Bree’s eyebrows shot up.
“I asked her on Wednesday,” Jake said quickly, “but she didn’t say yes until
Friday.”
“Oh, how cute,” Bree said in a tone that sounded more like “of, how
repulsive.”
“How did he ask you?” Sally said. She sounded more interested than Bree.
“Was it adorable? Or was it weird?”
Hmm, let’s see. I think I’d have to go with weird.
“You know,” Jake said, perhaps sensing Lexie’s panic.”I just asked her. No
big deal. We should go on it, shouldn’t we?” He started forward and Bree stopped
him with one hand on his chest. Looking straight at Lexie, she draped herself over
his shoulder.
“Oh boys,” she said in a teasing, aren’t-we-all-friends-here way. “They
never care about the details. To get the real story, you have to ask the girl. Right,
Lexie? So tell us the details. I want to hear every single thing.”
“It’s totally boring,” Jake said. “And we’re going to be late.”
“We have a few minutes,” Bree said, resting her other hand on his arm so
both hands were holding him in place. “Unless there’s some reason you don’t
want her to tell this story, Jakey.”
Jake and Lexie exchanged glances. Hers said, She totally knows we’re lying.
His said, Help! What do we do?
Lexie took a deep breath. Well, she had imagined Jake asking her out a
thousand times. She could describe the perfect scene pretty easily.
“Um,” she said. “It was Wednesday night. I decided to walk Thorn and
Alanna – those are our dogs – to the park on the corner. When I came out the
door, Jake was there, on the porch. He looked like he’d been waiting for a while,
thinking about ringing the doorbell. I thought that was weird, but he asked if he
could come to the park, and I said sure. I gave him Alanna’s leash because she
doesn’t tug on it as much as Thorn does.”
“Your dogs are named Alanna and Thorn?” Sally interrupted. Bree glared at
her, but she didn’t notice. “Seriously?”
“It’s from this series of books I like,” Lexie said, blushing furiously. “Alanna
and Thorn are twins, like me and Colin, so that’s why we picked those names.”
She hadn’t ever thought about her dogs’ names being embarrassing before.
“Go on,” Bree said. “So you and Jake walked up to the park.”
“Yeah,” Lexie said. “And we let the dogs off the leashes in the fenced area,
and then we sat on this bench by the fountain.”
“I know that fountain,” Sally said. “Wow, that’s so romantic.”
“Sally,” Bree said. “Stop interrupting. ”
“And then he put something in my hand.” Lexie said. She had imagined it so
many times, it was like it was real in her head. She could practically see the
expression on his face in the moonlight. “I looked down, and it was this little
origami whale. On one side it said, ‘Lexie…’ And when I turned it over, the other
side said, ‘…will you be my girlfriend?”
“Oh my God,” Sally said. “That is the cutest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“How could you read it in the moonlight?” Bree said suspiciously.
“There are, um, lights in the park,” Lexie said, jolted back to reality. She
glanced nervously at Jake, but she couldn’t figure out the look on his face. Was he
freaked out? Did he think it was weird that she had come up with that whole
story off the top of her head?
“Oh,” Bree said. “Well. That’s sweet.” She shoved Jake away from her. “I
don’t know why you didn’t want to tell us that story, Jake.”
“Guys don’t like girls to know how romantic they can be,” Lexie said, trying
to sound like she had any idea what she was talking about.
“But you waited until Friday to say yes?” Bree asked. Lexie felt like she was
being interrogated. The bright lights and water torture couldn’t be far off.
“Um. I guess I was nervous,” she said. “I haven’t – I mean, Jake’s my first –”
She faltered. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t say, “Jake’s my boyfriend.”
“The important thing is she did say yes,” Jake said smoothly. He put one
arm around Lexie’s shoulders and used this other hand to wrap her arm around
his waist. “Now that you have all the details you need for an in-depth
Bree lifted her chin so her wings of hair swung back from her face. “Of
course,” she said, linking her arm through Sally’s. “Come on Sally.” They swept on
ahead, down the path leading to the check-in booth.
Lexie’s heart was racing. Jake’s whole side was pressed against hers, and his
bare arm was resting lightly on her shoulders, and her arm could feel the muscles
in his back through his shirt, and it didn’t seem possible that she could be
confused and scared and thrilled at the same time.
“Wait,” he whispered, curling his hand around her shoulder until Bree and
Sally were out of ear-shot. As soon as they were, he nudged her forward, keeping
his arm in place. “Lexie, that was amazing.”
“Oh,” she said, turning pink. “It wasn’t anything special.”
“Seriously?” he said. “I couldn’t believe it. I wish I were that cool. You
should have been a guy. You’d knock the socks off any girl with a move like that.”
Lexie started giggling. She couldn’t help it. “Knock the socks off?” she said.
“How old are you, fifty?”
“Nice,” Jake said. “I give you a compliment, and you make fun of me.”
“Sorry,” Lexie said. “I forgot for a moment that that’s what every girl wants
to hear – that she’d make a great boy.”
