of humor. Mrs. Piancato was a gentle, pretty woman who had been like a second mother to Matt over the years. Looking at her, it was obvious where Jake got his curly blond hair and blue eyes.

  Matt really felt comfortable with the Piancatos. He surveyed the three of them and couldn’t help thinking—also for about the five-hundredth time—that Jake was fortunate to have both a mom and a dad in his life.

  Not that Matt felt particularly shortchanged. His mother was about as supportive and understanding as any parent could be. It’s just that sometimes he wondered how it would feel to have a dad at home too. His own father had left the family when Matt was just three, too early for him to remember much. They had had no contact since, and he and his mother seldom talked about it.

  Matt’s thoughts were interrupted by Jake. “We’re going to have some company at the lake this weekend,” he said enthusiastically. “My cousins are going to be there too. Since Phil and Amar couldn’t make it, Mom invited Cody and Vance up for the weekend.”

  Matt’s heart sunk. He already knew that Phil and Amar Sunir—the others in he and Jake’s crowd— weren’t able to come along this weekend because of other commitments. But he had assumed that he and Jake would be able to hang out on their own at Long Lake. Now he was learning that Cody and Vance were coming too. Matt had met Jake’s cousins before, and he had never hit it off with them.

  “Er, great,” Matt said, mustering as much fake enthusiasm as he could. “How old are those guys now?”

  “Cody is fourteen and Vance is nearly sixteen,” Mrs. Piancato interjected pleasantly from the front seat. “We haven’t seen them for awhile. But their parents are in Mexico for a couple of weeks, and so we offered to take care of the boys while they’re gone. Jake’s dad drove up to Eton and picked them up early this morning. They’re already out at the lake. Jake hasn’t even seen his cousins yet because he stayed in town last night with his aunt.”

  Although he was disappointed, Matt felt like he managed to hide it. Besides, maybe he would get along better with Jake’s cousins now that everybody was a little older. He could give it a shot at least.

  “I see the lake,” yelled Jake, winning the game that the Piancatos always played in the car. The first person to see any tinge of blue through the trees on the winding road into Long Lake was the winner. And the winner got to skip unloading the gear once they arrived.

  Mr. Piancato pulled the station wagon past the public beach and into the driveway of the Long Lake Lodge. The resort was modest, consisting of one main building and a dozen quaint satellite cabins, all constructed from massive logs. But each of the units was well-appointed inside with a fireplace, down-filled comforters and pillows and a full four-piece bathroom. And each of them had a comfortable veranda to sit on and watch the sun set over Long Lake.

  The car stopped, and Matt hopped out, stretching his legs and arms. He always loved the smell at the Piancatos’ lodge, the crisp, slightly cooler air and the shade of the big pines. It was the same every time he came. So relaxing.

  “Duuude!” The peace was shattered by a voice coming from the main lodge. Jake’s cousin Cody was headed toward them. “Man, Cuz, you’ve grown up a bit.”

  Jake blushed, looking back at Cody, who stood about two inches taller and had straight blond hair hanging nearly to his shoulders. Cody was wearing a black Green Day T-shirt and long, skater-style, purple shorts. Matt couldn’t help noticing he had a gold ring in his left earlobe.

  Matt felt awkward. Picking up on the situation, Mrs. Piancato cleared her throat. “Jake, did you introduce Matt to Cody?”

  “This is Matt?” Cody exclaimed. “Little Matt? This is the same kid who we met out here a couple of years ago? The kid who was scared of the lake monster?”

  Jake nodded. It was Matt’s turn to blush now. How long was that Long Lake Monster thing going to stick with him, anyway?

  “You’re a lot bigger too,” Cody said.

  Matt felt a little more at ease—for a second, that is.

  Around the corner of the main lodge came Vance, Jake’s older cousin. He wasn’t smiling. About the same height as Cody, Vance had long, shiny, black hair and was dressed in black jeans, red sneakers and a black sweatshirt with a skull and crossbones logo. He looked at the Piancatos and Matt but said nothing.

