Thanks for continuing to read everyone, I really appreciate the comments, ideas, and suggestions. I'll take everything you say into consideration. Here's chapter 4 :)


The next few days were a blur. Anna actually came to enjoy school a great deal. Never before had she had so many friends. Everyone wanted to be her friend and a lot of the guys were giving her a lot of attention. Anna had never been in a relationship, and it's not that she wanted to start anything...in fact it was the very opposite. She liked where she was at right now. Plus, she knew it wouldn't be fair to the guy she would be in the relationship with. However, Jake was certainly keeping her on her toes. He was very popular, and very good-looking. At any moment during the day, he had girls just pining for him. It seemed to be that way with Bradin and all of his guy friends. They were all somehwat "untouchable". Everyone wanted them and the only people that could come close to getting them were Lexi and her gaggle of girls. Speaking of which, Anna finally realized that Bradin and Callie were very much so together. Callie loved the attention Bradin gave her, and Bradin usually supplied it readily. However, since Anna had arrived, he had been spending more time with her. "To help her get acquainted," was the excuse he threw at Callie. She wasn't stupid, though, she knew plain as day that it wouldn't be too long before Bradin needed to have that "talk" with her...the one where they say, "It's not you, it's me."

The thing is, Anna and Bradin had been spending a great deal of time together. They were fast friends and the fact that they lived so close to each other only encouraged the growth of the friendship. After school the two would usually go to their respective practices. Bradin to surf team and Anna to soccer; she had made varsity as a starter. One of Bradin's friends, Kelli was also on the team. After their practices, they would each go home for dinner and start their homework, and then as the sun started setting, they'd meet down by the beach just to talk or on several occassions, Anna beat Bradin in soccer by the beach. Within days, it was like they were the best of friends. Bradin really enjoyed spending time with her and Anna was just happy to have a friend.

However, things for Anna had not been going so well. While her father was out a lot more now than he had used to be, whenever he was home he found ways to crush her. Bruises adorned her arms and legs now, and she had to be very careful about hiding them. She was honestly very ashamed by them, and only hoped that they would soon fade. However, now her father made her feel guilty. Everytime after he had an episode, he'd leave her money as if to make up for what he'd done. She felt like she couldn't be sad about it now, because he was making up for it. However, it really was eating away at her. Anna didn't know how much more she could take.

"Bradin!" Callie called out at school on Friday. He turned around, giving her a big smile.

"Hey there, you." He responded, wrapping his arms around her waist and giving her a peck on the lips.

"I've missed you lately...where have you been?" Callie pouted. She toyed with the buttons on Bradin's shirt.

"Oh, come on, Cal. You know I have surf team everyday after school. I don't mean to be ditching you." Bradin assured, as he kissed her cheek playfully.

Callie sighed. "You used to make time for me before she came." Her voice was quiet and low, half wanting him to hear her, half not.

Bradin looked at her, slightly taken by surprise at the comment. "I'm just trying to show her around and get her acquainted. She's my new neighbor, it's not as though it'd be all that kind to just leave her to fend for herself, especially in her first week. I remember when I moved here, I would have given anything for someone to hang around with." His tone was slightly annoyed, slightly worried that she'd become upset.

Callie's eyes looked behind Bradin, and she shook her head. "She seems to be doing just fine." She motioned behind her.

Bradin turned to see Anna and Jake walking closely together, playfully shoving each other. Lexi was walking close to them with Eric, her boyfriend. Bradin felt a sharp pang in his stomach when he saw this, and he didn't know why. "Yeah...I guess she is." He said quietly as they neared.

"Hey Bradin," Eric called out. "You and Cal up for hanging out this weekend? We're going out on Lexi's boat if you guys want to come. We're taking off tomorrow morning around 10."

Callie looked pleadingly at Bradin. She really wanted to go, and even though Bradin wasn't really up for it, he felt he had to do something to make it up to her. "Yeah, sure...sounds cool. Is it just us?" He questioned.

"Yeah, you, Callie, Me, Lex, Anna, and Jake." He answered.

Bradin nodded. "Alright, cool."

"Sweet, meet us at the docks around 9:45 then."

The four of them walked off, as Anna wved a goodbye to Bradin. Callie scoffed at this and started walking away in the other direction. Rolling his eyes, Bradin followed after her. "Callie, wait." She turned around, looking angry. "What did I do wrong now?" Bradin pleaded.

"I can't stand her, Bradin. She's everywhere." Callie spat, referring to Anna.

Bradin's eyes grew wide in disbelief that she was still going on about this. "Callie, you saw yourself. Her and Jake are going really nicely together. I don't know why in the hell you're still going on and on about this. Seriously, get a grip and open your eyes. I am here in front of you, not over there with Anna. As I said, I've just been trying to be a good friend to her. Is that really so bad?" His voice was accusatory and very tired.

Callie's eyes looked hurt, as he had just yelled at her. "Whatever, Bradin." Again she walked away.

Throwing his hands up in the air, not knowing what to do, Bradin followed after her once more. "Callie, stop." Again, she stopped and faced him.

"What, Bradin? Just spit it out." Bradin did nothing but look at her, and then moved into her, deeply kissing her in hopes that it would at least make her shut up. It must have been enough to make her happy as seh returned the kiss and then smiled at him.

"I have to go to practice," he said softly, looking down into her eyes. "I'll call you later or something, though. We'll go get ice cream or something, okay?" Callie nodded and he kissed her one last time before walking away.

Smiling to herself, Callie walked out the door and headed towards home.


Hope you guys liked it!