Luke still hadn’t texted me back by the time we got to school. I’d have to find him and make sure he understood. I’d also hoped I’d get a text from Ryker. So far, no such luck.
“Thanks for the ride, Ali! I can’t believe that after tomorrow I’ll be picking you up.”
“I’m not sure if I want to go driving around with Miss Crazy Driver.”
“You’ll be surprised at just what a great driver I am.”
We pulled into a spot in front of the school. “I’m going to hurry in to see if I can catch Luke and make sure he understands the whole no kissing thing.
“Good luck.”
I planted myself in my spot in the commons and searched the room. The first bell rang and I waited as long as I could before I had to high-tail it to class. I sighed, telling myself I’d see him at lunch. No biggie.
I couldn’t help it. I spent all of first period imagining what would happen if I just let Luke kiss me, after all. The stories I’d heard about first kisses at my birthday party invaded my mind with a twist. Instead of starring the real people involved, Luke and I were center stage. He moved in for the kiss. I didn’t move away and then clank, our teeth cracked together, the sound and impact giving me the most horrible of headaches. Directly following that one, Luke sent slobber dripping down my chin. Embarrassing scene after embarrassing scene flashed through my mind. But, there was one with soft, warm lips gently pressing mine, minty breath, and musky cologne tantalizing my senses. Luke’s imaginary fingers brushed up and down my arms in a spine tingling rhythm. The moon and stars danced in the sky as the perfect kiss landed on my lips. I kept shaking my head each time it snuck into my mind, trying to dislodge it, discount it, and deny it.
Had something happened to my mind when I turned sixteen? Nothing physical seemed to have changed, but mentally, something very bad had happened. Why was I thinking about kissing at all? Was it just because I was sixteen now or was it because I was scared out of my wits about kissing—and that Luke could try—tonight?
A shiver of excitement, mingled with horror spread through me as I thought about it. What would it be like to kiss someone? Then, I realized I had thought about kissing boys before today, but in truth, I’d never let the thoughts linger. I’d banished them almost as soon as they’d entered. I’d had to. Boys were off limits.
I had to concentrate in Physics, we were doing a lab, but the second the bell rang, I took off for the commons—to find Luke.
Out of nowhere a rush of guys ran up to me. A lightness filled my chest and my pulse raced. What was going on? Giggles threatened to explode out of my mouth and everything became crystal clear. Each boy stopped only a foot or so from me and held out a pastel colored balloon to me as they fell to their knees. Luke stood behind them and continued to walk right up to me.
I held my breath, and tried hard not to tremble.
He held out a fancy see-through balloon that said, Happy 16th Birthday.
I smiled and laughed unable to believe what was happening.
I reached for the balloon only to see that attached at the bottom of the string was a giant cookies-and-cream chocolate bar—my favorite. He hugged me and then gathered up the other fifteen balloons and bundled them together for me.
With a huge grin, he said, “Happy Birthday, Beautiful.”
I could hardly contain the bubble of excitement that shot through me. “Thanks, Luke. This is incredible!”
“I’m glad you like them.” He cocked his head to the side.
I took the balloons from him. To my surprise, he kissed my hand then said, “Seven sharp!” before taking off.
Heat burned my face. I looked around. Everyone was staring at me. No one but my parents had ever given me something at school for my birthday. It felt really great. How could he be terrible if he did stuff like this? The girls from swim team must just be jealous. I could definitely live with getting pampered like this all the time. I pulled the balloons to the side, exposing Tate and Zack, who stared at me and the balloons, sheepish expressions on their faces. They shuffled toward me and each gave me a yellow rose.
“Thanks, guys.” I gave them both a big hug. “They’re beautiful! I love them.”
They eyed the mass of balloons floating next to me. “He likes to show off,” I said. I thought I needed to say something so they wouldn’t feel stupid. “What am I supposed to do with them all day? Thanks for keeping it simple.” A brightness popped up in their faces.
