The summer we turned thirteen (Published)

The summer we met: Secret friends

James

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The warm waves of Lake O'ryan splashed against my canoe, sending my jittery heart into yet another state of panic. I took a deep breath and steadied myself, clutching the sides of the canoe for dear life.

I hated the water. It was one of my greatest fears, second only to my aversion to people. The oar I was supposed to use for paddling remained untouched. My partners for the day, Lukas and Patrick were having to do all the work, but they didn't seem to mind too much. I knew it wouldn't be long before Judy was on my case for not participating, so I zipped up my life jacket tighter and prayed to God that this would end soon. Right then, I heard a familiar voice laugh.

I turned around to glance over and saw it was the girl that had stood up for me at lunch yesterday afternoon.

She'd said her name was Harlee.

Harlee wasn't very tall but had a very commanding presence that seemed to intimidate others. So intimidating, she had managed to scare off Jasper. I'd never seen anyone stand up to him without suffering massive repercussions.

But Harlee had, and as far as I knew, Jasper hadn't sought revenge on her for knocking him down a couple of pegs. I suspected it was because she was a female, and he had at least enough common sense not to put his hands on a girl. But unbeknownst to me, Jasper had other reasons for why he hadn't gotten back at Harlee, reasons I actually wouldn't discover until years later.

At that moment, Harlee was splashing one of her canoeing partners in retaliation to them soaking her blue t-shirt. I didn't remember the name of the girl she was giggling and water-fighting with, but I think it was Hally. As I continued to gawk at Harlee, I couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt for the way I had treated her the day before.

You see, after she stood up for me at lunch, I didn't exactly show her any gratitude.

I was actually resentful.

I'd allowed my pride to get the better of me and ended up feeling angry with Harlee for what she'd done. Mostly because it was something that I had always wanted to do but never could summon the courage to go through with: stand up to Jasper. So seeing Harlee, a petite girl, be able to put the jerk in his place with her head held high, left me feeling even weaker than before.

And unfortunately for Harlee, all of my bottled up feelings, including those had overwhelmed me at once, and I ended up lashing out at her. I'd told her to leave me alone and probably hurt her feelings in the process.

I ran my hands through my hair as regret crept over me.

Right then, Harlee noticed my gazing and gave me a wary wave like she wasn't sure if I would respond to it or not.

I didn't.

I looked away.

I knew I owed Harlee an apology, but I just wasn't exactly sure how to go about it. I'd never been the best at approaching people or apologizing to them. And concerning Harlee, I would have to do both.

I shook my head, resolving that I would have to worry about it later. At the time, I had other problems. Judy had become aware I wasn't participating and was currently going off on a tangent about my lack of team spirit. I fought the urge to roll my eyes as she made her way over to us. My canoeing partners were so caught up in their conversation with one another they hardly noticed. Patrick spared a second to at least give me a pity glance, though. Judy's canoe reached us.

She shot me a glare and folded her arms.

"James, what do you think you're doing?" she asked.

My mind immediately struck up several sarcastic and snide responses.