Savannah Burning

Chapter Ten

I met Robbie at his locker after our last class of the day. Robbie was one of the lucky few who had P.E. as his last class. Unlike me, who had it third period and had to deal with the sweat for the rest of the day.

“Dude!” I said, covering my nose as soon as I got within ten feet of him. “What did you do? Dump a bottle of Axe on yourself?”

“Is it too much?” he asked, his eyes flashing with concern.

“What the hell is that stench?” Savanna asked from behind me, covering her mouth with her hand. “Did a bottle of cologne explode on you or something?”

Robbie’s face turned red. “No. I just . . . I had gym and I was sweaty and didn’t want to smell bad.”

Savanna waved her free hand in front of her face. “So you thought drowning yourself in a bottle of –“ she took her hand off her mouth and leaned in to brave a sniff, “Axe Anarchy would solve the problem?”

“Damn,” Robbie said, his eyebrows shooting up. “You’re good. Is that a hidden talent or something?”

Savanna rolled her eyes. “You’re such a boy. Either leave the shirt behind or I’m driving with Ms. Daisy.”

Robbie’s shirt was off before Savanna finished her sentence, revealing his kind-of tanned, kind-of toned torso, courtesy of all those pudding snacks. Savanna didn’t even blink. She reached out for the t-shirt, which Robbie handed over, and she tossed it in the trash.

“Hey!” he protested.

“It’s for your own good,” she responded, leading the way out of the high school. Pouting, Robbie pulled his jacket on, zipping it up to his chin to hide his naked torso from the world. We followed Savanna outside into the crisp September air, making our way towards his van.

“This is my baby,” Robbie said proudly and her eyebrows shot up.

“Wow. Very um . . .” She glanced over at me for help and I shrugged at her.

“It has a lot of personality,” I offered.

“I’m sure,” Savanna said quickly. She reached for the door handle to the backseat.

“NO!” I yelled.

“DON’T!” Robbie yelled at the same time, but it was too late.

Savanna pulled on the handle and the alarm went wild. She clapped her hands over her ears. “OH CHRIST,” she yelled. The Astrovan’s alarm system sounded like several dying cats and a drowning cow all confined inside a tin house. All around us our classmates were yelling at us to turn the alarm off, which, of course, Robbie couldn’t do until he was inside the car itself.

“SHUT IT OFF!” I yelled as Robbie dropped to his knees.

“I DROPPED THE KEYS!” came his panicked response. He scrambled to his feet, throwing his fist in the air, showing the world he had picked the keys back up. He unlocked the car (I never understood why he bothered to lock it in the first place – who he thinks is trying to steal his car is beyond me) and threw himself inside of it. He jammed the key in the ignition and the alarm finally squealed to a stop.

Savanna looked at me wide-eyed from the other side of the car. “What the freakin’ frack was that?” She panted.

“Savanna, meet the Astrovan,” I said as Robbie opened up the passenger seat door for me. I slid in and reached around the back to open Savanna’s door for her. She carefully maneuvered her way inside the car and gingerly shut the door.

“Sorry,” Robbie apologized, not sounding sorry for one second. “It does that. She’s old and quirky.” Savanna stared at him, her technicolor eyes wide before she burst out laughing. Robbie turned red as he backed out of the parking lot.

“That’s hilarious,” she said, holding her stomach. “That’s the best damn thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”

“It wasn’t that funny,” Robbie muttered under his breath, but I was chuckling alongside Savanna.

“It’s pretty funny,” I said. “You have to admit that this thing is the equivalent to the Millennial Falcon.”

“What’s the Millennial Falcon?” Savanna asked.

“From Star Wars,” Robbie explained. Silence pulsated from the backseat. Robbie glanced in the (cracked) rearview mirror. “You’ve seen Star Wars . . .right?”

