Caitlin Read Online Free PDF

my heel and headed back to my station.
    “Wow, that was some serious whistle-blowing you did,” Tanner said when I walked by him.
    I glared at him, but he probably couldn’t tell, because I was wearing my sunglasses.
    How could I have been so stupid?
    *  *  *
    “I was mortified,” I told Robyn later.
    When it was time for my break, I’d headed over to Mini Falls. We were sitting on the short wall that surrounded Lost Lagoon, which was a really shallow pool with a wrecked pirate ship in the middlethat kids could play on. Robyn and I were dangling our feet in the water, so they were cool while the sun beat down on our backs and shoulders.
    “It’s better to be safe than sorry,” Robyn said.
    “The other lifeguards are calling me ‘whistle-blower.’” They’d called me that as I walked by on my way back to my platform. It had hurt my feelings. I was usually tougher, but between Tanner and the Romeo incident, I was losing confidence in my judgment.
    “They’re just jealous.”
    “Of what? My getting the award for most panicked lifeguard of the summer?” I was the youngest lifeguard at Tsunami. I felt that I had to prove something, that I was capable of handling the job. I worked so hard to remain cool, so no one would know I had doubts.
    “Caitlin, chill. If you hadn’t cleared the pool and he had drowned, it would have been a thousand times worse.”
    She had a point. Still it didn’t make me feel any better.
    “Trent was so mad.” Once he’d calmed all the guests down, he’d come over to talk to me. His voice had been low and chilling. He thought my actions reflected badly on him. He’d told me that he was going to start keeping a closer eye on me. I’d been working for a month without anyone watching me. Now, because of one instance of bad judgment, everything was suspect? It made no sense. I was starting to think the guy was psycho.
    “He’d have been madder if someone had drowned,” Robyn said.
    I knew she was right. My job was to make sure that everyone was safe. Still, I shouldn’t have even been looking at Romeo. Maybe that was what really had me upset. That I’d noticed him to begin with. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have been looking for him, wouldn’t have been aware that he’d gone underwater. He’d messed up myperfect employee record by being so cute that I’d wanted to look at him.
    “He said Whitney was nice.”
    “Who said?” Robyn asked.
    “Romeo.”
    “When did you talk to him?”
    “He keeps coming over to my area and yelling stuff up at me. If Trent saw, he would not be happy.” Maybe Trent had seen him talking to me. Maybe that was the reason he’d gone postal over one little mistake.
    “So maybe this Romeo guy likes you,” Robyn said.
    “I doubt it.”
    “Do you want him to?” Robyn asked.
    “No.” Although I guessed there was nothing wrong with a guy liking me as long as I didn’t like him back. “Tanner’s probably glad he dumped me.”
    “He didn’t really dump you. You dumped him.”
    “His dumping me was coming. Why else would he kiss another girl?”
    “Because he’s an idiot.”
    “Maybe I’m the idiot. Maybe I should transfer to this area of the park.”
    “Why?”
    I sighed. “Because no one around here knows me.”
    Robyn gave me a sympathetic smile. “You’re taking this too hard. So you made a mistake. We all do. And around here, we have to watch all the little kids really carefully.”
    Watching carefully was what I did. I just hadn’t proved it like Robyn had. Not that I wanted a reason to be a hero, because that meant bad news for someone.
    I stood up. “Guess I’d better get back to work. Thanks for listening.”
    “That’s what friends do.”
    “Well, you’re the absolute best at it.” I took a step away, turned back. “It seems like we never do anything together anymore.”
    “I know.” She shrugged. “Between work and … well, you know.”
    Yeah, I did. Between work and my brother.
    “Later,” I told