Next Summer Read Free Page B

Ella said, shooting her cousin a sideways look with her heavily mascaraed eyes.
    “My Jimmy Choos don’t go with this outfit,” Beth told Ella, bouncing up on the toes of her sneakers. “Anyway, I’ll leave the fabulousness to you and your tiny dress.” She looked back at Kelsi. “And you, with the lip stuff. What’s with that?”
    “It adds moisture.” Kelsi shrugged. Last year, Kelsi’s idea of dressing up was adding the occasional bandanna to her ensemble. Lip gloss was never in her repertoire. “I’m still a vegetarian, if that makes you feel better.”
    “Everything about this summer is weird,” Beth grumbled.
    “Tell us about your year, Bethy,” Ella commanded. “How is George ? I want juicy boyfriend details. Have you guys done it, or what?”
    “Ella!” Beth squealed, but it sounded like she was only pretending to be scandalized. “How is that your business?”
    Kelsi trailed slightly behind them while Beth talked. She tilted her head back a little bit to bask in the surrounding night. She loved Pebble Beach. She loved the dirt roads washed with sand, and the stretch of cold sea in the distance. Boats bobbed on their moorings, the clank of lines against the masts announcing their presence in the dark. As she turnedleft toward town, the bright white lights of the pier danced ahead, beckoning her into another summer.
    Kelsi couldn’t contain the slight tremor of apprehension that went through her. There would be people everywhere and a band playing onstage—she could hear the thump of the bass even from this far away. It was like déjà vu, but she fervently hoped that the band wouldn’t include Peter, her asshole of an ex.
    What bothered Kelsi (maybe more than it should) was that she’d never had a real boyfriend. Listening to Beth ramble on about her relationship just made it achingly obvious to Kelsi that there was something wrong with her. She had such shitty luck with guys. Kelsi had been so sure Peter was this charming, cool rocker, but he had turned out to be a liar and a cheat. Before Peter, she’d spent three months dating Brian before he’d gone off to college. He’d broken up with her because she hadn’t been ready to sleep with him. Two guys—and both of them were losers. What a track record, indeed.
    The truth of the matter was, Kelsi was eighteen years old, still a virgin, and her younger cousin seemed a lot more adept than her at picking out a really good guy. Not to mention her sister, who got boys as easily as she breathed. Kelsi was starting to think she was destined to spend the rest of her life as a celibate dickhead magnet.
    “What’s wrong with you now?” Ella’s exasperated voice floated back to Kelsi through the dark. “Are you up for this party or not?”
    “I’m looking at the stars,” Kelsi replied. She looked upagain. The stars crowded the sky, so many lights that it almost made Kelsi dizzy.
    Kelsi took another deep breath, and released it back into the crisp night. There was sand on her toes and salt in her hair. A new summer waited just ahead. Now she just had to catch up to it.

 

    4
     
    The pier, as usual, looked like a scene out of Laguna Beach , except the setting was more earthy. Less glamorous. But the boys were rounded up in packs as if they were in line for a casting call. Ella wondered if this tiny little section of New England had suddenly become the spot where the world’s most eligible guys could hang out and look unequivocally scrumptious.
    Ella led the way into the crowd, feeling self-assured as the party swept her into its loud chaos. She was lapping up the attention she was getting from all the boys who were checking out the little green tube-dress she’d picked out just for the occasion.
    Ella might have decided to turn over a new leaf, but that didn’t mean she had to dress like a saint, did it?
    A tall guy with toned arms and wavy auburn hair sidled up to Ella without a word and tried to wrap his arm around herwaist, so she