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Shelley nodded, already sleepy from the sun. “Think you’ll get a job next summer?”
“Yeah. My parents made all my sisters get summer jobs after their junior year. It’s easier that way with driver’s licenses and everything.”
“You could be a lifeguard,” she said.
I glanced over the blue water toward the guy in red trunks sitting atop a tower. “Getting paid to be here could be nice.”
She nodded. “I heard they get discounted popsicles too.”
“They’re a dollar,” I said. “Why wouldn’t they get them for free?”
From our right, Ronnie mumbled, “Great.”
“What?” I asked, looking around.
“The cheerleaders are here.”
Just as she spoke the words, my eyes fell on Kiyana and several of her friends from the cheerleading squad. They looked like they were made of glitter, their skin oiled and shining in the sun. Their hair perfectly done. Sunglasses catching any extra glare.
Kiyana looked stunning in a white bikini that showed off her curves and a wrap that she had tied around her waist, letting her bronze legs slip out the slit.
Shelley whispered, “She really is pretty.”
My cheeks heated, and I stood up. “Let’s get in the pool.”
“Oh, okay?” Shelley said. “You coming, Van?”
He didn’t answer, too absorbed in Ronnie.
I waved my hand at them and went to the edge of the pool, dipping my feet in. I’d read somewhere that the pool smell came from pee, and it had never been the same since then, but I tried not to think about it as I dangled my feet in the cool water.
“It feels so good,” Shelley commented, sitting beside me.
I nodded, soaking in the feeling. Trying not to think about the fact that I could hear the cheerleaders laughing only feet from me. I hoped they weren’t laughing at us.
“Hey!” Kiyana said. At least that’s what I imagined. I turned my head toward her to confirm my guess and blinked. She was walking toward us. Oh my gosh, she was coming to talk to us!
“Talk to her,” Shelley whispered.
“Hey,” I said, sounding as awkward as I possibly could. “What’s... up?”
“We’re going to play volleyball, but there are only four of us and we thought you two might want to join so we can have three on three?”
“Definitely!” Shelley answered before I could say a word. “That sounds like so much fun, doesn’t it, Xi?”
I... uh... Did sports in front of the girl I had a crush on sound fun? Not really. I was the least coordinated person on the face of the earth, and now I was supposed to do something that required hand-eye coordination to avoid getting hit in the face with a ball?
Shelley drew her legs out of the pool, standing up and sending water dripping to the cement, dampening my swim shorts.
“Okay,” I said, because what was I going to do now? Say no? Yeah, right.
We walked together toward the volleyball “court” that was really just a waist-deep pool with a net in the middle. Kiyana called to her friends, “They said yes!”
I could tell one of the cheerleaders, Jessica, wasn’t really happy, but Tabby and Sophie seemed okay with it. The three of them went to the opposite side and Kiyana, Shelley, and I got into the water together.
Moments like these, I was thankful for my dark skin, because I did not want Kiyana to see how much I was blushing. Not just at her in her swimsuit, but because I was swimming in the same water she was swimming in. No matter how lame it sounded, this was the first time I’d come this close to touching a girl I liked.
Yeah. It did sound lame.
