What Waits in the Water

by Kieran Scott

  “Dreardon Styles is a total tourist trap,” Alessandra continued knowingly. “Crappy quality, high prices.”

  “What about that place?” Katie paused in her texting to point out a cute little house with a hand-painted window sign that read GINGER’S PARADISE.

  “Love Ginger’s,” Alessandra said, and spread her fingers wide. “Best selection of sandals in the summer and boots in the fall.”

  Hannah paused to look in the window of an antiques store. The display was artfully arranged to look like a shabby-chic kitchen, with doilies under mismatched china plates and an old Hannah Montana lunch box next to a Spider-Man umbrella. She moved out of the way as a couple walked by her hand in hand.

  “Watch it,” Katie admonished Hannah. Hannah blinked, looking down and realizing that she had accidentally stepped on Katie’s heel.

  “Sorry,” Hannah muttered.

  The argument they’d had earlier lingered between them. Hannah couldn’t really focus on the charming town tour. She kept thinking back to the hostile exchange with Katie in the bedroom. And to the moment when Jacob had wrapped Hannah in the towel while they stood on the dock. What had he been thinking? Did he really want to kiss her? Or was he crushing on Katie like Katie claimed?

  And then there was that thing she had seen in the lake.

  Glancing around and seeing that no one was paying any attention to her—shocker—Hannah tugged her phone out of her cross-body bag. There was service here in town. Maybe she could Google “Dreardon Lake Monster” and see what came up. She pressed her lips together, her thumb hovering over her keyboard, but then her phone lit up with a text from Theo.

  Current situation?

  Hannah smiled. It was a game they sometimes played. It meant she had to take a picture of whatever she was doing at that second and send it to him. She snapped a photo of the antiques-store window and sent it to him with the message:

  Antiquing.

  His reply was instant.

  I’ve always wanted a Spider-Man umbrella!!!

  Hannah laughed and was about to type something back when Alessandra nudged her.

  “Boyfriend?”

  “What?” Hannah asked, startled.

  “Texting your boyfriend?” Her expression was perfectly innocent, interested, open.

  “Um, no.” Hannah shoved the phone back in her bag. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”

  “Then why are you blushing?” Alessandra teased.

  “I’m not!” Was she? “I’m just … hot.”

  “If you say so.” Alessandra cocked her head to one side.

  Hannah noticed that Jacob and Colin had caught up to Katie and the three of them were walking ahead in a bunch. She tried not to feel offended, but really—why was Jacob so adamant about Hannah not leaving, when it seemed like he barely even remembered she was there?

  “Everything okay?” Alessandra asked, her brow knit.

  Sheesh. Am I that transparent? Hannah wondered. Rather than answer, she decided to change the subject.

  “Does it bother you that all these people crowd up your town every summer?” she asked.

  Alessandra shrugged, falling into step beside Hannah. Jacob, Colin, and Katie were crossing a side street now, all of them looking down at their phones as they strolled along.

  “Not really,” Alessandra said. “Without all these people, I swear my mom’s bakery would go under. We have a few regulars, but it’s the tourists who are crazy for her cupcakes. It’s like they’ve never experienced buttercream before.”

  Hannah laughed.

  “And the summer is a little busier than the rest of the year, but really we have tourists all year round.” Alessandra bent to grab a discarded paper cup off the ground, and deposited it in a trash can at the corner. “We get leaf-gawkers in the fall, skiers in the winter, and campers in spring. Sometimes you barely remember who belongs here and who doesn’t.”

  Up ahead, Hannah saw Katie and the boys duck into a sporting goods store called Sports Stuff. Hannah and Alessandra headed in that same direction. But suddenly a woman about Hannah’s dad’s age stopped Alessandra on the street.

  The woman had light brown hair pulled back in a low ponytail and wore no makeup. Her frame was wiry and frail and she wore a pair of shorts and a large sweatshirt.

  “Ali! Honey! How are you?” the woman said.

  The woman lifted onto her toes to put her skinny arms around the much taller Alessandra, and Alessandra hugged her back, tightly and unselfconsciously, closing her eyes as if the hug really mattered.

  “I’m doing well, Mrs. Caldwell, how are you?”

  The woman’s blue eyes seemed to tear up as she tilted her chin back to look at Alessandra. “Fine, you know … okay.” She took a deep, shaky breath. “It’s nice to see you. How’s your mom?”

