lived my life

chapter 2.

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 “Lena Elizabeth Pierce! Hurry up; you can’t be late for your job!” I heard my father call up the stairs as I dragged a brush through my curls and pulled it into a ponytail leaving my bangs free. I glance in my floor length mirror one more time taking in my slightly tan skin, white tank top, and blue jean shorts. I was wearing a red lifeguard bathing suit under my clothes, mostly for my break time but also for my job. I grab my white gladiator sandals that come up to my ankle and rush down the stairs, I now had 2 minutes until I needed to leave to go to the beach. I rushed down the stairs to see my dad holding my whistle, keys, wallet, and a yellow apple. “Eat it now or when you get there, either or. Good luck, have fun, and let’s hope you don’t have to drag any bodies out of the water.” My father says in a stern yet soft tone, he’s been that way since mum died two years ago. It is now 2014 and I have lived here for some time now, I turn 17 in 2 weeks. I smile sadly and nod grabbing the things from his hands and rushing out the door to my car. I fling the stuff in the passenger seat and climb in the driver shoving the keys into the ignition and drive off to work. I am hoping for an uneventful day.

 I soon arrived to the beach and strolled my way to the lifeguard shack shoving my clothes and stuff in the locker and pulling on my sunglasses. I slip my whistle around my neck and grab a red board and my phone. The screen comes to life and I sigh at the picture of me and James when I was 11. I lost contact with him over 6 months ago and it broke my heart not to be able to talk to my best friend…my only friend. I have been bullied since I arrived in Cali and it hurts but I have to live on. I turn my phone’s sound on and walk over to my station, where Kyle, my boss, was waiting for me. “Hello, Lena. Today the beach has been reserved for a party. Not for adults but for teenagers. So please have a watchful eye, will you?” Kyle had a mischievous look in his eyes and his tone came out playful. I gave him a strange look but nodded anyway climbing up my post as he walks away. The beach was empty for the moment so I pulled my phone out and scrolled through my contacts stopping at the familiar number and pressing the button to create a new message. Hey Jamie…I don’t know if you have been ignoring me on purpose…or you just haven’t been able to reply but I just wanted to let you know that I miss you tons, but anyway, gotta get back to work xoxox.  I slip my phone into the bag on the side of the post and lookout into the distance. A new wave of sadness washes over me and I clench my eyes shut pressing the heels of my palms into my eyes. Not again, I can’t have another bipolar episode here. Not today of all days. “Hey, you alright up there?” I hear a young male voice say below me. I sniffle and wipe my eyes nodding, “yeah, I’m okay…Go ahead and do what you were doing…” I mumble loud enough for him. Out of the corner of my eye I could see a boy maybe my age staring up at me, there was a group of guys behind him setting down some coolers, towels and even a stereo. The boy was quiet for a minute before he cleared his throat, making me look down at him. A puzzled look crosses his face before he scratches the back of his head and looks up at me, “what’s your name?” great another stalker guy trying to take a hit on a female. “Lena…” I say cautiously. “Cool, I’m Frankie.” The guy says. Something was off though, the way he was standing, how he was speaking. It clicked in my brain and I started to laugh to myself quietly shaking my head. “What’s so funny, Lena?” I hear Frankie call up to me. “Your gay aren’t you?” I laugh as I hop off the post and down next to him, his face turns blank for a second and then he grins. “Sure am!” he says excitedly. I nod and turn to look out at the water, “so you are the ones who rented out the beach? There aren’t a lot of you.” I trail off looking around the beach. “You look familiar, have I met you before?” I hear Frankie ask beside me. I shake my head and turn my head to look at him, “I’m pretty sure we haven’t…I don’t get out much…” I mutter sourly. I knew he wasn’t from around here, he must be visiting, or he wouldn’t have been over here talking to me. I stare off out to the ocean and he does the same taking the silence as it was. “Ewe! Why are you near that thing?!” I hear a familiar screechy voice ask loudly drawing everyone’s attention to us. Everyone that lives in the area started to laugh but the others looked slightly confused as to why they would say that. Marcy Thomas smirks over at me as she walks up to me and Frankie, “she’s a freak! You shouldn’t be around her, and make sure not to drown over in this part. She could easily let you.” Marcy laughs. A could feel the familiar burn behind my eyes and I look down as everyone from here laughs. They all make fun of the way that I can’t seem to control my moods. How my moods flip switches and such. “Hey! She seems perfectly fine! Why would you even say something like that about her?!” some guy from not far behind that probably heard our conversation shouts at Marcy. Marcy huffs and rolls her eyes “fine play with Ms. Bipolar. I don’t care.” Marcy stomps off with her little posse shoving past me and knocking into my shoulder. I feel a hand lay on my arm and I flinch looking up to see Frankie’s worried face. "you alright?" Frankie asks softly pulling his hand away. I nod slowly and sniffle wiping my eyes "I'm alright..." Frankie gives me a deadpan look and scoffs. He grabs my hand and starts to drag me down to the group of people. I quickly yank my hand from his hold and shake my head "I can't I'm on duty." I whisper. Frankie smiles sadly and nods "on your break promise to fimd me?" he asks. I nod again and head back to my post for the next 2 aggonizing hours.

