Robyn by Jade Parker Page B

to, Whitney he included in everything, Whitney, Whitney, Whitney …
    Was I jealous? I thought I was. Which made no sense because he was Caitlin’s brother, had always been around in my life, had irritated us both, only now I was irritated in a completely different way. Irritated that he wasn’t noticing me.
    Only he was looking at me. It was a really strange moment. An odd kind of electricity was in the air. I couldn’t believe it. I was sitting there thinking about what it would be like if Sean Morgan — Caitlin’s irritating brother — kissed me.
    Then there was another burst of fireworks and he turned his attention back to watching the sky.
    Which was a good thing. A very good thing.

Tuesday I was at Splash, trying not to think about Sean. I’d had this really weird dream. Sean and I were swimming, never coming up to the surface for air, like we were sea creatures or something. Every now and then a dolphin would wander by and we’d grab a fin and go zipping through the water. Laughing, laughing underwater. I’m not sure why all these images were bombarding me. It was bad enough to think about him. I didn’t really want to dream about him.
    “So what’s up with you and Sean?” Whitney asked.
    She was doing her usual thing of making sure the far side of Splash wouldn’t collapse if someone sat on it. I was irritated with her for being so adorable that two guys wanted to sit by her. I was annoyed that she didn’t even pretend to work.
    “What do you mean?” I asked.
    “You kept looking at each other last night. Do you like each other?”
    “Nooo.” A toddler slipped. I picked her up, helped her get situated on the slide, and gave her a little push. She laughed going down the slick slide.
    “What do you think of Jake?” she asked.
    “What do you mean?”
    “You know, Robyn, these questions aren’t that hard. They shouldn’t need a translator.”
    “It’s just that I’m distracted here trying to keep an eye on the kids. That’s what we’re being paid to do. Remember?”
    “How can I forget when you’re constantly reminding me?” She glanced around, gave one of her bored sighs.
    I really couldn’t figure her out. It was like she was working really hard to give the impression that everything bored her. Like last night. She’d appeared to be so excited when she arrived at the ballpark — - and then she’d shifted into this-is-really-beneath-me gear. I just didn’t get it. What was her story?
    I heard loud, deep laughter. It wasn’t unusual at a water park to hear people having fun, but near Splash, it was unusual to hear deep laughter. Deep, guy laughter.
    I turned around. Three guys, grinning broadly and laughing, were swaggering toward us. They had trouble tattooed and pierced all over them. They looked way older than us, seniors in high school maybe.
    The guy leading the way had a pierced eyebrow, braided leather around his neck and wrist, and a tattoo of a shark on his chest, right above his heart. I relaxed a little because I recognized the tattoo. The park had a tattoo booth near the food court. The tattoo wasn’treal, just painted on, but it was waterproof — for a while anyway.
    These guys had apparently stopped by the booth. For fun maybe. Or maybe they wanted to look tough.
    We had four little kids at the top. I heard them screech as each one took his or her turn to go down the slide, but my attention was focused on the three guys. The attractions in Mini Falls had height restrictions. People playing here couldn’t be taller than forty-eight inches.
    No one else was waiting in line, which I guess made our slide a target. The guys started walking up the steps to the slide. I moved to block their way.
    “Sorry, guys. This ride is for kids only.”
    “Whatever, loser,” the lead guy said, holding up his hand, using his fingers to make a W , an E , then an L .
    “Come on, babe, we just want to have some fun,” one of the guys beside him said.
    My heart was pounding. I was