My update for the week :) Hopefully I'll be able to pull another one off next Friday.

I'm kind of tired right now, so I don't have much to say. XD; I do like this chapter though. Thanks for all the continued reviews, they mean a lot! Please keep reading and reviewing! I hope you enjoy :D

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Chapter 7

After I'd shared my secret with Kai, everything seemed to get easier. Though I couldn't always meet Rick's or Popuri's eyes, and I'd walked in on Lillia and Zack one or two more times, I now had someone to share the anxiety with. I hadn't realized that letting someone in, at least a little bit, could actually benefit me.

It was one of those days where it felt too hot to go outside, so Rick, Popuri, and I lounged around downstairs, lazily passing the time. Lillia had gone to lie down for a nap. It was something that she rarely did any longer; I'd noticed that lately she'd become a little more lively and wondered if it had anything to do with Zack.

Rick lying on the couch reading a book, and Popuri and I sat at the table eating ice pops. I had finished mine and was chewing on the stick, spacing out, when Rick put down his book, sat up, and announced, "I'm going to give Kai a piece of my mind."

Popuri and I stared at him, both of us speechless.

"What?" he asked, clearly annoyed by our reaction, or lack thereof. "I am. I'm tired of him patronizing me and always getting the last word and I want to put an end to it."

"Rick," Popuri said, with a hint of tiredness in her voice, "you were just reading a book, not being patronized by Kai."

Rick rolled his eyes, standing up. "I know that, but I've been thinking and now I've finally decided."

I kept quiet, hoping that Popuri would be persuasive enough to change his mind.

"You're going to embarrass yourself," she said flatly as he started for the door. "Don't do this."

"I'm your older brother and I'll do what I want," he answered, pausing in the doorway to glare back at her.

"You're so dumb! Come back here! Don't—," but then Rick slammed the door behind him. The house got quiet.

"Ugh," Popuri grumbled, pressing her forehead to the table. Her ice pop was melting, the juice trickling down the stick toward her fingers.

"Do you want to follow him or should I?" I asked after a few moments of silence.

* * *

Rick was a fast walker. I left the house only a minute after he did but he was already out of sight. I started jogging, but I still didn't catch up with him. The blanket of heat made it hard to move quickly. Finally, when I got to the beach I saw him standing in the sand, talking with Kai.

Or arguing, by the looks of it.

Boys, I thought, rolling my eyes and slowing to a walk. Though I could understand Rick's frustration, confronting Kai was so unnecessary. Couldn't they just go off into their own separate corners and stop bothering each other?

I was about to open my mouth and referee the battle when I heard Kai say, "Oh please, your own mother couldn't sit still."

I came to a stop a few feet behind Rick, whose back was to me. Kai saw me and his eyes widened. Rick turned to look over his shoulder, following Kai's stare.

"Oh shit," Kai muttered, covering his mouth like maybe he could gather up the words and put them back into his mouth. Too late.

"Why would you say that to him?" I said in a low voice, trembling all over. I felt sick and angry and like I wanted to run away.

"I'm sorry, Claire."

"You said that you wouldn't—" I stopped abruptly, my eyes flickering over to Rick. I'd just remembered that he didn't know what we were talking about.

"What's going on?" Rick asked, his tone a perfect, deathly calm. Kai kept his mouth shut, for once.

"Um," I said. And then stopped.

"Why is he apologizing to you? What do you know? What does he know?"

I bit my lip. What could I say? There was no getting out of it. "I…I…I-I saw Lillia with Zack." This time the confession was a burden, not a relief. I couldn't bring myself to look at Rick. "They…they kissed."

It was quiet for so long I finally had to look at Rick. When I did, he said, "So you thought it'd be a good idea to tell Kai."

"Hey, it's not like that," Kai broke in, but stopped when Rick gave him an icy stare. Then he turned back to me.

