Lauren's Beach Crush by Angela Darling Page B

and Lauren exchanged a look. Then Chrissy blurted out, “Nope. I call we make different teams. Girls against boys.”
    Frank and Charlie looked at each other and nodded. Frank and Chrissy exchanged places.
    â€œPrepare yourselves for immediate annihilation,” said Frank in a Martian-style voice.
    Lauren giggled in spite of herself. Frank really was pretty funny, and it was cool the way he wasn’t afraid to act goofy.
    They began with simply volleying the ball back and forth. At first, Lauren and Chrissy were hopeless. The boys scored point after point, with Charlie announcing the score loudly and pumping his fist every time they made a point. Lauren and Chrissy laughed so hard at howbad they were that Lauren’s stomach almost started to hurt. But after a few more volleys, they got into a rhythm. Lauren figured out how to set up a shot for Chrissy, who almost managed to smash it into a place where the boys couldn’t reach it. Then Chrissy did the same for Lauren, who jumped high and spiked it just inside the line.
    â€œNice shot!” called Frank admiringly. The girls had finally scored a point!
    Charlie scowled. Lauren guessed he was pretty competitive, and that he wasn’t used to losing a point. No wonder he was such a successful athlete.
    â€œVolley for serve!” Charlie called gruffly. He wasn’t smiling. He threw the ball up and then slammed a serve across the net. It seared its way down at a blistering speed. Both girls shrieked and jumped out of its path. Charlie grinned. “And that is how you do it!” he yelled to no one in particular. “Our ball!”
    The game was lopsided, to put it mildly. But the girls managed to score two more points. The first time they both jumped up at the same time and the ball ricocheted off their arms at a strange angle, clearly unanticipated by the boys, and the ball dropped gently over the net on the boys’ side, scoring the point. The second time, Lauren jumpedhigh and slammed it downward as hard as she could.
    Charlie lunged for it, trying to hit it back over his shoulder as he laid himself out horizontally. But he couldn’t reach it. The ball bounced just a few inches past his outstretched hands.
    â€œOut!” he yelled, his face still in the sand.
    Frank looked down at Charlie and tilted his head to the side. “Yo, bro,” he said gently. “I think it was in. Or at least on the line.”
    â€œNo way,” said Charlie, clambering back to his feet, sand flying everywhere. “It was out !” He said the last word with such force that Chrissy actually flinched. Then he stopped and looked at Frank and looked back at the girls. Then he made a dismissive gesture and said in a sulky voice “Okay. Fine. Their point. It’s nineteen to three, us.”
    The boys ended up winning twenty-one to three. By the time the game was over, the rest of the guys were standing on the sideline, waiting for the next game.
    â€œNice game!” said Frank. “You guys want to play another one?”
    â€œNo thanks!” said Chrissy and Lauren at the same time. Lauren was exhausted and hot and thirsty, but elated that she’d spent so much time facing Charlie across the net.
    â€œMaybe we’ll see you later, at the snack bar or something,” added Lauren hopefully. She and Chrissy walked back to their blanket and plunked down.
    â€œThat was awesome!” breathed Lauren, reaching for her water bottle in her tote bag. She took a long swig, but in her mind she was re-enacting the whole game. “Did you like playing with Frank?”
    â€œI guess so,” said Chrissy in a quiet voice.
    â€œCharlie is such an amazing athlete, isn’t he?”
    â€œHe’s an amazing jerk, if you ask me,” muttered Chrissy.
    Lauren was sure she had misunderstood her. “What did you say?”
    â€œOh, come on, Lauren! He’s such a poor sport! He argued practically every call and he was