by Emily Lowry
“You better hope not,” I said. “Breaking my nose is the only way you’re going to be prettier than me.”
Jordyn threw back her head and laughed. “Game on, Ramirez.”
“Game on, Jones.”
6
Jordyn
Once Lauren and the other cheerleaders decided they wanted to play, volleyball got decidedly less fun. They crowded the pool, splashing and giggling while pretending they didn’t know the rules. At one point, Lauren literally caught the ball and threw it back over the net. And when someone spiked the ball? She shrieked and curled up against Dylan, pressing her face into his chest. Anything to get close to him, apparently.
Pete was worse. He insisted on being on my team, and every time he could, he bumped the ball to me. Even when it made no sense. He’d set me up for a spike even if I was in the back row, balancing on one foot, and sputtering for breath. Then, when I couldn’t hit the impossible shot he set up, he’d tell me it was okay, he didn’t care about winning as long as we were having fun.
Puh-lease. If winning didn’t matter, why keep score?
I admit — I may have snapped. I may have said something like “That attitude is why you’re a backup and Chase is a starter.”
I might have done that.
I climbed out of the pool. Playing any longer was pointless. You couldn’t take a half-step without bumping into someone, and the boys were playing with kid gloves. Couldn’t risk one of the cheerleaders getting injured. Or worse — getting their perfectly styled hair wet.
The volleyball casually floated from side to side, occasionally catching someone unawares and bouncing off their head.
Dylan stood in the center of the action, cocky as ever. He was, by far, the most muscular guy in the pool. His skin glistened in the moonlight. He shook his dark, shaggy hair, sending rivulets of water flying. Lauren squealed, and he grabbed her playfully, shaking water all over her as she swatted at him.
“Ew, Dylan!” she shrieked.
Dylan laughed, his brown eyes sparkling.
I gritted my teeth. I couldn’t believe I had ever had a stupid crush on stupid Dylan Ramirez. Yes, he was hot. But he sure did know it.
Pete followed me like a lost puppy. “Where are you going? Do you need anything?”
Lauren, still in the pool, watched me, a giant grin on her face and one hand twirling through Dylan’s dark, wavy hair. “Giving up, Chase’s sister?”
I ignored both of them, grabbed a fluffy white towel, and wrapped it around my body.
Pete’s wet footsteps smacked on the pool deck. “Can I help?”
“Not unless you can get people to stop referring to me as ‘Chase’s sister’,” I said. “Does anyone even know what my name is?”
“I know what your name is,” Pete said.
“My hero.”
He took my hand in his. Not in the way two lovers hold hands, but in the way that a grandpa would hold his granddaughter's hand before explaining some profound life truth. “Do you want me to talk to them for you? I’m a quarterback. They’ll listen to me.”
I resisted the urge to shudder, and pulled my hand away. Somehow, despite all the time we spent together, the way Pete held my hand felt gross. Alien. Almost inappropriate. “That’ll make it a thousand times worse,” I said. “It’s fine. I’ll just be Chase’s sister to everyone forever. And if you’ll excuse me, I gotta go change.”
“Oh. Do you want me to wait outside the change room for you?”
I wanted him to leave me alone. I wanted everyone to leave me alone. But what was the polite way to say that?
“I think I’m going to head out,” I said.
Pete pouted. “Do you want a ride?”
“It’s fine.”
“Are you sure?” He looked at me like I was a lost child. “I can give you—”
“Pete. It’s okay. I’m a big girl.”
He bit his lower lip. “I’d just feel better if I knew you got home—”
“It. Is. Fine.” I spun away before he continued to protest. He was trying to be nice, trying to do the right thing. But in doing so, he was treating me like a child. Like I couldn’t function without him around. And it was so, so, SO frustrating. If I wanted to go home, I would go home. I didn’t need someone to walk me to my door and tuck me into bed. Just let me live my life.
I plucked my way through the crowd inside Hailey’s house, making my way up the stairs and towards her bedroom. It was a well-known fact that upstairs was off-limits to everyone.
Everyone except me.
I found the key to her bedroom buried in a plant pot in the upstairs hallway, unlocked her door, and let myself into her beautiful pastel-hued haven of a bedroom. I finished drying off, then changed. My cell phone was sitting on her desk, the blue indicator light flashing. A message.
From Click, of course.
The subject line? ‘Decision made.’
So. What poor soul was Click going to harass this summer?
I opened the message.
It was directed to me.
Congrats, Jordyn Jones. You’re our new fave for the summer. What big secret is Chase’s twin sister hiding? We’re going to have fun finding out...
7
Jordyn
Every framed photo in our house was a lie, but the one hanging in the kitchen was the worst offender. Mom and Dad wore matching red sweaters, their smiles plastered on like they were doing an infomercial for teeth whitening. Chase and I sat in front of them, our legs crossed, wearing the same fake smiles. If you looked closely, you could see the concealer on my cheek hiding a cut I’d acquired from trying to jump my bike over a car. I didn’t even get the front tire off the ground.
