One
Roy cruised on his longboard in the street's bike lane while staring off into the dazzling mix of colors as the sun rose over Coconut Cove. It was hard to believe that he had been living in Florida for about a year and a half now. So much had happen in the last year, from having no friends to making two great best friends and saving owls from a pancake house corporation. Roy had to admit that he still missed the landscape of Montana, but he had gotten used to the Florida's wildlife and overall environment. And now, he was going to be a freshman at Graham High School. The thought of that didn't bother him because both Beatrice and Garrett were going to Graham too.
Just then Roy spotted a familiar face and turned onto the sidewalk and kicked his board into his hands. He walked up to the now barely shorter, curly haired blonde walking along the sidewalk with a grey soccer tank top on and pink athletic short shorts with white vans. It was Beatrice "The Bear" Leep, looking more girlish than she usually does Roy thought. Roy and Beatrice had really bonded throughout the year and he couldn't believe that he had grown a good three inches over her. During the summer, the two would go out on boat trips with Mullet, soaking in the summer sun and laugh about jokes for hours. But Beatrice had also been training all summer for soccer tryouts at Graham and rumor has it that freshmen would never get on the JV team. The rumor only motivated Beatrice to train harder which limited the time the two got to hang out together with Mullet Fingers towards the end of summer. So it'd been a good long three long weeks since he had seen or spoken to both Beatrice and Mullet Fingers.
When Roy caught up to her, Beatrice greeted him with a hug and teased,
"Really Roy?" she nudged at his longboard, "Dork,"
"It's not like I'm trying to impress anyone," Roy countered, "So where have you been? It seems like forever ago since I've seen you or Mullet."
"I've been on the soccer field, kicking butt. The usual," she laughed, "I ran into Mullet the other day. He says we should meet him at the boat yard after school."
"Sounds great Bea,"
Roy and Beatrice both continued to walk to high school talking about unforgettable memories from the summer and what they thought of high school. Beatrice wasn't too worried about the high school part of the day, it's just school Beatrice thought to herself. She was more concerned on the soccer try outs that were coming up at the end of the week that were worrying her. Roy could tell she was thinking about something else because she wasn't usually this quiet and her face revealed how focused she was.
"Is it the soccer try outs?" Roy asked
"Yeah…"
"Come on! You're Beatrice the Bear!" Roy chuckled and put his arm around her shoulder for a mini hug.
Beatrice punched him in the shoulder and bit back a smile. Roy gave her a disgusted face but then broke into a chuckle. He put his longboard down and pushed off towards the high school, Roy saw Garrett waiting for him in the front area of the high school. Garrett being Garrett was already surrounded by new friends telling jokes and making phony fart sounds.
"See you at lunch!" Roy said over his shoulder before speeding away.
"You'd better!" Beatrice yelled.
She watched Roy fly away on his longboard and felt butterflies starting up in her stomach. Come on Bea, ask him out or ask what thinks about having girlfriends Beatrice thought to herself, but another voice in her head screamed you don't need a boyfriend; you can only depend on yourself and family. Beatrice knew she had some sort of feelings for Roy after the Mother Paula Pancake ordeal, but she wasn't completely sure because she had never been one of those girls that worried about feelings and boyfriends. It wasn't until one night during the summer Beatrice decided she like liked Roy.
Beatrice began to recall the memory, the trio decided to camp out at a secluded part of Coconut Cove's beach. Roy told his folks he was staying over at Garrett's and Beatrice just left the house during the night because her parents wouldn't notice unless Lonna wanted some chores done. Mullet Fingers had taken the pleasure of preparing a bonfire and mini shelter made of wood with palm leaves spread on top of the wood to provide shade and cover if there was any rain that night. Roy brought all the necessary supplies for s'mores and Beatrice brought hot dogs and buns. The three enjoyed the sunset and the waves coming in and out. There was a roaring fire as marshmallows were being roasted and laughter among the kids.
"Wait you've never made or had a s'more?" Roy laughed
"Well Tex, when you've got a crazy mom trying to make look like someone you're not, there ain't time to make s'mores," Mullet replied, clearly embarrassed yet eager to try one.
"Mullet take one, I'll make another," Roy said, handing the nut brown skinned boy a s'more.
Roy and Beatrice watched Mullet's face as he took a bite from the s'mores and laughed when his face turned too pure delight.
"Dang! That's so much better than Bea's over baked cookies!" Mullet exclaimed.
"Can it Mullet," Beatrice said with a completely serious and pissed off voice.
It was a long awkward silence until Beatrice broke into laughter and the boys laughed too. They enjoyed the s'mores and plenty more jokes until midnight. Mullet was the first to fall asleep; it was obviously he was tired from gathering the materials to build the bonfire and mini shelter. So it was just Roy and Beatrice, who had decided lie in the grass a little ways from the camp and stare at the stars.
"Probably one of the best nights I've had in a long time," Roy remarked.
"Definitely, it's nice to get away from home," Beatrice said, little sadly.
"Problems between your dad and Lonna?"
"Yeah…They had fight a couple days ago where my dad threatened to divorce her. Which would've been nice but," Beatrice sighed, "I honestly don't know what would happen if Lonna left us."
"I'm sorry Beatrice," Roy looked over at Beatrice and she looked over into his sincere blue eyes as he said, "I'll always be there for you Beatrice, Mullet will to,"
Beatrice nodded as she tried to hold back tears, she was normally the tough tomboy but the stress about her family was getting to her. Roy saw the tears forming in her eyes and tried comforting her by interlacing their hands together.
"It's a promise," Roy said, giving her hand a squeeze.
"Thanks Roy," Beatrice replied.
They laid there for what seemed a long time, hands interlaced, and staring off out into dark night sky. It was then Beatrice knew she liked Roy for more than a friend, but ran into a dilemma. How would she ever get these feelings? Would they ever end up boyfriend and girlfriend?