Chapter Five
Cooper
I leaned against the sun-warmed hood of my truck after school as I waited for Kate. I checked the time on my phone again. What was taking her so long? I wanted to get out on the lake so badly I’d practically sprinted through the double doors.
Finally I spotted her trailing out with the other people who were clearly not in a hurry to leave the place, mostly thanks to the orange shirt that stood out in the crowd. I waved and she started over to me. The sun glinted off her necklace and she squinted at me, putting a hand over her eyes to shield them.
“Operation Prom Date did not go so well today,” she said with a sigh.
“You asked him to prom?” I’d thought we were going to build up to that.
“No! Do you think I’m crazy?”
“You probably don’t want me to answer that.”
She smacked me. She seemed to do that a lot, especially considering we were two for two in as many days.
I opened the door for her, partly because I liked to think I could be a gentleman sometimes, but mostly because I was in a hurry and wanted her to get her butt in my truck so we could leave already.
As soon as she was seated, I rushed around the front, climbed in, and fired up the engine. I glanced over at Kate as I turned out of the parking lot and headed toward Massabesic Lake. “Sometimes Jaden and I drive into Manchester and practice with the Central Crew Club on the Merrimack River, but I think it’ll be better to start you in the lake.”
“Isn’t that where the Spring Festival race is going to be anyway?”
“Yeah, but if I practice against the current in the river, I’ll kill it on the lake—or say it’s windy, it won’t be a big deal.”
“Where does Mick practice?”
“It depends on the day. It’s not like I ask him.”
“Well, how am I supposed to get his attention if he’s at the river and I’m at the lake, or vice versa?”
Of course I hadn’t given a second thought to where Pecker might be training today, or if he even was. I hoped he wasn’t, and that he was wasting time playing football instead. Then again, it’d be more satisfying to beat him if he’d given his all. “Trust me, we’re going to get him to notice you. The training is only one part of my plan.”
She spun to face me, the green scenery blurring in the window behind her. “Oh, good, so you actually have a plan. I was starting to think you just needed a boating partner and I was a sucker.”
I froze, then did my best to smother any trace of guilt that might’ve crossed my features when she hit a little too close to the truth. I didn’t have a solid plan for her crazy scheme—or operation, as she’d chosen to call it. That’d require giving thought to it. I’d been far too focused on my relief over finding a temporary fill-in to train with. But I didn’t think Kate was a sucker. Now, thinking she had shitty taste in guys, on the other hand…
Realizing that her arched eyebrows must mean she wanted me to explain my grand plan, I turned down the radio as if I were about to say something super profound. “Remember how you’re supposed to be playing it cool? Stop stressing. Just leave the planning to me.”
There. That should buy me at least a night to come up with something.
“Playing it cool and being clueless are two different things,” she said. “In order to even relax enough to fake the blasé attitude that comes so naturally to you, I need to know there’s a plan.”
“Blasé attitude? That’s how you think about me?”
“Yeah. You’re like Mr. Cool, nothing gets to you.”
I wished I felt that way. I supposed at school all I cared about was getting good enough grades that my parents wouldn’t call me in for a meeting. School was easy enough. Home was where I walked on pins and needles.
“I’ve actually envied it a bit before,” Kate continued. “I remember two summers ago, when you were usually off by yourself in your boat, and it didn’t seem to bother you in the least. And that night when everyone told you they didn’t care about constellations so to stop pointing them out, you just shrugged it off and kept on stargazing.”
“Well, you were nice about it.” Honestly, it’d stung a little—how was I supposed to know not everyone found the universe over our heads fascinating? But Kate humored me for a few minutes, doing her best to act interested. “You even let me show you the constellation app I’d just downloaded.”
“I thought it was kind of cool. But I couldn’t say as much, because back then I had all that street cred.”
I laughed. “Sorry I almost screwed that up.”
“Clearly I didn’t hold on to it for very long. I think it was just the new girl allure. It wore off quickly.”
