Aim High, Never Rest

There’s nothing quite like basking underneath the California sun.

As I sat by the pool with my favorite pair of sunglasses shading my eyes and a heavy textbook resting in my lap, I could just feel the vitamin D soak into my skin, rejuvenating me from the outside in.

Though there were a million different distractions around the Palm Woods pool, I had always found it easier to focus in the sunshine instead of cramped up in my boring bedroom. My eyes drifted from the typical crowd of girls gathered around Guitar Dude, who never told me his real name, back to the pages of my biology book.

As much as I hated to admit it, biology was my favorite subject. Every aspect of it is just so…intriguing to me. It isn’t like calculus or history, where I’m left wondering when the hell am I ever going to use this in my life? To be honest, it’s a little comforting to know what makes us the way we are, what makes us tick, and also a little frightening to know that there’s so many things that could go wrong.

The more I learn, the more surprised I am that we manage to function from day to day.

The melody echoing from Guitar Dude’s guitar was easy to tune out as I lost myself in my reading, and I was a little startled when someone took the chair beside me.

“Hey Kandi, how’s it going?”

It was Logan, my new lab partner; I was happy to see a familiar face. After a month of living at the Palm Woods, I’d only really met a handful of people. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. I’d actually met just about everyone there, but there was only a select few that still spoke to me after my bright sparkly newness had worn off.

“Pretty good, trying to get some studying done,” I replied, thumbing the pages. “What are you up to?”

“Nothing much,” he said with a sigh as he pulled his aviators down over his eyes and sank back into the lounge chair. “Is it sad that I have absolutely nothing to do on my day off?”

“Yeah, a little,” I laughed. “What about your posse? What are they getting into?”

He chuckled slightly at my comment, bringing out the dimples in his cheeks. “They’re sorta off doing their own thing right now. We usually don’t spend our days off together since we see so much of each other every day.”

“Makes sense,” I mumbled. “I’d probably be a little annoyed if I had to spend just about every second with three other guys myself. I’m a fan of my Kandi time.”

His chocolate eyes glazed over the page I was reading. “Are we really on chapter nine already? I only read seven.”

I couldn’t help but grin a little to myself. If anyone else had asked, I probably would’ve lied, but there was something about him that made me feel comfortable confessing my inner science nerd self to him. Something in his deep eyes told me that he wouldn’t judge me, even that he might understand.

“Nah, you’re good, I just kinda like to read ahead sometimes. It’s just so interesting, ya know?”

“Yeah, I get what you mean. If I could keep myself from getting everything confused, I’d probably feel the same way,” he admitted with a laugh.

My eyes wandered from Logan to his friend James, who was lounging across the pool from us, massaging sunblock onto the shoulders of a curly-headed brunette. Like most of the girls at the Palm Woods, I couldn’t deny that I was attracted to him, but it wasn’t just because he had the body of some sort of Greek god, it was because I admired the way he carried himself, his confidence, but that’s as far as my admiration went. James had quite the reputation for being a player, and he was also more than a bit narcissistic.

I gazed at Logan, who was going on about some math lecture he’d been wanting to attend. Truthfully, he’d lost me as soon as he mentioned the “m” word. Logan was cute in a sort of adorkable way, but I could never see myself dating him; he wore his awkwardness on his sleeve. Plus, I was pretty much certain that he was a virgin, and I didn’t intend on losing my own v-card to an inexperienced guy. That would just be completely awkward.

My thoughts always tend to lead to sex in some way.

It wasn't like I was desperate to be in a relationship, that was actually the opposite of how I felt. It's just always nice to explore your options, right?

Playing with the split ends of my loose side-braid, I absent-mindedly listened to Logan ramble on. My mind tuned in when I realized that he’d asked me a question.

“Want to go with me? If you’re not too busy, I mean.”

“Sure.”

I had no idea what he was referring to or where he planned on taking me, but I had this awful habit of agreeing to things without knowing what I’m getting into.