You've gotta understand, I just HAD to go back and add this chapter. The Bea in my head was screaming, "Wait a sec! You're moving way to fast! You don't even know me!" I thought she was referring to her recent meeting with Peter, but I soon found that it was something completely different. I didn't fully know Bea. You'll be glad to know, that I do now, thank God. And hopefully you will get to know Bea a little better after this chapter. Cheers!

With Mucho Love,

Gwen

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Nausea

I didn't sleep very well that night, and I opened my eyes the next morning feeling a little nauseous. It was a weird feeling for me considering, I hadn't been sick since about fifth grade, so I did my best to ignore the uncomfortable sloshing of my stomach. I stumbled out of bed, wiping the sleep from my eyes, and stumbled to my chest of drawers. Groggily, I reached out and gripped one of the knobs and pulled.

Snap!

The old knob came right off in my hand. It was probably at least six-thirty in the morning, not to mention that I didn't have much sleep last night to boot. Needless to say, I was a teensy bit pissed off. Grumbling, I threw the knob and it landed on the floor with a thump. I thrust my nails into the drawer, pleading for one to pop out. Several curses and snapped nails later, I managed to pull one out. In a haze, I threw on some black Soffe shorts and a hot pink top that read "Kiss My Butt!". It had a little blue bunny under the savvy slogan that pointed to its kissy-lipsticked bottom. Completely couture. Most of my wardrobe consisted mainly of those two colors; various shades of pink and black. The better to bring out the hot pink hair cropped short on my head. It used to be blonde and long past my butt, but who wants that? Definitely not me.

I pulled my hair into a messy little ponytail that was slightly crooked and pushed my bangs to the side. They were getting kind of long, and one of these days I knew I would be scissor happy. Today was not that day, so I opened my door and tiptoed out. Now I'm not weird, normally I wouldn't have tiptoed out, but I didn't want to deal with the insanity that is my parents just that moment. Luckily, they both seemed to be gone.

My mom was probably at work. She owned a small antique boutique in town called "The Swashbuckler", damn cool name if you ask me. Not so much of a damn cool woman…but I'll get to that later. Apparently, we got a lot of money from that, but hell If I knew where it went. The house needed a good painting and the only car we owned was an '85 4x4. We did have a little shrimping boat that we called the 'yacht' moored off the deck behind our house, but it was a pretty crappy one. I'm not even sure where my mother obtained the antiques to sell, but she sure had a lot of them. Once she had this little gold, velvet-lined box that was filled with pearls, diamonds, and gold. It was sitting in our living room one afternoon, and naturally I was curious. What girl wouldn't be curious about a massive amount of precious metals and gemstones just chillin' in their living room? Right before I could even finger a pearl she snapped the lid shut and snatched the mini treasure chest from under my eyes about a second later…bitch.

My dad…well, he didn't do much at all. It was actually a rarity when he was out of the house. He had a fascination with and was in love with the television, and (when he did go out) spent hours out at sea in the yacht. He always seemed to be looking for something he couldn't find, and his journey usually led him to the ocean. I'd accompanied him on many a voyage to nowhere. My dad was my best friend; call me daddy's little girl if you want to because that's what I was. A picture of the two of us smiled from the blue refrigerator as I tugged on the handle to open it and grabbed a banana. I threw open the back door and plodded down the steps into the garage. Mind you, it wasn't really a garage per-se. Living in Hawaii mean that everything was kind of open-air. I lived in one of those houses where window meant screen covering a hole in the wall.

I grabbed a blue surfboard and pulled the pink and black bikini and pink shorts that were hanging on a hook next to it. They were still kind of soggy from the night before. Remembering, I kind of shuddered. Imagination was not my cup of tea, and when that wind blew into my ear I could have sworn it said something to me. Throwing it out of my mind I walked to my dune buggy, go-cart thing. It was something my dad and I bought together. I had made a killing the year before painting a mural on a tourist trap store and bought the, fondly named, Duner with the fruits of my labor. It was very handy, and I actually found a way to attach my surfboard to the roof for transport. The best thing was, I didn't even need a license.

I drove that thing everywhere. There weren't very many places to go, but it was cool nonetheless. I lived on the island of Kauai and the closest city was Lihue. Luckily, I lived near the beach or I would have been a very bored little girl. I revved up the engine and squealed out of the driveway. It was a perfectly Hawaiian sunshine-y day and the palm trees shivered with a gentle breeze. My spirits lifted a bit and I even cracked a little smile as I pressed down the gas. The palm trees blurred at my sides as I sped down the deserted road toward Caroline's house. The surf must be killer today, and today was definitely the day I would finally teach her how to surf.

