chapter 15. long chapter, so pee before you begin and if you have diarrhea, take and Imodium. *evil grins* anyway, enjoy and review!
-Kristine and Cimmy
disclaimer: see chapter 13
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Chapter 15: Sun, Wind, Water, High Mountains, Deep Seas – And Then There's You
By Cimmy
Connie's POV
It's extremely hot today. No problem, I can stand the sun. Guy is always complaining when it's really hot, but hey, does he ever NOT complain?
Well, actually, he's been grinning for a long while now, so I shouldn't give him a hard time for that. He's not the only one who's upbeat. I think my bouncing and cheering has rubbed off on some of them! Yippie! But I've decided to be less demanding today, otherwise I'll give Guy a head-ache.
More people suffer from head-ache. Like a certain girl who got drunk last night, but I'm not into name-calling. Although for having a hang-over, she's unusually upbeat. At least her mood increased from depressed to content. I even saw her smile!
We're on the bus that's supposed to take us to the beach. I'm trying hard not to interfere with the conversation, but sometimes I just have to share my opinions about how great it's going to be. Sand, water, ice-cream, sun, towels and sand-castles. I love all those things!
"Did you see 'Casino', Con? One more shriek and I'll jam this pen into your throat," Charlie growls at me. No, he won't!
"Did you see 'Homeward Bound'?" I ask. "Aren't the dogs adorable?"
Charlie gives me a hostile look, and search his pockets. I hope it's not a pen he's looking for. Guy takes my side. "Charlie, be nice. We're almost there, then you won't see her for hours!"
"No, she'll probably drown," Charlie answers. "Or get drowned, which ever comes first."
Adam shakes his head. "She's just happy. No one needs to die because she's happy," he explains. Charlie turns his murdering look towards Banks instead. Cheers.
I turn towards Averman and Anna instead. They probably won't snap at me, because they're hyper too. "We have got to play beach-volley," Averman says. "That's like the funest game ever!"
"Funniest," I correct him automatically, but he doesn't seem to care. "I want to play too!"
"You know how to play?" Averman asks. "I've never seen you play."
"I've never seen you play either," I point out and he shrugs. "But I really want to play anyway!"
"Of course you can play!" Anna exclaims. "If you don't know how, you'll learn. It's easy."
Cool, I'm being invited to play. Even though I drive people crazy. I giggle and turn to Guy. "Guy, did you hear that? They want me to..."
"Yeah, I heard," he tells me. "Just don't get all whiped out. We're going back to Disney World tomorrow."
I almost forgot about that! We're going back to Disney World! Yippie!
I'm glad I didn't express that out loud, Charlie probably would've strangled me with his towel. Gross. I don't get what's wrong with his mood today. Everyone's happy for once, and he's not. Even after last night's catastrophes, we're happy. All but Charlie. What's up his ass? A cactus?
Usually I'd be the one trying to solve his problem, but I'm too busy having fun on this trip. If he's still cranky when we get home, I'll be the first one offering to be his therapist.
We get there, and everyone speaks at once.
"I want to sit in the sun," Julie says. "I have to work on my tan."
"I rather sit in the shadow," Guy whimpers.
"I need to sit on the grass!" Sammie tells us.
"Nah, I prefer the sand," Fulton says thoughtfully.
They all divide into small groups to go find their perfect spots, and I don't know who to follow. If I go with Guy, we can make out. But I like the sun. Plus, he disappears up on the hill where there's grass, and I came here for the sand. What to do?
No one even invites me to tag along, so I stand like a fool and make a circle with my foot in the sand. Hello, what about me?!
"Connie, aren't you going to sit down?" Goldberg asks and throws an inflatable ball in my head.
I pick the ball up from the sand and throw it back. "I'd love to, if I knew where to go."
"Sit down here with us. We're the 'sand and sun' people," Charlie offers. "The 'shade and sand' are over there, and the wimps are up on the hill."
"What are they looking for?" I ask and gaze up to see if I can spot Guy.
"Shade and grass," Fred explains. He moves over so I can sit next to him. Well, I guess sun and sand is perfect for me. Luckily, there's some shade down here too, because it's getting damn hot in the middle of the sun.
