“Hey, look! There it is!” Tori motioned to a spot several yards up the beach where the yellow surfboard was bobbling near the shore.
They paddled toward the beach, angling themselves toward the stray board.
“Hey, Cass?” Tori’s voice took on that super-understanding pitch again.
Cassie hesitated a second before replying. “Yeah?”
“I’m not saying he did anything wrong . . . in fact, I’d bet he didn’t . . . but even if it turns out he was a jerk, you’ve still got to face him and get the whole story. Otherwise you’ll always be wondering. It’ll make you feel better, I promise.”
“I don’t know.” The very thought made Cassie want to turn completely around and start heading out to sea.
“Hey, you’re the one with nothing to hide. You’ve got nothing to lose,” Tori pointed out. “In fact, you don’t even have to say anything. Just stare him down and make him squirm. Trust me. It’ll make you feel much better.”
“Yeah, I guess so.” Cassie had to admit she at least deserved some answers.
“No. No ‘guess.’ Promise me.”
“I promise.”
Seven
“Tori! You’re heading out too far!” Cassie cupped her hands and yelled at her cousin’s fiercely paddling backside.
This was so déjà vu.
Only ten hours earlier, they were in this exact spot doing this exact thing. Nothing had changed. Cassie had tried to find Micah, but couldn’t. Then she got cornered by Simona, who wanted to know why she and Tori hadn’t greeted their fellow campers. After Cassie explained about the lost board, Simona wanted a summary of the dance committee meeting. Once the conversation finally ended, it was time for lights out.
She didn’t even get to face Danica. Her rival had turned in early and was already in her bed facing the wall when Cassie returned to the bunkhouse. Probably wiped out from the trip. And all that making out with Micah.
“Cassie, look!” Tori had caught up to a massive wave and pulled herself upright. Her face was practically shining with joy.
“Excellent!” Cassie called back. “Watch your—” Just then Tori’s board started to quaver. Tori tried to steady herself, but once again leaned too far to the right and crashed into the surf. Thankfully, the board didn’t come unleashed this time.
“You’re doing it again,” she shouted as soon as Tori’s head broke the surface. “You’re—”
“I know! I know!” Tori sputtered a bit and pushed her hair out of her eyes. “I go too far to the right.”
“But that was awesome, really. Especially for your level. Don’t be in too much of a hurry. Stay closer to shore until you get better with your balance.” And until I get used to the deep water again, she added silently.
Cassie had managed to make a little more progress that morning. She’d headed out a little farther than the previous day. Actually it was only a few inches, but it was an improvement. Tori was pushing her to go to real shark-patrolling depths. But just feeling the icy water on her dangling feet brought back too many bad memories.
“Really. Don’t push it. You have plenty of time,” Cassie added. “Deal?”
“Deal,” Tori grumbled.
Cassie glanced back at the beach. The camp was waking up and people were out of their bunks, heading to the beach or the mess hall. “That’s probably enough for today. We should head back.”
“Already?”
“Yeah. You don’t want to tire yourself. And besides . . .” Cassie let out a sigh and stared down at the water’s shimmery surface. “I kind of don’t want to be here when Micah and Danica show up for their surf C.I.T. duties.”
“That’s not for a while,” Tori pointed out. “And besides, you told me you’d try to talk to him. You promised.”
“Yeah, I know. But not here. Not with Danica lurking around like some . . . shark.”
“Then where? When?”
“I don’t know.” Cassie tried to imagine the perfect setting for meeting back up with Micah. It had to be someplace where they could be alone, someplace where she could get close enough to read his face without squinting. Someplace where there were no rocks, shells, and other objects she could hurl—just in case she was tempted. “Let’s just go, okay? Maybe I’ll figure it out over breakfast.”
“No way. We definitely can’t leave now.” Tori suddenly straightened her posture and smoothed her wet hair with her left hand.
“Why?”
“’Cause look who just showed up.” Tori nodded toward shore where Hunky Surfer Guy was just heading into the waves with his board.
