"Um," I begin uncertainly, "I'm Maya, like Nicole said. I, um, am excited for this event, and I know we'll all do great."
I know my speech is pretty terrible by the looks I get from some of the people in the crowd. I uncertainly step back a little and look down at my shoes. Why did Nick put me in charge? I'm going to fail at this.
After a few minutes of silence, Nicole speaks again. "Thanks for the encouragement, Maya! Now, everyone, I've assigned you each to rooms. There will be multiple people in each room. The list is on the counter in the kitchen. Please check it and go take your things to your room. I want everything done in an orderly fashion so we can have a meeting in the living room at one-thirty to get this event started. That's it!"
At the end of her speech, everyone moves toward the different pieces of luggage scattered around and then to the kitchen. One guy comes over to where I'm standing with Nicole and Alli and picks up a blue duffel bag that's at my feet.
"Oh, Maya, this is Tanner Campbell. He's the other person who's going to be a main helper. He's a close friend of Nick," Nicole tells me as she introduces him.
Tanner smiles at me and sets his duffel bag back down to offer me his hand. I shake it and say, "Nice to meet you."
He replies, "You too. I've heard nothing but good things about you from Nick. He seems to trust and believe in you a lot."
I don't know exactly what to say to that, so I just thank him. He nods again and picks up his duffel bag again. He smiles at Nicole and doesn't seem to see Alli because he just walks away to the kitchen without greeting her. I turn to Nicole and take a deep breath.
Nicole smiles. "You doing okay? I know this can be really nerve wracking. They're a tough crowd to get through. Don't worry, they'll like you before the festival is over. Just be yourself."
"Thanks," I say.
Nicole smiles again and turns to Alli. "So, you're Maya's best friend. I'm sorry I didn't get to talk to you much before. I just had to get those rowdy guys to be quiet. It's hard when there's only a few girls in the group. Tell me about yourself."
Alli clears her throat. "Well, I moved to Clearwater Bay a little after the school year started for my senior year. I met Maya, and we hit it off. Well, after awhile, that is."
Nicole laughs. "Was she difficult or something?"
Since Alli is so sweet, she shakes her head, but I tell Nicole, "Yes. I'm completely different now than when I first met Alli."
"It sounds like you've had quite a journey," Nicole replies.
I don't feel intimidated or nervous around Nicole, so I decide to do something a little bit out of my comfort zone. I say, "Yeah, actually I have. I've grown and changed into a much better person."
Nicole smiles at me. "You know, it may not make any sense, but I understand how you feel. I used to be a pretty horrible person. Then, I met Nick and his family. Everything changed from there."
"Nicki, where in the world did you put me? I can't find it anywhere, and neither can any of the other guys with me," Tanner asks as he walks back up to our group without realizing the conversation he's interrupting.
Nicole gives me an apologetic look and turns to Tanner. "It's the pool house. Just go out the back doors and you'll see it. It's really nice, I promise."
Tanner raises his eyebrow at Nicole and then seems to see Alli standing beside us, so he sticks his hand out and says, "Hi, I'm Tanner Campbell."
Alli smiles slowly and shakes his hand. "I'm aware."
"What?" he asks confusedly as he lets go of Alli's hand.
"I've been here the whole time. I heard who you were when you met Maya earlier," she explains.
"Oh, um, I'm sorry I didn't see you earlier," Tanner apologizes with a slightly red face.
I almost laugh at how embarrassed he is, but Alli gives me a look and quietly tells Tanner, "You're fine. It's not very easy for people to see me half the time."
He gives her a small smile but stays red. "So, I didn't catch your name?"
"Allison Dunn," she replies.
He nods and turns to leave again. "Well, nice to meet you, Allison."
"You too."
He turns to Nicole and asks, "Pool house, huh?"
"Yep. I needed you as far away from me as possible. You're such a pig you know," Nicole says with a straight face.
I think she's serious until Tanner shakes his head and laughs. "Very funny. I'll see you at the meeting."
He walks away. As soon as he's out of sight, Nicole bursts into laughter and turns her attention back to us. I smile as she laughs but am even more surprised when Alli joins in with Nicole. I'm confused, and I make it clear how confused I am by raising my eyebrows.
Alli is the first one to stop laughing, and she explains, "I tend to start laughing when someone else starts laughing. Plus, I liked that I made him nervous about not noticing me before. Though, that's not new for people to not see me."
"How could anyone miss you? You're joy is infectious," I tell her.
She just shrugs her shoulder and looks away. I can tell she's upset about it. I see a deeper meaning in her words. Nicole has stopped laughing by now, and I sense that she kind of knows that Alli is upset.
Nicole smiles brightly. "I think we should head to the living room to get everything set up for the meeting. Everyone will gather soon."
I nod and give Nicole a smile, but Alli just quietly says, "I need to get home, but it was really nice to see you, Nicole. I'll see you later, Maya."
She walks out of the house. Nicole gives me a questioning look, but I just shrug my shoulders. Even if I think I know why Alli's upset, it's not my place to share that information with Nicole. Nicole nods and leads me to the living room.
She hands me a piece of paper from a stack on the kitchen island as she explains, "This is the itinerary for today. I'll fill everyone in on some of the finer details of what's going on. Then, we'll load up and take them to the location of the festival. We'll start going over the layout for everything there. Sound good?"
I quickly scan the paper and look back up. "How are you so organized? This makes me feel so incompetent for this job."
Nicole smiles at me. "It's just a part of who I am, and don't think that you're incompetent. Nick would never have put you in charge if he didn't think you could do it. He's good about knowing someone's limits."
I let a small snort out. Nicole raises her eyebrows and gives me a questioning gaze. I look back down at the paper and avoid making eye contact with her.
"What?" she questions.
