Second Impressions

After dinner and the bonfire the girls and boys separate into their own guest houses. There were enough for each of us to have our own, but it was more fun to have one together.

The girls' guest house consisted of five rooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, living room, and a hot tub. Of course, I steered clear of the hot tub because last time I was in one, I ended up staying in their too long and had bright red skin and a rash.

As did Brad.

Damn it.

"Autum?" My mind veers back to the girl talk we are currently having, all of us in our pjs and snuggling with our pillows in the living room.

"Yeah, that's my name!"

"Were you even listening?"

"No, not really." I smile as Shale rubs her head.

"Is it alright if we ask you something?" Shelby prods gently. I grin humongously and nod, ready for anything.

"Okay, so do you still have feelings for Brad?" Shale questions bluntly.

Okay, so I wasn't ready for that.

"No." I draw out, cringing at the horrible lying. Of course, I keep coating the icing on the cake. "Why would I still like him? I mean, we're just done." I laugh airily.

I need to practice on my lying. Seriously. This is why I can't play poker.

"Autum, if you like him then why don't you tell him so you can be together? This happens all the time in the movies and books. Girl likes boy, boy likes girl, they don't know which prolongs the relationship, and-"

"Except there's just one wrong thing with that." I interrupt quietly. "Boy doesn't like girl."

"That's just stupid." Shale snaps, flicking her hand as well. "Of course he still likes you. He was the one who was there when you got hit by that stupid car because he heard you calling for Dannit. And he was the one crying while he brought you to the emergency room."

I stare at her, feeling my heartbeat slow down. There is only one thing I feel at the moment and that is disbelief. Of course, I will have to corner Shale with my words to get her to tell the truth. Why does she have to be such a good liar?

"How do you know? Were you with him when he brought me to the emergency room?" I shoot my words out like lava, ready for her to spill the beans.

"No, but he called me on his way to the hospital and I got there a couple minutes after you were taken away." Shale states, causing a showdown between us. She knows I don't believe her. "We sat in the waiting room together. I know he cried because he ruined one of my favorite shirts."

"Well, he still doesn't care for me anymore." I reply, not ready to believe her just yet. "You didn't hear what he said to me when we spent the night at his house."

"What did he say?" Shelby asks. I look away. I don't want to talk about it anymore.

"Autum, what did he say?" Shale uses a tone that a mother would use. I sigh.

"He just said some stuff. I don't want to talk about it anymore." I pick up my pillow and get ready to go to my room but Shale trips me teasingly, laughing.

"It's not a good night until we have a pillow fight!" She screeches, picking up said pillow and whacking me in the face with it.

"Oof!"

"Shale!"

"Prepare for annihilation!"

"Gah!"

"Hahahaha!"

I wake up with a groan, the sun glaring right into my eyes. I roll over, snuggling into something fluffy.

"Somebody turn off the sun." I mumble, smiling a bit. This fluffy thing is really soft. I drop my smile. Did this really soft fluffy thing just move? "Ah!"

I jump up; pillow in hand, ready to attack anything dangerous looking. I spot something dangerous and hit it.

"Oops." I stare at the lamp I just knocked over, carefully picking it up and placing it back where it was. I'll have to buy a new light bulb. I feel the really soft fluffy thing rub against my leg. "Who dare goes there?!"

I glance down to see a cat. A really fat soft fluffy cat with huge eyes and white fur. I plop down onto the floor and it crawls into my lap, purring happily as I stroke it.

"Aw, you're just too cute." I coo. It literally grins back at me like it knows it's cute.

"Autum, where are you?" I stick my hand up, still stroking the cat. Trev and the last person I ever wanted to see come into view, taking in the scene. I myself look around and see multiple candy wrappers and pillow feathers scattered. Not to mention the shattered shards from the light bulb.

"What the hell happened in here?" Asked the last person I never wanted to see. Okay, so I still like him. It doesn't take a genius to figure that one out. Though, I'm sure it's a mind over matter type of thing. If I keep telling myself that I don't care, then I truly won't. Hopefully I'll run into a monk that has decided to visit the beach. He'll be able to help me.

"Where's Shale and Shelby?" As if on cue, mumbling comes from a pile of feathers and Shale sits up just like a zombie and Shelby crawls out from behind the couch covered in candy wrappers and chocolate coating her face. Aren't we beautiful when we wake up?

"I repeat, what the hell happened in here?"

"Well what the hell happened to you?" I retort smartly, eyeing Brad up and down. He looks down at himself and then back to me.

"I took a shower."

"I suspected just as much!"

"A shower is a good thing, Autum."

"Yeah, well so is-"

"Where did that cat come from?" Shale asks, crawling towards me with feathers sticking up from her hair. I scratch behind its ears and grin.

"I don't know but it's really soft and cute." Trev suddenly plucks it by the scruff of its neck and examines it. It hisses.

"It's a demon!" He yelps, dropping it. It lands on all fours and gingerly steps back into my lap, rubbing its head against my hand to be petted again.

"That'll be your name! 'Demon'!" I smile at it.

