“Gross, Kane,” Abigail chastises. He flashes her a huge grin, grape jelly sticking to the corner of his mouth.
“Oh, definitely the beach,” Mark says, ignoring their tangent. He shoves an entire French toast stick in his mouth, clearly not bothered by the texture.
“What do you guys do at the beach?” I ask, before resigning myself to a bite of my unappetizing lunch.
Mark swallows. “Surf.”
“People watch,” says Abigail.
“Just hang out,” Kane says.
“Wait.” I look at Kane in surprise. “You don’t surf?”
Mark laughs. “He’s pitiful. You’ve seen what happens when he’s on solid ground.”
“Thanks a lot, friend.”
“We only speak the truth.” Abigail rolls her eyes and takes a bite of her lunch.
“We know it’s true, but she didn’t. You could’ve at least let me pretend for a while that I’m cooler than I actually am.” He sighs in defeat.
“Well, technically you already told me you aren’t good at anything, so you’d already set the bar pretty low.”
His eyes twinkle and he laughs. “I did say that.” He pauses a moment, lost in thought. “I suppose I’ll forgive my so-called friends.”
“Gee, thanks,” Abigail says, her voice laced with sarcasm.
Kane ignores her remark, turning in his seat so he’s looking directly at me. “Wanna join us at the beach on Saturday?”
“Oh, um…”
“Don’t feel obligated,” Mark says. “He can be pushy.”
“But you are welcome,” Abigail adds with a friendly smile.
“Well, okay. Sure.”
Kane pumps his fist beside me. He's grinning ear to ear.
I’m in. Now I just have to figure out how to ask Abigail to sleep over. No time like the present. “So, um, Abigail.”
She looks up from her lunch and watches me curiously. “Yeah?”
I force a laugh and rush to say, “So, I sort of had to quit the volleyball team, and most of my friends were from the team, but now that I’m not on the team we don’t really hang out anymore.”
Abigail furrows her brow at me and waits.
I’m rambling. And talking way too fast. Crap.
I force myself to slow down and continue. “Anyway, I sort of promised my parents that I’ve made new friends. And I would have someone sleep over this weekend. And that was basically a lie, because the only people I’ve talked to outside of class are you three.”
And now I sound like a complete loser.
There’s a moment of silence. I ignore the boys and force my gaze to stay on Abigail. It takes her a moment as she digests everything I've just said.
“Are you asking me to sleep over this weekend?” Abigail finally asks.
“Yes?”
Abigail grins. She glances at Kane, then says, “Sure!”
“Really?” I let out my second breath of relief of the day. I can’t believe how easy this was. Why was I freaking out? “You’re a lifesaver.”
Abigail waves me off. “No big deal. This will be fun. I hang out with these two doofuses all the time. It’ll be nice to hang out with a girl for a change.”
Kane groans beside me and I ignore him.
“Great!”
Then a new panic hits me. Somehow, I have to keep my parents and sister from mentioning anything about my lupus. My parents will keep quiet, I’m sure, but Mandy? She’s a wild card.
11
Kane
I ditch my bike at the racks and storm past Dennis, who is sitting on the wall outside the skatepark.
“How did you end up with my date?” I demand, running up one of the smaller ramps and confronting Abigail. This is the first time I’ve had a chance to speak with her since lunch. I’m still in disbelief over the whole sleepover thing.
Abigail laughs as she sails past me and up the other side of the ramp. She’s getting way too much enjoyment out of this.
I hop down and glare at her. Knowing she’ll pause soon, I wait.
Sure enough, she glides to a stop in front of me and steps off her board. “Come on Kane, it’s just a sleepover.” She grins mischievously.
“It better be.” I stoop low, snag her board, and take off running before she can stop me.
“Hey!”
I grin, drop the board on the cement, and step on. I push off and skirt around the large ramps. Throwing a glance over my shoulder at Abigail, I see she’s still standing where I’d abandoned her. Hands on her hips, she shoots daggers at me. At least she isn’t laughing anymore. I let out my own laugh, loud and maniacal.