  “Hey, Vance,” said Mr. Piancato. “Are you finding your way around here okay?”

  “I guess,” shrugged the teenager. “Just looking for something to do.”

  “Perfect,” Mr. Piancato replied. “I’ve got a whole car here to unload. So let’s get to it boys.”

  Mr. Piancato and the boys, except for Jake who had won the I-see-the-lake contest, unloaded the station wagon, while Mrs. Piancato went directly into the lodge. When the chores were finished, Jake asked Matt if he wanted to check out the lake. “Sure,” Matt replied. “Let’s go see if that monster’s still down there.”

  The two laughed. Across the driveway, Vance was giving them a slightly quizzical look. “What’s the joke, man?” he said to Jake.

  Jake started to remind Vance about Matt’s previous fears of the Long Lake Monster and how it was still a standing joke in the family but he didn’t get quite finished before Vance interrupted. “Whatever, man,” he said. “What do you guys do for fun around here?”

  Matt and Jake looked at each other. What did he mean fun? It was a lake, wasn’t it? Did they have to spell it out for him?

  “Swim, mostly,” Jake said. “We do some fishing, hiking and we’ve got mountain bikes. There are some great trails…”

  Once again, Vance cut him off. “I’m going back to my cabin,” he said. “I didn’t think I’d have to join the freakin’ Boy Scouts just cause my parents decided they need a holiday from taking care of their kids.”

  Matt shook his head. He remembered Vance having a bit of an edge the last time they met too. In fact, now that he thought about it, Vance had been the one who had locked him and Jake in one of the sheds on the lodge property as a joke. The two had only been in third grade at the time and had been forced to wait for a couple of hours before Jake’s mom finally heard them yelling and pounding on the door and let them out.

  “I’ll go with you guys,” Cody declared, shrugging his bony shoulders and flipping his long hair out of his eyes. “Nothing else to do up here, anyway.”

  The three boys headed down to the lake, which was perfectly framed by the green of the trees that ringed it. The water was so calm that it was almost a shame to swim in it, Matt thought.

  That thought didn’t last long, though, as Jake charged past him and thundered into the lake. “First in,” he said as he dove and swam a few sharp strokes before resurfacing and shaking the water off his blond curls. “Man, that is refreshing,” he yelled.

  Matt charged in behind him. He could tell the water was going to be shockingly frigid because even the light spray hitting his legs was numbing. He dove in too, momentarily stunned by the icy rush that hit his forehead. But by the time he came up for air, he felt entirely alive.

  Cody was still standing on the shore, idly picking up rocks and tossing them in. “It’s too cold, man,” he said. “I’m going back up to the lodge.”

  Matt was secretly happy that Cody was leaving. It was just him and Jake, like he had planned. The two swam for about half an hour, taking turns diving off the platform that was moored near the end of the roped-off swimming area before wading back to the beach.

  They flipped down their towels and sat there, taking in the sun. “You ready for Monday?” Matt asked Jake. “North Vale could be pretty tough.”

  “The question is,” Jake said with mock bravado, swinging an imaginary bat out toward the lake, “is North
Vale ready for me?”

  The boys spent a few more minutes at the beach before the bell began clanging from the main lodge. It must be lunchtime. Jake and Matt scooped up their towels and bolted toward the sound. Swimming and fresh air was enough to make a guy hungry in a hurry.

  Jake’s mom had whipped up some smokies on the barbecue grill on the deck of the main lodge. Matt had to marvel as he bit into his, which was covered with mustard and hot peppers. It never failed that food tasted better out at Long Lake than it did anywhere else.

  For the rest of the afternoon, Matt and Jake tossed around the baseball, took a short hike to the top of the ridge overlooking the lake and helped out Jake’s dad by picking several hundred stones off the beach. After a dinner of hamburgers, corn on the cob and baked potatoes, the boys still had a couple of hours before bedtime. Matt felt himself already growing tired, even though it was only eight-thirty. Fresh air usually had that effect on him.

