It was a Saturday morning in Playa Linda and everyone was out with friends having fun. All except Kaitlin. She sat on top of a rock and looked out at the ocean. The previous night was all she was thinking about. She wondered if what she was doing was the right thing.
"Hey," she heard.
She looked to her side and saw Bradin standing there.
"Is this seat taken?" he asked.
She shook her head and moved to make room for him to sit next to her. He climbed up and sat next to her. "How are you?" she asked.
"I'm good. How are you after last night?"
"Confused," she said looking at him, "I don't know what to do about anything."
"I did what you told me to. I thought about what I was doing," he told her, "I think that what I'm doing the right thing. Becoming your friend might be good for me and you. I'm not telling you that you have to be my friend. I'm just telling you what I think. It's your choice, not mine."
"That's what I'm confused about. If I become your friend, your other friends will hurt me more because I took you from them."
"We're not friends anymore. After how bad they hurt you, I don't want to be friends with abusive people."
Kaitlin sighed and looked out at the ocean. "Thank you for last night," she said.
"I told you that I don't want to see you get hurt. You don't deserve that shit," he said.
She looked at her thumbs as she began to twiddle them. Bradin placed his hand on top of hers to stop her. He could tell that she was scared.
"Don't be scared," he said moving her hair behind her ear.
"How can I not be scared?" she asked. "You saw how bad I got hurt every time they bullied me. Now that I took you away from them, I'll get shot or murdered."
"Don't talk like that," he said shaking his head, "Stay with me and they won't hurt you or go near you. Though I'm not their friend, they won't try to kill me or harm me. I know them."
This feeling ran through Kaitlin's body after he told her to stay with him. She shook it off as she heard him speak again.
"Has anyone ever told you that blue is your color?" he asked.
She smiled and looked at what she was wearing. She was wearing blue shorts and a blue, spaghetti stringed tang top. She wore blue eye shadow and dark blue eyeliner along with shiny lip gloss. Her hair was half up in a pony tail and has a few strands of hair in her face.
"Do you want to go for a walk?" she asked.
He hopped down off of the rock and held out a hand for her. She got down and they began walking side by side.
Sean and Stacey were walking to the movies holding hands when they saw Bradin and Kaitlin talking and laughing with one another.
"Do you think he meant what he said?" Stacey asked.
"I hope so. They look like they like each other. I've never seen her smile that much," Sean said as he watched Kaitlin laugh, "Why don't we find them after the movie and see how they're doing?"
"Sounds good," Stacey said with a smile.
Bradin and Kaitlin decided to go out for lunch. They went to a fast food place and decided what to order.
"Bradin!" they heard. Both of them looked behind the counter and saw a girl near thirteen, north of five feet and brown hair.
"Hey, Nikki," Bradin said.
As Bradin talked, Kaitlin became confused. "Who's your friend?" Nikki asked.
"This is Kaitlin. Kaitlin, this is my younger sister, Nikki," Bradin said introducing the two girls to each other. They shook hands. "Since when do you work here?" Bradin asked Nikki.
"I started yesterday. Cameron and Amber hooked me up. So, what would you two like?" she asked.
Bradin looked at Kaitlin. "What do you want?" he asked. "I'm paying for it."
"No you're not," she said shaking her head.
"Oh but I am," he told her.
"Bradin," she whined.
"Kaitlin," he said mocking her as he laughed at her cuteness when she whined.
"Come on," she said.
"Order. We don't have all day," he told her.
She gave up. Other people were waiting behind them. They both ordered and had it to go. Once they got outside, Kaitlin turned to Bradin.
"I can't believe you," she said.
"What? I can't buy you lunch?" he asked.
"I'll pay you back when I'm done."
"Don't worry about it," he said with a laugh. "If you're so worried about paying me back, do something else for me." She looked at him not knowing what to think. "Come to dinner tonight at my house."
She bit her bottom lip as she thought about the answer to that. She sighed and shook her head as she said, "Okay. Give me the time and place and, I'll be there."
"I'll pick you up at about 5:30 unless we're still hanging out at that time. Then, we could go straight to my house."
"Sounds like a plan," she said taking a sip of her pop. Bradin smiled and continued to eat.
Bradin and Kaitlin got up from the bench they sat on while they ate. They threw their garbage out and tried to decide what they were going to do next.
"Do you know that we sat there for an hour as we ate?" Bradin asked as he looked at his watch.
"Not until now."
"I heard that you're going to be a part of a performance in school this Friday. What are you going to do?" he asked.
"I'm in the chorus. We're singing a song and I'm a background singer for Stacey and other girls who have a solo."
"You sing?" he asked.
"Yeah. The people in the chorus are amazing."
"Do you like singing?"
"I love it. It makes me happy and calm about everything that goes on in my life."
"Katie!" she heard. She turned around and saw Sean and Stacey walking up to them. "What are you two up to?" Sean asked.
"Nothing. We're just talking," Kaitlin said.
"Are you two doing anything tonight?" Stacey asked.
"Kaitlin's coming over to my house for dinner," Bradin told them.
"Are you two going out already?" Stacey asked.
"No," they said at the same time.