Redefining Summer Read online

  Redefining Summer

  By Sherri Renee

  Copyright © 2019 Sherri Renee. All rights reserved.

  This book is a work of fiction. All characters, locations, and events in this book are either fictitious or used fictitiously. Any similarities to real persons either living or deceased, locations or events is purely coincidental.

  Books by Sherri Renee

  Sweet Teen/YA Romance

  High School Hero

  High School Heartbreak

  Second Chances

  If I Were A Rich Girl

  Redefining Summer

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  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  If I Were a Rich Girl - Chapter 1

  Prologue

  There are moments in our lives that define who we are, and who we will become. Will we be popular or outcasts? Will we be smart or funny? Will we choose to be cruel or kind?

  I thought I knew who I was. I thought my defining moment had come and gone, and maybe it had. If that’s the case, then the summer before my junior year of high school held my “redefining” moment.

  The moment I had to decide if I would be a victim or victor. If I’d find happiness or pain. If I’d ever get my first kiss or learn to dance. Most importantly, I had to decide if I’d settle for where life and society had boxed me in, or if I’d draw my story outside the lines.

  I didn’t always make the right choices that summer. But I didn’t always make the wrong ones either. I went into summer wearing rose-colored glasses and came out with the lenses shattered.

  For better or worse, I learned the world’s a brighter place without them.

  Chapter 1

  The light flickers in a zig-zag pattern across my wall, illuminating the poster of my favorite pop band, the TRBs. I suck in a deep breath but can’t stop a tiny smile. Tonight could be the night I get my very first kiss. Maybe even my first boyfriend. My stomach tingles with nerves at the thought.

  The flashlight zig-zags across the wall again, and my smile morphs into a full grin at Caden’s impatience. Thankfully, I hadn’t fallen asleep yet, or I would have missed the signal that my bestie and I have been using since we were kids.

  Throwing back the covers, I scoot to the edge of the bed and pull a Puffy Cheese Pop out of the half-empty bag on my nightstand. I shove it in my mouth. After a couple chomps, it dissolves on my tongue in a puddle of salty goodness. Umm. . .

  I eat one more—because who can eat just one, right? Licking the bright orange cheese-coating off my fingers, I shuffle to the window to see what Caden wants.

  On the other side of the ten-foot expanse that separates our houses, Caden’s window is already raised, and he’s there waiting for me. I kneel on my pillow-topped window seat, shoving my stuffed animal collection aside to push my window up as well.

  “What’s up?” I ask Caden, although I have a pretty good idea his frown has something to do with his love life. Or more specifically, his lack thereof. The fact that we’re days away from the end of our sophomore year of high school and neither of us has been in a serious relationship, or even had our first kiss, has suddenly become all he can think about.

  Or worry about.

  Or talk about.

  I can ask him if he wants pickles with his hamburger. He answers by asking if I think hamburgers are a safe bet for a first date. I get it. I’ve probably been dreaming about my first date longer than he has, but lately, he’s become obsessive. He doesn’t know it yet, but I have the perfect solution to his problem and mine.

  Caden and I have lived next door to each other our entire lives. Our parents are BFFs, we’re BFFs, and my little brother, Tommy, and Caden’s little sister, Susie, are BFFs. It’s the perfect arrangement for all of us. We spend more holidays together than not. Rather than falling into the trap of feeling like he’s my brother, though, I’ve recently been considering him my boyfriend-in-waiting. I mean, I haven’t developed any sudden bursts of desire toward him, but isn’t friendship the perfect base for any great relationship?

  Caden’s always been what people call “scrawny.” After his recent growth spurt, the jerks at school have resorted to calling him “bean pole.” Nice, right? I won’t even mention what the kids call me.

  With my D-cup bra—while most of our classmates are a B-cup at most—and women’s-size hips, the comments are frequent and not overly creative. I’ve learned to ignore them. Mom says I’m just slow to shed my baby fat. It will go away eventually.

  And Caden will grow into his height. I don’t see him as scrawny or a bean pole. To me, Caden is simply the most amazing guy ever. My closest confidant and biggest supporter. With his serious, light blue eyes and perpetually ruffled blond hair, he’s absolutely adorable. Skinny or not.

  Caden rests his chin on his cupped palms, wearing a mopey expression like he’s lost his best friend. But that’s impossible because his best friend is me, and he knows I’m never going anywhere. We’re friends for life.

  “Hey, Summer. Want to hang out?” Caden asks across the short expanse that separates us. “I want to talk to you about something.”

  I glance at the full moon overhead. It’s the last week of school, but we still have class at eight a.m. tomorrow. I bite my lip to hold back my smile. School or no school, this would be the perfect opportunity to let Caden know I’ve come up with the most perfect solution to our kiss-virgin status. And if that kiss does turn into a relationship, all the better.

  “Sure! There’s something I want to talk to you about, too. My house or yours?”

  “Yours, I guess.” His voice is pensive.

