Meet Me at the Boardwalk Read Online Free PDF Page A

of us should hang out as much as we can this summer. Hooking up with random tourist people will be too—”
    “Distracting?” Jade and I both said at the same time. We grinned at each other, almost as a reflex. Panic crept up in me. We turned back to Megan.
    “Exactly,” she said.
    I held my breath. My pulse picked up a notch. I waited for Jade to speak.
    “Well, I’m in,” she said briskly, extending a hand to Megan. “I think it’s a brilliant idea. No kissing tourists. We’ll discipline ourselves, have a ball— and bond.”
    Megan heaved a huge sigh of relief. “Really?” she asked.
    I sighed, too, and I wasn’t even sure why.
    “Absolutely,” Jade said, raising her right hand. “Daughter-of-a-hippie’s honor. We don’t break our word. Now let’s get to school, shall we, party people?”
    Megan turned to me. I forced a fake smile as I shook her hand, watching Jade stroll down the boardwalk toward Main Street.
    I’d never faked a smile with Megan before. It made me feel gross, like how my parents fake smiles with people they despise—but I guess I’d been faking a lot of things with her all year. Keeping a secret from one of your best friends is just another term for faking, isn’t it?
    But the worst part? I wasn’t even thinking about Megan’s feelings. I was thinking of all the possible things that could go wrong with this pact, of all the right decisions I could make if I were good at anything (as in: Tell Megan what happened with Jade )…and mostly how if anything did go wrong with the pact, I might lose my friends.
    I dropped Megan’s hand.
    She stepped closer, with a puzzled grin. “You okay?”
    I shrugged.
    Funny: Worrying about Megan had turned me into Megan. Well, the guy version, anyway, the (not so) strong silent type.
    Maybe Jade was right. Maybe “no thinking” should be the rally cry of the summer. I never used to think so much, except about how cool it would be to win a surfing competition, or hook up with the perfect girl, or turn into a giraffe and hang out all day at Pete’s Petting Zoo.
    I’m not that guy anymore.

Jade
    S o: the big secret.
    Before I confess, I want to share my thoughts on secrets in general. Like babies, once they’re born, secrets lie around and fatten up. At first, there isn’t much to worry about. You tend to them and you put them down for sleepy time. They’re a presence, though. They’re never not there. Then they start to think for themselves…and pretty soon they wander off on their own, and that’s when they get a lot more complicated and worrisome.
    Okay, and one more thing: (I know I’m stalling.)
    I dare anyone to swear that they haven’t considered hooking up with a friend—that is to say, a friend who is an attractive member of the opposite sex. At least once. Even if it’s just a fleeting notion. Even if it’s a boy or girl you’ve known your whole life, who may be your best friend, you wonder: What might their lips taste like? Would they put their hands in my hair? Are we secretly in love?
    Isn’t that what love is supposed to be? A lifetime of hooking up with your best friend, who also happens to be an attractive member of the opposite sex?
    Just throwing it out there.
    Here’s what happened.
    On the morning of August 12 last year, I emerged from a hot shower, post cold ocean dip. My cell phone rang. I was wrapped in my bathrobe about to dry my hair. It wasn’t even seven o’clock. I marched into my bedroom and frowned at the caller ID.
    Meg? Now? I remember being annoyed. I remember thinking that she probably wanted me to poach some cleaning supplies from Dad because she’d run out of Windex and couldn’t make it to the store on time—before she had to clean Glenn Close’s house or some other such tourist nonsense. You should have worked on the boardwalk with Miles and me , I remember wanting to tell her.
    “What’s up, Meg?” I answered flatly. “Top o’ the morning to ya.”
    I didn’t hear anything but