“Then stop acting like someone I don’t know.”

Me? ME?! I slapped his butt again.

He chuckled.

“Axel Stevens, put me down this instant.”

“No.”

“If Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell catch us I’ll never be able to leave the house again. My dad will ground me for eternity.”

“They’re out of town. Or else Jacob wouldn’t have told me to throw you in the pool.”

“He didn’t tell you to throw me!”

“Same difference.”

I heard laughter behind us. I lifted my head to see everyone from Truth or Dare following us through the woods.

“Axel, I’m serious. I can’t come home soaking wet. My dad would freak.”

“Your dad really would freak if you came home soaking wet.” Axel’s hand shifted down onto the back of my thigh.

I tried to ignore the tingly sensation and the way his touch made my heart race. “So put me down!”

He didn’t respond.

The ground beneath me shifted from fallen leaves to plush grass and I knew I was running out of time. “Axel.”

No response.

I screamed and slapped his butt again.

He chuckled.

And then I heard the squeak of a fence gate opening.

No.

And the ground turned to cement.

“Axel! Please!”

He slowly lowered me. Right on the edge of the pool.

“Axel, you can’t throw me in the pool. I...I...I have my phone on me.”

He reached into Jacob’s varsity jacket and pulled it out. “And now you don’t.”

I opened my mouth, trying to come up with another reason.

“Maybe next time you’ll think twice about making out with guys on my team, Scarlett. Just so we’re clear. I’ve added an amendment to our deal. Don’t flirt with anyone on my team. Or I’ll hook up with the whole cheerleading squad.”

I didn’t even get a chance to respond, because he put his fingers in the center of my chest. And then he pushed me.

I fell backwards, splashing into the pool. The most ungraceful backwards bellyflop.

The water was completely freezing. And my clothes weighed me down more than I was used to. My sneakers finally found the bottom of the pool and I pushed off. My head broke the surface of the water and I gasped for air.

“Cannon ball!” someone yelled and splashed me.

I wiped the water out of my eyes to see everyone stripping down to their underwear and jumping into the pool.

Everyone else looked sexy and spontaneous. And I looked like a fully-clothed drowned troll.

I glared at Axel.

He smiled back. And then he slowly peeled his shirt off.

I was too annoyed to be thrown off-kilter by his exposed six-pack. I hadn’t agreed to the original deal we’d made. I’d been under duress. And I didn’t agree to this amendment either.

***