"Nothing," I reply, not really wanting to talk about Nick more than I have to.
"That snort says otherwise," she counters.
I hesitate and then look up. "I was just thinking about when I first met Nick and was getting to know him. I'm pretty sure he didn't understand what my limit was because he would always pressure me to talk to him and tell him things."
Nicole smiles back. "That could be true, but I have a feeling that he knew your limit better than you did."
"What?"
Nicole opens her mouth to say something, but Tanner walks in and interrupts our conversation by saying, "Hey, it's one-thirty. Where's everyone? I thought that you are punctual, Nicki."
Nicole shakes her head and tells him, "Who said that the meeting isn't going to start at one-thirty?"
"What?" he asks her.
She smiles as the sound of footsteps begin to be heard. Tanner shakes his head at her but laughs as he sits down on one of the couches in the living room. The room fills with the people, and Nicole quickly gets the meeting underway.
It's an informative meeting that even helps me out a little bit. Nicole is a good speaker, and it helps that she's also extremely organized. I'm pretty positive she's done something like this before. She's too good to be inexperienced.
At the end of the meeting, everyone begins to make their way to the front door, but I stop Nicole from following them and say, "I think I should go check on Alli and make sure she's doing alright."
Nicole nods. "Understandable. Tell her that it was really nice for me to meet her."
I give her a smile of appreciation and hurry out the door and to town. I reach it quickly and then head toward Alli's neighborhood. I knock on the door as soon as I get there and wait for Alli to come get the door.
I'm surprised when it's Alli's dad who answers the door, and he looks equally surprised. "Is Alli here?" I ask.
He furrows his eyebrows. "I thought she was with you?"
I shake my head. "She hasn't come home? She said she had to go home quite awhile ago."
He shakes his head. "Did something happen between you two?"
"Oh, no, nothing like that! I'm sure she's just at the beach. Thanks for your time, Mr. Dunn," I hastily reply as I begin to leave.
"Maya, make sure to let me know if you can't find her," he says quietly.
"What?"
"Sometimes something might trigger her memory and cause her to think of how things used to be. It's just one of the difficulties of getting through everything she went through. I don't think this is anything big, but I need to know if it's something major," he explains.
That worries me. "Are you sure you don't want to come with me, Mr. Dunn?"
He hesitates and then nods and closes the front door behind him. "That's probably best. Let's go. Did you say to check at the beach?"
I nod, and we quickly walk to the beach. Only a handful of people are there. Alli isn't there. I don't know where to head to next, but Mr. Dunn doesn't pause to think. He just begins to walk up and down the streets of Clearwater Bay, looking inside all the shops and restaurants, which are few in number. There's still no Alli.
At the last shop, he collapses on a bench. "Where could she be? Surely, she would know how panicked I would be?"
I sit down beside him. "I'm positive she's fine. We just need to put ourselves in her shoes and think where she might have gone. How often has this happened?"
"Only a couple of times. One of the times was before we moved here, and the second time was just a week after we moved here. She only slips away when she's really upset about something or really deep in her thoughts," he tells me with worry still laced in his voice.
"Where did you find her before?"
"At the library and the beach."
I nod and think. We've already check the bookstore, which is the closest thing we have to a public library, and we've already checked the beach. There has to be somewhere that we're not thinking of.
Then, suddenly, I get it! I jump up and say, "I think I have a pretty good bet where she is."
Mr. Dunn also jumps up and doesn't question me. He just follows me in the direction of the school. We soon get there, and I was right. There on the steps of the school is Alli with her back to us. I don't exactly know how I knew where she was, but she's there, and that's what matters.
I begin to quietly approach her, but Mr. Dunn stays back and says he'll just wait for us. I thank him and then approach Alli. I don't know what exactly I'll say, but I'm sure I can think of something.
"Hey," I whisper, making Alli spin around.
"How'd you know where I was?" she asks.
I sit down next to her and reply, "Well, I didn't really know. Your dad and I have been searching everywhere for you. I just had a lucky guess that you would be here. What's wrong?"
She sighs. "I don't know. I just had one of those moments where I just felt like my old self."
"But, why? Did it have something to do with Tanner not seeing you?" I question.
She shakes her head, and a small smile forms on her lips. "I thought I was supposed to be the advice giver."
I laugh. "You definitely are, but I can sometimes be one too. Now, did him not seeing you have something to do with you being bullied?"
She sighs again. "It was bad, Maya. It was worse than I ever let on. I was bullied to the point where they would pretend I was invisible in order to hurt me even more. It was verbal, physical, and cyberbullying. They all made me feel like I didn't belong and that I was truly invisible."
"I had no idea," I whisper.
"It's not something I like to revisit. I've been getting better after going through therapy and stuff, but it's hard to forget, especially when there are small reminders throughout my life of what happened," she explains.
"You do know that Tanner meant nothing by it, right?" I ask.
"I do. I keep telling myself that, but I just can't seem to make that thought stick. I know he would never mean to do that, but it's just my past trying to come back in and take over."
I slowly nod. "I get it. Alli, you're not alone in this journey. I'm here for you, and I'm always here. You've helped me so much with finding who I am, and the least I can do is to help you out as you're on you're own journey."
She smiles at me. "Thanks. It means so much to have a friend like you. I knew that my good feeling about you was right."
"You had a good feeling about me?"
She nods. "When I first saw you walking in the hallway. I saw the way you walked in the hallways with your head down like you were defeated. I knew you weren't really defeated. You just thought you were."
My eyes begin to fill with tears. "How could you know something like that?"
She smiles as her eyes sparkle with joy. "Call it a special gift that I've been blessed with."
I nod slowly as I understand what she's saying. I lean in and give her a hug as I say, "Don't let go of that gift. You're going to go far, Allison Dunn."