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He cleared his throat "Seriously, though, don't be so hard on hih some stuff"

This was news to me "What? What stuff?" I demanded

Jeremiah hesitated "It's not up to , Jere No secrets, remember?"

He smiled "I remember But I still can't tell you It's not , I turned the faucet on and said, "You always take his side"

"I' his side"

"Sa"

He reached out and turned the corners of my mouth up It was one of his oldest tricks; no , Bells, re was a rule Conrad and Steven hadwas, it only applied to n up on my bedroom door I tore it down, of course, and I ran and told Susannah and ot seconds on dessert, I rehtest bit sad or unhappy, one of the boys would start yelling, "No pouting No pouting" And, okay, et irl back then In soht I slept in Cam's hoodie It was stupid and kind of sappy, but I didn't care And the next day I wore it outside, even though it was blazing hot out I loved how the sleeves were frayed, the way it felt lived in It felt like a boy's

Cam was the first boy to pay attention to me like that, to be up front about the fact that he actually wanted to hang out with me And not be, like, eiven hiiven hi for the phone to ring The phone never rang at the summer house The only people who called the house phone were Susannah, trying to figure out what kind of fish anted for dinner, orto tell Steven to put the towels in the dryer, or to get the grill going

I stayed on the deck, sunning and reading azines with Cam's hoodie balled up in my lap like a stuffed animal Since we kept the s open, I knew I'd hear if the phone rang

I slatheredoil I didn't know if it was an oxyured it I set myself up with a little station of cherry Kool-Aid in an old water bottle, plus a radio, plus sunglasses, and ht o Susannah loved to buy presents When she went off for errands, she'd cos, like this pair of red heart sunglasses she said I just had to have She knew just what I'd love, things I hadn't even thought of, had certainly never thought of buying Things like lavender foot lotion, or a silk quilted pouch for tissues

Myfor one of their art gallery trips to Dyerstown, and Conrad, thank God, had left for work already Jeremiah was still asleep The house wasout, soaking up sun and sipping on soda, falling asleep like a fat cat But then the actual act of it is kind of tedious and boring And hot I would always rather be floating in an ocean, catching sun that way, than lying doeating in the sun They say you get tanner faster when you're wet, anyhow