Crushing Summer

by C. M. Stunich

  “And you told me you didn't sign up. Little liar,” Heidi teased, poking me in the arm with her nail. I looked over at Casper who was staring at me with a nervous facial expression.

  “You look kind of pale,” he said, glancing around. “Do you want to sit down somewhere?” I shook my head and started to move forward. What else could I do? Everybody was waiting for me. I was going to clear this up, but to do that, I had to go up front whether I wanted to or not.

  Congratulations followed me as a path was cleared and I squeezed around the voting table and made my way towards the faux stage. The first thing I did was move up in front of Cage. He looked down at me and turned off his microphone.

  “I didn't sign the roster,” I said by way of explanation. “So the title can't go to me. You'll have to give it to the next girl on the list.”

  “Chloe,” said the blonde with a Macbook Air clutched in her arm. “You're right here.” She spun the laptop around, so I could stare at a scanned picture of the roster. And my signature. Right there on line 172. Whoever had forged it had even put a little heart instead of an O on Chloe. What. The. Hell.

  “That wasn't me,” I said, wetting my lips, getting ready for an argument. Behind me, the crowd was starting to get restless.

  “It'll be just a minute!” Shayla called out, sighing and switching her mic off. She didn't seem so nice anymore. “What's going on? What's the big deal? You're lucky to get Crush.” I gave her a glare over my shoulder. Lucky? Oh no. Being Crush meant being followed, stalked even. It meant being bombarded with love letters and gifts and false admissions of love. I did not want to be Crush, not even a little bit.

  “I didn't sign that.” I turned back to the girl with the Mac. “Do you have the original?” She shrugged and shook her head, bleach blonde waves flying with the motion, getting caught in the salty breeze. Behind me, I could hear the ocean crashing against the rocks, laughing at me, mocking me, reminding me of Tatiana.

  “We shred it after we scan it in.” Of course they did.

  “So this could've been digitally altered, like in Photoshop or something?” The girl gave me a look.

  “First off, I'm the only one who has this on my computer, and I don't have Photoshop. And before you ask, there's no Wi-Fi connection out here. The image was scanned in and left the way it is. There were dozens of us here, you can ask anyone.” I folded my arms across my chest. I didn't care what happened or who did what. All I wanted was to get out of this. I was not going to be the Crush, especially not when I'd opted out.

  “Well, I didn't sign up. Whatever happened, it was a mistake. I wasn't even here for sign-ups. You can ask anyone about that.” I looked up at Cage. He was staring down at me with a thoughtful expression on his face.

  “You're worried about ending up like … ?” He didn't finish the question, but it was obvious what word was missing from that sentence. Tatiana.

  “Yes, and no,” I said with a sigh, turning to him, seeing my best hope in his eyes. He was the King. If he said that it was a mistake, it was a mistake, that was that. I glanced over at Shayla who didn't seem half as sympathetic. “I didn't want this, Cage. I wanted a summer all to myself, something different than I've had before. I've done The Assignment for three years already.”

  “But you've never had a title,” Shayla said, like that should've been the deciding factor right there. I didn't tell her that had I just been a Student by accident, that I wouldn't have cared really. I would've rather not had a title. I wanted to get to know Casper, hang out with Heidi, figure out what I wanted to do in life. I did not want to play this game.

  “What're you really worried about, Chloe?” Cage asked me, bending down, kneeling on the pallets so that we were eye to eye. “I told you, this year's going to be different. I'm going to keep everyone safe.” I reached out and touched his hand, trying not to notice how the hair on my arm stood up response. Cage had nice hands, really nice hands.

  “You can say that, Cage. You can even believe that, but you have no way of knowing what could go wrong. I don't want to be a part of this, really. I just don't.” Cage smiled at me and wrapped his hand around mine, squeezing hard enough that my heart began to pump quickly and my breath came short in my chest. Behind us, the crowd began to whisper and murmur, rumors flying, most of them probably about Cage and me. I could guess what this looked like. It looked like we were dating. Great. Just great. I wondered what Casper was thinking.

