Woman of the Sea

The beach, just like the school, wasn’t too far from mine and Kyle’s houses. There was even a shortcut through the trees of our backyards that got us there in 5 minutes. When we got there most of our classmates were already there setting up

“Looks like Benjy was right.” I stated looking at five full ice chests of liquor, ours making six. After we dropped off our alcohol we made our way to one of the three fire pits and grabbed a chair before they were all taken.

“Oh my god Kyle! I didn’t know you’d be here!” I glanced over and saw Brook Walters walking up to us, the rest of her clique fallowing in suit.

Her clique included two other girls, the first being Gabrielle Brar a beautiful girl who moved here from India when she and her twin brother, Kurtis, were 4 years old. She is both stunning and vicious; almost as stunning and vicious as Brook but not quite. Gabrielle has long black hair that is always perfectly straight no matter what the weather is, her dark brown eyes could capture the heart of any man she pleased. The last in the group is Piper Chadwick, she is one of the sweetest girls at the school having us question why she was even a member of the clique. Most likely it’s because Brook is her cousin and the two have been together since birth. Piper has silky chestnut hair that is always curled to perfection, much like her cousin. Her wide set hazel eyes fit proportionately to her face. Long story short, the three girls are extremely gorgeous. If we had cheerleaders at our school, Brook would be the captain and Gabrielle and Piper would be her entourage.

“Oh. My. God! Kyle’s here?” Jenny asked sarcastically in her valley-girl voice. She looked to Kyle “I had no idea you’d be here. I mean, I knew the whole school was coming but I had no idea!”

“Shut up Jennifer.” Brook snapped and looked back to Kyle, “If you decide you want to hang out with a woman who is worth your time, you have my number.” She gave him a little wink and then shot a glare at me and Jenny before turning and walking towards one of the other fire pits, Gabrielle following close behind.

“How do you deal with her?” Benjy asked as he watched the two leave.

“She’s my cousin.” Piper stated matter-of-factly, “It kind of comes with the territory. She isn’t so bad behind closed doors.” She smiled at us sweetly before continuing, “I should go.” She glanced at Jenny and then looked away smiling softly, “See you around.” Then she hurried back to her cousin’s side.

“Piper and Jenny sitting in a tree.” I began to sing, Kyle joined me with the “K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”

“Oh shut up guys. Piper doesn’t even like girls.” Jenny looked away.

“Are you blushing?” Benjy asked laughing softly. I saw her cheeks grow redder. “You are!”

Jenny punched Benjy in the arm hard enough to shut him up. Jenny has had the hugest crush on Piper Chadwick for as long as I could remember. I was the only person who knew and was sworn to secrecy, but I’m pretty sure the guys knew they just never confirmed it verbally. Jenny also thought Piper was straight, I disagree. I have never once seen Piper look at a guy the way she looks at Jenny.

“I’m going to make myself a drink, anyone want anything?” Kyle asked, then he pointed at me “Jäger and coke?”

I smiled and pointed back, “You know me so well!”

“I’m just gunna grab a beer. Benjy?” When Benjy nodded, Jenny walked off with Kyle.

I stared off towards the water and watched the waves from a distance, “Hey Ava?”

“Yeah Benjy?” I replied without looking at him.

There was a moment of silence and then I faintly heard him say, “Just tell her! You know she won’t judge you. Stop being stupid Benjamin.”

I glanced at him with a confused look. “Tell me what?”

His eyes widened and he looked at me, “Did I say that out loud?”

I nodded, “What’s up? Is something wrong? You know you can always talk to me. About anything.”

He looked down at his hands as he leaned forward in his chair, using his knees to hold him up. “I know. It’s just-” He paused. “It’s just hard.”

“It’s okay.” I gave him my kindest smile, “You can talk to me when you’re ready. No pressure.”

He smiled back, “Thanks Avalon.”

“We come bearing drinks!” Kyle announced as he returned. He handed me a red solo cup with my Jäger and coke.

I was never a beer drinker, I always had my hard liquor at hand or my fruity drinks so I never had to drink that piss water. “I’m gunna go put my feet in the water, save my seat!” I left my flip-flops at the lawn chair just in case and walked down the beach where the waves rolled over the sand.

The second the water ran over my toes I took a deep breath in and closed my eyes. When I opened them again I saw my dream.

I was swimming to the surface of the water, Sandy Beach far behind me and the mystery island closer than before. As I broke for air I felt something, not physical but emotional. The peaceful feeling of being in the water was gone and replaced with fear. I looked to my left and saw a speed-boat making its way in my direction.

