“So are you gonna board or ski today?” Farah asked Hilton with a friendly smile as Landon’s dad started to back the boat away from the dock.
“I don’t know. I never have before. Do you?”
“Oh, hell no. The most I do is lay on a raft in the lake.” She laughed, and Hilton did too.
“I would’ve thought you’d be really good!” Hilton said.
Farah snorted. “You would’ve thought wrong.”
Hilton laughed again and leaned back against the bench comfortably as the boat picked up speed. She watched as Landon stood beside his dad, looking out over the lake. He looked delicious. She smiled happily, then pulled her tank top over her head and closed her eyes to soak in the sun a little. The boat sped up even more and she opened her eyes again as Landon sat down beside her.
His mom had finished applying her sunscreen and leaned forward to pop open a big red cooler. She removed a wine cooler and offered it to Hilton. “Drink?”
Hilton looked from Farah to the drink in surprise. Sure, his parents knew they drank at the parties, but she couldn’t believe they were offering her a drink on the boat! “Um…”
“Take it,” Farah said, placing it in Hilton’s hand and reaching into the cooler for another one. “Beer, Rick?” She handed her husband and Landon each beers, then shut the cooler and sat back with her own wine cooler. “You can’t go out on the lake without drinking,” she said to Hilton with a smile as she twisted her cap off with the help of her towel.
“My mom’s an alcoholic,” Landon said with a sideways grin at Hilton from his seat next to her. Hilton looked at him and giggled, then shared a grin with his mom. This was great.
Rick slowed the boat to a stop. They were far away from the shore now. “Board or ski first?” he asked Landon.
“Whatever,” Landon shrugged. “Hilton, are you gonna try?”
“Sure, I’ll try.”
“Which do you think would be easier for her, Dad?”
“Maybe boarding. It might be easier to control the board than the skis. Have you been snow skiing before?” he asked Hilton. She shook her head, and he looked back to Landon. “Well, actually though, if you guys wanna ski together, that might be really easy for her. Just use one rope for both of you, and she won’t have to do a lot.”
“All right,” Landon said, grinning at Hilton.
She smiled back, excited. She wasn’t sure exactly how it was going to work, but it sounded fun and like she’d maybe get to stand right up against Landon.
“Let me go once first and so I’ll be warmed up.” Landon stood up and helped his dad uncoil and untangle a long rope hooked to a knob near the back of the boat. Then he sat on the back of the boat and fastened his feet into the big shoe-like things on his skis, then he fell into the water.
Just like that day she’d been out here with Jill and Todd when Landon had wakeboarded, Hilton got a thrill out of watching him on the water. He was so good and it totally turned her on. Today, water-skiing, he seemed more serious and like he was concentrating harder than when he’d boarded, but he was still flashy and show-offy and could do crazy turns where he leaned sideways almost to the water as he twisted through the current behind the boat, sending walls of white water spraying up behind him. She absolutely loved it.
“He’s so good,” she said to his mom. “It’s crazy! I don’t know how anybody does it. I’m gonna fall on my face. Wait, do you fall on your face? Or do you fall backwards?”
His mom laughed. “That’s why I’m sitting right here.”
Landon skied for several minutes without falling, and finally his dad slowed the boat and Landon sank down into the water.
“Ready?” he called up to Hilton with his gorgeous grin when he swam closer to the boat. His wet blond hair sparkled in the sun. “Think you can handle it?”
“I’m ready!” Hilton jumped up from her seat. “Oh my gosh, this is gonna be hilarious. I’m gonna look like a total idiot.” She giggled and took a life jacket Farah was handing her, then stepped to the back of the boat.
“Dad, where’s the other skis?” Landon asked.
His dad stood up to grab a pair from the front of the boat. There were two pairs lying there. “You want Lindy’s?” he called over his shoulder. Landon nodded, and his dad brought them to the back of the boat. Landon swam up and helped Hilton fasten her feet in.
“How are Lindy’s different?” she asked.