They helped me get all the balloons through the door and I stuffed them into Ali’s trunk before we headed off to Taco Time for lunch.
The swim meet was held at our school’s pool—the one we practice in every day—right after school got out. I wished I didn’t have to compete. Knots spread through my back as I waited for my turn. My nerves always got the better of me at swim meets. I’d either freeze or freak out. I’d left several meets due to my crazy nerves. I knew I wasn’t really good and hated to look that way. I swam in two events: 200 backstroke and the 200 Medley relay. The backstroke was one of the first events and the relay one of the last, so I couldn’t even sneak out early. I was already breathing fast and hard as I waited for my event to come around. Only two more and then I would have to go out and make a fool of myself. Now just one more.
Coach came next to me and said, “Do your best. Push it.” As he walked away, I bent over and tried to breathe normally. My mind filled with an incessant buzzing and I felt completely sick. I was going to puke I just knew it.
A hand brushed my arm. I looked over. Ryker? I shot up.
“You know, when I’m feeling especially nervous, I listen to this.” He put his headphones in my ears. Adrenaline pumping music filled my ears. I frowned, confused—this was supposed to be calming? But Ryker held up his hand, signifying I should wait, so I closed my eyes and listened. To my surprise, the pounding beat gave me a rhythm to follow—my breathing slowed, and my pulse with it. After a minute or two, I opened my eyes and smiled my thanks at Ryker. They called my event. He carefully removed the music. I moved forward and stood next to my starting lane, waiting for the signal that we could drop into the water.
You can do this!
I tried to focus on the crystal clear water. The buzzer sounded, and I dropped into the water. It was freezing, like it always was at first splash. I looked up, getting into position, and saw Ryker looking down at me. He gave me a thumbs up.
A calm wave seemed to wash over me. This would be my race.
We got into position and the horn sounded. I burst out, pushing past what I thought were my limits. Completely out of breath and full of deep satisfaction, I hit the wall. I wasn’t first, but I came in second which was the closest to winning I’d ever been.
Thanks for watching, Ryker. I did a backward summersault in celebration.
I was pretty darn proud when my team surrounded me and congratulated me. That was a first. Even Coach B congratulated me. I thought I should maybe try harder from then on. That felt good. Maybe even better than cheering and dancing. Swimming was the hardest thing I’d ever done and to be successful at it was exhilarating.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Luke and Ryker spring into the water for one of their events. I slowly made my way to a spot where I could watch. Ryker and Luke were neck and neck for much of it, but then on the last turn, Ryker broke away and won. Luke came in second. I wanted to scream out to congratulate them, but I held it in instead. I couldn’t let Luke know I was excited for Ryker—Luke didn’t like to be second.
I was sitting in Parker’s massage line when Luke came over and finessed his way behind me. He gave a great massage. “You excited for your relay?”
“Sure,” I lied, the euphoria from my good showing in the first event was wearing off, and the nerves were starting to get to me again.
“Well, this will get you loose. Looks like we’ve got about fifteen before you go in.” His breath tickled the tiny hairs on my neck. “You excited about tonight?”
“Heck yeah!” I said. I wanted to ask him
about my text, but there were too many people close enough to overhear our conversation.
“Are you having a good birthday so far?”
Excitement fluttered in my chest. “Thanks to you, yes.” I looked back at him.
He smiled. “I can’t tell you how happy that makes me. I know you’ll do great on your relay. It’s your birthday, luck is on your side.” I wished I could believe him.
It turned out that Luke was wrong. We came in third to last. When I got out of the water, he hugged me. “Better luck next time. You’ll see,” and he walked me to the girls’ locker room.
“Don’t you want to stay and watch my relay?” He gave me puppy dog eyes.
“I think you’d rather I was smashing for our date, right? It’s not like all I have to do is shower, like you.”
“Good point. See ya, tonight!”
Chapter 4