       I sigh and pull my shades off dropping to the ground with my things in my hand "thanks for coming a bit early, Kevin." I whisper. Kevin gives a slight nod and climbs up the post "I'll watch your things while you go have your swim," Kevin pauses for a moment before turning and tossing a bottle at me. I catch it and glance at it before groaning. "Take them Lena." I glare at Kevin and pop 2 pills in my mouth swallowing them dry. Kevin nods in approval and proceeds to watch the beach and water. I drop my things under the post and take a running start to the water diving in when it got deep enough. I swam around for a bit before coming up for air, my breaths slightly irregular. I stayed in the water for awhile before heading to shore. I was walking toward the post when all of a sudden a towel was thrown at me. I catch it before it fell to the ground and saw it was mine. I look up to see Frankie grinning at me like a fool. "I promise you won't regret meeting me." he says in a determined tone. I roll my eyes and dry off as much as I could before heading under the post and receiving my stuff. Kevin gives me a two-finger salute and I give a nod back. Frankie suddenly grabs my arm and rushes towaed the group of people - mostly consisting of guys. There was only two girls and they weren't even part of the party. How do I know? It was Marcy and her build-a-barbie twin. I stop and rip my hand from his hold backing up, the pills did stop my emotions from changing to badly but not this time. Fear, sadness, and anger sparked through my at that moment I laid eyes on her. Trusting this guy was probably bad, but I trusted him enough to know he wouldn't let her touch me or insult me. "I won't let her near you. I promise." Frankie says and pulls me to a log on the ground. Nobody was near it but 2 other guys and they both looked friendly enough. One was the onr that yelled at Marcy earlier, the other looks familier from the back but I shook that off. I sit on the log and set my stuff down besides my phone, which I just stared at for the minute. Frankie sits beside me and looks down at my phone, "can I see?" he asks holding out his hand. I stare at him for a minute before handing over my phone. He unlocks the phone to see the screen saver popup. He stares at my phone slightly shocked expression crossing his face. He looks over at me quickly then back down at my phone then up at the two guys. Frankie clears his throat before unlocking my screen and proceeding to go to my contacts putting in a new number. "So, uh..." Frankie trails off scratching the back of his neck. A smallsmile appears on my face, he looked slightly nervous. "Look at that! The freak actually smiles!" I hear Macy laugh from next to me. I bow my head and the smile wipes off my face instantly. Frankie tenses beside me as Macy rounds the log and stands in front of us. "Ms. Bipolar has a heart." Macy snickers. I clench my hands into fists my nails digging into the palm of my hands. "Leave her be Malibu Barbie." Frankie says in a harsh tone. I look up at Marcy to see an angry look flash across her face, she huffs and pushes past me her little minion following. I sigh blinking tears away as I stand sniffling, "I should go..." I mumble rushing past him and the two other boys who were staring at us curiously and with slight pity. Frankie stayed frozen on the bench for a moment before leaping forward and grabbing my arm. I stand rigid as we come to a stand still in front of the other boys dropping my phone by accident. It blinked on with an unread message...from Jamie. Tears fill my eyes and one of the two guys, the one with blonde hair, kneels down and picks it up with a curious look on his face. When he see's the message and background his head pops up and his eyes widen taking in my features. "Lena..." he whispers his eyes softening as he rushes towards me hugging me tightly.