Chapter 3

Our first letter from my parents came that day, too. Apparently they were having a wonderful time in paradise… who wouldn't? After all, it was paradise. Well, compared to school, time with Christie during the summer was bliss to me. Along with running into Justin at Starbucks. Even though I didn't handle it that well.

That was the first time that Tia had ever seen the love of my life. Even she, who was married, had to agree that his curly dark hair was… captivating. Oh, that curly dark hair. And so it was that I sat on my front steps, halfway through reading the letter from Mama and Papa when I found myself daydreaming about him.

I had already gone through what the 'Starbucks Incident' should have been like. What it would be like in my head from that moment on. That was how I covered for mishaps much like youth group and the one that happened only an hour before. I imagined them going differently.

I suddenly noticed that there was another pair of feet beside my own. They were tan but I knew of the sandal tan that lay underneath those pink flip-flops. "You don't look like you're reading the letter."

Of course, Tia Christie always had to notice. "No, I'm not. Tia, I need more help with him."

By now, if I emphasized the word 'him' she knew I was talking about Justin. "You did okay, Bella. Now, for a Coke to cheer your day up." Bet it won't cheer my love life up.

It was one of those plastic-bottled ones, not the kind you buy in a six pack at the local grocery store. These were the ones that I liked, and Christie must have known about it. I twisted off the cap and watched the little bubbles rise up. And looked under the cap. No matter whether everybody said the contests were fakes, I always checked. I mean, you're not going to win if you never look, right? And I screamed.

Tia nearly jumped off the step, but soon was pulling me back down beside her. "Don't hurt yourself, Bella." Her words hid teasing, but I was too enthusiastic to use one of her own comeback lessons against her. I had just won one of those so-called impossible contests. "Oh, what did you win?"

By now Katie had jumped out of her seat in the computer room and was looking at me with the oddest look on her face. I showed her the cap and she raised one eyebrow. "It's just a DVD player."

"It's not so much the prize, Katie," I said. "It's the fact that I won. Thanks for your enthusiasm." You know what; I swear it was the computer games that were sucking the common sense right out of her brain. She didn't even have a sense of style anymore.

I notified Kari, my youth group friend, (the one that took the liberty of telling me about my caffeine buzz) about how I'd just won one of those impossible-to-win bottle-cap contests. And she was ecstatic. More so when I told her that we already had three DVD players in our house and that she could have the one I won. Kari didn't have one in her room.

"I bought a TV a few weeks ago with money from my job," Kari said. Her job didn't pay much. It was babysitting. Still. "But I was still saving up for a player. Key word: was. You're so nice, Allie. Thanks so much."

"You're so welcome," I replied.

Then I commenced to sitting on the porch and reading a book while my cat took a nap at my feet. I was careful not to move the rocking chair and catch her tail underneath. It was then, while I was engrossed in the tensest part of my book that the phone rang. I was grumpy at first, then…

"Hi, Alliebelle," said a teasing voice at the other end. "Heard you won a DVD player."

I was rendered speechless by Justin's voice at the other end. Why hadn't I checked the caller ID? Why hadn't I prepared myself for talking to him? Oh… "Coke bottle contest," was all I could think to say. Think, you stupid girl, THINK! "Who told you?" Sure, interrogate him, Allie. He really needs that. He's probably having a bad day and you just made it worse... I was being paranoid.

"You know how the grape vine works," and here came a sarcastic comment, I just knew it: "Or wait, Goody-Two-Shoes Allie doesn't know how the grape vine works."

And what was I supposed to say to this? "What a great conversation opener." Ha. Go Allie. I just wanted to thank Tia Christie for her comeback lessons, and Mama and Papa for being awesome parents; I never could have done it without you…

But then, all hope died when he ignored my comment. He noticed it, I told myself. It just wasn't a great conversation opener itself. "Well, Kristen told us to start a chain through the whole youth group to tell everybody that there will be youth group on Sunday."

"Too lazy to call us herself, huh?" Hehe.

"What's new?" Justin said sarcastically. "Anyway, talk to you later, Allie Cat."

And he hung up. He just called me Allie Cat. Was that my new nickname? News to me… that was my dad's name that he called me. And then I remembered my humiliating day. I hadn't remembered the nickname-calling because of my humiliation that happened moments later.

It was the youth group retreat, which always included a whitewater rafting trip down the Poudre River as the grand finale. This meant: matted hair, tired legs and arms, soggy underclothing, wet socks and shoes that made squishing sounds when you walked, and comatose, snoring, and damp teenagers on the drive home. Poor drivers.

But, of course, that wasn't the worst part. At least for me. I had been praying to not be in Justin's boat the entire time, for the sake of my matted, soggy, hair and flat bangs that would present themselves to him and whoever looked once I took my helmet off. But that, too, was not the worst part. That part comes later, right after the biggest rapid we'd be going on.

I ended up in his boat. Right behind him and his sexy Hawaiian-style swim trunks and his bare chest underneath his life vest. And me and my two-year-old tennis shoes that Mama insisted I wear for the white-water rafting trip, my old swimsuit from last year, and clothes that were already sticking to me and my swimsuit because of the sweat. I was about to curse the sweat when the boat high sided and our side did not go high enough and I ran into Justin and was knocked out of the boat. And that wasn't even half of it.

We went through level three and four rapids, had a wonderful time. Especially when we backpaddled. That meant leaning back, and oh man when Justin leaned back he was close… even if it was just his life jacket touching my knees.

Our paddles ran into each other quite often. On one of these occasions, he'd said, "I knew you wanted to touch my paddle." I had just giggled, not knowing what to say. I couldn't have said anything, because seconds later we were pelted by instructions from our guide. "Forward two!" "Back three!" "Stop!" And we were over the hardest rapid of the entire trip. Our last, too. I was disappointed, though after "the whitewater incident" as I call it I couldn't have been more eager to go home and mourn my embarrassment.

Justin is very sarcastic, if I hadn't told you so already. Just a little tip for understanding as I tell you about the minutes following the big rapid.

The guide parked our boat and instructed Justin to jump out and hold the boat to shore. And with that she left with the rope bag to stand on top of the boulder beside the rushing whitewater. "Just in case there are any swimmers," she'd said. "The boats have a tendency to come this way, so if you see one coming toward the boat, have Allie jump out and help you hold the boat. If you want to, you can have her jump out now," she added to her statement.

"I want," was what Justin replied with. And for a few split seconds I hadn't gotten the sarcasm in his voice. I leaned back to put my feet over to the other side, but felt myself going backward. Down, down, down… and instead of smack I heard (and felt) something that sounded like plumph. That plumph meant, of course, that Justin had caught me as I was trying to get out of the boat.

Embarrassed and surely with a face that was bright red, I crawled back into the boat. Everybody else in the boat, especially Keri, was laughing at my hysterically. I just smiled and settled my paddle on my lap. Dad's boat came down (he was one of the chaperones that came with us on the trip) and he yelled to me, "Hey, Allie Cat!"

Justin laughed at my dad's nickname for me, but just then we heard a "splash" over the river noise. It was my dad, bobbing in the water, orange life jacket flashing a bit of itself here and there amid the whitewater. Lisa threw him the rope bag, and he was brought to shore. I wanted to go and hug him, because all thirty seconds he was in the water I was scared to death.

After all the cheers from everybody, I heard a voice behind me said, "Hey, Allie, want to help me with the boat?"

I turned and glared at him and his teasing grin and turned to watch Dad, shivering and shaking, and that must have been how Justin discovered my other nickname, Allie Cat. And that was the most embarrassing moment of my life.