Free The Lifeboat Clique by Kathy Parks

idea.”
    Abigail gave me a sneering look. But she was listening.
    â€œTake your clothes off,” I said. “Down to the underwear. You too, Trevor. Do it now.” I was busy peeling off my clothes myself. I had no time to be embarrassed. I just knew that we were going to go back in the water, and we didn’t need to be weighed down by our clothes.
    Shockingly, they didn’t question me. They obeyed me as Hayley and Sienna watched us from the drifting rooftop.
    I tied one end of the rope to the rail of the boat. “I’mnot positive, but I’m guessing the boat is more buoyant than that roof. So it will be easier to bring the boat to the roof than the roof to the boat.”
    I threw the other end of the rope into the water.
    â€œGet in,” I said. “We’re going to tow this boat over to the roof.”
    We jumped overboard and arranged ourselves with me in front, then Abigail, then Trevor. We grabbed the rope and began to pull.
    It was harder than we thought. A lot harder.
    â€œPull harder!” I said. “Harder!”
    My arms ached. My back hurt. My feet kicked in the water. Sea foam went up my nose. A couple hundred feet below me were probably the bones of other idiots who had seen this in a movie and had also tried it.
    Finally the boat slowly began to come our way.
    Hayley started singing an encouraging, up-tempo Miley Cyrus song in an attempt to give us strength.
    â€œShut up!” Abigail shouted at her. “We’re trying to concentrate.”
    The warbling annoyance ceased, and we kept pulling. Slowly, slowly, we closed the distance to where the others stood, waiting anxiously. After about half an hour, we finally got the boat over to the rooftop, and Hayley and Sienna clambered aboard, then the rest of us hoistedourselves up the ladder and pulled in the rope. We watched as the distance increased between our new floating device and the rooftop that had once served as our savior.
    Trevor, Abigail, and I slumped down on the gross carpeting of the deck. We were exhausted. Hayley and Sienna looked much more refreshed, having done nothing but add “Can’t Swim” to the history of their utter uselessness.
    â€œIt stinks in here,” Hayley said.
    â€œSmells like a bunch of dead fish,” said Abigail.
    Sienna paced the boat. “I need an e-cigarette,” she said. “I’m getting twitchy.”
    Trevor stared at me. “I can see your boobs,” he said.
    I looked down. Of course I’d had to wear my thinnest underwire bra to the party, and indeed my nipples showed through. I put on my wet clothes, discovering in the process how hard it is to put on wet clothes.
    â€œHey,” Abigail said to her friends, “we figured out how to save you. The least you can do is thank us.”
    â€œI think she means,” I said, “thank me. Because it was my idea, not hers.”
    Abigail smirked and rolled her eyes. “Well, aren’t you the credit hawg,” she said.
    â€œThank you,” Hayley said suddenly. She still had her purse and was nervously touching her dangly earring.
    Sienna gave her a look.
    â€œWhat?” Hayley said. “I know she’s unpopular but she just saved us and I didn’t even have to get wet, you know I hate getting wet so anyway I was raised to be grateful so there you go.”
    I shot a cold glance at Hayley. “I don’t need your charity. I helped save you because it was the right thing to do. I don’t need a medal every time I do something right.”
    The last of Abigail’s camouflage had come off in the water, and now her freckles stood out in the light. Her shirt was still half on, and more freckles showed on her chest and arms. She took a hank of her wet hair and squeezed it. Water dripped onto the deck.
    Trevor had taken a seat and was leaning back in his wet underwear. I dragged my eyes away from the somewhat large bulge that I would later find out was