  Vance had been silent for most of dinner, but he suddenly pushed his chair back from the table. “I’m goin’ down to the lake,” he declared, to nobody in particular.

  “That’s a good idea, Vance,” Jake’s mom said. “It will be nice down there right now. You guys might even see some fish jumping. Jake, why don’t you and the boys go with Vance?”

  “Okay, Mom,” Jake replied, gathering up his plate and Vance’s as well. Jake put the dishes near the sink and motioned to Matt. “Let’s go see if the trout are any bigger this year.”

  The four boys grabbed their jackets and headed down toward the water. The last seconds of twilight were now just fading to black and a big, nearly full, luminous moon had risen over the corner of Long Lake. It was breathtaking, like something out of a movie, Matt thought.

  Vance was already a couple hundred feet down the trail, ahead of the other boys. He was stopped, with his hands cupped around his mouth, but Matt could tell what he was doing. He was lighting a cigarette.

  “I didn’t know you smoked,” Jake said casually to his cousin.

  Vance said nothing, merely taking a long drag off the cigarette and blowing a stream of smoke in the general direction of the other boys.

  “You better not let my dad see you,” Jake continued. “He’s always worried about forest fires starting out here.”

  “Your old man should chill,” Vance said dismissively. “It’s just a smoke, man.”

  The four boys continued down the path to Long Lake. When they got to the beach, the moon looked even larger than it had at the head of the trail. Its reflection seemed to light up the entire lake, giving the night sky a mystical edge.

  Vance and Cody immediately began picking up stones and chucking them into the water. “Watch this,” Vance yelled. He threw a rock at the swimming platform, pegging it off the aluminum ladder that Jake and Matt had used to climb out of the water that afternoon.

  “Vance, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Jake said, his voice rising slightly with alarm in a way Matt had never heard it before. “My dad will be pissed if anything gets damaged.”

  “Jaker, you know what your problem is?” Vance said. “You worry way too much.”

  Matt had to chuckle to himself. It there was one thing Jake didn’t do it was worry too much. But what kind of idiot threw rocks at something just for the fun of it? No wonder Jake had felt it was necessary to say something to him. Matt would have too.

  “You need to chill,” Vance continued. “Come on.”

  Jake and Matt walked slowly over to a log that Vance had plopped down upon. The older boy had pulled something out of the front pocket of his black hoody and was carefully cradling it in his palm. It looked like another cigarette but one that had been squashed so that it wasn’t perfectly cylindrical. Now that Matt thought about it, it looked a little like one of those cigarettes that his Uncle Roy always hand-rolled with his own pouch tobacco.

  “I don’t smoke,” Jake said.

  “You might want to try this,” chuckled Vance. “It’s not a cigarette. It’s a joint, man. Haven’t you ever seen a spliff before? Where do you guys go to school, Timbuktu?”

  Matt silently gulped. He had never seen a joint before, and he was pretty sure Jake hadn’t either. He knew it was marijuana, but he had never tried it and really didn’t have much desire to.

  “Course I’ve seen one before,” Jake replied. “Who hasn’t?”

  Matt was taken aback. Well, for one, he hadn’t. Why was Jake pretending that he had?

  “Wanna spark it up?” Vance said, eyeing the two of them and Cody.

  There was a slight pause as the other three boys stood on the beach in front of the log where Vance was sitting. Matt wanted no part of this. He was trying to figure out what to say when Jake spoke first.

  “Sure, man. It’s no big deal.”

  Vance sprung to his feet, plucking a disposable lighter out of his pocket and placing the joint gingerly between his lips. “All righty then,” he smiled.

  Vance flicked his lighter and held the flame to the end of the joint. A second after it was lit, an oddly sweet odor wafted across the beach. It smelled kind of like the incense Matt’s Aunt June sometimes burned in her living room. Matt and Jake watched as the older boy drew heavily on the joint and then held the strange-smelling smoke in his lungs for several seconds before allowing it to escape.

  “Now, you,” Vance said, motioning to Jake.