Caroline was my best and almost only friend. We met in first grade and still managed to stay friends even though she was a year ahead of me. I'd love to say that she skipped a grade because she's a genius and all, but she didn't. Don't get me wrong, Caroline is the most intelligent girl I know, for all I know she probably had the chance to skip a grade. Sadly, I was…shall we call it…educationally deficient. I was just getting out of my eighth grade year at Aire Junior High, and she was becoming a sophomore at Willow High School. We were the same age, 14, but I was older by about two weeks. Both of our birthdays were in July, and we usually celebrated them together. She used to be a nerd, but ever since she got contact lenses after grade-school, she's been bogged down with boy-attention.

I wasn't surprised with this considering she had the most kick-ass genes in the world. Her mother was a full Hawaiian that could trace her lineage back like a thousand years or something, and her dad was an African American that came from the mainland. Apparently, he came here on vacation and never left. Aw. She inherited her mother's long black hair, her dad's caramel skin, and her facial features rivaled Beyonce's. Lucky shit. I got stuck with catty blue eyes and lanky limbs.

I zoomed into her driveway, narrowly missing her colorful, lily-painted mailbox. I slammed on the breaks and came to a halting stop with a loud squeal. It was still pretty early, about 7:30, but it seemed that Caroline's parents had already left for work. I heard a thump and something that sounded like an angry dog from the left side of the house and the blinds flew up in one of the windows. "I swear to GOD, Bea!" she huffed. "What could you possibly want at this hour of the morning?" Her exasperation was blinding, but it only amused me further.

I smirked and stood up in the seat of my Duner and rested my butt on the metal caging of the vehicle. "Today is the day I am teaching you how to surf," I said as if it were the greatest thing in the world.

She crossed her arms and gave me a look that said 'over-my-dead-body'. "Come on, Caroline," I pleaded. "What about that board your dad bought you last Christmas. That thing was at least two-hundred bucks. You're not just gonna let that thing collect dust and rot in your garage are you?" She continued glaring at me. I quickly thought of something clever to say. "Caroline, think of it this way…You could be spending hundreds of dollars for a gorgeous surf instructor to teach you next to nothing, but here I am offering to do it for free!" Reluctantly, she dropped her arms to her sides and said a halfhearted, "Whatever," and motioned for me to come in. I smiled, and ran up the porch and through her front door.

Her house looked a lot better than mine, heck it even smelled better. Her parents decorated it with flowers and vases and cool pottery. They even had bookends, which is weird for me. I plopped down on her white couch and looked at the wall of pictures directly opposite to me. At the very top of the wall there was a picture of Caroline's parents posing together. Aw. Aliikai and Laurence Brown, they were possibly the cutest couple I had ever seen. Well comparing them to my parents, anyway. Below that was a picture of Caroline's older brother Damien. He was going to be a senior this year, and a mighty attractive one at that. He was a baby in the picture, but he had grown into a tall, strong, full bodied male with shaggy, curly black hair and dark brown eyes. Yea, I know, wow. The picture below Damien's, however, gave me a slight twinge of remorse.

There was not one, but two people in the picture. Caroline and her twin sister Kalea. Kalea was younger by five minutes, and they looked exactly alike. They smiled cute little baby smiles at me from the brass picture frame. I wondered if we would have been friends if she hadn't…well…died.

It's actually a pretty horrible story. They were both six and it was the summer right after kindergarten. Caroline's aunt was this cool, loaded lady, and she had bought three Disney Cruise Line tickets for the month after they got out of school. Damien was traveling to Japan for some kind of genius kid convention, so her aunt decided she would invite Caroline and her sister Kalea to join her in two weeks of heavenly Disney bliss. Luckily, Caroline developed a bad case of mononucleosis the week before the cruise and had to stay home, as she was highly contagious. Kalea went ahead and left with her aunt. Caroline didn't even get to say goodbye, she was at home, sleeping in her bed. The ship let off and after just three days something happened. It disappeared. Nobody knows where, or how, or if it even hit something. The entire ship was just gone, including all of the people on it. Right next to the picture of Kalea and Caroline, there was a picture of a laughing Hawaiian lady rolling on the ground with two little dark girls tickling her.

Directly to the right of the family portraits was a giant portrait. Curious, I got off the couch to study it. Weirdly, I had never noticed it before…maybe it was new, I'll never know. The scene depicted a small Hawaiian girl dressed in a flowing purple dress of many hues. Bright, glittering wings sprouted from her shoulders, and she lay curled up surrounded by lush green foliage. I looked harder and saw that she was sleeping. I was studying her wings again when I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I glanced at the faerie's head and saw what I thought was her fluttering her eyes at me…I shook my head and rubbed my eyes…she was still sleeping.

"So, let's do it to it, babe." I turned my head, and Caroline was standing there pulling long black hair into a ponytail. I stood up and we walked out the door together.

