Cassie
"Finally free!" Alyssa shouted. I laughed and swung my arm over her shoulder, walking out of school. "Okay so what are our plans?"
"Job hunt." I said. "Any suggestions?"
"Starbucks. That way you can give me a free coffee."
"Yeah, don't think I'm gonna do that."
"Rude." I laughed and shrugged.
I looked over at Drew. "You got a suggestion?"
"There's the bookstore."
"Yeah, I think I might look at that one."
"And not Starbucks? Come on girl, I gave you the best idea."
"If it's so good, why don't you work there?"
Alyssa scoffed. "Now that is one terrible idea. Anyway, I was thinking we should all go to the beach."
"I'm down."
"Sick. Drew?" Alyssa and I both looked at him.
"Sure. I don't have a ton to do."
"Yes! I'll text Elizabeth. She'll tell John. Tomorrow. Finally we are going to the beach!"
Drew raised his brows. "Didn't you go like two or three weeks ago?"
"Yes, and that was a very long time ago. See you Cass." Alyssa ran off ahead and I chuckled.
"Aren't you her ride?" I asked. He shrugged.
"She'll just walk or something. We honestly should walk, but we don't ever feel like it."
"Nice. I got to go. See you at the beach?"
"That's the plan." I smiled and nodded.
"Cool. Bye Drew."
"See you." I walked towards my car and drove home.
~~~
"Okay, I have my swimsuit, sunglasses, sunscreen, towel, book, phone, and water. I still need shoes." I grabbed my flip flops and slipped them on. Taking a final look in the mirror, I made sure I was good to go and walked out the door to my car.
It was a twenty-minute drive to the beach, and when I finally made it, I saw the boys setting up a canopy with Alyssa yelling at them.
"You are supposed to put it on the right side! John that is the left! No you stick the pole in the hole!"
I laughed as she continued yelling and began walking when I saw Elizabeth walking down.
"Hey girl." I called to her. She smiled and ran over.
"I see Alyssa is having fun." She said looking at the three.
"One word for it. You didn't drive up with John?"
"He was going to drive me, but I said no. He lives five minutes away. I live thirty. It would be a waste to come and get me." I nodded. "Should help them?" I looked over to where Elizabeth was pointing. The canopy had now fallen and Alyssa and John were both arguing.
"I'd rather wait it out. Let's get ice cream while we wait. I don't wanna get in the middle of that."
"Good idea." We both laughed and ran to the small ice cream stand on the sand. You could still hear Alyssa yelling.
"Hello ladies, what can I getcha?" I looked at the woman at the stand.
"I will take a mint chocolate chip in a cone." I said.
"Chocolate in a cup with extra sprinkles." The woman handed it to us and I gave her a ten.
"Keep the change." Elizabeth and I turned around and took a couple steps to eat the ice cream. "So, any sexy news with John?" I asked, smirking. Elizabeth gasped and slapped my arm making me laugh.
"Don't start! And no! Nothing's happened." I raised a brow. "Trust me. John and I..."
"Did it?" Elizabeth blushed. "Oh my god you did!!" Elizabeth started laughing at my face.
"Shush! Not everyone needs to know."
"How was it?"
"Dude!"
"I'm just curious."
"Fine! It was amazing. He was gentle and sweet. Always asking if I was okay and stuff."
"I know there's more."
"He said he loves me." I nearly dropped my ice cream.
"O. M. G!! Yes yes yes! I told you!" Elizabeth couldn't stop laughing. "You two are made for each other! Like you are so sweet and innocent and he's so bruh and you balance each other out perfectly!"
Elizabeth bit her lip. "You think so?"
"Yes! I mean the way he looks at you! It's so obvious and I love he told you. I'm so happy for you! Ah! But wait. Did you say it back?"
"Of course I did! Does he really look at me special."
"Hell yeah. And quick question. Has Alyssa done it?"
"Yeah. At a party. She regrets it a little but otherwise, she's glad she's not a virgin. I mean Drew won't let her get a boyfriend so, you know, you resort to things. What about you?"
"Nope. I was always moving too much. My dad's job has us moving all the time. When we were staying in places longer, it was when I was younger. As time moved on, I didn't bother making friends cause I knew they wouldn't stick. I'd just move away."
"Dang, that sucks. How does your mom handle it?" I blinked twice, trying to find a good lie. No way was I sharing the truth. Not now. I couldn't.
"She--uh--she handles it. Yeah, she nannies so it is pretty easy to find kids to babysit for her. She...she wants to be a teacher, but it's too hard with all the moving."
"What about now? You've been making friend's here."