I force Guy to come down and join us, so he can put sun-screen on my back. I don't trust Charlie enough to let him do that. Who knows what he ends up rubbing? I let Guy sit under the parasol, and he's happy with that. I even manage to get him to buy me an ice-cream. I'm on a roll today.
Portman, who's lying on a towel a few steps away next to Fulton, turns around and look at me. "What's with Psycho today?"
"I think she's having a hang-over," I answer and look at Cecilia. She's sitting closer to the water, with her arms around her legs. I haven't even noticed her since we got here. Ah, well, I can be her therapist too when we get back home.
"She's well-dressed for the beach," Portman laughs and turns back to Fulton.
I guess, but lots of people wear baseball-caps at the beach. And sneakers. And jeans. Okay, she's weird.
"I wanna go play beach-volley now," I explain and look around. Where are Averman and Anna? They promised! I get up to find them, and they are with the 'shade and sand' people. I hurry up to them and slide the last inches. Sand goes everywhere.
"Hey, that wasn't nice!" Ken shouts. "I got sand in my ice-cream!"
"I want to go play beach-volley," I inform them and ignore the fact that they're going to kill me. "Anyone wants to join me? Or teach me?"
"I guess I could play, now when my ice-cream is ruined," Ken mutters, but then he smiles. "Sounds fun, actually."
Eight of us end up by the beach-volley court. Is it called a court? Just for fun, I'm going to call it a rink. It's easier to remember that way. Averman, Anna, Ken, Portman, Fulton (who I had to bribe with a soda), Chris, Luis and I make the two teams. I'm not able to get Guy to play, he's busy looking for frogs. That's what he said, anyway. Could he be lying?
"We should have two more people," Ken yells from the other side of the net. "That way we'd be five on each side."
"I asked Lex and Fred, but they didn't want to," I say. Probably too busy making secret babies. No, now I'm being mean. I hated that joke back in junior high when Averman teased Guy and I with it. Why am I using it myself?
"Well, making out take up much time," Portman sneers next to me. Anna, who's supposedly on our team, hits the ball so it ends up flying right into Portman's face. "Ouch!"
The rest of us laughs, even though I know that at least the people from the Ducks were thinking pretty much the same thing. Fred has always been my friend, but I guess he's not been part of our team long enough to get the sort of loyalty that Lex gets from her band.
"Let's just play," I suggest, to keep Portman from throwing back the ball. If we're going to beat the idiots on the other side of the net, we have to stick together!
It's war between us when a competition is being held. Even Anna and Chris get so caught up in the game that they're willing to kill for a point. But we're having fun anyway.
***
Adam's POV
After waving away Connie, I decide to go and see if there's anything eatable in the cafeteria. I really don't feel like throwing myself after a ball and get sand under my clothes. And I know that it's deadly serious when it's game-time, and I have enough of that during hockey-season.
I meet Charlie by the stairs and he doesn't punch me out right away. "Hi," he says. "Looking for snacks?"
"Yep. Portman took my candy-bar when he ran off the play with the others."
"The bastard," Charlie grins. "I found chips. Wanna share?"
I offer to buy us both something to drink, since he's providing me with snacks. Let's just see for how long we get along this time, shall we? Ten minutes? Five?
We both walk into the store, but we're interrupted by some gibberish talking from the café-area. It's Fred and Cecilia, talking their usual freaky language.
"Har du inte tänkt att prata med mig alls under den här veckan?" Cecilia whispers, even though she doesn't have to. [Are you planning on not talking to me at all during this week?]
"Vadå, är du fortfarande arg för att jag umgås med andra människor?" Fred growls back, with his usual tone. [What, are you still mad because I hang out with other people?]
"That's not the problem!" Cecilia exclaims, and even though I understand what she's saying, I actually don't.
"Sänk rösten, vill du att hela världen ska höra hur hysterisk du är?" Fred snaps. [Lower your voice, you want the whole world to hear how hysteric you are?]
"Jag har aldrig anklagat dig för att du umgås med någon annan! Jag har aldrig krävt att du ska vara med mig dygnet runt!" [I have never accused you just because you spend time with someone else! I have never demanded that you should be with me all hours of the day!]
"Varför är du så upprörd då?" Fred moans loudly. "It's impossible to even talk to you!" [Then why are you so upset?]
