"Hey," they said.
Then Conrad turned back to the TV just like I knew he would. Jeremiah treated her to one of his lopsided smiles and said, "So you're Belly's friend, huh? We thought she didn't have any friends."
I waited for him to grin at me to show he was just joking, but he didn't even look my way. "Shut up, Jeremiah," I said, and he grinned at me then, but it was a quick cursory one, and he went right back to looking at Taylor.
"Belly has tons of friends "Taylor informed him in her breezy way. "Do I look like someone who would hang with a loser?"
"Yes," my brother said from the couch. His head popped up. "You do."
Taylor glared at him. "Go back to jacking off, Steven." She turned to me and said, "Why don't you show me our room?"
"Yes, why don't you do that, Belly? Why don't you go be Tay-Tay's slave?" Steven said. Then he lay back down again.
I ignored him. "Come on, Taylor."
As soon as we got to my room, Taylor flung herself onto the bed by the window, my bed, the one I always slept in. "Oh my God, he is so cute."
"Which one?" I said, even though I knew.
"The dark one, of course. I love my men dark."
Inwardly I rolled my eyes. Men? Taylor had only ever gone out with two boys, neither of them anything close to being men.
"I doubt it will happen," I told her. "Conrad doesn't care about girls." I knew that wasn't true; he did care about girls. He'd cared enough about that girl Angie from last summer to go to second with her, hadn't he?
Taylor's brown eyes gleamed. "I love a challenge. Didn't I win class president last year? And class secretary the year before that?"
"Of course I remember. I was your campaign manager. But Conrad's different. He's ..." I hesitated, searching for just the right word to scare Taylor off. "Almost, like, disturbed."
"What?" she shrieked.
Quickly I backtracked. Maybe "disturbed" had been too strong a word. "I don't mean "disturbed," exactly, but he can be really intense. Serious. You should go for Jeremiah. I think he's more your type."
"And just what does that mean, Belly?" Taylor demanded. "That I'm not deep?"
"Well--" She was about as deep as an inflatable kiddie pool.
"Don't answer that." Taylor opened up her duffel bag and started pulling things out. "Jeremiah is cute, but Conrad's the one I want. I am gonna make that boy's head spin."
"Don't say I didn't warn you." I was already looking forward to saying I told you so, whenever that moment should arrive. Hopefully sooner than later.
She lifted up a yellow polka-dot bikini. "Itsy-bitsy enough for Conrad, do you think?"
"That bikini wouldn't fit Bridget," I said. Her little sister Bridget was seven, and she was small for her age.
"Exactly."
I rolled my eyes. "Don't say I didn't warn you. And that's my bed you're sitting on."
The two of us changed into our suits right away-- Taylor into her tiny yellow bikini and me into my black tankini with the support bra and the really high neckline. As we changed, she looked me over and said, "Belly, your boobs have really gotten big!"
I threw my T-shirt over my head and said, "Not really."
But it was true, they had. Overnight, almost. I didn't have them the summer before, that was for sure. I hated them. They slowed me down: I couldn't run fast anymore--it was too embarrassing. It was why I wore baggy T-shirts and one-pieces. I couldn't stand to hear what the boys would say about it. They would tease me for sure, and Steven would tell me to go put some clothes on, which would make me want to die.
"What size are you now?" she asked accusingly.
"B," I lied. It was more like a C.
Taylor looked relieved. "Oh, well we're still the same, then, because I'm practically a B. Why don't you wear one of my bikinis? You look like you're trying out for the swim team in that one-piece." She lifted up a blue-and-white striped one with red bows on the sides.
"I am on the swim team," I reminded her. I'd done winter swim with my neighborhood swim team. I couldn't compete in summer because I was always at Cousins. Being on the swim team made me feel connected to my summer life, like it was just a matter of time before I was at the beach again.
"Ugh, don't remind me," Taylor said. She dangled the bikini from side to side. "This would be so cute on you, with your brown hair and your new boobs."
I made a face and pushed the bikini away.
Part of me did want to show off and wow them with how much I had grown, how I was a real girl now, but the other more sane part knew it would be a death wish.
Steven would throw a towel over my head, and I would feel ten years old again instead of thirteen. "But why?"
"I like to do laps in the pool," I said. Which was true. I did.
She shrugged. "Okay, but don't blame me when the guys don't talk to you."
I shrugged right back at her. "I don't care if they talk to me or not, I don't think of them that way."
"Yeah, right! You've been, like, obsessed with Conrad for as long as I've known you! You wouldn't even talk to any of the guys at school last year."
"Taylor, that was a really long time ago. They're like brothers to me, just like Steven," I said, pulling on a pair of gym shorts. "Talk to them all you want."
The truth was, I liked both of them in different ways and I didn't want her to know, because whichever guy she picked would feel like a leftover. And it wasn't like it would sway Taylor. She was going for Conrad either way. I wanted to tell her, Anyone but Conrad, but it wouldn't be true, not completely. I would be jealous if she picked Jeremiah, too, because he was my friend, not hers.
It took Taylor forever to pick out a pair of sunglasses that matched her bikini (she'd brought four pairs), plus two magazines and her suntan oil. By the time we got outside, the boys were already in the pool.
I threw my clothes off right away, ready to jump in, but Taylor hesitated, her Polo towel tight around her shoulders. I could tell she was suddenly nervous about her itsy-bitsy bikini, and I was glad. I was getting a little bit sick of her showing off.
The boys didn't even look over. I had been worried that with Taylor there they might not want to do all the usual stuff, that they might act differently. But there they were, dunking one another for all it was worth.
Kicking off my flip-flops, I said, "Let's get in the pool."
"I might lay out for a little bit first," Taylor said. She finally dropped her towel and spread it out on a lounge chair. "Don't you want to lay out too?"
