“Yeah, I just made Grand Master.”
I gape at him and give him a fist bump. “Dude, that’s amazing!”
When movement catches my eye, I turn my head to see KC coming down the stairs. She’s wearing a black mesh coverup that doesn’t cover up much at all, and underneath she’s got on a black bikini with honest to God chains draping from her cleavage to her hips. The tiny, gold links sway against her taut stomach. I take back what I said earlier. Goth swimsuits are awesome. Although, it looks more Gucci than goth.
She’s looking at me with a softness in her eyes that I don’t understand, but it makes my own belly clench in response.
Just then, her brother lifts his spoon to his mouth and shrieks when he sees the plastic roach floating in the center. He drops the spoon, flinging milk everywhere, and leaps out of his chair. KC’s expression immediately changes. Crap, maybe I shouldn’t have done that. I know she isn’t amused by my practical jokes.
“What’s wrong, Max?” his mother asks.
“There’s a bug in my cereal!” Max points to the fake bug lying on the counter in a tiny milk puddle.
His mom gasps and jumps back, a mortified look on her face. “That’s a roach!”
“It’s fake, Mom.” KC rolls her eyes and pokes at the bug. “Jake likes to play pranks on people.”
“Oh, thank God.” KC’s mom slaps a hand to her chest then wipes her brow. “I think I’d have to burn the house down if it wasn’t.”
Max picks up the plastic roach and licks the milk off of it, giggling. The girls all wrinkle their noses. “That was a good one. Can I keep this?”
“Sure, dude.”
KC scowls at me.
“But only if you promise not to use it on your sister.”
Max frowns, but then it turns into a smile. “I’ll use it on Mrs. Finley.”
“No teachers!” KC and her mom say in unison, and Max pouts.
“Let’s just go,” KC says, turning away from the kitchen. For a second I think she said she wasn’t going, and I kick myself for ruining everything, but she heads for the front door, not the stairs.
“Bye, Mrs. Smith,” Kerri says, and the rest of us wave goodbye and hustle out of there.
KC stands back as everyone piles into my SUV.
“The back is full,” I say as she goes to climb in. “You can sit up front with me.”
She hesitates and gets an uncomfortable look on her face but eventually opens the door and slides in.
Kerri starts jabbering, and soon we’re all talking, but KC stays quiet. She wasn’t afraid to tell me off the first day she met me, so I don’t think she’s shy, but she seems hesitant to reveal anything about herself. What kind of secrets is she hiding?
When I tried Googling her I came up with nothing in the name KC Smith. No Facebook, no Twitter, not even an Instagram account. What girl doesn’t have Instagram? It’s almost like she landed on Earth the day she arrived at West Bay. Maybe she has it under a different name, but I really doubt she’d tell me. Her silence only makes me more curious.
When we get to the beach, my friends shuffle through the sand in pairs down to the water, and I linger behind to walk next to KC. She doesn’t try to get away from me, so I guess we’re making progress.
Once we pick a spot, KC pulls a towel out of her bag and spreads it out on the sand then pulls her coverup off. Wow. KC has a smokin’ hot body. She digs out a bottle of sunscreen and starts slathering it on, making her skin glisten. My own skin heats up as the blood starts pulsing through my body. Suddenly, I’m sweating and my breath is caught in my throat. Talk about an extreme reaction to hot sauce. That stuff is dangerous.
“Hey guys, you wanna play a game of frisbee?” Austin asks, tossing his blond hair like a true beach bum.
Connor, Kerri, and I all agree while Mia and KC opt to watch. We jump up and find an empty stretch of beach. Connor and Kerri head one direction while Austin and I go the other way. We’re all athletes, so the competition between us is pretty fierce as we take turns flinging the frisbee as hard as we can.
I’m a little distracted by KC, though. She and Mia are chatting, and I wish I could hear what they’re talking about, but we’re too far away, and their words are swallowed up by the sounds of the beach. KC has never said more than a few words to me at one time, and usually she only talks to me when she wants to yell at me.
