Chapter Twelve: King of the Summer Neighborhood:

The streets were empty. Everyone was either at the party or sound asleep. I stretched my arms up in the air.

“It feels so good to be free!” I shouted. I threw back head and laughed. My audience didn’t look amused. Ah well.

“How are you sure the pool is still there?” Mallory asked.

“Is it?” I asked.

“Well, yeah,” she said.

“Excellent,” I said. “Then we are going there.”

“But I didn’t even bring a swimsuit,” Kimmy complained.

“I didn’t say we were going swimming,” I said. My sisters looked at each other before they looked at me.

“What?” they asked. I patted them both on the head.

“There, there,” I said. “I will take you to go swimming this summer. I promise.” Mallory narrowed her eyes.

“I am going to hold you to that,” she said. I put up my hands in a shrug. Fine by me.

When I was younger, mom would take me to the pool during the afternoons. This was where I learned how to swim. I had to admit that I wished that I could’ve gone to the beach. Mom reached down and patted me on the head.

“You’ll like it here,” she said. “Think of it as your own private pool.” I looked up at her and frowned. There weren’t many kids in the neighborhood growing up. There were no boys my age around. Two girls my age lived on the block. Though, I think one of them moved away before I was in the third grade. So yeah, I did have a private pool during the summer. However, I would be kicked out when it was time for adult swim.

My party walked up to the large wooden gate. Naturally, the pool was closed. This was not a thing for me. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my card.

“Stand back, ladies!” I said. Mallory rolled her eyes.

“Whatever,” she said. I chuckled as I slipped my card through the slot and lifted the latch. Sure enough, it came undone, and the gate swung open.

“Ta-da!” I said with my arms out.

“Are there any cameras around?” Heather asked. I wouldn’t stop smiling.

“Why would there be?” I asked. My crush looked concerned while my sisters didn’t look impressed. Oh well, can’t impress everyone.

“Come right on in,” I said. Kimmy, Mallory, Heather, and I walked inside in that order. There it was. I titled my head. This pool was smaller than I remembered. They never tried to cover it up. It must have been a pain to clean it up.

“Now what?” Mallory asked. I shrugged and shook my head.

“I figured we could just hang out here for a while,” I said. “Unless you want to go back to the party.”

“I’m not doing that,” she said.

“Well okay,” I said. My sister rolled her eyes.

“Idiot,” she muttered under her breath. I pretended not to hear her. She’ll get over herself.

Moments later, we sat on the edge of the pool. I dangled my feet in the water. Heather did the same thing. She had some cute toes. Is that a little toe ring there?

“That’s a cute ring,” I said. Heather looked down at her feet.

“Huh? Oh,” she said. “Thank you.” I smiled and looked up at the night sky. Back in Boston, I could barely see the stars. I could barely see them even now. But I could see a little bit of them right now.

“Did you used to be a teacher?” I heard Heather ask. I turned my head at the word “teacher”. She was staring right at me. Did she have big doe eyes staring at me? I dropped my shoulders.

“Yeah,” I said. “I taught I taught British lit, to be exact.”

“Oh, that’s really interesting,” Heather said. “Are you taking time off for the summer?”

“Sure…” I said through clenched teeth. Oh no. No! I had to stir the conversation away from this road. Quick, think of something, genius!

“So what’s your favorite book?” I asked. Heather tilted her head as she took a moment to think.

“Hm… I’m torn between Pride and Prejudice and Nineteen Eighty-Four,” she said.

“Okay… Those are some interesting choices,” I said. Heather frowned with a worried look on her face.

“Too weird?” she asked.

“No, no not at all,” I said, shaking my head. “I love Ulysses.” She gave me a curious look.

“I’ve never heard of that one,” Heather said.

“Aw! You don’t know what you are missing,” I said. “I am going to have to find you a copy for us to read.”

“So you want to form a little book club?” she asked. I shrugged my shoulders.

“Sure, why not?” I said.

“Nerds!” Mallory shouted at us. We turned and looked up at her. She was looking down at her phone again. My mouth twitched into a little smile.

“Tell me something, Mal,” I said. “Is your phone water-proof?”

“Yes, why?” she asked. I broke into a hard smirk. I reached into the water and splashed her as hard as I could. Mallory screamed as she heard her phone above her head. She gasped aloud at the cold. Her white t-shirt soaked right through.

“Hey! You jerk!” she screamed. I broke down laughing.

“Sorry,” I said. “I couldn’t resist.” Mallory growled at my laughing.

“Jerk!” she screamed again. She reached down and splashed me back. I gasped at the cold touching my skin and clothes. I looked up to she her with her arms folded across her chest.

“How do you like that?” Mallory asked. I smirked at her.

“So you have chosen death?” I asked. I reached down and splashed her again. It didn’t take long to break down into a splash fight. Kimmy leapt up and ran from the pool. Heather broke down laughing the whole time. Moments later, Mallory and I sat by the pool, panting. I looked over to see Heather covering her mouth. She lowered her hand by her side.

“It’s so cute see how close you two are,” my crush said. Mallory and I looked away from each other. I hated how much Heather was right.