No, people can’t see me like this. I need to hide. See me like this? What am I thinking? I’m just swimming, why am I scared of a speed-boat? I quickly dove under water, my feet moving as one to get me deeper and deeper. I glanced up to see the boat pass over head, I wasn’t deep enough.

“Hey.” I jumped at the sound of a deep voice from behind me. I turned to see Carson Levine, one of the guys on the baseball team. One of the cutest guys on the baseball team. He kept his black hair buzzed short and has the most unusual greenish grey eyes that looked almost unnatural with his light brown skin. “A little jumpy are we?” He laughed.

I blushed, “Sorry. You caught me in a daydream.” I laughed nervously and looked away to take a drink.

“You seem to be doing that a lot lately.” He pointed out. “I noticed you doing it at the last swim meet.” He was right, at the last meet we had I stood at the ledge watching the water waiting for the whistle to dive, I ended up imagining me being in the water and swimming with dolphins, the whistle got me out of the daydream luckily and I won the meet.

“Wait, you were at the last swim meet?” I asked. No one usually came to them unless they were parents or close friends. It wasn’t a sport as big as baseball where everyone went to every single game.

“Of course, anything to support me fellow Sandy Beach sports teams.” He winked at me. I blushed. “What are you doing way out here alone? You should be joining the party. I’m pretty sure the whole student body has shown up by now.”

I nodded to him and followed him as he walked back to the bonfire party. I went back to my group to see they had been joined by two other baseball players, Kurtis Brar-Gabrielle’s twin brother- and Adrian Phillips the only openly gay guy at our school. Coming out of the closet at Sandy Beach High wasn’t hard for other student’s to handle, we could care less. For most of the kids in the closet it was because of their parents. With Jenny, her dad knew by the time she was 6 that she was a lesbian and never acted like it was a big deal and accepted her for who she was. Who she is. With Adrian, like me, he has two parents of the same gender. Where I have two dads, he has two moms so coming out wasn’t a challenge.

I went to go take my seat only to see Carson steal it and smirk up at me. I pouted jokingly and he pated his lap. I hesitated but took him up on his offer.

As the night continued on the alcohol began to disappear and everyone seemed to be having a great time. The only times I had left Carson’s lap was to get more drinks but he happily welcomed me back and the conversations would continue. These were the best kind of parties, getting drunk with friends and talking. No drama what-so-ever.

“Ava, come get more beer with me.” Jenny demanded jokingly.

“Aye aye captain!” I got up from Carson’s lap and followed Jenny to the alcohol.

“So, you and Carson huh?” Jenny nudged me and gave me a little wink.

I blushed, “It’s nothing. We’re both just drunk.”

“Yeah, sure it isn’t. You know you like him.” She smiled brightly at me as she grabbed another beer.

“And you know you like Piper.” I smiled back and in the distance I saw Piper walking out way, “Speaking of the devil.”

“Hey,” Piper said as she walked up. “You guys having fun?”

“A blast.” I smiled brightly and held out a beer to her, “Beer?”

Jenny gave me a glare. Piper took the beer, “Hey, Jennifer. Can I talk to you for a minute?” She blushed slightly. Then I heard her voice again, but her lips weren’t moving. “Just tell her you like her. No big deal. You got this Pipes.”

My eyes widened. How do you speak without opening your mouth? “Sure.” Jenny responded, ignoring the fact that Piper had just spoken without opening her mouth. The two walked off towards the beach but I just stood there, eyes wide. I must have been hearing things. There is no way she could have said that without opening her mouth, and Jenny didn’t even react to it.

I began to feel more light headed. It must be the booze, “I’m too drunk for this.” I muttered as I set down the Mike’s Hard Lemonade I had just grabbed. I made my way back towards the bonfire, everyone was having side conversations.

I looked over to Benjy talking to Adrian and heard his voice, “He is so cute.” Did his mouth move? I didn’t see it move.

I hesitated and looked the other direction and made eye contact with Brook, “Ew, what is she looking at?” Her mouth hadn’t moved either and I looked away quickly, “Yeah, you better look away.” I heard her again but I had a deep feeling no one else had.

As I stood looking around at people I kept hearing their voices when they weren’t speaking. The voices began to over-lap with other voices until I couldn’t tell who was saying what and who wasn’t saying anything. I closed my eyes tightly, just wanting everyone to stop.

I felt a warm hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Kyle, “You okay Ava?”

My eyes began to water, the voices getting louder. “Can you take me home please?”

Kyle didn’t even hesitate or say good-bye to anyone, he simply put his arm around my shoulder and led me away from the bonfire, away from the voices that weren’t actually there. Once we hit the trees everything was silent and I felt calm once again.