"Well, the original reason we came in here was because breakfast is ready." Brad coughs. There's a pause before chaos erupts. All of us girls charge pass the boys, knocking them over and making crashing noises, to get to the food.

Do not stand in the way of a girl and her food. You will die of a concussion.

The three of us stampede into the main house towards the dining room, immediately stuffing and shoveling glorious breakfast food into our mouths and onto our plates. There where cinnamon rolls the size of my face, fruit pizzas, biscuits with different jams and jellies, and varieties of donuts. There was much, much more but I'm afraid to look because my head would explode.

After fifteen minutes of gorging myself, I sit back in my seat with a satisfied expression. Shale glances over and giggles.

"You look like a cat who just ate a robin." I gasp at her morbid analogy.

"That's horrible!"

"Would you prefer tuna?"

"Yes."

"You look like a cat who just ate a can of tuna."

I smirk back at her, probably looking even more feline than before. The boys were all still eating, all of them taking ginger bites. Seriously? If it was a contest, the girls would definitely win this round.

"Autum, what are you thinking about?" Trev questions with a suspicious expression. I glance at him, blinking.

"Food eating contests. Why?" A thought went through my mind of Shelby shoving a banana cream pie into his face and I grin at the thought.

"Because you look really evil."

"How dare you accuse me of such monstrosity! I am not yang! I am yin!" I yelp insanely, pointing my pinkie finger at him. "Buddha will hurt you for this."

"Why are you pointing at him with your pinkie?" Brad asks while taking a sip of orange juice. My eyes go down to my finger before coming up with a malicious glint.

"Buddha hurts those pointed by this finger." I snicker and everyone looks at each other, then back to me.

"Autum . . ."

"Can we go surfing yet?" I cut them off before they could say anything. I merely write that episode off as Buddha speaking through my soul. He truly is the master of mind control.

"Yeah, let's go get the boards." Tash replies with a blindingly bright smile. We all get up and leave, following him outside to a shed in the back. He unlocks it, thrusting the door to the side and steps in.

"This is surfer heaven." I whisper, staring at all of the boards. Long boards, short boards, any kind that you could ever imagine are in this fourteen by eleven shed. I slowly walk inside, everyone being quiet as I glance around, running my fingers along select ones. I finally settle for a bright red long board. Trev and Tash also pick theirs. "Isn't anybody else going to surf?"

They shake their heads and Tash comes up to my side.

"They never surf."

"Pansies."

"Got that right."

We all go back to our designated homes for the summer to change into beachwear. Of course I only sport a black bikini and jean shorts cut off at the knee. The other girls go into more complex items of clothing, like flip flops and sunglasses and skirts. I stare down at my combat boots.

Flip flops do sound better than these, but they hurt my feet so . . . I'll stick with these.

We meet the boys at the front of the house, strapping the boards onto the top of the van and then hopping in, very much like the Scooby-Doo gang. We chug our way down the street to the beach.

I grab my wet suit and run out onto the glorious beach, only tripping a couple of times from the heaviness of my shoes. I plop down on the ground, untying them and then losing my shorts.

"Here's your board." Brad mutters, dropping in beside me in the sand.

"Thank you, my good man. How much should I tip?" I use a mock voice that most people use in movies when they're playing a rich person. He rolls his eyes but I manage to bring a grin to his face.

I slip on my wet suit and grab my board, racing Trev out to the water.

Needless to say, I whooped their asses. 'Their' being Tash and Trev. I only fell off once. They fell off countless times.

We make our way back to shore, both of them sulking while I poke fun at them. Of course they're going to sulk! Who's the crowd cheering for?

Aut-um! Aut-um! Aut-um! Aut-

"Hey, you're pretty smashing." A boy with dusty dreg locks approaches me. I quirk an eyebrow and given Trev and Tash a look.

"Smashing?"

"Yeah, like awesome. You're pretty awesome at surfing is what I mean." The boy grins and I turn around to see no one. My friends just left me! "Maybe we can surf together sometime."

I glance down at his wet suit, just now realizing that he is also holding a surfboard. Then I check out his face. Hm. Not bad.

I stick my hand out to him.

"Sure, anytime." I smile and wink at him. His eyes crinkle a little when he smiles back and walks into the sea.

I walk over to my group of friends, setting my board down and then sitting on it. They all give me a look. A look that I don't like very much.

"What?" I sigh, tired of becoming their object of amusement.

"What was that about?" Shale questions, narrowing her eyes. Why is she looking at me that way? What did I do wrong?

"Nothing. A boy just wanted to surf with me sometime and I said sure." I draw figures in the sand.

"So, it's like a date. When are you going to see him?" Shelby shoots the next interrogative.

"Probably never." A starfish! I am just so artsty-fartsy.

"But you just said that you would." Tash replies.

"Yeah, but we didn't arrange anything which pretty much means I'll never see him again." I smirk at my cleverness, leaning back to freeze completely.

Brad is standing there. With a girl on his arm. A very tan, very dark-haired girl with too much make-up on. Not to mention the skimpy looking bikini.

I then look down to mine and realize that they are exactly the same.

WHAT?!

"Hey, guys. This is Summer." He smirks at me. Apparently he has a thing for girls with seasonal names.