Daring the Bad Boy (Endless Summer)(47)

Great. Now was she bashing Kyle? “You really shouldn’t make fun of him, Gwen.”

“I’m not!” She shook her head, looking exasperated. “I’m actually trying to tell you something, friend to friend.” Her voice lowered. “Seriously, he’s as dumb as a rock, Annie. You’re like, a thousand times smarter than him. You could do so much better. Trust me.”

Gwen zipped up her cosmetics bag and smiled softly at me. “Don’t take too long. We’re leaving for dinner in a few minutes.” And with that, she walked out of the bathroom.

Her words rang in my head as I finished applying my mascara with a steadier hand. Maybe Gwen was being serious by letting me know her opinion of Kyle. Maybe she was trying to be a good friend and warn me.

We left for dinner a few minutes later, everyone chatting nonstop as we walked toward the dining hall with the exception of me. I’d been on meal detail all day, meaning I was the one who had to go pick up dinner for my table. I was actually looking forward to it. It meant I could get away from the girls for a little bit and their endless gossiping about the boys at camp.

“Tonight is important,” Bobbee said with all the authority of a girl who’d been coming to this camp for over a decade. “Whatever boy you end up with tonight is usually the one you spend the rest of the summer with, even though there’s not much time left. As in, he’s the boy who asks you to next week’s dance.”

I frowned. There was a dance? Oh God. Just thinking about it made my stomach feel like it was full of a hundred buzzing, angry bees.

“What if you don’t end up with any boy?” Kelsey asked, sounding worried. Not that I could blame her. She hadn’t shown even a hint of interest in any guy, and all of the other girls thought she was kind of weird. Not that they’d ever say that to her face, but I heard their whispers. They talked about her behind her back. They talked about one another behind their backs.

I’m sure they’d talked about me, too.

“Then you’re doomed to spend the rest of the summer alone,” Kaycee announced, making everyone laugh, except for Kelsey.

Except for me.

We entered the dining hall, and the girls sat at a table while I went over to start collecting our dinner. It was a simple one tonight—hamburgers and fries—and I ignored the silverware, thankful I wouldn’t have to carry as much back to the table.

“Hey, Annie.”

I glanced to my left to see—oh crap—Kyle standing next to me, a tentative smile on his face. He looked nervous.

And I immediately felt nervous. “Hi, Kyle.”

“What are you doing?”

“Um, getting dinner?” Fairly obvious, right? Gwen’s earlier words rang clear in my head.

I pushed them to the back of my brain, trying to ignore them.

“Right.” He laughed. Shrugged. Looked around. Shoved his hands into the front pockets of his shorts. “So are you going to be around later tonight? During the ghost stories?”

My heart thumped erratically against my ribs, and my mouth went dry. Did Presley really talk to him about me after all? This was my chance. The opportunity I’d been waiting for since the day I got here.

So why was I tempted to say no? Tempted to run away from him and pretend like he never talked to me?

“Annie?” He prompted when I still hadn’t said anything.

I shook myself and smiled at him. “Um, yeah. I’ll be there tonight.”

“Dope. I’ll see you later, then.” He turned and walked back to his table completely empty-handed.

Like the only reason he’d been there was to talk to me.

I didn’t know what to think, how to react. I glanced over at my table to see all seven heads watching me, their smiles huge, their eyes sparkling as they started to make all sorts of lovey, kissy gestures. Turning away, I scanned the entire room, my gaze settling on Jake and where he sat with the rest of the miscellaneous staff.

He was watching me, his expression dark, his mouth thin. Like he just saw everything go down between Kyle and me, and he didn’t like it. Jake bent his head, tearing his gaze from mine.

And it felt like he just tore a hole in my heart.





Chapter Sixteen


JAKE

I was angry and I had no reason to be, not really. So Kyle talked to her. So what? She never laughed when he talked to her. She didn’t blush, either. I took that as a good sign. Maybe I was the only one who could make her laugh, could make her cheeks turn pink. I liked it when she blushed. It was cute. Everything about her was cute.

Pretty.

Beautiful.

Ah, crap, I had it frickin’ bad.

Grabbing another piece of wood out of the wheelbarrow, I threw it into the fire, the flames snapping and little sparks flying high into the night sky. Brian started to laugh, and I shot him a dirty look, which shut him up.

“What’s your prob tonight?” Brian asked.

I didn’t answer him. Supposedly this night wasn’t just about Nancy telling trippy ghost stories in the hopes of giving us all massive nightmares. It was also a night when everyone who’d been circling each other the last few weeks finally tried to seal the deal. And by seal the deal, that meant they made out, declared each other boyfriend and girlfriend or whatever other bullshit they wanted to do to further their romantic lives.