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shrink and become transparent.” Violet said in a calm voice. Then, Jeff and Joshua looked back at me with appraising eyes and I realized I was only waist deep in water. My arms were already across my chest grabbing onto each other trying and keep me warmer. Shane and Jasper backhanded them without looking at me and then dragged them back to where the smell of food was. Jacob and Jordan followed them automatically. “So what do we do now?” I asked through my chattering teeth. “You’re not going to yell at me?” Rose asked perplexed by this new development. “I’m pretty sure Violet will yell at you enough for two.” I responded. “Well, I could drive home and grab you some different clothes, but that would take like half an hour, and you’d be a frozen Popsicle by then.” Rose said. “We could use the blanket for the picnic, but bugs would get to the food. And it’s hard to get a blanket to stay around you for any amount of time. Or at least one that small.” Violet said. “I’m pretty sure one of the boys would give up their shirt for Molly,” my mom said. “All the clothes I’ve designed are like that right now. Jaylyn has some kind of process that water proofs them. But I bet Shane or Jasper would be perfectly fine giving up their shirt.” Rose said while dodging a couple of punches I’d thrown at her. “Hey, you know it’s true.” Violet said. “Yes, but does she need to be teasing me about them right now?” I said, finally admitting to what I’d been trying to deny for the two weeks it had been since I had sprained my ankle. Rose started heading up toward the food. “Where are you going? We haven’t even decided what we’re going to do yet.” I demanded. “I’m going to see if one of them will.” She responded in a matter of fact way. I could see the smug look she was trying to hide. She thought that this would make me realize that I liked one of them. When I tried to stop her, Violet pushed me back into the water, keeping me in place while Rose totally embarrassed me. The only thing separating us from the food area was a thin strip of trees that was probably barely enough to conceal us, but I was able to see through it as Rose approached the group of guys. “Anybody, besides you two,” she said looking at Jordan and Jacob, “willing to give up their shirt for a good cause?” She asked casually while shifting her gaze to Jasper and Shane. “Why can’t we?” Jacob demanded, while looking at the other boys critically. “Because her hair is still wet and your shirts have the same effect. Be happy that I already sent those pants to Jaylyn to water proof them.” Rose answered still looking at Jasper and Shane expectantly. They seemed to get the message she was trying to tell them, and they looked at each other. “Uh, sure.” Shane said after a minute. He took his shirt off and handed it to Rose, who looked at him with a wide grin. “What?” He said looking nervously bemused. “I’m just wondering what she’ll think of this.” Rose said her smug grin growing even more pronounced. He grinned back at her, realizing what she was thinking. Rose hurried back, and gave me the shirt. “Take your wet shirt off, and put this one on.” Rose directed turning her back on me as I took the shirt from her. While she had her back turned on me, I decided that now would be a good time to hit her. “Ow!” She protested without turning to face me. “Could you have been any more obvious with your intentions?” I asked sharply. “Yes. I could have asked him directly, and told him //exactly// what I was thinking.” She said while moving out of reach. My mom and Violet went to sit next to her and I realized they were blocking the view from the forest, and was suddenly very thankful for them being here. I pulled of my wet and sopping shirt and threw it at Rose. “Hey! That’s cold!” She complained flinching away from the freezing water that had soaked my shirt through. “How come your shirt isn’t affected by the water?” I accused, while I heard some deep laughs coming from the other side of the strip of trees. “I already sent this one to Jaylyn.” She said while wringing out the shirt I’d thrown at her. “So you’ll send your clothes to Jaylyn, but me, the one you know will get wet one way or the other, you give me the clothes that virtually disappear when they get wet.” I accused, breaking my vow not to yell at her. “That shirt, I finished sewing this morning. This one, I finished a month ago.” She answered, sounding like this fact was completely obvious. “And, don’t you want to get out of that pond? You only got my back wet, and I’m shivering,” Rose said, obviously trying to lure me toward Shane. But the offer was very tempting considering how freezing I was. She offered me her hand and I took it. She pulled me out of the water, my hair, which was a little past my waist, looked black from being wet. Shane’s shirt was long enough to go a little ways past my upper thigh, making me a little more comfortable. “Here, take those pants off. If you wring them out, they’ll turn back to the color they were originally when they dry.” Rose said. I slipped the pants off, and handed them to her. She wrung them out really well then gave them back to me. “Well, at least you got the mud off of them.” She said while I next page