laughing loudly. Marcel was swimming laps. He
couldn't possibly hear anything the girls were saying, but that didn't stop
them from trying to get his attention.
"Oh, what a beautiful pool," Brittany was saying.
She turned from side to side, obviously hoping Marcel would look up and see
what a great figure she had.
Beth slipped quietly into the pool. She felt self-conscious
that her own body wasn't that great, especially compared with the older girls'.
The pool wasn't crowded. In fact there were only three other
people swimming, all older guests at Stony Lookout.
Marcel finished his laps and rested for a few minutes,
hanging on to the opposite side of the pool. Of course, Brittany noticed right
away.
"I'll race you girls to the end and back," she
called.
"You're on!" cried Julie.
The girls took a racing stance at the edge of the pool.
"On your mark, get set, GO!" Brittany screamed.
They dove into the pool and began their race as Marcel
watched.
How could Marcel possibly be interested in those girls? Beth
wandered. They all act like lunatics around him.
Beth watched the race from the shallow end. Brittany was a
strong swimmer, but Sarah was much faster. Julie lagged about a half-lap behind
Brittany.
Sarah reached the end of the pool first and came up
laughing. Brittany reached the edge next, and finally Julie.
"Wow," Brittany said to Sarah. "You're really
good."
Julie laughed. "Sarah was state freestyle champ when
she was fifteen."
Brittany rolled her eyes and groaned. "And you call
that a fair race?" She splashed Sarah, who splashed her hack. In a few
seconds the three girls were all splashing each other, whooping loudly and
stealing glances at Marcel.
Beth watched Marcel pull himself up on the edge of the pool
and stride to the diving board at one end.
"All right, Marcel!" Brittany shouted. "Let's
see if you're as good at diving as you are at skiing."
Marcel smiled and stepped up onto the board. He paused, then
made his approach to the end of the board, bounced twice, and did a perfect
jackknife dive. Beth was impressed. Marcel could dive, too.
The three girls went crazy, applauding and cheering his
performance. Marcel swam under water and came up near Brittany.
"That was beautiful!" Brittany gushed.
"Merci," Marcel said, nodding to the girls.
"Do you dive, mademoiselle?" he asked Sarah.
"Not really," she said, beaming at his attention.
"You swim very well," he told her.
"Thank you!" said Sarah.
"Well I'll see all of you on ze slopes tomorrow,"
said Marcel.
"You bet!" said Brittany. "We wouldn't miss
it for anything."
"Au revoir," Marcel said, and swam to the
shallow end of the pool. He pushed himself up on the edge, and hopped out of
the water. Then he walked toward the door, passing Beth along the way.
"See you tomorrow, Beth," he said.
"Uh, yes!" Beth answered, pleased that he knew her
name. "See you tomorrow, Marcel!"
As soon as he had gone, Brittany swam toward her. She stopped
a couple of inches from Beth, treading water, and glared at her. "Don't
get a big head, little sister. He knew your name because of that ridiculous bit
of skiing this morning. Everyone was calling your name, remember?"
Beth looked away and didn't answer.
"No one could forget someone who skis under storage
sheds," Brittany remarked to the others.
"Brittany," Julie chided gently, "leave the
kid alone."
"Yeah, I suppose I should leave the kid alone."
Brittany swam a little distance away. "Come on. Let's swim some
laps."
"Let's go!" shouted Julie.
Beth watched the reflection of the overhead lights on the
surface of the water. They bobbed and shimmered and bounced in the waves. She
didn't care how Marcel had come to know her name. And she certainly didn't care
that Brittany would laugh her head off if she knew that Beth had a secret crush
on Marcel. So what if he was a lot older than she was? She could dream,
couldn't she? After all, she would probably never see him again after this
week. He had called her "Beth"
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