“Sure,” Jake said, and I wondered what kind of game we were playing.
Chapter 17
OUR LAST FIELD TRIP WAS to the Dead Sea, and as we gathered around Chatterbox to listen to his explanation, Ben turned on Mia’s phone and aimed it at the scab on her leg. “Send this picture to your parents.”
“Ouch,” I said. “Your scab’s gonna hurt in that water.” At thirteen hundred feet below sea level, even the air around the Dead Sea smelled salty.
Mia turned her phone off. “They e-mailed me five times a day when I had a cold.”
Jordyn pulled back the top of her Time box. “Cigarette?”
“Thanks.” Ben took the first one from the pack.
She held up the box to me.
“Nah.” I hadn’t used the I-quit excuse in weeks. There was no reason to. Either I smoked or I didn’t.
She flipped her hair and held it up to Jake. He smiled at her. “I might for you.”
“They’re on the table.” Jordyn threw Ben her silver lighter. “Take one if you want.”
I took off my capri pants that I was wearing over my bathing suit. Did she have to be so sickening sweet? “I’m going in.”
Jake’s eyes cased my body.
‘Follow me,’ I wanted to say.
“Keep your eyes closed if you go under,” Leah yelled from two picnic tables over. “Don’t swallow any water.”
The coarse sand felt like cat litter beneath my feet. A thick fog on the water floated up toward the cloudy sky. “I think, deep down, Jordyn might be an okay person,” Mia said.
I put my ankle in the cold water, and the salt immediately made it tingle. “Can’t she focus on her new friends and leave us alone?”
“There aren’t many of us left,” Mia said. Since the exodus of homesick students and the drug bust, our program was down to thirty-one students.
“It is kind of impossible to fade into the woodwork here,” I agreed. “Even for me.”
Mia lay face down on top of the water. “I can float on my stomach.”
My hair felt crusty from the water. “I bet I can’t sit down on the bottom.” I flapped my arms and bent my knees out. “Is Jordyn still pouncing on Jake?”
“Can’t see. Ben, get in here,” Mia hollered.
I turned toward the mountains that looked mauve in the early daylight and closed my eyes. If I could only show Jake how I felt. If only I hadn’t spoiled the moment in front of Leah’s apartment, or if he hadn’t stalled when we ran into everybody after our weekend together.
“Splash him when he comes in,” Mia suggested.
I could do that. I’d aim at his chest, being extra careful not to hit his face. Naturally, he’d splash back. Then I’d say that I had something to show him, and we’d swim away. When I stopped swimming, he’d move closer, and I’d give him the most amazing kiss.
Mia tapped my elbow. “You okay?”
“Fine. The mountains are beautiful. There’s nothing like those cliffs at home.”
“Hey, Becca,” Jake said from behind me. He wrapped his arms around my neck and tucked his legs underneath my arms. “Give me a piggyback ride.”
I played along. “Ouch. Get off me. I can’t carry you around.”
“You’re smiling, aren’t you?” he asked.
My back was on fire. If he stayed on for one minute, I could get away from Mia. “Okay,” I said. “I’ll take you on a short ride.”
Jake inched his hands down. “What’d you get on the history test?”
Perfect. He was keeping it going. “Ninety-nine. What’d you get?”
He moved his hand to my belly button. “Ninety-five.”
“I missed one multiple choice question.” I was thrilled by his touch. “The essay saved me.”
“The essay saved me,” he mimicked.
I caught my balance. “One point from a hundred. You have to get off,” I said. I was gonna kiss him when he leaned in and looked into the water.
“You’re getting on my nerves, Becca.”
“What?”
“You heard me,” he said.
What happened to making out? I leaned over, and he let go of me. “You’re bragging about your ninety-nine.”
My grade had nothing to do with us. “I’m not. You asked me what I got.”
The water rippled away from his hands. “Think you’re better than me?”
“I don’t.” I was just playing my role. ‘C’mon,’ I wanted to say. ‘Just kiss me.’
He stepped back.
“Sorry you thought I was bragging.” I hadn’t been bragging, just answering his question.