There were more photos like that scattered throughout the house. Fake smiles for a fake happy family. The only time Mom and Dad actually looked happy in photos were the photos from when they were kids. See, they had been best friends since first grade. And they stayed best friends up until they got married, at which point everything soured.
I blamed love. They had a perfectly good thing going until they gave into their more primitive instincts. Falling in love with a friend was the stupidest thing you could do, as far as I was concerned. Friendship lasted forever; love lasted an argument.
I resisted the urge to smash the picture — that was more of a Mom move — and scrounged through the cupboards like I was a hungry racoon. Cooking was out of the question. I couldn’t even boil an egg.
I found a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch stuffed away behind the “healthy” cereal and set it on the counter before turning my attention to the coffee machine. As I waited for my caffeine fix to percolate, I opened my email on my phone. Five more job rejections. Score! A new record! There was no one better at getting rejected from jobs than Jordyn Jones. Four of the rejections were form letters, the fifth cited my lack of customer experience. Apparently, I wasn’t qualified to stand behind a cash register in a mall.
Chase entered the kitchen, saw the look on my face, and winced. “Bad news?”
I cleared my throat and read the most recent rejection. “Dear Jordyn Jones. Thank you for your interest in the cashier position at Everending Toys. Unfortunately, we require that all new hires have at least one year of retail experience. We would like to invite you to apply again in the future. Go screw yourself, Everending Toys.”
Chase snatched my phone and rolled his eyes. “Sincerely, Everending Toys.”
“Same thing,” I said, stealing my phone back. I looked at my brother seriously. “Do you think I could learn how to operate a cash register and stock shelves?”
He smirked. “Do you want an honest answer?”
“Do you want your coffee in a mug or on your face?” I snarled, slamming two coffee cups on the counter and sloshing scalding liquid into each. “Can’t get a job without experience. Can’t get experience without a job.”
The ceiling creaked. Mom or Dad had gotten out of bed.
“How long until the next argument?” I asked.
“I will be if I can find a way to get out of this stupid house,” I said. I filled two cereal bowls to the brim with sugary goodness and poured milk on top. “It’ll be tougher to escape without you and Hailey around. I was hoping I could get a job. You know, build a social life that isn’t reliant on being Chase Jones’s sister.”
“I don’t have to leave,” Chase said. “I can—”
“No, you can’t,” I snapped. I shoveled a spoonful of cereal into my mouth and chewed furiously. Why was I so grumpy? Because I’d spent most of my morning trying to figure out why Click would be interested in me. The message from Click was also suspicious — it wasn’t a full blast to every user. Instead, it came directly to me. Sent anonymously, of course.
Would I find out who was behind it, or was this another one of Click’s mysteries that wouldn’t be solved? I didn’t know. Admittedly, I wasn’t much good at solving mysteries.
“It’s okay, J,” Chase said. He had already wolfed down his cereal and was now slurping coffee extra loudly, like a disgusting caveman. “It’s okay for things to be hard — and for you to admit it. If you want, I can get someone to look out for you and—”
“Are you joking?” I had never wanted to slap my brother so hard in my life. I imagined his head as a volleyball and dreamed of spiking it onto hot summer asphalt. Someone to look after me? Like I was a little child instead of a seventeen-year-old woman? It was the single most patronizing thing I’d ever heard. Even if his heart was in the right place, I was not a charity case. “You did not seriously suggest—”
“I’m just saying—”
“No,” Glaring, I stood, grabbed my coffee cup, and stormed to the door.
“Where are you going?” Chase shouted.
“Who cares?”
“You’re in your pajamas.”
“I say again — who cares?”
As I left, I slammed the door twice.
8
Dylan
I checked the order slip twice. A double cheese, garden-style, whole wheat bun. I threw two patties with melted cheddar on a toasted bun, then topped it with sliced tomato, crushed avocado, red onion, and a squirt of Ranch dressing. I wrapped the burger in foil, shoved it in a brown paper bag, and brought it to the front. A woman with a bob cut snatched the bag from my hands without saying thank you and hurried out of the restaurant.
Sofia stood at the till and took orders, blowing a stray strand of hair from her face. The line of waiting customers was so long that the last three people were standing outside in the sun. Sofia didn’t complain. She never complained.
She finished taking the order, plucked the receipt, and handed it to me. “Burn two, drag ‘em through Wisconsin, garden-style and hog-style, yellow paint on both, two white cows, and put it all on wheels.”
I nodded. Two burgers, both with cheese, one with tomato, avocado, onion, and ranch, the other with an extra sausage patty and three strips of bacon. Both with mustard. Two vanilla milkshakes. Everything to-go.
I hurried to the back.
Luis had already thrown two beef patties and a sausage patty on the grill. “How’s the line?”
“Out the door and around the building,” I said.
“Good.” Sweat trickled down his brow. His face was pinched. “You hear about Dad?”
“Not a word.”
Luis pressed on the sausage patty with his spatula. “Doc says he slipped a disc in his back. Says he needs to take it easy for three or four weeks. Maybe more. I think we need to give him as much time as we can.”
“Agreed.” I hustled to the ice cream machine, turned the handle, and let vanilla flow into a plastic cup. Then I added some milk and a few shots of syrup. “You think we can manage this?”
