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  “I need to get out of here,” DJ told Conner. “If I stick around I might hurt someone.”

  “I’m with you,” said Bradford. He’d just joined them.

  “Let’s go to the main lodge and see if we can get some cocoa or something,” said Conner.

  The music seemed to be louder now, and the house was crowded with people that DJ had never seen. Suddenly, she wasn’t so sure they should just leave.

  “It kills me to see this artwork at such risk,” said Rhiannon.

  “Should we take it down or anything?” asked DJ.

  “Maybe the breakables,” said Conner.

  So the four of them gathered the items that seemed most at risk and carried them back to the laundry room, which seemed a fairly safe spot.

  “Now let’s take a break,” said Conner.

  Other than the bar, the lodge was pretty much closed. They all got cocoa out of a machine, sitting at one of the tables outside the cafeteria, waiting.

  “This totally sucks.” DJ set her cocoa down so hard that it splashed.

  “I hear ya,” agreed Conner.

  “Well, it’s almost nine thirty,” said Bradford.

  “Maybe it’s time we go and remind them that the party’s over,” said Rhiannon.

  They were all relieved to go back. DJ was hoping that by the time they got there, the cars would be heading out and Eliza and the others would be putting the general’s lodge back together.

  “I think there are even more cars,” said DJ as they hurried to the back door.

  “The music’s even louder than before,” said Rhiannon loudly as they went in the back way.

  Even the kitchen had partiers in it now.

  “Get out of here,” demanded DJ. “The party’s over!”

  A guy who looked a lot older than high school peered curiously at her. “Is this your house?”

  She considered this. “No, but it’s my friend’s house and—”

  “Your friend is my friend.” He held up his beer like he was toasting.

  “Eliza!” yelled DJ as she stormed out of the kitchen, pushing her way past strangers. “Party’s over!” she yelled again and again.

  “What are you doing?” demanded Taylor. She and Eliza were standing in front of DJ now, looking at her as if she was the one with bad judgment.

  “It’s a quarter to ten,” DJ said loudly. “The party’s over!”

  “That’s right,” said Rhiannon from behind her.

  “Yeah,” said Conner. “You guys don’t have much time to clear this place out, Eliza.”

  “And to clean it up,” added Bradford.

  Taylor looked at Eliza, and they both started to laugh.

  “You guys are losing it,” said DJ as she grabbed Taylor by the arm. “The general and my grandmother will be back soon.”

  “I don’t think so …” Eliza winked at Taylor. “Do you want to tell them, or should I?”

  DJ got the worst feeling then. Seriously, she would put absolutely nothing past these two now. “What have you done to the general and my grandmother?”

  “We’ve done nothing but given them a nice quiet evening away from the kiddies,” said Eliza.

  “They’ll be perfectly comfortable in their little home on wheels,” said Taylor.

  “What are you saying?” demanded Rhiannon.

  “Don’t worry,” said Eliza. “I just spoke to the general.”

  “What’s going on?” asked DJ.

  “They had a perfectly lovely dinner,” said Taylor.

  “And when they started to go home, they realized they had a little mechanical problem.” Eliza gave DJ a sly grin.

  “With no mechanics around on a Sunday night and holiday weekend.” Taylor held up her hands in a helpless gesture.

  “What?” DJ was suspicious now. “They just happened to break down?”

  “Well … that’s one way to look at it,” said Eliza.

  “Did you guys send someone up there to sabotage them?” DJ glared at Taylor.

  “What on earth would make you jump to that conclusion?” Taylor put on her most innocent face.

  “Anyway,” continued Eliza lightly, “when the general called here to check on us, I told him not to worry, that we were just fine and would probably just call it an early evening.”

  “They’ll camp out in the general’s motor home,” said Taylor.

  “Naturally, the general offered your grandmother the bedroom, and he’ll use the pull-out bed in the couch.”

  “End of story,” said Taylor.

  DJ honestly felt lightheaded now, like she was about to faint.

  “Come on,” said Rhiannon to DJ. “Let’s go upstairs and regroup.”

