The summer we turned thirteen (Published)

Chapter thirteen: Bike race at the beach

Harlee

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I had my mom drive Rachel home after she got off from work that day.

Now that I knew about her financial situation, I was going to make it my mission to be as helpful as I could. I even considered using my birthday money I knew I'd be getting to help them with car repairs. But then, I thought about how Rachel probably didn't want to be pitied and how her parents would likely never even accept such a gift.

If things were normal, I'd enlist James to help me create an elaborate plan to try and solve this.

But of course, that wasn't happening now.

Mom and I had just dropped Rachel off and were pulling into the garage when I saw a message from Farrah pop up on my phone.

Everyone is at the beach! We're going for a bike ride! Have your parents drop you off! she'd texted.

I bit my lip and studied the phone screen for a second.

I wondered if "everyone" included James as well.

At first, I was tempted to ignore the text because I was still a little miffed at Farrah after what Rachel had told me earlier. Then I decided since I hadn't yet heard Farrah's side of the story, I shouldn't be too quick to judge her for it. Unlike some people (James Whitmire), I wasn't just going to stop being friends with someone out of the blue.

The sun was still shining brightly in the sky, so with my dad's help, I packed my bicycle into the trunk of the car. Then we drove over to the beach. Once we were in the beach parking lot, I opened the passenger seat of the car and told Dad a quick thanks. He got my bicycle out of the trunk and told me he'd be there to pick me up before curfew.

I bid him goodbye then went to find Farrah and everyone else. It didn't take long to figure out where they were. Farrah must have spotted and recognized my dad's car because I could hear her calling my name from wherever she was standing.

I spotted her in the middle of the beach surrounded by Amy, Jasper, Evan, Hyland, Mike, and, unfortunately, for me, James.

I let out a frustrated sigh before making my way over on my bike.

I'd just have to ignore him.

"Harlee Darling! There you are girly; we've been waiting forever for you!" Farrah said as I reached them.

"Sorry, I was hanging out with a friend," I said, stepping off my bike to greet everyone.

"What friend?" Farrah asked, seeming genuinely confused.

I didn't want to bring up the Rachel situation to her in front of everyone, so I changed the subject.

"So, where are we riding bikes to?" I asked.

Farrah lost her interest in my mystery friend and started talking again.

"Oh yes! We're going to have an awesome race!  Everyone is paired with a teammate, then we take the bike trail that leads out to the main roads, and we race to the Dairy Jester in Town Centre. Losers pay for everyone's ice cream there," she said, smiling with all confidence like she had this in the bag.

I looked down at her brand-name sneakers and raised my eyebrows.

I hadn't even known the girl owned a bike.

"What do the winners get?" Mike asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Ice cream. I just said that," Farrah replied.