Chapter 3
I made it back to the animal store pretty quickly (and managed to avoid getting struck by lightning-even though I got soaked.)
"Hey, Julia. I'm back." I heard a lot of banging in the kitchen area and Julia ran out, her face flushed.
"Oh, back already? How'd it go?"
"Peachy. What were you doing in there? "
"Uh…nothing. So you should go in your room and get dried off."
I pushed past her and looked in the kitchen. This really nerdy guy was trying to hide under the table, eyeing me nervously. I could see Julia's light colored lipstick all over his face.
"Nothing, huh?"
She sighed. "Oh all right…Vaughn, this is my neighbor Elliot. Elliot this is Vaughn, he just came here from the city." Elliot gave me an unsure smile which I didn't return.
"Nice to see you're so close to your neighbors."
"He was just visiting, okay?"
I headed towards my room. "Sure, whatever. None of my business."
"Maybe I should go…" I heard Elliot mumble.
"No! He's like that to everybody…Elliot!" the front door closed and seconds later Julia was in my room, her eyes already tearing up. "Thanks a lot, Vaughn! Would it kill you to be nice for once?"
"Probably, yeah."
She shoved me backwards onto my bed. "You just ruined my one chance of finding love! Now I'm going to be alone forever!"
"Oh please. You're being over dramatic. What brought on this sudden need for a boyfriend, anyways? "
She sighed and sat down next to me. "It's just…I saw Chelsea with her boyfriend the other day, and they looked so happy…I felt kind of jealous."
"Julia, that's no reason to- Wait, Chelsea has a boyfriend? "
"Uh-huh. He lives here on the island. Well…he's not here right now, but he'll be back in a few days."
"Oh." I still wasn't sure about Chelsea and this just added to the annoyance. Julia stood and headed for the door.
"You really should dry off…unless you like sleeping under wet blankets." My bed was now indeed as soaked as my clothing. I shrugged.
"Probably won't be going to sleep for a while anyways."
"Well don't stay up all night! We have to meet my mom at the docks tomorrow morning, remember?"
"I know. 'Night."
"Goodnight Vaughn."
When she was gone I stripped off my wet clothing and put on the spares I'd brought from home. Despite how long my day had been I wasn't t very tired that night.
The next morning, however…
I definitely felt tired as Julia dragged me to the beach to wait for Mirabelle. "I told you not to stay up all night!" she scolded as we sat down on the sand. Her voice sounded far off.
I laid down and closed my eyes. "I still made it, didn't I?"
"Yeah, barely!"
I'd just drifted off when a new voice woke me up again.
"Um…A-are you okay?" I opened my eyes. This girl in a hideous purple dress was staring down at me.
"He's fine. Just paying for ignoring my advice." Julia answered.
The girl blushed. "Oh…well sorry to disturb you..." She wandered off and I closed my eyes again.
"Who's she? "
"Sabrina. She's…a little odd."
"Her dress is a little odd."
Julia giggled then shouted "Oh look! I think that's her boat! Get up, Vaughn!"
I yawned and forced myself to sit up. I looked around. That Sabrina girl was now on the other end of the beach, still watching me. She gave me the creeps. I did my best to ignore her until the boat arrived. Then I was too busy helping Mirabelle unload her stuff to do much else. As soon as all my work was done I passed out into such a deep sleep that I almost missed my boat back to town the next morning.
My problems would have to wait for another week.