  With Conner and Rhiannon guiding her, they went upstairs, but when they opened the door to the room the four girls were sharing, they saw that it had been invaded.

  “Get out of here!” screamed DJ. Then she actually picked up a chair and acted like she was about to throw it at the surprised couple.

  “Easy does it,” said Conner as he gently removed the chair from her hands.

  “But she’s right,” yelled Bradford, “Get out of here!”

  The couple grabbed up a couple of items of clothing and ran for the door. DJ collapsed into a chair and held her head in her hands. “What a mess.”

  “Maybe Conner and I should head up there and help the general with his mechanical problem,” suggested Bradford.

  “For all we know they might be enjoying themselves,” said DJ.

  “It’s a very nice motor home,” said Rhiannon, “With all the comforts of home. They should be perfectly comfortable.”

  “Still …” DJ stood now. “Maybe I should just call the police.”

  They all paused to consider this.

  “I’d just tell them the truth,” she said eagerly. “That someone had thrown a party here, without permission, and that there was underage drinking.”

  “Of course, that would mean that the general and your grandmother would hear about it.”

  “I know.” DJ nodded. “Right now I don’t even care.”

  “And Eliza, Taylor, and Casey will be in serious hot water,” added Rhiannon. “Not that I particularly care.”

  “And the guys too,” pointed out Conner.

  “I don’t know.” Bradford frowned. “It seems wrong to rat on your friends.”

  “How about if we warn them first?” suggested DJ.

  “Yeah,” said Rhiannon.

  So it was decided they would warn the party hosts. “But we’ll stick to our guns, right?” said DJ as they trooped back down the stairs.

  “Absolutely,” said Conner.

  “We’ll tell them they have twenty minutes,” said DJ.

  “To get everyone out of here,” added Rhiannon.

  “And all the alcohol too.”

  At the foot of the stairs, they gathered to put the finishing touches on their end-the-party plan. And then, sharing high fives all the way around, the Fearsome Foursome went to work.

  19

  RHIANNON HEADED FOR THE CD PLAYER, which was cranked up so high that DJ thought she could feel the wood floor shaking, or maybe that was the dancers. DJ, backed by Conner and Bradford, and all armed with cell phones, confronted Eliza and Harry in the middle of the dance floor.

  DJ nodded to Rhiannon and suddenly the music stopped.

  “The party is over!” DJ shouted.

  “That’s right!” yelled Conner.

  “You have ten minutes to clear this place out!” shouted Bradford.

  “The police will be here shortly!” DJ looked out the front window for dramatic effect.

  Fortunately, this last bit of news seemed to get the partiers’ attention.

  “And don’t break anything on your way out!” warned Rhiannon.

  “Security cameras are running!” added Bradford.

  “And just in case, license plate numbers will be taken,” added DJ.

  Amazingly, almost the whole house was cleared out in less
than two minutes.

  “What do you guys think you’re doing?” demanded Taylor.

  “Calling the police,” said DJ calmly.

  “You’ve lost your freaking mind,” said Seth.

  “You guys are totally spoiling everything,” said Eliza.

  “No!” DJ stared at Taylor and Eliza now. “You guys are the ones spoiling everything! We are totally serious; we will be calling the police if every ounce of booze isn’t out of here in three minutes.”

  “Or we can save you the trouble and pour it down the drain,” said Conner as he picked up a bottle of vodka and headed for the kitchen.

  Harry made a dash to the bar and began gathering his bottles and loading them back into the cardboard box. “The party’s moving to my place,” he called as he headed for the door. “Let’s get away from these losers.”

  “We’ll be there in a minute,” called Eliza as she ran to get her parka.

  “You’re not going anywhere until this place is cleaned up,” called DJ.

  “That’s right,” said Bradford, stopping Taylor in her tracks.

  “Otherwise, you’re going down.” DJ couldn’t help but chuckle at this line, and suddenly the Fearsome Foursome were all laughing.

  “Don’t think we don’t mean it,” said Rhiannon, stifling laughter.

  “I think you guys have totally lost it.” Eliza rolled her eyes.

