A High School Story

“So you’re going to be home by ten o’clock?” dad asked as I finished eating breakfast the next morning.
“Most likely, if we get caught anywhere I’ll call you and be sure to let you know,” I answered, “I plan on being back before ten though, yes.”
“And your homework is all done?”
“Finished the last of it last night,” I assured him and left out the part about how I had barely finished before one in the morning.
“Well then I hope you have fun,” he smiled brightly at me and I returned it before handing my plate to Angelica and giving him a kiss on the cheek, “Give me an occasional text so I know what you’re up to alright?”
“Will do!” I yelled over my shoulder before walking out the usual door and towards my car that was parked behind dad’s SUV.
The warm interior seemed even more inviting than usual due to the fact that I was actually getting a break from the constant studying mom insisted on. I know that I need to commit to do well and that doing well is the best way to get into college but everyone needs a bit of fun in their life. And lately, Nick Jonas seemed the key to mine.
A smile crossed my face at the thought of Nick and tried to keep myself from getting pulled too deeply into daydreams as the familiar houses and streets passed me on my way to pick up the others. Yes, I had found myself falling for the boy that I wanted so desperately to avoid. Yes, I found myself unwilling to avoid him. Yes, I wanted his brother and my best friend to have a happily ever after. No, I wasn’t intending to go chasing after my own happily ever after.
“Since when are you actually ready by the time I get here?” I teased Keyla as she jogged out of the house with her beach stuff in a bag and I pulled into her driveway.
“I’m eager for a road trip babe!” she laughed and I smiled before popping the trunk so she could put her beach stuff in beside mine own.
“Mollie!” Joe yelled while running out of the Jonas house with a drawstring bag on his back.
“Joe!” I yelled in return and he smiled before slinging his bag off his back and into the trunk, “Where’s your brother?”
“He’s talking to dad about something,” he answered as he gave Keyla a bear hug, “So did you get all of your homework done?”
“I managed to,” I yawned and Keyla gave me a curious look, “No later than one, I promise.”
“No than one what?” Nick questioned as he walked across the Jonas lawn.
“She didn’t stay up any later than one this morning to finish her homework,” Keyla explained, “Hi Mrs. Jonas! How are you?”
“I’m good Keyla, how are you?” a middle aged women with familiar dark curly hair replied politely as Nick tossed his own bag into the trunk of the car and then closed it.
“I’m pretty good,” Keyla chimed and smiled brightly, “This is Mollie by the way.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said and shook her hand.
“We have to get going mom,” Nick piped in as he climbed into the back seat of the car.
“You can wait a few more moments Nicholas,” Mrs. Jonas replied and Keyla chuckled.
“Yeah Nicholas, be patient,” Keyla scolded him and I rolled my eyes, “I saw that Ms. Mansfield!”
“I did nothing,” I lied and smirked at her, “I did absolutely nothing.”
“Not true! You breathed!” she protested and I stared at her for a second before we both burst out laughing.
“They’re insane,” Joe whispered to his mom and she smiled.
“We are not insane! We just love to have fun!” I contradicted and Keyla nodded in agreement as she continued laughing.
“Well, I hope you four have fun today,” Mrs. Jonas chuckled, “I’ll see you boys when you get home tonight. Behave yourselves.”
“We will mom,” Joe and Nick assured her at the same time as Joe climbed into the back next to his younger brother and then pulled the seat back into place for Keyla.
“We’ll keep them in line, no worries,” Keyla added with a bright smile on her face before closing the passenger boy and reaching behind her for her seatbelt.
Mrs. Jonas laughed and I smiled at her one last time before backing out of Keyla’s driveway and then driving down the street.

“Galveston!” Keyla yelled happily as I drove down towards the beach, “Thank God! I think my butt went numb two hours ago!”
“You think it did?” I asked as I searched the street signs for the right one.
“Well yes, I think it went numb two hours ago. Could have been three or four,” she answered and the guys laughed as I shook my head and then turned down the right street that led to the beach.
“Anyone mind if we get something to eat before we head down to the beach?” I questioned as I saw a Burger King coming up.