“Um,” Savanna’s voice shook a bit when she answered, as if she knew how catastrophic it would be if she gave the wrong answer. I whipped around in my seat to look at her. She had become suddenly very interested in her nails as she avoided eye contact with me. “I haven’t exactly gotten around to watching it.”

Robbie slammed on the breaks. Or, perhaps, the Astrovan stalled out, as it is notoriously known for doing, but either way it was effective. “You’ve never seen Star Wars?” Robbie gasped. Savanna shook her head. “Not even one? Not even one single episode?”

“Not even one,” Savanna said, her whole face turning red.

“We need to change that,” I said, more to Robbie than to Savanna.

Robbie, who had to turn the engine over twice before the Astrovan picked back up again, went to turn down Savanna’s block. “No, wait,” Savanna stopped him. “Drop me off at Tyson’s.”

“Why?” Robbie asked, hitting his breaks again.

Savanna threw her arm out to catch herself before slamming her face against the back of Robbie’s seat. “You’re obviously trying very hard to kill me, Roberto, but I’m not letting that happen.”

“Why are you going to Tyson’s?” Robbie asked, easing the car back into forward motion.

“Why are you coming over?” I chimed in. It was the first I’d heard of these plans.

“Because I need you,” she stated.

Robbie’s eyes snapped to mine, shining with excitement. You’re about to get laid, he mouthed to me. I punched his arm, causing the van to swerve. “Yo! No harassing the driver!”

“We’re going on a treasure hunt!” Savanna said proudly from the backseat, oblivious to our exchange up in the front.

I ignored him, turning around in my seat. “What kind of treasure hunt?”

Savanna grinned, showing me all of her pearly white teeth. “You’ll see.”

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As Robbie drove away, Savanna sat down, crossed-legged on my driveway. She reached into her backpack and pulled out a rolled-up poster and spread it out on the pavement.

“A map?” I joked, crouching down next to her, only to realize it was an actual map of Oyster Point. It had gold stickers where, I assumed, Savanna wanted me to take her. Next to these gold stars were black and white copies of photographs of a five-year-old Savanna Skye, back when she was just Katie.

“All good treasure hunts need one,” she said a matter-of-factly. She reached into her backpack again and pulled out a squished carton of cigarettes. She shook one out, tore off the filter, flicking it away from us and tucked the remaining cigarette behind her ear.

My stomach clenched and I sank from a crouch onto my knees. I rubbed my thumb along my palm, a trick Dan had taught me a long time ago whenever I got nervous about something. I sucked in a deep breath, the tension slowly releasing.

“. . . so basically I want you to take pictures of me standing in this same spot in this same position except, you know, I’m a bit older now. I used some of the photos the Terror Twins used in that scrapbook they made me so I’m not sure if these photos were taken exactly here, but that’s why I’m recruiting you to help me.” She took a deep breath, winded from her explanation.

“That’s very crafty of you,” I said, taking the Polaroid camera she was holding out of her hands. “This thing is so cool. Where did you get it?”

“It was my mo—“ Savanna stopped herself, placing her fingertips to her lips. A pained look flashed in her eyes but before I could reach out to comfort her, Savanna Skye smiled and, just like that, her cloudy eyes were clear once again. “Anyway,” she said, changing the subject. “I want to give this to Karen and Brady when it’s done.”

“I think that might be a nice idea,” I said, standing up. I cringed as my knees cracked and popped but Savanna paid no mind.

Instead she pointed to a gold-star area close to where we lived. “Let’s go there today.“ She looked up at me for approval.

“Just there?” I asked, holding my hand out for her.

She let go of the map and it rolled back up with a snap. She grabbed her bag, slung it onto her shoulder, grabbed my hand and I helped pull her up. “Just there,” she confirmed, not pulling her hand away. “We’ll start with the closet star and work our way out.” She smiled at me again, and I wondered how the hell anyone’s smile could be so bright.

“Shall we?” I tugged gently on her wrist, pulling her arm through mine.

“We shall.”