He's With Me by Tamara Summers Page B

president of the United States.” “Hold on, let me get Sally.”
    “Lexie!” Sally cried as she picked up. “I’m so glad you called! I was just
    freaking out because I have no idea what to wear tomorrow.”
    “Really?” Lexie said, her nervousness evaporating. “That’s why I called
    you!”
    “Oh, awesome ,” Sally said. “Okay. Describe every single item of clothing
    you own, and then I’ll do the same, and then we’ll pick outfits that will look good
    next to each other but won’t look like they deliberately match, and then we’ll
    panic and pick backup outfits, and then we’ll change them around, and then we’ll
    throw out the whole plan and start over.”
    Lexie laughed. “All right, you asked for it,” she said. “But I own a lot of
    clothes. My mom loves shopping.”
    “You’re lucky,” Sally said. “Mine will never take me. And you guys have
    great malls around here; in my old town there was, like, one, and it was a whole
    hour away. I could spend my life in a mall, couldn’t you?”
    “Um,” Lexie said. “Well...”
    “We’ll go together sometime,” Sally said. “I’ll bet it’s a lot more fun with
    someone who doesn’t always answer the question ‘Does this make me look fat?’
    with ‘Actually, your fat makes you look fat.’ I think Bree got that from a movie, but she thinks it’s so funny.”
    “That is crazy,” Lexie said, feeling a lot braver now that Bree wasn’t there to
    hear her. “Sally, you don’t need to lose weight. You’re way thinner than I am.”
    “Yeah, but you’re cute like that,” Sally said. “You have curves. My extra
    weight just makes me look thicker instead of curvier.”
    “Sally, seriously,” Lexie said. “That is crazy talk.”
    “Well, start with your tops,” Sally said, changing the subject. “Do you have
    anything red?”
    “Sure,” Lexie said, and Sally laughed.
    “I’m kidding, Lexie,” she said. “You wear red, like, every day.”
    “I do?”
    “I’m surprised your bathing suit isn’t red,” Sally said.
    “Maybe if I ever get a second one,” Lexie said. “But I like the one I have.”
    “Doesn’t it get boring wearing the same one every day?” Sally had three
    that she’d been cycling between, two tankinis and a one-piece.
    “No – I mean, I like it,” Lexie said.
    “That’s the important thing,” Sally said. “So, tops. How about green for a
    change?”
    Finally, an hour later, they had decided that Lexie would wear a gray shirt
    and a black skirt with sandals that were comfortable enough to walk a few blocks
    in, while Sally would wear a sky-blue sundress.
    Lexie fell asleep feeling much happier, even though she was still mad at
    Colin for being so unhelpful.
    The next morning, as she was detaching her tennis racket from her bike,
    Jake suddenly grabbed her hand.
    “Are you excited for our date tonight, Lexie?” he said, a little bit too loudly.
    “Shh,” Lexie said, glancing around for Bree. But the only person she saw
    was Riley, strolling across the parking lot a few feet away from them. He gave her
    a wave-salute and headed in through the gates.
    “Is is a secret from Riley, too?” Jake said, still holding on to her hand.
    “No,” she said. “I was just making sure Bree wasn’t around. Ironic, right? I
    mean, we’re going on this date to prove that we’re dating, but we’re keeping it a
    secret from the person we’re proving it to. Who know deception could be so
    complicated?”
    “It is funny,” he said. “So are you? Excited?”
    How was she supposed to answer this? “Are you?” she asked.
    “I asked you first.” He smiled, but there was a small dent about one of his
    eyebrows that he got only when he was worried.
    “Sure I am,” she said. “Don’t worry about it, Jake; we’ll have fun.”
    “It’s just, this is the part where my last three girlfriends...okay, my only
    three girlfriends...usually started to get mad at me,” Jake said. “Like, because I’m
    not