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Chapter Six

We made it to the lake without getting pulled over by the cops, er cop. It was one of the things I secretly liked about Sadieville. You could get away with murder and no one would probably care.

"You remembered your inhaler, right Dan?" Mason asked. Dan nodded and patted his bag.

"Yeah, dad reminded me like a million times."

I had almost forgotten that Daniel had asthma. When he was smaller it was really bad. He seemed fine now.

I hopped out of the truck and paused. "Shit."

Mason pulled the keys out and looked at me.

"What?"

"I forgot a towel."

He grinned. "I packed an extra one. You always forget a towel."

"I haven't gone swimming with you in like five years," I said. Mason shrugged.

"I just remembered."

Mason grabbed his bag. I hadn't brought anything along. What I had was what I was wearing. We made our way to the edge of the lake. I hoped that it was as warm as it had been yesterday.

"I'm going to catch a fish with my bare hands!" Dan declared.

"No one's caught a fish in here in like a year, Dan-o," Mason said. Dan rubbed his hands together.

"Then I'll be the first!"

He sat at the edge and hopped in. A second later, he was expertly swimming out towards the middle. Mason came up and stood beside me. He took off his shirt and jumped in the water. The little bit of water that hit my feet felt warm. He ran a hand through his hair and looked up at me.

"Dan's such a goober. How are your brothers and sisters?"

I groaned. "Nuts. The twins think they're a different person or animal every day and Joe smells like a sweat sock and Ally...well Ally's okay."

"And your mom and dad are still sane?"

I smiled. "Yeah, as sane as parents can be."

I unzipped my coverup and tossed it down by Mason's shirt. I ran my fingers along the sides of my bottoms to make sure I didn't have a wedgie.

"Ready or not!" I called. I jumped in the water. I let myself go completely under and held my breath for exactly five seconds. Then I broke the surface and rubbed my face quickly to prevent the water from blurring my vision.

Mason was staring at me.

"What?" I checked the strings on my bikini top. It was still tied up.

He didn't even blink. I wondered for a crazy moment if he had been bitten by some undiscovered lake monster that rendered people immobile. I snapped my fingers.

"Mason?"

His mouth flapped open and shut a few times and then he coughed.

"S..sorry."

I laughed and splashed at him. "Wake up, Richardson. Geesh."

"Hey Shel, watch me!"

Dan had scrambled out of the lake. He backed up, took off at a run and cannonballed not too far from Mason and me. A wave of water smacked into me and I turned, shielding my face. I turned back around and clapped as he came back up. He grinned.

"Your turn, Shel!"

"NO!"

The loud 'no' came from Mason. I looked at him in surprise. His face was bright red.

"What?"

"I...er...ow, ow, ow...charlie horse. OW!"

Mason did this weird wounded amphibian move over to the edge of the lake. He lowered his head and winced.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, just...ow."

"Can I do something?"

"Just...don't get out of the water."

I didn't see how that was going to help a leg cramp, but I didn't argue. After a few minutes Mason stopped wincing.

"Better?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

After awhile, Dan got bored with swimming and started looking for a small snake or frog to play with. Mason had told him not to go where we couldn't see him. So far he was listening.

"Y'know I'd take a lake over the beach any day," I said. I let myself fall back until I was floating on my back. I closed my eyes. The sun felt good on my bare skin on top in contrast to the cool water on my back.

"Do you go to the beach a lot?"

"Not really. It's too crowded. All the 'pretty' people think they can hog the beach."

"The pretty people?"

"The people that think they're better than everyone else. Ugh, it pisses me off."

"Yeah, that's the one thing I don't like about L.A."

There was a long pause.

"Hey, Shel?"

I cracked my right eye open just slightly. Mason was staring again. But not at my face. His attention was...lower. If his eyes were lasers, my boobs would have been disintegrated. I lost my float karma and straightened back up.

"Yeah?"

"I just wanted to tell you that---"

"LOOK AT THIS!"

I turned. Dan was holding a small wiggling thing in his hands.

"I FOUND A SNAKE!"

"It better just be a garter!" Mason called.

"It is! Are you guys going to get out soon? You're going to turn pruney!"

I looked at Mason and smiled.

"We probably should get back..."

He rubbed his neck. "Yeah."

I climbed out of the water and dug through Mason's bag. I pulled out a towel and wrapped it around me. I bounced around trying to get the water dislodged from my ears. When it finally ran out, I looked around for Mason. He had his towel wrapped around his waist and the bag held in both his hands. He looked preoccupied. Then I remember he had started to ask me something.

"Hey, what were you saying before Dan found the snake?"

Mason looked confused. "What? Oh...I, uh...I was wondering if you wanted to go out tonight?"

My heart stopped. "Go out?"

He blushed. "I mean like to Wal-mart."

"Wal-mart?"

"They just built one. It's all we have for entertainment."

"So you want me to go to Wal-mart? With you?" I asked.

"Yeah. I mean, you don't have to, but otherwise I know dad will pull out some board game and..."

"No, that's cool. I'll go to Wal-mart. With you."

Mason smiled. He looked almost relieved.

"Great. That's cool. After dinner?"

I nodded. "Sure."

Mason turned. Dan was still holding the snake.

"LET'S GO DAN!"

Dan ran over to us and we got in the truck. I didn't love snakes, but a small one like the garter snake didn't bother me.

As long as Dan kept it in his hands, that is.

Otherwise, the girly girl in me was going to come shrieking out.

And it wouldn't be pretty.