Secondary Characters (Novella) - By Rachel Schieffelbein Page 0,26
surreal to be here, hanging out without fear of attack.
I can’t resist the water’s temptation after a sticky hour of tanning under the scorching sun. I slip into the empty pool and sink to its bottom. The water’s cool thrill rolls through my hair. Misshaped forms tan along the pool’s edge and large bubbles escape my lips. I watch them float to the surface before I follow.
After dunking my head in the water one last time, I pull my towel around my shoulders. I’m almost comfortable in a bikini, but don’t want people thinking I’m trying to put myself out there. Snatching my magazine from my bag, I stretch out on my lounger. Fitting in with Marissa’s pool routine is easy.
Marissa stretches out next to me, one leg long, the other bent up. This is her new tanning pose which makes her belly look flatter. I can’t really tell the difference, and she’s a size two anyway. She flips her blond hair and casually adjusts her top. A hot guy must be approaching.
I peer over Cosmo. Correction. It is the guy.
Justin Marshall.
Justin pulls his hands through his dark hair with a smile. He laughs, rubbing his chiseled jawline with its always there, five-o’clock shadow. He’s every girl’s dream. Well, every girl but me.
Everyone stops Justin on his way around the pool. Guys hold up high fives and girls offer giggling waves. It takes him over five minutes to walk forty feet. It looks like a nightmare to me, but he certainly seems to enjoy it. He deals with everyone like a prince, flashing his white smile and chuckling. He pulls his hands through his hair again, an obvious maneuver to make his shoulder muscles pop.
He’s totally into himself. That much is clear.
I try to hide my sour expression as Justin nears. Marissa will kill me if I scare him away. I hide behind my magazine. Although I hate his ego, I’m not immune to his washboard abs. I refuse to let my lingering eyes betray me.
“Justin, hey!” Marissa calls as she tosses her bangs out of her eyes. “How’s your Dad’s campaign going? It’s going to be such a gift to Minnesota when he’s our governor.”
“Yeah, that’s the hope.” Justin’s signature chuckle rolls from his lips.
Marissa giggles. “So, are you going to Watson’s party tonight?”
His hand returns to his head, fingers tracing through his hair, creating the perfect tousle of curls. God, he just can’t get enough. He leans in, placing his foot onto his lounger. “Hmm, well, it’s the place to be tonight, right?” He offers a crooked smile, pouring charm all over her.
“Of course it is. I’ll be there,” Marissa says in a low, sultry voice. She sucks in her stomach, leaning toward him with perfectly batted eyelashes. She’s skipped to stage three of flirting. We developed the stages this year over winter break while I crashed at her place. There’s no way I could spend that much time at home.
“Well then, you can count me in.” Justin says as he nods at me and I return it slightly as I focus on the wrinkled water stains on the magazine. Move on, dude.
A brief laugh escapes him as he pulls his leg off of Marissa’s lounger, strutting to his next group of admirers.
Good. Be gone.
Marissa squeals to herself and I hold in my sigh. I feel a bit sorry for her. Justin going to the party has nothing to do with her being there. He’s already dating the most perfect girl in school. Not that that matters to Marissa. If anything, it encourages her.
Justin climbs up the back of the lifeguard stand, planting a kiss on the cheek of a beautiful blond. She laughs as she pretends to shove him off before she climbs down. He steps aside as her replacement climbs up, wrapping his hand around hers before finding a table in the shade.
“Ugh. What does he see in Jennifer?”Marissa turns over to her stomach, pulling her sunglasses down, watching Justin and Jennifer. She rises as he tilts his head down, their foreheads touch and then they exchange a brief kiss.
“But that’s not enough to keep a guy going for a whole year. They just don’t seem right together, you know?”
Jennifer tilts her head back as Justin launches a grape into her mouth. Marissa’s right. They don’t seem right. They’re perfect.
“Gag me now.” Marissa pinches my leg, demanding my attention. “She acts like she owns him. He needs someone less controlling, less high maintenance.”
“Like?” I tease. She