“Okay . . . but why should I be here?”
“Because you have to. I don’t want to be out here by myself. Please?” Tori said, making big pleading, baby deer eyes. “You don’t have to be right there with me. Just stay nearby in case I need you.”
“Oh, all right.” While Tori headed back toward the breakers, Cassie paddled about, pretending to relax and sun herself on her board. Tori managed to grab a couple of good waves and Cassie could tell that Hunky Surfer Guy noticed.
“She’s good,” she overheard him say to a pal as she drifted nearby.
Yep, she’s good all right, Cassie thought. Tori was acting like she had no idea she was being watched. As if all she cared about was making some great rides.
Probably the perfect path to a surfer boy’s heart.
“Hey, Cassie!”
A familiar voice called out from behind. It crashed over her like a freezing wave.
Cassie braced herself and then slowly pivoted about. Sure enough, there on the shore, looking even more incredible than she remembered, was Micah.
Oh no. Not now. Please. I’m not ready.
“Hi,” she called back. She felt foolish just floating there like a piece of driftwood.
Now what? He was too far for her to really see his expression. So much for reading it. Should she go up to him? Maybe. Or would that look too eager and weak?
No matter. Micah was now wading into the water toward her, surfboard in tow. She sat up on her board and tried to steady her breathing. Her heart was threatening to burst out of her and go bouncing over the waves like a skipping stone.
She could see his face now. Cassie was surprised to see that he was smiling—although he looked sort of nervous. His forehead was bunched in the middle and his bottom lip was kind of tucked into his mouth. Oh no. Why? What was he so worried about?
“Hey,” he said as he came within a couple feet.
“Hey,” she said back. Her lips automatically curled upward. Stupid lips. She shouldn’t make this easy for him. She wanted to keep him guessing—just like she was.
“So . . . um . . . missed you yesterday. When we got back.”
“Yeah. Sorry. I was giving Tori a surf lesson and we lost track of time.”
“Surf lesson, huh?” His smile seemed to slide right off his face.
Cassie suddenly felt the need to explain. “We lost her board and it took forever before we found it. You know how they are about the equipment.”
“Yeah.” His grin came back, but not entirely.
For a moment they simply treaded water and nodded at each other. Cassie had no idea what was going on. She wanted to ask about the text message, but she couldn’t. She wouldn’t. He had to be the one to bring up the whole . . . whatever it was that happened between him and Danica.
“So the contest was actually pretty tough,” he began as he raked his fingers through his hair. “I ended up placing third,” he added, in a voice almost too quiet for Cassie to hear.
“Third? That’s awesome!” Cassie shrieked. It was no use even attempting at playing it cool. She couldn’t help herself. The joy just sort of bubbled up out of her. She remembered how excited she had been after her first few big wins. Not that she didn’t get excited with her more recent victories—the early ones just had an extra sweetness about them.
Micah’s smile returned to its previous altitude. “Thanks.”
“I wish I could
have been there.” Again, the words just sort of shoved their way out of her mouth.
What was wrong with her? How was Micah supposed to explain himself if she kept moving her mouth?
Stupid, stupid lips. It didn’t help that she kept focusing on his. And that, in spite of her hurt and confusion, she still had an urge to kiss the guy.
“Hey, listen.” Micah suddenly looked all awkward again.
Uh-oh. Ice water seemed to shoot through Cassie’s veins. Here it came. The big breakup. Only . . . could it even be called that? Were they ever technically together?
“I’m glad I ran into you because . . .”
Everything seemed to go slow-motion. Micah’s forehead went wavy again. He bit his lower lip. There was no trace of a smile.
She watched as his hand slowly slipped into the pocket of his trunks, and then . . .
A scream sounded behind her, followed by cries of alarm. Cassie spun around in time to see Tori’s surfboard going airborne and her legs disappearing into a huge, crashing wave.
“No!” she cried. Oh no, oh no, oh no! Why hadn’t she been paying attention?
