Five Summers Read Online Free

she asked blankly after I’d stared at her for a good ten seconds.
    “Give us one minute,” I said to Adam, pulling Jo with me. “Seriously, I’ll be right back. Don’t move.”
    I linked elbows with Skylar as we walked down toward the water, its soft, rhythmic lapping muffling our voices from prying ears.
    “What happened?” I asked.
    “Something happened?” Jo parroted. “See, I
knew
this was a bad idea.”
    Skylar looked out at the lake, the moonlight casting a soft glow onto her tear-streaked face.
    “He broke it off,” she said, her voice wavering.
    “I’m sorry,” I said. I wasn’t, really, but I hated seeing Skylar in pain. For someone so outwardly confident, she has always had thin skin. My personal theory is that she never had an awkward phase—no glasses, no braces, no acne, no body odor, none of the stuff that hardens you through middle school, the emotional equivalent of walking on hot coals with bare feet.
    “It’s probably because it’s the last night of camp,” I said. “It’s a breakup of convenience. Obviously he’s crazy.”
    “No,” she said. “He said he couldn’t ever see us working out because . . . he doesn’t find me . . . interesting.” Fresh tears spilled over onto her cheeks, and she wiped them away shakily with the back of one hand.
    “Oh, please,” Jo cried. “Was this before or after you wouldn’t touch his crotch?”
    “Shhhhh!” Skylar hushed.
    “He’s a loser,” I said, taking the leaf out of her hair and smoothing it behind her ear. “A
pretentious
loser.”
    “Yeah,” Skylar sniffed. “I really liked him, though. And I thought”—her voice cracked again—“he really liked me.”
    We stood there for a minute just comforting her, and I tried not to let my eyes drift over to Adam, to see if he was looking at me.
    “Listen,” Jo said. “I need to go check in with my dad. Why don’t you come with me and I’ll walk you back to the bunk? There’s a bag of Cheetos with your name on it.”
    Skylar smiled weakly. “Thanks,” she said. “But I think I just need to be by myself for awhile.”
    “Okay, but if you change your mind, you know where to find me.” Jo started to jog off and then turned, tossing her whistle to Skylar. “Don’t be afraid to use it!” she called.
    “Nothing says love like a panic whistle,” I muttered, patting Skylar’s back. “But will you really be okay? I don’t want to leave you.”
    “I’ll be fine,” she said. “And besides, you’ve got Adam waiting for you.”
    “It’s not like we . . .” I struggled to finish the sentence. “It’s not a big deal.” I said, hoping she couldn’t tell I was lying.
    “It is!” Skylar leaned in and hugged me. “It
is
a big deal, Emma. Adam genuinely likes you. And you’ve been waiting for this. You’re lucky.” She pulled back and managed a wan smile. “Now go get him.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “
Go
,” she said.
    I turned back once before I reached Adam, and saw Skylar in silhouette against the stars, her hair spilling messily down her back in a tousled waterfall. I wouldn’t see her again until the next morning.

    “I can’t believe it’s our last night,” I said to Adam as we walked down the beach, each step taking us further and further from what was starting to seem like a foregone conclusion: my hope, my wish, my chance, gaining momentum like a snowball of hormones that compelled me to do things like flip my hair over my shoulder and push my lips out ever so slightly when I wasn’t talking, sort of like I was sucking an invisible straw. All it had taken, it turned out, was asking him to go for a walk. It had been so easy: I’d asked, he had said yes. Well, actually, to be technical, he had said “Sure,” but it had seemed enthusiastic. Why hadn’t I done that ages ago? Why hadn’t anyone told me?
    “Yeah, crazy,” Adam said, but he was kind of frowning, looking at the ground. Not at my lips. His mind seemed someplace else. I spit