Luis had only turned 20 a few months ago. He put in twelve-hour days at Beachbreak, had done since leaving school, but managing the entire restaurant? By himself?
“We can make it work if you stop firing people,” Luis said, smiling.
“Yeah?”
“We gotta. Dad needs the time off. Non-negotiable. I told him he’s taking the entire summer. Told him he needs to enjoy himself for once instead of slaving away in a restaurant. Rest up his back then go on vacation somewhere.”
“What’d he say to that?”
“He said that there’s some big superhero movie coming to Evermore that’s going to be shooting in the fall. He wants Beachbreak to try and win the catering contract. He didn’t get to say much more before mom cut him off.”
That sounded about right. Dad wasn’t the best at taking care of himself, but Mom would make sure he took time off. No matter what. “All right. I’m here for you, Luis, whatever you need.”
Family always came first. I would bust my gut bussing tables 80 hours a week all summer if it meant Dad got to take some time off. He’d spent his life working for us so we could enjoy life, now it was our turn to work for him.
“Gracias,” Luis said.
9
Dylan
Short-staffed and exhausted, we made it through the lunch rush. There was a peaceful three-hour window in the late afternoon, just enough time for Sofia to clean the tables while Luis and I prepped for the dinner rush. Fortunately, we wouldn’t be short-staffed in the evening, as we had another waitress and chef on schedule to help out.
I was taking inventory when the door opened.
“You’re supposed to be at camp working on your arm, Jones,” I said.
Chase rubbed his hands together greedily. “Couldn’t leave town without swinging by Beachbreak.”
“Hi Chones!” Sofia piped up. She paused for a moment, her face reddening. “I mean Jase. I mean Jones. Chase.”
“Hi, Sofia. How was the rush?” Chase asked.
“Nothing I couldn’t handle.” Sofia smiled, then continued wiping down tables. It was painfully obvious she had a schoolgirl crush on Chase. Not that she would ever admit it. I teased her about it from time to time, but it was nothing to worry about. There was an understanding between best friends — the sister was always off-limits. Not that Chase would’ve been interested, anyway.
Chase’s expression was creased with worry.
“You all right, dude?” I asked.
“Can you take five?”
“Luis—”
“Get out of here,” my brother yelled from the kitchen. “Take ten. We’ll need all hands on deck tonight.”
I hung up my apron. “Let’s go to the river. Need to get off my feet.”
The late afternoon sun reflected off the river. A cool breeze came off the water, pulling the heat and sweat away from my body. I took off my shoes and plunged my feet in the water, sighing in relief as the cold river lapped around my ankles.
“So, what’s up?” I asked.
Chase stared into the distance. “Something’s going on with J.”
“Something?”
“She’s acting weird.”
“Weirder than usual?”
“Weirder than usual,” Chase said. “She’s picking fights. With everyone.”
“Doesn’t sound that weird.”
Chase shook his head. His navy eyes were uncharacteristically stormy, which made him look more like his twin sister than usual. “It’s different this time. You know this summer will be the longest we’ve been apart in our entire lives? I worry about her, man. I worry that if someone doesn’t keep an eye on her and get her out of the house, she’ll go crazy. She’ll do something crazy.”
I buried my feet in the sand beneath the water. The voices of people chatting and laughing carried from the Riverwalk.
“I want to help,” I said. “But Dad’s out of commission for the summer. And we’re short-staffed. You know I care about J, and I’ll do the best I can to get her out of the house, but man, this is going to be a tough summer. I don’t want to make any promises I can’t keep.”
Chase rested his
arms on his knees. “My parents are going to drive her nuts. I just wish there was a way to get her out of the house. Hailey left for Europe earlier today and with both of us gone, Jordyn doesn’t have anywhere to go. And you know how she is — if she’s roaming around town, she’s gonna start some—”
“What about Beachbreak?” I asked.
Chase chuckled grimly. “I don’t think she’s going to hang out in a burger joint all day.”
“I meant what if she works at Beachbreak? She’s smart. Works hard. And we desperately need the help. We hire her, it gets her a job, gets her out of the house, and…”
“And you can keep an eye on her.”
I winced. I didn’t like the idea that I was supposed to keep an eye on her. Jordyn? She could take care of herself. But I knew her parents. I knew how important it was for her — and for Chase — to get out of the house. That’s why he spent so much time focusing on football. He loved the game, sure, but I think he loved getting away from his house even more.
Plus, if Jordyn found out I was supposed to be keeping an eye on her, she might remove both of my eyes.
“I can’t promise anything,” I said. “But I can get her in for an interview. The rest is up to her.”
“Thanks, dude. When I get back from camp, we’ll all head up to the cabin and you can tell me all about how she broke you. Seriously. Don’t let her push you around too much.”
I laughed. “I’m an immovable object, man. Jordyn’s never gonna break me.”
10
Jordyn
I shoved a spoonful of frozen yogurt in my mouth and closed my eyes, savoring the sweetness. Peak’s Frozen Yogurt was best enjoyed on a summer day. It was also the best way to stave off the oncoming darkness that a month with no one but my parents was sure to bring.