“Mollie, can’t you wait for like a few more hours?” Keyla whined and I ignored her as I pulled into the Burger Kind parking lot.
“I haven’t eaten since I left the house at seven thirty this morning, it’s nearly one,” I pointed out; “Unless I get some food in me then you’re going to be dragging a passed out body to the water. Anyone else want anything?”
Everyone shook their head no as I climbed out of the car and I closed the door before starting toward the doors that led into the building. I could feel a pair of eyes on me and I knew Nick was probably debating whether he should come in with me to make sure I didn’t almost topple over like before. The cool, air conditioned air hit my skin as I let the door close behind me and I smiled in relief before walking over and getting into line. My hand absentmindedly reached into my purse for my debit card and I felt a new pair of eyes start to bore into the back of my head. I looked threw my hair and saw a guy staring at me from a nearby table while he ignored his friends conversation.
“Can I help you miss?” the teenager behind the counter asked and I brought myself back to reality before stepping up to the counter.
“I’ll have the nine piece chicken fries, a medium order of fries, and a small vanilla milkshake to go,” I told her and she punched it into the cash register before taking my card and swiping it.
“It’ll be a few minutes wait,” she said and handed me back my card.
I placed it back into my wallet and dropped my wallet back into my purse as I walked down the counter to where they were giving people their orders.
“Can I have some more napkins please?” a masculine voice asked from next to me and I looked up to see that it was the guy that had been staring at me earlier.
Before I had the chance to look back at the counter he shifted his eyes towards me and smiled.
“I’m Travis,” he introduced himself without a moment’s hesitation and extended his hand to me.
“Mollie,” I replied and placed my own hand in his.
“Do you live down here?” he questioned and I suddenly realized what was happening, was he seriously hitting on me?
“Nah, I’m from Dallas. I’m taking a road trip with some friends of mine,” I answered and took the bag with my food in it from the guy behind the counter.
“A big city girl huh?” he chuckled and I brushed some hair out of my face as I nodded, “Well I’d love to show you and your friends some of the town before I have to go to work. I’m sure my friends wouldn’t object to helping after I had to leave.”
I looked over his shoulder and saw three other toned guys who were watching us intensely as if waiting for their own turn to hit on me.
“Thanks, but we’re good,” I assured him, “We were just planning on spending a few hours at the beach anyway.”
“Well that’s great because I work at the-“
I gave him one last smile before stepping around him and starting towards the door before he could finish his sentence.. The friend of Travis’ that was closest to the door jumped up expectantly and I rolled my eyes behind the cover of my hair.
“I’m Matt,” he interjected as he stopped between me and the door.
“Go away Matt,” I replied loudly enough for his friends to hear and they erupted into laughter as the door behind him opened.
“Are you okay?” Nick asked as he eyed Matt and Travis carefully.
“Fine,” I assured him and looked over at Travis’ confused face.
“Travis, this is my friend Nick,” I introduced him and both Travis and Matt looked Nick over carefully as if trying to decide whether they could take him or not.
“Nice to meet you,” Nick told them hostilely.
“Did you change your mind about the food?” I asked and he shook his head.
“I need to change into my suit, Joe pointed out the fact that I should have worn it down here about an hour after we left,” he laughed out the last part and I smiled as I saw the guys’ eyes widen at the mention of a second boy.
“I’ll meet you at the car,” I told him and avoiding the two sets of eyes that followed my butt the whole way back to my car.
“Who are they?” Keyla demanded before I even sat down.
“Travis and Matt,” I told her and visibly rolled my eyes.
“Have any fries to share?” Joe stuck his head between the front seats.
“Buy your own,” I laughed and he sighed.
“Com on Mollie be nice,” Keyla cooed before grabbing a few of my fries and handing them to Joe.
“Hey!” I laughed and she smiled before looking down at her lap.
“Alright, we’re ready to go,” Nick announced as we walked out with his swim trunks and a wife beater on.
“It’s about time,” Keyla scoffed teasingly as she got out of the car and pulled her seat forward.
