By the time Spencer stepped onto the beach later that morning, the temperature had climbed to almost ninety degrees. Though Nana’s house was right on the ocean, it wasn’t in the best spot for sunbathing or swimming—that was what the public beach about a quarter mile up the shore was for. If Colin and Melissa were at the beach today, they would be there. When Spencer walked down the wooden steps and scanned the sand, she spied the two of them just to the left of the lifeguard mound, snuggling together on a shared striped blanket. Bingo.
She ducked behind the lifeguard post so they wouldn’t see her. Melissa was wearing a polka-dotted bikini and was rubbing sunscreen on Colin’s back. She said something in his ear, and the two of them tittered. Spencer wondered if they were talking about her. Maybe Melissa was telling him how she’d fed Spencer all those stupid Cosmo rules to win Colin over. Or maybe Melissa was laughing about how she’d stolen Wren back from Spencer, or about how her little sister was too stupid to write her own AP Econ essays.
Well, two could play at that game.
She smoothed out her towel on the hot sand. The beach was crowded, with a ton of people in the water, flying kites, and playing beach volleyball around a net set up near the dunes. A big wave crashed, and suddenly Spencer heard a lilting giggle behind her. She glanced over her shoulder, feeling a dart of worry. That laugh sounded so familiar, like a haunting dream. But it couldn’t be A.
Spencer plucked her cell phone from her bag. She knew just the person to remind her that all was fair in love and war. She shot a quick text to Hanna, asking for inspiration. But even after a few minutes, Hanna didn’t write back.
Spencer was going to have to do this on her own. Like everything, she thought bitterly.
She stood and walked over to Melissa’s towel. She cast a long shadow over her sister, but Melissa wouldn’t look up from her issue of Vanity Fair, not even when Spencer cleared her throat. Finally, Colin shaded his forehead and noticed her.
“Oh. Hey, Spencer.” He awkwardly rubbed the top of his head, a sheepish look on his face.
“Hey,” Spencer said tersely. She thrust the phone at Melissa. “There’s another article about Ian. Your boyfriend.”
Melissa flipped a page and pushed her sunglasses up her nose, not even flinching.
“The felon who’s in jail,” Spencer added, dangling the phone under Melissa’s nose. She’d pulled up a piece about him from the Philadelphia Inquirer. “His lawyers just made a statement to the press.”
Colin squinted at the phone, then glanced at Melissa in question. Melissa coolly rolled onto her side and took a sip from a can of Diet Coke. After a moment, Colin shrugged and lay down next to her, ignoring Spencer, too.
Spencer lingered over them for another few seconds, phone outstretched, but then started to feel awkward. Melissa had probably briefed Colin that Spencer would be jealous and looking for revenge. Don’t believe a word she says, she’d probably told him.
Spencer dropped her phone back into her bag, ditched her sunglasses, and marched down to the ocean to cool off. After weaving around a bunch of little kids playing in the surf and a group of guys throwing a waterlogged Nerf ball, she dove headfirst into a wave. The water was cool, refreshing, and salty, and she surfaced and looked back at the shore. Melissa and Colin were now standing in the shallow water, wetting their feet. Melissa stared out at Spencer in the big waves, but when she noticed Spencer looking, she quickly turned her head away.
“Hi.” A pudgy boy who looked to be about thirteen years old and who was wearing a soggy T-shirt and a large snorkeling mask stared at Spencer from a few feet away. “You’re pretty.”
“Thanks.” Spencer floated over a wave. Naturally the only boy who paid attention to her would be a prepubescent dork. She could only imagine the laughs she’d get from Aria, Emily, and Hanna when she told them.
The boy lifted something translucent and gelatinous from the water. “Want to pet my jellyfish?”
Spencer yelped and swam a few strokes away.
The boy laughed. “It’s fake! See?” He paddled closer, and before Spencer could stop him, he was thrusting the rubbery thing under her nose.
Years ago, a jellyfish that looked just like this had stung Melissa on the leg. She’d screamed and screamed, and their father had told her that the best remedy was to pee on the wound. That just made Melissa scream louder. She’d sulked on the couch for the rest of the day. Spencer had kept her company, making WANTED posters of the evil jellyfish and tacking them up all over Nana’s house.
“Uh, do you mind if I borrow this for a sec?” she asked Snorkel Boy, who was still treading water next to her.
His face lit up. “Only if you give me a kiss.”
Spencer groaned. But desperate times called for desperate measures. “Fine,” she said, pressing her lips to his cheek. At the last minute, the boy turned his head and touched his lips to hers. Spencer pulled away and wiped her mouth, fighting the urge to gag.
“I’ll be back,” Spencer grumbled, grabbing the faux jellyfish and riding a wave into shore. Melissa and Colin were still standing in the shallow water, inspecting a small tide pool. There was such a big crowd in the water that her sister didn’t notice Spencer’s approach. Slowly, stealthily, she floated the jellyfish in Melissa’s direction and then dove into an oncoming wave.
By the time she surfaced, Melissa was peering at her calf, where the fake creature had attached itself. Then she started to shake her leg vigorously, screaming. “Get it off, get it off!” Melissa wailed. The jellyfish remained stuck to her skin, and she screeched louder and louder. Colin’s brow furrowed, and for a split second, he looked annoyed.