“Your mom is going to kill you!” she yells.
“Only if she finds out!” I holler back.
I circle around Abigail twice before jumping off and letting the board roll past us.
“Tell me everything that happens at this sleepover,” I demand.
Abigail walks away to retrieve her board and glares at me. “No way you perv. Sleepovers are a sacred thing.”
“Seriously, Abz? Have all these years of friendship meant nothing?”
She just stares at me, the glare still on her face.
“I’d do it for you, you know.”
“Oh, really?” She raises her eyebrows at me. “You’re going to have a sleepover with a girl I’m crushing on?”
A sound almost like a growl escapes my mouth. She’s killing me. “You know what I mean.”
Abigail laughs. “Yeah, I do. And if I tell you anything, it’ll be a very general picture of the night. No specifics.”
“I’ll take what I can get.” I take a seat on one of the benches and pull out my phone, contenting myself with a dumb app game while my friends have the real fun. This cast can’t come off soon enough. Maybe Mom will see reason and give my board back early. Yeah, right.
The front door opens and Mom walks in, arms full of groceries. It’s a typical Saturday morning.
“Care to give your mother a hand, Kane?” she calls.
I hop up from my seat at the kitchen table and grab one of the bags from her arms.
“What are your plans today?” she asks, setting her bag on the kitchen counter. I snoop through the bag I’ve just set down as mom unloads hers.
“Just hanging at the beach with my friends,” I tell her, pulling out a bag of Chex Mix.
“Say hi to Mark and Abigail for me.” Mom snatches the bag from my hand before I can open it. “And don’t forget to video chat your dad at four.”
“Will do.”
Mom gives me The Look.
“I’ll remember, Mom.”
I may have lost track of time a couple times and missed my scheduled calls with Dad, but it’s been at least a month since the last time. I’m on a roll.
“What are the odds of me getting my board back?” I pull the most innocent face I can muster. “Just for today.”
“Kane…” There's a warning tone in her voice.
“No ramps or rails,” I promise. “Just the boardwalk at the beach. Totally safe.”
Her look doesn’t falter.
“And listen, even if I were to fall, I’ll be surrounded by soft sand to cushion the blow.”
“Who else is going with you?”
I can see the start of a smile at the corner of her lips. I might be in if I play my cards right.
“Just…a girl…” I try to be casual and busy myself with the glass sugar jar on the counter, lining it up perfectly with the jar of flour.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Mom raise her eyebrows.
I give up on playing cool. I turn to face Mom and plead, “Her name is Summer, and she’s the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen—after you of course.” I flash her a sweet smile. “And I promised to teach her to ride a skateboard.”
Okay, that’s a stretch. But those words had come out of my mouth at one point so it wasn’t really a lie.
She studies me for a moment, eyes narrowed. “Just today,” Mom caves.
“Yes!” I pump
my fist in the air.
“Do not make me regret this.” She retreats to her office and returns with my skateboard.
I hug the board to my chest and then kiss the surface.
Mom makes a disgusted face, and says, “You’re a little too much like your father sometimes…”
I take that as a compliment and grin at my board. “I’ve missed you baby,” I whisper.
Shaking her head, she returns to unloading the grocery bags, and I leave the house.
Mark and I are waiting impatiently at his car—well, I’m impatient; Mark is chill as always—when Abigail finally exits her house. She's dressed casually for the beach, complete with her oversized hat and sunglasses.
“Hurry up!” I yell across the yard. We’re meeting Summer at the boardwalk and we’re already late.
Even from this distance, I can see her eyes roll. If I thought she couldn’t move slower, I was wrong, because she does.
Groaning, I open the back door and toss my board on the seat.
“Kane has his board back?” Abigail approaches the car and raises her eyebrows at me.
“How the hell did you convince her to give you the board back anyway?” Mark asks, shaking his head in disbelief as he slides in behind the wheel. He has his wetsuit on, and his surfboard strapped to the roof of the car.
