Over & Out by Melissa J. Morgan

expected her to be the one to give up swimming to hang out with her. It probably wasn’t fair of her to get mad at Alex for not being able to read her mind. But still, they’d been friends for so long. Shouldn’t Alex at least offer to sit with her for a while?
    â€œDone!” Tori said proudly, holding out Jenna’s hands for inspection. Jenna wiggled her toes, too, and Nat nodded in approval.
    â€œA mani and pedi worthy of the best Manhattan salons,” Nat said.
    Jenna admired her sand-colored fingernails and toes, then asked Tori to reach into her beach bag for her. “You’re looking for chocolate,” Jenna said, and when Tori pulled out two candy bars, Jenna nodded to her friends. “I can tip you with a Twix or a Snickers. Your choice.”
    Nat and Tori each took one, and then Tori pulled a pack of Twizzlers and Jenna’s book from the bag for her. “Now,” Jenna said, her tone all business, “if you ladies will excuse me, I have some serious reading to catch up on. And Tori, if you’re not in that water in ten seconds, I’ll throw you in myself.”
    Tori laughed. “I’d like to see that happen,” she said, patting Jenna’s cast.
    â€œGo!” Jenna ordered, pointing to the water, and she could see Tori caving.
    â€œAll right, all right,” Tori said. “But I’ll be back to give you an intensive moisturizing hand treatment in fifteen.”
    Nat wiped her brow and stood up. “I think I’m going to sit on the pier to dip my feet in. Just to cool off.”
    â€œTell me about it,” said Jenna. “Enjoy the water, and don’t worry, the lake’s really not that toxic. You’ll be fine.”
    Nat nodded. “But if anything, and I mean anything , slimy so much as touches my feet, I’m calling it quits.”
    Jenna looked on as Nat and Tori ran to the water, laughing all the way. Jenna sighed and buried her nose in her book. She didn’t want to keep her friends from having fun, so she’d just suck it up and entertain herself for a while. She was reading Little Women, and at the moment she was feeling a special bond with the character Beth, the sickly sister who had to watch from her bed while everyone else roughhoused. Here she was, watching the summer slip away from the sidelines, too. Poor Beth, she thought . Poor me .

    That afternoon, when she should’ve been at her sports elective, Jenna slowly hobbled to ceramics instead. To make things worse, she had to pass the soccer field along the way. There were Alex and Sarah, the two best athletes in 4C, shooting practice balls into the goal like pros.
    â€œHi, Jenna!” Alex shouted, giving her wave. “We’ll miss you out here today.”
    â€œI’ll miss being out there!” Jenna called back. “Score one for me, okay?” She smiled. “Hey! Do you want to walk with me back to the bunks after I’m done at ceramics? Matt just sent me a new bumper sticker I want to show you.”
    Alex got a funny look on her face, then jogged over to Jenna. “I totally want to see the bumper sticker, but Sarah and I got special permission to stay on the field for an extra fifteen minutes for a longer practice. Adam said he might come by to take some more pictures for the newspaper.” She dropped her eyes shyly to the ground. “So I’ll be late for siesta. But maybe after dinner tonight, okay?”
    â€œSure,” Jenna said, her smile drooping at the corners. “See you later.”
    The rest of the way to the ceramics shack, Jenna kept thinking about Alex . . . and Adam. She couldn’t believe that Adam wanted to spend even more time with Alex. And that Alex seemed to want him, too. That was the toughest part for Jenna. Alex had always been as anticrush as Jenna was. But starting last summer and now even more this summer, that had all changed in a very weird way. And Jenna didn’t like it.