Float

Original Edition: Chapter Five

"What's up his ass?" I asked before I could stop myself.

Lena sighed and told me, "We've been trying to figure that out for years."

Jesse snorted.

"He's been bitter ever since his dad married Chloe."

"What?" I frowned. "I thought Chloe was his mom."

Lena snorted. "Are you kidding? Chloe's, like, thirty-five. She's his stepmom."

"Oh," I said. Why hadn't I noticed it before?

"Come on, Waverly!" Jesse called.

I blinked, snapping out of my epiphany, and saw that Jesse was already halfway through the door of the ice cream parlor. 

"I'm coming!"

Together, we stepped out into the scalding Florida sunshine. Jesse walked ahead and fell in step with Blake, but I stayed a few feet behind the two of them, glaring up at the cloudless sky. Why couldn't it just rain? Then it wouldn't be so hot anymore, and I would have a good excuse not to get anywhere near the ocean.

I followed Jesse and Blake until we reached the edge of the beach, where the concrete street gave way to rolling sand dunes. The two boys scrambled over the dunes and headed down towards a volleyball net that had been erected on the beach just a few yards up from the water. I stopped at the edge of the sand and shoved my hands into the pockets of Rachel's khaki shorts.

Jesse turned over his shoulder and frowned when he saw I wasn't coming.

"Get over here, Waverly!" he hollered.

Blake glanced back at me, eyes narrowed in the bright sunshine.

I tried to smile at Jesse.

"Coming!" I called back, my voice shaking.

I couldn't tell, but I think Blake scoffed.

As I started trudging through the sand, my stomach twisted in a sailor's knot. I would be lying if I said I wasn't panicking. What if Jesse and Blake knocked a ball out into the water and told me to jump in and get it before the current carried it out into the Atlantic Ocean? I'd sink like a rock.

And Blake Hamilton would laugh at me as I sank.

"Do you know how to play?" Jesse asked when I reached the net.

"No. But it's okay! I'll just watch."

"I can teach you!" Jesse offered.

Blake mumbled something under his breath, but I couldn't catch it because his back was turned towards me as he tightened the ropes on the net.

"No thanks," I insisted.

Jesse laughed and slung one long, tan arm over my shoulder affectionately. When Blake turned to face us again, his eyes landed on Jesse's arm and he scowled. Did he even have any other expression?

"She doesn't have to play," Blake said. "Just let her sit it out."

"She has to play!" Jesse argued, "We need four to play. Ethan said he'd get here—"

"Ethan?" Blake growled, "You invited Ethan to play with us?"

Jesse nodded.

I felt like slapping him upside the head for being such an oblivious idiot. But I decided against it—I'd leave that job to his sister.

"Why?" Blake demanded.

Jesse shrugged. "Because he just got a new volleyball, and mine was deflated. I didn't feel like pumping it up."