Surface Tension Read Online Free Page A

spanking.
    “Hi, Claire.”
    “Hello, Luke.”
    “What are you reading?”
    “Summer reading for school.”
    “You have summer reading?”
    “You don't?”
    “I do, but I don't actually read it.”
    “That's smart.”
    “Thanks,” I say. “You want to do something?”
    She looks at me sideways, like she's suspicious. “Like what?”
    “I don't know. Something bad.”
    She laughs, but not because she thinks it's funny, because she thinks I'm stupid. “No thanks.”
    “Why not?”
    “I'm not interested in doing something bad.”
    “Really? Why not?”
    “What's the point?”
    “The point is, you do something bad, and then you get in trouble.”
    “Why?”
    “Um, because it's fun.”
    “How is it fun to get in trouble?”
    “Have you ever gotten in trouble?”
    “Sure.”
    “No you haven't. You've never gotten in trouble. Oh my God, that is hilarious.”
    “Whatever.”
    “No, seriously. Have you ever gotten in trouble?”
    “I don't see the point of this conversation.”
    “Oh my God, you are such a goody-goody.”
    “Screw you.”
    “Oh, the goody-goody said ‘Screw you.' I should go and tell your parents so you can sit over here in the Bad Chair.”
    She doesn't say anything. She just goes back to readingher book and ignoring me. Whatever, I'm going to go rummage through the closets and see if I can find anything cool.
    Our cottage has lots of weird stuff in it from the seventies. We have a box full of hippie music that's fun to listen to because it's so freaking bad. We have a lot of Bee Gees music, and this lame bald guy who is famous for playing a cornet, which is like a high-pitched trumpet. It's so bad.
    There are only two tapes that are any good. One is
Woodstock
and has Jimi Hendrix on it, but that one broke because I played it too much. Now the only good one is the Beach Boys'
Endless Summer.
I love to listen to it because it reminds me of when I was little and I didn't have anything to worry about. That's what we always used to listen to when we were driving up here in the summer.
    I also like that it's called
Endless Summer.
I just like the idea of that. I wish there were such a thing as an endless summer. Sometimes it felt like it when I was little. I wish it still felt like that.
    The little Vizquel boy is watching me from his lawn. I don't know why. He's always watching me, and sometimes he tries to wave to me, but I just pretend like I don't see him and I'm doing something else. I feel kind of bad, because I can tell he doesn't really have any friends, but I don't want to be stuck playing with an eight-year-old all summer.
    Why doesn't he just play with his big sister or something? I don't know what it is that he thinks he's going to do with me.
    He's coming over. I didn't think I made eye contact, but maybe I did.
    He's so little. Why would I want to play with a little kid like him?
    He says, “Do you want to play hide-and-seek?”
    I say, “Not really.”
    “Do you want to play freeze tag?”
    “No, sorry.”
    “Do you want to play Time?”
    “I don't know how to play that.”
    “I could teach you.”
    “Uh, that's okay. I don't really want to play Time anyway.”
    “Okay. I can play with you sometimes, if you want. I just have to ask my parents.”
    “Okay, I'll let you know if I want to play with you sometime.”
    He turns around and walks away. I don't want to be mean to him, but it's just, what if one of the Richardsons comes over all of a sudden and needs help with their boat? I can't be playing with a little kid when that happens.
    The little kid's big sister walks out of her house and goes down toward the lake. She's my age, and she's wearing a bathing suit. She's got a body like a stick.
    She walks the property line right past me. She's only about fifteen feet away, but she never looks up at me. Maybe she's mad because I wouldn't play with her brother, or maybe she doesn't even see me.
    I watch her go all the way down to the beach. Her feet must be tough,