Page 1 of Knot Forgotten

Prologue

Prologue - 5 years ago Erin

Stupid girl emotions. My stomach does that flipping feeling again just as Blake brushes past me on the trail.

Gah. For the millionth time this summer, I remind myself, Erin Quinn Renee Walter is not attracted to these boys.

With a laugh and a loud whoop that scares the birds from the tree limbs above, he yells out, “Last one to the falls buys snacks!” Then he spins around on his heels and bounds down the path.

Riley laughs, having read Blake’s lips, signing, ‘You heard him,’ with a flurry of his fingers. Movements faster than anyone but us, his closest friends, can understand. Then he sprints after Blake, his dirty blond locks bouncing on his head as he goes. Matt cheers and, without a word, follows behind them. His curls spring around his tanned face in a way I know he hates, but it never fails to make me smile.

Cameron bumps my shoulder playfully and butterflies explode in my stomach. He smiles down at me as I tuck a strand of curly hair behind my ear, attempting not to blush, but I can feel my cheeks heat under his bright attention.

“What do you think, Rin? Can you beat me?”

“You know I can, Cam,” I say with a laugh.

Without waiting for him to take off, my feet pound the ground, and I’m hoping it leaves the unexplainable emotions as well as Cam in my dust. I’m panting, red, and laughing wildly as I reach the clearing. Blake, Matt, and Riley lounge on the large boulder next to the water, each of them pretending they didn’t just arrive.

Blake looks down at his fingernails, before brushing them against his chest like he’s shining them.

“Took you long enough, Rinny. Did you crawl?”

Riley spreads the fingers on his right-hand out, palm down, and runs his other fingers slowly up his hand. ‘Slow,’ in American Sign Language, paired with his facial expression, says he is agreeing with Blake.

Matt is already kicking off his shoes, basically ignoring the others' teasing in favor of getting into the water faster.

I stick my tongue out at both of them as Cam comes to a stop next to me. He’s huffing and out of breath, and a tinge of concern fills me.

“Did you remember your inhaler?”

He nods, making a face as he tugs it out of his pocket and takes two puffs.

“You guys suck,” he says as he caps it. “You only picked a race because I just got my chore money.”

Blake shrugs with a grin and pops off of the rock. Then he freezes the air in my lungs as he tugs his shirt over his head, revealing his deeply tanned olive skin. His silky soft hair flops over his forehead as he drops his shirt to the boulder. His shoes follow as he kicks them off.

“Nah, I just like to see Rinny run.” He gives me a wink with his almond-shaped eyes that make the remaining butterflies in my stomach beat themselves against my throat in a bid for freedom.

Cam pats my shoulder as he passes. “Pick your chin up, Rin, you’re drooling.”

I snap my mouth shut as a shiver works up my arms and down my spine. I hug my middle as Riley strips out of his shirt and shoes, and then, one by one, they all jump into the water. Cam faces me, tilting his head in my direction.

As the others' laughter and play wash over me, I meet Cam’s soft sky-blue eyes. He lifts an eyebrow, almost in challenge, before following our friends into the water. The only one being weird here is me. They are my best friends, and my newly found crush on them is stupid. I shake myself out of it and slip out of my shorts and top. Setting my shoes next to their haphazardly placed ones, I take a running jump off the boulder.

When I surface, Blake wraps his arms around me and tosses me at Matt, who catches me easily. I squeal as Matt lifts me halfway out of the water. He laughs. Cameron steals me away, tugging my back into his front, before securing his arms around me and swimming deeper. Riley follows us. I sputter out a gasped laugh as water goes into my nose.

“Riley,” I call out, reaching for him.

He grins, his perfectly straight teeth shining back at me. He shakes his head, and I know he is playing, too. The waterfall pounds against us as Cam pulls me beneath it and then behind it. The sound of the world is blocked out in the tiny cavern hidden behind the water, and it is warmer here. It might be my overactive imagination, but Cam’s palms, as they brush my stomach and against the sides of my breast as I win my freedom, don't feel platonic.

I flush, dunking beneath the water as Riley joins us in the small pool of water behind the waterfall. When I emerge from the shallow depths, Blake and Matt join us. We each have a part to play in our friendship. Blake is overconfident and loud. Matt, more than willing to play the jokester. Riley is cheerful and kind. And Cam, quiet and intense.

Each of them makes my heart pitter-patter and my stomach do somersaults, not that I’d tell any of them that. I’d never live it down.

Lightning bugs flash in the growing darkness, and we quicken our pace. We missed dinner already; too preoccupied with swimming. Matt, Riley, and Blake peel off as we reach the fork in the trail.

“See you at school tomorrow,” I murmur. Three groans fill the forest, scaring away any remaining wildlife. I laugh. “Summer can't last forever.”