Chapter 2

My grandmother never needed an alarm clock to get me or Jack out of bed.

The smell of her bacon usually drew us right to the kitchen for breakfast, which usually included a smorgasboard of omelets, fruit, pancakes and even some cereal.

And this day was no different, only Jack wasn't with me.

"Morning sleepyhead," Grandma said when I made my way to the kitchen. "Did you sleep well?"

"Um huh," I said.

"My cousin the conversationalist," Meg said before she bit into a piece of toast.

She was dressed in a bikini top and booty shorts, her hair neatly in a bun.

"This looks good Grandma," I said as I loaded my plate with every breakfast food I could possibly place on it, including several strips of her wonderful bacon.

"Slow down, you don't have a train to catch," my grandmother told me as I devoured my food.

I looked down and saw Meg's CD player.

"So what's the CD player for?" I asked.

"I'm about to do barre on the porch and some stretching," she said. "I've got to do it every morning before going to The Rock. Care to join me?"

"Join you?" I asked. "You mean doing ballet, right?"

"I'm sure Collin would rather do something else," Grandma said.

"Well, it's just barre and stretching," Meg said. "Not really ballet. I promise I'll keep it simple if you'll do it with me."

"Well, Ok, as long as you keep it simple," I said.

"By the way, Collin, I told Riley and Lucas' mom that you're here," Grandma said. "She said you were welcome to hang out over there if you want."

"Thought you were going bike riding with Lindsey, Mauve and me," Meg said.

"I think I'll go with Meg today," I told my grandmother.

"Ok, just thought I'd mention it," Grandma said. "I thought I would give you an excuse in case you didn't want to hang out with the girls all day."

Meg assured my grandmother that we weren't going to do anything that would "scar me for life."

Riley and Lucas were fun guys, don't get me wrong. But something just drew me to Meg.

I followed her out to the porch. When Meg first started taking ballet, my grandfather built her an adjustable ballet barre.

"Just repeat everything that I do," Meg said before explaining to me the positions of the feet: first, second, fourth and fifth.

"What happened to third?" I asked.

"Well there is a third, but we don't ever use it," Meg said.

She made it pretty simple. I couldn't remember everything exactly. We did knee bends called plies, things called tendues, kicks called degages. We did things in patterns, front side and back.

"I thought frappe was a drink you get at McDonald's," I joked during one of the things we did.

Our grandmother watched us on her porch swing. She played along, too.

"I thought fondue was a dessert," she said. "I may make some with a meal this week."

"Cut it out y'all," Meg said.

My grandmother grabbed her digital camera.

"This is really cute," she said. "Maybe I'll put it on Facebook."

I rolled my eyes.

"What will Jack think?" I said.

"Oh I think he'll think we're dancing in tutus, having tea parties and playing house," Meg said sarcastically. "Besides, what do you care what he thinks?"

We did our stretches on the floor. There was no way my legs could reach the barre, at least not as high as Meg had it set for hers.

"You know, you actually did pretty good," Meg said.

"Don't tell Jack, but it's actually kind of fun," I said.

"I may make a dancer out of you, yet," Meg laughed. "You know, Madame Kathryn, my teacher, is always trying to get boys to take classes at our studio. She said she let them take classes for free. Maybe you'd like to give it a try?"

"Oh, I don't know about that," I said.

Just then, two girls came riding their bikes up the driveway. It had to be the infamous Lindsey and Mauve.

Lindsey was Meg's age and height, but she didn't seem to have the curves that Meg had...and her breasts hadn't sprung out, as Grandma would say.

Mauve was my age, but a little shorter than me. Grandma called her spunky.

Meg called her "spark plug."

"Let me get changed," Meg said. "And we'll get our bikes."

"Say, you're not Maya," Mauve said. "Where's Maya?"

"Don't you remember?" Lindsey said. "Meg said it's not Maya's two weeks."

"I'm Collin," I said.

"Gonna be weird with a boy with us," Mauve said.

As soon as Meg changed, we went back to the shed to retrieve our bikes. A major problem. One of my tires was flat.