I shrug, climbing in next to my board. Abigail is in the front passenger side. “I can be very convincing.”
“You’ve got your mom wrapped around your little finger. Why can't you give the poor woman a break and let her parent you properly?” Abigail comments.
“She’s doing a wonderful job raising me.”
“I’m surprised child protective services haven’t been called out. Doesn’t your dad get concerned by all your accidents?” Abigail eyes me in the rearview mirror.
I grin at her reflection from the backseat. “Stuntman, remember?”
“Pretty sure he told me that you’ve broken more bones in your life than he has in his career,” Mark says. I can see his smirk in the mirror.
“You two are the worst best friends ever.”
“Aww, it’s only because we care about you.” Abigail’s eyes gleam with mirth.
We finally arrive at the beach, and Mark finds a parking spot. We all pile out and Mark sets off to hit the waves, while Abigail and I hit the boardwalk with our skateboards.
“Where is she meeting us?” Abigail asks.
My gaze darts up and down the boardwalk, and I point. “There.”
Summer is standing on the boardwalk, looking uncomfortable, under the awning outside Sandy’s Smoothie Shack.
“She looks thrilled to be here,” Abigail notes dryly.
“She’s probably just nervous. She’s alone and has been waiting for who knows how long.” I elbow her in the ribs.
We’d agreed to meet at eleven and it was now eleven fifteen thanks to Abigail’s need to apply fifteen coats of eyeliner. Okay, I’m making that up. I don’t actually know anything about makeup, but I do know that Abigail does wear a lot of goop on her eyes. And Mark and I did waste precious time waiting for her to finally meet us at the car.
I push off hard on my board, eager to meet up with Summer. As I approach the Smoothie Shack, I come to a stumbling stop. Summer looks unimpressed with, and a little surprised by, my clumsy approach. I beam at her. Abigail comes to a much more graceful stop moments later.
“Hey, girlfriend,” Abigail says cheerfully, waving a hand in greeting. She pulls off her red, cat eye sunglasses and smiles at Summer.
Summer looks between the two of us. She seems unsure what to make of us.
“Hey,” I say, tipping my own turquoise sunglasses down my nose to get a better look at her. She’s wearing jean shorts and a blue tee, a pair of black sunglasses sit on the rim of the floppy straw hat on her head. There's a glittery cactus slung over her shoulder—I think it’s a purse.
“Hey,” Summer echoes. She looks around and frowns. “Where’s Mark?”
I can’t help it; I’m a little annoyed that she’s asking where Mark is. I’m the one who wanted her to come today.
I casually wave off her question. “He’s already hitting the waves.”
Abigail rolls her eyes. “He’s always so afraid of missing the perfect wave. He makes a beeline for the water as soon as the car is in park.”
“Oh. Okay. So, what’s the game plan?”
I pick up my skateboard, then gesture at the board with my cast hand, as if showing off a prize on a game show. “Look what I have.”
“I thought you weren’t getting it back until your wrist healed.”
“Let’s just say I convinced my mom to let me out on parole. I only get her back for the day, so we have to make the most of our time.”
“Wait…we?” Summer looks between me and the board.
“Oh, yeah. I promised to teach you how to skate.”
“I distinctly remember telling you no.” She crosses her arms over her chest and looks wary.
“‘No’ isn’t in Kane’s vernacular. He doesn't know what it means, so he chooses not to hear it.”
I glare at Abigail and shake my head. “Not helping.” I do know what no means. I respect boundaries on important things. But this? Getting her on a board? I want to make this happen at least once.
“Sorry. I’ll just leave you to it then.” She puts her sunglasses on and skates away. I’m left alone with Summer.
“You’re seriously going to make me get on that thing?”
I nod then set the board down on the smooth pavement.
“As long as you can keep your balance, you’ll be fine. Watch.” I step onto the board with one foot and use the other to push off slowly. I coast a few feet down the boardwalk before jumping off. I grin at her. “Your turn.”
“If I break something, you’re dead.”
