Driver's Ed by Caroline B. Cooney Read Free Book Online Page A

reached over her lap and hung on to the handle of her door, slamming it satisfyingly and letting his arm brush over Remy on the way back. The control panel buzzed like hornets, demanding that the seat belt be closed.
    â€œShe says bring her the sign anyway,” said Remy.
    Nicholas drove off too fast, making the tires whine, while Morgan and Remy fussed with the single seat belt.
    It was long enough to go around them both.
    T HICKLY SETTLED was on the curve of a sharp downward slope, deep in the woods. A few hundred yards into the curve the road would pass a couple of houses crowded by the edge of a brook. But here, although a new road had been cut into the woods for a future subdivision, no house had ever been built. No streetlights, no house lights, and only occasional headlights penetrated the dark.
    Authority existed as it never had when Morgan and Nickie leapt into ditches at the sight of distant headlights. This time Authority was Police, and Authority could arrest them, in possession of stolen public property.
    Morgan was amazed to find how much this appealed to him. Not
getting
caught, of course. But taking the
risk
of getting caught.
    Morgan battled nausea and excitement.
    If his parents knew
 … Well, he wouldn’t tell. And there’d be no evidence. Lark was getting the sign, after all.
    Remy was crowded next him. She wasn’t shrinking anymore. He could feel her muscles relaxing, one by one, as she let herself lean on him.
    The whole length of his thigh was tight against the whole length of hers. He couldn’t feel much. Denim jeans were like armor.
    Morgan slipped his hand across her lap until he found her hand. Curling his fingers around, he stroked the soft inner cup of her palm with his thumb. Right away he wanted more, and put his hand on the back of her neck, touching the bristly back of her hair. It did not feel the way he had expected: it was silk.
    R emy Marland was deep in a heady, vibrating excitement. The utter and complete joy of being sandwiched so tightly up against Morgan made all else irrelevant.
    â€œWe’ll park here,” said Nicholas. He backed into the unpaved opening that would have been the exit from the housing development, if it had ever been built.
    How silent the night was.
    No underlying noise: no refrigerators humming, no radio, car, or plane. No coffee perking, computer printing, or baby brother crying.
    And so dark.
    No moon and few stars.
    Nickie got out first. Morgan, who was in the middle, had to wait till Remy got out. Remy hated being outside the car. The night seemed to have a personality of its own. Soft and suffocating.
    Lark had simply decided not to come. Why? Wasthis part of Lark’s master plan for Remy’s romance? Or did Lark know something Remy didn’t? Lark always knew something Remy didn’t.
    I want to go home, thought Remy, and immediately forgot the thought, because Morgan touched her again, his hot hand at the nape of her neck, having her silent permission to touch her there.
    â€œCome on,” said Nickie irritably.
    The boys were armed.
    Signs were fastened down to make taking them difficult. On most road signs, after the town crew tightened the bolt, they hammered the extending tip upward to prevent unscrewing. A simple crescent wrench probably would not do.
    They had a ratchet, therefore, a hacksaw, and a bolt cutter.
    All three walked softly, as if creeping through an occupied house.
    Nickie’s child-thin shoulders and straw hair were outlined like a cartoon by the flashlight Remy held. Morgan was much wider than Nickie—football-tackle wide. Fantasy and hope for every girl in school.
    We’re stealing
, thought Remy.
    The word landed on her like a mosquito. She actually physically brushed it away. It’s just a sign, she reminded herself. A silly old sign warning drivers who don’t use this road about a population that doesn’t live here.
    The boys got to work. Remy hung in the