  “I think they’ve just saved you from getting into serious trouble,” said Kriti in a quiet voice. She’d been on the sidelines watching it all unfold.

  “Just to show we’re good sports, we’ll help you clean up,” said Rhiannon. “So let’s get moving.”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” said Bradford reluctantly. “I might not be that good of a sport.”

  “Come on,” urged DJ. “There’s a lot of work to be done.”

  Casey had been pretty quiet through the whole confrontation, and DJ wasn’t sure what she was thinking, but suddenly she seemed to switch sides. “Come on,” Casey said to Taylor and Eliza. “We better get to work. This place really is a mess. We don’t want the general and Mrs. Carter to come home to this.”

  Although Taylor and Eliza complained loudly, they did start to clean things up. Even Kriti helped out, and DJ thought she seemed relieved by this turn of events.

  “So?” DJ stopped Kriti from sweeping the kitchen floor. “You still say we can only control ourselves?”

  Kriti leaned on the broom to consider this. “Sometimes … I think it takes a community to bring about change.”

  “Or a village to raise an idiot?”

  Kriti smiled. “Yes. Something like that.”

  “Wow, this place was really a mess,” said Casey as she hauled another full garbage bag through the kitchen and toward the back door. Conner was letting them put the trash in his pickup for now. He would find a place to dump it tomorrow.

  “Can you imagine how it would’ve looked if the party had kept on going?” asked DJ as she wiped down a granite countertop.

  Eliza closed the door of the full dishwasher, just one of several loads since the partiers had helped themselves to the general’s glassware. “I have to admit that it did get out of hand,” she said as she turned on the appliance.

  “Ya think?” DJ stared at Eliza in disbelief.

  “Yes … I suppose we should thank you for putting an end to it.”

  “She didn’t end anything,” said Taylor. “The party is still going strong at Harry’s place.”

  “You mean the pigsty,” said Conner with disgust.

  “Pigsty or not, I’m heading over there right now.” Taylor pulled on her parka. “You coming, Eliza?”

  “Not tonight,” said Eliza. “I’ve got a headache.”

  “Aw, too bad for you.” Taylor zipped her jacket and looked around the kitchen. “Looks like you guys have the cleaning under control here. I’m sure you won’t miss me.”

  “If you go over to Harry’s tonight, you better not expect to find the back door unlocked when you come back,” threatened DJ.

  “Yeah, whatever.” Taylor looked over at Casey now. “You coming, Casey?”

  “I … uh …” Casey bit her lower lip.

  “I mean what I said, Casey.” DJ put as much authority as she could muster into her voice. “That key will NOT be under the bear tonight.”

  “Come on, Casey,” urged Taylor. “Don’t be stuck here cleaning house with a bunch of loser party poopers. Let’s go have some fun, girlfriend.”

  “I think I’ll pass,” said Casey. “I’m actually kind of tired anyway.”

  Taylor scowled at her. “Yeah, right.”

  DJ locked eyes with Taylor. “That door will be locked, Taylor. No key. Understood?” Taylor just shrugged. “Like I care.” Then she grinned. “Night-night, party poopers.”

  The house was pretty much back to order by one in the morning. By that time, Eliza seemed genuinely sorry.

  “You know, I’m sorry about everything,” she told DJ as they headed upstairs. The guys were gone now, and all the doors securely locked. “I just didn’t think the party would get out of hand like that. Harry was surprised too. He hadn’t expected crashers … but then what do you do?”

  DJ paused to look into Eliza’s face. “Can you imagine what this place might’ve looked like in the morning if it had gone on like that? Or what the general would’ve said when he saw his house totally trashed? Or how your parents would’ve felt if the cops had come out and you’d been arrested?”

  “Yeah, it really was a stupid idea. I can’t believe I let Taylor talk me into it.”

  DJ felt a strange sliver of relief. “So, it really was Taylor’s idea?”

  “Oh, yeah. She planned the whole thing. I’ll admit it sounded pretty good at first—a Viva Vermont party to celebrate our last night up here. And, naturally, Harry loved the idea.”

