Next Summer by Hailey Abbott

Author:Hailey Abbott
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fiction
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

18

Beth had tried everything—sensory deprivation, reverse psychology, excessive exercising, anything to get her to stop thinking about Adam that way. But none of it worked. She was so exhausted from it that she just wanted to raise a white flag and admit defeat. Beth looked over at Adam one afternoon and the little voice sounded in her head, saying, Just surrender.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. He’d turned his head quicker than she’d thought he might, and caught her gawking at him.

“Nothing’s wrong!” Beth said abruptly. She smiled, embarrassed, and hoped the heat she could feel creeping along her jaw didn’t actually show.

They were spending another one of Adam’s lunch hours sitting up on their favorite rock overlooking the beach. Beth let her feet drum against the stone beneath her. She wished everything could be as simple as when she was staring blankly out at the sea of water that stretched all the way to the horizon and then beyond.

“I’ve called Kelsi a couple of times, but I haven’t heard back,” Adam said. “Did she go on that road trip already?”

That pulsing in my heart means nothing, Beth told herself.

“Not yet,” she replied nonchalantly. “I was supposed to go with them, but it turns out I can’t.”

Because George is supposed to come that weekend, she thought. My fabulous boyfriend, George.

Adam looked at her for a moment, but didn’t say anything.

The silence loomed over them for a while, and Beth did everything she could not to stare at Adam. She was hyper-aware of him beside her. His skin was still damp despite the streaming sunshine. He smelled like a heady mix of coconut suntan lotion and salt water. She knew that if she smiled at him, he would smile back and his eyes would light up in a way that never failed to turn her to mush. But there was nothing wrong with yearning, was there? It was action that got you into trouble.

“I really like Kelsi,” Adam said suddenly, putting his sandwich down and brushing the crumbs from his hands. The queasy, jealous feeling Beth was becoming familiar with snaked around her abdomen and pulled tight.

“Kelsi’s great,” Beth said staunchly. She had no right to say anything else. She had no right to feel that sharp pang.

“You Tuttle ladies are all very cool,” Adam was saying. He turned his head and their eyes met. Beth found she was holding her breath.

“It’s like a family thing,” she managed to say, hoping that didn’t sound as stupid as she thought it did.

“Here’s the real thing,” Adam said, ignoring her attempt at humor. He was still looking at Beth in that intense way.

And she knew, somehow, that she had to make sure he didn’t say whatever he was about to say. But she didn’t do anything that might distract him. In fact, Beth did the exact opposite.

“Here’s what thing?” she asked, and she could hear how breathy she sounded. This is terrible, she thought. You have to stop this.

But Beth was frozen there on the rock with sand between her toes, her hair blowing slightly in the wind.

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