The guys get the fire started and arrange all the chairs, while the girls grab some drinks and munchies. We raid my cupboards for anything salty, like chips, and sweet, like cookies. I’m surprised when we’re able to find a bag of Doritos and Oreos. Now that soccer season is over, my mom stocks less junk since I’m not exercising as much. My mom hates how my full figure is less than desirable. I don’t really care, and neither does Eric, so why should she? Thankfully, my dad loves junk food so my mom still stashes some good stuff in the pantry for him every now and then.
We take the stuff out back and get settled. I plop myself next to Eric and he moves around until we fit comfortably together.
“So what are we gonna do during spring break?” I ask, trying to start up conversation.
“You guys know I’m gonna be gone the whole week,” Steph exclaims.
“What…where you going?” Dominic asks. Dominic is one of Alex’s friends and Steph’s new friend. It was only a matter of time before Alex’s friends infiltrated our group. I think it would’ve happened sooner if it wasn’t for Ben turning out to be such an ass, and disappointment.
“Oh shit.” Steph covers her mouth to finish her chocolate chip cookie. “I guess I forgot to tell you. My family goes to Glamis every year so I’ll be gone the whole week.”
“Glamis? Do you ride?” Dominic says, surprised and interested.
Keesh chuckles. “That’s like asking Steph if she breathes.”
“Well…excuse me…but Steph and I don’t know everything about each other, yet.” Dominic emphasizes the word yet, as he pulls her into his lap. She screams and kicks as he tickles her.
They’re totally cute together. Ever since they met at the dance, they’ve been inseparable. Dominic is this big huge guy with wild curly hair. He’s a junior at Carver who plays the offensive line. He is a giant. He makes Steph look as small as Amy. Had she sat in Eric’s lap, she would’ve crushed him, but Dominic holds her like a little puppy.
“So what do you ride, hon?” Dominic asks Steph.
“A Banshee,” she exclaims. “Just call me Ricky Bobby, I like to drive fast.”
What a dork. Steph is quoting a movie—Talladega Nights—but Dominic thinks it’s hilarious. He lets out a huge laugh, then says, “If you ain’t first, you’re last.”
OMG. These two are perfect for each other.
We all just watch them and smile, everyone except Josh. “So do you ride too, Dominic?” he asks.
Dominic stops tickling Steph long enough to answer, “Yeah, my family has been going down to Glamis for years. I ride bikes, and quads. My dad just got a rail to take my little brothers out. My mom doesn’t want them to ride on their own yet.”
“How cool. Maybe we’ll see each other up there some time,” Steph gushes.
“Yeah, like spring break ‘cause that’s what I’m doing too.” He tickles her again.
“Yeah. Cool,” I hear Josh mutter under his breath—looks like someone’s jealous. I can understand his misery though. This is the first time Steph has brought any of her friends around the whole group. Any guys she went out with besides Josh were usually on the down low. It’s stupid really, because they were never really a couple couple, so who cares?
“Anyone else skipping town?” Keesh asks.
“Nah…I’ll be around,” Jonathan says.
“Me too,” I add.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Eric tell us.
“Not me,” Alex says.
Amy and Josh both add, “Me either.”
“So what are we gonna do then?” I ask.
“How about the beach?” Alex suggests.
“Great idea,” Amy tells him. “I love the beach.”
That sounds like ass to me. I hate the beach. The thought of getting into a bathing suit in front of Eric or Alex or anyone else makes me want to throw up. Seriously, someone change the subject. Amy knows I hate the beach. Who wants sand all up in their crack anyway? I swear, every time I’ve been to the beach I come home with my own collection of sand which is probably still in my carpet to this day. I probably have tiny grains still stuck in my hair.
Ugh.
Not the beach.
“Sounds cool with me,” Eric agrees. “There’s this train thing we can take that goes down to San Clemente. It’d be cool instead of going to Newport.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard about that before. The girls down there are supposed to be hot too,” Jonathan adds. Josh leans over to smack his hand.
