LITMIR.BIZ

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Dana dear, you don’t want to mess with Becca and what she wants.

      “Come on, you!” She pulled Dana away. “You will be social from now on. I accept nothing less. I can’t believe you don’t know anyone at your own school.”

      Dana smiled apologetically at Max.

      As soon as they were outside, she untangled her arm from Dana’s and sat down on the sand with Blake (who was positively beaming), Madison and Julia. Everyone was clearly less worried about being quiet than they had been at first, and were laughing and talking without filter.

      “So, Becca,” Blake started, “who do you think is hot?”

      All the girls laughed. Becca simply smiled back. “I’m not telling.”

      Of course not. She needed to be told who everyone else wanted first.

      “Oh, come on,” Julia cooed. “Who? Is it Johnny?”

      She started to shake her head when Madison cooed.

      “Ooh, he’s so sweet. He’d be, like, the best boyfriend.”

      “Max is pretty attractive, too,” Becca said.

      “Well, obviously.” Julia rolled her eyes. “Everyone knows that, but he’s not even worth it.”

      “Why not?”

      “Everyone has had a crush on him at some point,” Madison elaborated. “But he’s just …”

      “Unattainable?” Becca filled in the blank. That’s who she’d have to go for, then. Too bad he’d already exhibited little to no interest in her.

      “Exactly.” Blake nodded. “I do want to warn you though, Becca.” Blake leaned in a little bit. “The girls at this school will be crazed with jealousy if you get together with Max.”

      So she couldn’t act like that was her plan…. Becca shrugged. “Maybe he’s gay and that’s why he doesn’t date.”

      Everyone laughed again, but then made it very clear that no one thought that was the case.

      Madison, who was clearly seeing the world in double, leaned toward Becca. “No, but seriously. Seriously. Max is so hot. But you and Johnny would be so cute together!”

      “I don’t know, Max is okay,” she said, playing it cool. He was much more than okay. And that’s why she had to have him. But she couldn’t seem too interested—not to anyone.

      “What?” Everyone squealed in unison.

      Madison’s jaw dropped. “I’ll be right back.” She darted inside.

      “What’s she doing?” Becca asked.

      “Probably puking,” Julia said simply. “Okay, but so you’re not into Johnny. I don’t know, I mean—”

      The boathouse screen door flew open and Madison stumbled out, dragging Max behind her.

      “I got Max!”

      Julia and Blake burst into laughter.

      “Oh, my God! I can’t believe you did that!” said Julia.

      Becca stood cautiously and raked a hand through her hair. “Are you even drunk?”

      “Not as drunk as you.”

      She raised an eyebrow.

      Madison slung an arm over each of their shoulders. A struggle for her because she was probably about five feet, Becca was five-nine, and Max had to be about six-two.

      “Guys, I have a secret.” Madison was trying to whisper but barely succeeding. Julia and Blake were listening intently, ready to laugh at any second. “Max. Becca thinks you might be gay.”

      He raised his eyebrows and grinned, exposing straight white teeth. “That so?”

      Becca smiled. “I was hypothesizing, since it was said that apparently you never date.”

      He nodded and looked away from her.

      “Sh-sh-shh. Also,” Madison said, reeling her audience back in. “She doesn’t think you’re that unattractive. Or … that you’re not attractive. Or … wait …”

      He looked back to her, appearing amused.

      “I didn’t mean you weren’t attractive. I just meant—”

      “It’s okay. I don’t think you’re all that attractive, either.”

      He was obviously kidding, but Becca didn’t think it was funny at all. She scoffed, trying to mask her embarrassment. Three other people had heard him say it. They might report that to other people, who would then think he wasn’t kidding. She was going to have to make him want her.

      Immediately.

      “Well, aren’t you sharp?” She looked him straight in the eyes.

      “We should let you two get to know each other.” Blake stood and pulled up Julia. Madison nodded vigorously and led the way back into the boathouse.

      They were alone. She smiled at him and walked toward the waves that were breaking quietly on the shore. She turned to crook a finger at him. “Come on.”

      He followed her. She stepped into the water.

      “Cold?” he asked.

      Becca didn’t look back before answering. “How scared are you?”

      He chuckled, and a moment later he’d rolled up his jeans and stood next to her. The water wrapped itself around their ankles, and he sucked air in through his teeth.

      “Yup. It’s cold.”

      “Wimp.”

      They were silent together for a moment, looking out at the black water and sky. It all ran together, with no horizon.

      “This is seriously the worst beach.”

      “Are you always so unhappy with your surroundings?”

      She glared at him. “No, I’m not unhappy with them. I’m just saying. It’s hardly a beach. It’s just sand and rocks that happen to be next to water.”

      Max stepped backward and sat down on the sand, away from where the water was breaking.

      She followed him.

      She leaned back like a pinup girl, and was quiet for a moment. “Why doesn’t anyone here drink?”

      “What’re you talking about, there’s a bunch of people in there drinking as we speak.”

      “Yeah, but at my old school, there were parties all the time.”

      “Public school?”

      “Yep.”

      “Where can you have parties ‘all the time,’ doesn’t everyone live with their parents?”

      “Yeah, but there was this guy Vince that always had people over. He was like nineteen and lived by himself.”

      He nodded. “We drink in the dorms, we’ve just never come down here.”

      “That’s because of the cameras, but I handled that.”

      “What’d you do, blow the guy?”

      She turned sharply and was about to look angry when she saw that he was smiling.

      She smiled, too. “No, I didn’t blow him. I just talked to him.”

      “Okay.” He said it like he didn’t believe her.

      So her conversation wasn’t doing it for him. She’d try something else.

      She put her hand on his hipbone and moved it up his stomach. He didn’t flex, but it was still flat and solid.

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