  “Last time, Chloe,” Cage whispered, eyes bright. “This is my last time before I go off to college. I want to remember it as being something special.” He smiled a disarming smile at me, one that I'm sure had probably charmed many a girl before me. “I want you to be a part of it. The Crush is supposed to be … ” He paused and sighed deeply. “A girl worth looking up to, worth craving. Somebody that everybody wants to be or be with. You could be a role model, you know?” I was already shaking my head, but he wasn't done laying on the charm. “You could meet someone special this way?” Nope, not working. He continued. “Maybe even get to know someone like … say, me?” I smiled that time, but I wasn't giving in.

  “Cage, you're great. I'd love to get to know you, but it doesn't have to be like this.” He thought for a minute and snapped his fingers. In the distance, a flock of seagulls shrieked, filling the chilly evening with their annoying squawks.

  “Look, Chloe. They chose you, not me. If you don't want to do this, you have every right to back out.” He glanced over at the girl with the Mac who was giving him an are you serious? look. “But only because it was an accident. Otherwise, you'd have been stuck.” He winked at me and passed over the microphone. “Here, make the announcement.” I looked at it and then up at him. Was he being manipulative? I wasn't sure. Cage paused. “I thought it would be more powerful coming from you,” he said. “But if you want me to do it?” I nodded and he started to stand back up. In the crowd, my eyes caught on Casper. He was staring at me with a perplexed expression. Julie and Heidi were smiling, and from the other side of the pallet, Pat leaned over and wrinkled his nose.

  “What's up, guys? Something happening that I should know about?”

  “Chloe didn't sign up,” Shayla said with an eye roll. “So she's backing out.” Pat puffed out his lower lip and opened his eyes wide.

  “You sure about that? The masses will want blood, you know?” He smiled, but I didn't think that was very amusing. “Why not just play, Chlo?” he asked. I hadn't had anybody call me Chlo in years. “It'll be fun, you and me. We can have some hot romps on the beach together.”

  “Pat,” I said. “Seriously?” I looked up at Cage and nodded. He started to speak when Patrick interrupted him by asking me two simple, meaningless questions. Well, to him maybe. To me, they meant everything.

  “What are you afraid of?” he asked. “Smell something you can't handle?” It was stupid, maybe, but when I glanced out at the crowd, smiling back at me, looked up at Cage and saw him frowning, I imagined my summer if I withdrew from The Assignment. From the moment they called my name, my picture perfect ideals had gone out the window. If I quit now, they would not let me forget it. I might as well write my name under Outcast because that's what I'd be. Nobody would want to hang out with me. In fact, they'd probably go out of their way to make sure I knew how disappointed they were. One of the reasons this game worked was because no matter how bad it got, no matter how little you wanted to play, you always did. That way, people knew things would go the way they were supposed to. There were no referees, no official rule books. The one thing that kept The Assignment going was that everybody participated, always. And then let's say I was okay with that, that maybe I got my parents to send me out of town. What happened when I got back? The Assignment was supposed to end when school started, but we all knew that wasn't entirely true. They would remember. They all would.

  “I'm not afraid,” I told Patrick confidently. “And I can handle anything.” But that didn't mean I wanted to be an outcast. That wasn't how I wanted to spend my summer an
d my junior year, hiding, dodging questions and glares. So I would tough this out. No big deal, right? Right?

  I stepped up on the shipping pallet and took the microphone from Cage's hand. I didn't miss the sexy smile he threw my way. When I looked out at the crowd, I found myself avoiding Casper's face. Why, I'm not sure. I had nothing to be ashamed about. Did I?

  “Hello, everyone. My name is Chloe Summer, and I'll be your Crush this year.”

  I stood next to Patrick in silence while the rest of the names were called. Valedictorian; Anne Chime. Jock; Anya Billingsley. Bad Boy; Nick Bishop. Bad Girl; CC Marion. Party Animal; Don Ortega. Neighbor; Guy Sills.

  None of those were very surprising to me, so I listened to the crowd cheer and chant, watched as my fellow Assigned came up to stand beside Patrick and me. Nick flashed me a wicked grin as he moved by and gave me a thumbs up; nobody else acknowledged my little blip in the program.

