Pool Boys Read Online Free PDF Page A

turned the winch on the side of the court, stretching the net so tautly that she wondered if it would snap. “I guess it is all right,” she replied. “It’s just sort of hard to see if you’ve been coming here your whole life.”
    “Okay, you guys!” Ethan called. “The court’s all ready. Have fun.”
    He waved at the two of them, glassy-eyed, and disappeared out the gate.
    Valerie leaned in close. “The employees aren’t half bad, either,” she whispered.
    Georgia’s muscles clenched. But thank goodness, her lips were stuck in the upright-and-locked smile position. It was a familiar sensation: smile while quelling the insecurity; hang on for the emotional plunge. Mayday! Mayday! Fasten your seat belts!
    “I guess we do get our fair share of cute employees here,” she heard herself say.
    “I think I’m gonna love it at this place,” Valerie went on. “Your friend Charlotte is really cool, too. I met her just now. She’s so funny!”
    “Yeah. She is.”
    “She and that girl Brooke seem really tight,” Valerie remarked.
    Georgia almost replied, We’re all really tight. But shestopped herself. From the other side of the fence, she could hear Brooke and Charlotte whispering and giggling by the pool, something about a rumor of how Robby Miller had been doing keg stands in the billiards room that morning. The fact of the matter was: Brooke and Charlotte’s obsession with the same old idle chatter not only bored Georgia, it even pissed her off sometimes.
    “Uh…so what do you say we play?” she asked instead, loudly enough to drown them out.
    “Great! Just so you know, I’m not as good as you are.” Valerie shook her head. “So, go easy on me, okay?”
    “What’s the fun of going easy?”
    “Touché.” Valerie grinned.
    “I’m kidding,” Georgia added, hearing the coolness in her voice.
    Valerie bit her lip, and then blurted, “Is this some kind of test? Because I feel like I’m failing.”
    Georgia felt a pang of guilt. What was her problem? Valerie had no idea about the history between Ethan and her, or of the history between Georgia and her friends. Valerie was just trying to be polite. Not to mention brave. She was still an outsider—even if she was a budding supermodel with a Prince Turbo Shark Oversize racket. And if somebody like that could let down her guard in front of a complete stranger, then so could Georgia.
    “My fault,” Georgia said. “School is over, so no tests, right?” She smiled weakly. “Lame joke. Forget it. Charlotte’s the funny one, in case you haven’t already guessed…uh,look, it’s really cool of you to come out here and introduce yourself and say all those things about my playing. Seriously. I appreciate it.”
    Valerie tilted her head. “Whoa,” she marveled.
    “Whoa, what?”
    “I was just wondering…is everyone here as nice as you?”
    Georgia laughed. “Nope. I’m the only one.”
    “Then I’ll be sure to stick close to you.”

Chapter Four
A Dog’s Mouth Is Cleaner
    By the time the dining room opened for lunch at 11:45, Caleb Ramsey had reached the inevitable conclusion: There was no way he would lose his virginity this summer. Not a chance in the world. He was doomed to three and a half months of celibacy. Again.
    He didn’t get it. (Well, he got it on some level: He was pale and scrawny and commented on stuff that was probably best left uncommented on, but so did a lot of other people.) But he wasn’t such a bad guy. For instance, he’d never spiked the Midsummer Ball punch with LSD. No, that would be Mr. Farnsworth, back in ’75. And true, Mr. Farnsworth had since grown up to be Brooke’s stodgy father—but still. In his disco heyday thirty years ago, he’d probably slept with half the Silver Oaks women. Free love, baby! Then he’d married Brooke’s mom. Now he ran a hedge fund. Whatever that was. Lucky jerk.
    Caleb slumped down on a stool at the deserted dining room bar, turning his back on the photos that adorned the