I've always wondered why they speak English with each other even when we're not around. I guess it's just something they do automatically.
"Hey, I'm not the one running around with someone else!" Cecilia shouts, and the store manager is beginning to look annoyed.
"Så, vi är tillbaka vid det igen? Du sa ju nyss att du inte bryr dig om vem jag umgås med! Kan du bestämma dig för hur du ska ha det?" Fred yells back. [So, we're back to that again? You just said that you didn't care who I hang out with! Could make up your mind?]
"Du umgås inte, du stöter ju på henne. Mitt framför ögonen på mig! Jag har alltid respekterat dig, och jag har aldrig gjort något mig som kan uppfattas som dåligt beteende." [You're not hanging out, you're flirting with her. Right in front of my eyes! I have always respected you, and I have never done anything to you that could be described as bad behavior.]
"Whatever, you go and do your thing, and I'll go do mine. If I know you at all, you'll probably end up drunk again."
Cecilia rushes past him, and Charlie and I don't have the time to hide or act like we didn't hear the conversation. Which we sort of didn't. I didn't hear them mention any names, but I think I know what they were talking about anyway.
I follow her down the stairs, while Charlie goes to beat up Fred or something. "Wait, can we talk?" I shout.
"Why?" she wants to know.
"Did you fight?"
"No, that's how we talk to each other where we come from," she snorts and disappears down the path to the beach.
Well, there's not much I can do if she refuses to talk to me. I go back and buy the sodas, then I walk down to the beach again. Charlie is still willing to share his chips with me. Good, then I don't have to take his soda as hostage.
Guy starts to whimper the minute I get back. "I'm thirsty. Go get me something to drink," he instructs me.
"Nah, don't feel like it," I say and sit down on the blanket. "It's too hot."
"Lex?" Guy continues his search for someone dumb enough to run his errands. Lex is busy being tickled by Fred. Fred seems to be unaffected by the fight earlier. I guess emotions aren't his strongest side...or the ability to have a heart.
"Nah, don't wanna," Lex answers and jumps up. "I'd rather go for a swim. Fred, you coming?"
The two of them disappears down the beach. Charlie and I fight over the last few chips in the bag, while ignoring Guy's request about tasting our sodas.
Suddenly Connie comes bouncing from nowhere. "Please, you guys, we need two more players! Guy, pretty please?"
"Get me something to drink first," Guy mutters. "Preferably something cold."
"Nah," Connie answers, not knowing that it's the same reply Guy's gotten all three times he's asked. "I have some sandwiches, though."
"I have a problem with food with the word 'sand' in it. Especially when we're at the beach," Guy explains. Connie kneels next to him and kisses him roughly on the lips. Wow, even I would be convinced if she did that to me. But then again, I've always wondered how someone like Guy managed to get a beautiful girl like Connie.
"Fine, I'll play the stupid game," Guy gives in. "But if you start to shout, I quit."
"Why would I shout?" Connie asks.
Charlie and I look at each other. "You're a maniac when it comes to winning," I point out.
"You'll do anything to score," Charlie laughs. "Not unlike Guy."
"Ha, ha," Guy growls and throws some sand at us. "There are sharks here, right?"
"No, this is the home of the Lightning," Charlie says, only thinking about hockey as usual.
"Isn't it the Panthers?" Connie asks and receives an icy stare from Charlie. "Okay, maybe not."
Connie looks around, probably trying to scout more players. "What about her? Can she play?" Connie says to me. I don't know who she's talking about, so I assume it's Cecilia. There aren't too many 'she' and 'her' around here, sadly.
"Hey, you wanna play beach-volley?" Connie bellows all over the beach. Everyone but Cecilia turns to look. Isn't it easier to go and ask?
"She just had a fight with Fred, I think she wants to be left alone," Charlie explains. "And the two love-birds are out on a mission somewhere."
Connie seems sad. "Damn, I really need more players! Adam, please? You can have my sunglasses."
"The pink ones? I rather not," I say. "Go fish."
"Oh, I love that game! Can we play it?" Connie cheers. Now I want to shoot myself for mentioning that game...
While on the search for some cards, Connie leans over Guy, and I can clearly see that he's checking out her ass. Well, he's allowed to, it IS his girlfriend.
