Christmas break came and went with an urgency they both felt but didn’t
mention. It wasn’t just the drudge of winter, never a real burden in
the Carolinas, it was the feeling of being forcibly pulled apart. By
spring, Mariel could hardly bear it. Normally a straight-A student, she
was barely passing the last semester and she could care less. She was
counting the days to the end of school, until she could go home again.

Christina met her at the airport, like always, and they ran toward each
other’s arms, then stopped as something electric sparked between them.
Mariel was the first to drop her eyes, pull away, and give Christina a
purposefully casual kiss on the cheek. Then whatever it was passed, and
they strolled off arm in arm to baggage claim.

Now they lay side by side in Mariel’s narrow bed, at the end of a long
hallway, her mother’s room at one end, hers at the other, with a large
bath and spare bedroom to separate them.

“Are you all right?” Christina asked in an unnecessary whisper.

Mariel rolled up on her side, bracing her head on one hand, and looked
at her friend. Her thin tee shirt and briefs suddenly felt too tight.
Her skin prickled underneath the fabric. “Have you.” She cleared her
throat. “Have you ever kissed somebody?”

Christina knotted her brow. The question seemed odd. “No. Have you?”
She rolled up on her side, too, matching Mariel’s posture.

“Uh-uh,” Mariel said softly.

“Really?” Christina’s eyes widened in the dark. Mariel was so
beautiful. And last year, all she’d talked about were the boys in her
school who wanted to kiss her, and maybe more. “Why not?”

“You first,” Mariel evaded the question.

Christina’s hazel eyes darkened. “I don’t know. I guessit’s strange, y’know? Not knowing how.”

“You don’t know how to kiss?” Mariel’s voice rose in surprise.

“Not likewell, not like kissing kissing. With boys.”

“Did you want to?”

“Ummmm.” the blonde girl hesitated. “Not really.”

“Me neither,” Mariel concurred, laid back down. Her arm was shaking.

“I think maybe I’m too young,” Christina concluded.

“For kissing?”

“Wellkissing boys. Y’know? Last year, we were mostly just all friends, hangin’ out, going places, doing stuff.”

Mariel blew out a soft breath. “Yeah, I know. Me too. But this year, it waslike, they changed and got all gropey.”