Confessions of Your Friendly Neighborhood Lifeguard

Chapter One

“Jesus Christ!” I shouted after my car came to stop. A black jeep wrangler had pushed my little red mustang about five feet. I was fine, but my car was not. The front end was completely massacred. I jumped out of the car and put my head by the front tail light, which was all I could see behind the jeep.

“Hey are you alright?” the jeep owner asked.

“My car, my wonderful, wonderful car.” I dropped my head against the car. "This is the punishment I get for leaving the house. This is some form of sick kharma!"  I threw my hands up in to the air, really over dramatically and stared in to the sky. 

“Hello?” the jeep owner asked.

“What the hell were you doing?” I asked, standing up turning to the jeep owner. When I turned to my fellow driver, I was relatively surprised not to a find a middle aged man in a Hawaiian shirt, but rather a girl about my age.

“Driving? What were you doing?” Her casualness irked me. 

“Driving through a green light!” I shouted. “Ah, calm down Rae... don't let Dr. Klein be right about your anger.”

I didn't exactly have, like, anger management, but I did tend to shout a lot. My mother didn't like that, especially since I tended to take my anger out on TV shows. I loved to shout at Dr. Phil. She sent me to an anger counseling doctor who told me some mumbo jumbo about anger and how I was a typical case. I told her that I just needed to express myself. She suggested that I try writing in a diary, or writing poems. But, come one now. That wasn't going to happen. So I held my breath.

“What are you doing?” jeep owner asked. I held up a finger to tell her to wait and then let out my breath.

“My mom is going to kill me,” I mumbled.

“We can just exchange information. I already called the cops and they're on their way. You're insured right?”

“Yeah. But this is my car.” My poor baby. “She never stood a chance.”

“Listen, I'm really sorry and I take total blame for this. Are you going to be staying for much longer?” I looked at the jeep owner. A girl, long blonde hair, a cut-off t-shirt, and basketball shorts stood looking guitly. If she didn't look so normal, believe it or not, I would have been a whole lot angirer. But her non-chalance was surprising, and she was definitely a local, I could tell. 

“Staying for much longer?” I questioned.

“In town. You're on vacation, aren't you?” she said.

“No, I live here,” I explained. “I just moved actually.”

“That explains why I don't recognize you,” she smiled. “Hi, I'm Avery.”

“Rae. Chel. Rachael. Just Rae.”

“Hi, Rae. Welcome to Snow Beach. And sorry I ruined your car, but I'll get everything taken care of. Since you life in town, which is perfect by the way, I can have my dad fix it up for you for free. We can do it fairly quickly. I'll just have it towed down to the shop!”

The police arrived and got everything sorted out quickly. A tow truck was gotten, for free, to take it to Avery's dad's auto shop. Avery drove me to the auto shop in her unharmed jeep. Her dad owned a very successful auto shop just off the main road.

“So, you moved here in May?” Avery asked as we walked along the main tourist streets. I nodded. “And this is the first time I met you?” I nodded again. “Weird.” I was so good at making friends...

“I wasn't sure where to start out. It's kind of a busy town.”

“Only in the summer, fortunately. When school starts you'll be dying for summer again. But I see you perfected your tan in the time you've had here."

“It's noticeable?” I smiled. “Excellent.” It may not be the most redeeming quality I had, but for a month without socialization I took pride in my successes.

“You look like a native," Avery continued. "Born and bred on the beach. You'll fit in well with us." I smiled proudly for a few moments before something she mentioned captured my attention.

“Us?” I asked, rather frightened.

The girl I had just met grabbed my hand and started dragging me down the road. I didn't fight her at all, because overall she give me 0% intimidation factor. I was probably just on my way to paint my nails or braid hair or I don't even know what I thought would happen. If this wasn't the most boring place on the planet, I would have been concerned. The town name on it's own was a god damn oxymoron!

If you had told me that day what following Avery would do to effect me for the rest of my life, I would have called bullshit right then and there. I would have said never in a million years! Never in a trillion years! This town was supposed to be an escape from any issues I once had. But, what I would learn in Snow Beach that summer was a far cry from the quiet life I wanted when I left. It was an interesting summer, this one with too many ups and downs to count.

And these, well...

These are my confessions.