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Until the lights on the top of the skee ball game went off. I heard the peal of the bells and saw the flashing strobes and looked around. Then I realized what had happened.
Someone had beaten my top score. Someone had knocked me off the leader board.
I laid my ping pong paddle on the table and Aaron discarded his too, trapping the ball beneath the paddle. He and I walked slowly toward the group of kids who were all clapping around the skee ball game. I shouldered my way through the crowd until I stood at the front of the machine.
And then I saw him.
He stood tall and lanky, almost like his arms and legs were too long for his body. His hair was dark and a lock of it fell over one eye. He tossed his head to move it out of the way so he could see, and his startling brown gaze met mine. He grinned. The cocky bastard had the nerve to grin.
I looked at the scoreboard. “You must have cheated,” I said, my voice as crisp and cool as an autumn morning.
His eyebrows crashed together, and he stood up a little taller. “You take that back,” he said.
“No takebacks,” I retorted and squared my shoulders.
He’d beaten me by thirty points. Thirty! No one had come close to my score in two years, and he had just beaten me by thirty points.
He took a step toward me. “Take it back,” he said again.
“Go to hell,” I said, and I tossed my hair over my shoulder as I spun away from him.
Lynda threaded her arm through mine and leaned close as we walked toward the other side of the room. “He’s hot,” she said.
“He’s stupid,” I replied.
She rocked her head from side to side. “And hot,” she finally replied with a giggle. “He’s watching you.” I turned to look in his direction. “Don’t look!” she hissed. “He’s staring.” She nudged me with her elbow. “I think he likes you.”
“He’s still stupid,” I replied again. But my heart was thudding, and my palms were already suspiciously damp.
“He’s coming over here,” Lynda nearly squealed in my ear. I reached up and rubbed at it. “He’s coming to talk to you!”
But he didn’t come and talk to me. He came and talked to Aaron. They high-fived.
“Do you know who he is?” I asked Lynda.
“Yeah, we met him down at the lake today. His name is Eli.”
“When did he get here?”
She scrunched up her face. “Yesterday, I think. I’m not sure
. They rented cabin number eighty-six.”
That was just a few cabins down from mine. “Do you know how long he’s staying?”
“No idea.” Lynda finally stepped away from me and walked over toward the boys. She grabbed Aaron’s hand and he looked down at her and smiled. The two of them together still made me a little pukey. They’d been friends for the past few years, but this year they were…more. They had even started kissing. No one had kissed me yet. Not even once.
“Number two on the leader board, huh?” the newcomer said as he came to stand next to me.
“You cheated,” I said again, and I crossed my arms.
“You know I didn’t.” He didn’t say anything else. He just hitched a shoulder against a tall metal post and stared at me.
“Well, I’ll get it back.”
“Get what back?”
“The number one spot,” I spat. “What else?”
