The next morning, Daisy picked me up in her mom’s little red Honda and we headed for the beach. We cranked up the music, blasted the A/C, and sang at the top of our lungs. American Idols we were not. We sounded like baying hounds. I think we laughed at ourselves all the way there.

When we arrived, the beach was crowded. Hot guys were everywhere. We commented on them as we made our way through the hot sand.

We headed for a section of beach where kids from our high school hung out, specifically Marco. Daisy couldn’t have picked a more unobtainable guy to have a crush on. He was the best looking and most popular boy in school. On top of that, his beautiful girlfriend was Paige Matthews, the captain of the cheerleading squad. Ugh!

Everyone knew that Marco’s mother and grandparents were killed years ago by a mugger in a botched robbery. The insurance and inheritance money that he and his father received wasn’t enough to make them filthy rich, but rich enough for them to live comfortably. Marco took martial arts classes so his father wouldn’t worry about him.

“Do you think Marco will be here?” said Daisy for the third time that day.

“I don’t know. Maybe,” I said, also for the third time. I was annoyed that Daisy liked him. I had never actually spoken to him, but I hated him because he was Trey’s best friend.

“He has got to be the most perfect guy, don’t you think?” she said.

“No doubt,” I said facetiously. “Just like his best friend Trey.”

She squinted her eyes at me as if studying me.

“Oh, but wait,” I continued in the same tone. “Marco isn’t a star quarterback like Trey is so he can’t be perfect!” I faked a gasp. “He’s not even on the football team!”

Daisy laughed. “Lilah, you’re so funny!”

I didn’t laugh. “To be honest, I don’t really care for Marco.”

She let out a dramatic gasp like a bad actor in a school play. I knew she thought I was joking. “But why? What’s not to like? He’s got good teeth, good hair…”

“I’m serious,” I said. “Like if you two ever get married, I’m not going to your wedding.”

She burst out laughing.

We plopped our towels and bags on the sand near the shore. It was cooler there and we could watch people going by. The breeze felt good and the air smelled of seawater.

Marco was nowhere to be seen. His usual camp was not far from where we were now. Daisy looked disappointed. We spread our towels on the sand and she took off her yellow sundress that matched her new bikini.

She sat down and put on a big hat. When we were twelve, she always wore a hat like that to the park where we would feed the ducks and watch the skateboarders.

I sat down and dug my toes into the soft sand. It was cool and moist underneath the hot surface. The sun glinted off the water and sailboats slowly floated by in the distance. Kids were riding body boards, sharing the waves with the surfers.

“You’d better take your clothes off before you get a bad tan line,” said Daisy.

“Oh. Yeah,” I said trying to hide the nervousness in my voice. “You’re right.”

Lifting my blouse up over my head, I tried to appear confident. I stood up to take off my shorts, glancing down to make sure my bathing suit was in place. A buff guy jogging along the shore looked at me and smiled. I smiled back shyly and sat down. A small airplane pulling a banner flew overhead. I began to relax. No one seemed to think it was out of the ordinary for me to be wearing a bikini. I dug around in my bag for some sunscreen.

“A guy around our age moved in across the street from me this morning,” I said squirting sunscreen into my hand and passing the tube to Daisy.

“Really? Is he cute?”

I smiled. “Very. His name is Andreas.”

“Serious? You met him already?” She handed the sunscreen back to me.

“Ha! No. I heard his dad say his name. His dad speaks some strange European language or something, but Andreas speaks perfect English. They were arguing in front of their house.”

“Did he look at you?”

“Yeah, but he didn’t look friendly. He has all this exercise equipment and he looks like he works out.”

“Sounds hot!” she said.

I laughed. “He totally is.”

“Oh my god!” She grabbed my arm. “He’s here!”

“Who?” I thought she was talking about Andreas.

“Marco!”

I looked around and spotted a handsome boy with dark hair and black swim trunks sitting a few yards from us surrounded by a group of girls. He was always surrounded by girls when Paige wasn’t around. His body was athletic and tan. Trey was with them.

“Well, he is good-looking,” I admitted, “but…”

“He is, isn’t he?” She giggled.