“I mean,” said Jake, “that you’re much smarter than any boy I’ve ever heard
of.”
“I’m a girl,” Lexie pointed out. “So that’s true by definition.”
“Dweeb,” he said affectionately.
“Loser,” she said.
“Smart aleck.”
She started giggling again. “Oldest person ever trapped inside a fifteen-
year-old.”
He pressed one hand to his forehead. “Alas, how my girlfriend abuses me.”
They’d reached the check-in counter, so he took his arm from around her
shoulders and leaned over to sign in.
Lexie glanced around and stopped laughing. Bree was standing halfway
down the path to the swimming pool, her arms folded so her elbows were sharp
points at her side. Lexie could practically feel her freezing glare from there.
This wasn’t over. Bree wanted Jake, and she thought Lexie was the one
standing in her way. The question was, what was Bree going to do about it?
Chapter 3
The good news was that the Advanced Tennis class was on a different set of
courts, so Jake couldn’t see how terribly Lexie played. The bad news was that Sally
was in Beginners with Lexie, except she was good, and Lexie really was terrible.
Sally’s swings were smooth and always connected with the ball. Lexie kept letting
go of the tennis racket by accident and nearly beaning the instructor with it. She
was pretty sure that Sally was laughing at her, and that tales of Lexie’s
incompetence would be traveling straight back to Bree.
B
y lunchtime, Lexie’s arms ached and her hair was sticking to her face. She
was so relieved when the instructor let them go, she didn’t even care that now
she’d have to face Bree and Jake again.
Lexie was gathering her stuff when a voice said, “Hey,” behind her, and she
jumped.
“Sorry to startle you,” Sally said, bouncing on her heels. “I just wanted to
day, don’t worry, you’ll get better. I was pretty bad when I started. I’m still not
good enough for Intermediate or Advanced.”
Lexie couldn’t think of anything interesting to say. “Um. Thanks,” she
managed.
Sally kept looking at Lexie, as if she was thinking, How did a girl like you
snag Jake Atkinson? Lexie thought, I’ll answer that if you can tell me why you agreed to be best friends with the scariest girl in school.
“Well?” Sally said.
“Well what?” Lexie asked.
“Aren’t you starving? Let’s go to lunch.”
Let’s? As in “let us”? Us? Me and Sally Kim? There’s an us there?
Sally spun her racket impatiently and Lexie quickly grabbed her bag with
followed Sally up the walkway to a bunch of picnic tables under the trees. The
other Tennis for Teens campers were gathering there, along with the lifeguard
training class from the pool and a group of basketball campers.
Jake was already sitting at a table, unwrapping his lunch, His hair was half-
wet from the showers and drying in the sun, so it was kind of spiky and darker
than usual. That day his T-shirt was light blue, making his eyes even bluer. He saw
Lexie and waved.
“Wow,” Sally said. “Did you see his face light up when he saw you? That’s
so cute. My boyfriend never looks that excited to see me.”
Yeah, I guess Jake’s a really good actor, Lexie thought.
“You have a boyfriend?” she said, but too quietly, so Sally didn’t hear her
and she had to repeat herself.
“Oh, sure,” Sally said. “Ian Montgomery. Bree set us up in April.” That made
sense. Ian was athletic and blond and agreeable and would fit in well with Bree’s
idea of who her friends should date. For one thing, she’d never wanted to date him. Anyone she’d dated was off the menu for everyone else.
Sally peeled off to join Bree and her Glare of Death in the line for pizza, and
Lexie hesitantly went over to Jake’s table. See, this is why Colin should be there.
She’d know exactly who to sit with and how. And if she wanted to spend
lunchtime reading her book, he wouldn’t mind. But of course she had to sit with
Jake, right? A girlfriend would normally sit with her boyfriend. That was the
normal thing to do.
She set her lunch bag down on the table, opposite him, and he immediately
reached out and grabbed it.
“Hey,” she said. “Eat your own lunch.”
“Sit next to me,” he whispered frantically. “Or else she will.”
Lexie looked up and saw Bree heading purposefully their way. She scooted
quickly around the end of the table and managed to sit down next to Jake just
before Bree plunked her tray down on the table.
“Oh, Jakey,” Bree said, ignoring Lexie, “I saw you playing tennis when I went
by the courts earlier. You are so talented.”
“Thanks,” Jake said, opening Lexie’s lunch. “Wow, Lexie, your mom really
likes carrot sticks doesn’t she?”
“We suspect she owns stock in them or something,” Lexie joked. Jake
laughed; Bree didn’t.
“Not to mention,” Bree went on as if they hadn’t spoken, “you looks so hot
in shorts. Not every guy can pull off that look – right, Lexie? It must be so hard for you to concentrate with your boyfriend right there looking that hot.”
“Oh, we’re in two different classes,” Lexie said awkwardly.
“So which celebrities do you like, Lexie?” Bree asked. “Any guys as cute as
Jake? Don’t worry, I’m sure he won’t be jealous. Tell me your deep dark secret
crush.”
Yeah, that would be…Jake.