  “She’s good. She’s at the bakery right now.” Alessandra gestured downhill. “You should stop by. You know she’ll hook you up with some free pastries and coffee.”

  “Oh, I couldn’t,” Mrs. Caldwell said, waving a thin hand, but she looked touched. Hannah wondered if the woman might burst into tears.

  “Uh, yeah you could!” Alessandra said with a smile. “Please do. If I tell her I bumped into you and you don’t stop in, she’ll nag me about it all night.”

  The woman smiled reluctantly, but kindly. “All right, you twisted my arm. It really was good to see you, hon.”

  She squeezed Alessandra’s forearm, gave Hannah a quick nod, and kept walking.

  “What was that all about?” Hannah asked in a low voice, reaching up to tuck her hair behind her ears. “She looked like she was about to cry.”

  “That was Mrs. Caldwell. She owns the make-your-own-fro-yo place in town.” Alessandra watched the woman pause to feed a parking meter. “I’m friends with her daughter, Claudia. Well, we used to be friends, I guess.” Distractedly, Alessandra pulled out her phone and checked for messages, then shoved it back in her pocket.

  “Used to be?”

  Alessandra shook her head as if she was coming out of a trance. “She … uh … she kind of disappeared a couple months ago.”

  “What?” Hannah blurted. “What do you mean, disappeared?”

  “It was this past May, right before Memorial Day,” Alessandra said, frowning. “Claudia went to bed one night and when her family woke up the next day, she was gone.” Alessandra started walking again, turning sideways to let a couple of joggers pass. “There was no note, no sign that anything was wrong. I mean, she had no reason to run away. Her family was great, she had friends. It’s totally bizarre.”

  Even though the sun was strong, Hannah felt a chill. She hugged her arms. “What about the police?”

  “Oh, they searched. There were posters and flyers and dogs and everything, but nothing ever turned up,” Alessandra said. “I’m kind of hoping she ran away to follow some band or something and she’ll just turn up one day, but honestly? I don’t think so. I think something happened to her.”

  A hot, painful ball formed in Hannah’s chest and her grip on her own arms tightened. Something had happened to the girl? But what? How could someone just disappear without a trace?

  “Did they ever have a suspect or anything?” Hannah asked quietly. “I’m sorry, is that rude to ask?”

  “No.” Alessandra shook her head. “It’s the standard question. They did have one person in mind, but it turned out he had an alibi.”

  “Who was it?” Hannah asked.

  “Hey, guys! Catch up!” Jacob’s voice interrupted.

  Up ahead, Katie had emerged from the sporting goods store carrying a shopping bag that sagged with the weight of whatever was inside. Beside her, Jacob waved to them. Colin was right on Katie’s heels, still looking down at his phone.

  “What’s up?” Hannah shouted back.

  “Everyone’s at Slices!” Jacob shouted. “Let’s go! Free pizza!”

  “Sweet!” Alessandra exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

  She hurried up the street, the conve
rsation about Claudia clearly forgotten or put aside, and Hannah followed slowly. She looked back over her shoulder. To her surprise, Claudia’s mother was still standing there, by the parking meter. And she was gazing curiously back at Hannah.

  * * *

  Slices was a cozy pizza place, all red and green and chrome, with a tile floor up front near the counter and a dining room with slightly more formal decor at the back. The moment they were through the door, Alessandra and Colin made a beeline for the back room, leaving Jacob, Hannah, and Katie by the counter.

  Hannah watched as Colin and Alessandra joined two other kids their age—a girl and a guy—who were waiting at a table with pitchers of water and soda. The girl immediately huddled close with Colin and Alessandra, the three of them talking in low voices and laughing. The guy at the table sat off to the side, slumped back and scrolling on his phone. He looked up every once in a while to scowl at the other three, and for some reason, Hannah got the sense that he was particularly scowling at Colin.

  “Hey! Raj!” Jacob greeted the guy behind the counter. Raj slapped Jacob’s hand, then leaned in for a one-shouldered bro hug. “This is Raj,” Jacob told Katie and Hannah. “He’s the guy that keeps me in free pizza every summer.”