Cassie dove off her board and swam as fast as she could in the direction of Tori’s fall. This was bad. The wave looked pretty powerful. What if the current held Tori under too long? What if it knocked her hard against the floor of the sea?
The ocean was a dangerous place. Cassie should have known that better than anyone.
She lifted her head, searching frantically for signs of Tori.
“Do you see her?” It was Micah, swimming up behind her.
“No!” she answered shakily. Would she have to head into the deep surf to get her? Could she? Would her body even let her? Already her joints were starting to lock and her breath came in quick, shallow gasps.
Right then she spotted her. Tori bobbed up in the foamy—and not-so-deep—surf. The current, thank god, must have pushed her several yards toward shore.
Tori’s hair was all in her face and her eyes were closed. Was she even conscious?
Cassie didn’t waste time trying to figure it out. She swam toward her cousin, stretching her arms as far as they could reach and kicking her legs as fast as they could go.
All of a sudden, just when she was about to reach Tori, a figure cut in front of her in the water. Hunky Surfer Guy was coming in to rescue Tori.
Cassie watched him scoop her up with one arm and then followed close behind as he side-stroked back to shore.
“Please be okay. Please be okay,” Cassie chanted as they hit shallow water and ran toward the beach.
Surfer Guy gently laid Tori on the sand and bent over her.
“Let me see her!” Cassie shoved him out of the way. There was no time to be polite. Tori might need rescue breathing, and Cassie was CPR trained.
She knelt beside Tori’s limp form and bent over her. “Tor?”
Tori’s eyes fluttered open and fixed on Cassie. Then a tiny smile appeared and her left eye gave a quick wink.
Cassie could breathe again. She was fine! She was going to be okay!
Although . . . Cassie just might kill her later.
Micah paced about outside the whitewashed lumber cabin that served as the camp infirmary. He wished he had something to do.
He wasn’t even sure how much time had passed since he, Cassie, and some kid named Wesley had brought Tori over here. Wesley had been the one to pull her out of the surf and had insisted on carrying her all the way to the clinic. It seemed like Tori could walk the distance, but you never know with these things. Just a tiny bit of inhaled water could put the body in distress. And the force of the wave could have bounced her head off the ocean floor.
Better to be safe than sorry. He shouldn’t leave until he knew for sure she was all right.
Of course, if he wanted to be entirely honest, he’d admit that Tori wasn’t the main reason he was there. Truth was, he wanted to be there for Cassie. He was worried about her. And now that he’d finally tracked her down, he didn’t want to let her out of his sight.
It had been such a relief to see her that morning. Yesterday evening, when she hadn’t come to greet him and the others, he’d wondered if she might have blown him off on purpose. But then she explained about Tori and the board.
Unless . . . that was just an excuse?
Stop it! He had to stop driving himself nuts with all this doubts. Micah pivoted about and started pacing east-west. For about the fifteenth time, his hand crept into the pocket of his shorts to make sure Cassie’s present was still there. His fingers touched the smooth plastic of the press-and-seal baggie and the lumpy form of the anklet inside it.
He had just been about to give it to her when Tori wiped out. Then he’d ditched his board and swam out to help—not even thinking about the anklet. Luckily, it hadn’t been lost.
Suddenly the door to the infirmary burst open and Cassie came storming out. She was marching fast and muttering to herself, and ended up passing him completely. Micah had to jog a few yards down the path to catch up with her.
“Hey!” he cried. “What’s going on in there?” Cassie stopped and faced him. “You’re still here?” She seemed surprised.
“Uh, yeah. I wanted to make sure she was okay. Is she?”
“Yes.” For some reason, Cassie didn’t seem very happy about it.
“What’s wrong?”
“She faked it!” Cassie shouted, throwing her arms in the air. Now she was the one pacing around. “Of course the wipeout was real, but the whole ‘in distress’ part was played up because she saw Wesley coming to save her. She put on a total show!”
