Center Ice Read Online Free PDF Page A

more public, somewhere to see and be seen.
    “I didn’t really have any idea,” she said, and she sounded like she meant it. She started down the hill toward the lake. “But this is perfect. It’s beautiful.”
    “Yeah. I like it here. I’m not a huge fan of crowds.” Which was true, but was way more than I should be saying to some girl I barely knew. I was supposed to be confident and popular and outgoing, not a crowd-phobic recluse. But she didn’t seem too put off by my admission, and we scuffed along through the sand until we hit the band of smooth rocks down by the shore. “There’s a shallow part over there,” I gestured, “with warmer water. It’s pretty cold out deeper.”
    We wobbled over the beach rocks and made our way to the little cove. I realized that I’d never brought a girl here before, and I was glad that she was wearing practical shoes; heels on these rocks would have been brutal.
    I kicked my flip-flops off and pulled my shirt over my head, dropping it down to the rocks, and only then noticed that Karen was standing totally still, staring out at the lake. Once again, I had no idea what she was up to.
    “I’m going to rinse out my dress,” she blurted out. “I’ll swim in it, I mean. Because it’s sweaty and gross.” She looked a bit desperate. “It’s repulsive.”
    I honestly hadn’t given a lot of thought to what she’d wear in the water, but apparently she had. “Okay,” I said carefully. I dropped my wallet and keys on top of my shirt and figured it was time to get the conversation back onto more solid ground. So I said, “Don’t let me lose those. It’d be a long walk back to town.” Then I started toward the water, walking carefully but easily on the shifting stones, and hoped she’d just follow after me without more weirdness.
    But apparently I was being too optimistic. When I was about thigh-deep, before I made the final, critical commitment to the cool water, I turned around and saw her still standing on the shore. “You okay?”
    “Yeah.” She shrugged her backpack off onto the ground. “Just building up my nerve. You know, for the cold.”
    “It’s not that bad,” I said, and I waved my fingers through the water in what I hoped was an encouraging way. I wanted to swim, not drive this strange girl back into town. “On a day like this, it’s perfect.”
    She seemed to believe me because she started toward the water. I turned back around and looked at the horizon, but I could hear her wading toward me. She was slow at first but sped up as she went, and when she was just about level with me she flopped forward, no grace or style whatsoever, just falling into the lake with a splash. Then she headed confidently out into the lake, her arms cutting smoothly through the water, and I was following before I’d even thought about it.
    I had almost caught up when she suddenly dove deep. I could see her through the clear water, skimming along the bottom like a mermaid, and I don’t think I would have been totally shocked if she’d stayed down there forever, maybe turning around to wave good-bye before disappearing into the cool depths.
    But she eventually came back up, and I guess I startled her by how close I was. I grinned. “When you were being weird on shore, I was worried that maybe you didn’t know how to swim. But I guess you do.”
    She didn’t say anything, just took a deep breath and then ducked back under the water. She swam right underneath me, and I was tempted to dive down to join her. I wanted to touch her skin and see if it had been cooled by the water or if it was still warm. But mostly I wanted to talk to her more, figure out who she was and what was going on with her. So I followed along on the surface, and she eventually came back up and stared at me.
    I had no idea what we were doing, but I was ready to experiment a little. I started off toward the middle of the lake; we were in Lake Huron, the opposite shore far beyond the horizon, so it