“Swim closer to the beach.” Chatterbox’s bald head was coming toward us. “Leah and I can’t see you. It’s supposed to rain. Do you want to hike Masada or go back to the kfar?”
It took me a moment to figure out what Chatterbox was asking.
We had planned to hike up Masada, to see the fortress ruins that afternoon. It would be a mess to hike in the rain.
“How far up is it?” I asked.
“Far up,” Jake said. “It was on the test.”
“I got it wrong,” I emphasized the g in wrong. “Is there a cable car that goes to the top?”
“I called. It’s not working today,” Chatterbox said.
“What does everyone else want to do?” I said.
Jake scowled at me.
“It’s a tie. What do you and Jake want to do?”
“Becca wants to go back to the kfar,” Jake said before I had a chance to answer.
“Okay. Back to the kfar.” Chatterbox walked away.
Jake shook his head. “That’s what you were going to say, right?”
“I guess.” I was still unsure why he was pissed at me. The grade conversation was over.
“You’re lying again,” he said. “Think about what you want.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Mia. You wanted to know how she voted before you answered. You’re, like, her fake sidekick.”
So what if I was aligning myself with Mia? Being her friend had helped me change. I was wickedly more popular than I had been at home, and she was a good role model. I couldn’t stand up to Jordyn. I was lucky Mia was my friend. If she hadn’t been, I wouldn’t be where I was. And there was no way I was slipping back into who I used to be.
“Afraid she’ll unfriend you.”
“Not.” I looked away. Who did he think he was? He had no idea what it was like to be an outsider. “Friends don’t talk to each other this way.”
“I see right through you.”
I wanted to splash his eyes.
Chapter 18
IT WAS MY IDEA TO eat at the Deleck on Thanksgiving. I thought it would cheer Mia up. As we sat there and ate, I tried to get her to smile. I waved my pita under her nose. “Tastes almost as good as pumpkin pie.”
She wouldn’t smile. “It’s depressing. Today’s a normal day here.”
It was bizarre to be eating falafel on Thanksgiving. For a moment, I missed home. Not school—I’d never miss that. But my house and my family. Mom at the kitchen counter, still in her bathrobe, dicing onions and celery for her “famous” stuffing. She never got up before eleven AM on Thanksgiving, and lollygagged around the house in her pajamas.
“Do you have Thanksgiving with your mom or dad?” Mia asked.
“Both. I eat with Mom and my cousins on Thursday and go to Dad’s on Friday.”
“Two Thanksgivings,” she said, as if it were a shekel she found on the ground.
“Yeah, Dad has a second Thanksgiving. His friends bring their leftovers, so he doesn’t have to cook. Do your parents have a big production?”
“It’s huge. My grandparents, aunts, and uncles come. Aunt Julie helps cook and set up. One year, she left our house in a tizzy before we ate ‘cause Mom wouldn’t let her stuff the turkey.”
“We’ll be home in twenty-one days,” I reminded her. “In time for your brother’s Bar Mitzvah.” Mia had told me about it—the service at their
temple, and of course, the rockin’ party her parents had planned afterwards. Lunch and a DJ. Mia said it was the same shindig she had.
“I can’t wait.” Mia waved at the door. “Oh, look, there’s Jordyn.”
Our table wobbled as Jordyn walked over. “Ben and Jake told me you were here. Jake wants a pita ‘n’ chips.”
A diced cucumber dropped from my pita. How nice of her to mention him. Since his lovely assessment of me, a wall had sprung up between us. We didn’t avoid each other. That would have been impossible. It was more of a retreat into superficial conversations. Our one-on-one talks were gone.
Mia bit into a French fry.
Jordyn reached into her pocket for money. “You want anything?”
She didn’t fool me. The food was a bribe. She’d ask for something in return. I didn’t answer.
“Napkins.” Mia swallowed while Jordyn went to the food station. The Deleck was fairly empty and Jordyn immediately ordered.
“Diet Coke?” the cashier asked, then yelled in Hebrew to his co-workers. They laughed while Jordyn got out her money.
“I can understand you.” She handed us napkins. “Jerk. He knows I’m fluent in Hebrew.”
Mia wiped hummus from the corner of her mouth. “Rebecca doesn’t like them either.”
