Paper Dolls by Anya Allyn

too,” I said.
    "Ah, a fellow American. Where’re you from?"
    "Los Angeles." The city my father lived in was the first one that came to mind.
    "Cool. Anyway, I'm Zach," he said. He hooked a thumb at the tall boy who walked up beside him. "And this is Emerson, my brother."
    Emerson looked slightly older and his posture gave an air of being a lot more self-assured than Zach. He gave a short flick of his hand as a wave and grinned. His blond, neatly clipped hair contrasted against Zach's messy dark locks. But there was a strong family resemblance in the lean lines of their faces. Both of them had those outdoorsy, tanned good looks you saw in men's surfing-gear catalogues.
    "So, do you girls come with names?" said Emerson.
    "Kate and Anna," said Aisha quickly, indicating towards me and herself.
    Emerson smiled at Aisha. "You're Australian, Anna. Such a cute accent. Goes with the whole package."
    "Thanks," she told him. "Do you guys have a quota of compliments that you give out each day? Because I think you've reached it already."
    She sounded more bemused than anything.
    "Nah, we've got lots more cheesy lines in store." Zach winked. "Come grab some eats with us and we'll run through our repertoire."
    Aisha and I shook our heads in unison.
    “We can’t,” I replied.
    "You girls got something against eating... or us?" Emerson gave a broad smile, his teeth white against his tan.
    "Neither." I gave a nervous laugh. "We're meant to do lunch with the parents."
    "Hey no fair," said Zach. "We're only here for an hour or two before we take off again. And we want to buy you girls lunch, for rescuing Lucy. Saved us a lot of trouble trying to find her."
    Emerson shrugged. "This island is so compact, I'm sure we'll be having lunch within the same space as you girls anyway. We'll just look over and give a sad wave from time to time. Maybe we'll even bust out some short dance routines—endearing but kind of embarrassingly awkward—just to get your attention."
    “You wouldn’t…,” said Aisha.
    “We would. Let me give a quick demonstration.” Emerson bent his lanky body into an Egyptian pose while Zach did a head-bobbing imitation of a chicken.
    Aisha snickered. "True enough. Embarrassing. Look, okay. We'll have lunch with you. Sounds like fun."
    "All right!" Emerson straightened, looking pleased with himself. “Just let us put Lucy somewhere safe.”
    Zach and Emerson leapt back onto the dinghy with the little dog, disappearing into the cabin.
    "What made you change your mind?" I asked Aisha.
    "These guys aren’t going to give up. Can you imagine them doing stuff like that at the pool or in one of the restaurants? We’ll have blown trying to keep a low profile, because they’ll draw the attention of every single person to us. I’m not ready to have people staring at me…."
    “Me either.” She was right. They could even unwittingly expose us.
    We trekked back around Mermaid Beach to the pool area. Mom and Aisha's parents looked up in surprise at the boys who accompanied us. The boys hung back as Aish and I stepped over to explain ourselves.
    "Mom, Mr. and Mrs. Dumaj," I said. "Is it ok if we have lunch with Zach and Emerson today? We kind of saved their dog from running off and they wanted to thank us by buying lunch.”
    Mr. Dumaj gestured an emphatic
no
with his hands.
    "Dad," said Aisha. "Raif has been all over this island talking to girls. No one’s stopping him. And remember my psych said I'm meant to be doing some normal teenage things. We’ll just be in The Atrium—a five minute walk away.
    He squeezed her hand, breathing deeply and nodding.
    “Lunch, and nowhere else,” cautioned mom.
    “Yeah, we’ll be back soon,” I told her.
    Zach and Emerson smiled over at our parents as we joined them. Together we headed for The Atrium. Holidaymakers dotted the wide interior, checking their vacation photos on their cameras—restless children darting to and from the games areas. The Atrium was like being inside an