He's With Me (15 page)

over to Jake, who was holding the volleyball and looking kind of dazed.

“Is everything okay?” she asked, taking her position next to him.

“Uh, yeah,” he said. “Totally okay.” He shoved his wet hair back and

glanced at her sideways before quickly looking away again.

She decided it was maybe not the right time to tell him about Bree and the

bathing suit heist. A moment later, Cynthia blew her whistle, and the game began.

After ten days of this, Lexie suspected she was actually getting better. Of

course, Riley and Bree were very good, so she didn’t expect to win. But Jake

seemed to be playing like a possessed person, slamming the ball across the net

and spiking it whenever he was close enough. A couple of times he sent the ball

her way and she managed to get it over, although Riley was always there to

bounce it back.

When Bree’s team reached five points, they switched sides. Riley gave Lexie

a wink as they went by, but Bree stuck her nose in the air and wouldn’t even look

over. She did stop to run her hand across Jake’s shoulder, though. “You’re doing

so
well, Jakey,” she purred. He nodded, looking distracted, and walked away,

which made Bree’s eyes get even narrower.

Finally the score was 9-9. Jake served, and Riley punched it back. Another

girl bounced it up, Jake hit it over, and Bree slapped it into the air like she was

batting away a fly. It hung for a moment, suspended, and then fell toward Lexie.

She jumped up to hit it and felt Jake bump her shoulder as he reached forward to

knock it up again.

But it wasn’t far enough. It was going to fall on their side. Lexie dove

forward, her fists connecting under the ball just before it hit the water. She sank

below the surface in a spray of bubbles, and when she came back up, her

teammates were hooting and hollering and the audience was on their feet

applauding.

She looked around bewildered, and saw the ball floating on the other side

of the net. It had gone over! They’d won!

“We did it!” Jake yelled, splashing over to her. “
You
did it! Woo-hoo!

Lexie!” He threw his arm around her and spun her in a circle. She clutched him

with a shriek, laughing. She felt giddy. She felt victorious. She felt Jake’s warm

arms circling her bare waist and it made her feel pretty close to fainting.

“We really won,” she started to say as he put her down, but all of a sudden

he seemed really close to her, and his eyes were very blue, and then his arms

pulled her closer and he pressed his lips to hers and –

He’s kissing me!

The universe seemed to spiral into the one perfect, central point where his

lips were touching hers, and for a moment that one spot was the only thing she

could feel. Then suddenly she felt his hands pressed into her back and her hands

on his shoulders, and then she remembered that they were in a pool with fifty

people watching them, and then, like something was exploding in her mind, she

remembered that this wasn’t real, none of it was real, he was just pretending for

Bree, and that meant that this, her first kiss, her first real kiss ever, meant nothing at all.

Lexie pulled back so fast that she slipped on the bottom of the pool and

stumbled backward in the water. Jake reached for her hand to help her, but she

scrambled out of reach, floundering over to the side and pulling herself out as fast

as she could.

“Lexie,” he said, “wait.”

But she had already grabbed her towel and darted into the changing room,

where he couldn’t follow.

Chapter 14

Lexie could hear Sally calling for her through the chaos of everyone changing, but

she stayed crouched on a bench in a back stall until Sally gave up and left. She

figured if she hid for long enough, everyone else would leave and then she could

make her escape without anyone seeing her, anyone staring or pointing.

The whole thing had been a disaster. She would go home and tell her

mother she wanted to quit Summerlodge. Or at least she could switch to a new

afternoon activity now – like Frisbee, far away from the pool and Jake and Bree

and all this torture. Maybe she would go ahead and date Riley. Even if she didn’t

feel the same way about hum that she did about Jake, at least he seemed to really

like her. She could have a real relationship instead of a pretend one and get kissed

in a way that actually meant something. She hugged her knees to her chest and

tried not to think about it.

