A Walk On The Beach

Chapter 20

Boy

THE RAINDROPS RACE down the window pane. The holes in the concrete pavements are filled with dirty rainwater, drowning whatever little insects that live there. The world outside is a blur as we rush home in our taxi. The sky is darkening. Evelyn said it is ‘upset’. She is asleep now. I wonder about my little sister sometimes.

We get home and the rush doesn’t cease. Mum is trying to get all the heating on, which is the first considering the constant heat we’ve been receiving in the past few weeks. Dad is getting all the towels out from the cupboard. Zoe is trying to get a signal on her iPhone, hoping that the incoming storm doesn’t ruin her line of texts with her boyfriend. Caitlyn is shivering in the corner, demanding warmth. Tyler is jumping up and down on the tiled floor with Evelyn, who refuses to take off her shoes because the floor is too cold.

Stephanie, however, is nowhere to be seen from where I’m standing, which was by the door to the living room.

I go to her room. I peep through the gap of her ajar door. She’s whispering to someone over the phone: “Yes, Mum, please. Send me a ticket. I want to go home!”

And I thought this day will never come! But now I feel mean for thinking that. I shouldn’t have been that horrible to Stephanie. She hasn’t been that bad. Okay. So she’s been rude to my siblings, she’s clingy, she’s spiteful, all she wants is to get into my pants, and she’s so mean to the girl on the Island.

The door flings open and Stephanie looks stunned to see my standing there. Awkward. She’s sniffing. “What do you want?” she asks, wiping her face from tears and/or raindrops with her sleeves.

I shrug. “Are you okay?”

She rolls her eyes. “Like you care. I know how you feel. You hate me; you all do. God, I was so stupid to even put myself in this situation.”

Well, here comes the moment. The moment when I have no clue on what to do. Here is this bitchy and annoying girl crying sniffing her nose off because she is upset, and I’m just standing in front of her awkwardly. I’m usually very good with girls...until I went on holiday. I was afraid to see the girl I actually like and I’m stuck with a girl I don’t like. Great. Whatever happened to Jordan Harvey, huh?

Stephanie’s speaking. “And I know you like her.”

I frown. “Huh?” I sound like an idiot. Well, it did take me by surprise.

“The freak on the beach,” she says. “Evelyn told me everything.”

“When?”

She looked pained to say, “When I blackmailed her. I wanted to know why you didn’t like me. I know now.”

“I’m sorry?”

She laughs bitterly. “What are you sorry for? I dived into the deep end too quickly, like I always do. I’m sorry for wasting your time. My mum’s buying me a ticket and I’m going back to the Island tomorrow morning. Can you put up with me for one more night?”

I smile a small smile. “’Course I can, Stephy.”

“I bet you’re over the moon that I’m going,” she says with a sad smile. She turns to go back into her room. A few seconds later she pops her head back out and says, “Give me your phone.”

I frown. “What?”

“Just do it,” she says. I hand her my phone and she enters a few numbers in. She looks me in the eye. “I’m in a nice mood. Good luck, Jordan.” Then she closes the door.

A mobile number is entitled: The Freak on the Beach.

See? Stephanie isn’t so bad.

“Now,” I hear Evelyn say next to me. Where does she come from?! “The decision is in your hands. What are you going to do, Jordan?”

I glance at the phone number. “I really don’t know.”