  “This year is going to effing rock,” he said, only he didn't say effing. You get the picture, right? I put my hands on my hips and tried not to sigh. This wasn't a big deal. It wasn't. I wouldn't let it be. So I waited patiently until we got to Outcast. Every year, this title had bothered me. The rest of the spots were … questionable, but this one I just plain didn't like. I liked it even less when Shayla started to explain.

  “In every wolf pack, there's one wolf who helps the rest get out their frustration so to speak, who doesn't quite fit in and who performs a vital role in keeping the rest of the group healthy. They call this position, the Omega. We're going to call it the Outcast. The Outcast is the person to whom we voice our anger, let out our fears, play off our prejudice. We do this, so that the rest of our lives can be good, calm and fair. We use the Outcast like a punching bag. This one person helps the rest of us remain civil, performing the greatest duty there is in The Assignment. Without them, none of this would be possible, so let's give them a big round of applause. And remember, after the summer, this ends and the Outcast becomes one of us once again, understood?” A big round of applause, whistles and cheers. I wonder what Missy Ula would say about that. After last summer, she'd had to change schools – over three hours away in LA. Sometimes what happens in San Aplastar doesn't always stay in San Aplastar. I shivered and tried not to let my mind drift to William Golding's Lord of the Flies. I just hoped that this year's Outcast wouldn't end up like Piggy, getting crushed by a rock – metaphorically or otherwise – along with the conch shell, the symbol of democracy in the iconic novel. I shook my head. I was delving too deep into this. We weren't survivors on an island during wartimes; we were just kids playing a game. Keep telling yourself that. No, no, tell Tatiana that.

  I forced a smile to my face. It felt like a lie, so I let it drop right away but not before noticing Casper's eyes on mine again. I held his gaze.

  “This year's Outcast will be played by … ” Shayla began, unfolding the piece of paper in her hand. She stared at the name for a second like she didn't recognize it. “Julie Alice.”

  As soon as I stepped in the front door, I slammed my back against the wood and slid to the floor, putting my forehead on my knees. The night could not have gotten any worse. I mean, I'd gotten at least three dozen invitations to the after party, two bouquets, and enough catcalls to fill a dumpster. Casper was never going to speak to me again, and Julie had ended the night with her wig being pulled off and her brother black and blue from a fistfight.

  Somehow, I couldn't shake the idea that it was all my fault. If I hadn't accepted Casper's invitation to go to the drive-in, he never would've brought his sister, and she never would've signed up and none of this would've happened. But then, it didn't even seem like a person had to sign up on their own anymore. Obviously, somebody had taken care of that for me.

  My phone rang, and I pulled it out of my purse, glancing at the number flashing across the screen. Local area code, but nobody from my contacts list. I turned it to silent and tossed it back in.

  “How was it?” Kaitlyn asked, sneaking into the hallway and leaning against the wall. From the look on her face, I knew she already knew. It was against the rules to post any Assignments online, but I bet one of her friends had called her. A few of them were old enough that they were able to participate in this year's game. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), Kaitlyn was a few months younger than the rest of her class, so she was out. “Are you excited? I mean, the Crush? How awesome is that? You can have any boy you want.” I rolled my eyes up to hers. They were green, the same shade as mine.

  “Mom home?” She shook her head and moved forward, twirling the red fabric of her nightgown around and pretending she was twenty-six instead of twelve. I didn't know how I felt about middle school students wearing lingerie, but it wasn't my call to make.

  “She and Dad are out on a romantic date at that new restaurant by the pier. Who knows when they'll be back?” Kaitlyn slid down the wall next to me and tucked some brown curls behind her ear.

  “I was going to opt out this year,” I said and she raised her eyebrow at me.

  “That's stupid. Why the heck would you do that?” I shrugged, not feeling in the mood to explain myself to my twelve year old sister. It was complicated. “How was your date?” I shrugged again. Casper hates me because his little sister is the Outcast, and it's all my fault for dragging him out there. Plus, he probably thinks I'm a liar. I told him I wasn't participating and I end up as the Crush? Not exactly the best first date ever.

