Free Caitlin by Jade Parker Page A

leaned down and whispered something in his ear that made him grin.
    I watched her start to walk away and turned my attention back to the pool. The waves were starting to die down. Pretty soon it’d be calm water again. Or as calm as it can be with a hundred and fifty people jumping around in it.
    “So what was up with the whistling?” Romeo asked as he came to stand beside me.
    “Like I said. Saw kids running around.”
    He walked past me into the water, then turned around so he was walking backward into the pool, facing me. “What’s your favorite song?”
    I shrugged.
    “Come on. You’ve gotta have a favorite song.”
    “‘Our Song’ by Taylor Swift. What’s yours?”
    “Not important.” He turned and dove into the water.
    I wondered if he’d be here tomorrow and the day after that. I wondered if it would be weird to spend my day off at the place where I worked.
    Probably.
    Still, it was worth thinking about.

Before we’d left Paradise Falls the night before, Whitney had told her committee members that we’d have another meeting the next day and food would be provided. Sounded good to me. I didn’t have to mess with fixing my lunch.
    What she didn’t say was that it was an experimental meal. It was based on the reason behind our committee. The Fourth of July. Red, white, and blue.
    I could live with the red, white, and blue cotton candy. I didn’t mind the patriotic popcorn. I thought it was neat actually, with each fluffy piece being red, white, or blue.
    But I drew the line at white buns with red ketchup and blue hot dogs. I didn’t want to think about the amount of dye that must have been injected into the hot dog to turn it blue.
    Whitney’s committee members were sitting around the table in the conference room, staring at their “provided lunch” on plates in front of them as though they thought the hot dogs would bite. Michael wasn’t there. Our food selection didn’t have anything to do with the light show. I was wishing I wasn’t there either.
    “Come on,” Whitney said. “Try it.”
    I noticed that she wasn’t chomping down on hers. “You try it,” I said.
    “I’m a vegetarian.”
    I laughed. “Since when?”
    “Since I was twelve.”
    I tried to remember if I’d ever seen her eat any meat. Couldn’t remember ever seeing her eat anything , actually.
    “I think I’ll barf if I try to eat it,” Jasmine said.
    I never expected to agree with Jasmine, the guy-stealer. Because she had red hair, she had a lot of freckles but they were small and disgustingly cute. Guys probably liked them. She was slender. She could probably eat sweets on non-holidays.
    “Don’t you think it’ll be awesome for the park to serve patriotic food on the Fourth?” Whitney glanced around the table, her deep green eyes imploring someone to make the sacrifice for her.
    “All right. I’ll give it a try,” Jake finally said.
    Why was I not surprised? I thought maybe he was crushing on Whitney, but was trying really hard not to let anyone know. He seemed shy, which I so didn’t get because he was really cute. And watching the way Whitney studied him, I thought maybe she thought so, too. Or maybe she was craving the hot dog. I couldn’t imagine never eating meat.
    Jake took a bite, chewed, swallowed,nodded. “Not bad. Tastes like a hot dog.” He finished eating it in three bites.
    “I’ll take your word for it,” I said, shoving my plate to the center of the table.
    “You lack an adventuresome spirit,” Jasmine said, winking at Jake before taking a bite of her hot dog. The girl was fickle.
    “What are you — a fortune cookie?” I asked.
    Robyn kicked me underneath the table. It was a not-so-subtle reminder that I didn’t always play well with others and that I was edging toward one of those moments. Who could blame me? I’d wanted to play with Tanner, and Jasmine had convinced him to play with her instead. And yesterday with Michael —
    “So why isn’t Romeo here?” Jasmine asked.
    She