  I fight back a giggle at the thought of how my plan is going to cheer him right up. No more kiss-virgin status for us.

  “Okay,” I say, giddy with my secret. I fling my dark braid over my shoulder. “See you in five!”

  I close the window and dash to my closet. Shimmying into the tiny white shorts I wore earlier, I suck in my stomach to button them. The oversized t-shirt I sleep in is exchanged for my favorite yellow tee, and I slip on a pair of flip-flops, ready to go.

  I hurry toward the door but jerk to a stop. I plan to tell Caden we need to share our first kiss so we can both stop worrying about it, and hopefully, start our perfect boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, but does that mean it will happen tonight?

  My stomach does a nervous flip-flop thing as I press my lips together imagining what my first kiss will feel like. I decide tonight could be the night I find out for sure and make a pitstop in the hall bathroom. I yank open the drawer and sq
ueeze an oversized dollop of toothpaste on my toothbrush that promises to make my breath minty fresh. Minty fresh is better than cheese pops when it comes to kissing, right?

  The mirror above the sink reflects more frizz than I’d like haloing my face, so I quickly undo the braid I sleep in and rub a dab of gel between my hands to slather over the frizzies.

  Dragging my bottom lip between my teeth, I eye my bare face. Caden has seen me looking both my best and my worst and loves me anyway. But tonight’s special. I want to look at least kind of cute for what I hope is about to happen.

  Someday we might tell our kids about this moment, our first magical kiss when we knew we’d be together forever. I don’t want Caden remembering me with sleep in the corners of my eyes and blotchy skin.

  Digging through my makeup bag, I slather on a layer of base then add some eyeliner and mascara to make my green eyes stand out. After the slightest hesitation, I slick on a layer of strawberry lip gloss. Caden always tells me I smell good when I wear it. Now he can find out how good it tastes, too.

  My cheeks flush at the thought, and I press my hands to them as I stare at my reflection. My mom always tells me I’m pretty, but any nice features I have are tucked away under that layer of baby fat that’s hounded me my entire life.

  But I know Caden doesn’t think of me as fat. Just like I don’t think of him as a beanpole. We’re the perfect match. I honestly can’t believe we didn’t start going out long before now.

  “This is going to be amazing,” I whisper with a nod. Turning off the lights, I scamper down the stairs and out the back door, ready to begin our future together.

  Chapter 2

  Caden’s waiting for me, sitting on the edge of the pool with his back to me as his feet dangle in the water. I kick off my shoes and run over to join him. My feet make a slight splash as they hit the water, and I let out a gasp as the cool water rushes over my bare legs.

  “Dang! It’s still cold.”

  Caden looks over at me. “We ought to turn the heater on this week so we can swim at least once before I leave for the summer.”

  My face falls at his reminder that he’s leaving me for almost an entire three months. I kick the water a little harder.

  “Do you really have to go?” I ask. “You know my parents would let you stay with us until your family gets back.”

  He shrugs and drags a foot back and forth through the water, casually bumping it into mine. “Nah, the trip sounds like fun. Our house is right on the water, and my parents have all kinds of fun stuff planned. You should have come with us.”

  I scrunch up my lips. Caden and I’ve shared every vacation together as far back as I can remember. Except for the week we spent in Idaho after my grandma on my mom’s side died. But that was far from a vacation.

  “Mom already enrolled me in the contemporary dance class. I’m kind of looking forward to it.”

  Caden’s dark expression cracks with a half-smile as he bumps my shoulder. “Kind of looking forward to it?” he teases. “It’s all you’ve talked about for weeks.”

  I blush a little bit. You know those girls that hear music and their bodies start moving along with it? Yeah, I’m not one of them. But for some crazy reason, I still love to dance, so when Mom found this adult pop music dance class for beginners and begged me to try it, I figured it was worth a shot.

  “What about you?” I ask. “Are your parents still making you go to soccer camp while you’re there?”

  “Yeah.” He focuses on something across the yard. “It will be good, though. I need to do something to get in shape, and I don’t see myself surviving a pile up in the other kind of football.”

  I grin at him. “Football’s barbaric anyway, right?”

  Instead of quickly agreeing with me like he usually would, he just shrugs again. “I’m ready for a change, Summer. I’m tired of being teased and not getting invited to parties. I’m tired of not having any friends.” He glares at the water with a frown. “I’m tired of always being on the outside, aren’t you?”

  “No.” My brows draw together, and I feel like I’ve been punched in the stomach. “And you have friends.” I watch him from the corner of my eye as I try to make sense of his words. “You have me and Mia.” Mia’s our other best friend. She’s not as close as Caden and I are, but she’s really great.

  How could Caden say he doesn’t have any friends?

  A low sigh escapes Caden, but he doesn’t reply. My chest tightens likes someone’s squeezing the air out of me. Something’s so off with him tonight. He’s usually cutting jokes and being silly. I have the distinct feeling rather than inviting me out here to talk about moving our relationship to the next level, he’s trying to pull away.

