"You girls aren't going out dressed like that, are you?"

"We're play-pretending."

"Yeah, we're just having fun."

"Don't go far then, okay?"

We lose sight of the cabin and her mother's gaze. It's dusk and we're walking down the road that leads to town. We meet our nemesis, Paul, as we're stumbling over the gravel with our fancy, pointy shoes. He points and jeers at our made-up faces, our tiny breasts. Sylvia throws a rock at him and exclaims

"We're meeting boys tonight. Teenagers."

Paul stops laughing and walks up the drive to his house, head down.

We don't make it to town. We run into Matt and Jeff. They don't laugh when they see us. They smile and tell us we're pretty. They ask us to meet them at the beach tonight. They ask us to bring beer, beer from Sylvia's fridge, beer that Sylvia's dad won't miss because he's always drunk.

"Sure. Okay."