“So we’ll go to the beach one of the days,” Keesh agrees. “What about the rest of the week?”
“I hear there’s gonna be some fresh parties on the weekend,” Dominic tells us.
“Yeah. I heard that too,” Alex says, in between eating chips.
I take a big swig of my Diet Coke, and burp. Seriously, I just burped. Out loud. For everyone to hear. OMG. I can’t believe I belched. It just came out.
“Damn girl.” Keesh laughs. “That was a good one.”
“That was sick, Meg.” Eric pushes me away. I can’t tell if he is serious or kidding.
Dominic burps too. It makes mine sound like a squeak. I laugh, my face burning with embarrassment. Everyone starts to laugh.
Then Steph burps too. She looks at me and nods. She’s got my back. Dominic high-fives her. It isn’t long before everyone is chugging their sodas and trying to out-burp one another. What a good guy Dominic is…he saved me. Eric and Amy look annoyed. They don’t join our contest. For a minute, we sound like a chorus of burps.
We continue our night talking, laughing, stuffing our faces, burping here and there, which starts an upheaval of laughter each time. We decide to just see what comes up during spring break, but going to the beach is inevitable. Ugh.
By the time the fire goes out, it’s late, and everyone decides to go home. Eric stays behind to help me clean up. I’m afraid of what being alone will mean to him, but he just kisses me good night. It’s a nice kiss, not at all a “let me rip off your clothes right now” kinda kiss like they have been lately. I guess he’s finally given up on his goal to introduce me to womanhood. He even stopped bringing up ways to get me alone or trying to get me to talk about sex. I don’t know what changed his mind, but I’m glad it did.
I go to bed thinking about spring break.
It isn’t for another two weeks. Maybe I can drop a size or two by then.
I get out of bed and hit the floor to do some sit-ups and push-ups. That’s it. Diet starts tomorrow. Nothing but salads and water.
I’m not about to let my fat hang out all over the place. A lot of girls at school don’t mind showing off their muffin tops, but I’m not one of them. I don’t get how some girls squeeze themselves into a size seven or nine, when they’re clearly a thirteen or fifteen. I don’t even get the girls who are a size five or seven and try to get into a one or three. They just make themselves look fat when they’re really skinny. Since when did fat hanging over the side of your jeans become a fashion statement? I’m not about to go there.
Why can’t we go somewhere else? For the love of God, why do we have to go to the beach?
OMG.
Kill me now…seriously…kill me now.
I HATE the beach.
Chapter Twenty Seven
Today we’re going to the stupid beach. Seriously. The FREAKIN’ beach. My friends must hate me. The only one despises the beach as much as me is Steph, but she’s down in Glamis riding away on her dang quad. Turns out, Dominic’s parents know hers and they’re going to meet up down there, so they get to spend the whole dang break together. At least, she’ll probably end up with sand in her crack, too, from the dunes.
I hate my friends for dragging me to the beach. I hope they all come home with a rash in their asses from sand burn. Did I mention, I HATE the beach?
Actually, I hope Ms. Gelson gets a rash. Can you believe she actually assigned us a novel to read during break? We have to read To Kill a Mockingbird. This totally sucks. I’m going to have to Sparknote this one
. There is no way I’m going to spend my break reading some stupid old book. Why can’t we read stuff that’s interesting? Books with characters who talk and act like people in this decade, or even this century. My dad says To Kill a Mockingbird is a great book. He said he hated it when he read it in high school, but grew to love it as an adult.
It’s one of his favorites.
Then why are we reading it now? I’m barely in high school. I’m not an adult yet.
Why can’t we read authors who are still breathing? Like Laurie Halse Anderson, or Walter Dean Myers, Jerry Spinelli, or Stephenie Meyer. I would cry out in happiness if any teacher in my lifetime assigned Twilight. I can just picture it…Team Edward and Team Jacob debates. Team Edward would win, of course. We could totally read the whole series in a year. Seriously, they should change the freshmen English curriculum to include one Twilight book a quarter. Even the guys would like it, and I bet students would actually read for once.
