After Summer Read Online Free PDF Page B

chastened, and kind of furious. More specifically, with George.
    “Then get in the water !” Katy retorted, pointing at the pool. She shook her head in amazement.
    Beth threw her towel on the bleachers, and got into a lane as fast as she could. Once she’d slipped into the rhythm of her warm-up strokes, her embarrassment faded. She began to breathe evenly, stretching farther with each arm.
    Katy probably thought she was a moron. Great.
    Beth hated being yelled at—but even more than that, she hated giving her coaches a reason to yell at her in the first place. Lance and Katy had been perfectly clear about how unacceptable they thought being late to practice was. No tardiness. End of discussion.
    “Swim team is either a priority or it’s not, ” Lance told them at almost every practice. “ If you’re late, you’re sending us a message about your commitment level. We’ll send one back. Trust me.”
    I shouldn’t have gone out with George. The words, heavy with regret echoed in Beth’s head. And as hard as she swam, she couldn’t get them out.

5
    “What are you having for lunch?” Jeremy asked over the phone. His voice was low and sounded like he was smiling. If Ella closed her eyes, she could imagine the crook of his mouth and the light in his big dark eyes.
    She could pretend he was there.
    Until she opened her eyes again and found herself walking across the quad in Connecticut, surrounded by falling leaves, talking to her boyfriend on the phone. Alone.
    “Diner food,” she said, adjusting her book bag. “Why?”
    “I wish we were having lobster rolls together down at Red’s in Wiscasset,” Jeremy replied. “I mean, how awesome would it be to hop in the car and take a drive there together right now?”
    Ella sighed wistfully. “That would be awesome.” Lastsummer, she and Jeremy had taken that road trip a few times together. Red’s had the fattest, most delicious lobster rolls in the whole state of Maine. They’d order two (his with mayo, hers with melted butter) and a side of fries to split. Then, they’d find an open table on the back deck and eat in the sunshine while the boats passed through the harbor, their knees touching under the rickety table.
    At the end of summer, they’d driven down one last time and got the very last rolls of the season, right before Red’s boarded up for the fall. It was a bittersweet moment, and with all the tables packed away, they’d had to find seats out on the weathered wooden planks of the pier. It was a quiet meal, save for the times Jeremy kissed away a trickle of melted butter from the corner of her mouth. Ella would giggle uncontrollably and push him away. But then things got quiet again, both of them heavy with the notion that they’d be parting ways for the next few months.
    The memory of Red’s reminded Ella that Jeremy was worth doing the long-distance thing for.
    He was worth waiting for. Wasn’t that what she’d learned over the summer?
    “I also ask because I’m having a hoagie and I have to tell you, it’s very disappointing,” Jeremy continued in that casual way he had. “The bread-to-cheese ratio is way off, and I won’t even get into the meat.”
    Ella could hear Jeremy’s high school cafeteria noise inthe background, and wrinkled her nose. Thank God she was an upperclassman, and could avoid the revolting industrial food altogether.
    “In the history of hoagies,” Jeremy continued, “this one might be the worst. Like, ever.”
    “I get to go off campus for lunch,” she bragged. “If you were here, I could pick you up something tasty.”
    Today, Ella couldn’t get off St. Augustine’s grounds fast enough. Sister Margaret Alice had jumped all over her in study hall (like Ella could be expected not to apply Stila lip gloss when she had a free moment), and Ella was in dire need of a break from school.
    “You’re cruel,” Jeremy told her, affection in his voice.
    Ella held her cell phone to her ear with one hand, and looked for