Мэг Кэбот - Avalon High стр 14.

without a licensed driver in the passenger seat.

 Well, what did I care, anyway, if Wills stepbrother wanted to compare me to some chick

whod killed herself over a mythical knight from Camelot? As insults went, it wasnt even

that cutting. He couldnt have known, of course, about my great antipathy toward all

things medieval.

 Which just made the whole thing even lamer.

 Except

 Except that none of this explained the coldness of his fingers. Or the way Cavalier had

reacted when Marco had touched me. Or what hed meant about Mr. Morton. Or why

Marco had wanted Will to find out about Lance and Jennifer in that horrible way

 Still feeling a little sick, I rolled over and turned off my bedside lamp. As I lay there in

the semidarkness, I heard a thump. A second later, Tig joined me for her nightly snuggle.

 Only tonight, for some reason, she couldnt seem to settle down. She kept sniffing where

Cavalier had licked meand Marco had touched meeven though Id washed all those

parts when I showered. When I peered at Tig in the moonlight that spilled in from behind

my blinds, I could see she was wearing an expression Geoff called Cat Faceher mouth

partly open, like shed smelled something bad.

 Then, giving my arm a last and final sniff, she threw me a look that clearly indicated Id

betrayed her somehow, then stalked off the bed and left to sleep elsewhere.

 Which meant she wasreally peeved.

 I lay there thinking to myself that things were really going great if my own cat didnt like

me anymore. What hadhappened at that party, anyway? And what was I going to do about

it?

 Whatcould I do, anyway? I mean, I supposed I could talk to LanceI was going to have

to talk to him, anyway, about the whole World Lit thing. Maybe while I was doing that, I

could convince Lance to come clean with his friend. It had to be better for Will to find

out that way than the way Marco had planned on having him find out

 I wished I hadnt agreed to go sailing with Will and the rest of them the next day. I had

no desire whatsoever to watch Will and Jennifer holding hands, however sweetly they did

it, knowing that the whole thingwell, as far as Jennifer was concerned, anywaywas just

a scam.

 And I was fairly certain Marco was going to do something to upset everyoneor Will, at

.

leastbecause he hadnt managed to do so successfully tonight.

but part of me wanted to go sailing with Will. The part of me that wanted to do

 But

anything with Will, just to be around him. The part of me that was in love with him,

despite his having a girlfriend already. The part of me that, every time I saw a rose now,

started thinking about Will

 God, I had it bad.

 Sadly, that part of me seemed to be stronger than the rest of me, since, when I woke up

the next day, I knew without a doubt that I was going sailing with A. William Wagner and

Company.

 And not just so I could hang around with Will, either. I woke up feeling like it was my

duty to go. Becauseor so I told myselfthat way I could keep an eye on Marco myself.

He was definitely out to stir up trouble for his stepbrother.

 Only

why? Why would he want to hurt Will in that way? I couldnt imagine that Will

had done anything that hurtful to him. Was it just because of what had happened between

their fathers? Was Marco really that resentful of Wills dad marrying his mom? I could

sort of see why he would be, if the part about Admiral Wagner assigning Marcos dad to a

post where he was sure to be killed or whatever was true. But why take it out on Will? It

was Admiral Wagner he should be worried about punishing, if you ask me.

 Just as he said hed be, Will was waiting for me by the statue of Alex Haley that sits at

the end of what the locals call Ego Alley, the city dock at the end of Main Street in

downtown Annapolis. I could see as my parents and I pulled up why they call it Ego

there are all these yachts there. And to get them out to sea, you have to sail them

Alley

past all these outdoor cafés and bars where people sit along the water all day, watching

the boats. Its like a fashion show at the mall or something, only with boats.

 Alex Haley, who wrote the bookRoots , must have lived in Annapolis, because the whole

dock was devoted to him. There was a big statue of him, with these smaller statues of

kids lying around on the ground beneath him, like he was reading them a story. Will was

leaning against one of these kid statues, waiting for me.

 The minute I saw him, my heart did that somersaulting thing inside my chest. Thats

because, for a second, I thought he was there alone

just the two of us out on his boat. But then I saw Jennifers golden head bob up. She and

Lance and Marco were waiting in a rubber dinghy in the water just below the dock, the

dinghy that would take us out to Wills boat, anchored a short distance offshore. My

heart, instead of doing more gymnastics, fell.

 It fell more when my parents decided to actually get out of the car and go over and chat

.

that, by some miracle, it would be

with Will, whom I guess they considered their big friend now, since theyd let Will chow

down on all of our pad thai and wear my brothers bathing suit, and all.

 Hey, my dad said, leaning an elbow on Alex Haleys shoulder. Nice day for a sail.

 Yes, sir, Will said, straightening up and smiling at us. He had on a pair of Ray-Bans to

keep out the glare of the sun. The warm breeze tugged at his dark, curly hair and the open

collar of his blue shirt. To me, he said, Glad you could make it.

 But before I had a chance to reply, my mom started asking Will all these worried

questions, like how long hed been sailing, and whether or not he had enough life

preservers

mom would ask the guy you have a major crush on when hes invited you to go sailing

with him.

 Not.

 Wills answers must have satisfied my mom, since she finally grinned at me and said,

Well, have a nice time, Ellie. And my dad went, See you later, kiddo. Then the two of

them climbed back into the car and went to have brunch at Chick & Ruths Delly.

 I looked at Will and said, Sorry.

 No problem, Will said, with a grin. They care about you, is all. Its cute.

 Please just shoot me now, I begged him, and he laughed.

 Can we go? Jennifer called from the dinghy. Were losing prime tanning time.