"We don't have any cards," I clarify and give Guy a pointedly look. He snorts at me and make a face.
Even though Connie was in such a rush a second ago, she's willing to sit down and play Go Fish with us, after she bribed a family on the spot next to us to give up their deck of cards.
I actually loathe this game. I never win. "Go fish again? Doesn't anyone have MY cards?" I yell.
"Calm down, it's just a game, it's not like... YES, I GOT A QUEEN!" Connie bellows.
"You already have one," I say and look at Guy. He just called me a sissy, because I cried when Charlie stole my eight of spades. I loved that card.
"Leave Guy alone," Connie says and threatens me with a half-eaten cookie. There's a shadow coming from nowhere, and Connie looks up. Cecilia sinks down next to us in the sand.
"What's the game?"
"Go fish," I mutter. "You wanna play?"
"Can I?" Cecilia asks.
"I don't know, it's not a drinking-game," Charlie snaps. "Can you?"
Cecilia looks over my shoulder. "You should ask about his jack's," she suggests. "He's got three."
Charlie swears while handing me the cards. "That was cheating."
Cecilia helps me to steal Charlie's cards during the whole round, then she gets her own cards to play with. We keep playing until Connie gets too upset about not getting her two's.
"I need a five," she begs Cecilia.
"Don't have it. Finns i sjön."
"Huh?" Connie looks up from her cards.
"Go fish," Cecilia corrects herself. "Sorry."
"Don't try and confuse us with your fake language," Charlie shrieks. "I have to have a king!"
"Now who's the queen?" Guy mutters. Playing games really doesn't make us friendly. The only one here not willing to kill for victory must be Cee.
Charlie looks at me. "I just gave that card to Connie!" he shouts. I have no idea what's gotten into him. "Cheater!"
He throw the cards over his head and wrestles me down. If I hadn't been taken off guard, I probably could've defended myself. "You're killing him!" Connie howls and tries to shove Charlie away by throwing herself over him. The only thing that happens is that I get both of their weights on me.
"Got any ten's?" Guy keeps on with the game.
"Uh, no, but Charlie did, right there under the towel," Cecilia points. "Should we break them apart?"
"No, this used to happen all the time in the sandbox," Guy says without taking his eyes off the cards.
I wasn't even in their stupid sandbox! "Get off me!" I yell and manage to roll out from underneath them. That's not what I would call a very nice ménage à trois. Charlie and Connie keep fighting, and I grab my cards. "Did you steal my nine?"
"Uh, sorry, I thought it was Connie's," Cecilia apologizes and gives the card back. "Adam, do you have a nine?"
I try to answer with some clever comment, but Charlie and Connie roll right into our game. More sand flies over us, and soon we get tired to play accompanied by the insults and shouting Connie and Charlie provide with.
"I think I'll go do something else," Cecilia suddenly says and gets up. Damn, I was just about to take her three of hearts. Both Guy and I throw ourselves at her cards when she leaves.
"What's going on here?" Lex asks us from out of nowhere. So that's why Cee disappeared so fast!
"Nothing," Connie says and shoves some sand into Charlie's mouth. "We're playing. Ack!"
I move away when Charlie decides to bury Connie in the sand. "We need some players, are you interested?" I ask.
"Sure, is it Go Fish?" Lex cheers. "I rule at that game."
"Don't say that," Fred suggests. "They'll kill you for it. And for your cards."
I shuffle the cards again. "There are cards missing!" I exclaim and glare at Charlie. He just shrugs.
"We can play together," Lex offers and show her cards to Fred. Aww, how adorable. Makes me want to puke.
"No cheating," Guy says. "And no sand-throwing."
"Are those the official rules?" Lex wants to know. "Doesn't seem too hard."
"Just wait, soon you'll be as violent as Connie and Charlie," I laugh. "Have any nine's?"
I actually win the first round, and our second round gets ruined by the wrestling idiots. The third round is just about to go toward its end when Portman shows up. "Hey, Connie, where the hell did you go?"
"I'm right here," she explains and pushes Charlie away. "Did we win?"
"No, we took a break," Portman says and sits down next to me. "Wow, you got lots of three's. Isn't that bad?"
