Robyn by Jade Parker Page A

girl’s hand. She had dark hair and a nice smile.
    Sean invited them to join us, so everyone shifted around to make room for them. The girl’s name was Nicole and she was Nick’s girlfriend. Which meant he was now off my list of possibles.
    “Nick and Nic?” Whitney asked. “Too funny.”
    It was kinda funny, but they seemed okay with it.
    “Hey, we don’t get to choose our names or who we like,” Nick said.
    “So do you work at the park?” I asked Nicole.
    “No. I’ve got three sisters, way younger than me, so I have to babysit them during the summer while my parents are at work.” She leaned against Nick. “I wish I could work there. I hear it’s awesome.”
    “It can be,” Whitney said. “Depends on your supervisor.”
    This from the girl who thought working at a water park meant working on her tan? Although maybe she was just trying to earn points with her supervisor. She smiled at Sean, he grinned back. No wonder he never got mad at her. They were in like. Disgusting.
    And why was I so bothered by it?
    “It also depends who else you’re working with,” Caitlin said, smiling at Tanner, who was grinning at her.
    Who did I have to smile at? No one. It was totally unfair. Why didn’t they cut the lights and start the fireworks already?
    I glanced around. A guy was standing at the top of the knoll, looking right at us. I could feel his gaze. Was it possible that I might not be the only odd one out?
    “Is that Jake?” I asked.
    Everyone in our little group turned their head to look where I was looking. It was like I’d asked, “Is that Superman?” I almost burst out laughing, but held it back and snorted instead — which was way more embarrassing.
    Sean seemed to be the only one who noticed. He grinned at me. Not exactly the way I wanted to get a guy to notice me — - and Sean wasn’t really a guy I was interested in. Still, I couldn’t help but feel that we’d shared some sort of secret moment.
    Then he shoved himself up so he was standing. He waved at Jake. Weren’t we all friendly tonight?
    “Who’s Jake?” Caitlin asked, watching as he made his way across the grass to us.
    “The ice-cream guy,” Whitney said. “So is everyone from Paradise Falls here tonight?”
    “A lot of them are,” Caitlin said. “Makes sense, since a lot of the employees go to school here.”
    It didn’t take Jake long to reach us. Sean made the introductions, then we played a sort of musical chairs while people shifted around trying to make more room on the quilt. Somehow Sean ended up sitting between me and Whitney. Jake sat on the other side of her. Even though I figured both Sean and Jake were interested in Whitney, it no longer looked like I didn’t have anyone interested in me. Thank goodness.
    But the quilt was really crowded. Still, it was nice, too. Sitting so close to a guy. I could smell the spicy soap that Sean used. When I looked at him, I could really see the blue of his eyes.
    I cast a quick glance at Jake. His eyes were brown. And so not boring.
    I wondered if maybe my eyes looked boring only to me. And maybe brown eyes were boring to Whitney. It was difficult to tell how she felt about Jake sitting beside her. It was pretty obvious that he liked her — why else would he have made sure to sit by her?
    He still seemed kinda shy. Not talking to her or anything. Just being with her.
    Maybe he was trying to figure out Sean’s interest in her. She had two guys who liked her, and I had none.
    The lights suddenly went out. Thank goodness. Maybe I’d stop obsessing about how hard it was to find a guy who was interested in me.
    A burst of fireworks filled the black sky. The entire stadium seemed to release a collective gasp. I could see the silhouettes of everyone in our little group. Caitlin and Tanner, Nick and Nic, Jake and Whitney, Sean and —
    Me?
    There was just enough light to see that he was looking at me. Which made no sense since it was Whitney that he cared so much about us being nice