“Um… I don’t know,” Lexie mumbled.”Maybe Jake Gyllenhaal.”
Bree rolled her eyes. “Like we haven’t all heard that one before.”
“Here, Lexie,” Jake said, and she realized he was saying her name a lot
more than usually. He broke his cookie in half and handed her the bigger portion.
“To make up for all those carrot sticks.”
“Really?” Lexie said. She met his eyes as he handed her the cookie. He
looked so worried, she couldn’t stop herself from smiling at him.
“That is so cute,” Sally said, sliding onto the bench, next to Bree. “Ian totally refuses to share his food with me. I once ate a French fry off his plate when he
had clearly finished eating, and he, like, didn’t speak to me for the rest of the
weekend.”
“He’s probably helping you watch your weight.” Bree said nastily. “I’d say
he’s doing you a favour.”
Sally looked hurt. She stared down at her pizza, poking it with her plastic
fork but not eating. Lexie wished she was brave enough to tell Sally that Bree was
being crazy – and mean for no reason – but she was too afraid to butt into their
conversation. Bree had enough reasons to hate her.
“So what are you going to do for your afternoon activity?” Jake asked Lexie.
She realized there were sign-up sheets on all the tables. The list of choices
included more tennis ( no thanks) leaning to papier-mâché ( maybe If I were still eight years old), Ultimate Frisbee, and pool volleyball. Sadly, going home and watching TV with Colin was not on the list.
“I don’t know,” Lexie said. “None of this is my idea of fun. I guess Frisbee
sounds the least painful.”
“Really?” Bree pounced. “I thought for sure you’d want to be with your
boyfriend. Unless you don’t really want to hang out with him, but I’m sure that’s not true.”
Lexie gave Jake a confused look, and he tapped POOL VOLLEYBALL with one
finger. “I’m a team captain,” he said. “Cynthia – the woman in charge of pool
activities – asked me to because I’ve had lifeguard training.”
“Oh,” she said. Now what? On one hand, if she stuck with Frisbee, she
wouldn’t be acting like a real girlfriend, would she? But on the other hand…pool
volleyball meant a bathing suit. In front of Jake and worse, Bree. At least the red
bikini was safely hidden under her bed at home.
“Come on,” Jake said, taking one of her hands in both of his. “It’ll be fun.”
“You don’t really want me on your team,” Lexie said. “I’m totally terrible.”
“I know,” Jake said. “I want you on the other guy’s team.”
Lexie swatted him with her free hand. “That is no way to talk to your
girlfriend,” she said, forgetting for a moment that Bree was right there, intently
watching them.
“You’re right,” he said. “My apologies, sugar plum. I’m sorry, honey pie. I’ll
never do it again, my little pumpkin. Is that better?”
She wrinkled her nose at him. “I feel so edible all of a sudden.”
“Cute enough to eat,” he said. Lexie looked down at the table, turning pink
again. He didn’t have to overact quite so much. Bree would catch on if he kept
being ridicu
lous.
“Adorable,” Sally said, shaking her head. “I aspire to be that adorable.”
Bree stood up, grabbed Sally’s arm, and yanked her away. As they hurried
off, Lexie heard Bree whisper, “Nauseating,” just loudly enough for Lexie to hear.
Lexie pulled her hand free and wrapped up the remains of her sandwich.
Now that they were gone, how was she supposed to act?
“I think it’s going well,” said Jake. “Don’t you?”
“Um, sure,” Lexie said. In the sense of my not being literally dead yet,
anyway.
“You don’t really have to do volleyball if you don’t want to,” he said.
“That’s okay,” Lexie said. “I’m sure it’ll be fun. Besides, after tennis, I could
use a swim.”
“Have I said thank you for this?” Jake asked. “Because seriously. Thank you
for this.”
“I’m not sure I’m helping,” Lexie said. “She’s still paying so much attention
to you.”
“I’m sure she’ll get over it soon,” Jake said. “You won’t have to pretend for
much longer.”
So instead of pretending to date you…I can go back to pretending I don’t
like you.
Lexie sighed. When do I finally get to stop pretending?
Chapter 4
The girl’s changing room by the pool had separate stalls with doors, much to
Lexie’s relief. She didn’t like getting undressed in front of people, plus she was
sure Bree and Sally would be staring at her the whole time.
As she waited for a stall, Lexie saw that most of the Beginners tennis class
had signed up for pool volleyball, too, including Sally. Bree kept talking loudly
about her lifeguard training, like she wanted everyone to know she wasn’t a
tennis camper like the others. Her sixteenth birthday had been two months
before, so she was old enough, and the pool gave special classes for it in the
mornings.
Jake would be turning sixteen in a week and a half, more than four months
before Colin and Lexie. Lexie wondered suddenly if she was supposed to get him a
present. Normally she’d help Colin pick out something funny from both of them,
like the Extreme Worst-Case Scenario Survival Guide. But as his pretend girlfriend, was she supposed to give him something special and meaningful? Something that
Bree would notice, that shouted, “Look, my totally-for-real girlfriend gave me