Life's Not A Doughnut

Chapter 11 ~ After

I sit on the warm sand and squish it between my toes. Liz is out in the shallow water teaching kids to float on their backs and I have just returned from my short lunch break.

My mind is busy with thoughts. I have decided to put an end to this thing I have with Will. It is wrong and deceitful and hurtful to Annie, weather she knows about it or not. Even if being with Will makes my insides melt and feel like everything was the way it was before, it is wrong. I won't tell her, she doesn't need to know as it is now over and only lasted a few days. It was a stupid mistake, there is no need for me to ruin their relationship. I am trying to mend bridges, not break them.

I hear the flirtatious laughter of girls from my school. Ex-school. I turn and see them standing at the top of the beach hanging around a group of surfer boys. One girl, Chloe, notices me before I can turn around and hide my face.

Shit

I am 99% sure they are the ones leaving the notes on my car and the ones who keyed it within my first 24 hours of being back. I begin to panic as I hear them quietly talking as they approach me.

"Hey slut," Chloe demands my attention.

I stay facing the water, trying to focus on something that Liz is doing with the kids.

"Maybe she is preparing to go back into the ocean with her own kind," Another girl, who's name I think is Paige, says.

"You mean the whales?" Chloe laughs.

Paige giggles, "Or maybe it's the sea slugs."

I start to chant the planets in my head while they laugh at their own joke.

Mercury...Venus...Earth...Mars

"Do you think being such a whore has turned her into a mute?" Chloe tries to sound concerned.

"Why don't you all just fuck off." I attempt to keep my tone flat like Rose does, but it comes out a quivering mess.

"So she can speak!" Challenges Chloe.

"Not the only thing she uses her mouth for." Paige sniggers.

They leave to get back to their busy day of flicking their hair and gossiping. I let out a sigh of relief as Liz and the children join me back on the beach. She instructs them to all lay out their towels and put on more sunscreen.

She comes over and drops down to sit beside me.

"You alright there, kiddo?" She nudges my arm with hers.

She has one of those cap things on that are basically a headband with a visor at the front, the ones you see golfers or tennis players sometimes wear. I think it was her attempt at looking professional.

"I saw those girls over here," She continues, "Judging by what I witnessed, I'm going to take a wild guess and say they aren't friends of yours?"

I offer a hopeful smile, unsure of what else to say.

"Look Nora. You don't need me to tell you how smart and kind you are. You know how much potential you have. You only have like one more year of school left and then you can leave this town and do whatever the hell you want. Ignore those girls, they can't flirt their way into university."

I smile genuinely, "Thanks Liz."

She pats my shoulder, stands up, then offers down a hand to help me up.