She sat there and read her book, never once looking up from the pages. Her large, clear blue eyes darted back and forth absorbing the information like a sponge. Her ability to devour a book was well known throughout the school. She was by far the smartest person in their grade. She was one of those t-shirt, jeans, and converse wearing girls that thought there was more to life than make-up and clothes. Man, he thought, she was deep. Should he disturb her? She looked so content. He slid on the bench so that their thighs were mere inches apart. She still didn't notice him, so he tapped her thin arm with his finger tips. She jumped back into reality and stared at him confused. He mumbled a 'hey' and she looked at him several seconds before nodding a response. At a loss of words, he cleared his throat and looked around. She hooked a piece of blonde hair behind her ear and stared down at her green converses. She looked back up at him, straight on, and asked him if he needed anything. She must think I'm a loser he thought. Then again, she might not think anything about him. They had never really talked. She wasn't what you would call a chatter box, so when she did talk it was something important. He loved that about her. She didn't talk on and on like some girls could. She chose words wisely and made every one of them count for something.

"Oh, no, not really. Just wanted to talk." She raised her eye brows and gave him a crooked smile. "Yeah. I wanted to talk. Cause we've never really gotten to know each other, ya know? I mean, we know each other but we don't know each other." She nodded. When she didn't say anything he tried a different approach. "What are you reading?" It worked. Her crooked smile transformed into a huge grin.

"Life Of Pi." she answered.

"Is it any good?" He asked her.

"Very. You could borrow it some time if you wanted." She offered. And, even though he knew he had no intention of reading it he nodded hid head. She smiled again. "Okay." He stood up and held out his hand.

"Do you want to go on a walk?" She thought about this for a second then slid her small, soft hand into his. When she stood she barley reached his shoulders, her being rather short, him being rather tall. They walked, hand in hand, through the park; him doing most of the talking and her doing most of the listening. When he had worn out every possible subject he asked her about her life.

"There's not really much to say." She shook her head. He wasn't going to give up that easily.

"There has to be something. Anything? Tell me about your mom." He knew from experience that a lot of girls liked to talk about their parents so maybe that could get the ball rolling.

Again, she shook her head. "Why does that matter?"

"Well. I've met your dad before; and I've been to your house. But, in all the years I've known you, I've never met your mom."

"You wouldn't like her." She said simply.

"If she anything like you I'm sure I'd love her." Her cheeks turned red and she looked at the ground.

"You really want to meet her?" She asked.

"Yes."

"Okay. But, don't say I didn't warn you." She lead him through the park, past the old church until they got to a small cemetery on a hill, overlooking a winding river. Oh, shit, he thought. No wonder he had never met her mom. They stopped in front of two medium sized tomb stones. They were engraved with plain script.

The first one:

Judi Lyons

July 27th, 1970 – August 2nd, 2002

Beloved wife, beloved mother

And the second:

Melody Lyons

August 2nd, 2002

He cringed. "I told you that you wouldn't want to meet her." She said.

"I had no idea." He was dumbfounded. He had never herd her mom was dead. She shook her head.

"No one does."

"No one?" He found this a little hard to believe.

"Nope. We lived down in Florida until it happened. Then, when we came up here to bury them because this is where my mom grew up; my dad decided to stay."

"Claire… I'm so sorry." What was he supposed to say?

Her face hardened. "It was a long time ago. I can hardly even remember her." They stood in silence for what seemed like hours. After a while, he realized she was crying. Tears were spilling down her cheeks and her lips were puffy. Cam pulled her into a hug and held her as she let the last five years of pain come bubbling out of her in a matter of five minutes. There was so much more to her than met the eye. And he had a feeling he was only beginning to peel back the layers.