“Look at him. You can tell he knows he’s hot. And there’s always a harem around him. Why would you want to be his flavor of the week?”

“He’s not like that. Paige was his exclusive girlfriend for a long time.”

“Was?”

“I heard they broke up a month ago.”

“They did? When did you hear that?”

“Yesterday. I heard Trisha talking on her cell phone while she was walking her dog past my house. I was at the mailbox, but she didn’t see me.” Trisha Crawford was one of Paige’s friends who lived three houses down from Daisy.

“He broke up with her?” I snorted. “Let me guess. He wants to date other people.”

“Why are you being so mean? Did he do something to you?”

“No. I just know his type.”

“You’re judging him without even knowing him.”

“Oh, like you know him?”

Daisy looked hurt. “Lilah, I don’t want to fight about this. I came here to have fun. If you’re going to lecture me about why I shouldn’t go for him, I don’t want to hear it.”

I looked down at the bottle of sunscreen in my hands. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I just don’t want you to get hurt. So, don’t blame me if you get your heart broken!” I shook my finger at her.

She smiled. “I won’t.”

I grinned back at her and looked at Marco again.

He saw me looking at him and smiled. I quickly looked away hoping he didn’t think I was smiling at him.

“Marco just smiled at us,” said Daisy.

“Yeah, I saw that.” I frowned. “Maybe he was looking past us.” I squirted more sunscreen on my legs and turned around. The sunscreen dripped off my leg and onto my towel. “Damn, I just bought this towel.” I carefully scooped the sunscreen off the towel with the cap and spread it on my leg.

“No, I think he smiled at us,” she said looking behind us. “There’s just an old couple and a group of guys back there.”

I rubbed the sunscreen on my shoulders and chest, being careful not to get it on my swimsuit.

“Lilah?” said Daisy.

I wondered if Andreas had ever been to the beach before. I wished I had the courage to invite him.

“Uh, Lilah?” she said again.

“Hm?” I kept my eyes on my body to make sure I wasn’t missing any spots.

A shadow fell over me and I looked up. It was Marco.

“Excuse me. Can I borrow your sunscreen?”

I froze. Daisy was wide-eyed.

I looked down at the sunscreen in my hands. “Yeah, sure.” I handed it to him and glanced at Daisy. We exchanged surprised looks.

He smiled. “Thanks. I brought some, but I ran out.” He began to rub the sunscreen on his broad shoulders.

“No problem.” I didn’t smile back. Why is he here? Did Trey put him up to this? I rummaged through my bag for my iPod so I could block him out with my headphones. I could feel him watching me.

“You look familiar. Do you go to Lakeview High?”

Is he talking to me or Daisy? I looked up. He was still smiling at me.

“Uh, yeah.” I looked at Daisy. “We both do.”

“I think we had a class together,” he said. “You’re gonna be a Junior, right?

He remembered? It was History, freshman year.

“Yes,” I said. “We’ll be Juniors.” I tilted my head towards Daisy to include her. She gave me a grateful smile, but there was worry in her eyes.

“My name is Marco, by the way.”

I kept my mouth shut and looked at Daisy, waiting for her to speak first. She should be talking to him, not me! The pause seemed to make Daisy uncomfortable and I wanted to laugh when I saw her blush.

“I’m Daisy,” she said.

I gave him a weak little wave and looked away. “Lilah.”

“We know your best friend Trey from elementary and middle school,” added Daisy.

I shot her a cautious look. Oh no, you did NOT just mention Trey!

Recognition filled his eyes. “Yeah, I think I have seen you talking to him!” He turned to point at Trey. “He’s right over there if you want to talk to him.”

Oh, no, no, no!

“Okay,” said Daisy smiling. “Maybe I’ll come by later.”

“I don’t know Trey that well, so I think I’ll pass,” I said.

“Hey, do you mind putting some sunscreen on my back?” he said. “I can’t reach it and I don’t want to burn.” He held the sunscreen tube out to me.

Seriously? I grabbed the tube and tossed it to Daisy. “Daisy can do it. I’m going for a walk and maybe a swim.” I stood up. His eyes slid up and down my body. I gave him a frosty look and walked away.