Page 55 of Under the Waves

“But, to answer your question, doing this will be mutually beneficial, I promise. It will keep all the girls’ bitchy mouths away from you and the guys’ prying eyes—”

I laughed, waving him off. “Trust me,noguys are prying their eyes at me.”

He frowned at me, his eyes unreadable but as a second passed, it was replaced by a grin. “Well, hey, if that doesn’t sell this, then at least you get to go out with me, which, if I do say so myself, is the biggest plus.”

“That doesn’t sound very mutually beneficial for you,” I replied skeptically. It was true, though. All the things, no matter how egotistical they were, really only benefited me. It made me wonder why he wanted to do this, and more so, why do this withme?

“Ahh, but you didn’t let me get to the fun part,” he said excitingly.

“There’s a fun part?” I replied flatly.

He glared at me, and I bit my bottom lip to stop myself from grinning.

Annoying him was too easy.

Our old back-and-forth rhythm was a song I longed to play again.

“Sorry,” I said, playing along. “Go on. What’s the exciting part?”

He glared at me. “Well, when you say it like that, Wellsy, it doesn’t sound very exciting.”

Now,Iglared at him. He flashed me a smirk in return.

“The exciting part, Wellsy, isthe bet: Me and you. Each heat, each competition, and whoever places higher on the rankings at the end of the summer season wins.”

I felt my stomach drop. The bet wassurfing—against each other. How—howcould I tell him that I couldn’t surf anymore? I could barely even look at my board without seeing his face. I tried, Ifucking triedto push aside my fears and surf again…but look how that ended up.Hint:it nearly costed me my life. I shouldn’t even be breathing right now.

My throat started to close up and I could feel my hands begin to shake at my sides. I clenched my fists to try and get them to stop. I refused to let my anxiety make me seem weak in front of him. My old childhood rival.Except…a small part of me felt safe enough around him to be vulnerable like that, especially after he just saved my life.Again. I pushed that thought away and let it dwell within the pits of my conscience to deal with another time.

“Wellsy?” Jasper was crouched down in front of me, his eyes pinned to mine. There was no mistaking the worry hidden inside them.

“One, that isnothappening.Two…” I looked up at him, hoping my voice sounded more confident than I felt. “What would you win?”

He didn’t say anything for a minute, looking at me as if he was waiting for me to crack. I managed to hold myself together long enough to convince him that I was okay because his gaze shifted into an ‘I know you couldn’t say no to a bet’look.“It definitelyishappening, Wellsy. And if I win, you have to let me take you on a date.”

I stared open-mouthed at him before shutting my lips tightly. Maybe I was still in shock. I probably was.Let me take you on a date.No, I was definitely in shock. I shrugged. It wasn’t what I expected him to say but it was easy enough—he didn’t specify how long the date had to be and there wasno waythat this bet was happening in the first place. And even if it did happen, he wouldnotbe winning it. I didn’t lose.Ever.

Not to him.

Not to anyone.

I tried to appear uninterested by his proposition. “And If I won?”

He lent closer to me. “I thought you didn’t want to take part in the bet, Wellsy?”

I glared at him, and he chuckled.

“Ifyou win, what would you like, Wellsy? Anything at all, name it.”

What did I want?Maybe to leave this town? To be able to surf again, to have my family back, to feelhappyagain. EverythingWhat did I want?Maybe to leave this town? To be able to surf again, to have my family back, to feel happy again. Everything ran through my head, making me feel dizzy. There were a lot of things I wanted in life, but over the years, I’d came to accept that none of them were ever going to happen.

I was a girl from the wrong side of the train tracks.

Dreams weren’t made for girls like me.

So I thought of the next best thing. I grinned so widely my cheeks hurt. “You have to publicly declare that I am the best surfer in Hawthorne Hills,” I paused, watching his face to show any sign of weakness but he revealed nothing except a glimmer of something unreadable in his eyes. “And you have to complete three tasks that shall remain unnamed until after I win.”

I had no idea what those three things could be but it felt nice to have a one-up on him.