“So . . . this was for a guy?”
“Yes!”
Micah couldn’t help it. He busted out laughing. “Aw, man. You got to admit that’s creative.”
Cassie mouth fell open as if in shock. “How can you not be mad? She freaked everyone out. And she put all of us in danger!”
“Yeah. I guess you’re right,” Micah said, getting ahold of his chuckles. “But come on. We’ve all done stuff like that. People do stupid, sneaky things when they like someone.”
“Sneaky things?” Cassie’s voice was low but full of heat. She looked as if he’d just smacked her across the face. Her cheeks had turned bright pink and her eyes flashed like blue bonfires.
Micah got the feeling he’d said the absolute worst thing ever.
“Augh! It’s so not fair!” she shouted. Her arms went stiff by her sides and her hands balled up into fists. “I really hate all this game playing. Why can’t people just be straight with each other? Why do they have to do . . . sneaky stuff?”
Micah stood there, speechless. He’d only been trying to make her feel better. But somehow he’d mucked it all up.
It was clear she was mad at him. But why? What exactly did he say to set her off like that?
Suddenly Micah felt his own surge of anger. Who was she to talk about game playing? He was the one who had to track her down after he got back from Oahu. She supposedly liked him, but she couldn’t leave off surfing with her cousin long enough to welcome him back?
“Hey, wait a second . . .” he started to say.
Only he didn’t get to finish. Because right at that moment the camp nurse, Mona, came out of the infirmary and walked right up to Cassie.
“Good, you haven’t left yet,” she said. “Could you come with me to the office? I need to call Tori’s parents, and I’m sure it would be a comfort if you could be there to reassure them she’s okay.”
“Sure.” Cassie held her hurt stare on Micah for a couple of seconds before turning toward the opposite trail. “I’ll be glad to tell them the truth.”
All he could do was step out of the path and let them walk past.
Eight
Cassie hung up the phone and rested her head on the fake wooden top of the desk. Her aunt had talked for thirty straight minutes. Of course, she had been worried about Tori. That took the first ten. The next twenty minutes were spent talking about the weather, a great trun
k show at Niemans, and the fact that Tori forgot to pack the special hand cream she’d bought her.
Cassie could tell where Tori got her chatty personality.
“You okay?”
She turned around to see Charlie in the doorway. Poor guy. She’d practically taken over his work zone.
“Yeah. Just . . . bad day.”
“I heard about Tori. Saw the nurse walking back to the infirmary. She said she’d be all right?”
“Yeah.” Cassie stood up and stretched. “In fact, she’s feeling pretty good right now.” Now that she’s gotten Wesley’s attention, she added silently.
“By the way, do you think we need to schedule another dance planning meeting?”
“Probably not. Did those girls give Simona the grocery list?”
Charlie nodded. “This morning.”
“You’ve got the music taken care of?”
Again he nodded.
“Then I don’t think so. We’ve got volunteers to set up and clean up. I really can’t think of anything else . . . can you?” Cassie felt a rush of panic. She could have been overlooking something important. Something vital to the success of a dance. And she was too lame to realize it.
“No. I guess we’re done.” Charlie walked past her and plopped into the desk chair she’d just vacated. Then he leaned back with a melancholy gaze at the ceiling.
Looking at his sad puppy dog face, Cassie suddenly understood why he’d wanted to call another meeting. He needed some excuse to see Andi again.
“You should talk to her, Charlie,” Cassie said.
“What?” Charlie almost toppled over completely.
“Andi. Just go up to her and be totally honest. Tell her you like her and you want to take her to the dance.”
“Just like that, huh?” he said with a sarcastic chuckle. “No big deal.”
“I mean it. I’m a girl. It’s what I would want.” She thought about Micah. How he almost kissed her . . . and then started sending his ex-girlfriend supersweet, private text messages. If she could stop one guy from doing all that stupid game playing, she would have done her part to help girls everywhere.
Sunset Page 9
