I shake her arm off me because it corroborates her statement. “Yeah, I can feel it.”
She puts her hand on her chest and haughtily sticks her chin in the air. “The sacrifices I make for fashion.” She hooks both hands on the waistband of her leather shorts and says to me, “If you’re planning on walking down the cliff you better get going, because I’m jumping, and if you’re still here by the time I’m undressed, you’re coming with.”
I know she doesn’t mean it, but I waste no time whipping off my sundress, shoving it and my purse at Emi, grabbing Jay’s hand, and hauling ass out of there. Emi’s laughter follows us as Jay allows me to pull him to the path I saw other people coming from, and my own smile answers. It’s just so much fun being here, with Emi, with Jay, with everyone else. Who’d have thought the miserable way I started the day would morph into this? Emi is so much fun, and I’ve missed hanging around with her and goofing off and taking a break from the real world. I’ve missedher.
When we finally get to the bottom, I slip off my flip-flops and splash into the water with Jay. It’s slightly too cold to be refreshing, but we adjust in no time, swimming over to the other people already in the water.
From down here, the edge of the cliff where everyone jumps from looks monstrous, and even though I’m at the bottom, looking up and thinking about the distance makes me want to puke up my spaghetti dinner.
As I’m looking up, focusing on taking deep breaths so Jay doesn’t get a meatball surprise, Emi’s head pops into view from the top.
“Carina!” she calls, her voice traveling down on the wind. “Are you ready for this?”
“No!” I call up, but it’s too late. Emi’s head is gone, replaced with her full body being catapulted off the edge and going airborne.
I hold my breath and forget to tread water as Emi, clad only in her bra and cheeky black underwear, soars through the air, screaming the whole time.
She splashes into the water a safe distance away from where the rest of us are swimming, and I count five whole Mississippis until a flash of purple hair cuts through the surface of the water, followed by the rest of Emi.
“You can breathe now, Princess,” a voice says in my ear, and my lungs listen, taking a big gulp of air. The world around me resumes, and people are cheering, though I have no idea when they started. Jay’s behind me, and his arms are wrapped around me, holding me up in the water.
“You know,” he continues, “I thought you watching people jump from the top was dangerous, because you kept kneeling over the edge to see them land, but I think it’s actually more dangerous for you to watch them from here. Did you know you actually stopped treading water that whole time? You’re a drowning hazard.”
He’s joking, but if he wasn’t holding me up, I’m not sure I’d have noticed I wasn’t swimming until I was swallowing mouthfuls of water.
“It’s not my fault!” I defend myself, treading water on my own again. Jay’s grip loosens, but he doesn’t release me, and I turn so I’m facing him.
I’m in his arms, basically semi-naked, pressed up against his bare and very delicious-looking chest. As I imagined before, there are indeed rivulets of water running down the crevices of his sculpted chest muscles, and it’s just as glorious as I thought it would be. For a moment, I picture myself licking the path they left, but then I force my gaze to his amused eyes.
As steadily as I can, I say, “Jumping off a cliff that height, or any height, should not be allowed! You guys are outrageous.”
He must know where my mind went, because a mischievous look passes over his face. He pulls me closer to him, and I wrap my legs around his waist. He effortlessly treads water for the two of us. “Outrageous isn’t the worst thing you’ve ever called me,” he says, his eyes trained on my lips. “Though, I can think of some other adjectives you can call me.”
He lowers his head, and just when his lips skim mine, a splash of cold water forces us apart.
“So, Jay,” Emi says, a shit-eating grin on her face like she can’t contain her own amusement, “what are your intentions toward my best friend Carina?”
I groan and splash her, retribution for when she did it first. “Don’t make it awkward, Emi.”
Caleb swims over to us. He must have jumped after Emi when Jay was distracting me. “Is this the best friend interrogation?” he asks with a roguish smile. “Carina, before I get to it, I just have to ask . . . are yousureyou want to be with Jalen? Do you even know just howannoyinghe really is—”
Jay cuts him off with a playful tackle, and they splash around in the water. I laugh with Emi as more people join us. I lose track of how much time passes, enjoying the sun, water, and everyone’s company. I forget all about school and Kalani and the dates and the stuff everyone’s saying about me and my status as Pukey McBarfface, the loser who pays people to date me. Before I know it, the sun is starting to set, and we climb out and hike back up to dry off before it completely disappears in the horizon.
At the top, most people, including Ralph, Maddie, and Jasmine, who never came in the water, have already cleared out for the night, since itisa Tuesday. I find my sundress and slip it on, not bothering to look at my phone in my purse for any notifications. It’s been such a great day, and I don’t want to ruin it with a reality check.
Unfortunately, a guy walking back to his car with his friends doesn’t get the memo. He stops when he notices me braiding back my wet hair, his brow furrowing like he’s trying to place me from somewhere.
“Hey, wait, aren’t you Pukey from Oakwoods?” he asks, tone genuinely curious instead of taunting.
“What thefuck, Nolan?” Jay growls, taking a threatening step toward him.
Nolan retreats, hands raised by his sides in an innocent gesture. “Chill out, just asking. Ralph said this chick Kalani sent him a video of you puking out the window of this gorgeous blue BMW. Have you seen it?”
“Wait,what?” I ask, processing his words.
“Yeah, you haven’t seen the video?” Nolan asks, presumably feeling less threatened by Jay now because he joins us and pulls out his phone. “Want me to show you?”
I hold out an arm to stop him. “No. Not that. Did you sayKalanisent it to Ralph?”