The Exception by Brittany Wynne Page A

for a second. It didn’t take long before my mind turned to Jake and our perfect date, and I realized for the first time that neither one of us had bothered to turn the bathroom light on during this entire ordeal. So with just the light from my bedroom creeping in, I sat there with Gabe – with a hint of guilt – as my night replayed through my mind.
    “I really am sorry about tonight, Em,” he spoke softly, pulling me closer.
    “Me too. Let’s never do this again, OK?” I nuzzled myself into his neck – again feeling a twinge of guilt. What? Where was this coming from? Gabe and I were always like this together. So why was I suddenly feeling weird about it?
    “I promise, Em.” Then, as he ran his fingers through my hair he whispered, “Never again.”

Chapter Five
     
    I woke up to my sister sneaking into my room, startling her when I told her good morning.
    “Jeez, Emma. You scared me.”
    “Sorry. What time is it? And why are you sneaking into my room?” I asked groggily.
    “It’s after ten and I was going to borrow your tanning lotion. I didn’t want to wake you up since you got to bed so late.” She raised a brow. “By the way, what time did Gabe end up leaving?” she asked humorously.
    “Oh, shut up, Kenzie!” I threw a pillow at her.
    Even though she is two years younger than me, McKenzie and I are pretty close. She has always known about Gabe sneaking into my room, but I knew she would never tell our parents, who would totally freak.
    She picked up the pillow before climbing onto my bed. “So now that you are awake, how was your date with Jake?” she asked excitedly.
    I told my sister about my date while she looked at me dreamily. “I wish Ryan would realize I’m not a little kid anymore and take me on a date as romantic as that,” she sighed.
    Kenzie has had it bad for Ryan since the day that she met him. And Ryan has always viewed her as the annoying little girl that followed him around. But he is way too sweet to ever let her know that. Instead, he treats her like his own little sister, which drives her crazy. But to an almost eighteen year old, a fifteen year old is a baby.
    “Kenz, a senior is going to see a freshman as a kid.”
    “Really, Emma? Don’t go all big sister on me right now, OK?”
    “OK, Kenz.” I checked my cell for the time. “Why don’t we get our swimsuits on and go lay out? Maya will be here any minute now to do exactly that.”
    “About that, I was going to see if I could borrow one of yours.” she said mischievously.
    “Sure. Just not my new black one,” I countered.
    “Em! That’s so not fair!” she whined.
    “And now I have to wear it so you wont sneak up here and put it on later.”
    “You said you wouldn’t go all big sister on me!”
    “I’m sorry, Kenz, but when I know you want to wear it because you know Ryan is going to be here later, I’m going to go all big sister on you.”
    “Whatever,” she didn’t bother to try to hide her annoyance. “Can I at least wear the yellow one with the cutouts?”
    “Sure. Check the top drawer though. If it’s not there it may me dirty.”
    “Eeeek! You’re the best!” she squealed, checking the top drawer. “It’s here! Meet ya downstairs. Oh and by the way, mom and dad left us money on the table for food today since they wont be back till late. OK, see ya in a sec!”
    All I could do was laugh as she ran to her room to change. We may be sisters, but I swear we are so different. Besides being great at whatever sport she plays, she’s brilliant – like all AP, top of her class brilliant – and has this charisma that seems to draw people to her. I’m good at tennis but challenged at every other sport, and I am not going to end up at an Ivy League school like she is. She’s definitely the queen bee in her circle of friends. She has always been the type to go after what she wants and right now she wants Ryan. This should be interesting.
    As soon as I finished putting my new black swimsuit on,