I suppose the dreams hadn’t exactly ever stopped, had they?

I shivered as I pushed away the image of the statuesque boy that threatened to surface from the sea of my mind, and I focused instead on the swimsuits on my turquoise argyle comforter. Needless to say, none of them had ever touched water outside of a washing machine. Jerrid’s extravagant swimming pool with its three-tiered stone waterfall and elevated hot tub was a far cry from the ocean of my nightmares, but I definitely wouldn’t be going within five feet of it if I could help it.

For that matter, I wouldn’t have even been going to the party at all if I could help it. I knew I wasn’t going to fit in. Even though Jerrid and most of his meat-head friends were seniors, a year above me, I always just felt so… old around them. But avoiding the event was out of the question. When the grand poobah all-high, Madam Bridget Fifan decided to go to a party, she always found a way to make sure I suffered through it with her. But despite all that, I couldn’t explain my sudden desire to wear a bathing suit.

Perhaps there’s someone you want to impress?

I glowered daggers at the inner voice that dared to nag me. No. It was because I knew Bree would berate me if I didn’t wear one, whether I swam or not. That was the only reason.

I strongly considered the boyshort tankini set I usually donned whenever I attempted to sunbathe, but then I found myself fingering the material of my royal purple bikini. I’d bought it while Under The Influence Of Bree when we’d been shopping at the Victoria’s Secret outlet in Newport last summer. Bree was always pushing me to ‘be more spontaneous.’ But despite the fact that I’d owned it for over a year, I’d never been brave enough to actually wear it.

Perhaps you just never had a reason to before now?

I bit my lip hard and snatched up my aquamarine one-piece with the wrap top.

Part of me was still furious with Bree for spilling the beans to Riley. What had she been thinking? That maybe he was just lonely and only needed to feel welcome and then he’d suddenly open up to being social like a magical moonflower and somehow become anything other than an insufferably conceited jerk? It wasn’t going to happen.

But maybe he wouldn’t actually show up at the party after all. He clearly had no interest in getting to know anyone else at school. I couldn’t see why he would even want to come. Just to stare at me some more with his hate-filled gaze? Didn’t he get enough of that during school hours? You would think he’d at least want a break on the weekend.