Within minutes, I’m hot and sweaty. I may not be as buff as Dylan, but he’s not here, and I still look pretty good with my shirt off, so I peel the damp fabric off my chest and toss it aside. When I glance at KC a few moments later, I catch her eyeing me, and I can’t stop myself from grinning. Like what you see, babe? I make a show of stretching and flexing my muscles as I leap for the frisbee.
When we’re all hot and exhausted, the four of us make for the water. We go crashing in without thinking, and I holler as the cold water instantly chills my overheated body. It may be a warm day, but it’s definitely not summer yet, and the water is still frigid. After a quick rinse, we all tromp back up to our towels and plop down. I’m tempted to shake my wet hair over KC’s stomach, and she eyes me warily like she’s expecting it, but I resist, grabbing a towel and rubbing it over my head, instead.
“Woo, that’ll get your blood pumping!” Austin says. “Mia, I need you to warm me up again.” He grabs her, wrapping cold, wet arms around her, and she squeals and swats him away but then leans in and kisses him. I can practically feel the heat of her warm hands searing his cool chest. Damn, I wish I had a hot girl to warm me up.
Kerri and Connor wrap themselves in towels, and Kerri cuddles up in his lap. I’m feeling really left out, all of a sudden. I wonder how KC feels about all this PDA.
“Hey KC, do you like to swim?” I blurt out, wanting her attention. Maybe if I keep the questions less personal she’ll answer some.
She looks at me for a second, probably deciding how dangerous it would be for me to have that information.
“Yeah, but I don’t think it’s hot enough for that today,” she finally says. “Don’t you dare push me in, either,” she quickly adds.
I grin cuz I probably would’ve done exactly that if the opportunity presented itself. But I’m trying to win her over, so maybe I need to make a truce with her. She’ll never want to go out with me if she thinks she can’t trust me. I owe her, anyway, after the whole hot sauce debacle, but of course, I’m not going to tell her that.
“Tell you what, how about if I promise to never play a prank on you. Would that make you feel better?”
She narrows her eyes at me. “Why would you do that? You obviously love pranking people.”
“Yeah, sure, but most people think it’s funny. You don’t. No big deal. I can lay off if it bothers you. I’m not an asshole. I just like to make people laugh.”
She nods her head, a contemplative look on her face and a hint of a smile. Definitely progress.
“So Mia, what were you and KC talking about while we were playing?” I ask Mia since I doubt KC will tell me anything.
Mia glances at KC and grins. “Oh, you know, just girl stuff.”
Curiosity flames inside me like a flash fire. I can’t believe I’m upset that I missed out on girl talk. Maybe now that I’ve promised not to prank her, KC will trust me enough to talk to me. I decide to give it a shot.
“What, like, fashion and makeup? Cuz I wanna know why you like to hide all this under that goth stuff.” I wave my hands over KC’s spectacular body.
“Maybe I like that look, or maybe I’m just tired of being thought of as a sex object instead of a person!” KC’s face goes red as she fumes, and everyone gawks at her.
Note to self: do not tell KC how sexy you think she is in that swimsuit. If she doesn’t want guys to think of her in a sexual way, why is she wearing something that’s bound to arouse every guy who looks at her? I’m definitely not asking her that, though. She’d probably try to cut my balls off.
“So Connor, Kerri tells me you’re a great cook. What did you b
ring us?” Austin asks to break the awkwardness.
“Please tell me you brought the pretzel dogs.” Kerri puts her palms together and looks at him with puppy dog eyes.
“Your wish is my command.” Connor grins and rummages around in the cooler he brought, handing out drinks and sausage links baked inside a soft pretzel. Kerri’s right, they’re amazing. None of us say anything for a few minutes, we’re all too busy chowing down.
After we eat, the girls decide to walk to the bathrooms. The three of us guys all turn our heads to watch them leave, admiring the view from behind. They all have different body shapes, but variety is just fine with me.
Austin slaps me on the shoulder. “You better be looking at KC, not Mia or Kerri.”
I turn to him and grin. “I am. She’s pretty hot, isn’t she? But don’t tell her I said that,” I add, remembering her outburst.
“Are you gonna ask her out?”