"I can't believe you trusted him," Rick said, laughing a little bit—a sad, low chuckle—and then suddenly falling silent. "I'll leave you two alone. See you at home."

He left. Kai and I watched his retreating figure, and when he was gone, I looked to Kai. "What the hell is your problem?" I asked, my voice snarling and angry.

"Claire—" he began, but I turned on my heel.

"You're a jackass," I told him over my shoulder as I walked away.

* * *

When I got home, Popuri had moved to the couch and was watching television. She muted it when I walked in.

"What happened?" she asked curiously, giving me a weird look. I wondered how I must look—I was sweating from the heat and shaking all over from anger.

"N-nothing," I answered, unable to sound as convincing as I wanted. "Where's Rick?"

"He stomped upstairs to his room a few minutes ago," she answered, raising her eyebrows at me. I dropped down on the couch next to her, sighing noisily but not saying anything.

"What did he do? No, no, wait, let me guess: you got there and saw he was acting stupid towards Kai, so you tried to step in and he snapped at you because he is a jerk like that, and probably said something really mean and then just left, and now he's sulking and isn't going to talk to you."

So wrong, I thought. But I didn't have the heart to tell her that. "That's…sort of what happened…"

She patted my shoulder. "Don't worry about it. Rick likes to hold grudges, but he'll usually forgive you. Unless you know, you're Kai or something."

I had a feeling Rick probably thought I was a lot like Kai right about now. "…Thanks," I said, sinking into the couch cushions. "You're right."

"Of course," she said, beaming at me. She pressed a button the remote and the sound of the TV returned.

* * *

That evening, Rick and I walked outside when it was time to put the chickens back in the coop. But instead of heading for the chickens like he normally did, he suddenly veered off to the right and started walking away from Chicken Lil's. I stood there, realizing that I was being ditched. He was going to make me do the work on my own, probably going off to go visit Karen or something.

I sat on the fence surrounding the chickens and thought about how much I'd screwed up everything.

Why didn't I just tell Rick what I knew? Yes, it was an awful thing to be told, but it would've been better to hear it from me rather than figuring it out on his own.

Then, to further my stupidity, I told Kai. Kai, of all people. He feeds me pizza and suddenly I'm spilling my guts. I'd always took pride in the fact that I wasn't that kind of girl, falling for the first guy that sweet talked me. There goes that accomplishment.

Now I was left with no one—no one but Popuri. And that wasn't something to brag about in my book.

I wanted to get away from this place. I wanted to go home. I even wanted mother, at least a little bit.

I was suddenly consumed with the overwhelming need to cry. And under normal circumstances, I would've fought back every tear, but in front of the chickens it felt safe. So I sat there on the fence and cried for my own idiocy and for how letting people in was seldom a benefit after all.

* * *

"Want to go swimming?"

"Nope."

"We could get something to eat."

"I'm really not hungry."

"Let's stop by and say hi to Kai, then."

"Popuri," I said, peeling my face off the table to look at her. "I'm not in the mood."

She looked hurt, but I didn't care. I was retreating back into my old withdrawn ways, back when I'd first arrived here at the beginning of summer. I didn't want to talk to anyone ever again, if possible. Rick was at least making that easy on me, seeing as how for the past couple days his only form of communication were one-word answers and grunts. But Popuri had become more relentless than ever, always pestering me to go out and have fun and talk to Kai, which were all the things I least wanted to do.

"Is this about Rick?" she demanded, sliding into the chair across from me.

"Ugh," I grumbled in response, resting my cheek back down on the tabletop. The surface had grown warm where my skin had been resting on it.

"I know he's being a grouch, but he really likes you, you know?"

I hated that my head snapped up so fast in surprise. I wanted badly to dislike Rick for shunning me, but I was too guilty to hold any ill will towards him. It was my fault he was acting like that, after all, and it was all I could do to not beg for his forgiveness. It was a fairly annoying feeling, because I hated owing anyone anything. However, even if I did get on my hands and knees, I knew he wouldn't want to hear it. Apologizing had been fruitless.

