Page 46 of Crew Girl

Cam tipped his head at the main door. “Pretty sure I saw your girlfriend outside.”

Josh gave his jaw a rub, like Cam had just landed one. Then he took a step back, shifted his gaze to Teagan. “I’ll catch up with you later, yeah?”

“Sure.” She gave him a wave, then turned back to Cam. “So, we were talking about the week after the regatta?”

Cam was staring at the doorway Josh had just left, a crease between his eyebrows. “What’s up with Josh? He’s getting friendly.”

She laughed even though he hadn’t meant it to be funny. “Don’t say friendly like it’s a bad thing,” she chided gently. “He’s being nice.”

Cam made a noise like, Yeah, right.

She got it. Josh and Cam might be teammates, but outside the boat they would probably never see eye to eye. But Cam didn’t know the things Teagan did. That the mighty Josh Regis was every bit as vulnerable as the rest of them. Not that it was her place to share. “He’s really not that bad, Cam.”

Cam’s eyes went wide. “Are we talking about the same guy?”

“You could try giving him a chance,” she shot back.

“Is there something going on with you two?”

What was he even talking about? Is this why Cam had wanted to talk next week? To try to squeeze some information about Josh from her? She’d stupidly thought all the team drama was behind them after Josh’s birthday. “Sounds to me like you’re more interested in Josh than you are in me, so why don’t you find out what he’s doing next week instead?”

She left before he had a chance to reply. Boys. Couldn’t live with ’em. Couldn’t row without ’em.

“Wow.” Juliet’s eyes glittered with excitement as the rowing team gathered around a huge boiling pot of water. “It’s like encountering an entirely foreign culture.”

Teagan laughed, grateful to have another girl at the boathouse. After “working” as a server for Teagan’s mom, Juliet started showing up more, gleefully discovering “the proletariat lifestyle,” as she liked to call it. Life without servants, basically. Her face had been pure astonishment when she’d seen the balls of dough Teagan’s mom had rolled flat into cookies. “This is how it works?” she’d marveled. “Who knew?”

Baloo and Quaid began distributing dry pasta to everyone on the team.

“Here,” said Baloo, handing some to Noah, who was reading despite the fact there was music blaring and people partying around him.

When Teagan and Juliet were handed theirs, Juliet held it away from her, like it might suddenly turn into a handful of snakes. “Why am I being assaulted with linguine?”

“Spaghetti. It’s crew tradition. A group carb-loading party before the regatta,” replied Teagan. It was new to her, too, all of it. Well, most of it. She’d obviously been to regattas before, but she’d carb-loaded with her dad, who would spend the entire meal talking tactics and technique. That was her job now. Which was kind of freaky.

“Easton Eagles!” Baloo called out. “Spaghetti at the ready!”

Everyone held up their spaghetti, one hand at either end.

“Three,” Baloo bellowed, the rest of the team joining him. “Two! One!”

“FREE SPEED!” everyone shouted, then broke their spaghetti in half, lining up to drop it into the boiling pot, apart from Juliet, who was still staring at it like it was an alien life-form.

“Free speed is rowing speak for an extra boost of energy,” Teagan translated.

Juliet gave her the side-eye, then grinned. “Why not do a sacrifice instead? Perry’s outfit would be perfect.”

Teagan laughed. Juliet and Perry seemed to like playfully insulting each other as much as she and Josh did.

Juliet thrust her spaghetti at Crabcatcher before he could get to the pot.

“Seriously? Thanks. I need all the extra speed I can get!”

“Hey,” Teagan assured him. “You’ve got this.”

He shook his head. “I barfed at practice.”

“Only once.”