"I want your three's!" Lex and Fred shout at once.
Portman shrugs. "Sorry, dude. I didn't know you played Go Fish."
"It would've been a full house if we'd been playing poker!" I howl. "Damn!"
"You're a bad loser," Lex points out.
"Why don't you ask Psycho to play?" Portman suggests. "She looks to be bored."
"She WAS playing until..." I begin but decide that I should bite my tongue off instead. "Uh, she lost interest."
"Umm," Portman says doubtfully and kicks Charlie a little when he almost rolls over his arm. "My arm, dude!"
The game continues, and the kicking and screaming too. This is just what summers should be like.
***
Anthony's POV
Since all the good sandwiches are in Sammie's bag, I decide to sit in the shadow by the small hill. I can hear the Ducks yell and scream from the sunnier part, but it doesn't seem to be all that serious because the one's who aren't fighting pay no attention at all to the yelling.
"Where's Lex?" Anna asks, showing up from behind.
"Guess," I say and nod towards the crazy bunch of Ducks. "With Fred."
"I don't get it," Sammie sighs. "What's so special about him?"
"I feel bad for his girlfriend," I admit. "I should go talk to her."
"You're not going to hit on her, are you?" Sammie snorts.
"Why would I do that?" I say with a hurt expression on my face.
Anna shrugs and hands me a bottle of water. "You are being freakishly interested in her life. And she slept in your room. Who knows what went on behind closed doors."
"Very funny," I mutter, even though I know she's just teasing me.
"I was kidding," she laughs. "Go talk to her, she seems cool. If she'd be cooler, she'd be an ice-cube, but that's beside the point. And she doesn't look that bad. If you're into that sort of stuff."
"Shut up," I smile. "I'm not going to ask her to marry me, I just offered to teach her how to surf."
"Yeah, go for it," Sammie suggests. "Buy her some better clothes, while you're at it."
"Now you're just cruel," I say and hand back the water. Then I get up. "I actually WILL go and talk to her. She seems nice and I'm sure she's fun when you get to know her."
"Bring her over here," Anna says. "I haven't met her for real yet!"
How am I going to convince that icy girl to come and talk to my friends? She didn't even want to talk to me when I was by myself! Although she did talk like crazy last night when she slept in my room. In my bed too, for that matter. But who needs to know that? Not Fred, anyway.
I walk away from my safe place in the sand, and somehow it feels like I'm supposed to fight a dragon. That girl makes me seriously nervous.
Cecilia doesn't even look up when I arrive, and I kneel next to her. "What's up?"
At first she seems to not remember me, then she shrugs. "I'm just looking at the ocean," she informs me. "And stuff."
"Umm, well, would you like to come over and hang out with us? You look lonely, and the ocean is sort of in the other direction," I smile.
"I'm not sure," she mumbles. "No, I'll just stay here."
"Don't be ridiculous," I say and she shoots me an evil look. "Come on!" I grab her hand and pull her up from the sand. She still seems unsure if she should tag along, so I begin to drag her across the beach.
"Alright!" she finally gives in. "I know how to walk on my own."
I keep her wrist in a firm grip, so she won't dash off somewhere. Anna and Sammie look up when I come back. Cecilia now has that nervous, worried look she had right before she stormed out of the Tower of Terror.
"This is Sammie and Anna," I introduce. "You know, the crazy girlies who tortured your boyfriend with brooms."
Cecilia gives them an insecure nod. "And, of course, this is Cecilia," I continue, and Anna and Sammie pretend like they weren't completely aware of that by now.
"Hi, it's nice to meet you," Anna says. "We were trying to get to know all of you girls, but Connie was bouncing around too much, and you were..."
"Drunk?" Cecilia suggests when Anna can't come up with something to continue her sentence with.
Oh no, two minutes and they could already be at each other's throats? New record, I think. But Anna doesn't hear the aggression in Cecilia's question, and she smiles. "No, you were busy being terrorized by Portman."
Sammie holds out the basket with food. "Are you hungry? We have sandwiches."
Cecilia sits down in the sand and peaks down into the basket. Now I know what to bribe her with to get her interest; food.
"We have cheese and ham on those," Sammie points. "And turkey and cheese and mustard on those. Take one!"