  Matt watched in astonishment as Jake took the joint from Vance and awkwardly pinched it between his right thumb and index finger. Jake put it to his lips and took a big drag but he couldn’t hold it in, coughing and choking as he let out the smoke almost immediately.

  “What a rookie!” Vance laughed. Cody seemed to think it was pretty hilarious too.

  “Okay, Monster Boy,” Vance continued, his harsh eyes moving toward Matt. “It’s your turn.”

  Matt felt frozen. He didn’t know how to react. He didn’t want to do this, and yet he felt like if he didn’t he’d be the laughingstock of the other boys. And he was still reeling from the fact Jake had tried it.

  “I gotta go to the bathroom,” Matt said suddenly. It was the only way he could think of to get out of this. He turned and bounded up the trail by himself. “Whatever, man,” Vance yelled behind him.

  Matt walked quickly up the trail toward the lodge. He stopped briefly, looking back at the beach, where Vance, Cody and Jake were still gathered, smoke rising out of the top of their little triangle.

  Matt didn’t really have to go to the bathroom. But he went all the way up to the lodge door, just the same. When he got there, though, he realized that he couldn’t go in. Jake’s mom and dad would wonder why he was back there by himself. He couldn’t return to the lake, either, or he’d be back in the same situation he just left. Not knowing what else to do, Matt headed out the cabin that he and Jake were to share that night.

  The room was dark, but Matt found the light switch and flipped it on. He sat down at the edge of the lower bunk bed on which he had earlier stored his gear. He didn’t know what to do next. He pulled out his MP3 player and put on some Sum 41, turning it up nearly full volume.

  The music didn’t take his mind away from what had just happened. It didn’t stop him from feeling awkward, confused and hurt all at the same time. Matt hated himself for having been so nervous when Vance had pulled the joint out of his pocket and at the same time he was shocked that Jake had agreed to try it, like it was no big deal. He and Jake had been best friends since pre-school and not much had ever come between them. But now, sitting alone on his bed in this cabin, Matt felt farther apart from Jake than ever before. It was weird to suddenly feel like maybe he didn’t know his friend the way he had always thought he did.

  Matt took off his shoes and jacket and lay down on the bed. He pulled his sleeping bag over him and rested his head on the pillow. The stress of the situation had tired him out.

  He must have been asleep for at least an hour when he heard somebody fumbling at the cabin door. Matt was groggy but he lifted his h
ead as Jake came into the room. The light was still on, and he caught a glimpse of his friend’s face.

  “What happened to you, man?” Jake asked. “I thought you were just going to the can. How come you didn’t come back?”

  “I was just tired,” Matt said. It seemed weird to lie to Jake like this. And at the same time, he knew Jake wouldn’t believe him anyway.

  “Yeah, I’m going to crash too,” Jake replied, flicking off the light switch and heading for the top bunk. “Must be all this fresh air.”

  Matt felt the bunk beds shake as Jake climbed on top and settled in. Within a few minutes, his friend was snoring. Matt closed his own eyes and tried to go back to sleep, but he couldn’t.

  It had been a weird night. He felt like something strange had come between him and Jake, and it didn’t feel good. It wasn’t simply that Jake had tried the joint—Matt knew plenty of kids at South Side smoked pot—it was also the fact that Jake had seemed to choose hanging out with his cousins over Matt. Jake had never made him feel like this before. At the same time, Matt was embarrassed and confused over how he had reacted himself. Should he have tried it too? Jake had seemed pretty normal when he returned. Was there any real harm in what he had done?

  Matt shifted his body around, moving the pillow up and down and doubling it in half in an attempt to find a way to get to sleep. He knew it wasn’t the bed that was uncomfortable, it was him.

  chapter three

  “Hey you two sleepyheads! Time to get up.” The door to the cabin opened, letting in shards of sunlight and hints of crisp, moist, lake air. It was Jake’s mom and she was standing in the doorway wearing an apron and wielding a plastic flipper.

  “Pancakes are now on in the main dining hall,” she said playfully. “Attention, attention: All campers are requested to report immediately.”