  “Yeah, especially since he wasn’t the real host. If things got broken or the place got busted—what difference would it make to Harry? He could duck out the back door, but you and Taylor and Casey would be the ones called on the carpet, Eliza. You’d be held responsible.”

  “Guess I didn’t really think of that.”

  They paused in the hallway between the bedrooms, and Eliza put a hand on DJ’s shoulder. “You know Taylor can be really convincing. I should know better than to get pulled into her schemes, but she has this way—you know—when she turns on the charm, and it starts to sound so good.”

  “I know.”

  “But sometimes she scares me too.”

  DJ nodded. “Yeah, she scares me too—but mostly for her own welfare. Sometimes I think she’s going to totally self-destruct.”

  “I guess there’s not much we can do about that.” Then Eliza said goodnight and went into her room.

  But DJ just stood there in the darkened hallway. Okay, as angry as she felt toward Taylor, she was worried too. Taylor was a mess. And she deserved to get into trouble. But what if that foolish girl came back here wasted in the wee hours of the morning and couldn’t get into the house? It was probably about twenty degrees out there at night.

  DJ trudged back down the stairs again. She unlocked the back door, tucked the key under the bear, locked the door again, and then went to bed exhausted.

  When DJ woke up the next morning, Taylor was sleeping snugly in her bunk. Well, it figured. Still, it was better than finding the girl’s frozen body on the back porch. Hopefully, now that DJ had stood up to her the way she had last night, it would be easier to stand up to her again—and perhaps even go to her grandmother if Taylor didn’t straighten up.

  All the girls except Taylor, who was probably hung over, got in a lot of good rides on Monday. The snow was perfect, the sky was blue, and everyone was in good spirits. The general and Grandmother made it back home just before noon—also in good spirits. By three o’clock, they had loaded up the motor home and were ready to roll.

  “Did you girls have a good time?” asked the general as he started the big diesel engine.r />
  They all chimed in saying that it had been great, thanking him for inviting them up and chauffeuring them around in his fancy rig. Naturally, no mention had been made of last night’s near fiasco. Not that DJ had decided yet whether or not to tell her grandmother.

  “Maybe we can do this again,” General Harding called out as he pulled onto the highway. “How about Thanksgiving, Katherine?”

  DJ let out a low groan and didn’t hear her grandmother’s response. It was a generous offer, but right now the last thing she wanted to do was to come up here with the Carter House girls. Or at least some of them. Not unless things changed.

  Taylor was already asleep on the big bed in the back, with Eliza and Casey on either side of her. Just like none of last night had ever happened. Meanwhile, Kriti, Rhiannon, and DJ played cards at the dining room table, watching the scenery pass by them.

  “Really,” said Rhiannon, “It wasn’t that bad, was it, DJ?”

  Suddenly, DJ remembered how they’d sung praise songs on the mountain on Sunday and smiled. “No, it was actually pretty great.”

  A few hours later, they were rolling into town. By this time, all six of the girls were packed into the general’s bedroom, visiting and actually getting along again—for the first time in days.

  “Hey, my phone is finally working,” said Rhiannon. And so they were all checking their phones.

  “Any more hate mail?” asked Casey as she closed her own phone.

  DJ considered this. “Come to think of it, I haven’t had a mean text message since Saturday. Do you think she gave up on me?”

  “Maybe so.”

  DJ remembered the handshake at the swim meet and how she and Haley had actually exchanged some semi-friendly words.

  “Maybe Haley has finally decided to move on,” said Casey.

  “Although I do have one missed call.” DJ pushed her caller ID. “Oh, it’s just Conner.” She paused to listen.

  “DJ!” he said in an urgent tone that almost didn’t sound like him. “I just got back in town—it’s about four o’clock now—I’m at the hospital—and I don’t know how to tell you this, but it’s Haley. She’s, uh, she’s in critical condition—she—she tried to kill herself. Call me when you get this. Or if it’s not too late, come by the hospital. She’s in the critical care unit. I really need you here.”