Page 53 of Pick Me Up On Tuesdays

Ethan, still running, gasped out, “I—I DIDN’T THINK IT’D GET MAD—”

"YOU WINKED AT IT!" I yelled. "WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?!"

Ethan somehow had the nerve to grin. "To be fair, I’ve flirted with worse."

"ARE YOU SERIOUSLY BRAGGING RIGHT NOW?!"

The moose let out another earth-shaking roar, and suddenly, it leapt into the air, its glowing antlers crackling like mini supernovas.

For a second, I thought, This is it. This is how I die. Taken out by a moose that literally has the power of a thousand exploding stars.

And then—

A loud BOOM echoed behind us.

I risked a glance over my shoulder and nearly collapsed in relief. The moose had stopped.

It stood there, staring at us with its glowing eyes, as if deciding whether we were worth the effort of continued murder. Then, with a final snort, it turned and floated away into the forest, disappearing like a ghost.

Silence.

We all collapsed in a heap, gasping for air.

Max, flat on his back, whispered, “That was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Joy wiped a tear from her eye. “Best. Moment. Of. My. Life.”

Shun, still barely affected, muttered, “We should’ve let it get Ethan.”

Ethan, still grinning, flopped onto the ground next to me. “Okay. So maybe flirting with a moose was a bad idea.”

I turned my head to glare at him. “Ethan. I want you to listen to me very carefully.”

He blinked. “Yeah?”

“Never. Speak. To a moose. Again.”

Ethan chuckled. “No promises.”

I groaned into the dirt.

“This trip is going to kill me.”

Chapter 17: Lost, Broke, and A Threatening Phone Call

The aftermath of the great moose disaster? Total catastrophe.

We were lost. Like, utterly, completely, no-network, no-GPS, no-idea-where-we-were lost.

I tried not to panic, but considering that I had never been lost in the woods and had watched hundreds of documentaries about murderous creatures, I had every reason to. I’m talking deadly pandas, venomous spiders, lethal flowers—you name it. This was literally a death trap.

1,2,3,4—breathe.

“This is great,” Joy muttered, hands on her hips. “First, we see floating bunnies, then we almost get moose-murdered. Now we’re lost. At this point, Clark, I’m starting to think you’re a curse.”

“I’m not a curse,” I groaned. “Just… unlucky.”

Ethan, still grinning from his near-death flirting attempt, slung an arm around my shoulder. I shuddered before worst-case scenarios flooded my head—things touching my shoulder, things that weren’t supposed to touch my shoulder.

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