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they've had to hear about that trampoline and that stupid tetherball built into the ground. Deja starts toward it.
    "What are you doing?" Nikki says with alarm as she watches Deja give the tetherball a hard whack. "Let's go, let's go, let's go!"
    "Okay, okay. Nobody's home anyway." Deja looks at the trampoline again.
    Nikki catches that look. "No, Deja."
    Deja rolls her eyes and sighs. "Okay. Come on." She turns and starts toward the gate. But just then they hear a car pulling into the driveway. They stop in their tracks. Eyes wide, they stare at each other. Nikki brings her hand to her mouth, and they both look at the gate. It is unlatched and slightly ajar.
    The girls look around. The backyard has a tall cinderblock wall surrounding it. There is no way they can climb over it. "We're going to get in big trouble," Nikki says, sounding as if she is about to cry.
    "No, we're not," Deja says, spying the gardening shed at the back of the yard.

    "This is trespassing," Nikki whines. "This is against the law."
    They hear a car door slam. Again they look at each other. Deja grabs Nikki by the hand. "We're not going to get in trouble," she repeats, leading Nikki toward the gardening shed.
    It is dark in there and smells like wet dirt. It is crowded with bags of grass seed and bags of manure. There are clay pots of all kinds and tools hanging on hooks on the walls. In the middle there is a small wooden worktable.
    "We're staying here for a while," Deja says.
    "My mom's going to be real mad." Nikki begins to whimper. "She's going to wonder how come I'm not home already."
    Deja is busy rubbing the inside pane of the shed's small window with the sleeve of her hoodie. She peers out. "As soon as whoever that is goes in the house, we're gonna leave."
    "They might see us!"
    "Shh, be quiet!" Deja orders. Someone is approaching the gate. It is Antonia's father. Deja quickly lowers her head, then slowly raises up so she can just see out. Nikki looks, too. They can see the top of Antonia's father's head. He seems to be standing on the other side of the gate, staring at it. Nikki feels her heart beating faster. They are going to be in so much trouble. They hear the gate being latched and then hear Antonia's father walking away. Soon the front door of the house slams shut.

    "Come on," Deja says, grabbing Nikki's arm. They run on tiptoes to the gate, all the time keeping their eyes on the windows with the drawn curtains. Carefully, and as quietly as possible, Deja pushes the latch up. The gate creaks a little as she eases it open just a bit.
    Then Antonia's father comes out of the house again, and they freeze. They wait just inside the gate as he puts a small suitcase into the car trunk and slams it shut. As soon as he goes back into the house, they slip through the gate and quickly make their way down the driveway.
    Once on the sidewalk, Nikki and Deja let out the big breaths they'd been holding. Then they begin to run. They run across the street all the way to Nikki's front porch. Auntie isn't going to be home until late, so Deja has to stay at Nikki's.
    As soon as they step through Nikki's front door, her mom appears in the kitchen doorway. "Where were you?" she asks. "You know to come straight home."
    Nikki stands there with her lips pressed together. Deja is watching her, as if waiting to see what she will say. Nikki always wants to tell the
truth, but she knows the truth will get back to Deja's Auntie Dee, and then Deja might get in trouble. She'd like to say nothing, but her mother is waiting.

    "We went to Antonia's house," Nikki says.
    Her mother frowns, looking perplexed. "The little girl who lives across the street?"
    Nikki nods. It is the truth. They had gone to Antonia's house. Just not to play with Antonia.
    Deja looks back and forth from Nikki to Nikki's mom and back to Nikki again, as if she is trying to judge how this is going over.
    "I thought you didn't like her," Nikki's mom says.
    "We like her okay," Nikki says.
    Not...
Deja's