Epic Fail Read Free

and wants me to do it, too.”
    “Oh, man, that’s rough.”
    “It’s worse for her cook. Mind if I sit here?”
    I realized he was talking to me, quickly shook my head, and moved over. I noticed as I slid my tray down that some of the kids at the far end of the table had turned to watch as Chase’s friend sat down.
    He swung his leg over the bench as he plunked a can of soda and a long stainless steel cylinder on the table. He settled in next to me, and I had to shift over even more. This guy took up a lot of space.
    So it was my lucky day, right? Handsome Guy was sitting two inches away from me. I stole a peek at him and noticed—now that he was up close—that his eyelashes were so thick and dark, he almost looked like he was wearing eyeliner. Girls would have killed for those lashes.
    They didn’t look so bad on him, either.
    He pulled the tab on his soda. As he raised it to his lip, he caught me staring at him—for the second time that day. He sighed heavily and looked away.
    Way to make a first impression, Elise. Oh, wait—second impression. Both bad.
    “Is Coke part of the diet?” Chase asked jovially.
    “It’s not cooked, right?” He took a big gulp.
    “Derek, meet Juliana and Elise.” Chase gestured toward each of us in turn. “They’re both new. And they’re sisters—but you can kind of tell that, can’t you? This is Derek,” he informed us.
    “Hi,” Derek said, a little warily.
    We nodded and smiled and said hi back. There was a pause, like he and Chase were waiting for us to say something else. When we didn’t, Derek turned his attention to deconstructing the stainless steel cylinder, which turned out to be a set of small matching containers that all screwed together, and which he now carefully laid out on the table in a row in front of him. He opened the first one and sniffed dubiously at the unidentifiable brownish contents.
    “That looks disgusting,” Chase said.
    “I don’t even know what it is.”
    “Dump it and get something else, man.”
    “I promised my mother I wouldn’t.”
    “Did you also promise her you wouldn’t grab a slice of pizza after school?”
    Brief smile. “Not in so many words.”
    “Sounds like a plan.”
    “Derek!” a new voice exclaimed. “You’re back! Oh my God, how was it?” There was an impatient tap on my shoulder. “Excuse me—do you mind?”
    I looked up and recognized the pretty girl I had bumped into that morning. She was with her pal Gifford again.
    She recognized me at the same moment. “Oh, it’s you. Hi. Hit anyone with a door lately? JK. Can you move, though? I need to sit next to Derek—I haven’t seen him all summer.”
    There was plenty of space on the other side of me, so I slid down obediently while Chase nodded a casual greeting in her direction and said all our names by way of introducing everyone.
    As Chelsea took my old place, Gifford plopped her tray on the table between us and waited expectantly. I sighed and slid down some more so she could sit between me and “Chels,” who had taken hold of Derek’s arm.
    “So how was it?” she asked him eagerly. “Fantastic? Was it fantastic? It was, wasn’t it?”
    “Did you see a kangaroo?” Gifford chimed in before he could respond. She unwrapped a container of sushi and pushed it toward Chelsea. “We’re sharing, remember. And don’t forget I paid this time so you have to next time.”
    Chelsea ignored her. “I am so jealous,” she said to Derek. “We didn’t go anywhere all summer long except Belize and Costa Rica. And to visit our grandparents in New York. Oh, and that endless cruise to Alaska. That was so cheesy, though, it doesn’t count.”
    “Derek just got back from Australia,” Chase explained to Juliana.
    “Wow,” she said. “That’s so cool.”
    “The beaches were nice,” Derek said with an indifferent shrug.
    “Did you see a kangaroo?” Gifford asked again. She seemed a little obsessed with the kangaroo thing.
    “Yeah, a couple. But not on