When We Were Us (Keeping Score, #1) Read Online Free Page A

bet he wouldn’t tease her about wearing a dress.
    “Bet she can’t play kick ball or anything in that dress,” I commented.  Jesse jerked his attention back to me and flushed a little when he realized I’d seen the girl.  I rolled my eyes at him.
    “No more kick ball, Ab.  Least not at school.  We’re not in grade school anymore.”
    I became aware that Nat was watching both of us very closely, and I turned slightly to include him. 
    “How was your vacation, Nat?” I asked.  His family spent the last two weeks of every summer at a rented cabin in the Poconoes while my family stayed at the beach for a week.  Jesse usually stayed in town. 
    “Good,” Nat answered me.  “We went fishing.  And canoeing.  My dad says if I keep working at it, maybe I could do something like that, rowing or whatever, in high school and college.  It would help build my upper body strength.”
    “That would be cool,” I agreed.  “Does the high school have a crew team?”
    “No,” Jesse answered for him.  “But I think there’s a local club.  Your dad’s right, Nat.  It would be good for you.”
    Nat smiled, pleased that both of us had responded so positively.  He looked up at me.  “Did you have fun at the beach, Abby?”
    I opened my mouth to tell them about the days I had spent building sand castles and playing in the waves, but before I could say a word, I heard a soft voice behind me. 
    “Hey, Jesse.”
    I recognized the girl in the dress, the one Jesse had been staring at earlier.  Her name was Sarah, I remembered, and she was very pretty, with black hair and huge brown eyes.  She was gazing up at Jesse as though he were a luscious chocolate ice cream cone.
    “Hi, Sarah,” Jesse replied, and I realized to my amazement that he was flustered.  He pushed off from the wall and shoved his hands into his pockets.  “You ready to start school?”
    Sarah giggled as though Jesse had made a witty comment.  I barely refrained from rolling my eyes again.  “I guess so.  Not going to be as much fun as summer, though, right?”
    Jesse laughed, too.  “Yeah, I don’t think so.  Not unless they let us run through the sprinklers here, too.”
    “Oh, I know!  Can you believe how soaked we got?”  Sarah had moved closer, effectively edging out Nat and me.
    “My mom asked me if I had stopped at the pool on the way home,” Jesse confided.  “I told her it was a sprinkler inspection that went bad.”
    That sent Sarah off into more peals of laughter, the last of which was thankfully drowned out by the bell ringing, signally the beginning of the school day.  We all moved toward the doors and into the building.
    I stayed near Nat, making sure he didn’t get jostled in the crowd of kids.  Our lockers were on the same hallway, and we found them easily enough.  I had to try the combination for my lock three times before it worked, but Nat must have had more luck, since he was standing next to me, waiting patiently when I looked up. 
    “Where’s Jesse?” I asked him.
    Nat shrugged.  “Not sure.  Maybe he went to homeroom already.” 
    I sighed.  I had a bad feeling about this day and particularly about this Sarah person, who seemed to have spent time with Jesse this summer unbeknownst to Nat and me.  Once upon a time, Jesse would have made fun of a girl like that to Nat and me, but he seemed to like her well enough today.
    We threaded our way toward the classrooms.  Nat and Jesse had the same homeroom, but I was on my own.  We caught up with Jesse just outside the door to their classroom.
    “I wondered where you guys had gone,” he said.  “I turned around and I couldn’t find you.  Did you get your lockers to work?”
    I arched my eyebrows.  “Yep.  You might not have lost us if you hadn’t been giggling with your girlfriend.”
    I expected Jesse to laugh at the joke, but instead he frowned at me.  “She’s not my girlfriend.  I just got to know her over the summer.  I cut the