“They’re juniors,” Landon laughed. “So they’re just smaller. They’re good skis though; you can do a lot of shit with them.” He grinned. “My dad bought ‘em ‘cause Lindy’s spent like every summer up here since we were little, but I think he was secretly hoping if we bought the smaller ones my mom would try it. Same thing with Lindy’s wakeboard. But my mom’s too smashed by the time we get out to the middle of the lake.” He grinned at his mom.
Hilton laughed. “It took like five minutes to get out here!”
“My mom drinks beer for breakfast. Or wine coolers, I guess. She’s been shhwaaasted since 8:00.”
Farah shook her head at Hilton. “Easy to tell why, huh? They have no clue. If Rick ever thought he’d get me on skis or that board I don’t think he even knows me. We’ve been married how long, and he doesn’t catch on yet that it’s never gonna happen?”
Hilton giggled. She loved Landon’s parents.
“Okay, you’re ready,” Landon said. “Let’s go!” He was grinning like an excited little boy.
Hilton plunged into the water and swam after Landon, who was pulling the rope back out behind the boat. It felt weird and awkward trying to maneuver through the water wearing the skis. She laughed at herself and how silly she probably looked. This was so fun.
When the rope was basically pulled straight out, Landon positioned her so he was behind her and her skis were inside his. She grinned into the water. She was very glad they were doing this together.
“Do I have to do anything special to be able to stand up?”
“Just wait in the water till the boat starts to pull you up. If you try to stand up too fast you won’t make it. Just let the boat pull you and then if you get up just hold on. Once you get up it’s easier. Getting up’s kinda the hard part. If you fall I’ll fall too though, don’t worry. And make sure you keep your arms straight.”
“Oh, okay, no pressure,” Hilton giggled sarcastically. “If I fall you’ll fall.”
“No, no, I mean if you fall, I’ll fall on purpose.”
“Oh, okay.” She giggled again, then tightened her grip on the triangular handle at the end of the rope and waited, having no idea what to expect but savoring the feel of Landon’s body right there behind hers. Suddenly the boat started moving, and she held on even harder as she felt herself start to be pulled forward and up. But before they were even halfway out of the water she tumbled to the side.
Landon was laughing when she surfaced. He had fallen with her, as promised. He splashed her. “Nice one, all star.”
“Shut up!” Hilton laughed. “I’m gonna get it this time!”
She got it on the third try, but she only lasted a couple seconds before she careened sideways into the water.
“I thought it was supposed to be easy once I got up!” she called to Landon, laughing.
“Well, not easy,” he laughed back.
They tried a few more times and managed to stay up for about five minutes on their best attempt. Landon was a good coach and she loved the way he was guiding her, wanting her to like it and be successful at it.
“That was awesome! We did so good!” Hilton cried excitedly when they were in the water after their longest run. She’d fallen on a turn; she was feeling pretty confident now when they went straight.
Landon laughed. “It was pretty good,” he said. “You’re getting better.” He grinned and splashed her. “Wanna try by yourself?”
“I don’t know if I’m ready for that. Are you gonna wakeboard? I kinda wanna try that.”
“Really?” Landon’s eyes lit up l
ike a little boy’s again, and Hilton fell ten times more in love with him than she already was. “Yeah, I’ll board! Do you wanna try it right now, or you want me to go first?”
“You go first.” Hilton giggled. “I think I’m kinda sore. I’ll watch you and pick up some moves. Then I’ll try and I’ll kick your freakin’ ass at it.”
Landon splashed her again, and Hilton laughed and lurched out of the way.
***
The Wednesday before school started, Jill, Hilton, Lorylyn, and Hillary went into the school after their morning practice to pick up their schedules. Hilton drove them around to the front parking lot from the track in her new car, which was actually a used 1995 Sunfire. It was turquoise, and Jill loved it. It reminded her of summer.
“I can’t believe you got your license yesterday!” Jill said as they piled into Hilton’s car.
“I know!” Hilton giggled and turned the key in the ignition. “I love my car!”
