Playing With the Boys Read Free

She’d only ever seen her dad cry once—in the hospital, when they’d shut down the life support.
     
     
    She stood up and rushed over, throwing her arms around his neck. She didn’t really care about iMacs or mirrored colored pillows or houses right on the beach. She cared about him. Her dad. And she was determined to do everything she could to help him start over. Besides, if her room was any indication of what lay ahead for her, maybe California wouldn’t be so bad. She just wished her mom were here to see it.
     
     
     
Lucy left her room and stepped out onto the deck off of the living room as the sun was beginning to set. She walked down a long set of wooden stairs that wound down to the beach below. It was weird to think that now she was living on the ocean. The vast, endless ocean. Her days of being a big fish in small pond were definitely over.
     
     
    She glanced down at her watch and saw it was almost six-thirty. She did the math. That meant nine-thirty in Ohio. She supposed Annie would go to bed early since school started tomorrow, so she figured she better call now or risk not getting to talk tonight. Good thing she had unlimited nights and weekends. Thank you, AT&T!
     
     
    Lucy kicked off her flip-flops, and her feet sank into the sand. About twenty feet out from the deck, she saw a fire pit with a few logs around it. The sight of something this cool should have made her happy, but instead, her heart sank. Annie would have loved this place. She could just hear her voice now.
     
     
    “No freaking way!” she’d have squealed. “You actually live here?” Lucy couldn’t really believe it herself. She grabbed her Razr phone out of her pocket and opened it. She’d begged for a Razr last Christmas, after she’d “accidentally” dropped her old phone—which, FYI, didn’t text—in the toilet.
     
     
    She was about to hit 2 on her speed dial—Annie’s cell number—when something caught her eye. Something bobbing up and down in the water.
     
     
    Lucy squinted and looked out to the horizon. She made out a surfer, paddling strongly as a huge wave approached. Right as the water swelled underneath, the surfer popped up perfectly, dropping down the face of the wave, then cutting back and forth inside of it. Lucy watched, awed. Growing up in Ohio, the closest she’d ever been to actual surfing was the third row at the local AMC, watching Blue Crush . As the surfer cut toward the beach, Lucy realized that she wasn’t just watching a surfer—she was watching a girl .
     

 
    two
     
     
    Once on the sand, the girl undid the Velcro strap around her ankle and shook out her dark, slicked-back hair, revealing it to be layered and shoulder-length. She wore small board shorts and a bikini top, and a dark tan emphasized her toned body. Her eyes were dark and soulful, and her face, like Lucy’s, was covered in freckles. She noticed Lucy staring.
     
     
    “Yeah?” the girl asked, expectantly. “Did you want something?”
     
     
    Lucy instantly blushed. “Oh, nothing . . .” she stammered. “That was just . . . really, really cool.”
     
     
    Lucy cringed, instantly hated the sound of her own voice. Really, really cool? Lame. Could it have been more obvious that she wasn’t from California?
     
     
    The girl barely smiled. “Thanks.”
     
     
    “I’m Lucy,” Lucy quickly said. “I just kind of moved here, like, five minutes ago.”
     
     
    The girl gave Lucy the once-over. “Yeah, you don’t look like you’re from here.” Lucy’s gaze tipped down as she, too, scanned her outfit. Madras shorts with cute slip-on gold flats had been semi-stylish back in Ohio, but Lucy wasn’t exactly a cutting-edge fashionista, often relying on Annie and sometimes even Annie’s older sister, Carrie, for guidance.
     
     
    The girl sensed Lucy’s self-consciousness.“Don’t worry,” she said, “Looking like you don’t belong here? That’s a good thing.”
     
     
    Lucy grinned, suddenly relieved.