Catherine White Cupcake Girl (epub)

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.She’d pulled her long dark hair back in its usual ponytail, but a small cluster of curls hung loose near one ear.Her violet-blue eyes, defined eyebrows, and long lashes always get to me.When we were kids she complained that her eyelashes were too long, since they would brush against the inside of her swim goggles.I could seriously look at her eyes all day, but I hopefully looked away before she noticed I was staring at her.“Here, do you want me to do your back?” she asked, walking over with a handful of sunscreen.“Come on, you know I never burn.” It was true—the longer summer wore on, the darker my skin got and the blonder my hair became.My mom liked to call me the “ultimate sandy blond,” since she could usually find grains of lake sand in my hair, no matter how many showers I took.“I know—it’s totally unfair, but you still have to do it,” Lexie said as she started to rub the cold lotion across my shoulders, causing a shiver that had nothing to do with the cold.I was hoping she’d let me do her shoulders too, but she kept her swim shirt and shorts on over her suit.Tan or no tan, we knew better than to mess with the scorching New Mexico sun.“My dad rented out all the jet skis this morning—even all the WaveRunners are gone—but I was thinking we could take—”I didn’t finish my sentence before Lexie spotted the kayak I’d dragged to the shore and exclaimed, “Bob! Wow, it’s been so long! I mean, I don’t think we’ve taken him out since, what, the summer we got our jet-ski licenses? Do you think we will both still fit?”“I don’t really know,” I teased.“It can only carry 350 pounds, and I hit around 145 last week, so it might be a little close.”“Hey, I’m not the one who ate two hamburgers, a hotdog, half a bag of Doritos, and four cookies last night, Mr.Carb-a- load!” Lexie had stayed for dinner the previous night since her mom had worked the late shift.“I was hungry! And no more junk food starting on Monday, anyhow—I gotta get ready for cross-country.”“Yeah, from here on out it’s just quinoa and kale for both of us.You better enjoy those cookies while you can get them.” Lexie laughed.“I know.’ I sighed.“And you know I wouldn’t break the cardinal guy rule and tease you about your weight unless you could afford to eat two dozen cookies.” She flushed a little and I continued, “Come on, we will totally still fit.”Bob technically only had one seat, but Lexie and I took turns perching on the hull of the kayak while the other person paddled.“It’s weird, but I’m so excited!” she gushed.“Just seeing Bob brings back so many memories.”“No kidding,” I agreed.My family bought the Hobie kayak when I was about eleven, and at the time I thought Bob was the coolest boat on the planet.To two eleven-year old kids, the kayak represented absolute freedom.Unlike a typical kayak that only moves when you paddle, Bob was equipped with a mast and a sail.“I think we’re going to get some sailing in today,” I said to Lexie, “’cause do you feel that breeze? It’s perfect.”“And hey, ‘I sail; I sail.I mean, the boat does most of the work, but I sail,’” she quoted.“Oh, you beat me to it!” I complained with a laugh.Whenever we sailed, we shared an ongoing joke about who would be the first to quote the crazy character from the old movie What About Bob? I know that boats are always supposed to be female, but this kayak was definitely Bob in honor of Bill Murray.Lexie and I clipped into our life jackets, slid Bob out into the water, and waded in after him.“Why don’t you take the first shift in the captain’s seat?” she said.“Sounds good, but with this wind, I doubt we’ll have to do much paddling.” I steadied the kayak so she could sit on the hull.It turned out I was right about not having to paddle, since the wind really did all the work.It must have been blowing between ten and fifteen miles an hour, and before we knew it we’d zipped across the lake and into the northern inlet behind Kettle Rock.The water levels had dropped that summer, revealing a good-sized cave we’d never explored on the rocky shore of a protected little cove.Lexie and I dragged the kayak onto the rugged coastline where we ate lunch and polished off the cookies from the night before.We spent about an hour climbing the rocks in and around the cave, then swam in the shallow water nearby.When we finally put Bob back in the water and set the sail to return to the marina, I saw clouds passing over the sun, and felt a light rain.I didn’t think much of it and was glad at first for the relief from the heat.But as we paddled into the open, I noticed the large banks of dark clouds edging over three sides of the lake.Not just ordinary dark clouds, but fat, angry clouds that billowed and grew.The wind that made such great sailing suddenly stilled, and the light rain stopped.We debated about whether this was the calm before the storm.“What do you think?” She looked into the blackening sky.“I say we’re not even going to make it back to shore, let alone to the marina, before this storm hits.”I’m not usually one to freak out about the weather, but there was something unnatural about the penetrating stillness, and I knew she was right.I practically yelled, “We gotta get outta here, now!”At that moment the three massive banks of clouds collided, ripping the sky apart with lightning and sending a flood of rain.The wind snapped the sails, and the previously placid water churned and rolled in savage waves, pounding against our tiny boat.Rain pelted into my eyes and blew so hard into my mouth that I could hardly breathe, let alone see more than a few feet in front of me.But luckily, I did see Lexie.She looked back at me and smiled, really smiled.Her soaked ponytail lifted in the wind and slashed across her face as she gave me an adventurous grin.“You’re not worried about a little rain, are you, Max?” she called, blinking into the downpour.“Are you kidding? We won’t let this gentle sprinkle get in our way,” I shouted into the blinding spray.“Besides, we’ve only got to paddle into the headwind for about what—two miles? No problem, right?”“Piece of cake!” Lexie called.She gasped as a huge wave crashed over her, but then whooped like we were on the log ride at Splash Mountain instead of fighting through a tempest in the middle of the lake.Her smile gave me courage, though I hoped she couldn’t tell how bad my teeth were chattering [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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