  I bite my lip and trail my feet in the water as my scrambled thoughts try to make sense of what’s happening. The water’s not as cold now that I’m getting used to it. My foot bumps Caden’s and a chill that has nothing to do with the water races up my leg. I yank my leg away and fight down a wave of rising panic.

  I want to tell Caden my fantastic plan about us sharing our first kiss. But suddenly it doesn’t seem as great. He’s acting so strange. What if he doesn’t think it’s as good an idea as I do? What if he doesn’t want to kiss me at all?

  “Umm.” I grip the edge of the pool, my short nails scraping against concrete. I hesitate, suddenly too nervous to mention my grand idea. I flick a side glance at Caden before deciding on a safer course of conversation. “What’d you want to talk about?” I ask.

  Maybe I’m overthinking things, and he is just down about the whole lack of kissing subject. If I can get him to bring it up, I’ll slide my suggestion out there. Tonight could still end on a high note, but I’m starting to worry that’s not going to happen.

  Caden takes a deep breath before blurting, “I’m going to kiss Chloe Grace Rankle at the dance Friday.” He turns his head to meet my eyes. The amount of resolve hardening his normally placid face shocks me.

  I blink at him as too many thoughts to consciously register swirl in my mind. Finally, I tip my head and pretend to shake water from my ears. “Excuse me?” I force a grin, although the last thing I feel like doing is smiling. “I must have heard you wrong,” I say. “I thought you just said you were going to kiss the most popular girl in the senior class at the dance.”

  He nods, his expression unmoving. He kind of looks like I imagine he might if he’d told me he was going to fight a medieval battle the next day with swords and axes and the promise of death.

  “Caden . . .” I straighten and my lips twist in a half-smile. “How can I put this gently? Chloe doesn’t know we exist,” I blurt out, realizing there is no kind way to remind him we’re invisible to the popular crowd. “What on earth makes you think she’s going to let you kiss her?”

  “I asked her,” he shoots back. He nods again, focusing on something in the darkness beyond the pool. “And she said yes.” I can all but see determination flow through his veins.

  My jaw drops. Night sounds float around us, but I don’t hear the frogs calling or even the buzz of the mosquitos that are starting to hone in on us. All I hear is she said yes. I simply stare until Caden reaches over and pushes my mouth closed without looking at me.

  “What? Is it so impossible to believe a girl wants to kiss me?” His voice is bitter, and I hurry to reassure him.

  “That’s not what I was thinking at all.” If he only knew how many times I’ve thought about kissing him, he would have never asked that.

  “Chloe dates college guys, though,” I remind him, peering at him with narrowed eyes as I absently swat at a mosquito. “No offense, but why would she want to kiss a sophomore?”

  “Summer,” he turns to face me, “I’m nervous enough about this, but I’m doing it. I need you to support me.”

  My head bobs automatically, and I swallow.

  “Always,” I say without hesitation, although my heart is painfully being ground into dust in my chest. Caden doesn’t want to kiss the pretty me hidde
n under a padding of baby fat. He wants the head cheerleader with blond hair down to her waist and dimples in her cheeks to be the one he remembers as his first kiss.

  Of course he does.

  Chapter 3

  “Ow! Sorry!” I slam into someone as I round the corner by my locker. My favorite blue notebook flies out of my hand, scattering papers across the floor in the math wing.

  Great. Perfect. I blink and suck in a deep breath before squatting to gather everything up.

  My head’s been stuffed with cotton all day. The only thing I can think about is my best friend, my supposed-to-be-future boyfriend, is days away from kissing the hottest girl in school. I still can’t believe sweet innocent Caden had the nerve to ask Chloe to kiss him in the first place, but I’m flabbergasted that she said yes.

  Why would she say yes? Has she had a secret crush on him and has been waiting for him to make the first move? Is it a sympathy kiss because she feels sorry for his skinny self? I mean, I would kiss him because he’s Caden. My friend. My buddy. My pal. The one guy who doesn’t make smart comments about my size. But Chloe doesn’t know him like I do, does she? I can’t make heads or tails of the situation, and it’s stressing me out.

  “Nice plumber’s butt!” someone calls as they walk by. My face flushes, but I don’t even look up as I struggle to tug my oversized shirt over the back of my jeans.

  Finding cute clothes in my size that fit right isn’t always easy. My mom, bless her heart, has been trying to convince me that shopping in the Women’s department wouldn’t be the end of the world. I’ve been fighting to wear Juniors’ clothes regardless of the fact that most juniors aren’t shaped like me.

  My whole body burns with embarrassment thanks to my stubbornness. I love my new jeans. They have multi-colored hearts trailing down the washed-out blue leg. But now I wish I’d given the women’s jeans a fair chance instead of trying to look cute. Not that I’d known in advance I’d be squatting in the hall in front of everyone, pushing my low-rise jeans well past capacity.