Waterfell

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Lo is trouble. I can feel it in the way my pulse races at the mere presence of him, the way my breath takes on a shaky cadence. I have to pull it together and end this growing infatuation, which is all it really is—a crush.

I take a deep breath. “Look, I know I said I’d go with you to the Crab Shack, but I can’t. It’s...complicated.” Complicated is beginning to define my life.

Lo shoots me a look, as if he can see right through me. “What are you afraid of?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” I say.

“Yes, you do.” My answering flush is immediate. I hate the way he can see right through my bluster. It’s a perceptiveness I usually see in Jenna, and while it’s a cool trait with her, it’s maddening with him. I take a deep breath.

“Lo,” I say. “I don’t want to play any games with you. I mean, I’m not interested in dating anyone. I can’t.”

“Why?”

His quiet directness is disconcerting. “Because I have too many things going on—school, hockey, family—to get involved with anyone.” I’m aware that my reasoning is flimsy but I can’t seem to put two coherent thoughts together when he’s staring at me with that knowing look in his eyes.

“Nerissa—” the delicious way he says my name sends a shiver through my entire body from tip to toe “—I like you. You’re interesting. I want to get to know you. And I want to know the real reason that you don’t like me.”

“I don’t,” I blurt out, ignoring the fact that he just admitted he liked me. “I mean, I do like you fine as a person.” I like you too much, that’s the problem.

Once more, I’m struck by how different he is from other boys. No boy I know at Dover, or any other school, would flat-out up and admit they liked a girl, or lay out perfectly logical reasons on why they should get to know each other. His quiet self-assurance throws me.

“So what’s the problem, then? For us to hang out? As friends.”

“Cara thinks you have enough friends.” I don’t even know where the words come from, but they’re out of my mouth before I can stop them. Lo’s expression doesn’t change but I can see the slow lightening in his eyes. It’s worse than an actual smile.

“She’s just someone who befriended the new guy.”

The way he says it makes me feel awful, like I’m some sort of pariah who thinks she’s too good for everyone else. Maybe I used to be like that, but I’m not anymore, and certainly nothing like Cara, who has her own hidden agendas. But it’s the opening I need. So even though my body feels otherwise, I stand, grabbing my board and bag.

“Good. Then you don’t need me,” I say softly. Lo’s reaction takes me by surprise. This time, he smiles and lounges back on his elbows, stretching his sand-crusted legs out in front of him. I frown, recognizing his grin as the same one from earlier when we’d been competing for the wave. “That’s not a challenge, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Okay.”

“Okay, what?” I say, exasperated.

“Not a challenge, I get it,” he says, and nods over my shoulder. “Here comes your warden.”

I glance down the beach to see Speio walking toward us from the water with the familiar stormy expression on his face. But instead of being angry, this time I’m grateful for the interruption.

“Catch you later,” I say to Lo, and walk toward Speio.

“Definitely,” Lo says.

The single parting word curls around me like velvet, leaving me in little doubt of his intentions.

6

WARFARE

“Terrific game, Fighters!”

The metal bleachers around the field are packed and full of screaming supporters. We just took down the number-three seeded girls’ hockey team in Southern California and are now in the finals. Although my head wasn’t completely in the game, I’d used the field as a way to get rid of some much needed aggression. I’d played better than I’d hoped, scoring two out of the four goals. Jenna shot the winning goal in the final six seconds of the game.

As usual, Speio was sitting in the stands with a huge scowl on his face—and was the only one scowling when I scored my goals. He still thinks I’m wasting my time playing hockey, but there’s no way I will give up on my team, not after walking away from everything else. They need me. In any case, Lo’s enthusiastic cheering made up for Speio’s complete lack of school spirit. Not that I noticed, of course. I found it interesting that he showed up for the game.

Again, not that I cared. Much.

“You were on fire today, Riss!” Jenna screeches in my ear as we join our teammates walking back to the locker room.

“Says the girl who brought the fire,” I yell back, grinning. “You cleared, like, half the field in three seconds for that last goal. Just brilliant!”

“Thanks!”

We dump our gear and head for our lockers, sweaty and jubilant. Getting to the finals took a lot of hard work and many a long practice, but seeing the faces of my teammates—even Cara, who’d sat on the bench for most of the game—was worth every grueling second.