I ignore her threat and watch as she approaches me, looking warily at the board between us. Her gaze flicks up to me, her blue eyes large and questioning. “So, I just step on?”
I nod and push my sunglasses up into my hair. “Watch your balance, you don’t want it to slide out from under you.”
Summer, still looking worried, hesitantly steps on. Her gaze is glued to the board, which immediately begins to slip out from beneath her gray sneakers. I quickly step forward and reach out to steady her, catching her waist between my hands. She grabs my arms, her nails biting into my skin, and stumbles toward me.
Summer’s eyes are wide as her gaze trails from the ground and up to meet mine. She’s only a few inches away, her chin tipped up to look at me. Her familiar coconut scent is stronger than it’s ever been, and she’s so close I can see that her eyes aren’t just blue; they’re sapphire and azure, cornflower and midnight. They’re mesmerizing. Her lips are slightly parted, still surprised by her misadventure on the skateboard. It takes all the self-control I possess not to lean forward and steal a kiss.
We’re frozen for a moment, my hands at her waist, and hers tightly grasping my arms. I know there are people strolling past us on the boardwalk, but I don’t see them, don’t hear them. There’s just Summer and me.
Then she drops her hands and steps back, her gaze focused on the boardwalk beneath our feet. Reluctantly, I release her waist, and wonder if I’ve blown my chance, if I should have just kissed her.
“Your board is getting away,” she says, her voice just above a whisper.
Cursing, I chase after the board, grabbing it just before it veers off the side of the boardwalk and into the sand.
I turn back to Summer and grin. “Maybe we should call it quits.” She looks relieved. “But just for the day. I’m not giving up on you yet.”
12
Summer
Kane casually slips his right arm around my shoulder, the plaster of the cast resting on the neckline of my t-shirt. I stiffen at his touch then force my muscles to relax. It’s just an arm. It isn’t like he’s trying to cop a feel or something. And as much as I hate to admit it, I like how this feels.
My terrifying moment on the skateboard replays in my mind. I’ve never felt so unsteady in my life. When Kane caught me, his hands on my waist, my heart raced. And not entirely from the near fall. I can still feel the warmth of his fingers.
I'd felt a spark when our eyes met; It scares me. I don’t want anyone getting close to me. Maybe it was a mistake coming out with Kane and his friends. Even if it does get my parents off my back, I’m not sure I’m equipped to handle whatever this is.
Pushing the negative thoughts away, I cast my gaze around the beach and try and enjoy the moment. My heart sinks when it falls on a group of our classmates playing volleyball. I should be out there. Stupid disease. Just to come to the beach today I had to slather my skin in prescription strength sunscreen and promise my mom I’d reapply every couple hours.
“Wanna see if we can join the game?”
Kane’s question startles me. I hadn’t realized my longing was that obvious.
“No, let’s keep going.” I pick up the pace, as we stroll down the boardwalk.
“Should we stop for ice cream?” Kane gestures to a truck with a blue and white striped awning parked nearby.
“Sure.” Maybe ice cream will distract me. It couldn’t hurt.
We wait for two other customers to order and receive their ice cream, then step forward.
“Double scoop, cookie dough, waffle cone,” Kane says to the teen boy in the window. He turns to me. “Summer?”
“Chocolate sugar cone, please. Single scoop.”
“You sure you don’t want a double?” Kane asks.
“I’m good.” I reach for my purse to pay for my cone, but Kane beats me to it. A minute later, a girl steps out from the back of the truck, leans around the boy who took our order, and hands us our cones.
“Should we find somewhere shady to eat these?” Kane asks.
I nod, grateful for the suggestion. The more time out of the sun the better.
It’s September, so even though the beach is crowded, it isn’t as bad as it would have been a few weeks ago. There’s the group at the volleyball nets, and the tables on the east side of the boardwalk are all occupied by couples, families, and groups of friends. From the boardwalk to the water, people sprawl about on beach towels, soaking up the rays. Blankets and coolers litter the sand.
Something I'm Good At: A Sol del Mar High Novel Page 7