  I sat up for a moment and dug around inside my purse until I found the small shell that Casper had given me.

  “What's that?” Kaitlyn asked, reaching out to touch it. I curled my fingers protectively around the gift and stood up with a grunt, reaching down for my purse.

  “Just a seashell,” I said and she lost all interest.

  “Who are you going to go for?” she asked, following me down the hall towards the door to my bedroom. “The King? The Heartthrob? The Bad boy?” I paused with my hand on the knob and gave her a look over my shoulder. The last thing on my mind right now was securing a boyfriend. I didn't really need one, but if I did meet someone I liked, I imagined that my Assignment was going to make it harder rather than easier to connect. Immediately, my mind went back to Casper.

  “I don't know, Kaitlyn,” I said, pulling open the door and pausing again. “But what I do know is that this summer is going to get interesting.”

  And that was certainly the understatement of the year.

  I fell asleep quickly and woke to a burst of sunshine across my face, warning me that sleeping in this summer was not going to be an option. There were beaches to comb, outdoor movies to see, flea markets to scavenge for treasure (if I could convince Heidi to come with me).

  And there were suitors to repel.

  A knock at my door snapped me out of my groggy stupor, and I sat up, rubbing at my tired eyes and brushing at a bit of stray sand that was caked on my arm.

  “Yeah?”

  “Chloe, I've already had three boys stop by to see you. What do you want me to tell them?”

  “How about that I have the black plague?” I could hear my mom scoffing at the top of the stairs and then the shuffling sound of her slippers moving away from my door. She'd keep them away. For now. But as soon as I hit the shore, things would get worse. And the first day of The Assignment was always the most insane. The new kids were trying to prove they knew the rules by obeying them a little too literally, and the older ones were doing their best to pretend they were still interested, even though they hadn't gotten official titles. I hated to say it, but the only people I'd probably be able to hang out with this summer would be the other Assigned, and maybe Heidi. If I could pry her away from Justin. If, if, if.

  I scooted off my bed and hit the shower, throwing a hat over my damp hair and slipping on a blue and white bikini under my yellow tee and jean shorts. A bit of lip gloss, a dash of silver shadow, and I was done. Heavy makeup under the hot sun? No, thank you. I grabbed my phone out of my bag to check my messages and e
nded up intercepting a call from Cage. I debated answering but only for a second.

  “Good morning,” he said, and I smiled. He sounded … exhausted. There was no doubt in my mind that he had thoroughly enjoyed the after party I'd skipped out on. It wasn't that I didn't want to go, not necessarily. I just … couldn't. Not without having strangers hanging all over me.

  “Morning,” I replied, trying to sound cheerful. I was going to make the best of this, try to carry out the plans I'd made yesterday afternoon. It might take some subterfuge and a couple of good hats, but I could pull it off.

  “I wanted to apologize to you about your new friend and his sister. I had no idea the girl was terminally ill when Shayla made the announcement. If I'd known, I would've called it off. If I thought it would help, I would change the Assignment, but you know how they are,” he said, referencing the faceless mass of Students. Now that they'd smelt blood, they'd be like sharks. Poor Julie. I felt awful, absolutely awful. I mean, we could tell them that she was sick, but it might not help. It might make things worse. Remember that Lord of the Flies reference I mentioned? If they smelled weakness, they'd be all over it. “And I'm sorry about Casper. He ended up fighting with a buddy of mine. I put my friend straight. I just wanted you to know that.”

  “Thanks,” I said, feeling a little uneasy for speaking for Casper. I had no right to thank Cage, not really. I should call him, I thought, but I didn't think he'd pick up. I should just bury that little start under the dirt and plant a new seed. I touched a fingertip to my lip and tried to breathe, remembering the burst of warm heat I'd felt when I'd woken up and found Casper giving me CPR. Best to forget about that, I warned myself before I got too attached. “Hey,” I said before I could stop myself. “What are you up to today?” I could almost hear Cage cringing on the other end of the line and found myself feeling a little foolish. Just because I was the Crush didn't mean the King would be automatically interested in me.