“So where’s the victory dinner?” It’s one of the defensive players on the team, another junior, Mary.

“Think Coach said the Crab Shack in an hour. You guys in?”

“I can’t,” I say quickly. “I have a ton of homework, and I have to head over to the Marine Coastal Center for a bit. You guys have fun.”

“Party pooper!” Mary says, sticking out her tongue at me. She grins suddenly. “Sure you don’t want to? Heard your boyfriend’s going to be there. The lovelicious Lo.” She draws out his name suggestively and waggles her eyebrows.

“What?” I sputter, glaring at Jenna.

“Don’t look at me,” she says, throwing her hands in the air. “As much as I’d like to claim I do, my many talents don’t extend to controlling the rumor mill.”

I turn my glare to Mary, whose grin widens at my red face. A door slams at the far end of the locker room and I notice that Cara is missing. “He’s not my boyfriend, regardless of what he or anyone says. I don’t even like the guy.”

“Great, so he’s up for grabs, then?”

“Sure,” I say, ripping off my uniform with more force than necessary and jerking my head toward the toilet stalls. “But I think Cara has dibs. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Noted,” Mary says with a grin, fluttering her eyelashes. “She doesn’t have a chance in hell.”

For a second, I envision myself smashing Mary’s pretty face in, but the feeling dissipates as quickly as it comes. Even when he’s not around, that boy has an atrocious effect on me. I avoid Jenna’s gaze like the plague because I can sense her studying me and coming to obvious Jenna-like conclusions in her head. I’ll only make it worse if I say anything, so I snap my mouth shut and strip off the rest of my gear.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you later, then?” she says to me after a while. “Oh, Sawyer wanted me to ask you. You’re going to the surf meet next Saturday, right?” I notice that she doesn’t say anything about Lo even though he’s on the team, too. “There’s a bonfire on the beach afterward. Thought we could all hang out. Feels like it’s been forever with school and practice since we’ve done anything fun. You know, just us.”

Although ten different reasons that I shouldn’t go jump to my lips, I nod. Sawyer has been my friend for years, and just because he is now friends with Lo doesn’t mean that I have to give up my support and friendship. Plus, Jenna hasn’t quite forgiven me for bailing out of the double date, so I owe her. “Of course. Tell him I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“Cool, I’ll let you know when he finds out more about the times for the heats,” she says with a glance. “Sure you don’t need me to come with to the marine center? I don’t really care about the Crab Shack thing.”

“Only if you want to,” I say, and I mean it. I was glad Jenna had agreed to volunteer with me at all. “I mean, I don’t have a shift or anything. I was just going to do homework and see if Kevin needed any help.”

“You know what, I’ll come and if Kevin doesn’t need anything we can do the Crab Shack.”

After showering, we walk out to the parking lot together, and I make the requisite call to Echlios, letting him know where I’m going to be. The truth is, I’m happy to sit around and do my homework at the marine center. Already, I’ve spent the past week there and feel more at home than anywhere else. A part of me wonders why I waited so long. It’s also part of the reason that I want to go over there instead of going out with the rest of the team.

I need to go there.

I don’t know if it’s the sense of purpose or doing something...anything...to help, but for the first time since I’ve been here, I feel like I’m in the right place at the right time. At the center, I’m involved in many of the ongoing projects that affect marine life—urban sewage runoff, pollution, toxicity, beach cleanup, reef regeneration—but my favorite is working within the Marine Protected Areas, which helps the protection of coastal ecosystems. The underwater state parks are beautiful.

“Hey, Kev,” I say to Kevin, the bearded guy who’s the youth program director for the center, at the front desk. “Any more news on those poachers near San Clemente Island?”

“Hey, guys,” Kevin says with a thoughtful frown at Jenna and me. “You have a shift today? Thought you weren’t back until next week?”

“We had some free time,” I say, throwing my backpack on the floor behind the desk. “You mind if we hang around for a while? Help out?”

“Actually, it’s good that you’re here. Need a favor. We have a new volunteer and it would help me out a ton if you guys could show him around outside. I’ve already done the tour in here, so just the beach and a couple of the main MPAs? Take the boat,” Kevin says. Grinning, I roll my eyes at Jenna—seriously, I must have Tour Guide tattooed on my forehead. Kevin nods to someone behind us. The smile freezes on my face the minute I turn around.

