Or maybe it was the incessant cacophony ofcrickets.
“You win,” I conceded, wading in deeper. Water snaked up my bare thighs. I should’ve worn a bathing suit but hadn’t thought of it. My cut-offs and tank top would have to do. “I’m going for aswim.”
A dragonfly skimmed the water’s surface, its green pearlescent body adding to the lake’s pulsing shimmer. I swept my hand toward the insect, and it dashed off the same way bunnies ran from me when I was in my otherform.
“Want to join me?” I asked, looking over my shoulder atAugust.
He rubbed his chin as though debating, but then he lowered his pants and yanked off his tee. I turned my prying gaze away and submerged myself completely, staying under until I felt my blood cool down. When I popped back out, August was lying on his back next to me, floating likedriftwood.
He lookedpeaceful.
Toopeaceful.
Smiling deviously, I pressed both my palms into his abdomen and drove him downward. And then I laughed so hard that when he emerged and shoved me under, I snorted in an ungodly amount of lakewater.
I propelled myself away from him like a squid. “Not fair,” I said, laugh-snorting.
He grinned. When I saw him cut through the water toward me, probably to dunk me under again, I raced to the middle of the lake. Only then did I stop to take a breath. From the shore, I caught Evelyn shading her eyes. I waved to her to reassure her that I was okay just before I got dunkedagain.
When I broke free, I tossed my hair back. “Oh. You’re going to regretthat!”
August shot me a challenging grin. “Am I? What are you going to do, Dimples? Stick itching powder in my bedagain?”
Ha!I’d forgotten about that. “Not a bad idea . . . ” I racked my brain for something worse, though. When it finally came to me, I swam up to him and started tickling his sides. August was the most ticklish person in the history of ticklishpeople.
He roared with laughter until he managed to cuff my wrists. Then he tried to take revenge, but I wasn’t ticklish. I’d never been. He must’ve remembered that fact at some point because he stopped prodding my ribcage and simply rested his palm against my waist. I wasn’t cold, but my skin pebbled and my heart . . . it skipped abeat.
Possiblytwo.
Before he could detect my weirdness, I kicked away from him. “Nice try, big guy,” I said, hoping my voice sounded normal. “Race you to theshore?”
His green eyes honed into the shore with the same intensity they’d honed into me a moment ago. August had never been competitive—not ever—and yet the way he looked at that shore made me wonder if he’d changed. Maybe, in the past, when we’d played backgammon or scaled a tree, he’d let me win, because I was so muchyounger.
“You’re going to need a head start,” he finallysaid.
“I’m all grown up now. I don’t need any more headstarts.”
“You sure aboutthat?”
“Yep.”
“What do I get if I win?” He submerged his chin and mouth and blew out bubbles as he treaded water next tome.
“You want a prize for beating agirl?”
He popped his head back out of the water. “That’s a low blow. How am I supposed to beat younow?”
I grinned at him, my dimples feeling like they were excavating my cheeks. “Ready?”
He grunted, which I took as ayes.
I propelled my limbs, wheeling them so fast they blurred, and my pulse skyrocketed. Unlike August, I had always been competitive. Which had been one of the reasons I’d entered the Alphatrials.
His body plundered the water parallel to mine. I didn’t stop to check who was in the lead though, not until I reached the embankment. The minute my fingers grazed the shore, I shot out of the water and whipped my hair off my face. August touched the shore a couple seconds afterme.
“Yes!” I smacked the water triumphantly, but then I noticed he was barely out of breath, and my triumph waned. “Did you let me win, AugustWatt?”
He pivoted and sat facing out. “Nope.”
