Free Peaches by Jodi Lynn Anderson

be here in May, and you’re here now.”
    Leeda had pulled her robe tight over her chest and was shaking her head. “I don’t have a bathing suit.”
    “You don’t need a bathing suit, Lee.” He stripped down to his boxers. “Anyway, you’re already wet.”
    Murphy felt like an idiot. A huge third-wheel idiot. She shouldn’t have come. She sank back down under a nearby tree that hung its droopy limbs out over the water and picked at the grass between her legs. She looked up at Rex under her eyelids.
    He had a bad boy’s kind of body. Finely muscled, with one tattoo Murphy couldn’t quite make out just below and to the left of his collarbone. He had a body that would let him get away with things with girls.
    Rex and Leeda were talking low and giggling, and Murphy could see that Rex was trying to sweet-talk Leeda into getting in the water. After a moment’s deliberation Murphy stood calmly and pulled off her T-shirt. “I’ll go swimming.” Anyone at Kuntry Kitchen, Bob’s Big Boy, or Bridgewater High School could have told them that Murphy wasn’t going to take being odd girl out lying down.
    She had only a second to see Leeda’s look of surprise, her mouth curved in a perfect O, before Murphy dropped her shorts. She stood in her skivvies for a moment, grinning at them, waiting for Rex to do the inevitable breast gaze. But his heavy-lidded eyes moved to Leeda. Murphy waited for them to wander, but they didn’t, gleaming as if there was some kind ofjoke going on that only Rex got. It made her cross her arms over her chest.
    “Fine,” Leeda said, yanking off her robe or, rather, letting it waterfall off of her to reveal a perfect set of pale green satin panties and a bra. She walked up to the water, held her arms up in the air, and executed a stunningly beautiful shallow dive.
    Murphy watched in astonishment, then looked at Rex, who shrugged at her. He still hadn’t seemed to notice she had breasts. “That’s my girl.” When Leeda surfaced, he barreled in after her.
    Murphy stared for another moment, then looked at the tree she’d been sitting under. She reached up to the long limb and wrapped her arms around it, pulling her feet to it like a monkey and yanking herself up. She stood on the limb, holding her hands back behind her against the trunk.
    “Oh, Murphy, please don’t. The lake’s shallow. There’re rocks in here.”
    Murphy smiled at Leeda, then took a running leap off the tree, squeezing herself into a cannonball and sailing far, far out. She landed and went under. The water was as cool and refreshing as a gin and tonic in August. She let out her breath and let herself sink to the bottom.
    When she came back up, Leeda was on top of her, tugging at her by the shoulders to pull her out farther.
    “Oh my God, are you okay? Are you okay?”
    Murphy spit water in a big fat stream onto Leeda’s face. Leeda’s eyes widened for a second, and then she splashed her back, getting Murphy right up the nostrils. Murphy let out a loud “Ha!”
    “You scared the hell out of me!” Leeda squealed.
    “Ha ha ha.” Murphy looked over Leeda’s shoulder at Rex.
    He had lounged back in the water, fanning his arms out slowly. “We’re very impressed,” he said, sounding the opposite of impressed.
    Murphy scowled at him. But she felt the words anyway and the way he looked at her, like she was small. She turned to Leeda with a forced grin. “I think Dad’s mad at me,” she stage-whispered.
    Leeda looked behind her at Rex, then down at the water. “There’s probably all sorts of snakes in here and lizards and stuff. I think I’m gonna get out.” As she turned to head to shore, Murphy tackled her waist.
    They both went tumbling down, laughing, sending glossy rings rippling across the lake.

Chapter Seven
    L eeda stretched out on the bank, her wet hair slapping the backs of her shoulders, her chest heaving with her breath. Goose bumps crawled on her skin in the cool spring air. She hadn’t been