Strings of Fate: The First Loop

CHAPTER 17

“I made the Google Doc, didn’t I?” she shot back. “That makes me queen.”

Tim’s voice chimed from the hallway, muffled but amused. “She made me pack our sunscreen in alphabetical order. ‘Banana Boat before Nivea,’ she said.”

“You’re welcome for your organized sun protection!” Inez called back.

Eventually, we all shuffled out, still sleep-heavy but buzzing with excitement. The beach looked different in the morning—less magical, more alive. The waves were more eager, the sun harsher, the sand already warm beneath our feet.

We swam until our fingers wrinkled, played chicken in the water until Inez pushed both James off of Tim's shoulders and declared herself “undefeated.”

“Okay but why do you have upper body strength like a soldier?” Drake asked, catching his breath.

“I do yoga and carry the emotional weight of this group,” Inez said, flipping her wet hair dramatically.

Corey laughed. “She's not wrong.”

We rode a banana boat and got flung into the sea at least three times. Matt clung on the longest, of course. Of course.

“Of all things, I expected you to be the first to fall,” James told him, squinting against the sun.

“I have excellent grip strength,” Matt replied, deadpan. “You would too if you practiced calligraphy as much as I do.”

That made us all laugh, including me. He had a way of delivering one-liners with such seriousness that they hit harder.

After that, we tried the clear kayaks. I paired with Inez. She made me sit at the front, “because you’re the aesthetic one.” We glided over coral, schools of tiny fish darting beneath us like moving confetti.

“This is insane,” I whispered.

“I know. It’s like paddling through a dream,” she whispered back.

We stopped for pictures. James snapped a group shot where we were all jumping mid-air on the shore, though I tripped on the landing and fell sideways into Matt. Inez made us pose in heart-shaped sunglasses and matching towels. Even Tim smiled a little.

But the peak—the real Inez-core highlight—was parasailing.

I almost backed out. The boat looked too small, the parachute too thin, the sky too big.

“You don’t have to do it,” Matt said quietly, standing next to me as I stared at the open ocean.

“I know.” I tightened my grip on the life vest. “But I think I want to.”

“Then I’ll wait here for you,” he said, offering a small smile.

“You’re not coming up?”

“Nope. Heights aren’t my thing.”

It surprised me. I thought Matt didn’t flinch at anything. But I nodded and let James help me into the harness.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Definitely not,” I said.

He grinned. “Too late.”

We rose up fast—lifted into the sky like someone yanked the ground away. The world shrank below us: people became ants, boats became toys, and the ocean spread out like a rippling sheet of glass.

“Betty!” Inez yelled over the wind. “We’re flying!”

I couldn’t speak. I just laughed. Loud, raw, breathless. For the first time in a long time, I wasn’t thinking about anything else—no scars, no grief, no what-ifs. Just wind, sky, and the blinding sun.

When we landed, the boys clapped like we’d just returned from space. Inez bowed dramatically.

“Okay,” Drake said, pulling out his phone. “How are we going to top that?”

“We don’t,” Corey said, slipping his arm around Drake’s waist. “We just let it live in its own category of awesome.”

I agreed.

We ended the day eating mangoes with our hands, salt in our hair, skin sticky from sunscreen and joy.

What I didn’t realize—what I wouldn’t realize until later—was that somewhere between diving under a wave and getting tossed off the banana boat, my mom’s butterfly bracelet slipped from my wrist.

I didn’t notice it missing.

Because I was too happy.

Too full of the sun and the sea and the feeling of being just a girl for once—not a daughter holding on to grief, not a girl who needed fixing or saving.

I was just Betty. Laughing. Floating. Flying.

But the ocean takes what it wants.