He's With Me (4 page)

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.

By 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

the hat, the extra sunscreen, and the brown-bag lunch her mom had packed. She

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 ridiculous.

“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

this”?

She’d have to save panicking about that for later. Maybe Colin could help

figure it out. Not for the first time, she wished he was at Summerlodge, too, and

she wondered what he was doing all day. Probably beating all her high scores on

their games.

She adjusted the straps on her black one-piece and stepped into her flip-

flops tucking the rest of her stuff into her shoulder bag. Her red bead necklace

from Jake went carefully into the side zipper pocket, where she was sure it

wouldbe safe. The minute she unlatched the door, Bree pulled it open.

“Oh,
Lexie
,” Bree said. “What a
darling
bathing suit. I used to have one just like it. When I was nine.”

Bree, of course, was wearing one of her twelve different white bikinis. This

one had thin barely there straps holding up the top, and the bottom was a pair of

tiny short-shorts that showed off her long legs. Lexie could not imagine ever, ever,

ever wearing something like that in public.

Sally was wearing a two-piece, too, but it was more of a tankini, where the

top came all the way down to cover her stomach like a tank top. She kept tugging

at it as if trying to make it cover more. It was a deep emerald green with darker

green waves across it, and she wore matching emerald green flip-flops.