Finally the changing room went quiet. It seemed like she’d been waiting

forever. She was about to stand up when suddenly she heard voices drifting over

the thin walls between the stalls.

“Now I get it. It’s obvious what’s going on.” It was Bree. Lexie froze. What

was obvious? The fact that she and Jake were only pretending? “I mean,” Bree

continued, “he clearly feels sorry for her. That’s why he’s doing this. It’s probably

a favor for her geek loser brother. But it’s just cruel, because he obviously doesn’t

really like her that way, and she probably thinks he does.”

A second voice rumbled something, too low for Lexie to hear.

“Well –
look
at her, for one thing,” Bree said. “Guys like Jake don’t date girls like that. Come on, she’s so awkward and quiet, and she dresses like she’s trying

to
repel
boys. Plus, did you see how she reacted to that kiss? I told you she was a freak. Like she’s too
innocent
to kiss her own boyfriend. Poor Jake. It must be like dating a Care Bear.”

Lexie’s face was burning. She pulled on her clothes over her bathing suit,

trying to hurry out before she heard any more.

“That was pretty lame,” agreed the second voice. A guy? Was there a guy in

the girls’ changing room? “I expected her to be more mature than that.” He

chuckled, and Lexie realized he sounded familiar.

“You should have listened to me,” Bree purred. “I told you she wasn’t your

type,
I
on the other hand...”

“You are exactly what guys want,” said the male voice. There was a pause.

Lexie leaned against the door, wondering if they were gone. She realizes that

what she was hearing were kissing noises. Who was Bree kissing in the girls’

changing room?

“Yes, I am what guys want,” Bree said, sounding satisfied. “Jake is going to

get sick of the sweet-little-kid act pretty fast. If he doesn’t break up with her this weekend, I’ll – I’ll – I don’t know, I’ll eat a whole ice-cream sundae or something.”

“Why do you care so much if they break up?” the guy’s voice said. Lexie

strained to hear. Who was it?

“I’m just trying to teach that girl a lesson,” Bree said. “A lesson about

stealing things from Bree McKennis. And if you really want to know the truth...”

Her voice went from steely to coquettish. “I was pretty angry that you were more

interested in her than in me, too.”

Riley!

“That was dumb of me,” Riley said, sounding repentant. “I didn’t realize

what a geek she is. If I were Jake, I’d be like, ‘Okay, whatever, loser. I can go kiss some other girl who won’t run away when I do it.’”

“Exactly,” Bree purred. “Like me.”

More kissing noises. Lexie wished she could vanish into thin air and never

reappear again.

“So – does this mean we’re dating now?” Riley said.

“I told you,” Bree said. “You can be my boyfriend...
after
I’m through with

Jake. I need to show him that nobody says no to Bree, for any reason. Don’t

worry, it won’t be long. He’ll break up with Lexie soon and I’ll grab him. I’ll show

him how much better he could have had it, and then I’ll dump him so hard he’ll

never date in this town again.” She laughed. “It’ll be beautiful.”

Lexie clutched the edge of the bench, trying not to make a sound. She

wanted to scream and throw volleyballs at Bree’s head, but even more than that,

she wanted to escape to escape without them knowing she’d overheard.

“Poor little Lexie,” Bree said. “She’s lost a bathing suit, she’s lost a necklace,

and she’s about to lose a boyfriend. Maybe she’ll think twice about taking

something of mine in the future, don’t you agree?”

“You’re so cute when you’re evil.” Riley said.

Their footsteps were getting farther away, and their voices quieter, but

Lexie wasn’t listening anymore. Her hand flew to her neck, and then she grabbed

her bag and unzipped the pocket.

Her necklace was gone.

She felt tears pushing at the back of her eyes. She had to get home before

she cried. She didn’t want to cry there, where Bree might find her.

Lexie hurried out of the stall and snuck a look around the door. There was

no sign of Riley and Bree. Pressing her fingers to her eyes, she ran out of the

changing room and down the path to her bike.