"He does?" I asked, feeling foolish at how excited I sounded.

"Yeah, of course. I mean, you guys hung out a lot and he thinks of you as a friend." I felt something drop inside me a little. "Just let him get whatever it is out of his system. I do wish you'd tell me what you guys fought about, though."

"I told you, I don't want to talk about it," I said hurriedly. Though I regretted not telling Rick myself, I definitely didn't want Popuri to know. I doubted she could handle the truth.

"I know, I know. Anyways, I just wanted you to know that, because I can tell that it's been bothering you. He'll come around."

"Thanks," I replied, feeling gloomy all over again. Popuri had kept insisting that Rick was going to forgive me, but he hadn't budged an inch so far. He'd only ditched me one other time, but when we were working with the chickens he took extra precautions to stay away from me, like I had the plague or something.

Popuri seemed to sense I wasn't reassured. "Hey, why don't you ask him to go with you to the fireworks festival in a few days? You know, as friends?"

"Hah," I laughed humorlessly. "Yeah right. Two problems: he's not speaking to me, and he's completely in love with Karen, remember? I'm sure they'll be going together."

"Hmm, I guess you're right. He has been spending an awful lot of time with her, even more than usual…" For some reason her words felt like a knife to the gut. Stab, and then twist, though I knew it was unintentional. "Well, anyway, cheer up, Claire! I'm going down to the beach."

"See you," I said, pressing my cheek further into the wood grain.

* * *

I let Popuri talk me into wearing a sundress to the fireworks festival. And I let her do my hair. And my nails.

Nails always seemed like the most insignificant part of beautification to me. Honestly, who even pays attention to what color someone's pinky nail is? Toenails are even more pointless, because who examines other people's feet that closely enough to even see the nail polish? But nails, nevertheless, are apparently "very important," as Popuri assured me while she meticulously coated my big toe with some glittery substance.

"You're going to look amazing!" she squealed happily, clearly in cosmetic heaven. I sighed. She'd already put my hair up in careless-looking twist that took her almost an hour to perfect. I could admit that it did look pretty good, but hardly seemed worth the effort. It felt like she'd been working forever, and the festival still seemed ages away.

Suddenly there was a light knocking on Popuri's doorframe. "I want to get there early, so we'll be leaving in less than an hour," Rick said to Popuri. He glanced at me, and I felt my face heat up. Popuri and I were sitting on her carpet and my foot was in her lap, which must've looked kind of funny. One hand impulsively flew to my hair, but I felt only my bare neck and remembered that Popuri had tied it up. He stared at me a few seconds longer, the longest look he'd given me in days, and then marched off without another word.

"So moody, that one," Popuri said under breath, turning her attention back to my toes. "I'm guessing still no luck with getting him to talk to you?"

"Nope," I answered, trying not to sound hurt. But it did hurt, kind of. Though lately I'd been feeling less hurt and more pissed off. There came a point when childish tactics like ignoring someone were taken too far, and I felt that by now Rick and I had reached that point. But he obviously felt differently.

"That's stupid," she said, clicking her tongue. "I'll try to hang out with you as much as I can tonight, but…" She trailed off, blushing a little. "I'm going to do my best to spend time with Kai, too."

"Did he ask you to go with him this year?" I had taken up avoiding Kai again and had been fairly successful. Talking about him now felt a little strange, like talking about the life of a celebrity; I heard about what he up to but didn't know what he was thinking anymore.

"No," she said, pouting a little. "But I did ask him if was going to go, and he said yes and that he hoped he'd see me there, so that's got to count for something, right?"

"Mmm." I watched her hands as she worked and saw her bracelet was missing. I considered asking about it, but figured that if Kai hadn't asked her to the festival, her wish probably hadn't come true.

