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Chapter Seven

TWELVE DAYS

"I don't get why you're being so weird," Shelby said to Luce the next"You've been here, what, six days? And you're Shoreline's biggest hero Maybe you're going to live up to your reputation after all"

The Sunday- sky was dotted with cu Shoreline's tiny beach, sharing an orange and a ther wind carried the earthy scent of old redwoods down fro swaths of knotted black seaweed, jelly sh, and rotting driftwood into the girls' path

"It was nothing," Luceinto that icy water after Dawn had certainly been so But Steven --the severity of his tone, the force of his grip on her ar of Dawn's rescue

She eyed the salty foa not to look out at the deep, dark water beyond--so she wouldn't have to think about hands down in its icy depths For your own protection Steven must have meant your in its plural form As in, it's for all the students' protection Otherwise, if he only meant Luce

"Dawn's okay," she said "That's all that matters"

"Um, yeah, because of you, Baywatch"

"Do not start calling me Baywatch"

"You prefer to think of yourself as a jack-of-all-trades kind of savior?" Shelby had the"Frankie says sorounds the past two nights You should give him what for--"

"What?" Luce almost spat out her chai "Who is it?"

"I repeat: Mystery creep They dunno" Shelby took a seat on a weathered at of li a few stones expertly into the ocean "Just so to Kramer about it on the boat yesterday after all the hoopla"

Luce sat down next to Shelby and began to root around in the sand for stones

So around Shoreline What if it was Daniel?

It would be just like hi his own proht of him made her yearn for him that much more She could feel herself almost on the brink of tears, which was crazy Odds were the mystery creep wasn't even Daniel It could be Cam It could be anyone It could be an Outcast

"Did Francesca seem worried?" she asked Shelby

"Wouldn't you be?"

"Wait a ht?" It was the rst night Luce hadn't been woken up by Shelby coh the

"No" Shelby's skipping ara Her next stone skipped six ti al

"Where do you go every night, anyway?"

Shelby stu ed her hands in the pockets of her pu y red ski vest She was staring at the gray waves so intensely that it was clear she'd either seen so the question Luce followed her gaze, alray-and-white waves all the way to the horizon

"Shelby"

"What? I don't go anywhere"

Luce started to stand up, annoyed that Shelby felt she couldn't tell her anything Luce was brushing daed her back down onto the rock

"Okay, I used to go seea rock artlessly into the water, nearly pelting a fat seagull swooping down for a sh "Before he became my sorry-ass ex-boyfriend"

"Oh Shel, I'm sorry" Luce chewed on her lip "I didn't even know you had a boyfriend"

"I had to start keeping hiot way too into the fact that I had a new rooht Wanted to irl he thinks I am No o ense, but three's a crowd in o here?"

"Phillip Aves He's a senior in the main school"

Luce didn't think she knew him

"That pale kid with the bleached-blond hair?" Shelby said "Kind of looks like an albino David Bowie? You can't really miss him" Her mouth twitched "Unfortunately"

"Why didn't you tellVas that I lip-sync to when you're not around Better for er at Luce--"you're the one being all ?"

Luce leaned back on her elbows "That would require us actually seeing each other, which apparently we aren't allowed to do"

If Luce closed her eyes, she could let the sound of the waves take her back to the very rst night she'd kissed Daniel In this lifeti Savannah boardwalk The hungry pressure of his hands pulling her in Everything seemed possible then She opened her eyes She was so far away from all of that now She opened her eyes She was so far away from all of that now

"So your sorry-ass ex-boyfriend--"