"What is that even supposed to mean, 'Let's do it to it'. Who talks like that? Probably just you crazy high-schoolers." I teased as we made our way down her porch.

"Well, at least you'll be in on the fun next year…finally," she teased back. She stuck a nerve, though. I hated it when she talked about how I got held back…I hated how anyone talked about it.

"Shut up," I snapped as I climbed into the Duner.

"Okay, okay," Caroline said backing off a little. She knew I hated that. She looked apprehensively at the Duner. "You promise you won't try to kill me like you did the last time, right."

I nodded with a sincere face.

"You better not," she crabbed as she made her way in. "I swear if you speed down the street like you did the last time, I don't know what I'm gonna do--", she grumbled as I backed out of her driveway.

I faced the road ahead of us and slammed my foot on the accelerator. I smiled, 'I'm such a dirty liar,' and gunned it down the road. The sound of Caroline's scream woke up the whole neighborhood.

….

I was sitting on my board, floating in the ocean watching Caroline wipe out yet again. She resurfaced, fetched her board, and paddled clumsily my way. "I really suck," she grumbled when she finally reached me.

I was sympathetic…she really was pretty horrible. "Don't worry, I mean, you're just a beginner. You've barely even started. Just remember, steer with the front of your board, not the back."

"Whatever that's supposed to mean!" She sighed frustrated.

"Just, don't give up your day-job…speaking of that. How did you end the school year? Top of the class I bet…," It was kind of sad that I wasn't a freshman this year, but I put it behind me and faked enthusiasm for my best friend.

"Almost…I finished second. That bitch Emally Donsworth beat me. God, I hate her," and she launched into a story about how some girl got more academic awards than her or something. I wasn't listening, I sort of glazed over. I did that with anything academic or educational, nothing of that nature seemed to hold my interest. Teachers told me that I might've had ADD or something. I never got formally tested, but it would explain a lot.

When she finished I asked, "Got a boyfriend yet?" This time I actually cared. Guys were never really interested in me. I was the weird surfer girl with pink hair, but all of a sudden they were really interested in Caroline. So what was wrong with living through her just a little bit? Anyway, even if guys became interested in me, I honestly don't know what I would have done. Throw up maybe?

Caroline laughed and answered, "Hah, Daniel Radcliffe." My interest peaked again.

"Oooh, who is this mysterious Mr. Radcliffe."

"Oh you know him, he's the guy that plays Harry Potter," Caroline added with a grin.

"Oh puh-lease. Shut up about those stupid books and please just go make out, with someone…anyone," how could I live through Caroline if she wasn't taking up her on her boy-attractions.

"I swear, Bea, if you just read the books, I promise you will fall in love with them," she was desperately trying to change the subject and I laughed. Me, read? Yeah right. I hadn't read a full book since about third grade. The closest thing I got to Harry Potter was the first movie, and the only thing I remembered from that was the lady that changed into a cat, which was pretty damn awesome, but I wasn't about to go read the book. She was still babbling about trolls or dogs or something when I asked, "If I was an animal…what do you think I'd be?" I wasn't actually serious, it just seemed like a good way to get her to shut up.

She stopped mid-sentence and gave me a look I couldn't place…suspicion, maybe. "Are you high?"

It was the dumbest thing I'd ever heard coming from Caroline's mouth, which is saying a lot. "What the hell are you talking about? You know I wouldn't touch the stuff even if it grew into my room!" I wasn't really sure if she was joking or not. "Where'd you get that idea from?"

"Oh I 'dunno, justsomething Rose McFarland saidtheotherday," she said this all very rapidly as if she was trying to slide it by me that she was suddenly hanging out with the Pretty People.

"Rose McFarland…you're kidding me. Since when do you hang out with that trash?"

"She's no trash!" Caroline exclaimed. "She's really nice…once you get to know her…."

"Bullshit."

"Bea…"

"Shut up and surf."

I was pretty miffed that Caroline had actually believed something Rose McFarland said about me, and leave it to Rose McFarland to somehow turn Caroline against me. That bitch. She had to terrorize me all through grade school, and it did not even end after she went ahead to high school and I didn't.

Caroline and I surfed for about ten more minutes before we decided to head home. It was about one o' clock, and I drove her home in the Duner in a silence that included everything but the roaring motor. I stopped before her house in the driveway and she climbed out. I was about to back up and get out of there when she said, "Look, Bea, I'm really sorry-

I didn't even let her finish. I snapped a, "Whatever," and gunned it out of her driveway. I actually went back to the beach after I dropped her off to try to surf off my anger. It didn't help much. As I lay in my bed that night, again, I couldn't sleep and I was left with my anger. I heard my dad come into the house very late that night thumping around with something heavy. 'Whatever,' I thought as I turned over and closed my eyes; my stomach churning, again, with nausea.

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