Never Have I Ever by Sara Shepard Read Free Book Online Page A

prank ideas, if you’d ever let us share them with you.”
    “Not interested,” I say, dismissing her with a wave.
    “Um, does anyone care that we’re stopped on train tracks?” Madeline peers out the window, her fingertips clutching the door. Suddenly, the red lights on the railroad crossing sign begin to flash. The warning bell clangs, and the striped gate lowers across the road behind us, preventing all other cars at the light—not that there are any—from passing over the tracks. A hazy beam of the Amtrak train blinks in the distance.
    I try the ignition again, but Floyd just coughs. “What’s the deal, Sutton?” Charlotte sounds annoyed.
    “Everything’s under control,” I mutter. The Volvo-symbol keychain swings back and forth as I twist the key again and again.
    “Yeah, right.” The leather squeaks under Charlotte’s butt. “I told you guys we shouldn’t have gotten into this death trap.”
    The train blows its whistle. “Maybe you’re starting it wrong.” Madeline reaches over and tries the ignition herself, but the car only makes the same wheezing sound. The lights don’t even flicker on the dash.
    The train is getting closer. “Maybe it’ll see us and hit the brakes?” I say, my voice shaking as adrenaline courses through my veins.
    “The train can’t stop!” Charlotte unbuckles her seat belt. “That’s why those warning gates go down!” She pulls at the door handle in the back, but it doesn’t budge. “Jesus! Unlock it, Sutton!”
    I press the unlock button—my dad and I had installed an electronic power feature on all four doors and windows—but there isn’t the familiar heavy click sound of the barrel releasing. “Uh . . .” I jab the button again and again.
    “What about the manual unlock?” Lili tries to lift the button on her door. But something jams that button, too.
    The train whistles once more, a low harmonica chord. Laurel tries to unroll the windows, but nothing happens. “Jesus, Sutton!” Laurel screams. “What are we going to do?”
    “Is this a prank?” Charlotte shouts, yanking hard on the door handle, which doesn’t give. “Are you messing with us?”
    “Of course not!” I pull at my door handle, too.
    “Seriously?” Madeline yells.
    “Seriously! Cross my heart, hope to die!” It’s our fail-safe code, the thing we’re supposed to yell out to show something is dead serious.
    Madeline reaches over and stabs the center of the steering wheel. The horn bleats feebly, like a dying goat. Laurel dials a number on her cell phone.
    “What are you doing?” I scream at her.
    “What’s your emergency?” a voice squawks on speakerphone.
    “We’re stuck on the train tracks of Orange Grove and I-ten!” Laurel screams. “We’re trapped in the car! The train’s about to run us down!”
    The next few seconds are mayhem. Charlotte leans forward and pounds on the windshield. Gabby and Lili blubber uselessly. Laurel gives our details to the 911 operator. The train rockets toward us. I jiggle the keys in the ignition back and forth. The train barrels closer . . . closer . . . until I swear I can see the conductor’s panicked face.
    Everyone screams. Our death is mere seconds away.
    And that’s when I calmly reach to the dashboard and release the choke.
    Gunning the engine, I roll us off the train tracks and spin out in a small, dusty area in the underpass. A moment later, I unlock the doors, and everyone falls to the dusty gravel, watching as the train thunders by just feet from their bodies.
    “Gotcha, suckas!” I yell. My body is on fire. “Was that not the best prank ever ?”
    My friends stare at me, momentarily stunned. Tears streak their faces. Then their eyes blaze with anger. Madeline rises unsteadily to her feet. “What the fuck , Sutton? You used the fail-safe! You broke the rules!”
    “Rules are meant to be broken, bitches. Wanna hear how I did it?” I can’t wait to explain. I’ve been planning this prank for weeks. It’s