Page 17 of Finding Her
“Yes, I know you love hockey,” I said. I grabbed my bag and swung it onto my shoulder, even though I knew I couldn’t make a break for it yet. I just wanted to be prepared for when I could. “It’s not that. It’s just, having a girlfriend would be a distraction and?—”
“A good distraction,” she said.
“A very good distraction,” I agreed. “But my dad doesn’t see it that way. So, I just need to?—”
She dove at me again and this time, I wasn’t prepared. She managed to get ahold of the front of my shirt and tugged me towards her, clearly trying to kiss me. So, I did the only thing I could think of.
I grabbed my water bottle and sprayed it straight in her face.
Unfortunately, I didn’t remember that my water bottle was not in fact filled with water but with blue gatorade until it was dripping down her face.
She screeched and wiped it out of her eyes. A tiny piece of me felt guilty, but a bigger party of me was just relieved she let go of my shirt.
“I hate you Levi Barrett!”
And then she ripped open the door to the hallway and ran off. A second later, I saw a flash of blue hair that told me Mia was running after her. She’d probably been waiting outside the room, eavesdropping on us, like she always did at home. I groaned and dropped my head into my hands. I should have known having both Thompson sisters at Hartwell with me was going to be hell.
CHAPTER 12
poppy
I figuredwe would put the plan into action on Monday—or better yet, we would all forget about it by then—but Lilah seemed to have other plans.
Breakfast went for longer on the weekends so we could sleep in, so I didn’t end up going down for food until after ten a.m. on Saturday morning, but Lilah must have been waiting for me there, because she pounced on me the second I sat down. I didn’t even get the chance to take one bite of my food before she appeared and said, “Whatever plans you have today, cancel them.”
I didn’t have any plans but I didn’t want to look like a total loser by saying that to her. Truthfully, I thought I was going to spend the rest of the morning getting my homework out of the way then just wander around campus or watch movies all afternoon.
“Did you have something to do in mind or are you just opposed to me having a life?” I asked. I took a bite of my cereal—fruit loops, which my mom never let me have at home, so I had them every morning here—and looked at her expectantly. I was a little surprised she hadn’t just woken me up this morning to talk about this, instead of waiting for me to roll out of bed onmy own. Not that I was complaining. I’d only spent one morning this week covered in ice water, but it was enough to assure me I never wanted to experience it again.
“Did you bring a bathing suit with you?” She asked, crossing her arms on the table in front of her. She looked a lot more put together than I did, with her hair done and actual clothes on, while I was still dressed in an outfit that was probably only one step up from being pyjamas.
“On me right now? No.” I took another bite of cereal. “At school? Yeah. It’s upstairs.”
Her eyes lit up. “Perfect. We’re going to the beach.”
That actually piqued my interest. Hartwell’s campus had a stretch of the lake running through it, but it wasn’t the kind of spot anyone liked to swim in. To do anything more fun, like swimming or boating, we had to go to the public beach in town, which was a bit of a trek away but always beautiful in the summer weather. We would only have a couple of weeks before it got too cold again, so today was the perfect time to go.
I didn’t realize Lilah meantright this seconduntil I got upstairs twenty minutes later, after finishing my food and calling my sister to say good morning, and found her tapping her foot in our room, looking impatient.
“Relax,” I said, as I grabbed my swim suit and better clothes from my closet. “If we leave now, we’ll still get there early.”
She ignored me as she stared at the bathing suit in my hand with eyebrows raised.
“What?” I asked, glancing down at it as well. I didn’t see anything visibly wrong with it. Certainly nothing that warranted her looking like that. It was just a simple black one-piece. Nothing flashy, sure, but I liked it. And most importantly, it was appropriate to wear at the pool at school,, which was the only place I’d intended on wearing it before Lilah pitched this idea.
“We really need to go shopping,” Lilah said. “Get you some new clothes.”
“My clothes are fine, Lilah,” I said, letting my head fall back. I actually prided myself on my good fashion, so I didn’t see why she took such issues with it.
“Sure they are,” she said, and to her credit, she sounded genuine. “I just think we need to dress you up a little. More seductive.”
“I’m not trying to be seductive,” I said flatly. I knew the only reason she cared was because of this stupid bet to get Bear to ask me out.
“And that’s what I’m trying to fix,” Lilah said. “Now hurry up and get dressed. I’ll text Saylor and let her know we’re leaving soon.”
I perked up a little at the mention of Saylor coming too. As much as I was starting to enjoy having Lilah as a roommate, I did still miss Saylor. I missed hanging out with her all the time—even if she was living her best life with a single room now and probably not missing me in the slightest.
Once I got changed, I went to grab my sunglasses. Lilah practically chucked the case at my head, then shoved a packed beach bag into my arms. I looked at her quizzically.