"And Jack took his bike with him," Meg said. "You can always ride Maya's bike."

"But it's a girl's bike," I protested.

"No one's going to make fun of you," Meg said.

Oh, she was wrong. Mauve had something to say about it.

"It's a bit girly, don't you think?" Mauve.

"Oh I dunno," I replied as Meg and I put on our helmets. "Pink's my color, don't you think?"

All three girls started laughing.

"Oh my God that is so funny!" Lindsey said. "Collin, you're so cool!"

"Yeah, I think you're going to be a lot more fun to hang around than Maya," Mauve said. "She's a bit of a dork."

"Mauve, you're talking about their cousin," Lindsey said.

"Oh that's Ok," Meg said. "Maya is a bit of a dork."

"Nice save," Meg whispered to me as we took off down the road.

I was amazed how far we rode. Jack and I pretty much went to the trails for motocross behind my grandmother's house.

We must have rode at least two or three miles before reaching Miller's Country Store, where we each got a popsicle and a bottle of water.

"Let's head to the bluffs!" Meg said.

We raced up a big hill. I beat them to top.

"No fair, he's got a genetic advantage," Lindsey said.

"No he doesn't," Mauve said. "He's just on 'roids like Lance Armstrong."

"She's so funny," Meg said to me.

We sat down under a shade tree once we reached the bluffs.

"I never knew this place existed," I said as we overlooked the river.

It was a beautiful place.

"I can't believe you, Jack and the other boys have never come up here before," Meg said.

We had fun, Jack and I. But we didn't have that sense of adventure these girls did.

"There's one big difference between you and Maya," Mauve said. "And it's not what's between your legs..."

"Mauve!" Lindsey said.

"I can't believe she said that," Meg said.

"And what is that?" I said once we got over the initial shock.

"Maya always had a hard time on the bike ride," Maya said. "You're in much better shape than she is."

"True," Meg said. "Maya would have complained about the trip all the way here."

"And all the way back," Lindsey said.

"We're glad you swapped Maya for Collin," Mauve said. "We've decided we like you better."

We probably spent an hour at the bluffs. We sang a few songs. And talked. Actually, they did most of the talking. But I thought they were pretty neat.

"So Collin, are you Team Edward or Team Jacob?" Mauve said.

"Team what?" I asked.

"From the Twilight movies," Mauve said. "You never watched the Twilight movies?"

"Only girls watch the Twilight movies," I said.

"Actually, the books are pretty good," Meg said. "I'm reading Eclipse now. Collin, I'll loan you Twilight tonight. I'm interested in seeing what you think about it."

"We'll convert you to team Jacob before we're done," Mauve said.

*****

We were a bit tired when we returned to my grandmother's.

"See you in an hour at the dock," Meg told Lindsey and Mauve. "We've got to get lunch."

Lunch was usually the same at my grandmother's. It was the one meal she didn't cook. We made ourselves a sandwich from the deli slices Grandma laid out for us. We drank Kool-aid instead of sodas.

We had a picnic on the porch. We told Grandma about our trip to the bluffs.

"Glad you had fun," she said. "I told your mom on the phone you seemed to be having more fun with Meg than you thought you were going to have."

"Well, it's time to meet Lindsey and Mauve at the dock," Meg said. "Let's go get our suits on."

I wore my baggy swim trunks that came down to my knees. That body revelation came back when Meg walked out with our towels and flip flops.

She was wearing a bikini that Grandma thought was a bit small.

Mom once said Meg didn't have a big sense of modesty.

"Oh come on Grandma," Meg said. "It's not that small."

"I swear Grandma can be such a prude sometimes," she whispered to me.

The dock was just a short walk down the road. Prince, my grandmother's German shepherd, followed us down as he always did.

The dock was the best part about going to Grandma's. We swam there.

In fact, that's where I learned to swim. My uncle threw me in and told me 'sink or swim' when I was 7.

I swam, of course.

