Echo Bridge Read Free

of matches against Green Hill Prep, capped off by a semi-formal dance.
    “It’s hot,” said Hilary.
    “It’s Phillip Lim,” said Melissa.
    “That dress is wearing you,” I said. “It should be the other way around.” This was my mother’s phrase for clothes that were trendy but didn’t fit well.
    “What does that even mean?” Melissa rolled her eyes and walked out onto the balcony.
    I followed with the vodka bottle, and Hilary dropped the remote on the yellow satin comforter and joined us. The three of us leaned on our elbows against the railing and observed the party below. I set up the shot glasses and poured.
    In the backyard, Marian Hayward and Selena Mitchell, whom everyone called the Glitter Girls because of the stupid sparkly makeup they both wore, were playing badminton. Benji Andrews, a junior who was on the soccer team with Ted, and Jake Hobart, who was Belknap’s number one skier, were sharing a joint in a pair of lawn chairs, watching. Benji’s girlfriend Lindsay Stevens lay in the grass with her bare feet propped up in his lap. A few guys were kicking at the brush beneath the trees at the edge of the yard, looking for kindling for the fire pit, which they’d light after dark. On the deck, Hogan Riley, whom everyone called Horse, was setting up Melissa’s stepfather’s poker table, and Hugh Marsden, Ted’s best friend, was manning the keg and talking to a gaggle of sophomore and junior girls whom Hilary, Melissa, and I hated on general principle—that general principle being that these girls were a lot like we were and were competition for the attention of our guy friends. Melissa hawked up a substantial loogie and managed to land it in a sophomore’s hair. None of her friends noticed, but Hugh did, and he looked up and winked at us as he refilled the girl’s cup.
    Hugh motherfucking Marsden. That was how I would come to think of him, but that day on the balcony, with the sun slicing through the trees on its way down and Hugh grinning up at us, he was just another member of our crew. Hugh was a year older than we were because he’d been recruited for the BCD hockey team and made to repeat ninth grade when he moved down from Ontario. There were rumors he’d go pro after graduation instead of going to college. He was also quite the Romeo, which had always baffled me. He had that thick-necked build that’s borderline fat, and his dust-brown hairline was already receding in two points over his temples, which he tried to disguise by keeping his hair military short. I’d heard girls claim it was his personality that made him attractive, but that didn’t make much sense to me either at the time, and it sure as hell doesn’t now. In the movie in my head, Hugh was played by Ben Affleck, an actor whose appeal I understood on an intellectual level but didn’t personally feel in my gut. Hugh was kind of crude and often drank too much, but neither of these qualities made him stand out in our crowd. He wasn’t stupid, exactly, just lazy—except when it came to hockey. He was like somebody’s cut-up older brother. He was one of us.
    “Whores,” Hilary said, glaring at the girls at the keg.
    “Never mind them,” said Melissa. “Did you hear about Marian? She got caught fooling around with Lexi Rosenthal in the old dark room.”
    “Sexy Lexi?” Hilary asked.
    “The one and only,” said Melissa.
    “People only call her that because she’s got big boobs,” I said lazily. I could relate, although Lexi had at least a cup size on me. I watched Marian and Selena wave their racquets around. Periodically, Jake Hobart would yell out “Shuttlecock!” and then chuckle.
    “Well,” said Melissa. “Apparently Marian started hanging out in the dark room, because she can smoke pot there without getting busted. There’s a ventilation fan for chemicals or something. Sexy Lexi’s the only other person who’s ever in there. She still uses actual film.”
    I would come to know Lexi Rosenthal rather