“Yeah.” I pull the covers up around my bare shoulders, shivering in the cold air. “I knew I was probably being crazy and paranoid, but—”
“You couldn’t risk not saying anything,” he says. “In case you were right.”
“Exactly.”
“Anyway,” he says, “that’s all I wanted to say.”
I think of what my dad said. “Um. I’m sorry too. That I suspected you of doing that stuff.”
He clears his throat. “I think it’s wrong. Abortion, I mean. But that guy showing up with a knife…that’s really twisted. Like, that’s way more wrong. It kind of freaked me out, actually. That someone would do that.”
I can’t make sense of Jake. I can’t figure out how the nice guy fits together with the guy who called my parents murderers. The guy who called me a crazy dyke. “Did you tell Leah?” I say. “That you understand why I told the police?”
“Nah.”
“I know you don’t like us being together,” I say. “But…would you tell her? Please?”
“I haven’t told her because she won’t speak to me.” There’s a pause. “She’s been in her room crying her eyes out all night.”
“I never meant to hurt her.”
“Yeah, well. Me neither.”
“It’s not the same,” I say. “She’ll always be your sister. But I’ve wrecked the best relationship I’ve ever had.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure.”
“Seriously? You think she might still…”
“Leah is the most loyal person I’ve ever known. That’s why she defended me.” Jake sighs into the phone. “And that, unfortunately, probably means she’s not done with you.”
I don’t hear from Leah that night.
Or the next day. I pick up my phone every hour or so, think about sending her a text, then put it back in my pocket.
I’m not sure if I’m just giving her space or if I’m scared to find out how she feels. Uncertainty sucks—but maybe it’s better than knowing for sure that it’s over between us.
After school I drive down to the Gibsons’. Buddy still needs me, even if Leah doesn’t.
I park my car, looking at the long line of trees that overhang the driveway and, behind them, the horses in the field. Buddy’s out there, grazing beside Snow, his blue blanket muddy from rolling on the rain-sodden ground.
I’ll have to move him somewhere else, I guess. Another stable.
Then the barn door opens and Leah steps out.
“You’re home already?” Then I notice she’s wearing jeans and a hoodie, not her uniform. “I skipped school today,” she says. “I needed to think.”
I take a deep breath.
Wait.
Hope…
“I needed to think about us,” she says.
“Us?” I say. “You and me?”
Leah steps toward me. Holds out her hands. Smiles in that way that lifts the corners of her lips and leaves deep dimples in her cheeks. “Yes,” she says. “You and me.”
Acknowledgments
Thanks as always to my wonderful and endlessly supportive family. Thanks also to Alex Van Tol for coming up with the title, and to the fabulous team at Orca Book Publishers.
Robin Stevenson is the award-winning author of numerous books for kids and teens. Under Threat is her fifth book in the Orca Soundings series, following Big Guy, In the Woods, Outback and Damage. Her other novels for teens include The World Without Us, Hummingbird Heart, Escape Velocity, Inferno, and the Governor Generals Literary Award finalist A Thousand Shades of Blue. Robin lives in Victoria, BC.
Titles in the Series
orca soundings
B Negative
Vicki Grant
Back
Norah McClintock
Bang
Norah McClintock
Battle of the Bands
K.L. Denman
Big Guy
Robin Stevenson
Bike Thief
Rita Feutl
Blue Moon
Marilyn Halvorson
Breaking Point
Lesley Choyce
Breathing Fire
Sarah Yi-Mei Tsiang
Breathless
Pam Withers
Bull Rider
Marilyn Halvorson
Bull’s Eye
Sarah N. Harvey
Cellular
Ellen Schwartz
Charmed
Carrie Mac
Chill
Colin Frizzell
Comeback
Vicki Grant
Coming Clean
Jeff Ross
Crash
Lesley Choyce
Crush
Carrie Mac
Cuts Like a Knife
Darlene Ryan
Damage
Robin Stevenson
The Darwin Expedition
Diane Tullson
Dead-End Job
Vicki Grant
Deadly
Sarah N. Harvey
Dead Run
Sean Rodman
Death Wind
William Bell
Down
Norah McClintock
Exit Point
Laura Langston
Exposure
Patricia Murdoch
Fallout
Nikki Tate
Fastback Beach
Shirlee Smith Matheson
Final Crossing
Sean Rodman
First Time
Meg Tilly
Foolproof
Diane Tullson
Grind
Eric Walters
Hannah’s Touch
Laura Langston
The Hemingway Tradition
Kristin Butcher
Hit Squad
James Heneghan
Homecoming
Diane Dakers
Home Invasion
Monique Polak
House Party
Eric Walters
I.D.
Vicki Grant
Impact
James C. Dekker
In the Woods
Robin Stevenson
Infiltration
Sean Rodman
Jacked
Carrie Mac
Eric Walters
Kicked Out
Beth Goobie
Knifepoint
Alex Van Tol
Last Ride
Laura Langston
Learning to Fly
Paul Yee
Lockdown
Diane Tullson
Masked
Norah McClintock
Middle Row
Sylvia Olsen
My Side
Norah McClintock
My Time as Caz Hazard
Tanya Lloyd Kyi
Night Terrors
Sean Rodman
No More Pranks
Monique Polak
No Problem
Dayle Campbell Gaetz
Off the Grid
Lesley Choyce
One More Step
Sheree Fitch
One Way
Norah McClintock
Outback
Robin Stevenson
Overdrive
Eric Walters
Pain & Wastings
Carrie Mac
Picture This
Norah McClintock
Plastic
Sarah N. Harvey
Rat
Lesley Choyce
Reaction
Lesley Choyce
Redline
Alex Van Tol
Refuge Cove
Lesley Choyce
Responsible
Darlene Ryan
Riley Park
Diane Tullson
Riot Act
Diane Tullson
Rock Star
Adrian Chamberlain
Running the Risk
Lesley Choyce
Saving Grace
Darlene Ryan
Scam
Scum
James C. Dekker
Sea Change
Diane Tullson
Shallow Grave
Alex Van Tol
Shattered
Sarah N. Harvey
Skylark
Sara Cassidy
Sleight of Hand
Natasha Deen
Snitch
Norah McClintock
Something Girl
Beth Goobie
Spiral
K.L. Denman
Sticks and Stones
Beth Goobie
Stuffed
Eric Walters
Tagged
Eric Walters
Tap Out
Sean Rodman
Tell
Norah McClintock
The Way Back
Carrie Mac
Thunderbowl
Lesley Choyce
Tough Trails
Irene Morck
Triggered
Vicki Grant
The Trouble with Liberty
Kristin Butcher
Truth
Tanya Lloyd Kyi
Under Threat
Robin Stevenson
Viral
Alex Van Tol
Wave Warrior
Lesley Choyce
The Way Back
Carrie Mac
Who Owns Kelly Paddik?
Beth Goobie
Yellow Line
Sylvia Olsen
Zee’s Way
Kristin Butcher
orca soundings
For more information on all the books in the Orca Soundings series, please visit
www.orcabook.com.