He's With Me

Chapter 1

Lexie Willis hated bikinis.

At fifteen, she already had too many curves in too many places, and she

didn’t like people staring at her. Putting on a bikini made her feel like Janet

Jackson at the Super Bowl even when she was just standing alone in a Macy’s

dressing room.

So
why
was there a bikini in the box on her bed? The box
looked
liked a present. It had shiny gold foil wrapping paper and a cheerful bright green bow, as

if to trick her into thinking,
Hey, there’s something
fun!
And
exciting!
In here!

There was even a little card on the top that read:
FOR LEXIE! IT’S GOING TO BE A

GREAT SUMMER!
In her mother’s perky, exclamation-point-happy handwriting.

But inside the box was this wine-red monstrosity. Lexie didn’t even pull it

out all the way before she realized what it was and stuffed the pieces back in,

hiding them under the folds of white tissue paper.

Seriously, Mom?
Seriously?

The other box was even more mysterious. She could tell from its large,

long, flat shape that it wasn’t a book or an Amazon gift certificate, which was

disappointing right up front. But she was hoping for a new sundress, perhaps –

maybe one she could wear
over
the bikini. And never take off.

Instead, it was a tennis racket.

Lexie didn’t play tennis. She had never played tennis in her life.

This was very ominous.

Lexie was standing next to herbed, examining the tennis racket, when her

mother appeared in the doorway.

“Isn’t it
great
?” Mrs. Willis said happily. “I made sure your father got the

best one. Is it light enough for you?”

“Um,” Lexie said. Her twin brother, Colin, followed Mrs. Willis into the

room and slouched against the door frame. He didn’t look any happier than she

was. Maybe he’d gotten some sinister, inappropriate presents, too.

Lexie’s mom sat down on the bed and pulled the bikini out of the box,

laying it out flat on the comforter. It wasn’t as bad as Lexie had though – not as

skimpy as the little white bikinis Bree McKennis always wore, for instance. And it

was her favourite color. But still. There was no way she was wearing that.

“Colin, are you as confused as I am?” Lexie asked. “Does Mom think the

Holy Spirit of Athletic Daughters Everywhere has finally arrived to possess me?”

Colin shrugged, and Lexie’s mom batted at her with the top of the bikini

box. “I’m right here, Lexie,” her mom said. “You can ask
me
these questions you know.” Of course, she didn’t wait for Lexie to ask. “It’s for Summerlodge.”

“The day camp?” Lexie said. “I thought Colin and I were doing the art

program at the school. Mom, did you get paintbrushes and tennis rackets mixed

up?”

“Turns out the art program was full,” Lexie’s mom said. “So you’re doing

Tennis for Teens instead. Won’t that be fun? And Summerlodge is close enough

for you to bike to, so that’ll make it easier on me and your dad, too.”

“Oh,
no
,” Lexie said. “Mom, I
hate
tennis.”

“You don’t know that you hate tennis, dear,” Mrs. Willis said. “You’ve never

tried it. And this is what comes of waiting until too late to make your summer

plans.”

“Then what’s
that
for?” Lexie asked, pointing at the bikini. “I hope I don’t

have to play tennis in
that
.”

“There’s a pool at Summerlodge,” Mrs. Willis said”One of the afternoon

activities, after tennis practice, is swimming, which I thought you would like.

Don’t you like swimming?”

I do like swimming,
Lexie thought.
I’d just prefer to do it fully clothed,
thanks very much.

“Lucky you already know how to play tennis,” she said to Colin. Tennis had

been one of Colin’s brief obsessions, so he’d taken lessons long enough to be a

decent player. “At least you’ll definitely look coolr than me with one of these.”

She tried to flip the racket in one hand and dropped it on the floor.

Mrs. Willis sighed. “Well, that’s the bad news. Colin’s not going with you.”

“What?” Lexie was horrified. The whole point of having a twin was that you

never had to go anywhere by yourself. So you never had to stand around

awkwardly, feeling like the pigeon in a flock of flamingos, while nobody talked you

you. You always had someone to stand awkwardly
with
you. That was the
whole
point.
Cline still wouldn’t meet her eyes. “But why? We were going to do it

together!”

“We’ve decided Summerlodge is not what Colin needs right now,” Lexie’s

mom said.

“Mom, that’s not fair! Why does he get to stay home and play video games

while I have to go out and look like an idiot by myself?”

“It’ll be good for you,” Lexie’s mom said firmly. “And look on the bright

side: You might actually make some friends besides your brother.” She stood up

in a “Conversation over” kind of way.

Lexie used to have a friend besides Colin: Karina Martinez, her best friend

through all of elementary school. But Karina had moved to China a year before,

and Lexie hadn’t found anyone else. It was hard to make new friends at her

school, where she would always be known as “Karina’s quiet friend” or “quirky

Colin’s twin sister.” And she was sure it wouldn’t be any easier at summer camp

all on her own.

“No, I won’t!” Lexie cried. “Oh, Mom, I’ll be the only person I know there!

No one will talk to me and it’ll be
so
awful;
please
don’t make me go without Colin.”