Cecilia smiles and take one of the sandwiches Sammie holds out for her. I think that's the first time I've seen her smile since I met her. Well, not counting when Portman made her laugh last night when they sang together. But her smile is more genuine and I like it much better.
"Where did you get these?" Cecilia asks after taking a bite off the turkey/cheese/mustard sandwich.
"Our parents sent them with us," Anna explains.
"Your parents are here?" Cecilia says and sounds surprised. "Bummer."
I laugh. "Well, it's great that they're here, but maybe it would've been even greater if they had arrived at the day of the show instead."
"Anthony!" Anna says and takes away my bottle of water. What, like they DON'T consider that as better?
Anna and Sammie keep chatting with Cecilia, and she answers with a nod and one or two syllables sometimes. Other then that, she's chewing and listening.
"So, when do you wanna start with the lessons?" I quickly ask her while Anna and Sammie are silent for a second.
Cecilia shakes her head. "I don't think I want to. I'm not that good at sports, and with so much water around, I might drown."
"That's the spirit," I grin and stand up. "Eat up, then we'll go and see if we can get a board somewhere."
"Are we joining the Navy?" she snorts. "Plus, I can't go out into the water. I just ate, I could get cramp."
"I'll save you if you disappear under the water," I offer. "You DO know how to swim, right?"
"Yeah!" she exclaims. "But I gotta go take off my shoes first."
"Put them here," Anna says. "We won't steal them."
Cecilia ponders for a while. "I guess I could try... But I think I'll go and put my stuff where my bag is, otherwise I might loose them. No, I'll definitely loose them."
She jumps up from the sand and disappears over the hill.
"I bet you'd like to save her from drowning," Sammie snickers. "You seem really eager to give her mouth-to-mouth."
"I would be offended, but since it's not true, I don't care," I say with my head held high.
Anna puts the lid back on the box with cookies. "I actually think she's nice. She's not as depressed and aggressive as I first thought. I like her, she's fun."
"And I bet she won't mind some life-saving now when Fred's pretty much out of the picture," Sammie thinks out loud. "Go for it, Anthony."
Do they ever listen to me when I talk? "She has a boyfriend," I point out. "And I'm not going to hit on her, I'm just trying to be her friend."
"Umm, yeah, that's nice," Sammie rants. "But, you should try to show her some affection. You need to find girls that aren't all that weird."
"Cecilia's weird!" I exclaim. "And, it's not like that."
"No, I'm sorry, she's not a groupie," Anna giggles. "You don't stand a chance."
I decide to walk away to see where Cecilia is instead.
"No, wait, Anthony! I was kidding," Anna howls with laughter. "Don't take it the wrong way!"
"Go for it!" Sammie yells after me and I can't stop thinking that maybe I should've tried out for some sport instead of focusing on music.
I see that Cecilia has reached the card-playing fools. I know I shouldn't eavesdrop, but I can't help it.
"There you are!" Connie cheers. "Where did you go?"
"I went with Anthony to get a sandwich," Cecilia answers and shrugs. "I'm just going to put away my shoes."
"We're still playing Go Fish!" Adam growls. "I can't get my eight!"
Charlie quickly hide away his cards from Cecilia. "No cheating!" he bellows.
"No, I'm leaving again." Cecilia kicks off one shoe and then she takes off her cap, jeans and sweater. She's wearing a swimming-suit underneath, so she's maybe not as weird as I first thought. "I'll be back later."
For the first time, Fred looks up. "Where are you going?" he wants to know.
"Anthony offered to teach me how to surf."
"Don't kill yourself," he mutters and turns back to the game. "And don't go into the water alone, you'll probably drown."
"Cut it out," Portman tells them. "Time-out, go and slug some water."
Fred doesn't seem to appreciate that joke. "Who's Anthony anyway?"
I can't help but grin. He knows who I am. Everyone stares at him until he gets the point. "Oh, him. Why are you hanging out with him?"
"Felt like it," Cecilia answers shortly and is about to kick off her other shoe when Fred grabs her leg and pulls her closer.
"When are you coming back?" he wonders.
"Later."
"Stay away from the deeper parts," Fred instructs. He treats her like his little sister. It's pathetic. "And wear sun-screen!"
