“It’s fun, I swear,” Jeremiah assured me. Then he called over to Taylor, “Tyler, you wanna play chicken with us? Or are you too chicken?”
Taylor looked up from her magazine. I couldn’t see her eyes because of her sunglasses, but I knew she was annoyed. “It’s Tay-lor, not Tyler, Jeremy. And no, I don’t want to play.”
Steven and Conrad exchanged a look. I knew what they were thinking. “Come on, Taylor, it’ll be fun,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Don’t be a chicken.”
She made a big show of sighing, and then she put her magazine down and stood up, smoothing down her bikini in the back. “Do I have to take my sunglasses off?”
Jeremiah grinned at her. “Not if you’re on my team. You won’t be falling off.”
Taylor took them off anyway, and I realized then that the teams were uneven, and someone would have to sit out. “I’ll watch,” I offered, even though I wanted to play.
“That’s okay. I won’t play,” Conrad said.
“We’ll play two rounds,” said Steven.
Conrad shrugged. “That’s all right.” He swam over to the side of the pool.
“I call Tay-lor,” Jeremiah announced.
“No fair; she’s lighter,” Steven argued. Then he looked over and saw the expression on my face. “It’s just that you’re taller than her is all.”
I didn’t want to play anymore. “Why don’t I just sit out, then? I’d hate to break your back, Steven.”
Jeremiah said, “Aw, I’ll take you, Belly. We’ll take those guys down. I think you’re probably a lot tougher than little Tay-lor.”
Taylor walked down the steps and into the pool slowly, cringing at the temperature. “I’m very tough, Jeremy,” she said.
Then Jeremiah crouched down in the water, and I scrambled to get onto his shoulders. He was slippery, so it was hard to stay on at first. Then he stood up and righted himself.
I shifted and balanced my hands on his head. “Am I too heavy?” I asked him quietly. He was so wiry and thin, I was afraid I’d break him.
“You weigh, like, nothing,” he lied, breathing hard and gripping on to my legs.
I wanted to kiss the top of his head right then.
Across from us Taylor was perched on top of Steven’s shoulders giggling and pulling his hair to hold herself steady. Steven looked like he was ready to pitch her off of him and across the pool.
“Ready?” Jeremiah asked. In a low voice he said to me, “The trick is to just keep steady.”
Steven nodded, and we waddled over to the middle of the pool.
Conrad, who was treading over by the side, said, “Ready, set, go.”
Taylor and I stretched our arms out to each other, pushing and shoving. She couldn’t stop giggling, and when I gave her one strong push, she said, “Oh, shit!” and they both fell backward.
Jeremiah and I burst out laughing and high-fived each other. When they resurfaced, Steven glared at Taylor and said, “I told you to hold on tight.”
She splashed him right in the face and said, “I was!” Her eyeliner was smudged and her mascara was starting to run. She still looked pretty, though.
Jeremiah said, “Belly?”
I said, “Hmm?” I was starting to get pretty comfortable up there, so high.
“Watch out.” Then he lurched forward, and I was flying into the water, and so was he. I couldn’t stop laughing, and I swallowed about a jugful of water, but I didn’t care.
When both of our heads popped up, I went straight for his and took him by surprise with a good dunk.
Then Taylor said, “Let’s play again. I’ll be with Jeremy this time. Steven, you can be Belly’s partner.”
