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cool at all!” I babbled back at her brilliantly.
    â€œSpeak for yourself. I think we’re cool enough … although you sound like you’re getting a little heated up at the moment!” Annie laughed at her own not-very-funny joke and shook her head.
    â€œOh my God, I look like I’m wearing a tent!” I whined pathetically. I had a dress on, which is something I didn’t wear too often, but I thought it suited the importance of the occasion.I didn’t have a lot of pretty clothes and I figured that people who owned a fancy chalet would expect me to bring something nicer to wear than my usual shorts and T-shirts. I had thought it was wonderful when I first bought it. It was a nice shade of sky blue that the saleslady had assured me matched my eyes and it had short sleeves and was kind of tight around my chest but then sort of floated out around my body. The salesclerk had also told me that it was a very flattering style for me. Maybe because it was supposed to hide most of me from view. Obviously they used magic mirrors in the store that made you look better than you looked in the real world so that they could sell more clothes to unsuspecting schmucks like me. When I looked at myself in the store I hadn’t looked like something you would camp in.
    â€œYou look fine. The color is nice on you,” Annie looked at me and shrugged her shoulders as she turned the page in the magazine she was reading. She had the same old jean shorts and an old T-shirt on that she’d had for about three years and it didn’t seem to bother her at all.
    â€œI’m not talking about the color. I’m talking about how fat it makes me look! I can’t believe this! I can’t wear this! What if her brother is there? He’ll think there are two of me! Now I have nothing but my crappy old shorts which probably look even worse on me!”
    â€œWhat are you talking about? You don’t look fat. You look like you have a pretty dress on. If you really want to look sexy, you should try wearing one of these!”
    She laughed and handed me the page she was looking at. The model was ultra thin and totally beautiful, every ribstanding out clearly underneath the two little triangles that called themselves a bathing suit top. More bones stuck out just above the slightly larger triangle that was pretending to be a bathing suit bottom. She was standing on the deck of a sailboat, pretending to steer it and looking very pleased with herself. I thought of my own bathing suit, a one-piece wonder in black. I bought it because someone told me that black was slimming. I hadn’t thought anything of it at the time, but now I started wondering why anyone thought I needed slimming or that I needed a flattering dress. I knew that I didn’t look anything like that model when I had my bathing suit on. Most of my bones were pretty well buried and I didn’t think anyone would call me sexy.
    Annie snagged the magazine back, still smiling.
    â€œIsn’t that pathetic? As if she actually knows how to sail a boat. Besides, she’s so thin she’d probably blow away if a decent wind came up! Anyway, kid, I’ve got to go. I have to do my ten minutes of packing. See you tomorrow!”
    I didn’t sleep well that night, between the excitement and the worry. I couldn’t stop agonizing about how I looked in my dress or my bathing suit, or my skin for that matter, and whether or not Nancy’s brother was going to be there. Not that I thought he would notice me anyway, but I didn’t want him to think bad stuff about me. I don’t remember the next day’s drive up to the chalet very well. I was probably half asleep.
    Boys were very confusing back then. I wanted them to notice me but I could never think of anything to say to them when they did. I kind of wanted a boyfriend but I had no idea what I would do with one if I found him. I wanted boys to thinkI was pretty but I didn’t