The dock had an innertube swing and a slide. We also went fishing off of the dock, canoeing or boating. My grandfather used to have a boat and took us boating on the river.

We missed those trips when he died.

Lindsey and Mauve were waiting on us.

"Dang, I was hoping you'd be wearing a Speedo," Mauve said when we got there. She and Lindsey were wearing bikinis about the same size as Meg's.

It was there another weird thought hit my head. Deep down, I wanted to wear a bikini like the ones they were wearing.

They would think I was a freak for thinking that, I thought.

I got that thought out of my head by the time we hit the water. I was the last to go in.

All three of the girls gracefully dove into the water.

I did a cannonball, splashing everything on the dock.

"Dude, I think you got our towels wet," Mauve said.

"Sorry, that's really all I know how to do," I said. "That and a bellybuster."

"You're kidding? right?" Meg said. "All of those times you've come down here with Jack. Jack knows how to dive. Didn't he bother about showing you how?"

Well, it wasn't really Jack's fault. I never really asked him to show me.

"Ok girls, today we teach Collin how to dive," Meg said. "Let's head to the ladder."

We went back to the dock. I watched each of the girls dive. Then Meg told me how to do my body. Finally after the fourth or fifth time, I figured out how to do it.

"Great job!" Meg said, giving me a high five.

We played the usual game of Marco Polo. We also swam out to the sand bar, which was barely covered. It made us look like we were walking on water to those on shore.

Then Lindsey challenged Meg to a race.

"We'll swim to Mr. Kramer's boat and touch it, first one back to the dock wins," Lindsey said.

"What happens to the loser?" Meg asked.

"I'll let you name it," Lindsey said.

"Ok," Meg said. "Loser waits until no one is around, and then dives off the dock naked."

"You're on!" Lindsey said.

Mauve and I stood on the dock as both dove in. Mauve cheered Lindsey on. I cheered for Meg.

They touched Mr. Kramer's boat about the same time. Meg led most of the way back, but Lindsey passed her a few feet from the dock.

"Oh this is going to be fun," Mauve said.

"I'll try not to look," I said.

"Oh, no, I lost a bet," Meg said. "I need you, Mauve and Lindsey keeping watch."

We swam around for a few minutes before Meg climbed up the ladder. The moment of truth was upon us.

"Collin, come here," she said.

I swam up to where she was on the dock.

"Hold out your hand," Meg said.

I held it out. Just as I was doing so, Meg took off her top and slipped out of her bottom. She quickly handed them to me, did a quick dive into the water and told me to swim to her with her suit.

The whole thing lasted maybe 10 seconds, but I saw the whole thing. As I swam out to her, I kept thinking why didn't God make me a girl.

"What I would do to have a body like that," Lindsey said.

She said the words that I thought, and I felt even more like a freak.

"I don't know about that," Meg replied to Lindsey.

"Now it's time for another challenge race," Meg said. "Mauve and Collin."

"Ok, but the loser ain't gettin' nekkid," Mauve said.

"Ok, we'll choose something else," Lindsey said.

"How 'bout the winner names what the loser will have to do," Mauve said.

Meg gave me a look.

"Yeah, that's ok with me," I said.

The four of us climbed back onto the dock.

"Ok, on the count of three, you guys dive in," Meg said.

Lindsey counted to three. We dove in.

Meg cheered for me, Lindsey for Mauve.

The race was about even when we reached Mr. Kramer's boat.

Then Mauve seemed to find another gear. She took off and left me behind.

"I won, I won, I won!" Mauve shouted when she reached the dock.

"Ok, what do I have to do?" I asked.

Mauve climbed up onto the dock and whispered to Meg and Lindsey.

"Yeah, he can," I heard Meg whisper.

"What?" I asked.

"Tomorrow, when we come to the dock," Mauve said..."you'll have to wear one of Meg's bikinis."

I turned a little red.

"We can change it to something else, if that bothers you," Meg said.

"Oh, no, we can't," Mauve said. "We agreed to the terms before the race."

"It's not a problem, Meg," I said. "Just like you, I lost a bet."