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"For life," Steven said smugly. His smuggy face made me want to splash him and soak him and his precious Hugo Boss sunglasses that he worked for three weeks to pay for.
Then I said, "I think you twisted my ankle, Conrad." I pretended to have trouble swimming over to them.
He walked over to the edge of the pool. "I'm pretty sure you'll live," he said, smirking.
"At least help me out," I demanded.
He squatted and gave me his hand, which I took.
"Thanks," I said giddily. Then I gripped tight and pulled his arm as hard as I could. He stumbled, fell forward, and landed in the pool with a splash even bigger than mine. I think I laughed harder right then than I've laughed in my whole life. So did Jeremiah and Steven. I think maybe all of Cousins Beach heard us laughing.
Conrad's head bobbed up quickly, and he swam over to me in about two strokes. I worried he might be mad, but he wasn't, not completely. He was smiling but in a threatening kind of way. I dodged away from him. "Can't catch me," I said gleefully. "Too slow!"
Every time he came close, I swam -away. "Marco," I called out, giggling.
Jeremiah and Steven, who were headed back to the house, said, "Polo!"
Which made me laugh, which made me slow to swim away, and Conrad caught my foot. "Let go," I gasped, still laughing.
Conrad shook his head. "I thought I was too slow," he said, treading water closer to me. We were in the diving well. His white T-shirt was soaked through, and I could see the pinky gold of his skin.
There was this weird stillness between us all of a sudden. He still held on to my foot, and I was trying to stay afloat. For a second I wished Jeremiah and Steven were still there. I didn't know why.
"Let go," I said again.
He pulled on my foot, drawing me closer. Being this close to him was making me feel dizzy and nervous. I said it again, one last time, even though I didn't mean it. "Conrad, let go of me."
He did. And then he dunked me. It didn't matter. I was already holding my breath.
chapter four
Susa
Then it was my turn. Susa
"You look thin," I told her, partly because it was true and partly because I knew she loved to hear it. She was always on a diet, always watching what she ate. To me, she was perfect.
"Thanks, honey," Susa
I smiled self-consciously, glad that the boys were upstairs and not around to hear this. "I look pretty much the same."
"You've always been lovely, but oh honey, look at you." She shook her head like she was in awe of me. "You're so pretty. So pretty. You're going to have an amazing, amazing summer. It'll be a summer you'll never forget." Susa
The thing is, Susa
chapter five
Di
"I think we're all old enough to partake now, don't you, Laur?" Susa
"I don't know about that," my mother began, but then she stopped. "Oh, all right. Fine. I'm being provincial, isn't that right, Beck?"
Susa
Conrad drank his wine in about two gulps. He drank it like he was used to drinking it. I guess a lot can happen over the course of a year. He said, "It's not the first night of summer, Mom."
"Oh, yes it is. Summer doesn't start until our friends get here," Susa
He jerked away from her, almost by accident. Susa
Jeremiah must have seen it too, because he changed the subject. "Belly, check out my latest scar," he said, pulling up his shirt. "I scored three field goals that night." Jeremiah played football. He was proud of all of his battle scars.
I leaned in next to him to get a good look. It was a long scar that was just begi
Conrad snorted. "Jere just wants to show off his two-pack," he said, breaking off a piece of bread and dipping it
into his bowl. "Why don't you show all of us, and not just Belly?"
"Yeah, show us, Jere," Steven said, gri
Jeremiah gri
"Conrad, you quit, man?" Steven asked. I guessed it was news to him, too. Conrad was really good; Susa
Conrad shrugged indifferently. His hair was still wet from the pool, and so was mine. "It got boring," he said.
"What he means is, he got boring," Jeremiah said. Then he stood up and pulled off his shirt. "Pretty nice, huh?"
Susa
"What do you think, Belly?" he asked me. He looked like he was winking even though he wasn't.
"Pretty nice," I agreed, trying not to smile.
"Now it's Belly's turn to show off," Conrad said mockingly.
"Belly doesn't need to show off. We can all see how lovely she is just looking at her," Susa