Fire with Fire (Burn for Burn 2)

I should go home. I know I should. Only something is drawing me into the building. I’ve wanted to sneak in and watch them before, many times, but I’ve always managed to talk myself out of it. Maybe because Lillia’s told me plenty about what goes on with her and Reeve when they swim together. She’s happy to share the details.

But suddenly I need to see it with my own eyes. Them together. While she’s changing, I hurry down the hallway into the pool area. The whole space is finished now, and it looks beautiful. They’ve installed the diving board, painted a big seagull mascot on the far wall. The entire ceiling is glass, and it lets in a ton of light. It bounces off the cool blue water.

Off to the side of the diving board is the utility closet where Kat, Lillia, and I once had to hide out from a construction worker. I wish I could duck inside there, but there’s no way. Reeve’s down at the shallow end, doing high knee lifts. He’d definitely see me.

I glance in the other direction and see a row of metal stadium bleachers bolted along the wall, running almost the length of the entire pool. Quickly, I duck underneath them. Lucky for me, someone has stacked up a bunch of blue kickboards, which gives me enough cover if I kneel down on the floor.

Perfect.

For a few minutes I have the chance to watch Reeve alone. He’s working hard out there. And though he’s lost a bit of the muscle from early in the football season, I like his body even better now. It’s less bulky, more lean. Cut.

After he finishes a set of his exercises, Reeve swims over to the entrance and looks down the locker room hallway. He’s waiting for her.

Then Lillia comes into the pool. She’s changed out of her school clothes and into a black one-piece. It’s definitely not something she’d ever be caught dead wearing on the beach, but it still looks great on her. If I didn’t know she couldn’t swim, I’d think she was there to lifeguard. She sits on the edge of the bleachers right in front of where I’m hiding, and tucks her hair up into a white swim cap.

“Yo, Cho,” Reeve calls out. “You’re late.”

Lillia doesn’t answer. Even though there’s a ladder that’s closer, she walks down to the shallow end of the pool and climbs into the water there. She’s timid, and she reacts like it’s freezing cold.

As soon as Lillia is in the pool, Reeve abandons his own exercises and starts instructing her. He helps her practice floating, with his hands underneath her back. He has her practice her arm movements in the shallow end. Every exercise he gives her, he watches her intently, like a coach. He corrects her plenty of times, which definitely seems to frustrate Lil, but when she can’t see it, he’s nodding and smiling like she’s perfect.

For a while I close my eyes and think about that day when Reeve shoved me into the water. Would it have happened if those other kids hadn’t been there? I bet it wouldn’t have. I bet we would have ridden the ferry home together, like always. I feel the tears come out of my eyes, and I let them fall.

When I open my eyes again, Reeve is out of the water, drying off right where I’m standing. Close up, I can see he still has a few scars from homecoming night, places where the glass cut into his skin. The skin in those spots is pinker than the rest of his body. Pink and pale and almost translucent.

I swallow hard and wipe away my eyes with my sleeve.

“I’m going to go get changed, Cho. Why don’t you take the kickboards out and do some laps in the deep end?”

Reeve leaves, and Lillia goes to do what she’s told. But when she comes over to grab a kickboard, she sees me and almost screams.

“I’m sorry!” I whisper.

“Mary!” She looks over both her shoulders. “What on earth are you doing here?” And then, I think, the answer comes to her. She looks suddenly joyous. “Have you been watching the whole time? Did you see how many times he tried to touch me? It’s really, really working!”

“Yes, it is working,” I say quietly.

Lillia adds, “As a bonus, I’ve gotten a lot better in the water. I think I might actually take that swim test for real.” She shivers, and water droplets fly off her. “It’s a win-win!”

I blink a few times. Thank goodness Lillia doesn’t know all the things I feel deep down about Reeve. I don’t want anyone to know, not ever. “That’s awesome,” I say quickly, in a whisper. “I’m so glad you’re getting something out of this too.”

But I’m not sure if Lillia hears me. Her eyes turn to the hallway. “Crap.” She quickly takes a kickboard off the top of the stack and leaps into the pool awkwardly.

Reeve enters a few seconds later, fully dressed. “You punking out on me, Cho?”

“No. I . . . I just . . . I don’t like to go to the deep end when I’m by myself.”

Reeve crouches down at the edge of the pool. It takes some effort; I can tell his leg is stiff and sore from the workout. Plus he has his walking cast back on. He says, “Don’t worry. I’m right here.” And then he adds, “You owe me an extra lap for that,” but he says it in a tender, joking way.

Lillia uses the kickboard and works her way down to the opposite end of the pool. Reeve walks alongside her, every step of the way. His leg has gotten better. Stronger.

As soon as I get my chance, I run out of the pool, and all the way home. I’m the one who’s in deep water. I’m the one who’s sinking.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

While I dry off, Reeve goes to the parking lot and starts my car so it’s warm for me. It’s super cold out. I didn’t even have to ask him to, which is a great sign.

I gather up my stuff and meet him out there. I keep my eyes peeled for Mary, to see if she’s still around, but she’s nowhere to be found.

Reeve’s taken the icer and chiseled the frost off my windshield. Reeve’s truck is also turned on, and frostless, parked right next to mine. But he’s waiting in my car, sitting in my driver’s seat, listening to my music. I force the grin off my face and hop into the passenger side. “Hey,” I say, pointing the vents so they’re blowing right on me. “Thanks for starting my car up for me.”

“No problem.” He doesn’t make a move to get out, so I stay put too. Abruptly he says, “Hey, you never told me how Boston went.”

“Oh, it was good. My interview with Wellesley went really well. The lady who interviewed me used to visit Jar Island when she was growing up, so we had that in common.”