Cecilia has already left and doesn't seem to listen to Fred's yelling. Good for her. Even better for me.
***
We're both sitting in the sand next to the water. Since I couldn't get hold of a surfing-board right away, I figured I'd try and find out if she really can swim or not. The way she refuses to even go near the ocean makes me doubtful.
"You're not afraid, are you?" I ask her. She gives me one of those patented icy looks. "There aren't any sharks here."
"Maybe not, but I still have a feeling I'll drown today. With or without surfing-board."
I get up and grab her hands to haul her to her feet. She seems reluctant to use her legs, but I manage to get her up anyway.
"It's beginning to get really warm here," I complain. "Either you go in by yourself, or I'll toss you in. How's it going to be?"
She makes a face, but decides that being tossed isn't as much fun. I must admit that I'm surprised by the fact that she knows how to swim. She even dives in right through a small wave. I don't know why I thought otherwise. Do they even have lakes in her country?
I swim after her to really make sure that she doesn't disappear among the waves. I can almost reach the bottom when I get up to her. She can't, I'm taller then her. A wave almost drags her out to the open sea, so she throw her arms around my neck.
"Don't you think you're a little too pushy right now?" I laugh.
"No, unless you want me to drown, you'll hold on to me," she says firmly and smiles. "I don't like water."
"Why? You're like a sea-lion among the waves," I point out.
"Yuck, they eat penguins!" she exclaims and pushes me away. I look over to the beach, and I see that Fred and the rest of her friends are staring at us. Well, it sure wasn't my fault that she threw herself at me!
Sammie and Anna howls from the beach, so I swim back to them. Cecilia is busy pretending she's a star-fish.
"We have a board for you," Anna tells me. "We borrowed it from the store!"
"I thought you had to rent them," I smile.
"Ah, you're underestimating our female powers," Sammie grins. "Go and show her how to surf now."
What's with the sudden interest in me and my life? They must be bored out of their skulls.
It actually takes some time to teach Cecilia how to surf. She wasn't kidding when she said that she lacks of balance. I thought otherwise, since she's supposed to be a hockey-player. Although, I can't really picture that until I see it for real.
"This is hard!" she yells, while climbing up on the board for the tenth time. So far she's been able to stand for about five seconds flat. She's funny to look at, and she's entertaining with her swearing.
"You could try and stay on the board," I suggest, while she splashes into the water again. She gets up once more, and this time a wave knocks her out of balance and she goes under water. I roll my eyes and grab her arm to keep her from swallowing the whole ocean.
"Thanks," she coughs and wipes the water out of her face. "If I knew how to surf, I probably could've killed that wave!"
I laugh. "Probably. Get up." She jumps up and tries to stand. This time she doesn't fall immediately. I hear myself sigh with relief. Maybe there's hope for her too?
"Eeek," she gasps the next second and falls back into the water. Man, she's hopeless. But I can't say that I'm not enjoying this a lot, because I am. She's not at all what I first thought.
She climbs back on to the board, but lies down to gaze at me. "I'm never going to learn," she says and puts her hand into the water. I lean over the edge of the board to keep myself floating. "I told you I wasn't athletic."
"You're on an athletic scholarship," I smile. "Right?"
"Yeah, for hockey! And I'm far from being the best player. Even Fred's better then I am."
"What's with the attitude? Of course you have to be good if you got a scholarship!" I point out. "I bet you're great."
"I made thirteen goals last season, I had thirty-seven minutes in penalty and twenty-nine assists. That's not a lot."
She puts her head against the board and seems lost in her own thoughts. "Have you really been with Fred for two years?" I ask, still not really believing it.
"Two years in September," she says slowly. "But it'll be over way sooner."
"Why?" I say.
"What do you think? Do we look like we're head over wheels for each other? It's quite clear that we have some serious troubles in our relationship," she hisses. "Even before we came here, I knew there was something wrong. And now he's destined to ruin it all."
I decide to be polite and keep asking, even though I really don't want know more about Fred. "What sort of problem?"
Cecilia avoids to look at me. "Umm, well, it's sort of embarrassing to talk about," she explains.
"Oh. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," I say, relieved that I got off so easy.
"It has to do with sex," she smiles. "That's embarrassing."
