I’d never been naked outside before, and I felt daring and exhilarated, sexy and childlike at once, utterly free. It was too dark to seeanyone but my friends, and they were friends who only knew me as someone who would sneak into millionaires’ homes and go skinny-dipping and drink shots (kind of). I loved it. I floated on my back, exposed to the wilderness. Above me, the waning moon shone, bright as a streetlamp.
“I feel like we should be casting spells,” Stella said, her voice muffled by the water filling my ears.
“What kind of spells?” Lexi asked.
“Health, wealth, happiness.”
“Acceptance to the colleges of our choice,” Jane added.
“World dominance,” Lexi said. “We can’t be worse than the current leaders.”
“Also, I look great in black.” Stella again. “We’d make excellent witches.”
“The moon is bright tonight,” I murmured, and lowered my legs to the lake floor. “I’d cast a divining spell to find out where my grandmother’s lost necklace is.”
“Don’t look now,” Jane said. “But Noah Barbanel is here.”
“What?” I whipped my head around and scanned the shore. Sure enough, he stood on the shore in a large group, which looked peak preppy in their pastels and polos.
“Isaiddon’t look!”
“I’m screwed.”
“Honestly, he’d at least be worth making out with, don’t you think?” Stella said.
No way was I climbing naked out of the lake in front of Noah Barbanel. Not in a million years. “I live in this lake now.”
Jane smirked at me. “Do one thing every day that scares you.”
“Thanks, Eleanor,” I snipped.
I looked at Noah again, and almost screamed when he turnedright toward me. I could tell the instant he recognized me, because he stilled, then leaned forward, then stilled again—then raised his beer in a silent toast.
“Okay, here’s the plan,” I told the others. “I’m going to swim across the lake. You’ll meet me on the other side with a change of clothes.”
Jane glanced toward the far edge of the water, hazy in the darkness. “You’re such a freak. No.”
“You could go out and toss me a towel?”
“Also no. Don’t show any weakness. You have to own it.”
“Own what, precisely? Being cold and naked and wet in front of Noah Barbanel?”
Stella started giggling.
“Ihateyou,” I said, splashing water in her face. Her makeup had miraculously stayed on. “This is weird, right? A bunch of boys standing clothed on the bank while we’re naked in the water?”
“I mean, there’s also a lot of naked boys in the lake and clothed girls on the beach,” Jane said.
“Right. Fair. What do I do?”
I didn’t get a chance to strategize, because I heard my name from the shore, carried in a low, amused tone. “Hey, Schoenberg,” Noah called. “How’s the water?”
Okay. We were doing this. I swiveled toward the shore, keeping my chin and everything below it safely submerged. “Great,” I hollered back. “Coming in?”
“Nah.” He shrugged, barely able to swallow a smirk. “I think I’ll stay here. Enjoy the view.”
My friends snickered and started dog-paddling away.