  “Ladies,” Raj said with a nod and a toothy grin. He had a scrawny build, dark skin, and black hair that stuck out every which way from beneath his Slices baseball cap. There was a birthmark above his upper lip that made it look like he was trying to grow a mustache. “Let me guess,” he said, eyeing the girls unabashedly. “You’re the best friend, Hannah.” He pointed at Hannah and she nodded with a smile. “And you’re the lovely Katie.”

  Katie preened as Hannah’s heart sank. Jacob had told Raj that Katie was lovely? Argh!

  “I guess our reputations precede us,” Katie said, smiling smugly at Hannah. It was all Hannah could do not to stick out her tongue in return.

  “So … I say we get one meat lover’s, one veggie lover’s, and one just extra pepperoni,” Jacob said, drumming his hands on the red marble counter. Raj jotted down a few notes on a sauce-stained notepad, then looked up at Jacob expectantly.

  “And what’re you gonna get for your friends?” he joked.

  Jacob reached over the counter and yanked down on the brim of Raj’s baseball cap. Then Jacob laughed and glanced over at Hannah, as if expecting her to give him an award for his awesome pranking. Instead, she simply looked away. She just wasn’t in the mood right now.

  “Guys! Get some diet soda!” Alessandra called from the table.

  “A pitcher of Diet Coke,” Jacob told Raj. “You good?” he asked Katie.

  “I’ll definitely eat the extra pepperoni,” Katie said, glancing up from her phone. She’d been busy posting half a dozen selfies on Instagram—pictures of herself posing in front of the old jukebox near the counter; standing in front of the Slices sign outside as she pretended to eat the huge slice; pointing at the endless list of toppings with her mouth and eyes wide open like it was the coolest thing ever.

  Ugh.

  “I’ll put the order right in for ya,” Raj said, straightening his cap. Then, as Katie turned away to pocket her phone, he mouthed to Jacob, “You were right! She’s hot!”

  Hannah swallowed hard. She wished she hadn’t seen that. She used a fingertip to draw a circle in a pile of salt someone had left behind on the counter, trying to pretend like she didn’t care about Jacob, or Katie, or anyone.

  “Hang on,” Colin said. “Did anyone ask Hannah what she wants?”

  Hannah flinched. She hadn’t even noticed that Colin had gotten up from the table and was now standing behind her at the counter.

  Jacob and Katie paused.

  “What? No. I’m fine,” Hannah said, flushed.

  “Aren’t you hungry?” Colin asked, leaning his hands into the edge of the counter so that his shoulder muscles visibly flexed.

  “I guess.” Hannah shrugged. She hated that everyone was looking at her now, but it was also sort of cool, Colin pointing out that exactly no one had thought to ask if she wanted the meat lover’s or the veggie lover’s or the extra pepperoni. She’d just assumed she’d pick the pepperoni off, not wanting to make trouble. But now …

  “I’ll have a plain slice,” she said.

  Katie rolled her eyes. “Shocker.”

  “And one plain slice for the lady,” Colin told Raj, then shot Hannah a brief but genuine smile.

  “Thanks,” she said.

  “Anytime,” he replied.

  They all headed back to the table. Hannah sat at the far end, not wanting to negotiate a spot next to Jacob. She gulped down a cupful of water, then refilled it, making sure she got plenty of ice. The hot, dry air outside had left her parched.

  “Hey, guys,” Alessandra said to Katie and Hannah. “Meet my friends Prandya Sai and Nick Freeman. Prandya and Nick, meet Katie Chen and Hannah Webster. They’re staying at Jacob’s for the weekend.”

  “Hey,” Nick said, not looking up from his phone.

  Katie shot Hannah a look like rude, but Hannah was getting a shy vibe off Nick, rather than a rude one. He had sandy, shaggy hair and a blotchy redness was slowly creeping up the pale skin of his cheeks. Even though she was sure he was about her age, he was one of those guys who just looked young, like he belonged on stage playing one of the Lost Boys in Peter Pan. He barely flicked his eyes up as Katie sat down next to him.

  “Nice to meet you,” Hannah said, feeling empathetic. Maybe he didn’t like meeting new people, either.

  His eyelids flickered again, but this time, his gaze froze. He stared at Hannah as if he’d never seen a girl before.

  “Do I have something on my face?” Hannah asked, reaching up to rub under her nose.