I wince. “Well, we didn’t get off on the best foot. She hated me from the first moment, and she blames me for the hot sauce thing, but I’m working on her. I’m gonna have a party next weekend, and I’m thinking about inviting her.”
Austin wasn’t in the locker room when I made the bet with Dylan, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he knew about it by now. He doesn’t say anything, though, so maybe he doesn’t.
“Kerri has practically adopted her, so she’ll be happy if you ask her out. She thinks KC is sad. I guess she had some problems at her old school,” Connor says.
I nod, suddenly wondering what she told Kerri. “Yeah, but I can’t figure her out. She won’t say more than a few words to me.”
Austin grabs another soda out of the cooler and chugs it, belching. “You might have a better shot now that you promised not to play tricks on her. I’ve been telling you for years, girls don’t like that shit.”
“Says the guy belching in public.” I slug him in the bicep.
“Hey, my girl’s not around. Speaking of which, I gotta pee, but I’m not trekking to the bathroom when the world’s biggest toilet is right in front of me.” He jumps up and heads for the water. Connor and I look at each other and shrug then get up and join him.
When the girls come back, we all stretch out and doze in the sun for a bit. The warm rays penetrate deep into my bones till I feel limp and heavy.
After a while, Austin jumps up and takes Mia’s hand, pulling her to her feet. “I’m getting bored. You want to go for a walk on the beach with me, babe?”
She tucks herself under his arm. “Yeah, that sounds nice.”
He turns to me and whispers, “See, I know what the girls like.”
I roll my eyes at him, but Connor turns to Kerri. “Do you want to walk, too?”
Kerri smiles at him and takes his hand. “Sure.”
I glance at KC who’s still stretched out on her towel, looking drowsy. Should I ask her if she wants to go for a walk, or is that too couple-y? But it might seem rude if I don’t ask her. And staying here alone seems kind of awkward. What I really want to do is lean over and trace the chains that drape across her belly, but I’m almost positive that will not go over well.
“Uh, did you want to walk?”
She looks at me, probably having the same dilemma. “Sure,” she finally says, climbing to her feet.
We’re several yards behind the others, and I wonder if we should try to catch up with them. But they’d probably like a few minutes alone, and I like having KC to myself. We walk shoulder to shoulder in silence for a few minutes, watching the foamy waves lap at our feet, and I wonder what’s going through KC’s mind.
I notice her pedicure is chipped and looks several weeks old. What happened between then and now to change her from a girl who paints her toes pink to one who hides behind all black? I have a million questions I’d like to ask her, but I doubt she’d answer any of them.
There are a lot of families here — moms watching toddlers dig in the sand and dads in the water teaching their kids to swim. It brings back memories of my own childhood, back when my parents were focused more on me and my sister instead of their jobs. Maybe if I tell KC a little about myself it’ll help her see I’m not such a bad guy.
“My family came here a few times when I was a kid. I remember my sister wanted to build an enormous sandcastle. My parents bought her all these plastic shovels and molds, and Emma worked for hours trying to get it just right. I’d always mess it up when I tried, so Emma wouldn’t let me touch it, but she wanted both my parents to help her. I wanted to go in the water, but they wouldn’t let me go alone, so I was bored stiff.”
“That’s kind of sad.” KC looks at me from behind her big, Coach aviator sunglasses. The sun reflects off the gold frames and dark lenses, hiding her eyes.
I smirk and stick my hands in my pockets. “Yeah, well, I found other ways to amuse myself. First, I started sneaking up on people and scaring them, and then I switched to dumping buckets of water on them. I thought it was hilarious to watch them jump.”
KC’s mouth falls open, and she gapes at me. “Didn’t you get in trouble?”
I shrug. “I’d always run away and get lost in the crowd, and most people didn’t bother to chase after me, but it gave me the attention and excitement I was looking for.”
“Is that why you play pranks on everyone now — to get attention?”
Huh. I never really thought about it like that before. “Yeah, I guess so.”
She goes quiet again, and I wonder if that made her think better or worse of me.
“What about you? Do you come to the beach a lot?” I decide to ask. That doesn’t seem too personal of a question.