“I haven’t thought about that summer in a while.” All those nights when we were too young to drive anywhere and college was forever away, so we just ran around the lake, getting into what trouble we could with whoever we ran into. At the time, it was mostly Donovan and Amber, because they lived on either side of me. And Kate, because she was always at Amber’s. “You and Amber were connected at the hip back then.”
A flash of hurt crossed her features. “Things change.” She picked at a thread on her jeans. “In the end, I wasn’t cool enough for Amber—and apparently, I’m also too serious—and you got all tall and ripped and moved up to Mr. Cool and Confident.”
I turned down the road that’d take us to the dock nearest my house.
“I want to focus on how you said I’m ripped…”
She shot me a look.
“But I’m going to point out that I didn’t say you’re too serious. All I said was that your more serious nature was probably why Pecker hasn’t asked you out.”
“It’s not like he’d have any competition, though. Which brings me back to me.” She dropped her head in her hands. “Maybe this whole thing is stupid and I should just give up now.”
“Hey, no giving up.” I parked and looked across the cab of my truck at her, trying to find the right pep talk to give. I just didn’t have much experience in anything remotely close to this. In rowing, there were lots of cheesy sayings like “when you feel like you can no longer row with your arms, row with your heart” or “medals last longer than pain.”
None of those would work, so I went for the truth. “Most of the people we go to school with are idiots who need to be knocked over the head in order to pay attention to anything besides themselves. Me included.”
She glanced up, part of her hair still covering her face in a way that framed her eyes and lips.
Most of the girls at school had that cookie cutter type look, a lot of them pretty, but so similar they blended together. Kate stood out. Honestly, why weren’t guys asking her out? I’d considered it a few years ago, during that summer we’d spent time together. If I thought she was even a little interested, I might’ve. The night under the stars when she’d let me show her my constellation app, pity was the main vibe I got. Even when we’d ended up in my boat together by default, her attention was on Amber and Donovan in the other boat, and when I suggested veering in a different direction and leaving them behind for a while, she said we’d better not.
Now I knew her taste in guys ran toward the preppy super jock side, I knew I wasn’t even close to her type.
Oops. Got a bit distracted during my big speech. “But not to fear. You’ve got me on your side now, and idiots or not, we’ll snag their attention. Once we get even a few guys to take notice, the rest will follow, and then Mick will be as good as yours.”
A smile slowly worked its way across her lips, lighting up the rest of her features along the way. “You really think so?”
I nodded. “By the way, I like that shirt. The bright color suits you.” I’d like to think that was the least macho thing I’d ever said, but I did used to point out constellations and the mythology behind them, and then go into how stars were actually formed. Not to mention the inordinate amount of talking I used to do about Saturn’s beautiful rings that were composed of ice particles, rocky debris, and dust.
“Thanks,” she said, making me feel less self-conscious about doling out fashion compliments. “I figured if I’m going to do this, I might as well give it my all.”
I glanced out at the glassy water and the antsy feeling over getting out there rose to the surface again. “I hope you plan on putting that same dedication into our rowing sessions.”
She saluted me. “Aye, aye, Captain.”
I chuckled as I climbed out of the truck. After gathering the gear, I moved over to untie the boat. “If you think I look ripped, just wait till you see what I can do with these muscles.” Flashing her an over-the-top grin, I flexed like I was in one of those muscle-man competitions where they wore unspeakably small banana hammocks.
She shook her head as she fought back a smile. “Oh my gosh, that’s like an eight on the Kanye Douchebag Scale.”
Instead of arguing, I slid on my sunglasses and gave her a what-up nod. She lost the battle she’d been warring with her mouth and a killer smile broke free, filling me with a sense of accomplishment. Even though Kate was the type of girl who smiled often, I liked to think I got a bigger one than most. The way it lit up her entire face made me start calculating ways to keep it there permanently.
As I helped her into the boat, I vowed to give this whole operation thing more thought. Because Kate was a good person, and if she wanted to go to prom with a self-involved prick, I’d make sure it happened.