As she sped out of the back parking lot and took the side street around to the front of the school, Jill was suddenly more anxious than ever to get her license. She was glad she wasn’t as young as Hillary and Lorylyn, who wouldn’t get theirs until next July. Jill would have hers in just a few months...she’d be able to get it over Christmas break, two days before the new ninety-day law went into effect that would bar new licensees from driving with any passengers except an older relative for the first ninety days after getting their licenses. She was so glad she wouldn’t have to do that!
They parked in front and went into the guidance office, where they were directed by Ms. Lappell, the secretary, to go to their counselors’ offices. BC had eight counselors, two for each class. Mr. Jacobs had the first half of their class alphabetically, which included Hilton and Hillary, and Mrs. Weber had the second half, which included Jill and Lorylyn.
Jill glanced nervously at Lorylyn as they waited for Mrs. Weber to dig their schedules out of the file. So much of her year could be determined right here!
Hilton and Hillary came out of Mr. Jacobs’ office just as Jill and Lorylyn left Mrs. Weber’s, and they all four took their pieces of paper and went out in the hallway. Jill hesitantly looked at hers. Green Day: Advanced English 10, World Geography, Mythology (B Lunch), Algebra II. Gold Day: French I, Chemistry I, Computers (C Lunch), Student Resource Time. That didn’t look too bad. She eagerly tried to look over her friends’ shoulders.
“Yay, we have English together!” she said to Hilton. She hadn’t had any friends in her English class at the beginning of last year, but luckily that’s where she’d met Todd.
“Oh, when do you guys have it?” Lorylyn asked.
“First period green day.”
“Damn! Hill, when do you have it?” Lorylyn peered at Hillary’s schedule. “Oh, sweet, we’re together!”
Jill held her schedule up between Hilton’s and Lorylyn’s. Hillary was on the other side of Lorylyn, and they all tried to compare at once.
“Yay, we all have French together! What are the chances of that?! There’s like so many sections of French I!” Lorylyn cried.
Jill quickly looked to see the SRT room assignments. If she didn’t have anybody good in her SRT, it was going to totally suck. “Hilton, we have SRT together again!”
“Are you serious? That freakin’ rocks!” Hilton held up her hand for a high five. “Oh, good times, Jilly, good times.” Hilton winked.
Jill grinned back at Hilton. Jilly was Todd’s nickname for her, and Hilton had first heard him use it last year in SRT.
“Jill, why are you taking computers?” Lorylyn asked.
Hilton, still grinning, said, “You could also ask her, ‘Who do you like?’ and get the same answer.”
Jill swatted at Hilton, but she couldn’t suppress her smile. “Shut up!” she giggled.
“Oohhhhh,” Lorylyn said with a knowing grin. “Well, you better hope you guys get in the same section! There’s like tons of those.”
When they finished comparing their schedules and left the school a few minutes later, Jill felt pretty good about the upcoming school year. She still had to find out what classes Todd had, but at least she knew she’d have friends in a lot of her classes. She had English with Hilton, Algebra II with Lorylyn, French with all three of the girls, chemistry with Hillary, and SRT with Hilton. She and Hilton had both signed up for mythology and children’s literature, which were mainly junior and senior classes, but they had them opposite semesters. Jill was a little disappointed about that, but she was looking forward to both classes anyway because they sounded like a lot of fun. Her geography and computer classes could both have lots of freshmen in them, but she decided if computers sucked too much and Todd wasn’t in her class, she’d just drop it. She was a little worried because none of the girls were in her lunch on green day, but both Hilton and Lorylyn had her lunch on gold day. Hopefully Todd would be in hers on green day. That would be sooo fun to sit with him at lunch! She wondered if it might actually happen.
***
Jill called Todd as soon as she got home to see if he’d gotten his schedule yet. He said he had basketball conditioning from two to four and was planning to pick it up then. Jill’s afternoon practice ended at four too, so she invited him to come swimming afterwards so they could compare.
She couldn’t believe her luck when she found out they had computers together.
“Oh, sweet. That class’ll be such a blow-off,” Todd said.
Unfortunately, though, they weren’t in the same SRT section this year.
Oh well, though, Jill thought. They’d probably get a lot of time to talk in computers; hopefully they could sit by each other. And hopefully there wouldn’t be anyone else either one of them knew in that class...it’d be so nice if it was just the two of them always talking and hanging out.