* * *

Popuri's chattering filled the silence between Rick and I on the way to the fireworks festival. I could tell she was excited and I tried to be happy for her—well, sort of—but I was too distracted with my own thoughts to put on a good show. Rick stayed silent, eyes trained on the ground.

"Heeeey, guys!" Karen called out to us once we got to the beach. She was standing with Ann and wearing a long, dark green gauzy-looking dress that nearly reached her ankles, and her hair was clipped back. She was, of course, quite obviously the prettiest girl there, and suddenly the nail polish Popuri had convinced me was perfect seemed almost immature. I did my best to not let her overshadowing beauty bother me.

Karen and Ann were both holding plastic cups, and by the smell of things they were drinking something alcoholic. Karen hugged the three of us when we came over, already a little tipsy.

"I bet no one will notice if you two get a couple drinks," she whispered to Popuri and I, winking. But I wasn't interested and a quick glance at Popuri told me she wasn't either.

"No thanks," I said, craning my neck to look at the rest of the people there. I saw Anna—the older woman I'd seen flirting with Kai at the swimming festival—and what had to be her husband and daughter. Sasha and Jeff, Karen's parents, were there too, as well as Dr. Trent and his nurse Elli, Stu and May and Pastor Carter, and countless other faces that I vaguely recognized.

But no Kai. And for some reason, this didn't bring the relief I'd expected.

"I'm gonna go…over there," I said, pointing in a random direction away from our little group. "I'll see you guys later."

Popuri gave me a confused look but waved as I walked away. I don't know why I was looking for him. Maybe I'd feel better if I knew where he was, so I could avoid him.

I made my way away from the rest of the crowd, towards the dock. It had gotten darker earlier than usual; a signal of the end of summer. Which was probably why I didn't notice the figure crouched just feet away underneath the dock.

"Claire," someone hissed, and I jumped at the closeness of the voice. I looked over my shoulder, but no one had broken away from the festivities. I was alone on the beach. "Over here," came the voice again, and this time I looked to my left, beneath the dock.

"…Kai?" I ventured, my heart still pounding from the scare.

"Come here." My eyes were adjusting now, and I could see him half-sitting, half-lying in the shadows of the dock. I frowned and looked back at everyone else. No one was watching me, so without thinking I ducked down to join him.

"Listen. I wanted to apologize."

"Again?" I asked, annoyed with myself for even going under there with him. But for some reason my body stayed put, right next to his.

"Yeah. I'm sorry. Really. It's just, Rick came over and attacked me out of nowhere, and started saying all of this stuff…he was getting personal."

"So you were defending yourself," I said calmly.

"Yeah."

"By telling him something I'd told you in private?!" I growled, narrowing my eyes. "Rick was my friend. And now he hates me. Because of you!"

"I wasn't trying to do that, Claire, I—I wasn't even thinking."

"Of course you weren't."

He gave me a pained look, leaned in closer towards me. "Just give me a chance, Claire. I want to make it up to you."

I looked at him, this good-looking sometimes-jerk boy, and I wanted to believe him. I could hear the fireworks starting and people laughing and shouting.

"Please," he said pleadingly, urgently, and put his hand over mine. I wanted to believe him, because this was another one of those moments from the movies and even though I was mad, I felt nervous, too, and that nervousness made me want to take a chance. And maybe it was because I knew that Rick was probably standing with Karen, laughing it up and having a great time and hating me, and it was a lonely feeling, and it made me not care how stupid or cliché the whole thing was.

So I let him kiss me.

And after all that buildup, I felt…

He pulled away a little and opened his eyes. He had a weird look on his face, and I wondered if he was thinking the same thing.

"That was…" I started, but trailed off. I didn't know what to say. I was kind of in shock. Our noses were still almost touching.

"Claire?"

The sound of my name sent a lightning bolt straight to my stomach.

Shit.

"…And Kai?"

I turned away from Kai to look, though I didn't want to.

"Popuri," I said, but she was already gone.

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