"I guess."
"I sort of think that he wants to do it. But we never really talk about it, because..."
I regret even bringing up the subject, so I try to get out of it. Why did I ask?!
"Because...?"
"We kind of, umm, tried once before, but we couldn't really go through with it, so we agreed that we should wait, and we haven't talked about it since," she says thoughtfully. She seems to be speaking more to herself, completely disregarding that I'm there. "That was in February. We'd just won a big game, and I guess we'd been drinking, so that's how we ended up in bed. Ever since then, we've been..."
Cecilia is quiet for a long time, while I'm trying to be less uncomfortable. "Not like it matters," she sighs. "He's more interested in Lex anyway."
"No," I say. "He's probably just trying to find out if you're really the one for him. The minute he realizes that Lex is a better friend then a girlfriend, he'll come begging for forgiveness." Deep in my heart I actually hope that he won't, but I can't tell her that, because she look close to tears now.
"It's obvious he wants to have sex with someone, it's just not me that is the target this time," she mumbles. "Because I actually though that he'd bring up the subject sometimes soon, and that we might be able to... you know, during this vacation."
Now she's speaking way too fast for me to understand. I haul myself up on the board some more and lean over her. "Don't be sad because that's just what he wants," I say, trying to sound knowingly. I have no idea what I'm saying, really.
She slides down from the board and puts one arm back on it to be able to keep herself floating, we're sort of out on deep water. "Maybe I should give up the whole surfing thing?" she says, wiping away tears from her eyes. "I suck at it anyway."
"No, you're starting to learn," I say, lying my ass off. "Just try until you get tired."
So she does, and she's able to stay on the board for approximately ten seconds before falling. "That's much better, right?" she grins proudly. "I didn't even hurt myself!"
"Tell you what," I say, helping her up again. "Try to keep standing for fifteen seconds and I'll buy you some ice-cream."
"Fifteen whole seconds?" she shouts. "It better be a huge ice-cream!"
Cecilia keeps falling, and she keeps trying. She never seems to give up, maybe it was because I bribed with food again?
Finally she's able to stay on the board, even though she's attacked by waves. I've never been so relieved in my whole life. I really did teach her how to surf.
"Cool, did you see that?" she shrieks when she finally falls down. "I really did it! You owe me a big-ass ice-cream, buddy."
I laugh and watch while she's splashing around. "You got it."
"I'm starting to get tired now," she announces and begins to swim back. Then she comes back and swims around me a few times. "Thank you for putting up with me."
"No problem," I answer and smile at her. She smiles back, and I'm still chocked how much difference it makes when she's smiling. Her whole face lights up for that second, and I can't stop thinking how big of an idiot Fred is to let a girl like her suffer like this.
Once again she throw her arms around my neck, this time without trying to save herself from drowning. She gives me a hug, holding on to me with such intensity that she almost makes me sink. I like her, I do. I like her a lot.
I grab her hand when to keep her from tripping in the sand, and when she's not letting go at once, I don't either. Anna and Sammie both give me an amusing look when we get back. None of them say anything, probably because Cecilia is present.
I get my money so I can buy her the ice-cream, and then we walk over the beach towards Cecilia's friends. She's still holding my arm, asking me questions that I can't answer. She doesn't let go of my hand until we get closer, then she decides to shout at Adam.
"Hey, Adam, did you see?" Cecilia exclaims enthusiastically when she gets up to them. "I really surfed."
"I saw you dive," Adam laughs and grabs her hand to pull her down into his arms. "You're really a surfer now!"
Cecilia just grins and tries to break free. She gets up and grabs my hand again. "We're going to get ice-cream," she tells Adam. No one but him seems to care; Connie, Charlie and Guy have disappeared, so it's only Portman, Fred, and Lex there.
"Have fun," Adam smiles. "Just no sugar, you seem too hyper."
"Sure," she says. "Let's go, Anthony."
Fred looks at me with a weird expression on his face. I can't tell if he's jealous, ready to kill or just uninterested. For Cecilia's sake, I hope it's jealousy, but I can't help but wish for my own sake that it's his 'what do I care'-look.
So, yet again we're alone together. I begin to wonder if Sammie might be right. Should I go for it?