It’s summertime and I’m drinking pop by the pool.
Dr. Pepper because it’s better than Pepsi and tastier than Coke.
I finished 6th grade a week ago.
Rough year. Maybe 7th will be tougher.
Who knows and who cares because it’s June now, and I’m drinking pop by the pool, eyeing my crush across the water.
Oh Fiona.
I feel weird when I see ya.
She’s with her friends—Jean, Joyce, and Jaclyn. They’re coming closer to my side of the pool.
I should be fine because they didn’t notice me for the whole of last year.
No need to play it cool. I’ll just pretend to take a nap and then scuttle over to the slide a little later. Hopefully they don’t notice the remains of my baby fat. It’s almost gone. I should be okay.
Splash.
The first thing I see when I open my eyes and awaken from my fake nap is the can of Dr. Pepper. Its commercial-like condensation is no longer visible because it has been bathed by the waters of a sinister splasher.
A second splash, this time in my face.
I turn my head to see the culprit.
It’s Fiona.
I blush.
Jean, Joyce, and Jaclyn giggle.
“Wanna go down the slide with us?” Fiona asks.
I putter out a few affirmative syllables and nod my head.
Self-consciously I follow the girls up the slide stairs.
I don’t know what to say but Fiona keeps the conversation going, talking about school.
When it’s my turn to go down the slide, I decide that girls are more fun to have crushes on than to hang out with.
Once you have their attention, I think that’s when everything gets difficult.