“Are you sure you don’t need a tour guide?” Travis asked walking out with his friends; the two who hadn’t hit on me were eyeing Keyla greedily.
“We’re sure,” Joe answered and I could hear the non spoken threat in his tone.
I backed out of my parking spot while munching on a fry and then pulled down onto the street that led to the beach.
“Well that was fun,” I laughed and Nick scoffed, “Thanks for saving me in there by the way, I have a feeling that Travis and Matt weren’t planning on leaving me alone anytime soon.”
“Don’t worry Mollie, we both got your back,” Joe assured me and then shot a wink to Keyla as if to say he had her back too, she blushed deeply.
“So who’s ready for the beach?!” I screamed and Keyla’s hand shot up into the air excitedly.
“If we were here would we not be ready for the beach?” Nick joked and I laughed as I turned down the street that led to my favorite beach.
“Are we there yet?” Keyla whined childishly as she stole a few more of my fries.
“Yes madam drama,” I answered and grabbed my food away before she could take any more of it.
“Woo! Water!” she yelled before getting out of the car and running toward the Gulf.
Joe quickly climbed out after her and left me alone with Nick. I sat awkwardly while riffling through my food bag and trying to find my chicken fries. Nick slowly made his way out of the back seat but instead of following the others down to the water he pushed the seat back into place and then sat down where Keyla had been barely a minute ago.
“Don’t you want to go swimming?” I questioned before stuffing a whole chicken fry and few French fries into my mouth.
“It wouldn’t be fair to leave you here by yourself now would it?” he smiled at me and I felt my breath catch in my throat for a minute as I chewed my food, “thanks for the ride down here by the way. Joe’s car gets horrible mileage and we all can’t fit on my bike.”
“No problem,” I laughed before extended a few fries toward him and he took them thankfully, “So how are you guys liking Dallas so far?”
“It’s nice, a lot different from Jersey,” he answered and looked around.
“You guys moved here from New Jersey?” I probed while picking up my shake and then taking a deep gulp from it.
“More like moved back from Jersey,” he explained, “We used to travel a lot for my dad’s job before we settled in New Jersey. I was actually born in Dallas.”
“I knew there was something about you that I liked,” I teased and he smiled at me as I continued to eat my food happily.
“That’s all you like about me?” he questioned and I knew the conversation had suddenly turned awkward.
“No,” I replied before eating the last of my fries and starting on the last few of my chicken fries, “I like your hair. It’s puffy.”
“You like my hair because it’s puffy?” he laughed and I nodded through a mouthful of chicken fries and vanilla milkshake, “Well I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Keep it in mind for what?” I asked while pushing my empty food containers back into the bag they had come in and then finishing off the last of my milkshake.
“I’m not sure, I guess in case I ever need to get on your good side,” he replied and I looked up through my hair to see him staring at me with a dazed expression on his face.
“We should get going,” I whispered before pulling the keys out of the ignition and locking the car as I opened the door and Nick followed.
“It doesn’t do much good to lock the car if the top is down does it?” he teased me and I shrugged before stuffing the keys into my shorts pockets and starting off toward where Keyla and Joe had left their clothes.
I could hear Nick walking behind me at a much slower pace and I could feel his penetrating gaze on the back of my head. Why was he so confusing? One day he was screaming at me that I was a spoiled brat and a few days later he’s worried I don’t like him? Well, I guess he’ll just have to make up his mind and what personality he wants to portray.
I pulled my tank top off over my head as I walked the last few feet towards the pile where Keyla had placed the dress she had on over her bikini and where Joe had left his shirt. I threw it next to Keyla’s dress and slipped my matching flip flops off before pulling my shorts off and then heading towards the water.
“There she is!” Keyla yelled happily from about twenty feet out and I cringed as the freezing water crashed against my lower legs, “Oh, don’t be a baby!”
“I am not a baby!” I protested and she stuck her tongue out at me teasingly, “Oh yeah Keyl, I’m definitely the one acting like a baby!”
“Just get in the water!” she ordered me and I chuckled before wading into the water and heading over towards her and Joe.