We decide to head to Huntington Beach instead of San Clemente like Eric had mentioned. The train thing ended up being way too complicated. Besides, the guys want a fire pit to roast hot dogs and marshmallows. This is apparently going to be an all day thing. Ugh. Why can’t we just go at night?
The drive doesn’t take long, less than an hour. Alex borrowed his mom’s minivan so we could all go together. Some of his friends are going to meet us there. I bet he’s getting sick of hanging out with a bunch of freshmen.
Finding a parking spot seems like an impossible task. I have my fingers crossed, in hopes we can’t find one, but like usual, my luck sucks. My bad attitude about the beach must show because Eric asks me what’s wrong the whole way down. Like any girl, I say, “Nothing, I’m fine.”
I swear my feet feel like they’re getting first degree burns as soon as they hit the sand. I drop my bag and jump around till I can get my flip flops back on.
Everyone just laughs. Josh actually drops his stuff and points at me, while he laughs hysterically. It isn’t that funny. Alex passes by me saying, “Hey Meg, don’t you pay attention in science. Land heats faster and hotter than water.” What a freakin’ nerd. Does he think he’s funny?
“Haha. I must have missed that worksheet.”
“We were probably at the Steel Grill, Meggie.” Keesh laughs, shaking her head.
I can’t help but let out a little chuckle. I probably look like a dumb ass.
Eric turns around and comes back to help me with my bags. He throws them over his shoulder and manages to hold both our chairs. All I have now is my back pack. Wow. Chivalry is not dead.
We catch up with our friends who have already claimed an unused fire pit. We start to set up all our stuff. I feel like a family. We brought a cooler, blankets, an EZ-Up shade, chairs, and tons of food. I feel all grown up. As much as I hate—seriously loathe—the beach, I’m really grateful to have such cool friends, but not grateful enough to enjoy myself.
Eric takes off his shirt and tosses me the sunscreen, “Can you put some sunscreen on my shoulders and my back, babe?” Sand flies toward me with the bottle and gets into my eyes.
“Yeah, whatever.” I get up from my chair, swiping at my face to get rid of the dust. I slap the lotion on his already gritty back and barely rub it all in. He looks diseased with white splotches of gunk all over his back. Most girls would’ve taken advantage of giving a hot guy a rub down, but not me. Being at the beach brings out the worst in me. The closer everyone gets to stripping down to their bathing suits and getting into the water, the pissier I get.
“You want me to do you?” Eric asks.
“Excuse me?” I yell at him.
“Babe, chill. I’m taking about the sunscreen,” he yells back.
“Oh. No. I’m good,” I say.
He stands, peering down at me, with his hands on his hips. “You’re not gonna get in?”
“No. Not right now, you go ahead.”
He looks at me with annoyance, grabs his boogie board, and takes off toward the water. Josh and Jonathan follow not too far behind.
Keesh glides toward me in her one-piece bathing suit. Even though it’s a one-piece, it’s still sexy as hell. The sides are cut out and she’s showing a lot of cleavage, a lot.
“You ready to go in?” she asks. Why is everyone in such a hurry to get into the water? Do they know fish eat, shit, kill, have sex, and give birth in that water? How freakin’ gross? We may as well bathe in sewer water if we’re so willing to go swimming in this nasty ass ocean. I’m thoroughly disgusted.
“No. Frick. I’ll go when I feel like it,” I shout, looking up with my hand shielding my eyes from the sun. I lean back to get comfortable in my chair.
“Damn, Meg. What’s your problem?” She stands directly over me.
“I’m sorry, Keesh.” Then, I lower my voice to say, “You know I’m not the most comfortable person in a bathing suit.” I search through my backpack for a magazine.
“Don’t give me that.” She grabs my hand. “Come on, stand up.” She pulls me to my feet. “Now, take off your shirt,” she orders, tugging at the hem of my top.
“What? Nooo,” I cry, pushing her hands away. “Are you kidding me?”
“Come on. I know you have your suit on under there.”
