Read Online Bringing the Summer by Julia Green - Free Book Online

laughing shallow and dreaming poo l ” . . . Charles Kingsley, from The Water Babies ,’ he says, showing off. He stops at a patch of grass, and starts stripping off down to his boxers, surprisingly unself-conscious.
    I can’t help noticing how fit he is: his upper body and arms. I didn’t expect that. Under all those baggy black clothes I never imagined he’d have the body of a dancer. Or a swimmer. I watch him dive cleanly into the top pool. As he surfaces, he shakes water off his hair like a wet otter.
    â€˜Come on, then!’ He smiles at me for the first time.
    â€˜I need to change first!’ I wish I’d thought to put on my swimsuit up at the house. Now I have to do it wriggling under my towel, crouched under a bit of hedge that turns out to have prickles on the branches. I know he’s watching. I pull the black straps up over my shoulders and stand up. It’s my proper swimsuit, not a skimpy bikini, but flattering, sophisticated in simple black.
    â€˜Where did you get a tan like that?’ he calls from the stream.
    â€˜St Ailla,’ I say. ‘My island for the whole summer. Not that there was much sun.’ I put my clothes together in a neat pile next to his. I dive in, making barely a splash. I can see he’s impressed. He has no idea about me. It gives me huge pleasure to surprise him. I swim downstream, wading between the pools. The water is much clearer than the river at the weir. I swim with the current in the next stretch of the river, and when it finally gets too shallow, I wade to the bank and walk back up the path.
    Theo’s lying on his towel on the grass, sunning himself. He studies me for a minute, as if he’s thinking what to say. ‘So, you are a real water baby.’
    â€˜That’s what my mother used to call me.’ I feel myself flush. I pick up my towel to wipe my face, and to hide behind. My heart’s pounding and I’m slightly out of breath after my long swim and the walk back. I dry myself and then spread out the towel next to Theo, and sit down. My skin tingles as it begins to warm up. I turn to face him. ‘Swimming is what I love best.’
    Theo studies me for a moment. ‘Best out of what? You can’t have best , without something to compare it with.’
    â€˜How pedantic you are,’ I say. ‘OK. Swimming is what I love.’
    â€˜Why not, I love swimming ? Much more straightforward.’
    I think about it. ‘But it means something subtly different.’ I smile. ‘Surely you can see that? If you care about words, and language, so much.’
    â€˜Who says I do?’
    â€˜It’s obvious. Because you’re so picky about them. You are studying English, after all.’
    â€˜Reading. I’m reading English. That’s what you are supposed to say.’
    I laugh outright. ‘You are pompous and ridiculous, Theo!’
    He frowns.
    You’d think in a big family he’d be used to being teased. But he’s clearly annoyed.
    We lie side by side in the afternoon sun without talking. Flies buzz in clouds above our heads, noisy and irritating. The undergrowth smells slightly rank as it steams gently in the warmth. It’s a different sort of heat now it’s autumn.
    I notice a scar on the inside of Theo’s arm, deep like a knife cut, but from long ago, healed to a silver line. There’s something dark and unfathomable about this boy. He’s very different from Gabes, or Beth, or Kit, even, for that matter. For a fleeting moment I think of that girl again: Bridie. I haven’t asked Gabes about her yet. I daren’t ask Theo.
    Theo props himself up on his elbows, leaning backwards. ‘We’ve swum here since we were small children. Maddie used to bring us,’ he says. ‘But Gabes is never that keen. I’m surprised he asked you over for a swim. I wonder why?’
    â€˜Because he knows it’s what I love?’ I say. I know