“What are you doing here?” I say.

Kevin looks from me to Lo and back again. “You guys know one another? Great! Jenna, Rissa, Lo will be doing some community service with us.”

“Community service? What’d you do, rob a bank or something?”

“Detention,” Lo drawls, and nods at Jenna, who for some reason turns a dark shade of red and mumbles something about getting changed before taking off. “Cano thought since I love cutting class so much to go to the beach, I should make up the time doing something worthwhile. I’m here every day after school for the foreseeable future.”

I glare at him, regretting that I gave up the team dinner only to be stuck with Lo of all people. I refuse to even think about him being here every day and ruining my sanctuary. “Seriously, you know this is taking it to a whole different level of stalkerism, don’t you?”

Lo pastes an innocent look on his face, widening his eyes—as blue as the ocean—in mock horror. “Cano sent me here.”

“Sure he did.”

“Actually, it was Leland but they sort of do things together. The dynamic duo, I like to call them.” I don’t know why Lo is trying to make small talk. Maybe it’s to impress Kevin but I don’t care. I’m stuck with him once more for touring duty. As if reading my mind, Lo grins widely. “Lead on. I am at your bidding,” he says, repeating his mocking words from our first day of school.

“Glad you find this amusing,” I snap, grabbing my backpack. “Because it’s not the least bit amusing to me! I’m hardly the local tour guide.”

“You talk like a grown-up, you know that,” Lo remarks.

“Well, most of us juniors aren’t children like people think we are,” I say with as much snark as I can inject into my tone. “Unlike you.” I smile sweetly at Kevin, who has a bewildered expression on his face. “See you, Kev.” I turn back to Lo, my smile fading into a blank expression that barely hides my aggravation. “Well, come on, then, if you’re coming.”

Grabbing the keys to the ATV, I head through the front office doors and down the hall. Not looking back at him, I jab a finger down another hallway. “I’m sure Kevin told you the men’s bathroom is down there. Meet me out back in five. Five minutes, Lo, or I’m gone without you.”

“You’re so bossy,” he throws back, but I refuse to engage and walk away in the opposite direction.

In the women’s bathroom, my aggravation is unleashed on Jenna, who’s staring at me with a guilty look on her face. She pulls on a pair of cargo pants over her swimsuit. “Seriously, all I ask for is a moment where that guy isn’t stalking me for ten seconds.”

“Did it ever occur to you that he may be into you?”

“That’s just it. I’m not into him,” I snap, shrugging out of my school uniform. “And I’ve told him so. He just won’t take no for an answer. And plus, what’s with the Cara thing? Did you see them? They were practically canoodling after the game. And she’s a total psycho freak.” I know I’m ranting now but I can’t help myself. “I mean, the fact that he likes her and me in the same universe makes absolutely no sense. It’s kind of gross, really. And what’s with the lie about detention? Everyone knows that Cano likes the standard study-after-school detentions.”

“Cara used to be your friend, remember?”

“Used to, as in past tense, Jenna. She’s a bitch.”

She stares at me. “You kind of both were.”

“Wait, what?” My hand stalls at the folds of my T-shirt.

Jenna sighs. “Freshman year, when you guys were friends. Rumor is you sort of took over and shut her out. Put it this way—if I hadn’t transferred in, I probably wouldn’t have wanted to be friends with you back then. Plus, look at what happened with the game against Bishop’s. You made a bad call because you don’t like her.”

“I thought we were past that,” I say in a defensive voice. “And being better at hockey doesn’t make me a bitch.”

“Or prettier or smarter or naturally better at everything than she was.” She spreads her palms at my look and takes a deep breath. “Look, you’re different now. We all are, but you can’t really blame Cara for resenting you now. I mean, come on, even Cano told her to be more like you.” She pauses. “In front of everyone.”

I stare at her as I recall a vague recollection of Cano—Cara’s uncle—telling that to his niece in the school parking lot in front of half the school. I shrug. Cara’s family issues weren’t mine then, and they aren’t mine now. I narrow my eyes a fraction. “And that’s my fault how?”