She waits. I wait. She isn’t going to back down. Ugh. What a brat. I whip off my shirt.
“You look great, Meggie. Nice cleavage.” She raises her brows up and down at my chest. “Now, wait here.” She runs over to her bag and comes back with her shorts on. “Now, you don’t have to take off your shorts. You’ll be more comfortable.”
I look at my friend and smile. I can’t believe just months earlier I thought I’d never talk to her again. “Thank you, Keesh.” I hug her tightly. “You’re the best.”
Even though the ocean grosses me out, I still walk down and get in the water. I’ll just take an extra long hot shower when I get home. I can’t just leave Keesh hangin’ after what she did for me.
We’re splashing around, soaking in the sun when I notice Amy…ALL of her, from head to toe. She looks like a cover model for a swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated. She has on a red two-piece bathing suit—a triangle top barely covering her nipples, with bottoms tying on the sides so her hips are almost bare. Did her mother really buy her that suit? Isn’t it against the law for a fifteen year old to be out in public looking like that? She is practically naked.
I’m not sure if I’m embarrassed for her, or jealous of her perfect body. And I can’t imagine how Alex feels. All the guys within fifty feet of us are staring at her, even the old men with families. Alex has to feel either really proud or really pissed. I know I wouldn’t want everyone staring at my girlfriend.
“You getting out already?” Amy asks, as I pass her and Alex.
“Yeah. Just for awhile. I forgot to put on sunscreen.” It’s the first excuse I can think of.
I don’t notice Keesh tagging along right behind me, “Me, too.” I give her a weird look. “What? Black people can burn, too.”
“Well, hurry and come back in,” Alex says. His eyes don’t even make it to my face.
Keesh and I look at each other with big grins, and start laughing.
“Was he just checking out your boobs?” Keesh blurts out.
I cross my arms, feeling a little self-conscious. “I think he was.”
We bust up laughing again.
I throw on a tank top and plop myself down in one of the chairs. Keesh tosses me a water bottle and we kick back and relax, watching our friends. I’m annoyed because I can already feel the stickiness of the ocean water stuck to my body and the sand paper grit chaffing my skin. I can’t believe people enjoy this shit.
I don’t plan on getting back in that disgusting water. People watching and reading magazines sounds much better.
“Meg. Meggieeeeeeeeee,” I hear a shriek.
I hear someone calling my name a few times before I realize it’s Amy.
I pull down my sunglasses to get a good look at her. “What?” I
shout back.
She is waving at me, shouting, “Come here, Meggieee. C’mere.” What is she whining about? She never calls me that.
“What the hell does she want?” I ask Keesh.
She looks back at her magazine. “I don’t know. Just ignore her. She’s probably fake drowning or something so the hot lifeguard will have to save her.”
“I can’t just ignore her.” I toss my magazines in my bag and walk out toward the water.
She motions for me. “Meg, come here.”
“What the hell, Amy? I don’t wanna go in the water.” “Meg…Meg,” she stutters. “I lost my bottoms.”
“What?” I understand what she said, but need to hear it again…louder. I know, I’m evil.
“I lost my freaking bathing suit bottom,” she yells. “Now, go get me some shorts.”
“What do you mean you lost them?” I know perfectly well what she means.
“Damn it, Meg,” she yells. “I’m naked here. Get me some freaking shorts.”
By this time, all the boys hear what’s going on. They’re cracking up. Jonathan sounds like he’s going to choke, he’s laughing so hard.
“Don’t you even dare come this way or I’ll kick your ass,” she threatens them.
I wade out into the filthy water and take her some shorts. I pass them to her. “That’s what you get for wearing a Barbie-sized bikini on your big ass.”
I slosh back up to our camp, leaving her behind.
Maybe next time she’ll get a bathing suit that fits. But I doubt it.
The one thing I can handle about the beach is an evening bonfire. I love roasting marshmallows. But they have to be just right—barely melted and not burnt. Keesh brought her iPod and speakers, so we can dance and play around.
So I'm A Double Threat Page 16