 And God forbid the homecoming queen should be pasty, Marco said, causing Jennifer

to take a playful whack at him. Lance, holding the rudder, just sat there grinning at the

two of them, looking godlike in a throwback that showed off his grapefruit-sized biceps.

 Im with Jen, he saidan unfortunate choice of words to those of us in the know. Im

sick of these tourists staring at us.

 It was true that some people wearing T-shirts that screamedDON T HASSLE ME,I M

LOCALhad come up and were asking Will and me if we knew where the line to

theWoodwind , the tour boat that went around the bay, was. Will showed them where they

needed to go, then handed something to me that he took from the floor of the dinghy. It

was a life preservernot, thankfully, one of those big orange puffy ones that make the

people who wear them look like the Pillsbury Doughboy, but a slim and stylish navy blue

one.

 I was busy fastening it when a group of kids about our own age showed up by the Haley

statue and started piling into a small motorboat a few slips down from ours. They had one

that kind of thing. You know, the kinds of things you always wished your

of those big inner tubes with them, and as they swung it into the boat, it bumped into the

boat beside ita much fancier one than ours, with an older man and woman in it, just

getting ready to set out toward their yacht.

 Sorry, I heard one of the kids say, and he pulled the inner tube back into his own boat.

 Youre sorry? The older man looked disgusted. And angry. Im sorry. Sorry they ever

started letting people like you have the run of the place.

 I stopped fastening my life preserver and just stood there, totally shocked. Nobody ever

says things like that back in Minnesota.

 Hey, man, one of the other kids in the motorboat said. He didnt mean anything

 Why dont you people go back where you came from? the older man wanted to know,

while his wife looked on, tight-lipped, her knees pressed firmly together.

 Why dontyou go back where you came from?

 But this didnt come from any of the boys in the motorboat. It came, I was startled to

realize, from Will.

 The old man looked just as startled as I was. He flung Will a surprised look from beneath

his little captains hat, then said, in a disapproving voice, I beg your pardon, young man,

but I was born in this countryand so were my parents.

 Yeah, but weretheir parents? Will asked him. Because unless youre Native American,

I dont think you can go around telling other people to go back to their country.

 The wifes mouth dropped open at this. Then she elbowed her husband, and he furiously

started his outboard motor.

 This used to be anice place to live, the man said pointedly, as he chugged away.

 We watched as he and his wife made their way down Ego Alley

glances.

 Some people, Will said to me mildly, have more money than sense.

 I sighed. You can say that again.

 Then Will handed me down into the boat

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

 Which wasnt easy, seeing as how there wasnt a whole lot of room in there. I sat down

and found myself squashed between Marco and Lance, while Jennifer found herself in the

uncomfortableor enviable, depending how you looked at itposition of being crammed

between Lance and Will.

 Not that it appeared to bother her.

 What was that all about? she wanted to know.

 Oh, that was just Will, Marco said, in a bored voice. Playing the White Knight again.

 Ready? Will asked, ignoring his stepbrothers jibe. This is your last chance if you

need something from shore. We wont be seeing land again for a while.

 When no one protested, Will started the motor, and the motorboat began putt-putting

toward the spot where Wills sailboat, thePride Winn , was anchored in the harbor.

 I knew right then that, in spite of that unpleasant scene in Ego Alley, Id made the right

decision in coming. Oh, not that it was such a pleasure to see Will and Jennifer sitting so

close together that their shoulders touched (with Lances shoulders brushing hers on her

other side). Or that it was so fun to watch Marco make rude gestures at the people sitting

in deck chairs outside the bars, watching us as we motored by (clearly no one had ever

talked to Marco about Image).

 It was just so nice to have the salt spray in my hair, and the cool bay breeze on my face.

It felt good to feel the water rushing beneath us, and see the ducks, with their little lines

of ducklings, hurrying out of the dinghys path.

 And then, when we finally got to Wills boat, seeing it sitting there, so long and

gleaming, all glossy white with wood trim and a tall, slender mast, made even the

unpleasantness back at the pier seem worth it.

 Theres lots you have to do on a sailboat, it turns out, before you can take it out to sea.

So we scrambled around doing what Will, and sometimes Lance, told us to do. At least,

Jennifer and I did. Marco seemed to do what he pleased, although a few of the things he

did appeared to have something to do with getting thePride Winn sea-ready.

 Mostly, though, he just grinned at me whenever Jennifer, scrambling over the deck,

would find Lance in her way, and have to say, Excuse me, in a polite voice that I highly

doubted she used when it was just the two of them together.

 By the time wed finally set sail, I was pretty sick of Marcos secret smiles at me. Id

been hoping to have a moment for a word alone with Lance before we set saila chance

to tell him about Mr. Morton, and then casually slip in the fact that I was on to him and

but even worse, so was Marco. And ask him if he could do something about it.

Jennifer

Such as come clean to Will.

 But its not easy to find any privacy on even a fair-sized boat like thePride Winn , and

there was never a moment when I could speak to Lance without fear of someone

overhearing.

 And then when the sail suddenly billowed out and we were moving, gliding fast over the

water, not even feeling the hot sun because of the cool ocean breeze, it was hard to feel

worried about any of the stuff that had happened back on shore. Everyone seemed to feel

the exhilaration of it, even the ever-sardonic Marco, who caught my eye and said, with a

grin, This is the life, eh?

 Really, I said, meaning it, and thinking maybe Id been wrong about him. Maybe he

wasnt so bad after all. Youre so lucky.

 Lucky? He looked at me curiously. Why?

 Well, because youve got a boat, I said. All weve got is a station wagon.

 He gave me a smile that actually looked sincere and said, Im not the lucky one. Will is.