  “No! Uh … no. Sorry,” Nick said. “Hi.”

  Then he grabbed the container of Parmesan cheese and gripped it in both hands atop the table.

  Okaaay, Hannah thought.

  “Prandya is Raj’s sister,” Jacob said, sitting down across from Alessandra. Prandya nodded and smiled. She had dark skin like Raj, and her black hair was cut into a bob. She wore a white shirtdress that looked like silk. “They have a house on the lake, too.”

  “Yeah, but their family’s, like, filthy rich so it’s five times the size of Jacob’s,” Alessandra joked, causing Raj to almost drop one of the pizzas as he brought it over to the table.

  “Dude. I can’t believe you just said that,” Raj chided her, tossing the metal pizza tray on the table with a clang before retreating back to the front counter.

  “What? It’s true! They can see it with their own eyes when we get back to the lake,” Alessandra replied, grinning at Hannah.

  “Anyway,” Prandya said, reaching for a slice of pizza. “We should all take out the Jet Skis one day while you’re here. We have four of them and two are two-seaters, so we almost have enough seats to all go together.”

  “That’s okay. Katie doesn’t swim,” Hannah heard herself say.

  “Hannah!” Katie snapped.

  “What? Sorry. Do you want to go out on a Jet Ski?” she asked her stepsister.

  “I don’t know.” Katie was clearly embarrassed and beyond annoyed. “Forget it.”

  “Awkward!” Alessandra sang, and Colin chuckled under his breath.

  At that moment, Raj came over with the other two pies and placed them down more carefully. Steam rose up off the toppings and no one even bothered to try to touch them. A minute later, Raj returned with Hannah’s slice and the pitcher of Diet Coke.

  “Did I get everything? Cuz if I didn’t you’re just gonna have to deal. I’m sick of waiting on you fools,” he joked.

  Jacob and his friends all balled up napkins and tossed them at Raj as he ducked and laughed his way back to his post. Then everybody dove into the food and the conversation devolved into shouts about burning their mouths, commentary on messy cheese, and moaning over how good the sauce was.

  “Here, try this,” Colin said, passing a container of red pepper flakes to Han
nah. “It’s completely transformative.”

  “Transformative?” Nick said, his mouth full. “What are you, studying for the SATs?”

  Hannah paused. Nick’s comment wasn’t teasing. It was legit sarcastic. Like, mean sarcastic. Colin, however, clearly wasn’t bothered. He casually lifted a shoulder.

  “I’m not going to apologize for having a big vocabulary.” He looked at Hannah and smiled. “Some people appreciate intelligence.”

  He held Hannah’s gaze until she blushed. Jacob kicked Colin lightly under the table and Colin kicked him back. Hannah pretended not to notice and shook some pepper onto her slice. She took a big bite. Colin was right. It totally transformed the taste.

  “Because when have you ever apologized for anything?” Nick muttered under his breath, grabbing his own slice of pepperoni.

  Alessandra shot Nick a scathing look, then turned a big smile on Hannah.

  “I bet you’re, like, the smarty-pants of your grade, right, Hannah?” Alessandra said.

  Katie groaned and got up from the table. Hannah chose to ignore her.

  “Why do you think that?” Hannah asked.

  “Oh, please. You’re obviously one of those straight-A students. You can just tell,” Colin said. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”

  Hannah grinned. Somehow, she didn’t mind him teasing her about this. “I’m not about to apologize for my four-point-oh.”

  “Oh!” Alessandra shouted, placing her fist over her full mouth.

  “I like this girl,” Prandya said, leaning into the table.

  Alessandra smiled. “Me too.”

  Hannah took another bite of pizza, feeling happy and comfortable for maybe the second time since she’d arrived. She glanced around for Jacob and realized he was no longer at the table, either. Hannah placed her pizza down on her plate and lifted out of her chair an inch, scanning the restaurant.

  Then she spotted them. Jacob and Katie were standing together in front of the old-school Pac-Man game across the dining room. Her stomach shrank.

  Katie giggled at something Jacob said and shoved him playfully. Jacob got behind her and put his arms around her so that they were both holding the joystick controller and her back was leaning into his chest. It was the closest pose she’d ever seen them in—the closest pose she’d ever seen Jacob in with anyone—and it made her lose her appetite entirely.