“Happy?” I questioned and she smiled over enthusiastically before nodding and then resuming her wave jumping competition with Joe.
“Boo,” Nick whispered in my ear as he snuck up behind me and I reached behind myself so that I could smack him in the head, “What was that for?”
“For sneaking up on me,” I scoffed and turned around to look at him.
He smiled down at me obliviously as my lungs contracted and my breath stop midway down my throat. The Gulf water was crashing and breaking against his abs while he took no notice to it. His eyes were what intrigued me the most though; they were so loving, caring, and thoughtful that it made me wonder how he got along with Mike so well. I barely had time to dwell on the fact that I needed to get over this boy before a wave crashed over my head and pulled me into the dark water. I felt a strong hand grip my wrist and the water swirled around me before breaking.
“Are you okay?” Nick asked as he held me up and I coughed s mouthful of water back into the Gulf.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I managed to spurt out after coughing out the last of the water, “Thanks.”
“No problem,” he replied and helped my regain my footing before letting me go.
“Keyla?” Joe’s voice called from behind us and I looked over my shoulder to see Joe looking around frantically and Keyla nowhere in sight, “Keyla, where are you?”
I waited a second or two before turning my entire body and letting my eyes scan over the entire area.
“Keyla!” I yelled causing most of the people nearby to look our way, “Keyla, this isn’t funny!”
I could feel my chest constrict as I started to panic and tears started to prickle the corners of my eyes.
“Keyla!” I called desperately but there was still no answer.
Without a second thought I took in a deep breath before diving into the water and opening my eyes to look around. The water was too murky to see more than a few feet in front of me so I knew I had a job cut out for me. It didn’t matter though; I’d drown if it meant I could save her. We’ve been through too much together for me to just give up on her now. My air supply was running out though and my lungs were aching, but then I saw it; a hand. I swam frantically in the direction of the hand and as I got closer I was able to make out Keyla’s face. Her eyes were closed and her body was being pushed carelessly around by the waves.
I wrapped an arm tightly around her waist and tried to make my up back up to the surface but it was useless. We had drifted out to a spot that out did my height and I didn’t have enough upper body strength to carry her up. The surface of the water gleamed less than ten feet above us and I didn’t have enough air to make it that far. The darkness was taking over; it was making it impossible for me to tell which was up and which was down. It made it impossible to move, think, or breathe.

I felt the rawness of my throat before I felt anything else. The headache came next and then the feeling like I had swallowed a whole gallon of water in under ten seconds.
“Mollie?” a concerned voice asked and I cringed as their voice rang in my ears, “She’s waking up I think.”
“Am I dead?” I croaked out, unwilling to open my eyes due to the fact that my stomach had started churning slightly.
“No, you’re not dead,” the voice laughed and I sighed in relief, “How do you feel?”
“Like I’m going to blow chunks,” I answered and I heard the voice repeat what I had said to someone else.
“Besides that, how do you feel?” they probed.
“Like a giant piece of shit,” I whined and I heard them chuckle lightly, “Oh no…”
I bolted up and opened my eyes in time to see someone place a bucket in front of me. My throat burned even more as my whole Burger King meal started coming back up.
“She needs to get it all out,” a different voice said as someone pulled my hair out of my face.
Endless amounts of Chicken Fries, French Fries, and Vanilla Milkshake came up, mixed with what seemed to be an endless amount of salt water.
“Where’s Keyla?” I asked as I tried to get in a decent amount of breathe.
“She’s fine, they’re giving her CPR now,” the voice answered and rubbed my back lightly.
“CPR?” I gasped before more water came tumbling out of my mouth and into the bucket.
“She nearly drowned, you saved her,” they explained as what I hoped to be the last mouthful of water left my body, “Feel better?”
I nodded and fell backwards into the soft sand. My throat hurt even more now but my stomach was calming down; I think I’ve permanently lost my appetite for Burger King though.
“Do you know what happened?”
I opened my eyes again and saw Nick sitting next to me with a deeply concerned look on his face.
