Page 76 of Sporty Girls Don't Fall For Loners

“Nah, just a small souvenir to remember this place. Mia will have tons of fun here. She loves gift shops.”

“Sorry you’re not in their group,” he says as he browses through some keychains. “You’d have lots of fun with them.”

I stop shuffling through puzzles. “I’m having a great time with you.”

He raises his eyes to me. “I’m having a great time with you, too.”

“You’d better,” I joke. “Because I’m a lot of fun to be around. Nah, not really.”

“Of course you are.” He holds out a keychain with a man and woman dressed in the old clothes and the background and logo of Historic Edenbury. “Cool?”

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool. I’m trying to find something for my brother. I doubt they have sharks here.”

“Probably not. But what about one of these?” He points out keychains with people’s names, along with the words “Historic Edenbury” written. “What’s his name?”

“Brock. But I’m sure you won’t find his name there. It never is because it’s not a very popular name.”

“Brock, Brock,” he mutters as he looks through the names. “No Brock. But I did find a Zoe without a ‘y.’”

“Lame.”

“No Kade, either. No surprise there.”

We examine the rest of the shop, but it isn’t very big. In the end, I choose a T-shirt for myself with a photo and logo of Historic Edenbury, and I buy a book and a puzzle for Brock. The book talks about the history of Edenbury, which I think he’ll like, and the puzzle is a 3D model of the well. Maybe I’ll complete it before I give it to him because I think the well is awesome. Kade chooses a T-shirt, too, and also a figurine of the historic town.

“We should probably head back,” I say.

He nods and we make our way back to the bus.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Zoey

Once everyone is on the bus and Mr. Ortiz takes attendance, we drive the short distance to the nearby apple orchard. When we get there, I don’t see the other buses. They must have left already. Too bad—it would have been nice to see my friends.

“Everyone will receive an apple bag when you get off the bus,” Mr. Ortiz announces. “Remember to stick with the buddy system. We’ll meet back here in an hour.”

Again, everyone files out of the bus and stands in line with our buddies. After we each receive a bag, we head into the orchard. There are so many different varieties of apples, spanning the entire length of the orchard that seems to go on for miles. We’re allowed to freely walk around the area and gather as many apples that can fit into our bags. We’re also given an apple picker for the hard-to-reach apples. Or, in my case, for the shorties who won’t be able to reach most of them without it.

Many kids gather in small groups and start their apple-picking journey. I play with the bag in my hands, my eyes slowly trekking to Kade. His eyes slowly move to mine, too.

“So…apple picking, huh?” I say with a light laugh. “I’ve never done this before and have no idea which to choose.” I study the map they provided us. All the kinds of apples and their locations are listed.

“Me, either. Maybe a few of each kind?”

“Sounds good.”

Clutching our bags and our apple pickers, we enter the orchard and start making our way through the rows and rows of trees. The ones at the start of the orchard are all bare, since these were probably picked by people who’ve visited here before. I don’t really like green or yellow apples, so Kade and I venture to where the red varieties are. We pass a few of our classmates who are reaching all the way toward the sky to pick the apples at the top of the trees.

“There are probably more further down,” I tell Kade.

After walking for a bit, we finally come across a tree which I think is fuji? It doesn’t really matter because as long as it’s red, it’s good. Thankfully, I can reach a few of the lower apples and drop them into my bag. Kade picks off the ones further up.

“This is fun,” I say as I pluck another one off and hold it up, smiling at how pretty it is. “Fresh and perfect.”

“Nice.” He holds up his apple and smiles, too. “Mine looks delicious.” It’s tempting to bite into it, but they told us we need to wash our apples before we eat them, just to be safe.

“Do you think you could work in an orchard like this?” I ask as I walk around to look for a low-hanging apple. “Spend days here under the sun and shade picking apples?”

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