I wanted to barf. Mia was falling into her trap.
“Want to go to Eilat for Hanukkah break?” Jordyn asked.
“Sure,” Mia said. “It’s supposed to be amazing, like Ft. Lauderdale.”
I swallowed a piece of falafel. “I’m going to Avi’s. Aren’t you hanging out with Ben?”
“Ben and Jake can come,” Jordyn said like she hadn’t planned to include them.
Mia kicked me. “It would be a blast. Come with us instead of going to Avi’s.”
Jordyn put down Jake’s pita on the table. “Don’t let us pressure you.”
Blood drained from my face. As much as I disliked Jordyn, I didn’t want to be left out. It would be the last trip before we returned home. “You’re not pressuring me. I can see Avi after the trip. What are we gonna tell Leah?” I purposely didn’t look at Jordyn. “She won’t let us travel alone.”
“We could tell her we’re going to visit Ben’s aunt and stay at a youth hostel instead,” Mia said. “Ben will vouch for us.”
“Cool,” Jordyn said.
“I think Avi’s cousin lives there.” I remembered the photo on his refrigerator of three boys and a girl in their twenties.
“Call him,” Jordyn said. “We might get invited to his cousin’s.”
I smiled at Mia. “Think I will.”
“I gotta go. Jake wants his sandwich before work. Bye.”
Mia’s eyes pierced me like daggers. “Try to be nice to her.”
I ignored my twinge of guilt. “She doesn’t have to come. We can say there’s only enough room for two.”
“It was her idea to go.”
Didn’t she realize Jordyn couldn’t be trusted? She had already two-faced us once before. “She called you a slut.”
“That was ages ago.”
Apparently, Mia didn’t see Jordyn’s agenda. “She’s using us to get to Jake.”
“Get over him. There are plenty of other guys.”
“I’m over him.”
Mia rolled up her napkin. “Jordyn told me her new friends copy her. That’d drive me nuts.”
“Let’s go shopping after work for the trip,” I said. I was tired of talking about Jordyn.
“Only if she comes with us,” Mia said.
“Okay. I was gonna invite her.” I had no choice but to back down. If I whined more, Mia would side with her.
~ * * * ~
Later that day, we went shopping and found ourselves at a trendy boutique near the kfar. I held up a navy one-piece swimsuit. “I need a new suit. Mine is all stretched out.”
“That looks like something our grandmothers would wear.” Jordyn pointed to a white sequined bikini. “You should try it on.”
“Too much bling.” The navy suit was good enough. It had a plunging neckline.
Jordyn picked up the bikini. “You’ll change your mind when you see what it looks like on you.”
“This is cute.” Mia held up a skimpy flowered bikini.
“Try it on,” I said. Maybe we could stop talking about my taste in clothes.
“When I lose ten pounds,” Mia said.
“You can wear it,” I said. She had the personality to pull it off.
“I know what you mean. Ben doesn’t mind a few extra pounds,” Mia said with a smile.
Jordyn continued searching the rack. “I’ll try on the granny suit, if you try on the bikini.”
“Do it,” Mia said. “Jordyn knows clothes.”
True. Jordyn could name every couture designer on the planet, but Mia was testing me. I handed Jordyn my suit and took the sequined two-piece. “Okay.”
In the dressing room, I slipped the glittery bottom over my cotton panties and tucked in the extra material hanging from the sides of my legs. It fit, considering my underwear was twice as big. The top had thick straps that tied at the back and neck, and a generous layer of shirred spandex. Once it was on, I slowly turned around to the mirror, and I couldn’t believe what I saw. The wide straps hid my bony shoulders, my breasts looked bigger, and the v-cut bottom showed off my flat stomach. The sexy girl in the mirror was me.
“How does it look?” Jordyn called out. “Show us.”
I slipped through the black curtain.
“That looks incredible,” Mia said.
“God, you look awesome.” Jordyn sized me up and glanced at herself in a three-way full-length mirror. “White looks good on everybody.”
“Thanks,” I answered cautiously. I didn’t want to be stuck up. Nobody likes a girl who thinks she’s all that. “How did the grandma suit fit?” I already knew because Jordyn had changed back into her jeans and black tee shirt.