“I found her but I couldn’t get back up,” I croaked out and my hand flew to my throat absentmindedly.
“Does your throat hurt?” he questioned while helping me sit up and I nodded while trying to refrain from shooting him a sarcastic comment, “Can you tell me what else happened?”
“It all went black,” I explained while he sat behind me and let me lean into him for support, “How did we get out of the water.”
“I found you,” he whispered in my ear, “You and Keyla were hooked by an arm and were both passed out cold.”
“Thank you,” I sighed as he wrapped his arms protectively around my waist, “Now where is she?”
“Over there?” he pointed to a spot a few yards away where a lifeguard was kneeling over a lifeless body and Joe was holding the lifeless bodies hand tightly, “Where are you going?”
“To wake her up,” I answered quietly and he unwrapped his arms so that I could stand up and start stumbling over to them, “How long have they been doing this?”
“Nearly ten minutes,” Joe answered as I collapsed onto my knees next to him.
“Stop,” I ordered the lifeguard and he looked up at me with a shocked expression plastered on his face, it was Travis.
“Mollie…”
“I know her, just trust me,” I interrupted him and then smacked her cheeks lightly, “Hey chicka, I think it’s time for you to get a life.”
Travis stared at me in surprise before looking down at Keyla, Joe’s breathing was fast and shallow, and I knew that this was the only way that she would come to.
“You’re the one that needs to get a life dib shit,” she croaked and I smiled as she stared coughing up mouthfuls of water like I had.
“I think we both need to get lives where we don’t endanger our lives every other day,” I laughed whole helping her sit up.
“What happened?” she asked breathlessly while holding her hands to her head.
“You almost drowned,” Joe answered, “Mollie tried to find you after you went under but then she never came up.”
“We’re not dead are we?” Keyla asked and peeked out of one eye.
“No, we’re not dead,” I said while laughing again, “Nick saved us after I passed out.”
“You boys just love to be the heroes don’t you?” Keyla teased them and Joe smiled approvingly as Nick blushed a very light shade of pink, “so what do you guys want to do now?”
“I figured that we could go for another swim,” I answered jokingly.
“How about, we don’t and say we did,” Joe replied and I nodded in agreement.
“I remember some nice local shops from the last time Mollie and I came down here last summer, we could browse around,” Keyla suggested and I looked over at Travis, who was still sitting next to her.
“Are we good to go?” I questioned.
“As long as you don’t do anything that involves too much physical activity and you stay hydrated,” he assured me and smirked lightly.
“Alrighty then, thanks,” I mumbled before looking away from his flirty grin.
“Let’s go,” Nick said irritably and I stood up before helping Keyla stand.
“Where are our clothes?” Joe asked and I pointed down the beach line to where our clothes sat in an un-neat pile.
“Can you help her?” I sighed and looked at Joe after realizing I didn’t have the strength to help Keyla walk steadily.
“No problem,” Joe answered and gladly let Keyla wrap her arm around his shoulders before they walked off.
“So, do you come down here often?” Travis asked me as Nick walked after his brother and my best friend.
“Not really,” I mumbled awkwardly before hurrying after the three retreating figures.
“Well maybe we could hang out sometime if you come down again,” he interjected as he kept stride with me.
“I don’t think so,” I half laughed, knowing that he wasn’t the type to care too much about being shot down.
“Come on, I just saved your life,” he protested.
“No you didn’t. You gave my best friend CPR that didn’t work and advised me to stay hydrated,” I protested in response as I bent down to pick up my clothes.
I felt his hand graze my rear-end in a very un-guilty fashion but before I could even turn to slap him Nick had him pressed against the wall to the snack hut.
“Nick!” Joe yelled warningly but he took no notice as he glared daggers at Travis.
“Don’t ever touch her or look at her again,” he hissed through his teeth.
“What do you care?” Travis scoffed.
“I don’t like the way you treat women, that’s all,” he replied before throwing him roughly against the boarding of the building and turning back to Keyla, Joe, and I, “Let’s go.”
“Right behind you,” Joe said and ushered Keyla and I forward as we finished pulling our clothes back on.