“I have to move the sprinklers before it, too.Gah.”I hate that she’s right, but I shake my finger at her as I leave.“You let Natalie take that photo, or I’ll send him something embarrassing from your phone later today.”
Sam and Natalie are laughing as I jog away.
I hate having to move the sprinklers on the pumpkin patch.I can’t prove it, but I think the person before me keeps skipping their turn, and that means every time I go, the ground’s a muddy mess.The whole thing takes a good fifteen or twenty minutes, usually.Plus, I’m still at the point where I want to look really good for my boyfriend and he’ll be at this meeting, so I can’t just go in rubber barn boots, even though it’s the only practical choice for water rotation.
I change quickly into cute brown pants and a cream shirt, which I have to pair with brown leather boots.It’s, like, a rule.And then I pray on the way over to the stupid pumpkin patch that it’s not all muddy.
God must hate me, because when I get there, one of the sprinklers has flipped over.It happens when whoever moved them last doesn’t stay to make sure there’s no tension in the line before they go.If there is, within a few minutes, the pressure of the oscillation flips the whole thing over.
And it makes a horrible muddy mess even when they did move them on schedule.
I’m forced to wade through the sloppy mud in my cute boots.Ugh.I’m going to look up who goes before me the next time I’m near the schedule.I would put money on it being Naomi, Ciara, or Maeve.They never pay attention to stuff like tension in the line, but they yell at me if I so much as put it on the wrong row.Plus, they unfailingly defend each other, so it makes it pretty annoying to deal with them on anything.
I’m just relieved I don’t fall and land on my backside moving the flipped sprinkler.I did that last week.But by the time I’m done, my right boot’s fully covered in mud, and it takes me about ten minutes of carefully rationed wet wipes to (mostly) clean it up.
Which makes me late to the stupid meeting.
And that means there’s no parking on the front of the gym at all, and I’m stuck parking all the way around the back and hiking to the open front door, making me even later.I’ve made it through the front of the school, and I’m half-jogging toward the side door to the gym when I hear my name.
“Vanessa, wait.”
When I turn, it’s Jack.He’s standing over the water fountain outside the gymnasium, a half-smile on his gorgeous face.“Where’s the fire, love?”
He uses the word ‘love’ a lot.It’s a European thing, I think.But every single time, it makes my heart flip.We haven’treallysaid it to each other, but I feel like we’re inching closer.“Oh, there’s no fire.”I gesture at my boots.“But I moved the sprinklers, and one was flipped, so it took me forever to get that cleaned up, and now...”I point.
He shrugs.“They’re arguing about the admission price for what sounds like it’s going to be the most pathetic haunted house ever.”He points behind me.“I lied and said I had to use the loo just to get away.”He reaches toward my face and tucks some hair behind my ears.Then he clucks.
“What?”
“You missed a spot.”He licks his thumb and wipes the bridge of my cheek.“That’s better.”He smiles at me, and then he reaches for my waist.
I leap back like he’s electrified.“No, we can’t.Not here.”I glance around, frantic.
“Vanessa,” he whispers, stalking toward me.“Stop being silly.I know you want to fit in, but we aren’t doing anything wrong.”He drops his voice again, and now it’s just a low rumble.“You’re single.I’m single.And I really,reallylike touching you.”His hands wrap around my waist, and he pulls me close.His knowing smile’s just a little sideways when he brushes his mouth against mine.“Now, calm down.We aren’t breaking any laws.”He whispers.“Yet.”
“Ó Mo Dhia!”Someone far down the hall shouts loudly enough to wake the dead.
I leap away from Jack, but it’s too late.
Naomi’s heels clack on the tile floor as she approaches.“What on earth are you two doing?”Her nostrils flare, and her hands clench into fists, and her eyes widen farther.“Are youtogether?”
“We are.”Jack’s actually beaming.“See?Now everyone will know, and we won’t need to hide.”
Hide?I cringe.
This is exactly what I was afraid would happen.No one’s going to be okay with this, because no one will think I’m good enough for Jack.He’s the only one who doesn’t see the truth.
I’m not.
2
Samantha
In eleventh grade, I won the Junior Hunt Seat Medal.
By twelfth, I was named USEF’s Junior Equestrian of the Year.
After that, I discovered that it’s not really great to be the kind of person who peaks in high school.At the time, everyone expected me to continue to soar.