She was already at the Summerlodge entrance when she looked up and

saw Jake leaning against the bike rack. It was too late to run; he’d definitely seen

her. But she tried anyway, turning to flee back up the path.

“Wait!” he called.

She made it as far as the check-in booth before he caught up. He grabbed

her elbow and pulled her to a stop facing him.

“I have to go home,” Lexie said, looking down at her feet.
I have to find a

closet I can hide in for the rest of my life
.
One with cable TV and a never-ending
supply of ice cream
.
That’d be perfect
.

“Lexie, I’m sorry,” he said, and the guilt in his voice brought her

dangerously close to crying. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I – I just –”

“I know,” she said, “you just wanted Bree to really believe we were dating.

Because why
would
she believe it? You would never date me. I’m weird and shy

and I like hanging out with my brother and watching TV and playing with my dogs,

and – and I’ve never dated anyone but you’re perfect and gorgeous and funny

and smart, so it – it doesn’t make sense and of course she’s suspicious and of

course the only way to prove it is by kissing me, but I –” To her horror, Lexie felt

tears spilling down her cheeks, She covered her face with her hands.

“I just wanted our first kiss to be real,” she whispered.

“Lexie,” he said, and then his hands were on her shoulders and he pulled

her into his chest, wrapping his arms around her. She kept her hands pressed to

her face, trying not to sob. “Lexie,” he said again, his mouth pressed against her

hair so she could feel his lips moving. “You have no idea....”

“And she stole my bathing suit,” Lexie said, everything spilling out of her

with her tears. “And she took the necklace you gave me and I
love
that necklace and – and I heard her talking to Riley about what a geek I am and she’s still

planning to date you and dump you to teach you a lesson because she figures

you’ll break up with me now that you know what an immature loser I am but –”

“Wait, wait, slow down,” Jake said, taking her shoulders and moving her

back so he could see her face. She wiped her eyes and looked down at the ground

again. “Did you say she stole your necklace?”

Lexie nodded, her breathing coming less raggedly now.

“That’s terrible,” Jake said, getting angry. “And you’re
not
a geek or a loser

– did Riley really agree with her?”

Lexie nodded again. “They were kissing. I guess her plan to snare him finally

worked.”

“I thought he liked you,” Jake said. “But listen, only a real loser would fall

for Bree’s act. You know he’s a loser now, right? I mean, even though – I thought

maybe you liked him.”

Lexie looked up and saw his blue-grey eyes only a few inches from hers. He

was still holding on to her elbows.
A terrific close-up view of my red, splotchy face
, she thought, ducking her head again.

“No,” she said softly. “There’s only one person I like.”
There. Now he knows.

She took Jake’s hands off her elbows and pushed them back toward him. “I don’t

want to be your pretend girlfriend anymore, Jake.”

She turned and ran back to the bikes. He didn’t follow her, and she was

able to unlock her bike and escape.

Chapter 15

There was a knock on the bathroom door. It wasn’t Mom’s chipper
knock-

knock-knock
, her knuckles bouncing rapidly off the wood. And it wasn’t Dad’s

serious, thoughtful
knock-knock
, either. It was more of a
tappity-tap-tap
, don’t-mean-to-intrude kind of knock.

“Go away, Colin,” Lexue called.

The door creaked open half an inch and a small snout appeared a few

inches off the floor.

“I know Thorn isn’t opening that door by himself!” Lexie hollered.

The snout nudged the door a bit and soon her pug’s entire squashed face

was wedged in the gap. Thorn blinked, panted, and snorted, his tongue hanging

nearly to the floor.

“Thorn,” Lexie said seriously, “I am not in the mood for a face-licking,

whatever Colin may have told you.”

The pug grinned wider when she said his name, and as she finished her

sentence, he trotted over to where she was lying on the bathroom rug and

proceeded to do exactly what he had been told not to do. She squealed and