“You’ll know someone else,” Colin said finally chiming in. “Jake’s going to

Summerlodge, too.”

Thump-thump.
Lexie felt her heart jump up and bang into her rib cage.

Okay, that did make a difference.

Jake Atkinson was Colin’s best friend, although they weren’t very much

alike. Colin was a quiet guy who got obsessed with funny things like stamp-

collecting and bird-watching and, lately, filmmaking. Jake, on the other hand, was

outgoing, adorable, smart and funny, and as far as Lexie could tell, every

freshman and sophomore girl at Carlisle High wanted to date him.

But Lexie’s crush on Jake was different from everyone else’s. It
was
. Those

other girls liked him the way you like a movie star, but Lexie liked the real him.

She knew why Jake was friends with Colin. She was there the day they met.

Back then, Jake was the new guy in town. He showed up for the first day of

eighth grade and practically made girls swoon all the way down the hall. In Pre-

Algebra, second period, Mr. Stone split Colin and Lexie up and sat Jake right in

between them.

Lexie kept looking over at Colin, thinking of things she wanted to tell him,

but figuring it was too risky to pass a note through a stranger. The third time she

looked over, hoping he’d notice that Mr. Stone’s bald spot was shaped exactly like

a pineapple, she saw him watching Jake’s hands. Jake was folding a piece of

paper, over and over, and twisting it around. The twins both stared at him until

suddenly, sitting on Jake’s desk, there was a small origami whale that could fit in

the palm of your hand.

With a studious expression, Jake drew eyes and a smiley face on the whale.

Then he looked up and caught Lexie smiling at it. She looked away quickly,

embarrassed.

When she glanced down again, the whale was sitting on the corner of her

desk, beaming at her.

After class, as she was gathering her books, Colin leaned over to Jake.

“Hey,” he said, “that was cool. It’s origami, right? Can you make other stuff

too?” Lexie knew that Colin must be really interested, because he hardly ever

talked to strangers. But once he started talking, it was pretty hard to make him

stop.

“A few other things,” Jake said. “My dad taught me. I can show you, if you

want.”

“Sure!” Colin said. “How about Saturday? You could come over for lunch.”

“Don’t you want o know my name before inviting me over?” Jake said with

a cute smile.

“That dork is Colin,” Lexie said. “My brother, I’m Lexie.”

“Short for Alexandra,” Colin said. “Like Alexander the Great. Or Alexander

Helios, son of Cleopatra. Did you know Cleopatra had twins? A boy and girl, like

us. Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene.” Colin’s only lasting obsession was

with random twin facts. He could list a ton of famous twins.

“I did not know that. I’m Jake,” the new kid said, shaking Colin’s hand

solemnly. “Will you be there on Saturday?” he said to Lexie.

“Probably,” she said.
Meaning
definitely, if there’s a chance you’ll be there.

She knew Karina would be more than happy to come over and meet the new guy.

“Okay. Saturday would be great. Thanks, Colin.”

The next day, Lexie saw Jake carrying around a library book about

Cleopatra. He was the only guy she knew who read books for fun. But what he

read was random nonfiction about things that caught his interest, like the Salem

witchcraft trials or Aztec mythology or the life of Harry Houdini.

That was why he got along so well with Colin. Jake could probably have

ditched them for a more popular crowd if he’d joined a sports team or auditioned

for theater, but he liked Colin’s strange interests. Whenever Colin found a new

hobby, Jake read up on it. And then Lexie and Karina hung out with them while

Colin built a replica of the HMS
Bounty
from a model shipbuilding kit and Jake told them strange facts about the famous mutiny.

So she knew the real Jake, just like she knew the real Colin, when nobody

else did. Lexie thought of her front door as an enchanted mirror, like the looking

glass Alice climbed through in the book. When she and Jake and Colin walked

through it, they became their real selves. Here Colin talked as much as he wanted

to. Here Jake thought she was funny.

Here she could imagine that maybe one day Jake would look at her and see

Lexie, girl of his dreams, instead of Lexie, his best friend’s sister.

She still had the whale. It was hidden in a show box in her room, next to

other secret Jake things.

And nobody knew how she felt, not even Colin, who knew every single

other detail of her life and every thought that ever crossed her mind.

“Jake?” Lexie said, picking up the tennis racket and trying to flip it again.

She hoped the nervous shake in her voice would be hidden by the clatter of the

falling racket. “He’s going to tennis camp?”

Colin nodded. “He’ll be in the advanced class, of course.”

“Of course,” Lexie said, losing her hope again. Jake was one of the best

tennis players in the school. And she was sure to be terrible, which probably

wasn’t the best way to impress him.

“Why can’t
you
come with me?” Lexie said plaintively.

“Because I said so,” Mrs. Willis interjected. “Remember me? Still in the

room?”

“Moooooooooom,” Lexie said, flopping onto her mattress and trying to

look as woebegone as possible.

“It’s all decided,” Mrs. Willis said. “Camp starts tomorrow.” She smoothed

the bikini on the comforter again with a pleased expression. Lexie wished
she

would just take the darn bikini and wear it herself if she was so excited about it. If Lexie had to go swimming – in front of Jake, no less – she would be wearing the