Part 19 (2/2)

”Will a representative come forward from each of these choirs?”

Meadow starts to head out, but Leah and Sarah tackle her. Terri nods at me. ”Beth, get up there!”

I follow a tiny j.a.panese girl onto the stage. Derek comes forward for his choir. The judge recognizes us from the previous evening. ”You two behave yourselves this morning.” My face gets as ruby red as our gowns. The crowd laughs. A couple of wolf whistles.

The judge holds his hand out for quiet. ”A gold medal and third place go to . . . Bliss Youth Singers, Ann Arbor, Michigan.” The audience claps as I plaster on a smile and move forward to get our medal and special plaque for placing third. I step back.

The j.a.panese girls get second.

The Amabile guys win. Of course they do. No one has a chance against them. They are too good. Way too good.

Derek goes forward, gets the medal and trophy. Major clapping. He turns and waves and the screaming starts. The guy is chick bait. No doubt about it. How can he want to be with me? He could have any girl he wants. As many girls as he wants. Does he really want just me? Or am I one of the many?

The judge calms the audience, introduces the next presenter, and leads us offstage. Derek walks behind me, leans forward, whispers, ”It should have been you.”

His voice wipes out my jealous doubts. I lean back so he can hear me. ”Third in the world? I'll take that.” I wish we could escape to a corner for a steamy make-out session, but he goes off to his choir, and I return to mine.

Terri's losing it. I put the gold medal over her neck and hand her the plaque. Ma.s.sive hugging moment. We're both laughing and crying. Shoot. We have to sit and be quiet while the adult and children categories' results are read off.

When the announcements are finished, we all sing the test piece in a ma.s.s performance, and then it's done. Over until next summer. The adults start to file out, but the youth choirs pour onto the floor. All kinds of kids congratulate me. The Amabile guys get mobbed. A knot of sweet, nerdy guys that remind me of Scott asks me to sign their programs. I can't see Derek in the chaos.

The craziness starts to subside. Terri and the moms begin rounding us up. I look around. Sarah is kissing Blake. Derek is still surrounded by about twenty girls. He sees me-excuses himself. Okay, he breaks away from them.

We're drawn together. I'm desperate to hold him, kiss those lips that are smiling so big at me. We come together in a rush. Then I am holding him. I am kissing that delicious mouth. It is real. He is mine.

”We're going to miss lunch, ladies.” Terri's got everybody together but Sarah and me.

Derek lets me go. ”This afternoon?”

”We have to go shopping.”

”Come with us.”

Sarah and Blake join us. ”Yeah, Beth. Sarah says she'll do it.”

”What?”

”It sounds really cool. Come with.”

I look at Derek. ”What?”

”Time we had some adventure.”

Adventure Park. That's what they call this place. It's ropes and nets in trees. And zip lines.

I'm wearing my fleece-it's cool up here-heavy leather gloves, a helmet, and, get this, a harness. A ring clipped to a rope is supposed to keep me from falling. Derek and I are on a tiny wood platform built about thirty feet off the ground in a ma.s.sive tree. I wish we could just walk through this ancient forest with its whispering foliage, holding hands and staring at each other, but no-adventure calls.

I'm standing in front of the first zip line, freaked right out. Derek is behind me. ”You're hooked in, right?” He reaches under my arm, brushes my ribs, and tugs on the ring to rea.s.sure me that it will hold.

I don't jump and slide down the line. Partly because I'm totally scared and partly because I like the way this feels, him behind me, reaching his arm around me, looking after me. I lean back into him. ”Kiss me for luck.”

”Go Beth. There's a bunch of people waiting.”

I don't jump. He pecks my cheek and pushes me off the platform. I scream and close my eyes as I zoom down the line. Halfway down, though, the scream of terror turns into a jazzed squeal. Zip? They aren't kidding. I actually catch the net at the other end and pull myself onto it. I unhook the metal gadget, so Derek can follow me. He launches himself off the platform-glides way faster than I did.

I'm giddy and laughing. He's happy that I'm not wimping. We scramble through the rest of the course. It's way fun. By the end, I leap off the last zip line and take it with my eyes wide open.

Derek's ready to go again. We have a couple more hours here and can go down any of the courses through the trees that we want as many times as we can get our b.u.t.ts down them.

We b.u.mp fists, and he says, ”Let's take the high course. You rock.”

I slow down. ”That wasn't the high course?”

He points to a couple of his friends on a platform at the very top of the extremely tall, ma.s.sive like a skysc.r.a.per-no way, nohow I'm getting up there-tree we're standing next to. ”That's the high course.”

Jelly knees. Total wimp. ”How about I watch?”

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