"My dad finally took a job that would stay here. So I thought having friends wouldn't be a bad idea."
"And your mom? Is she going to try to get a teaching job?"
"She did, but there wasn't an opening. Such a small town, you know?" I hated lying to Elizabeth. Here I was, getting closer to her, and now I was lying. It sucked.
"We should probably head back. I don't hear the screaming." I chuckled and followed her back. The canopy was finally up and Alyssa was setting up her chair and the coolers.
"There you two are! Where were you?" Alyssa asked as she saw us coming up.
"Waiting for the storm to pass. Hey babe." Elizabeth said, walking up to John and giving him a kiss.
"What storm?" Alyssa asked, oblivious to what we were talking about.
I gave her a look. "I don't know. The one where you were screaming at John about the canopy?"
"He was doing it wrong!"
John made a face. "Was not! You just give horrible directions!"
"That is a lie!"
"Not it's not."
"Yes it is."
"No it's not!"
"Yes it is!"
"Okay!" Drew yelled, stopping the fight. "Now that everyone is here, I say we go in the water."
"Now we're talking!" John brought Elizabeth over his should and ran to the water, Elizabeth screeching the whole time. I was laughing and saw Drew shake his head. Alyssa runs after him, leaving me and Drew behind.
"You wanna come?" He asked.
"Sure. Sounds better than sitting alone." We start walking to the beach.
"I was meaning to ask you something."
"What was it?"
"When Bethany came over. You seemed fine for awhile. Well, as fine as anyone can be with her around." I let out a laugh.
"Your point?"
"She asked you about your mom." I tensed. "What's wrong? Every time someone mentions your mom, you get all tense. Am I missing something?" Okay, this went from funny, to stressful.
"No, everything is fine. There's nothing to worry about."
"Then why did you tense up when I mentioned your mom."
My brain scrambled to come up with a lie. I couldn't tell him. "I just--I just got into a big fight with her. Yeah, a fight. It had really upset me and when she asked, it just brought back memories."
"Oh, that makes sense. Is the fight still going on? Cause you keep tensing even though it's only been a few days."
"We hold a bad grudges. So we end up getting really mad. She stays out later and ignores me and we sometimes yell at each other. They blow over after about a week or two." Drew stayed silent. I could tell he wasn't buying it but didn't know whether or not to ask more. Finally, he sighed.
"I mean, okay. If that's all it really is. I just don't want you to be upset and ruin our fun at the beach." I laughed and shook my head.
"All good. Now, come on. I want to get a chance to splash you in the face." Drew laughed and we ran our way to the water.
~~~
"So where do we want to eat?" Elizabeth asked.
"Definitely Stone Creek. They have awesome burgers. Come on." We all got up and followed Alyssa. Apparently the restaurant was near the beach so we walked to it. Everyone was talking about college but I stayed quiet. I just observed the families walking around us. I saw little girls on their dad's shoulders while the mom was busy laughing with her family. I felt a frown settle on my face when Drew leaned over.
"Thinking about that fight with your mom." I noticed we had separated from the group, a few feet behind them.
"Um, yeah. Just remembering being a little girl. God, that was so long ago." Drew nodded.
"You could sit on my shoulders. Though you would be too heavy." I gasped and shoved him over, but Drew was just laughing.
"I think I'm good. You just wouldn't be able to lift me because you're too weak." Drew hit me in the shoulder, making me laugh. I saw Alyssa turn around and raise her brows, a teasing smirk resting on her lips. I gave her a pointed look as I stopped laughing.
"Come on you two! You're slowing us down. I'm hungry." I smiled and ran to catch up with the group, Drew behind me. As the others talked, I felt my stomach clenching. Drew was close to figuring out what happened with my mom. I wasn't about to tell him, but I didn't need him figuring it out. Not yet. I wasn't close to ready.
~~~~~
Okay that is chapter 7! This chapter took me so long, and I'm really sorry. I was coming up with a ton of story ideas (because that's how my brain works) and kind of forgot. I also couldn't come up with something to put in this chapter and was running out of ideas. This honestly happens a lot. Like I know the beginning and things happening near the end and the actual ending, but the middle and like this point of the story is where I struggle. Also quick side note, I have no idea if there is Stone Creek in North Carolina or not. Guess it doesn't matter when you make up a fake town, but I thought I'd say that anyway.
I do hope y'all are doing better than me. I am currently stressing over exams while I write this. The good thing is that summer is coming so I will have more time to write but the bad part is my computer is taken by the school to update it so I will be writing on my phone for the next month. Not fun, I will say that.
Anyway, have fun all of you, I will update as soon as I can.
-Clara :)