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Excerpt
I lay back and closed my eyes to relax. No more than ten seconds had passed when a light
tap on my shoulder startled me. I froze. Here he was. Tate. It had to be. Loud caterpillars crawled
in my stomach—tickling. Everyone on the beach had to have heard them.
“Excuse me, is anyone sitting here?” The squeaky voice pitched out…odd. Is this coming
from a duck or a kid entering puberty?
My heart tumbled to my feet. I squinted up into the bright sunlight, holding my hand
above my eyes to shade my view, and stared up at a curly headed guy that would have to scrunch
down to keep from disturbing the clouds he was so tall. He clutched a weathered beach chair in
his left hand; a yellowed towel, full of frayed holes, draped over his shoulder. Black, plastic-
framed glasses held together in the middle with white masking tape sat on a giant nose, and his
face was long and pitted. Humongous, white high-top sneakers with white socks pulled up to his
knees glared back at me when I looked down.
He surprised me, and I blurted my answer out too fast. “No...go ahead, have a seat.” I
couldn’t think fast enough to tell him that this spot was for someone else, and besides that,
hurting people’s feelings wasn’t in my DNA.
“Why, thank you. Brian Tarris is the name.” His voice squeaked again, and he held out a
large, dry hand—skin flaking. “I noticed you looked lonely and could use a friend. I’m all by
myself, too.” He sat down in his chair and untied his shoes, pulling his socks off with them. The
odor drifted from his pasty, mammoth-size feet, and he wiggled big, hairy toes at me.
I feebly shook his sweaty hand. “Sophia Bandell. My friend’s usually here with me, but
had some errands to run.” I covered my mouth, sickened by the smell, and fought back a snicker
when he used his pointer finger to push his glasses back up on his nose.
His eyes squinted. “Girl, or boyfriend?”
I hesitated, wrestling with the urge to spew out the word boyfriend. It bounced on the tip
of my tongue, primed and ready to fling itself airborne. “Girl…Mandy Stuart’s her name.”
He held up his foot and wiggled his calloused, peeling toes. “Oh, good, I didn’t want to
be stepping on any toes.” A funky laugh consisting of a bunch of snorts blowing through his nose
flew in my face. “So, are you new to these parts? Do you live around here? Are you in college?”
“I’m a senior in high school in Montana, and I’m staying with Mandy for the summer.”
“Good, we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other, then, if you’re here for the whole
summer.”
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