“It’s the wrong size,” Jordyn said.
I smiled, taking in the moment. I had put Jordyn in her place. “Do you want to try this one on?” As much as I liked being prettier than her, I wasn’t sure if the bikini was for me. Every guy on the beach would be checking me out like I was the last dry towel on the sand.
“No. I look better in a string bikini. You should buy it. It’s a Gottex.”
“Even I know Gottex,” Mia said. “I’d get one if I looked good enough in it.”
She had a point. Why not show the world what I looked like? I was almost a woman. It was time to start acting like it, and it wouldn’t be like I was walking around naked. Jordyn’s cheetah bikini was skimpier. “I don’t have enough shekels,” I said. Asking my parents for money was out of the question. Mom hadn’t given me any money for the trip and had told me not to ask her if I ran out. Dad had said I had to manage my own account. His allowance was long gone and I had already spent my own savings amassed from baby-sitting. He would never agree to an expensive bathing suit that was five times what I usually spent.
Jordyn fiddled with her oversized sunglasses. “I’ll lend you some shekels.”
“Yeah, we’ll cover whatever you need,” Mia said.
I felt giddy inside.
Chapter 19
THE BUS RIDE TO EILAT took five hours. By the time we arrived, the scenery had changed into a stunning view of russet-colored mountains. The bus plopped us at a crowded station filled with travelers and soldiers. I was determined to get along with Jordyn. No matter what, I wasn’t gonna exclude her from anything. And I wasn’t gonna let her upset me. I was thrilled as we collected our backpacks and sleeping bags from the luggage bin. It was my first girls’ trip. No Leah or Chatterbox chaperoning us!
“Look at these decorations,” I said as we walked down the main drag. All the shops and restaurants were adorned with Happy Hanukkah signs. “I wish my parents could see it.”
“It’s totally cool,” Mia said. “We’re the only Jews on my street.”
“Same at my house,” I said. Mom
didn’t bother to put up decorations, and Dad limited his decoration to a small Happy Hanukkah sign on his apartment door.
Jordyn nodded. “We’ll always be a minority.”
After a trek through busy streets, we found the three-story walk-up where Shira, Avi’s twenty-five-year-old cousin, lived.
“Shalom.” Shira opened her door. I recognized her straight black hair from the photo. Avi had briefed me on her. She looked like her Moroccan dad, wasn’t married, and worked as a scuba diving instructor. She picked up my sleeping bag. “Come in. Which one of you is Rebecca?”
“Me.” I walked in first. “Thanks for letting us stay with you.” I liked her apartment. A mahogany-framed daybed covered with white sheets, a gray spread, and black throw pillows took up the largest wall. An opened box of blue Hanukkah candles and a gold menorah were set on her glass cocktail table. “Where do you want us to put our stuff?” I asked.
She pointed to mirrored doors on the opposite wall. “In front of the closet. That’s the bathroom. Have a seat.”
Mia and Jordyn sat down on the daybed. I pulled up one of the director’s style folding chairs to the table.
Shira’s dark eyes turned to Mia and Jordyn. “What are your names?”
Mia spoke. “Mia and Jordyn. We appreciate your hospitality.”
Shira lifted a black change purse from the table. “I get a lot of visitors. Everybody comes to visit. The beach where I work is incredible. It’s not just for scuba diving.”
“We’ll have to check it out,” Jordyn said.
“I’ll take you tomorrow. I was on my way to the grocery store. You want anything?”
“No thanks,” Jordyn answered for us.
“Let me give you some shekels for food,” I offered. Mom insisted we contribute money for our share when we stayed with relatives.
Shira smiled at me. “I’ll get it. Help yourself to drinks in the refrigerator.”
I locked the door behind her. “That’s nice of her to buy us food. We should have brought her a gift.” Mom never arrived anywhere without a hostess gift.
Mia dragged her backpack across the loop carpet. “I like Shira’s menorah. After going to Jerusalem, I see why Hanukkah’s special.”
“Me too.” Hanukkah was the one Jewish holiday we celebrated at home. The kfar had a ceremony for the first night of Hanukkah that consisted of the same prayers and candle lighting we did at home.
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