“Yeah, I go all the time with my… friends.” Her pause tells me there’s a story there.
“From your old school?” I decide to push a little bit to see if I can get her to talk.
She pauses a beat before saying, “Yeah.”
I think carefully about what to say next and decide on a statement instead of a question. “It must be hard to change schools. I bet you miss them.”
Her face pinches and she looks at the ground, suddenly fascinated by the sand. I wait for her to say something, but she never does. I guess I’ll have to try a different approach.
“So, what else do you like to do with your friends?” That should be a safe enough question.
She sneers and wraps her arms around her middle. “You know, the usual girl stuff — shopping, gossiping, trying to outdo each other.” I’m so surprised that she actually gave me an answer, it takes me a minute to realize how bitter she sounds.
“Well, I’m not a girl, so maybe I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure they’re not all like that. Your friends don’t sound very nice.”
“Nope, they’re not. That’s why we’re not friends anymore.”
Whoa. It’s like the bank vault just cracked open and I got a peek at the goods inside, except they’re all damaged. How do I respond to that? Very carefully, that’s how.
“Sounds like you’ve been through some shit.” I look at her so she can see my sympathy and my sincerity. “Do you want to talk about it?”
She stares at me for a minute from behind her dark glasses then sighs. “Not really.”
I shrug it off like it’s no big deal. “Okay, sure. No problem.” But I don’t want her to think that I don’t care, so after a moment I add, “Just know that I don’t mind listening if you want to.”
She looks at me for a long moment. “Thanks,” is all she eventually says, but it’s like I can feel her opinion of me shifting.
Our friends have turned around and are headed back our way, so I think our conversation is over, but I still feel good about how it went. At least she didn’t yell at me about anything.
“Hey guys, you wanna try to build a sandcastle, or something?” KC asks when the others catch up to us. She glances at me, and I nudge her with my elbow, a big smile on my face.
We spend the next hour building a huge sandcastle. It’s terrible because we don’t have any tools, but it wi
ns the prize for being the biggest one I’ve ever seen. KC seems to have finally relaxed a bit, and she looks like she’s having fun. When we’re done, I ask somebody nearby to take our picture. We have to squeeze in to get all of us in the shot with the castle, so I slide my arm around KC’s waist and pull her close to me. She gives a little gasp when my hand lays on her hip, but she doesn’t pull away.
I make funny faces, blink right when the camera clicks, and fake a sneeze just so I can stay in the position a little longer. I’m so tempted to kiss her on the cheek — technically that would win the bet I made with Dylan, and I really want to, but I think it’s too early for that. I’m afraid that will tick her off and ruin the progress we’ve made. I want to win the bet, of course. But I’ve never had anybody dislike me so much right from the beginning, so I also can’t resist trying to win her over. It has absolutely nothing to do with how she looks in a swimsuit, I swear.
We lounge around, soaking up the sun for a while longer till we start to get hungry again. “Who’s up for Mexican food?” I ask, dumping the last of the Doritos crumbs in my mouth.
Everyone cheers, even KC, which makes me unexplainably happy. We pile back into my SUV and head to La Cocina, my favorite Mexican joint, where I usually eat enough chips and salsa before my meal comes to make myself sick, but I still always pig out on fajitas.
At the restaurant, Austin and Mia slide into one side of the booth, and Kerri and Connor take the other side, so KC and I end up sitting across from each other. At first, I’m bummed because I’d like to sit next to her, but then I realize that getting to look at her is almost as good, especially since she probably wouldn’t let me put my arm around her or hold her hand.
“Try their chips and salsa, they’re the best,” I say, pushing the salsa bowl towards KC as soon as the waitress sets it on the table.
She shakes her head and pushes it away. “I can’t eat salsa. I’m allergic to cayenne pepper. Remember how I just about died from it the other day?”
Her words hit me in the gut and make my favorite appetizer look like poison. I’m such an idiot! Why did I pick a restaurant where practically every dish is a no-no for her? And why didn’t she say anything when I suggested it?
April Fools' Joke (Holiday High Series Book 3) Page 6