She looked at the rest of their schedules. “We have English and chem together too!” she exclaimed. It was even better than last year; she had three classes with him instead of two! And they had lunch together both days! Jill grinned to herself. It should be a great year.
***
Friday was the first football game. It was home, and there was a dance afterwards. Last year there had only been dances after basketball games, but this year they were going to have them after football games too. Landon had told Hilton about it; he was on student council this year because his mom thought he needed something besides sports to put on his résumé for college since his grades weren’t the best. Hilton had already told Jill they should run next year because of all the cool stuff they’d get to do, like plan the dances, and Jill thought it sounded fun. Maybe she could get Todd to run too.
At the dance, Jill was irritated by how cute all the freshman girls looked. They basically stood off by themselves, but some of the older guys were talking about how hot they were. Todd wasn’t at the dance; he never came to dances, and Jill was half glad, because at least if he wasn’t here he couldn’t dance with any freshmen.
She and Hilton and Lorylyn had a fabulous time, as they always did at dances. Hillary sat in the commons with Dirk most of the time, except for on slow dances. Jill was worried about slow dances because of Hilton and Lorylyn and Hillary all having guys, but Bennett asked her to dance on the first slow song. On the second one, she happened to be standing in the cafeteria when the song came on. She saw Landon coming in to find Hilton and looked around awkwardly, hoping maybe Bennett or another guy she knew would ask her.
“Hey, Colby!” Landon called. “Come here!”
Jill didn’t recognize the name and looked to see who it was.
Landon grabbed a kid around the neck and walked him over to Jill. “Hey, Jill, would you do me a favor and dance with Detter for me? He’s on the freshman team, and he’s kinda shy. I’m tryin’ to help him meet some of the girls. Dude, this is Jill. She’s a sophowhore. I’m hookin’ you up, man.”
Jill laughed. She’d never heard the “sophowhore” term before; it was pretty funny. “Dude, shut up, Landon!” she said.
r /> She looked at Detter as she put her arms loosely around his neck. “Hey, I’m Jill.” Which was his first name? she wondered. Detter or Colby?
“Hey,” he said shyly. He was actually really cute, Jill thought. He was tan and had blue eyes and medium-length blond hair that was splayed messily in several different directions. He wasn’t that much taller than Jill, probably only four or five inches, and he seemed really skinny. He looked young, obviously like a freshman, but that was okay. It was somehow part of his attractiveness. And she loved his name, whichever way it went. Colby Detter? Detter Colby? Either way, it had a cool ring to it, and it was unique.
Landon and Hilton talked to Detter/Colby and Jill throughout the song, and Jill was glad, because it meant she didn’t have to try to think of things to say to him.
The next slow dance, nobody asked her to dance right away, so Jill went to the bathroom, acting like that was what she’d intended to do anyway. On the last slow song, Hilton and Landon and Lorylyn and Brady all stayed out in the commons, sitting on the cafeteria tables that had been moved out there to block kids from going into the rest of the school. Jill was glad they’d decided not to go back in, because it gave her people to talk to and she didn’t have to worry about spending the last dance alone.
***
The next night Landon finally had another party. He hadn’t been able to have one earlier, like Hilton had thought he would, because his parents decided to use the cottage both weekends, and Bennett hadn’t had an end-of-summer thing either.
A few freshman boys came, all football players who’d probably been personally invited by Landon. Jill looked for Detter but didn’t see him. That was his first name. She’d asked Hilton at the dance last night. Blake Bishop had brought three of the freshman cheerleaders with her, but other than that, it was the same crowd as always. Jill felt better. Todd hopefully wouldn’t be interested in anyone who was friends with Blake, because they were probably all bitches. So there was really nothing to worry about. Jill hadn’t even noticed him talking to Blake at all at any of the parties this summer, so that was a relief. Hopefully the two of them wouldn’t have any classes together this year. Jill remembered how Todd had said at Landon’s last-day-of-school party that she was a better kisser than Blake, and she grinned to herself.