Free Short People by Joshua Furst Page A

jealous.”
    “But don’t you
want
to see their boobs?”
    “Will you stop fucking whining?” he said.
    “You don’t have to shout!” I shouted and he splashed his paddle and sprayed water all over me, and then there was this girl’s voice that sounded fake sweet but really mean like a cheerleader or something and she said, “Hey, are you guys
Boy Scouts
?”
    “No,” said Jake.
    The girls were so close now you could see their faces even, and they were all looking at us. This one girl was sitting up but she didn’t have her top off anymore. The other two did, though, and I wanted to stand up cause their boobs were sort of laying there, all round and almost not pressed down on the boat anymore. I bet I could’ve seen them too, but it would’ve been really obvious of me.
    “We’re building a lookout tower,” I said and Jake gave me a dirty look and everybody sat there feeling weird and stuff.
    “So, are you guys like afraid of girls or something?” said the girl without her top undone.
    “No,” said Jake.
    “You seem like it.”
    “We’re not scared of girls. Jake’s got a girlfriend even,” I said and then he whispered “Shut up” really loud.
    “Lucky girl,” she said, and Jake’s face got all red and then he said, “Hey, listen, I’m not trying to be rude or nothing, but we got stuff to do. We can’t sit around talking to you all afternoon.”
    The girl laughed like tee-hee and said, “How old are you?”
    “Sixteen,” he said and looked at me like I better not say he’s lying. As if that’s something I’d do anyway.
    “And I’m fifteen and a half,” I said and all the girls laughed so I laughed too, but Jake gave me another dirty look.
    “So, see ya,” Jake said and then he started rowing, but one of the girls reached around to tie her top back on and sat up really fast and put her fingers under it to make it go on right and I’m almost sure I saw her boobs for a second, so I didn’t help him. “Don’t be a fag, Evan, help me row,” he said, and I had to cause otherwise it would’ve looked bad in front of the girls.
    I turned around and waved while we rowed away and the girl whose boobs I saw said, “Hey, are you guys here all week?” Even though she was talking to me, Jake said, “Yeah,” and she said, “We’re out here every day. Maybe we’ll see you later,” and Jake shrugged and said, “That’s cool.”
    Then the girls pulled the chain on their motor and speeded away.
    Me and Jake rowed over to where there was a hidden part with trees and bushes and stuff growing right in the water. I wanted to tell him that he shouldn’t be mad at me cause he’s the one who didn’t want to talk to them and then got all too-cool when they came over. And he didn’t have to call me a fag and stuff right in front of them. So after I couldn’t hold it any longer I said, “You don’t have to make fun of me in front of girls, Jake,” and he said, “Well, maybe if you didn’t act so stupid all the time, I wouldn’t,” like he was better than me or something.
    He stopped rowing and started smoking a cigarette, and then he laid down on the end of the canoe and smiled at me, but it wasn’t a nice smile, and he was making these really big smoke rings. I could tell he was waiting for me to say something else that he could be mean about, so I said, “I don’t know why you care anyway. You’ve got a girlfriend.”
    “I
don’t
care,” he said.
    “Yeah, right. Then why’d you pretend to be sixteen and stuff?”
    “No reason. Just to have fun.”
    “I bet you don’t even
have
a girlfriend.” I never even thought that before I said it, but then it seemed like it was true cause he got all nervous and he sat up and stopped being too-cool and everything.
    “Jealous?” he said.
    “No.”
    He made this I-don’t-believe-you sound, so I said, “Then how come you won’t tell me her name, then, huh?”
    “You know what, Chewy’s right. You
are
a pud.”
    “No, I’m