“Sucked out?” I don’t like the sound of that. Maybe I should have worn a life jacket. We tell all the tourists that they have to wear life jackets, but no one was, so I didn’t either. Do we even have one of those red cushions in here? I slide my paddle beside me and rest my hands on either side of the boat. If something happens, I’ll be no help with it anyway.

“Sucked was a little dramatic. Don’t panic.”

There are waves up ahead of us, slicing in different directions, with little white peaks like on top of my Oma’s lemon meringue pie. It doesn’t look conducive to boating, but Beth and Troy just crossed through unscathed, and Ellis doesn’t seem to be panicking in front of us. He’s sitting with his paddle across his lap, like I was before Aiden made his poor word choice. I focus on the red sky instead of the water, and it’s hard not to relax. A few more feet and I’ll leave the river behind me for the second time today. I’m starting to rethink where my favorite place is.

AIDEN

“Is this a private beach?” Olivia glances up toward the massive, cotton-candy-colored houses set on top of the bluff just north of us as she asks Jaz, who is pulling a towel out of her tote bag. Olivia looks nervous. She always looks kind of nervous, like she’s waiting for something to go wrong. Or she’s trying to anticipate what she should do in any given situation.

Jaz shrugs. “I think so.”

“We’ve only been arrested once,” Ellis chimes in.

Olivia’s head snaps to me. She doesn’t trust Ellis anymore—not after what I told her about the A-names—but he doesn’t know that. So I decide to play along. “It wasn’t a big deal.” I shrug. “Twenty hours of community service actually goes by pretty fast.”

Ellis looks over at Beth and Troy, who are grabbing bags out of the canoes, and I wink at Olivia.

She smiles, then smooths her expression and her voice is serious. “Tell me about it.” She pulls the strap of her bag over her head and drops it in the sand. “And those orange suits are pretty itchy, right?”

Her voice is deadpan, her face serious, and oh my god, she just walks away. Ellis looks at her in shock, her back to us as she saunters down the beach toward Beth, who is spreading a blanket out on the sand.

Ellis turns to me like I have the answer, and I just shrug. Serves him right.

OLIVIA